The past two weeks have been one sickness after another. As I said in my last post, my oldest started out with the flu the week before Easter and my youngest got the flu on Easter and continued on well into the next week feeling crummy. Then came his sore throat that he's had the past several days and his wacked out breathing at night that scares me he is going to stop breathing completely in the middle of the night. Turns out he has strep. The doctor prescribed him some pills that he can't swallow, so hopefully tomorrow we can get a liquid that he can get down. He needs to be on the medication for 24 hours before he can mingle with the general public. Yes, Renee, it is truly one thing after another... I am sad I missed your presentation today.

"Do dogs have armpits?" This question came from my seven year old and it stumped me. I really don't know, do dogs have armpits? He always manages to come up with questions that I don't know the answer to. I finally figured out the reason he was asking me was because he's been sick with the flu; so if I take his temperature from his armpit... what about dogs.. do they get fevers?

My youngest has been sick since Easter and my oldest was sick before Easter... I think I'm next.

It's Bunny Day! Obviously my sleep isn't back on track... I shouldn't be up so late! In a few hours we will be off to see the rest of my family; hopefully I can put homework concerns behind me for the day... the stress is unbelievable. Being I'm a single parent, my kids will be going other places to celebrate Easter because "others" want to see them too ;o) - but I will be with my nieces, nephews, sisters, and my mom and dad.. and a bonus this year! One of my friends and her two children will be coming along; they have been visiting this weekend and since their family is far away, they will join us - the more, the merrier, right? It will all be over by this time tomorrow :o(

Lately I have been lacking anything clever to say... am I aging that fast? Or maybe I was never very clever?

Noon Room

My oldest had his first "noon room" (noon detention) yesterday and he knew it was coming because he hadn't finished his homework from last week. It was interesting to watch him ask his younger brother what the procedure is for attending a "noon room". His brother assured him that it was easy and that they would tell him where to go. I told him not to worry about the "detention" because I know how he is; he stresses out when he gets in trouble in school. I let him know that I wasn't going to be upset about it, so he relaxed a little.

He had been struggling with an assignment that he finally finished last night. He had to write a rough draft of a story that mimics Jack and the Beanstalk. I asked him to tell me his story before writing it down and he did a good job considering the trouble he's been having. I explained to him that some people have an easier time telling a story out loud than writing one down. We got out the tape recorder and I told him to start over and we would record it; that way if he had trouble remembering as he was writing it, we could replay the tape. He thought that was great, but he was a little to aware of being recorded and seemed a little nervous even after I explained nobody else would hear it. But it worked, he got his story written down without even having to replay it. We are both relieved to have this assignment behind him; maybe he can help me work on mine?

Night of Fun plus one car full of Idiots

My youngest left for the weekend, so my oldest and I thought it would be fun to go to the school carnival. I saw this as my opportunity to spend time one on one with my oldest son, which is something I rarely get to do. I bought more than enough tickets so that we could fully appreciate everything we found to do for these two hours of fun. He wasn't interested in the face-painting, which was good, because I felt it would take too much of our precious time. He won at nearly every "booth" we stopped at, so he had a bagful of gumball goodies. He won a can of pop at the ring toss and I made him win me one too :o) He saw many of his friends and they spent some time and some of their tickets to put each other in a mock jail... that seemed to be the highlight of the booths for his grade. Near the end, we realized we still had ten tickets and only about ten minutes to spend them. Not wanting to spend the last ten minutes in line to spend one ticket, we went to the pencil pull and spent our remaining tickets on pencils, some of which won him some stickers. The prizes were small... the experience was not. I fully enjoyed following one of my children around the school watching him interact with his friends. With two kids, I am often pulled in two directions, but I was able to focus... it was great.

On our way home, I had my window down and we were enjoying the nice breeze coming in. Just before we reached home, we passed a car and I happened to be facing the other way as they passed us. I heard a "pop" sound as we were passing and my son asked me what it was. I was clueless, but thought maybe one of us popped a tire. I focused on our car to see if it was driving differently when my son started laughing and pointing towards my window. I turned to see what he was laughing at... here was a paintball splattered onto the inside rim of my window. The splatters left a trail inside our car to the back passenger window. I calmly explained to my son that this wasn't very funny and how this sort of "fun" could hurt other people. The paintball landed extremely close to my head (possibly the target) and I am unsure how I would have reacted if it would have hit me... but, I imagine I might have thought I had been shot... possibly causing an accident. I wish I would have seen the car in time to gather information, but they were long gone once we realized what had happened. I am positive that we weren't their only "targets" that night and I sincerely hope their juvenile fun didn't harm anyone. I don't think I need to ellaborate on how stupid this type of thing is, because I doubt those type of people are spending their spare time reading my words.

Lesson Learned?

