Getting JT Ready for Kindergarten

JT would have been in his third year of preschool right now (he has a late birthday) if he hadn't been stricken with a bout of separation anxiety that I had really not expected.  His anxiety sparked right in the middle of Patty's anxiety about attending a new school, and we decided to let JT stay home with me this year.  Now, I am left to prepare him for Kindergarten and I was happy to see this little online tool in an email I received recently: Kindergarten Readiness Test. 

You can access your child's Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Auditory Processing, Visual Discrimination, Letter/Word Awareness, Phonemic Awareness, Math/Number Awareness, and Social/Emotional Development.  At the end, you're left with a tidy little table and a nice summary of your child's strengths and weaknesses.  That's a pretty handy little tool!

Obviously, we have our work cut out for us in the Letter/Word/Phonemic Awareness department.  But, we have seven months to master those 26 letters so I'm not worried that JT will be unprepared for Kindergarten this fall.  I'll search Pinterest for some cool ABC activities and get busy!

Book Club: Beautiful Creatures

I took a little blog break last weekend to read.  You see, I have an unofficial New Years Resolution to read one book each week.  Well, I got the month off to a bad start by not finishing War of the Worlds until about two weeks into January.  Whoopsie. 

Thankfully, I read one of the newest Sookie Stackhouse mysteries in just a few days and plowed through Beautiful Creatures by bedtime on Saturday.  So that puts me one book shy of being on track to reading 52 books this year! 

Have you heard of the Beautiful Creatures series?  There are at least four books and even though I'm just not up for a long series right now, I was happy with the first installment. 

So, why read yet another teen series?  Well, it's a book to movie opening in theatres next month.  The movie preview looks really good, and having been a fan of the Secret Circle trilogy back when I was a teenager (not so much a fan of the failed television show by the same name) and a lover of movies like The Craft and The Covenant, I thought this would be a book series to enjoy.

I can't say this book was a page turner for me, but I'm looking forward to reading Beautiful Darkness next.

One of the most intriguing things out of this story, for me, was the mention of haint blue ceilings.  I'd never heard the word "haint" before and when dictionary.com was no help, I turned to my good friend Google and found a really good explanation on a website called Between Naps on the Porch.  I'd never heard of painting the ceiling blue to ward off evil spirits, but I am in love with the idea.  The story gives a different reason, though.  When we painted our bedroom and kitchen a few years ago, we painted the ceilings a shade of blue to coordinate with the walls.  I guess the bathroom is protected too, since I painted the ceiling and walls the same color!  Who knew I was warding off spirits all this time?  I've given some serious thought to painting the porch ceiling, but I think Casey will veto me!

Another captivating thing is the charm necklace Lena wears.  She collects little mementos and wears them on a necklace which she never takes off.  If I were a teenager, I'd have to have a necklace like that.  I'm not so sure I won't have to have one now!  I've always admired charm bracelets but feared losing one of the little charms so I've never owned one.  I'm sure you'll find me checking out the jewelry making section on my next visit to Hobby Lobby.  A charm necklace might make a really cute DIY gift for a couple teenagers I know!

Wife-y Rant: Follow the Directions Already!

I love reading these eCards.  Sometimes, they are so utterly fitting to my life.

I shouldn't complain because Casey did make breakfast for everyone yesterday.  But, I am me and I just can't help myself!

I started noticing this a few weeks ago.  Casey never cooks the biscuits on the right temperature.  We buy the frozen kind and the package says to cook on 375. 

Yesterday, he had the oven cranked up to 450!
It gave new meaning to the phrase "brown as a biscuit".
I did feel a little bad as I snapped the picture and he said,
"I never complain about your cooking."

Then, I thought, "Maybe you never complain because I follow the cooking directions."  To be fair, I am very set in my ways.  And I am very happy when he makes breakfast.  I would be even happier if the biscuits were cooked on 375, but a brown biscuit is still a good biscuit, I guess!

