How Much Does It Cost To Elect A President?

It's still more than two months until the presidential election and I can officially say that I am so OVER it already!  I have always felt like voting for president is one of the greatest honors bestowed upon US citizens.  For the past four presidential elections, I can say that I have been proud to exercise my right to vote.  I loved the "rock the vote" campaigns and couldn't understand why anyone would choose not to vote.  My gosh how my views have changed over the past sixteen years.

Happy Birthday, Patty Gail!

I just can not believe that by bedtime tonight, my little girl will be officially six years old!  Where does the time go?  Happy Birthday, Patty; I'm going to make your favorite chocolate cake to celebrate!

CPSC Recalls: Do You Get It?

Do you remember the lead paint scare circa 2007?  I remember it vividly.  That's when all of Patty's toys were teething type toys and I worried they were all laced with lead paint.  I so wish I had come across the Consumer Product Safety Commission's website five years ago!  If you look along the right hand side, just under the heading "get involved" you can sign up to receive product recall information by - you guessed it- email! 

Could you live on $20 a week?

Think you could live on just $20 a week?  It's an intriguing idea for sure.  Kim, blogger behind The Money Pit (do you remember the movie with Tom Hanks and Shelly Long?), gave it a try last January.  You can read her followup post here.  She has a weekly post about what she spent and where she spent it and posts about the foods she prepared.  My house if full of picky eaters so our menu has absolutely no variety!

Special Education Links from the KDE Website

A few links from the Kentucky Deparment of Education worth bookmarking...if you're printing some of these, be sure you check the total number of pages carefully before hitting that print button!  Some of these PDFs are verrrrrrry long!

More Special Needs Resources to Bookmark

Came across a couple other organizations that you may want to make note of.  I like to bookmark them and add them to Pinterest!

Newest Blogs I'm Following

I have spent a little time this week evaluating the many, many blogs I follow trying to pare down the number from, like over a hundred, to something closer to a manageable thirty-ish.  But, every time I unsubscribe from one blog, I seem to find two more that I want to subscribe to!

What's JT up to?

If you've been reading all about Patty's first week back to school, you may be wondering what little JT has been up to this week.  Well, he has spent almost everyday with his Granddaddy.  Granddaddy is now officially retired!  And I gotta tell you, it comes in really handy to have Granddaddy home all day.  I think he's looking forward to the weekend just as much as the rest of us, though!  JT came home a little while ago and told me that he played games on the computer while Granddaddy took a nap.  I thought that was so funny!  JT will miss these days once he begins preschool in a couple weeks.  But, I bet Granddaddy has more naps once preschool starts!

What the Heck is a Hashtag?!

As you can probably tell from the title of this post, I am not a tweeter, or I don't twitter, or however else you want to say it.  But, I keep hearing about these things called "hashtags" and I always think to myself, isn't that the pound symbol?  You know, on your phone you have the pound "#" button or the star "*" button.  Duh, right?  Wrong!  It's so much more complicated than that!

Day Three Update

So, day three just started kind of rough.  Patty was upset, in tears from the moment she woke up this morning.  Geez, there's no worse way to begin your day.  Oh how I hope these first few days pass quickly!  The beginning of last year was a tough transition, too, and it passed, so I know there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Plus, tomorrow is Saturday so I can have at least two peaceful days, right?

Second Day Update

You know, it's gotta be a bad day when you're the parent and you're in the guidance counselor's office crying into her box of tissues!  Whew, what a morning I've had.

Are you a fan of ABC Family?

I sincerely hope I'm not the oldest person watching shows on ABC Family!  But, I gotta say I'm dying to find out who A really is on Pretty Little Liars (don't spoil it, I haven't had a chance to watch this week's episode!) and I am strangely addicted to the Secret Life of the American Teenager.  Not to mention Melissa & Joey is a must see and I really like Baby Daddy, too.

New School = Updates

It's a new school year and you know what that means.  Paperwork.  Lots and lots of paperwork.  I filled out and/or signed twenty pages from Patty's kindergarten packet!  It's good to brush up on your "following directions" skills, right?  I like to see how many I can fill out correctly before my eyes go cross or glaze over!

First Day Update

OMG!  To say Patty had a rough first day would be an understatement.  The poor kid cried so much that her eyes are bright pink underneath!  When I first laid eyes on her at pickup, I actually thought she'd been hit in the face.  Totally wasn't prepared for the sight.

It's the First Day of School...are you ready?

Can you believe it's the first day of school?  I just don't know where those days of summer went!  I don't remember summers going by so quickly when I was a kid.  Were summers longer back then?  They couldn't have been that much longer, guess it's just because I'm older and can read a calendar now.

Oh, that Joan Rivers!

So, Patty and I listened to 98.7 on the way to school this morning and it just happened to be news time.  If you know me at all, you should be proud that I was listening to the news at all!  And, no, the juice on 96 sto doesn't count as real news.

Push Pins are Sharp People!

I am borrowing this picture from a teaching blog called Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detectives because I am writing this post on my net book since my laptop over heated and shut me down.  FYI:  I am planning to take off that borrowed image and replace it later.

I've been seeing this push pin activity for months on teaching blogs and Pinterest.  Can't remember what I was doing the other day, but I had an unsettling question come to mind.  Isn't putting sharp push pins in the hands of children a hazard?  I mean, are the teachers cleaning those pins with alcohol or something in the event that a kid pricks him/herself? 


Just something to think about!

I'm Probably Stepping In It With This Post...

This post has been moved.
It can now be viewed on my blog, Take It or Leave It.

I "heart" Chick Fila AND Equality

Do you ever feel like we live in a nation that just has to discriminate against somebody?  We had wonderful elected officials and fabulously polarizing community leaders who got our nation past the discrimination of the civil rights era.  Think Elton and Brad will be the face of the new inequality?