I've renamed Make it Mondays - cause everything I make is MmMm good.. okay not really, but I hope that the recipes I post here are both yummy and low cost...
and the announcement is that starting this Wednesday, Acting Balanced and Couponning101 will be featuring guest bloggers with posts I know you will be interested in reading! If any of my blogging friends want to contribute to Wednesdays with Friends please just shoot me an email here! and let me know what topic you would like to cover...I'm up for just about anything :)
So without further adieu... today's MMMmmmonday Recipe is:
Pina Colada Spring Cake!
This is so simple and I stock up on the ingredients to have on hand...
1 angel food cake mix
1 15.9 oz can of crushed pineapple/with juice
1 cup of sweetened coconut divided
1 tub of cool whip topping
Preheat the oven to 350F and spray a fluted bundt pan or angel food cake pan with baking spray (or you can make a 13x9 rectangular cake - its flexible)
In a bowl mix the angel food cake mix with the crushed pineapple until thoroughly incorporated, then mix 1/4 cup of coconut into the batter
Sprinkle 1/4 cup of coconut into the pan and then pour in the cake mixture
Bake cake according to package directions - it will probably need the longest length of time specificed because the pineapple is juicy. Test cake with a toothpick for doneness.
Let the cake sit for a few minutes before releasing from the cake pan.
Let cake cool and frost with cool whip and top with remaining coconut
Sunday Family Stories - Happy Birthday Mom!
When I always comment that my husband keeps me balanced, there is probably no one else in the world who helped me to be unbalanced (not always in a bad way) as my Mom...
You see, my grandmother always said that my mom was her reminder of how she tested her own parents... so much alike... and that's how my relationship with my mom was too!
I don't remember my mom as a child... I hadn't been born yet (tongue firmly in cheek here), but I got to know her through helping to work on my grandmother's memoirs so before I share my reminisces, I'm going to share some of hers:
Her Birth:
"Judith Anne was born February 27th, 1952 at St. Joseph’s Hospital, weighing in at six pounds, eleven ounces. She was short and as fat as a roll of butter, with a full head of dark hair. She was named for Judy Kosovi, and her middle name, Anne, was for my mother Annie Oliver and my paternal grandmother Sarah Anne Vanstone. Anne is also my second name.
At this time, Ken was on short time at Consolidated Glass and was afraid to ask for time off. He was on a job out-of-town on the day I was released from the hospital, but he arranged for his supervisor to pick up Judy and me and deliver us home.
It was against hospital rules for patients to keep money at the hospital and I could not be discharged until the bill was paid. I couldn’t ask Ken’s boss for the money so I went to the office and filled out a blank cheque for the amount due… knowing there was no money in the account. My first and only act of fraud! When Ken came home that night, he took the cash to the hospital and retrieved the worthless cheque… sometimes you do what you have to do!
These were emotional times for us, as the doctors had said we would never have children and we had proven them all wrong. I was constantly plagued by poor health though, and Ken was only working part-time. Every evening, Judy would sleep on Ken’s knee in the big chair, sometimes all night because he hated to put her in her bassinet. We both had so much love for this miracle baby."
And to top it all off:
"When Judy finally arrived on February 27th, 1952, Ken called on the “old party line” to relate the wonderful news. Everyone in the rural community knew that when the central operator rang the Olivers, it would be with the news of the birth and therefore picked up the line. This made it extremely difficult to hear on the long distance call! Dad answered, and when he heard that the baby was a girl, he demanded rather impolitely for everyone to hang up, promising to call them later. A multitude of clicks were heard on the line."
My mother was only two days away from being a leap year baby! She was the oldest of four children and boy did that make her bossy... She came by it honestly though, as I probably do...
Before she married and had kids, my Mom was a teacher and taught Kindergarten at Wilkinson P.S. in Toronto... she tells the story that she was down on the rug playing blocks with the children one day when one of her students came over to her and said that a "Man with yellow socks" was there to see her... it turned out to be the School Principal but it taught her a lot about perspective.
My Mom always came up with ingenious ways to deal with me and my siblings - I have two by the way, Catherine and Mark.. and she needed to, because we were all born within the span of 30 months of each other... I don't know how she survived those preschool years - money was tight and I remember her canning everything that didn't move, in between doing loads of cloth diapers because we didn't wear disposables, and making her own baby food... In those years she was SuperMom! She even devised a way to keep my siblings at bay when I, as the oldest wanted privacy - you may have read about it here.
I could go on and on, but I will close and say Happy Birthday Mom! I love and miss you and can't wait til you get here for a visit in May!
You see, my grandmother always said that my mom was her reminder of how she tested her own parents... so much alike... and that's how my relationship with my mom was too!
I don't remember my mom as a child... I hadn't been born yet (tongue firmly in cheek here), but I got to know her through helping to work on my grandmother's memoirs so before I share my reminisces, I'm going to share some of hers:
Her Birth:
"Judith Anne was born February 27th, 1952 at St. Joseph’s Hospital, weighing in at six pounds, eleven ounces. She was short and as fat as a roll of butter, with a full head of dark hair. She was named for Judy Kosovi, and her middle name, Anne, was for my mother Annie Oliver and my paternal grandmother Sarah Anne Vanstone. Anne is also my second name.
At this time, Ken was on short time at Consolidated Glass and was afraid to ask for time off. He was on a job out-of-town on the day I was released from the hospital, but he arranged for his supervisor to pick up Judy and me and deliver us home.
It was against hospital rules for patients to keep money at the hospital and I could not be discharged until the bill was paid. I couldn’t ask Ken’s boss for the money so I went to the office and filled out a blank cheque for the amount due… knowing there was no money in the account. My first and only act of fraud! When Ken came home that night, he took the cash to the hospital and retrieved the worthless cheque… sometimes you do what you have to do!
These were emotional times for us, as the doctors had said we would never have children and we had proven them all wrong. I was constantly plagued by poor health though, and Ken was only working part-time. Every evening, Judy would sleep on Ken’s knee in the big chair, sometimes all night because he hated to put her in her bassinet. We both had so much love for this miracle baby."
And to top it all off:
"When Judy finally arrived on February 27th, 1952, Ken called on the “old party line” to relate the wonderful news. Everyone in the rural community knew that when the central operator rang the Olivers, it would be with the news of the birth and therefore picked up the line. This made it extremely difficult to hear on the long distance call! Dad answered, and when he heard that the baby was a girl, he demanded rather impolitely for everyone to hang up, promising to call them later. A multitude of clicks were heard on the line."
My mother was only two days away from being a leap year baby! She was the oldest of four children and boy did that make her bossy... She came by it honestly though, as I probably do...
Before she married and had kids, my Mom was a teacher and taught Kindergarten at Wilkinson P.S. in Toronto... she tells the story that she was down on the rug playing blocks with the children one day when one of her students came over to her and said that a "Man with yellow socks" was there to see her... it turned out to be the School Principal but it taught her a lot about perspective.
My Mom always came up with ingenious ways to deal with me and my siblings - I have two by the way, Catherine and Mark.. and she needed to, because we were all born within the span of 30 months of each other... I don't know how she survived those preschool years - money was tight and I remember her canning everything that didn't move, in between doing loads of cloth diapers because we didn't wear disposables, and making her own baby food... In those years she was SuperMom! She even devised a way to keep my siblings at bay when I, as the oldest wanted privacy - you may have read about it here.
I could go on and on, but I will close and say Happy Birthday Mom! I love and miss you and can't wait til you get here for a visit in May!
Book Review: the clouds roll away
When I chose this book from BookSneeze I had no idea it was the third book in a series, but I read the book jacket notes and thought this would be a fabulous book - it has everything; intrigue, suspense, mystery and a little romance thrown in for good measure.
The Clouds Roll Away (Raleigh Harmon)
by Sibrella Giorello finds Raleigh returning to her hometown of Richmond, VA hoping to be hailed a hero, but instead finds herself distrusted and just dissed at work and forced to not only investigate an ugly cross burning incident at a celebrity's mansion, but also to spend hours listening to wiretapped cell phone calls of local gang members. This is the third book in a series which also features: The Stones Cry Out: A Novel
(Raleigh Harmon's first appearance and Giorello's debut novel) and The Rivers Run Dry
.
What did I like about this book? I loved the intricacies and the way that the novelist was able to hint at connections but not allow the reader to guess all of the twists and turns before the final chapters. Even the coincidences which can sometimes ruin a good suspense book are formulated so that the reader can enjoy the adventure. Unlike other times when I pick up a book mid-series, this author creates a stand alone book that, while it draws from the character's previous experience, does not make the reader have all of that background to appreciate a well written tale. I have to say though, that I am definitely planning to go back and read book one and two!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
The Clouds Roll Away (Raleigh Harmon)
by Sibrella Giorello finds Raleigh returning to her hometown of Richmond, VA hoping to be hailed a hero, but instead finds herself distrusted and just dissed at work and forced to not only investigate an ugly cross burning incident at a celebrity's mansion, but also to spend hours listening to wiretapped cell phone calls of local gang members. This is the third book in a series which also features: The Stones Cry Out: A Novel (Raleigh Harmon's first appearance and Giorello's debut novel) and The Rivers Run Dry.What did I like about this book? I loved the intricacies and the way that the novelist was able to hint at connections but not allow the reader to guess all of the twists and turns before the final chapters. Even the coincidences which can sometimes ruin a good suspense book are formulated so that the reader can enjoy the adventure. Unlike other times when I pick up a book mid-series, this author creates a stand alone book that, while it draws from the character's previous experience, does not make the reader have all of that background to appreciate a well written tale. I have to say though, that I am definitely planning to go back and read book one and two!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Guest Post - Heather's Hubby Speaks
Today's post is a guest post from my sweet and wonderful husband who let me sleep through my usual blog writing time and kept my Elmo loving son from waking me up before the amazing hour of 8:30am!!! I don't know how long its been since I slept this long :)
So on with the post:
Par·a·dox [par-uh-doks] -noun
1. A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
2. Any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature.
Acting Balanced...what a funny title. Heather wrote the other day (2/25/10) that I am one of the most balanced components of her life but in reality I am probably one of the most 'unbalanced' people out there. I am a walking oxymoron (or maybe just the last part). My work is my play. I am painfully shy but have no problem talking in front of large groups. I am a creature of habit that has no set routine. Heck, I can be listening to Broadway tunes followed by Nine Inch Nails followed by Shania Twain and find that perfectly normal. I am a walking paradox. I guess that is what makes me interesting to Heather (it sure isn't my rock hard body).
