Living & Loving, Autism & Deafness

My story about Tionesta

May 18, 2013 criscollrj

No photo description available. Image may contain: sky, tree and outdoor A post I have been planning to write for a while…

First the present – we have been travelling together to Jefferson Co., Warren Co., and Forest Co., PA for Rog’s work for about a year now (he has been going longer) and it has often crossed my mind that I wanted to tell the Tionesta story. I have not taken the time until now when I’m recuperating from a migraine and feel too tired to do anything else except type my data entry files that I need to do for our work– which I’m going to do next!

So I have become familiar once again with Tionesta (in Forest County) along with the neighboring Tidioute. We see them every three months. They are beautiful, in the PA Alleghenies.

My first experience of the Alleghenies and Tionesta was with my dad in about 1979 when I was about 14. He had begun when I was about 11 to take me on a vacation every summer. In approximate order it was 1977 – New York City, 1978 – Detroit and Ste. St. Marie, Michigan, and 1979 – Alleghenies, PA. We started off driving 6 and/or 322 and I remember visiting Corry, Warren, Tionesta, and Oil City.

http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles70616.jpg

(we were as a family in 2007 in Oil City when Rog worked there briefly gathering data for work – I have pics somewhere but not findable at the moment, this is from Google)

My dad and I also drove all around the rivers and mountains in the area, visiting Kinzua Dam, especially.

kinzua-dam-spillwater.jpg (550×366)

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/03/b9/17/e0/kinzua-dam-spillwater.jpg

I was so taken with the area, I decided someday I wanted to move there. I also remember eating at a restaurant in the town of Tionesta that had delicious pie. I don’t know if this is where we ate — http://www.pierogiemama.com/Pages/default.aspx (2020 dead link) but I know Rog and I had tried to eat there, but they’re only open for breakfast and lunch so we keep missing it!!

When I was about 14, I wrote my own book about a girl named Karen, that lived in Tionesta, PA. I loved that book and really thought it was the best writing I ever did. I put my heart into it and it reflected a lot of things I was growing up with at the time, being overweight, lonely, learning to achieve my own goals, make friends, growing up. I finished that story in 9th grade and totally was devastated when I no longer had the story anymore, as it was either lost or thrown away. But that’s how important Tionesta was to me at that time…

Years later in 1984 when I met Roger and we started dating, we took a drive back there and ate at the same restaurant my dad and I did. We drove many of the same roads as well.

We drove there in 84, and I think in 86 and 87 too – it’s getting a little blurry now! We also discovered the Allegheny State Park in New York around that time, which my dad and I did not visit. Camping there in 89 or so, 90, and 94, to my recollection, followed, with lots more wonderful memories!

Image may contain: sky, tree, cloud, mountain, outdoor, nature and water

Then we have our own NEW memories in Tidoute, which I don’t remember from before. So we have a neat progression of very old history, with my dad; still old history with my husband going back all the way to our dating years; and then brand new history in a new town in the mountains.

college, organizing, weight

Migraine aura lethargy/exhaustion=relaxing blog time

May 17, 2013 criscollrj

Had my post-stress migraine today but luckily not a huge headache with it – just a bit of achy eyes and exhaustion. So seemed a good time for a well-overdue blog post! I am too whipped to do anything else.

My last posts were mostly about weight, so my quick update about that is that I am STILL on a plateau and starting to doubt if I will ever lose more than ten pounds. Well, not really, I have to have SOME hope since I have to lose 50 more pounds. But either I have to change something or be patient – yep, those are the choices. HA! Being that what I have been doing WAS working I will just try a bit longer. Perhaps I am just still building muscle…. The plateau will be 8 weeks tomorrow. Still having about 1700-1900 calories and walking fairly regularly, and also count heavy cleaning my once a week as exercise, plus some of the cleaning at home. Also just started Tai Chi but only once a week.

