Views from the Porch

3 Cheers for Animals Session 1

2012-01-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

I might have mentioned before that I have had the joy of being a Girl Scout leader since A joined last year. I have LOVED every moment of it. Apparently A has LOVED every moment of it as well. In October GSUSA released these binders called "A Girls Guide" that a girl can track her journey through. I'm compulsive and decided that we had to start with the Daisy binder despite our troop not using it. I just thought it would be neat to collect the whole set. Well A got her hands on the binder and noticed that there were more activities in it and more awards, and... well you get the idea. I think she has a bit of compulsivity in her as well, but she absolutely LOVES Girl Scouts. If there is down time she pulls out scout stuff and starts going through it, even if it means redoing a journey or a petal.
One day she just decided that she wanted to do the 3rd journey - 3 Cheers for Animals. I looked at how we could do it, made a plan, and told her what it required. She still wanted to do it. How could I argue with a 6yo girl who spent 10 hours of her Thanksgiving break working on her Faith Award without prompting? So I asked if she wanted to invite her other Daisy friends to do the journey too. Of course she did! We sent an e-mail to the troop offering this additional journey - an extra meeting a week for 10 weeks plus field trips and a service project. We are delighted to report that there are 5 girls who took the challenge! Even more exciting is that this means 3 of them are slated to Summit with completing this journey. It's very exciting.
Through out this Girl Scout journey I had promised my self that I would start posting the lessons and materials I create to help my fellow leaders. I love when we share ideas and help each other along the way. Since the girls have taken on an additional challenge I decided that I needed to take the additional challenge of actually posting our journey so that other leaders have benefit of our experience.

Session 1 - Introduction to the Journey.
Animals need food and water.
Materials: Clay pots with the bases, craft paint, paint brushes, and cups to hold the paint, Animal journals, glue, scissors, pictures of winter birds (see my pinterest for pictures if you need them. I've been collecting), tuna / chicken cans, wooden stick, packaging tape, bird seed (wild bird mix and shelled sunflower seeds for the Central Texas area), suet, rolled oats, corn meal, peanut butter, measuring cups, medium sized bowl, spoons (or hands). We covered our work area in paper because this was a messy night.
I just realized that I did some prep ahead of time that I should tell you about. I had a few composition books on hand and some animal themed scrapbook paper. I covered the book with the paper to create their animal journal. They will us these at every meeting to take notes about the things they are learning. They will be able to add to them for as long as they want. I got the idea from birders. They keep some sort of notebook on the birds they have seen, where they saw the bird, etc.

Suet.... that was an experience. Once I found out what suet was our family was on a quest to actually find some. Suet is the extra fat that the butchers cut off the meat prior to packaging it. You will need to request a pound of suet. From there you will take it home and cook it on medium heat until there is a nice liquid in the pan. You want the liquid. I saw on line that some people put it in muffin tins until they are ready to use it, but we took the path of least dishes and foil lined our little metal measuring thing we use to melt butter in on the stove. Sorry no picture. As long as you have a way to store and reheat your suet that's the important thing. You will need to reheat it during your meeting. Remind me later to tell you something else we learned about suet that's important to warmer climates.
The girls arrived for the first session super excited. I think my daughter had something to do with that. She had helped do all the prep work and knew what was on the activity list. She loved the word suet and would use it every opportunity she had. I think she invited the world to join us on the journey. Apparently we have a few animal lovers in the troop as well and when we said 10 weeks of nothing but animals they were hooked! We gathered in our library (just a formal dining that we converted to a library because we would never use a formal dining) around a coffee table I have in there.
I'm a stickler for tradition because I love it. I also love that having an expected routine to start a meeting gets the girls in the right frame of mind and prevents behavior issues. I'm also working hard on being more of the "guide on the side" rather than the "sage on the stage". I asked the girls how we start a meeting and of course they said pledge and promise. I love listening to them lead the pledge and the promise. I also love that they want to do the pledge to both the US flag and the Texas flag. We didn't have a pledge to the Texas flag when I was a kid.
They picked their animal journal and decorated the first page with their name and any drawings they wanted to do. While they did this I explained how the whole journey is about animals. After a couple minutes I shifted the conversation to something a bit more specific.

Luckily the weather was a little bit chilly that night and I was able to keep them in the frame of mind that it really is winter (they've been able to wear shorts in the last week). We talked about how there will still be birds (and at their instance squirrels but I didn't want to talk about squirrels) still hanging around our yards over the winter. Then we talked about things that birds would need over the winter - food and water. I had printed a couple internet pictures of winter birds eating for them to paste into their journal and write a note that "birds need food and water". I was shocked at how specific they were about what they wrote. They wrote exactly what I said and helped each other with spelling. I explained that we could make the birds something called a suet cake. As I read each ingredient I had each girl measure and pour the items into a big bowl.
Soap box moment - allowing your girls to measure out portions is a HUGE deal! This simple "guide on the side" moment reinforces concepts they learn in school (yes it's a TEK!), and gives them real life experiences for those random word problems they get at school and in standardized tests. I teach middle school and you have no idea how often I call a parent only to hear that their kid has never helped in the kitchen or looked at measurements at the store or helped with mileage on a trip. Please, I am begging you to help reinforce math concepts at home through real life experiences.
Back to Girl Scouts. I received this recipe from a local Wild Life Rescue volunteer. More on her in another post - super awesome.
1 cup corn meal
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup wild bird seed mix
1 cup shelled sunflowers
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup suet
As the girls mixed all the ingredients but the suet I had the suet heating up and melting down. It heats quickly and if you let it go too long it will burn. It smells bad, but the smell does dissipate. It turned out to be easier to let the girls mix with their hands until we added the suet (hence being the last ingredient). Immediately after an adult poured the suet in the girls used a spoon to stir it into the mix. It cools quickly which is good because the girls couldn't keep their hands out of the mixture.


melted suet

Each girl scooped some of the mixture out of the bowl and into her suet cake form (the tin tuna can because I love to repurpose). She patted it down into the bottom of the can so that it was an inch or two thick. Then we used wooden dowels to hold the place for our string. They really were too tall, but I didn't think ahead enough to shrink them to a reasonable size. Really it could be anything as a spacer. Maybe next time we will use a marble. That would fit in the fridge better. We had to use packaging tape to hold the rod up until the cake hardened in the fridge /freezer. The girls took them home to cure and then ran a string or ribbon through the hole to hang it from the tree. Remind me later to address some scientific inquiry that came up with the girls as they hung the cake.

Suet cakes curing all in a row. They all look the same so we put the girls name on a post it.

After cleaning up our suet cake mess (especially little hands. next time I'll set up the stool at the kitchen sink ahead of time because that was a mess) we covered the table in paper. I don't know about your troop, but my girls LOVE paint and they can't seem to keep their hands out of it! I showed them how the bird feeder looked and let them go to town with paint.

We ended up with some beautiful works of art that were not ready to be taken home immediately. Can you believe that the moms didn't want wet paint in their cars?!?!

Once we cleaned up the paint mess we closed with our traditional Daisy circle. I just felt so blessed to be able to spend the evening with my Daisy's, and honestly I almost cried when I said "Good night Girl Scouts" at the end of our circle. The moms reported that the girls loved the evening. It made me feel so good!
Our story doesn't end there. I'm kind of on a cleaning kick right now and a bunch of painted pots in my library was not on my agenda for the week. We left for school a couple minutes early the next day and set up little bird baths in our fellow Girl Scout's yards. It was so much fun! I bet the girls were so surprised at their finished bird bath in their yard when they left for school (apparently we leave early).
There were a couple things I said to remind me about later... yes I am going back through the post to remember what I needed to tell you.
1 - Suet and warm climates. Apparently suet has a melting point of something like 55 degrees. Remember I said something about the girls being able to wear shorts lately and yes it's January. So A and H put A's suet cake up in a tree. They were so proud and excited. They knew the birds would love it.
We went to run a few errands after that. When we got home the suet cake was on the ground. I think the temperature was just too much for it to hold. The girls think the birds pecked through to the hole in the cake and it fell off. They are certain that the birds will still eat it on the ground and it's the best meal the birds have ever had. They are planning to make more (gotta find more suet).

2 - scientific inquiry. Two of the girls hung A's cake on our tree. They got into a discussion about hole placement. Do you place the hole in the outer edge so that more hangs down or do you place it in the middle for support. Last I heard they hadn't come to a conclusion, but it was great to hear them thinking and reasoning things through. I would love to hear what your girls decision was and why.

Book Review: The Secret Lives of Dresses

2011-12-28T16:41:00.000-08:00

I had a personal goal of reading one book over the holiday break and I did it.

This book was charming. It was an easy read with not a whole lot of drama. Just a glimpse into a young woman's journey into finding her passion. I would definitely recommend it. I picked it up because of the cover really. I loved the yellow dress and wanted to know about that dress. Of course that wasn't what the book was about. What I did discover is something about me. I love to go junking and not just for the sake of collecting junk. A hoarder I am not. I love the idea of the stories behind an object. I had never thought about it until this book, but I love to think about the previous owners and the journey of their lives through the object.
Last time I went to Blue Hanger I bought 2 suitcases because they were there. They had the beautiful proper script of the previous owner. I just thought of the journeys the woman must have used them for before they ended up in a giant blue bin being passed over for all the new fangled gadgets and imported junk people think they can resell at the flea market. Then I saw a beautiful brown briefcase. It too had the insert card with the gentleman's name on it and his phone number (pre 7 digits). Can you just imagine this man walking down Congress Avenue in his hat and jacket carrying the briefcase full of his day's work. Maybe even a little brown bag with a sandwich wrapped in wax paper and an apple. Each crease made by the delicate hands of his young bride. His thoughts on her and the romance they shared. Or how wonderful it felt to play catch with his son in the yard the night before.
I didn't realize this until reading The Secret Lives of Dresses. I didn't realize that in my own mind there were stories with the objects I purchased. I just might have to share the story next time I pick up a treasure.

Ironing

2011-07-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

I bought a new iron and ironing board cover today. They are very pretty! Lots of conversation came up, but one in particular struck a "I must blog this" cord. This has to do with cleaning your iron. I'm pretty religious about it. I clean the iron plate almost every use. I admit that I don't use the "self clean" function on the iron because I can't figure out what it's really doing besides running steam through it. Things to keep in mind for your iron:
1. Never leave water sitting in the tank. It can create rust for those of you who are not frequent ironers. Rust on clothes is just not a good thing.
2. Using a cloth between your iron and your craft project is a great idea. Keeps the adhesives etc. from building up on your plate or getting into the holes. I just have a piece of muslin that I keep near by for that purpose. It's amazing the amount of dies that it picks up too.
3. Keep the cord wound when not in use. This keeps people from accidentally tripping over the cord and knocking your iron to the ground. It's also useful to keep the dog from eating the cord (lost 2 irons to this).

Isn't she pretty?! Look how fun that clothes line ironing board cover is!

4. On to the hot iron cleaner. Use a rag and follow the directions on the tube. I can actually tell the difference when I use the cleaner and when I don't. There is a lot less drag when I use the cleaner. On vacation I used the iron at the cottage and it was like pushing a brick over sand paper. Bonus effect - the cleaner smells really good.
5. You might want to have an ironing board cover for crafting and one for clothes. That adhesive is a mess! Especially if you do the ironed crayon thing.
All in all, treat your iron nice and it will treat you well.

Just going with it

2011-07-23T06:15:00.000-07:00

Many people expressed their desires as to when they wanted me to get foot surgery. Though I'm grateful that they love me so much that they want me to be healthy, there were reasons that I didn't ask their opinion on when to have the surgery. I did ask that they just laugh with me about the idea of a completely immobile me. Actually this is exactly why I didn't ask for opinions on when. I am a do-er. I do not know how to just sit and watch TV. When the TV is on I am crafting, reading, prepping materials for something. Just no sitting for extended periods of time. We went to see Rango at the dollar movies the other day and I couldn't sit still in the theater. DROVE ME NUTS!
The other factor into the timing of this event is that I'm a planner. I like things to be arranged and to have plenty of time to arrange them. I do not feel that I have enough time to plan for 10 days on my butt followed by 6 weeks of a walking boot if I do the surgery "now". It also greatly inhibits my plans for the end of summer and back to school. I am a planner to the point that I have my Girl Scout meetings planned out in advance and have rehearsed them in my mind several times for timing and such. Keep in mind that this is an hour long lesson for 6 year olds. They are happy to play and run around (which I do plan into that time). I am learning to not stress when they change the plans. When we have NJHS induction each year it is scripted out completely and the timing always falls dead on. The kids never worry about what they are going to say because they know I have it completely scripted for them.
I have picked a date I'm comfortable with at this point - I can move it if I chose to. One of the things I like about this doctor is that he knows I'm crazy and lets me plan for when I'm comfortable. He tried to schedule before vacation and I just wasn't ready. He was patient with me and said we would talk after vacation. We talked after vacation and he recognized that there was something stopping me so he said I could call and schedule when I'm ready. I think I had convinced my self that this would be no big deal and I was making a mountain out of a mole hill. By the time I got to the doctors office last week and had decided that surgery was needed I had images of a real quick, in office, go in with a little scope, take the water bubble out, go home with a band-aid type procedure. That is not the case. It's a go in, remove water bubble, shave bone, type thing. If I stand on my foot in that 10 days I will have life long problems and risk my foot not healing. I actually have to follow doctors orders. If I don't limit my mobility for the following 6 weeks I can really mess up my foot. The timing has to be right for me.

So I'm in planning mode. I've decided that I'm on the search for one of those bed tray thingies. I can do stuff if I have a bed tray. I'm working on finishing up sewing projects and putting aside any projects I can do on the bed tray thingy. I need 10 days of activities you know. I can get my school year started off the way I want and miss only about a week of school. This makes me happy. Every teacher knows that you do not want to miss in the first 6 weeks of school. I have time to detail clean my bedroom and maybe even put up pictures or paint. I go nuts looking at those walls in the evenings. 10 days will be unbearable! I'm hopeful that my timing will be when people are slowing down for a bit, and the kids schedule won't be as nuts because our kids have CRAZY schedules and getting them places is complicated. So in all I'm happy with my timing, but feel a need to plan things out a bit. I have a to do list in my head so that I will be comfortable being in bed for 10 days.
Helpful things from friends - I'm putting together a basket of stuff to do while in bed for 10 days. I would LOVE your ideas! Pray for good TV during that time. I'm going to need it. I also need to find another author because I've read almost all of Mary Kay Andrews. Aghh! So much to do so little time!

The Time Has Come!

2011-07-23T05:48:00.000-07:00

I'm ready for a SWAP. Are you? Email me if you want to play.

Here's what we are doing. Take your usual 8.5 x 11 110lb. white paper, cut it in quarters. Stamp an image on it (the same image on each quarter). Mail them to me and I'll divide them up and mail them back out to everyone. Currently we have 5 players. I'm a firm believer in everyone gets at least 2 of the same image so that makes it 10 images needed (until we get more players).

Slaps

2011-07-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

I got this game from a training I went to during February Conference one year (had to be with in the last 5). For those of you who do not know what February Conference is, it's a 3 day student holiday in February where the teachers get to go to trainings led by their peers or even some consultants the district brings in. I don't know the validity of the claims that it's the best financial use of our districts resources for 3 days, but I do enjoy some of the trainings I get to go to. Teaching social skills, not a lot of the training particularly apply to me. I do get the rare chance to teach content though and it's always fun to have some cool never been done before (with my students) method.

You will need a 2 markers and a lot of index cards. Your choice to laminate or not. Heck - you could even have your kids do this part themselves. With one color marker label index cards with the numbers 0, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. That should be ten cards with one number per card. Then you use the rest of the index cards to write math problems on with the other color marker. The key is that the answer has to be one or two digits, but nothing greater. For A the focus was on addition and subtraction facts. For Z, multiplication and division. You can do order of operations, integers, absolute values etc... I have have a thought in my head for doing fractions, but not quite fleshed out yet.

When playing the game you will set out the numbers cards so that they are all visible and within arms length of the players. I usually set them in a grid between A and I so that they are in order and easy to reach. Out of order makes it difficult to find numbers quickly.

A prefers them in numerical order in a line.

Your math problems will be in a stack off to the side. You could do it so that they are upside down but I'm cheap and used both sides. When the math problem is revealed the first one to "Slap" the answer gets to keep the card (that's how you keep track of who is winning). If it's a single digit answer you only need 1 hand, double digit you need 2 hands. Lets say you have 11 - both hands will be on the 11. Winner is determined by who's hand is on the bottom.

Why play slaps.... one it brings repetition of math facts, as well as exposure. The best part is that they are trying to win so they want to be first. The quicker they "memorize" the math fact, the quicker they can slap it. We need that by middle school so that kids are learning the new skills and not having to continue to learn the old skills. BTW - the kids think it's super fun! Z and I do handicap ourselves when playing with A. We count to 10 slowly in our minds and then look at the card to solve. Enjoy this great game!

I needed to finish something so I told her I had a magic number in my mind and when she got that many correct she could stop playing. She did the addition on one side and the subtraction on the other side. The problems used the same numbers and just changed from addition to subtraction. She started seeing the pattern. LOVED IT!

This game is trying to get rid of the counting on the fingers thing. Drives me NUTS!

A wanted to take pictures too.

Where Did That Stitch Card Go?

2011-07-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

Remember the post about my sewing class at Stitch Lab? I mentioned the loss of my stitch card for my machine. Well, a darling friend of mine Julie found one on line for me. YEAH!!!! In the other post I said that I found a great place for that card and I would tell you about it later. Today is the day!
This past week we went to New Mexico for vacation. A said that she wanted to sew something for Nee Nee while we were on vacation. Nate was not as excited about the idea as I was. He was concerned that we would bring too much STUFF! It was a challenge, and we were ready to accept it. We managed to pack everything in one container (except the sewing machine since that had to be on it's own).

Isn't it cute? I picked up this little pink make-up case a couple weeks ago in Georgetown while thrifting. I thought A would like to use it for something since it was pink, but instead I found a use for it. Wanna' know how I packed it?

Here is everything in it's place.

The pattern on top of the fabric. Yes - I've used this patten and I got the parts back in the envelope. It's a miracle!

Fabric - a little washed out from the flash. I want to say there were 8 yards of fabric packed in that little box.

Stabilizer - might need that. Did, because the pattern didn't call for it, but I thought the purse needed it.

All the little things. Spool of white, spool of black, cone stand, couple pairs of scissors.

Stuff inside the plastic tub. Pins, bobbins, threaders, needles....

A better look a what was inside the plastic box. Who wants needles roaming around?

Did you catch where my stitch card went?

The mirror is a perfect spot!

The little pink case was only an addition to my growing collection. I now have 4 cases. Each with it's own unique purpose. I might have to keep my eye out for a few more :)

Little cream colored one that needs some love.

I actually used it as a make-up case for A's dance recital. It was perfect!


My blue beauties :)

This one holds all things inky - I LOVE ink!


This one holds markers, map pencils, Copics, a lighter, and my new favorite toy - Gamsol!

Pillow Fight!!!

2011-07-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

Well that was interesting... I am getting ready to write this post and my 6yo comes up to me with a measuring tape. She asks me to hold one end and then measures my height. "63" she pronounces, writes it on her sticky pad and walks off very matter of factly. She almost got my height correct - she forgot to account for the holder. Another lesson another day. At least she can measure height.

Back on topic.... PILLOW FIGHT!!!! If you go back to my post on July 4th you will see a comment from Carlee at Ladybird Ln. about a box of pillow cases. It's the cutest little blog that I was introduced to through the pillow fight! Of course I had to add them to my Google Reader. They have beautifully creative ideas and a heart that truly SHINE's! Basically the ladies sponsored a competition for us crafters. Make a pillow to show off, then make a pillowcase for Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT. They said you could donate the pillowcases locally if you prefer, but I just had to send them. Such passion, such compassion! I had to help let them SHINE in their community. I think I read that Malynn (14yo) goal was 100 pillowcases - you knew it had to be a teen to stir up this much passion! Last I checked they were close. You can read the whole story here.

Any way... As soon as I heard about this I had to check my stash for fabric to make pillowcases. In the first pass through I calculated yardage and thought WOW 7 pillowcases! This is great! Then I started digging some more and had to pick up a few yards to coordinate with some of the stuff I found. This is what happened -


24 pillowcases! Boy and girl ones!

I know that not all 24 are prefect, but they were made with love and some little kid is going to love their rhombus shaped pillowcase! (Yes next time I'll pre-shrink every yard.)

Now, there's a funny story to go with these. I was sewing up until the day before I left for vacation. They were in the wash the day we were packing for vacation. I was determined that these pillowcases would get to their home before vacation started! We left early on Saturday morning from Leander, TX. The post office wasn't open yet. No worries we'll find one on the way. As we passed by the one in Burnet I couldn't get my husband to turn around. Of course there would be another one. We missed another one, and then we were searching for them. Each little town we would spot some of the craziest looking post offices and they would be vacant! Tumble weeds were flying by! Of course the next day was a Sunday, but of course every time someone saw a post office they would point it out. We arrived in Ruidoso, NM Sunday evening and unpacked - leaving the little box in the car. Monday we traveled to Roswell and noted the post offices along the way - 4th of July. Tuesday - I googled the post office an it was our first stop. We added a couple post cards to the out going mail that day. This spurred a daily hunt for post cards and mom texting friends to get mailing addresses. It got to be that every time we passed a post office we would point it out, sometimes we would actually mail post cards from it. The most fun was mailing the post cards from an Indian Reservation. Finally I broke down and bought stamps. I asked for a sheet of stamps and they were scout stamps! It was so appropriate for our little scouts to be mailing to their friends! On the way home we just kept pointing out the post offices because it was tradition. Thanks Ladybird Ln. for adding another facet on our jeweled trip!

Book Review - Mary Kay Andrews

2011-07-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

OMGOSH!!! How come none of you have told me about this writer!!! She is right up my alley! So far I've read 3 books and you'll have to put up with my brief review of each. Each story has a heroine in it (LOVE IT!)

Savannah Blues - This book takes place in the South, the main character is a junker, and there's a murder!!! It is the perfect mix of stuff I love! There's even a heart throb. One of the things I love about Mary Kay Andrews writing is that there's just enough detail to give you the picture, but not to much that you couldn't insert your own ideas of the "cute guy" in the story. Enough detail to paint the picture, but enough left out so that you can put in the details. I will say there were some phrases that just screamed Southern Bell in it. Hint - there is some content and language, but it doesn't go over the top. In this story the heroine goes from being a woman who's not had a lot of control over her life learning to take control and be a success. She kicks butt!

Savannah Breeze - Ok, this takes the characters from Savannah Blues and tells an new story from another female characters point of view. In this one the heroine is a strong independent woman who has everything taken away from her. She goes to get it all back and learns about love. Just know that the phrase "Hunky Monkey" is in here so that might give you an idea as to some of the content. I truly enjoyed this story. Part of it is taking this old run down motel on the beach and turning it into a dream destination. The whole time I was thinking, "I would LOVE to stay there!!!" Vintage furnishings, themed rooms like "Sea Glass", muffins with the manager in the mornings, and happy hour with the manager in the evenings. Little chairs on the porch. Dreamy! Our first night on vacation we pull up to the motel and I think "It's almost like the one in my book! (only Southwest instead of beach, but oh well)" My mom's room was almost exactly like I had described from the book to her earlier in the day. Our room had yet to be remodeled. It still was fun to know these places really do exist. Our last place to stay on vacation was an old motel that supposedly had recently been remodeled. they missed a few things in the "remodel". At least it had a fresh coat of paint. I do think the paper towel spit wads pasted to the wall behind the head board was an ingenious idea. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated it. It would have been nicer if it had been cleaned up before we arrived though. I digress....

Then I read a book that is all new characters and setting, Little Bitty Lies. The main character in this book is a teacher on summer break. She has a senior in private school, and her husband abandons them after stealing all their money. She is so resourceful! I love how she keeps her priorities straight even though her means to the end result may be questionable. She lives in the suburbs where everyone knows everyone elses business and gossips about it. It was fun to get a glimpse into all the homes around her as you read along. Then there's the whole run to Mexico to stage a death thing.... A good read.

So what's on my reading agenda next? I'm thinking about reading Leaping Beauty by Gregory Maguire and then American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queen's Guide to Preserving your Assets by Jill Connor Browne. I hope to read a it before school starts again - can you tell?