So what makes me balanced? I have pondered this lately as Heather has endeavoured to move this blog forward. My balance is not one of time and space but of mental state. I guess my mental state is quite grounded in a quasi-Buddhist philosophy. The concept of the middle path is probably the one constant about me. I really work hard in my life to be mindful of a prioritized world. I concentrate on trying to make the world better for others and my life typically becomes fulfilled as a result. Another nice paradox and that is the way I like it...
Wayne's Biography (By Wayne) Wayne W. Smith is Heather's hubby. Wayne is a professor whose research is primarily centered on the social-psychology of travel (or non-travel as it may be). He was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, conducted his undergraduate studies at Brock University, MA at the University of Waterloo and his PhD at Wilfrid Laurier University.
So on with the post:
Par·a·dox [par-uh-doks] -noun
1. A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
2. Any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature.
Acting Balanced...what a funny title. Heather wrote the other day (2/25/10) that I am one of the most balanced components of her life but in reality I am probably one of the most 'unbalanced' people out there. I am a walking oxymoron (or maybe just the last part). My work is my play. I am painfully shy but have no problem talking in front of large groups. I am a creature of habit that has no set routine. Heck, I can be listening to Broadway tunes followed by Nine Inch Nails followed by Shania Twain and find that perfectly normal. I am a walking paradox. I guess that is what makes me interesting to Heather (it sure isn't my rock hard body).
So what makes me balanced? I have pondered this lately as Heather has endeavoured to move this blog forward. My balance is not one of time and space but of mental state. I guess my mental state is quite grounded in a quasi-Buddhist philosophy. The concept of the middle path is probably the one constant about me. I really work hard in my life to be mindful of a prioritized world. I concentrate on trying to make the world better for others and my life typically becomes fulfilled as a result. Another nice paradox and that is the way I like it...
Wayne's Biography (By Wayne) Wayne W. Smith is Heather's hubby. Wayne is a professor whose research is primarily centered on the social-psychology of travel (or non-travel as it may be). He was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, conducted his undergraduate studies at Brock University, MA at the University of Waterloo and his PhD at Wilfrid Laurier University.
It's almost over for another two years...
This is the first year I haven't been glued to the TV watching the Olympics in all my recollection.. We gave up TV for 2010 as a cost saving and personal growth measure and it's kinda funny that I don't miss it at all... except for the Olympic coverage, so I've been scouring my hometown newspaper online reading up on the Canadian personalities, the hopes and dreams, triumphs and tears and also finding commentary online, around the blogosphere, around facebook and twitter and in phone conversations with my family.
The story that has touched my heart the most, is probably the same one touching all Canadians, and that's both the tragedy and triumph of Joannie Rochette, the wonderful Canadian figure skater who skated to a Bronze Medal last night, despite losing her mother to a massive heart attack on Sunday as she was preparing to watch her daughter compete in Vancouver. To have had the grace and fortitude to grieve in public and still hold it together to both skate and compete on an international level is inspiring!
I'm also so proud of all the medal winners and really, all of the athletes who made it to the Olympics! That's a huge accomplishment in itself and I think the metallic haze sometimes overshadows the awe inspiring accomplishment of just competing at that level at all!
My heart and wishes go out to the family and teammates of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger whose tragic death in a training run cast a shadow over the start of the Olympics.
As the final events culminate this Olympic Games... I look to the future and 2012 games and wonder if we'll continue our no tv experiment or we'll be back, glued to the screen to watch the Canadians compete in London!
The story that has touched my heart the most, is probably the same one touching all Canadians, and that's both the tragedy and triumph of Joannie Rochette, the wonderful Canadian figure skater who skated to a Bronze Medal last night, despite losing her mother to a massive heart attack on Sunday as she was preparing to watch her daughter compete in Vancouver. To have had the grace and fortitude to grieve in public and still hold it together to both skate and compete on an international level is inspiring!
I'm also so proud of all the medal winners and really, all of the athletes who made it to the Olympics! That's a huge accomplishment in itself and I think the metallic haze sometimes overshadows the awe inspiring accomplishment of just competing at that level at all!
My heart and wishes go out to the family and teammates of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger whose tragic death in a training run cast a shadow over the start of the Olympics.
As the final events culminate this Olympic Games... I look to the future and 2012 games and wonder if we'll continue our no tv experiment or we'll be back, glued to the screen to watch the Canadians compete in London!
Welcome Friends!
It's Friday so it's time to blog hop!
If you've just found me and my little slice of imbalance, welcome! For my regular readers, today is an opportunity to explore the wild blue yonder and maybe find another fabulous blog to read or just poke around cyberspace and see what's out there!
So what is Acting Balanced?
It's a blog about being me - sometimes mouthy, opinionated and always right... actually it's partly that and partly a little slice of family history, current issues and just plain fun! When I blog, I often talk about things in my life - my children, my family especially my childhood recollections, my grandmother's memoirs that I'm helping to edit and occasionally my husband.
The reason that my husband doesn't get mentioned as often as the others is because he's the most balanced thing in my life... making it tough to write good family rated material about him :) He gets a shout out today for supporting me in everything I do and scoring tickets to Bubbles and Sweets next week ;)
So if you're reading a blog about me, you should know something about me - I'm a 34 year old never-stay-at-home mom living in Charleston SC after growing up in Ontario, Canada. I love Charleston and everything about it, but I often get homesick for family, friends and real poutine (another story entirely). My two kids Robyn, 11 and Liam, 3 are as different as night and day and are both at points in their life where they are challenging and fabulous at the same time. We are currently dealing with the whole pre-teen drama and angst of Middle School with one and the ups and downs of autism with the other, but there are also the sweet, funny moments and pics that I share with you that make it all worth while.
I hope you'll poke around and visit a while, stay if you like - there's always a pot of tea on - hot for my heritage and sweet and iced for my adopted home here in the south...
If you've just found me and my little slice of imbalance, welcome! For my regular readers, today is an opportunity to explore the wild blue yonder and maybe find another fabulous blog to read or just poke around cyberspace and see what's out there!
So what is Acting Balanced?
It's a blog about being me - sometimes mouthy, opinionated and always right... actually it's partly that and partly a little slice of family history, current issues and just plain fun! When I blog, I often talk about things in my life - my children, my family especially my childhood recollections, my grandmother's memoirs that I'm helping to edit and occasionally my husband.
The reason that my husband doesn't get mentioned as often as the others is because he's the most balanced thing in my life... making it tough to write good family rated material about him :) He gets a shout out today for supporting me in everything I do and scoring tickets to Bubbles and Sweets next week ;)
So if you're reading a blog about me, you should know something about me - I'm a 34 year old never-stay-at-home mom living in Charleston SC after growing up in Ontario, Canada. I love Charleston and everything about it, but I often get homesick for family, friends and real poutine (another story entirely). My two kids Robyn, 11 and Liam, 3 are as different as night and day and are both at points in their life where they are challenging and fabulous at the same time. We are currently dealing with the whole pre-teen drama and angst of Middle School with one and the ups and downs of autism with the other, but there are also the sweet, funny moments and pics that I share with you that make it all worth while.
I hope you'll poke around and visit a while, stay if you like - there's always a pot of tea on - hot for my heritage and sweet and iced for my adopted home here in the south...
A little me time!
Well, I'm off to discuss the Time Traveler's Wife tonight with girlfriends, wine, pizza and goodies! Wayne and the kids are staying home to chill...
I'm posting this as part of Theta Mom's t
I'm posting this as part of Theta Mom's t
A 3 year old in heels and an $800 handbag?
I just had to share this article from the Toronto Star which is (and I'm paraphrasing) talking about the new or not so new trend of dressing children exactly like their parents... I realize that parents of twins sometimes dress kids alike and I've seen 'themed' t-shirts for trips to Disney or other vacations... but to dress a 3 year old in identical to Mommy clothing is a little over the top to me...
The article spotlights Suri Cruise who sported an outfit that included makeup, heels and an $800 handbag, in miniature to her mother's look...
I'm already worried about my eleven year old who is starting to occasionally be interested in make up, will probably need a first bra fitting this spring and does own one pair of high heels... but to have bought that and more at three years old and then dressed the same way? We're always saying that our kids grow up too fast and deal with too much at an early age, so do we really want all of their growing up experiences to happen before they turn six?
Is it that the mommies want the kids to dress like them, or do they want to be seen as tall 3 years old themselves? I mean come on, if you want to dress something identical to your 30 something year old self, buy a barbie doll..
I mean, yes I played in my mother's closet and raided her make up as a kid... but I certainly didn't want mine to be identical in miniature... what do you think?
The article spotlights Suri Cruise who sported an outfit that included makeup, heels and an $800 handbag, in miniature to her mother's look...
I'm already worried about my eleven year old who is starting to occasionally be interested in make up, will probably need a first bra fitting this spring and does own one pair of high heels... but to have bought that and more at three years old and then dressed the same way? We're always saying that our kids grow up too fast and deal with too much at an early age, so do we really want all of their growing up experiences to happen before they turn six?
