The Fabulous Follies of a Freaky Family

School update

2012-01-06T17:37:00.003-06:00

You all know the WF has issues at school. We started talking about getting him real help in the spring but had to wait for school to start again this fall to have the actual meetings and paper signings. Starting in September, he finally started taking a battery of tests every week for math and writing. He also met with the OT several times and was evaluated by the speech path.

We had our IEP meeting yesterday afternoon and what came of it is that he has hyper flexible joints, which is causing some of his motor control issues. He also has low tone and needs core strengthening work. They suggested some kind of focused training program like Tae Kwon do, swimming lessons or gymnastics. I'm on the fence about forcing him to do something he obviously has no interest in, especially something that is going to cost me a fortune. The OT suggested that he needs a desk that allows him to stand and work, since he simply won't sit and ends up laying across the desk or kneeling in his chair and none of that is helping his hand writing.

The speech path said despite observing him in several situations and even trying to induce some stress to trigger his stutter, she was unable to observe any stuttering that impedes communication.

He ended up being labeled as having a specific learning disability, so he will now be getting 60 minutes of individual writing instruction each week. He is also going to start using voice recognition software and dictating all of his writing. Part of his writing instruction will involve learning to edit those dictated documents, since VR doesn't always have any idea what you are saying. We have crossed fingers that since he is using his own laptop (we bought it for him last year when he was supposed to be typing everything but it has spent most of it's time taking up space on his desk), it will actually learn his speech patterns and will get better as he uses it. He will also be allowed to use spell check on those documents, which was something his 504 plan prohibited.

The only thing I was disappointed about was that he isn't getting any accommodations in math. He scored within the normal range on all of his math tests, despite not knowing most of his math facts. He can find the answer but can't spit them out in speedy manner, so he isn't able to pass the timed tests they give. I was hoping for the ability to use a calculator on math work or at a minimum, a times table. Barring that, I was hoping for either additional time on timed tests or and end to those completely. In a couple of years, calculators will be available as a matter of course, so he just needs to hang in there until then.

So although it has taken FOREVER to get to this point (initial evaluations were discussed 2 years ago) I'm pretty happy with the outcome and I'm thrilled with his team. His case worker is super and the whole team is working hard to get him started on the right path.

Right now, he is struggling with the dictation because his VR program is flubbed up. It only picks up about every second or third word, which means A LOT of editing, which he has never really had to do. It feels like once he gets the hang of it, this will be a far better option for him.

Low Key Christmas

2011-12-30T22:15:00.002-06:00

Last year, we went completely over the top for Christmas. We bought tons of toys and then Santa brought them a Band Hero set, including the giant drum kit and the grandparents got them a bunch of stuff too. And they didn't use hardly any of it in the last year. In fact, they had the band kit less than 6 months before they had completely destroyed the drums.

This year, we scaled it way back. They bought each other a few small gifts (I actually picked them out and bought them because they decided they wanted to do it on Dec 23rd after 5pm and I so wasn't taking them to Target with all the other crazies. He got her snowman slippers and sparkly peppermint flavored lipgloss.

She got him a space themed game similar to Chutes and Ladders and a Mario Kart Drawing pad

Santa brought her some pink DJ headphones so she doesn't have to borrow her brother's anymore.

Santa brought him Stratego and he was super excited about it.

At this point, they gave up on the hold up and smile portion of the gift opening so you can't tell what any of the other presents are. :)

She got Just Dance 3 fo the Wii

And he got Lego Harry Potter years 5-7

They also each got a complete book set. Her's was the entire collection of Junie B. Jones

And he got the 39 Clues

And thanks to the Girl Scout magazine sale, both kids got a magazine subscription for the next year. He got Dig, a magazine about archeology, which was funny because I picked it out without his knowing, then he brought home a copy that he bought at the used book sale at school. So they would have more to unwrap, I took his copy and wrapped it and put it under the tree for him to open.

She got Jack and Jill, which I borrowed a copy of from the library and wrapped for her.

Besides the other stuff they got from Nonni on Christmas Eve she gave them snow boards with handles that they are just DYING to use. Unfortunately, no snow means no snow boards.

A little later in the day, two small gifts were "found" under the tree. They opened them and were a little confused, since it was just a page of pictures of a waterpark.

On the paper it said "how about we go here" and MT figured out what that meant first.

Nonni asked her went she would like to go and she said "tomorrow!" Nonni said "how about right now?" The reaction was understandably excited.

Everything was packed and in the car and ready to go, all they had to do was put on real clothes.

Before they could do that, MF started to cry because she was "so happy"

So that was our version of a low key Christmas, where before noon on Christmas day, the kids took off with my parents and we had the house to ourselves for 3 days. :)

That's the teacher in her

2011-11-16T16:22:00.002-06:00

WF is having some issues this evening with getting his homework done. Part of it is because he didn't bring all of it home, part is because he didn't finish all of it last night because of choir (note, never again will he stay with the group after school for a 6 pm performance) and part is because he is copping major attitude about doing anything.

While he was sliding around on his chair, MF was sitting at the table watching a movie on her DVD player (with headphones and the screen turned away from him, to prevent distractions). She told him to stop sliding around and sit still a couple of times and he completely ignored her (better than the screaming I was getting as basic responses earlier). She paused her movie, got out of her chair and stomped across the floor and yelled "you need your ball" Then she came into the living room, got his yoga ball out and looked at me and said "he is driving me crazy, maybe he'll sit still on this" and rolled it into the kitchen for him. Surprisingly, he still isn't sitting still, but now is laying draped the ball with the book on the chair and still not reading but also not annoying her.

The Apple experience

2011-11-10T20:53:00.003-06:00

I use a few Apple products and RF is a total fanboy. Other than computers, I've generally found Apple products lacking, compared to their cheaper alternatives. If you have read any of my blog, you know that I am cheap, cheap, cheap and simply can't stomach spending extra money for most things. A common refrain is "and it just isn't worth the money" The Apple products I've found most useful are the ones I've been given or have found and didn't pay anything for. I bought myself an iPod mini a couple of years ago and while it is a nice music player, it doesn't do anything that my $15 dollar Sandisk didn't do (in fact, there are a few things that it doesn't do, that my Sandisk did).

We recently upgraded our cell phones to iPhones (4s, which are fun) and it was a case of being a comparable price to other smart phones so I couldn't see a reason not to. We've had them about a week and I've found a list of pros and cons associated with them. The biggest con (and it certainly isn't exclusive to Apple) is the lack of a physical keyboard. To get a keyboard, I had the choice of Blackberry (with virtually no apps) or 1 Droid. Every other smart phone in the store was an on screen keyboard. I'm finding the keyboard more responsive than I expected but it is still on screen and lacks proper punctuation.

It also doesn't really support many Google products, of which I use a lot! I use Gmail, which doesn't work well with exchange. If I go to the internet and go to Gmail from there, it works fine, but not on the mail client. I use a lot of features of Gmail, like the starred emails and the priority inbox. I also dislike the lack of previous email availability. For example, today I was looking for an email that I had saved a few months ago and finding it was like pulling teeth. Eventually, I was able to come up with some search terms that found me what I wanted, but it shouldn't have been that difficult. It also doesn't support Google maps/navigation and none of the other map programs I've found seem to have the same functionality. MapQuest is ok, but not the same.

Another big con is a lot of games and apps that were free on Android are paid on iPhone and that annoys me! And finally, my battery life sucks! RF says his is ok but mine is so bad I'm honestly concerned that if we go anywhere that I don't have a perfect signal the entire time, I won't make it through a whole day of actually using the phone. Hopefully, the new software update will fix some of it, but I'm not sure what is going to happen, if it doesn't.

The other con is bad photo sharing on Facebook. On my Droid, I snapped the picture and could select how I wanted to share it, be it FB, Twitter, messaging, drop box, etc. On the iPhone, I have to take the picture, open the FB app, select to upload a picture, find the picture I want and then finally upload it. I can see my FB shares going way down (which I'm sure some of you will appreciate) because it is such a process to get it done.

Some pros, it is MUCH faster than my Droid. I don't know if that is a function of newer technology or what but having apps actually do what I tell them, when I tell them, is pretty nice.

Another pro is that it doesn't force close everything all the time. Again, newer technology? I can't say for sure but it a real perk to have a phone that actually works.

The final, and biggest, pro is Siri. It is super cool and the voice recognition works really well. I never once had voice recognition work properly on the Droid. Mostly I use Siri to send texts while I'm driving but it is pretty useful for managing other things on the phone, like adding calendar events, and it is pretty funny at times. :)

overheard: nailed it edition

2011-10-07T15:09:00.003-05:00

WF is playing Xbox while MF plays with her slap bracelet. She commented that it could be a hair accessory.

WF: Yeah, for a freak maybe. You should donate it to the freak society.
MF: I know the freak society. I used to the be the president. Now I'm the vice president.

And that, my friends just about sums it up, doesn't it!

I think it might be time for dance classes

2011-09-29T18:57:00.002-05:00

MF wanted to watch a show together and picked Camp Rock 2. Every song that came on, she had to get up and dance.

She can't back dow.

I'm a particular fan of the "in your face" at the beginning and the "eye cover, hair flip" near the end :)

That's what I said!

2011-09-26T14:58:00.003-05:00

I'm watching a friend's kids this afternoon and I was helping the oldest with her homework. She asked me what the word "quirl" meant. I told her I didn't know, let me see what word she was talking about. She showed me the word "quarrel" I said "Oh, it means like an argument. A Qu-ar-el," "Ug, that's what I SAID" Oh yay, the teenage attitude, already :)

Overheard: Race car edition

2011-09-15T21:22:00.002-05:00

The kids were playing a race car game while I was driving the other day from the backseat I hear:

MF: MF is in the lead. WF is bringing up the rear. MF wins! MF wins, the crowd goes wild!

WF: No way MF did not win. She is a cheater. Just look, she has special antioxidant tires.

Found: one time travel device

2011-08-23T09:50:00.002-05:00

I was at school dropping of snack for the 4th grade today. They were doing their science lesson while I was there and I hung out for a few minutes to observe. The teacher does a KWL when they start a topic, which means what do we already Know, what we Want to learn and what we will Learn. So they were talking about space and someone said that space in infinite. Up goes WF's hand. The teacher called on him (and honestly, I know what kind of irrelevant answers he tends to give so I held my breath a little bit) and he says "some scientists believe that space is always expanding but eventually, it will get so big that it will come back in" His teacher says "Oh yeah, I think that is called negative matter. They can't see it but they can look for signs of it"

They move on down line and eventually another kid says that space has black holes. The teacher talks about how when he was a kid the question was are there black holes, now it is what happens to things that get sucked into black holes.

Boom, up goes my kid's hand again. I think "gah, what can he contribute to that discussion?", because you know that something about black holes triggered his thought. The teacher calls on him and he says "It's my opinion that things that get sucked into black holes go to a different time and place. A black hole is just a tunnel to somewhere else"

As I push my eyes back in my head, the teacher commented that lots of books have that theme and asked if anyone could think of one off the top of their head.

All I could think was "that's my little nerd!" LOL

Overheard: That about sums it up edition

2011-08-12T13:17:00.003-05:00

Me: rant, rant rant, you need to things in a timely manner, quit piddling around, rant, rant rant.

WF: The only that runs on me is my nose.

MF: And your mouth.

WF: *appalled*

Me: Yeah, she's not wrong LOL

Deck-atude

2011-07-16T16:01:00.003-05:00

When we bought our house, we didn't realize there as a significant low spot in the middle of our front sidewalk. We figured out this spring that every time it rained, we were leaping over puddles or tromping through the mud.

So it looked sort of like this.

I asked my Father in law if there was something we could do to increase drainage there and his suggestion was to build a deck. So we did.

He stopped by last night with his tractor and ripped out the bushes at the front of the house. He also broke up part of the sidewalk that would run under the deck so that we can widen or driveway, once we have saved up the money to get that done. For right now, we will put some stepping stones in there, to keep it from being all muddy.

Last night, while I took the kids to see Camp Rock, The Musical, they bought the wood

And started building the frame.

They worked until about 10:30 last night simply because it was so much cooler. FIL showed back about 6:30 this morning and the finished out the frame. My Phantom friend came over and brought another drill (and donuts, those are the kind of workers to have!) and as fast as FIL could get the boards off the trailer and fitted, Phantom, RF and I were screwing the decking down. About 1:30, we simultaneously got hungry, ran out of screws and my drill died. While FIL got more screws, I plugged in my drill to charge and we pick up pizza for lunch. After lunch, we finished off the decking, with my drill dying again, 3 screws from the end.

It really looks nice and MIL is bringing us a wrought iron bistro set to put out there until we can get around to making some chairs and a table to sit out front. We need some dirt to fill in where the sidewalk was and around the base of the boards and we need to mount my solar lights to the deck (so we don't have to pull them up every time we mow) and we'll be all done. From start of the decking to finish, including lunch, it took us two and a half hours, with 4 people working pretty much non-stop.

Our house looks pretty different, with that on the front now!

Cars 2 Review

2011-07-07T20:52:00.003-05:00

My mom is off work this week to get their move done but it has gone so well that she had some spare time today, so we took the kids to see Cars 2. I recently read a review (where incidentally, I commented that I probably wouldn't see this movie in the theater) that said that this move was terrible. I will admit that I didn't care for the first movie but I wanted to like this movie. I've had bad luck with movies recently and I would hoping this would break that streak.

I'm glad we went because this was a pretty good movie. MF was excited to see it but WF didn't want to go, insisting that Cars 2 was only for 5 year olds. I showed him a few trailers and he decided that maybe it looked it ok. We got our popcorn and got situated in time to watch a few previews (on a side note, there were only 3 or 4 previews instead of nearly 30 minutes of them so that was happy). The Toy Story short at the beginning of the movie was good stuff. Ken and Barbie miss their Hawaiian vacation so the toys put one on for them.

Cars 2 starts with Lightening off racing and Mater doing his thing in Radiator Springs. Lightening comes back for the summer, but ends up going to the Worldwide Grand Prix with his Radiator Springs pit crew. Once they get to Japan, Lightening is annoyed and embarrassed by Mater's behavior and tells him to stop acting like himself. Mater manages to fall into the middle of an international spy mission and meets a pretty girl in the process. Through several gun battles, a few high speed chases and a few dangerous situations, Mater learns that being himself is just fine. Lightening learns that you take your friends as they come and you shouldn't try to change them and they both come home with a great story to tell.

I'm not a particular fan of spy movies or of car movies but this was bright, fun race around the world. I particularly liked the Tokyo scenes, with the neon and the bright colors. The Italian countryside shots were very pretty as well. I think I would be more inclined to watch actual racing if they were racing in scenes like in this movie. I've heard several people say that the spy plot was convolution and difficult to follow. Personally, I didn't find that to be the case and both kids were able to follow it pretty well. I was also glad to see that Lightening wasn't really the focus of the movie. Lightening has moments of being a decent person but overall he is kind of a jerk and remains as such in this movie. Mater was always a better person and it was fun to see him with his fancy spy gadgets.

I do agree with other reviewers who said that this was a violent movie. There were several large gun battles, explosions, on screen torture, implied character death (they called them on screen deaths but I felt most of them were implied as exposed to explicit, except for the scene were the bad guy said "kill him" and then there was an explosion), etc.

MF proclaimed it the best movie ever and said she wanted to get rid of her Barbie to make room for more Cars 2 stuff. WF said he thought it was pretty good and he really liked the explosions and the spy story line. I thought some of the stuff was over the heads of young children but it was great for my kids (9 and 6) and had enough humor for the adults to enjoy it to. Like all Pixar movies, it was filled with inside jokes and referrals to other movies.

I enjoyed this movie and so did the kids and my mom. This isn't a really movie for the preschool set, especially sheltered preschoolers. This movie was written for first generation Cars fans, who have grown up a little. Bottom line, if a kid wasn't old enough to see the original on the big screen, this movie might not be for them. For older kids and adults, I would rate it as 4 stars out of 5

You CAN fit a patio table in a 5 gallon bucket

2011-07-03T18:27:00.002-05:00

Last summer when we were moving, we needed a new patio table. We found one for ridiculously cheap at Menards and it went well with our chairs. I wasn't super keen on it having a glass top, but the price was right so we got it.

I went in the backyard Friday evening and found this:

(notice the wood table under it? That is my other end table that I killed the drill battery on the day before)

After yelling WTF, I set about cleaning all the glass up, which fit neatly in a 5 gallon bucket. After that fun was over, we had to find a new table ASAP, since we are hosting our annual 4th of July cookout tomorrow. We went to Menards again hoping to find another cheap one to replace it with, but I told RF no matter how cheap, I absolutely didn't want another glass top. Unfortunately, none of their clearance stuff was anywhere close to the right price (especially when they had a table alone for over $300) so we decided it couldn't be all that hard to build one ourselves. It's not rocket science, right?! We priced out the lumber and figured out, total investment would be less than $50.

We bought the lumber and zipped home to get started on it, since it was already 8pm. First, though, we had to swing through Savoy where Loosey had a drill we could borrow, since our battery was dead and our charger was missing (we found it yesterday but having the second drill was pretty handy anyway).

Here is the top frame:

We worked for about an hour and ended up with a framed table that just needed the top put on it and about a thousand mosquito bites!

Saturday morning, we got moving before it got too hot and we lost our shade (our backyard as no trees but the neighbors does a good job of shading our patio in the morning.) and got the top slats put in place.

RF mowed the yard, I cleaned off the patio and we put up the fun new umbrella my Phantom friend got for me at Sam's and our yard it ready to party tomorrow!

We also have enough left over lumber to build at least one matching bench, although we aren't doing that right now. With one more 2x4, we'll have 2 benches, to either use for seating or use as extra tables in the yard.

I'm finished

2011-06-15T15:47:00.002-05:00

When I was a kid, my parents bought a living room furniture set. I remember it being really ugly, but it was the 80s so everything was pretty ugly. It had a couch, a love seat and two end tables. Over the years, the couch and love seat were replaced but we kept the tables When I moved out, they gave me the old tables and I've lugged them to all of our various houses. They were dark wood and pretty messed up (they were 28 years old after all) but were rock solid. I decided while I had some time this summer to work on refinishing them.

Here is the picture of the table before I started on it:

I don't know how well you can see it in the picture, but the varnish is chipped and the wood is all icky and scratched and scarred up.

I sanded it down as best I could but quickly figured out that the wood underneath was nothing but 2x4s pinned together and no amount of sanding would make it a pretty wood.

So I decided I would go ahead and stain it to match the writing desk that RF got from his grandma and is at least as old as he is.

After I put a couple of coats of the cherry stain on it, I put new poly on it and reassembled it today!

Happy Birthday, Peewee

2011-05-16T21:43:00.002-05:00

So MF turned 6 today. It was sort of a no big deal kind of day. We did let her sleep in today and took her to the dinner of her choice tonight. I fully expected her to pick McDonald's like she always does, but she totally surprised me and went with Texas Roadhouse. Mostly, she just wanted the peanuts but she likes the spectacle that they make for birthdays. She had her friend party on Saturday and her family party on Sunday. He friend brought her all manned of neat toys and her family brought the cash. Best of both worlds! :) She had a pink princess party on Saturday and we decorated tiaras, played pin the heart on the necklace and beat a castle shaped pinata into submission. Sunday, we had all the grandmas over but this year was fun because we had other kids at the party for the first time ever. I'm super glad there are a few more short people around for these things now! :)

Here is a picture of both kids when they were first born. Wasn't she cute? Who would have guessed that she would turn out to be the tiny (or not so tiny, since her last check up put her 97% for height and 95% for weight or as her doctor called her "just a big, strong girl" :)) tyrant she is today?