Before I came back to school, I had no problems sleeping at night. I knew my job started in the morning and taking care of my children was done after work (or in the middle of the night when needed), but once they were asleep I was free to go to bed without worries - aside from the usual obsessive ones. Since then, I have thrown myself into this world where anytime is a good time for schoolwork and many times studying was best done after my kids were down for the night. Bad idea... When does one sleep? Here and there and of course, it's never enough. The body needs several hours at a time to be rested and these hours shouldn't be broken up on a regular basis. I don't know what it's like to go to college without children, so I never realized what people truly meant about how hard it is... I didn't know any different. Now that I've had a little rest, I realize what I was sacrificing and how my classes were suffering rather than being better off from my extra night hours. Sleep became something I grabbed whenever I could and many times it seemed more important than the classes I was working so hard to keep up with in the middle of the night. This has been a hard lesson, I'm only hoping I don't need to be taught again.

My nine-year-old went back to school today... he's been coughing miserably since this weekend. Cough syrup helps a little, but not enough... he's still miserable. He called me when he got to school - forgot his shoes and wanted to come home because he kept coughing. His teacher and the nurse decided he should stay... It's hard to have a good day when I know he isn't.

I printed off some multiplication and cursive worksheets from abcteach today and when my seven-year-old came home from school and was whining for something to do, I pulled them out and said he could teach himself how to write cursive and do some multiplication if he wanted to... he jumped at the chance. When he would struggle, I would remind him that he didn't have to do them, they were just for fun, but he continued. Now he's doing his homework (on his own) and said he's going to work on the worksheets (which he calls his third grade homework) again after he's done with his first grade homework. :o)

My nine-year-old can't stop coughing... definately need some cough syrup here; I bought tylenol when I ran to the store and he hasn't had to take anymore of that because his fever and headache seem to be gone - should of bought cough syrup. My youngest has sickness envy again this morning and asked me why I don't care when he coughs. It didn't seem to bother him yesterday when he was allowed to play with his friends while his brother had to stay inside.

The kids played hard today (friday)... then this evening my oldest got a headache... then a fever - 102.9 yikes!

My youngest doesn't like to sleep alone, so he's been sleeping in his brother's room since I can remember. Since they both have their own rooms, the one was basically going unused.. it's the biggest bedroom to boot. So a couple weeks ago, I transformed the unused room into a playroom of sorts. A place to just hang out or jump around... we got a couple old mattresses for jumping/reading/napping and removed the bunkbed that was there... threw in a tv, vcr, old couch... the toys and books stayed and a few were added and now it's the fun room! I even like hanging out there. It's more cozy now with everything closer to the floor. I must say the mattresses were the biggest selling point for the kids... we all need to jump around more, I think. Of course, the kids wouldn't be satisfied just jumping on the mattresses; they need more air, so they climb on the couch for a good leap. At least I hear "I'm bored" a little less often now ;o)

Had conferences for the kids today; the concerns of their teachers mirror my own. It's always nice to be on the same page. My nine-year-old, I was told, has greatly improved on his spelling. :o) His strongest area is math; needs to read more, however. His behavior is good aside from over-reacting - but we're working on that. My seven-year-old just has to follow directions instead of doodling all over his work... otherwise, he's doing excellent. I told her that he's still acting up before school and not wanting to go. She finds this strange because he's fine once he's there; she gets a big kick out of him.

They didn't have school today, so they're busy splashing their energy all over the place. Tomorrow is another day off... Although these two days are for conferences, I always find it curious that we don't share the same vacations. The days they get off for vacation never seem to match the ones I get off except for the major holidays such as Christmas, Easter and the like. I don't understand how we can live in the same town/residence and have completely different minor holidays... It would be nice if they matched up better because finding daycare for 10 days (or less, but I'm not in the mood to count) a semester isn't always as easy as it sounds, especially when many others have the same problem. It's like trying to find a pair of snowpants in a clothing store in the middle of winter... next to impossible, believe me, I have tried. I'm so tired, am I even making sense?

Today was much better... no tears. With his basketball in his backpack, he was happy to go to school. Somehow I knew if I actually broke down and blogged about it, things would be better today. :o)

Truth be known, I am lacking inspiration to blog lately. My youngest hasn't been very chipper in the a.m. for a while now and has pleaded (unconvincing) cases of illness or just having a bad day in order to try to stay home from school. I am fairly confident that this isn't because he's struggling with his subjects because he always does well on the assignments I see and he has never seemed to be lacking in the friend department. I believe he just wants to play. Sometimes his work comes home with doodling in the corner as the page is unfinished (he's very artistic). And other times he will answer the questions in balloon letters or some other way to make the letters look more interesting. Once on a spelling test, he decided to spell the words in his own order and originally put another person's name at the top... this was erased and replaced with his own. His teacher was perplexed; when I asked him about it, he said it was just a joke or something like that. Is he bored? I really don't know what to do about this... and I wish he enjoyed going to school ... he may be fine once he gets there. I would gladly consider any suggestions.

