So this is Christmas... and what have you done?

Wow, it's here. The day was spent cooking, and cutting snowflakes and playing spirograph and planning the big guy's visit. We ate soup (corn chowder) and bread and scratched off lottery tickets (and made back $27 and two tickets). It is now 11:17pm and I have had to put Glee back to bed before she reached the bottom of the stairs. "has he been here yet?" but no, I don't want to ruin the surprise. Sure, he's been here, got here just before my shower and just after I finished the coffee cake for breakfast!

This is an amazingly magical time. They both believe so much with their hearts that it all must be true. We did a fairy and mermaid tea last weekend... they left her a magic freshwater pearl necklace (thanks Cost Plus!). Oh, and real live flowers covered in magic dust. They will grace our table tomorrow.

Happy Christmas to you all... and solstice and hannukah and kwanzaa and whatever it is you want to celebrate. Love your family and celebrate!

Report Cards and Christmas Lights

So... Thomas' report card said he is right where he needs to be in all areas except a couple. Those all include impulse control (he needs to follow directions, sit still, listen more attentively). I'll give him a pass on all of those for the first few months of school. He is coming from a preschool class that had vastly different rules, not to mention he's five years old. I am not excusing him... I am just giving him time to figure out the system. I had his conference today with his teacher and she said he is very smart but is working on impulse control. He knows his letters by sight and sound, he is reading (as of October he was reading 15 of the 30 words all kindergartners should know by the end of kindergarten). He's trying. The one thing I will be working with him on is small motor skills aka learning to write clearly. His letters can be pretty sloppy, and I know he doesn't LIKE to do it, but it's an important part of the education.

Glee, on the other hand (sort of), got all E's, which stands for excellent in every single category, work and effort, except one. In writing effort she got a VG+ (Very Good +). I think the only reason she got one VG was so that she wouldn't be promoted to third grade. Seriously, her teacher LOVES her... and I think it is mutual. I have her conference on Friday. I am hoping she will be tested for GATE this year (Gifted and Talented) which just means extra school work, and more learning chances. She needs it.

I spent a lovely weekend in San Francisco, and missed my family more than I should have. It sure is nice to come home after getting away.

I have to say, one of my favorite favorite FAVORITE things of this time of year is to see Christmas lights in the rain. Lovely I tell you. It is now cold, cold enough to wear my warm winter coat and my autumnal scarf. I love it...

Last night he read the whole book...

Yes, Thomas read 90% of a book called "Turtle and Snake Go To Work." He read it out loud to both X and I and I have to say, the boy can READ! Third month of kindergarten and this is what he amazes me with... he can read, he knows all of the states west of the Mississippi River by name, he can tell the difference between Joe Biden and John McCain, and he knows why we vote the way we do. He dresses himself, but all of a sudden in the past week most of his pants have gotten short and his t-shirts too small. He brushes his teeth, he tries hard to follow directions, and he is boundless in his energy. He loves us unconditionally and he tells us all the time "Mom, no matter what, I ALWAYS love you, even if you are mad." Such the boy I tell you. I don't know many adults who know all the states! He even knows that Canada is north of us AND he knows which way north IS!

Section 60

"he was the first to buried there three years ago... now five more rows stretch beyond him." This was on the Today show, talking about Arlington National Cemetery and Veteran's Day. His first name was Nicholas and he was born around when I graduated from high school. It was sad, to see all those moms out there mourning their sons. I am so sorry for their losses. I appreciate what their sons did. I am really anti-war, and I have been against this whole middle east thing for as long as it has been going on. I am naive to think we could just ignore any of it, but I feel like there should be a better way. Someday I will take my kids to Arlington, to see the National Cemetery. They said 1800 men were the first buried there, after the Civil War, in one mass grave, in the rose garden.

Thank you veterans, and even though I am a card carrying liberal, and what most of you would call bleeding heart, I appreciate your service and I am grateful to you for keeping our country safe.

Too good to pass up...

Sometimes I think I must not have anything better to do, and then I remind myself that sometimes I don’t.

This started with an email from someone I used to be fairly friendly with, and would still be, but she seems to be pretty unavailable. She has a daughter the same age as Glee and a son a year younger than Thomas. She is born again, and that was okay by me, but she included me on this list of people to whom they passed a lot of the misinformation about President-Elect Obama (man, that feels GOOD to say!).

Some people just aren’t all they claim to be are they? I wonder if this is why I have such an aversion to churches (other than thinking they are pretty, admiring the architecture, and then heading to their graveyards!).

So, I let one go, and then I got this one... read from the bottom up from here on... of course the names have been changed to protect the guilty (again).

From: Jill
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 5:03 PM
To: unnameabledude@yahoo
Subject: RE: FW: FW: Keep this going

No, you didn’t really. Because I did not say what I believe in, other than the FACT that I said I am not a Christian, and the FACT that I don’t believe John McCain would be the right person to lead our country. The rest of it was ASSUMPTION on your part. You don’t know who I voted for, or why, because YOU DON’T KNOW ME. I may be farther right than you, I just don’t believe in spreading lies about someone, and that is what this email has been doing.

Let he without sin, well, I am assuming (and I shouldn’t because I don’t know you and I don’t know how well you know your own book) you know the rest.

That being said, I hope someday to actually meet you so you can see that my horns don’t show in public and that I am not carrying around a fetus in a jar and proclaiming everyone should have one. Not everyone is as you think they are.

From: unnameabledude@yahoo
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 3:16 PM
To: Jill
Subject: RE: FW: FW: Keep this going

Hey, I didn't cast judgment on you, all I mentioned was what YOU said about yourself. The only assumption I made is that you aren't a liar about yourself.

Look, I just thought it was pretty funny that you decided to tell a bunch of people you don't know about your beliefs, which is exactly what you were complaining about. All you needed to say was "please take me off this distribution list". However, with that said, I truly am sorry for making fun of you. Right after I sent it I regretted it.

--- On Tue, 11/4/08, Jill wrote:
From: Jill
Subject: RE: FW: FW: Keep this going
To: unnameabledude@yahoo
Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2008, 4:02 PM

Some Christian you are… you don’t even know me. You might want to read your good book before you cast judgment. I have my stones collected but I don’t use them except for self defense.

From: unnameabledude@yahoo
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 2:39 PM
To: HUGE List of so-called Christians
Subject: RE: FW: FW: Keep this going

Please remove me from this distribution list if you do not remove Jill from this list, as I am diametrically opposed to being on a distribution list with anyone who thinks partial-birth abortions is a "right" and who is so ill-informed as to think that Obamanomics is the better choice for America.
Thank you.


--- On Mon, 11/3/08, Jill wrote:
From: Jill
Subject: RE: FW: FW: Keep this going
To: HUGE List of so-called Christians
Date: Monday, November 3, 2008, 7:36 AM

Please remove me from this list before you forward it anymore. I am not Christian, I do not believe McCain is the best choice for president and I am diametrically opposed to the information being spread in these emails.
Thank you.

Jill Nowak

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe the Christian
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 12:09 AM
To: HUGE list is Christians
Subject: Re: FW: FW: Keep this going

Dear Crosstrainers and Friends,

Please forward the following information to our fellow brothers and sisters
in Christ who may not know of Barrack Obama's position on abortion.

As Christians, our FIRST priority is to vote the Bible, which means that THE
most important issue in choosing the right candidate is the one who is PRO-LIFE, NOT Pro-Choice. Clearly, if you watched both candidates during Rick Warrren's interviews at Saddleback Church, you would know who that is, not to mention their records.

While in the Illinois Senate, Obama repeatedly blocked a bill that would protect the lives of "born-alive infants" who survive abortions. Now, he is trying to run and
hide from his radical record.

Barack Obama is THE MOST radical pro-abortion presidential candidate in history. Not only does he oppose protecting babies who survive a failed abortion, he has pledged to sign the Freedom of Choice Act as his first item of business if elected president. Obama opposes the ban on partial-birth abortion and said the issue of when life begins was too difficult for him to answer - "above my pay grade." This was the statement he made at Saddleback Church.

John McCain's answer, however, was direct and without reservation - "at
conception"!

And we won't even get into the harm Obama would cause our country in his socialistic tax policy for "spreading the wealth", pulling our troops out of Irag prematurely, and weakening our strength in the world with his naive and reckless plans to meet with other socialistic/communist leaders of countries that hate America.

May God's hand be seen in the election of John McCain and Sarah Palin and may He be glorified for it!

God Bless our country and our voting efforts.

Homer and Marge

Halloween and all in between

So, Halloween was a hit. Glee was so excited, and so many people at school said they didn't recognize her! That is the sign of a real costume. Be something you aren't! Thomas had a great time showing off his tracker made out of electrical tape, a box and foil. He was so proud to have a pen "just like dad uses." X brought one home JUST for him, and it was an important part of his costume, along with his cellphone. And he carried a FedEx box with a hole in it for collecting his candy. It was an awesome costume.



We passed out candy until it was gone, and we even went through the kids bags and took out the candy we didn't want them to have (that laffy taffy is the stuff of the devil, and lollipops all had to go). Some friends came over and the kids played in the dark, which was fun for them, with flashlights, and we played hide and seek and I jumped out and scared them a few times. It was fun. One of our friends, a boy with the same name as our boy, came dressed as a UPS man. I loved it.