Probably anyone who has ever met her, that's who! :)

Even if she is a tyrant, I think we'll keep her around since she is a pretty cool kid too! :)

O.(T.) No, they didn't

2011-05-16T20:57:00.003-05:00

At our meeting last week, the school suggested that Occupational Therapy was basically the cure to all of our ills. Of course, that is a service the district does not provide so I needed to take care of it. The school psychologist suggested I contact my insurance company to find out if services were covered, since paying out of pocket for that is cost prohibitive (or as she put it "insanely and dauntingly expensive"). My insurance is stupid and only open until 4:45 so I wasn't able to call last week.

I called today and was transferred around a couple of times. Eventually, I got to someone who told me that, while O.T. is covered, I need a referral from my doctor (no problem, I totally expected that) but that once that referral was made, we would have to visit the O.T., who would then contact the insurance to find out if services were ACTUALLY covered. I know, I totally felt my head explode as she was explaining it to me. So basically, I have to go and hope that the visit is covered or pony up the cost. Of course, I have no idea what that cost might actually amount to.

I called WF's doctor to get the referral process started and the nurse seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. She said the school usually handles O.T. services and she didn't know what they could do. I explained that the services were cut so we were trying to make up that difference ourselves. She said they don't actually offer O.T. services and can't refer us to Carle, who does offer O.T. She at least agreed with me that there was really no need for an office visit, since there was nothing to diagnose. She ended up giving me their fax number and telling me to talk to the school and have them fax over his assessment and their recommendation for treatment and we'll "see if we can figure something out"

So basically, I'm back at square one as far as getting him O.T. services goes. The school can't help, the insurance won't help and the doctor doesn't know how to help.

On a bright note, I did get to check out the new spelling system they are suggesting for him and I could totally make it myself, at home, for under $10! They said I could use the books they have to get him a jump on it, so I don't need to spend $250 per lesson or buy an iPad (since the app they suggested is only available for iPad AND costs $23!), so that was good news. The special ed teacher also recommended a dictation program for him to do his homework with. It isn't perfect, but it is a place to start, so that the words get on the page and he can at least work on editing.

BIT meeting

2011-05-14T18:23:00.002-05:00

Earlier this week, I blogged about WF's math, and school in general, issues. We met on Thursday about supports for next year and, although I wasn't thrilled with the idea of the meeting, I came out of it in a better frame of mind. We talked about his focus issues, his spelling issues, his "floppiness", his habit of writing numbers backwards, etc. Today, it occurred to me that I should have asked them about his stutter as well, but I didn't think about it at the time. They agree that most of those issues are real issues and we talked about several things to help him overcome them. Unfortunately, OT has been cut in the district so he hasn't been seeing an OT all year so their first recommendation was to contact my insurance and see if they cover OT services at Carle. Of course, by the time the meeting was over, insurance was closed and then I worked late on Friday and didn't get the call made then either. It is on my calendar for Monday. If they cover it, the school wants me to at least get him evaluated and either do the exercises at home or take him regularly for therapy. For spelling, they want to start him on Barton Spelling. which is a different type of spelling program. Unfortunately, it clocks in at $250 a lesson for 10 lessons, taking you all the way to high school. It isn't going to be something we are going to purchase for him, but I'm assuming that the school has the system, since they said they are going to start him on it. The school psychologist said there is an iPod app that is similar and she is going to email me the details of that so he can start on it over the summer. They said OT would help with the inability to sit up (he is constantly laying over and flopping on other people's desks and being annoying) as would sitting on a therapy ball, since the first time he tries to flop over, he'll fall off the ball! LOL They are also going to get him a math tudor for school. Instead of doing math in class with everyone else, he will sit with this person and learn things at his own pace. They want him to practice math facts at home but he can figure out the math, just not quickly. I think the ability to do it is more important than the ability to do it quickly.

They suggested that he needed to work on hand eye coordination, which isn't surprising. The surprising thing was that they suggested playing Wii Fit for 30 minutes a day to help him get better. They said that 15 minutes of Wii Fit yoga and 15 minutes of balance games each day would help with balance and the floppiness. They also suggested that he play Wii Sports to improve his hand eye coordination. Sending him to the garage and telling him to play tennis or baseball on the Wii fits our schedule a lot better than taking him to the court or the field and hitting balls with him!

Over the summer, everyone is working on school work, everyday. We are starting with Kindergarten sight words and working our way forward for both kids. Both kids will practice K and 1st grade sight words, until they know them like nobody's business. We will also be working on spelling, either just going over the previous spelling words or through the iPod app. We are going to practice handwriting and reading for both kids. Our goal is to get WF caught up and MF starting first grade at least a little ahead. I've already started compiling lesson plans for both of them and working out a timeline to keep us on track. We'll see how our summer of homeschooling goes.

You do the math

2011-05-08T21:36:00.003-05:00

WF is having some issues at school (again, I know, shocker). Up to this year, he has always done well at math and struggled with reading. This year, he has caught up, and stayed, exactly at grade level in reading and has slipped away in math. I completely understand this slide. I was always terrible at math, but I remember 3rd grade being particularly difficult because of multiplication. I learned the times table enough to pass the test (why do we do timed math tests, anyway? Isn't being able to find the answer enough, why does it have to be done in a certain number of seconds?) and then promptly forgot most of them. His teacher is nice but, as I'm sure I've mentioned, doesn't have much control of her classroom. I doubt there is a significant amount of learning going on in there because of that. Her big thing is that everyone must go to college. She even has a note on the wall about the college graduation date of this class. I think it is fine to push students to excel, but I don't think that she is approaching it in the right way. She told WF that if he didn't learn math and go to college, he would never have any kind of job worth having. While that might be partially true, that whole sentiment is a bit too insane for my tastes. I agree that the better educated you are, the better options you have. However, I happen to know personally that you can, in fact, have a job worth having while still not knowing a whole lot of math. RF and I neither one use anything beyond the basics everyday.

In fact, when I started college, I was a secondary ed major. I wanted to teach high school history. Of course, that requires a 4 year degree, with a lot of classes that don't mean much of anything. I took some classes towards that goal and then, after getting a job that paid for classes related to my job, I started taking business classes. Eventually, I left that job and decided to go back to school for the degree of my choice. I ended up picking preschool, partly because I had a preschooler and I enjoyed that age but mostly because it was a degree where I could work with only a 2 year degree. A 2 year degree meant that I only had to take statistics for math instead of Algebra. As I did more research into my options, I found that I didn't have to get an early childhood degree. I could pursue a CDA (which I completed all the class work for, but never actually finished the process), which would make me director qualified, would teach me practical teaching practices and best of all meant I never had to take another math class again. I honestly planned my career and life around a single subject and a few classes in that subject. RF never finished any type of degree. We will never be rich but we are comfortable. We both have stable employment and aren't constantly looking over our shoulder in fear of our job being cut(no job is 100% safe but both of ours are in decent shape, even if budgets are tightening). And really, that is more than a whole lot of people can say in this economy, college educated or not.

I choose not to do any math in my head. When I go to the grocery store, I have a calculator on my phone and I use it to figure out which item is the better deal. I can estimate and figure out that if I have $10, I can't get all three of the things I want at the grocery store. I know that $4.19 is more than $3.95 and that I'm going to Thorton's to get gas, instead of the place by my house. I know how to count change, although I do it so rarely that I do have to stop and actually do the counting. I can do basic geometry and figure out how much paint I need for the bathroom or how much grass seed I need for the yard (about twice what the bag says it will cover LOL). I don't really need any additional math and that is all stuff that they have learned by 3rd grade.

I facebooked about this, just out of curiosity about how much math other people use in their daily lives. I expected some of my friends to say they used a lot, but in thinking about their jobs, I expected most to be in the same boat I'm in. They know the basics but haven't done anything beyond that since high school or college. I knew I had some science-y people who would tell me that they solve complex equations in their heads before breakfast. The job I was surprised about was the video game developer. In the abstract, I guess I knew that computers=math but I'd never really made the connection until he pointed out that his whole job is basically writing word problems. I was surprised at what I perceived to be somewhat venomous responses. Several people acted like I was trying to give him an excuse to never do math again. I'm not, I simply wanted a balanced perspective to give him about math and school and college.

Do I want him to do well in school? Absolutely! Would I rather he be middle of the road and actually enjoy school? You bet! I waver constantly between wanting to push him until we both drop to be an A/B student and accepting the fact that, although he is crazy smart and creative, he simply doesn't do well at school. For his last few report cards, he has had a solid 75% across the board. That is the middle of the middle and you can't really get more average than that. There seems to be some stigma against being a middle of the road student that I don't get. They wouldn't call it average if everyone where getting As!

I was a good student, effortlessly. I never, ever studied and rarely did homework, except when turning it in was part of a grade. Unless something was actually being graded, I never did home work at home. I would do it during study hall, sometimes or, more likely, in another class. My dad, RF, my brother, none of them were great students. They were solid C students, most of the time, (unless something really interested them) so why should I be surprised that is where WF is? Of course, when they were in school, average was something different. A teacher friend of mine pointed out that, now, those middle of the road students are the most likely to get interventions because they are on the bubble, so to speak, for testing purposes. Passing is passing and failing is failing, it doesn't matter by how much. There is simply no point (as far as standardized testing goes) in wasting resources on kids who are sure to pass or sure to fail. Instead, they devote a ton of resources to those middle kids since they have the best chance of being saved from failure and bring the whole school percentage up. Because so much time and attention is being paid to those middle kids, it seems like everything is a bigger problem than it is. I've pretty well decided he is the student he is going to be. We'll keep working on getting better and progressing but I'm not holding my breath for him to suddenly become an A student.

We have another intervention team meeting on Thursday. Last year, we met about his handwriting (still horrible BTW) and he ended up with a 504 plan that allows him to use a laptop in class, during writing time. We got it for him in December and he has used it ever since. His writing isn't any better. he still isn't getting his ideas onto the page. He is still writing a sentence or two when he should be writing a paragraph. His spelling is still terrible. The theory was that if he didn't have to focus on the mechanics of writing that he would be better able to spell the words probably and the ideas could flow more easily. Not so much. The only benefit I've seen to the 504 plan is that he got to dictate his extended response on his ISATs this year. I'm sure that made a world of difference in his final score but this seemed to be much ado about nothing.

His teacher things he is has some issues with spacial reasoning. I know that spacial is how things relate to each other and how things fit together but I don't know what that has to do with school. He hates puzzles (me too) but he doesn't do them. She claims, vaguely, that spacial issues can be related to poor spelling, poor handwriting and poor math skills. No one seems to be able to tell me how, exactly, they are related or what exactly can be done about it. So I'm going to meeting on Thursday and I'm hoping to nail down some answers then but I'm just not getting too excited about it. On the one hand, having a "label" (besides "bad kid") might help him in the short term, I don't relish the idea of having him labeled forever. Of course, I don't think any label will get him the help that he actually needs so I'm just not terribly enthusiastic about the whole process.

Overheard:I'm glad today's youth are so well traveled edition

2011-05-05T18:56:00.002-05:00

Girl at school: I've been lots of far away places, like New York and Urbana. ROFL

Overheard: You are sweet enough on your own edition

2011-05-03T21:02:00.002-05:00

We were at the park today and MF was in a snit about something. Who even knows what, because she is always in a snit about something, so mostly, I choose to ignore her attitude (or as I tell her, "I've got plenty of attitude of my own, I sure don't need your's too"). Anyway, we were at the park with The Fearless Phantom and her kids and her littlest (who is 4) said to MF, "It's ok, MF. I'll be your BFF. I don't have any candy but we can be friend fo-ever"! :)

This was a big weekend

2011-05-02T17:35:00.002-05:00

Or how social media keeps me in the loop.

Saturday, I helped with the Girl Scouts at the finish line of the marathon. While it was fun, it meant that the bit I saw of the race was from behind a stack of water bottles. It also meant that I didn't get to see any of my friends that ran, including the person who rode to the event with me! I only saw him after because he had to find me to get home! However, thanks to Facebook, I was able to see Loosey's absolute glee at seeing her little family on the corner cheering her on and I was able to see race royalty, Special K, with her fancy running crown. I was able to virtually cheer for my friend who was medically ejected at mile 21 because that is 21 more miles that I'm willing to run!

Then Sunday, we had a CARE Easter egg hunt (because Ms. Loosey is a genius and does it after EAster so we can all score discount eggs! After that, we had a Girl Scout leader daughter lunch and I ended up being gone most of the day. I logged into Twitter that afternoon, only to watch my feed blow up as the news of the mall shooters started making it's rounds. Of course, that was big news so I followed along with that for awhile, reading media reports as well as personal accounts of being there when it went down.

After we watched a little TV, I headed to bed about 9 to read. Just before 10, I did one last pass through of Facebook to find the news of Osama Bin Laden's demise filling my wall. Now that we gave up cable, the only television I watch is on Netflix or DVD so I would have had no idea about these huge pieces of breaking news until I turned on the radio this morning.

Another fine mess I've gotten myself into

2011-03-13T17:17:00.002-05:00

I think I'm missing some important cleaning gene. With all of the cookies we've been delivering, I've been in and out of a lot of houses, some unannounced, and they have all been basically tidy. If people walk in to my house, especially unannounced, they would find backpacks piled on the couch, dishes piled in the sink, papers piled on the table. Basically, we live our lives in and around piles.

If you ever had the pleasure of visiting my old house, not only did we have piles, we had some active dirt going on, especially there at the end. I've made a real effort to do better with the new house but it still isn't as good as it should be. While I was sick last week, RF and WF did a great job of helping keep things running and people fed but cleaning wasn't on either of their radars. On Thursday, my Daisy co leader stopped by to get the cookies for the meeting since I couldn't make it and I was totally embarrassed by how filthy my house was! The dishes had completely taken over the counter, the kitchen table was covered in papers and toys and under that layer it was sticky where someone spilled syrup and didn't clean it up. I do better at seeing messes than the kids or RF but I have a HUGE capacity for simply ignoring things like that.

I will spend hours doing marathon cleaning binges but can't seem to take the 5 minutes it takes to stay on top of it, to begin with. The kids and I spent 2 hours cleaning the garage top to bottom Friday night. To be fair, it hadn't been cleaned since before the bathroom remodel because we were using it as the staging area for everything for the bathroom. Then I got sick, then we filled it full of cookies and I got sick again. But still, it was dusty and gross and smelly and took 3 people 2 hours to clean it. Saturday, I spent 2 hours cleaning my kitchen. I did the dishes, washed the counters, table and chairs, scrubbed the stove and cleaned the fridge, dishwasher, the cabinets and the walls, as well as sweeping and mopping. Today, I cleaned the kids' rooms, our room, the bathroom and changed all the sheets, besides re-vaccumming the rest of the house.

It took about 6 hours of solid work to get it all done but it looks great right now. By tomorrow, it won't look great and by Tuesday or Wednesday, you won't be able to tell I did anything because I just don't stay on top of it like I should.

Bathroom before and after

2011-02-20T20:52:00.004-06:00

I was going to do several posts, all with clever titles like "Paint all it's cracked up to be" LOL but I'm pretty much done with the bathroom, so I'm doing one post, no clever title and lots of pictures :)

Here is the before post.

When we decided to redo the bathroom, we were going to replace the medicine cabinet, along with everything else. When I got online and started looking for new ones, I was disappointed to find that everything out there was either super small (13 inches, instead of the already smallish 17 inch one we already have) and plastic or 24-36 inches and nearly 300 dollars!

This is the door of the old one. You can't really tell it from the picture, but it is kind of a mess. The poly was all peeled of and the wood was pretty ugly.

I whipped out my handy dandy electric sander and started sanding that puppy down, put new poly back on it and a nice new knob and ended up with this.

Super fab, right?!

We did replace nearly everything else though

This is the old vanity

The new one

We put up a super nice light fixture over the medicine cabinet. I didn't get a picture of the old one but it was rough wood with tarnished brass fitting. The new one is much better.

This is the new paint color and the shiny new towel bars I installed

The toilet, that we didn't replace, and the new paper holder that I installed

The ceiling that we repainted and the trim that RF put up around the top of the wall

Finally, the floor with the grout and the pretty baseboards RF put in

Tomorrow, I need to touch up a few spots of paint and RF and FIL are going to fix a couple of drippy connectors (apparently, when you buy cheap connectors, you get exactly what you pay for and we are getting better ones). The door is also repainted but it isn't dry and doesn't have the new hardware on it yet. That will probably happen tomorrow, as well. Then the bathroom will be DONE! Then I have to move on to cleaning up the mess that has developed in the rest of the house, while I've been focusing on bathroom.

What's this all a-grout?

2011-02-16T18:25:00.004-06:00

I spent the afternoon grouting the bathroom floor. It wasn't too hard and I like the color of grout we picked out. We bought tintable grout and had it colored in the paint department to be mountaintop gray. I'm afraid it is going to be a little lighter than what we wanted, but I think it is pretty anyway.

Here is the before grout picture

This is after the grout has gone in.

A few things to note, dear viewers of my fictional DIY show. First of all, when the kid at Menard's hands you a grout float/sponge combo, pass. Not only do you have the problem of the float not being as stiff as it should be, you have the problem of not being able to wipe up as you go along because once the sponge is wet, it gets future grout wet. It is also impossible to wring out correctly. You are supposed to wipe with a damp sponge, not a sobbing wet sponge!

On second thought, just ignore the kid at Menard's completely. Take the time to do the research, know what you want and don't listen to the "advice" they give you. Or alternately, actually READ the directions on the items to determine what you need. We had a problem with the stuff that we bought because I didn't get enough mortar and I got the wrong trowel type, based on the recommendation of the staff, instead of looking at the directions and thinking for myself!

Finally, don't buy the pre-mixed mortar. The stuff we got we about half dried out and the rest was super hard to work with. We eventually got it down, but it was a fight that involved a broken threshold and a lot of cussing.

Despite having vast and varied talents, after watching my BIL putting in the floor, I've decided that installing floors is not among them. Oh, I could do the grunt work and spread the mortar and install the spacers and put the tiles in but I'm not very good at measuring. I tend to be an estimator (side note:this is why WF's insistence on doing the actual math is so mind boggling to me) so 5 5/8 become "about 5 1/2" and "abouts" don't work in tile.

Now we carefully use the bathroom for another couple of days. Then I'm going to finish the mud and paint (probably Saturday). Hopefully, by Sunday, we'll be ready to put the vanity back in and hang the beautiful medicine cabinet I refinished and the towel bars and then we'll be DONE! While, I can't say I'll ever be a serious bath crasher, I'm fairly impressed with the fact that from demo to done, it has only taken 2 weeks and that involves 4 days where we did absolutely nothing on it and another couple of days when there has only been an hour or two of work, then waiting.

