Apparently the most exciting thing to happen to Southern Pines during the holidays was the disappearance of the Broad Street Grinch and I missed it! Luckily, a loyal SandhillsKids member forwarded the clip of our very own Chef Warren being interviewed by WRAL! If you haven't seen the video of the Grinch-nappers, it's worth a peak. ENJOY!
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2007/12/25/owens.nc.grinch.stolen.wral?iref=videosearch
I have usually been able to joke about some of the things that a child with Autism gets himself into. Read some of my other blogs for more stories. I say that humor is what gets us through each situation. However this morning humor does not apply.
We woke up at 6am to prepare for our trip to my mother's house. As I finished my last cup of coffee, I walked into the kitchen to put my mug in the sink I noticed an odd smell. "Brian, I smell something burning." "Me to it smells like plastic" he said. We checked all over the kitchen and did not find anything. "SCOTT!"
We have been using our fireplace to help cut back on our heating bill. It has by at least half. It heats the house up very nicely, and I love the smell of the fire and hearing the crackling of the wood burning. We roast marshmallows and sometimes even enjoy a hotdog every now and then. Love it!
The fireplace heats every room except for Scott's. Because of his autism, we have to keep his door locked during the night. Scott wakes up much earlier than we do (between 4 and 5 am), so to keep him safe we keep his door locked from the outside. If we did not he would wander all over the house and even attempt to get outside. Keeping his door locked is imperative! Since the heat from the fireplace is not able to reach his room, we installed a small space heater. I say installed because that is what I had to do. I could not just put it in his room and tell him "do not touch." I wish! To keep Scott from messing with it required lots of bolts and screws, as well as a crate covering it to keep him from playing with it. That was a month ago. It has been doing a great job keeping his room toasty.
So as I ran down the hall to open his door, the smell was more intense. I opened Scott's door and yelled for Brian. The smoke was thick and I could barely see Scott on the floor in front of the space heater. Scott looks up at me and says "I fire." After the few seconds it took for the smoke to fill the hallway and clear up his room, I could see that indeed the space heater had caught on fire. The unit was melted and scorched and burn marks now scar his hardwood floor.
Indeed "Our Christmas Miracle"- Scott is fine, not a burn mark on him. The only damage done was to his floor and the headaches we all had from the smell.
I wish I could say that it was due to a faulty unit. But I am comfortable saying that Scott was the cause. I believe that when he woke up at 5am he got bored. He started to play with the space heater and then saw the small vents. Vents spaced enough to fit something in. This is what I believed caused the fire.
Unfortunately I know that this will not be last of our Autism Adventures. As Scott keeps getting older and stronger, he is also growing smarter and quicker. He is thinking about things that I hope I will be able to think of and head him off on.
So keep checking Sandhills Kids for more about our Autism Adventures.
-Christine
"Is that a Christmas card?" asked my five year old with great anticipation as it is her job to set out for display all such incoming holiday greetings. Amusingly enough, the card in question was not from family or friend, but was instead an advertisement from a global lingerie distributor - one with very few secrets from what I can tell. Darling hubby had thoughtfully placed the card in question in a position of prominence on our kitchen counter so I wouldn't inadvertently overlook the enclosed coupon. Enough said.
Trying to maintain some measure of dignity, I informed my impressionable daughter that no, this was not a card that needed to be displayed in our living room. But, as usual, my undernourished proper side was overwhelmed by my all-too-healthy wicked side and I couldn't resist asking if she thought we should send out a similar card.
"Oh no, Mommy, you can't do that! She's showing her belly button," protested my wise little angel.
Ah, the blessing of celebrating another December in the company of such innocence. There is simply no substitute for kids when sharing the joys of tree-trimming, present wrapping, or better yet unwrapping, and all the other little pieces and parts that makes each Christmas season so special.
I should come clean and admit that as a single adult I would hang a tree-shaped piece of green construction paper and call it good. What a Grinch! Of course, I blamed my meddlesome housecats as my handy excuse. They spent plenty of quality playtime suspended from the curtains, I saw no need to add another climbing structure to the room: especially one with tinsel, lights and other alluring feline delicacies.