Is it that the mommies want the kids to dress like them, or do they want to be seen as tall 3 years old themselves? I mean come on, if you want to dress something identical to your 30 something year old self, buy a barbie doll..
I mean, yes I played in my mother's closet and raided her make up as a kid... but I certainly didn't want mine to be identical in miniature... what do you think?
Please vote on my buttons
I finally broke down and installed Gimp and have spent the last few days play with it, so I have 3 possible buttons for my blog:
Please vote for your fave!
Please vote for your fave!
If you hate them all, please say so - if you think I should change something even in your fave... please say that too!
This is just a first attempt to see what its all about!
Explaining Canada to Americans...
My new blog friend at Calgary Dad has put together a fantastic group of YouTube clips that brought a tear to my eye... some with sentiment and others with laughter - but I encourage friends both Canadian and American to check out his post here and enjoy!
Happy Wednesday everyone!
Happy Wednesday everyone!
Post it note Tuesday!
It's been one of those days... the best laid plans went kablooey! So this installment of the blog is late... but
The post its Tuesdays are the brain child of Supah Mommy and I found out about them at Peterson St Louis
Sunday Family Stories - Ace, two, three...
You know you are born into a game playing family when you learn to count Ace, Two, Three.... Jack, Queen, King. We started out playing concentration and go fish, and moved on to Crazy Eights, War, Euchre and Gin Rummy and as we got older as well, we started learning about gambling - 31 turned into 21 turned into Blackjack, and Poker.
But cards alone were not our vice, we integrated them into knock down drag out matches of Cribbage on Grandma's special map of Prince Edward Island cribbage board which was hung in a place of honour over the master bedroom door at the cottage, and into Rumoli where pennies flew!
All of this though was covert training for the real game...
BRIDGE
Bridge is an institution in our family and one of the rites of passage into adulthood was to be asked to sit and play the hand out while one of the four adults playing needed to make a pitstop... and then being asked to stay on to bid, well that was just the biggest honour!
Bridge, once you learn it is a fairly straightforward game after bidding has taken place, but until that point you are trying to communicate in a foreign language of cards, suits, high card points, voids, singletons, doubletons, and tricks... and one doesn't really mean one, it means seven...
Once the first bid is made, the language gets more complex as you decode the message and supply a return message, interrupted by your opponents message to their partner... you're bidding on Trump, or No Trump, how many cards you can take in your suit and of course your opponents are working to their advantage too, often trying to one up you, fortunately there was always an out - PASS!
Bridge was played so often that when my cousin Stephanie was little, she wanted so badly to learn to play 'PASS'
My grandfather was one of those fly by the seat of his pants bidders - he'd look at his cards, size up his partner and open with some outrageous bid, forcing the rest of the table to pass and then making his contract exactly. The rest of us cobbled together our knowledge, tried to get by and decode what our partner wanted us to say and hoped - kitchen table bridge at its best.
When I was in high school I met several other friends who played cards and spent hours after school in an empty classroom playing everything from Euchre to Canasta to Gin Rummy. We got caught there by the janitor who was closing the school down and word spread the next day to one of our guidance counselors, who taught bridge to adults on the side... he legitimized our 'club' and set about teaching everyone bridge - I knew the basics from playing with my family - but I had no idea what was in store for me when we started playing duplicate bridge (a tournament style where all the hands are preset and you rotate through multiple tables so everyone plays all the hands) and I added strange new words to my vocabulary - Forcing, Blackwood, Staymen, Jacoby, Transfers... my head swam! We played in preparation for a huge bridge tournament and everyone started to get pretty good, or so we thought...
Imagine, a room with 240 card tables set up in groups of eight tables, each with four chairs and a set of cards in special duplicate bridge holders - 950 adults and ten high schoolers out for their first time... you had to play quickly, deliberately and technically - it wasn't grandpa's kitchen table any more...
And to be honest, it wasn't nearly as much fun - it was WORK!
I came away from that experience with 1/4 masters point and the knowledge that I wanted games to be games... so I never played in another tournament again... but I still play bridge every chance I get... PASS
But cards alone were not our vice, we integrated them into knock down drag out matches of Cribbage on Grandma's special map of Prince Edward Island cribbage board which was hung in a place of honour over the master bedroom door at the cottage, and into Rumoli where pennies flew!
All of this though was covert training for the real game...
BRIDGE
Bridge is an institution in our family and one of the rites of passage into adulthood was to be asked to sit and play the hand out while one of the four adults playing needed to make a pitstop... and then being asked to stay on to bid, well that was just the biggest honour!
Bridge, once you learn it is a fairly straightforward game after bidding has taken place, but until that point you are trying to communicate in a foreign language of cards, suits, high card points, voids, singletons, doubletons, and tricks... and one doesn't really mean one, it means seven...
Once the first bid is made, the language gets more complex as you decode the message and supply a return message, interrupted by your opponents message to their partner... you're bidding on Trump, or No Trump, how many cards you can take in your suit and of course your opponents are working to their advantage too, often trying to one up you, fortunately there was always an out - PASS!
Bridge was played so often that when my cousin Stephanie was little, she wanted so badly to learn to play 'PASS'
My grandfather was one of those fly by the seat of his pants bidders - he'd look at his cards, size up his partner and open with some outrageous bid, forcing the rest of the table to pass and then making his contract exactly. The rest of us cobbled together our knowledge, tried to get by and decode what our partner wanted us to say and hoped - kitchen table bridge at its best.
When I was in high school I met several other friends who played cards and spent hours after school in an empty classroom playing everything from Euchre to Canasta to Gin Rummy. We got caught there by the janitor who was closing the school down and word spread the next day to one of our guidance counselors, who taught bridge to adults on the side... he legitimized our 'club' and set about teaching everyone bridge - I knew the basics from playing with my family - but I had no idea what was in store for me when we started playing duplicate bridge (a tournament style where all the hands are preset and you rotate through multiple tables so everyone plays all the hands) and I added strange new words to my vocabulary - Forcing, Blackwood, Staymen, Jacoby, Transfers... my head swam! We played in preparation for a huge bridge tournament and everyone started to get pretty good, or so we thought...
Imagine, a room with 240 card tables set up in groups of eight tables, each with four chairs and a set of cards in special duplicate bridge holders - 950 adults and ten high schoolers out for their first time... you had to play quickly, deliberately and technically - it wasn't grandpa's kitchen table any more...
And to be honest, it wasn't nearly as much fun - it was WORK!
I came away from that experience with 1/4 masters point and the knowledge that I wanted games to be games... so I never played in another tournament again... but I still play bridge every chance I get... PASS
Everything old is ...
New again...
It's kinda scary to get to the age when all of the things you wore and played with as a child come back to haunt you in a new generation of people who think they're inventing the trend :) It happened with Strawberry Shortcake & My Little Ponies when my daughter was younger, and I was really struck by it the other day when I saw a college student wearing Neon head to toe, including her shoes... I remembered then why we used to wear our sunglasses at night lol...
The latest trend to pop up on my radar is a reincarnation and reinvention of ....
Now this was a trend that was just a few years behind me, but I remember my sister had Rainbow Brite herself and Patty O'Green... and she was a faithful follower of the television program...
Now why is Rainbow Brite hitting my radar you ask? Well it's because Mom Select selected me to receive copies of a new Rainbow Brite Adventure Pack - a CD that includes games, coloring pages, animated shorts, puzzles and more!
All they asked is that I review the cd and share my thoughts with you... but I'm going to do one better - I have five more copies of the CD that I will mail to the first five followers who request it! You must be following the blog on Google or Networked Blogs or be a Fan on Facebook to qualify .... but you can do that right now if you haven't yet!
Leave me a comment that you are interested and make sure the email you leave is correct, as I will send you an email requesting your mailing address -- ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!
Now on to the review:
It's kinda scary to get to the age when all of the things you wore and played with as a child come back to haunt you in a new generation of people who think they're inventing the trend :) It happened with Strawberry Shortcake & My Little Ponies when my daughter was younger, and I was really struck by it the other day when I saw a college student wearing Neon head to toe, including her shoes... I remembered then why we used to wear our sunglasses at night lol...
The latest trend to pop up on my radar is a reincarnation and reinvention of ....
RAINBOW BRITE
Now this was a trend that was just a few years behind me, but I remember my sister had Rainbow Brite herself and Patty O'Green... and she was a faithful follower of the television program...
Now why is Rainbow Brite hitting my radar you ask? Well it's because Mom Select selected me to receive copies of a new Rainbow Brite Adventure Pack - a CD that includes games, coloring pages, animated shorts, puzzles and more!
All they asked is that I review the cd and share my thoughts with you... but I'm going to do one better - I have five more copies of the CD that I will mail to the first five followers who request it! You must be following the blog on Google or Networked Blogs or be a Fan on Facebook to qualify .... but you can do that right now if you haven't yet!
Leave me a comment that you are interested and make sure the email you leave is correct, as I will send you an email requesting your mailing address -- ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!
Now on to the review:
Rainbow Brite has been reinvented for the new millenium and really and truly, has grown up in a lot of ways... gone is the ragdoll image with yarn hair and in her place is a svelte pre-teen
She and her friends, Tickled Pink and Moonglow each have their own magical horses and sprites and are charged with keeping colour in their world, and of course there are wonderful games, coloring activities and puzzles to go with the re-launch. I have to say that I miss the fact that Rainbow Bright used to be a little more round and natural looking, because the new incarnation looks too sophisticated for my retro tastes, but my daughter wholeheartedly approves of the changes, so what do I know.
Most of the games and activities weren't geared for an eleven year old, but she and I would recommend most of them for 5-8 year olds - although I have to say I was kinda hooked by the memory style game and the Twinkle star catcher game!
Many of the other moms I shared this with were impressed with the games and activities and glad that the Rainbow Brite character was back for their kids! The dolls are now available at Target and will be out at Toys R Us shortly, and I'm sure that Rainbow Brite birthday parties will become all the rage again...