Now today, I am waiting for about an hour to go vote. To make Obama our next president. To get over the election and move ahead to fix the economy and make the rest of the world realize we aren't bullies. I will be glad to not see any more election materials, and to not see anyone talking smack about anyone else on tv, at least for a little while.

I am glad people are voting and trying to use their rights as an American to speak their minds. Go, VOTE.

Anniversary

Yesterday was the third anniversary of my dear friend and mother in law's stroke. That day X called me at my morning women in business meeting and told me something was wrong with his mom. My meeting was close to her house, so I went to get her. She was completely discombobulated. She hadn't slept in her bed, the phone book was open to moving companies and she said she was trying to call us. She was completely out of it. She'd had a stroke. She wanted to go to the Air Force Base for a doctor, but luckily they were closed because they would have sent us up to the VA in Westwood. I took her to an Urgent Care, who said to take her to the hospital. I took her to the hospital I was born at. In the ER they started tests, and she was admitted about 6 hours later. They did some therapy, she came home with us a couple of weeks later. She lived with us for a week, and then she was having small strokes. So she went back to the hospital. She was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, and she died in January, 10 days shy of her 65th birthday. I miss her terribly. Sometimes I can still hear her voice, but it is getting more and more faint. Like she doesn't think we need her anymore. Maybe, hopefully, she has more important things to do now than hang around us and watch.

After she died I felt a grief like I had never felt in my life. She was one of my best friends. I shared everything with her. She ate at our house and drank coffee with me in the morning, even though she didn't like flavored coffee. Jessica remembers watching golf and tennis on tv with her. She remembers going with her to the mall to visit Grandma's friends. Owen doesn't remember her. He was only two. I am sad about that. Although, he does have a lot of memories of her AFTER she passed. Like when she helped Jessica find her bracelet in the backyard. He often asks out loud to Grandma for help finding things. We still say we are thankful for her when we say our dinner thank you's.

A lot of people remember the day people died. I remember the day I was called in to service, and if I could I would happily do it for her again. I am sure she knew how much I loved her and she is in a place now that is only better because she is not sick. If she could be here with us I know she would.

Just an update...

Not much to report really. This is our busy week... dance for X and I tomorrow night, soccer practice for Glee tomorrow, Brownies on Wednesday, Soccer for Thomas AND Glee on Thursday... should be a jam-packed week!

I spent the weekend working on Halloween costumes. Glee will be Silvermist, one of Tinker Bell's friends. She wears blue and sparkles and has black hair (?!). Why Glee picked her I will never know, but we got a wig, so Glee's hair won't be dyed... The costume is almost done. I am working on the belt, I have to make the shorts to go under the dress and then the wings. I am looking forward to making fairy wings, I've never done that before! Thomas is going to be a FedEx Guy, just like dad. We have a shirt from one of X's co-workers (a small woman!), some shorts, his short white socks, and a baseball hat. We need to make him a powerpad (that's what you sign when you sign for FedEx) and a tracker. He also has a belt holster for his tracker. I have to shorten the sleeves on his shirt, but otherwise he is good to go. We are going to make his trick-or-treat bag out of a FedEx box.

We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday for the yearly photo. I will try to put up the last seven years of pumpkin patch photos at some point... I guess that's our version of a Christmas Card picture!

This morning I get to go help in Glee's class, for Writer's Workshop. Thomas is doing a special art project next Monday and I get to help out with that too. 19 kindergartners with watercolors. Yay!

We are half way through the soccer season... it ends in December. That will be nice. I am done with every Saturday being taken up for a majority of the day with games. I am done going to practice twice a week. I am just plain done with soccer.

Just a couple more weeks of the politics, and then I wonder what I will talk about with some of my friends. Go Obama!

Found this online tonight...

and you all know me, you know my political views... this sums it all up pretty well.

The Spin
Friday, September 12 2008 @ 07:39 EDT
Contributed by: Invictus

(H/T Judy. Thanks.)

Black teen pregnancies? A 'crisis' in black America.
White teen pregnancies? A 'blessed event.'

If you grow up in Hawaii you're 'exotic.'
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're the quintessential 'American story.'

Similarly, if you name your kid Barack you're 'unpatriotic.'
Name your kids Trig and Track, you're 'colorful.'

If you're a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you're 'reckless.'
A Republican who doesn't fully vet is a 'maverick.'

If you spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13 and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review,create a voter regstration drive that registers 150,000 new African Amerian voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor,then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you are woefully inexperienced.
If you spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, you've got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, are the Commander in Chief of the Alaska military and are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia.

If you are a Demoratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an 'arrogant celebrity'.
If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are 'energizing the base'.

If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions you are 'presumptuous'.
If you are an older male candidate who makes last minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a 'shoot from the hip' maverick.

If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree you are 'an elitist 'out of touch' with the real America.
If you are a legacy (dad and granddad were admirals) graduate of Annapolis, with multiple disciplinary infractions you are a hero.

If you manage a multi-million dollar nationwide campaign, you are an 'empty suit'.
If you are a part time mayor of a town of 7000 people, you are an 'experienced executive'.

If you go to a south side Chicago church, your beliefs are 'extremist'.
If you believe in creationism and don't believe gobal warming is man made, you are 'strongly principled'.

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years with whom you are raising two beautiful daughters you're 'risky'.

If you're a black single mother of 4 who waits for 22 hours after her water breaks to seek medical attention, you're an irresponsible parent, endangering the life of your unborn child.
But if you're a white married mother who waits 22 hours, you're spunky.

If you're a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton, the right-wing press calls you 'First dog.'
If you're a 17-year old pregnant unwed daughter of a Republican, the right-wing press calls you 'beautiful' and 'courageous.'

If you kill an endangered species, you're an excellent hunter.
If you have an abortion you're not a christian, you're a murderer ( forget about if it happened while being date raped)

If you teach abstinence only in sex education, you get teen parents.
If you teach responsible age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

Thumbkin

When Thomas was little we took a class called "toddler time" where he got to sing songs like Little Red Caboose (chug chug chug) and Where is Thumbkin. Today I was talking with X and Glee and I remembered when we learned the Thumbkin song, and how Thomas couldn't pronounce Thumbkin. His "th" sounded like "f", and, well, you get the gist. We got him to say all sorts of things, but my favorite was hearing a three year old boy say "I want a funkin tattoo RIGHT NOW!" Every time we had him say it to a grown up we would get looks, and then laughs (if they knew us... and sometimes when we were out at restaurants or in the mall and had him say thumbkin, we just got the looks).

He now pronounces Thumbkin just like you are supposed to. My baby is growing up...

Raising a boy

I thought I would have to take special care with Glee because she is a girl. I spent a lot of time helping her to build her confidence, her self worth (we are still working on that one) and her empathy. I thought Thomas would roll with the punches. I was wrong. It seems he needs more help with his confidence. He spends a lot of time trying to get people to talk to him. He yells "HI!" to his friends, a lot, almost to the point of being annoying. Last night he had a nightmare and this is what he told me... "I pretended I didn't have anything to play with and no one was my friend!" My pretended he meant that was what happened in his dream. He has a very hard time when people ignore him and there are a couple of kids who know that and do it to him on purpose. One boy does it and I just want to smack him. He does it to his sister to, and it makes her cry and he doesn't care. I need to steer Thomas away from that kid, but now I find that a boy I thought was one of his good friends is doing the ignoring thing to him too! So, dear friends, any thoughts on this? How can we raise a boy's confidence? I may need to go check out some books from the library. He is such a sweet and smart boy, and he is generally kind to others, although he is picking up some habits I don't like. I thought I did a good job preparing him, but I can see kindergarten is going to be more brutal for a boy than for a girl.

The names have been changed...

I never thought, and I mean NEVER that I would be involved in the PTA, much less a party to such drama. Read from the bottom up... also, all the typos were actual typos. I didn't make those up. Seriously. I didn't.

Hi Ladies,

I am sorry to say this but I cannot take this anymore. It is so difficult to try to make deadlines to council and with everything that I do, I can't always be on top of my due dates allthough I think I do pretty good! Please do not rely on me to get things done! I cannot believe that this is the reaction I would get for just trying to do my job. If any of you feel that I am not doing my job as president and think you can do it better, then please be my guest because I am tired of getting my head bitten off for doing my job.
I am sorry to send this out to you like this but I have alot going on outside of PTA right now and I really do not need this!

--- On Wed, 10/1/08, DM wrote:
From: DM
Subject: RE: Directory
To: Jane Smith
Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 3:45 PM
I don't know what you mean by, "I saw it yesterday." What did you see yesterday?

I know there is a deadline to get it out. I'm using the early bird deadline of Oct. 10th. But, I'm waiting for YOU to confirm or give me the PTA dates that are missing off of YOUR calendar that YOU e-mailed everyone. They are also the dates you said you would get.

I also need YOUR President's theme.

If YOU want it to go out incomplete, I'll send it out now. But, realize, it does not meet PTA requirements when missing the President's Theme.