Big change that I didn’t post about – I found out through researching some online schools this college program: http://www.wgu.edu/education/teacher_certification_special_education_bachelor_degree, and I decided to apply. I have since taken their entrance test (yes, an entrance test! I was so nervous! but I passed) and transferred my credits in. I am aiming for a September start. I LOVED Kent but the drive was getting more difficult as I was going to have to drive 4 days a week including 1-2 nights in the fall semester. So I am eagerly awaiting receiving a schedule for fall.

Took a look at my posts from last summer where I saw this one https://criscollrj.com/2012/07/23/2012-summersuper-hot-super-busy-flying-by/ where I have a list of what I wanted to accomplish. Let’s see how it compares to now:

LAST SUMMER:

Finish all the filing in the office (it’s already sorted by drawer now – yay me! – and all recycling is ready to go across the street). Clean out files if possible. Did get this done sometime before school started.
Almost forgot this one – a big one – try and get 1/4 to 1/2 done with course on educational psych for fall that is already on line – that will put me so much ahead for fall where I’m also taking math for teachers, educational technology, and american sign language [only class on campus, rest online!] I did very poorly on this, and continued to procrastinate throughout fall semester too, finishing most of the courses in the last three weeks of the semester. I did get an A but only by ignoring the whole world…. This is a bit scary with my new college being totally self-driven – I have to do better on self planning and WILL.
Prioritize all paperwork and put on the calendar and make sure it’s done on time. For Chris, Colleen, Ryan, my college, Rog/Colleen’s college, and anything else I need to do… I actually have done fairly well with this. I love syncing of gmail/calendar on phone and computer!!
Sort all clothes in the three bedrooms and give away the tons we don’t need. Laughing hysterically. Nope, not even close.
KEEP deleting emails I don’t need – in the last week I have gone from 18000 emails to 2,000 emails, and still deleting. Yes, did do this. I actually told someone about this yesterday but thought it was 80,000 emails, guess in one year I quadrupled the number in my head!
Go through freezers again and plan more meals to use up what we have. I believe I did do this.
Complete the deep-cleaning of the kitchen by scrubbing out and sorting all cabinets. Nope.
Finish straightening basement, clean out the fridge bins that are down there for the downstairs freezer. Did first thing but not second.
Pass out Avon books again. I think so…
Finish painting living room? Nope.
Work with Colleen on sorting 4 years worth of school documents and organize them into bookcase and filing sorters. We did do about half of this but they’re still in a box.
Probably many more ………

THIS SUMMER:

Finish all the filing in the office (it’s already sorted by drawer now – yay me! – and all recycling is ready to go across the street). Clean out files if possible. Yep, exactly the same amount has built up – plan to do this this coming weekend and next week.
Sort all clothes in the three bedrooms and give away the tons we don’t need. Bedrooms are supposed to come the end of May, to mid-June.
Clean out email again
Complete new paperwork projects – I do have a few right now for the next weeks/month.
Clean off Toshiba computer and prepare it for Rog’s back-up computer. Buy new flash drive to store excess files on for backup.
Thoroughly scrub down both refrigerators and hopefully swap one for the other (the basement one is bigger and nicer!)
Complete the deep-cleaning of the kitchen by scrubbing out and sorting all cabinets.
Clean out basement.
Pass out Avon books again.
Finish painting living room?
Finish work with Colleen on sorting 4 years worth of school documents and organize them into bookcase and filing sorters.
Have some fun family outings – more than last year? Hopefully it won’t be so HOT!

Some pictures from the last few months…

Lake Erie’s double horizon phenomenon, seeing Canada!

Picnic a month or so ago across the street – winter was finally over!

Rog hard at work at Tionesta PA Smile

Gallia County Ohio River glory.

Ryan at Wendy’s before his haircut Smile

weight

“Not” a plateau—

March 12, 2013 criscollrj

After about 38 days on my weight loss plan, I have hit my first what I thought was a plateau. After reading a bit of the posts on my MFP (My Fitness Pal) community boards, it seems it isn’t really a plateau until you’re on it for weeks or months, but it still doesn’t feel nice! I know I need to just keep an eye on my measurements, and I am, and they have gone down! So I am trying to remain focused and stick with it.