Totally floored

2011-02-12T18:08:00.002-06:00

With the bathroom remodel, we decided to replace the floor. Originally, we were going to get stick on vinyl squares, instead of ceramic. Ceramic is a pain to put in and cold. Unfortunately, after talking to some friends who know what they are doing, I figured out that vinyl wasn't really an option. Apparently, the black adhesive that used to be used on floors and the new adhesive are different chemical compounds and the new stuff basically eats the old stuff and causes it to seep through the vinyl. After I spent over an hour scraping to just get the backing from the old floor up, I decided I wanted nothing to do with scraping up that black stuff and the ceramic was on sale for the same price as the vinyl.

This is what the floor used to look like. Not terrible but nothing spectacular. Of course, when we pulled it up, it smelled like a combination of mold and pee so I was really glad to see it go

My Brother in law did their floors before they moved here so he said he would come and help us out, since he already knew what he was doing. They came over this morning and got started on it. It didn't take them long (something to be said for a small bathroom) to get all the tile in and set. Now, I'm just waiting for it to set. What I read online said a minimum of 48 hours, but the mortar was thick and gloppy, so we are thinking it might be done before that. The suggested cure time before grout is a minimum of 72 hours but since you have to stay off the floor for 24 hours after the grout, we are waiting until next weekend to grout, since the kids won't be home.

Here is what it looks like before the grout:

The big problem, as you might be able to see in the picture, is that the toilet is setting in my new bathtub for the next 24 hours. Fortunately, the kids are at my parents but we are finding alternate peeing locations for tonight and tomorrow morning :)

Tomorrow, we hang the top dry wall on the final wall, so I can finish taping and mudding and then start painting the ceiling. My father in law is coming over in the afternoon to help RF hook the toilet back up. During this week, they will hopefully get up the bottom sheet of drywall on the last wall and I can mud it and then start painting. I have to do the ceiling and the door first, because I'm doing them in white and then getting the rest of the paint tinted blue for the walls.

Do it herself

2011-02-02T19:01:00.004-06:00

So besides the bathroom demo, I also started on a kitchen project. I've talked before about the stupid built in cutting board in the kitchen. It is seriously, the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Why, oh why, would you build a cutting board into the counter and not seal it to the counter or seal the wood underneath? That is just asking for a nasty, super germ incubating ground! Because we are having to replace the bathroom instead, I've decided to at least do my best to make sure the problem doesn't get an worse.

This is what the wood looked like when I started

Notice the black spots? Yeah, that was rotten wood. I don't know if you can tell it from the picture but there are bits of loose wood and food all over this thing. I started by wiping it off with bleach, then ran the vacuum cleaner over it get all the pieces. As I was running the vacuum over it, it was pulling off more chunks of wood from those black parts. Now, my vacuum is pretty good but it ain't that good! I grabbed my scissors and starting scraping at the wood and watched it basically crumble under my touch. I eventually scraped off most of the really rotten wood and filled in the gaps with wood glue.

As you can see, that is no small area that the glue was required to fill! Of course, with that much glue, it takes some time to dry. It has been drying for over 24 hours and looks like it will take another day, at least. Once it is dry, I'm going to sand it down smooth, then put poly on it, like I did the table. Once that is done, I'm going to get a new cutting board to cover it up (one that isn't yellowed and cut up from use). It won't be pretty but it will work and it will keep the damaged from getting any worse. This is a minor repair now but if the wood rotted all the way through, it would have been a huge pain in the neck to fix!

With both of these projects, I've done them almost completely by myself (MF "helped" me yesterday by handing me tools while I was on the ladder and both kids took a whack at breaking the drywall). RF was at work both days. With all the snow, he has pulled down a boat load of overtime. 13 hours yesterday and 4 today, which left me to do my worst on the house!

Snow Problem!

2011-02-02T18:36:00.005-06:00

So snowmageddon or the snowpocalypse or snOMG (or as I like to think of it snoverblown since we didn't get anywhere near what we were supposed to) swept across the area this week. Because of it, we had two snow days this week and I put them both to good use.

Remember last week, I found a giant crack in the bottom of my bathtub? We knew we needed to replace the tub (obviously) but decided to go ahead and redo the walls as well. For Christmas, my parents were going to replace my kitchen counters, because there is a nasty built in cutting board and the wood underneath is gross, since it isn't sealed and water and various food substances have seeped in over the years (which is the next blog post). We hadn't gotten around to actually picking anything when the bathroom stuff went down so they offered to pay for that instead. Originally we were going to tile the whole thing in a nice blue and green and white pattern but decided, even with cheap tile, it was too expensive. We eventually decided that we were going to replace the tub and surround and paint everything else a grayish blue color. We weren't going to do the vanity or the floor but my mom decided that if we were going to do it, then she was willing to pay to have it all done.

This is what we started with.

I originally thought that the stuff on the walls was some kind of laminate floor tile but it turned out to be pattered wall board. I spent the day yesterday ripping it all down.

The drywall underneath was a real mess (we figured it would be since there were no visible nails or screws holding it up).

I also started on removing the drywall but didn't get as far as I would have liked. Today, I unhooked the sink and moved the vanity out (by myself, thank you very much!) and finished the rest of the drywall that I could get down. There is one spot above the tub that just Will. Not. Come. Down. so I'm leaving that for Evan!

Here is the wall after I got done

Of course, a whole room's worth of wallboard and drywall take up a lot of space and with snowmageddon shutting everything down today, I didn't have anywhere to dispose of the stuff. Since the tub was broken anyway, I just dumped the stuff in there.

Now, we have to get the tub out, and all the new stuff put in, which will probably take a couple of weeks. In the mean time, we are showering at my parent's house, at least until I get all the drywall out of the tub!

Not all it's cracked up to be

2011-01-24T19:22:00.001-06:00

When we bought this house, it was because it was in our price range and there was nothing that HAD to be done to make the house livable. We painted and changed a few things but nothing that was an absolute requirement. Then a few weeks ago, we started noticing water on the floor of the bathroom after our showers. The first few times it happened, my thought was "damn kid, didn't get the shower curtain closed" Then it happened when I took a shower. We knew the surround wasn't caulked well so I assumed, it was spraying up into the cracks and running underneath and out under the wall. RF checked it by running a tub of water, which ended in a puddle on the floor. Obviously, the tub was the issue so RF and his dad looked at it and found this:

In case you can't see the picture, that is a 5 INCH LONG CRACK in the bottom of my bathtub! You might be asking yourself, how did a crack become 5 inches long without our noticing? Because the people we bought the house from covered the crack with non slip grippy stars. The whole bottom part of the tub is covered with them and a few are overlapped so we didn't think anything of it. And it was fine, for a while. But 6 months worth of using the tub probably extended the crack and caused the stars to not be able to seal it anymore. We've patched it for a temporary fix but it is already starting to leak again so we will be replacing it shortly. Fortunately, for us, my mom was going to replace our kitchen counters for Christmas but hadn't done it yet. They didn't have to be done, I just didn't like the built in cutting board. So instead of getting pretty new counters, I'm getting a pretty new bathtub. We had talked about completely redoing the bathroom with a really nice blue and green scheme but I think that is more of a project than I want to get into at this point.

School update

2011-01-23T18:54:00.003-06:00

You all remember this blog? Occasionally, I update it but mostly I forget to do that so blogs are posted and then months go by with no resolution.

Back in November, I talked about how WF was struggling in school and we were thinking of pulling him. I called the district about having him out for the semester. I was told that unless I could prove that he was going on sabbatical, then there was no guarantee that he would get back into the school for 4th grade. This seriously tilted things because long term homeschooling or having two kids at two schools was not something I was interested in.

So we decided to keep him in school with careful monitoring. We have started scheduling playdates with kids from school to help him make friends. The theory being, if he can talk to them one on one, then in a group, he'll have an easier time talking to them. We've had a couple so far. One was pretty successful, the other I wouldn't say as much about. As for the bullying, I don't know if it is getting better but they are mostly having indoor recess and the bully is in another class so they haven't been interacting much. We'll keep a close eye on it, as it gets warmer and they start going outside again.

On a positive note, I'm pleased to report that his school work has gotten MUCH better. I add up the total number of points the kids could have gotten for the quarter and then what they did get to come up with a quarterly percentage. It makes more sense, in my head, that way and gives me an easy point of comparison for overall achievement. His first quarter percentage was 74%. His second quarter percentage was 87%!!!! His only two 1 (they use number instead of letters. 3 is grade level, 2 is working towards grade level and 1 is significantly below grade level) grades were in handwriting and does neat and careful work.

Right about the time everything else was happening, he got a 504 plan that allows him to use a laptop at school for writing because his handwriting is so terrible. We've done a couple of different handwriting programs, he has worked with the OT at school, etc, etc, etc and it just never got any better. Although the computer doesn't help with the spelling and such, at least the letters are formed properly and there are spaces between the words so I can figure out what he is trying to write. The VERY best part of his 504 plan? He gets to dictate his extended responses on the ISATs instead of writing them!!! If you have ever talked to him, you know the kid has a huge vocabulary and can talk your ears off. As long as he doesn't have to write it himself, he will rock ISATs. It also means that he won't be being graded in handwriting anymore, because he isn't writing. So good stuff!

While I didn't talk about her in November, we just new report cards so I'm going to brag about MF too for a minute. She was slightly below grade level in her reading during 1st quarter. Nothing horrible, just a little lower than they wanted her. By the end of second quarter, she had improved so significantly that even if she doesn't improve one single point for the rest of the year, she will still be at grade level! Plus, he handwriting is already better than his is.

I think there are several factors that contribute to that. Most importantly, she has the DESIRE to learn, where he never really did. Second, she had a consistent preschool experience, while he went where ever I happened to be working at the time. Third, they have different teachers. His teacher, who was super nice, didn't seem as focused on academics as her teacher is. During the whole first semester, his teacher didn't send home any homework, except for name writing work sheets. Her teacher sends home 2 letter sheets and a sight word sheet every week. Now that they have all the letters, she is sending home word sheets. She is learning to properly form the letters from the get go, instead of learning bad habits that he never unlearned.

School

2010-11-27T18:51:00.004-06:00

I've blogged in the past Meeting with the teacher, Smiley face charts, Reading problem about issues we have had at school. First grade was a nightmare but last year was the best ever! This year, we didn't get the teacher we requested but I was ok with the teacher that we got. She is kind of quite and very gentle, which would be great, if she had control of her classroom. She really doesn't. Her discipline style is to say "ok, guys, now settle down, shh, quite now" quietly and repeatedly throughout the day.

WF is about where he should be academically, but is just barely holding on to grade level. He has also had an issue with a bully at school, who has gathered several other kids to gang up on him. They have been cornering him out of sight of the teacher and taking turns pinching him repeatedly, until he falls down on the ground crying. I talked to the assistant principle about it and he said he would "observe the situation", which he did for a few days. I also went to school for a week or so at recess to keep an eye on it. Nothing happened while I was there but the AP called the kids in and talked to them about it so they knew they were being watched and likely didn't pull anything. He also complains about not having any friends. He says that no one wants to play with him and he spends recess alone.

Besides all this, he has started getting in trouble at school. A few weeks ago, there was an incident in class where a kid was talking to him and he spit while talking. WF turned to the kid and said "don't spit on me" and apparently spit while he was saying it. The kid then spit on him on purpose and they both ended up in the principal's office. They spent the whole afternoon there, not getting any of their work done. Then a week later, there was a problem on the playground. He was apparently playing basketball and lost control of the ball and it bounced into another kid. The kid thought he did it on purpose so he threw the ball back and hit him in the chest. WF stumbled backwards into another kid, who thought he did it on purpose and shoved him forward into the first kid. Eventually, they all ended up on the ground rolling around, possibly throwing punches and elbows (no one was clear on the story at that point). Because the details were "murky" WF earned an in school suspension for his part in it. He served that on Friday of last week.

Then on Monday, he was playing with the girls who have been picking on him. We have pointed out to him a million times that they are not the right people to play with, no matter how popular they are. They aren't nice people, aside from being bullies and he should just avoid them. They were playing tag and when he joined in, they changed it from regular tag to having to hold the person on the ground for 15 seconds. Can you see how this is a HORRIBLE idea in the making? Well, once he held the girl down for 15 seconds, they decided to keep him it that the rule was actually 17 seconds. After he did that, they again changed the rule to 20 seconds. While he was holding her for 20 seconds, he was holding her by her neck and accidentally choking her. The girls were yelling at him to let her up but he didn't realize he was hurting him. Once he let her up, she ran off crying and the other girls ran to the principal to say that he was hurting them.

So because he has a pattern of bad behavior, he got in trouble. No one bothered to take into account that he isn't a bad kid and wasn't doing it maliciously. No one bothered to pay attention to the fact that he was playing by the rules the girls set out for him and had no idea he was hurting someone. Nope, he was automatically the bad guy and got suspended on Tuesday for it. Not only was he suspended, Tuesday was the night of the Third Grade musical. The only performance opportunity he will have in that school since he was in first grade and the last one until he is in 5th grade, because the music department in that school sucks.

So now he is a bad kid, with a reputation. I feel like the school is failing (and has been failing) him academically, socially and emotionally. I feel like he has a label now and anytime anything happens, he will automatically get in trouble. My real concern is that if someone is bullying him (which we know has happened as recently as a few weeks ago), he has to simply take it. If he fights back in anyway, he will be accused of fighting and will get another suspension. I asked the school to assign him and aide to accompany him throughout the day. He is struggling with direction in the classroom (he has always had issues with being overwhelmed with too many choices and his teacher doesn't seem willing to say to him "you need to do this, then this" so she lets him flounder until he gets in trouble for not making good choices) and obviously has issues at recess. I told the AP that he needs someone to sit on top of him and derail those bad choices that are leading to bad behavior, before they get started. I was told aides are only available for kids with IEPs that the law dictates must have aides. I was told that during recess he could "check in" with the recess supervisor, who would then help him get involved in whatever organized activity was taking place that day (usually either soccer or basketball) so that he "stays out of trouble"! Seriously, not the answer to the problem but all the school is going to give him.

I'm seriously considering pulling him out for the rest of the year and homeschooling him. I feel like he is immature both socially and academically. I feel like he needs time to get ahead on school work and mature a little bit. Ideally, I would like to pt him back in at the beginning of 4th grade and let him finish out school there before going to middle school. We are having the same impulse control conversations with him I have with my preschoolers. No, it isn't ok to hug your friend until you fall on the ground or grab someone's arm during a game of tag and swing them into the tree. He just doesn't get it, despite having heard those same kinds of things since he was 2. RF is pretty against the idea of pulling him but I really feel like he needs the extra time and attention. I need to call the district and get the details on a temporary leave but I really think that starting second semester, we will be doing school at home.

It is like Planet of the Apes around here

2010-11-04T19:25:00.002-05:00

MF and I had to run to the store for a few things tonight and she was telling me that she learned that farmers are important because they grow all of our food for us. So we were talking about where different things came from like cheese and eggs. I asked her were pork roast came from. She said "from Porks" Then I asked about coffee and bananas. She didn't know about coffee but said that bananas came from monkeys. I laughed and of course she got mad, telling me that the people that live with the monkeys climb the trees and pick the bananas to give to the monkeys. She doesn't believe that the monkeys can get their own bananas.

Eating on Food Stamps

2010-08-25T10:39:00.002-05:00

The question that Chambanamoms posed was "could your family survive on food stamp budget" because Amy is taking the Feeding Illinois challenge. The rules are pretty simple. You $4.50 per person day for your grocery budget. A family of 4 would get $18 dollars a day or 126 for a week. You aren't allowed to eat out, and you aren't allowed to use food already in your house, unless you cost out the portion that you use from your budget.

I don't know about your grocery budget, but the reality for me is that I would really like to have a food stamp budget. For our family of 4, we budget $300 a month for groceries (if you did the math, the SNAP budget is $504 a month), $150 out of each check. Occasionally, I go over budget (which I realize isn't an option for food stamps) like my last trip when I hadn't been for over a month because of the move. And we also eat out occasionally, which, again, I realize isn't a reality for food stamp participants. However, included in our grocery budget is our paper goods and cleaning supplies, which wouldn't be included in a food stamp budget and the food for the kids' packed lunches for school. If we were really on food stamps, we would also be getting free or reduced lunch at school and the kids would eat what was on the menu so those things would be slashed from my budget.

I understand the point of the challenge. If you have a $200 a week grocery budget, it can be pretty eye opening to see how little food stamp participants get. But I don't. I have an even smaller budget and I manage to eat just fine. None of us are going hungry, we eat meat, we get fresh fruits and vegetables and I even buy convenience foods.

My question to you is where is the break down? This budget is livable and workable with very little effort. I shop at 2 stores, both within a block of each other, I don't clip coupons and we survive just fine. I even kept to my budget while doing Weight Watchers, were I only ate low fat, high fiber foods (which is another point of contention. Why is my bag of spinach $1.99 but a bag of Doritos is $.99?).

The change isn't more money being thrown at the program. Perhaps the program should come with some basic budget, shopping, and nutrition classes to help the participants get more for their money? I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that not only will I take the challenge, I live the challenge every day and have for years and have no problem living that way.

Kitchen remodel

2010-08-13T15:05:00.006-05:00

Part of the reason we wanted to buy this house was that there was nothing that HAD to be done to move in. There were, and still are, things we want to do but we didn't have to do anything to be able to live here. The kitchen was probably the ugliest part of the house but it still wasn't that bad.

Because the living room and kitchen are all one big space, we had J and K Painting go ahead and do the kitchen the same color as the living room, which is Latte. As it was going on, I kept thinking "This is ok", then it started to dry and looked almost chocolate and I didn't like I would be able to tolerate it. Once it dried completely, it was a nice medium brown color that really looks great with the white of the cabinets.

You can sort of see the sink in the above picture but what you can't see is that it was a beat up, white porcelain mess that didn't have a sprayer or a garbage disposal. The faucet was too low to be able to fill my tea pitcher with and it was a very shallow sink. I was able to put one bowl and one plate in the sink before it looked like it was overflowing.

Somewhere along the line, I got signed up for ReStore newsletter and I told RF I wanted to check it out a couple of weeks ago, while we were looking for a table. Worst case, they had nothing and we had wasted 20 minutes. While we were there, we saw that they had some pretty decent stainless steel sinks. We ended up picking one up for $15. We got it all apart this morning and I threw it in the bathtub and scrubbed it clean. It looks almost brand new! We had planned to use the hardware that was on the current sink because while it wasn't the latest, greatest, it was here and it didn't cost any extra money. While we were out getting a few things last night, I ran across a nice high neck faucet that came with a sprayer. It was in brushed nickel so it looks like it matches the sink pretty well.

RF and my FIL spent the morning getting it all installed

And installing my fancy new garbage disposal. We run into old school copper pipe so FIL recommended a better grind and one that was safe for septic systems. We got it and are just waiting for him to run power to it.

My super fab table

2010-08-04T09:25:00.008-05:00

Since I haven't really had a dining room in 7 years, I haven't had a dining room table, either. The table that RF and I had when we were first married is s small, cafe type table, with a glass top that I never thought would work well with kids. We've just used TV trays or lap desks on the floor and it has been fine. Since our new house has an eat in kitchen, we decided we needed an actual table to eat at. I have a friend that owns some property and she said to me one day "I had a tenant move out and leave a bunch of stuff behind and one of the things is a table, do you want it?" I said sure since free is free, even if it is junk.

