Monday Minute 05/30/11 Edition

1 - Aside from your armpits, what body part of yours sweats the most?
On my legs, that part just below your rear end. I sweat like crazy when I'm working out.

2 - You have two slices of bread. You can add one additional ingredient to make a sandwich, but as much of it as you want. What are you putting on it?
Peanut Butter. Can I toast that bread? It's so much better on toast.

3 - Can you put your entire fist into your mouth?
No, thankfully.

4 - Open your email. How many emails do you have in your 'Inbox'?
My personal email has probably 200 emails, lots of junk mail and forwards. My blog/business email probably has 100. I don't move emails into folders. For me, if I don't see it when I open the email, I forget it exists.

5 - If an adult male is taken for ransom, is that considered kidnapping?
Yes, technically.

Little Miss Citizenship

It's the last week of school for Miss K and she will no longer be a second grader. This year has had it's highs and lows, struggles with behavior ( my little girl loves to talk) but it has been well worth the ride with her amazing teacher. Last year's trials with her first grade teacher resulting in many visits to the principal paid off. My little girl was placed in a much better class with an awesome teacher who took the time to figure out what it took to keep Miss K on task.

With positive reinforcement for this last nine weeks, improving her behavior to almost perfect and being a model student Miss K was awarded the Citizenship Award today at the Second Grade Awards Assembly!!

I am so proud of my little girl! She finally figured out what it takes to be a great student and person at school. She didn't even expect this award which made it so more deserving.

Monday Minute: 05/23/11

Oh Ian has done it again with his
questions that make you question yourself and if
you want to answer truthfully...or not at all..
Here goes nothing

1 - Think back as far as you can, what's the first tape, record, etc you remember listening to? I remember listening to Michael Jackson's Thriller. My older brother got the record and we listened to it while I looked at the album.

2 - What's the first concert you've ever been to, the year and who performed? The first concert I went to was New Kids on the Block. I think I was 13, I have no idea what year it was.

3 - Ever bleed from your ass? I might have after having a large infant being birthed from me. Not every woman can give birth to a baby without having some cutting involved. Sadly,this woman was cut from one end to another. I will say no more. Nuff said.

4 - If you went to your Senior Prom and had a date, do you still speak to said person?
Ah yes, I went to the Senior Prom with my high school boyfriend. Do I talk to him? I haven't talked to that guy since he dropped me off after a long prom night that ended early in the morning. Just kidding... I married my senior prom date..so I'd say I talk to him everyday.

and finally...

5 - Name the one television show that's no longer on the air that could have gone on forever.
ER. It's pretty easy to rotate out characters which I'm sure happens at hospitals all the time. Yes, I missed ER after they took it off the air. It was an amazing show.

GTKY: 05/22

I know this is a little late but better late than
never. I started my GTKY this morning but the family and
I went to a family BBQ last minute at my brother in law's house.
It was an enjoyable time. It's nice to chill out
on the weekend and let some one else cook.

1. what's your favorite rainy day activity? sitting in the house, watching a good movie.

2. what time do you go to bed? usually around 11 o'clock. After the kids go to bed and I watch some tv, read some emails, write a blog post...it gets late.

3. how many magazines do you subscribe to? two

4. did you sell all your belongings because you thought the world was ending yesterday? heck no. For one, I wouldn't believe that the end of the world would be predicted by some one. No one knows when it's going to happen, except for God. Two, what would be the point to sell my possessions? Worldly items mean nothing in heaven. The money I would gain from selling them would mean nothing, you can't take it with you.

5. what's your beauty obssesion? make up and facial cleansers. I love my make up and keeping my face looking the best that I can.

6. if you could only wear one designer/brand for the rest of your life...what would it be? I have no clue. My closet pretty much contains clothing from Kohl's.

7. what's your summer must have? flip flops!! I pretty much wear them 9 months out of the year, but I love to get new ones for summer.

8. do you make weekly dinner menus? I was for a few months, then I fell off that wagon. It was nice to have a set plan and go with it, but it took so much work to locate different recipes and come up with one every week. Then if I found a recipe that required an ingredient I didn't have and you had to buy bulk for 1 tsp, it wasn't worth it.

PYHO: Unhappy Holidays

Holidays, birthdays, celebrations and get togethers should be fun and enjoyable. I think once upon a time those events were something to enjoy. Now I dread when another holiday is rounding the corner. I actually stress out about it before it ever happens. It shouldn't be this way. But after getting married, you add another person's family to the mix.