--- On Wed, 10/1/08, Jane Smith wrote:
From: Jane Smith
Subject: RE: Directory
To: DM
Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 2:41 PM

Just forget it, I just saw it yestarday. There is a deadline though and you need to get those dates or just put it out as is

--- On Tue, 9/30/08, DM wrote:
From: DM
Subject: RE: Directory
To: Jane Smith
Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 9:32 PM
I wish you would have asked a few days ago instead of the last minute. Then, I would have pushed Mrs. **** when I met with her on Monday about the Math-a-thon. I gave her until Friday to give me some dates.

We don’t have a date to put TBA or tentative. Those usually indicate place, not date.

I don’t know when Blue Ribbon Week, Math-a-thon, STAR Challenge, AIA show, and Canned Food Drive is. I estimated when STAR Challenge, AIA show and Canned food Drive are from previous years. I’m also assuming that our Blue Ribbon Week is the same as Other Elementary. That’s the dates I put in.

I also don’t have a president’s theme.

I hate doing things at the last minute and haphazard like this. Please confirm these dates and your theme by Friday so I can print and distribute on time (for the Communicator).

I will have copies of what I have in the office tomorrow morning.

DM

-----Original Message-----
From: Jane Smith
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 8:54 PM
To: DM
Subject: RE: Directory

Not tenative but TBA?

--- On Tue, 9/30/08, DM wrote:
From: DM
Subject: RE: Directory
To: Jane Smith
Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 6:28 PM
When do you need this by? I’m still waiting for dates, you know Math-a-thon, Star Challenge, etc., from Mrs. ***. And, she’s changing her dates for Breakfast – now to be known as Coffee – with the Principal.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jane Smith
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 6:13 PM
To: DM
Subject: Directory

Is the unit Directory finished? I need two copies and the paperwork, if you have'nt finished, maybe I could turn in the "rouph darfts"?
Jane

May the Force be with you...

Wow, that sure sounds religious up there, doesn't it? We had the Blow Out Birthday Bash of 2008, a home movie theater set up in the backyard. Kids went through Jedi training, I did face painting, we had theater food (nachos, hot dogs, popcorn with weird butter flavoring, and ALL THE CANDY YOU COULD EAT!!!!!) just the way I always dreamed of it, all you could eat, as much as you want, with no additional cost! We put a big screen tv in the backyard and showed Star Wars, which was loads of fun. The kids raked in the gifts, our family and friends are WAY too generous, and Glee now has (after saving about $30 before the party) enough to buy her own Nintendo DS. At age 7. Yep, our country may be experience a serious cash flow problem, but not Glee! Thomas has almost enough to get one of his own. At age 5. We already made it clear that we are still in charge of them, that we would have all final say on games purchased and played, and that we could take them away for bad behaviors. So, even though they buy them, we would still be bosses. For a little while anyway.

Thomas scored big time on the Hot Wheel front, and he hasn't had his official birthday yet, when we give him presents too. As I type there all sorts of Hot Wheel tracks secreted away under our bed, and he is going to flip when he sees what he can put together. He loves those things!

Glee got all sorts of magical fairy books as well as art supplies and her very own gift card to Joanns so she can buy her own crochet hooks and yarn. She made a scarf for her doll which came out super nice for a first project. She should have some serious reading material to last her a while too... one friend gave her a whole set of flower fairy books, and she got a very cool book on raising chickens. Even though we aren't supposed to have them here (our city is not zoned for "livestock") I am determined to find a way for her to do it. She loves the chickens in Colorado so much!

Maybe she will get her fix when she sees what we are getting them for Christmas. We are going to get a dog! We are working on it now, trying to figure out what would best fit for our family, talking to our vet who has made some great suggestions for rescued animals. So... stay tuned. A family dog is in the works!

Thomas is now working on his school skills, like sitting quietly on the rug during class. That was something he was never expected to do in preschool, but kindergarten is a whole new ballgame! He is making new friends every day. I have a long story about a girl named Ximena and the girl he sits next to (same class) who he was convinced was named Timena. I argued for a weekend with him about that, saying her name couldn't possibly be Timena. On Monday, I learned her names was Tammena. Who would have thought. What a name for your kid! We can tell them apart though, apparently Ximena is a crybaby, talks out of turn, and spends way too much time talking and singing in the bathroom. It's cool what your kindergartner will tell you. OH, and sat next to a boy for lunch the other day but couldn't talk to him because "he only speaks Spanish." The boy's name? Mohammed. Must be from Spain.

Glee is adjusting too... she is the only person at her table who doesn't talk all the time (and I know some of the other kids and she's not making that up). I need to have a talk with her teacher because she said it is become too distracting to sit there, and papers she normally gets all right on have come home -2 and -3. Not that that is a big deal, but she knows the answers and is being distracted, so we need to do something about that.

Back to school night on Thursday, and Brownies tomorrow. Soccer practice was cancelled tonight because of another back to school night.

My Pirate name...

Some things are just for fun...

My pirate name is:
Captain Bess Rackham
Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate.

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com

Excerpts

This is actually excerpted information from an email to my cousin Aurora! Sometimes it is faster to do this than retype it all...

I did do work this week. Monday I did some running around (library, turned in some paperwork at City Hall for our Brownie meetings, grocery store) and I donated blood (apparently a vein in my left arm is a gusher and I got two pints out in 4 minutes FLAT!)… then Tuesday was spent working on a clients family slide show… then Wednesday was organizing for the first Brownie meeting, and then here we are.

So… school seems to be going okay for both kids. I was a little nervous about Thomas, he seems so young compared to the other kids in his class (I think many of them are 6). I have discovered he really needs to practice his writing which will become part of his homework every day. So far both kids LOVE homework. I do homework with Thomas right when he gets home at 1:30, and he is usually done by 2, at which time he has a snack and watches a little tv before we pick up Glee at 2:45. Then, on a good day (for me) he will lay down for a rest until about 5, but on Tuesday and Thursday we have soccer practice, so he might not get that rest, and at the end of the night (8:30pm for them) he is EXHAUSTED. He seems good in class, a good listener, so he’s not the Thomas I have at home all the time. Thomas’s teacher told me a funny story about him. I guess they were reading Billy Goat Gruff and at the end the teacher asked why the troll would pick the goat he picked and Thomas piped up saying “because he has the most meat on him!” Later he told me the fat one had more meat than the skinny ones, because more is more and less is less. No vegans in our house!

Glee has become a go-to girl in her class already. The teacher told other kids yesterday to see her if they needed help with a project because she was the only one who listened and followed directions. She’s a good girl, and she sure does like helping others… lucky me! In her class they have a behavior chart and the object is to pull a green card everyday which means she had a great day. She is proud to bring those home, let me tell you! The teacher has also moved students in the class and put a talker next to Glee because she knows Glee won’t talk during class. She has such self restraint, she NEVER talks to the person next to her she said, unless the teacher said it is okay! I am sure she is wise beyond her years, and if there was ever anyone who has been through this life before, it is her. She has learned to crochet and made a lovely scarf for her doll Elizabeth, and now wants to make her a toy or a sweater. I am not sure she can do it yet, but we will see. Once I get the hang of knitting better I will teach her that too. She is very patient with that stuff!

The only real problem I am having with school so far is food. They take lunch every day and Thomas is pretty good about eating his, but Glee has become so picky! She doesn’t like sandwiches, cut fruit, cheese, yogurt, cashew nuts, raisins, so many things! Then she eats all the sweets first, but I am afraid if I don’t put the sweets in she won’t eat anything at all! Any ideas on stuff that worked for you guys for school lunches? I will take all the help I can get!

So that’s it from here. Not a lot of news. I am working on a couple of jobs now, and I need to sit down with a calendar to outline my next steps. I really do want to start up my business again (plus it will give me a better outlet than PTA for my time!).

Oh, X’s hockey team won his league championship, on Glee’s birthday! It was nice, we got to go watch the game (I haven’t watched a hockey game in AGES), and although it was late (we didn’t get home until almost midnight) it was a lot of fun. Glee and Thomas both had soccer that day too, opening day. Glee’s team lost 2-0, and Thomas’ team doesn’t keep score yet, but they have a ringer on their team, and we had to have a talk with Thomas about TEAM sports and how when someone on your team scores, it benefits the WHOLE team. He was mad because he couldn’t get the ball. We are working on the team thing still…

So there you go. Lots of news but nothing earth shattering, just stuff.

Republican women

This has really been bugging me. Why on earth do the republicans think that just because Sarah Palin is a woman it means women will vote for her? Did people vote for Hillary JUST because she was a woman or was there something else, like, maybe, you had the same views as she did on some key matters. I will say this now, I did NOT vote for Hillary because a key issue for me is gun control and she is (apparently) very soft on gun control.

So, Sarah Palin, who is a creationist, anti-choice, governor for not even 2 years, and women should just be happy she is breaking in? She's cashing in on the 18 million cracks? Man, it just bugs me that there are people who will vote for someone based on their sex, race, or any other reason that the candidate didn't have any say in. Seriously, how stupid do the republicans think we are? I think I am even more appalled because of two different views I have been exposed to recently. Two different men whose opinions I have come across really disturb me. The first one that bugged me was a guy who said a woman couldn't be president because women don't have the ability to say when someone should die. Women are "life-givers" and therefore would not be able to sign an execution warrant, or hire a hit man, or pull the trigger to kill someone, or decide where our military should go to kill people. Hmm. The other said that people should vote for Palin because "she's hot." By that he meant that she had every bit as much experience as Barack Obama (despite the fact that she still lists PTA as one of her volunteer positions) and she is all for being a car carrying member of the NRA and getting whatever she can for her constituents in the way of tax rebates while ignoring the environment. Okay, I can see why we should put our country in her hands.