We picked it up and the side rails (made of crappy pressboard, you can see the cracks in the first two pictures) were cracked at the screw holes and the top was a mess. The top was real wood though and I decided that I could give refinishing it a shot. I called my FIL and got his electric sanders and RF and I went to town on it. This picture is right after we started sanding for the first time

When RF was dragging it out the second day, he pulled one of the legs off because the press board was cracked under there too. He sent me to Menard's to get 2x4s and have them cut to fit the table. He attached them for me and we were ready to paint. This picture is after the final sanding.

After it was completely sanded, I had to wipe it all down with mineral spirits to get all the dust off and then I put on 3 coats of varnish to the top and sides (I felt like it could use another couple so it was all perfectly glass like and smooth, but 3 was really plenty). After that was all dry, we flipped it over on some towels and painted the legs and the new side rails white. This is the final picture. As soon as I get all the boxes out of my kitchen, it is ready to be used. Total cost of the table: $15. Total time investment:5 hours.

Now that I have figured out that it is oh so easy to refinish a table, I'm having RF take apart my OLD ugly dark wood end tables that my parents bought when I was about 3 and then gave to me when I moved out 10 years ago and I'm redoing them in a nice light color.

The Wild Freak's room

2010-08-03T06:53:00.004-05:00

This is a view of the door of WF's room before we painted it.

Do you know how hard it is to paint for a little boy, who isn't a preschooler but wants something cool in his room? They make a ton of stuff with Disney characters, etc but not a whole lot for the tween set. After much struggling, we settled on green for the walls.

In a few weeks, he gets to put up stickers like these and he has a cool orange floor light to go with it.

PS, this is a nicely done J&K room, instead of the sloppy painting we did in the pink and purple room. They did such a great job on painting. We managed to get the entire house done in a day with their help. If we had tried to do it ourselves, we might still be over there painting.

Final picture

2010-08-03T06:44:00.004-05:00

A couple of days ago, I posted pictures of MF's room in the new house and the new wall we had to put in. We finally painted it last night and it is ready to be moved into. It is pink and purple and she will be putting up pink princess and castle wall stickers like these in a few weeks. If you look over the door, you can see a little bit of the pink that we did 2 walls in.

The joys of homeowner ship

2010-07-31T00:18:00.005-05:00

We closed on our house today. They said the closing would take about an hour but of course, that was a dirty lie. First they had the wrong number on some form so she had to fix it. While she was fixing it, the bank emailed her and said "oops, the closing cost you have is wrong, fix it and we'll approve it later" So it ended up taking 2.5 hours but we got it done and it was fine.

The plan for the weekend was to prep the kids' room for paint today, paint part tomorrow and the rest on Sunday, since MF wanted walls that were 2 different colors.

In order to do that, we needed to rip down the panelling that was in her room because it was UGLY. So we got in there and started ripping down the panelling about noon. The first wall came down, no problem. There were a million nail holes but I've worked mud before so I knew what I was doing with that. Then we got to the second wall. Evan started pulling the panelling down, to find that they used glue on it and instead of coming off and leaving a few nail holes, it was tearing off chucks of drywall with it.

I called my friend who is going to help us paint tomorrow and asked her if she thought the wall was salvageable and she said she really didn't think so, that when they have walls that look like that, they end up replacing the drywall. I decided that drywall isn't rocket science so we headed to Lowes and bought stuff to drywall with (including the knife, putty knife, etc because we really have nothing). We got started tearing down the old drywall about 4:30. We had it down to bare studs by 8

After we ate, we cleaned up some of the mess and started cutting and hanging the new. A few minor hiccups, like my not holding the top board tight enough so one side drooped a little and had to be moved, later and we had a wall. While Evan put in a million screws, I patched the nail holes in the other wall and then did the screws on our brand new drywall. We need to tape and mud and sand tomorrow but once that is done, the wall will be ready to paint. Since MF has now decided that she doesn't want 2 different colors on each wall, it will be a lot easier to do and we should be able to handle it ourselves. We finished all the mud up about 10, so a total of hour 6 hours work.

The new plan is to paint as much as we can tomorrow and spend Sunday cleaning the carpets and scrubbing the garage floor and so forth.

They're so fluffy, I'm gonna DYE!

2010-07-14T14:17:00.007-05:00

Back in April, we dyed WF's hair blond. He really enjoyed having the blond mohawk last year and thought it would be fun to do the whole head.

He said he was going to grow it out, but every time it got in his eyes, he decided he wanted it cut. In May, I paid to have it cut and was irritated that I paid $12 to have him look like Spock, I said "never again". Yesterday, he asked to have it cut and I said I would do it at home. I did, it was a fail!

This doesn't show the back that was bi-level, two tone mess. The only way to fix it was to buzz it all off. He was sad about losing the blond but his hair was pretty trashed from having the blond and swimming and sun so it wasn't the worst thing to get rid of it in favor of the healthier, un-dyed hair that has grown in since April.

BUT! He didn't want boring brown hair so I agreed to help him dye it BLACK! It is sure black too.

Because it isn't cool for her brother to get something and her not to, I agreed to put the pink streaks she has been asking for for months in her hair. I chose not to bleach it, to start, because I don't want her to have blond streaks forever in that hair we are trying to grow out. So, they aren't terribly noticeable and even less in the picture but she has 2 cotton candy pink streaks on either side of her face! She is going to be the coolest Kindergartener ever! :)

Things that are going on

2010-06-27T19:20:00.002-05:00

I was looking back at my blog yesterday and realized that aside from overheards, I haven't posted anything much at all for a while. So it is time for an update!

Back in April, we started looking at possibly buying a house. We don't have a lease where we live, exactly. My parents rent this place and sub-lease us the basement apartment so we can leave whenever but they have another year on the lease. The plan had been is look casually for awhile and get serious about the search a little after Christmas. This would have put us a little closer to the end of the lease and allowed us some time to save a little more money for closing and down payments and things. We started looking and right away found a house that we really liked, in our price range. We called the realtor and started the process of putting in an offer. Apparently, right before we called someone else called and put in a higher, cash, offer on the house. We decided we were too early in the process to get into a bidding war and passed on it.

We kept looking and saw several houses that were so not right. I found one that looked good. It was listed for 109k and had 1500 sq ft. We looked at it and decided that we really liked it. Our realtor told us that if we wanted it, we needed to move on it because he had 2 appointments over the weekend to see it as well. We opted to put in an offer that afternoon and he said he would call the next day with details about signing the contract. They ended up accepting our offer of 106k. The next day (Friday of Memorial Day weekend), he called and said that something happened with the house they were supposed to be buying (apparently, the woman couldn't afford it so she was selling it but once she had an offer, she quit paying her mortgage meaning she couldn't get a loan to move so they couldn't move so we couldn't move). They ended up, despite some finagling with extended closing dates and things, deciding to pull the house off the market completely. We were pretty bummed but kept looking, at least sort of.

A couple of weeks ago, we decided we should start looking in earnest again and looked at another bunch of houses. We looked at one that the neighborhood was a little dicey. The house was decent enough but the surrounding houses were not great. We also looked at an older one near us that the porch was falling off of and everything inside was scuffed and scraped and creaky. Then we looked at a house near the pool. It was listed at 114k had 1063 sq ft with a decent backyard and an attached garage. As soon as we walked inside, I was fairly sure I wanted the house. It has 3 bedrooms and a kitchen, dining room, living room combo. It is 2 blocks from the pool, a park and the schools the kids will go to when they are older. It is .2 miles closer to the school they go to now. After haggling for what seemed liked the whole night, we got them down to 107k. We got a signed contract the next day. We've met with the bank lady to sign things and we have the inspection Weds at 4. Assuming the inspection goes well and the house appraises out ok (it should but you never know), we will close on July 30th. The plan is to do the painting (the house is a nice neutral color but to get the kids excited about the move away from Nonni and the only house either one has ever known, we promised they could paint their bedrooms) and some cleaning that weekend and start moving over the next week. RF has vacation the second week of August so anything not done by then will get finished up that week.

The long term plan is convert the garage into a family room, although I intend to use it as such right away. The kids can just deal with the concrete floor and avoid the door until we can take it out and add a real floor with carpet. Eventually, we want to move the door to the back yard over and add a second bathroom, at least a half bath, anyway.

That is the big news but other news is that we are out of school for the summer and spending lots of time hanging out at the pool. Wild Freak is doing College for Kids last week and this, which is cutting into our pool time but he is having fun with it. He is doing Lights, Camera, Action. So far, they have done an infomercial and a talk show. MF got into WF's school (not that siblings generally get separated but it can happen) We requested a different teacher for her than WF had. His teacher was nice enough but I think that MF needs a more consistent structure. We'll find out at registration who she gets so we are excited for that. DSD is also visiting this summer. She is staying with MIL during the week and visits us on Sunday and Monday when RF is off. Things are a little better than summers past, but I think it has as much to do with limited contact as anything else. She goes home in about 10 days. I've learned how to knit as well this summer. I made a skinny scarf for MF and I've started a scarf for WF. It is supposed to be ribbed, but I think I've done something wrong, since it has no pattern to it at all.

Overheard: That is NOT a good name for a band edition

2010-06-26T22:45:00.002-05:00

WF: Hey Mom, do you know what my favorite "Black Guys Pee" song is?
Me: What?!
WF: I like that song by the "Black Guys Pee", you know the one about "I've got a Feeling"
Me: Oh you mean BLACK EYED PEAS
WF: That is what I said.

Overheard: Hey, I have a captive audience edition

2010-05-20T16:09:00.003-05:00

MF: Mom, I think you should buy that house. I like it
Me: Yeah baby, I know but someone else offered to buy it and we don't want to spend that much money on that house
MF: Well, I have some money in my piggy bank. You can borrow that and then you won't have to spend your money on it.'
Me: Thanks but you don't have to spend your money on a house
MF: Oh, can I use it buy something for me then?

MF: Mom, sorry I'm mean sometimes. Do you know why I'm mean sometimes?
Me: I have no idea why
MF: Because I'm half girl, half evil
Me: Oh

MF: Mom, I miss Kalahari. I wish we could go back. Maybe we could live there. If I lived there, I would go every day and use that fun outdoor pool. But since we live here and not there, maybe we should just go visit this summer and use the outdoor pool.
Me: That would be fun but we aren't taking a vacation this summer because we are saving our money to buy a house.
MF: You mean if we don't buy a house, we could go to Kalahari? Then forget about that house. I like my room. We don't need to move, just Forget. About. It.

MF: When I'm grow up, I'm going to name my kids Flower, Rose Petal and Junior. But then the dog licked me and when you get licked by a dog, you get dog cooties and that means when you grow up, you have to married a dog and have dog kids. I guess I will name them Flower, Rose Petal and Junior but I don't really want to have doggie kids or marry a dog. I shouldn't let the dog lick me anymore so that doesn't happen.
Me: *thinking* Have you taken a breath yet and really how far away is this freaking store!

Overheard: Well she sort of reminds me of her

2010-05-17T21:58:00.003-05:00

Tonight at dinner, I was telling RF about The Bloggess and how she got in trouble with eBay for trying to sell her cat with her camera that was damaged by ghosts.

MF started acting all weird and freaked out and crying about ghosts. RF told her that there were no such thing as ghosts. She looked at WF and said
Mom was telling Dad that Quigs had a ghost in her house and it BROKE HER CAMERA!
Me: Baby, I wasn't talking about Quigs. I was talking about a lady I don't know who was being funny. She wasn't serious about the ghosts.
MF: Oh, well, ok.

I told RF The Bloggess does sort of remind me of Quigs a little in her humor and writing style but I'm kind of wondering how MF made that leap.

Bloggers without makeup

2010-05-14T19:15:00.003-05:00

Starting with The Bloggess and following up with Heathen Family Revival, I've been reading about a new thing going around the blog world about bloggers posting pictures of themselves without makeup. I haven't decided if it is fair for me to participate in this because 99% of my pictures are of me without makeup because I rarely wear makeup (although my newest FB profile picture is of meaning wearing makeup and I look freaking fantastic). I've never really cared that much about how I look. I'm all about comfort and ease of use.

Pre-kids, I told someone that if it takes you longer than 15 minutes from the moment you wake up to walking out the door, you take too much time. Of course, no matter how simple your life is, once you add kids to the mix, you should figure at least 15 minutes per person. I like to go places, like the water park and laugh at all the women wearing piles of makeup and with done hair. The first trip in the wave pool and you are going to look like a fool and you wasted all that time getting ready.

Just for fun, I thought I would take a new picture with photo booth. It was surprisingly difficult to get a decent picture out of it. And I don't even mean a decent picture of me. I mean a decent picture at all. :(

For contrast, here is my user picture, where I'm rocking the makeup and I have good lighting with a professional photographer. See the difference? :) Don't get used to the second one, you won't see it very often :)

Party Time! Excellent!

2010-05-01T21:04:00.003-05:00

Today was Magnificent Freak's birthday party. I know her birthday isn't for two more weeks but we had her party today because, as I may have mentioned, my friend Fearless Phantom, is a freaking genius! We had talked about having MF's party at the movie theater but back in March, I had no idea what was coming out when and I wanted to get it planned. I had pretty much scrapped the idea (as well as FCC since apparently, you have to book it 3-5 months in advance for parties) when FP suggested trying to have the party at the free matinee. I called them and they said not only, "no problem, why can do that" but also said "plus with that amount of people, you'll get a discount on concessions"! Score! Genius, I tell you! So we booked the theater and sent out the invitations and Quigs emailed this idea for a cake. Again, Genius!

It was super easy to make, even for me, and tasted pretty decent. In that email, she also told me that they had movie themed stuff at Michael's in the dollar section. Who even knew that Michael's had a dollar section? Again I must say "Score"! So I got some need popcorn boxes and filled them with tiny cans of pop, microwave popcorn and candy. Goodie bags, done.

We invited 10 kids and their families and ended up with 37 people, 19 of them kids! I got to the theater at 9:30 to be sure that I got enough seats. I took crepe paper and reserved signed and taped off several rows of seats so we could all sit together. My parents came out with the kids at 10:30 and helped save seats so I could wait for the kids in the lobby. As they came in, each kid ordered their drink for their munchie box and FP helped usher them all to their seats. They all did a great job hanging out and watching the movie. While the kids were watching the movie, my parents decorated the party "room".

When the movie was over, the kids all came out to the party room and had cake.

Quigs and Loosey showed up, all sweaty from running a FREAKING MARATHON! The kids got their cool goodie boxes and headed for home (or to run their part of the marathon, in some cases). MF was super excited to get home and open her presents. I was amused that Quigs and Loosey got her the same card. It seems that great minds either think alike or go shopping together LOL

Overheard: Maybe a little stalker-ish edition

2010-04-26T17:47:00.002-05:00

WF and MF were talking about Justin "Beaver" today in the car.

WF: I wish I knew him, I would invite him to dinner so we could talk about his career

Me: Yeah? What would you talk to him about his career?

WF: Like when he learned to play guitar and how cool it is to be a rock star

MF: I wish I had a phone so I could text him. We could have a text chat

WF: You can't text him.

MF: Why not?

WF: You don't have a phone and he has lawyers

The Blogess

2010-04-22T20:23:00.003-05:00

I used to read Boobs, Injuries and Dr. Pepper before she decide to write a novel on her blog and lost her funny.

I recently discovered The Bloggess who is just like Boobs, before she got unfunny. The post I linked is about boobie mushrooms! You know you need to read this lady! LOL

The Sleepy Chef

2010-04-11T20:41:00.003-05:00

A few months ago, we have The Charming Phantom over for a sleep over. Friday night, her mom offered to reciprocate so WF went over there after Funfest. I fully expected a call in the middle of the night but none came so I assumed everything was ok. Saturday, I had a class all day, so my dad picked him up and my parents took him to his soccer game. I got a text from my mom saying "sleepover didn't go so well. Call me at lunch" On my lunch break, I called and she told me what happened. Apparently, The Fearless Phantom woke up about 4 am and heard talking. She went into the playroom, where the kids were "sleeping" and found them sitting on the bed, playing Sorry! She told them it was lights out and they insisted that they had already been to bed and were now up. She told them to get back in bed and they did so she went back to bed herself.

When she got up Saturday morning, she found 5 small bowls and a banana sitting on the table. At first, she thought someone had poured orange juice, but when she looked closer, she figured out they were bowls of uncooked scrambled eggs. When she asked WF what they were doing there, he said "well, when we were up this morning, I was hungry so I decided to make some eggs, but I can't cook them so I set them on the table. I thought I would make some for everyone. CP was there but she didn't have anything to do with it, she was mostly asleep the whole time" She thanked him for being thoughtful and as soon as he turned his back, she tossed the 4 hour old eggs.

When I got home, I was asking him about it and I asked if it clued him in that it was still dark outside. He said "nope, every morning when I get up, it is dark"

What were you thinking? "Well at first, I was confused because I couldn't find any bowls, but then I found some and it was ok"

Why 5 eggs? "Well, I made one for everyone that eats eggs"

Oh, did you not make one for AP?(youngest sister) "No, I didn't make one for CP, because she doesn't eat eggs, but I put a banana out for her so she could eat with us"

Ah, your 4 am foray into cooking all makes sense now.

Overheard: Really? Edition

2010-04-10T22:15:00.002-05:00

Tonight, I was watching CSI and the opening scene is of a dog barking. The man and woman are laying on the bed and he says to her "it is your turn to deal with that dog" She said the dog was probably tormenting a opossum.

I was planning to switch over the clothes and paused the show. As I got up, I commented to RF "This is CSI. If the dog is barking, you are probably going to fine a dead body on your lawn and it won't be a opossum" then I walked away.

RF: Well, the dog has quit barking and the lady hasn't come back yet
Me: Uh, I PAUSED it
RF: Oh. Shut up, I hate you

LOL

Oh, this old thing?

2010-03-24T22:59:00.003-05:00

So my friend Quigs makes awesome purses. She made me this

fantastic purse for my birthday and I use it all the time. Talking to her is quite a hoot too because she is constantly saying "I could totally make that" and I believe her. For someone that had nothing to do with a sewing machine 2 months ago, she has turned into a regular Martha Stewart! :) However, when she gave me my fancy bag, her first comment was "don't look to close at the stitches". Of course, me being me the first thing I did was turn it inside out and check all the seams. I found one little spot that wasn't perfectly straight. Other than that, it looked fantastic and there was no way I could do something like that!

I started embroidery when I was a kid. I was about 12 when my aunt got pregnant with my cousin and I decided to make her a bear and bunny baby name sampler. Unfortunately, I'm tragically slow at the process so I never got it finished for him. I ended up finishing it for WF. Since then, I've worked mostly with cross stitch and WF took one I just finished for him, with tree frogs, to show to Quigs at lunch today. She looked at it and commented on how nice it looked and the very thing out of my mouth was, "don't look at the orange frog, he is all 'Picasso' because I messed up the counts". Then she turned it over to look at the back (presumably to see if she could make something like it LOL) and I said "the back of that one is so ugly, look at this other one that I'm working on"

She seemed fairly impressed with them and I can tell you I'm totally impressed with her sewing so my question is "why do we do that"? It isn't just us, either. I see so many people, when complimented about something they are capable of doing, even if it isn't perfect, saying stuff like "oh, don't look at that" or "well, it isn't the best". Is this a learned "skill"? Is this something that people see other people doing and assume it is something that they should do also? Is this something guys do? It doesn't seem like it, but then no guys I know really do anything crafty so I'm dealing with a potentially abnormal subset of the population.