Family. Family is complicated enough without having complicated people to make it worse. Before kids, life was good. There were no calls to see where we were going. But it changed after Miss K was born, it all went downhill after that.

Whose house are we going for Christmas Eve? Christmas morning? Dinner? How long does each grandparent get at their house? Can we come back after being at so and so's house for dessert? You're not coming here for Easter? Will you be making it for your dad's birthday? Fourth of July?
All those questions that drive me crazy. But it has gotten worse over the years. It has gotten to the point that if we make plans a few weeks in advance with one family another one is bound to ask us to do something. And when we decline the second offer, that person gets snippy. It's beyond ridiculous!
Mother's Day is no exception to the rule. My husband's step mother is the one who has made me dread the one day, besides my birthday, that I should be enjoying. We've even had rude phone calls between each other because she expects us to spend the holiday with her. She is not his mother! She has never been regarded that way. Although in her twisted mind, she some how thinks that she is more of a mother to my husband and his brother, than their own.
This year was like no other. She was asking yet again if we would be coming to their condo to visit. Nope. I flat out told her in person that we would be spending the day with our mothers.
Even after I told her our plans, she continued to whine about how we never go to see them. She has lost her mind. Of course even with her out of the way, Mother's Day was not centered around this mama. We spent our day taking care of hubs' mom and mine. I really wish that sometimes we lived a bit farther away.
Now that Father's Day is approaching she has already started her crap. My husband mentioned a few days ago about going to this nice italian restaurant on Father's Day with his dad, step mom,my parents and us with the kids. It was his dad and step mom's idea. I figured I should test the water on this one with my father since he usually likes to go on a guy's fishing trip with my brother and husband.
After suggesting the idea to my dad about going to dinner on FD, he scowled. He said he doesn't want to spend his day eating out with mobs of people. Ugh. I figured it was a no go even before asking since 1. he does not like italian food and 2. he does not like to drive more than ten minutes away to go to dinner. 3. If he's going to eat at an expensive restaurant he is going to choose the place.
So I told the hubs last night that we will have to make different plans with my dad. No problem.
Yeah right!! I get a text last night from "step monster". She tells me that the restaurant does not reservations for less than 10 people. Obviously she is assuming that my parents are going so I reply that we have nine, not including my parents, but including my husband's brother and his family. She flat out writes back "We are not paying for Steve's family". What?!

She obviously was not inviting her husband's other son! She has some nerve. I told her that my parents would not be going. She didn't like that answer. The conversation continued on back and forth and then she tells me the menu prices $18-29 a plate. Oh my. I realize that this place might not be "kid friendly" and check out some websites with reviews on the restaurant. It's got mixed reviews. Good food, but so so service.

I decided that I wasn't keen on taking the kids to a fancy shmancy restaurant where we might get treated differently because we have children under the age of 10. We did that once in Daytona and we were seated on the other side of the restaurant where there was NO ONE. I suggested to my husband that maybe we should go to a more family friendly restaurant for Father's Day and go to this place another time. He agreed.

Then the "step monster" starts texting again about going on Saturday night on FD weekend and I tell her I'll let her know after we figure out what we're doing for my dad. The tone changes. She abruptly tells me that she is taking his dad. She tells me to make sure I tell my husband what HER plans are. Uh huh. Will do, biatch. She has struck a nerve with me and I begin ranting and fuming about her attitude.
I'm done. I told my husband that I want to move far enough away that we are not expected to go to things like this and can send a card for these days. I'm over the drama. As far as I'm concerned we're spending Father's Day alone. Our kids and us. It's his day too.
I'm not looking forward to Memorial Day weekend. The psycho drama is beyond my threshold.