On the other hand, his older brother is dressed, coat and all, by the time I crawl out of bed to wake them up. He's always been very concerned about getting his homework done on time and doing what was expected of him in school (this isn't always the case at home ;o). He does rush through his homework a bit quickly just to be done with it, but at least he's doing it.

After school they want to rush off and play with their friends/neighbors, so I am left behind with my homework and not having enough time spent with them. For the last two weekends, they have left to go visiting and this seems to be happening more and more lately. I can't protest because of how far behind I am in some of my classes lately and I need the time to work on them, but the end result is I am left with little quality time with them and often little to blog about.

I miss my kids!! It is so silent without them that I have to keep the television on for some noise. I get lonely when they are gone and I'm left to stare at my assignments... my writing... ugh. Hurry home, I'm driving myself insane.

Yesterday, my seven year old explained to me that he is actually four and a half. At first, I didn't understand what he meant, but he counted on his fingers for me. One, one and a half, two, two and a half, three, three and a half, four, four and a half... Still doesn't make sense, you say? Well, he is almost seven and a half.... so the last half is the only one that is really a half, all the others are actually a year. I think... ohhh I'm confused again.

My kids are going visiting for the weekend without me... I guess I'm pretty lucky to be given some time alone. Hopefully I will be able to play catch-up this weekend. I've been having trouble finishing some essays for my non-fiction writing class; I have a bunch of beginnings, some middles and some that have endings, but I don't like em... ohhh yeah, what about fiction class??? Okay, busy weekend ahead... Too much to finish by Monday

Why not?

My morning... Those socks get caught on my toes. Can I bring my kitty (toy) to school? Where's Pikachu (another valuble toy)? Where did he get that coat? I want to wear my coat with the furry hat. I think I'm sick (along with explanation that involved a demonstration of his nose). I'm ready to go sell bunnies now (it's time to go to school!). Why can't I wear my hat in school? - That's no fun! Why do grown-ups interupt when I'm talking? Why does he get to stay home? I'm having a bad day (followed by several genuine tears)!

Just a sampling of a few things from this morning that I had a hard time keeping up with. There were many more that I can't remember. One ended up going off to school in tears and the other is sneezing his head off. Ahhh gotta love Mondays!

One thing many parents have to deal with is bullying. Whether it's your child being targeted or your child is bullying others; I don't know which feels worse. I've had quite a time in the past trying to deal with bullying when it comes to my kids; I want to tell one to use his words and the other one to sock em back... what is a parent to do when her children are opposites?

Obviously a parent shouldn't encourage violence from either one, although it's hard sometimes when you're child is in tears. So far there hasn't been any instances of severe or prolonged bullying on either side of the fence with my children, but I see a pattern in one of my kids that could encourage bullying from others in the future.

I guess I tend to fight some of their battles for them and that doesn't really help anything; I knew this, but it was reinforced when I was paging through The Parent's Book About Bullying: Changing the Course of Your Child's Life by William Voors. This book is for parents of those who bully and those being bullied, which was definately a selling point for me.

I tried to teach my son to show indifference or to ignore, but I honestly needed some guidelines and so far I think this book is going to be great. When I started reading it, I was impatient and paged further into the guts of it all to find some solid suggestions. I have gathered from the book and my child what type of bullying he could be a target of; and then I read some wonderful suggestions. The most important suggestion is showing your child how to be assertive; I now realize I have to be more consistent in practicing our role playing because you can be taught to be assertive (I wish someone would have taught me when I was young). You also need to guide them through which situations require which type of action. If a parent is dedicated enough, I think this book can really help. The book appears to be very thorough and I have just begun to go through it, so hopefully I will gain more insight later (I'll let ya know ;o)

Yay! I got 7 positive votes; thanks guys - I appreciate your opinions and I like the look better myself. I hope Rowanstaff's vision returns to normal by Monday :oþ

I thought I'd give Crystal's suggestion a chance; I was going for gentle colors at first, but if things go as planned it should look like a clown exploded on my blog.

I was at the end of my rope; down to my last nerve; I tried secluding myself to my bed as much as possible; I was sick of everyone! I don't mean to whine, BUT I have a hard time dealing with people who are less than honest and the same hard time dealing with manipulators and on top of that dealing with my OWN life (I'm normally not this bitter LOL). We all know people who are like this and honestly, I have had enough.

Soooooo, my kids and I took off for the weekend to be rid of every possible annoyance... I left with one of my sisters to my dad's cabin out in the middle of nowhere; my mom was there too, but she wasn't feeling very well. Aside from my kids at one point or another... it was Peace! The kids spent much of their time outdoors and voiced how much they would love to live there (sigh, me too). Nobody knew where we were, so naturally my answering machine ran out of tape while I was gone ;o)

It was nice to be able to talk to my dad at length and in person; he's an amazing individual and due to that fact he is busy much of the time. He has internet, so I was able to work on my "Studio Tour I" assignment while I was there (after updating his browser) and although it would have been nice to ignore the computer completely, I was glad I didn't have to delay my visit in order to complete my assignment. I was also able to chat with my sister without being interupted; that was sooo nice, it was almost like we were giggling kids again.

