L read me Go Dog Go today. The entire thing - solo - with very little help from me. Wow! It was exciting and she was so proud of herself. She is growing in leaps and bounds and learning so much.
She is writing her own stories and asking great questions about the books we read together, like what happen next or why did the author end the story there.
She gets what I am trying to do as a career and see is seeing the power that language, reading and writing hold.
BEHOLD the POWER of WORDs.....
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Pictures
While I have a talent for the written word, I am not very crafty, nor can I draw very well, and I thinking I should just not sing... But I have a great appreciation for all of the above. My dad sent me these pictures. He got them from a buddy - so I have no background info, but I gather the gentleman in the picture draws 3D pictures using sidewalk chalk.
I struggle with flowers and hearts using sidewalk chalk. These are true masterpieces.
This one is for JS...
This one really very cool....
This is struck me as special...
I struggle with flowers and hearts using sidewalk chalk. These are true masterpieces.
This one is for JS...
This one really very cool....
This is struck me as special...
Bulky
So I have long resisted the Warehouse store. I have a number of issues with Walmart. I will give them that they have managed to run a retail like college text book case study, but I have a number of issues with their labor practices and well I am just not sure I want to allocate my retail dollars their direction. Hence I have also not been seduced by Sam's club.
We do have a Costco in town. Not close to me, but not far either. J has one near her and loves it. Other friends have had nothing but good stuff to say about it. Oprah is one of their biggest fans.
I have decided that I need to be buying certain things in larger quantities than say 6. L packs her lunch everyday for school. We do not have time to come home on Monday and Tuesdays for an at the table snack. Often the snack is eaten in the car. E still needs to snack on the go sometimes. I can blow thru a package of 6 Z-Bars or 6 cracker snack packs in no time flat.
I used to resist buying the crackers in small portion controlled packs, but with me not eating most of what the kiddos are eating and H gone so much, things go stale and where is the savings in that?
While I do most of my shopping at Whole Foods (given I have to be able trust what is in it....) I still go to the other grocery stores a fair amount to get this and that. Some weeks I will have been to 3 stores and WF twice. This is nuts.
So now that we have a much bigger refrigerator and one in basement and significantly larger pantry, I felt it was time to perhaps think about buying in bulk. My mother is also closer and is interested in either sharing some of the larger items and she was down with splitting the cost of a membership.
So we took a field trip to Costco, bought the membership and went to town. I was impressed. Still 70% of the food is off my list, but I did find some of my favorite snack items in bulk and at a super price. Yippee. I doubt I will shop there for my produce but I got rice milk cheap, crackers and granola bars for the kids. Stuff H likes to take when he travels and all at a really good price.
Everyone was super friendly and helpful. They load and unload your card for you. I did not take the time to look at the clothing and center of the store stuff, but I will, next time I go solo.
L was SO excited. She randomly this week asked if I could get her Go Dog Go for her birthday next year. Lo and Behold, they had a huge table of Dr. Suess books in a three pack and Go Dog Go was one of them. We got that also.
It may be a once a month or every 6 weeks stop, becasue I did stock up this time! I have reached the point in my like where I want to go one or two places and shop and then go home. No more endless chasing my tail and seeking the cheapest price. If I spend over 4 hours a week running here and there - I have eaten up any sayings in my time and the cost of gas.
We do have a Costco in town. Not close to me, but not far either. J has one near her and loves it. Other friends have had nothing but good stuff to say about it. Oprah is one of their biggest fans.
I have decided that I need to be buying certain things in larger quantities than say 6. L packs her lunch everyday for school. We do not have time to come home on Monday and Tuesdays for an at the table snack. Often the snack is eaten in the car. E still needs to snack on the go sometimes. I can blow thru a package of 6 Z-Bars or 6 cracker snack packs in no time flat.
I used to resist buying the crackers in small portion controlled packs, but with me not eating most of what the kiddos are eating and H gone so much, things go stale and where is the savings in that?
While I do most of my shopping at Whole Foods (given I have to be able trust what is in it....) I still go to the other grocery stores a fair amount to get this and that. Some weeks I will have been to 3 stores and WF twice. This is nuts.
So now that we have a much bigger refrigerator and one in basement and significantly larger pantry, I felt it was time to perhaps think about buying in bulk. My mother is also closer and is interested in either sharing some of the larger items and she was down with splitting the cost of a membership.
So we took a field trip to Costco, bought the membership and went to town. I was impressed. Still 70% of the food is off my list, but I did find some of my favorite snack items in bulk and at a super price. Yippee. I doubt I will shop there for my produce but I got rice milk cheap, crackers and granola bars for the kids. Stuff H likes to take when he travels and all at a really good price.
Everyone was super friendly and helpful. They load and unload your card for you. I did not take the time to look at the clothing and center of the store stuff, but I will, next time I go solo.
L was SO excited. She randomly this week asked if I could get her Go Dog Go for her birthday next year. Lo and Behold, they had a huge table of Dr. Suess books in a three pack and Go Dog Go was one of them. We got that also.
