Good Book

I just finished reading a novel by Stephen King...I would have to say I was not disappointed.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Happy Thanks Giving

10 things I am Thankful for

1. J, the girls, and their health
2. Peaceful evenings when no one is nagging
3. Food and shelter
4. We are not eating SPAM for dinner
5. Our Extended family and their health
6. Not driving south in this weather
7. Friends
8. Stuffing
9. 27 lb turkeys and leftovers
10. Coffee with the girls

These people are on my mind…

• The Mayor Tempore and the wonderful woman that makes it all happen.
• The Caribou Lake crew (not sure where they will be today)
• Celebrating with a new spouse living in a new state,
• Driving south to see Family (I hope you got there)
• Moving into a new apartment (eating pizza),
• The Skunks
• The blind boy that, hopefully, still has a job
• In a new home, new family, with a new mortgage
• The one that NEEDS to make it home today
• The young newbie’s, just starting a life of their own
• The 14 little cubs that follow us around
• GS spending her holiday back in Seattle Children’s Hospital
• The coffee crew
• My two good friends back east.
• My best friend in Homer
• The Great and Greater Grandparents
• The ones that will always be with us, but have left our lives/family

I hope everyone has a Great Thanksgiving, we are thinking of you!

Today, in 6th grade we learned

The only lesson the 6th grade kids got out of todays field trip...

(notice... you must rinse off all soap befor entering the poo)

One more trip to the store before Thanksgiving

J and I finished grocery shopping for Thanksgiving tonight, as we battled our way through the holiday crowd, when we stumble on aisle 15a …somebody should write Freddy’s and thank them for carrying such a diverse product line.

We decided to skip that aisle, nothing that WE need there. However, if you can keep a secret…. next time I am there without J I will have to pick one or two up for myself.

This is what happens when I wait to long to post.

The GS community service event (Friday night) was very successful. We made 45 fleece scarves and put together 14 Beanie Boxes (boxes of personal hygiene items); these will go to one of the shelters. We collected and wrapped 800 serving of plastic ware. I could not believe that Beans Café, the homeless shelter here in Anchorage, serves 700 to 1000 meals at once. The girls were good wrapping place settings, the napkins looked a little “used” when we where all through with it, but they did well. We also collected 130 packages of powdered gravy mix for them. And of course I can’t forget the 360 paper plate turkey centerpieces we colored, these will be put in thanksgiving food boxes for table centerpieces. Yes, only 360 turkeys (that I precut) and it took all night to get those done.

The time is just flying by it’s time for Christmas cards and shopping. As for Thanksgiving, we will be going over to S & E’s. I sent J to the store for the turkey, at Freddy’s; it is buy $100.00 of groceries and get a free turkey. My family will be contributing a 27 pounds of turkey to Thanksgiving dinner. S and A are both planning to deep fry their turkeys. We are going to have so much turkey….we will sleep for a week.

As for Christmas plans, we will probably stay home.

IT SNOWED…its pretty!!!

We woke up Saturday to this beautiful snow, J and I cleaned the house and caught up chores. The kids had the neighbors over; I could tell J was trying to get his chores done so that when the kids asked to go sledding he could go with them. Soon the kids migrated outside to make snowmen, and J was done with his chores. When I saw him next, he was waiting, with all of his snow gear on, just waiting for the kids to come home and get him to go sledding. They never came, poor guy.

This was the first weekend, in a long time, that we did not have guests. NO little girl slumber parties, not one birthday party to attend (cause I didn’t tell K about it), and everyone was home. It was great just to stay home with them.

End of the school quarter was last week; I have not had time to brag.

T brought home straight A’s. I was told that she adds a lot of insight to class discussions. The gifted program that she is in grades differently, T scored “practitioner” in most areas. There was one area she was an “apprentice”, in productivity, I think. Novice is the lowest score, then Apprentice, Practitioner, and then Master is the highest. I am not sure why A and B’s will not work, but then again I ain’t got no learnin’. She got an S in band with an 0 in effort. The band teacher bought T a harness to help hold the sax up, and the OT has been evaluating the situation. T can play songs now, I think this instrument thing, just might work out.

D is doing better then ever, A’s, B’s, and one C (she took after me in spelling). This teacher has sparked the reading bug. D is always on top of her homework and is always helping K out. The “girl” thing is starting to surface at school; it is amazing how boys can turn your friends into monsters. She was accepted into the art club and as a technology helper, both things she had to apply for. She will be taking care of the computer in the computer lab and all of the school laptops. I only hear complements from her writing teacher, she loves to write but you cannot make her read.

K is also doing wonderful, 0’s and S+’s for her. The teacher would like to see her put more effort in, she tends to do the minimal amount to get the grade. I think she needs to be done first to prove she is the smartest. She is always helping the other kids in the class. K spends a lot of time with one little boy, he is severally disabled, but K treats him like everyone else. She is passing 4^th grade benchmarks, they do not want to go further in fear that she may get discouraged. We got the paper work to sign for IGNITE. This means in the next few months she will meet with the school head doctor and be giving an IQ test. If she gets adequate scores, she will be enrolled in the gifted program. This is creating household turmoil…between the girls, but we will work through it.