Enough politics. I just had to get that off my chest. Chuck E. Cheese was a HIT, and it was empty (LA County schools back in session today!). Park afterwards for a little, home to popsicles and then I treated the munchkins to a spa treatment (shower and then bubble bath!). Thomas is sleeping off his spa high and Glee is building zoos in Zoo Tycoon. It's off to Souplantation for dinner (Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup!) and early bedtime in anticipation of the next best thing to Christmas for moms stuck at home... first day of school!

Last Day of Summer 2008

Wow, so school starts tomorrow. Thomas will be in kindergarten, with the same teacher Glee had for kindergarten. Glee's teacher will be posted this afternoon, after the office closes, so they won't have to deal with any parents who don't like the teacher their kid got.

Today I am taking the kids to Chuck E Cheese. They don't know this yet, which makes it sort of an exciting secret I have for a little while. Thomas is helping himself to a yogurt right now and asked if I would make him an English Muffin for breakfast. I hear Glee upstairs, getting dressed, probably brushing her teeth because she is good like that.

How did I ever get such KIDS? I wonder it now, when I look at them and they can do so much for themselves. It won't be long before they don't really need us for anything. I wonder if I will always walk them to school. I imagine I always will to elementary, I mean it's a walk to the corner basically. I guess I wil always be needed for somethings, which is kind of a nice thought.

So, our Brownie troop has lost two members, and gained a couple in return. I guess it's bound to happen. I also am soccer mom to the Tigers (Glee's team). The Wild Dogs' (Thomas' team) soccer mom is the coach's wife. The first soccer games of the season start this Saturday, Tigers 10am, Wild Dogs 10:15am. I offered to do my duty as a parent and work in the snack bar on behalf of the Wild Dogs. I will probably be in charge of it for the Tigers too. Oh yeah, and didn't I say I was going to get back to work on my business? I will, really, it is one of my goals for this year.

I think my kids think I am super happy they are going back to school, but I am a little sad. I am going to miss them, more than they know. Sure, the freedom thing will be nice, but I won't have anyone to go anywhere with for the year, and sometimes the quiet is really too loud. I know they will be getting their top notch grade school education, but it's still strange to think they will be spending more time with strangers now than with their parents. Just think what I will be like when they go off to college (man, that's only 10 years away for Glee and 13 for Thomas!).

Yesterday

I turned 41. Yep, I am officially middle aged, but that is not what I intend to write about today. Today I was remembering this slumber party I went to when I was 12 (I think). My friends Chris and Valerie were there too, but I can't remember whose party it was. There was a Ouija board, almost always at the slumber parties we had a Ouija Board. At Chrissy G's 12th birthday/slumber party we asked the Ouija Board for Rick Springfield's phone number and we got the number to a bar in Dallas TX. I can imagine Chrissy explaining that call to her parents. It was waaaaay before the internet, so there was no predatory action going on. Anyway, I always had pretty good luck with Ouija Boards. I don't know who was directing me, but we got some pretty good answers to our questions. This one slumber party, with Chris and Valerie, the three of us were using the Ouija Board. I asked "what will we be when we grow up?" The answer: secdertary, producerq and layer. Now, I thought that was going to be one each, and I was going to be a producer. A movie producer, right? Well, I have been thinking about this answer lately, and I think they were answers for me. I have been a secretary, probably the most lucrative way to pay for college. I could be a producer, I think I have the skills, and it's really all about who you know, but I also have been thinking of going back to school to study law. I think I would make a good lawyer. I like to argue. I like to win arguments. So, there you go. Midlife crisis, okay, maybe.

So, the other thing I wanted to mention was I read The Lovely Bones. It's an amazing book. I would reccomend it to everyone I know. It's sort of sad, in a very winsome sort of way. I really loved it. I also read Twilight, the teen vampire novel. X borrowed the next book for me from a friend of his, but I am just not into it. Twilight left me sort of mad, it is just way too sappy for my taste, and the next one isn't promising to be much better. I'll give it another couple of chapters before I throw in the towel.

Last bit of new, I joined a knitting club. They meet locally on Sundays and Wednesdays, though I have never gone to a Wednesday get together. There is one happening tomorrow, at a coffee shop I really like, so I might go, before the madness of school starts. On Thursday we get to find out Thomas' kindergarten teacher. I am excited for him, but I am nervous. This summer he has really had a hard time focusing and paying attention. I am hoping it's a growth spurt or something. Glee has a mermaid/fairy tea party planned for Saturday night. I think I might have them both sit down tomorrow and do some school work, some math pages and write their letters and such. I also have a couple of gifts to send out, to a couple of friends for belated birthdays and congratulations on new jobs (E and C!), my nieces Hannah Montana themed gifts, and get a couple of things to send to Aurora... oh, and grocery store, and what the heck I think I will take the kids to the coffee shop for breakfast... finish out the lazy days of summer.

Lazy days of summer

We are at the end of them, for this year anyway. From the previous post you can see things are starting to add up.

I just want to take a minute at the end of summer here to make some observations about Thomas and Glee. We haven't studied anything this summer. We haven't taken the time to learn anything new, but Glee can read anything now and her comprehension is really high. That means I have to be careful now, because she can read over my shoulder. Thomas is putting letters together, and not really reading exactly, but getting the idea of it. He has decided he wants to skateboard, and has a skateboard on the back patio he likes to play on. He is trying to do tricks like they do on tv. We need to get him a helmet at least, and probably some knee and elbow pads. Glee learned how to play Zoo Tycoon 2 this summer and has a real nice zoo going.

I am surprised by how little and how much they actually know. It's hard to remember sometimes they are only (almost) 5 and 7. I catch myself expecting more of them than I probably should, but I wonder if it expecting too much for the common sense to kick in. Today Thomas went to the bathroom, and in pulling up his underwear they got stuck. So what does he do? He just yells for me. Instead of unsticking them, he asks me to do it. No, I didn't. I told him to do it himself. If he is in school and finds himself in that situation, he has to know how to get out of it! Also today, he was drinking orange juice out of a juice bottle, and instead of using his finger to reach in to get the straw he decided to tip the bottle. I stopped it before it poured all over him, but I wonder if I should have just let it pour! So, really, it's only his common sense that it is bugging me. I guess it will come. Hmm.

Here we go!

So, last couple of weeks of summer, and here is what the schedule for the next three to four months looks like...

Thomas has soccer practice on Thursdays from 5-6, Glee has soccer practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30-6:30 (thankfully, the same location for all the practices). Games will be on Saturdays. Girl Scouts will be on every other Wednesday, for which I am the leader, so there will be prep and organizing to be done. Oh, and I am team mom for Glee's team (Thomas' team coach's wife took the job on that one). School will be Monday-Friday from 8:30-1:50 for Thomas, and 8:30-2:50 for Glee, except Wednesdays which will be out at 1:30 for Thomas and 1:50 for Glee. In all that I have to revitalize my business because we need the cash, and I have been feeling slightly useless lately not participating in the income portion of our house. Of course I do manage to save us some money here and there, but it would be nicer to generate some once in a while.

In other news, we sold out Pathfinder for $1200.00. That was a good deal all the way around. The guy who bought it is going to have to put about $1000.00 in for repairs, and we don't have to pay for insurance on it anymore. Oh, and it sure did like to drink gas, and we really only drove it in emergencies. So we are once again a two car family (and good thing, since only two of us can actually DRIVE).

It seems like a thousand years since my cousins were here. This summer dragged on and now it's over in the blink of an eye. I am looking forward to school starting. I think the kids are too, they are starting to get a little stir-crazy at home. Thomas has been bouncing off the walls for about two weeks now, and it seems it is not enough to have him rest in the afternoon, which ironically calms him down. Glee has been sick for a couple of days, bad sore throat, temp of 104 on Saturday. The doc today said it was just a bad cold of some sort, and to wait it out. She tested her for strep and it came back negative. Thomas is probably getting it too.

X is playing lots of hockey right now, and he seems tired. I would be too if I had a game that kept me out until 1am and I had to be at work at 7am the next day. He's a good guy, and I hope he isn't wearing himself out. I joined a new club, a knitting club, it meets every Sunday. I hope to be able to knit socks by Christmas (guess what I want to make for everyone!).

Quick update, but there you go.

Just so I don't forget...

8/2: Spent the day at stitch shop (disappointing!), Riverside National Cemetery and Corona at relatives.
8/3: Day OFF!!! Shopping, cousins went to church, great conversation and delicious dinner.
8/4: Long Beach and Laguna Beach (never been there before, very Mediterranean!).
8/5: Disneyland from 8:15a-10:45p. Whew.
8/6: Graumann's, Hollywood and Highland, Griffith Observatory
8/7: Universal Studios (what a disappointment!).
8/8: Final shopping, packing, and collapsing in a heap of vacation exhaustion.