I could go into depth of what was discussed, describe the cabin, mention the endless natural outdoor environment, but I'm just going to let it be - it was near perfect compared to what I'm use to. I was shoved back into reality when I got back, but I didn't let it take away from our experience - now I really have something to daydream about. I wish we could have spent the whole Spring Break there, but the kids have school this week.

Speaking of which, the paper count from last week:
18 full sheets of paper
4 half sheets
2 two-page newsletters
7 partially completed workbook pages
2 Scholastic book order forms (4 pages each)
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Total = about 39 pages - quite the drop from the week before :o)

My nine-year-old got 100% on his practice spelling test yesterday! I think I'll just stick with what works best - writing out each word three times every night. He seems to be getting used to doing this and it's working well; now we should focus on his reading a little more. This is all work to him and I wish I knew a way to help him appreciate reading because as it is, he times himself when he reads and doesn't seem to get into the story as much I wish he would. Maybe it has to be work for now and possibly the appreciation will come later....

I always wondered how I got so behind on filing and throwing away papers that come into this house. I realized that the kids brought home quite a bit, but I thought now would be a good time to get some specific numbers because this last week was incredible. I will start here, but most weeks are not this abundant. They bring a folder home every Friday that I am suppose to go through and initial that I have filtered through and read the contents. Between my two children's last Friday folders, I gained:

91 Random full sheets of paper (assignments, newsletters, etc)
8 half-sheets of paper (spelling tests and the like)
62 Completed (for the most part) Workbook pages (mostly math)
8 page Activity booklet
1 Snowman art project with a blue button nose
1 Big Dipper project (about one piece of paper)
1 Sliver of a voucher for a free ticket to the Science Center
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Total: Just short of 170 full pieces of paper

Maybe they did some housecleaning; we'll see next week.

As much as I wanted the Turbo Twist's to be a huge success on my nine year old's spelling tests, they just haven't. I think it just depends on whether the child gets into them or not. My seven year old likes them more than his brother. When I had my nine year old writing every spelling word three times a night for 2-3 weeks, the most he got wrong was 1. His spelling scores have dropped again since I have experimented with the turbo twist spelling. He got 3 (B) wrong one week and 5 (C) wrong last week. His teacher did send home a letter stating that the words were getting harder so the kids should be doing more practice at home (this is the reason his scores started dropping in the first place). Now, IF he would get into the turbo twist thing, they would probably work well for him, but as it is, he times himself and tries to be done with his practice as quick as possible... so it's not working. In addition, they have recently started writing cursive on their spelling tests and he isn't able to practice his writing on the twist, so I think all in all it would be better to go back to the original plan. I think I'll use the turbo twists for the activities that aren't personalized to what they are doing in school; maybe they'll forget they're learning then.

Obviously I have been on the computer much of the day. I, once again, changed my template. I am hoping this one will work better. I did stop long enough to go grocery shopping and buy a few Archie magazines. If I see one I haven't read (which is most often the case because I don't normally look for them), I have a really hard time passing it up. My mom use to buy them for us and she would always read them herself as well... I wonder what made her start reading them? My sisters and I would pass them around and we alll read them and even now I know that a couple of my sisters (If not all of them) would be glad to take them off my hands when I'm done. At my age I feel a little silly about it, but not enough to give them up completely. :o)

My 7 year old has an exceptionally curious mind; he's the type of person who makes you want to just poke around in their head for a while to see what's up. Some of his favorite movies are: Home Alone I, Home Alone II, Big, and more recently, Cast Away. I bought Cast Away and was watching it one night a few weeks ago. He started watching it with me and he is the sort who asks questions constantly and I found myself at first answering him and then telling him to "just watch and see". He fell in love with the movie and has since watched it at least five times always asking me more questions about what is going on and what "Chuck" is doing or feeling. Tonight, he put the movie in again and convinced his brother to watch the last part with him. Now it is his turn to tell his brother what is going on and he does it very well (he repeats almost word for word what I have told him) and then I heard him tell his brother to "just watch". Ha!
He doesn't like anyone to talk when he's concentrating. He loves slow songs; whenever a slow song comes on, he wants the music turned up and everyone to be silent so he can gaze off and think. Those are times I wish I knew what was going through his head.

One of my sisters just emailed me about Operation Christmas Child. I don't think I've heard of this before, but it looks like a nice way to get your children involved in helping others. Basically they fill a wrapped shoebox full of things for another child. Take a look and maybe keep it in mind for Christmas this year.

I don't know what it is about Shawshank Redemption that compels me to watch it every single time I know it's on.