Stitch Lab, Future Crafters, and the Dress

2011-07-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Lots to post in this post....

In my madness I decided a sewing class the Saturday after VBS was a good idea. 9am - 12:30. Amazingly I was conscious (barely). I noticed that I was fading at about 11am and it seemed so was the rest of the room so I didn't feel bad.
I took the How to Read a Patten class at Stitch Lab Austin. I had been sewing the longest in the group of ladies, which put an interesting dynamic on things. I've been asked what I learned at the class. I learned that I am not the only one saying "WHAT?!?!?!?!" when they read a pattern. I learned that it's OK to be the size a million because the pattern makers are crazy and do not match the off the rack sizes at all. They don't even have industry standards for patterns within a brand. It's up to the designer. If I were a designer all my patterns would be a size 0 and everyone else would have to fit around me. All those skinny little things that can wear nothing but a shoe string would be something like -1000. Us normal girls would be around a 0. I did enjoy the company and some of the things taught. I enjoyed making the little top for a baby doll to practice some of the techniques. I learned that I am a project learner. Those were the times in the class that I was excited and happy.
Being a teacher there were some things that I probably would have done differently, but they weren't a must. I think the terminology could have been used more often and in conjunction with the technique. I'm such a visual learner that I need to see it, hear it, do it - repeatedly. Now that it's 2 weeks later I look at the vocabulary list and think, "I don't think we covered that word". It could be me though. I am also such a math person and the instructor was not. I would see the math and hope she would mention it, but she didn't. When making size adjustments she would demonstrate, but not know how she got from point a to point b. I think I would enjoy a class on how to get from point a to point b when making size adjustments. Maybe next time.
So, knowing that I need to repeatedly practice something to make it stick I went right out to the store for a pattern. I went looking trough the patterns book for Simplicity because I generally like their stuff and found this darling little patten. I knew that A would love a dress like this and I went through the steps I learned in the class for picking a pattern based on skill level. It was a match - I hoped! 4th of July was coming up so I bought some patriotic fabric being careful to make sure I didn't have to deal with direction or anything like that. I did my darnedest to follow all the steps I learned in the class while I made the dress. I was almost done when I realized that I didn't like the steps in the order they had them in, so I gave up on the pattern.

Sportin' our new dress at the UFO Festival on the 4th of July

Had to add this picture because it's just fun!

I did go back later on to learn how to make the little rose for the dress. I didn't like it on the dress so I added it to the bow instead.

The dress was a success. A LOVED it. I had less frustrations with the pattern than I've had in the past. So in all the class was worth the time. I didn't even really mind bringing my own machine to class except somewhere in transit I lost the card that tells me the stitches on my machine. Found one on-line to use and have it tucked in a cool little spot, but that's another post for another day.
The next day I took Z and A back down to Stitch Lab for an amazing day. We went to the book release party for Make Stuff Together. The volunteers at Stitch Lab were fantastic and so patient with the kids (and their parents). Everyone was making stuff and playing. Moms, dads, brothers, sisters. It was AWESOME!!!

Z hand stitching his Gratitude Banner.

A stitching her Gratitude Banner.

Stitching bean bags.

Tossing bean bags.

Sno cone!!!

Organic plum sno cone - YUM!

Sewing on the buttons.

A's prayer flag for the kids at Dell Children's.

I think I have found a place that Z, A, and I can craft at in comfort. If the group of people who attended the book signing are any indicator, we are going to LOVE hanging out with the families who have already discovered this little jewel Austin has in Stitch Lab.

Book Review - Big Appetite

2011-07-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

My computer tells me that I forgot to post this...
Last summer we went to Georgia for Nate's family's reunion. We stayed in cabins at Cloudland Canyon State Park. It was a great vacation. Lots of hiking, birds, bugs, itty bitty waterfalls (non-existent because of the droughts). We took little sight seeing trips to some of the near by attractions. We don't suggest the farmers market, but do suggest Chickamauga Battlefield. Fantastic experience. Bring a cell phone to get the audio tour. It was amazing to see how close to each other the two sides were as they battled. It was also amazing to hear how the site became what it is today. Basically several years after the war all the survivors got together there with their families for a picnic. Each battalion brought a statue to put in place recognizing those who lost their lives there. The statues are placed where the battalions were located during the war. I digress... One of the other field trips we thought we would take - just to do really - was to the home of the Moon Pie. Who doesn't love a good Moon Pie. It was really a disappointing visit because all it was was a book store with a little general store inside it that had every flavor of Moon Pie. I thought the kids might pick up a book while we were there, but none from the little selection interested them. I on the other hand found 2 books that I thought would interest me. One I immediately lent to my mother-in-law, and she reports that it was great. Guess I'll have to read that one next. The other was a book called Big Appetite by Sam McLeod. I know I've blogged about it before, but I figured since I've actually finished it I should do a proper review.

I think the best description is comfort food. It's just a collection of stories about this guys life, but it was comfortable and familiar. It had good cadence with a splash of spice. There were parts to laugh at and parts to make you think about your own life journey. Think of the times you've sat next to Grandpa or Great Uncle Plemon while they told stories about back when. If you're like me and enjoy hearing the tales this is the right book for you. It was like I sat on the porch rocking in an old wooden rocker, sippin' on sweet tea, listening to tales that for the most part are true. Ok maybe they're not but who's going to argue with an old guy. I do want to share a little excerpt with you.
"My ample middle didn't seem to demolish anybody's affection for me. If anything, folks seemed to take some pleasure in the fact that I'm fed. And come to think of it, their wrinkles, walkers, graying hair, and flabby upper arms didn't diminish my affection for them, either."
Don't you just feel the love there. It's about relationships, connections, and that love that's based on contentment. Comfort food.

On another note - Today is my boy's 9th birthday. He's super excited! He says he can't wait to be 10. He is very aware that he has a whole year to wait for that. I can wait because it's double digits and I'm not sure I can handle that. He's planning a fantastic boys birthday again this year. Last year was model rockets. That was fun! This year they are making marshmallow guns and camping in the back yard. He's even asked Angel's Bakery to make him a cake that looks like a sushi tray. Yes - this party is all about him. My daughter's birthday was 2 weeks ago and they had a princess camping party. I know, strange parties, but that's what you get when you take the parents out of the equation and let the kids plan the party.

Bat-tastic!

2011-07-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

Last week in Girl Scout's we went to see the Congress Avenue bats! Of course there was some batty fun that needed to happen. We started at our usual meeting location to make bat masks, but the girls were way to excited to do anything at our location. They immediately jumped in the cars and waited for the adults to drive off.
It was Girl Scout day at Bush's Chicken, so of course we stopped for a bite. I kept thinking "We must be nuts for taking 7 little girls out to eat." But they did fantastic. They really made us proud.
We made it down to the bridge, puled out our picnic blanket, read a chapter from our Journey book, and did a few coloring activities. They coloring pages and such came from the Bat Conservation web site. (hint - print on card stock so that you have stiff papers and don't need clip boards) The girls sat and colored for a long time while talking about the bats. They really knew a lot of cool bat facts. Another little girl came ad colored with us. It was nice to share. I had kettle corn at the ready for a little mid-evening snack. It was sweet and not messy at all. We also had our troop water bottles filled and ready. Some had made holders the week before at our regular meeting. Love this idea btw - they took tube socks, cut a slit in them most of the way down and tied a knot in the top. They colored them with markers (fabric makers this time, but we've used sharpies before). They hold the water bottle and keep the condensation contained. We did learn that they do not hold back gushing water when the bottle cracks open. Way fun!
Things learned... these girls can do anything. Even going downtown for a field trip. It was Awesome!

The lady from the Bat Conservation group stopped by to tell us about the bats. She was impressed that we had their coloring pages.

Where's the bats?!?!

Play Review: Sex Sin and the CIA

2011-06-12T06:09:00.000-07:00

There's this little community theater that occasionally has an actress we love. When she's in the play we have to go, she's just that good! But this post is not about her, rather it's about a play she's in.
Way Off Broadway is presenting Sex, Sin, and the CIA right now. To say the play is funny is an understatement! The cast does a fantastic job of creating a world of espionage and humor. One way that I can tell a good play is to sit in the back. If I'm distracted by the usual audience stuff, those little noises people make or the person who can't hold their bladder until an intermission, then it's not a good play. We sat in the back with two of our really good friends who happened to be at opening night as well. I was not distracted once by the lady who couldn't make it to her seat without tripping. I was not distracted by the two kids on the front row who kept raising their hands for no reason. I was engrossed in the play.
The cast was appropriately picked for their roles. People who knew them kept commenting on how the characters were not far off from their real life persona. I can only speak to the character Milicent. Milicent was played by one of my dearest friends, Kirsten Schulte. Milicent starts out as prudish young girl who's life experiences have been directed by her employer, the Reverend Samuel Abernathy (played by James Lee Burke). It is obvious that the Reverend has not led such a life of abstinence as he's training Milicent to live, but he seems to really care about her well being. Watching Milicent learn womanly ways and come into her own is just down right, floor stomping funny! The hard part for me was separating where Milicent started from where Kirsten ended! Some of the mannerisms were just so her!
Then there's the whole CIA issue going on. We all ave had those co-workers who do everything wrong, but still manage to come out alright. This CIA agent, Luke James (played by Ed Trujillo), needed a rubber suit for protection! His antics fell into, "If it can go wrong, it will go wrong." Poor guys spends part of the play in a bucket!
Of course there's the seductress, I mean State Department Margaret Johnson (played by Tracy Cathy). She was fantastic in her facial expressions to look truly sexually aggressive with the "hunky monkey" (I think that's one of my favorite lines) the Retired United States Marine Corp Officer Daniel Warren (played by Gary Dean Hamilton). His responses were priceless, wavering between leading her on and turning her away. Just the right balance for the story.
The neighbor lady, Heather Ann Faraday (played by Cynthia Carrier), who's power goes off, but they never quite make it to her cabin to check it out. Of course she comes running for help with lingerie in her bag - who doesn't? What if you run into a hunky monkey?
I will say that the park ranger, Ranger Don (played by Melinda Szabo) creeped me out for a good portion of the play, and made me wonder if he was the bad guy. Of course by the end of the play everything gets tidied up in a nice pretty package. I highly suggest going to see this highly entertaining play.
I got a little behind in writing this post. My mom and step-dad went to see it last weekend and LOVED it! Let me say, we all have different ideas of funny. So glad they liked it, and found it. For those of you who have been to see Way Off Broadway at their Crystal Falls location, know that they have moved to a much larger space on 2243. It was so nice to have a little leg room in the new theater.

Sisterhood of Scouts

2011-06-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

This was the letter I put in this month's troop newsletter. I just wanted to share.

This first week of summer I have had the amazing experience of seeing the true sisterhood of scouts through the eyes of my daughter. A has spent the week at Girl Scout Camp at Zilker Park.

There were a few things that could have made this experience miserable. The first being her concern – no one from her troop would be with her. Then there was the whole not receiving the welcome packet telling us what was needed each day or even where to drop her off.

As each day progressed A shared stories about her adventures. I expected to hear about all the cool things they did or saw. Some of the games they played, or songs they sang. I didn’t hear about those things even when I asked her directly. Instead I heard about the other girls at camp. Huge shout out to Twiggy, Pooh Bear, Book Worm, and Peanut! They really made an influence on my daughter. They took care of her and told her what she needed for the next day. There was even another girl there who was not so nice. A didn’t tell me about her until Thursday evening. A talked about how she didn’t want to tattle on this girl because she wanted the girl to be a Girl Scout Sister. A yearned for this girl to be a true example of a Girl Scout so that they could be connected in this special bond. We talked a lot about how it hurts when our Girl Scout Sisters are mean to us. Then we talked about how important it is for us to ask for help when needed. One of the things A was missing is that this girl is learning the Girl Scout Law just as she is, and that tattling is more than just tattling. One it’s a way to protect herself from harm, and to protect her friends, but also a way for those troop leaders to help this young lady learn about the law and live it. See A was so caught in “Be a sister to every Girl Scout” that she neglected to protect herself.

Later in the week we attended the Bridging ceremonies for some of the older girls in our service unit. At first I was thinking it would have been better to stay home and sleep (apparently Girl Scout Camp takes it out of you). Then I watched as our Daisy’s looked over that creek to the big girls. They stood on the bank as far as I would let them stand and watched as each girl crossed the bridge. They were quiet and still. They had a sense of pride that the big girls had earned an award, made an achievement, and were being recognized for their sisterhood. They felt like they were part of something amazing. They imagined themselves crossing the bridge and dodging golf carts. They celebrated the journey they are on. When the ceremony was over they went over to the big girls and hung out. It looked like a HUGE group of sisters, covered in silly string of course.

I look toward the future and I see the relationships that A is forming with the Daisy’s, the Brownies, the Junior’s, the Cadet’s, the Seniors, the Ambassadors, and Girl Scouts only identified by the clothes they wear or actions they take. I am amazed at this sisterhood, this bond, this unity, and know that she will always have someone because she’s a Girl Scout.

Craft Hope: Project 12

2011-06-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Right at the end of the year I challenged the kids at school to make bracelets for an organization called Orphan Outreach. The idea came from Craft Hope, a community of crafters who do all sorts of service projects. I was nervous at first on how this would turn out because apparently some of us are just completely inept at making friendship bracelets. Hot mess doesn't even begin to describe it. Even the high school helped out! There were over 300 bracelets in all. I am so proud of my students!! One girl brought me a handful of bracelets while I was on duty. There I was carrying a pile of friendship bracelets for 30 minutes as I paced the cafeteria. It was a fun and exciting moment.


These are the ones the high school made.

These are the ones the middle schoolers made.

This is my daughter who just had to get in on the action :)

End of the Year Teacher Gift

2011-06-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

I LOVE reading blogs! It really is an addiction. There's an AWESOME blog called Come Together Kids, and she had a wonderful guest post from another blog I read, Sun Scholars, about a gift her kids made for their teachers. Of course I had to try it! It was so easy and incredibly cute! We made 6 of them in an afternoon (yes we really do have that many teachers for 2 kids in elementary). Here is what we made:

A even put an exclamation point at the end - had to stitch that!


Can you tell that A loves to draw and Z is a minimalist?

We did stitch their handwriting as suggested in the original blog post. I forgot to heat set the marker before washing - heat set the marker. Though I stitched in pencil color, I realized that the color is just not representative of my kids and I should have done a bright color. I also learned to exaggerate the lines on the bags (make them huge) so that the kids will write big. It was hard to stitch their actual size so we pulled out the white eraser (pink will discolor the fabric) and tried again. I did like the color of the paper lines after washing the bags. It was more the faded look and resembled paper better. Over all it was a fun project and we loved doing it!

Z LOVED hand stitching! He would sit in the rocker and rock while stitching. He would just chat and chat and chat. I enjoyed the time with my boy. He's growing up so fast and needing me less and less and less.


A was in her element. A can of sharpies and pile of fabric bags to draw on. She is just like me - LOVES Sharpies! I have found a couple unopened packages in my desk. Can't wait to use them next school year!

There was one more little project I finished that weekend. Gifts for my NJHS officers. Every year I give my officers a gift. Last year they were a serious group so I gave them silly straw glasses to remind them to have fun! This group was just amazing, and it was so hard to let them go. I made them clip boards. I know you're thinking "Clip boards for 8th graders?". They LOVED them! Here's what I did. I painted one side with chalk board paint and glued Dr. Seuss paper on the other side. NJHS colors are blue and gold so I tied blue and yellow ribbon on the blip. Then I tied blue and yellow ribbon on bull clips. I put on clip on each side set apart. They can clip photos to the boards! Then they can write little notes in chalk around the photos. They did it instantly! I also gave them some command strips in case they preferred to hang the boards on their walls. I even made one for me :)

YEAH!!! Drawing Day!!!

2011-06-04T05:27:00.000-07:00

OK technically I'm 7 hours late for the drawing, but I did it! My first give away for the gorgeous album "Beautiful"....

And the winner is....... (do you hear the drum roll?)

SANDRA!!!!!!!! I used a highly technical method of drawing. I had an empty tissues box, put everyone's name on a piece of paper, shook it up and drew! I'll be putting that little gem in the mail on Monday. More games and drawings to come! It's the summer of "GET YOUR CRAFT ON!!!"

OK - important stuff here - Who's playing in the Round Robin Image Exchange? I am so excited to announce that we have 10 players!

1. Me :)
2. Susan L.
3. Sandra T.
4. Samantha Q.
5. Brenda S.
6. Tina N.
7. Leslie S.
8. Frances L.
9. Faye B.
10. Kirsten S.

If you could - please post a comment when you get the package so we know how far it's made it. If you're a blogger it would be fun to have you post a link to your blog. Happy Stamping!!!!!!

Show Me Your Stuff

2011-05-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

Today was a GREAT day! I got to have an impromptu scrap day at Archivers with my Friend Erica! She posted, I went. I love social media for this reason. Immediate gratification on social activities! I find Archivers entertaining wen I scrap there, and today was no exception.
It as a rather busy crop day. Thank goodness Erica had found us a spot to set up because they were getting few and far between. I checked in at the counter, "Can I sign in to crop?". Shocked by the reply - a discourteous worker who seemed perturbed that I was there much less spending money. Her counter parts weren't much better. The manager was gossiping at the front door with a lady blocking a full door width as she leaned on the handle. As if people weren't trying to enter and exit the building... multiple times as they brought in bulky bags full of scrap stuff they purchased at that same store. No worries because I'm not there to socialize with them, though a "Hello" or even a scripted "Welcome to Archivers" would have been nice.
As I tried to figure out my card design I was entertained by so many crazy social situations going on around me. The first was when this older woman was wandering around the scrap room looking at everyone's stuff. Finally she stopped at me and asked if I knew anyone that would make her scrapbooks for her. As I was getting ready to tell her I was certain someone there did, but it wasn't me she walked off saying something about asking at the counter. About a minute later the rude clerk stuck her head in and asked if anyone scrapped for hire. Of course there were two ladies there and everyone knew who they were. The older lady went over and spoke to both ladies. The entertaining part came when the two ladies compared notes from the conversations. They were weirded out by the experience, and said that they were highly uncomfortable bidding for a scrap job with so many scrappers around. Then the conversation turned to pricing structure and I had to tune out. No one cares why you feel justified charging what you do per page.
A while later another table was scrapping right along only to have one receive a text. It was a fourth lady - a mutual friend asking if they wanted to meet up at Archivers to scrap. Apparently these tree ladies did not want the fourth there. It was so interesting watching them trying to figure out how to respond. I wonder what was wrong with the woman. Did she have a enormous wart on the tip of her nose? or a hump like the Hunch Back of Notre dame? Maybe she picks her nose? What could be so appalling that you can't share table space with her for a couple hours? Wait! I know! She suffers from Scrapstasher's Disease! It's the worst disease known to woman kind! It's one of those things that you think you've got in control until it's so repulsive that no one wants to be near you! It starts with a little bucket of stuff that you think you'll use soon, but when a few months pass and the newness of the shiny objects pass you forget about them. You say "I'm just going to swing through the paper isle real quick" and real quick turns into an hour. You go to crops and have to make 5 trips to the car because you have to have the latest and greatest, but you also have t have the old stuff on hand "Just in Case". You know that Scrapstaher's has gotten really bad when your 7yo knows all the isles in the craft store and has to ask for your shopping list before you go in so that he can steer you away from the scrap isles. It's at it's worst when the show Hoarders comes by and everything they pull out is archival safe. The only cure is to go cold turkey - give up crafting all together and loose that certain shimmer. All the color fades out of your skin and the glimmer in your hair shakes free. The glitter in your eye washes away, and you know you've been cured of Scrapstaher's Disease. Lord help me if that ever happens because I might have lost my soul!
When we got back from lunch it was such a relief! We walked in the store and Tina says, "Hi!" It's my favorite Archivers employee. I've even written to corporate about how wonderful she is. She would be the reason I go back. We get started scrapping, but notice a lady on the sidelines looking for a seat. We notice she has two peoples stuff with her and we're the only table with room for two more people. Erica and I politely adjust our stuff to fit within reasonable limits (OK defined boundaries). No worries, we can share. About the time we get it fixed Tina comes in and asks if we can move to another table, she feels real bad about it. Apparently these ladies are here for the crop that starts at 5pm and have reserved that table. It's only 2pm. We move. Really no big deal other than packing everything up and moving. Several other ladies make comment about how they wouldn't have moved and that we were just too nice. The same thing happens in middle school cafeteria's and in church. God forbid you sit in someone else's seat! It must be form fitted. The thing Erica and I take note of is that the ladies drop off all their stuff (4 peoples stuff), then we don't see them - for over an hour! Only one has any cropping going on by the time we leave at 4. I find that rude. Drop your stuff off 3 hours before your designated time and leave?!?! I'm sure they were "shopping" around the store... or out to eat... or at another store. I would have to drop my stuff off at 8am to "save my seat". I'm sure Archivers would like that. The only issue really was that I was doing a fussy card and had everything laid out just perfectly. I had to pack it all up, move, and try to re-lay it all out. I was in the middle of an inky mess too.
I LOVE inky fingers!!! That's how I know I've had a great scrap day! This card has ink everywhere! And marker, and map pencil, and Smooches. I LOVE this card! I'm almost ready to reveal the card that took me over a week to design from start to finish. I bought the materials for last weeks crop, didn't get to it, and today spent 1.5 hours playing with the parts to make it perfect! I'm going to show you this card, but you have to promise to read on - there's a surprise! Ready?!?!?

The colors are a bit washed out, but you get the idea. This card is totally literary inspired. I saw that little fairy stamp and immediately thought of "A Midsummer's Nights Dream". I had to do a card about that book. I even bought a copy of the book to tare up and use in the card. I make multiples when I make cards and as I'm making the other ones I keep stumbling upon memorable quotes that just bring smiles to my face! So.... Surprise time...
1 - Create a card based off your favorite piece of literature. Yes - Dr. Suess counts as literature :)
2 - Lift this card. Show me your take on this card. Erica's already threatened to do it, and didn't someone say lifting is the greatest form of flattery?
Show me your card (s) and I'll enter you in a drawing for a fantastic prize! Yes you can enter multiple times, but they have to be unique cards - not the same one 20 times.
Happy Scrapping!

To Blog or Not To Blog...

2011-05-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

That is the question. Some days I have LOTS of thoughts. And when I say LOTS I mean so many I can't keep them organized. If I feel it coming on early I carry index cards in my back pockets to put them on. Each index card is a category and I go from there. I would color code too if the pens would fit in my pockets. I no longer wonder why my back pockets seem to be the first things to wear out on pants. Front Right - Badge clipped in the right corner then tucked inside my pocket. Keys have shifted from hanging on the badge to actually putting them in my pocket because the loop won't stay snapped on my badge. Back Right - cell phone pocket. Add to that ink pens and index cards as needed. Back Left - "the mouse in my pocket". I have a radio that the office can call me on if needed. I have learned to tune out the voices until I hear "Deckinga", but sometimes the voices startle those I'm around. Honestly the conversations on there are pretty darn funny. I have faced my fear of being in the "echoing office" when I'm being radioed. It's happened twice now, and I've learned to finish quickly or hold it until next opportunity. Front Left - That one has stayed pretty empty, except when I need to carry change because I can't handle the chocolate void in my room. Though I HATE the prices in the vending machines so I have to be pretty desperate to pay them.
When I have these thoughts I really do use my filter. 1. Are these just inside thoughts or is there an audience for them? I would say 90% are inside thoughts. Aren't you glad? 2. If they are outside thoughts - how much material is there? Really there, and not total rambling. 3. If it's a one liner it goes to the Facebook post. If I remember it long enough to post it to Facebook. 4. If it's more than a one liner, is it worth a whole blog post. If it, is it usually stays in my head until I've developed it enough to be almost final draft mode. Back to #2 - some times total rambling on the blog is fun. I'm still tickled at last summers rambling about being a TEKS based family. Rambling leads to some pretty funny stuff!
My head has been filtering tons of thoughts all night while reading my rather extensive blog list. Cleared this morning and came home to 57 posts. Usually I'm ok with 57 posts. They're all usually pretty good. Here's where I get concerned - when I see a blog post 3 times in the course of my school day. Really? You had 3 posts worth? Why don't you save 2 for a sick day or something. There was one that posted 17 times in 2 days. WTHeck?!?!?!?! I deleted all the posts from my read list and didn't read any of them. I really feel that if you post that frequently it's not quality work. Most of the time I'm right - it's a repost. "Oh! Look at so and so's blog!! Isn't she wonderful?" Honestly you and about 50 other reposters have just posted the same post. Some times I will see the same unique idea posted on 20 blogs. One blog has been getting heavy traffic based on a post that is over a year old. I just laughed. My solution to sharing really great posts - I post them as a link on my Facebook page. Add a one liner if needed - ok it's always needed because I have to tell people if I love it or if I LOVE IT!
A friend of mine was talking about Facebook posts. She said she had to delete some people because they post 20 times a day and it's the stupid stuff. "Little Johnny went poo - poo in the potty!" Followed by a whole string of "Yeah Little Johnny!!" and "Way to go buddy!!". Of course that post is an hour after the one that reads "Little Johnny ate all his fruit, and drank a whole cup of juice!" with the replies of "What a big boy!!!" "Must be growing!". Honestly if you feed Little Johnny he will eventually poop. If you're not sure about it there's a great book called Everybody Poops, and it can tell you all about everyone and their poop. BTW - I'm so getting this book for the echoing office (yes you have to click on the link to laugh with me)! Please people - no one wants a play by play of your day.
The lesson of the day is to filter your thoughts - PLEASE FOR THE SAKE OF PETE!!!! FILTER YOUR THOUGHTS!!!! (Thank you to Andrea for the "for the sake of Pete!" it's my favorite phrase of the school year and I put it in kids notes every time they are supposed to leave the denominator alone. In big bold marker!) No one wants to hear your inside voice if it's dumb or offensive. Sometimes the one liners are only funny to you, and if you think they are universally funny share them on Facebook. Do not waste my reader on one liners - it's offensive to my intelligence. I expect undeveloped material on Facebook. When you blog I expect quality work targeted at your audience. Please look for words that have the little red lines under them. It means that you spelled the word wrong. Read through the text at least one time to make sure it flows and doesn't have random errors in it that disrupt thought (I correct 4 on my reread). If I have to turn on my teacher brain to decipher your blog I'm kicking you out. If you can't separate yourself from your text enough to do this, get a friend to do it. I'm sure they would be honored. And FOR THE SAKE OF PETE!!!!! Hit the enter key at least one time in the 10 inches of text you have written. Thank you!

