I'm so glad it is over! It actually turned out fairly well and not the flaming disaster I was imagining. We ended up with enough volunteers, the games got set up, mostly without a hitch (I was in the middle of setting up a game this afternoon when Lizzie melted down and I just had to leave. They were finishing up setting it up when I came back to eat), the food was good (well as good as hot dogs and chips can be LOL) and it seemed like the Wii raffle was huge hit.
We went around upstairs and did the games that Lizzie could do then head downstairs to do the sand candles (As a side note, Noodles and Company was supposed to come and do a craft for us but called this afternoon and cancelled, leaving us hanging for a second craft) When we got in there, my friend MJ was alone trying to take tickets, monitor the sand, clean up messes, label the jars with names and pour the wax to actually make them candles. I ended up staying and helping her because there was no way she could do it all herself. She was already several candles behind and had only been doing it for my 15-20 minutes. Fortunately, my mom was there and took the kids and let them do their thing while I helped out. (I told my mom that is sort of the thing they expect the chairperson to do but because it was MJ, I would have helped anyway, since I wouldn't ditch a friend like that) Honestly, we could have used one more volunteer but we took what we could get. Her friend R showed up later to help and she ended up monitoring the tables while I took tickets and labelled jars. Eventually the kids and my mom showed up and the kids were ready to go. There happened to be another game committee member in the room at the time and I begged her to label while I went and rustled up some help. I ran into the volunteer coordinator in the hall and asked who I could have. She directed me to the boyscouts so I grabbed one and drug him back make candles. :)
Poor boyscouts, I was busting their chops all night. They were doing the fishing game and they, despite having 2 poles, were doing it one kid at a time, which was taking forever. I suggested that, maybe, since there were 4 of them in the room, they put 2 kids behind the screen and two handling tickets and get it going 2 at a time, to move things along. Then I suggested that they move the line so that most of the kids were in the room waiting, instead of halfway down the hall. It wasn't that they were that busy but a lot of people walked on by because the line LOOKED really long in the hall. Then I took the kid from the nice sedate "ring a pop" game and threw him into chaos. I was even a little overwhelmed by how many people were in the room and I'm used to kids and things. I went back after we rounded up all of our stuff to pick up the kid's candles and he looked more than a little stressed out. I wouldn't be surprised if her never volunteers for anything else in his life after tonight LOL
I'm anxious to hear feedback compared to last years but I'll have to wait, probably until the next PTA meeting for that.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Birthday weekend recaplet, haircuts and friends
First, I need a haircut. I've been teasing Lizzie and calling her "shaggy dog" because her bangs are starting to get long and in her eyes again. I shouldn't talk because if I didn't part it the way I do, it would totally be in my eyes. It is too short to do anything with but too long just to let be. If I get it cut, it loses all the blond but I might get highlights or something like that. It will probably be awhile before I do anything with it though. If it could get longer, I could get it cut to this length and it would be tolerable.
We spent the weekend in Indy for my b-day. We were supposed to go over Friday and stay Saturday and Sunday. Because of the storm, we decided to drive over Thursday night so we would already be there if the weather turned yucky. Friday, we went to the Children's Museum, which was fun. Saturday (my b-day), we went to a "rainforest garden", then to Chuck E Cheese (they didn't give me a balloon or a crown, even though I told them it was my birthday :( ), then to a crappy hotel. We promptly checked out of it and went back to the original hotel where we had started out the weekend. Then to Outback for dinner (I wanted to try somewhere we had never been but my mom wanted to stick with something we knew would be good). Then back to the hotel to play in the pool. This morning, we got up and had breakfast and then played in the pool for awhile. Then we headed home. More in depth later, when I'm not trying to get involved in a new show (Dexter, edited for CBS)
And about my friends, April is the only person that wished me happy birthday besides my mom and my kids (prompted by my mom but C told me "Happy birthday" about every 20 minutes after he was reminded and Lizzie sang me happy birthday several time LOL). MJ got me a card and a gift certificate (which she totally shouldn't have done but i really appreciate it all the same) but gave it to me aahead of time since I was going to be out of town. I also got a couple of emails from people, so I was pretty happy about that :)
A final note, I'm so glad that Funfest is nearly over with. I will NEVER AGAIN, NO MATTER WHAT, chair a PTA committee (or probably any other committee for that matter). I will volunteer and do what I'm told within the committee, but never again will I be in charge!!
