Lisa Zahn

You may know our son is on the autism spectrum.  This is not an easy thing for our family.  We love him dearly.  He is a wonderful, intelligent kid with the best sense of humor, but his autism presents challenges which are often beyond our understanding. There are many controversies currently raging in the world of autism.  "What causes it?" seems to be the number one question.  Then there is: "is there really an epidemic going on or are we just getting better at diagnosing this condition?"  And also: "What can be done about it?" I'm not about to answer any of those questions, though of course I wonder about and read about them all the time.  You will not find me cheerleading at any Autism Awareness Day events, or fundraising for research, or doing much of anything but daily.living.with.autism. right now. I just want to share a couple of really excellent links that I read today, about autism and Autism Awareness Day. The first is from The P...

I thought it would be fun to post a list of the most-read posts on this blog.  Every day I see several of these posts come up after someone has found them via Google or another link or somewhere. Here they are, in order: Basement Redo--Clothesline and Pantry Shelving Too bad our basement is still nothing special. This post probably disappoints the Googlers. The Salmon Patty Recipe Using The Solar Cooker and Rice Pudding Recipe My Whole Wheat Bread Recipe and Tips (by popular "demand"!) I never make bread anymore because I find I can't really eat it without negative health repercussions, sadly. and finally... On Family Meetings and Chores I think it's interesting to see what people find on my blog.  There might just be a LOT of households making those salmon patties.  I wonder if we've inspired anyone to have a family meeting?

My kids turned 13 and 15 in the last month.  Teenagers! Rose's 13th Birthday, girls' dinner at Olive Garden Teenagers are awesome.  I love them.  Raising them is hard not because they're a problem (most of the time).  My kids are not bad, just as most are not.  Sure, when kids become teens most of them need to somewhat painfully separate themselves from their parents.  They're designed to do that, no matter that some modern thinkers say that's a crock and that the whole idea of "adolescence" is just an invention of the 1950s.  There's some truth to that, but the fact is that just as a 2-year old is going to learn his or her independence, so is a teen-ager. Even in the "olden days", children did not live long under their parents' roof once they became teens.  And if they did, they still married and had their own family and contributed to the family and society as adults.  Way back to Biblical times we have the whole notion of sepa...

George had the luck to grow up in a beautiful place in Virginia.  The state of, for all you Minnesotans who continually ask us "town or state?"  (We have a town called Virginia in northern Minnesota.)  But George grew up in what is formally known as the Commonwealth of Virginia.  It's a beautiful place.  Here are some pictures from our Christmas at his boyhood home...  The "big boys" flying balsa wood airplanes, overlooking the Ware River.  The kids having a marshmallow shooting war in the yard.  The "front" or river-side of the house with its wraparound porch facing the water.  "Tree Lodge", and the pansies are blooming next to the snowman at Christmas!  George and Eli walking along the shoreline.  Rose sitting on one of the many pier posts that have washed up via hurricanes.  Eli found some treasure along the shore--bamboo poles.  And George found a lot of trash.  Father and son...

We traveled to Virginia for Christmas this year to visit George's family. It was our first Christmastime in Virginia since 2005, and it was time for our kids to remember what Christmas at the Zahns is like again. We took the train from Minnesota to Williamsburg. Riding Amtrak from Minnesota to Williamsburg, Virginia was a scream--for better and worse. Let's just say, particularly on the Empire Builder going east from Minnesota, be prepared for delays and changes of plans. The famous superliner, Empire Builder, originates in Chicago, heads west to Seattle, and by the time it gets to Minnesota it's on the 6th day of a 6-day trip so things can get a little hairy by day 6. The "vintage" Amtrak station in St. Cloud, Minnesota Some passengers have been on the train from Seattle, for 3 days, so you might want to keep your distance because they can be a) a little dirty and b) a little loopy. I only had one woman show me the pictures of her pet squirrel. She fit both...

We don't hold family meetings regularly or often, but when we want the kids' attention, we call one to order after dinner. So yesterday, we notified them in advance and called a family meeting. The kids were quite wary beforehand. Turns out, they thought it was all good (except for the announcement of what their summer yard chores would be, ha ha). We told them about our "Mom and Dad Matching Plan": any activity they want to do, they pay half and we pay the other half. So basically, we'll match their money. When I said some people might find us abusive for expecting our kids to cover half their expenses at their age, Rose piped up with, "but mom, no kids I know get a $50 a month allowance!" Woo hoo! We're training them well... We extended our matching program to their future transportation needs and also said they might want to start saving for a car at some point (Eli has only two years before he can possibly get his driver's li...

If you haven't seen the blog Free Range Kids , today's post on a mom letting her son walk 1/3 mile to soccer and having the police pick him up is truly enlightening. As Free Range Kids blogger Lenore Skenazy puts it, it's like we're living in the Salem witch trials in which we hallucinate horrific danger in our towns instead of hallucinating witchcraft like they did back then. And we're all doing it! Compared to my mom and other moms of my childhood, I'm overprotective. But I can still see the folly of never letting our kids have any freedom to walk around the neighborhood, or go to the library alone, or buy some candy at the corner store. And it has always made me so sad for my kids, and for this entire generation. When is it going to change? When will we see kids out running around without a parent supervising? When can I feel like my kids can walk the three blocks to the park without an adult harrassing them about being without a parent? (And honestl...

