It started Sunday night with Alvah melting down into a puddle. Shrieking the shriek that any parents knows...the one where you would actually stick a poker into your eye red hot if it was assured the child would stop said shrieking. Yeah...that shriek. While doing everything in his power to hurt himself and others. This went on for seventy two hours.
We have no idea what set him off, but it was just awful around here. I got a MAX of two hours of sleep each night as an escape from the tornado of doom that was his moods. Watching him hurt himself...I would have walked through acid, broken glass, red hot coals...anything to help him stop hurting himself. Nothing worked.
Tuesday we went in for an emergency visit to the psychologist and I must have looked awesome because as soon as we walked in with the screaming, hitting mass of fury that was my son she just shouted to be heard with an upset look on her face and said, "We're starting Risperidone!" I just nodded like the desperate parent that I was, not remembering what Risperidone was (she had mentioned it I did remember that much) . She even asked me in a moment when he was calmer how I was doing and I answered her honestly. If we didn't do something to help him soon I was going to end up getting committed with depression because I was at the end of it, all the while fighting tears. It was not a great moment.
We had to wait another 24 hours as all of the pharmacies in the area didn't have Risperidone in dissolvable tablet form, so that added another 24 hours to the ordeal. BUT, and this is a big BUT with a massive silver lining folks, the medicine came in and we started him on it last night. Within 20 minutes of giving him the pill there was an IMMEDIATE improvement. No more self harm episodes and it was like I had my happy and well adjusted kid back. I was amazed, astounded and so SO grateful!
But yeah, it got bad enough that my husband even ended up with chest pains from stress at work one night. It was bad.
On top of the son, running (and I mean RUNNING) to take care of the chickens and things in the morning before having to constantly field the son, so housework hasn't gotten done this week (got a bit done today since the son was in a better mood, but honestly I'm just exhausted right now after all of...everything...so I'm going slower than I'd like and then on top of everything else I just failed utterly with the menu plan this week it seemed. The husband and daughter were just not impressed with whatever I served (with the exception of fish and chips one night, which I did as an act of desperation to not hear little side complaints from the peanut gallery...wiped out most of my cooking oil to do it too), which didn't help my mood much in all honesty. Tonight my husband admitted everything seemed to taste better when he'd have it for lunch a few days later, so maybe he just wasn't in the mood for that stuff that night (made me feel better after the fact anyway). At least they ate what was put in front of them, I guess. Better than not.
So, yeah, this week was rough through the first half. Got a bit of good news when I went and checked on the chickens this morning too. Turns out that not having any eggs in the coop at all, or even the scent of an egg being laid, snapped two of the hens out of being broody FAST. They were up and running around today. I even had to run down on the fly, convinced the chickens were being murdered or something with the racket they were making and it was just the two hens and the rooster talking to each other (he was REALLY lonely being all alone out in the run without company). So, yay for uppers to help save a week!
Right, so now after the multitude of things that happened this week, onto this week's menu!
My husband's birthday is this week, so we'll be having angel food cake for his birthday (sadly when given the choice he did choose that out of the choices and said, "Well, at least I can have my favorite cake since that's the only present we can afford right now"...it was a true statement, but I still felt sad that it was true). The daughter and I are also going to make him some sugar cookies, hopefully, although everything is hinging on how well the son's behavior meds work and how good of a mood he's in here (not to mention how well he sleeps).
Meat is getting kind of sparse in the freezer, although we still have plenty of chicken, so I'm going to be working more and more of that into the menu plan...hopefully without it being too monotonous.
Bright side is that the garden is producing some now. I harvested a few rat tailed radishes this week so far and a couple of decent hauls of peas and even a few handfuls of raspberries in the last couple of days (a few seen above in one of my "mini hauls" after the inevitable "Can I have some, mom?" moments *laugh*). We are SO tight on money right now that I am so, so grateful I put in a well sized garden (for the space I have available). Every bit of food helps right now.
So, onto this week's menu!
Wednesday: One dish roast beef (London Broil) with roasted veggies (carrots from freezer from the garden last year, peas from garden, potatoes from fridge), bread (menu before we ate seen above there).
Thursday: Bratwurst, sauerkraut (from pantry...I only have one jar left after this! Eek!!! Grow fast cabbage!), bread.
Friday: Hamburgers, french fries, salad
Saturday: Meat pie (use leftover beef roast with more veggies from freezer for filler. Use home made biscuits placed on top for "top crust").
Sunday: Sausage gravy and biscuits (use leftover biscuits from night before), fruit cocktail.
Monday: Waffles, sausages, fruit cocktail (left over from night before). This is dependent on son's mood. Here's hoping!
Tuesday: Easy to stuff manicotti, garlic toast, salad.
Desserts: Angel food cake with chocolate frosting, beignets (use puff pastry...bake in oven instead of frying...I KNOW it's not the same thing, but it'll work and preserve what is left of my cooking oil) with home made lemon curd, rhubarb dream bars
Breakfasts: Leftover desserts (I know it's going to happen *laugh*), granola by itself or in yogurt parfaits, oatmeal with pancake syrup or jam or jelly (from pantry), toast, English muffins, victory pudding (use pancake syrup instead of maple syrup).
Snacks: Boiled eggs (one of the hens laid teeny tiny eggs before she went broody, so I boiled those four and a few other regular sized ones for snacks), cheese and crackers (note: Make branch bread), yogurt, apples, raspberries (getting a few right now).
And there you are folks. Our menu for the week. How about you? Eating anything tasty this week?
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