3-Day School Week, 3-Day Weekend

An extra three days to practice this week's spelling words!

It's Tax Time!

Casey found a tax calculator online, and I thought I'd pass along the link in case you've been wondering about filing your income taxes this year.  You can go here to enter just the basic numbers and get an estimate of your taxes.  Not a bad thing to do before you head out to sit down with your tax preparer. 

How Do You Prepare Topics For Your Blog?

I am in no way a blogging expert.  Maybe I could say I am an expert blog reader?  Anyway, as I have tried to do a little writing lately, I've been wondering how other people plan or pick the topics they discuss on their blog.  I've seen blogging planners, but I have never been very good at using a planner for anything.  I'm a pretty big fan of lists, but I find that I usually just end up with a big stack of stuff that really never amounts to anything.  I'm also not very good at keeping a pen and paper with me at all times.  I do sometimes send myself a text if I happen upon something I think would make a good topic here on the blog.  That's really the thing that works best for me, since I almost always have my phone handy.

So, how do you do your blog topics?  Do you have a calendar where you plan out your ideas?  Or do you just let the topics fall where they may like I do?

Some of the Best Advice I've Ever Received

I was just over at Finding Ninee reading a post called Stuff about Tucker.  It made me think of some advice I learned last fall.

In our county, there is special education, EBD special education, and an autism unit. 
I have been terrified of the EBD and AU since I learned they were options. 

Why, so afraid? 

You know how people always say your kid will learn the worst behaviors from her peers? 

Like most kids, Patty is constantly learning from the people around her.  With one exception, she is very impressionable.  In her first year of kindergarten, she learned to belch on command.  I worried about her prolonged exposure to children with social and behavior problems in the EBD or AU settings; spending large amounts of time with children who were unable to control some of their social and behavior skills.

A bit shamefully, I admitted these fears to an acquaintance and was given some really good advice.

You do not want your child to socialize to special needs kids,

you want your child to socialize to regular kids. 
 

This may seem horribly insensitive and harsh.  Even I think it's a bit horrible, a whole lot blunt.  But, horrible or not, it's some of the best advice I've ever received. 

Patty is still exposed to some of the most annoying behaviors from her regular education peers; you just can't shield them from everything.  The difference is how we handle those annoying behaviors.  If she comes home doing something, like making noises or faces during homework time, I take a minute and I watch her.  I can tell the difference between clowning around and having a hard time with the work.  When she's just clowning around, I explain that we don't do that while we're trying to do our work.  I do this because I know she's capable of stopping the undesired behavior.

I Feel Like a Celebrity....Sort Of

You know how you get an email notification from Pinterest when someone "likes' or "repins" one of your pins? 

Well, I usually just delete those emails without even opening them. 

But, I absolutely felt like a celebrity when I saw that Amanda from Kevin and Amanda had liked one of my pins! 

It was a pin from her website, but still, I was thrilled!

Who's A Liebster Award Winner? I Am!

Oh my gosh, I got up this morning to discover that my blog had been awarded the Liebster Award!  How cool is that?  If you're clueless, like me, the Liebster Award is a nod from one blogger to another.  Awesome.  I wanted to know where this award originated but the best I could do was find a little info on a blog called Sopphey Says and a reference to another blog called Bird of Paradise.  Sadly, the latter is in German and I can't figure out how to translate it!  If you know how to use Google translate, please leave me a comment!

The acceptance of the Liebster award comes with several steps, the steps do tend to vary, so I don't feel too bad about fudging on at least one of them!  I read several blog posts where the recipient made the award their own, so here it goes....

Here Liebster Award acceptance conditions are:

1. You must thank the person who gave you the Liebster award.

So, THANK YOU to Kristi at Finding Ninee,

for bestowing this honor upon Meet the Cottons!

You are awesome, I totally love your blog!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

2. You must display the Liebster heart on your blog - Done.

3. You should nominate 3 to 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 subscribers.  This is one of the slightly inconsistent things about the Liebster award.  I guess originally there wasn't a stipulation about the recipient being an up-and-coming-blog, so I'm just going to choose blogs that I feel are worthy, regardless of their number of subscribers.  Sorry!