We spent the weekend in Indy for my b-day. We were supposed to go over Friday and stay Saturday and Sunday. Because of the storm, we decided to drive over Thursday night so we would already be there if the weather turned yucky. Friday, we went to the Children's Museum, which was fun. Saturday (my b-day), we went to a "rainforest garden", then to Chuck E Cheese (they didn't give me a balloon or a crown, even though I told them it was my birthday :( ), then to a crappy hotel. We promptly checked out of it and went back to the original hotel where we had started out the weekend. Then to Outback for dinner (I wanted to try somewhere we had never been but my mom wanted to stick with something we knew would be good). Then back to the hotel to play in the pool. This morning, we got up and had breakfast and then played in the pool for awhile. Then we headed home. More in depth later, when I'm not trying to get involved in a new show (Dexter, edited for CBS)
And about my friends, April is the only person that wished me happy birthday besides my mom and my kids (prompted by my mom but C told me "Happy birthday" about every 20 minutes after he was reminded and Lizzie sang me happy birthday several time LOL). MJ got me a card and a gift certificate (which she totally shouldn't have done but i really appreciate it all the same) but gave it to me aahead of time since I was going to be out of town. I also got a couple of emails from people, so I was pretty happy about that :)
A final note, I'm so glad that Funfest is nearly over with. I will NEVER AGAIN, NO MATTER WHAT, chair a PTA committee (or probably any other committee for that matter). I will volunteer and do what I'm told within the committee, but never again will I be in charge!!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Strange dreams
The other night, I dreamed a vortex opened up in the dining room and sucked C into his Lego Star Wars Game. There he was, a little Lego Christopher, running aorund in the game. He was kind of cute :)
Thne last night, I dreamed that we stopped at the gas station for something. Outside, there was a car parked with the windows rolled down (it was freezing cold) and a woman was asleep at the wheel while a baby whimpered and cried in the backseat. I stopped at the car and woke the woman up and I noticed the baby was practically staving. It was sucking it's hands and was super skinny. I asked the woman if she needed some help and she told me no, she just needed to make a bottle. She sort of half heartedly rooted around and came up with nothing. I offered to make the bottle for her and went into the gas station to buy the formula, when I came back, she was asleep again and the baby had stopped crying, and was just staring into space, like it had given up. I woke the woman again and told her that I was going to take the baby inside while I fed it so it could get warm. She just grunted and waved at me. After the baby was fed, I went back to the car and told the woman that I wanted to help her and the baby. That I would babysit the baby until she was able to get it together and take care of her. She argued with me for a minute, then decided that my taking her for awhile was fine. I took her car seat and diaper bag and the woman said she would drop some otehr stuff off later (like clothes because the baby had none and was only wearing a dirty sleeper). I took the baby home and found some of Lizzie's old stuff for her (the fact that I still have baby stuff for my almost 3 year old is sad reality) and put her to bed. The next morning, the woman showed up with stuff for the baby and a little boy who was about 3, also toting a suitcase. The woman told me that her life had improved over night since I took the baby (who was probably 6 months old and hadn't been named) and she couldn't imagine how much better it could get once she got rid of the boy too. So she dumped their stuff and took off before I could call the cops. I called the different agencies and was told they were all too busy to take the kids, so if I wanted them, I could just have them. I decided that was in their best interest and did exactly that.
Thne last night, I dreamed that we stopped at the gas station for something. Outside, there was a car parked with the windows rolled down (it was freezing cold) and a woman was asleep at the wheel while a baby whimpered and cried in the backseat. I stopped at the car and woke the woman up and I noticed the baby was practically staving. It was sucking it's hands and was super skinny. I asked the woman if she needed some help and she told me no, she just needed to make a bottle. She sort of half heartedly rooted around and came up with nothing. I offered to make the bottle for her and went into the gas station to buy the formula, when I came back, she was asleep again and the baby had stopped crying, and was just staring into space, like it had given up. I woke the woman again and told her that I was going to take the baby inside while I fed it so it could get warm. She just grunted and waved at me. After the baby was fed, I went back to the car and told the woman that I wanted to help her and the baby. That I would babysit the baby until she was able to get it together and take care of her. She argued with me for a minute, then decided that my taking her for awhile was fine. I took her car seat and diaper bag and the woman said she would drop some otehr stuff off later (like clothes because the baby had none and was only wearing a dirty sleeper). I took the baby home and found some of Lizzie's old stuff for her (the fact that I still have baby stuff for my almost 3 year old is sad reality) and put her to bed. The next morning, the woman showed up with stuff for the baby and a little boy who was about 3, also toting a suitcase. The woman told me that her life had improved over night since I took the baby (who was probably 6 months old and hadn't been named) and she couldn't imagine how much better it could get once she got rid of the boy too. So she dumped their stuff and took off before I could call the cops. I called the different agencies and was told they were all too busy to take the kids, so if I wanted them, I could just have them. I decided that was in their best interest and did exactly that.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The morality of Survivor
At a discussion board I visit, there is a thread about Survivor. In it, someone mentioned they were glad to see Jonny Fairplay go home because he is a jerk. I mentioned that I liked him and was sad to see him go so early in the game. While he was talking about how he wanted to go home, I kept thinking "what kind of scam is he running" I also said that I like the strategy the fireman is (or was, we'll see if it changes) employeeing as far as getting people together to vote people off. I tend to like the people who play dirty on those shows because that is the point of that kind of show. The person that I was discussing this with brought up the issue of wanting people who are nice to and i countered that playing dirty and being ruthless is the way of the world. No one that is extremely successful is a nice person. She brought up the issue of what her watching those types of shows is teaching her children and that got me thinking.