If you'd like to have your own CD full of memories and fun, just make sure you're following the blog and leave me a comment saying send me a CD!
I'm part of the Trendy Treehouse Blog Hop!
Welcome fellow bloggers to my little slice of imbalance :) I would love for you to explore my mind a little and park if you feel so inclined :)
I'm A Guest Blogger!!
They are featuring Couponning 101 but I thought that I would share with you that I'm A GUEST BLOGGER on The Colors Magazine and you can check out my five nifty tips for saving money at the grocery store - no matter where you live!
A Cigarette saved his life...
I never thought I would write those words, "A Cigarette save his life..." but I also never thought I would almost kill someone driving to pick my husband up from work tonight...
This is an open blog post to the bicyclist who was driving the wrong way on St. Phillip Street from George to Calhoun Streets at a little before 8pm tonight.
Please, for the love of God, if you are going to disobey the posted traffic signs which clearly make St. Phillips a ONE WAY STREET, have the decency to;
a) put a light and front reflector on your BLACK bicycle.
b) wear some article of clothing that is not BLACK!
c) DON'T DRIVE AFTER DARK!
The only reason I saw this guy hurtling towards me IN THE MIDDLE of the STREET was the cigarette he had going in his hand... and the fact that I was already watching out for stupid pedestrians who like to cross in the middle of the street without looking at night...
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only stupid cyclist out tonight - after I picked up my dear hubby and related my sad tale of woe, we caught up to another bicyclist with no REAR reflector, wearing dark clothing and a dark backpack who swerved in front of the car and started cycling down the wrong side of a narrow street... all the while talking on her cell phone...
I used to read the Darwin awards and wonder how people could be so fundamentally stupid, but apparently I don't have to look far for potential candidates...
To all the cyclists out there, I am happy to share the road with you but PLEASE obey the traffic signs and signals, wear light coloured or reflective clothing at night, and have lights, bells and reflectors on your bike - it just might save your life...
This is an open blog post to the bicyclist who was driving the wrong way on St. Phillip Street from George to Calhoun Streets at a little before 8pm tonight.
Please, for the love of God, if you are going to disobey the posted traffic signs which clearly make St. Phillips a ONE WAY STREET, have the decency to;
a) put a light and front reflector on your BLACK bicycle.
b) wear some article of clothing that is not BLACK!
c) DON'T DRIVE AFTER DARK!
The only reason I saw this guy hurtling towards me IN THE MIDDLE of the STREET was the cigarette he had going in his hand... and the fact that I was already watching out for stupid pedestrians who like to cross in the middle of the street without looking at night...
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only stupid cyclist out tonight - after I picked up my dear hubby and related my sad tale of woe, we caught up to another bicyclist with no REAR reflector, wearing dark clothing and a dark backpack who swerved in front of the car and started cycling down the wrong side of a narrow street... all the while talking on her cell phone...
I used to read the Darwin awards and wonder how people could be so fundamentally stupid, but apparently I don't have to look far for potential candidates...
To all the cyclists out there, I am happy to share the road with you but PLEASE obey the traffic signs and signals, wear light coloured or reflective clothing at night, and have lights, bells and reflectors on your bike - it just might save your life...
Awards... :)
It's so much fun to become part of a blogging community and share not only with friends and family, but also to share with a warm and fabulous group of fellow bloggers who understand that not only do we want to see that people are visiting our pages but also that we are starved for comments and followers... One of the fabulous things that happens when you make blogging friends is that you can share the love by giving and receiving awards and today I was lucky enough to receive:
Seven interesting things about myself (in no particular order)
The Lady Bloggers - a new blogging community that includes great blog rolls, features bloggers and provides tips (including two by yours truly)
Out of the Box Into the Kitchen - my friend Heather has finally taken the plunge into blogging and is sharing great from scratch recipes!
Karlospohies - a blog by a fab Aussie!
It's Blogworthy - a neat blog by someone I met through SITS and have started to follow
Sarahcasm - a blog by a fellow Torontonian... cause I miss real Canadian sarcasm
MizDinah - this blogger from BC may be too busy at the winter Olympics to post lately, but check out some of her work anyway - worth the read!
Flicker's Lair - another great Canadian Blog
from Jamie at My Kitchen to Yours whose wonderful blog is so much fun! If you haven't visited her yet, you need to click on this link
Instructions for the award:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Paste the award on your blog
3. Link the person who nominated you for the award
4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself
5. Nominate 7 bloggers or less
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominated.
Seven interesting things about myself (in no particular order)
- I am a speed reader... I don't like putting down a book once I start it either... so you will often find me hiding in the bath tub (refilling the hot water) for the hour it takes me to get through a book...
- Along with number 1, I like to read trashy romance novels... I read so much that trying to read different versions of War and Peace all the time is hard to do, so I like to mix in liberal amounts of good trash reading
- I belong to a wonderful organization called PEO and we raise money for scholarships and educational loans for women, and the fellowship with other PEOs has helped me to move to new cities in far off areas... and land on my feet
- I like to tweak recipes... no matter how good the original was, I have to add my own flair... sometimes with not so great results
- I am a rampant couponner and share my coupon and saving knowledge by giving seminars and on my other blog - couponning101.blogspot.com - which if you haven't visited yet, you SHOULD!
- My best Publix shopping trip ever was getting $132.21 in groceries for $11.60
- I haven't cut my hair in almost two years because I am loyal to one hair dresser and she is home in Toronto and we haven't been able to visit due to immigration issues (which have finally been fixed!)
The Lady Bloggers - a new blogging community that includes great blog rolls, features bloggers and provides tips (including two by yours truly)
Out of the Box Into the Kitchen - my friend Heather has finally taken the plunge into blogging and is sharing great from scratch recipes!
Karlospohies - a blog by a fab Aussie!
It's Blogworthy - a neat blog by someone I met through SITS and have started to follow
Sarahcasm - a blog by a fellow Torontonian... cause I miss real Canadian sarcasm
MizDinah - this blogger from BC may be too busy at the winter Olympics to post lately, but check out some of her work anyway - worth the read!
Flicker's Lair - another great Canadian Blog
Don't bash the athletes...
I have to say that so far I haven't really commented on the Olympics... I've been having to get my info second hand, since we gave up cable as a budget saver and can only watch snippets online since NBC did a deal with the cable/satellite providers... but I have to take exception to a headline in the Toronto Star today : Subpar Showing for Canada
I understand watching every sport and hoping that a Canadian (or insert your country here) will land on the podium and will walk away with one of the beautiful medals and glory in the annals of history - but hey sports writer... have you spent the last several years eating, sleeping and breathing Olympic training, only to find out that another three people are going to be able to stand and get the accolades that all the athletes deserve?
Yes, for some athletes there may be disappointment in not reaching the pinnacle of their sport on any given day, but there is no need to bash or put down any athlete who has sacrificed to become an Olympic athlete - they are all winners... and should be hailed just for accomplishing their goal of being there...
I realize that Canada finally stepped up to the plate in recent years with funding for Olympic athletes in their 'Gold' program - but countries around the world have been doing that and supporting athletes for decades and just throwing money at athletes doesn't automatically make them winners.
There was no place to comment on the article above, so I figured I would have to turn to my other outlet to share my feelings - my blog...
Not much of a Tuesday Funny... you'll have to read my previous post for that....
I understand watching every sport and hoping that a Canadian (or insert your country here) will land on the podium and will walk away with one of the beautiful medals and glory in the annals of history - but hey sports writer... have you spent the last several years eating, sleeping and breathing Olympic training, only to find out that another three people are going to be able to stand and get the accolades that all the athletes deserve?
Yes, for some athletes there may be disappointment in not reaching the pinnacle of their sport on any given day, but there is no need to bash or put down any athlete who has sacrificed to become an Olympic athlete - they are all winners... and should be hailed just for accomplishing their goal of being there...
I realize that Canada finally stepped up to the plate in recent years with funding for Olympic athletes in their 'Gold' program - but countries around the world have been doing that and supporting athletes for decades and just throwing money at athletes doesn't automatically make them winners.
There was no place to comment on the article above, so I figured I would have to turn to my other outlet to share my feelings - my blog...
Not much of a Tuesday Funny... you'll have to read my previous post for that....
Tuesday funny
This comic caught me in a strange frame of mind - as do many things but this one I have been thinking about so I thought I'd post and share...
And my response from the ticket seller is "I'm sorry, I don't think this will be coming out on DVD for about 6 months"
The past few times I have made it out to the movies, I have tried to say that at least two cell phones went off and the seat kickers were active... but the movies were worth it..
What about you? Seen any good movies lately? Had trouble at the theatre?
And my response from the ticket seller is "I'm sorry, I don't think this will be coming out on DVD for about 6 months"
The past few times I have made it out to the movies, I have tried to say that at least two cell phones went off and the seat kickers were active... but the movies were worth it..
What about you? Seen any good movies lately? Had trouble at the theatre?
More words!
I am sitting here watching Liam tell a story to with his toes... or at least that's what I think he's doing - he's babbling and manipulating his feet like some kids would play with puppets... I honestly wish I could figure out what he's thinking sometimes... It must be incredible...s
He was watching an old episode of Blues Clues today and was actually participating in some of the responses!!! He said "Hi Steve" with the 'kids track' and "A Cu A Cu" at one of the appropriate places!
We are seeing so much more spontaneous speech - I'm so happy!
We've also discovered a Carrot Muffin by Kinnikinnick that he LOVES and we found it on sale at Whole Foods!!!
He's slowly but surely catching on to speech, but has really decided that he's not into signing... we're using it more as cues than as speech, and they are introducing more picture cues at school which he also seems to be getting into...
I don't know if its the GF diet or just 'the right time' but we seem to be more on track now so we're going to continue the GF experiment for a few more months!