After much consideration, and the realization that I don't follow a lot of little blogs like mine (shame on me!), I would like to pass on the Liebster Award to the following blogs:

Beard & Pigtails

Beard has just under 300 subscribers, but I didn't see a Liebster on the sidebar, so I'm going fudge the followers rule and send one his way!  I not only chose his blog because of his great writing style and the wonderful story he tells, but because he replied to my email once upon a time.

It really is the little things that set us apart!  Thank you, Beard!

I Can Say Mama

I know Joy has received this award in the past, and because I think she's an awesome blogger I am sending another one her way!  I can count Joy among the very few readers I have.

I am ever so grateful for her comments.  Thank you, Joy!

Undiagnosed, but we are okay with that

Here's another blog that has already received the Liebster, but Kerri left me the most awesome comment a few days ago, and I can't help but fall in love with that cute little girl on her blog header.  Thank you, Kerri!

A Special Kind of Class
Amanda's teaching blog was one of the first that I began following.  I'm not a teacher, but the things she blogged about revealed so much about what goes on in the day to day life of a child in special education.  It was just so nice to be able to peek inside, since I had been completely shut out by my school system (in that first year of Kindergarten).   Plus, you can get a lot of great ideas from teaching blogs!  Especially if you are looking for something crafty to do!
Thank you, Amanda!
Life In Special Education
I enjoy this teacher's blog for many of the same reasons I mentioned above.  I reached out to Karla with a question about a work portfolio I wanted to create for Patty, and she was nice enough to, not only reply, but to send me links with ideas, too!  It takes a really kind hearted person to take the time to help a virtual stranger!
Thanks you, Karla!

4. Post 11 things about yourself.

Here's a tricky one.  I feel like I am one of the most uninteresting people you will ever meet!  But, here it goes, 11 things about me, in random order:

1. I didn't eat cheese on anything until I took two nieces and one nephew (ages 2, 6, and 8) to Chuck E Cheese one day while our family poodle was at Petsmart being groomed.  I was 27 years old.  Seriously.
2. I am strangely addicted to books that have been made into movies.  Or television shows.
3. My favorite cookie is this little homemade cookie we have at Christmas called a Secret Kiss Cookie.  It's very similar to those little Archway Wedding Cookies, but it has a Hershey's Kiss hiding in the middle.  It is awesome!  No one but me is ever allowed to eat any of those cookies!  Unwrapping all those kisses is serious work!  And my unwillingness to share is why I only make them once a year!
4. I love soundtracks.  Go figure.
5. I don't consider myself a Southerner.  But, I don't consider myself a Northerner, either.
6. I sort my dirty laundry.  Yep, I have five small baskets designated for our dirty laundry.  And, yes, I get upset when the dirty clothes end up in the wrong basket. 
7. I only eat vanilla ice cream, and never if there are vanilla beans present.  French Vanilla was my favorite but then Baskin Robbins stopped making it!
8. I hate to see typos in print.  Especially in books.  I have been known to get a pen and make a correction right on the page. 
9. I'm not a cat or a dog person.  I generally like animals of any kind.  With the exception of birds, gerbils, and raccoons.  If it looks like it could poop or bite without warning, I try to stay away from it.
10. I try not to say "I have never" or "I will never" because I don't like to contradict myself.
11. I revel in my alone time.

Wow, that was seriously harder than I thought.  And now I have to answer the questions Kristi sent to me!