I'm sure no one else is surprised

2010-03-16T21:04:00.003-05:00

Tonight MF went to Bloomington with my mom and WF for rock climbing. I got home from PTA before they did and was watching Ru Paul's drag race on VH1 when they got home. She headed for bed and watched a few minutes of the performances while I talked to WF. When I came back she told me "those girls are SO pretty, I wanna do that when I grow up" So now, apparently her career aspirations have shifted from "disco dancing queen" to "drag queen". At least drag queens are in higher demand so maybe she could actually make money at it. Of course, there is the whole "not being male" thing that stands in the way, but you know, whatevs :)

The amazing Mr. Magic

2010-03-13T18:10:00.000-06:00

Overheard: Enough already edition

2010-03-12T19:43:00.002-06:00

We have been going skating a couple of times a week for the past couple of weeks. MF really shows a talent for it and LOVES going. WF has always liked it and was disappointed when we weren't going as often as he would like. While we were there last week, I ran into an old friend of my brother's and we were talking while we skated.

After she skated away, WF skated up and said: Hey, who was that
Me: A friend of D's
WF: Oh yeah? Does she have a sister?
Me: Uh, no but she has a daughter your age
WF: Do you think you could introduce me?
Me: Dude, don't you think you have enough girl friends?
WF: Nope. So, you gonna introduce me?
Me: Fine

ROFL

Music to my ears

2010-02-27T23:35:00.002-06:00

Back in November, I caused a stir by sending an unauthorized email to our PTA email list regarding the lack of performances for half the school. I was asked to resign moderatorship of the list, which I refused. Since then, my reception with the PTA has been "cool" at best (including several facebook unfriendings, which FB totally ratted them out about by offering them as suggestions for people I might know LOL) . Of course, having fans has never been my motivation in life and I have not let the subject drop( raise your hand if you really thought I would. I'm the person that wouldn't eat at Chevy's for 3 years because i broke my toe there and no one asked if I was ok).

Because of my persistence in the matter, the music teacher was invited to the November PTA meeting, where, after seeing it wasn't my own personal crazy and other parents didn't like it either, she agreed to schedule some in class performances for the grades not doing musicals. Lame and a total cop-out, when she easily could have put an additional grade on stage before the musical, had them sing a couple of songs and be done, however, after she made it clear that she isn't REQUIRED to do ANY type of performance, I figured it was the best we were going to get and decided to leave well enough alone.

Since November, I have emailed her at least 3 different times, asking when she plans to get the performances scheduled. At the meeting, we were told they would be in January, February and March, so they would be over by the spring musical in April. Well, as of today, not only have none been done, none are even scheduled. I emailed her again tonight, asking for a concrete date and not the blow off she has given me the other times I've emailed about it. Her previous email, sent Feb 1st, said she knew the "what" (inviting parents to join the class in their classroom and seeing music education first hand) but not the when. She assured me parents would have plenty of notice about it.

Tonight's email pointed out that we are near the end of 3rd quarter, that I'm emailing about this AGAIN and I'm afraid these things she promised, in the face of angry parents, won't actually happen because the end of the year gets crazy. I also cced the principal on this email, hoping to encourage her to get some concrete information to parents.

I really think she believes if she ignores this long enough, I'll drop it. Not only is she totally off-base with that idea, she is sadly mistaken if she thinks that once my kid in in a grade that performs, I'll back off about it. What she fails to realize, I'm certain, is that I have another kid coming in and they will be on opposite years. Until my kids or that teacher is gone from that school, I won't be letting this subject drop. She doesn't understand the mess she has unleashed on herself by tangling with me. I will NEVER let her off the hook.

However, I'm at the point that fighting the battle by myself isn't that effective. So, if I haven't heard from her by the end of the week, I intend to pull out my handy-dandy school directory and type in all the email addresses of all of the K, 2nd, and 4th grade parents (198 students out of 407 total) and encourage them to start contacting her and the principal. It is time this is taken care of. When I sent the original email to the PTA list, I was accused of "trying to start a riot" against this teacher and encouraging a "torch and pitchfork mentality" among the parents. Honestly, if that is what people want to believe about me, then I'm willing to make it a self-fulfilling prophesy. I will not use the email list to contact the parents because that is viewed as an abuse of my moderator powers. However, everyone in the school has the directory (I know, I made and passed out all the copies myself) and has the same ability that I do to contact other parents to take a stand.

On slightly more positive note, I'm willing to bet no one approaches me about being on the board this year. LOL

Despite this issue, I still love the school. I still think the administration and staff are among the best in the district. I think, in general, the teachers are hard working and really care about the kids. I think that the parents are involved and everyone is interested in making the school the best that it can be. This is a minor detail in the grand scheme of school choices but it is my current soapbox.

Overheard: what are they teaching you at that school edition

2010-02-06T22:12:00.004-06:00

Little girl at school: Hey, do you know what x-rated means
Little boy: blank stare
Me: (thinking) holy crap this could get really bad, really fast but I don't want to make a huge deal out of it, in case it is nothing
LG: I was x-rated once
Me: WTF!
LG yeah, it was my ear, they took pictures of it.
Me: Oh, you mean x-RAYED, not x-rated! woo

Little boy: get out of the way, fat ass.
Other teacher: you don't say that, not nice, apologize, time out etc
Little boy called name: He didn't call me fat ass, he called me Fed Ex

Seriously, so going to be my new insult!

MT: I don't know how to play this game.
Non: Well let me look at the directions and I'll tell you what to do.
MT: I already read the directions and they didn't do any good.
Non: Uh, you can't read, that is why they didn't help.
MT: huh, maybe that's why

ROFL

Fried chicken

2010-01-11T17:15:00.002-06:00

Over the last year, we've gone down to Springfield to Kicks several times. They used to have an all you eat buffet with some really tasty fried chicken. Fortunately, for my weight loss, they have done away with the buffet and went to a pizza place with a salad bar. We went down over the weekend and my mom and the kids had pizza and cheese sticks and I had salad bar. But going down there really made me want fried chicken. So I got on Hungry Girl and found her Faux Fried Chicken recipe because all of her stuff is sensible points (and she includes point values on the recipes) and I made this tonight for dinner.

I don't use garlic salt so I subbed garlic powder and salt and it could have used a little more salt but really? Super good and only 4 points per serving (6oz raw chicken). I will be making this again.

My books for 2009

2010-01-02T22:12:00.002-06:00

Some of these have reviews, towards the end, I gave up on that. Anyway, 127 at best count because I'm sure there was at least a few that didn't make the list because they were kind of forgettable.

Tippy Toe Murder Leslie Meier Jan

Too Many Crooks Tamara Myers Jan Good book. Quick read. Interested to read more

Mom, Apple Pie and Murder Nancy Pickens Jan Boring. Several short stories. A few were good and made me want to look up the author but most I just couldn't wait to finish

Star spangled Murder Leslie Meier Jan

High Heels and Homocide Kasey Michaels Jan This started off slow but wound up nicely and I'm looking forward to more

Crime Seen Victoria Laurie Jan Best VL book yet. Abby and Dutch weren't fighting the whole book and it was less creepy

Blue Blood Susan McBride Jan Took longer that I would have liked to read but it was decent. Read out of order but other than her relationship, I couldn't tell.

Just Plain Pickled Tamar Myers Jan Took a little to get into but it is quite funny once it starts

3 willows Ann Brashares Jan Continuation of the Sisterhood

Drop Dead Blond Nancy Martin Jan Anthalogy Well done books from good authors

Nothing to Fear but Ferrets Linda Johnston Jan Kendra Ballantyne mystery

Fine Feathered Death Linda Johnston Feb Much easier to get through than ferrets

Meow for Murder Linda Jonhston Feb More development of the story awfully predictable

Mail order murder Leslie Meyer Feb First book, many contradictions to future character development

A crazy little thing called death Nancy Martin Feb Not the best Blackbird book, a little crazy premise

Bubbles a Blaze Sarah Strohmeyer Feb Bubbles is quite fun.

Bubbles All the Way Sarah Strohmeyer Feb Good until the end, then it just got strange

Nursery Crimes Ayelet Waldman Feb Meh, decent story, bad characters

Murder of a Smart Cookie Denise Swanson Feb Totally out of order. Need to read the rest of the series to get a better handle
on where things stand

Murder of a real Bad Boy Denise Swanson Feb Follows right after Cookie. Starting to make some sense

Death Perception Victoria Laurie Mar Good whodunit but a little predictable

Don of the Dead Casey Daniels March Slow to start but a solid base to an interesting series

The Chick and the Dead Casey Daniels March Further charcter development, she seems to be getting in to her role as
Gifted

Are you there Vodka Chelsea Handler March Way Funnier than expected. LOLed in many parts

Plum spooky Janet Evanovich March JE. Laughed so hard at parts, I woke up Lizzie. Super quick read

Nip, Tuck Dead Lori Avocato Mar Took some getting into but then was fairly fast. Main character was a little annoying and
the story was Predictable!

White Witch,Black Curse Kim Harrison Mar Resolved the mystery at the end of the last book. 500 pages, so took a little while
to read

On What Grounds Cleo Coyle Mar Quick read, finally first in a series. Interested in further developments

Killer Cocktail Sheryl Anderson Mar Second in a series. Seems to really need the other book to make sense. Main characters whines about guy too much

Muder with Peacocks Donna Andrews Mar Read fast and I was happy with the ending. Of course, I knew about the guy but it
was kind of obvious

Contents Under Pressure Edna Buchanan Mar Good book, good characters, fast read

Ice Maiden Edna Buchanan Apr Read out of order, already tired of her killing of characters

Miami, It's Murder Edna Buchanan Apr A little slower read, still good

Suitable for Framing Edna Buchanan Apr Good

Act of Betrayal Edna Buchanan Apr

Margin of Error Edna Buchanan Apr Suprising ending

Garden of Evil Edna Buchanan Apr Read fast, a change of pace because we knew the bad guy early on

You Only Die Twice Edna Buchanan Apr Sadly, predictable, especially given how well Margin of Error ended

Cold Case Squad Edna Buchanan Apr Not Britt and not nearly as good

Shadows Edna Buchanan Apr

Love Kills Edna Buchanan Apr Britt is back, sharing space with Cold Case. Not as good as the books that are strictly from her POV. Left open ended

Tombs of Endearment Casey Daniels Apr A little predictable.

Night of the Loving Dead Casey Daniels Apr Finally some resolution

Murder Melts in your Mouth Nancy Martin Apr New Characters, same plot line. Still decent

Legally Dead Edna Buchanan Apr Did NOT like the ending. No resolution. The rest of the book was good though

Sucker Bet Erin McCarthy Apr Vegas vamps. Only read because it was in the series. Mostly boring

Murder of a Small Town Honey Denise Swanson May First Scumble river book. Gives back story to characters

Murder of a Sweet Old Lady Denise Swanson May Scumble River Fast read, nice twist

Murder of a Sleeping Beauty Denise Swanson May Fast Read, not surprising

Murder of a Snake in the Grass Denise Swanson May Fast Read, typical ending

Murder of a Barbie and Ken Denise Swanson May

Wishful Drinking Carrie Fisher May Read super fast. Very funny!

Murder of a Pink Elephant Denise Swanson May

Murder of a Botoxed Blonde Denise Swanson May

Murder of a Chocolate Covered Cherry Denise Swanson May

Murder Between the Covers Elaine Viets May

Dying to Call You Elaine Viets May

Pane of death Sarah Atwell May

Just Murdered Elaine Viets June

Murder unleashed Elaine Viets June

Murder with reservations Elaine Viets June

Clubbed to death Elaine Viets June

Shakespeare's Landlord Charlaine Harris June Quick read, straight mystery instead of her usual supernatural bend.
Nice surprise ending

Shakespeare's Champion Charlaine Harris June

Dead and Gone Charlaine Harris June I liked these books when it was just vamps and weres. Faeries are a little too
much

Shakespeare's Christmas Charlaine Harris June A little different from the rest of the series, also a little too easy to
figure out

High Heels are murder Elaine Viets June Decent heroine, interesting enough to read

Carpe Demon Julie Kenner June Adventures of a Demon hunting soccer mom. Funny enough to entertain, dark enough to thrill

California Demon Julie Kenner June

Demons are forever Julie Kenner June

Deja Demon Julie Kenner June

Shakespeare's Trollop Charlaine Harris June Last one in the series. Not so great

The Givenchy Code Julie Kenner July Espionage with a fashion twist

Manolo Matrix Julie Kenner July

Prada Paradox Julie Kenner July The people in this book are so stupid. The other books were decent but this was too
obvious

Accessory to Murder Elaine Viets July

Murder with all the Trimmings Elaine Viets July

Dying in Style Elaine Viets July

Shakespeare's Counselor Charlaine Harris July

Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club Susan McBride July

Finger Licking Fifteen Janet Evanovich July

After Birth July

Killer Cuts Elaine Viets July

Royal Scandels Michael Farquhar Aug

Blood lite Aug

Foolishly Forgotten Americans Michael Farquhar Aug

Breathers Aug

Demon Envy Erin Lynn Aug

Bloodsucking Fiends Christopher Moore Aug

You Suck Christopher Moore Aug

Royal Mess Mary Janice Davidson Aug

UnDead and UnWelcome Mary Janice Davidson July

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Christopher Moore Aug

Coyote Blue Christopher Moore Aug

Speed Demon Erin Lynn Sept

Lust Lizard of Meloncoly Cove Christopher Moore Sept

Practical Guide to Demon Keeping Christopher Moore Sept

Fatally Flaky Diane Mott Davidson Sep

Wedding Day Murder Leslie Meier Sep

Christmas Cooking Murder Leslie Meier Sep

New Year's Eve Murder Leslie Meier Sep

Did they really do it Fred Rosen Sep

Teaser Jan Brogan Sept

Vampires of Venice Beach Jennifer Colt Oct

Angry Housewives eating bon bons Lorna Landvik Oct

St. Patrick's Day Murder Leslie Meier Oct

Pride and Predudice and zombies Jane Austen Oct

Butcher of Beverly Hills Jennifer Colt Oct

Mangler of Malibu Canyon Jennifer Colt Oct

Mistletoe Murder Leslie Meier Nov

Con Artist of Catalina Island Jennifer Colt Nov

Tales from the Crib Jennifer Coburn Nov

Foul Play Janet Evanovich Nov

Promises in Death JD Robb Nov

Bite Laurel Hamilton Nov

Good Ghouls Do Julie Kenner Nov

A good ghouls guide to getting even Julie Kenner Nov

Prom Nights from hell Meg Cabot Nov

Maggie needs an Alibi Kasey Michaels Nov

Skin Trade Laurell Hamilton Nov

Maggie By the Book Kasey Michael Dec

Kindred in Death JD Robb Dec

The Lost symbol Dan Brown Dec

Grave Secret Charlaine Harris Dec

Maggie without a clue Kasey Michaels Dec

A touch of Dead Charlaine Harris Dec

U is for Undertow Sue Grafton Dec

New hair taming method

2009-12-23T14:00:00.000-06:00

Liz got her hair tamed at kalahari.

There was a chubby snowman

2009-12-23T13:57:00.001-06:00

The Magnificent Freak speaks

2009-12-17T19:52:00.002-06:00

Quote from my daughter tonight while I was in the shower and she finished going to the bathroom.
MF: Mom, I didn't flush because I didn't want to burn you
Me: Thanks, that was nice of you
MF: If I burned you, I wouldn't have a mom anymore. I would just have a dad and a dead mom in the bathtub.
Me: Um, ok (WTF is she watching on TV)

Tis the Season

2009-12-14T19:51:00.001-06:00

I hate the carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Seriously? You are going to show up at my house uninvited, demand food and then refuse to leave until you get some? STFU!

Just one more reason that I'm not a holiday fan

Let the depression keep on rolling

2009-12-10T20:27:00.003-06:00

In the theme of my past posts, this one is another depressing one.

Today after school we went to FCC to play. After we had been there for awhile, The Charming Phantom came over to the table to tell me that The Wild Freak was crying. I went to see him and see what was happening. He laid his head on my lap and cried for a while. While I'm asking what is wrong, CP was standing over my shoulder saying "things didn't go well at school today. With some force, I finally extracted from him that one of the other kids had been mean to him about PK and then that PK had been mean to him to. That instead of playing with him she ran away. Then he wailed "Everything used to be perfect and now it isn't"! Oh to be a second grader in love! CP comments, "I think he should break up with her and find another girlfriend" then shrugged at me and walked away ROFL No ulterior motives there. No sirree! :) Eventually he calmed down and told me that his new friend who is in the 3rd grade is the problem. His friends in his class don't want to play with the older kid so he has to decide who he wants to play with at a given time. I explained that sometimes your friends aren't friends with each other and you just have to decide which game you like playing better that day, that time. He told me that it sure wold be easier if all his friends could be friends. Isn't that the story of life!

Unfortunately, the way things are going, I'm betting I'll get to use my shiny new "drama" tag a lot more often.

Important names to know

2009-12-10T20:19:00.002-06:00

Anyone that I blog about that didn't pick their own nicknames gets run through the superhero name generator. TB's friend O has earned a spot in the blog so they get names. Her mom K is the Fearless Phantom, O is The Charming Phantom, her sister M (MT's age) is The Daring Phantom and the little sister E is The Acrobatic Phantom.

Also MT is henceforth named The Magnificent Freak and TB is now The Wild Freak. Just cause I was tired of their old names. I'm not so good at forever names. :)

Body movin'

2009-12-09T21:34:00.002-06:00

I get the National PTA newsletter through our local council PTA email list. In it, they had an article talking about different styles of learning and how to help them learn better. I took the little quiz they gave, fully expecting TB to fall into the "word smart" category because the kid NEVER stops talking. He doesn't write well because he is such a good story teller that writing limits his abilities. He can't write as fast as he can think and he ends up playing the "tell a complete story in 3 lines or less game" and leaves out a lot of detail that he would include if he were telling the story instead of writing it.

So anyway, the quiz came up with mostly "a"s, which placed him in the Body Smart Learner. Ok, he is also pretty active, I'll read the description and see what they say The following is text from the article.

Your child is a body-smart (bodily/kinesthetic) learner -- she probably has a natural sense of balance, making her a good athlete or dancer. These types of kids learn best when it involves their body in some way -- either through hands-on experience (think using objects to count with or blocks for building) or by doing something as they listen, even if it's just chewing gum or kneading a stress ball. Your child is probably also the touchy type; when she has something to tell you, she'll demonstrate it using hand gestures and pantomime, which is why she's likely to be a good actor, too.

Possible Careers: Athlete, dancer, actor, doctor, military, construction, artist, landscape designer

Homework Helpers: •Let Her Move• Give your child an exercise ball to sit on as she does her homework -- the sheer act of balancing on it will help her focus better, says Bennett. Or let her do it standing up. Want your body-smart kid to remember better? Tell her to move her finger under the words when she's reading books, notes, or spelling words, says educational psychologist Michele Borba, Ed.D. Have her write out spelling words or sums in big letters with chalk on the sidewalk, or on a big piece of paper inside, and hop on them. Or have her spell them out with her body. •Work It Out• Whether she's kicking a soccer ball or jumping rope, let your kid go out in the backyard and get her energy out before she settles back down to study.