He was watching an old episode of Blues Clues today and was actually participating in some of the responses!!! He said "Hi Steve" with the 'kids track' and "A Cu A Cu" at one of the appropriate places!
We are seeing so much more spontaneous speech - I'm so happy!
We've also discovered a Carrot Muffin by Kinnikinnick that he LOVES and we found it on sale at Whole Foods!!!
He's slowly but surely catching on to speech, but has really decided that he's not into signing... we're using it more as cues than as speech, and they are introducing more picture cues at school which he also seems to be getting into...
I don't know if its the GF diet or just 'the right time' but we seem to be more on track now so we're going to continue the GF experiment for a few more months!
Sunday Family Stories - the valentine's day edition
I get flak from my family for not mentioning my wonderful husband enough in my blog... its not that he's not important, he's just not as unbalancing a force in my life as everyone else :)
But being that today is Valentine's day, and that I was inspired by a post from The Green Hangar Shop Blog that I'm going to share a little bit about our wedding and the venue :)
Wayne and I married fairly young and right out of university so we weren't well off financially and were starting our married life with him returning to school to start his masters, so everything about our planning was budget conscious... I also knew that I wanted a memorable, somewhat traditional but definitely us wedding. We had found the location while on a date the year before - partly because we'd been commuting to see each other between Toronto, where I lived and St. Catherines where he was living at the time, to go to school at Brock University... and every time we drove along we'd see the sign for Balls Falls conservation area...and it just intrigued us...
We wandered around a small historical village setting and then hiked out to the main cataract (about 1/2 an hour walk away) and had a great time just wandering around the area. We were heading back to the parking lot and our car when we noticed all sorts of greenery and decorations being taken into the barn on the property ... being the nosy nelly that I am... I just had to go and peek... they were setting it for a wedding and I was hooked.
So when we decided to get married the following August, my first call was to Balls Falls to see what dates were available for the following summer... to my dismay, they said that it looked like they were fully booked :(, but two of the bookings were tentative :D and she would contact the people with tentative bookings to see if either of them were planning to cancel....
I waited as patiently as I could - for three days - to see if I would be getting married there on May 30th, July 4th or not at all....
It was going to be...
May 30th, 1998
And I had almost nine months to the day to plan...so I did what every girl did twelve years ago (before technology exploded everywhere)... went and bought out the bridal magazine section of the grocery store and took the week after I finished my summer job and before I started my last year of university and went to my grandparent's cottage to make lists...
Wayne had given me the guidelines that he wanted 'the guys' to be his groomsmen:
and he asked if one of his best friends, Michelle could be in my wedding party, so I planned to ask my sister, Michelle and my future sister-in-law Shellie to be my bridal party and then my cousins Katelyn and Paige to be my junior bridal party... Cat and Michelle were both pleased to be asked and accepted, but Shellie had an announcement for us when we asked her... she figured she'd be about 9 months pregnant about the time of our wedding - her doctor had pegged her due date for June 5th, 1998.
(Side note, Robyn was born 5 weeks early on April 29th, 1998 which gave mom and baby time to recover enough to make our wedding their first major pubic appearance:
But being that today is Valentine's day, and that I was inspired by a post from The Green Hangar Shop Blog that I'm going to share a little bit about our wedding and the venue :)
Wayne and I married fairly young and right out of university so we weren't well off financially and were starting our married life with him returning to school to start his masters, so everything about our planning was budget conscious... I also knew that I wanted a memorable, somewhat traditional but definitely us wedding. We had found the location while on a date the year before - partly because we'd been commuting to see each other between Toronto, where I lived and St. Catherines where he was living at the time, to go to school at Brock University... and every time we drove along we'd see the sign for Balls Falls conservation area...and it just intrigued us...
We wandered around a small historical village setting and then hiked out to the main cataract (about 1/2 an hour walk away) and had a great time just wandering around the area. We were heading back to the parking lot and our car when we noticed all sorts of greenery and decorations being taken into the barn on the property ... being the nosy nelly that I am... I just had to go and peek... they were setting it for a wedding and I was hooked.
So when we decided to get married the following August, my first call was to Balls Falls to see what dates were available for the following summer... to my dismay, they said that it looked like they were fully booked :(, but two of the bookings were tentative :D and she would contact the people with tentative bookings to see if either of them were planning to cancel....
I waited as patiently as I could - for three days - to see if I would be getting married there on May 30th, July 4th or not at all....
It was going to be...
May 30th, 1998
And I had almost nine months to the day to plan...so I did what every girl did twelve years ago (before technology exploded everywhere)... went and bought out the bridal magazine section of the grocery store and took the week after I finished my summer job and before I started my last year of university and went to my grandparent's cottage to make lists...
Wayne had given me the guidelines that he wanted 'the guys' to be his groomsmen:
(Side note, Robyn was born 5 weeks early on April 29th, 1998 which gave mom and baby time to recover enough to make our wedding their first major pubic appearance:
Well, I was able to plan the minister, the flowers, the colours and more during that week at the cottage... we decided to go fairly traditional and have Wayne buy his tux and me buy a long gown... but to tell family and friends that they could bring casual clothes for after the church to take advantage of the walking trails and beautiful park while we took pictures... many of them did ...
The only downside was the heat... but even that made for a beautiful picture when I had my bridezilla moment and I sat down and told the photographer I wasn't moving until I got a bottle of water:
So we had a picnic style barbecue for our reception, complete with family style seating and all you could eat shish-kabobs right off the grill! We also had our caterer do potato salad, green salads and macaroni salad and everyone ate their fill and we kept country hours by starting the wedding at 1pm, the reception at 4pm and having the bride and groom leave the party by 9pm...
We set off for a nearby hotel for our first night of the honeymoon, but didn't tell anyone which one, because chivarees are part of a family tradition on my side and not one that I wanted to experience...
We then took off for a week at the cottage and arrived to find out that a terrible storm had gone through the area earlier in the day leaving us without power or phone ... but that's another story for another time...
Snow in Charleston SC!
Not nearly as much as some of my friends and fellow bloggers have had to deal with, but since it hasn't snowed and stuck since 1989 here... its a day worth remembering ... and it makes Robyn happy
Although I have to say if we're going to get snow this is the way to do it... a couple of inches... good packing snow, with a weather forcast of a high of 52F :) no shoveling, no work.... the only thing is that all kinds of places are closed (or closed til noon) because of the weather ... oh well
I've been a bad bloggy friend... and a vent
I usually use a few of the snatches of time I get to make some rounds and visit blogs I follow and friends from SITS... but the past few days have been so hectic and tiring that I haven't even been visiting and responding to the comments here on acting balanced....
I have to say that most of my acting talent has been tied up with helping out at Robyn's school in preparation for their move from the old and worn facility they have been in to the new and state of the art one that was built behind it...
They were supposed to move in before Christmas break... and then after the MLK weekend... and finally, come heck or high water, they are finally out of the old school and into the new... but it means that I've been volunteering there nine of the last ten days - and Liam has spent several afternoons there too!
But there is a light at the end of the tunnel... and most of the work I was doing is done :) and they will be moving shortly :)
Now for the vent... if only they could stop scaring my kid and her classmates with their 'new rules'... I could rest easily, but here are a few of them:
1. Students were given an hour and a half orientation as to rules and
expectations in the new building. This was led by our PBIS team and
all students are "ready to roll" for Tuesday.
2. Due to the distance between our two classrooms, we are having to
enforce a strict tardy policy so that no instructional time is lost.
Students will be given 1 minute to transition between our classrooms.
If a student arrives, and our door is shut, then the student is tardy.
3 unexcused tardies will result in a Monday, 2:30-3:30, after school
detention. If a student is consistently tardy (6 or more) then
administration will handle the matter with the student.
3. Each student will be given 3 bathroom/water passes for each teacher
every four and a half weeks of school (6 total). When a student needs
to take a bathroom/break, they will give the ticket to the teacher as
their pass. If their is an emergency, on the part of the student, that
will be handled on an individual basis. However; EVERY student must
have a Haut Gap agenda to utilize when leaving the classroom for
reasons other than listed above. If your child does not have an
agenda, a new one may be purchased in the front office for $5.00
4. NO water bottles, Gatorade, candy, gum, food items are allowed in
the new building and/or lockers...with the exception of student
lunches. A student may not "save" his/her drink items and/or food
items from the cafeteria to take home.
5. Students MUST have all books for all classes each day. Locker
breaks will remain the same, but their will be no returning to
classrooms for books and materials. Lockers are situated within the
classroom and we don't want the instructional day interrupted with
students returning for materials. Students do not need to ask
teachers if they need their books the answer is yes.
Thanks for reading - comments are always welcome (and I promise to return the favor if you are a bloggy friend visiting :)
I have to say that most of my acting talent has been tied up with helping out at Robyn's school in preparation for their move from the old and worn facility they have been in to the new and state of the art one that was built behind it...
They were supposed to move in before Christmas break... and then after the MLK weekend... and finally, come heck or high water, they are finally out of the old school and into the new... but it means that I've been volunteering there nine of the last ten days - and Liam has spent several afternoons there too!
But there is a light at the end of the tunnel... and most of the work I was doing is done :) and they will be moving shortly :)
Now for the vent... if only they could stop scaring my kid and her classmates with their 'new rules'... I could rest easily, but here are a few of them:
1. Students were given an hour and a half orientation as to rules and
expectations in the new building. This was led by our PBIS team and
all students are "ready to roll" for Tuesday.
2. Due to the distance between our two classrooms, we are having to
enforce a strict tardy policy so that no instructional time is lost.
Students will be given 1 minute to transition between our classrooms.
If a student arrives, and our door is shut, then the student is tardy.