5. Answer the questions given to you by the blogger who nominated you.

1. What is your secret dream?  I would love to write a weekly column and have it syndicated.
2. What does your significant other not know about you that a friend does?  I simply can not think of anything that my husband doesn't know about me!
3. If you could have one wish that didn’t earn you money and didn’t magically fix something, what would it be?  Hmmm, doesn't earn money or fix something, dang that's tough...Kristi, this is seriously a tough question.  I can't think of a single thing that doesn't do one of those two things!  Well, here it goes.  I would wish for all books to be released in paper back the same day they are released in hard back.  Epic fail?
4. How would you describe your personal style?  Ha, this one's easy.  I have absolutely no style.  I'd wear gray all day every day if I thought people wouldn't notice and give me strange looks!
5. What three words do you think your closest friends would use to describe you?  Stubborn.  Determined.  Problem Solver.
6. If your house were on fire, and your family and pets safe, what three items would you attempt to save?  Easy: camera, external hard drive, and the box of baby keepsakes.
7. Do you believe in plastic surgery?  Yes.  I don't plan to have any, but I'm not taking it off the table as an option for the future.
8. What’s number one on your bucket list?  Hmmmm, generally I get a little anxious about the idea of a bucket list, so I don't really have one.  But, before I die, I hope to visit England.
9. If you had one hour of secret free time, how would you use it?  I'd probably just take a nap!
10. Beer, wine, mixed drinks, water or soda?  I'm okay with water or soda.  I know I'm supposed to choose one and not two.  So, sometimes, I just have to have a soda.  And, I do try to say soda instead of pop.  I may not consider myself a Southerner, but folks around her definitely talk like this is the South!
11. Are you afraid of the dentist?  Nope, never been afraid of the dentist.  I've had the same dentist for as long as I can remember.  Not counting the orthodontist, of course.

6. Create 11 questions for those you nominate to answer.

I'm going to make my 11 questions from the 11 random things I shared about me.  Sorry, it's not very creative!

1. Name a food that you would not eat as a child, but enjoy as an adult.
2. What was the last movie you watched or the last book you read?
3. What is your favorite Girl Scout Cookie and why?
4. Do you have a favorite movie soundtrack and what is it?
5. Are you  "a little bit country" or "a little bit rock and roll"?
6. Do you think it's weird that I sort my dirty laundry?
7. What is your favorite ice cream topping?
8. What word do you almost always misspell?
9. Do you have pets?
10. Words to live by.
11. Are you a social butterfly or a recluse?

7. Notify your nominees and provide a link back to your post - Done, check your email!

8.  Don't give the award back to the blog that gave it to you.


And there you have it.  This really has been a fun little exercise!  Thanks again, Kristi!

Can Your Child Outgrow Her Diagnosis?

Sunday's Friendship Circle email was packed with interesting articles relating to special needs.

The most eye catching being Study: Some Children Can Outgrow Autism. The actual story was a little on the light side, I thought. But, the question raised by this article, Can a child outgrow autism?, is very much an attention getter. Can We Really "Cure" Autism? was a little better, so read that one, too. But, I felt the best explanation of this came from the NIMH article Study Documents that Some Children Lose Autism Diagnosis.

I am not first hand familiar with autism, so I don't know what your child's doctor tells you at your appointment with regards to your child's future. But, for children with a developmental delay, we were told, there is no way to know if your child will be able to "close the gap" between themselves and regular children their age. The up side of developmental delay is that kids can make progress towards closing that gap. I don't know how it is viewed in the autism community, but if the comments left on these articles are any indication, many families are not going to simply part ways with their diagnosis. And I really don't understand that.

For me, the hope that Patty will be able to catchup to her peers is very helpful as we watch her struggle to learn things that come so easy for most kids. It's wonderful to see the progress she's making, and that means the gap is closing, even if it is just a little at a time. In our journey, closing the gap is the hope I need to get me through those really trying, difficult days. Saying that I want to cure her of her delay is an understatement. I want to annihilate her delay so that it simply never existed. The day we can shed the diagnosis of developmental delay will be the one of the happiest days of my life.