What can I say, we filled the vacation. So much for the Brits who like to stay in one place when they go on holiday! We put over 1200 miles on brother-in-law's borrowed van (thank the heavens for a borrowed van!). I learned how to knit correctly. I hope to be able to make socks soon. The first ugly pair will be sent to the UK. They need socks there, it is raining all the time. Even in the summer.

I do have a lot more to say about the vacation. I just can't right now. I miss my cousins. Glee told me she had a dream last night that had her, Thomas, me, X, and my cousins (I am naming them with new names here...) Aurora, her husband Gordon (he's the big train), and daughters Marilyn (the older, Hollywood starlet) and Summer (the youngest, she's beachy). Our "whole family" was here, and she thought it was real. We have only had a few tears from Glee since the departure. She misses people badly sometimes.I think she gets that from her mom.

Today is Monday. It's quiet. I have a job to do, going to play at a friends house this afternoon and a soccer meeting tonight (Glee's team!).

One more bit of news. In the middle of vacation we got an email from the principal of our school. He is not going to be our principal anymore. He took a job closer to home. Looks like I am going to have to get in with the PTA now. Ick. More on that later too...

Vacation ongoing...

A couple of home cooked meals... CHECK
A four hour drive to AZ... CHECK
102 degrees at 9:30pm (that's at night btw)... CHECK
Hoover Dam... CHECK
Cheesecake for $1.50 at Cheesecake Factory in Cesars Palace... CHECK
A five hour drive (with a good two hours discussion about taxes natch!) home to LA... CHECK
The beach is calling for tomorrow... Disneyland next week. More relatives over the weekend, and more driving. Wow, this vacation stuff is HARDWORK!

See you all next week.

Let the cleaning commence!!!

The countdown is on... we have five days until the UK cousins arrive, and one floor of the house is almost ready! It sounds like we own a mansion, but really, the upstairs is DONE. Well, except the bathroom, and steam cleaning the carpets, and making sure ALL of the stuffed animals get put back in the closet, and clean sheets are put on the bed, and the kids laundry is done, folded and put away. Okay, a few things left upstairs. I am super happy with it so far, and I don't think it has been that clean EVER. Tomorrow I will tackle the kitchen (including mopping the floor). Whew. Today, Thomas and Glee almost fought over who got to help with the cleaning. It's great having an almost 7 year old and an almost 5 year old. Glee called out "I get the kitchen!" and Thomas shouted "I get downstairs bathroom! In the bathroom you get to use a special brush in the toilet!" A family member suggested recording them for posterity and future blackmail. All that's left is downstairs and the yards (yep, that's a good months worth of cleaning in 5 short days!). I am amazed daily at how much dust accumulates in our house. It's probably my biggest nemesis. I guess if I didn't have so many books and things I like to collect it would be easier.

Last night we had another successful Fairy and Mermaid tea party with delicious sunflower soup. The fairies even danced in a fairy ring on the grass and left dust everywhere. I love this stuff. I pulled my sunflowers out, they were done, and I think I may try planting corn over where they were. I heard it's good to plant corn and beans together, the beans will use the corn stalks to grow upwards. The soil in the one bed where the sunflowers were isn't great soil, and the sunflowers didn't do as nicely as last year. Still, we got four big flowerheads drying in the backyard, so we should have some good seeds. Cucumbers are going nuts, and tomatoes are starting to pick up a little. I might pick up a few plants from farmers market on Tuesday, since the guy there has great seedlings, and for only a dollar.

Well, now that we are all healthy and in prep for family, summer feels like it is finally here. We have plans for the visit, including Disneyland, Universal Studios, Griffith Observatory and Graumann's Chinese Theatre. Arizona, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Vegas, it should be a nice trip for them, and I know we will be thrilled. We have been talking about this since, well, about forever!!!

Circus and other stuff!

No, really, this is going to be about the circus. Yes, Ringling Bros. Circus. We took the kids last night as a surprise, they didn't know they were going. X has had a fear of the circus his whole life, it's the clown thing, but even he had a good time! There were some amazing acts, like the seven motocross motorcycles inside the giant metal hamster ball cage thingy... and lots of people hanging on ropes and twisting around. Both kids really liked it but Thomas was done about 15 minutes before the end of the show and just wanted to go. I think it may have been overload. It was a full circus experience with snow cones eaten out of souvenir cups (Glee and Thomas got white tigers and X and I got clowns), just under $40 for a couple of nacho trays, a couple of hot dogs, a pretzel and four drinks (thank you Staple Center), and an experience to remember. I remember going to the circus with my grandparents when I was little (with my older brother), and I distinctly remember the cotton candy (no different now I tell you) and a little toy gun that sparked when you pulled the trigger (it must have been pointed at me a lot). Today we are going to draw pictures and write a letter to Grandma and Grandpa about the circus. They paid us a surprise visit this week, arriving on Monday and leaving yesterday. They came to collect some furniture from storage. We were really really happy to see them, and X and I got to take a dance lesson without kids for the first time in AGES. It was good. We actually learned something, and I think I will actually remember how to do it!

Today and tomorrow are the end of swimming lessons for the summer. Next week is prep week for the arrival of the European cousins! Yayay!!! I am making a list today of what needs to be done so we are prepared. I have been looking forward to this since, well, forever. I can't wait for them to get here. We are planning a three day trip to Arizona to see relatives (including my mom and dad who will be ending an entire month of travel I think), and show them a little of America (helllllooooo Grand Canyon!). Now it is time to go do some dishes. One of Glee's school friends may be coming over today and it wouldn't do to have a sink full of dirty dishes! Then it's off to swimming for an hour... more updates to come soon! Oh, I think we are all almost healthy again. I am coming off of a sinus infection, and even X got one this time (and man, he was not happy, let me tell you!). So, hopefully, the house of sick is almost closed!

Sick sick sick sick man I hate being sick

Today we were supposed to start phase 2 of summer swimming. Not going to happen today. Last night Thomas woke up at about midnight saying he had a headache and crying. He didn't eat his dinner, and he told us he had a headache because he didn't eat his dinner. He was SOBBING... and trying to get his pajamas on (because he fell asleep in my lap on the couch). So I helped him with that, gave him some Tylenol and settled him back down. 15 minutes later (just long enough for me to get back to sleep) he is crying again. X jumps up to go upstairs and I gather my pillows to sleep up there with him. He still has a headache, but he feels a little better when he realizes I am going to "sleepover" with him. So, we settle in... and at 3am he wakes up crying again, another headache. More Tylenol (to be given as directed every four hours... ha!), and back to sleep. I wake up all through the night to check on him. He kicks me... a lot... all night. So we get up this morning and Glee comes downstairs to tell me her ear REALLY hurts (great, ear infection). I can't seem to wake up (maybe because I never really went to sleep all the way) and it takes a WHOLE pot of coffee to get me moving. We all sound like we are heavy smokers (the cough, the grumbly voices), and I really feel like I need SLEEEEEEEP.

Okay, so we went to the doc for pink eye two weeks ago and waited an hour. We went for Thomas' cough last Monday, and waited 50 minutes. At that appointment the doc said to call if it got worse and they phone in a prescription. So today, I call at 9:25 and leave a message (because the doctors office isn't open? What?), and wait for a call back. No call, at 12:25 I call again and get a person, give her all the details, tell her I need a prescription phoned in to the pharmacy and she asks me for the pharmacy's number. I don't have it, but I figure her 411 works the same as mine, right? No. She tells me to get the number for the pharmacy and she will call back to get it of the doc okays the prescription. It's now 2:10pm. What the heck? Whatever happened to any sort of customer service? I am not asking for them to move a mountain. The bad thing is, I really like the doc, but this office situation IS NOT WORKING. What would you do? Who can I complain to about this? Just thought I would throw it out there. Time to try to get the office back on the phone.

What ever happened to respect?

Wow, so I have a rant to go on today. Yesterday was 4th of July, and we spent a mostly lovely day, first at our neighbor's house, they have a pool, and they are so generous! Delicious food, swimming for a couple of hours, and just generally being neighborly. It was really wonderful. Then we went to a fireworks show and family style picnic at the beach with another friend and her two children. We left about 4:30pm, fireworks were scheduled for 9:30pm... the event had two giant jumper slide things for kids, it was held at a lagoon (but the water was off limits [?!]) and there were crafts, Mad Science shows, a kids parade, live music, just a nicely planned event. Here's where the rant starts...

Why do people think they are entitled? I was standing near one of the giant inflatable slide things (a pirate ship being mauled by a giant squid nonetheless) and I had three kids with me... 4 1/2, 5 and 6 1/2. I saw more parents there cutting in the line with their kids (often the kids were 9-12), shoving other people, their kids would run over other kids, I even had to tell a couple of kids "hey, no cutting the line, all of these people are waiting their turns." Upon that I was often given dirty looks, sometimes ignored, and once in a while looked at like I had horns growing out of my head, but the kid would go to the back of the line so hey, my job was done. Then there were these two girls. I had to walk behind one of them to go around the inflatable and I said "excuse me." She looked right at me and didn't move. I was going behind her, not trying to cut the line! So I bumped her, because I was moving... she gave me a snotty look, then tugged on her friend's arm and said "she just HIT me!" and pointed at me. I looked at her and said "you should have moved when I said excuse me." So she is making faces at me and then she says "I'm going to go tell my mom!" I told her "sure, bring your mom over, I'd like to have a talk with her about YOUR attitude." She was flabbergasted and her friend said "come on, let's get your mom..." I was done, so I was standing in the other line with my three and she walks up with her friend and her mom and points at me and says "she HIT me!" I look at her mom who was looking for someone to blame for all this and I explained I walked BEHIND her daughter who didn't move when I said excuse me and I bumped her, and her daughter really needs to look out for the smaller kids in this area since she is too old to be over there anyway, and her daughter said "you didn't say anything to me, you just hit me, mom she's LYING." So her mom says "just forget it, just forget it" and they start to walk away and I hear the mom say "stay away from them, she's just MEAN." Oh man, I was mad. Later that SAME girl came running through the playground area and knocked my friend's three year old down (in the kiddie play area, where there were a bunch of pre-teens playing on the play equipment, playing tag). She barely stopped, and said "oh, he's okay..." and kept running.