They all need to work on their handwriting and I am having trouble believing this….but my girls cannot read cursive. D is in 4^th grade and cursive is, just now, being introduced. I am now in the process of collecting worksheets.

So… this week is full of field trips for T …Today she goes to the dump and the water treatment plant. Yes the dump, she gets to sit on a smelly bus and take a driving tour of THE DUMP. Oh yes, they also get to eat their lunch during this time…YUM YUM. I almost had to go… but D is sick, so now I just have meet the her bus with the wheelchair for the water treatment part of the fieldtrip. I am now a wheelchair chaperone!!!

She has another fieldtrip Wed. to the pool. T asked me to go on this one because for once in her 9 years of school trips to the pool, she wants to swim. This means I get to wear a swimsuit in front of the entire 6^th grade …the students, staff, and chaperones, and I will be the only adult swimming. It’s a lot different at the beach or H2O where you don’t know anyone…and that summer tan ….all gone!!!

Other then field trips I have the week off, NO Girl Scouts, NO physical terrorists, and no appointments….Yippy! Next week is a bitch though. T doctor wants to see her, for a physical, before he will sign a document stating that she is disabled??? We just saw him concerning the Smurfs living in her arm, not a lot has changed. Last week he signed one, the school had him sign the wrong one, but he signed it. Now, he wants to see her, befor he signs the right one. In addition, I have to meet with someone concerning her grants, she will help me collect documentation to prove T, has special needs. This topic is coming up a lot lately, am I blind? Stupid people…I hate this game.

…that’s the bloggled thoughts for the day…

Will we ever grow up and know the answers?

I am confused...32.5 years old and still look towards the elders in my life for answers, an to set examples... what do I when their life is upside down? With all my heart I want to sweep in and fix it all, but its their marriage, their finances, their children...and their problems to work through. They have been here before, I am sure, and hopefully they will have the strength pull it together again. I am praying!!!!

I so want to catch a sister in law in a long dark ally --- or maybe a kidnap a brother so he can see again, with her he is blind.

I will always be there if or when I am needed...as always.

???

Well….content….what to place here….no thoughts…the pressure....I’ll grunt real hard….

a special 10^th birthday was this last week. Interrupted Wednesday by girl scouts, so we had a family celebration on Thursday and a party for friends Saturday… .J was passed out by 9 o’clock, 12 little girls can wear on a guy.

We have had non-stop guests the last few weeks and have enjoyed everyone. I would have liked to have more time with the ones that flew in, but I understand schedule and trying to fit everything in. I enjoyed meeting the newbie and look forward to crossing paths again.

My sister is all moved in; I have been over there daily for the last few weeks. The new furniture is in place and the house is still a mess…get busy… what have you been doing? Obviously not blogging…

I am in the process of SOLELY pre-cutting 300 paper plate turkeys for a Girl Scout community service project. At the last planning meeting, a co-planner stated, “Do you think 300 is enough? Maybe I should pick YOU up another 300 plates.” THANKS LADY

I am knitting. Contrary to popular belief BINGO is the old lady sport, knitting is not.

T was off schedule and we were 10 min later then usual getting to school, TRAFIC JAM…I am NOT a morning person, two word ROAD RAGE!!!

It was great getting out this morning…thanks for coffee tab…hope all goes well tomorrow.

Oh, I did that thing where it emails me when there are comments and I have to accept your comment. So your comments won’t post right away. I am not sure I like it, we will see how long it lasts.

This is kind of fun

…figuring out how to move this layout around…I may never post again. Did you see the rose? John drew it, I was wondering if it just shows up with Firefox? Those of you who don’t use Firefox….you should…you can customize the look and open up various pages on one screen. John, Valette and Bossco….I am sorry I waited so long to convert!

Looking for a post...

If your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, either good or bad. When you're finished, post these instructions on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.

EDIT - Tabitha started this...Anna and Shana copied...yes i would jump off that bridge.

Out of the mouth of babes...

2 year old after stubbing her toe "Ow, that hurt like a bitch."

After meeting her Uncle's spouse, D asks "What do I call him?"

"CLEAN UP....WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?" heard sevral times this weeknd from the oldest child, the one with the high IQ.

New look

I have a new look...again...Tab said that last one was screwign up. I like this one better, but we will see how long it lasts.

Homeless

The man

The clothes

The shopping cart

How lucky I am with these clothes, this car,

this roof.

Dark, dim, stormy day,

Black, blue, cold, and gray

Sadness and sorrow washed away,

Pat-pat, Pit-pat, Roar.

Focus on him,

He still manages a grin.

Fresh mud in matted hair,

My mind says to leave as the smell of alcohol

crosses my nose.

My heart says help him though I’m forced into my car, with

mind ahead of heart.

Sad heart wrenching,

I start to cry and pull out with tears in my eyes.

Pit-pat, Pit-pat, Roar.

Poem by TM 2004

Go Inside Poem

D

Not mean
Likes Green
Naturally tall
Thinks nice about all
Sweet dreamer
Smart thinker
Really nice
Doesn't fight
Likes Swimming
Sometimes winning
A tree Climber
D

Poem by DM 11/02/05