New meds

Got my youngest on some new ADHD meds. She didn't like the other one, didn't feel like it worked at all. This one is Concerta. I don't know much about these medicines. We're going to try Strattera in the summer if this one doesn't work. She is not too good about remembering to take medicine, so I don't know how we can ever get her stabilized. I think I had some of her issues when I was in high school, too. You can grow out of it. I don't know if I have grown out of it, but I know that I have found ways to make up for how easily I get overwhelmed and I know how to increase my abilities to focus.

That does NOT always work, though. Basically, I spend more time than the average person would consider spending! That is how I get so much work done. What takes Sv about 3 hours will take me about 7 to 10. I don't always work during those hours, but I go back and forth working, stopping, working....in fits and starts.....and eventually something emerges.

I like that word, emerges. I let S use it in her essay last night. Her English teacher will only allow 10 mistakes on an essay. Once she gets to 10, she stops reviewing and gives a grade of 50. Her rules are pretty stiff, though. You cannot start a sentence with THE and you cannot use these words at all: Is, am, are, was, be, being, and were. That is harder than you might imagine. I struggled with her on a couple she could not get out. So her essay was very good. She had some convoluted sentences from doing the avoidance dance with those words, so I helped her straighten them out. The amazing thing was that she stayed engaged (another current fav word of mine) the whole time. She was truly trying to work on that paper. She rewrote it twice to my corrections, stayed attentive during our reviews through the essay and continually contributed new ideas and made applicable comments. That was great. You'd think she was already ON some medicine! But she wasn't.

She really is getting so much easier to deal with (I say that now, wait for future blogs) that I wonder if she isn't growing out of some of the moodiness. She is not allowed to go anywhere and she is accepting that and not brooding! Thank you Jesus.

I googled myself again by only my first and last name, no maiden or middle initial---and the first result WAS THAT PICTURE AGAIN!!!
Man, I don't know why that is on there suddenly as the main result. I am hoping other people don't google me (it IS doubtful! I happen to be quite obscure....) and I know I have not googled many people I know---only ones I do not really know--like professors. But I did google my family for the heck of it. The picture I posted on here is not nearly as bad or detailed as the big giant one that comes up when I click on the result. Oh well. Vanity Vanity, let it be gone. My mental assets are sharpening as the old flesh goes into major decline.

HOWEVER.....I found the Dance Zone, which is exercise to hip hop and ballet moves at UT. They are NOT UT, but they are in one of the dorms. I emailed about classes and she said they are at their lowest season due to move-outs and exams. SO....I'm heading to that part of the city to check it out and see if I can humiliate myself, provide some laughs for the young people, and maybe manage to lose 10 pounds over the summer. Dad recommends Weight watchers and friend up North has started on that plan too. We'll see if it works well for her. I hate to go to meetings and think that much about what I'm eating. If it were something I could control more, I wouldn't be where I am at in the first place. But it is getting hard to BREATHE. That means I need to LOSE SOME WEIGHT! I feel like someone took my thumb, blew into it, and I expanded beyond acceptable proportions. Now I've got to work to let out all that air. Oh how I WISH it were air.