Martin Luther King, Jr

Patty's girl scout troop meets in a first grade classroom at her school.  The other day, the teacher mentioned she'd been teaching her class about Martin Luther King, Jr.  After the lesson, a kid asked if Mr. King watched Sponge Bob.  And, since my brain works in a crazy way, I began to wonder if there were any children's programs at the time Mr. King would himself have been a first grade student. 

I know, I know.  Of all the wonderful things to research about him, I'm looking up cartoons during his childhood.  I can't help it.  I was curious. 

So, after looking up his age, I decided he would have been in first grade around 1937.  And then after looking up television programs in 1937 I came to the conclusion that he probably wasn't watching television at all during his childhood.  More than likely, the young Martin Luther King was enjoying radio programming instead. 

I didn't read that as a fact anywhere, it's just an assumption I made.

Gettin' Crafty: Paper Plate Snow Globes

Patty has Girl Scouts once a week and each week the girls complete a craft. 
I spotted really cute snow globes here, but couldn't find the tutorial on how to make them.  Turns out, creating this fun craft is pretty easy. 
Here's what you'll need.

Supplies

• Clear Plastic Plates (Dollar Tree)
• Paper Plates, any color you want (Dollar Tree)
• Glue, Scissors, Hole Punch, Stapler
• Yarn
• Confetti (Hole Punch circles) or Glitter

For each snow globe, you will need one clear plate and three regular paper plates, so keep that in mind while you're shopping.  I had to buy two packages of the clear plates and one pack of the paper plates.  And you'll want to be sure the clear plate will fit inside the paper plate.  Our paper plates were the 7 inch desert plates.

First. cut out the center of two paper plates for each person.  This creates a frame or window for your snow globe.  I only used one paper plate, and I found out that white glue is not strong enough to secure the plastic plate to the paper plate frame.  So, be sure to use two paper plate frames and sandwich the clear plate between them.  Use the glue sparingly because if it seeps out onto the "window" of your snow globe you will be left with a gluey haze.  I perched my frames on top of cups overnight to dry.  I did this ahead of time so the snow globes would be ready to go home on the same day.

Second, decide on a picture for the inside of your snow globe.  Initially I thought the kids could draw a picture.  But, in the essence of saving time, I used a coloring sheet from the Internet to make a circle shaped insert the kids could quickly color.  We only have an hour each week, and that includes working to earn patches and snack time.  Crafts have to be fun and quick!  I measured the inside of the paper plate and made the circle just slightly smaller so everything would fit, printed three to a page, and cut them out ahead of time.

Third, decide how to color the pictures.  I wanted to have the girls use water colors but I had trouble finding a package of paint brushes.  I know, I thought it was weird, too.  But, I forgot to look for them at Walmart and I struck out at Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and Big Lots.  So, what's a girl to do?  Use eyeshadow instead!  Seriously, those girl scouts screeched with excitement!  It was adorable.  I grabbed five of the least expensive eye shadows I could find at Dollar General.  It worked out so two girls shared one set of eye shadow with five shadow colors to choose from.  I'll admit, it was a little messy and the eye shadow did not go as far as I thought it would!

Fourth, the assembly.  Once everything was colored, the girls used glue sticks to adhere the coloring page to the inside of the third paper plate.  We sprinkled a little confetti (made from hole punch circles) into the plate and stapled the frame on top.  Then, used the hole punch to make a hole at the top for hanging.  You could use glitter instead of confetti for your "snow" but I was afraid it would come out of the snow globe and make a mess.  Some of the confetti did manage to escape through the cracks, too.

Last, and I did not anticipate the need for this, have cleaning wipes handy because coloring with eyeshadow is a messy task!  But, I thought the plates turned out great and the girls seemed to have a really good time!

Does the Diagnosis Matter?

If you don't already follow the Friendship Circle, go right now to the website and sign up for their emails.  Don't wait, do it now.  They have amazing articles on lots of topics relating to special needs families.  And some of them are down right funny.

