FTSF: If I Had A Magic Wand

I commented on fellow mom-blogger Kristy's FTSF post this morning and I thought I had it all figured out.  If I had a magic wand, I would fix all of the things that make Patty different than other kids her age.  There wouldn't be a lot of things to fix, but there would be a few.  Just wave that wand and take away all those little things that make life a little bit more difficult for her to navigate.  Then, as we waited for the elevator at therapy this afternoon, I had a wake up call.

You see, Patty, as loving and caring as you'll ever want, never meets a stranger and talks to just about everyone when she has a chance.  Today, she started a conversation with a little lady waiting for the elevator, too.  Come to find out this lady was accompanying her caregiver to the doctor.  They got separated and the lady didn't know where to find her friend.  When we climbed onto the elevator she asked me to phone her friend.  Well, the friend didn't answer and I couldn't just leave her on the elevator.  So, Patty and I took her floor by floor in search of her friend.  Of course, we found her in the last place we looked.  ;-}

But, after our little adventure, I wondered if my imaginary "fixed" version of Patty would have struck up a conversation with this little lady in need of someones help?  Actually, we wouldn't even have been there if Patty were just a regular kid.  Remember, we were on our way to therapy when we met this lady.  So, I kind of gave myself a mental slap for ever considering waving my magic wand at Patty.  Why would I ever want to change who my perfect little darling is?

Scholastic Mini Mission September Pt One

Have you heard of Scholastic Mini Missions?  JT brought home a paper in his backpack this week inviting us to participate and earn free Scholastic books and the chance for bigger prizes for teachers and schools.  Did you know I love free books?  The flyer was very vague on exactly what a "mini mission" consisted of, though, so I was skeptical about it.  But, after reading around on the website for a bit, I thought this was something we might be able to pull off...at least for one month.  I see this as a win-win: free books and fuel for the blog.

So, the September mission is to head outdoors on four occasions.  We are not fans of the outdoors.  Well, I am not a fan of the outdoors.  The kids actually really like to be outside, but lately they return covered in mosquito bites and that's not a good thing. 

I registered for the website and found a nature inspired scavenger hunt online (The Taylor House).  Then we headed outside.  Normally, my kids love being outside, but yesterday there was a little grumbling and complaining.  But, I was persistent and once we got busy finding items on the list the kids were full speed ahead.  Maybe it was just a new concept for them, this was our first scavenger hunt.  We skipped half of the list, I really wanted to avoid mosquito bites, but for kids my age, eight items seemed like a good stopping point. 

Here's my mission submission:

For our first mission, since we chose to accept it, we had a nature inspired scavenger hunt!  A quick Internet search and we had a list of items to search for and were headed out the door!  We did have to cut our search a little short and skipped several items on our list.  I opted to take a photo of the items rather than have the kids actually collect them and bring them inside.  My favorite item on their search list?  Something you think is beautiful!

 

I had just a little trouble getting everything uploaded to the website.  I'm pretty sure my photo collage was too big and once I chose a smaller photo, it seemed to upload okay.  It was slow, but that's probably my computer.  Next time I'll try saving a version of the photo at a lower resolution and see how it goes.  We're only three outdoor activities away from our first free book!

Ahhhhh...A Clean Stove Top

We traded out our old stove for a new ceramic cook top several years ago.  My mom has had a ceramic top for years and years and it's always shiny and clean.  My ceramic cook top has never been shiny and clean.  Well, it was the first day we had it.

That burner in the picture gets the most use and that yucky brown burned on gunk is the result of many boiled over pots of water and many nights of fried hamburgers. Yes, it's gross. Very, very gross.  I've had luke warm results using cook top cleaners.  Not even baking soda and vinegar really put a dent in the grime.  Obviously I had gotten to a point where I no longer tried to clean that nasty thing! 

The other day my cousin gave me a little tip. 
Use a razor to scrape off the gunk and then clean the cook top.  I thought scrapping would definitely work, but worried that it would scratch the cook top or scrape off the burner circles.  She explained that her directions said to do it.  Hmmmmmm.  I probably couldn't find the directions if my life depended on it!

This morning I thought, Ok, let's do it.  I found my trusty scrapper thingy and got to work.  And I really think her advise will change my relationship with my ceramic cook top forever.

The scrapper thingy I used came from Lowe's and I originally used it to scrape the paint from my back door window when I repainted it last year.  It's a razor blade in a nifty handle and it made scrapping the stove top very manageable.  I simply scrapped up as much gunk as I could manage and then used a Lysol wipe to wipe it away.  I'm sure a damp paper towel would have worked, too.