Okay, you all know me. You know I am not the curmudgeonly type (normally!), but I want to know why kids in more affluent areas have this sense of entitlement. Like that pre-teen girl who thought she was on the same level as me, and her mom didn't change that. If I heard one of my kids talking to a grown-up (any grown-up) that way there would be big trouble for my kids! HOW DARE that girl think she can tattle on me, and then her mom let her believe she was right about it. What happened to respect? Not only was she disrespectful to me, so was her mother. I think we are doing a terrible disservice to our kids by believing that disresepect equals self confidence in our kids. It's one thing to stand up for what you think, it's a whole other thing to perpetuate the lie your kid is telling you. And that mom should have had some control. The problem is there is very little by way of control in the more affluent areas. Parents don't control their kids, the nannies don't control the kids, the rules don't exist. This girl wasn't the only example of this I encountered. There was a boy who kept pushing the smaller kids who was totally out of control at the slides. He ignored every adult there, and there was no adult there responsible for him. I was the only one who confronted him, and I had to warn the three with me to beware of him, he was out of control. There was a dad with two boys, probably about Thomas' age, who kept cutting the line with his boys. How do you tell an adult over and over that he's cutting the line. I said something to him once, and he said "my boy will throw a tantrum if he has to wait this long [?!... and your point?]." Hmm, yep, nice environment...

I have to say the fireworks were pretty, and the rain of fire that came with them was, well, nothing I had ever seen before... scary to me, but no one else seemed bothered. Kids were asleep in the car within minutes, and we are all wiped out today.

OH, last thing about respect... so we get home about 11, everyone goes to bed by midnight. About that time, this HUGE jerk who lives behind us decides it is a good time to launch his super loud, illegal skyrockets OVER OUR HOUSE. Okay, I'll give you one, but two more after that and I went to the backyard and screamed "stop it! Next one I am calling the cops!" So, two more later... I call the cops, and I go out back and turn my hose on full blast over the fence. Not sure if the message got through, but I didn't hear any after that. Man, that guy drives me nuts. Fireworks are completely illegal in the city we live in. Seriously, what are you teaching your kids with your flagrant and drunken abuse of the law.

...end of rant, thanks for listening.

Wall-E and the beach!

On Saturday X had the great idea of going to the beach. We left about 10:30 and got home just after 2pm, and it was a perfect day at the beach. Not too hot, not too windy, surf was 1-2ft, which to Thomas looks to be about 6ft! Both kids had a blast, jumped waves, got knocked down a lot, swam sort of, and were exhausted. We came home and made some salsa and guacamole and spent the rest of the day laying around. Saturday night was national Sleep in your Backyard night, and it was going to happen, had both kids set up in the $22 tent, read some stories (library books!) and they settled in. I was going to sleep on the couch with the back door open just in case. About 8:30, just after it got dark Glee called out crying. She was "not comfortable" in the tent (?!). So in they came, upstairs to Thomas' bed where they had sleepover. By this time the sunburned I had earned at the beach was in full force. We were smart, we sunscreened with 50spf, but I didn't put any on my legs. That was dumb. The backs of my legs are toast. My left hip seemed to get the brunt of it. You never notice what you are sitting on until when you sit it feels like someone is stinging you with a thousand needles. Not nice!

So on Sunday we took the kids to "church." Even my mom calls the theater our church. I told her the other day that of churches made popcorn and let you eat during service we might switch it up once in a while! We saw Wall-E, which was quite good. The last Pixar movie disappointed me (Ratatouille), but this one has redeemed the company. It had a good and simple message about the planet, the kids were completely entertained, and I thought some of the adult references were funny (like the Lido deck!). I enjoyed it, Wall-E was quite engaging and the "female" lead, Eve, was one of the heroes, which was nice. And no kids kicked my chair at all during the movie, which was an added bonus. I also thought the mix of the crowd was interesting. I saw quite a few teenagers, mostly boys, mostly geeky boys. That was nice.

Lastly I learned something yesterday. I saw some old friends from high school, old gaming friends. I subjected my poor family to two hours of not so good times. But what I learned about myself is I really hate to hear the word no. I mean it like this... imagine this conversation...
Me: So your sister brought home some bananas?
Old Friend: No, she brought home some fruit.
Me: Oh, I see, well, did you like them?
OF: Yeah, they were okay, we ate them all.
Me: so, you DID really like them, there were a lot of them!
OF: No, we just ate them all.
Me: oh... okay... did she bring home anything else?
OF: sure, some cheese...
Me: cheese? like cheddar?
OF: No, like mild cheddar.

Well, you get the idea. This person who I saw, he was a nice enough guy I guess, but I realized that he was really contradictory, and it reminded me of who I was way back then. I had a boyfriend in high school who broke up with me because he said I argued too much. I guess I was like that too, having to be right all the time. It must have been a real control issue for me. I am aware now that I can get like that, but I do tend to let the irrelevant details slide, as long as I got my point across. And man, I have to say, there are reasons we grow away from people, and we really should recognize that! Happy Monday you all...

This week...

Glee started to learn Japanese dancing in preparation for Obon, which will happen at the beginning of August. One of the girls in our Brownie Troop belongs to a buddhist temple and they have an Obon Festival. Nine of our eighteen Brownies decided they wanted to earn a patch for the Obon Festival, and to do that you have to do two dances during Obon. So, we need to learn them. It's fascinating to me to learn something about a culture that I thought I was pretty up on! I grew up in the area we live in now, and a mile away from us is a huge Japanese community, it's been there since before World War II. I had lots of Japanese-American friends growing up. I have never been to an Obon Festival. I think it will be lots of fun. Glee stands out a little, being the only blonde in our group, and one of a few in the whole dance class! I have started to learn the dances too, since it is an all age kind of thing (they teach it in the parking lot at the temple!). Four of the other Brownie parents remember doing this when they were little, so they are leading their daughters as well as the group. When we perform in August I will make sure to video it.

A photo mosaic meme

Memes are one of those things found on the internet that everyone always says "what's that? how do you say that?" I like this one because it was really random and a fun way to illustrate ME!

Here's what you are to do (if you want to do your own...)

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search.

2. Using only the first page of results, pick one image.

3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:

1. What is your first name? Jill

2. What is your favorite food right now? Mexican

3. What high school did you go to? North Torrance High (that's an actual photo from a graduation there!)

4. What is your favorite color? Green

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Christian Bale

6. What is your favorite drink? Coffee

7. What is your dream vacation? Ireland

8. What is your favorite dessert? Chocolate cheesecake

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Film Director

10. What do you love most in life? My family

11. What is one word that describes you? Smart (or geek, I can't remember!)

12. What is your flickr name? Jill393

Okay, here are the photos that go with those answers (edited on July 5th). I should have put them on there...

Swimming and pink eye

Yesterday was the first day of swimming lessons for a month! Glee had to sit out. She developed pink eye on Sunday in what seems to be record time. At 4pm she was fine, at 4:30 she had an oozing pus filled eye. It was swollen and icky. We went to the doctor yesterday who confirmed pink eye, but before that, at the pool, we saw one of Thomas' friends from preschool, and her baby brother had it in both eyes. We were all together, including Glee, a former participant in the preschool, for the last day luau. Thomas and I did the swim class (a last chance for me, he will age out after this summer, and he becomes a tadpole like Glee next year). After class we went to library where we saw ANOTHER of Thomas' former classmates, who also has pink eye, and she had shared it with her dad. Three cases, I was pretty sure it was what Glee had too.

We tried some home remedies, on Sunday. We washed her eye with a sterile contact lens solution, about 6 times. We also used black tea steeped for a few minutes. We washed her eye with the cooled tea, and put the tea bag on it for fifteen minutes. It was still red and swollen on Monday, but no infection! Now it's in the other eye, and the doctor gave us a prescription for antibiotic eye drops, and we will use those until they are gone.

That's how our summer has been so far. It's not as hot today, there is a marine layer, but it will be gone in time for swim lessons. Then I drop them at a friend's house for the middle of the day, I have some prep to do for our Last Day of Brownies (for the year) party tomorrow. 18 girls at Build a bear. Shoot me now... Happy Tuesday!

Day after...