RemembeRED

My boyfriend decided he wanted to get a tattoo. It was his first one and a friend had suggested he go to the same guy he used. The tattoo guy was supposed to be reasonable and he was in the next city in the next county.
We pulled up to the house and it looked a little run down. What kind of guy does tattoos from his house. Being naive and young in love I went along with my love. I wanted to be there to see his first one.
It hit me like a ton of bricks when the guy opened the door. The smoke in the house was like a warm haze. The lights were dim through out the house and you could see the smoke like a large cloud in the room. We followed the guy through the house into his tattoo "parlor".
I hoped it would get better once we entered the room. Hoping for cleaner air. It should be sanitary when using needles. Not so much. It was just as smoky in the room.
I did my best to stifle my coughs and utter repulsiveness of the smoky smell from burning cigarettes inside a house. It didn't help that the house smelled like a humane society with cat urine. Cigarettes and cat urine. My eyes burned. It was like the moisture was sucked out by the smoke.
I don't remember how many hours I stood in that room watching...waiting... for them to finish his tattoo. It felt like forever.When I finally was able to escape the smoky hell, I breathed in like I had been drowning. I couldn't get home fast enough that night. The anticipation of a hot shower to remove the stench from my skin and hair. My clothes reeked that night. I don't know which was worse. The urine or the smoke.
I have never forgotten that evening and the sight and smell of it.

It's time for another image prompt.

Write about the first (or second) memory that comes to mind when you see this:

Don't Blink, They Grow Overnight

It seems like yesterday that I was having contractions and was about to meet this little boy who would steal my heart the moment I held him. In less than two months he will be four years old. Little E will be old enough to attend Pre K in the fall and get to go back to school. Last year when I decided to stay home and work barely part time, I pulled my little boy out of daycare.
Since then he has learned so much staying home with me. Daycare gave him the building blocks, so to speak, in his learning foundation. I don't try to boast but he is a bright little boy. I had considered enrolling him in the summer VPK (Voluntary Pre Kindergarten) but I know that if went now, he would be bored with the fall VPK program.
I used to worry that my little boy was going to have trouble since he waited until after a year old to start talking and saying more than mama and dada.I compared him to his sister who started speaking at 6 months and could communicate with me. But I think he has done quite well.
He surprises me all the time. Little E used to only recognize the letters in capital form, now he knows the lowercase letters. He can count to 15 and recognizes all the numbers from 0 to 9. He knows his shapes, colors and basic commands like up, down, inside and outside. He surprised me last night by spelling his name. I thought it was a fluke, so I asked him to spell it for daddy tonight and he did it! He was SO proud of himself.
I was beaming!!
I have started teaching him how to read using a book that my friend, who was a teacher before having her own children uses, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons , by Siegfried Engelmann. He is so excited about learning this book and keeps wanting to do more than one exercise a day.
I still can't believe that my little boy will be going to school this coming fall. I'm going to enjoy every moment now. I will relish in every moment of prayer time when he asks me to read the prayer book one more time. I will sing him Itsy Bitsy Spider an extra time if he asks. They grow up too fast. I am taking every day, one minute at a time.

Weekends of May

It has been a great month of May so far. I can't believe that it's halfway over and in 10 days Miss K will be done with school and finishing the 2nd grade. Where does the time go?

The first picture is from Mother's Day weekend after the kids and the hubs gave me my gift. They bought me a Canon Power Shot SX230 HS point and shoot camera. It takes amazing photos, much better than my Nikon D50. Since the Canon uses a different SD card than my computer accepts, my hubs has been uploading the photos to his Mac and I finally got on it to use them on the blog. It's quite frustrating to say the least, because I know how to use a PC but it takes me forever to work the Mac.

We took the kids to the beach on Mother's Day weekend where Miss K never left the pool. Little E loves the ocean so he went with us to see the waves and pretend he was fishing.

Miss K finally started swimming without using a float or holding the side of the pool that weekend. I was going to take her for swimming lessons this summer and she finally did it by herself. Living in Florida where the beaches are, swimming pools are in every other back yard, and going to the water parks in the summer is a necessity one must know how to swim. I am still going to sign up Little E so we can have a peace of mind for both kids.

I never took lessons. My parents had a pool when I was a kid and we taught ourselves. It was like, sink or swim. When I was a kid your parents threw you into the pool and you floated or sank. Nowadays, it would be child abuse if some one witnessed that.

This Saturday Miss K had some dance rehearsals for her upcoming dance recital. On Sunday we went to my niece's 6th Birthday party. Her parents live in a gated community with a clubhouse with a pool. The kids spent most of the time swimming like fish. We were lucky enough to pull them out to eat lunch, sing Happy Birthday and watch the birthday girl open gifts.
Now the weekend is over and I've got to get busy with housework. Wet towels from swimming. Laundry. Mopping the kitchen floor from wet feet. It rained this weekend, which is a good thing, but it makes dirty floors from the dog and kids.

Hope you had a great weekend.What did you do to enjoy the sunshine?