Does everything in life have to some morally redeeming quality or are people allowed to have guilty pleasures? On one hand, my previous statement that ruthlessness is a way of life stands. Of course, there is the caveat that success is how you define it. Am I successful? I would say yes. I'm a good mother, I work hard, etc. I'm by no means rich but I'm succesful at what I've chosen to do. When I talk about being successful for this arguement, I would define that by being rich, since the point of these shows is to win money.
On the other hand, it could be used to start the conversation of "yes there are people like this in real life, but they aren't the people that anyone wants to be around" Rob and Amber are a perfect example of that. Rob screwed people left and right to get to the final two and at the end, no one would vote for him to win because EVERYONE hated him (it still worked in his favor by marrying the winner but if he hadn't he would have just been a jerk).
So, this post sounded a lot better in my head. I've spent over an hour writing it here though because I keep getting distracted (Make me a Supermodel is funny) and it didn't come out as profound as it sounded when I first started working on it. :(
Does everything in life have to some morally redeeming quality or are people allowed to have guilty pleasures? On one hand, my previous statement that ruthlessness is a way of life stands. Of course, there is the caveat that success is how you define it. Am I successful? I would say yes. I'm a good mother, I work hard, etc. I'm by no means rich but I'm succesful at what I've chosen to do. When I talk about being successful for this arguement, I would define that by being rich, since the point of these shows is to win money.
On the other hand, it could be used to start the conversation of "yes there are people like this in real life, but they aren't the people that anyone wants to be around" Rob and Amber are a perfect example of that. Rob screwed people left and right to get to the final two and at the end, no one would vote for him to win because EVERYONE hated him (it still worked in his favor by marrying the winner but if he hadn't he would have just been a jerk).
So, this post sounded a lot better in my head. I've spent over an hour writing it here though because I keep getting distracted (Make me a Supermodel is funny) and it didn't come out as profound as it sounded when I first started working on it. :(
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Roller Skating, Music and Meatloaf
Talk about diverse, huh?
C and I went skating today. He did it in PE a few months and at the family skate wrap up party, seemed to have some apptitude at it. So we put him in lessons for the last month and he is doing really well. Now, we are trying to commit to going a couple of times a month (bare minimum once a month) so that he can keep practicing. I like to skate and I used to do it all the time but life got in the way (like with everything else) and I hadn't been in 10 years prior to the wrap up party a few months ago. Since then, I have been 3 times in 3 months. Normally, the music SUCKS something fierce. Used to be when I went, even if I didn't like all the music at least I had heard it. Not the case now. Today, I was pleasantly surprised that the music had about a 1:5 for bad songs to good. Typically, it is 10:1 so I think Sunday might be the day that we go since it is more fun when the music is at least stuff I've ever heard.