The bold part is the part that really rang true for me. We are CONSTANTLY on him to SIT DOWN. When he does his homework, when he is eating, etc. Last year it was such a problem that his teacher had him evaluated by the school OT and he ended up with a little seat cushion to help convince him to sit. Since he never actually sat, the cushion wasn't so overly helpful. This year, his teacher said she hasn't noticed as much of a problem with it. I still see it at home all the time so I'm guessing that he is doing it, he just isn't as obnoxious about it this year. I hate to suggest doing things at school that would separate him from the other kids, like the stress ball thing while listening. Or something different to sit on but I really wonder if that wouldn't help him.

Regardless of accommodations being made, he really is doing better this year. Until recently, he was doing his homework without protest every night. He has started Handwriting without tears and since I know that he knows how to actually form most of the letters now, I'm making him take his time and write so I can read what he is writing and that makes him irritated. He doesn't like erasing and re-doing but that is just too bad. He can do it and he is going to do it.

What a waste - depressing

2009-12-06T16:43:00.002-06:00

Earlier this weekend, my cousin was killed in a car wreck. From what I know, he was alone in the car and it was single vehicle. I know that he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Of course, my information is coming 5th hand so I don't have any details about what happened, specifically. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if alcohol was involved. He recently joined Facebook and all of his posts were about how much his life sucked and how nothing ever went right and how whiskey was his only friend, etc. His birthday would have been Tuesday and he would have been 29. I would not be surprised if he was either out celebrating his birthday early or drowning his sorrows.

He is 9 months younger than me and when we were kids, he was my closest cousin. There were 3 of us on that side of the family that were about the same age and I never really got along with the other one so it was he and I. We spent a lot of time with that side of the family growing up so i saw him several times a year, although not so much recently. He caught the garter at my wedding and the next summer married a different girl. Not surprisingly, they were going through a divorce, which is part of his depression. His dad also died about 3 years ago just before Christmas, so he was really having a bad time of it. I simply can't imagine what his mom is going through right now. Losing her husband days before Christmas 3 years ago and now her son. A parent's worst nightmare.

He has two kids who are the same age as my kids. We've not spent nearly as much time with them since we have been adults, but our kids do see each other at weddings and other family parties.

The males in my family are genetically cursed and they rarely live to see 60, however, this is something different. This is the first person MY AGE that I have lost. The others, while sad and certainly before their time, didn't bother me as much. And so far I'm not as sad as I think I should be about this. Maybe because we didn't see each other very often, it is sort of unreal to me that this happened. Occasionally, it will hit me and I'll think about it and I'll be sad, but then it kind of goes away. Mostly I'm sad for his boys. He was really into them and a pretty good dad for everything that was going on in his life. I just feel like I SHOULD be more sad about it.

The thing I'm really struggling with right now is that I DON'T want to go to the funeral. I actually probably won't go to the funeral because it is during the day and I don't feel comfortable taking time off work for it since I'm still really new there. I just know that it will make it real. I don't want to see his mom and his boys doing the receiving line by the coffin. I feel really guilty about this because I've gone to all the other visitations in my family. I feel like this one is one that I should be going to since he was my age and I did know him well. I'm sure I will go but mostly out of guilt that I don't want to :(

RIP Kevin, I will be thinking of your family and I hope that you are happier where you are now

Cookies

2009-12-05T20:46:00.002-06:00

I decided to take Looseyfur's route and pre-bake my cookies for tomorrow (seems like an even better idea now that I've spent 2 hours on the baking). I told TB he could help me put the cooled ones on a plate. Now he is stalking my cookies, prowling around the kitchen demanding to know when the next batch will be cool. Perhaps I shoul dhave let him make the cookies? :)

The joys of 30 and the future

2009-12-05T16:36:00.002-06:00

Pounds that is. I haven't yet hit that age, although I got my notice in the mail that it is time to renew my license so I can feel it breathing down my neck :)

When I was at my starting weight, I never thought I felt that bad. I knew I didn't have much energy but that wasn't that big of a deal because I've always been basically lazy. Even at 150 lbs, I didn't have much motivation to get off my backside and actually do anything. I knew I had trouble getting up and down but I chalked that up more to being not 12 anymore instead of being overweight. Then I joined WW and lost 30 pounds. Now, at school, I'm able to crouch and tie shoes. I can bend over and pick things up. I have more energy but still not motivation to do anything. Last night TB ended up in the Parade of Lights (apparently, my dad commented that the guy driving the old Willard Fire Jeep had a fire suit on. The asked if they wanted a ride and off they went!) After I stood and watched the end of the parade, I walked to the end of the parade route and saw the front of the parade coming down the street. I decided to walk down the street and catch them and just walk back with them. I caught up with them at West Side Park and walked back to the Orpheum, via Main St. Once they got past the reviewing stand, the rest of the parade really picked up the pace. They were done and the people were done and so they took off to get out of the cold. I ended up jogging (despite not being dressed for it in slip on shoes and jeans) from the News-Gazette office to the municipal lot behind the Orpheum to keep up. The driving asked me if I wanted a ride and I was able to tell him that I was doing fine. And I really was. They got off the float and we hoofed it around front to get inside and I was a little winded but not dying. By the time I got my coat off, I was breathing totally fine. Afterward, we went to 1 Main for the tree lighting and TB and I didn't want to mess with 12 layers of clothes just to get there so we raced from the Orpheum down there and again, I was ok. This is practically a miracle since the last time I worked out was when I was walking TB to school each day in September. Being able to do that kind of thing and being ok makes me want to want to exercise. I still don't actually want to but I fell like I should want to. Strange conundrums.

I left WW in August when I felt like the result wasn't worth the cost anymore. My plan was to go it alone and I haven't been terribly successful at it. I've maintained my weight, which is good but I haven't lost much of anything either. Randomly, I'll get blips in my weigh ins that drop me below 180 but by the next day, I'm back over. I'm not really doing much of anything so I can't really complain much (well, I can, because I can always complain, but I shouldn't). I set a goal to have lost another 30 by the end of the year. I am desperately off track for that, needing to lose something like 10 pounds a week to achieve it. I changed my goal time to my birthday, which brought it down to just over a pound a week. The thing is, I'm not sure if I care enough to do it. I didn't realize I felt bad until I had something to compare it too. Would I feel better another 30 lighter? Probably but I feel good now so how much better? I set myself a goal because I felt like I should set a goal but I'm just not sure if I'm going to do it. I'm at the point that without much thought or deprivation, I can comfortably maintain my weight. While I would like to be 30 pounds lighter, I'm not sure that is maintainable goal. Quigs said to me once that to maintain her weight loss, she would have to track food and go to meetings for the rest of her life and I thought "if the choice is meetings and tracking forever or being fat, I think I'll take being fat". I didn't enjoy WW. The meetings were something I felt like I had to do to lose the weight. Karen was riot but even that wasn't enough to make me feel like it was something I WANTED to do. I took no joy in finding lower point sub for favorite foods. I either didn't eat the food or ate a bit less and I did ok with that until I didn't. It seems like my friends who have been successful in their weight loss find joy and happiness in the process of the weight loss. It might not be easy but they don't find it quite the drudgery that I did. They are ok with the lifetime aspect of it, where I never was. My plan was for it to simply be a short term solution. I don't intent to gain the weight back but I'm not sure I can commit to losing further. Maybe in the spring, when I can start grilling food again (I joined in April and lost all my weight during the summer) and find veggies easily. Or maybe not. I was over 200 pounds for 7 years before some switch flipped in my head that made me decide that I was ready to lose weight. I'd like to not take that long this time around but I know me and really, this might be it for my weight loss.

Signs of the apocalypse

2009-11-29T20:24:00.002-06:00

Tonight after dinner, about 5:10, MT was leaning on the couch with her head and neck on the couch and her feet stretched out on the floor in front of her. She looked at me and said "I can't even stand up" I said "do you want to go lay down in your bed so you don't have to stand up"? She popped her head off the couch and said "can I watch a movie in my bed?" (she has a portable DVD player that she can watch movies on if she lays down early enough). I told her sure and she took off at a dead run for the bathroom. No fighting or fussing at all. By 6 she was sound asleep!

I think just maybe decorating the Christmas tree and going to the pool wore her out!

It's Buster Bunny Time

2009-11-29T17:35:00.000-06:00

I'm dyeing over here

2009-11-11T20:21:00.002-06:00

The drawback of facebook is that I post status updates there fairly frequently and don't update over here hardly at all. Some of the highlights of the last few weeks:

-The Boy turned 8 last month and we went to Bloomington to the rock gym for his party and the kids had a great time. The kid that ran the party (he was 18 or 19 but that is still a kid IMO) was pretty impressed with TB's climbing and suggested he consider the climbing team. I pointed out to the kid that we live in CU and that was too far to drive. I checked the only rock wall we have locally and it is a small wall (34 feet, compared to the 65 he climbed up there) and mostly focused on classes for outdoor climbing and not really for kids. I thought some more about it and we signed him up for the team. We will be driving 45 minutes to Bloomington twice a week, starting in January. Plus other competition around the midwest various weekends throughout the spring. Crazy? Yes. Will he love it? I hope so.

-I'm busily wreaking havoc and creating chaos where I go. I have adopted a new cause. At school, the music teacher has decided that, instead of doing a holiday concert for all the kids, that she wants to concentrate on doing musicals with only the 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade. K, 2nd and 4th won't perform at all. I don't agree with this. Even if my kid were performing, I would be angry at the injustice of this (Like a young friend of mine, I have a "highly develop sense of justice"). So I'm pursuing a way to address the performance needs of these kids through various means. At this point, I'm championing the inclusion of an after school music program, run much like our after school Spanish, self defense, jump rope, drama, etc.

-The biggest announcement? I got a new job! I'm working at MT's preschool. Earlier in the year, I asked the director if she was looking for subs. She said she was always looking for subs and suggested that I apply for it online. I attempted it, but there were no positions listed as available. I contacted HR and they contacted the director who told me that she made an error but to hold off, because there would be an regular teaching position coming open soon. She suggested I apply for it and, then several times over the next few weeks, updated me on the status of the posting. I went in last week for an interview, she called my references that afternoon and offered me the job the next day. Right now, I'm working in the 5 day class but once they get one more person hired to cover some off site classes, I will move to the 3 day class. That happens to be MT's class and she will be moving to the 5 day class since me being her teacher won't work out well.

-The title's meaning? As many of you know, I have a tendency to ruin clothes. Working in a messy environment, such as preschool, only ups the chance that I will spill or splash something on myself. I went a bought a bunch of plain undershirts to wear to work so I don't destroy my regular clothes but after 2 days of plain gray shirts, I was already bored. That didn't bode well for the rest of the year. So today, I went and got some Rit dye and tonight I spend some time wrapping rubber bands around sections of cloth and dropping them in blue dye in my sink. Tomorrow, I intend to wrap the other side of the shirt and dunking it in green to make some pretty blue and green tie-dyed shirts. So, tonight, I'm dyeing over here :)

Barely better than feral

2009-10-26T20:04:00.002-05:00

TB's class had a field trip today. We went to the Early American Museum at Lake of the Woods. The point that I'm quite possibly the least domesticated person in the world was driven home time after time during our trip. First, the woman was talking about life on the prairie and showed the kids a cast iron skillet. She pointed out that some of their family's might have one. TB turned to me and asked if we had one. I told him no because they can't go in the dishwasher and I don't use dishes that can't go in the dishwasher. A little bit later, she was showing them some wool and said "if you have any wool coats or wool socks at home, this is what it is made out of" Again, he turns to me and says "do we have anything like that" and I responded "no, because wool doesn't do well in the washing machine and I won't own anything that can't be washed in the washing machine"

Of course, I was beaten over the head with the point when they went to the "blacksmith shop" and there was a kitchen stove. Sitting on top of it were iron pieces and she asked if the kids knew what they were. Because some of the kids have moms that do things like that, some of them knew they were irons that were being heated for use on the stove. TB did not know what they were. After his classmates revealed the answer, he turned to me and said "what is an iron for?" His teacher thought it was pretty funny and of course, I laughed because I don't own an iron. Honestly, I have a dryer, what do I need an iron for (and before you say it, iron on transfers are a legit use of irons but I've had a need for those twice in the last ten years)?

Cooking and eating

2009-10-14T19:49:00.003-05:00

I've been feeling the need to cook recently. I've been hungry a lot more often and wanting warm, heavy fatty comfort foods. I, of course, blame the weather for my desire to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I hate cooking as a rule so this is the only explanation for it.

Tonight, I made a faux Outback potato soup and it was DELISH! It took quite a bit longer to make than I anticipated (apparently, potatoes take a long time to boil and onions also take a while, who knew) but it made an ENORMOUS pot, which would probably freeze ok. I gave some of it away and I plan to give more away tomorrow because there is no way we can eat it all. Like I said, really good but not really on plan. It had around 8 billion points, if I did my math correctly! It started with 2 sticks of butter and went on to heavy cream, filled with 5 pounds of potatoes (it called for 6-8, depending on size but I like lots of potato) and topped with cheese, it was a calorie extravaganza! After eating 2 bowls of it, I should be stuffed but I really want a milkshake. Or hot apple cider, either would be fine Too bad (or not, depending on how you look at it), I don't have the stuff to make either in the house and I'm not going back out in the crummy weather to get it.

How I used some of my parent blogger swag

2009-10-12T17:28:00.003-05:00

If anyone knows my kid, they know she LOVES stickers. She was absolutely beside herself when I told her that I had huge stickers, they were PINK and we could PUT THEM ON THE WALL! The kid couldn't have been happier if Spongebob himself had walked in with the whole crew from Bikini Bottom and offered to cook her a crabby patty.

This is the first bit of swag I've had a chance to use since I went on vacation (Dells, Kalahari, fantastic time, pictures maybe, if I get unlazy LOL) 3 days after the event, but I'm sure you will hear about more of it as I dig through my "big bag of cool stuff" :)

Good things happening

2009-10-01T20:47:00.004-05:00

Last Friday was our walk. Despite some rain, it was great success. I got there early and helped set up and then worked the hospitality tent until it was time for TB to see the exhibits and then walk. We made, pre-walk, over $11,000 to fund the PTA budget for the year and invest in Smartboards for all the classrooms! A local high school marching band showed up and marched with the kids and then played in front of the school for awhile. Their concert was sadly cut short because it started to rain. The second and third graders also had their time cut short for seeing the exhibits because of the rain but shortly after they packed everything up, it cleared off enough that they could walk. All of the volunteers and students were given shirts and I heard that some of the kids were so excited about getting their shirts the day of the walk, they started crying. We are talking shirt sponsors for next year to offset some of that cost, which is by far, the biggest expense of putting on the walk. Hopefully, we'll get a couple and our bottom line will come out looking even better.

Enormous thanks to all the companies who donated supplies, people who donated money and volunteers that donated their time to make this event a continued success. We simply couldn't do it without the community support that we receive!

The other good thing was that we bought a new van yesterday. The plan had been to keep RF's car another couple of years, pay a significant down payment on a new car that point and he would take my van, while I got the new car. Unfortunately, as tends to be the case, the plan went astray when RF's transmission went out. After looking at it, we determined that we did not want to put 3000 plus dollars into a 9 year old, that was only worth 3000 so the hunt for a new van began. We had anticipated trading it in and trying to a little bit out of it. Sadly, as RF and FIL were driving it to the dealer, the transmission went for real. There was a loud bang and something hit the floor of the car and when they coasted off the road, they went back and picked up pieces of the transmission that were scattered around the road. The mechanic that works on our cars might be interested in buying because he has another Saturn with a good transmission and a bad engine.

I knew that I wanted a few things, including power sliding doors, fold in floor seats and rear heat and air. We struggled a little to find a low milage vehicle that had those things in our price range. We found a few things that were "almost there" but weren't totally right. Fortunately, we were in a position to walk away from the not quite right ones until we found one that really worked. We found it last week, although it was a little outside our budget. I wanted FIL to take a look at it so we had him go with us yesterday morning, with the idea being that we would go back Thursday morning while MT was in school and do all the paper work. FIL gave his approval and I ask the guy if we could stat running the number and playing the waiting game and that we would come back today to finish up the paperwork and pick up the van. He said we could but then offered to "make us a deal" if we could get it finished yesterday since it was the last day of the month. I was willing to make a deal so we spent the entire day out there yesterday, doing the paperwork to buy the van.

MT was an absolute ROCK STAR about the whole thing. She played and chatted with the salesman (dude scored major brownie points because he was nice to her) and ate popcorn and walked around and only got whiny once, an HOUR after she normally eats lunch. We got there about 8:15 yesterday morning and I pulled off the lot at 2! Big thanks to my friend K, who I called at 12:30 and asked if she could get the boys at school, while she was there with her girls, since, as it turned out, there was no hope of me getting there on time!

My van is awesome. It is black with gray interior. It has my fold down seats so I can fold the seats into the floor and gain a ton of storage space or make it easier to get to the back seat but I still have them with me if I need the seating once I get somewhere. It also has power sliding doors, which are fantastic! I couldn't pay the kids to shut the door in the old van but now they fight over who gets to push the button. Eventually the novelty will wear off but even then, I'll have my buttons so I won't have to yell at them to close the doors all the time. It also has the rear heat and air so I don't have to listen to "I'm so hot" or "I'm so cold" all the time. Now, if I could just get them to quit touching the vents all the time!

The final good thing that happened was I went to the Make a day better blogger meetup last night. It was for local bloggers and was done in conjunction with Office Max's push to end teacher funded classrooms. It was great to finally put faces with screen names (the pictures don't do you justice, ladies!) and hang out with good friends as well. Besides all that, there was food donated from local businesses and fat bag full of post party swag! You can expect a future post with more details about the event and the swag, once I get the email with all the company links so I can link to everything properly. When I heard about the swag bags, I expected pens and notepads and other lame things that you get at all those free events. We got bottles of lotion, brownie mixes, water bottles, reusable bags, etc. And not the tiny little travel sizes either. Full sized stuff! With companies being that generous, the least they deserve is a shout out on my little blog :)

Negligent parents

2009-09-29T20:20:00.002-05:00

I get that not all parents are interested in being "helicopter parents" I get that many of them feel like I'm crazy because I do hover. However, there is a line between "hands off" and full on neglectful. Tonight, I observed (yet again, I see it far too often in this town) the latter at the park. TB has soccer practice at a local park. RF is helping coach so while the boys run around, I've been taking MT to the playground. While were there tonight a little boy, probably 3 or 4 came out of his house, which borders the park, and came over to the playground. The first problem is that his parents were no where to be seen. The much larger problem was that it was 55 degrees, the sun was setting so it would only get colder and the kid was wearing NO PANTS! He had on a jacket, shoes and just his underpants. While I have no issues with kids who don't want to wear clothes, there are limits to that and a time and a place for everything. On to the rest of the evening. This kid was horribly behaved! He was pushing the other kids, sliding down the slide into them, grabbing them as they came down the slide, etc. There was another little boy who was not even two and twice this kid came flying off the slide and nearly kicked him in the face. The other mom and I both told him to knock it off and both times he ran a little bit away and then came right back, only to start over again. I finally told MT that if he touched her again, she had my permission to stop him, however she felt necessary. Those of you that know MT, know she doesn't take well to being pushed around and I have to say that she showed admirable restraint in not ending his behavior right away.