2011-05-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Last summer we went to Georgia for Nate's family's reunion. We stayed in cabins at Cloudland Canyon State Park. It was a great vacation. Lots of hiking, birds, bugs, itty bitty waterfalls (non-existent because of the droughts). We took little sight seeing trips to some of the near by attractions. We don't suggest the farmers market, but do suggest Chickamauga Battlefield. Fantastic experience. Bring a cell phone to get the audio tour. It was amazing to see how close to each other the two sides were as they battled. It was also amazing to hear how the site became what it is today. Basically several years after the war all the survivors got together there with their families for a picnic. Each battalion brought a statue to put in place recognizing those who lost their lives there. The statues are placed where the battalions were located during the war. I digress... One of the other field trips we thought we would take - just to do really - was to the home of the Moon Pie. Who doesn't love a good Moon Pie. It was really a disappointing visit because all it was was a book store with a little general store inside it that had every flavor of Moon Pie. I thought the kids might pick up a book while we were there, but none from the little selection interested them. I on the other hand found 2 books that I thought would interest me. One I immediately lent to my mother-in-law, and she reports that it was great. Guess I'll have to read that one next. The other was a book called Big Appetite by Sam McLeod. I know I've blogged about it before, but I figured since I've actually finished it I should do a proper review.

I think the best description is comfort food. It's just a collection of stories about this guys life, but it was comfortable and familiar. It had good cadence with a splash of spice. There were parts to laugh at and parts to make you think about your own life journey. Think of the times you've sat next to Grandpa or Great Uncle Plemon while they told stories about back when. If you're like me and enjoy hearing the tales this is the right book for you. It was like I sat on the porch rocking in an old wooden rocker, sippin' on sweet tea, listening to tales that for the most part are true. Ok maybe they're not but who's going to argue with an old guy. I do want to share a little excerpt with you.
"My ample middle didn't seem to demolish anybody's affection for me. If anything, folks seemed to take some pleasure in the fact that I'm fed. And come to think of it, their wrinkles, walkers, graying hair, and flabby upper arms didn't diminish my affection for them, either."
Don't you just feel the love there. It's about relationships, connections, and that love that's based on contentment. Comfort food.

On another note - Today is my boy's 9th birthday. He's super excited! He says he can't wait to be 10. He is very aware that he has a whole year to wait for that. I can wait because it's double digits and I'm not sure I can handle that. He's planning a fantastic boys birthday again this year. Last year was model rockets. That was fun! This year they are making marshmallow guns and camping in the back yard. He's even asked Angel's Bakery to make him a cake that looks like a sushi tray. Yes - this party is all about him. My daughter's birthday was 2 weeks ago and they had a princess camping party. I know, strange parties, but that's what you get when you take the parents out of the equation and let the kids plan the party. So in honor of my kids birthday's I am having a Give Away. Post a comment on this blog entry and get an entry in the drawing. Join in the Round Robin Exchange and get another entry. Deadline to enter will be June 2, 2011. I will post the winner on June 3. What am I giving away? A hand made album titled "Beauty".

It is a binder style album so you can add to it if you want. The pages are chipboard with tabs. Super cute! Remember this is for fun. It's not a business thing or sponsored thing. I made this and am giving it away because I want to. Thanks for playing!

It's That Time of Year - Get Your Craft On!!!!

2011-05-23T19:09:00.000-07:00

I have 7.5 instructional days left. Count them! 7.5 instructional days! When I get to thinking about it it's really more like 4 days of instruction and then party city (but don't encourage the kids)! I've had the summer set mind for a while now, but this weekends crop really started me thinking SUMMER!!!! In my mind summer = crafting (with a few other fun things thrown in for good measure).
This weekend I had the honor of attending the second Cougar Crop at Lone Star Retreat Center. If you haven't been there you must! Karmen makes it a great little get away without a ton of driving. Basically we pay a minimal fee to cover utilities and Karmen lets us use the space. Each participant also brings items for the Running Brushy Cougar Cupboard. Our goal this time was to get a jump start on the summer needs.

The first day of donations.


All the groceries from the crop loaded in my car. Not sure the scrap stuff will fit back in ;)

I first attended one of Karmen's cops in February (I think), and just fell in love with the ladies I met there! They were such a friendly group who were kin from the start. It was so funny because I signed up to go by my self and was petrified that I would be stuck at this weekend crop with a bunch of bitties. As I walked up to the door I was in shock! It was pitch black outside (in the country, in Texas), but the light shining through the door was a warm yellow. The first thing I saw as I parked my car was Brenda! A friend from school! I walked in and she immediately started rearranging tables so that I could sit with her. One of our other friends knew that we both were attending a crop this weekend and said we were probably going to the same crop. Laughing! We were!!!! Any way - the ladies were so nice that I could have sat anywhere and felt at home. We laughed so hard! Such a crazy group of ladies! The next thing I know they are talking about having a charity crop for Cougar Cupboard! What a giving group of ladies! I love each of them as if I have known them for ever! This is the second Cougar Crop we've held and I can't wait to hold more charity crops for those in need. I have been back for other crops and just enjoyed the heck out of myself. It's not too far that I can commute if needed, but it's worth the late night laughter to stay there. I get so torn about safe driving home or staying to socialize.
By now you're asking what I got accomplished this weekend. I made 48 cards, and blinged out 6 pairs of tennis shoes for A's dance class. I was super excited. I forgot to take a picture of one of the cards, but I can show you the other stuff.

Ain't she precious! Her sentiment is "Sometimes we all need a little time out". I learned a new coloring technique and just LOVE it! So simple and makes beautiful cards!

I did not design this card because I was trying out the supplies, but I LOVE the card. I know a few people that need one of these! You can't see it, but the frog is shades of green. Everything is colored.

OK - how fun is that little toad stool! Everything is colored in and there's a grass patch under the toad stool.


Here are all the pretty little shoes. Super simple to make! I cannot wait to see all the girls in their shoes!

So - you see - my creative juices are just flowing! The social butterfly has definitely landed on my shoulder! What better way to mix the two than a few little creative games! I have 3 lined up, but will announce the first one today. Trust me - you will want to play all 3.

Game #1 - Round Robin Image Exchange - DEADLINE TO REGISTER is JUNE 2
Please remember that this is a game. The sole purpose is to have fun. No stress. No worries about being "fair" just FUN!
Here's how we're going to do this. I'm going to stamp a lot of images (quantity depends on number of players). I'm going to mail the package to the first person on the list. That person will take up to a certain number of images (also based on the number of players), and replace them with images of their own. Then they will mail the package to the next person on the list and so on until the last person mails it back to me. I will put a rule sheet in the box so we all can remember them. I write pretty explicit directions (hazard of my job) so hopefully there will not be any confusion. Now let me get you some important details...
1. Use 110lb white paper (I know this link is to grey paper, but I couldn't find the link for white). Cut into quarters.
2. Stamp using ink that won't run when using Copics or water colors (like Stazon).
3. What ever number of images you take, you replace (up to the max based on the number of participants, but that will be in the box)
4. You have 1 week from receipt of box to mail out to the next person. Please use flat rate shipping to keep costs low or contact the person you are giving to and deliver (or meet at Archivers if you're so compelled). We are having out of the area players so be ready to ship to them.
If you meet at Archivers let us know - we could all meet up, because you know we just need an excuse :)

How to sign up:
E-mail me ellen@deckinga.com your name and address saying that you want to play "ROUND ROBIN IMAGE EXCHANGE".
Can't wait to play!

Book Review - Grimm Legacy

2011-04-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

Some of you know that I LOVE books! I have them stashed everywhere. Despite my best efforts to quarantine them to our home library and my classroom they seem to escape and breed. The stash under my bed is starting to spill out into the walk way. The one in m purse keeps asking for a play mate. The shelves in my classroom are starting to become a heap instead of nice little rows. Some times we go through and clean out the book stash to donate to the local library. I'm ok with that because I know if I just have to read them again I know where they'll be. I was very tempted to stop by Half Price Books today just because they were open on Easter Sunday.
Something I rarely do is check out a book from the library. I read so many books at one time, that they take me forever to read and then I get antsy about turning them in on time. Solve that by checking them out at school because they don't make me return them until the end of the school year. My other problem is that though I love the look of book marks I have not mastered their use. The best I can do is a sticky note, but my kids like to move them. Yes - I dog ear my pages. Yes - it's a problem. It's a problem because so many people have been trained not to dog ear that they look at me like I've committed a sin wen I do it to my own books. Really people?! It's my book!
So when the school librarian handed me a book from the library to read my heart literally stopped for a few seconds. My mind started racing and sweat dumped out of my body. Hot flashes rolled from the tip of my toes to the top of my head, and I thought was going to puke right there. How do I graciously get out of this?!?!? She checked the book "Grimm Legacy" by Polly Shulman out to me right there.

Yes it's a topic I like. I could read just about anything related to fairy tales. I LOVE fairy tales! I decided to graciously accept the loan and then drop it in the return slot after the weekend. The book landed on my desk, and sat.
Guilt set in. I had to at least read some of it. I LOVED the story concept so much that I didn't want to put the book down. I LOVED the character development, I LOVED the syntax. I made it through most of the book hopeful for sequals. I was telling everyone what a socking surprise the book was. There's magic, mystery, internal struggle between right and wrong, a little teen romance. It had a enough validity to the fairy tale references that it made the writer sound very knowledgeable about fairy tales. It was as if she explored the "what if's?" of fairy tales being true and still existing.
Then I got to the last couple of chapters. They syntax changed. The characters changed. The story line changed. Polly Shulman - unlike a fairy tale you cannot just wave a magic wand and have all the plot lines end. It ruins the story. I felt as if you suddenly decided mid story that you no longer wanted to write it and quit. You might as well have had all the main characters die. There were so many avenues you could have taken and you would have had a great reader following. You had the right mix of everything until the end.
My suggestion to our librarian - check it out to 6th grade girls who are not in the gifted program. Girls who have enough magic left in them to over look the fatal flaws of this book just to see the ending where everything is magically Happily Ever After.

Caught in a Waffle Moment

2011-04-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

Today I was actually caught in a waffle moment. If you don't know what a waffle moment is you need to see Chad Eastman's video on it. I know this is only an excerpt, but it gets the point across.
See the kids were at their grandparents for a sleep over. Worked out well because we had a photo shoot Saturday night. Nate has been on call, and though it hasn't been the worst on call it hasn't been the best either. We both decided that today was a catch up on sleep day. While he was working I was sitting in bed watching TV and putzing. Actually I was making some journal entries that had been in my head for a bit and needed logged in. While doing that I took a break watched some TV, did nothing.
Nate came in the room and asked what I was doing.
"Nothing"
"Oh. Working on your journal?"
"Nope"
"Well you have it opened and on your lap. Thinking about what to write?"
"Nope. I'm really doing nothing. I'm thinking about nothing and doing nothing. I just thought I would give it a try."
"Ok then.... Enjoy your nothing."
It was fun doing nothing.... absolutely nothing. Better not abuse the sensation. Back to my busy self :)

The Quest for QUEST - continues

2011-03-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

When A woke up this morning she did her daily routine. She had obviously thought about her disappointment with QUEST because she very matter of factly stated that we would need to schedule a meeting with the principal to discuss the QUEST class because she should be in there. We reminded her that we already sent in a request for probationary placement.
The school day passed with no phone calls. Finally at about 5pm the head of QUEST sends us an e-mail rejecting our request and suggesting further testing in a few months.
I'm not sure where the communication error is. There is a reason I want a phone call and not a long list of e-mails. It's called communication. I am not comfortable discussing this on e-mail. I want to talk to someone and ask real time questions. No more of this jargon that only QUEST teachers understand. Tell me in plain English what to tell a 5yo who knows where she should be placed and will advocate until she gets it or gets a reasonable answer. If you can tell me where she would fail in the QUEST environment, with data and certainty, then we have a reason to back your side. Until then you are fighting a loosing battle.
It's just rude to ignore 2 parent requests for a phone call. Mama bear is about to come out just because they are not communicating with me.

The Quest for QUEST

2011-03-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

Since the day A hit Kindergarten she has talked about "When I'm in QUEST". She has known that March is the time frame for QUEST and counted down the moments - all year long. When she got her QUEST paperwork she was EXCITED! We filled out the papers, but weren't informative enough. Thank goodness she had been persistent about time frames which prompted me to e-mail asking about the next phase. I was told that there wouldn't be a next phase because I hadn't provided enough information on several questions. A little irked that they hadn't done a courtesy "Hey Mrs. Deckinga, can we get more information" I sent a rather lengthy e-mail explaining how I saw placement as appropriate for her based on the districts web page description of QUEST. Suddenly they had enough information to proceed. (After getting the final paperwork back they had just enough information. They might have had more if I knew the exact questions that needed to be answered. They only told me one of several.)
Day after day A asked when she would be pulled for testing, then she mentioned that her peers were already going to QUEST class. Again I inquired on her behalf, what is the schedule and why does it feel like we're about a month behind everyone else. Oh there's no time line Mrs. Deckinga. Ummm you don't seem to get it. She needs a time line. We'll know for sure by March 28, but I'm meeting with the assessment team on March 25 and can call you after that meeting. Thank you. I tell A that she will know on March 28. Count down begins. Even after having a week off for Spring Break. She picks right back up with the count down. No prompting no nothing. Even handled a peer who basically told her she wasn't good enough because she wasn't in QUEST, but that didn't change her focus. This has been her priority all year.
March 25 came, no phone call. At 3pm I try calling the QUEST teacher. No answer. Irony is that she e-mails me at 3:01 and implies in the e-mail that she's in her classroom, but what ever. She e-mails the testing results and a little letter saying that A does not qualify for QUEST. Knowing that I'm going to have an extremely upset child on my hands I just point out my disappointment that she didn't stay true to her word by calling and that there is no need to send home paper copies of what she e-mailed. It will upset A even more. My heart hurt so much for A. I couldn't imagine how I was going to tell her that her one academic dream is not coming true. Something that she wishes for as much as the day she gets to wear toe shoes is not going to happen. I can't even tell her that she's too darn compliant for her own good.
All weekend Nate and I tried to figure out how we were going to tell her before she went to school on Monday. Both of us hurt for her way before she was aware enough to hurt. We discussed how it's OK that she's not in QUEST. We don't need additional projects etc in this house. We do enough extended learning without the school dictating what we should be learning about. There are projects going on all the time around here that are way more in depth than a QUEST classroom could ever provide. Do we think she would be successful in QUEST? ABSOLUTELY! We try to justify it by saying that her participation in Girl Scouts meets that need. Maybe a grade skip is more appropriate. We talk to a few parents who know her. They were as shocked as we were. They disagreed with the assessment as much as we did. We all felt that the school just doesn't know her as well as we do. Talked to another parent who said they have reviewed a lot of information about QUEST in all the grade levels. The thing that stuck with me is that QUEST is usually during flex time at the elementary level. A does not need flex time at all. What is she learning at that time? This parent also reminded me that in this district if you demand something they comply. Not real excited about going that route, but it's a true statement.
Sunday night comes the time to talk to A. She's so upset that she doesn't know how to cry about it. She just can't eat dinner. Once we gave her permission to cry she broke down. I held my baby while she cried her sorrow. She didn't understand why she didn't get in. Her thoughts were why am I not good enough. You know she started comparing herself to her peers that are in and not finding where they are different from her. She knows in her heart that she can do everything asked of her in QUEST. She is able to say that she wants to learn more than what she is being taught in her regular classroom. She says that her teacher is a good teacher, but she wants more. We discuss all the options, but she still wants QUEST.
What are we to do? I send an e-mail stating that we told her the outcome. Discussed her options, and she is still requesting QUEST placement. She is taking ownership of her learning. I don't demand or say unkind things because there is no need. It's not a matter of someone's personality. It just is what it is. I know that she will be successful in QUEST and that it's their loss to not place her in it. I explain that now it is my role to advocate for her when she doesn't know her options or have language to state her needs. I set out the time frames I find reasonable. We'll see where it goes from there.
What I did learn from this experience - my 5 yo is a determine person who sets goals and will do everything in her power to obtain them. She will behave and follow all the rules in order to achieve those goals fairly. She is an incredible young lady who is significantly younger than her grade level peers, but achieves more in one day than most of them. Her knowledge and desire to learn more astound me regularly. She loves to analyze things and categorize them. She does great with time lines and due dates (puts the rest of the family to shame). She is a natural leader without regard to size or age. And though the school isn't willing to play in her sandbox, she would never turn anyone away. She would accept them with open arms and challenge them to be everything they have the potential to be. She is an AWESOME young lady and I am so proud of her resilience.
BTW - her response was exactly as I thought it would be. She cried but came to the conclusion that they will just have to test her again next year (and every year after that until they accept her). My first mental e-mail that I didn't send was going to say something like, "Enjoy testing her every year until you accept her", but I thought it might be interpreted as a little snide. Most 5yo's let things happen to them. She makes things happen around her. No matter what happens she will be a shining star.

Computers, Games, etc.....

2011-03-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

I was inspired to post this because of THIS post at Lemon Squeezy.

When Z entered kinder they introduced him to the world of computers. He had seen them, but never really done anything with them. He would come home wanting to play the game he played at school on our computer and I had to tell him that we didn't have that one. When I did let him on the computer it was frustrating because he was so inept at it. At some point we caved in and bought a V-Smile system. He was horrible at that too. They joy stick baffled him.

A is in kinder now. She really hadn't been on the computer until school and friends introduced them. She had played the V-Smile, and we recently added a Wii to the playroom. Funny thing is - she's a natural at the computer. She knows what web pages to go to, but Z doesn't know what you're talking about when you ask him what web page he got is project information from. It's amazing how different they are.

I really wanted to write a post affirming Christi. It's sad that she had to justify how little time she allowed her children or how little the monetary equivalent is. Our kids don't even play 30 minutes a week on the computer or game systems. The Wii goes weeks off. The V-Smile got unplugged the other day to make room for other things (a blue ray because we decided it's becoming the standard). As for computers... I'm trying to allow for more time on them so that they can do their school work without looking like a fool.

Not sure I'm ready to go as far as coupons for electronics time though. That might encourage them to spend more time on the computer. They don't miss it any way (ok A does some times). I like that they play outside or play Legos', or read, or whatever and it's not electronics. So Christi - you go girl!

Z's QUEST

2011-03-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

Every year since Kindergarten Z has worked on a QUEST project. The first year was about bugs, then about tigers, then about Belarus. This year he got the opportunity to pick his own topic. All year he told me he was doing it on spies. Sounded great to me. What ever works and has enough information for the research portion of it. When it came time to commit he decided to go with the history of male cheer leading. I can handle that as well. It's an area of interest for him and there's plenty of information about it.
Every year we end up rushing him to get the project done because he just is not organized enough to know when parts are due and to actually do them. This year I got into panic zone because I hadn't seen anything brought home about the project. I e-mailed his teacher to make sure he was up to date and using time in class wisely. She said that he was working in class, but was disappointed to hear that I had not seen the binder that I was supposed to be signing off on every Thursday that tells me what has been worked on and what is due. Of course when Z got home I started chewing him out for getting behind again and that they would kick him out of QUEST if he could not handle the projects. I demanded that he bring his binder home and review what had been done. It was a Thursday. He said he had the binder. He was able to show me what was due when and what he had completed so far. I was flabbergasted! His teacher sends weekly e-mails letting us know what to expect in the project for that week. She said something about working on the product over Spring Break. Of course it was late in the week (OK Saturday) when I finally go on to him about actually putting something on paper for his product.
Z decided to design his own cheer uniform - oh and make it. I thought I would share with you all some of the pictures I've taken along the road to project completion. I am just so proud of him! He has really taken onership of this project and is getting things done.

Z cutting out the pattern pieces. He feels the same way I do. They should come pre-cut and on stiffer paper.

Z cutting out all the little embellishments for the uniform. Millimeters matter!

Z placing out all the little embellishments for the uniform.

Z doing his first applique!

Really! He is! No mom help there! He's a natural at it!

Just Because I Haven't Posted in a Bit

2011-03-20T17:46:00.000-07:00

I have a few posts in progress that just aren't ready yet, and I'm feeling a little frustrated that I haven't posted in a while. It's just that... it's Spring Break. I have been dying for Spring to arrive! I love hearing the birds when I wake up in the morning, but I don't think the neighbors think it's fun to hear the dogs chase the birds at 5am. "BARK BARK BARK BARK.." "Shhhhhhh!!!!!!" repeatedly until I give up and say, "GET IN HERE!" at the loudest whisper I ave.
What did I do on Spring Break? I got to hang out with some great ladies! Just by luck I got to socialize with some of the Girl Scout moms without the girls! Occasionally with girls, but not to the level we usually do. It was so fun getting to know these ladies better and I am so blessed to have them in my life and the life of my daughter. I'm thinking that our girls will be so empowered by these AWESOME mom's that they will be able to accomplish anything!
Ooooo!!!! I also did my first over night retreat at Karmen's place, Lone Star Retreat Center. I had SO much fun! Met a great new friend who just made me smile. Theresa - you can sit across from me any time! It was so nice to be able to stay awake as long as I wanted, sleep as late as I wanted, eat junk and not have an 8yo drooling over it or a 5yo saying "Can I have some?". It was so nice being on my schedule! I also learned how to rent movies from Red Box, and watched them on my computer while at the retreat. Loved plugging in the head phones, watching a movie, and getting in a crafty zone! Sorry ladies that will be a repeat performance. I got 39 cards completed that weekend - that included 20 cards with fussy cutting. I do apologize for the scarcity of clothing on my birthday lady, but what better way to celebrate your birthday than in your birthday suit :) I was one of those things where I was lifting the card from a sign I saw at the craft store. I got to coloring the image and went "OH MY GOSH!!!! THIS LADY IS HALF NAKED!!!!!" It worked out though. You don't notice it right away.
Monday started my mission for the week, Buy a new car. Decision was made by Tuesday evening and car bought by Wednesday evening. I am the proud new owner of a Hyundai Veracruz!

In the midst of car shopping I had several sewing orders going on. I try to stay away from special orders when it comes to my crafts, but some days you just have to. It's nice when others inspire you! Funny thing is that I hadn't really done any major sewing on my new machine yet and wasn't exactly sure how it would respond to my madness. It did beautifully! I went to a "How to use your new machine" class on Monday and was highly disappointed in the class. Looking at taking classes else where. I made a really cute first birthday onesie tutu.