Responding to Blood

Due to the nature of my blog, I doubt I would ever want to actively seek an audience for it, but Blood offers some really good advice for doing so in the The Weblog Handbook. It’s always nice to know the rules of an activity before you start seriously playing around and this applies to weblogs as well. Blood’s book gives the “newbie” a chance to at least act like they know what they’re doing. I have tried to proceed with caution as much as possible when blogging about my children, so I was pleased to find the section devoted to protecting children. This small section lists things to avoid:

“…I would caution you to think carefully about publishing information that could tie your children to a physical location: the name of their school, your home address, or even a teacher’s name, if your website makes clear what city you live in. (137)”

She also mentions that if you are blogging about someone else’s child you should be even more careful not to divulge any information about them.

I have seen many blogs about children where the bloggers are fairly open about who they are and you can click through many pictures of them and their children as well as learn where they work or anything you could possibly want to know about them. I have also read a blog maintained by an elementary teacher who gives a fair amount of description of the children she teaches and their weaknesses. These are two types of blogs I do not want to mirror. I wouldn’t want to ridicule my children, nor make them easy for anyone to find.

I have tried to be careful about information I post on my blog when it comes to my children, but I have fallen short in some areas and have become aware of some ways my efforts can be easily defeated by much of my own doing. I haven’t mentioned my children’s names, schools, teachers, or our physical address on my blog, but I wasn’t as careful with my own name which has me considering to redo the whole thing and use a different web address. Also, I have included the option of comments after each post and a ZonkBoard on the side which allows people who know me to post information they may not be aware that they shouldn’t. Obviously not everyone is going to read Blood’s book and be aware of any sort of etiquette and I should have been more aware of that. Every caution I have taken could be in vain because of the cautions I didn’t take.

Without Blood’s book, I may not have considered some of these issues and after time may have felt more at ease to add more personal information, but now I will be more aware of what I should and shouldn’t post and the mistakes I have made thus far. Look for my new blog address in the near future.

Have you ever felt that your whole purpose of life is to repeat the same words and phrases over and over again just in the hopes that some day someone will actually hear you say them?

I have almost lost my mind. Aches, sneezing, coughing... the last couple days have been fun. Today we all stayed home; I was up much of the night trying to breath and the kids were coughing all night as well... One would think a household full of sick people would be kind of quiet with the misery echoing in the background.. but, no. My two boys are irritable... everything one does, bothers the other and the next thing you know we have a wrestling match with two coughing competitors. It's a sad sight to see; then there's the achy referee who doesn't have the energy to pry a pillow from her own son's face that was placed there by the other son who has had just about enough of his brother. And the whining... that alone is enough to make you crawl back in bed with earplugs for the year.

I started reading, in part, the book, "Boys!: Shaping Ordinary Boys into Extraordinary Men" by William Beausay II. Although I am not that far into the book, I have thus far found myself in a love/hate relationship with it. I find I strongly agree to some parts and strongly disagree with others... I should have expected some disagreement because the author warns in the beginning that parents do not like to be told they are doing something wrong, but that isn't my problem so far.

I guess my problem stems from the use of gender roles; I don't see it as cut and dry as the book suggests.

The author states, "When a boy is born, he needs nurturing, motherly care that the father cannot offer. Dad's role is limited at the start, except to play a support role for the mother and what she is doing. Dad's importance, however, grows exponentially after the first years of life. As a boy grows through the first five years of life, the scene begins to change. He begins to have needs for what Dad offers that Mother can't fulfill. A boy in this period doesn't need a mothering daddy. He needs a man who is decisive, fun, and willing to stand up and be counted. He needs a coach, mentor, and hero. (25)"

In my opinion, the only thing the mother has to offer that is impossible for a man to do is breastfeeding. And even feedings can be done by the father if the milk is pumped and a bottle is used or in the case of using formula, either can take on the role. The assumption that a father cannot nurture and care for an infant and be as successful as a mother bothers me. When my first child was born, I wasn't immediately skilled in caring for him. Getting to know each other took time and patience; I needed to ask others or read books in order to know what to do. I believe that if the father kept his distance, then he wouldn't have the knowledge or attachment to care for the child, but I would believe the same to be true of the mother. I have seen, as I am sure many of you have, many a nurturing male whose skills far exceed many females when it comes to baby care.

Obviously the second part of this quote would bother me as well. Many women are decisive, fun, and willing to stand up and be counted and they can make excellent coaches, mentors, and heroes. It is my belief that children do mimic their parents and can pull strengths from both sides. The author does talk about this and encourages parents to allow the child to have both masculine and feminine traits; but I still don’t see his point here. If we assume that the mother is best for the first years of life and then the father is best after that, the child can miss out on both parents’ strong points when the other is “in charge”. If we want a well rounded son out of the deal, what is wrong with both parents being good nurturers and caretakers from the beginning as well as coaches, mentors, and heroes later on? Maybe he sees this as the ideal situation? But, I would still argue.