Finally his dad came out of the house and sat on the park bench talking to his dog. Eventually, the boy ran off with another boy. His dad didn't seem to notice that he was gone. I could see him from where I was at and he was clear outside the park, playing IN THE STREET, in front of the houses that border the park on the other side. Several minutes passed and finally the dad noticed that the kid was gone and he gets up and says to the dog "gee i wonder where they ran off too" He looked around the rather small playground and then said to MT "did you see were the boys went?" She turned her back and ignored him. By then, practice was over and we headed out. I have no idea if he ever found him. I have to assume that at some point, the boy would have found his way home, because it seemed like he was turned loose to roam the neighborhood on a fairly regular basis.

Hair

2009-09-28T09:54:00.002-05:00

when we actually do hair, it can be cute!

I'm Freak...

2009-09-23T21:02:00.003-05:00

And I have an attitude problem (I'm also a little petty, which factors in here as well). Most of you know this. However, I have an attitude about something in particular this time so you all get to read about it.

The walk is Friday. Although I didn't chair a committee, I have put in quite a bit of time working on it. I plan to put in quite a bit more time before it is all over because, as part of the hospitality committee, part of my job is to help set up, be there for the event and help tear down. Last year, I was at the school from 7am until 12:30. I don't anticipate it being any different this year. That is not an insignificant amount of time and energy on my part.

I found out today, that despite all that time, I won't be getting a t-shirt this year. I won't even have the opportunity to buy one because they simply weren't ordered. I understand that t-shirts are a huge expense and take away from the bottom line of the event. I realize that it is cost prohibitive to hand one out to anyone who shows up the day of the event. However, this feels like a huge slap in the face to anyone who actually did any work for this event. Honestly, we had several meetings this summer, they knew before today that people wouldn't be getting shirts. They knew the day they ordered them and we should have been given the opportunity to buy one if we wanted one. I would have gladly purchased one because I don't care if they are GIVEN out, I just want a shirt because I think they look cool this year (I have on from last year and it is pretty lame. The only place I will wear it is to work out). Was this done deliberately to cause ill-will and bad feelings towards the PTA (cause, seriously, thinking about not actually joining this year over this whole thing)? I doubt it. Was it poor planning and general jerkiness? ABSOLUTELY!!

Am I still going to the walk? I thought about not but TB wants me there and I wouldn't bail at the last minute because I know the chair of the hospitality committee is counting on me being there. Will I work very hard while I'm there? Not as hard as I would if I had shirt.

Nomination of a deserving teacher

2009-09-20T15:04:00.000-05:00

Last year my son had a teacher who seemed to be done teaching. Everyday was a struggle to get to go to school because he was so bored and frustrated with much of the stuff that happened in the classroom. By the end of the year, he was proclaiming daily that he hated school. This was first grade! It made me really sad and frustrated to hear him saying that.

This year is a VASTLY different story! His teacher loves her job and loves her students. She is engaged and so are the kids. She is incredibly enthusiastic and her students feel that and respond to it. He comes home everyday how much he loves school. We are getting notes home telling us about his progress in class and how well he is doing! His behavior is improving and he is progressing academically. Besides inspiring her students, she is actively involved in the PTA, although she has no children of her own, to help all of the school’s children succeed.

Our school has a large ESL population as well as a high percentage of kids who live below the poverty line. All of the teachers spend money out of their own pockets to help the kids have the things they need to succeed. So far this year, I know for sure his teacher has spent her own money to purchase special pencil grips for some of the kids to teach them how to hold a pencil and learn to write correctly.

If there is a teacher who deserves this award, it is his teacher this year. She took a little boy who hated school in May and within 2 weeks of starting school in August, made him love learning again. I’m sure before the end of the year she will have spent additional money to keep her kids learning ad growing throughout the year.

or @adaymadebetter

Wow

2009-09-18T19:14:00.002-05:00

It is 7:15. I've been in my jammies since 3:30. I've watched one of the movies I rented from the library. I've completed the school directory. I'm still struggling with the labels and I hate them (if you ever do labels in Word for Mac, email me, I need help). They look crazy cool, if I could just get them to print right. I am watching "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" out of desperation. I'm considering getting redressed and going to the library for an iced coffee before maybe meeting RF for a late dinner. I'm bored to FREAKING tears.

I just made you say "underwear"

2009-09-17T22:22:00.002-05:00

I was just doing laundry and found out that of the 20 pairs of underwear we bought for my son when school started, 10 pairs had been shoved under his bed and only saw the light of day because I insisted that he clean that pit up last weekend. He also had 5 pairs of shorts and uncountable socks.

This, right here, is the reason I buy the kids 2 10 packs of underwear and at least that many socks. If I didn't, they would be naked all of the time because they would run out of clothes.

Overheard at the Freak house

2009-09-01T22:38:00.002-05:00

MT at the fabric store, looking a Disney Princess Fleece: My daddy loves princesses.
Me: I don't think Daddy is interested in Princess fleece, kiddo.
MT: yep, my daddy loves me and he calls me princess so he must love princesses.

Not an altogether wrong logical leap

Not overheard really but still funny as hell. I was going through some stuff on my desk today and found some papers that came home from school at the end of the year, last year. Some of them were writing prompts and one said "I my heart" and the kids were supposed to write about something they were feeling. TB's said "I don't have anything in my heart. Ask my brain" ROFL The next one was just a blank page with no prompt and he wrote "I have nothing to write about" Nothing like being honest on your writing homework LOL

The latest injury

2009-08-29T22:48:00.003-05:00

I started my yearly purge this week. In purging stuff from my bedroom, I managed to severely stub my toe. Today, 24 hour later, it looks like this.

This picture so does not do justice to the bruising and swelling that this injury involves. I'm fairly certain it is broken, although it doesn't hurt much anymore so I could be wrong. Either way, bruised and swollen and cut open and ugly looking. See what I get for cleaning the house! :)

Whole lot of things

2009-08-25T20:54:00.003-05:00

So, basically I suck at blogging. Even Quigs is doing better than me at keeping up with hers and that is saying a lot! :) Since we got back from vacation, nothing much blog-worthy has happened. There have been lots of little things but nothing worthy of a post on it's own so now you get a bullet point list of all the things that have happened in the last month.

-TB started baseball this fall. He has never played before and missed the only two practices of the season because we were on vacation. He jumped right in to playing in a real game and we have been doing 2 games a weeks since then.

-Baseball bores me to tears. I cheer for our team, but I would rather be almost anywhere else. TB feels the same way. He likes to hit but hates being in the field. He is the kid in the outfield, kicking the dirt, chewing on his glove, chasing butterflies, dancing like Michael Jackson, etc. At least twice during every inning the coaches are yelling at him to pay attention

- We are at 3 losses, 2 wins, and 1 tie. I'm surprised that we have done that well because most of these kids are young and not exceptionally good at baseball. Instead of telling them where to make the play, the coach is simply teaching them to get it to the pitcher to stop the play because most of them aren't able to process the situation fast enough to do any good.

-We started school last week. We got the teacher we requested which is fantastic. She is active in the PTA, she taught drama club last year and we both knew her and like her a lot. I think she is the kind of teacher that TB needs and I'm hopeful that she will have a very positive impact on him this school year. Let's cross our fingers for reading by the end of the year!

-I'm babysitting a little boy after school. His mom works with my mom and she was concerned about the after school program. We worked out a deal and I pick him up 4 days a week after school, while I'm there picking TB up. It works out well because he has the teacher TB had for K so she knows me and knows the routine. It is a good deal for all involved. He gets to come and play with the kids and do the other fun things we do after school each day. I get a little a little extra money and she gets someone that she knows watching her kid every day. Good all around.

-We've been spending time with some kids from TB's class. He is thrilled to see more big kids.

-Soccer started last week, but due to conflict with baseball, this is the first practice we've been able to make.

-I can not tell you how much I LOVE soccer. The coach is good, if a little tough. There is at least one other kid who has never played and one girl who isn't interested in played (she spent a lot of time standing around at practice tonight). The coach believes that a sport isn't played by kids alone and requests parents assistant at practices. He asked me tonight if I could help out at future practices since I have soccer experience.

-TB was FAR more engaged in every step of practice than he has been at any point during baseball.

-Poor TB was a red little sweatball when practice was done. Apparently despite the running and playing he does, he is pretty out of shape. We are going to have to work on that.

-Speaking of getting in shape, I think, while it is decent weather, TB and I are going to think about the C25K program. Probably not 3 days a week between soccer games and practices and baseball games but as often as we can. With playing soccer, he is going to need to get in running shape and he wants to play basketball in the winter, which is going to require running. As an added bonus, he is hoping to get faster than the other boys at school because he kind of gets left behind sometimes.

-We are, hopefully, going to take karate this winter as well. Assuming it doesn't conflict with basketball, he and I will sign up for TKD through UPD. He took it through CPD a few years ago and I hated the instructor and I pulled him after 2 classes. I tried to get into the CPD karate class, but could never get the person to call me back about he and I taking it together (it was divided by age, which defeated the purpose of taking it together).

-My weight loss is slowing way down. I've been in the 180s for over a month and I'm SICK of it!! I gained over 5 pounds while on vacation and lost it all but I'm still stuck here. Hence all of the activity increases in our house.

-MT is starting school next week. She is really excited about it and I'm hoping she is keeps that up. She is going to be sad when she finds out that H won't be in her class this year but I'm hoping she will make new friends as well.

-I have a wedding to go to in October. I'm by turns excited about it and irritated by it. I like wedding receptions and dancing. I just hope I have someone to actually dance with. I'm not thrilled with the idea of going to the wedding but it is expected.

-This is the wedding that I had expected to be asked to participate in and then was not only not asked, I feel like I have been actively excluded, despite multiple offers of help. I didn't want to be in the wedding. Being in a wedding party is a PITA and costs more money than I'm willing to spend. Plus, it is usually a lot of work and terribly enjoyable. So yeah, I wanted to say no but I wanted the OPPORTUNITY to say no, instead of not even being asked. This friend and I, although tight throughout school, are in vastly different points in our life. She is just now getting married, working full time, etc where I'm staying at home, have kids in school, etc. Not a whole lot in common anymore but really, being friends since we were 8 should hold some meaning. Done ranting, I'll go to the wedding, I'll have fun and I'll move on. Eventually.

-We were supposed to move upstairs this fall but that isn't happening. My mom decided that RF and I weren't putting forth enough effort to facilitate the move. She said that it didn't benefit them so if we weren't going to do things how she wanted them, then we weren't doing it. Fine. We'll stay in the basement.

-We are supposed to be getting new windows this week. That means tearing apart the bedrooms for a couple of days. That gives me an opportunity to rearrange the rooms which have been pretty set in stone the last 6 years. I'm excited for a new look! :)

The long and short of it

2009-08-19T22:06:00.003-05:00

*Have you heard about Michelle Obama's shorts? She had the NERVE to wear SHORTS in AUGUST at the PHOENIX! How could she ever think that even a little bit acceptable? Thank all things holy that she finally had the sense to put a t-shirt on over her tank top! She is the first lady, for crying out loud! We all know that means that she is never allowed to "dress down" or be comfortable while traveling. She should always be dressed as if a state dinner could break out at a moment's notice.

Everyone can tell that this is a far better outfit for a First Lady to wear while hiking with her family, in the desert.

The thing I don't understand is why people aren't jumping on her tennis shoes. I mean, OMG, they are so not stylish and aren't portraying the proper image for a world wide fashion icon. How DARE she!

*In case you can't tell the whole above rant is pure sarcasm.

New reviews

2009-08-06T22:35:00.000-05:00

Finally, new content!

Look at your neighbor's billboard before putting yours up

2009-07-31T14:56:00.001-05:00

Billboards that don't belong together

To do or not to do

2009-07-27T21:32:00.002-05:00

Do I eat the ice cream and go over by 1 point or do I suck it up and go to bed without, putting me under by 7 points for the day? Weighing into this decision is the fact that I'm once again stuck at the same weight for several weeks in a row and I'm starting to think that it doesn't matter what I do, this is where my body wants to be. Suggestions?

Biker Babe

2009-07-23T21:46:00.002-05:00

After getting my scooter, then wrecking my scooter, I finally got around to getting licensed to actually RIDE the scooter today. Shortly after I got it, I went to DMV and got my permit. It allowed me, much like a driver's permit, to ride with another licensed rider. I figured that was ok and not that big of a deal until I started wanting to go places and didn't have an escort. I couldn't take it to Weight Watcher meetings, I couldn't ride it to trivia or to the library or anywhere. Kind of a PITA since I'm not comfortable riding with a passenger yet and we always had to wait until someone else was home to watch the kids so we could take the bikes out. Since I wrecked, I've been back on it several times and I haven't had a problem. I had not been near DMV and I was ok with that too. RF has been encouraging me to get back over there and get it done. I kept putting it off for this reason or that and today, I finally just had to suck it up and do it. I posted to FB last night that I was doing it and I knew that would hold me accountable because I knew people would be asking me if I had done it. So I did.

I got up at 6:30 this morning so that I could get everyone up and fed and out the door in time to be at DMV when they opened at 8. RF rode the scooter over for me, since I couldn't, and I followed in the van with the kids. I was in line and ready to go when the doors opened at 8. I was the second person in and the only one taking a motorcycle exam. I handed over my info, visited the cashier (I didn't have to pay because I paid when I got the permit) and waited about 5 minutes before the lady called me out to test.

We went through the standard light checks then she had me set up for the course. The first test is a sharp left hand turn. You have to stay inside the lines, not knock over any cones and not put your foot down. As soon as I entered the shoot, I knew I was going too slow and wouldn't be able to make the turn in the space. I ended up putting my foot down but completed the rest of the test fine. After that was weaving and U-turn (we had been doing the U-turn in the wrong area and it was a lot harder the way we were doing it), which I was confident about. Following that was stopping. I had no issues with that because if I can do anything on that scooter, it is make it stop! There is a foot break pedal on it and when you hit it, it stops NOW! After that was the swerve. I freaked out to no end about the swerve because that was were I wrecked before. I told RF that I sort of wished that I had passed on breakfast because I felt pretty sick at the thought of having to swerve again. On the one hand, I was pretty panicked at the thought of wrecking again. On the other, I knew I wasn't going to do it so it didn't matter. She showed me how to complete the test and I found out I was doing it ALL wrong. Not as wrong as I thought I was doing but wrong enough. Basically, you start at the same point as the stopping test, ride through the shoot and swerve around the red "stop" line. We were starting right, just trying to swerve around the outside boundary line instead. I pulled around, fairly certain that the foot down had failed me. I've heard other people talk about getting their license and most of them that failed the first time failed because they put their foot down somewhere they weren't supposed to. Imagine my surpise when she told me that was only worth 1 point and the only point I missed. If I had kept my stupid foot up (something we worked and worked and worked on while we were practicing), I would have had a perfect score!! Back inside to wait a few minutes and now I'm the proud owner of a shiny new license, listing me as class DM. Ask to see it sometime, it is pretty neat looking, with holograms and two pictures and stuff :)

Most people have been pretty happy that I was able to pass fairly easily. The notable exception to that is my mom. Since I first started riding the little scooter a year ago, she has wanted me to take the U of I motorcycle class. I felt (and was obviously right), that I didn't need the class to get my license. The class is not without virtue and merit, it just isn't for me. It requires 4 hours, 4 different days, pre-committed with no exception. It is rain or shine, hot or cold, doesn't matter. First of all, I would like to know where I was going to fine 16 hours to devote to the class? My weekdays are open enough (although still busy) but I have the kids and my weekends are packed! We had to cancel a trip a couple of weeks ago because it was simply too much. Had we gone, we would have had 6 solids weeks where we weren't home either day of the weekend, then a week off and then vacation. Too much. I'm also nothing if not a fair weather rider. I don't want to do it when it is raining or cold or too hot or anything else. Committing to taking a class in July sometime in April just didn't work for me. Had I needed to learn to ride a motorcycle (motorcycles have manual transmissions and require clutching and shifting and what not. Scooters are automatic and a much smaller learning curve), the class probably would have helped but it still just wasn't me. So basically, I practiced the course for maybe 2 hours and rode it for maybe an hour and passed just fine. That is 13 hours I saved by doing it my way

Anyway, my mom took the class a couple of years ago and really struggled with it. She ended up sick all 4 days from the heat, she struggled and struggled to pass the test and just generally didn't do well with it. Then she bought a bike she didn't really want, dropped it a few weeks later trying to park on gravel (she was stopped, the kickstand just slid on the gravel) and sold it last summer. I think she really wanted someone else to have as hard a time passing and riding as she did. Of course that isn't the case because RF and my brother basically breezed through the class and I never took it. And I don't think she was in anyway happy when I wrecked but I sort of got the feeling she was hoping it would put me off riding. Since I had just bought the bike, I had to get back on it or it was a HUGE waste of money. And I didn't wreck it riding it, I wrecked it at DMV. Basically the same difference but a huge divide in my mind. Her attitude today was "oh, isn't that nice, well anyway" and I think she was irritated that I did as well as I did without the class because that meant I was right. Getting a license isn't rocket science and I didn't need a class to teach me how to do it.

My first motorcycle ride is this weekend too, which is part of the reason I decided to get my license today. Although I was perfectly legal to ride in it, I felt better knowing I had a real license and not just a permit. My mom is following the ride with my van and a trailer in case anyone has problems. She will also have MT with her and since TB is riding with my dad, she will be available if he wants to get off before the end of the ride. Last year, this ride was plagued by busted bikes. 2 guys never made it out of town. One guy blew a tire, one guy had something else happen to his bike, it was crazy. My dad worded his statement about the trailer very carefully. He said "your mom is going to drive the van and pull a trailer in case something happens to one of the bikes or if you decide you don't want to ride anymore". My mom was not as careful. She told me "I'm driving your van with a trailer so when you decide you can't do it, you have a way to get home" Well, by God, I'm finishing it now, if just to show her. I don't care if my ass is on fire, my arms are completely numb and my head is pounding, I WILL finish that ride!

If you see me around town, feel free to wave. I'm getting better about waving back because I'm more comfortable than I was last summer and my new scooter is heavier and less squirrely so I don't have to have quite such a death grip on the handle bars :)

Big Lovers

2009-07-18T17:55:00.002-05:00

People that watch Big Love, I just finished season 2 on DVD and I'm starting on season 3. I feel like I've seriously missed something. Barb is getting a CAT scan, Niki is working, Margie had the baby, etc. Is this right, am I missing episodes?

Evolution of Dance

2009-07-17T20:40:00.004-05:00

I've been going to Trivia on Tuesday nights. Last week, there was a category about viral videos. One of the questions was "this video features a guy in an orange Crush t-shirt dancing his way from the 1950s to the 2000s, what is the name of the video?" I didn't do well at the category and I'm glad my brother was with me because he rocked it. He knew that the video was called "Evolution of Dance" The trivia was bagging on it and said that it was lame he didn't know why it was viral so of course I had to come home and watch it. It was actually pretty awesome!

If you haven't seen it, take the 6 minutes involved and watch it. The best part is that he took the time to learn the dances.