Meanwhile, I started blogging a bit of my history on MFP and thought I’d post here 🙂

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/criscollrj/view/introduction-to-my-weight-journey-501402

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/criscollrj/view/continued-introduction-to-my-weight-loss-journey-503083

Maybe someday I’ll approach this weight, though I probably won’t look 22 again… 😀

photos, weight

Crystalline

February 26, 2013 criscollrj

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1175/5131084279_760e129f19.jpg

I did not take this pic, but I saw a similar effect yesterday driving to Ashtabula Kent Campus. It was actually even more striking than this if that is possible. The silver-tipped trees against the blue sky was very similar, but there was also the effect I could see, while driving and unable to stop and use my cell phone camera, of the rays of sun casting a sideways silvery glow across the sky adding to the blue and iced trees. It was magnificent! I was full speed ahead to take my Math exam, which I was late for, and I wished I could stop on the way back to take the pictures but by then the effect was gone. But the vision in my mind remains.

One thing I wish I could take the time to do, and the money of course, is to learn to use a better camera and take really magnificent pictures! But until then I will enjoy others’ and snap away with my Android phone which doesn’t do too bad —

Some of my favorites I’ve taken:

God’s beauty in all seasons is amazing!

In other news, on the 30th I’ll be on my MFP (my Fitness Pal) plan for one month and so far I’ve lost 5 pounds!! I’m the lowest I’ve been since about 2007.

God, weight

Calling on you…

February 12, 2013 criscollrj

Since I dropped two of my courses (was too overwhelmed, they weren’t needed right now, and I’m already taking the two required right now) I have been trying to walk each morning again for 20 minutes. Today the snow was falling very lightly, not accumulating at all on the ground that currently has no snow, and was just barely coming down on my coat. It reminded me of many walks I took in high school where I bundled up every day and walked my dog Cocoa in the back woods at our farm.

When I walk it is one time I can really try and pray without much distraction. It’s a bit different than when I drive to Kent – that is also an important time as I try and listen to 103.3 Moody Radio and really focus on the sermons and conversation. I don’t always listen to radio – I tend to switch from that to the Fish to just classic rock or mix stations, whatever I am in the mood for. But listening to the shows on the drive to Kent had become a habit and one I do want to continue even now at home. But the walking and praying was different, and I had missed it. I have not consistently done it in a while, just because it had been so hectic to always get out the door to get to school, or get Colleen to school (last year), or whatever I was doing. I am grateful the time is back.

I am also walking consistently as I am still doing the My Fitness Pal – two weeks tomorrow. All the exercise gets deducted from the day, giving more calories available, and revving the metabolism! One pound gone…

This song came into my mind today and I looked it up on YouTube.

Stryper – Calling on You

Inside of me there is a lonely place
Sometimes I just don’t know it’s there
But when I’m all alone
That’s when I have to face…
[Bridge]
The part of me that needs someone
To be by my side that’s when I call on…
[Chorus]
You, You make my life complete
You give me all I need
You help me through and through
I’m calling on you
I can’t explain just what You do to me
My love grows stronger everyday
You give me love, You give me company
And when I have to face the rain
You bring sunshine into my life
[Repeat Chorus]
[Solo]
[Repeat Chorus]
More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/stryper/

God

How He loves us….

February 4, 2013 criscollrj

Have had occasion to hear this song twice in the last 24 hours <3 And feel convicted to share it. I also feel convicted that I need to show Him I love Him. I am definitely experienced in depending on God for His patience, wisdom, deliverance, comfort, peace, and a shoulder to cry on. But how many times do I spend time reading His word, worshipping His being and not asking for anything or worrying about my problems, or just being With Him?

How He Loves Us — lyrics

He is jealous for me,
He loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are,
and how great Your affections are for me.
And oh, how He loves us
oh oh how He loves us
how He loves us so.
He is jealous for me,
loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are,
and how great Your affections are for me.