See that headband? A decided she HAD to have one too!! I added the little clip on poof to it for spice, but that can be taken off and used as a barrette too. Versatility is the game :)

Then worked on a surprise for the Daisy's first sleep over.

I also worked on a car seat canopy for a friend of mine (another post). In the pile of to do's I'm also working on these really cute packages for my cousin's card making shop. I think it will be FANTASTIC!
I finished up Karen's Senior pictures. Loved the ones at the Ag farm! I love capturing where people are in their life right then and not the crazy fake stuff. You can do great stuff with people in natural environments.
Got another 38 cards shipped off to Operation Write Home. I had a pile of odd sized cards that needed separate shipping from my usual stash. I have learned that stuffing the voids with tissue paper is a great idea. When the 8yo drops the box 10 times on the way to the post office a little extra padding is AWESOME! He was doing better this fall with his coordination efforts, but he's sliding again. Dropping food, putting clothes on backwards, trying to grab things wrong and then dropping them. Oh well. At least he's been sleeping a bit better this week.
I didn't get to spend a whole day reading - which was on my agenda - but I did read some. My school librarian suggested I read a book called Grimm Legacy. Here's the deal. I have a LONG list of books that I'm trying to read right now. My half of under the bed is FULL of books that I can't wait to read. They are on my night stand and the floor surrounding my night stand. I did not need another book added to my stash. I tried to just hold on to it for a couple weeks and then return it without reading it, but curiosity got the better of me. I decided to read the first chapter and see if it interested me. I LOVED IT!!! So now I'm hooked and have been reading it between things. Maybe would have read more if I hadn't learned how to rent movies online.
Of course the week wasn't void of Z having to work on homework. He had to work on his QUEST project. I was so impressed with his product idea, and his execution of the product is looking fantastic! Z decided to design and make his own cheer uniform. Last night he worked on sketching out and coloring his design. Today I showed him how to look for a pattern and get the measurements for yardage. Then we went to Jo-Ann's where he picked out fabric and had it cut. He spent the afternoon cutting out pieces and parts. I gave him a quick lesson on how to applique, and he did FANTASTIC! We set up a time line to finish his product since it's so complicated. He hopes to present his design to the head coach at Cheer Station for some feed back and maybe to help them pick next years uniform for guys.
I was able to make a little progress in our library and getting it cleaned out. My friend Marliza took some of the books we no longer needed. I know she will read them and pass them to another person when she's done with them because she's just AWESOME like that.
It was such a fun spring break!

Rodeo Day

2011-03-14T18:33:00.000-07:00

You know you live in Texas when the local elementary has Rodeo Day, and all the kids are supposed to dress in their rodeo wear. Funny thing about that... this is our second western wear event in the span of about 2 weeks and we don't own western wear! Last time we just bought a couple cowboy hats from Academy and called it good. We would have done the same thing here, but the school asked for no hats. UGH! What's a mom to do?!?!!
This mom has had an idea in her head for a bandanna skirt and thought she could certainly find out how to whip one up from some on line source. Sure enough! I googled images for bandanna skirts until I found what I was looking for. I found this post on Alphamom.com and copied it almost exactly. It took more time to go to the store and buy 2 bandannas than it did to actually make the skirt!

(Please excuse the paper doll mess in the back ground...)

So you want to see how it looked all pulled together? Because you know I couldn't stop at just a skirt!

From dad's report they had a really fun day :)

Dear Bloggers

2011-03-07T05:01:00.000-08:00

Apparently it's a trend to make money from your blog. I get it - completely. I get that it's extra money and for some their only income. I am totally fine with that idea. I think it's great for you to have enough followers that you can warrant advertising space on your blog. I also love that you write at least one article a year on how to have a successful blog, and tell us all how to have your success.
As a blog reader I have a few thoughts on this though. When every post of a crafting blog is an advertisement or a give away and you are no longer posting about crafts you have lost your focus. It drives the reader NUTS! There are plenty of places I can get ads thrown at me all the time. Hint - if you are having to post an advertisement post daily to keep up with your contracts you've over committed your blog. You need to raise your rates and decrease the number of advertisers. Yes - I am saying you are too cheep. Sell yourself! Work smarter and not harder. Also - your readers can tell when you're reviewing a product you haven't used or have no faith in. It's been happening a lot to blogs that post a lot of ads. I think it's just that they don't have enough time to research the product before having to write on it.
How do you know if you're one of the bloggers I'm talking about? It's a math thing. It's all about proportions. What proportion of your blog do you at to be about crafts and what proportion do you want to be about ads. News papers and magazines have had this figured out for a long time. They know exactly the ratio of ads to article they can get away with before readers start to drop. Then you also need to consider how many personal stories you can get away with in a craft / business blog. My personal preference is that if you advertise as a craft blog then AT LEAST 50% of your posts should be about crafts.
When I'm picking a blog to read I look at the last 10 posts. If most of them are how to's or crafts I'll probably subscribe for a while. If most of them are reviews or ads I probably won't subscribe. I was starting to get concerned that I would have to relinquish my ideals as following got larger on the blog, so I started looking at stats through Google Reader. What I found is that larger followings have mainly posts about their stated purpose with an occasional ad / review type post. One blog I looked at just this morning had over 16,000 followers and in the past 10 posts only 1 advertisement post. That post was carefully written with personal experience about the product. It is possible to make money from your blog while maintaining focus. I'm begging you to do this or I'll have to drop you. Thank you - concerned blog reader.

Feeling Springy!

2011-03-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

I can feel Spring coming in! I think it's a little earlier this year because I don't usually start having these "problems" until after TAKS, but they're here. And remember problems are a matter of perspective.
1. Accidentally forgetting to send the kids to bed on a school night because we're doing our thing. What ever that may be. I confess - we get into crafting, or a show, or eating out, or playing, or what ever and then I go "OH CRAP! We have school tomorrow!" Maybe this is why I hate the H word so much. Interferes with our quality time.
2. I have an extreme desire to dine alfresco. All I can think about is which restaurants offer patio seating and cool beverages. Honestly - why live in Central Texas if you don't take the opportunity to enjoy the outdoor seating or views.
3. My mind keeps coming up with great little activities to do with the kids - outdoors!
4. I put my space heater away. I like my craft room a little toasty in the winter. It's the only times I can wear shorts and a t-shirt.
5. Sunday evening comes around and I start making plans for the next day. Then I remember that I have to put those plans on hold for 5 days because there's school. Then I'm bummed for a bit. Maybe we should end school in March. It would greatly help me out. But then we couldn't start school until October / November. 6 months of school might work....
6. I want to cook. Fun stuff though. Pies, cookies, grilled stuff, picnic foods.
7. I want to have ice cream in the park - at midnight - in our pajamas. Why not?
8. Can't wait for those warm spring showers so that we can go splashing in the puddles.
Maybe I should finish our family picnic quilt......

The Dirty Word

2011-03-05T05:57:00.000-08:00

There's a dirty word out there and it seems to happen in homes all over the country. It's so appalling that I shudder at the thought of it. It's such a common word that people use it without hesitation. Children come home from school and it's one of the first words out of their parents mouth. Even June Clever said it to her children. Children say it with complete disdain, and at times add expletives to enhance their hate for the word. The word has lead to many fights in households across the world.
"Z, do you have your homework?"
"No."
"REALLY?!?!?!!? Do you want to fail school?"

or

"Z, do you have your homework?"
"Yes."
"Great, lets get it done."
(20 minutes later)
"You've made no progress - what the heck hav you been doing!"

or

"A, lets read your book."
"Ou              t"
"Put it together"
"Ou              t"
"Put it together"
"Ou              t"
"COME ON! Put it together!!!!"
"where"
"WHAT?!?!?! Where in the world did you get where?!?!?!"
"Ou              t"
"Ok, put it together"
"Ou              t"
"What's the word?"
"when"
"WHERE IS THE W IN THAT WORD!?!?! SERIOUSLY GET IT TOGETHER!!!!"
"Ou              t"
"Go take your bath before I get really angry!"
(20 minutes later)
"Mommy, the word is out."
"YES! Great job!"
"Bubba told me."

or

"Z, there's another 0 in gradespeed. Where's the work?"
"I think I have it."
"I remember doing that assignment. Why didn't you turn it in?"
"I don't know." or "I forgot" or "She didn't ask for it" - you pick your favorite.

See it's a dirty word!

How about this:
"Mrs. Smith, I'm calling today because Johnny hasn't turned in any homework this grading period. He has a lot to make up."
"Really?! He told me that he gave it to you and you lost it."
"I never received the assignment."
"Check again, I'm sure he turned it in and you've lost it."
(Imagine the ending to that conversation.)

So if "homework" is such a dirty word, and the source of such conflict, why do we still us it? I think it should be classified with the expletives, and banned from our vocabulary. It's just one of those things.
It's on my hot list right now because I was reading a blog post on Forgetful One and she posted about being a teacher and then having to come home and help with homework. Being a teacher I HATE coming home and having to sit with kids to do homework. I'm exhausted from that type of interaction all day long and having to know all those skills as well as how to teach them. Then I come home only to have to teach them again. I feel that kids should be able to do homework with minimal support. If it requires more than one or two quick questions they should just go to tutorials. It should be reinforcement of skills learned. Most kids though, bring their homework home and expect their parents to do a reteach. Hint kids - we forget how to do these things. We weren't in your class that day to relearn how to do them. Or how to do all the crazy math techniques that the math teachers these days do. I don't remember my parents walking me through every step of my homework or planning out my projects with me. I had homework. I got it done before they got home so that I could go out and play. I had a project. I... well got it done. My mom definitely did not go out the night before the project was due to get the supplies. If it wasn't on the shopping list for the weekend it waited until the weekend when she went to the store. Homework drives me nuts! There I said it - I hate homework! I hate the word, I hate doing it. I hate all the tracking of it and subsequent arguments with it.
OK, I feel better. Must be the spring fever talking.

OMGosh!!!! I'm so behind!

2011-03-02T19:15:00.000-08:00

I feel horrible that I haven't blogged in so long! Besides the whole school thing..... I've been trying to wrap up some long term commitments. We had our first cookie sale season. I had no idea what those Girl Scout Mom's do! Cookie sales is a major undertaking for any household!

It starts out all nice and friendly.....

Then there's the deliveries at all hours of the day (and night at times)....

Then it's been going on so much that we need a little friend support (the girls have their arms around each other as they wait for someone to answer the door)

Then we're so delirious that we just keep selling...

Then there's the cheer competitions! Z's team ended the season with a 1st place win! Way to go Mini Blacks!

And little sassy pants..... Valentines hat that she still hasn't worn since the picture.

And the Valentines Tutu's I made for a couple special little girls :)

A's Valentines outfit I made. Hair band, appliques shirt, and paper bag skirt. This is also where she fell in love with knee socks. I contemplated putting ribbons on them but decided that was over the top. She insisted that her picture be taken with the cookie sign. I think she still dreams of cookie sales.

Cougar Cupboard Charity Crop! This was the first bit of food donated to Cougar Cupboard. This table was over flowing by the end of the day! So blessed to have such a wonderful network of friends! And how amazing of Karmin with Lone Star Retreat Center to let us use her space for this event! Such a great hostess!


This is my awesome friend Brenda sporting a fabulous cougar necklace made by one of the students at school. The proceeds from the sale of the necklaces paid for their DI project.

It's been a busy month, but I'm looking forward to Spring - especially Spring Break! Just wanted to share the bits of AWESOME in my life. I know there were more....

Just Total AWESOMENESS!!!!!

2011-02-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

Ok I know I've been blog negligent lately, but this one is good!

Some of you know about the dreaded "February Conference". It's a 5 day weekend for our students, but 3 of those days us teachers get to sit in chairs for extended periods of time to learn new stuff to teach our students better. Parents complain that they have to make arrangements for their students to be home those extra days. Teachers complain about loosing the instructional time, but I think it's really more about the buttitis. We just don't know how to sit that long!

Any way... went to one session that inspired me to take action. We were talking about helping parents being part of the educational team for their student. One of the suggestions was to have a Parent Resource Center on campus. This would be a place to store books that parents can use or access to a computer things like that. We got to talking about having activities that parents could check out to help reinforce the skills taught at school. It would be AWESOME! It got me to thinking about how to make this very accessible to parents. I would love those resources to get to the parents! Well I thought about where I've seen parents from my school and I've seen them at the public library. How cool would it be if we had resources at the public library?! So I called the head librarian at Leander Public Library and she said they would love to offer that service! It would be a partnership between schools and the library to help parents! It might take some great networking, but it's a goal. The first step is taken and I can't wait to see where it grows!

Vintage Valentines

2011-01-17T06:07:00.000-08:00

Some of you might not know this about me, but I LOVE vintage valentines! Poor Dawn has had to sift through many boxes of dusty cards in antique shops with me to find some of these little treasures. I decided to share some of my images with you in case you wanted to create something with them. Need some inspiration? Check out Two Crazy Crafters. They do amazing things with vintage images. All of these images came from my stash.

SCRAP THAT STASH! = AWESOME

2011-01-15T18:32:00.000-08:00

After my last crop I realized that I had toted the same supply of papers, embellies, etc with me for the past year and I was tired of looking at them. Yes I had made pages with them, and cards, and what not, but I no longer just ooooed and ahhhed over them. When Operation Write Home posted a scrap your stash challenge I decided that the time had come. All of this stash was about to become something to ooo and ahhh over.
Over at one of the blogs I read, but not the one I thought it was there's been a challenge to organize your life (and about every other blog I'm reading right now is playing, but for the life of me I can't find a post on it right now). My main sore site is my craft room. I have to find a way to organize this madness and to comes down to just getting rid of stuff! Part of the blog's challenge is to document the progress so here is the first step.

I took that pile of just over 10 kits (actually I lost count of the plastic bags, but think it was either 11 or 12) and sorted into scrap paper, plain paper, patterned paper, and other stuff.

Here's all the scrap paper pieces.

Here's all the full sheets.

And the stamps that might never had been found if I didn't clean now.

And anything I didn't know what else to do with it.

Lets see where we go from here :)

AWESOME!!!!

2011-01-13T18:30:00.000-08:00

I needed to do a free write and I know it will come up with some AWESOME stuff! Lets just say this week at work has been one of those weeks where the district really got their monies worth. Tomorrow is Friday and I know it will be the best day ever. I just know it.
Monday night - at least I think it was Monday because I've had a headache most of the week and the week has been kind of a blur - I ordered an embroidery machine. It arrived Wednesday! It's beautiful and looks easy to use. It came with everything I needed except stabilizer so maybe this weekend I'll be able to sneak out for a minute to pick some up. As I was admiring the new toy on my desk I noticed that it had a giant cursive "E" on it with filigree around it. It's just affirmation that the machine was built for me! So new toy - AWESOME. The fact that I understood the directions enough to use it - even more AWESOME!
I totally forgot what else I was going to blog about! OH!I know! I have an AWESOME idea for our summer fun. Still formulating it, but know that I love jars - especially mason jars and if you have any to spare I would love them :)
We went tonight to pick up our little inventory of the infamous cookies - can't sell yet so don't ask but do ask on the 19th. Such a wonderful first though. All us moms lined up with our daughters picking up cases of sweet stuff. A big brother helping haul the cases to the mom's cars. So efficient.
Time to put the crazy kids to bed.

AWESOME!!!!

2011-01-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

I had to make an AWESOME post!
It has been ~~forever~~ FOREVER since I scrapped much less went to a real crop. Actually I had a bit of social anxiety about it. I didn't want to go where people would comment on how much or how little stuff I had. Or if it was the latest and greatest or my style of scrapping or how behind I was or any of those judgmental things that drive me nuts. Then there's the whole issue of scrapping pages, what size, album or not, cards, what ever. I just wanted to go to a crop where everyone did their stuff and said nice things.
I had heard about a little retreat center in Georgetown and thought about trying it out, but never acted on it. I liked it on Facebook but ever actually paid any attention to it. Over the break I decided to go to their web page and see what crops they had coming up. I thought about the one in March and signed up for the news letter. That day I got an e-mail from the owner saying there was an opening for the one in January and would I like a spot. Well... Ok. So I signed up for my first retreat with Lone Star Retreat Center. I just bit the bullet and signed up. I would just go and see how it is. If I don't like it or the people no harm no foul at least I got a little work done.
Now the drive to this retreat center from my house isn't bad at all, but if you're arriving late it is DARK! It's out in the country - sorda'. Not so far that several ladies couldn't go shopping while here, and they had to because Michael's was having a killer deal. I pull up and grab my essentials bag. As I'm walking up to the door I see a lady from work. Now I like this lady, and frequently think about how I don't have enough time to really get to know her in our day at work. So there's Brenda at my crop! After deciding that my scrap table is not conducive to socializing with anyone Brenda moves it so that I can sit with her and Beth. Another amazing woman.
That was just the start. Everyone was super nice and so real. No gossip crap. No cattiness. None of that girly stuff I hate. None of the stuck up scrapper stuff either. When I came home Friday to sleep Nate asked how it was and I said "They all bring the kitchen sink!". He laughed and said, "You've found your home." Yes I have!
Saturday Beth entertained me for a moment while I hit the high points of the square. Had to have some truffles from Sweet Serendipity. Popped into my favorite antique / junk store. Then around the block to the little coffee shop for organic sodas. It was just way too much fun.
After 3 ish days of scrapping I got 12 pages, 13 cards, and a mini-album made. I think those are the numbers. Had a bit of cedar fever impeding my thought process. Still is. Got the opportunity to clear out some scrappin' cobwebs. I think I'm actually down to one basket of old kits left! Couldn't be more excited about that.
Also - the group is having a charity crop on 2/19 so let me know if you want details. The charity is my school's backpack lunch program. When we're not in school such as weekends and holidays we send backpacks of food home with the kids who need it to kind of help out a little. I've seen the joy in those kids faces when they get the food. I've spoken to parents who are just so grateful for the help. It is such a blessing in our community.
Here's the picture of what I accomplished:

So several AWESOME'S!
1. Got that much done at the crop!
2. Met some amazing people!
3. Got to know Brenda better!
4. Found a new retreat center to crop at!
5. Got to visit the square!
6. Got to have Sweet Serendipty truffles :)
7. Organic soda's - yum!
8. Cleaned out stash!
9. I know there's more, but I have cedar fever brain and can't think clearly.
10. OH! Charity Crop for Cougar Cupboard in February!!!!!!!

AWESOME!!!!

2011-01-03T19:46:00.000-08:00

OK really - this stuff is AWESOME!! I can't believe that I have such a wonderful husband and a fantastic friend (not the same people though the descriptors apply to both). I'm apologizing now for any typo's because I'm typing blind - no contacts or glasses.

It was the first day back to school, but Nate had the day off. Not only did he come have lunch with me (and 2 students) he brought me Whataburger including the chocolate shake! Then he went to Ikea to find another desk for my classroom. I got home to find these beauties on the counter.

He remember that I posted about today being national drinking straw day and thought he would pick some up :) I managed to use a straw all day long. He also picked up new glasses because so many of ours have broken over the years.

After school he picked up the kids and took them to scouts so that I could go hang out and scrap with my friend Nanette. How fantastic is that!

That's the other AWESOME thing - my friend Nanette. She is such a bright spot in my day. We just sat and scraped no fuss. It was just very relaxing. We met at Archivers and I actually made it in with one trip! This is a huge thing for me because I'm known for bringing everything including the kitchen sink with me to scrap with. I got one layout done and was very happy with it. I then spent some time coordinating solids to some old kits to take on a crop with me this weekend. Also found a great cherry stamp that I had to have because it's National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day. Will have to make some Operation Write Home cards with it!
When I got home Nate was busy making Bento's for tomorrow. Even better! It was just such a great day that I'm relaxed and ready for bed. Usually I'm either so exhausted from the day that I crash completely or so wound up that I can't sleep. I'm neither - just at peace.

AWESOME!!!!

2011-01-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that I have even more AWESOMENESS to report! I am not making this stuff up! I apologize for the lack of pictures today, but honestly there wasn't time. On-call is a strange little monster in our lives. It messes with everyone's sleep schedule despite how quiet Nate tries to be. OK it only messes with his sleep schedule and then while we're being patient we either forget to go to bed or have an extremely casual morning. Today was the latter. We were in PJ's until about 10! Oh well - last day of the holiday back to school tomorrow.
That leads me to the first AWESOMENESS! Nate and the kids enjoyed some sunshine today while I went up to school and did a a few chores. Despite having the beggesers scared out of my by the Superintendent while I was there it was an extremely productive 4 hours. Now when my students walk in in the morning their materials are all laid out for them ready to start the new semester. My copies had even arrived over the holiday! Now that is AWESOME because I really could use them for first thing in the morning. Actually I already put them in use. Some of them are data collection forms that I wanted to try with the new semester. I am so excited to be prepared for the new day!
So if that wasn't enough AWESOMENESS (4 hours uninterrupted time in my classroom). I came home to wonderful smells of a FANTASTIC dinner being made - and a quiet house. The kids were outside playing. Nate was making risotto, apple something or ruther, glazed carrots, and steak (those little round ones with the bacon around them). Oh it was fantastic! I have the most AWESOME husband ever! While he was cooking Z and I worked on more scarves which is FANTASTIC!
Have a great first day back to school everyone!

AWESOME!!!!

2011-01-02T05:36:00.000-08:00

OK I thought I would only have 2 AWESOME's a week, but so far the new year has just been AWESOME!!!

Yesterday we went to lunch at Taco Real. There are so many Mexican food places around that we really could eat Mexican every day and have something different every day, but we chose Taco Real. It's all about the queso. Honestly they have AWESOME queso! First off, it's not Velveeta. I do not like Velveeta. Second off, it has flavor - good flavor. It's the only queso we can all agree on eating. It helps that the restaurant is kind of this hybrid between fast food and sit down. Yes you have to wait for your food but only a few minutes - long enough for a pager. It's perfect for kids and those of us who can't sit for long periods of time. Besides the queso we had the best company at Taco Real. My mom and stepdad decided to join us. It was so nice visiting with them despite the extremely loud football game on the big screen. It is Texas you know, and football is everything.

I have to share with you this AWESOME leotard and tutu I made yesterday. I had this order for several weeks and just was not sure how I was going to do it. I don't have an embroidery machine so I have to do all my applique by hand which can be quite tedious when doing a snow flake. They just have all these little cut outs. Then I decided I had to use metallic thread because it will glisten like snow. That stuff is persnickety! The original order was for an attached tutu, but I just couldn't do it. I had to put ribbon on this one because it was so darn cute. It was the expensive tulle that made it. It's white and iridescent. Even Nate said that this was an AWESOME set. I cut out another snow flake to applique on something, but this was a lot of work so I might not do that. I have some Valentines orders coming up too. I love making tutu's! (BTW - I have one blue tutu no leotard available. It's toddler size. Message me if you want it.)

I told you yesterday that my son is having a scarf booth to raise money for a third world country. Some good things have been happening with that which is totally AWESOME! Some friends who hand craft items have offered to donate items for the booth. AWESOME! Then another friend is part of the Chamber of Commerce and has offered to e-mail her distribution list about the booth. This totally rocks because we need people to come to the booth! She owns a company called Goody Two Shoes. What a fun name! They coordinate festivals. Another cool thing is that my friend has an etsy shop, Three Little Butterflies, and has decided to donate 10% of her sales this month to Z's little project. He calls it Well Wishes, how cool is that! So Charu with Three Little Butterflies is AWESOME! Too much AWESOMENESS not to share!

AWESOME!!!!

2011-01-01T06:39:00.000-08:00

I was going through all the blogs I read, got a little behind due to cedar fever, and found this one My Life Is Awesome! It's a project to reflect on the awesomeness in normal every day life. I can certainly find two awesome things a week to post about so I thought I would play along. I would love it if you joined in too because you are awesome!

Here are the awesome things I've been reflecting on for the past couple of days.

#1 - My beautiful daughter and her AWESOME personality. Nothing even compares to her. She has a unique sense of style from clothing, to jewelry, to design. She sees the world through her own unique set of eyes and celebrates every moment.

#2 - My Cra-Z boy! Z is an amazing 8yo who is very compassionate. He is very imaginative and wants to try everything. I'm always amazed at the creative ideas he comes up with. Right now he has this idea to host a scarf booth in our driveway to raise money for a water well in a third world country. Our play room is covered with scarf material! Z is AWESOME!