One year my decorating resolve weakened and I was rewarded for my effort with months of vacuuming pine needles out of the shag rug and one whopper of a vet bill. Yup, you guessed it. The world's stupidest cat - truly no exaggeration - stripped the tree of a silken thread-wrapped ball, enjoyed her own private holiday feast, and was promptly rushed to the hospital for major abdominal surgery.
Alas, now that I have more kids than cats in my house, I was forced to embrace all manner of yuletide cheer and can honestly say that I am no longer the Scrooge of my youth.
Just recently, I was utterly charmed when my son announced that he had "this whole Santa Claus thing all figured out." In perfectly reasonable seven-year old logic he opined that Santa knew if you'd been bad or good because God passed along that information. He came to this conclusion, he said, by reciting for me the opening prayer read each week at our church, which states "Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid..."
Surely no sticks and coal would ever be placed in the stocking of a child so precious. Nope, this year it's more like a heap of Legos for him and oodles of glitter pens and fancy paper for my daughter.
Now if I could just find that phone number for my, um, friend, Victoria: I could finish my shopping!
Laura Douglass writes for The Seven Lakes Times where this column originally appeared.
I eat a lot. It's something I'm really good at. The best part about it is the fact that I have a very high metabolism, so it doesn't show. Below is a list of some of my favorite eating spots in Moore County. They are in no particular order.
Please feel free to add to the list.
Breakfast
Lunch and Dinner in subsequent blogs.
When Dan Askins is not stuffing his face, he sells real estate in the Moore County area.
The Sandhills Rotary Club has teamed up with the Town of Southern Pines to Stop Hunger Now. On Saturday, March 8, at the Douglass Community Center, we plan to package over 20,000 meals for hungry people all over the world.
The Town of Southern Pines is a co-sponsor and will be promoting the event in their literature. For details, please contact Dan Askins.
910-528-7003
When Dan Askins is not out saving the world, he is a Realtor with Fore Properties.
The other night, about 1:30 AM, I heard a loud crash and breaking glass. I jumped up, ran into the hallway and yelled out in my deepest, baddest voice, "WHO'S THERE!!". I was also carrying my weapon with me. I looked down, and I was holding onto my pillow in a very menacing way. I hate it for the fool who dares endure the wrath of the pillow. Turns out my Christmas tree had fallen over, and a few of the ornaments broke in the process, but I now know what I would do in a fight. :)
Merry Christmas.
Dan.
When he's not out fighting crime with his pillow, Dan Askins is a Realtor with Fore Properties.
The Sandhills Rotary Club, of which I am a member, will be coordinating an event to help alleviate worldwide hunger. Using a nutrient-rich mixture of dry goods, we plan to pack 20,000 meals in one day for hungry people around the world. Our club is part of a regional effort to pack 1,000,000 meals.
On Packing Day, scheduled for Saturday, March 8, 2008, we will need many volunteers-parents, teachers, even children-to help with a variety of tasks, from bagging to labeling to loading the truck.
The meals will cost about 20 cents each. Our club is raising the money to pay for all the meals. If you would like to support us with your donations, please make a check payable to Sandhills Rotary Club. We are a qualified charity and will be happy to give a tax receipt.
The mailing address is:
P.O. Box 807
Southern Pines, 28388
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Dan@DanAskins.com or by phone 910-528-7003.
Thanks,
Dan.
Last night, my family and I took a tour of the nativity displays at the Whispering Pines Country Club. The Sandhills/Moore Coalition for Human Care has assembled over 50 of them from donors as a fundraiser. These displays come from all over the world and are truly amazing.
One of the interesting things about them was that each culture made the faces and costumes match that particular culture. Kenyans, Koreans, Peruvians, Italians. It really brought to mind the universality of the Christmas story.
Please take the time to go see and also to support the work of the Coalition.