Once the scrapings were gone, I squirted on a nice amount of cook top cleaner and spread it around with a plastic scrub sponge.  Because the gunk on my stove was so over whelming, I used the scrub sponge to scrub up the remaining gunk on the stove top.  Seriously, I needed the extra scrubbing power!  You could use a paper towel and elbow grease, but why bother?  Then I used a paper towel to buff away the remaining cleaner.

I am utterly and completely amazed at how well the stove top looks.  There's still an area that I couldn't get totally clean.  It's an imprint of what appears to be the left, bottom edge of a box.  Maybe a pizza box?  Who knows.  But whatever it is, it isn't going anywhere.  And I am completely OK with that!

Upcycled Gift Bag

I wasn't too happy when Patty's binder bit the dust after not even three full weeks of school!  And what kind of binder did she want as a replacement?  And what kind of binder was I unable to locate?  Yep, Barbie. 

Thankfully, being the easy going daughter she is, Patty was completely happy with the solid pink binder I found at Walmart.  But, fate intervened and her first birthday party guests walked in with the most awesome Barbie gift bag and I knew instantly what would become of it!  Thanks Bobbie and Dennis!

Have I ever mentioned how much I  love the binders with insert able covers?  I'm surely not the first person to do this, but I gotta tell you I am one proud momma tonight!

A Birthday Fit For A Princess

Oh my, where does the time go?  I simply can not believe my little girl is turning seven soon!  It seems like only yesterday I was swooning over that precious little bundle in the hospital!  Fast forward seven years and we are gearing up for the ultimate princess birthday experience. 

Naturally, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration.  Oh my goodness there are some super cute ideas out there!  At this point I think my lists have started making lists.  Man, I wish I really knew how to use that sewing machine I have hoarded away.

Thankfully, where my sewing skills are lacking, I can somewhat compensate with Photoshop skills.  I found a great DIY crown shared by The Path Less Traveled (love that blog name!) and fiddled with Photoshop until I was happy with the dimensions.  I had already found Princess Sofia-esque clipart on Etsy (love Etsy!) and used them for a cute invitation.  Filling in the crown was easy since I had finished the invitation last weekend.  Now I can easily print the crowns onto cardstock and cut them out while I wait in the car rider line at school!

Totally adorable, am I right?  I probably need to make a boy crown with a little prince, too.  Then I can check "party hats" off my to do list!

I Knew School Had Changed, Now I Know Why

When Patty started "real public school" as a kindergartener, it had been nearly fifteen years since I myself was a student in public school and nearly thirty years since I was a kindergarten student.  But from the beginning, I knew something had changed and I just couldn't quite put my finger on it.  And it didn't feel like just a little change, it seemed that some kind of drastic changes had taken place in all those years.  I guess I really shouldn't be surprised that in thirty years time there was change!  But, I kept wondering, what was so wrong about the way my teachers taught us "back in the day"?  Personally, I feel that I was given a great public school education and during all those years in school I never remember being bullied.  Those are things my teachers should be proud of, as I'm sure they were.

It wasn't until reading a Great Schools article this morning that I realized where the change had been made.  The article, Reading Murder Mystery mainly talks about how schools inadvertently destroy a student's joy of reading.  But, about half way into the article, I read this sentence:  Schools have become so test-results driven, they’ve lost focus on developing lifelong readers and have instead used all their focus to create test takers.  That's when I realized what is different about school today.  It's the tests.  It never occurred to me that a serious focus in education is getting a good grade on the state tests.  I mean, sure, that's important....especially for the school.  But, does it count against a student as well?  As in, if they preform poorly on the tests, will that student be held back?  I don't have an answer to that question because it hasn't affected us yet, time will tell.

But, this little insight really makes me wonder if all of the years of research driving public school these days hasn't just ran the public school system right off the rails.  I have often wondered what was wrong with the way my teachers taught, remember those days before manipulatives in math?  The days of weekly spelling tests and cursive writing?  The days when your weekly history test mattered because it was reflected on your quarterly report card?  I'm not sure that state testing scores were shared with parents back then.  Honestly, I don't think any of those tests were important until I took the ACT in high school.

I know I probably worry too much about the education my kids will receive and since I'm not a teacher, and never wanted to be, I should have faith in the system.  But, have you talked to any high school graduates lately?  I can't help it, I worry.

Kids Say...

JT built a time machine this afternoon and is currently accepting passengers.  He came to me, happy as a clam, after he put it together to ask me what "that thing" is called.  He gave me a description that went something like, "that thing that takes you to different worlds."  I'm sure I gave him a strange look.  But, after falling short with vortex and space ship I was able to think of time machine!  The time machine was made from the pieces of a happy meal toy he got from the treasure box at therapy last week and might have measured a whopping four inches by four inches.  Not sure who he thought he could fit in there, but he and Patty had a blast running away from the dinosaurs while they were in dinosaur world!