This particular article isn't humorous, but when I read it, I couldn't help but feel like it was written for our family specifically.  The title alone, Should I Get A Diagnosis For My Child With Developmental Delays, caught my attention.  I really could relate to the six reasons given for why parents wait to seek out a diagnosis for their kids.  Particularly the "a diagnosis won't make a difference" reason.

For me, in our journey, I always wanted to know what difference a diagnosis would make for Patty.  Obtaining a diagnosis wasn't going to end with a prescription to correct a problem or save a life.  For me, the diagnosis was just a label put on the situation and I couldn't understand how that was going to make a big difference in anything.  At the end of the day, we were all going to be exactly the same as we were at the beginning of the day, just with a new term to throw around.  You can read about my hostility over labels here.

Am I glad we waited before seeking a diagnosis?  Yes and no.  Patty was just a month or so past her sixth birthday when the appointment finally arrived.  And after receiving the expert's opinion and diagnosis, although it felt like a victory, we really didn't know anything new or different.  Honestly, we still don't know anything new or different, and it's been months since her appointment.  What I do know is that with time, maturity, and outside speech and occupational therapy, combined with the special education help she receives in school, Patty is learning new and wonderful things this school year.  My one regret is not getting her into a good private speech and occupational therapy program earlier. 

If you are on the fence, like I was, about obtaining a diagnosis for your child, don't put off seeking outside therapies.  More than likely, your child won't need a hardcore diagnosis from a specialist to qualify for speech and occupational therapies.  These two therapies alone can and will make a huge difference in your child's progress.  The diagnosis of Delayed Milestones is probably enough to get your child qualified and your pediatrician should be able to refer you for services.  The one hang up may be your insurance coverage, so now is the time to get on the phone and find out if your insurance will cover therapy for delayed milestones. 

When you're scheduling your child's appointments for therapy, ask if there is a kid-friendly rehabilitation department in your area.  Our local hospital/clinic has a department of physical, occupational, and speech therapists just for kids.  It is awesome.  Patty works with wonderful therapists each week and it is, well, awesome.  There's no better way to describe it.  The best part is, I have been able to witness, first hand, the progress Patty is making with the help of these wonderful therapists.

So, to sum it up, I don't really put a lot of faith in a diagnosis.  A diagnosis is really just another word for label.  Labels won't help make a difference for your child with special needs.  But, reacting to a label will make all the difference in the world.

Goodbye, Dalton

I was saddened to read that Dalton lost his battle with Cystic Fibrosis last Saturday.  It's still unknown if he was able to set a new record for Christmas cards received, according to the ABC News announcement I read yesterday.  My hope is that, in time, his family will apply for the record in his memory.  It's pretty awesome what people can do when they join together on behalf of something they care about, isn't it?

Hooray, it's Pajama Day!

I'm sitting here at the computer this morning, checking my email, and trying to figure out when on earth I am going to have time to write anything to post over at Take It or Leave It. 

Patty has been up for just a little while and she just peeked into the dining room to ask me if she has school today. 

We do a count down to the weekend kind of thing around these parts so I told her, one more day.  Then I said, "Guess what?  Today is pajama day!" 

She said, "Pajama day?  Yaaaay!"  Then she did what can only be described as a happy dance. 

It was so cute!  I love mornings like this!  Bonus, it's Friday!

Dryer Balls

I grabbed these dryer balls for a buck-fifty at Menards earlier this week.

 I've been wanting to give them a try for a while, and for less than the price of a box of dryer sheets, I thought now is the time.

So far I've used them in a load of towels and am happy to report there was no static in the towels when I folded them.  They did make quite a racket as they bounced around in the dryer, though.

Fingers crossed they work well with the regular clothes.  I'm kind of worried the little fingers might leave holes. 

Want to Watch: Warm Bodies

Here's  a couple fun facts about me.

I love Zombie movies.  And Zombie movies give me nightmares so I rarely watch them!

If the name is any indication, I think Warm Bodies is going to be funny-scary, so maybe I can watch without nightmares.

Bonus, the movie is based on a book.  I'm a big fan of movies based on books, don't you know?  This ones already on my Amazon wish list.