Rose had time over break to put on some puppet shows for us. Last week was spring break for George and Rose (does that make it "spring work" for me?). We had fun. We hardly did any of the spring cleaning that was our goal, but George did get some garden seeds started and I at least began to go through the piles of photos, art supplies, and other junk that has been stashed in the basement for a few years. We went to Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria, Minnesota for one night. It's just over an hour north of us, and the hotel and waterpark were considerably cheaper there than in the Twin Cities. Above the kids are watching the TV and George is reading the newspaper. We don't go away to get away, we go away to watch cable TV, as you can see! I got in a little Food Network porn (don't ya just love Giada's kitchenware?--porn for women). The kids got to watch some cartoons, and George and Elijah watched "Warriors" on the History Channel. And oh, the hot tub an...

Some of you were surprised to hear that Rose started school this week. I am too! It was a rather quick decision, once we made it, to have her start in the 4th grade at our neighborhood school. We had just watched the movie Matilda , starring Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman and based on the book of the same name by Roald Dahl. Matilda is a little girl who is very different from her family. She loves books and they love TV. She loves flowers and they love World Wrestling Federation. She has a hard time growing up in a family where she sticks out like a sore thumb. I told the kids I kind of felt that way when I was a kid, being the only big reader in my family. They were both surprised that sometimes my parents made me put down my books and do something else! (Which, I have to do sometimes with Elijah too, but in the movie Matilda it looks really awful when the parents do this.) Well, in talking about how different I felt in my family, I (again) realized how different Rose must feel someti...

Just sneaking in to post a few photos from the weekend and yesterday. Yesterday Rose turned 10! I just ADORE ten-year old girls, I've decided. We are having so much fun right now, and I love that girl so much. Rose had a party at the Park Diner and movie theatre on Saturday with three girlfriends and me. And then yesterday we went to the mall where she got her ears pierced and spent her birthday money. This morning, Rose decided to go off to school. We visited Lincoln Elementary, our neighborhood school, yesterday and sat in on her new classroom with Mrs. Nelson and all the kids. I am very sad that she won't be home all day with Eli and me anymore, but her school and teacher and the students are just great. I think it will be fine. Here is our morning tea party...We had gotten used to doing this every morning and I hate to see it end. Now we'll just have to do it earlier in the morning so Rose can get on the bus at 7:45. And here's Rose on her "first day of s...

Just yesterday afternoon I handed Rose two cardboard boxes after hauling our food home from Buying Club and said, "Do you want this?" She said sure, and right away got to work. Since then, she's made them into this: She started digging through the "big blue box", where we keep all kinds of odds and ends and bits and pieces for her to do creative crafting. And this girl can craft! And create! It's a doll house, and there's even a rooftop playground with a second story swing hanging from it (the dolls just fly up into the swing, or climb down the yarn rope to get to it.) And for my creative endeavor yesterday, I finished knitting my first mitten! After getting some help on the thumb from this mittens tutorial and this page on knitty .com , I was able to finish this up and it looks great! They're made with a nice washable wool from Brown Sheep Co ., which I've had in my stash for years. Now, to just get the other one knitted up... It was a gre...

The kids took their annual, required standardized achievement test yesterday. This is the law in Minnesota, homeschoolers have to take the test and keep it in the files at home but we don't have to turn it in to the district or anything, unless there's a problem. It seems reasonable to me. Yesterday's test went well. A friend of mine, a former teacher, does the testing as a business, so the kids are really comfortable with her. She sets up her "office" at the library and devotes about an hour to each kid, using the Peabody Individual Achievement Test . The categories in the Peabody test are General Information (science, social studies, art, etc.); Reading Recognition; Reading Comprehension; Mathematics; Spelling. There are 100 questions per category, though they don't start each child at number 1 but somewhere before/below where they should be at and work up from there. One of my kids , age 9, tests just at or above her grade level. This is great. A confirmat...

His name is Billy. He's from the shelter. In a moment of insanity George, Elijah and I decided to drop by the Humane Society yesterday. We have been talking about getting a dog for a while and recently George "relented" and so agreed to go in. We're never sure when we go to the shelter that the "right" dog will be there. But there he was, begging to go home with us. Rose is so excited! Billy will never be lonely, I can tell you that. He got his name at the shelter. We thought of changing it, but Eli likes it, and since Elijah's a little afraid of dogs--due to past experience with a 95 pound yellow lab we had a few years ago but had to give up after a year--we're letting Elijah make as many of the decisions as possible. It turns out both Elijah and Billy are a little shy yet, but I think it's going to work out just fine. Billy's smart and calm, and he even tired out after just a 1/2 hour walk at 6 a.m. this morning. We're shocked. He's...

We're just about ready for the neighbors tonight. The house is all put back together, the living room has been looking lovely in its blueness all week, the Christmas tree is up and decorated (finally! according to the kids), the Advent Wreath and the Nativity and George's Santa collection are out, and I've done my best to edit edit edit the decor down to the minimum while still maintaining that Christmas spirit. ("Remember, Rose, less is more" I'm always saying.) The booze has been purchased, many cookies have been baked, and get this, even my own bedroom has been cleaned! Fabric and sewing items are stowed in the cabinets, there's *only* one laundry basket full of projects to complete, and I'm feeling less overwhelmed by it all. I do have a bit of a cough that's been hanging around, but if I don't talk *too much* tonight I should be fine. That, and lots of brandy may have to be imbibed "for medicinal purposes". Hah! If I even liked b...