#3 - I was just telling Nate that I had two AWESOME experiences in the past couple of days that I would like to increase the frequency of. The other day I went over to my friend Nanette's house to try something on her daughter. It only took a few minutes to achieve the task, but we got to visiting. It was so nice to just visit with no purpose. Nothing scheduled, no house cleaning, just visiting. Now Nanette is supper creative and it was wonderful to be around that creative mind because mine has felt a little dried up. Then another day I dropped stuff off at my dad's house. We just sat and visited over coffee and OJ. They were still in their PJ's! It was so nice to just visit. So visiting is AWESOME!!

Internet Find - Original Author Unknown

2011-01-01T06:08:00.000-08:00

Health:
Drink plenty of water.
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured.
Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer.
Play more games.
Read more books than you did in last year.
Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
Sleep for 7 hours.
Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
Don't over do. Keep your limits.
Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
Dream more while you are awake.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
Smile and laugh more.
You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:
Call your family often.
Each day give something good to others.
Forgive everyone for everything.
Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
Try to make at least three people smile each day.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
Do the right thing!
Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
GOD heals everything.
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
The best is yet to come.
When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Happy New Year!

Phone Book Booster Seat

2010-12-30T14:26:00.000-08:00

I was over at my friend Nanette's house yesterday afternoon and she shared this super crafty idea with me. It is so neat that I told her to do a blog post on it. Well... she doesn't bog so I asked her if I could. She said that I could so! It's kind of my first guest blogger! Very exciting for me!

You will need 3 phone books (it's ok, just go grab them from the neighbors yard. They'll never miss them or you could ask them.) A roll of duct tape, a role of clear packaging tape, pretty gift wrap, and some of that non-skid stuff they sell fr kitchens. Now Nanette used Elmer's glue as well, but I know how you bloggers are about your glue so I'll just say use a strong liquid adhesive and we'll save the debate.

Step 1 is to stack the phone books and wrap them completely in duct tape. I kinda' like the look, but of course it just needs a little cuteness flair. So you'll want to wrap it in some cute wrapping paper like this left over Christmas wrap.

Then you'll wrap it in the clear packaging tape so that it is a wipe-able surface. You know how messy kids can get.

Here's the safety factor - you'll adhere the no-skid stuff to the bottom of your stack with your favorite adhesive. Nanette likes Elmers. I like gel medium. To each their own. Once it's dried you have a super booster seat for home. Nanette's thoughts were that she always has extra little guests at her home and they need to be able to reach the table, but she just doesn't want to spend a lot of money on booster seats. Her daughter never uses the safety strap in her booster seat (which kid does) so this fits the need perfectly.

When Nanette was telling me about this project it almost brought a little tear to my eyes. I remember as a kid going over to relatives houses, friends houses, restaurants, and not being able to reach the table. Someone would inevitably pull out the phone book to give me a little boost. Hope this project not only provides a little function in your house, but maybe even a few memories.

Bonus Craft Update

2010-12-15T04:34:00.000-08:00

I have a few Bonus Crafts available if you are looking for that just right thing.
There's the fierce scarf. There's only one of these for now.
There's a little skirt with matching hair bow. 22 inch hips to fit.
Then there's the vast assortment of hair do-dads.
A few bubble wands that will come with solution for giant bubbles.
There's some more that I can't post quite yet but I promise they're coming :)

To Dallas To Dallas To Buy A....

2010-11-25T13:09:00.000-08:00

Every holiday from school I love to go on little road trips - ok some times they are not so little. This holiday Jennifer and I went on a bit of a road trip. It was such fun that we did it twice in the same day. To Dallas, To Dallas, To buy A LOT of fabric. No road trip is complete without at least a stop at an antique shop or two. On the way up to Dallas we stopped at an antique shop / dog museum. It's the second time I've been to this shop and always find interesting bobbles. I was tickled by a little sign that hung on the side of a booth. It read, "Buy antiques. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." it could have read, "Buy antiques. Save the landfill." and I would have been equally tickled. I love to shop antiques / junk shops for this various purpose. I love the idea of reduce / reuse / recycle / re-purpose. Anything to lessen the impact on the environment. I found this really cute vintage luggage that was deco-paged with vintage patriotic ephemera. IN LOVE!!!!!!! Even though it has the Battle Hymn of the Republic on it. Would be better with Dixie, but what is a Yankee gone Southerner to do. Guess it will be my little nod to my birth state, but don't be surprised if that little ditty gets a bit covered with other patriotic stuff. I will say it's a great song. Strong. Now I must stop talking about this or I'll get on a civil war rant.

After that brief stop we ran up to Dallas and shopped at several stores on Harry Hines Blvd. I bought fleece for scarves, and fleece for the Daisey's to turn into blankets for Linus Connection. Then a few yards of cotton to make Little Dresses for Africa. It was such fun! We also had lunch at this wonderful little restaurant called Mama's Daughter's Diner. It's always good to ask the shop keepers where to eat. They'll never lead you astray. I enjoyed a grilled ham and cheese, my favorite when at a diner.

We left Dallas and stopped to shop the square in Waxahatchi. Such a beautiful little square. They already had it decorated for Christmas with figurines of characters from A Christmas Carol.

Some of the quotes they pulled for the book pages were just beautiful. I think I must reread that story. I thought I would share a bit of the architecture with you because it was just so beautiful!


History of the County Court House. This is actually the 4th building. The first was made from logs. Would have loved to seen that!

Daughters of the Confederate anyone? We have this statue at out county courthouse, but it's not as well placed in relation to the architectural back drop. Loved the stateliness of this image.

Amazing clock tower! Notice the eagle in flight? Someone planned how to position that figure just right.

Cute little building.


Loved the little details on this building. The frames in the windows as well as the sculpted flourishes.

Funky little gate down a side street. Don't you just LOVE IT!

Classic car!!!! LOVE IT!!!!!

Who doesn't love a bicycle planter ;)

When we finished scoping out the square we went to get back into the car. Funny thing about the car... Jennifer walked me through the parallel parking nightmare that was necessary for parking on the square. Props to the woman who knows how to do it! When we got back into the car Jen noticed something. It's funny when you think about it. She had brought two pairs of shoes for the trip - just in case. Well, at some point in the day she lost one of the shoes little mate. We knew exactly where it was - Dallas!!!! Thank goodness for smart phones. We looked up the number for Mama's Daughter's Diner and called to inquire about the shoe. Off to the parking lot they went. Sure enough there the lonely shoe sat. Into the cool air condition of the building it was brought and stories told about how it was saved for it's little friend. We weren't too far from Dallas, nd who doesn't enjoy a little side trip to Dallas at about 5pm? Traffic wasn't to bad on the way up, and we used the HOV lane on the way down. That HOV lane is SWEET! We watched as the traffic piled up going north bound for no other reason than it was I-35. In Waco they had shut down one lane for repairs. We were so grateful to be going south! Jen took me to Taco Bueno. Never had them before, but it worked. It had been about 80 degrees and was still a bit warm despite the sun dropping. In Taco Bueno it was FREEZING! People were in jackets and sweaters. We just ate as quickly as possible and discussed eating taco's in the car. The side of rice and beans prevented me from agreeing to that idea, just the images of rice and beans flying through the car cracked me up! In all it was a great day with a great friend. Thinking of the next Random Road Trip :)

Thanksgiving and Family

2010-11-21T18:17:00.000-08:00

This was originally written as a big long rant about how much holidays frustrate me because of different peoples actions. I've since decided to trash that post, be thankful that I have family to complain about, and do something completely different for Thanksgiving. Nate and I will cook something if you want to stop by and celebrate. No posturing, no sides, no presumptions, no fancy anythings, just time together. Happy Thanksgiving! (and no I'm not cleaning the house special for the day. You get us in all our craft / project / QUESTiness glory!)

It's a Daisy Life for Me

2010-11-18T19:14:00.000-08:00

A earned her Promise Center for her daisy. Very exciting stuff! She only had to say the Girl Scout Promise a million times and tell Z to stop saying the Boy Scout one so much, but she made it. It's hard to make it through the Girl Scout Promise when your brother keeps saying the Boy Scout one over and over and over again.

We're gearing up for the Compassion and Caring for Others petal. This involves a trip to the retirement home to sing Christmas Carols and to pass out cookies. Did some one say cookies?!?!?! Of course we have to learn to make them, so mom calls a community helper. Mrs. Nikki from Angel's Bakery was delighted the kids wanted to learn to make cookies. She took the information about dietary needs and got to thinking. I won't spoil the surprises, but she has some great cookie ideas!

As part of the coordination for 11 kindergarten girls to make cookies I thought it best to set up stations for them to attend as they rotated through. I'm in the process of thinking up 3 service oriented stations that they can do that night as they learn about compassion. Nikki and I thought of a few things, but if you have any ideas they would be greatly appreciated.

I am so excited about this project! The girls will have so much fun, and we'll close the evening off with our very own cookie exchange with the cookies we baked that night. I can only imagine the giggles, and the sugar high!

This Scarf is Fierce!

2010-11-16T04:45:00.000-08:00

It's actually cold here! I certainly did not order this weather. The bad news is that it's only going to get colder. I am not a winter person by any stretch of the imagination. The only good thing about the cold weather is that I can try out some of the cool scarf patterns I've seen on line. I decided to go with easy breezy for the first one mainly because I needed a boy scarf. I was on the blog Living With Punks and saw a link for "Lil Dudes Scarf". Now Z is old enough that I don't have to add pockets to his scarf (he would love it though) so I didn't do that part. I also made it completely out of fleece since I bought it earlier in the day.

I know - bad cell phone picture. Z is on a cheer team called Mini Blacks. Their team colors are red and black. When I found this flame fleece I had to get it (plus it was on sale). In a couple of weeks they are cheering for the Chuy's Parade and I thought a scarf would be nice in the warm up area. I know he can't wear it on the parade route, but before and after would be nice. He loved it so much that he wore it the night I finished it as well as the next day to school. He told me that he was even going to wear it in class.

There are several things I love about this scarf. First, it's super easy to make. Take a 2 strips of fleece 9 inches wide and stitch them together, turn, stitch the ends shut with a zig zag stitch, cut the edges to fray, stitch a LARGE button hole in the scarf and done. Second thing I love, the button hole to slide the scarf through. Nate thinks that it's over kill, but I LOVE it! I also think it will help little bodies keep their scarf on instead of having them fall off as they play.

Ooo you can really see the flames in this photo! You can also see that button hole thing well. Remember I was talking about bonus crafts? Well you're in luck. I have 2 of these available if anyone wants one. Just let me know. Just a side note - the kids at school loved the scarf!

Bonus Crafts

2010-11-14T07:08:00.000-08:00

Runners have "bonus miles", but I am definitely not a runner. I am a crafter. Well, I wouldn't claim that really around some of the crafty people who's blogs I read. They are serious crafters. I make crafts at times. Now you're wondering how this relates to "bonus miles". As a crafter I apparently have the problem of "bonus crafts". When I make a hair bow for an occasion I might accidentally make more like 10. When I make a scrapbook page I make a few cards from what is left over. When I make a skirt, there's always a first attempt then I decide I want to change the patten a bit. Make a quilt, there's always bonus squares that would make something fun. Bubble wands... I have a few of those left too. Oh and little girl aprons, addictive to make. I think I even have adult ones left.

I keep a basket of these bonus crafts around in case I need a last minute gift. Well with Christmas coming up I thought I would share my basket of bonus crafts. Here's the deal. You are welcome to a bonus craft and all I ask in return is that you make a contribution to my son's little service project. Z is still raising money for a water well in a 3rd world country. He has about $700 raised so far. I won't tell you how much to donate, that's up to you. Let me know when you would like to look at the basket of goodies :) Just finished some great red and black bows that would look super cute with a Christmas dress.

Race for the Cure 2010

2010-11-07T15:29:00.000-08:00

Today was Race for the Cure so of course everything was PINK! A loved having everything pink. Her race shirt was a little large since kids sizes only came in one size. No problem! She put a ribbon around her waist as a belt and one at each shoulder to keep the sleeves up. This is the best shot I got of her outfit choices. Don't you love the pink leggings? Or even better - how she convinced her brother to carry her? He thought it would help build his strength for next weekends cheer competition.

As the race went on, A decided that she didn't need the belt or the ribbons on her sleeves. Up around Mom's pony tail they went.

Of course when I got home I decided that I couldn't waist such perfectly good ribbon. "Think, think, think." as Pooh would say. I thought and I thought until a thought did pop. Why not make a memorable hair clip as a memento of the day! There was way more ribbon there than I expected.

(I had to take this shot several times to get the clutter out of the back ground. I just need some time in my room to craft!)

After that beautiful bow was made I had plenty of ribbon left for another project. I think a card is in order ;) Maybe even an Operation Write Home card.

Way Too Much Excitement!

2010-11-06T05:43:00.000-07:00

I have no idea where to start! I'm excited about so many things! First off, it's Saturday morning! Why am I excited about that? It's freakin' early as far as I'm concerned and I'm awake! Sleeping in on Saturday's is not an option in our house. The kids have 8am swim lessons - UGH! The best part about that is Nathan takes them to swim while I blog. It really is my quiet moment. If they are home while I blog I get so many interruptions that I actually feel compelled to go through the editing process on my post. Honestly I would rather do a stream of consciousness and hit post.
With this excitement in mind I was trying to think about what to blog today, and I got really excited about something. I get to plan a card making party for my mom and her artsy friends! They are all super talented and frequently paint together. I noticed that Operation Write Home had been short cards at one point and I wanted to find a way to help. Then I had a card making event with the kids at school. Well it was just too much fun that I had to do it again. Mom and her friends came to mind. They are all just super creative and most have some relationship to the military. My step-dad is retired Navy and part of several vets organizations here in town. So, mom agreed to have a card making party at her house. I get to design cards and get all the supplies ready and let them create! I love it! Now to think of designs. She specifically asked for masculine.
The other excitement is that one of the kitchen light fixtures died. I have hated those giant boxes on my ceiling forever! The exciting thing is now I get to pick out something new! just can't seem to pick a normal light fixture though. I think Nate and I might go to blows over this, otherwise there may be exposed wires for a while.
I'm also very excited to have a day of rest. Today has no obligations associated with it. I can putz around the house cleaning, crafting, etc. I have an almost finished quilt on the floor, and almost finished scrapbook pages in a box. I might even take the time to tear into A's desk and clean it because it's EVERYWHERE! Of to my obligations free day :)

Community Helpers

2010-10-31T05:19:00.000-07:00

I felt an urge to spot light a local community helper. The idea came up yesterday afternoon when the kids and I were out running a few last minute errands for the Fall Festival today. We were driving through the parking lot at 1890 Ranch when I spotted a parent from school.No one was behind me so I stopped to say high. Mrs. Flesner is always such a joy to be around. Never a negative comment and always seeking ways to be helpful. Some days I wonder if she operates on a total lack of sleep like me, because she gets a million things done in her day. After we left Mrs. Flesner the kids asked who he was. Of course I had introduced them, but they wanted to know how I knew her. A thinks I know everyone because we seem to run into someone I know every where I go. At first I told them that Mrs. Flesner is one of the parents that helps at school, then I wondered something. I wondered if they noticed in their day how much it helped to have parents at school. I said, "Do you have parents that help at school that if they weren't there the school would stop running?" Both children said, "Yes". "Mrs. Flesner is a parent that if she weren't there our school would stop running." They totally understood that.
Mrs. Flesner is our parent volunteer coordinator. She is AMAZING at that. Not only does she get parents to help with things as teachers identify a need, but she frequently sees a need at school and gets parents coordinated. She listens to us very well and then says, "Can I get parents to help with that?" She even follows up to make sure we don't drop the ball, which I need terribly.
Besides coordinating parents, Mrs. Flesner attends the school functions. Actually I think she attends them all, and I'm not sure how she does that. She's not just telling the parents to be there, but she's attending and making sure parents have everything they need. She would make a great boss in that respect. t is not uncommon for Mrs. Flesner to already be at school helping out when I arrive at 7:45am. Keep in mind that our school doesn't open until 8:00am, and classes don't start until 8:55am. She even offered to cover my duty this week while I'm out at a conference.
Lynn Flesner gives of her time and talents with a kind heart not expecting anything in return. She is an amazing community helper and I am grateful to know her. What was she doing at 1890 Ranch yesterday? Once a month Mrs. Flesner and her daughter help the Humane Society at the pet store with animals that are up for adoption. They work together to make forever families. Great organization - Williamson County Humane Society. If you are looking for a pet I highly recommend them. That is where we found Chewy and Junior. I also appreciate that they let middle schoolers volunteer there. It is a great experience for them, and the guidelines they have set up teaches great work ethics.

Operation Write Home Sketch #40

2010-10-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

I thought I would try this weeks Operation Write Home sketch challenge. This Snoopy stamp has been calling my name, but I couldn't think of what to do with him. Then I saw the challenge and thought "I HAVE to do SOMETHING with Snoopy!" Looking around my chaotic craft room I was at a loss. Then I saw a stash of scrap papers left over from last springs NJHS journals. The boy journals were guitar themed! Perfect for the rocker Snoopy stamp! Within an hour I had 6 rock star Snoopy cards ready for Operation Write Home!

Quick directions for my friends wanting to replicate a similar card, because it was super easy and anyone can do this!
I had scrap paper to start with so I didn't even cut it. I put one all the way at the bottom and one all the way at the top. No measuring or anything. I did have to cut off about an inch and a half off the end, but I used those pieces on another card project that I keep going. Remind me to tell you about that later.
I cut the black matting at 4.25 x 3.5, and the white cardstock to 3.25x4. Stamped Snoopy onto the white card stock then water colored the red in. To water color I use a water color pen and what ever ink pad tickles my fancy. This time it was red. Usually I can just squeeze the lid into the ink and use that as a pallet, but the lids were to tall on this brand. I pulled out my craft mat (LOVE that thing!!! I almost never craft without it) and put the ink pad right down on it. Wha-la! Pallet of red ink to paint with.
After that I distressed the edges of the white paper with my tonic blade thingy and inked the edges with a redish / orange glimmer ink I had lying around.
I glued the Snoopy images to the black paper. Here's the trick. When I cut the black papers I had a strip of paper left over (actually 2 strips of paper). I put a line of glue down the strips of black and then put them along the gap. Now I know you are saying "You do not have enough inches for 6 cards there!" Yes I do! Anywhere I have the Snoopy image I don't have to have the black strip so I just eyeballed about a half an inch on one side and an inch on the other. Covered the seam so nicely. Then I glued the Snoopy image (matted) on top of the card and it was done!
Rock On Snoopy! (Sorry for the bad cell phone picture. I'll try better next time.)

OH! I almost forgot the little scraps of paper I had left over! I keep itty bitty white cards at the ready. When I have a scrap paper, one embellishment, one rub on, anything I don't think I'll use in another project I just go ahead and make these little cards. Some times I use them with gifts, other times I pull a whole set together to give to someone (they fit in the inserts from a Crayon box). They make great lunch box note cards if you want to give your special someone a little lunch note.

How Do They Do That?! Part 7

2010-10-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's the last day of my promised daily blogging. I realized that most people read my posts through my Facebook feed and not through my blog. How funny how times and trends change. If any of you FB peeps want to see my actual blog (it's nothing fancy) you can go to www.viewsfromtheporch.blogspot.com and read all the way back to 2005.
Friday - the last day of the school week. Some weeks it doesn't come early enough. Morning as usual with the usual Friday morning, "Z, do you have your math homework ready to turn in?" Yes. Great - lets get going. The only addition to the morning madness is that we needed to find the Lion cheer shirt and the Lion Backer shirt for the game tonight. Lion cheer shirt - not too difficult because she left it on the table downstairs and I had sen it. Lion backer - difficult find. Z managed to fine one of the Lion Backer shirts and all I could think of when he wore it was, "Wow! Have you grown!" In reality it turns out he found A's Lion Backer shirt and wore it because he couldn't find his. I made him wear a different shirt to school so that we could look for his later. There have been moments where they could wear each others clothes and do, but this was not one of those moments.
School day - Had to write an ARD. I am not a sit down type person and writing an ARD takes all day of sitting. Usually I space it out over time, but this was one of those last moment situations. Needed a placement change, but the annual is due in a month so might as well do that while we're in committee. There was a great blessing in the day, and I can't always say this, all the data I needed for an annual ARD was already collected and ready to go. The systems we have in place are fantastic, and the teachers so diligent. There was data from the classroom for the placement change, there was transition data from when the transition facilitator came and worked with the kids, testing data was in Eduphoria. The only piece of information I had to go hnt down was an SRI and QRI score, but those just happened. The current Language Arts teacher had the SRI score, and the Resource Language Arts Teacher did the QRI in plenty of time to get things done. The data provided in the FIE helped explain the difficulties n other classes and I was able to place appropriate accommodations in there. It was such a smooth team to work with!
When parents call an ARD they have no idea the work that should go into them before the committee gets together. It doesn't always happen, but there is a ton of work that goes into them. I know that it's a parents right to call an ARD, but I think there are a few barriers to a successful IEP / ARD meeting. One of the barriers is that parents struggle so much to get services for their kid that they assume that every thing regarding their child's needs is a fight. I admit that I go into every meeting with Z's school ready to fight. I want paperwork in place to protect him from the teacher that refuses to accommodate without being required to. I have to remind myself not to be that way through out the meetings. It's a constant redirect in my mind through out the meeting. I'm also reading tone and body language from the staff to validate my suspicions that they aren't looking out for my child. It's happened - the leg bounce, arm crossed, stern face, no comment teacher down the table from me. The quick and judgemental comments thrown about the room. My favorite - the comment that has the words "you never" in them. Just a hint if you need to take a xanax to get through an ARD meeting without looking like the biggest butt do it. This should really be a team approach which means that all issues should have been addressed prior to coming to the meeting. The meeting is a FINALIZATION of a CONTRACT! It should not be the draft version.
Another barrier is when staff have tried to guess the parents response to what the staff wants to do for the student. Frequently (and it's a result of the fighting parents) staff try to anticipate what the parents will say to various things. Staff tend to predict the worst - parent refusal. Funny thing is that when you have your data ready and you go through the thought process with the parents they generally see what you're trying to say. Parents love to not have to do the research for you, they do want the staff to be the experts. Out of necessity they have had to educate themselves about their child's needs / disability. If a staff member is educated and articulate, parents will usually trust their assessment. If staff looks like a bumbling idiot, parents will seek resources from everywhere but them and it will turn into a battle. Some days it's as easy as letting the expert in that area address the topic instead of just anyone on the committee talking. Tracking teachers have some knowledge in the educational testing process and should know how to read the FIE, but they are not assessment staff. Interpreting testing data is something assessment staff should do. It is perfectly ok for a tracking teacher to say that they would love for the diagnostician to go over that instead of attempting to do it themselves. It is perfectly ok for travking teachers to refer content questions back to the classroom teacher. It is ok to table an ARD if questions cannot be answered right then. Anyone can table an ARD.
Just a few things that I've been thinking about going into Z's ARD in a couple weeks. There's lots of anxiety going into this meeting, but I have to trust that the district is providing the right experts at the meeting.
I am so off track for today's post....
Love Fridays! It's DI day. I have a little DI team of my students and they are so much fun! If you have never participated in DI you should consider it. Nate and Pete graciously volunteered to be appraisers this year and I know they will love it! Well Nate did it lats year, and loved it. It's kids thinking WAY outside the box, and being praised for it. It's very much indescribable.
After that was an exciting ballet class for A. She was the only student to show up to class so she got a great private lesson. Granted there are only 2 students in the class, so when one kid is sick the other gets a private lesson. Reminds me that when she's going to miss that class I should probably call.
Ran home to find the Lion Backer shirt and charge my phone for a bit. For some reason it died today and it's never done that at school before. Found the Lion Backer shirt in the pile of clean laundry so I ironed it real quick. Off to the game where Z was a great Lion Backer. I didn't get to see the whole run, but heard "Great cartwheel kid!" over the PA and knew exactly who that was. Apparently Z did a cartwheel and a round off while running down the field. Dropped A off to cheer with the Lion cheerleaders for the 1st quarter, and then found my friends to sit with. Made it to half time to watch their daughter dance with the Bluebells, and then Nate managed to meet us after shooting the volleyball game. Z made the comment, "You know everybody!" Any time we go to football games I run into neighbors, parents, students (current and former). It's always fun to see people in the community. Just before the 4th quarter I decided it was time to head home.
We got home, kids got ready for bed, I got ready for bed. The TV's went on, and we were all out. It was a great night over all. BTW - my stamps for OWH came in! I'm so excited and can't wait to get these cards shipped out! There's a huge need for hand crafted cards right now and I hope to send a giant package at the end of the month. If you live by me and want to contribute t the box I would be happy to ship your cards. Just let me know.