I still believe this book will be a great value to me and hopefully I won't find many instances that I disagree with; maybe I should have chose a book with a more neutral name, such as, Children!: Shaping ordinary kids into extraordinary adults. Ahh well! ;o)

Where is Snoopy when you need to do a happy dance? Things are in working order... :o) :o)

I'm okay, really...

Well, after 6 and a half (no exaggeration) hours of working on the replacement mind station I received today, I am finally getting somewhere. I've spent much of my time on the phone with leapfrog support and the customer support for my computer... it is true, it was not leapfrog's problem; the serial port wasn't detecting the mind station, so I had to do a non-destructive recovery ... But, I could have done without the air of superiority I received (and the constant reminder that this IS my second Mind Station, as if my main goal is to go through as many as possible)... especially from someone who didn't sound like they knew much themselves, in my opinion... one who wonders how come the setup program would still be on my desktop if I unistalled the software?????? Soo I spent some time trying to educate someone as they talked down to me.. that was fun. I did talk to a nice man from customer support for my computer, but I had to hang up with him while I saved the files I wanted to be sure not to lose... he understood everything I was saying and knew what he was talking about... he was the only one who did tonight - I call back to do the non-destructive recovery... Let's just say I ended up having to figure it out myself --- I actually have way too much to say about this evening, but I really don't want the impressions I would receive for using such language...

Only two hours more til my two all-time-favorite Valentines come home. I can almost see the little hearts hanging above their heads where lightbulbs normally go. All I'm hoping for is a Valentine hug; I am sure I won't be disappointed - they always pull through with a few of those for the old lady they think is always at home waiting for them to call and tell her what they forgot to bring to school each day. Maybe I'll even get a couple Valentines made just for me... that I don't have to return... ;o)

I enjoyed the chocolate, Renee; Thank you.

I have a bit of a confession to make. I'm a little embarrassed about it, but excited at the same time.

Well, you know how I bought the turbo twist spelling for my kids? Hmm well, after I saw how much they liked it and how it was causing them to fight over who gets to learn more spelling today ( lol )... well I bought 3 more turbo twists. *blush* It's not like I have a never-ending money supply - really quite the contrary. I just figured it was a good investment. If you're interested, I got turbo twist math, vocabulator, and brain quest. You may laugh at how I seem to lack control, but last night my first grader learned multiplication; just a little bit, but what amazed me was as soon as he turned it on, he wasn't interested in doing the addition and subtraction he has already had a taste of in school. He wanted to learn something new. *grin* After he played around with multiplication for a while, he asked me about fractions! I told him we could work on those later because I thought too much info might confuse him and he was fine with that. One thing about these turbo twists is we can only put one player name in, so they fight a little about who gets who's name on which one (no, I'm not going to buy two of each one). The other can play as a guest, but their score doesn't save... so I try to urge them towards putting their names on the ones that best suit each one. For instance, since my oldest was drifting on his spelling tests, I thought his name should be on that particular one. Both of my kids seem stronger in math, so I let the younger name that one (you can reset the name, so nothing is in stone).

Caroline had mentioned that the turbo twist she bought could be used to add the child's personal spelling list from school, so I want to comment on that. I am wondering if they changed that option to make it so you have to hook up to the website in order to enter them in (I think this is a premier activity); everything I have read seems to point in that direction. I bought the mind station you need in order to connect, but it currently doesn't work, so they are sending me a replacement. You have two choices for upgrading them, however; you can subscribe to their service and download lists that they have (or your own lists) onto cartridges that you can insert into the game OR you can buy pre-made cartridges that are aimed towards certain ages or grade levels. From what I understand, you get 6 months trial subscription to the premier activities and after that time period you have access to only the standard activities unless you pay 18 dollars a year. Since I got the mind station as a package deal with the turbo twist spelling, I plan to make my own cartridges, so I bought a cartridge for each turbo twist (you can use the same cartridge over and over).. we'll see how that goes. 18 dollars a year doesn't seem too high of a price to pay and they mention you can get a discount after that. I guess I am just "leaping" in and hoping it is worth it in the end and not too much of a problem as far as upkeep.

I seriously doubt that Caroline thought I was going to take this to the extent I did, but when you're a parent there are all sorts of things you can buy to help your child along, it's just hard to tell which ones are worth your money until someone you know tells you how they worked for them. :o)

You're a very interesting person, UA

I went sunday, monday and most of today without a microwave; that was about enough for me. Leftovers were being wasted and I kept walking to the corner of the counter where the microwave used to be to put something in... Sooo, I have a new one, a step down from the one I had. The problem is that the one I had wasn't very old - less than a year? My son stuck a can of something in the old one and zapped it all up, so I figure if we're going to be going through microwaves like this... I better opt for a smaller model. I'm ruining the environment single handed. Ugh! This new microwave came with a set of knives inside... what are they trying to tell me?