When Dan isn't out touring the sights in Moore County, he sells real estate with Fore Properties.
Parenting children is hard enough already and then you throw in a child with autism. The rules of parenting have changed and you soon find that you will have to throw out all of those "Parenting" books. They just don't apply. What would child guru Dr. Spock say?
AUTISM: It is a word that so easily sums up this weekend!
YouTube is Scott's newest obsession, seems harmless enough. He enjoys watching Thomas the Train, rockets blasting off, car engines revving and now in the spirit of the holidays-Christmas light displays. It is amazing to me the things that people will video tape all in the name of entertainment. How he came across his most recent video segment I do not know-toilets flushing.
Scott has always had a thing with toilets. Since he was old enough to reach the handle he has always flushed. As a smaller child, we could keep him out with a baby gate. Not long after he would push them over, so we upgraded to the knob protectors. Then all of his physical therapy paid off and soon he was strong enough to squeeze and turn the knob. So our next upgrade was to lock the knob from the inside and use a coat hanger to open it. Hi-tech huh? Shortly after his flushing tapered off and we were able to open the doors again. That is until now, with his YouTube obsession.
So he is ready for his computer time. He pushes the office chair as far away from him as he can get it-as to not get in the way of his stimming. He stands in front of the computer, he never sits for anything and soon he is clicking that little blue "E." He's online! He remembers that YouTube starts with Y, so he types Y in the address bar and up pops the link. It's a good thing our computer remembers everything we type. So now he is in and then he remembers how he found the toilets, though I still do not know myself. There he goes-getting his "high." How do I know? When Scott is getting that sensory input that makes him happy inside he flapps his hands, stands on his tippy toes (makes me cringe), and drools like a leaky faucet! This is called stimming. I can just imagine how tingly he must be feeling in his gut. While his computer toilet flushing obsession seems harmless, the watching quickly developed into an action.
Triggered by this weekend's events, we have now upgraded our bathroom door locking system once again, key entry only.
Friday evening dad took Scott potty. Because of his extreme "habit" he must be supervised, watched like a hawk. While dad (the hawk) turns his back to get some toilet paper, Scott quickly flushes the toilet. The hawk turns back around and discovers Scott's underwear are now missing! "Scott where's your undies?" "I flushing!" replies Scott grinning from ear to ear.
Friday night our tub began to gurgle with each flush. Saturday night neither one of the toilets would empty. Today I have a plumber coming over to clear our lines. Well, at least I think I know where all of his socks have disappeared to.
Parenting on a Whole New Level!
I have lived here since 1992. That almost makes me a native. :) Perhaps I am a prototype of sorts for people who live here.
For starters, I wasn't born here. Most people, in the lower half of Moore County anyway, immigrated from some other place. The fact that I actually moved North (Hartsville, SC is my home) is a bit strange, however. Most people come here from cooler climes, such as NY, MI, NJ and OH. I am in a minority in my own backyard!
That's part of what I like, though. It's fun to see so many different people from such a variety of backgrounds. I had the same feeling when I started college at Clemson. Prior to attending that lofty place of higher education, I had never even heard of a bagel. Or unsweetened iced tea. The very idea... Now I order my latte and a bagel at Panera with ease. I don't even drink tea that much anymore (except at Eva's Diner and Eastwood Diner).
Yes the Yanks have imported some nice things. And they have left a lot of the not-so-nice things behind, for the most part. Traffic, bad attitudes, cold weather, high taxes. North Carolina rests about halfway between New York and Florida. In fact, South of the Border is almost exactly halfway between Palm Beach and Long Island. Perhaps there is more to this centrist idea...
We don't have extreme anything. We're a blended family. The rest of the country could learn a thing or two here, couldn't they? It is amazing to me how well people get along. I attended a Christmas party the other night, and there were rednecks like me, some people from Colombia and even some foreigners from New York. ;-) We had a blast!!
So let's hear it for Moore County. Home of the blended family.
Dan loves to tell his clients about Moore County as a Realtor with Fore Properties.