[ From: http://www.elyrics.net ]
He loves
oh how He loves us
oh how He loves us
oh how He loves
we are His portion and He is our prize
drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
and if grace is an ocean,then
we’re all sinking’
and heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss
while my heart beats violently inside my chest
and I don’t have time to maintain these regrets
when I think about the way
He loves us oh
how He loves us
how He loves us
how He loves
yeah He loves us
oh how He loves us
oh how He loves
yeah He loves us
yeah He loves us
how He loves us
oh how He loves all

college, weight

New classes and new food plan!

February 3, 2013 criscollrj

Since I like to pile it on all at once I’m tackling just that!

First, the classes. I love many things about them and also don’t like some things about them. But all are necessary and I will be challenged and will grow stronger and hopefully wiser with all the information I’m learning!

Characteristics of Special Education, Moderate to Intensive. So far I love this class! But I don’t like that it’s at night. At least it’s only once a week. My husband Roger has been wonderful to pick up Ryan from latchkey these nights. I did miss last Wednesday due to Concord, Ohio, having its own personal blizzard which caused a pile-up I mentioned in the last blog post. I was just not up to going down to school after that. The class is very interesting with reviewing all the ways special education works and is comprised of, and the course has just begun so all kinds of projects are still in store. I think we have 5 or 6 projects due in the semester. This course is a requirement for special ed.
Basic Math Concepts II. So far this class has been more challenging than Math Concepts I which I took last semester. Of course that shouldn’t be a surprise. I have to start the lessons earlier. I am planning to actually start tonight, giving me 6 days to work on it before it is due. Last week started the study of probabilities, which I was completely unfamiliar with, and I didn’t have enough time once I finally really started it to complete it well and understand it. I only got 80% on the homework before I ran out of time. I don’t want to repeat that. This course is a requirement for special ed.

Now, I could have stopped there. I am not able to get into advanced study for special education yet because I did not yet complete Math Concepts II. So, since I am on my last semester of Pell grant (I timed out as I had too many semesters) I did not want to only have 7 credit hours in my last semester on the Pell grant, not using the whole thing when it was available. So I searched for a few classes to get up to full time, ones that would be applicable to my educational goals. I have wanted to also get a master’s degree in speech pathology, but had put that on hold until I finished the special education degree. Therefore with this gap I added two courses towards that:

Quantitative Methods in Psychology – in other words, Statistics. I didn’t really realize when I signed up for it that it was Statistics. I didn’t realize until I looked at the book sample on Amazon and saw – math? Ugh. So far, however, it hasn’t been too bad. The teacher, however, just did send our first homework to us online and it is due in about 10 days, the day before our first exam. I have not looked at it yet. I hope I haven’t shot myself in the foot taking two math courses at once – although they say, admittedly, that statistics is not really math – hmmm, don’t know about that! This course is a requirement for the speech pathology degree I still hope to get later.
Language Disorders in Children. So far this course is amazing, and exactly the information I am wanting to learn in addition to the special education above. [You can tell I really could do without the math information – ha ha!] However, the teacher kind of scared me when she told us that her tests were really really hard and were practically the entire grade for the class – that there is really nothing else graded. The chapters are also longer than average and I am not getting enough of the reading done. But it sure helps that I’m fascinated with the topic – I should be able to catch up on the reading and do fine. This course is a requirement for the speech pathology degree I still hope to get later.

So, all and all, an interesting semester!

Then (and I will probably post more on this next week) I decided to start posting on my phone and computer to My Fitness Pal. A friend of mine’s son lost 25 pounds on it and I decided to check it out. It has been four days, and so far everything is going well! I did set the calories rather high at 1700, just to give myself some leeway as last time I believe I had set Sparkpeople (similar app I did last summer) at 1400 and kept going over. I love seeing exactly where I am with my nutrients and levels. More next week along with hopefully my first loss post… but it’s a very slow rate – set at 1/2 pound a week to keep it off….

(can I get HERE?)

Weather

Snow is back!

January 26, 2013 criscollrj

After last year feeling we may have moved to North Carolina without knowing it, as we had hardly any snow, we are making up for it now! We started to get snow on Christmas Eve and had a gorgeous view when we went to our church’s Christmas Eve singing on the town square, and had various adventures driving and having cars stuck in driveways! Then we had a brief break to green grass in January, and then about a week ago the snow machine turned back on!