I'll probably skip the theatrical release of this one, but I will most definitely be looking forward to it's DVD release sometime later this year!

A Good Day for Blog-keeping

Since there is no school today, I'm spending my morning doing a little housekeeping on the blog.  It was either that or go back to bed.  And since both kids are up, I'm thinking there is no way I'm going back to bed!

So, what is blog-keeping?  Well, I really have no idea.  But, whatever it is, it's gotta be better than housekeeping.

Actually, I've been wrestling with some of the topics I've blogged about lately.  When I created this blog, I wanted it to be a place to share our family's journey, not a place consumed by my opinions.  And I didn't want someone to find the way to Meet the Cottons and be frightened away by my non-family topics, you know?  Let's face it, gun control and vigilante justice are not exactly family friendly topics. 

So, I took some time in the wee hours of the morning to create a new blog just for the topics I feel very opinionated about.  You can check it out at Take It or Leave It.  The web address is actually www.takeitorleaveit96.blogspot.com  If you're curious, 96 is the year I graduated high school.

If you read a post here on Meet the Cottons, you can still access it.  But, I have moved the content of several posts and you'll have to follow the link to Take It or Leave It to access that content.  The comments were the only thing I wasn't able to move, so I copied and pasted them giving the original source credit by name.  Honestly, I'm just thankful for this tutorial on how to move the post content from one blog to another!

What Does Freezing Rain Mean? No School Today!

We got the dreaded weather forecast yesterday....sleet and freezing rain.  Oh, no. 
If you don't live around these parts, we got really familiar with freezing rain back in January 2009.  It was not fun.

 

Many people went for weeks without electricity.  Did I say it was not fun?  I worried all night that the power would be affected by the sleet.  Thankfully, we woke up and the power is on!  Happy dance!

 

Initially school was on a two-hour delay, which really surprised me.  Two neighboring counties were closed, and Casey had called to say the over passes were really slick this morning on his way to work.  But, around 7:30 the "all call" went out  alerting us that there would be no school today.  I hope the lunch ladies hadn't already reported in for the day, you know they have to get to school early even on bad weather days.

 

JT is still asleep, and Patty wasn't really super excited that there is no school today.  Guess, she's still too young to really appreciate it!  If there was snow instead of ice, I'm sure that would have made a difference!

Dear Neighbors, Just Say No to Vigilante Style

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

Would You Buy Milk and a Gun?

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

Internet Trouble Trouble Trouble...

Wouldn't you think, in this technological day and age, someone somewhere would have invented an Internet modem that never malfunctions?  We recently had to spend, like, two whole days without Internet because our modem croaked.  Plus, we had to pay for the replacement.  And, now, the new one has been behaving badly.  Seriously, I'd send it to time out, but it has so many times without Internet that I just can't punish it anymore!

Obviously, I'm trying to be funny with this post.  To find the humor in a humorless situation.  But, seriously, I should never have to "reset" that tiny little box to get the Internet to work.  Right?

Anyway, did you see the Taylor Swift reference in my post title?  I had to throw that in because we've been jamming to a cover version of her song this morning.  Patty, who really loves Taylor Swift,  was really happy to watch a YouTube video shared by Joy over at I Can Say Mama.  Then I spent about the next fifteen minutes or so to realize why the band name sounded so familiar.  I had downloaded another cover song by this group, which I also found on some one's blog (Pillow Thought)!

Gettin' Squatchey

Okay, okay, it's true. 

We watch Finding Bigfoot. 

You can't imagine how tickled I was when Casey pointed out the Sasquatch family stickers on the back of a mini-van in traffic yesterday!

I just had to get a picture.

Isn't that so much cooler than those little happy stick figures you usually see?

I only wish JT had been with us because he is absolutely infatuated and terrified by Bigfoot.

Patty, on the other hand, calls it Pink Foot and isn't scared at all!

Kids Say...