It's sure a good thing that my feelings don't get hurt real easy... my oldest gave me a valentine a week ago; I was so happy. Then he told me how grandma made the whole thing and all she had him do was sign it; she didn't even tell him who it was for until it was done. hahaha My youngest gave me one last night; I smiled (they want me to be their valentine I'm thinking). Then he told me he made it for me and his dad and could he have it back to give to him? LOL

I was strolling around the class blogs before I head to bed and I noticed Karl was talking about Park Rapids and how they parallel park on the middle of main street. I think this is the one unique thing about Park Rapids; growing up there, you don't find it odd at all until you see how other towns park. ;o)

Karl, apparently I lost your comment by changing my comment option, but I read your message before it was lost and I thank you very much. :o)

Well I copied Ayleen's Comment section by following where she got it from... hope I did it right, my other didn't seem to be working correctly, but my blog doesn't seem to be working correctly either... sooo ahh well ... who knows what this will all look like tomorrow morning.

Well, I am having a wonderful time this weekend. All I wanted was to catch up on my homework this weekend... that's alll I wanted. My kids are gone and there should be no reason I can't catch up.... sooo my neighbor wanted help putting her entertainment center together, which I happily helped her with on Friday night right into the a.m. on Saturday. So I slept late Saturday, but I still have the rest of Saturday and Sunday... the phone didn't quit.. on the phone much of the day telling everyone how I am going to do my homework.. sat myself down after I threw a snack in the microwave... only needed to be in there 10 seconds, but apparently I put 10 minutes (although I keep thinking my microwave does this to torment me) and so the thing cooked about 3 minutes and started a fire....... with lots of smoke..... fire alarm going off... apartment filling with smoke.. bad smell. I got the smoke alarm to be quiet and then was working on getting all the smoke out - it was awfully hazy in here. Soooo since then I've had a bit of a headache and my stomache was hurting from the anxiety. I tried cleaning out the microwave, but it was burnt and very smelly so I had to toss it out. But the smell has well overstayed it's welcome and I have been trying to wipe things down to remove it. Sigh Then I sit down to look at this thing and it's not working correctly either and I haven't gotten my homework done. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.... wonder how far I'll be by tomorrow?

yeah, I'm frustrated...

I think something is wrong with my comment section... working on that now. I did test it out after I set it up...

The turbo twist arrived today; my two kids have been fighting over it all night... a success!

I am quite blown away at some of my classmates responses to Blood vs. Bernstein. I am feeling pretty inadequate right now.

I found a blog I like, it's an open forum type where several people blog to it. It's called Bitch Sessions, but the name can be deceiving - although alluring.

I should mention that last week was a spelling success! He got 100% Wooohooooo

My kids were gone all weekend, but they are back safe and sound now :o) I think my brain is avoiding our assignment for some reason. I have tons of things I should be writing... but here I am. So I'll probably have my wiki going until all hours of the morning :o( I did, although, find some time to order the twist and spell online. They call it a LeapFrog Turbo Twist Spelling and we got the Mind Station with it, so hopefully we can hook up to the internet and download some spelling. Thanks again, Caroline !

I also decided to order them some Eric Carle books. I don't know if they are over the suggested age limit for some of them, but it doesn't matter... They have both borrowed Dream Snow from the school library and they enjoyed pushing the button at the end to hear a little song. So, I went a little crazy because I get excited when they get excited about anything to do with reading, so I started ordering more than just the one book they like hoping they would like these others too... I ended up with: The Grouchy Ladybug, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, and, of course, Dream Snow.

Apparently I'm doing something wrong... maybe I should head over to the Wiki and don't look back. Links disappear out of nowhere and then when I think I've figured out something cool on this thing,,, it kicks me in the *bleep* *bleep* double *bleep*

The worst cookie of the batch becomes the best when all the others are gone

Here is an example of the type of ongoing fiction story I was talking about... A Twisted Weave - It looks like it hasn't been updated since August

I'm very angry at Handy Smurf and his dumb car.

I had a lot of thoughts walking home from class today. I realized that what I'm most worried about while blogging is coming across the wrong way and people not understanding my viewpoint and possibly getting upset or thinking I'm someone I'm not. Also, I would not post things about my children that would make them upset (I hope). My main reason for posting about my children is because they are the most humorous people I know. They do and say things that are so funny to me (even frustrating moments can be humorous later) and the moment dies as soon as my memory can't recall them anymore. I hope that I am teaching my children to laugh at themselves and if I do silly things, I would hope I would do the same. We all have embarrassing moments or do goofy things, but these things aren't so horrible when we realize that we all have these moments. I also think that we, as humans, are contradictory creatures and may say something one day that we don't agree with the next, which I think is good because I try not to make judgments that can't be persuaded... I believe there are two sides to almost any argument, but I do have some worry over appearing contradictory on here because my contradictions would be logged.

