My Sentiments Exactly!

A few months ago there was a woman on The Ellen show who cracked me up. Supposedly this 80 year old woman called in and had some advice for Ellen on her set. What made me laugh the most was Ellen! She nearly came unglued! Whether or not this whole thing was real or made up is a source of some debate, but no matter, it's funny!

I think there is a Gladys trapped inside of me.

E, who also loves Jesus, but does drink a little

Family Pride

My cousin was just deployed to Iraq. He arrived safely and so far is just fine. J is the one in the first row, third from the right.

Y'all keep him in your prayers and I'll keep you up to date on his progress.

E

Gets My Toes Tapping

I love the GMC commercial that is out right out. The techno version of "Hail to the Chief" makes me want to put on my dancing shoes.

E

Missing The Clothes Boat

I hate it when I miss the season on my boy's clothing. I put away The Negotiator's spring clothes last year for The Critter this year. When I pulled them out The Critter had already outgrown them. How could he?? Moving on.

So I purged The Critter's closet of no-longer-fits clothing and got a bag ready for the clothing pantry at Papa's work. I know all the clothes there go to great new homes and I'm glad. It gives me incentive to keep purging, and believe me I need it since it feels like we are drowning in stuff.

E

Teacher Talks

We had our conference with The Critter's teacher today. She says he's doing great. From what I can tell at the student-led conference, the teacher is correct. He can maneuver the computers like nobody's business. He's whipping through those math manipulatives. He seems to be inclined towards reading and is already at the 1st grade level.

It's all good with The Critter.

The Negotiator has made great strides. His reading has shown remarkable improvement and he's reading slightly above grade level. Whew! As much as we valued the teacher's input we decided to take our own way of helping The Negotiator along with his reading. We started out with us reading to him from chapter books. He had to understand that all those random letters pulled together to make a word and those words in the correct sequence made a story. Once he made that connection he started challenging himself to read more.

This time we didn't meet formally with The Negotiator's teacher, but she sent home a progress form. He kicking mathematics booty. As I said, reading is rocking (a very special thanks to the Harry Potter books). We are told there still a bit of a disconnect with writing, which isn't about handwriting at all, but rather showing your reading comprehension through writing.

I don't think I'm gonna worry about that one. First he's a boy and the physical part of writing is just too hard for them at this age. Moving the brain, the language arts muscle, the hand for actually writing and bringing them all together in concert is a lot to ask. He'll get there eventually. I know he's comprehending the material because he can answer the questions verbally even if he can't write them down in his allotted time. Writing, in the case of this evaluation is, in my opinion, just another bullshit bench mark that only serves to make parents panic about their kid's progress. Which is exactly what I did, panic that is, when I got the little note. Then after further reflection it occurred to me that he's just like me. My mom was told I should repeat Kindergarten and that I was possibly dyslexic because I kept flipping my letters or some such nonsense. So at The Negotiator's age I couldn't show my comprehension through writing either. Today I can say that I've written for the news media (radio, television and print) for a mid-sized market in addition to the many other written documents I've produced over the years.

He'll be just fine. Trust me, teacher, I didn't turn out half bad.

E

From The Spin Cycle

When will I learn that little boys with pockets and laundry do NOT mix?

I got out to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer and what to my eyes appear? Why little tubes of balloon goop. You know the kind that comes with straws and you blow up big plastic-like bubbles? I found yellow, blue, green and red at the bottom of the washer, thank God, still in tact.

Can you imagine what all of clothes would have looked like with the psychedelic goop on them? It's bad enough that I've already had to have the washer serviced because of those damned little playground rocks. Yeah, I know they're safer for kids, but they play hell on my floors and appliances.

E

Hang Up and Bond

I was so frustrated today at lunch. We were at a fast food joint and there was only one other family there in the dining room. A mom and 3 kids were eating quietly while dad was on the phone talking business.

First of all, c'mon dude, you can't put away the phone for one FAST food meal? Your family is sitting there not interacting so that you can take your call. That's just wrong. So okay, maybe it is a matter of life and death that you take talk to this person. I'll give you that, but you can't take it outside so that at least the remaining family members can have a conversation?

Ugh.

Double ugh.

E

Bah Lovebug!

I finally finished knitting Papa that scraf he asked for in the fall. Ooops. Well, mas tarde que nunca. I got it to him just in time for Spring.

Since I think Valentine's day is a crock of you-know-what I gave it to him the day after. I refuse to give in to the whole commercialization of the day. I get cards for my boys and try to do something a little extra to show them I love them, but I ain't buying JACK.

I'll celebrate that the day is about love and not just about the romantic kind of love. I love all my boys, I love my family, I love my friends and I love the Lord. So here I am basking in the glow of all kinds of love.

I hope the same for you!

-E

Is It Bad?

I made all of these chocolate covered stawberries for Papa to take to his office. I became very particular as to the quality of my work on this project. Any strawberry that did not meet strict standards was booted to the reject pile.

Of course all those yummy chocolate covered strawberries couldn't go to waste just because they weren't visually pleasing so I had to eat them. I think I made myself sick on "rejects".

E

What's In A Word?

Have you ever looked at a word and just made yourself all confused?

I was reading the word "flower" and for some reason my mind just couldn't process it. I thought FLOW-er? FLO-er? Of course if I had read the word even a little bit in context it would have made total sense without me resorting to moving my lips while I read.

And yes, the irony that my most recent post was in fact about a flower was not lost on me.

E

A Flower When I Grow Up

When I was kid someone once asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said either a lawyer or flower. I never became the lawyer, but I think I still have a good shot at the flower position.

Both my kids have been in school since fall. During this time I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to decide what I will do next. It doesn't help that some people keep asking when I'll go back to work. I know it's expected, but if I'm honest I'm not ready to do it yet. I sort of feel like I deserve a little "rest" time.

Then I wonder what I could do to put my education and experience to work and I feel guilty that I'm not doing whatever that is. The thing is I don't know that I want to do that anymore. I'm slowly coming to the realization that I may have a different calling. One that I would have never predicted so I'm having a hard time accepting it. I actually like working with kids. I feel that I'm doing something worthwhile even in the few hours a week I spend with them. I just never saw myself in that capacity, especially after my own kids were no longer able to benefit from my program. Still I'm here and I'm happy to be here.

Once again, God doesn't call the equipped. He equips the called.

E

March To State

This year's March To State Parade was even colder than last year. Still the boys had a great time and one of the benefits of being a Cub Scout is that you get to experience a real live parade from the inside out.



Our Pack gets to use Army vehicles to ride in the parade. The trucks are bumpy ride, but the ride is much better than the poor fellas who have to walk the whole time! At least the truck provided a little protection from the wind.




Here are the boys inside the vehicle. The parade watchers watching the boys watch them. Too funny!

E

The Oven Man Commeth

Damn! Damn! Damn!

It was going to cost nearly $400 to get that MFer fixed. Yeah, right. Thanks, but no thanks buddy.

We went to Sears and got a new oven which will be delivered on Saturday. I'm so tired of cooking on the stove top and in a crock pot. I want to heat a frozen pizza in the oven just like all the other kids on the block get to do.

Our appliances are white, but we decided to switch to black. So all the other majors will still be white until they go to the big appliance house in the sky. I wish we could afford to replace everything at once (but hell, if we could afford *that* we would have gone with all stainless).

E