We have had almost continuous snow since Monday – one week. I love it, but myself had various misadventures driving in it, including having to turn around and come home last Monday when conditions were impassable to pick up my mother (who was to watch Ryan the next day so I could go to class, as he had no school). So of course there are consequences of my lovely beautiful snow that are not so lovely! I was really shaky when I got home from that particular dark, swirling, drifting, sliding, foggy window, trip… worst I’d ever driven in!

As I have vowed though, I never complain about winter, as I hate the extreme heat with a passion and have a privilege of complaining all summer about it! ha ha. So as I brush my car off AGAIN and have to go 15-20 AGAIN when the speed limit is 35, or 40, or 60, I will not complain! Just hope we are all safe driving, and that we all have a healthy respect for the elements and stay home and look out the window when we can!

These are some of the scary consequences that can happen:

I-90 pileup in our town — I almost was there. I was coming home from taking Colleen to Lakeland for her college classes, and the roads were extremely bad! I decided to take Route 84 instead, a parallel route, and it was terrible too, but after I heard about all the accidents I was so glad I chose 84 instead!

Well, it is a new year, and I am busier than ever. I, however, feel that I definitely want to blog more than twice a year, which is probably about how much I blogged in 2012. I am going to try and blog weekly, perhaps shorter posts. I will probably never be less busy than I am, so shall try and start.

Next week, I will post about my new classes (Math Concepts II, Statistics [actually called Quantitative Methods in Psychology, impressively, LOL – a requirement for my hopeful future speech pathology major], Language Disorders (another SPA requirement for the future), and Characteristics of Special Education.)

Blessings!

Uncategorized

Christmas Letter 2012

January 4, 2013 criscollrj

Chris we love to see smiling as he enjoys things in his life, visiting with family, as we all share his care along with his aids that he has, and we are grateful for all who love him! He is in adult workshop now, and we are glad the transition was smooth without a long waiting period. Chris’s graduation was a high point of the year with a lot of events and good food to eat! Chris also got to go on fun trips to Atwood Lake Fall Festival and our trip to Kraynak’s in Sharon for Christmas. We are also soon choosing new applications for his IPad for his communication needs.

Colleen continues to have a very busy life with college, her boyfriend Scott, and all her animals. She is seeking another job that is year-round and right now is enjoying her Christmas break. I recently heard her sing, and I must say she has a beautiful voice, and she sings well with her boyfriend who also has a great voice! She had an awesome graduation party with Chris – can’t believe our oldest are both done with high school! Her current menagerie consists of two cats, two geckos, two guinea pigs, two betas, six goldfish, about six frogs and two crabs.

Ryan is unbelievably in his last year of elementary school – 5^th grade. Academically he continues to excel, and he is putting more and more complicated puzzles together in only minutes. He still loves the Incredibles movie and also greatly enjoys the cameras on his IPad, computers, and the TV. Latchkey kept Ryan busy two afternoons a week last year through the spring, and he will be starting back at that three afternoons a week in January for my spring semester. (I didn’t have any afternoon classes this fall semester.)

We are still carrying out 3 two-day trips every quarter, totaling 24 days away a year! We are busy all day with data entry then have some time to ourselves in the evening – the last one was December 19, and we did much of our Christmas shopping in Steubenville at a cute mall in the hills. I am in my last semester of “pre” advanced study special education courses at Kent, and hope to find classes next year for advanced study that are NOT at night – as at first glance at the catalog for THIS semester most are at night! That would make the next two years such a struggle with child care. I graduate now officially in spring of 15! I also am still working as a home health aide. Rog is hoping to return to school soon to major in human services.

Uncategorized

2012 Summer–super hot, super busy, flying by!

July 23, 2012 criscollrj

I began the summer break on approximately May 1, 2012, with the completion of 4 classes – the most I’ve ever taken – centered on teaching itself (prerequisites done!). I took Democracy and Education, Special Education, Motor Development, and Speech and Language courses, and with the heavy focus on writing in general in these courses I managed to get a 4.0!!! I was so excited as I never did that before. Next semester math comes to challenge me again (Math for Teachers) and I will have to take two courses in it, so my expectations of 4.0 for next year are extremely slim – but it was nice to do it once in my college career!

