22 posts tagged “kids”

Brian's on his way to pick me up from work, so in lieu of doing actual work while I wait (as if), here's my lowdown.

• My main floor bathroom has now been officially gutted.  I moved out yesterday* so every morning for the next month or so I'll be getting ready for work in the upstairs bathroom.  I'm going to miss listening to my beloved Fox & Friends from the kitchen TV, but being as it's temporary, I think I'll live.  Construction was supposed to start tomorrow, but our contractor guy had to take an emergency call from some mutual friends who have some kind of hole in their basement wall with water gushing in.  I suppose that is more important at the moment than my bathroom.
• My little guy left for church camp this morning.  He comes home on Saturday.  I'm not worried at all about him getting homesick, especially given that he went last year so this isn't his first time.  He's going to have a blast.
• Speaking of Joey, we signed him up for 3rd grade football in the fall.  How funny is that?  How funny is spending $132 on second-hand equipment for an 8-year-old?  Ack!  Thank goodness for Play It Again Sports!  But he really wants to play.  He weighed in at 74 pounds.  I'm curious as to whether that'll qualify him as a lightweight or heavyweight.  He's neither fat nor skinny, but he's kind of tall, so I'd guess on a team of 2nd and 3rd graders, he might be among the bigger ones.  I hope he doesn't get pummelled.
• Speaking of camp, Bailey goes on Sunday - the day after Joey gets home.  Our church camp is about 4 hours away, and I get to be one of the vehicles in the caravan taking them up there.  So my Sunday will go something like this: Go to church.  Leave for camp from church, drive 4 hours.  Help get kids settled in and hopefully say hi to a couple of friends up there.  Drive back home 4 hours, hopefully with a stop at Trader Joe's while passing through the Twin Cities.  Get home around 8 or 9 and crash, all the while thinking I should do some homework before going to bed.  But I'm going to let myself not do any.
• Speaking of homework, I have so much this summer it's not even funny.  I'm wishing right now that I'd have taken a clue from Hannah and taken the summer off.  There are too many other things to do, like go to Joey's baseball games and try to get my house ready for some of my girlfriends to come in a few weeks (I apologize in advance if the house looks like crap when you get here!!).  One class has me reading government regulations, which I expect to have to do for work, but it's kind of depressing to have to do it for school.
• I'm having a party on Wednesday.  You know those parties where you send out about 7 million invitiations to everyone you've ever met, and about 3 people come because the goal of the party is to sell stuff?  Yeah, one of those.  This party is for Norwex cleaning products.  The best part is that she wants to demonstrate the products so I really don't have to clean my house!  Woo-hoo!  I need some ideas for quick, easy hors d'oeuvre that don't look like they were quick and easy.  Ideas?

OK, I got a call that Brian's on his way.  See ya!

*I mean I moved all my makeup & stuff out.  I personally didn't move out of the house.  :)

What parenting tip do you swear by?

TRUST YOUR GUT.

What I’m annoyed by today:

·      Cranky coworkers

·      Anemia – the exhaustion, headache, and coldness.  I’m going to take iron for a few days; eventually I should feel better.

·      My messy desk

·      Computer trouble that keeps me from doing my job and drives me to blog instead.

·      That the only color printer on this floor is under my desk and everyone and their brother knows about it and uses it, then expects me to drop what I’m doing and get their crap off of it.

What I like today:

What are you most sensitive about? 

Two things.

1 - Anything that anyone might say that might imply that I'm not doing a good job at something.  Obviously I know I'm not perfect, and of course I want to know if I need to improve the way I do something.  But the message is sometimes hard to take.  I take a lot of things personally that I shouldn't.  But I'm getting better about it, slowly.  I'm learning to look at criticisms more objectively, especially when they really aren't criticisms.

2 - On a much more serious and important note, it just kills me when I hear stories in the news (or anyplace else) of children being abused.  Just looking at those words I just typed makes me want to cry.  I seriously had to stop reading FOXNews.com except the headlines because there were just too many horrible things happening to kids.  I feel like a jerk for burying my head in the sand, but what can I do?  I just want kids to not have to hurt.  They don't deserve to be mistreated, especially by the people they trust.  How can someone mistreat their own child?  Selfish, selfish parents.  You need a license to cut hair but any moron can have a child.  It's just not right.  Ugh.

Hi!  Remember me?  It's Mello!  I'm back!

No, I didn't go anywhere.  I just haven't really had anything to say over the last week or two.  I've been feeling kind of like what I imagine a rock might feel like.....just sits there, stagnant, no original thoughts...just....blah.  Don't necessarily believe anyone who says that not being in school will make you less busy!  This has been a rather exhausting week.