How Do They Do That?! Part 6

2010-10-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

Awww MAN! Our time of daily blogging is almost up. Secretly I'm thinking "THANK GOD! You people are nosey!" Actually there are some parts of this that have been fun - the random comments or thoughts sprinkled through out the day. I really like sharing the randomness of me, but maybe it really should be in a more random pattern than daily.
So the morning activities left nothing out of the ordinary. A decided not to brush her hair again today, and I'm tired of telling her every day. If she pushes me too far I'll put visual prompts in her bathroom. I was hopeful that some little social thing would happen to cue her that she needed to brush her hair every day, but the kids in her class are too nice. Oh well. Dropped them off at school. I'm thinking it's almost time for drive through drop off instead of parking and walking them in every day. They barely pause to tell me goodbye.
I was excited that I had training today. Usually they are relaxing and somewhat fun, but today was the opposite. Of course the title had the dreaded "TAKS" word in it, and that should have been a hint. Our training scheduling software told me to go to one building so I went there after stopping at school to drop a note to the sub about something I forgot in the 3 pages of notes I left. When 8:30 hit and NO ONE was there to open the building I got suspicious. Finally a lady showed up, but she wasn't for my training. She did call the main office to see if was in the right place. Yes I was in the right place, then another person showed up. We decided to call the person who booked the room, yes in the right place. 3 more people show up. Lets call the person doing the training - nope we need to be across district. Off we drive to get there some time before the first break. We get to the front office 2 ladies have a map of where to go, but we need to check in. While checking in the receptionist gets a call - the class is moving to another room. Apparently it's the 3rd room move of the day. Great the class hasn't even started yet! Some banter was had about how the system told us wrong, and the instructor said "I sent you an e-mail". I was blunt about how she had sent a billion e-mails about this training so by the time that e-mail hit I didn't even read it. Actually I was frustrated about the training because it's a training to administer a test that I don't have any students taking and shouldn't based on the services I provide. No matter. I can be a team player and be ready to administer the test if needed. After a brief power point with a lot of terminology I have never been exposed to we were set free to go through the on-line training modules and tests. SpEd teachers do not sit, nor do they sit for long periods of time. I even sew, scrap, stamp standing! Today I sat. And sat. And sat. And listened to boring slides being read to me randomly on line. Not every slide was read, and there was no pattern to which slides would be read. There were pull out sections and tabs, and buttons all over the place so you had to look hard not to not miss something. I got through the first of 4 modules when the instructor says, "Who do you have on TAKS Alt?" "No one." "Oh, then you don't have to do this training. You can go if you need to." Lady - I started this mess I'm finishing it. It also bugged me because I had e-mailed a few weeks ago saying, "I don't have anyone on this test do I need to be at this training." All subsequent e-mails were mass e-mails saying "THIS TRAINING IS MANDATORY" - hence not reading the location e-mail because it was wedged in with a MANDATORY e-mail. By the time I finished the training I was a mess!!!! It stressed me out so much that I almost had to go for a walk. The kids needed a lot of support today, and my team covered pretty well. It was just nuts. I got back to school in time to put out a few fires, get the kids home, meet with NJHS kids, that type of thing. It was a whirl wind.
After that I rushed to pick up A for Daisy's swung by the house to get her stuff, and hung out at the troop meeting. Nate picked up Z and took him to cheer somewhere in there. Came home to make a great meal of Mac and Cheese (box kind - yuck) and hot dogs. Fought the kids to eat dinner, fought Z to do homework, fought with A about visiting her friend, fought A to take a shower early because she's been lallygagging too long at night. Checked e-mail to see if Z's math teacher responded to the phone conference request (she didn't). Wrote this blog post and headed to eat ice cream in bed without the kids :) Some days it's good to me the mom! You can't convince me that homes all over the place didn't have a day similar to ours.

How Do They Do That?! Part 5

2010-10-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

Aren't y'all tired of this yet? Same morning routine as usual. Out the door a few minutes late because we were trying to get the homework stuffed together. Sent an e-mail to the math teacher. Here's the deal. I get that Z frequently forgets to turn in work. I get that he frequently doesn't bring home work (unless it's for Mrs. Harper who he manages to do everything for). But he did this one packet - I know because it took a battle to get it done. I e-mailed that he was turning it in, she acknowledged receipt. Then it shows up on gradespeed as missing. There were a few other missing assignments. A few weeks later she sends make up work home with everyone in the class apparently and says it will get a max credit of 85. Ok. She sends Z the same darn packet! He does it because it's just better to do it than keep a zero, but I e-mail her again. Umm, excuse me but he's done this packet twice now and you confirmed receipt of it the first time he turned it in. Minimally give full credit since it wasn't late. No response. Look in gradespeed tonight and she gave him a 85, the max points for late work. She dropped the zero I thought he was working on completing, so now I'm very confused. I'm also a little peeved that she's not providing the accommodations I keep talking to her about and he's had very low quiz grades. OK this post forced me to request a conference. I'm just to riled up about it.
Any way - took them to school again. That darn school thing keeps happening. I went to school where of course my best laid plans for an uneventful day were blown away. I have duty at 7:45am. What parents don't seem to understand is that the teachers aren't contracted to be there until 8am. We don't even start tutoring until 8:15am to allow teachers time to get their stuff together before the kids come in. But for some reason when I arrive at 7:30 there are already tons of kids hanging out at school. Here's the question - parents, if the kid can't be left at home unattended to get themselves ready and out the door to school, why do you think it's safe for them to be unattended at school with the other hormonal, immature, students who's parents can't trust their kid to be home alone in the morning. I get that you have to get to work on time, but it's just not a smart plan. Ok - I don't know for sure that's why the kids are there so early in the morning I just hate to see them sitting on the porch waiting to get in in the mornings, then sitting in the cafeteria doing nothing for another 30 minutes. I really hate it when the weather starts to get crazy. There's little student popsicles on the front porch of the school.
I knew that I needed to stay late at school to get stuff ready for my sub tomorrow. I haven't done sub plans in 2 years, and trying to describe my job as interesting. There is no formula for it. I was at school until about 6:30 trying to write sub plans. Then I rushed over to Double Daves for Winkley Night with the family, then swung back by school to make sure my NJHS kids made it home after Cougar Night (they did and they cleaned everything up nicely - love them!). Writing sub plans when you're job is a support service - "If you get the vibe that little Johnny might get frustrated, or angry in the next 45 minutes stick with him. If you think he'll be ok for a bit go see how this kids doing. f you think they all look cool as a cucumber make sure they are on tasks in class so that they don't get frustrated. Oh and I know you know our campus very well (sarcasm) so you'll do just fine going from room to room all day. Here are the room numbers, the teachers names, and a map. Good luck!" Actually I was much nicer than that. I left key people to help through out the day with contact numbers and directions if the sub gets lost. I also left a page with each student's picture and their schedule just in case. I hope she wears her tennis shoes. Can y'all tell I'm stressing about leaving campus for a day?
Made it home about 7:30 and read a few of the 220 blog posts that I have missed in the last couple of days, but I kept thinking that I need to go read my book instead. Much more entertaining today. Kids did the homework, bath, bed thing while I worked on this post. Nate did the take the dog potty thing. Funny thing though.... Haven't done laundry in a while so we had to send Z to bed without any underwear. He'll have fresh in the morning. Not sure he's ever had to sleep without underwear on. I know we've talked about going comando, but not sure he's ever had to. Oh well - he was out of socks too.
So it's about 9:15 and I've decided to go read my book in bed. It's a great book that I would love to finish. It's called Big Appetite by Sam McLeod. It's a book about a journey and the guy reflects on his life as he travels. If you're from the south, you'll think "So true!" through out the book. The characters are reflective of people you know, and the situations are totally Southern culture. It's fun! After that I'll have to see what other books I have hiding under my bed to read. My side of the bed is filled with books to read, though I already have my eye on a new book that I want to read, but I put it on my Amazon wish list. I love Gregory McGuire books and realized that I haven't read them all. Thanks Linda for bringing him to my mind again! You had to bring up Poe, which reminded me of McGuire and I had to search him to get the name of that messed up book for you (Great read btw - Lost), and now there are about a billion books that I want to read. Not that I don't have a small pile next to the TV in my room of books to read. But those are specific books, they're part of a series. I carry one of those books in my purse for "down time". You know the moments when you're waiting for your kid to get out of one activity or another. I'm almost done with The Sister's Grimm series. Another great read! Depending on your kids reading level, they're great for 5th - 7th grade kids. The hard part is that there are a lot of literature references that kids these days may not understand. Heck! One of the main characters is Puck. How do I love Puck! Z idolizes Puck - what boy wouldn't if they knew about him! To get the full impact of the Sisters Grimm you would have to be well versed in fairy tales and not the cheesey Disney versions, but the real deals. The books are still a great read without that knowledge, but oh so much better with it! Then I need to finish N.E.R.D.S by the same author. Another great read that has had a second book come out. Of course the family is behind on the Percy Jackson series again. And that author has come out with another series I have to try. It's madness I tell you! I LOVE books! I LOVE literature! I just don't seem to read as fast or as often as others I know, but I'm a busy woman. When I think about the books and the stories I get excited. I want to talk about them, and share about them, and enjoy them. Some laugh, but books are FANTASTIC! And I can't do the electronic versions that have become so popular. Reading is a tactile thing for me. I have to touch the pages. I've been listening to The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana FOREVER! Just not getting the passion out of it that I think Umberto Eco has, though I will say the chapter on masturbation was pretty passionate - who am I kidding! No it wasn't. It was dry and scientific. I've also been reading the same Ann Rice book for I don't know how many years. I remember when I started reading the book. It was my first Women of Faith trip - I think I've blogged about that somewhere on here a long time ago. I might actually finish it by the start of next school year. I keep it in the only semi - private place in the house. Ok so now you know - I store books everywhere! I would love to get the library done so that I can store books there. Maybe next summer.

How Do They Do That?! Part 4 continued

2010-10-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to post about Z and I's conversation today in the car. Some days cars are the best conversation facilitators. It was a timely conversation with tomorrow being an awareness day for homosexual people who have committed suicide. Apparently Z knows very much what being gay is. He knows that you do not use the word in a derogatory manner, and that you do not hate people because they are gay. He knows that you treat everyone as an individual, and love them for who they are regardless of sexual orientation.
What brought this up was a girl at daycare that he's seen kissing another girl. He does not like this girl, and at first I thought he didn't like her because she is gay. He clarified that he does not like anything about her because she's mean and gross. Her being gay has nothing to do with it. I know that this girl can be aggressive with peers and that some children prefer not to play with her because she is mean.
I am just proud of Z for many reasons. He's 8 and knows that there is no reason to hate people because they are different than you. He is very smart and knows about homosexuality to the point that it's just part of his daily life. He did not realize that we have gay friends because it just is. He also knows to tell people to stop when they are teasing another child about being gay or using the word improperly. Love this kid!
Talking about being smart. We also had a lovely conversation about skin color. There is a political ad on the radio that talks about how Rick Perry's ears are too big for TV. Z wanted to know if that was true - basically do the people who create TV programs discriminate against big eared people. He didn't find that fair at all, nor did he appreciate someone saying that about another person. We talked about how the ad was making fun of Rick Perry, but also making a comment about the state of politics. We talked about how campaign managers feel that only a certain image will get elected. If someone's short they'll have that person stand on a box so they look taller, things like that. Z said, "Oh! Like Barack Obama shouldn't have been elected because he has brown skin based on those peoples thoughts." Exactly! Then he talked about how stupid it is to judge someone based on their looks instead of their merits in the job.
I love this kid!!!! Ever want to have an interesting intellectual conversation with a kid - you can borrow him. He comes up with some of the greatest stuff!

How Do They Do That?! Part 4

2010-10-19T18:54:00.000-07:00

Do y'all really want to know our madness? I read these after I post them and think "Who the heck reads this stuff?!?!?!" I have heard that no one makes it through reading these posts in one sitting. I'll return to my normal random mindless posting next week. Until then suffer with the play by play of our day, we do :)
What?!?! That darn alarm clock again! Doesn't it know that I've time traveled to Saturday?!?!?! Darn! It's only Tuesday. Snooze a few billion times until the poor dog in the kennel is whining to get out. I'm certain he has to potty. I poke Nate a few times in his back to see if he'll get up. In a stupor he responds - sorda' - so I tell him he has to take the dog out. At some point he asks, "Did Junior wake you at 4am to go out?" "Nope." In my mind I'm thinking, "If all it took to end the 4am potty breaks was a dislocated shoulder we might have tried that sooner. Maybe it's the kennel situation instead of the shoulder. No matter what I got to sleep through the night! Small miracles!" See prior to the shoulder incident Junior would nose me every morning about 4am until I got up to let him out. They would go outside and let out one bark so that I had to say "Shhh", then do what ever dogs do at 4am, and bark again to come in. Most of the time I get them, but sometimes I've conked out and Nate gets them. Sorry neighbors - it's a habit they can't seem to break. Of course while Nate was pottying the dog I hopped into the shower. Who wants to waste perfectly good hot water?
Pottying the injured dog is a trick. Nate has to pick the dog up from out of the kennel, carry him outside, set him down and wait, and wait and wait. Junior will not potty in the front yard. It would be much easier if he did. Nate has to carry this dog down a flight of stairs to take him potty in the back yard. There's been a lot of nothing when Nate's trying to get the dog to potty so he's tried going inside and watching through the window. Maybe Junior has stage fright. This is the routine every time Junior needs to potty, and will be for the next two weeks.
We're all doing our morning stuff and I have a few moments. Why not catch up on the missed blog posts from the last couple of days. Read a few, but then hit one that I like for the crating tips because she crafts with her kids and that's a big thing for me. Love crafting with the kids. Today though she posts about her anxiety because today they have an ARD meeting to set up her sons annual IEP. For those of you who just went "Huh?!?!?" It's the meeting to set up special education services for the next year for her kiddo. Her son is in 2nd grade and is a student with Aspergers. She's posted about him a couple times before, but it's not her whole blog. Actually you wouldn't know this was part of her life except for the occasional post and the button on the left side that says someone she loves has Aspergers. Today's post though got me going. She was talking abut how she's talked to the school ahead of time about the accommodations, and they've said no to all of them. She told why they were requested and what data they had to support the need for them. Honestly I didn't find any of it unreasonable based on what I read. I have to admit that I'm not there to make that judgment call, but it hit a cord with me. It pains me to see parents fighting for everything just to get their child, a child with a disability, what they need in their day. So of course I had to post back to that momma' with my "You go momma bear!" stuff. See I love parents who research, and challenge the school when they feel they need to. To me that's an involved parent. I have a lot of those types of parents, and I certainly am one of those parents. When word trickles down that people in district office call us "one of THOSE parents" I just have a silent party. Do we really only want parents of the good kids to be involved in their child's education? Nope, we want all parents involved. Anyway - I got a bit worked up and realized that we would probably be late to school again today. We weren't. I even managed to grab Z's folder off the table because he forgot it again.
Into the school we went with the other children who managed to make it as the bell rang. Off the children went with their little friends, no good-bye hugs today. Z took a great pile of recyclables to QUEST. The car had been sprayed last night (twice) with deodorizer, but required more spray this morning so we did that before even getting in and again as I left the elementary parking lot. I wasn't expecting the smell to still be there because I had already cleared the one in the bedroom. Guess steam cleaning the carpets worked. Drove with the windows down all day again to help clear the smell. Maybe in the morning.
It's Tuesday, no duty today. That means I can swing through somewhere for breakfast after dropping the kids off. A quick check in the wallet discovered no cash so McD's was it. Though I was contemplating rying out the new donut shop by the house. Ate as I drove, listening to Bob FM. Love that station in the mornings. Great upbeat music. Got to school, said good morning to the other early risers, and off to my room to prep for the day.
Every school day I go in with a plan, and something changes it. Usually it's student needs. Today it was student needs. Amazing how that works for a teacher providing a service. When we were preparing for this year we thought 5 students in my service. We are up to 9 and more being considered. It's amazing how we survived with out it this long. My coworkers and I have provided the support for years, each one with their own little situation. Now the students are identified and a service provided. I think it's good because the inclusion teachers can focus more on the academic supports while I deal with the other stuff. Teachers seem to respond well to having the support, though some days there's just not enough of me. We're making it though, and I see progress in the kids. Only bad thing is that I didn't get the Tuesday folders out today. I try to do a news letter each week for the parents so they know what we're up to. Today it just didn't get finished. I also put info in about our DI team, and a famous person with a disability. So far it's been persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders, but I'm thinking about changing that up a bit. My 6th graders are very much into advocating for students with disabilities and being a support for their peers. We've been looking at various disabilities and how it impacts students in the classroom. They plan to present to their team some day soon. It will be amazing.
The amazing thing for me was that there were no after school activities today! I was able to leave about 4:45 which was GREAT! I had to get home to give Junior his pain medication before picking up A for hip hop. It was a success, but he wanted out of the kennel badly. I can't lift him so I had to leave him in there. While I was dealing with the dog Nate was trying to get through rush our traffic to pick up Z for cheer. They were late. I got A after a brief visit with Susan about how the boys are loving riding bikes now. We arrived at dance with just the right amount of time to change into dance clothes. After a stern talking to about participating in class A had a successful day in dance. So much so she talked excitedly about it. She's struggled with being excited about dance this year. There are some social factors causing problems. She is part of a 3 pack and you know how that goes with girls. There's always an odd man out. She also misses her friend K - a lot. She has a new friend that O introduced her to, B. B apparently lives close by and has dance the same time A does, but a different class. A loves seeing B, and I finally got to meet mom. She seems nice. I gave her our number so the girls could play some time.
After dance A has to change back into her street clothes. She won't leave the studio in her dance clothes. The only issue is that it takes time. She does it herself, but it takes time. We had to go into Austin to pick up Z at cheer and the traffic was killer! We were late picking up Z, and it took us forever to get back up to Cedar Park. A was asleep in the car when I got Z. She was still asleep when we made it to Wendy's, and wouldn't wake up to order.
We get home, still not awake, unload the car, and go to carry her out of the car. She wakes some time before I set her in her dinner chair. The bad news is that I ordered the wrong meal. Then the cheese burger had mustard on it and she cried a lot. I traded her what burger I had left which made her feel better - it had bacon on it. She played with the toy for a while and then off to shower. Z had eaten his dinner in the car and was stalling on his homework. I finally got him started about the time I got A in the shower. I would read a problem to Z, go wash A's hair, read a problem to Z, go condition A's hair, on and off until it was done. The frustrating part is that I know he's done this exact packet before and that he's turned it in, but it was listed as missing and we just had to get it filled in on the grade book. I know it was turned in because I had e-mailed that day about the missing homework and that he was turning it in and she confirmed receipt. I thought about e-mailing and saying that he would not be doing the packet twice, but I just told Z we would do the easy packet and get the grade filled in no worries. I did put a note on it because she's planning on only giving an 85 on it because it was late, and I know it wasn't.
This whole time Nate is out shooting the volleyball game. At about 8:40 (only 10 minutes late) Z and A were ready for bed. They went without issue and got their music set up without making me do it.
I was able to type this post in relative peace (amazing!). Nate just got home at 9:40, took the puppy potty. I'm thinking about TV and bed. My eyes have been itchy, and I'm tired. Bed by 10pm is great! I only have 182 blog posts on my Google reader, but I'll read them later. I've checked Facebook and posted as needed. Here's to a relatively uneventful day! BTW - I don't post the craziness of school because it's confidential. If I did post it you wouldn't believe it anyway.

