First Day of School

Well.. Today was Caitlin's first day of school. My little girl is now in the 2nd grade. Where did the time go?? Seems like just yesterday that she was born and we took her home!!

I started my next term yesterday. It went ok. I have statistics this term. I have very mixed feelings about this class... but hopefully I pass.

Everything was great this morning. I woke Caitlin up, she got dressed and brushed her teeth, I brushed her hair ... She got her stuff... Then came time to feed Zoe. I got out the oatmeal, and put the empty box on the counter.. CRASH! Apparently, the counter that always is consumed with recyclables was too full and the empty cardboard box pushed it all over the edge of being full. The radio from which we took camping with us fell over, then knocking over the ceramic flour canister, and sent it straight to the floor.. It was almost as if it exploded leaving tiny shards of white ceramic all over the floor. Of course, both girls, the dog, and both cats had to come investigate the noise.. OMG. Get out of the kitchen! *sigh* The morning was almost perfect..No one got yelled at before this incident, everyone was following mommy's directions...

I finished Zoe's breakfast, and sent Caitlin off to school on the bus.. Ugh. The bus. I hope it manages to come on a consistent time this year...

There is always tomorrow for the "perfect" morning before school.

Now time to find my desk under all these receipts, coins, thread spools, and paper work from everyones school... so I can do my statistics homework..

I am a bad mother.

Every so often, my children's cute little voices stream into my ears like nails on a chalk board. Everything they say "SCREEEEEEETCHHHHHH". Am I the only one??

ADD & ADHD

Ok ... First of all.. I am not saying I do not believe in these disorders and they can severely impact families.

I have 5 boys that live in our neighborhood. Four out of the five have ADHD and a few other acronyms.

Is ADHD just a mystery diagnosis that if a child acts out or is out of control, they add this label to them?? Why does it seem like some (SOME) parents use these disorders as an excuse as to why their child is a disobedient monster?! Could it be the parenting of these children?? Maybe their diet of fast food and foods filled with chemicals?? Why are so many children labeled with this?? Do a few of these parents just give up and let this disorder take over their family??

From my observations of the neighborhood boys, I see a major lack of parenting, and extreme cases where fast food is a major part of their childrens diet. One of the parents' only consistancy is that she will ground her children, then ten minutes later tell them to go outside and play. Grounded for ten minutes?? Does she send them outside to play because they are bugging her?? I often feel bad for her because she is a single mother of three young boys... But there has to be other ways of dealing with these children.

How do these labels affect them later in life?? How long does ADHD "last"? Is there an age where it no longer becomes an issue? Maybe when the children start eating right, or have solid rules and schedules?

Maybe in some cases, parenting skills and diet are part of the problem. Has anyone explored this??

Yet another reason...

... to avoid Walmart...

Customer Service

Its been a while since I have done a product review on my blog.. Today I will share my best and worst customer service stories...

Its been almost a year since I have contacted these ones, but they stand out in my mind as having EXCELLENT customer service...

GE - Bought some CLF's and three burned out... They sent me two 20$ coupons for free light bulbs

TAO - I bought a photo key chain on clearance at Sharper Image.. It would not charge... They sent me a replacement with a box for me to return the non working one.. No credit card number or anything... they just sent me a 60$ replacement with the hopes I would return the broken one!

Select Comfort - We have had a sleep number bed for a number of years. Our remote died... I called them, they sent me a new one with a postage paid label to return the broken one.

HP - online chat. I was having a driver problem, and I figured I would try out the chat with tech support. Few minutes, I was up and running with my new drivers

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE (Yes they deserve all caps..)

XM radio - I never get an American. Well at least not an American that can understand plain simple english. I have spent hours upon hours on the phone with people from India, or where ever they are just because they do not understand I want to add a gift card to my account, no more. Just the gift card.

Leap Frog - Zoe has a weird thing stuck on her screen on her leapster. It looks like it is something under the screen, so I got on the phone... waited...on hold... for more then an hour before I gave up. I later read in the book that came with it that they only have a 3 month warrenty. WOW. Thats kind of short!