Most of the week has been spent getting ready for a HUMONGOUS garage sale.  I usually want nothing to do with garage sales.  I used to shop them occasionally when the kids were little.  It's a good way to get clothes for them when they're at an age when they outgrow their clothes way faster than they wear them out.  These days, I just don't want to take the time to go to garage sales.  Most of them open on Fridays, when I'm at work - and I'm not about to sacrifice the only day I can sleep in (Saturday) to go look through someone's picked-over junk.

So why did I have a garage sale when I hate them?  Well, a bunch of us from my church decided to do it as a fundraiser to help raise money for gas to get all of the kids to and from camp this summer.  The math goes something like this:

2-3 large vehicles/camp session   X   400 mile round trip for 3-4 camps   X   gas prices over $3.50/gal   =   EXPENSIVE!!!

For the last several weeks we've solicited donations from the church body and we got a TON of stuff.  It just so happens that my friend Patty lives across the street from me and also attends my church.  The sale took place in both of our garages.  Patty had the household & furniture-type stuff, and I had toys as well as kids' and adults' clothes.  On Friday we planned to start at 7 am, but actually ended up opening the doors around 6:50 because there were people sitting outside at 6:30!!  There are some hard-core garage salers out there! 

There was a 90% chance of rain on Friday, but thanks to a LOT of praying, it only rained lightly & intermittently throughout the day.....and poured literally ten minutes after we closed up shop for the day. Today it was c-c-c-cold out there at 7 am, and business was quite slow.  It was rather miserable, actually.  We made a few sales, but stuff really started to fly off the shelves after we declared around 11:00 that everything was free.  :)  We figured the more they took, the less we'd have to pack up.  We'd declared from the start that anything that didn't sell was going to be brought to the Salvation Army, so we figured we'd make our lives easier.

At the end of the day, we'd made $969.00!!!!  If that doesn't pay for all of the gas, it'll come darn close.  And as a bonus, I didn't have to help clean up since I had to take Bailey to her soccer game (a very cold, ridiculously windy experience.  Bailey twisted her foot but was back in play by the second half).

In other news, we're getting DirecTV installed today!  We've been toying with the idea for years, but ever since we got the big HD TV, Brian's really been chomping at the bit and the other day finally just bit the bullet.  We currently have a bundle deal for internet, phone & cable through Charter, so we were a little afraid that cancelling part of that would cause the other components to skyrocket.  But Brian called and actually it'll cost about the same overall, so there was no reason not to do it.  The guys just got here, and I had to call Brian to get his butt home so he can "make sure they know what they're doing."  He wanted me to do it but I refuse to micromanage professionals.  Really, the only thing I care about is that it works and that it's done by the time the race starts tonight.  Woo-hoo - short track racing at night in HD!  I can hardly wait!

I wasn't going to do this today (because if I do it every week I'll become predictable), but what the hey.  Here goes:

Today I loathe:

• Spending all day at work reading about FDA inspections.  I'm writing a mock inspection for our students to do as a learning tool.  Important stuff, but reading about the FDA all day sure makes me tired.
• That I slept horribly last night and as a result am quite tired today.
• That it's only Tuesday (see above bullet item).
• Being unmotivated to study for my coag final.
• Bad hair days.

Today I love:

• Red wine.
• The killer lasagna I have in the oven.  I can't wait to eat it!!
• That I fixed a door at work today.
• Long, painted fingernails, makeup, great shoes, jewelry, and other things that make me feel like a girl.
• The color scheme we've decided on for our bathroom.
• My kids.
• Spring - finally!  I'm even ok with those fabled April showers, as long as they're not snow showers.

That'll do it.  :)  Gotta go get my lasagna out of the oven.

We decided to have family movie night tonight.  Brian and Joey had gone down to Hollywood Video to grab a DVD to watch, and they'd picked The Game Plan.  Joey was all excited because it had football in it.  So we settled down in front of the new big-screen to watch our movie.....only to find out that our player wouldn't read the DVD!  Brian wasn't about to go back out to exchange it so we decided to pick one from our own library.  We chose Hoosiers, a classic sports movie.

Can I just say....I LOVE this movie!  It's one of those feel-good movies that, even though you know how it's going to end, you still find yourself being baited for the high of the Hickory Huskers taking on the South Bend Central Bears and winning the 1952 Indiana State High School Basketball Championship.  And a disgraced coach finds redemption, and love.  A drunk gets a second chance, gets dry, and reconciles with his son.  You just cannot go wrong with this movie.

I think it also strikes a chord within me because at some level, it takes me back to my own high school days.  (And no, I didn't graduate in 1952!!)  Small town, small school, sports rule.  I had issues with that mentality but I love sports so when it suited me, I was all in.  Some of the gyms we played in weren't all that much different from the gyms in that movie.  It just brought me back.  My high school teams were ok, never great, but it's just that feeling of watching your friends take on the giant, of a barn-burner coming down to the last few seconds.....you just can't beat it.  It's exhilarating.

