50 Is Nifty!

I had such a beautiful birthday. Thank you to my friends and family!!

Retro Albert Nipon dress and COOL vegan handbag.



Shelly and me!


A dozen roses from a wonderful black belt father and son team at Hanko Ryu!


TRUE retro canisters as I slowly turn back the clock in my kitchen.



Vanilla custard filling - Boston Creme Pie Cake.  Mmmmmmm!



My girls!

Outgrown Mom

It's official. Bella has outgrown mom's shoe size. Height is next! 

Merry Christmas

Guardian Angel on Call

So, my nose was running and I walked into the living room to get a tissue. Only to find our nice chair BURNING having been pushed against a Christmas window candle! No flames thank goodness. Saved by snot. Go figure. 

Rice Day!

I "inherited" my Mom's ricer. Makes the very best mashed potatoes ever. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. 

Thanks Sephora from Kim Stagliano On Behalf of Daughters

Reprinted from www.ageofautism.com.

By Kim Stagliano

I want to publicly thank the people at Sephora for acting quickly and pulling a Kat Von D. lipstick whose name was offensive to many of us. 

Kat Von D. is an LA personality known for her extensive tattooing.  You can read her bio here. I can not read her bio there. I am 49 and the font is about size 2 on her site. The lipstick name was Celebutard, which is a real word and is a hybrid of celebrity and retard. Of course the retard part is intended to imply stupid, impaired, disabled.  It's a slur.  It's cousin is Debutard, sometimes used to describe/insult trust fund babies like Paris Hilton. 

I wrote a Huffington Post piece "Are You High on Tattoo Ink?" that caught some attention while expressing my dismay that Sephora hadn't realized how ugly this name was for a beauty product. Other people also wrote about the poorly named lipstick. 

Check out this Tweet exchange from Kat Von D. in which she missed the point of the critique.  The woman she was Tweeting with (I blocked her name for privacy)  and I had a nice exchange today - she realized why many advocates were offended and changed her mind. That's cool. We can all learn and grow. And I hope Miss Von D. also learns and grows from the experience.

Words hurt as much as tattoo needles. And the effects can be as permanent.





Sephora pulled the product from their shelves.   They reacted swiftly and, I think, appropriately.

My kids watch Christmas movies year round. One of their favorites is Santa Claus is Comin' To Town. I love the scene when Kris Kringle asks for help from the Winter Warlock, who is supposed to be the meanest, coldest dude in the forest. The Warlock tries to help Kris get the toys to the kids - but fears he has limited powers. After all, he only has a candle stick stub and a few pieces of magic corn.  But that corn makes reindeer fly (and that leads us to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, which we also watch 12 months a year.)

I'm proud that I was able use my few pieces of magic corn, my really limited powers, to do something positive for a whole lot of people.

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism. Her novel,  House of Cards; A Kat Cavicchio romantic suspense is available from Amazon in all e-formats now. Her memoir, All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa is available in hardcover, paperback and e-book.

Coromega Squeeze Packs Rock!

Gianna loves her daily fish oil now. Makes an easy morning. Well, part of it!! 

Love. Honor. Manhood.

Yesterday my brother and Ed celebrated their wedding - which took place last August after the defeat of DOMA - with a beautiful reception in Boston at Legal's Harborside.  The reception was for family on both sides. My girls were  included with love and acceptance for who they are and how they are (which is not "perfect" because of their autism.)  

How is it that Richard didn't think twice about whom to invite? He was raised by THIS man. My father, who is 91 years old, gave this glorious toast to Richard and Ed yesterday. Of course it is a poem - he has always loved poetry and can recite stanza after stanza from "rote memory." (A term I heard often during homework time as a kid.)

How many gay men and women, teens, have been shunned by family? Cast out? Too many. Not in the Rossi or Wood families.    Love does not come with strings or requirements. It simply exists.

I think this is my Dad's proudest moment - and he has had many. He's told us stories of sticking up for African Americans during WWII taking note of the blatant discrimination. He never wavered in sending my sister and me to college.

He's 91! That's OLD school - and Irish Italian to boot.   Rich and Ed could have faced a stone wall of rejection. Not so. Not so.

My mother too - never wavered in her love for her child. Did she worry about him when he came out?  Every day - I'm sure. That's what a mother does.

And this? Below? THIS IS FAMILY. And I love them.

My parents!

My folks going to my brother and Ed's wedding party today. Love the Caddy limo! 

22 Years Married Yesterday

We are blessed in many ways - despite adversity that would have exploded most marriages years ago. 

Every family member and friend. Some are gone. We miss them. 

Mark left for his sales meeting the Monday after we married. We've yet to do anything "by the book!" 

My favorite reception photo. My friends and I laughing over the mechanics of peeing while wearing 43 pounds of silk and petticoat. 

Before our rehearsal dinner - a beautiful party thrown by Mike and June Stagliano. 

My wonderful Grandma Yoli at my shower. The grande dame of the wedding. 

Time to Teach Someone Else to Make the Donuts!

Pre-Wedding Jitters?

October 18, 1991. We had our rehearsal dinner at the Marriott Hilton Head, SC. My Father in Law and Mother in Law threw a fabulous party for us.  I miss Mike Stagliano very very much. He was a wonderful Father in Law.

Life Changed

10 years ago this month my husband lost his good paying executive job with benefits. And everything changed. Some for the better, like coming home to New England. (Thank you God and baby Jesus.) Some - not so much. No more shopping sprees at Nordstrom's in a shiny killer BMW without a care in the world. I can promise you that in America, once you fall down - or are pushed as in our case - unemployment on top of the financial disaster of autism - it's DAMN hard to get back up again. The deck is stacked against you in a thousand ways - both big and small. It has made me stronger, leaner, more loyal to those who reach out, a bit meaner, well maybe more than a bit, a bit nicer, well maybe not quite a bit, a lot wiser, a whole lot more grateful, and far less tolerant of bullshit.

This is the house we sold to stay afloat.

This is the shiny car we drove. Vroom!

This was my family. Still is......

And my family - it's all that matters to me. It has changed since 2003. We've lost members, gained members. Blood and genetics means nothing to me. I know who has stood by us without judging - who has reached out to us with love and care and kindness - and so many of you are my autism family. And my new CT family.

Snakes on A Pain!!!!

Last May, I told my haircutter that my hair was much too long. It was. Let's take off some length turned into a 1920's bob above my chin. Finally it's growing out. A curl fell in my face today and all I could hear was Samuel L. Jackson yelling,  "Snakes on a plane!!!!!"   Pain. A pain. Moi. Get it?? 

Karate Testing

Cake at Last!

"And one for good luck"

So said Gianna. 

13!!!

Thank you Auntie Shelly! 

My Kitchen Pal Gianna!

Practicing putting hair back to cook. 

I'm at Americas Got Talent at Radio City Music Hall

Seeing Howard Stern live!! 

Homemade Butterfingers

New candy thermometer. These turned out just like crumbly yummy real Butterfingers. Oh my!!!  

Miss 7th Grade

Home sick with tummy trouble on 1st day! Sick last night. So far so good today. 

Junior year

Senior Year