May 1 we went on the first leg of our summer business trip – the three southern Ohio counties we do the first day – Monroe, Guernsey, Morgan – this huge coal shovel is down in Noble County, at http://www.noblecountyohio.com/muskie.html – we see it every time we go down the winding Route 78. We stopped on the way home this time, which we usually don’t get a chance to do. Another view from it – so pretty!

June 25, 26 we had our first part of our summer business trip, and went to Jefferson County, OH; Jefferson County, PA; Forest and Warren Counties, PA. With this being our anniversary we also went over to Salamanca, NY and ate at Napoli’s pizza and visited our old camping favorite area at Allegheny State Park. July 3 we went on the second part OF the first part of our trip – ha ha – with the addition of 3 counties we had to have an additional one-day trip, where we went to Greene County, PA, and ate dinner with our friends Pat and Tim in Uniontown – we called this our SECOND 25th anniversary dinner Smile

Mid June brought the beginning of summer camp as well as the full-fledged prep for our graduation parties!

We also had two attempts to see fireworks, (poor Ashleigh had three attempts), all of which were canceled due to weather – storms or wind. Meanwhile the state has been in a drought otherwise. So we’re going to give in one more chance August 5 when we attend the Fest — http://www.thefest.us/.

We attended 2 graduation parties and had our own, and it was really fun but very very busy – and so so hot!!! So far this summer we have had 19 days above 90 degrees. We are hoping for another day of swimming soon as we only so far have gone on June 10. I am sure we will go again…

After all that excitement the past few weeks I have been attempting to do a lot of paper sorting, and also cleaned the kitchen, and am going to make some plans for the next paperwork projects and what other cleaning projects I can complete before school starts. I have gotten nowhere near done what I expected to, but have enjoyed many moments with the family and out in the community, and have met all the paperwork deadlines I had for the kids and college, of which there were many, and many more immediately forthcoming!! My Better Homes and Gardens goal, however, has again been put off…. early this summer I had the full expectation of having the entire house cleaned and organized by now…

What I’d like to do before August 27, when I start school?

Finish all the filing in the office (it’s already sorted by drawer now – yay me! – and all recycling is ready to go across the street). Clean out files if possible.
Almost forgot this one – a big one – try and get 1/4 to 1/2 done with course on educational psych for fall that is already on line – that will put me so much ahead for fall where I’m also taking math for teachers, educational technology, and American sign language [only class on campus, rest online!]
Prioritize all paperwork and put on the calendar and make sure it’s done on time. For Chris, Colleen, Ryan, my college, Rog/Colleen’s college, and anything else I need to do…
Sort all clothes in the three bedrooms and give away the tons we don’t need.
KEEP deleting emails I don’t need – in the last week I have gone from 18000 emails to 2,000 emails, and still deleting.
Go through freezers again and plan more meals to use up what we have.
Complete the deep-cleaning of the kitchen by scrubbing out and sorting all cabinets.
Finish straightening basement, clean out the fridge bins that are down there for the downstairs freezer
Pass out Avon books again.
Finish painting living room?
Work with Colleen on sorting 4 years worth of school documents and organize them into bookcase and filing sorters.
Probably many more ………

As always the summer is flying by. I go back to school August 27, Colleen starts August 25 (Mon/Wed. 10-4:45 (big break in the middle so far where I’d like to help her schedule a voice class at Fine Arts!), and Thurs. 9-12:50), Roger will start the same week but I’m not sure yet what classes he’s taking – majoring in human services at Lakeland then most likely finishing at Cleveland State. He already has his arts degree (so he’s farther ahead than I was) so hopefully will finish before me maybe – we hope to finish up by 2015 anyhow!! Then I’ll be a teacher and he’ll be a special needs social worker. Colleen is starting her graphic design degree.

Chris is doing well and all kinds of plans are in the works with his I/O Waiver and workers, and he starts workshop in the fall! He is doing well, praise God!