Putting on the Ritz

It's that time of the year again for dancers to get organized, tighten down, perfect their dance moves and look their absolute best for the recital. It's been a crazy year as a "dance mom" driving Miss K back and forth three times a week, thirty minutes one way to dance classes. The pressure has increased these last few weeks will an ALL day picture call and dress rehearsals.

This weekend will be no exception, on Saturday afternoon we have to get Miss K dressed in one of her costumes, apply full recital makeup and do her hair for her Acrobatics class rehearsal. Next weekend we're having rehearsals for her other three classes and then the show is only two weeks after that.

I'm getting so excited! I bought my tickets for the evening show where Miss K performs two of her numbers. Unfortunately, I will be the only one who sees her at the matinee show where she performs her ballet and jazz numbers. I will taking photos and videoing her though!

Wish us luck for a great performance and that I survive these next few weeks of driving to and fro.

PYHO: Getting the Grade

When my husband and I decided we wanted to move out of our apartment in 2004, we didn't consider schools as a reason to choose the city we would live in. The housing market was crazy and finding a home in our top two choices was impossible. We decided to purchase a home in the city I worked in but didn't think about the school that our children might have to attend.

I actually hoped that we would be able to sell our home after living in it for five years and Miss K might only attend the school one year, but the market fell. Crushing my idea.

Thankfully in 2007 a new elementary school was built and I thought we wouldn't have to send our children to the old, old school that supported the city. Wrong.
I didn't realize until after the school was built that our house was not zoned for the new school even though we are 5 minutes away from it.

So at the end of 2007 I enrolled Miss K at school A. (the old school) One month later I got a letter in the mail from NCLB (No Child Left Behind) because the school we enrolled at did not meet State Requirements and I could choose another school for my child. Yippee!!! The letter stated we had two choices one was school B (the one Miss K currently attends) and school C (a new school built in the next town). We chose B and got it.

I always figured that Little E would attend the same school since his sister goes there. Obviously not. I was recently told by some one that I would have to enroll him at school A and apply for a variance for him to attend school B. I will have to apply for the variance each year and when Miss K leaves that elementary school to go to middle school I can get denied. This is what worries me.

Now I know that I don't have to worry too much until the next year, the school year 2012/2013. But I want to have my ducks in a row and know what I'm up against. I am preparing an email to the School Superintendent that handles Choice Schools to get some answers. I don't know if I should risk enrolling him and hope he gets a choice option which would lock him into the school I pick. Or do I go for the variance and when Miss K leaves fight for his right to go to that school still. Or hope that in three years we get to move and maybe move into that school zone or an even better one? Or if I do choose to Home School Miss K when she goes into middle school like I have planned and just home school Little E too.?

I'm such a worrier and I know that I really don't have to worry about it too much at least for another year though. But.... I am concerned because the school we are zoned for is not a well performing school and I know my child will have a better chance to succeed at school B. Thanks for letting me vent and any advice would be great.

Wordful Wednesday

This past Saturday Miss K's dance studio had their
Studio Photo Shoots for their upcoming Dance Recital

I brought along
my camera to take some photos of my own of her beautiful
face in her oh so cute costumes
Glad I did, the photographer wouldn't let us take photos once in the
"studio" with the backdrop

Tap Outfit

Acro Outfit

Ballet Outfit

Monday Minute: 05/02/11

It's been a long time coming for this to happen.
Yeah, yeah I know I'm late at this
but it is still Monday...
I actually had these questions answered on my phone but
too many crisis' today prevented me from getting on the computer.

1 - Where aside from a toilet have you taken a dump? Explain.
The woods of course. Who hasn't gone camping and had to do it? It was easier to find a dark place in the forest, than climb into the truck and drive up to the port a potty.

2 - At this point do you really think that Magic Johnson has HIV/AIDS?
Really? Are we talking about that again? If he has HIV he is lucky so far if it hasn't developed into a full blown AIDS attack.

3 - Would you wrestle a member of the same sex, nude, in pudding for 10 minutes for one million dollars?
Sure would. As long as I don't have to win the wrestling match, I'd go for it.

4 - Squash just doesn't sound very tasty. What say you?
I love yellow squash. It's the only squash that I do eat. The rest of them, I'm not so sure about trying.

and finally...

5 - Is it worth the effort?
Is what worth the effort? Depends on what you're referring to..