How Do They Do That?! Part 3

2010-10-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well y'all signed up for a treat this week. I was expecting a "normal" week. My point to my students has certainly been proven this week - there is no such thing as "normal" and this week is no exception.
The alarm went off at it's required 5:30am. All I wanted to do was sleep so I hit the sleep button - repetitively until 6:00ish. I finally woke up when Nate said I get dibs on the shower first. He knows that I about die if I'm not in the shower by 6 (because I expect men to take no more than 10 minutes and he cannot get it done in 10 minutes, and I know this is not proportional to my expectation that woen take at least 30 minutes but who cares!). Funny thing is I thought about my blog post this morning, and how all I will have to talk about is how I set the alarm to radio, but leave the station at static instead of music. Yes it wakes me up, no it doesn't wake Nate up. When I used actual music I wold just dream with the music incorporated into the dream and not wake up. This worked well when I worked for CPS because I set my schedule. Now the kids and I have to be at school on time for some weird reason. I'm not much of a time person and never have been. I'm usually pretty on time if not early, but I can't stand time setters. I don't wear a watch and would love to be at a school without bells. It worked in high school and I think it would work everywhere. When I used the alarm portion of my alarm clock it would shock me out of sleep. It would shock me so much that I would get fight or flight response and by God it was always flight. My body would fling itself into a sitting position and my heart would race. I decided that no one needed to suffer that on a daily basis - EVER! Now Z uses an alarm clock (set to 6am) with the buzzer part. The whole house hears it. We all get up. As excited as I am that he's growing up enough to use an alarm clock there are mornings I would like to throw his out the window.
So I promised that today wasn't a normal day, and I'm about to get to that. We had the usual dig through the hampers for socks and underwear routine. I promise that some day we'll actually fold the socks and underwear until then expect a Target run for socks real soon. BTW we store them under the laundry that's been laid out for hangers, but never quite made it on a hanger. That's why we leave the ironing board out every day. If you put on a shirt and the wrinkles don't mysteriously fly out of them you get to iron your clothes. This was followed by the daily reminder that there is no TV on school days before school. Z made his breakfast - oatmeal. A was busy trying to put her shoes on and tie them that I just poured her some cereal while waiting on my grits to absorb the water. Had the usual conversation about how berry Kix change the milk pink and even strawberry flavored. Then it was time for the 5 minute reminder before heading out the door to school. Usually at this time I open up the back door so that the dogs will go out for a potty break before they come in for the day. They are capable of staying out for the day, but don't like to and I'm picking my battles - dogs are not on the list at 7:15am. Nate would totally battle them for that one.
About the time I go to call the dogs in and usher the kids out we all hear yelping from the back yard. An occassional yelp is not uncommon, but this was loud and continuous. I rush out into the back yard to find Junior just standing there yelling with his front paw in the air. Chewy is still trying to get Junior to play. I go to Juniors side and start checking his paw for stickers or something - there's nothing there. I start feeling along his leg for anything out of the norm. Nothing. He's just yelling. Chewy continues to try to tackle us, I'm yelling for the kids to come get Chewy. I see the neighbors lights start to come on. Then the neighbors start to come onto their back porches (we can all see into each others yards, windows, etc. It's lovely). Another dog a few doors down starts to bark, his owner comes out and starts yelling at him. I'm sure the whole neighborhood is loving the commotion about now, but I can't figure out what's wrong with the dog. I try to lift him so that I can carry him up the stairs, but Junior would have none of that. He struggled out of my arms and scampered up the stairs yelling the whole time. At this point I think there is no way we'll be on time for school. I'll have to walk the kids to class begging not to be counted tardy. Junior is a pansy. He yelps at every little bump, so I leave him at home to "rest" and plan to check on him later.
The kids arrive just in time to join their classes walking down the hall into class for the start of the day. I arrive at school just in time to drop my stuff off in my room. OK I can check on the dog 2nd period. 2nd period comes, and I have students with immediate needs. 3rd period comes and I need to conference with a student. As soon as that's done I go check on Junior. He's still not moving, not putting the foot down, tail tucked and shaking. I race back to school to see when and if I can get a vet appointment. Great 1:40. I can cover another student need before I go. I know it will take time to get Junior in the car so I leave school at 12:50. I have to get back to deal with other student stuff. I have back up just in case, but I need to get back.
I get home and get Chewy into the back yard so that I can do what ever it takes to get Junior n the car. I put the leash on him only to have him adamantly refuse to walk. I try lifting him - no way. OK maybe if I wrap him in a blanket he'll let me lift him. Nope. I start calling neighbors to see who's home that can help. Maybe if I get him into Nate's rolling chair... Hahahahaha! That dog about killed me for trying that one. I call the vet's - how do I get this dog in the car! No additional ideas. I am on the verge of tears when I decide that I'm checking one last time to see if anyone is outside or home that can help me. It was like an answered prayer! There was a constable on my street. "Sir. Can you help me?" I half expected a no but thought I had to try. He said he would. Constable Thomas from Precinct 2 came in to my home, assured Junior he was safe, and expertly picked up Junior. Constable Thomas carried Junior all the way to the van, layed him inside and shut the door. Then went back to work.
Junior cried all the way to the vet. When we got there the staff was ready to help. They had two techs and a stretcher ready. Junior would not get on the stretcher so the techs just heaved him up and carried him into treatment. I waited, patiently. There was a really nicely dressed lady who came in with a plastic container of animal puke. Apparently she'd been collecting it and reporting on it. The office staff tried to give her the container back, but she told them to throw it out because she was late to a doctors appointment. She was dressed to the nines in a beautiful pair of black slacks and white / black print shirt. Jewelry everywhere, and the most cat hair I have ever seen attached to anyone's butt! I swear she was carrying a Persian Cat on her butt! At first I thought her one of those purse dog pet owners, but the hair tells it all. She was a cat woman. She probably had a lint roller in her car or purse and de-linted everywhere she could see, but missed the most important part - her butt! I'm certain if it were me I would want someone to tell me, but at that moment it was keeping me from crying about my poor puppy. I'm still laughing at her fuzzy white butt! There were many other clients coming and going, but that was just great. I wonder if she was just collecting hair balls for the vet.
Any way, when they called me into the room I had prepared for the worst - a broken something. Then I saw Junior walking into the exam room! The vet said they started the exam and were feeling around when they felt and heard a large pop. Junior had dislocated his shoulder and they popped it back into place. Anti-inflamatory meds and pain meds combined with lots of rest should do the trick. Oh and he might want to take joint supplements for a while just to help it heal strong. 2 weeks of kennel, followed by 2 weeks of supervised light activity. No problem - he loves the kennel (except when bring him home from the vets and he's been prescribed to be in it). I go to put him in the van only to have both of us lose control part way through the lift, but we made it. He yelps a few times on the way home. He's scented the car so I have every window open.
We get home and he hops out of the car with a yelp. Goes into the house and into my room - that he scents. Great. That will be wonderful to sleep in. It's smells a cross between a ferret, black licorice and a skunk. I give him the supplement because it's treat like. Then force the three little pills into his mouth and hold it shut till he swallows. The third medication I treat like the supplement and he takes it like a treat. No worries! Off to school again.
I get to school, and let everyone who covered for me know that I'm back. No major crisis while I'm gone. Check on a few things, and head to see kids. Of course they saved their needs for me to get back. One felt an urge to engage me in a short power struggle. Those are short lived when only one person plays. I still win because they have to process before going home. My room turned into a bit of a 3 ring circus this afternoon when I had to redirect a few crazy things, but it was all sorted out after a while.
I left school pretty exhausted, but I had on my mind that we had Boy Scouts and EC3 meeting. After a quick look in the fridge I realized nothing would cook fast enough. Pizza it is. Nathan and the kids arrived home. Nathan tried to take Junior potty out front, but he refused. I went to get the pizza while Nate continued trying potty, food, drink, anything for the dog. 15 minutes to eat and then off to the EC3 meeting. Get there and learn that I'm a week early. Swing by scouts to pick up A, and off to the pet store because Niki recommended Nature's Own for getting the scent odor out of the car and house. A and I spray the car down in the parking lot. Yes it's that bad. It's one of those smells that once you get it in your nose it won't come out.
A falls asleep in the car after a short temper tantrum about how she wants to play with her friend when we get home because her friend was asleep earlier. Get home and find that Junior had an accident in the bedroom. Spray that with the new cleaner, and prep the steam cleaner. I steam clean while Nate takes the dog potty again - no go, go figure. Figure out how to take apart the steam cleaner to clean all the dog hair out of it. We both knew we ad one it before, but couldn't figure it out then. You know if you flip the machine around enough, parts start flying off it. Get it clean. Get kids to bath, write a blog post, and off to bed because I'm EXHAUSTED!
Was today a "normal" day? Apparently, because we only have "normal" days around here. BTW - my shoulder that I spent almost a year in physical therapy with hurts. Probably from lifting a dog today. Might do a little PT before bed to keep it from getting bad.Oh! and Top Gear was fun last night. I was tempted to delete it because Nate fell asleep before it was over, but decided that would be rude. Somewhere in that day I managed to send an e-mail to Z's teachers that he couldn't work on homework over the weekend because he was puking. They did e-mail back, but I haven't really checked it because it's been such a "normal" day. I did notice that I have over 100 blog posts to read, but they'll keep. Read enough Facebook for a day (1 page) while I typed this post. Good night y'all! Expect more normalcy tomorrow :)

How Do They Do That?! Part 2

2010-10-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

I will have to say it was not a very eventful day - relatively speaking. No alarm clocks this morning! I so loved the opportunity to sleep in. At 7 am the dogs just couldn't hold it any more and were dancing by my bedside. Poor babies, they are used to going out at 4:30am and again at 6. I'm trying to train them that I don't like to be awakened by cold dog nose at 4:30am for a potty run and that if they would just wait it would be ok.
A was so excited for today because her little friend from school had a party today. The party wasn't until 3pm, but she ha to get dressed to go first thing. It was a princess party and they all came in their princess attire. A had to wear a undershirt which took some work to find the right one. The first was too small, the second didn't have sleeves so the dress still itched, the third was a long sleeved night shirt besides that she'd been wearing it all week to sleep in. The fourth was just right. A short sleeved night shirt. That kid has more issues with clothes than I'm willing to put up with. I've told her that she has to wear the clothes or find a way to make it work. She loves the look of synthetic cloth, but hates the feel. When she was 2 I made her ths beautiful little fairy costume with sparkles through out. I knew that the full thing of synthetic would bug her so I made a little cotton dressing gown for under it. She was SO CUTE!!!! But she wouldn't put her arms down to her side because she could feel the fabric. I got her to start trick or treating with the full outfit on, but Nate reported that she was out of the sparkle part by the second house. There was no way I could get her to wear the fairy wings. There was my beautiful little fairy in nothing but a dressing gown. The photos I took that year are some of my favorite Halloween photos of Z and A. Z was Superman in this outfit that had inflatable muscles. The looked like Superman and Lois Lane. I told him to hug her for a picture and she is so amazed by the muscles that she's just feeling them. Super cute! So off A goes as Cinderella for the party. The parent sent a note saying we could just drop off and didn't have to stay. Even though I do not know these parents and it's not the norm we did just drop off. I was with NJHS and Nate had Z. He did not need to be at a little girls princess party.
So I had to leave the house about 10:15 ish to do everything I needed to today, but I checked work e-mail. I had to check it to get the directions for today's event, but opened one that I thought might apply to today. I read it and responded because I had to - for me. It made me late leaving the house, but not as bad as the Sonic drive thru. OMGosh! That place was so slow today I thought they were having to go out back and butcher the cow!
Any way I made it to school with enough time to go grab the permission slips off the table and copy a few sets of directions. We caravaned down to Deker Lake for the Longhorn Triathalon. It's 5 hours in the sun cheering on the runners and other odd tasks, but that one activity can raise all the money we need for NJHS for the school year. It's amazing. We had an extremely low turn out this year despite frequent reminders and e-mails. Though I'm disappointed in our turn out it was a great activity for the afternoon. While I was there Nate and the kids went to get birthday presents and a new bike for Z. He had outgrown his and needed to pass his old one on to a friend.
On my way back to school I called Nate to update on my ETA. He said they were headed to pick up A from the party and then off to the grocery store. On the way to the grocery store he asked if there was anything additional he needed to get, and told me to sit back and relax for a bit. I tried that for a minute and then thought of the mess I left down stairs yesterday from school. I spent the next hour or so cleaning stamps. My body was so fatigued that I would clean a stamp, then rest a bit. The good news is that the stamps are cleaned. I'm also caught up on my DVRed episodes of Project Runway. So I only had about 20 minutes left to watch, I'm caught up. I also watched the storm chaser episode of Mythbusters. In between things I read blog posts from my feed. I hadn't read all weekend and expected the worst. I was at about 175 posts to read - not bad. It's almost bed time and I'm down to 84 posts in the reader. I think they'll keep for another day.
Bonus for the day - I reminded myself not to forget to eat a meal and was successful. I had tortilla chips for breakfast, Sonic for lunch, and Nate made sloppy joes for dinner. Throw in the snack of ice cream chased by garlic pita chips (the things you'll eat after being in the sun all day) and it's all good.
Somewhere in there the kids got their baths done and went to bed - early! A had to. She was crying at everything. She had her face beautifully painted at the party and I so wanted a picture of it, but she washed it off. When I said that I wanted a picture because it was cool she cried because I was supposed to say it was pretty.
It's 9pm and I'm headed into bed routine. The roar of the dishwasher is going, the laundry is ready to be switched over, and I'm pooped! Bed routine involves getting ready for bed and watching TV in the dark until I'm out cold. I bet I'll be asleep by 10 - unless there's a great episode of Top Gear on ;-)

How Do They Do That?! Part 1

2010-10-17T05:13:00.000-07:00

I am always hearing, "I don;t know how y'all do what y'all do." or " How do y'all keep up?" or my personal favorite "How do you get all the things done in a day that you get done?!" So I thought I would try to post daily for a week about or life to see if it gives anyone insight in how we do what we do. I'll be honest, I have no idea why people don't get more done in their day so I'm not sure how to answer the question. We all have the same number of hours in a day so it must be in how we use them. I'm concerned that these will be the most boring posts I have ever made, but you asked so I'll tell.
Saturday - In order to explain Saturday I'll have to start when Saturday started, and not with when I woke up. Friday night I was working on preping card stations for Super Saturday: Operation Write Home. At midnight I was working on the last station of the 12 or so I created. At 12:45 I was think, "I have to go to bed. Tomorrow is a long day and I need to sleep." About that time I had a little visitor at my craft room door, "Oh crap! I woke him up with my music and knocking around." went flying through my head. Then he said, "I don't feel so well." I told him to get a dink and go back to bed thinking it must be the horrible Central Texas allergies. He went down to get a drink, came back up and turned on the TV. I love that they can do things themselves now. Very helpful. I started wrapping up my stuff so that I could get some sleep. The next thing I know is Z is back at my door, "I threw up." Crap! He's sick! Time to kick into mom mode. I was hopeful that he made it to the toilet, but he was just short. As soon as I saw the vomit my stomach started to heave. Time to wake Nate. I hate doing that to him, but if I don't we'll have two piles of puke. After a few minutes of hovering over a toilet - just in case - I woke Nate who got to work. He gets Dad of the Day for that! I cleaned up my mess and we all went back to bed for a few hours rest. Ok so for me it wasn't back to bed, but it was a few hours rest. At some point in that sleep Z decided to come hover over me to inform me that he was going to puke again. I told him to puke in a toilet. It was gross and weird.
The alarm went off at 6:30 - yeah I got to sleep in an hour! Though not really because Z had to wake me several times that night, but oh well. Time to get up get moving, and make some cards! Got ready for the day, poured a bowl of cereal for A, loaded the car, argued with A about what to wear to cheer clinic. While all that was going on Nate discovered where Z didn't make it through out the night and worked on cleaning those spots. He also got A to agree to an outfit that was appropriate for the day, and helped load the car for stamp day.
Right on time 8:15 A and I were rolling out of the drive way and down the road. Almost, had to go back because I forgot to leave the check book for the yard guys. Funny thing is that as I pulled up Nate was walking out I didn't even call him. Either he saw me from the window or has a 6th sense about these things. Back on the road. We saw the neighbor kids mom driving up the street and that's when the complaining started. "I don't want to go to cheer. I want to stay home and play with O!" "A I garuntee you that O's mom was driving this early in the morning to drop her off at cheer and y'all will play there." Nope - it didn't end the argument. We swung through the corner store to get ice for the cooler, and then time to stop at the high school.
Every year LHS offers a cheer clinic for the kids. Usually Z goes, but he was scheduled to practice with Cheer Station today. He didn't go anywhere since he was sick. A went last year for the first time and had a good time. The lady at the registration table said she recognized my name from the pre-registers, but another mom came by and said that I was the NJHS sponsor at RBMS. Then my former NJHSers and current LHS cheerleaders all had to say hi! I love seeing them grow up. A tried to play shy, but I told her to go with D and sent her on her merry way. D said at the end of the day that A was spot on all day and then got shy again when I entered the room for the performance.
After that drop off I decided time for breakfast. There's a little donut shop by the high school and it's usually packed. I must have timed it just right because I was only the 3rd person in line and then the line grew. Ate while I drove around the corner to the middle school. It was hard to keep driving yesterday. Every street I went on there were some great yard sales. I so wanted to stop! I could see very usable things from the car window, but knew that one I didn't "need" anything and two I "had" to get to school. I was hopeful the lecture hall was already open so that I could get a jump start on things. If not I could stage in my room.
I was the only car in the parking lot, a weird feeling. As I approached the front door of the school I almost had a heart attack. The door was unlocked. I decided to go in and see if anyone was there. Whew! I was greeted by the custodian. Such a nice lady. She said that she was here for our event and just let her know if we needed anything. It was the first time I've had a custodian at one of my after school events. The kids and I have gotten good at cleaning up our own messes so she didn't have a lot to do.
Shortly after I got the car unloaded people started showing up. Everyone had their little stash of supplies in hand and ready to make cards. We set up tables and stations, put snacks in the hallway. It was wonderful! For 3.5 hours we made cards, got a little inky and had some snacks. The final count for the day was 505 cards! Nate only texted a couple times to let me know that Z was doing better. They tried to go to Academy to buy a bike, but that didn't go well. Z got tired and had to go home.
After card making I headed back over to the high school for A's little performance. It was shortly after 1:30 and the performance wasn't until 2, but at least I had a moment to potty, try to wash some of the ink off my hands, things like that. Spent some time talking with one of the cheer / NJHS moms. At 2pm we got to see the 2 cheers and 1 dance each squad worked on that day A's dance was super cute! I took pictures hopeful that my battery would hold out. Apparently I need to charge them.
We were home by about 3pm. I unloaded as much of the car as needed. The left over drinks and snacks from card making will be used for Sunday's NJHS activity so I just left them in the car. I decided that I had to have a nap in the one hour I had free. Nate was watching football, Z was being sick, and A was doing her thing. A nap was good. Z woke me right on time by laying on top of me. He doesn't realize how heavy he is now that he's 8 and that laying on me to get hug is almost squishing me.
At 4:15 I headed out for a girls night out. I had thought about canceling and taking care of the mess I left in the living room, or even relieving Nate of kid duty but decided that I really needed to do something for me. I met up with a couple ladies from work at the movie theater to see "Life as We Know It". As Kirsten said I cried thorough out the whole blasted movie. Yes I did. I cried A LOT! It was a good movie, especially for someone who doesn't go to movies often. Yes you knew what was going to happen. How many ways can you tell the story about a babies parents dying and the godparents having to take over. After the story I drove the ladies to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner. I LOVE diner food. I love weird little places and this place has both! We went to Austin's Diner. If you've never been you should go. It was so much fun to sit and chat over dinner. I felt like never getting up to go home. It was just fantastic to relax a bit and talk about anything but school.
I crawled into bed about 10pm and looked forward to no alarm clock in the morning. Watched a little Top Gear before drifting off to sleep. I love Top Gear. Not because I love cars or shows about cars, but because I find this show completely accessible. I laugh at the British Humor. Their test drives apply to me. Especially when they have their moms try different cars out. Their moms don't know where things are in the cars and that's frequently me in new cars. They also check how people would fit in the car, and how much stuff fits in the trunk. Totally up my alley. The practical jokes they play on people just crack me up! I never finish an episode though because I only watch in bed, but oh well. It was a great day all around.

Re-Purpose

2010-10-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

A had this head band from several Easters ago. It was a pink satin headband with the long satin ribbons steaming down from the ends. She never tied them, but loved them hanging down across her shoulders. One of the ribbons became detached and she thought super mom could just sew it back on. Unfortunately I could not figure it out. So I set out to find a way to re-purpose the ribbons.

I watched this tutorial on rolled fabric flowers and thought - why the heck not?! Just a warning - it is as easy as it looks and I'm hooked on doing it. Yes those are the headbands original ribbons. I do think next time I'll use a quicker drying glue. It took all day to set.

Now those little flowers are cute, but they needed something. I put little white feathers under them and bling centers for a super cute headband. It was so easy and A loves it. I think I could have done it a bit more off centered. but I didn't want to go to far and annoy her ears - then she would never wear the thing. I did have to suggest that next Easter we look for another one with the ribbons hanging down.

Sorry for the bad cell phone pics, but I wanted to get these up before she messed with the feathers too bad.

Cool Thing from Facebook

2010-10-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio .

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August..., so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important vital organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

It's A Scout Thing

2010-10-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we signed Z up for Boy Scouts. I know - we did not need one more thing on our plate but this was important. Z is a cheerleader. He has been begging to do scouts for years! He identifies it as a "boy thing" (like cheering isn't?!?!). In reality he just needed to do something that the kids in his class were doing, and this is what he picked. Well you know how it goes, one signs up for an activity and immediately the other wants to do it too. Off we were to find a Girl Scout Troop. In the lats two weeks we have signed up for both genders of scouts. I have sewn on countless patches and have more to sew on.
Right off the bat there's a family camp out with Boy Scouts. Really?!?!?! Who has time for a family camp out right after the registration drive? Oh well, I'm a trooper and can pull this off. Besides, they're doing the food so that takes a huge chunk of responsibility off of me. My van is still packed from last weekends scrap night (really because I'm hopeful to do another one real soon and not because I'm just to lazy to take it out. who am I kidding - laziness was totally a factor) so we take Nate's little SUV type car. Neither of us were sure that the equipment would fit, but without food items it should. Friday - after a full day of school, a DI meeting, and a ballet class - we packed the suit cases and the car. We were off and I kept thinking about how I would definitely relax this weekend. It's the Boy Scouts - aren't they always prepared? The car trip out to camp was pretty uneventful unless you count the flying nuggets incident. Bless their little hearts! Z and A had set up a little table with the arm rest in the middle of the seat for dinner. They had their chicken nugget boxes set up there and their drinks in the cup holders. Just as we were getting at cruising speed up 183 a light changed to red. It would have been fine, but the yellow was short and the speed limit was somewhere near 60 mph. Next thing we know those little chickens are in flight! It was the best flight they ever had. We had to turn on the dome light and chase those little rascals down! We found one under the sun visor, and another cowering under the cup holder. Several were clustered under my seat. It was funny! If you have never had to chase down flying chicken nuggets going 60 miles an hour with a car full of camping equipment you should. It's hilarious!
After driving for an hour or so in complete darkness we come up to the camp grounds. A beautiful rock gate welcomes you to Canyon of the Eagles, and then there are little dirt paths off the main road to the various camp grounds. Of course we have no idea where to meet out party, but we're here. I'm sure we'll find a group of boy scouts somewhere. The first camp sights we find have little tags with names on them. Certainly not us - we're with a group. Then one of the tags says "GS". Ok so maybe we're looking for "BS"? We get to the end of the first set of camp grounds and we find the "GS" as suspected there are a ton of Girl Scouts hanging out, fire going, and all that fun stuff. Great! A is asleep. Her troop will not be camping this year because they are kindergarteners. Don't tell her that Girl Scouts camp, because she'll want to go. Finally we head to a place marked for group camping.
It was amazing! There was a ring of tents with a fire pit in the center field and a lantern in a tree. Boys are running everywhere, marshmallows are being roasted. It's AMAZING! We get out of the car and look for an open spot for a tent. Several dads come over, introduce them selves and offer to help. The tent is up in no time! The car is unloaded quickly. I was as if we had always been part of the group. I do note that we are under prepared. We forgot the folding chairs. Oh well, there are logs and things.
Our neighbors introduce themselves and it turns out that they are in our den. Fantastic! Someone we'll be getting to know this year. The mom is Sabrina. We get to talking and our sons have the exact same educational story. It's like we were destined to meet. Finally someone who knows what it's like to go through what we've been through. What I find out over the course of the weekend is that not only do our sons have things in common so do our families. They have a kindergratener as well. They love to camp and do outdoor things. They go to the Renaissance festival, dressed up. She sews and scrapbooks. They read. It's like our families have been living similar lives just a few short blocks away. I feel at home. It's no longer lonely.
The den leader is so much fun! His name is Mark, and being a den leader is certainly his calling. You can tell he wants the best for the boys. He planned out a fun hiking event for the den, and encourages them to be their best at all times. His method of discipline is push ups which is great. Then there's Mr. Rocha. Now this is one of those people that when I start describing him you will get an idea in your head and it will be spot on. Mr. Rocha was a Boy Scout his entire childhood. He then joined the Marine Corp where he had a successful career. Mark says that when Mr. Rocha came they took on specific roles. Mr. Rocha is bad cop and Mark is good cop. I get to be the teacher at your future school that you don't want to upset. The boys are great though. They were a lot of fun through out the weekend.
Learning experience though. When they say food is provided, that does not include plates or anything. Good news is that other families had extra to get us through. I did do a Wal-Mart run though. Just easier that way and gave Z time with his buddies without A hanging around. Though I will say that A found her little group of friends and was off. There were actual moments where I almost forgot I was a mom. I might have actually been able to go to the bathroom without someone trying to find me. There was one dad who didn't. Made my heart laugh when his little boy was beating on the door to the port a potty because he needed to go and couldn't go in the one that was open (spider in the toilet). He didn't believe me that he could knock the spider down with his pee and be fine. The older boys were excited to try it.
So I mentioned a hike with the boys. Mark had received a secret scavenger hunt from Willie the Ghost of the camp. Ironically the stations of the hike were the exact things Z needed to do to earn his first patch and get caught up with the den. We get started and station 2 requires us to climb over part of a fence. We get all the kids over without incident. On the 4th parent, Sabrina, and there's an incident. She comes off that log over the fence, twists her ankle and as to go back to camp. Now when we left Sabrina she was just calm and saying that she needed to rest the ankle. When we get back from the hike we learn that she had to go to the hospital. About 4 hours later we learn that the ankle is broken and she'll be in a temporary cast. OK. She gets major mommy points for not crying in front of the boys and sending them on the hike. Then she gets major mommy points for coming back to camp and finishing the camp out. She might be a greater mommy than I (and she's my new friend that I can really see her being a new best friend. I had prayed for this lately - long story).
Here's the greatest thing. Sabrina and John took off for the hospital knowing that their kids were on a hike with the den. They knew that they didn't have to worry about the kids and that they were cared for. Our den banded together and just went about the camp out without missing a beat. I took care of the mommy stuff - eating. Mark took care of the boy things like dressing in the scout uniform in time for camp fire. The kids had no worries, and they were just a blessing in my day. They responded to redirection when needed. Took care of everything. J and Z hooked up as buddies, and D and A hooked up as buddies. They stayed where they were supposed to and played. It was wonderful! I feel that I can trust my kids in the hands of any of the den parents.
Camp fire was fun. Each den got to do a skit or jokes or whatever they wanted. Lots of singing and joking between acts. The scout masters were funny. Our den was the best act of course ;) They built a totem pole of heads as they told a joke. The jokes of course were boy jokes. Lots of potty humor.
One of the things they did on this camp out was earn their astronomy belt loop and pin. The Austin Astronomical Society was out with their telescopes showing people all sorts of cool things. The kids got to see Venus, Pluto and 4 moons, a ring nebula, and how a telescope works. The boys loved it. Hint - when driving up to a star gazing party only use your running lights and not your head lights. They blind the people looking through the telescope.
Honestly it was a great trip and I look forward to many more scouting functions. I could get used to having a network of friends like this.

100 things...