Hmm well thats all I have for the worst... course I could add Walmart...

Walmart - I was in the check out line and finished putting my stuff on the thing. I then went to go pay and mysteriously cut my finger on the pad where you write checks. The check out lady asked if I needed a bandaid, and so I looked ... I had blood running down my arm. YES I need a bandaid. She handed me a paper towel and called for the manager. She went on a hunt for a bandaid and came up with nothing. UM HELLO? Is there NOT an entire isle of bandaids?? I would have bought the box had she went and got one... but no... I was left standing there with a paper towel on my cut finger... UGh.

OK thats all I got ...

10 Things that I have learned this Summer

1. Summer vacation is short, about 12 1/2 weeks. Make the best of all of it. Best of all plan some down time to do nothing.

2. Do plan on free activities around the area. At the beginning of the summer I went through the community calendars and found several free, and not so free activities for our family to be apart of this summer.

3. Anticipate major weather events to interfere with those free activities. The Sunday of the "500 year flood" or whatever they are calling it, was also the McNader Arts Festival. We did not make it because we were either glued to the TV or were walking down to the river. We were prepared to be evacuated if necessary, but also missed the arts festival.

4. The dog likes a sandbox that has rain water in it. Oh boy. When it was hot, the dog would roll around in the sandbox, and actually kick the sand out so he could have more water! Yeah. We got out the pool for him that same day. He did manage to sneak in there a few more times during the hot days.

5. My children would rather help clean the house then their own room. Zoe helped Tony clean the house several times... (Caitlin was at summer reading camp).

6. Buy stock in sunscreen and bug repellent. I have two redhead girls with very fair skin. Caitlin swells up were she gets bit by the pesky critters... Should have bought stock.

7. Dollar store toys last only a short time - buying the more expensive higher quality plastic or even wood version will save you time in shopping for toys next year. Best part? They will last many years in stead of many days.

8. Along with the weather issues, the fair can turn into a disappointment because of poor planning on the boards account although they did pass the buck and say it was the carnival company's fault.

9. Wet laundry in the washer stinks twice as soon as wet laundry in the washer in the winter. Who knew...

10. Having a DVR helps you to forget about time when you are doing something fun. The DVR came in handy several times through out the summer. It also is nice to have something to watch when you feel like chillin'.

Well I probably could add more, but would you continue to read it if it was 100 things I have learned this summer?? lol

Welcome to August!

Already?? WHAT? Ok... My terms are ten weeks long.. I started this term June 4th.. I shall be done by Aug 12th. That means the summer is roughly 12 weeks long. WHAT? TWELVE WEEKS?! *sigh*

So I have been doing some school shopping here and there. I did grab a new pair of pants and a tee shirt from KMart today... The shirt was too cute to pass up.. "Save the Trees, Ban Homework". I dont know if I blogged about Caitlin's issues at school last year, but apparently she had not done her home work for like a month. The teacher finally called me to tell me she had a good day after not having good days. That was the first I had heard about Caitlin not doing well!!! Why did she wait so long?? I implemented a few things into our after school routine, and Caitlin was back on track with in a week. ONE WEEK. Anywho.... Perfect shirt for Miss Caitlin who does not like to pay attention in class because she "likes to watch people".

So yeah back to school shopping... Our college put on a item/money drive for the victims of the flood that attend the school. No one... NO ONE affected from the flood stopped by to see what they had to offer. So after a couple of weeks of the stuff sitting in the college, they opened the room up to the entire college. There were about 20 tables full of clothing. I did get some stuff for all four of us... Mostly tried to aim for the children, since hubby and I really do not need much...maybe another pair of shorts or something... But, I lucked out ... I got about 4 outfits for each of the girls...

I also have been Ebaying... I got a pair of Gasoline jeans and a sketchers tee for dirt cheap... Still waiting on the shirt, but the pants are brand freakin new. I LOVE Ebay other then the fact that people sometimes go over board on shipping packaging.