Speaking of music, Mix had a commercial that said "all the varity of your iPod, without all the download fees" and I was thinking "yeah right. When you play Patsy Cline, followed by Snoop Dogg, followed by Nickleback, then we will talk all the variety of my iPod" LOL I have eclectic tastes to say the very least :)
I'm making meatloaf for dinner tonight. I love meatloaf but it is such a pain to make. I had almost everything in the bowl to mix and went ot get the crackers out of the cabinet, only to find myself an empty box :( Fortunately, my mom had some I could borrow. The other issue is having to wash your hands all the time. Every time I would mix it and then need to add something, I would have to wash my hands. I seriously washed my hands 5 times in the space of 15 minutes. I'm all for cutting down on the spread of germs but that is a little excessive. :) The meat is is now cooking and soon the house will smell really good, though so I'll go put some lotion on and just deal with it. :)
C and I went skating today. He did it in PE a few months and at the family skate wrap up party, seemed to have some apptitude at it. So we put him in lessons for the last month and he is doing really well. Now, we are trying to commit to going a couple of times a month (bare minimum once a month) so that he can keep practicing. I like to skate and I used to do it all the time but life got in the way (like with everything else) and I hadn't been in 10 years prior to the wrap up party a few months ago. Since then, I have been 3 times in 3 months. Normally, the music SUCKS something fierce. Used to be when I went, even if I didn't like all the music at least I had heard it. Not the case now. Today, I was pleasantly surprised that the music had about a 1:5 for bad songs to good. Typically, it is 10:1 so I think Sunday might be the day that we go since it is more fun when the music is at least stuff I've ever heard.
Speaking of music, Mix had a commercial that said "all the varity of your iPod, without all the download fees" and I was thinking "yeah right. When you play Patsy Cline, followed by Snoop Dogg, followed by Nickleback, then we will talk all the variety of my iPod" LOL I have eclectic tastes to say the very least :)
I'm making meatloaf for dinner tonight. I love meatloaf but it is such a pain to make. I had almost everything in the bowl to mix and went ot get the crackers out of the cabinet, only to find myself an empty box :( Fortunately, my mom had some I could borrow. The other issue is having to wash your hands all the time. Every time I would mix it and then need to add something, I would have to wash my hands. I seriously washed my hands 5 times in the space of 15 minutes. I'm all for cutting down on the spread of germs but that is a little excessive. :) The meat is is now cooking and soon the house will smell really good, though so I'll go put some lotion on and just deal with it. :)
Friday, February 15, 2008
Movie and TV quotes
1. Pick 15 of your favourite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly,
and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.
Of course, the hardest part of this will be
coming up with 15 movies I can remember the names to.
All comments are screened so feel free to keep answering.
1. All right, all right, all right, what's it going to be? A Triple Cream Cup for Christopher. A Sizzler for June Marie.
2. You mean you're dropping out? I don't look at it as dropping out! I look at it as a very strategic career move.
3. just put your pickle on everybody's plate college boy and leave the hard stuff to me.
4. What's normal anyways?
5. You said you'd always be there for me! But you're not... and it's because of me. It's my fault... it's my fault...
6. Come in. Come in, my child. We mustn't lurk in doorways. It's rude. One might question your upbringing.
7. I admire that honesty, Natalie, that's a noble quality. Never lose that, because it often disappears with age, or entering politics.
8. All right, sparky, here's the deal. If you wanna court the little lady, ya gotta be a straight shooter. Do ya got it?
9. You are absolutely, unconditionally, positively the most stubborn person I've ever known in my life!
10. One thing I can't stand is the noise, noise, noise, noise!
11. Guessing. I guess no one's coming.
12. Heh, me lead you? Lady look at me, I don't even know where the hell I am half the time!
13. Well, actually, despite popular opinion you really can't beat the truth out of someone.
14. Perseverance does not equal worthiness. Next time you want to get my attention, wear something fun. Low-riding jeans are hot.
15. *perons's name* you're special. Like "stop-eating-the-paste" special?
I cheated. Some of these are TV shows. I don't watch all that many movies so I couldn't come up with 15 :)
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly,
and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.
Of course, the hardest part of this will be
coming up with 15 movies I can remember the names to.
All comments are screened so feel free to keep answering.
1. All right, all right, all right, what's it going to be? A Triple Cream Cup for Christopher. A Sizzler for June Marie.
2. You mean you're dropping out? I don't look at it as dropping out! I look at it as a very strategic career move.
3. just put your pickle on everybody's plate college boy and leave the hard stuff to me.
4. What's normal anyways?
5. You said you'd always be there for me! But you're not... and it's because of me. It's my fault... it's my fault...
6. Come in. Come in, my child. We mustn't lurk in doorways. It's rude. One might question your upbringing.
7. I admire that honesty, Natalie, that's a noble quality. Never lose that, because it often disappears with age, or entering politics.