3 unexcused tardies will result in a Monday, 2:30-3:30, after school
detention. If a student is consistently tardy (6 or more) then
administration will handle the matter with the student.
3. Each student will be given 3 bathroom/water passes for each teacher
every four and a half weeks of school (6 total). When a student needs
to take a bathroom/break, they will give the ticket to the teacher as
their pass. If their is an emergency, on the part of the student, that
will be handled on an individual basis. However; EVERY student must
have a Haut Gap agenda to utilize when leaving the classroom for
reasons other than listed above. If your child does not have an
agenda, a new one may be purchased in the front office for $5.00
4. NO water bottles, Gatorade, candy, gum, food items are allowed in
the new building and/or lockers...with the exception of student
lunches. A student may not "save" his/her drink items and/or food
items from the cafeteria to take home.
5. Students MUST have all books for all classes each day. Locker
breaks will remain the same, but their will be no returning to
classrooms for books and materials. Lockers are situated within the
classroom and we don't want the instructional day interrupted with
students returning for materials. Students do not need to ask
teachers if they need their books the answer is yes.
Thanks for reading - comments are always welcome (and I promise to return the favor if you are a bloggy friend visiting :)
Sleep part 2
Ok - so I got a great night's sleep last night ... over 9 hours of uninterrupted zzzz and I feel worse :( I can't seem to win... but I was talking to my mom on the phone last night as she harassed my dad for having to take calls at night when I was younger... and discussing that not everyone can wake up alert and functional...
case in point was a few years ago now (pre-kids) when my husband and I were fairly newly married and living in Kitchener, Ontario... we had gone to bed about an hour before the phone rang, and for some reason, my dear sweet Wayne reached over me to grab the phone; he answered it, said "Yep, yep, nope, ok" and then hung the phone back up. I asked him who was on the phone and he said, "Don't worry about it" and promptly went back to sleep, so I did too...
Twenty minutes later, we hear a knock on our door and then another one... so I reach for my robe and get up to answer the door... in walks my brother and 3 of his friends, all of whom were living in Toronto and had come to Kitchener to go to a party... apparently 20 minutes before they had called and asked if it was ok to come over and crash for a bit and raid our kitchen... Wayne didn't remember any of the conversation asked what they were doing there ...
Needless to say, I don't ask Wayne to answer the phone at night any more and we don't have discussions when he first wakes up...
Anyway, hoping to find the balance between not enough sleep and too much sleep tonight :)
H.
case in point was a few years ago now (pre-kids) when my husband and I were fairly newly married and living in Kitchener, Ontario... we had gone to bed about an hour before the phone rang, and for some reason, my dear sweet Wayne reached over me to grab the phone; he answered it, said "Yep, yep, nope, ok" and then hung the phone back up. I asked him who was on the phone and he said, "Don't worry about it" and promptly went back to sleep, so I did too...
Twenty minutes later, we hear a knock on our door and then another one... so I reach for my robe and get up to answer the door... in walks my brother and 3 of his friends, all of whom were living in Toronto and had come to Kitchener to go to a party... apparently 20 minutes before they had called and asked if it was ok to come over and crash for a bit and raid our kitchen... Wayne didn't remember any of the conversation asked what they were doing there ...
Needless to say, I don't ask Wayne to answer the phone at night any more and we don't have discussions when he first wakes up...
Anyway, hoping to find the balance between not enough sleep and too much sleep tonight :)
H.
Sleep...
I'm a big fan of sleep... but sometimes its not such a fan of me... I was brought up in a house where we went to bed on time, but the phone could ring at any moment because my dad was on call 24-7. By the time I was ten or eleven I had a phone in my room and so every time the phone would ring for dad, I would snap to attention and answer it as professionally as I could... The good thing about this is that I am fully awake and cognizant of my surroundings quickly when awakened by a phone or other noise...
The bad thing, is that I'm fully awake and cognizant of my surroundings quickly when awakened by a phone or other noise...and so I spend a lot of time surfing the web and reading in the wee hours of the morning until I am tired enough to sleep again - usually about 1/2 an hour before I'm supposed to get up..
It was all good, until my son moved out of his crib and started getting lonely at night ... now he crawls into bed with me most nights... sometimes quietly and sometimes not so.... its the not so times that are the most difficult to deal with...
and so I run on pure steam until I can crash again...
It doesn't catch up with me often... but I do appreciate a good nap - some of my best are to Nascar Races and PGA golf events... there's just something about both that makes me sleepy.
How do you handle sleep, waking up and getting enough?
The bad thing, is that I'm fully awake and cognizant of my surroundings quickly when awakened by a phone or other noise...and so I spend a lot of time surfing the web and reading in the wee hours of the morning until I am tired enough to sleep again - usually about 1/2 an hour before I'm supposed to get up..
It was all good, until my son moved out of his crib and started getting lonely at night ... now he crawls into bed with me most nights... sometimes quietly and sometimes not so.... its the not so times that are the most difficult to deal with...
and so I run on pure steam until I can crash again...
It doesn't catch up with me often... but I do appreciate a good nap - some of my best are to Nascar Races and PGA golf events... there's just something about both that makes me sleepy.
How do you handle sleep, waking up and getting enough?
If you don't play you can't win...
but when is enough enough?
It's always funny how you walk through stores, neighbourhoods or just watch commercials on TV and dream about winning millions in the lottery or having some long lost (and never met) rich relative leave you their entire estate... knowing that you've met all your relatives and that you don't even buy lottery tickets.
Since becoming part of the blog world, I see blog after blog and website after website running contests, give-aways and promotions large and small and I wonder if a) its worth my time to really enter all of the draws and b) if it really gets the people who are doing the contests what they want...
I guess it comes down to questioning how and why I would use a contest on either of my blogs and if it would be worth the time, effort and cost to create a prize worthy of people actually participating in my promotions...
I would love to hear from fellow bloggers who do and don't run promotions about how they do it, when and how often, or if they don't why not...
And secondly I'd love to hear from everyone about why they do or don't participate in entering all these give aways :)
Have a happy Monday!
It's always funny how you walk through stores, neighbourhoods or just watch commercials on TV and dream about winning millions in the lottery or having some long lost (and never met) rich relative leave you their entire estate... knowing that you've met all your relatives and that you don't even buy lottery tickets.
Since becoming part of the blog world, I see blog after blog and website after website running contests, give-aways and promotions large and small and I wonder if a) its worth my time to really enter all of the draws and b) if it really gets the people who are doing the contests what they want...
I guess it comes down to questioning how and why I would use a contest on either of my blogs and if it would be worth the time, effort and cost to create a prize worthy of people actually participating in my promotions...
I would love to hear from fellow bloggers who do and don't run promotions about how they do it, when and how often, or if they don't why not...
And secondly I'd love to hear from everyone about why they do or don't participate in entering all these give aways :)
Have a happy Monday!
Book review - Buried Alive by Roy Hallums
I have to say that this was the first book I received from the Book Sneeze site and after reading the first few pages I knew that it really wasn't my cup of tea... I found it very frank and a little too rational and graphic for my tastes so I passed it to my husband, who is probably more of a target market for this book and asked that he review it in my place, so I turn my blog over to him temporarily to share his thoughts on Buried Alive:
Buried Alive: The True Story of Kidnapping, Captivity and a Dramatic Rescue
This book is Roy Hallums’ account of his kidnapping at the hands of Iraqi insurgents and his 300 plus day psychological journey while in captivity. While his personal account is fascinating, he also includes accounts of his family members and outlines the trails and tribulations they faced while he was held hostage. Particularly poignant are the diary excerpts that are written by his daughter Carrie. These diary entries illustrate the numerous and onerous challenges the family faces in regards to dealing with government and media while attempting to cope with the unknown status of their father.
Written in a first person narrative, the text provides a grizzly account of life in captivity. The brutality and traumatizing conditions outlined by the author provides insight into the cruelty that can be found in Iraq
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
2nd award...
Same as the first...
I want to thank my friend Sherri at MissIndyBabbles for re-nominiating me for the sunshine award, after I had given it to her... I was going to ignore it, but then I got to thinking about how hard it was to get all the blogs I read down to a group of twelve, so I've decided to devote another day to sharing SUNSHINE with friends and fellow bloggers and introduce you to twelve more fabulous bloggy friends... who you should visit and tell them I sent you :)
Many of these blog friends I have met through a great web connection blog called SITS (the Secret is In The Sauce)- I would nominate them for an award such as this, but they do such a good job of spotlighting blogs and letting us connect with each other that it would probably not be prudent for them to have to choose only twelve, so instead I am featuring twelve new bloggy friends that I have met through SITS and have visited my blog recently so that I could meet them :)
These are the rules I must oblige by in order to pass it on:
- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.
Here are my nominees, in no particular order....
JDaniel4's Mom - a mom and former teacher who is also a transplant to South Carolina :). She has great contests and info on her site, and I found a great world math day post there yesterday :)
B Sparkly - a neat mix of family commentary, product reviews and even samples of things she sells on her esty store.
Blue and White Life - another regular commenter on my blog :) thank you! Her blog is another wonderful mix of personal anecdotes :)
From My Kitchen to Yours - Jamie is also trying to live on a weekly budget and posts her menus! She also has neat stories about other things going on in her busy life!
Diary of Me... Jeannie, Jane, Angel, Mommy - the name says it all :)
An Unpink Life -great ideas, tips and commentary!
Circle Rice - lots going on in this lady's life - we met in the blog world over having family with Alzheimer's Disease... not the most positive way to meet but glad we found each other's blogs
Random Musings from a Single Gal - Yes, I do actually read blogs that don't involve mommy things... and since her most recent post lamented on how she could only give out 7 awards on her last blog award... I'm going to make her stretch and find 12 more :)
Airing my Dirty Laundry, One Sock at a time - you just have to read THIS Post!