Around the time that movie came out - 1989, maybe? - there was a tiny school in my area that had an incredibly good basketball team for its size.  The town was named Palmer and they had a couple of players who were probaby destined for DII ball, if not DI.  A big deal when the talent pool is limited by sheer numbers.  (One of them did go on to the U of Iowa, and if I remember right, another went to Iowa State.)  Another town in our conference, Albert City, had a team that they were absolutely sure would go to state.  (Albert City always had an inflated idea of their teams...but that's school spirit).  They were also a good team, but anyone who wasn't from Albert City knew that Palmer was a better team.  When it came time early on in the bracket, Albert City took on Palmer on the road to the state tourney.  My sister, her then-boyfriend (now husband), and I went over to Albert City to see the game - partially because we were hoping to see AC get beat, partially to see this Palmer team we'd heard so much about, but mostly because we knew we'd be in for a really good game.  Because of Hoosiers, Palmer was receiving national attention and because we sat on the Palmer side for that game, we actually were part of a crowd shot on the NBC Nightly News.  Big time, I know!  :)  I remember I was wearing a yellow sweater so I was able to pick myself out.

I miss high school basketball.  Here in Rochester I can go to a bb game if I want to, and I've thought about it, but I think in a bigger school it would lose something.  For one thing, only the stars play in bigger schools.  The thing I loved about being in a small school is that you didn't have to be near-pro in order to play and to have some degree of success.  It's something I wish more kids could be a part of.  You learn good life lessons by being on a team.  You learn that you're a part of a whole and not always an entity in and of yourself.  You learn that the world does not revolve around you.  You learn how to build others up, and to be built up by them.  You learn to handle criticism.  You learn to win and lose gracefully.  And you learn that the world goes on either way.

I posted a few months back about our decision to put the kids into private school after they finish public elementary.  There are many reasons for this, but one benefit I think it will give them is the opportunity to be involved in sports and other activities.  I want that for them.

I don't have much to say - which is why I haven't posted anything in a while.  Sometimes stuff just doesn't happen that's worth writing about, know what I mean?  I haven't been feeling well lately.  I sure have been getting sick a lot lately.  I usually never get sick.  I wonder if all this to-ing and fro-ing has finally caught up with me and I'm just worn down.  If that's the case, I'd better find a way to deal with it because nothing that wears on me is going away anytime soon!  Suggestions?

One thing that's worth writing about is that Bailey had a birthday party yesterday.  Her actual birthday isn't until tomorrow (10 - double digits!).  We figured out about a week ago that if she was going to have a party it was going to have to be on the 9th since she's going to Snow Camp next weekend.  So the party was kind of quick thrown together.  She wanted to go sledding, but when we realized that the day was going to have -20 wind chills and sandpaper-like blowing snow, we figured we'd better come up with Plan B.  We came up with a couple of ideas for things to do inside and it seemed like everyone had fun.  She got, among other things, two Webkinz.  Webkinz are new to our house, and those two were added to the ones that she and Joey got from their grandma on Thursday.  Those presents came early since G&G left for Africa on Saturday.  The Webkinz quickly felt at home:  

Funnykinz

These next couple of weeks will be pretty crazy.  It's birthday season in the G household - Bailey's is tomorrow (the 11th) and Joey's is on the 21st.  Joey's party will be on Saturday - one of THREE birthday parties he's going to that weekend.  And he has a science fair on Saturday too.  Poor kid - I hope he gets some rest.  I hope I get some rest.  :)

On a completely unrelated note.....how 'bout my man AP - Pro Bowl MVP???  I wonder how long the Vikings will be able to keep him.

.....because my kids are perfect.  LOL, not.

But I do like them.  (Warning: stop reading here if you don't want to hear me gush about my kids.)  I'll admit that a lot of the reason I like PT conferences is because my kids do well in school (call me a bragging mom if you want; it's a fact) so there have never been any serious issues.  I don't see the teachers on a regular basis like the volunteer-moms do, so I really value both good and bad feedback.  Each of the kids has had a small behavioral issue this year that they've had to work on - Joey being rude to his classmates and Bailey being silly & somewhat disruptive in class.  I like to hear those kinds of things because then we can talk about them at home.  So far, problems have been resolved without much resistance on their part.  They're such easy kids - we got so lucky with them.

Bailey has this computer program they do called Study Island.  She's ahead of the rest of the 4th graders at her school in most subjects in math & reading, and way ahead of the state average in everything! 

Joey's teacher is a little worried that 2nd grade isn't challenging enough for him.   She said he helps the class come up with strategies for learning.  For example, he said that for adding three numbers, he told the class to picture the numbers running around in circles.  The first two crash together and become one number, and then that new number crashes into the other number, giving you your total.  I love how she lets him be involved in the classroom.  I'm sure she does that for all of the kids.  Kids that age need to be interactive, and I'm glad that teachers realize that these days.  We were barely allowed to move when I was in school.  Fortunately, that worked fine for me, but I know that approach doesn't work for all kids.

