Life on the Spectrum

An article that I wrote is featured in the October issue of Crystal Coast Parent Magazine. It's titled, "Life on the Spectrum: Raising a Child with Autism."

You can view the article here.

Feel free to leave a comment about it. I'd love to hear what you think.

It's exciting to see more coverage about autism in mainstream media. I'm thrilled to be able to contribute to that coverage.

Man on a Mission

This is my 'little' brother, John. He is in the Army and currently stationed in Iraq. Just before he deployed, he donated his car to the Autism Society. As if he didn't already earn enough hero points, he's got something else in the works...

He will return to the states for a little bit of leave halfway through his year long tour. What will this soldier do with his precious time away from Iraq? He plans to run in the Walt Disney World Half Marathon for Autism Speaks. He has committed to raise $1500 for Autism Speaks in order to participate in the half marathon.

As you might imagine, his fundraising efforts are seriously hampered while he is deployed overseas. I'm asking all of my readers to please consider making a donation. You can also help by sharing the link to this blog post or John's fundraising page at Autism Speaks. Please post these links on social networking sites or forward them via email. My fellow bloggers can make a difference by posting this information as well. I sincerely appreciate your help with this. Every little bit helps!

Here's the link to the donation page: http://events.autismspeaks.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=316516&supid=271235377

Rock on, little brother!

Because you asked...

I've received several requests recently for buttons to link to this blog and also for affiliate links to my Cafe Press store. Here's how you can participate:

Blog Buttons

Instead of a traditional blog button, you can use the SpectrumHope.com .jpg above. Just add it to your side bar and then hyperlink it to either this blog http://www.spectrumhope.blogspot.com/ or to http://www.spectrumhope.com/ .

Affiliate Program

If you would like to participate in the Cafe Press affiliate program and receive commissions on sales of Spectrum Hope t-shirts and gifts, please click here to sign up. After you register, you can then set your affiliate link to point to the Spectrum Hope store.

To link directly to the Spectrum Hope store, please see the Cafe Press Linking Best Practices and use SpectrumHope (no space) as the shop name in your link.

If you are linking directly to one of my sites, you have my permission to use one of the images in my Cafe Press shop as a button for your link.

Thank you for your interest in working with Spectrum Hope!

Catching Up

Sorry I've slacked off on the blog posting lately. It's been tricky trying to get my work done while sharing a computer with the unemployed hubby. Yep, that's right, still unemployed. It's been 3 and a half months of non-stop job hunting. We can't believe it has gone on this long, but we're hanging in there.

I've been working with Discovery Toys and Shaklee. I've also been writing articles for print publication. Oh yeah...I'm still an autism mom, too. Busy, busy, busy!

Jake is off to a good start in kindergarten. He is mainstreamed for most of the school day and we can already see the benefit of him spending more time with his typically developing peers. He has managed the new environment and the transitions even better than I hoped. He still has a long way to go, but his teacher has been willing to work with him (and us) to make this placement as successful as possible.

Sarah is doing great. She continues to provide me with an unlimited supply of funny stories. I missed this phase with Jake, so I might be reveling in my toddler tales more than the average mom. Just today, when she finished a cup of water and brought it to me for a refill, she announced, "Look Mommy! I have a cup full of empty!"

Does that make her an optimistic pessimist or a pessimistic optimist? I guess if you've got to have nothing, you might as well have a whole lot of it!

Best Bread Yet!

I've been tweaking this recipe for quite a while now and have finally come up with the best gluten-free bread that I have ever tasted. It's much lighter and softer than other GF breads and it bends! I hope you enjoy it too.

2 1/4 cups warm water
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 TBS oil
1 packet active dry yeast

1-22 ounce bag Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose GF Flour
1/4 cup powdered rice milk
4 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp sea salt

In bowl of stand mixer, combine water, syrup, oil and yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes to proof the yeast.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl and whisk well.

With mixer on low speed, slowly add dry ingredients to wet. (I start by adding 2 cups of the flour, mix until well incorporated. Then add about one cup at a time until fully combined.)

Increase speed to medium-high and mix for 3 minutes.

Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Place dough in greased loaf pan. You may notice that this is more moist than other gluten-free doughs.

Loosely cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for about 45 minutes or until dough rises above top of pan.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove plastic and gently smooth top of loaf. With a sharp knife, slice top lengthwise about 1/4 inch deep.

Bake for one hour. Cover with foil after first 15 to 20 minutes of baking.

Let cool completely before slicing.

SearchTACA.com

Here's an easy way to help raise money for families affected by autism! SearchTACA.com is a search engine and a portion of the revenue generated by the site will go to TACA (Talk About Curing Autism). The more the site is used for searching, the more money will be raised.

Please help spread the word!