Yesterday was HOT. Like I even need to say that out loud. Today is hot too. I imagine we will be taking advantage of our little pool again today. Both X (that is what W wants me to call him, so now you know who he is...) and Glee got sunburned. That's what I get for trusting him to put sunscreen on her. Next time I will have to make sure I do that myself. He said she did it. He got sunburned on the parts he said he put sunscreen on too. Serves him right.

We spent a day yesterday out shopping. X needed flip flops to make his feet look not so white. And tank tops to even out his "tan." You know, men's tank tops are HARD to find! We went to Old Navy, Target, K-Mart, Marshalls, he went to Sears, Penney's and finally found some (on clearance too!) at Anchor Blue. We also bought a tent, some new towels for the company that's coming in a few weeks, and some clothes at Old Navy. And treated ourselves to a Summer Solstice feast at Cheesecake Factory.

So, we had another mermaid and fairy tea party. Heidi, the fairy dust is on it's way! It was a success, the fairies and mermaids ate the soup Glee made and everything. Here's a video link if you want to see her describe what she's doing. It's a little dark, but you'll get the idea (that's what I get for doing this at 9pm!). FAIRY TEA PARTY

Today is housekeeping day, laundry, take out recycling and garbage, try to beat the heat. We will spend the afternoon ensconced in our living room, shades down, popcorn popped and movie. I'm not sure what we will be watching, but we will pull something out of our vast library (hah, vast library).

Oh, I just finished a book last night I got at the library last week. It is called The Extra Large Medium by Helen Slavin. I really enjoyed it, it's by an English author, her first book (Dawn, you may know of her, apparently she has a bit of fame in the UK, and it says she lived in Wiltshire... not that you get to Wiltshire or anything...). It was a good read, a nice twist at the end. Also, I recently read the Golden Compass trilogy. I liked the last book the best, but they did seem to drag a bit.

4pm today...

Glee came in to see me and said "mom, I don't have anything to do..." ahhhh summer has begun.

Oh, Glee got all "E's" and "V's" on her report card (that's Excellents and Very Goods, some of which are up from "S's" which was satisfactory) and recommended for 2nd grade. Off we go!

Last day...

Do you remember any of your last days of school? I was trying to remember one today and they just aren't there. I guess it was too long ago. Today is Glee and Thomas' last day for this year. Last day of first grade, last day of preschool. We get a luau for Thomas and Glee has an assembly at her school. She is so sad, she is really going to miss her friends. She truly loves school, I think to her it's like a big club she gets to go to every day.

I have to say, I am so proud of both of them. This year Glee really learned to write. I mean, you can actually READ her writing (she even told me that, she was surprised how bad it was at the beginning of the year!) and she is reading, boy is she reading. She reads every night, and reading before sleep is a HUGE treat to both kids, they would take that over dessert! She reads beyond a 2nd grade level. I only know this because she was given homework for the summer (!?). She was given a book that is 2nd grade level. She is supposed to read it, answer questions and turn the book and questions in at the beginning of the year next year. This is a hassle for one reason only. That means I have to keep track of that book and those questions ALL SUMMER. Man. Anyway, she read the first chapter of the book to me last night and she read it like it was nothing. She even made a different voice for each character. This is going to be the beginning of a serious love affair with books, I can tell! So, she can read, she can do math (I think we might work on multiplication this summer!), and she is fascinated by science.

Thomas learned to write his name, first and last this year. He is starting to read too (he says he is reading in his head, so he can't tell you what the words are). He is doing simple math. He knows his colors in English and Spanish (very amusing) and will practice writing his letters and numbers this summer. More importantly (to me anyway) he can dress himself completely, he uses the bathroom like a regular kid (doesn't ask for help anymore), and he can make his own lunch (well, he did the other day, with some direction on how to work the microwave!). Pretty good for a kid who's only 4 1/2!

So, end of school year. Take a break, right? Riiiight... I need to revamp my company website, work on my marketing materials, and get ready to launch again in September when everyone goes back to school! Oh, and this year Thomas wants to be a blue power ranger for Halloween and Glee wants to be Vicky Vampire from the Sims. I am hoping those change over the summer (and they usually do!).

I just realized today...

okay, this may end up being kind of boring for most of you, but do you know how important it is to your kids to be involved in their school? I just realized today, after doing a little mental reminiscing... my younger brother was born when I was just 5, heading to kindergarten for the first time. My next brother was born the year I graduated from 8th grade. So, my mom (and my dad) were slightly preoccupied during two pretty important events in my educational life.

My mom said she was involved in PTA when I was little. She may have been, but with a baby hanging around (and then a toddler) I don't think she was all that involved, not like she thinks she was. I know I was not known among my peers' parents, not like I know Glee's friends, and their parents. Okay, this is sort of disjointed, but today, a 5th grader at school got some awards. She got them, I am sure, because she is a good student, but it sure did help that her mom AND dad are very involved in school (her dad even works for the school part time as a paraeducator). So, not to discredited her in anyway, but would she have won those recognitions if her parents were NOT involved in the school? I wonder. I wonder if I am signing away my soul to the devil known as PTA. I hope not, but I guess if this is the way I can help my kids it is what I will do. I so hate the image of a PTA parent (and from the few board meetings I actually attended, I will say it is not unwarranted). How did this happen? How did I get here? Man, I sure do ask myself that question a lot. I guess it's all in the choices we make... all in the choices. I never thought I would be one of THOSE parents, the ones who say they would do anything for their kids, but I guess I am one.

On a related topic... since when did it become a bad thing to want your kids to be smart? I mean, to be smarter than their peers? Is that arrogant? I want my kids to be smart. There, I said it. I want them to be the smartest kids I know. I want them to have all the opportunities that intelligence offers. I do not want them judged on their looks, but on their brains. I want them to have all they desire, and the best way to get that is by being smart. Clever and smart. I want them to go to the best college they can, and study something that makes them happy and keeps them curious. Come on people! Let's EXPECT something from our kids, lets expect them to excel and not do poorly. Let's expect something. Okay, Wednesday morning rant now concluded.

Last one...

...for today. I have decided to give my husband the initial W. I am sure you all would have figured it out... and thanks for all the suggestions... among them: Darth Maul, Jayne, Brown Pants, Carling, and Daddy Princess Aurora (I couldn't have written that over and over... sorry!).

Father's Day

For Father's Day we bought fruit dipped in dark chocolate and went to see a chalk/art festival in Pasadena. It was fun. Glee made a fantastic likeness of W. Inside it had a note that told him some of the things she likes to do with him, including washing the cars (?!). She also told him she loved him more than $100.00. Yep, he's love more than a hundred bucks. It was very much her, just the way she is. Thomas expressed his love too, and then proceeded to complain about everything and cry a lot. I think he was having a day.

The chalk art festival (http://www.pasadenachalkfestival.com/) was pretty neat, although it was hot (to us anyway) and we were happy to get home to our marine layer. The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and hanging out, doing laundry, watching tv, working on crafts.

There are three days left of school. Remember when summer seemed to last forever? We get 76 days of summer this year. School starts two days before Glee's birthday, and that just seems so early!

Coincidences

I have an email account that is the first email account I ever had. It collects email at an alarming rate, 95% of it junk mail, but sometimes I get something from someone from a long time ago, someone who has known me forever and I gave that first email address to, but we don't really stay in touch. I get email from someone I worked with in 1986/1987 at a bookstore, she used to live down the street from me when we were kids, and she went through a serious Goth stage that lingers still. I get a Christmas card from her every year, and I send one to her, and once in a blue moon an email comes through, usually not to me, but to a list of people she thought would like to see amazing animals, or a funny commercial.

So, this account is still open. I got an email today that's title was "auckland." This year I made the multicultural fair board for New Zealand for Glee and Thomas' school. I have never been there, although my MIL always said she wanted to go. I learned a lot about New Zealand, it was fun to do the board for the kids, but I wonder why, now, I am getting "auckland." Of course, I never open email from someone I don't know... and I am sure it was nothing... but still. Weird.

Block Sale Day!

Unloaded a bit of junk (well, one person's junk, you know the rest...) and made about $60 for about 4 hours of work. Worth it I guess! We took the four bags of leftover clothes to Salvation Army and felt good about it too! You know, kids clothes sell pretty well, but grown up clothes sure don't (or people think I have bad clothes!) We don't really have a lot of junk mind you. Our garage is mostly filled with boxes of photos and model trains that Thomas inherited from his paternal great grandmother (and he has no idea he owns them!). I do have a fair amount of crafting stuff, there is a load of hockey stuff, and Brownie stuff too... it happens when you are the girl scout leader.

We had a nice day today, weather has been in mid 70's, we had a nice marine layer burning off right over our house. Keeps it cool. It was a good day for yard sale. There were about 15 houses up and down our block that participated, that made it nice. I'd do it again next year if we have one...

Today we took Thomas and Glee to the library to pick out a movie for Family Movie Night. If they can stay awake we will be watching Goonies. They both loved Raiders and it's similar but more in a kid way. Our library really has a great selection of dvds, and heck, they are free for a week! Who can beat that? We will return our books and dvds next Saturday and then we will be making regular visits throughout the summer. It will be good, and free. I love the library!