8. All right, sparky, here's the deal. If you wanna court the little lady, ya gotta be a straight shooter. Do ya got it?
9. You are absolutely, unconditionally, positively the most stubborn person I've ever known in my life!
10. One thing I can't stand is the noise, noise, noise, noise!
11. Guessing. I guess no one's coming.
12. Heh, me lead you? Lady look at me, I don't even know where the hell I am half the time!
13. Well, actually, despite popular opinion you really can't beat the truth out of someone.
14. Perseverance does not equal worthiness. Next time you want to get my attention, wear something fun. Low-riding jeans are hot.
15. *perons's name* you're special. Like "stop-eating-the-paste" special?
I cheated. Some of these are TV shows. I don't watch all that many movies so I couldn't come up with 15 :)
Wii Rock
This is a video of me and my friend April boxing on the Wii. Dh shot it with the camera on his computer so it isn't the best quality, but it is still pretty funny.
American Graffiti
I've been listening to this soundtrack for 20 years, maybe longer. I found an old tape of my Dad's when I was a kid and listened to it until the tape fell apart. A few years later, my parents got me the CDs for my birthday, which was promptly put into heavy rotation in my CD collection. I haven't listened to it for awhile (I haven't listened to many of my CDs in the past 10 years) but recently, I was looking through my CDs and ended up ripping most of them to my MP3 player. Since I've been walking, I've been listening to the AG soundtrack again and I realized that I have never seen the movie. So I got it from the library and I'm terribly sad to say that I now know why I haven't seen it :(
I'm watching it now and I've watched half of it and aside from the soundtrack (which, obviously, I was well aware was stellar), it doesn't have too many redeeming qualities. They way too old guy (every group has one, who else is going to buy the beer) with the way too young girl is kind of funny. The nerd jumping the gun at the light got a giggle and that is about it. The Ron Howard/Richard Dreyfuss story line is dead BORING.
The other thing I'm really surprised about is the rating. Personally, I don't care but I'm really surprised that it only got a PG rating with language like "bullshit" and "god damn", not to mention all the raunchy sex talk.
I've invested this much time in it so I will probably finish watching it but it movie won't rank anywhere near the soundtrack (unlike Grease, which movie and soundtrack both rank highly).
I'm watching it now and I've watched half of it and aside from the soundtrack (which, obviously, I was well aware was stellar), it doesn't have too many redeeming qualities. They way too old guy (every group has one, who else is going to buy the beer) with the way too young girl is kind of funny. The nerd jumping the gun at the light got a giggle and that is about it. The Ron Howard/Richard Dreyfuss story line is dead BORING.
The other thing I'm really surprised about is the rating. Personally, I don't care but I'm really surprised that it only got a PG rating with language like "bullshit" and "god damn", not to mention all the raunchy sex talk.
I've invested this much time in it so I will probably finish watching it but it movie won't rank anywhere near the soundtrack (unlike Grease, which movie and soundtrack both rank highly).
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Love and marriage
C approached me after school and asked me "when 2 boys get married, can they have a baby" I told him that they couldn't physically HAVE a baby but that they could certainly adopt a baby. Of course, that led to having to explain what, exactly adoption is. After I got through that explanation, he announced "well then, I'm going to marry J and we will adopt a son." So I had ot ask why he wanted to marry J (the way his mind works never fails to amaze me so I HAD to know the answer) His response? "Because he tells the funniest jokes" Sure, ok.
J's mom is down with it and likes the idea of getting to be "mother of the bride"(although C says they will say "I now pronounce you husband and husband and then they will say 'you may hug the husband' because there won't be any kissing" LOL) AND getting to be a grandmother. C thinks tomorrow would be a good day to have a wedding.
My mom is pretty stressed out by the whole thing and felt compelled to point out that typically boys marry girls, not boys. Of course, I had to pipe in with "but if that is the person you love, boys can marry boys and girls can marry girls and it doesn't matter what other people do" C mentioned that O could marry A because they are both girls and I said "or O could marry B" which was met with a sound of disgust(all kids in his class) to which I was told "well they would say you can kiss the bride and then B would throw down his bow tie and say 'I quit' because girls are gross. ROFL
J's mom is down with it and likes the idea of getting to be "mother of the bride"(although C says they will say "I now pronounce you husband and husband and then they will say 'you may hug the husband' because there won't be any kissing" LOL) AND getting to be a grandmother. C thinks tomorrow would be a good day to have a wedding.