Joey showed us a couple of papers that he'd written, and his teacher had him read one of them out loud.  I was almost in tears I was laughing so hard, and so was she.  I think she really gets a charge out of him.  Here's the essay; it was a compare and contrast work.  Picture it in kid-script on lined paper, being read by an almost-8-year-old:

Bengals and house cat  by Joey G

Did you know that lots of cats don't have things in common?  Even my house cat and a Bengal.  There is something very, very weird that the owners of Bengals have reported about Bengals.  If you want to know, listen very closely to paragraph #3.  I'm telling you it's very, very weird.  I don't know how funny it is!

OK, this is paragraph #2.  This paragraph is about what is alike between a Bengal and my house cat.  So, they're cats, and they both have colored coats, and they have sharp teeth and claws.  If you have heard of cats and kittens, then you know that a mom can have babies and if you own a Bengal, then you know that they are cute.

OK, we're in paragraph #3.  This paragraph that I tell you about what is different between a Bengal and my house cat (witch I don't know what kind she is) and remember this is the paragraph witch has the weird thing about the Bengal.  It is soooooo........funny!  OK let's get started with the facts.  The Bengal has front and back claws, and my cat does not (you can probley tell buy me saying "house cat".)  The Bengal hunts, my cat (of corse) does not.  OK, here is the very weird thing, (get ready to smile or laugh.)  The Bengal swims, and (of corse) my house cat does not.

OK, stop laughing or smileing and start reading.  So, did you like the facts?  OK, first I'll tell you the qustoin that I will ansewer.  So, which would I own?  I would keep the cat I have instead of a Bengal!  I would like some privacy when I'm in the bathtub!

• I hate Wal-Mart.  We just spent an hour there shopping for groceries and other miscellaneous necessities.  I despise that store, and it was especially bad today since it was more crowded than usual.  I suppose everyone's coming out of the woodwork since the temp broke zero today.  (It's a whole 9 degrees.)  Wal-Mart was like it is on a Saturday, and that's the very reason I avoid Wal-Mart on Saturday like the plague.  It's crowded, and you can't look at anything, or look for anything, without someone needing to get by you.  Every time you turn around someone's there, and it's just aggravating.  I don't like crowds.  Add that to my kids underfoot and Brian thinking we have to only buy stuff on the list (even though there's only 8 things on the list, yet this is our weekly grocery shopping), and well, we all get crabby.
• This week I thought about applying for a new job.  It was a placement coordinator for the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology.  Basically, I'd help recruit people, and I'd screen applicants and help place new hires into the lab that fits their skills & interests best.  Sounds fun, huh?  I emailed the HR contact and found out that this job is in the same pay category that I'm already in.  I've got enough going on right now that I'd only take a new job if there was a pay raise involved.  I have enough frustrations with my current job to think that there might be something better out there, but not enough that I'm going to make a lateral move right now.
• I'm supposed to take a test this week.  I'm trying to study but I just cannot concentrate.  I'm very slowly learning what I need to know, but there are just more interesting things to do.  I think the combination of getting a B in micro and the fact that I've cut back on caffeine have made me mellow (Mello?) enough that I'm kind of unmotivated.  I'm glad I like this class....if I didn't I'd really be in bad shape.
• I was working on a bulletin board this week at church and I had a thought.  I've always been somewhat bothered by the fact that I don't have a talent.  I can do a lot of things at an acceptable level, but I've never had anything that I'm really good at.  And I always felt like without a talent I don't have a purpose.  But then it dawned on me: maybe that IS my purpose - to be a jack-of-all-trades.  There are those people that have one thing they can do in a church, and that's their standby, year after year, and that's necessary and great.  But one thing I can do is fit in wherever I'm needed.  Well, almost - I don't do anything financial or otherwise businesslike.  I help with music regularly, I've done multiple things with VBS (music, food, drama, crafts), I've taught Sunday School, I'm working with a group to update the kitchen, and I've painted walls.  Our church is very small so I'm glad I can help out in a lot of different areas.  Still, I wish I had a talent.
• Fetzer Sauvignon Blanc is a good bottle of wine for less than five bucks.
• I need to learn to watch my mouth.  A couple of times this week now I've said things that I've since obsessed over whether or not they were taken the wrong way.  I used to be a quiet person - I should probably try to get back to that state.  The less I say, the less likely I'll say something inadvertently rude.

Allright, back to studying.  Brian and I haven't eaten supper yet so in a bit I'm going to make an artichoke dip.  It's baked and we spread it on sliced, lightly toasted French bread.  Brain food.