It may be a once a month or every 6 weeks stop, becasue I did stock up this time! I have reached the point in my like where I want to go one or two places and shop and then go home. No more endless chasing my tail and seeking the cheapest price. If I spend over 4 hours a week running here and there - I have eaten up any sayings in my time and the cost of gas.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Soap of the Earth
S introduced me to LUSH a few years ago. Yummy honey soap and KARMA powder. I love the stuff and used it oh so sparingly. But now I do not have to... they opened a location in the Macy's very near to me.
Yippe!
I have been coloring my hair with the Henna from there. The Henna Fluff Eaze is awesome. As it the Rehab shampoo and American Creme conditioner.
I love the fact that the products are natural and almost all of them vegan. I smell good, my hair feels and looks good and I feel good knowing that I am supporting a business, which is making an effort to be green and kind to animals.
If this has sounded like an infomercial - well so be it... I have been giving alot of people a well deserved hard time of late on the blog - so I decided to switch gears and give some folks some much deserved props!
Rock on LUSH!
Yippe!
I have been coloring my hair with the Henna from there. The Henna Fluff Eaze is awesome. As it the Rehab shampoo and American Creme conditioner.
I love the fact that the products are natural and almost all of them vegan. I smell good, my hair feels and looks good and I feel good knowing that I am supporting a business, which is making an effort to be green and kind to animals.
If this has sounded like an infomercial - well so be it... I have been giving alot of people a well deserved hard time of late on the blog - so I decided to switch gears and give some folks some much deserved props!
Rock on LUSH!
Keep It Simple - they are 6 and I am busy...
Remember the adage - K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple Stupid. Well someone in the school distract forgot what the hell it meant. They are on their 3rd new math curricula in less than 5 years.
I fail to see how hard it is to teach kids math. I am NOT a teacher, but I am good at math, I have always been decent at math - until like Calc 2 and the numbers suddenly aren't real and frankly I am only into MATH that involves things I can count. I hated Geometry because my brain just does not work that way. I can do percentages and simple calculations in my head and I get what numbers mean, when presented in fancy charts and graphs.
Well the geniuses in the central office of our school distract have blown a ton of money on yet another useless math program. This one involves US at home spending a ton of time trying to sign onto a website - which is poorly designed and just plain crappy. It does not show the kids which letter they clicked on to answer the questions (yeah does not darken the circle - did these people not learn anything from the years of taking tests using a scan tron answer sheet?) It does not record their work and on the work sheets and practice "pages" you cannot type the numbers but rather you have to draw them free hand with the mouse! WTF? Did I mention it does not work with any number of browsers.....
It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to A) try to get us signed on using any number of browsers. B) try to find the homework, C) try to figure out how you do the worksheets and D) to draft an email to the teacher telling her that this program IS crap and L will not be doing her homework on the computer. I learned MATH with pencil and paper and L will too! I can sharpen pencils - this piece of shit the School Distract paid big bucks to adopt - well one of them can come over here and waste 1 hour and 45 minutes trying to get it to work or they can write me a check for $55 - roughly what I charge my clients when I write for them. Because I am done wasting my time and L's frankly. We lost a ton of nice weather and daylight fighting with that stupid website.
The kicker - there is a help desk - open M-F 8 am to 4 pm - the same hours she is school. Right - hardly helps those of us trying to use the crappy site. Oh wait - they knew it was crap and set the hours accordingly.
The kicker - I downloaded the Amazon Video on Demand player and a movie in my first try and we watched the movie tonight. So I have to say - that the problem lies with the crappy math curricula and website and not my technical prowess.
I fail to see how hard it is to teach kids math. I am NOT a teacher, but I am good at math, I have always been decent at math - until like Calc 2 and the numbers suddenly aren't real and frankly I am only into MATH that involves things I can count. I hated Geometry because my brain just does not work that way. I can do percentages and simple calculations in my head and I get what numbers mean, when presented in fancy charts and graphs.
Well the geniuses in the central office of our school distract have blown a ton of money on yet another useless math program. This one involves US at home spending a ton of time trying to sign onto a website - which is poorly designed and just plain crappy. It does not show the kids which letter they clicked on to answer the questions (yeah does not darken the circle - did these people not learn anything from the years of taking tests using a scan tron answer sheet?) It does not record their work and on the work sheets and practice "pages" you cannot type the numbers but rather you have to draw them free hand with the mouse! WTF? Did I mention it does not work with any number of browsers.....
It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to A) try to get us signed on using any number of browsers. B) try to find the homework, C) try to figure out how you do the worksheets and D) to draft an email to the teacher telling her that this program IS crap and L will not be doing her homework on the computer. I learned MATH with pencil and paper and L will too! I can sharpen pencils - this piece of shit the School Distract paid big bucks to adopt - well one of them can come over here and waste 1 hour and 45 minutes trying to get it to work or they can write me a check for $55 - roughly what I charge my clients when I write for them. Because I am done wasting my time and L's frankly. We lost a ton of nice weather and daylight fighting with that stupid website.
The kicker - there is a help desk - open M-F 8 am to 4 pm - the same hours she is school. Right - hardly helps those of us trying to use the crappy site. Oh wait - they knew it was crap and set the hours accordingly.
The kicker - I downloaded the Amazon Video on Demand player and a movie in my first try and we watched the movie tonight. So I have to say - that the problem lies with the crappy math curricula and website and not my technical prowess.
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