Theta Mom - she has great insights into blogging and has built a great following - so in awe ... and her latest post while I was writing was THIS - so apropos :)
Spirit of Power - Keri blogs about her life, good recipes and more
Becoming Homegrown - Another wonderful blogger... I love reading her recipe reviews like this one
I hope that this award finds all these women happily blogging and you find some new blogs to read!
I want to thank my friend Sherri at MissIndyBabbles for re-nominiating me for the sunshine award, after I had given it to her... I was going to ignore it, but then I got to thinking about how hard it was to get all the blogs I read down to a group of twelve, so I've decided to devote another day to sharing SUNSHINE with friends and fellow bloggers and introduce you to twelve more fabulous bloggy friends... who you should visit and tell them I sent you :)
These are the rules I must oblige by in order to pass it on:
- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.
Here are my nominees, in no particular order....
JDaniel4's Mom - a mom and former teacher who is also a transplant to South Carolina :). She has great contests and info on her site, and I found a great world math day post there yesterday :)
B Sparkly - a neat mix of family commentary, product reviews and even samples of things she sells on her esty store.
Blue and White Life - another regular commenter on my blog :) thank you! Her blog is another wonderful mix of personal anecdotes :)
From My Kitchen to Yours - Jamie is also trying to live on a weekly budget and posts her menus! She also has neat stories about other things going on in her busy life!
Diary of Me... Jeannie, Jane, Angel, Mommy - the name says it all :)
An Unpink Life -great ideas, tips and commentary!
Circle Rice - lots going on in this lady's life - we met in the blog world over having family with Alzheimer's Disease... not the most positive way to meet but glad we found each other's blogs
Random Musings from a Single Gal - Yes, I do actually read blogs that don't involve mommy things... and since her most recent post lamented on how she could only give out 7 awards on her last blog award... I'm going to make her stretch and find 12 more :)
Airing my Dirty Laundry, One Sock at a time - you just have to read THIS Post!
Theta Mom - she has great insights into blogging and has built a great following - so in awe ... and her latest post while I was writing was THIS - so apropos :)
Spirit of Power - Keri blogs about her life, good recipes and more
Becoming Homegrown - Another wonderful blogger... I love reading her recipe reviews like this one
I hope that this award finds all these women happily blogging and you find some new blogs to read!
Sunday Family Stories - My office...
473YKNT3964P
This story is not mine, but has been told to me many times...
One of my mother's favourite baby gear products when we were growing up had to be the playpen... the precursor to the pack n' play... I was the first of three kids in fairly rapid succession and I'm sure that the playpen started out as a way to keep each of us contained, but it became more than that...
It became the place where the Christmas tree was placed to keep away from prying fingers... and more importantly it became my office...
Remember - I'm the eldest of three... and as important to this story, a precocious brat... but I loved to colour, draw and write stories from an early age and hated it when my younger siblings started to destroy my work... so instead of caging the two small beasts.... my mom put me and my crayons, glue, scissors etc into the playpen and made it my 'office'... I was safe behind the mesh and my projects couldn't be drooled on, chewed or attacked ... and if I wanted out, I could get out on my own... leaving the mess easily contained for mom...
My mom was always good about thinking outside the box and making things work for our family... and also a good story teller... cause this one gets told all the time :)
This story is not mine, but has been told to me many times...
One of my mother's favourite baby gear products when we were growing up had to be the playpen... the precursor to the pack n' play... I was the first of three kids in fairly rapid succession and I'm sure that the playpen started out as a way to keep each of us contained, but it became more than that...
It became the place where the Christmas tree was placed to keep away from prying fingers... and more importantly it became my office...
Remember - I'm the eldest of three... and as important to this story, a precocious brat... but I loved to colour, draw and write stories from an early age and hated it when my younger siblings started to destroy my work... so instead of caging the two small beasts.... my mom put me and my crayons, glue, scissors etc into the playpen and made it my 'office'... I was safe behind the mesh and my projects couldn't be drooled on, chewed or attacked ... and if I wanted out, I could get out on my own... leaving the mess easily contained for mom...
My mom was always good about thinking outside the box and making things work for our family... and also a good story teller... cause this one gets told all the time :)
9 Random Questions for the universe
Why does the laundry multiply but the socks divide?
Why does it take a bomb to wake the preschooler up on weekdays, but he's up at 5:30am on the weekends?
Why is it when you have a craving for something it's the one thing you forgot to get at the grocery store?
Why hasn't anyone invented a self cleaning refrigerator?
Why is it that with the ton of expensive toys my son has, his favorites are a half empty water bottle and a piece of string?
Why does it rain on weekends?
What is the right answer when some random person asks how you are and you really aren't ok?
Why do people's natural social boundaries collapse with children, pets and pregnant women? (No, I am not pregnant mom...)
Why do people write inane random lists of questions for the universe
Why does it take a bomb to wake the preschooler up on weekdays, but he's up at 5:30am on the weekends?
Why is it when you have a craving for something it's the one thing you forgot to get at the grocery store?
Why hasn't anyone invented a self cleaning refrigerator?
Why is it that with the ton of expensive toys my son has, his favorites are a half empty water bottle and a piece of string?
Why does it rain on weekends?
What is the right answer when some random person asks how you are and you really aren't ok?
Why do people's natural social boundaries collapse with children, pets and pregnant women? (No, I am not pregnant mom...)
Why do people write inane random lists of questions for the universe
An educational fine line...
As some of you may know, my daughter Robyn is part of an inaugural class of kids at a new Advanced Studies Magnet program... which means that she's a guinea pig for how this program will work in the future... and there have been some bumps in the road...
I just finished talking to a friend who has a different perspective from me on the program... she also has a child in Robyn's class, but also has an older child who has already finished middle school and is at the Academic Magnet high school .... and her concern is that the marking scheme for some of the ASM classes is too tight, that one mistake creates a situation where a student drops from their average grade level to the one below and that the rules are getting tighter about late work and assignments so that our sixth graders are working harder than her high schooler...
And it has me thinking - what is more important at this point... getting through the work that is on the books or is it getting the understanding of what they need to accomplish...
My problem is, and always has been, that grades are somewhat arbitrary and mostly meaningless quantitative assignments that may or may not be an adequate measure of what someone knows... and lets face it - everyone has bad days, life happens... should there be room in a quantitative world for a little humanity?
I look at my husband, the university professor, who still accepts papers and assignments late with good, and sometimes not so good, excuses from students and gives six in class assignments with the knowledge that he will drop the lowest mark ... and this is UNIVERSITY...
So the roundabout question here is... should I say anything to the one teacher (2 courses) about the inflexibility of his grading scheme and how it may not be serving any really good purpose... or should I leave it well enough alone?
It's a fine balance for me - because one of the things I've said about the program going in, was that I wanted my child to know about the realities of finding failure and being challenged... but by the same token I would now be going and asking that 'reality' take 'real life' into account...
Thoughts?
I just finished talking to a friend who has a different perspective from me on the program... she also has a child in Robyn's class, but also has an older child who has already finished middle school and is at the Academic Magnet high school .... and her concern is that the marking scheme for some of the ASM classes is too tight, that one mistake creates a situation where a student drops from their average grade level to the one below and that the rules are getting tighter about late work and assignments so that our sixth graders are working harder than her high schooler...
And it has me thinking - what is more important at this point... getting through the work that is on the books or is it getting the understanding of what they need to accomplish...
My problem is, and always has been, that grades are somewhat arbitrary and mostly meaningless quantitative assignments that may or may not be an adequate measure of what someone knows... and lets face it - everyone has bad days, life happens... should there be room in a quantitative world for a little humanity?
I look at my husband, the university professor, who still accepts papers and assignments late with good, and sometimes not so good, excuses from students and gives six in class assignments with the knowledge that he will drop the lowest mark ... and this is UNIVERSITY...
So the roundabout question here is... should I say anything to the one teacher (2 courses) about the inflexibility of his grading scheme and how it may not be serving any really good purpose... or should I leave it well enough alone?
It's a fine balance for me - because one of the things I've said about the program going in, was that I wanted my child to know about the realities of finding failure and being challenged... but by the same token I would now be going and asking that 'reality' take 'real life' into account...
Thoughts?
Thoughts for Thursday and a request
There are two phrases from my childhood floating around in my brain today ....
The first one is "If you don't vote, you can't complain..." My grandparents and parents have always touted the beauty of democracy - everyone gets a vote... so if you choose to abdicate your responsibility for choice, you abdicate the right to make comments so no matter how small the vote is... always take your opportunity to make your opinion heard (even if the person or idea you vote for doesn't win)
and the second one is "Never argue sex, politics or religion unless you know a person well enough to agree to disagree... and that they can too..." I am friends with people across the political and cultural spectrum and I respect everyone's right to their opinion on all subjects... because the wonderful amorphous world is full of colours, hues and textures that wouldn't make sense in black and white... I may not understand your perspective, but I do appreciate that it comes from deep rooted convictions and a belief in yourself and your compass, whether its religious, ideological or political...
I was sitting in the car the other day and heard just a snippet of a radio interview with an author of a book, neither of whose name was mentioned in the snippet - but it has me intrigued because she was talking about being immersed in a different culture and finding common ground and interests that did not rely solely on being like others around her... and now I'm filled with regret that I got neither from the discussion and am appealing to anyone who might have read the work in question to help me... and its what got me thinking about quote above... and now has me curious to know more
so if you have any clues to the puzzle, please help...
All I know is that the author is a woman, spent a year living in Bahrain or somewhere in the middle east and was a Christian woman who visited a mosque twice because she met a wonderful guide (I think named Katerina or Fatima) and she was being interviewed on what might have been a nationally syndicated radio program this past Sunday, or something local to Charlotte where I was visiting - I've tried googling parts of this but end up with too many choices...