My mom is pretty stressed out by the whole thing and felt compelled to point out that typically boys marry girls, not boys. Of course, I had to pipe in with "but if that is the person you love, boys can marry boys and girls can marry girls and it doesn't matter what other people do" C mentioned that O could marry A because they are both girls and I said "or O could marry B" which was met with a sound of disgust(all kids in his class) to which I was told "well they would say you can kiss the bride and then B would throw down his bow tie and say 'I quit' because girls are gross. ROFL
Monday, February 11, 2008
The haps
Lots going on. C finished roller skating lessons and has requested a roller skating b-day party (nothing like planning for the future LOL). I'm planning to take him a couple of times a month so he can keep practicing. He is also COMPLETELY obsessed with Star Wars. This is from Lego Star Wars. We got this for the Xbox and after playing all 6 episodes, he decided he needed to see all the movies. We are doing "milkshake and a movie" night on Weds and seeing all the episodes, starting with 1 and working towards 6. I haven't ever seen all the movies either so he is excited that I get to see it for the first time with him. He has also started collecting action figures from the movies, so yay, more toys.
Lizzie starts shake and make in a few weeks and she is really excited. She has been so sad since we didn't get into Wiggles and Giggles. She keeps asking when she gets to go to her "school" again. Other than that, she hasn't had a lot going on.
I've been working at the school with the K-3 reading program, which is 100% not as advertised. We were told that it would be a mentoring type program with one or two kids and focused reading instruction. Instead it is 9 kids (on the big day, only 6 the other day). What ends up happening is 1 or 2 kids are paying attention andthe others are laying on the floor or playing with the globe or picking at the carpet and completely not paying attention. I spend more time saying "guys, if you aren't going to pay attention, you'll have to go back to your class" than I do actually doing anything with them. I did stop doing the Wed group, which I feel kind of bad about but I don't enjoy the large group aspect of it. I don't feel like I'm doing any good when only one or two (that seem to already know the material and I wonder why they are in the group) are even getting the information.
Other than that, I've been walking nearly everyday for the last two weeks, no weight lost but I find I'm walking faster and working harder so I must be getting healthier.
As to my other goal of not being so poor, I haven't done the best job of not just spending money, but I'm doing better. I quit just hanging out at Target, which has helped. I need to stop "running by Meijer" for things since every time I go in, I spend $50. It is always stuff I need, but when I say "I'm going to get Jello", there is no need to come out with 5 bags of stuff. I need to do my shopping all at once and just quit going more than once. However, with our taxes, I'm going to pay off my van and then my student loan and that will help a ton!
That is really all, been watching the last season of Gilmore Girls, trying to keep up on the housework, and planning the games for Funfest (which is another thing I'm so not thrilled about but that is another post altogether) and just trying to keep my head above water.
Lizzie starts shake and make in a few weeks and she is really excited. She has been so sad since we didn't get into Wiggles and Giggles. She keeps asking when she gets to go to her "school" again. Other than that, she hasn't had a lot going on.
I've been working at the school with the K-3 reading program, which is 100% not as advertised. We were told that it would be a mentoring type program with one or two kids and focused reading instruction. Instead it is 9 kids (on the big day, only 6 the other day). What ends up happening is 1 or 2 kids are paying attention andthe others are laying on the floor or playing with the globe or picking at the carpet and completely not paying attention. I spend more time saying "guys, if you aren't going to pay attention, you'll have to go back to your class" than I do actually doing anything with them. I did stop doing the Wed group, which I feel kind of bad about but I don't enjoy the large group aspect of it. I don't feel like I'm doing any good when only one or two (that seem to already know the material and I wonder why they are in the group) are even getting the information.
Other than that, I've been walking nearly everyday for the last two weeks, no weight lost but I find I'm walking faster and working harder so I must be getting healthier.
As to my other goal of not being so poor, I haven't done the best job of not just spending money, but I'm doing better. I quit just hanging out at Target, which has helped. I need to stop "running by Meijer" for things since every time I go in, I spend $50. It is always stuff I need, but when I say "I'm going to get Jello", there is no need to come out with 5 bags of stuff. I need to do my shopping all at once and just quit going more than once. However, with our taxes, I'm going to pay off my van and then my student loan and that will help a ton!
That is really all, been watching the last season of Gilmore Girls, trying to keep up on the housework, and planning the games for Funfest (which is another thing I'm so not thrilled about but that is another post altogether) and just trying to keep my head above water.
Friday, February 8, 2008
So taxing
We finished our taxes last night and we found out that we will be getting over 6k back! That is enough to completely pay off my van!!! Then I can that money and put it on my student loan and have it paid off in the less than a year. I'm so excited to be out from under this debt and in plenty of time to start saving to replace dh's car (it is 7 years old and will probably be good for another couple but I don't want to be in huge deb again so a nice down payment would be great)
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