I understood what Rowanstaff said today about having a seperate life online; years ago I chatted in a certain chatroom and felt safe because I was hidden behind my online self. I was appalled when a friend I knew in real life called me by my real name in the chatroom... I felt violated (although I got over it quick enough). I don't chat much anymore, so I don't have that persona to hide behind anymore and don't feel the need for it at this time, but, going through that, I understand the apprehension and respect it.

I like the honesty of Andrea's blog and her willingly admitting that she is selfish and doesn't like commenting on the other blogs. I thought I would comment on the not commenting. I also wanted to mention that back when I was in high school (I graduated 1990), a fellow classmate of mine held a teacher at gunpoint (unloaded). I really felt sorry for him because you know how he looked to society and how he may never overcome the opinions people made of him that day. I don't think he's a wacko, I think he was looking for some sort of attention... something was wrong and, of course, he went about looking for help the wrong way (teenage years are cruel). But, be sure that everyone was whispering furiously that he played D&D. The fact remains that the gun wasn't loaded and did any of it really have a thing to do with D&D or was that just something he liked to do? I get frustrated when people make harsh judgments and even more so when I find myself making them... so maybe I shouldn't judge those that judge so harshly? I can be the most frustrating person I talk to sometimes.... ha!

As I was reading Andrea's blog, I realized I hadn't formally thanked Ayleen for taking so much of her time on Friday to help me link to everyone else's blogs. Thank you Ayleen, I really appreciate your help! And I agree, Ayleen's blog and her backpack are very organized and enviable. :o)

I went to Walmart *blush* tonight to look for the twist and spell. They didn't have it, so I guess I'm on to other stores or online. I hope it's something my kids will enjoy....

I have succeeded this week with the spelling battle -- realize I am referring to this week only, however. Spelling practice was done everyday after school since I blogged about it. They took a practice test today and he only missed one and that was due to rushing through and he's smiling because he doesn't have to take the real one tomorrow and can have free time instead.

Rowanstaff, I am happy to report that I haven't heard much more about the padlocking of the backpacks since I suggested using one with a combination rather than a key (nightmares of his teacher calling me about his homework stuck in his backpack with the key god knows where). My oldest was working on learning the combination, but he seems to have gotten bored with the whole thing. :o)

It was nice to see other parents in the class "nod their heads" and find something in my blog worth anything because I was worried it would bore everyone to tears much like hearing every mother you know retell all their childbirth experiences while you are pregnant for the first time (and then you scream at yourself later when you do the same thing to every woman with a protruding belly).

My kids fight wearing their boots to school. They don't want to take the time to put their shoes on when they get there. But they want to put padlocks on their backpacks! Anyone see where I'm going with this? If someone wants to take something from your backpack, a padlock won't stop them.. and the time it will take when you want to get in the backpack,,, would this amount to the same time it would take to slip your shoes on? I've seen them put on their shoes... I've seen them open the padlock... I've done the math. Am I possibly going insane? By the way, I did get my youngest to wear his boots today, (the oldest conveniently forgot his in school) but he forgot his shoes here for me to bring to him. haha it's so funny.

I would like to try blogging an ongoing fiction story. Is anyone thinking of doing this for their class blog? I know there are blogs like that out there, I guess I'll have to search around and see what they're doing...

Every morning, same thing--- one child wants to rush off to wait for the bus for half an hour and the other doesn't want to go to school at all - which one doesn't want to do their homework? The one waiting for the bus for half an hour.

Renee I am guilty for shopping at Walmart and I have been there far more often than you have. Of course, this doesn't free you from the guilt; it only makes me one more guilty than you. Ha ha! I go to Walmart because as a single mother of two, I don't have much extra spending cash and their prices are lower. I guess I'm just contributing to the problem. Please don't heckle me. *blush*

As a parent you can never perfect how to deal with your children. Maybe some feel as though they have, but I know I am always trying to be better and I often fail, which is human to do. The investment is huge and if you blow it completely, you have plenty to deal with later on. I am hoping to blog my children in their glory. Today was a battle. Study habits are best learned at a younger age, I feel. My oldest is fighting me on this; he wants to do his homework quickly on Thursday night right before it's due. He doesn't want to practice his spelling and he feels he already knows how to read, so why practice that either? The spelling test - you're given all the answers a week before you have to take the test. Sigh. Time to dig out every trick I know. I don't know how I failed to convey the joy of reading to him, but at this point, I have. When you have more than one child, you realize how different every child is and how many ways it's possible for them to be different. My children are near opposites of each other in most ways.

I am constantly amazed and amused by the utterances of my children. Near everyday they say something that allows me to step back and reflect on the new perspective they give to our lives. I have always wished I had the discipline to record these amusing conversations and hopefully this blog will encourage me to do so.

This is my first entry.