Any help would be appreciated :)
The first one is "If you don't vote, you can't complain..." My grandparents and parents have always touted the beauty of democracy - everyone gets a vote... so if you choose to abdicate your responsibility for choice, you abdicate the right to make comments so no matter how small the vote is... always take your opportunity to make your opinion heard (even if the person or idea you vote for doesn't win)
and the second one is "Never argue sex, politics or religion unless you know a person well enough to agree to disagree... and that they can too..." I am friends with people across the political and cultural spectrum and I respect everyone's right to their opinion on all subjects... because the wonderful amorphous world is full of colours, hues and textures that wouldn't make sense in black and white... I may not understand your perspective, but I do appreciate that it comes from deep rooted convictions and a belief in yourself and your compass, whether its religious, ideological or political...
I was sitting in the car the other day and heard just a snippet of a radio interview with an author of a book, neither of whose name was mentioned in the snippet - but it has me intrigued because she was talking about being immersed in a different culture and finding common ground and interests that did not rely solely on being like others around her... and now I'm filled with regret that I got neither from the discussion and am appealing to anyone who might have read the work in question to help me... and its what got me thinking about quote above... and now has me curious to know more
so if you have any clues to the puzzle, please help...
All I know is that the author is a woman, spent a year living in Bahrain or somewhere in the middle east and was a Christian woman who visited a mosque twice because she met a wonderful guide (I think named Katerina or Fatima) and she was being interviewed on what might have been a nationally syndicated radio program this past Sunday, or something local to Charlotte where I was visiting - I've tried googling parts of this but end up with too many choices...
Any help would be appreciated :)
My first Blogging Award!
I want to thank my friend at Adventures in Mommyland for bestowing me with my first blog award (of many I hope)! It was so nice to see a comment from Charlene on my last post this morning... and even more exciting when I went to her blog as instructed and found out that I had won a
Since I have learned that blogging in isolation isn't nearly as much fun as blogging communities of friends, I have been regularly reading blogs from several people and would like to pass on the honour of this award to them ...
These are the rules I must oblige by in order to pass it on:
- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.
Here are my nominees....
under the Mac - the first blog I ever really read that belongs to an in real life friend and fabulous person who was part of my inspiration to start blogging.
The Snyder 5 - a mom with a great attitude and a great family just ripe for sharing in blog world
Mommy's Sippy Cup - who couldn't be inspired by a title like that - and the blog is just about as refreshing as sitting down with a glass of something :)
Mommy's Time Out Today - can we sense a theme of blogs I follow... ok Mommy Blogs is one of them but this Mommy has a great blog and you should check her out too!
Alone in a Holy Land - a mom who understands some of the isolation I feel living away from family and friends...
MissIndyBabbles - a blog of a fellow mom of a special needs kid and a cute new little peanut...
Hallee The Homemaker - a blog of a fellow mom who I met through another online community and who gave me my first guest blogging spot :)
My other passion of course is couponning and saving money - and I get inspiration and tips to share on Couponning101 from these blogs:
Coo Coo 4 Coupons
Crystal Clear Savings
The Coupon Sista
And the final theme of my blog reading is food and recipes and since I am switching to more Gluten free recipes, I have been haunting these blogs...
The Gluten Free Goddess
The Gluten Free Homemaker
Wow - picking only twelve was difficult! I hope you enjoy visiting some of the people who continue to inspire me to blog and share... or make me laugh when I need it... and of course help me to feed Liam on his GF diet.. I would totally have chosen Advenutres in Mommyland as a recipient of my award and encourage you to visit her, but she got this award twice already this week, so I'm letting her off the hook :) I especially appreciate getting an award like the sunshine award today, because I'm sure it marks the end to some of the craziness that's been happening around me and the return to some semblance of balance in my life.
These are the rules I must oblige by in order to pass it on:
- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.
Here are my nominees....
under the Mac - the first blog I ever really read that belongs to an in real life friend and fabulous person who was part of my inspiration to start blogging.
The Snyder 5 - a mom with a great attitude and a great family just ripe for sharing in blog world
Mommy's Sippy Cup - who couldn't be inspired by a title like that - and the blog is just about as refreshing as sitting down with a glass of something :)
Mommy's Time Out Today - can we sense a theme of blogs I follow... ok Mommy Blogs is one of them but this Mommy has a great blog and you should check her out too!
Alone in a Holy Land - a mom who understands some of the isolation I feel living away from family and friends...
MissIndyBabbles - a blog of a fellow mom of a special needs kid and a cute new little peanut...
Hallee The Homemaker - a blog of a fellow mom who I met through another online community and who gave me my first guest blogging spot :)
My other passion of course is couponning and saving money - and I get inspiration and tips to share on Couponning101 from these blogs:
Coo Coo 4 Coupons
Crystal Clear Savings
The Coupon Sista
And the final theme of my blog reading is food and recipes and since I am switching to more Gluten free recipes, I have been haunting these blogs...
The Gluten Free Goddess
The Gluten Free Homemaker
Wow - picking only twelve was difficult! I hope you enjoy visiting some of the people who continue to inspire me to blog and share... or make me laugh when I need it... and of course help me to feed Liam on his GF diet.. I would totally have chosen Advenutres in Mommyland as a recipient of my award and encourage you to visit her, but she got this award twice already this week, so I'm letting her off the hook :) I especially appreciate getting an award like the sunshine award today, because I'm sure it marks the end to some of the craziness that's been happening around me and the return to some semblance of balance in my life.
Too busy...to think... random thoughts
I used to be one of those people who thought that I couldn't be a Stay at Home parent because I would be bored and drive myself insane... and I guess that I really am not following the Stay at Home part of that equation, especially lately... but as often as I have thought about sitting down to blog lately I have either opened the laptop and stared blindly at the screen... or I haven't even made it that far and I've just given up because I've been too busy to do anything, especially think...
I haven't been home for more than two hours awake time since Friday... and the toll is starting to show on my mental processes... so much so that today I had my car (our only family vehicle) locked into a secure construction site and had to call a friend to come and rescue me and the kids... so I think I've finally reached my breaking point... and am blogging for some much needed sanity and reassurance that, while I cannot string coherent sentences together vocally, with a little editing, I can still get thoughts to appear magically from my fingertips :)
So bear with me as I completely expound on some of the useless random things I have learned since I last blogged...
A little snow can be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands...
This is especially hard to understand as a Canadian, but now that I know ... I will remember it forever..
I haven't been home for more than two hours awake time since Friday... and the toll is starting to show on my mental processes... so much so that today I had my car (our only family vehicle) locked into a secure construction site and had to call a friend to come and rescue me and the kids... so I think I've finally reached my breaking point... and am blogging for some much needed sanity and reassurance that, while I cannot string coherent sentences together vocally, with a little editing, I can still get thoughts to appear magically from my fingertips :)
So bear with me as I completely expound on some of the useless random things I have learned since I last blogged...
A little snow can be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands...
- Wayne had a conference to go to in Charlotte this past weekend, and I had planned to go with him for a romantic weekend, but life intervened and our babysitters (aka the grandparents) had to return to Canada earlier than planned, so we thought.. why don't we take the kids with us to see some sights in Charlotte while Wayne goes to the conference... which leads me to the next few random points
This is especially hard to understand as a Canadian, but now that I know ... I will remember it forever..
- Three episodes influenced my understanding of this...
- The first is that the one attraction that we wanted to go to was closed on Saturday because of the weather... tried to go again Sunday, and despite the fact that everything was melting and clearing... it was still closed..
- The second one is that we almost didn't get to eat dinner on Saturday night.. the first eight restaurants we went to were all closed ... finally found an open Appleby's and were seated ... as were the couple behind us... and then everyone else was turned away because they were closing too...
- And the third... we decided to go and check out a mall, phoned ahead to make sure it was open... only to get there and find out that over 1/3 of the stores were closed because of the weather...
- The hotel we booked didn't have suites or even couches in the rooms so we had to opt for two doubles instead of a king bed... Wayne was presenting in the morning so he needed a good night's sleep, and he was too long for the bed, so chose to sleep diagonally.. leaving the kids and I to share the other double... if you've read about my bed hogging three year old you can imagine what my night was like...
- Fortunately, I didn't have to move myself or my home, but Robyn's school is moving to a newly constructed building in behind their current school and today was moving day for the Media Center.. and since I volunteer there, I offered to help out... I've been helping pack since Friday...and so has Liam, hence part of the reason I haven't been home at all...
- The move itself went reasonably smoothly, until we were shelving the books and realized that all the new shelves were unstable if you pulled the books to the front of the shelf and leaned on them in any wat... lesson learned after 3 shelves of books were dumped over by the movers
- It was really tiring...
- I haven't been to the store since Thursday (albeit we were away from lunch Saturday to lunch Sunday) and I still have a full freezer and pantry... I will probably need to pick up milk either tomorrow or Thursday, but otherwise we're all good ... cause I've barely made a dint in the stuff around the house
- I have been on a bit of a couponning/hoarding spree lately and hate to miss out on FREE stuff... and I'm kinda missing seeing my fave people at my Publix, but it really is ok that I didn't go to the grocery store this week...
- I drove around to the new school building this morning because I had to run out and grab lunch for Liam and it was raining, so instead of parking in the current school lot I went around to the back and parked near the new building... then went about my day, running back and forth between buildings...
- I left the new school bustling with workers and went for a 'quick' 15 minute PTA meeting... that lasted an hour and a half, and by the time I was back to my car, they had chained and locked the gates to the construction site... and my poor car is on the wrong side
- I phoned my friend Janice, the Media specialist for the school, in a panic because no one was left in the school who might have an inkling of a way to help me... and despite the fact that she'd been on her feet longer than I had today and had only gotten home a half an hour before, she turned around and came and got the kids and me and brought us home
- And she's coming back in the morning to get Robyn and I before school so I can get my car and Robyn won't be late :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