One day last week after doing her homework, I said, "Thank you for doing your homework."

 

Without missing a beat, Patty replied, "And thank you for helping me."

 

Then, yesterday at speech therapy, Ms. Melanie asked Patty what she did at school.

 

Patty said, "We used the speaking stone."

 

"What do you do with the speaking stone?" asked Ms. Melanie.

 

"We pass out," Patty informed her.

 

Totally funny!

Take a Minute, Watch this Video

Gotta share this video posted by fellow mom-blogger Joy of I Can Say Mama.  Click here to go to her blog and have a look.  If you don't want to pay it forward after you watch, I think you must be a robot or something!

Two Photos, One Thank You

So, what do these two photos have in common?

Well, besides those adorable faces and the snow.

They merge together to make one super cute thank you card!

 

I'm really happy with how this turned out.  Only wish I had brightened Patty's face a little.

Now, just have to supervise these two with the new sharpie I grabbed today for 49-cents!

Plus, I got the prints for 9-cents each at Walgreens.  Love nine-cent prints!

Since I needed 100 to score that price,

I did these little Girl Scout Cookie thank you reminders, too.

 

I'll have Patty autograph these too and get them out to everyone who ordered cookies.

That's her school photo from last fall.  Speaking of school pictures.  Did you check your packet for a Shutterfly coupon code?  Patty and JT both received a $20 code in their Lifetouch packets.  And they expire January 31st so I need to make myself a note to do something with them soon!

 

 

 

DIY 12 Year Journal

I originally saw this idea, I think, in a Pottery Barn catalog about five years ago.  Being the procrastinator that I am, I finally got around to making a DIY version today that will last for the next 12 years!  Actually, I'll have to purchase more composition notebooks, but this one will get me started!

Here's what I did.  I purchased a black and white composition notebook at Dollar General ($1), a pack of colorful pens also at Dollar General ($2), and a handful of Sharpies at Office Max (on sale for 50-cents each).

I used the Sharpie to divide the page into sections for each year.  As you can see, I allowed four lines per year and that gave me space for six years per page.  I'll do this on the back side of each page so I'll have an additional six years.

I put the month and day in the upper right hand corner of each page.  I'll be able to record four lines about my day each year for the next twelve years!  Of course, each comp book has only 100 sheets.  So, I'll have to add three books to my collection.  The plan is to use packing tape to tape them cover-to-cover so that I have a nice "bound' stack of composition notebooks.  You could use any kind of tape, but I have a nice big roll of packing tape so that's what I plan to use.  In the end, I'll have invested three-bucks into a 12 year journal.  Not counting cool pens and Sharpies, of course.  Note to self, the Sharpie did bleed through a little, so I used a piece of card stock between the pages to prevent marking up the other pages!

On the Record: Face Tattoos

Face tattoos are just not a good idea. Get a tramp stamp instead. When you're old and forgetful, you won't even remember you have it. Out of sight, out of mind!

Second Day Back, Harder Than First

My poor Patty-Watty!  She does not want to get up this morning, her second day back to school after Winter Break!  Bless her heart, she ate breakfast then crashed out on the couch again. 

My Reaction: Denial of Organ Transplant

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

Welcome 2013

Happy New Year, everyone! 

Time to get the Christmas decorations put away,
put up the new calendar,
and reset your alarm clock! 

Oh, and there are only 358 days until Christmas!

LOL.

2013 Resolution for Sonic

I have been pondering New Year's Resolutions while we've been on Winter Break even though we all know moms do not get a winter break!

But, I had a dessert epiphany today while waiting for our order at Sonic.  Here it goes...

Dear Sonic,
I think you should resolve to bring back the beloved Hot Fudge Cake Sundae in 2013. 
I can just picture the come back campaign!
You can even say it's brand new and I won't tell anyone how much/many I enjoyed while pregnant with Patty...and JT. 
Very Sincerely,
Hot Fudge Cake Sundae Lovers United

Lol.  Think it'll work?