2010-09-25T06:26:00.001-07:00

Got this from kdl.blooms and thought it would be fun. Play along if you would like. Link back so I can see :)

This list is circulating the blogosphere and I thought it would be fun! In italics are all the things I've done from this list (because I couldn't get the bold button to work right). Play along and leave a link in the comments :)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland Been to Disney World
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies - will be helping my little daisy with this this year!
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Sensory Issues

2010-09-21T04:58:00.000-07:00

I spend a pretty significant amount of time avoiding all jokes and sarcasm. I live in a black and white world with absolutely no shades of grey. This is the world of an autism teacher, but I kind of like it - when I'm in that environment. It's a professional world then.
The other side of my coin is that you're talking to the person who had a bumper sticker in her office that read "Sarcasm just one more service I offer". At the old job it was not uncommon for us to sit around and say sarcastic even crude things to each other as a form of stress relief. We lived in a very sick world and there for our lives met that level. It came with drawbacks though. When we were in mixed company - people who didn't deal with crime on a daily basis - we were socially awkward. If we shared a joke or even offered up a sarcastic comment it was so crude that people were offended. To us though we had filtered so that it wasn't as bad as the original thought. The other part of social situations like that was we never had the same interests as the people around us. We lived in a world of crime all day long. When we weren't at the job our pagers and cell phones were always on. We all kept a mobile office in our trunks ready to spring into action at a moments notice. And it was frequent that we did. We could do our whole jobs away from the office.
Now that I've been away from that world for a few years I do at times say things that are sarcastic or even guess what - teasing! I didn't feel comfortable with that for a long time as I learned the boundaries of regular society. Then with the age of technology you have to learn to use the same communication techniques on line or texting. If not communication is boring. I would have to say that my primary means of communication is through text or on line. I rely on emoticons to display a tease or sarcasm. I do not have a huge repertory of emoticons though. I rely on 5 basic emoticons - the smile :) the wink ;) the big smile :D the sticking my tongue out at you :P and the OMGosh! :O. That's it 5 emoticons otherwise you have to read in context and figure out that I'm joking.
This gets me to the title of my post - sensory issues. People on line are SO sensitive!!!! Drives me NUTS!!!! I have a few thoughts on this. First thought - some people have poor social skills any way that when they get on line they have no idea how to handle what they read. If people walk on egg shells around you IRL (in real life) then maybe you should work on social skills. I mean really. I think it all started when people expected a "JK" (just kidding) after a sarcastic comment. They stopped learning how to read all the other social cues. It also probably relates to the excessive amounts of time people spend relating on line only and not IRL. Lets have socials people!!! Get out there, and meet people IRL!!!! It's part of LIFE!
Second thought has to do with reading. People do not read anymore. We get so much information and stimulation through TV, computer, what ever electronic medium you chose, that we don't practice reading. It's the same thing as body language. No exposure to body language or reading and you are socially inept. So, if we're communicating primarily on-line instead of IRL then we have to be expert readers. We have to be able to use context to know when someone's joking or not. You have to read previous posts to learn that persons personality. Then take what they say in context.
The reason this is driving me batty is because I'm tired of LOTS of mis-communications on line. Someone starts a thread on a message board that is OBVIOUSLY sarcasm, and within 5 posts someone has freaked out. They post hateful things and call the OP (original poster) names and things. Then the fire starts to spread like lighter fluid filled charcoal. It becomes an us versus them thing. It either comes down to religion, political affiliation, or sexual preference for which side people take. Even when the OP never brought up those things, but apparently every what ever believes the same way. Really - when did we stop recognizing individuals? In our world of "You have to recognize the individual" we started ignoring the individual. Whole 'nother rant though.
So how do we combat this infection on line? We read and party! Love this plan. Allow quiet time to read - books. Real books that gets your mind exploring the possibilities. Sparks the imaginations, stimulates the intellect, and GUESS WHAT! sets an example for children. Believe it or not your example of reading does effect the children around you. If they never see you read anything more than the computer screen they will never read more than the computer screen. They see you read books, and they will read books. Reading is a whole body experience. Go for it!
As for the party thing - just do it! I'm tired of people expecting model homes when they go socialize with people. We all live in our homes, and if you don't you really need to look at that. I know that I have a stash of journals waiting to be made for Bags of Hope along my main entry way, and the occasional ball of dog hair, but I give up trying to make it look perfect. Funny thing - no matter how much I try to keep up with the dog hair the dogs live here too and create more hair. I try to make sure there is at least one couch free to sit on, and the dining room table is relatively cleared. There's always something to drink and snack on. Just give me a ring and say "Hey, you got time for a visit?" Guess what - I do. Model this to your children so they don't turn out socially inept. Guide them and nurture them so they go out, make friends, network, things like that. We rely on structured organizations to socialize our children, but honestly if they aren't given opportunity for free play they will turn out weird. They need to be able to problem solve socially.
Lets go out and party for no reason at all! I think that's why I like the random holidays.
Happy -

September 26

National Pancake Day

Record Player Released (1887)

Johnny Appleseed's Birthday (1774)

Shamu the Whale's Birthday (1985)

National Food Service Employees Day

Rocky Horror Picture Show Debuted (1975)

Beverly Hillbillies Debuted (1962)

The Skirt

2010-09-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

I was reading through the blog trail when I came across this blog called Moda Bake Shop. Do not be deceived it has nothing to do with food. What they do is break down sewing instructions into a recipe form. Works well for me. That day another blogger was featured on the site for a fantastic little skirt she made - SarahB Sews. What Sarah didn't know was that I had been looking at these wonderful little bundles of fabric at JoAnn's and avoided them because I had no idea what to do with them besides quilt. The strip packages are called Jelly Rolls, and are completely and totally tantalizing for me! The colors are all coordinated and I don't have to play piece together.
I have a quilt going. One of those things I thought I could finish in no time flat and have ready to use all summer long. It would have been if I actually took into account the seams, but I didn't. Still working on that quilt. Crossing my fingers that I have enough of the fabric I need so that I don't have a funky looking quilt in the end.
I read through Sarah's post and realized that I could totally do what she described. I could even do it in an afternoon, probably. I went that day and bought a pretty little pink and brown Jelly Roll that I have wanted for weeks! Sat down and started stitching. I finished the little skirt in 2 afternoons only to realize that I had measured the wrong place on A's body for the skirt. It didn't fit. I know, "Measure twice. Cut once". I also learned that A has a bit of a bubble butt. Hadn't taken that into account either. No problem. One Jelly Roll makes multiple little girl skirts. FYI - it makes 2 and some hair bows. Unless you want one for a new born which I think would be really cute.
Off to make skirt #2. I measured so much that every time I called A over for something she asked, "Are there any pins in there?" (Apparently I had forgotten one once.) I finished the skirt and A loved it so much that she put it in her cubbie to wear tomorrow. I had to wait for the store to open to get a t-shirt. If the skirt turned out so well I could tackle the shirt - right? There were some odd sized scraps lying on the floor that screamed "HAIR BOW!!!!!" Well who am I to argue with fabric? Especially persistent fabric such as this. I played with it in so many ways until I had two hair clips and a pony tail holder. I'm not telling A about the pony tail holder because she'll want to save it for when her hair grows back. It's not long enough to do anything with yet, and she misses it.

What I did was take the little strips of fabric and layer the same way I did the skirt (brown, pink, brown, pink...) did a straight stitch down the middle, and hot glued it to a clip. Then I took a coordinating ribbon and hot glued it to the back side of the clip. Brought it around and tied it in a double knot. Bunched up the fabric just right. Super cute!

Finding the right t-shirt was a challenge. She ended up with one that is a bit long, but that's OK because she can tuck it in. I like that because everyone can see the drop waist of the skirt which actually ended up being my favorite part of the design. I will probably cut it off - or not. I have only appliqued one time in my life and the image was super huge. This pattern had small parts and I was not proficient at stitching around them as I like to be. I also learned that I have to clean my iron between every press when gluing something down. There are a few burnt glue spots on the shirt, but we'll live. When I finished I decided to use buttons and rhine stones as an accent. The rhine stones are little accents for the flower buds on the stems. The buttons were the centers of the flowers. I used buttons that I already had so they aren't perfect color, but they work.

When all was said and done A LOVES her outfit and that's what matters. The best part is that she hasn't asked to wear an undershirt with it. She does not like stitching near her body and I was afraid that she would never wear the shirt because of the applique. Thank you SarahB for such a great project! I have 2 more Jelly Rolls at the ready ;)

"Blogstipated"

2010-09-16T18:29:00.000-07:00

I came across this term today - "blogstipated" on Dandelion Wishes blog. It made me giggle so much! So I had to think about it - a lot - for a long time - reading google reader - locking the door so the natives don't bug me even though I can hear their cries. "Mommy" .... "Moooommmmyyyyy".... MOOOOOOOOOOOOmY!!!!!". Finally I have to shout, "LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!" Next thing I know the littlest one is standing next to me. She is so close that I feel her breath on my elbow. I don't dare divert my gaze from the blog I'm reading. Maybe if I pretend she's not there she'll go away. Moments pass - it might be an eternity, who knows I'm blogging. Finally in the sweetest little sing song voice (that grates on my ear at this moment because I'm blogging) I hear, "mom".
"what"
"mom..."
"What"
"Umm... umm.... My ant bite hurts."
"You mean the one from last week?"
"Yes. It hurts."
"What do you want me to do about it?"
"Would you come to my room and look at it?" (HOLD ON SISTER!!!! I know you and your conniving ways! You know that a mom can't resist the urge to heal a boo boo, and that if I take my eyes off this screen you win! I will never get back on the computer! I've got your number.)
"Let me see the bite."
"See?" (insert batting eye emoticon here and make it the face of a 5yo who is freshly bathed so she no longer smells of the kindergarten funk she picked up through out her day)
"That bite has already popped and is healing. There is nothing I can do about it."
"PUHHHLLLLEAAAASE!!! Get all the white stuff out."
"There is no puss left in there. It's popped and healing."
"UGH. PUUUHHHHHLEAAAAASE!"
"Ok. In a minute."
She peacefully goes to her room to wait, playing all angelic like. I know what she's up to. She wants me to come in there look at her boo boo and hang out till bed time - which is only about 5 minutes away.
I go in and comply with the puss removal request. Once again I prove that mom is ALWAYS right! There was no puss. None. Nothing to even look at. She emits a giant fake scream for attention and complains that I hurt her in the non-existant puss removal. Which I quickly respond with "Be careful what you ask for. You may actually get it."
Then I have to walk away or she really thinks she won. If I say bed time I'm stuck with the million question put off bed time routine. Combined with the infinite hugs, and caresses. All those words of affection and affirmations that I'm the "Best mom ever!" and I am - really.
I get back to my blogging and it happens. Native number two - the boy comes in. He's got 8 years experience in this game. He knows that if he stands there long enough and talks I'll turn to him. It doesn't help that he has some habits that are particularly annoying to tired adults who are trying to block them out. He can't get his words out completely so you may hear the same partial thought a few times - who am I kidding A MILLION times before you complete the thought for him! Then there's the rocking as he stands - side to side without a knee bend. Add to that the finger rubbing. It's enough to make you look over just to check that nothing is falling off. Amazingly when you respond the thoughts flood out - as if the dam just broke and every thought he's had for the day is coming out. All those "How was your day?" questions moms do after school suddenly have an answer other than, "Fine." "Nothing." "OK." Really?!?!! It's bed time and now you want to talk?!?!?!?! AH! He's won again! It's after bed time and he knows it! This one can tell time - both analogue and digital because that's how we roll in this house. Remember - We're a TEKS based house :)
Dang it - save the blogging for another night. Who cares that I have 50 cyber friends who have no idea I exist to catch up with. I get the opportunity to hug on my children. Tell them how wonderful and amazing they are and feel blessed by the gifts they are.
So Mamarazzi - the answer to question #1 "What do you do when you're blogstipated?" I write satirical posts about the most mundane things in my life. I do think the one about grocery shopping was the best.
Question #2 - "Do you feel a sense of responsibility to keep your blog current for your readers?"
Nope. If they waited on me they could wait 'till Christmas 2014 (both children will be over 18 by then) - OK maybe May 2015 we all know that us teachers don't rest until schools out.
Question #3 - "Do you ever delve into super serious topics on your blog, just to get it out?" Yes. Read any post about working with the school to get my son's needs met. It was hard being the employee and the parent. One role had to shut off, and parent is forever.
Question #4 - "Do you have a blog post in your draft folder that you WANT to post but are nervous to post?" I used to. Then I posted it and now I just let them fly.

If you're reading this and not Mamarazzi feel free to answer the questions on your own blog and post back. I would love to see your answer.

Feelin' Bloggy

2010-09-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

I was going through pictures from this summer to help Z with some homework. Well - sorda' homework. Z decided to run for student representative. I am very excited about this for him. Tonight he finished up his poster, but we thought it needed a little something. A picture of him was the thing. Had to be a current picture and one that wasn't too crazy. He vetoed the 'smores picture but it was my favorite. Got me thinking about fall - btw is next Wednesday.

He also needed pictures for after school care for some project they're doing. I love that he goes to an after school program that is more than containing the restless natives in a room. It was so much fun to look at the pictures and remember the great things we did this summer as a family. I enjoyed watching them explore at the children's museum. Each time they go they have a new favorite activity. Part of the feelings caught in the pictures has to do with the great sibling relationship Z and A have. They are 3 years apart and are the best of friends. Such a joy to have kids who love each other that much. I can't wait to clear a few more projects laying about so that I can scrapbook it.

On our way to Georgia this summer we stopped off in Alabama to surprise my grandfather. We had already told him we would not see him this summer at the reunion because we were headed to Georgia for another reunion. I know that he was disappointed to hear that. On the way to Georgia opportunity knocked and we were able to take a little side trip to Guntersville. They have a fantastic state park up there if you are ever interested. It's newly remodeled and the price reflects that.Don't plan to go for Spring Break - it's usually snowing then. When I was a kid my grandfather lived in Chicago. He would meet me at the airport and hang out through the long layovers on my way to visit my other grand parents in Michigan. Despite not being able to spend lots of time with him I knew how much he loved me by the look in his face every time we were able to see each other. He's a man of few words, but a deep soul.

In Georgia we spent time with the in laws family. Now let me tell you about the in laws - there is no such thing as an in law there is only family. I LOVE IT! When I was a kid my parents divorced and remarried. I always felt different around the step families for various reasons. Well last fall we added to our family and got a 6yo out of the deal. A and A spent the whole reunion with each other. They were thick as thieves, and rivaled Z and A's relationship. The last thing any one in the family wanted was for A to feel anything less than family. No matter what she is our family. A wants to call A on skype so I need to set that up one of these days. It's just a blessing to have such a great network of family. So as I sit and look at the photos from this summer I just think about the blessings of family, and the relationships that are firmly planted in our hearts. I pray these blessings for you as well.

Don't ya' love the supermodel pose? :)

I'm a Blogger ?!?!

2010-09-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

I have a blog, but anyone that follows this blog knows that I post sporadically. I'll get on a roll and post in regular intervals, and then there will be the dry spells. I have a good excuse for this. No really I do. Don't believe me? Ask my inner blogger.
You know how some people have an inner monologue? Well I have an inner blogger. I catch it blogging occasionally. Caught it today a few times. The bad news is that when my inner blogger gets going I forget that I haven't actually blogged it. So I thought I would share the inner blog for this weekend - if I can remember it all. Beware - the inner blogger does not pay attention to any writing conventions at all. Not sure my inner blogger even knows that a period comes at the end of the sentence. Here goes.
WOW - Great REED meeting today (Friday). It was nice to sit around the table with peers from around the district and talk logically about my kid. We looked at data and made plans. Only one person said something stupid and really it was just from a total lack of training - I think. They mentioned that I never provided the doctors information from the neurologist. Now there is a logical reason for this. At the time of the evaluation I did not trust them enough to give them any documentation. If they wanted it they would have to actually ask for it. They never did. They did acknowledge it by providing counseling at school. Then they acknowledged it in the RTI meetings through some of the interventions. When I finally handed over outside evaluations I did it with great hesitation. I thought that they would bastardize the information for their own purposes. So the information they said I never turned over was not turned over, but it was a mute point any way. The point I did make to this person was that the information has been provided through the evaluations completed this summer. That information is current. The other is not. Once again the 3rd grade teacher trned out to be FANTASTIC!!! She actually had work samples available for the committee. So proud of her! I was also proud of the QUEST teacher. She advocated for the needs of my son. It made my heart sing. Now that was as my mom role, but as my SpEd teacher role in life - any person who is not in SpEd who actually pauses a SpEd meeting to ask a question for clarification gets a giant gold star! I was ready to shout from the roof tops that finally the school realized that we were not crazy! Both of us though were shocked by the possibility that the testing would not only be reviewed by the diagnosticians, but also by the dyslexia committee. Z went before them last year after a screener. We were told there was no way he was dyslexic. Scottish Rite even said he wasn't dyslexic. The diagnostician saw something in the testing that raised a flag. I am very interested to see how this turns out. BTW - there's a giant discussion right now about if the screener is sufficient for evaluating kids for services. I'm on the side of screeners are crap and shouldn't be used at all. If a kid is even being looked at that closely then they are having significant issues in the classroom and someone better find a way to help them. When we were told that Z did not qualify we didn't just drop it. Many parents don't know where to turn when the school says no. This is how kids get lost in the shuffle.
To celebrate we went to Freddy's Frozen Custard. Now I know - we missed the Leander v. Cedar Park game, but I was celebrating. I let the kids order milkshakes for their drink and what ever food made them happy. I was amazed that there was not a seat in the house and we had to wait for someone to get up before eating. Of course we saw people we knew while we were there. It's always nice to see the Reitz family. We should go on another camp out soon.
So Saturday mornings are usually my blog time, but this Saturday I went to an NJHS training. It was nice to know that we're not as weird a group as we feel. We went to some sessions led by national peeps and learned a lot. My favorite was that our group of 168 students is not abnormal for a campus our size when looking at the national numbers. We were also inspired to ignite a passion in our students. I cannot wait to share with the kids. While down there I found some great photo sites that I can't wait to bring someone down to.
The only bummer is that I'm at a week of that nasty medicine and my ear is still going out on me. I also feel like crap a lot of the time, but not enough to actually be sick. Early to bed is now my philosophy until I can feel better.
You know that old adage - measure twice cut once? Well it totally applied to A's skirt. I measured her waist and for got to measure her hips. She actually has hips! So now I have a cute little skirt for a girl with less hips. Good thing the materials I bought had enough for another skirt. Almost done with skirt attempt #2. Finished a little gift for my friend Erin who's baby shower is next weekend. I'm excited about it. Almost done with some photo editing that needs to be finished soon.
OH! And I couldn't resist going to Archivers today! If you didn't know this about me - I am a sucker for Halloween related stamps. I don't know why really but I LOVE HALLOWEEN STAMPS. So I bought the Alice in Wonderland Halloween paper and some Halloween stamps. I need to get out my fall stuff and play. I have some Halloween fabric I'm going to play with as well.
I also LOVE quiet alone time. I had lots of fits from the kids about nap time so I started calling it quiet alone time. There are times when they have just had too much time together. So I make them take quiet alone time - ok it's to preserve my sanity. With my ear playing tricks on me I need a lot of quiet alone time. It hurts to hear the little sounds kids make, and then the droning noises of Nate's audio books - UGH! I try to drown it out with Pandora or my sewing machine, but honestly what I need is silence. Silence is the best. I think it will be the motivator to get me to clean up A's desk so that I can close my door. All week of the middle school noises, and dance, and everything else that makes noise all I want on the weekends is some times of silence. When I'm alone in the car I turn the radio off so that I have a few moments of silence. So today I had a couple hours of quiet alone time. Went to Archivers, but otherwise enjoyed the quiet of my house. I thought of quiet alone time this week at school too. A student was trying to focus on the assignment and couldn't because the teacher was still using her whole class voice when addressing individuals at their desk. He and I both needed quiet alone time just to think so that we could communicate. It made me realize that sometimes as teachers we are so eager to help that sometimes we do not allow enough hang time after the lesson to let the kids figure it out. I need to get better at that. Maybe that will be my goal this week - to allow at least a minute pass before start going around and helping. I think giving that processing time to kids would be a benefit.
So I watched a little youtube today. Actually I watched things I had seen before. One of them was about technology and our children. Z and I have spoken before about him blogging. I might actually let him do that. Need to get with him on that.
We ordered our bento kits today. Besides being an encouragement to me to eat better I saw a link on the page that got me thinking. There is so much waste at lunch time. Each item comes in it's own little wrapper, or even a sandwich baggie of some sort. Then I use plastic utensils and a paper napkin. So the link was about a campaign for a waste free lunch. I wonder what could happen is we all try for a waste free lunch. I am actually grossed out at how much processed food comes to school for lunches. Doesn't anyone know how to make a sandwich any more? I admit A has taken a lunchable several times this year, but that will start slowing down as soon as the bento kits get here. She'll learn how to make her own and it won't come with kool-aid, and a reeces. My kids prefer much healthier foods so I just need to support that.
We started a new thing this school year. Took some getting used to, but we might be on it. The kids have these hanging things in their closets. There are 5 cubbies in them. On Sunday night they pick out their clothes for the week and put them in the cubbies. Thank God because I was tired of fighting with them on what to wear every day. The goal is to get it to the point that their extra curricular stuff will go in it's days slot as well. Monday - cub scout stuff, Tuesday - Cheer / Hip Hop, Thursday - Cheer, Friday - Ballet. Last week we forgot the ballet shoes. Hopefully not this week.
Talking about ballet. A is the only kid in her class. If you have a kiddo her age and want to do ballet. We take at MA Dance Project 5:30 - 6:15 on Fridays. We would love to have you join us.

So now that you've met my inner blog I'm thinking about naming it. Any ideas on a name for my inner blog?

RTI Tier 3

2010-09-08T05:59:00.000-07:00

I am a huge advocate for the RTI process - if done correctly. Since this is a fairly new concept there are times it's just not done the way it should be. Here's the difficult part. You are asking people who are coming from a passion for children to tap into their inner scientist to help kids. I've been amazed to learn that not every one has an inner scientist. It makes the whole RTI thing not fun nor easy.
The reason I blog on this today is that yesterday we had an RTI Tier 3 meeting for Z. Of course people asked how it went and all I could say was that it was the most professional meeting we've been to yet. Keep in mind that we attended an RTI meeting about every 4 - 6 weeks last year for Z. Many times I left there thinking "Are you really that stupid? Do you not see the data in front of your face? It's YOUR data!!!!! No matter how much you hate me pushing you to do the right thing - it's YOUR data!!!! I had nothing to do with it!" I know that the school thinks we're one of "those parents" but really we're data driven parents. We just look at what the school provided, and then had follow up questions. Originally the questions were legitimate needing to know questions. Then the more we were given the run around because the school couldn't answer them the more we did research before talking to the school. Questions came in hopes that you would come to a reasonable conclusion. Data showed in October 2009 that Z had difficulties in reading fluency. We were told by the school for the whole year that he did not have difficulty in reading fluency, but that he had a behavior problem. Through out the RTI process data showed difficulty in reading fluency and that behavior was controlled through certain interventions. My guess is that if they went back to look at when the behaviors happened they would see that they were clustered with reading or writing, but that would mean accessing their inner scientist.
So yesterday was the RTI Tier 3 meeting for Z. Finally someones inner scientist came out. They reviewed previous goals, end of year data on the reading goal. I didn't ask about end of year data on behavior because they didn't have it. They sent home all the progress monitoring tools we had put in place for behavior, and all the meetings last year were pointless in this area. The data showed success, but the staff kept saying no progress in this area. No matter how often we asked them to look at that act they just insisted that there was no progress.
After review of end of year data, they asked if concerns persisted, and acknowledged that they concerns persisted from our view point. Quite obvious that they did we asked for a REED in August. Then they looked at data collected this year so far. I was so happy to hear that Z has maintained his reading level since the end of last year. Tutoring 3 times a week for reading fluency has paid off since there was no regression. The school expressed that they expected regression. The teacher did a great job of explaining that Z is in the independent level, but barely. That's consistent from the previous years reading assessments - "at risk". New goals were established for reading and behavior "in case he stays at tier 3".
I almost caved and said "If you can develop a plan to meet his needs in 504 lets hear it." but I thought better of that. I've looked at the school data and the testing we had completed by an independent party. There is just too much there to be reasonably covered in a 504. It definitely would not be in Z's best interest to fall under 504.
So yesterday's meeting was neither a win or loss for either party, but it was. It was something they felt had to be done (it didn't), and it kept the reality of the situation in the front of everyone's mind. We were highly impressed by the 3rd grade teacher. She has her data collected, a plan in place for future data collection, targeted intervention plans in place, made a relationship with Z, and even picked up on his little quirk that displays his anxiety level. She's even been responding to it. She is a great teacher and we're highly impressed. Having to go through this process we are glad to have her on the team.