He also made a second video, which isn't as long or quite as good as the first. It is still worth watching

Like all good viral videos, this one has some parodies.

This one isn't the best out there but big dudes gettin' down and the Thriller Dance always make me laugh

This is the BEST parody out there. Be sure to stay tuned for YMCA! Of course the end is funny as well.

Over-education

2009-07-10T22:14:00.002-05:00

Looseyfur posted an article on facebook that I just didn't get. I've read it clear though, including the first page of comments, twice and I still don't get it. Read it here for yourself and tell me how it goes together.

Basically, a professor took her kids and some friends (ages 12, 12, 8, 7, and 3) to the mall and dumped them. Awhile later, the police called her back to the mall and charged her with child endangerment. They threatened to arrest her when she showed up and tried to "explain her actions" (personally, there is no explanation except that she is a lazy, irresponsible parent). Then, she decided that she was being persecuted for being a highly educated woman because the court wouldn't offer her a plea, instead charging her with the crime she committed.

My take on this is that she got exactly what she deserved. She endangered those kids by leaving them alone at the mall, thus "child endangerment". I also have issues with the fact that not only did she endanger her kids but she was equally cavalier about the safety of SOMEONE ELSE'S child! Besides the child endangerment charge, I know a lot of malls have their own rules about how many children can be in an unsupervised group. I believe our local mall's policy is 3 people under the age of 18 but I couldn't swear to it since I don't hang out at the mall.

I feel that bias is, often, in the eye of the beholder. Too many people feel that being some minority, be it black, female, highly educated, low class, whatever, gives them the right to not only break rules and laws but to expect some type of special treatment because of their minority status when they do. RF is forever having people on the bus say to him "you didn't stop for me at that place that wasn't a stop because I'm such and such minority". In reality, the bus didn't stop because it wasn't a stop but that person felt that it was done on purpose.

In this case a highly educated woman did something stupid. Another highly educated woman (the prosecutor, as I can only imagine a lawyer would be classified as highly educated) chose to not allow her to use her money and education to get a slap on the wrist. Seems like that is exactly what should have happened. It isn't class war-fare or a hatred or fear of educated women. It is exactly how the justice system is supposed to work.

Weekend in review

2009-07-06T09:36:00.002-05:00

Friday
Spent the day shopping and cleaning for the 4th

Saturday
Spent the morning cleaning and monitoring Twitter for 4th updates
Took a nap in the afternoon, in case fireworks were a go
They weren't but we still had our cookout, it just became a cook-in.
Lots of people in my little house but everyone had fun and ate way too much

Sunday
Morning workout, while my mom took the kids to the park
Then my parents decided it was too nice of a day to stay at home so we took the kids to BN
They had a lot of fun playing in the sprayers at Miller Park (even if it was cold water) then we did Chuck E Cheese for lunch
We were joined by Ms. LL and family for fireworks later.
I was a little disappointed to miss the Brat Pack on Parkland but after seeing the traffic by my house, I realized it was SO not worth the hassle to see them

Today
I got nothin'
Maybe a trip to the pool and possibly park this evening

On a not weekend related note, I'm not doing weight watchers this week. I haven't been feeling it for the past couple of weeks and have been slogging through anyway. I've also been stuck at the same weight for the past 2 weeks and I'm not pleased. I've said all along that my goal was 150 but that I would quit if it got hard. Instead of quitting out right, I'm not doing it this week, at all. I'm not tracking, I'm not weighing, I'm not measuring, nothing. Saturday, at the meeting, we'll see how I'm doing and how I feel about starting up next week. I'm paid through the 20th of August and I have until the 2nd of August to decide if I want to keep it up. I'll know way before then if this is the end of my weight loss journey

Half way there book list

2009-07-02T21:39:00.003-05:00

We are half way through the year so here is my current book list. Title, Author, month read, and short review for the ones that I felt strongly enough about to review :)

Tippy Toe Murder Leslie Meier Jan

Too Many Crooks Tamara Myers Jan Good book. Quick read. Interested to read more

Mom, Apple Pie and Murder Nancy Pickens Jan Boring. Several short stories. A few were good and made me want to look up the author but most I just couldn't wait to finish

Star spangled Murder Leslie Meier Jan

High Heels and Homocide Kasey Michaels Jan This started off slow but wound up nicely and I'm looking forward to more

Crime Seen Victoria Laurie Jan Best VL book yet. Abby and Dutch weren't fighting the whole book and it was less creepy

Blue Blood Susan McBride Jan Took longer that I would have liked to read but it was decent. Read out of order but other
than her relationship, I couldn't tell.

Just Plain Pickled Tamar Myers Jan Took a little to get into but it is quite funny once it starts

3 willows Ann Brashares Jan Continuation of the Sisterhood

Drop Dead Blond Nancy Martin Jan Anthalogy Well done books from good authors

Nothing to Fear but Ferrets Linda Johnston Jan Kendra Ballantyne mystery

Fine Feathered Death Linda Johnston Feb Much easier to get through than ferrets

Meow for Murder Linda Jonhston Feb More development of the story awfully predictable

Mail order murder Leslie Meyer Feb First book, many contradictions to future character development

A crazy little thing called death Nancy Martin Feb Not the best Blackbird book, a little crazy premise

Bubbles a Blaze Sarah Strohmeyer Feb Bubbles is quite fun.

Bubbles All the Way Sarah Strohmeyer Feb Good until the end, then it just got strange

Nursery Crimes Ayelet Waldman Feb Meh, decent story, bad characters

Murder of a Smart Cookie Denise Swanson Feb Totally out of order. Need to read the rest of the series to get a better handle on where things stand

Murder of a real Bad Boy Denise Swanson Feb Follows right after Cookie. Starting to make some sense

Death Perception Victoria Laurie Mar Good whodunit but a little predictable

Don of the Dead Casey Daniels March Slow to start but a solid base to an interesting series

The Chick and the Dead Casey Daniels March Further charcter development, she seems to be getting in to her role as Gifted

Are you there Vodka Chelsea Handler March Way Funnier than expected. LOLed in many parts

Plum spooky Janet Evanovich March JE. Laughed so hard at parts, I woke up Lizzie. Super quick read

Nip, Tuck Dead Lori Avocato Mar Took some getting into but then was fairly fast. Main character was a little annoying and the story was Predictable!

White Witch,Black Curse Kim Harrison Mar Resolved the mystery at the end of the last book. 500 pages, so took a little while to read

On What Grounds Cleo Coyle Mar Quick read, finally first in a series. Interested in further developments

Killer Cocktail Sheryl Anderson Mar Second in a series. Seems to really need the other book to make sense. Main characters whines about guy too much

Muder with Peacocks Donna Andrews Mar Read fast and I was happy with the ending. Of course, I knew about the guy but it was kind of obvious

Contents Under Pressure Edna Buchanan Mar Good book, good characters, fast read

Ice Maiden Edna Buchanan Apr Read out of order, already tired of her killing of characters

Miami, It's Murder Edna Buchanan Apr A little slower read, still good

Suitable for Framing Edna Buchanan Apr Good

Act of Betrayal Edna Buchanan Apr

Margin of Error Edna Buchanan Apr Suprising ending

Garden of Evil Edna Buchanan Apr Read fast, a change of pace because we knew the bad guy early on

You Only Die Twice Edna Buchanan Apr Sadly, predictable, especially given how well Margin of Error ended

Cold Case Squad Edna Buchanan Apr Not Britt and not nearly as good

Shadows Edna Buchanan Apr

Love Kills Edna Buchanan Apr Britt is back, sharing space with Cold Case. Not as good as the books that are strictly from her POV. Left open ended

Tombs of Endearment Casey Daniels Apr A little predictable.

Night of the Loving Dead Casey Daniels Apr Finally some resolution

Murder Melts in your Mouth Nancy Martin Apr New Characters, same plot line. Still decent

Legally Dead Edna Buchanan Apr Did NOT like the ending. No resolution. The rest of the book was good though

Sucker Bet Erin McCarthy Apr Vegas vamps. Only read because it was in the series. Mostly boring

Murder of a Small Town Honey Denise Swanson May First Scumble river book. Gives back story to characters

Murder of a Sweet Old Lady Denise Swanson May Scumble River Fast read, nice twist

Murder of a Sleeping Beauty Denise Swanson May Fast Read, not surprising

Murder of a Snake in the Grass Denise Swanson May Fast Read, typical ending

Murder of a Barbie and Ken Denise Swanson May

Wishful Drinking Carrie Fisher May Read super fast. Very funny!

Murder of a Pink Elephant Denise Swanson May

Murder of a Botoxed Blonde Denise Swanson May

Murder of a Chocolate Covered Cherry Denise Swanson May

Murder Between the Covers Elaine Viets May

Dying to Call You Elaine Viets May

Pane of death Sarah Atwell May

Just Murdered Elaine Viets June

Murder unleashed Elaine Viets June

Murder with reservations Elaine Viets June

Shakespeare's Landlord Charlaine Harris June Quick read, straight mystery instead of her usual supernatural bend. Nice surprise ending

Shakespeare's Champion Charlaine Harris June

Dead and Gone Charlaine Harris June I liked these books when it was just vamps and weres. Faeries are a little too much

Shakespeare's Christmas Charlaine Harris June A little different from the rest of the series, also a little too easy to figure out

High Heels are murder Elaine Viets June Decent heroine, interesting enough to read

Carpe Demon Julie Kenner June Adventures of a Demon hunting soccer mom. Funny enough to entertain, dark enough to thrill

California Demon Julie Kenner June

Demons are forever Julie Kenner June

Deja Demon Julie Kenner June

Shakespeare's Trollop Charlaine Harris June Last one in the series. Not so great

The Givenchy Code Julie Kenner July Espionage with a fashion twist

Manolo Matrix Julie Kenner July

Crash test dummy

2009-06-27T21:06:00.004-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a scooter. I've been taking it to DMV to practice riding the course so I can get my license. The first night I took it out, I managed the left turn ok, although it still needs work. I had the sudden stop DOWN cold. If nothing else, my scooter can STOP! I had a lot of trouble with the weave/u-turn part and the swerving was a nightmare. Thursday night, RF and I went over there while mom took the kids to the pool. I decided there was no reason to practice stopping because I was good. I also decided that I was comfortable with the left turn so I needed to spend our limited amount of time working on weaving and swerving. I wove and wove and wove and finally managed to do it several times in a row with only a few minor issues. We were running out of time so I decided to move on to swerving. That is definitely the hardest part of the test and I just wasn't getting it. RF kept telling me to really push, both with my hand and my foot to force the bike where I needed it. The last time down, I really pushed and I think I made the right turn and as I tried to swerve back (part of the test is to swerve around the red line and bring it back inside the yellow line), the bike slid out from under me and I hit the pavement. My foot got caught between the seating the fairing and as I rolled coming off, my foot didn't go with me. I also slid across the pavement on my left elbow/arm. Despite being a helmet nazi any other time, I wasn't wearing mine then. I had taken it off because we were in the parking lot and not going over 15 mph and I couldn't hear RF who was reading me the test directions and offering pointers on how to do stuff better. Fortunately, I didn't hit my head. I also, because it was stupid hot, was wearing a tank top while I rode. I had a long sleeve shirt in the trunk of the scooter but just wasn't wearing it. I was wearing long pants, which seriously saved my leg. No matter how hot, I always wear long pants riding because I seriously burned my leg climbing on my dad's motorcycle when I was 5 and I still have the scar. So good for me because the pants were trashed. The knee is covered in black tar and the pocket is all shredded. That would have been my leg if I had shorts on.

RF got me up and settled down. Although I was hurt, I was more angry than anything. I was mad that I'd only had the bike a couple of weeks and managed to put it on the ground. I was mad that I had hurt myself. I was mad that I couldn't swerve right, etc. I was yelling and cussing and everything else. Eventually, he helped me up and got me back on the scooter. I got it going again and we rode home. Other than the fact that my leg hurt so bad that I couldn't even put my foot on the floor board of the scooter, it wasn't terrible to ride home (and way better than the time I broke my ankle when I was 9 and rode my bike 3/4 of a mile home. This time I didn't have to pedal home) and the bike had to get home somehow. We got home and RF got our stuff together and took me to the ER, since I couldn't put any weight on my left foot at all. While we were waiting in the ER, he took a picture of my elbow, with blood swears and everything. See that top bit that looks like it is already scabbed over? Yeah, it's not. That is tar from the parking lot embedded in my elbow. Despite scrubbing, it hasn't come off. I'm hoping as it heals, it will be forced out. If not, I'll have a permanent black spot on my elbow

They never did look at my elbow. When we got home, my mom helped me clean it up and get it bandaged. The X-ray on the ankle came back saying no break (I'm very surprised). So now I'm in a splint and on crutches for the next several days. I'm supposed to follow up with my doctor sometime this week. In the meantime, rest and ice. Keep it elevated, etc. So far, I really don't have time for rest but I'm working the ice in occasionally during the day.

We finally got some decent gauze pads to bandage the elbow with (we had been using plain gauze and it was sticking like crazy) so while it was off today, I took another picture of the elbow, just for comparison :)

I found out today that there is a chance I was actually doing the test wrong and that would explain the wipe out. The way the course is set up there is the potential that you could either swerve left or right. Right is hard right turn, left is much more gentle. I'm going to talk to some people that have taken the test at DMV, not through the U of I motorcycle course and see if left is acceptable. I'm also going to call DMV and ask if I can fail a section of the test and still get my license. Because honestly, if it the right swerve, I will likely never be able to do it. The one and only time I used enough pressure to actually swerve around the object line, I dumped the bike. Not something I'm likely to try again. So I need to find out if I can just attempt it and hit the object line or the side line and still pass the test. We'll see what happens

I'm a loser, baby

2009-06-20T20:40:00.000-05:00

In fact, I'm the biggest loser in my Weight Watcher's group! For the second week this month (unfortunately, non-consecutive because a new member clobbered me last week). My 3.6 pound loss puts me at 191.6. My 10% goal was 191.7!! I've lost over 21 pounds in 6 weeks time. My next goal is 20% which is 172.5 and I'm setting my date as the second weigh in in August, which is the 8th. That is 7 weeks. After that, I'm one more 10% increment plus pounds from my goal. That puts me at goal in 16 weeks, if I maintain my current pace. 16 weeks is TB's birthday, which was my original goal.

I find myself saying "that just isn't worth the points" about a lot of things now. Today at the meeting, we talked about the importance of eating breakfast and the leader was asking "what is you standard breakfast"? "What do you eat a resturant for breakfast"? and "if you want to use the extra points, what do you induldge in for breakfast"? My answers were "sandwich thin and 1 TBSP of peanut butter" "I don't eat breakfast out" and "I don't. There isn't a breakfast food I've found worth the points" She asked me to clarify what I meant by "not worth the points". Basically, I look at every piece of food and say "is the satifaction of eating this worth the potential sacrifice that I will have to make in order to justify eating it?" The answer depends on the day. Sometimes, I'm just desperate for candy and then the answer is yes. Other times, I could eat it, but missing it wouldn't be the end of the world. In that case, I "just say no" :)

The problem that I have is that once I start eating something, I eat it until it is gone. This is why I HAVE to weight and measure everything I eat. My estimating skills suck so I actually have to weigh or measure to ensure accurate points. If I weigh out a portion, I will eat that amount and be able to not go back for more. If I just put the whole mess on my plate, I'll eat every bite, even if that means I'm so full I'm sick.

PS, I wrote this earlier and forgot I didn't publish it. I spent the day thinking "geez, no comments, what's up with that" and then I realized that of course there would be no comments because no could see it but me LOL

Boot Scootin'

2009-06-20T20:35:00.000-05:00

see my new toy!

Monster muddin'

2009-06-18T22:04:00.002-05:00

My dad got a wild hair a few weeks ago and bought the kids a new play structure. In addition to buying and building the structure, my dad bought the water slide attachment for the slide, then he rigged up a shower head attachment that we hook the hose up to and it sprays water on the slide, the attachment and the whole yard around the slide. We had some people over tonight and since it was stupid hot, we set up the water slide. The kids were a little tentative at first, because the water was awfully cold. Once they got over that, they LOVED it like a fat kid loves cake!

X-man and MT had optimum density and were able to shoot off the extension, way out into the mud.

Lightening McColin was a little lighter weight and didn't quite make it to the mud

X-man had some issue staying straight on the slide

Fortunately, Loosey wasn't horrified by the mess on her child

Bubba wasn't impressed with the cold of the water at first, but he got over that shortly

PG liked it until she had a crash

Quigs kisses the boo-boo away

Curious J went down once, then did his own thing for awhile. Bubba joined him to warm up a bit

Thunder McGavin so wanted to be with the big kids but the water was just too cold for his little body

Loosey, MacTroll and RF watch the fun

Quigs was appalled and horrified by the mud and the mess her kids were getting in to

RF and MacTroll act as "life guards" to the water play

Curious J rocked the sand box

Quigs may not have liked it but how can you say no to this much excitement?!

Toothless

2009-06-16T17:59:00.003-05:00

Bring it on

2009-06-14T21:19:00.001-05:00

We were driving in the car the other day and following conversation came from the back seat

MT: Hi, my name is The Boy and I like cheeeeeese
TB: I do not like cheese. Cheese is my mortal enemy!

Cruisin'

2009-06-12T18:26:00.003-05:00

If anyone is interested in riding or donating to the event, you can find more information by visiting the website

Hey! It's almost that time again. Our fifth annual motorcycle marble run is right around the corner! This year's proceeds will benefit Camp COCO. I have attached our commercial that will air soon on WGKC 105,9. Pass on the ride info to your friends and family that ride. All makes and models of motorcycles welcome! Our event will be held rain or shine. Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. at Andrae's H-D and we will end at Fifth Dimension Collision Repair.
Enjoy the ride!
Jane

Cruisin' 4 Kids with Cancer
July 25, 2009
http://cruisinforkids.tripod.com

Preview of things to come

2009-06-07T21:37:00.003-05:00

We took TB (MT voted to stay home) to see UP today. It was barely "meh" The opening short (often as good or better than the movie) was ok. It was cute but nothing great (my fave has to be the rabbit and the magician at the beginning of Wall-E) and the movie didn't go far from there. Ellie was funny and my kind of character. Dug, the talking dog, was, as predicted, the best part of the movie. There were lots of REALLY slow, sad parts. He spent a lot of time thinking about Ellie and those parts were always sad. There was some action and a few LOL parts (RF didn't think so and was torn between shushing me and living) but over all, pretty boring waste of almost $20 (I didn't dislike it as much as Wall-E because there wasn't as much of a message and it didn't beat over the head with it's social conscience and it might have been more in 3-D but I'm just not understanding the raves that I've been hearing about it)

The part that irked me was the ever loving previews. I like previews as much as the next girl and those are often the best part of the movies. However, these went on FOREVER! Not only did they show previews for Imagine That, G-Force, Transformers, and Harry Potter (plus a few others), there were commercials too. We, mercifully, missed most of the commercials because it was a last minute decision to go to the theater but even one is too many. TB had Pokemon club at the library at 1:30 and I assumed that seeing an 89 minute movie (which includes the credits) at 11:30 would leave us plenty of time to get home and get his stuff and get him there on time. Unfortunately, I was wrong because there were 30 MINUTES of previews! Forever, I tell you!