Busy start to the new year

After a week of partying for Christmas, we've rested for a week and now our busy January starts.

Alison is getting her tonsils out this week. She is worried about it understandably. Monday we are going for a hospital tour. Tuesday we call for the exact time of her surgery. Wednesday is surgery day. I know the next few days are not going to be easy for her and I'm trying to set things up so that she feels ok, but deep down I know that no matter what I do, she will freak out.

Ian is making progress with his speech therapist. He's calling me mama about 50% of the time now (and gah-gah the rest of the time). He seems to call me mama more when he can't see me. It is strange, but it is good to hear him say mama no matter what.

Today I started a new project that I'm really excited about. My brother got me a shiitake log for Christmas. It's actually really cool (if you are into shrooms, which I am). I spent some time online today researching them. Apparently they have all sorts of health benefits, are a super protein source, and are even used in cosemetics & drugs. But only if you have the log grown variety. Now the commercial crops are grown in sawdust, have pests/therefore pestisides and are inferior quality. In Asia they only pay $3 lb for sawdust ones but $40-80 for log grown ones. (I was impressed, lol) So I am "shocking" my log as we speak, by soaking it in ice water for 24 hours. If I am lucky in a week I will have shrooms. If not I let it rest and try again in 2 wks. I even printed a special calendar since the thing needs regular maintenance soaks and bi-monthly (is that every other month?) shockings. It's like a pet but less work, lol.