Almost there

Today is the last Friday of this school year. Glee is eating in the cafeteria, it's pizza. I had a conference with Thomas' preschool teacher. She said he is very verbal, with a vocabulary far beyond most of his peers. He is very interested in science, particularly the solar system (maybe that astronaut career isn't too far out of reach!) and that he is an enthusiastic learner (wow, nice key words!). He won't be 5 until three weeks after kindergarten starts, but he is learning at a 5y2mo level, so she doesn't think he will have any trouble learning in kindergarten, but he is antsy, and he tends to fidget and sometimes has a hard time staying on task (since he's only 4.5 I am not surprised!). We will work on that over the summer, and he is way better than he was at the beginning of the year! He is going to do so well in kindergarten, and he is so excited. I saw Glee's teacher today too, not for a conference but I had to drop off something in her class. Her class was all abuzz because the silkworm eggs have hatched!!! They have seen the full life cycle this year, from egg to worm to larva to moth to egg to worm again. Amazing for them, and Glee was ecstatic. She has learned so much in first grade, particularly about insects. Her teacher said she has a real interest in science too! Yay for that! It was not my forte, that's for sure.

Across the street from us there is a young couple, both have serious jobs. The husband is a prosecuting attorney for the state, and the wife is a research scientist. I am going to explain to Glee what the wife does, and show her that girls can do it!

Well, tomorrow is yard sale day here, actually 11 houses on our block are participating, so it should be fun. I have a ton of stuff in the garage to get rid of and I think I may weed through the stuffed animals upstairs too. Whatever left will get put in the truck and dropped at Goodwill. If I was willing to sell it then I don't need it, right? On Sunday we will do something special for the man of the house, since it is Father's Day and all. I still haven't decided what to call him in this blog. Maybe I will let him pick his own name...

Have a nice weekend you all, and go see a movie or something, there are some good ones out!

After that boring mess...

I love these lists, all of those ones that ask things like favorite food and last movie you saw and last book you read and song that sticks in your head... so here's one I found that just amused me. It's called the Friday Fill-in, and I am doing it in anticipation of Friday! Yay!

1. Get a PhD is high up on my bucket list.
2. My favorite quote is "snakes, why'd it have to be snakes..."
3. Glee and Thomas inspired me to start blogging.
4. Strawberries are best composted.
5. A new house, it was not painted right, it had weird carvings around the door jambs that were supposed to be antique and were German, and it was starting to turn to night (a bad sign in my dreams) was the last dream I remember having.
6. The most enjoyable time to go for a walk is after dinner as a "dessert."

The Return of the School Health Assistant

As some of you know, I had an issue last year when Glee started Kindergarten. As a refresher, here is the letter I never sent.

My daughter is a former “Tykes” student and attended this school last year as part of that program. The health requirements for that program are the same as for enrolling her as a kindergartner. I had to provide proof of immunization, as well as proof of a current TB test. My issue comes with the school health assistant at School.

My daughter turned 5 the day before school started. Her pediatrician has a policy (mainly for record keeping purposes) of not immunizing a child before the birthday on which those immunizations are due. I had discussed this with HA (Health Assistant) back in May, during kindergarten round up. She was adamant at the time that my daughter would not be allowed to attend school until those immunizations were received. I explained they would be completed on the first day of school and had an appointment to have the remaining immunizations given at 2pm, after kindergarten let out. HA then said my daughter would need a current TB test and after I pointed out on the shot record that I provided that her TB test was current, she relented.

I then received a phone call the day before school started stating that my daughter would not be allowed to start school because her records were not current, but if I brought the shot record on the first day then HA would allow her into school. I would be supplying a completed immunization card before 4pm on the first day of school, so I thought nothing of it. When we arrived for the first day of school my daughter’s name had been eliminated from ALL the class assignments, and her teacher had been notified that she would not be allowed into the class. As you can imagine, I was now angry. I was not the only parent having issues with this on the first day of school. I met three other parents of former Tykes who also were not being allowed into class because of immunization issues. I spoke
with HA, and she said my daughter could start school the next day if I brought in the records. Then she told another parent, whose son turns 5 in October that he could attend class and “just have the doctor fax a note the next day that immunizations would not be completed until October,” and to go on to class now. At that point, I turned around and walked my daughter to her class, explained the situation to her teacher and she set my daughter up for the day. She had had to remove her place at the table, her name tag and all evidence of her, before school started, and fortunately still had those items on her desk. Mind you, this was not how we envisioned the first day of school something my daughter had been looking forward to for months.

Just last week I received another letter from HA stating that I had not completed “Report of Health Examinations for School Entry” as required for first grade admission and that I had until December 31st, 2007 to turn in that form or my daughter could be eliminated from the first grade. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back and I went, again, to the office, this time to request the health waiver (form PM 171 B). I explained to HA that I would never be able to meet the constant barrage of health requirement papers nor did I want to live in fear my daughter would be kicked out of school again because of a paperwork issue. Upon hearing my request her first statement to me was that if I signed the waiver my daughter would be immediately removed from school and sent home if there were ever a health issue on campus. I am happy with that resolution. I would prefer to be informed if my daughter has come in contact with any communicable illnesses or if she has a health issue that would require her to seek the assistance of a medical person at school. I live less than a two minute walk away from the school. HA then attempted to quote the California State Regulations and said I was not clear on what the law said. I am quite clear of my rights as a parent to waive the right to have her, or any other person at the school, attend to my daughter in the event she needs medical attention. I am also very clear on the law, having read over it a number of times now.

HA's final statements to me were #1, I was the first parent in five years to request the waiver, and she would have to notify the principal of this request, again of which I am happy to hear. Maybe this will open some dialogue on how these matters are handled; #2, she told me I should take up the policy with the district, hence this letter.

Okay, so now it is time for Thomas to go... and guess who is harrassing me again. Yep, here's the letter I DID send, and now the principal wants to talk about it (someday, when it is convenient for him, which it isn't today).

Enclosed you will find a copy of the PBE Health Waiver I
submitted when I enrolled Thomas through Kindergarten Roundup. It is not a duplicate of the waiver I submitted (and should be in his file), but a new copy. Also enclosed is form PM 171 B. Please note that my husband and I have signed these waivers with a full and complete understanding of what they entail and we are also completely aware of our rights under California State Law as stated below:

Exemptions to Requirements-Personal Beliefs Exemptions
California is one of a number of states that allows a personal beliefs, or philosophical, exemption to school/child care immunization requirements. California law states that “Immunization of a person shall not be required for admission… if the parent or guardian… files… a letter
or affidavit stating that the immunization is contrary to his or her beliefs.” Any parent has the option to take the personal beliefs exemption at any time. The parent affidavit for an exemption is on the back of the child’s Blue Card; it must be signed by the parent or guardian and kept in the student’s official record. If the child has had some immunizations, record those dates as usual, if available.

Health and Safety Code, Division 105, Part 2, Chapter 1,
Section 120365
SEVENTH EDITION • JULY 2003 - CALIFORNIA IMMUNIZATION
HANDBOOK
“Although California’s law does not require parents/guardians taking the personal beliefs exemption (PBE) to state the reason(s) for their belief or the specific vaccines involved in their belief, the clear intent of the law is that the PBE option be used for deeply held personal beliefs…”

We don’t need additional education by the health staff in the office at School. We understand the implications of signing the waiver. Do not approach us again trying to convince us we do not understand our rights and that we are doing a disservice to our children. Please note that our daughter Glee has the same waiver in her file. We DO NOT want health examinations, health inspections, or medical diagnoses performed upon our children without our immediate consent or notification. We are also returning the document you presented to us in April of this year, completed, to ensure Thomas will not be subjected to the first grade health screening provided by the School District when he attends 1st Grade.

It will be interesting to see what the principal has to say, since I am done with it.

Wacky Wednesday

Wednesdays right now are nutty... school gets out an hour early, we have Brownies on every other one, but today, today takes the cake.

Glee starts school at 8:30am, Thomas and I come home until 10am, when we go back to school for the Volunteer Appreciation Brunch put on by the teachers (I like to do work at the school!). Then we have to take Thomas to a field trip about 20 minutes from here, he has to be there by 11:30, pick him up at 2pm, get home and pick up Glee from a neighbor's house, be at Brownies by 2:30 to set up the father's day craft (thumbprint art anyone?) and then wrap things up and be home by about 5pm. While Thomas is at his field trip I need to get supplies for thumbprint art.

Somedays go by like this, and I get to the end and wonder what was accomplished today. I don't like the madness of running everywhere. I feel like I forget to ask my kids how things are, what they learned today, did they see the clouds in the sky or smell the ocean? We have sunflowers blooming in the backyard (as well as broccoli blooming, and you know, it just doesn't taste right once it flowers!). There are peas to be picked, squash blossoms to be looked at, weeds to be pulled, nature to be enjoyed. But not for today I guess.

We are planning a fairy/mermaid tea party, for Summer Solstice (go figure!). It's something Glee started. She makes a tea and soup out of plants from the yard and sets up a lovely table. Then, at night the fairies and mermaids (landwalkers of course) come and enjoy the free meal and leave her gifts. Once they left golden seashells, and last time they left fairy flowers, made our of my ribbons out of my craft box. And they always leave a really nice note. The last tooth she lost even brought a note. The tooth fairy, who is sisters with the fairies who come to the tea, said her sisters loved Glee's meals, and thanked her for it. And left 8 shiny quarters and took her tooth. Man, I love this magical time...