Hi everyone. This week has been tough, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Let me share a gratitude list. As usual, I’m joining in with Ten Things of Thankful (#TToT).
1. I am grateful for warm and cozy pajamas. They’re probably a size too big and the sleeves and legs are too long, but they’re really snuggly.
2. I’m grateful for warm enough weather that I can still wear short-sleeved shirts during the day.
3. I am grateful for the care home’s side-by-side bike. Unlike my previous care home, the new one has its own side-by-side bike for all residents to use. At my previous care home, one fellow client had one and, though I could occasionally borrow it, that didn’t always feel right. Besides, she is significantly taller than me, so her bike was too large for me. So was the side-by-side bike we sometimes borrowed for my physical therapy. I am, for this reason, grateful my current care home’s side-by-side bike can be adjusted to fit my size.
4. I am grateful for speculoos (known as Biscoff in the United States if I’m correct). I have been enjoying this a lot lately. Which reminds me, I need to locate the recipe for Biscoff brownies I once saw on Reddit.
5. I am grateful for sleep. With the exception of last night, I slept quite well here at the new care home most nights.
6. I am grateful for a productive dietitian’s appt on Wednesday. I am sort of grateful for my weight. I say “sort of” because it’s within the healthy range but lower than my and my dietitian’s agreed-upon lower weight goal. Honestly, there are really just two voices competing in my head: one that says this weight is still healthy so scriew my goals and let’s lose more, and one that worries that something medical is going on because I am not restricting at all.
7. I am grateful my staff aren’t really pushing me to be in the living room more. I am also grateful that I can be there sometimes.
8. I am grateful my staff listen to my concerns about the cuts to my one-on-one support and are trying to make things work as best as they can.
9. I am grateful my old home’s behavior specialist also took my and my mother-in-law’s concerns seriously and is going to inform my current home’s behavior specialist.
10. Most of all, I am grateful for a new day schedule. This looks surprising in light of my previous two points, but hear me out. After both me and the staff raising our concerns, my one-on-one was for now raised back to the level it was at my previous care home. This does apparently mean the care home get less money than they spend on me. I for now dropped my wish to actually see the financial paperwork in detail and will stop moaning about how my previous care home cut my budget and blamed the home in Raalte, which after all is as much a theory as the home in Raalte having spent money they didn’t have. Anyway, with my one-on-one back to the old level, my new assigned staff designed an even slightly better day schedule for me than the one at my previous care home. I now will have a 75-minute activity time slot in the afternoon. This should be enough for a medium-level (for me) polymer clay project. Or for baking the aforementioned Biscoff brownies.
A Multitude of Musings 
Sounds like a great week!
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
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Not necessarily great, but it did end on a positive note.
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Congratulations on getting settled into your new place! It sounds like there are many good things about it. A light at the end of the tunnel is nice! Hope you have a great week!
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Thank you so very much! I’m so happy to be settling in too.
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A great gratitude list, Astrid! Enjoy those brownies when you bake them!
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Thank you. I eventually decided not to bake those brownies yet but to try banana bread first.
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Hi Astrid:
Freya shared a Biscoff breakfast.
[if you’re into rice flakes too it would be a great choice!]
This is in the website CHILD RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT.
https://childresidentialtreatment.com/autistic-breakfast-recipes/
Scouring through r/baking too.
And possibly Dessert Porn’s subreddit – Stuffed Cookies.
***
I also am wearing short-sleeved shirts through the day – especially today and yesterday.
In Oz speculoos are quite well known through the European shops, specifically the Dutch ones, and even in a low-budget supermarket.
They are more hard than gooey?
Hooray for adjustable bikes!
The bike I picked up at the beginning of the year had to be adjusted for me.
***
Tough weeks and how to survive them…
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Thanks for sharing these ideas. I remember seeing speculoos mentioned as a Dutch food in an Australia-based FODMAP diet app, so it doesn’t surprise me it can be found there. By the way, are you Adelaide? Your comment is displaying as anonymous for whatever reason.
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Hmmm…
Yes, I am Adelaide!
May be a WordPress problem, as I realised it was not just my comment which was appearing anonymously.
Perhaps it is catching the people who don’t have WordPress or Facebook accounts available.
I realised I had speculoos and speculaars confused.
And the history of speculaars in Flanders, Belgium has become fascinating.
FODMAP – a recent cookbook has taken up the drum for it.
PHILOXENIA – A PLACE AT MY TABLE by Kon and Sia Karapanagiotis.
FODMAP was developed in great part at Monash University.
[and now there is such a thing as Login Optional on your blog…]
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Oh yes, WordPress has been acting out weirdly with comments. I guess the optional login thingy is because I at one point disabled the requirement that people share their name and E-mail address, because this was causing difficulty for people who had WordPress in the past but don’t use it anymore, where WP constantly prompts them to log in with their WP account.
Speculaas is Dutch; Speculoos is the Lotus Biscoff thing that’s originally from Flanders. Sorry for confusing you too, since I’m pretty sure it was speculaas that was on the Monash FODMAP app.
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It sounds like things are going better than in the last place and you are happier. 🥳
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Things are certainly better than they were in the early weeks and even months at my previous home, so I am grateful.
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I like pajamas being too big, it makes them feel extra snuggly.
The bike sounds wonderful and it sounds like you are settling into your new home. I am glad the staff seem supportive. x
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Not trying to be mean to my old home’s staff (some of who had a lot on their plates), but the staff here are a lot more supportive indeed. Thanks so much for stopping by.
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I am so happy to hear about all the things you are grateful for. Wishing you all the best always.
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Thanks so very much!
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Good sleep is something we all have to be really thankful for. Nothing but peace of mind can get us good sleep. Not any of our material possessions.
https://bpradeepnair.blogspot.com
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I agree. Thanks so much for stopping by.
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