So yeah... August... We are planning a trip to the Zoo next Monday, so hope for no rain, and a day in the high sixties! LOL The Zoo is our last Ha rah for the summer before we all go back to school. I have a short week long break .. I go back August 20th, Caitlin on the 21st, and Zoe starts head start on the 26th. Busy busy...

Now we just need to find a job for the Hubby and all will be well!

School

School is right around the corner. Caitlin starts August 21, and Zoe starts August 26. I am so excited that Zoe got into head start this year. She will be gone Monday through Friday from 8:45 to 1:30. This will help me out while I continue to go to college.

Problem with having two in school? Double the school clothes!! Luckily I do not need to provide supplies to head start (or at least they have not told me yet). Bleh!

Money Green Money

We have spent $3777.82 on our gas and electric bill over the last 18 months. WOW. Our highest for gas was in February 08 for $307.05. Our highest electric bill was in July of 07 for $144.75. It averages out to be about $210 a month.

We have changed all of our bulbs to compact florescent. We turn lights off when we leave the room. We keep our thermostat low (Not too low because I refuse to be COLD in our HOME). We grill in the summer, as to not heat up the house more then it already is. We have curtains with backings along with pull down shades. Closed in the summer, open in the winter and at night. We only wash and dry full loads of laundry and dishes. I spent weeks caulking around our windows and doors and any other place that heat / cold air could escape.

I know we need insulation. We need it bad. I guess I am blogging about this to keep track to see how much we save after we get insulation.

BLEH. Thats a lot of money that could have been saved or spent on other things. (like insulation?) lol

Finals...

Ok so we have a week called "Finals" week, which is week 10 of our term. But for some reason, here in week 8, I have a final project due for class # 1. Then in week 9, I have final essays for class #1, final essays and final exam for class #2, and a final project due for class #3. For week 10 (FINALS WEEK), I have a final exam in class #1, and final exam and final essays for class #3. I guess I am ok that it is not all due in week ten, but why have an entire week called finals week if the finals are spread out between week 8 through week 10?

For those of you that are keeping track, that means I have three things due for each class; a final project, final essays, and a final exam.

Ok. Rant over. Going to work on final project in week 8 for class #1.

So much to post about!

Hmm where do I start? I talked about the flooding last week...

We went camping from Sunday through Thursday of last week... Came home because I had class on Thursday and Tony DJ's on Friday and Saturday...

Heres a covered bridge that is near our campground...




Some canna lilies that my neighbors mom gave me...





The blackeye susans that I planted last spring that never grew... I went out back one night, and omg, there they were, about three feet tall!




Some celosia that I planted ...





I had four rose buds this year!




I finally bought some shrubs for the front of the porch! They are "globe arborvitae" and have a cedar like leaf...

Rewind a couple of weeks...

So Tony and I went out on Saturday... The sky was very pissy... Thunder and lightning everywhere... before we had went out, there were tornado sirens and a huge nasty storm cell coming our way.. We put the kids and animals in the basement and tuned to the local channel. I think we had the kids in the basement for over an hour due to the bad weather, tornado warnings, thunderstorm warnings, and so on.....

Fast forward to Saturday night... Drive home, awesome because you could see all of the lightning ... Little did we know.............

Sunday morning, I wake up ... got ready to go to the store...I realized our quiet little dead end road was busy with traffic... I decided to head towards the local park... I hope to never see what I saw that morning again! The river had rose so much it was going (and fast) over the bridge and the entire N. Carolina was flooded....

A wagon, one of the green ones... floated down the river...

No one in our city was injured physically. The emotional part will effect several for a very long time..

I drove home to find out the river was at an all time high of 18.67 feet... previous record was 15 something in like 1933...

Water everywhere. Except our little house on the hill! Countless number of peoples houses and basements were flooded... we were lucky.. the carpet was just damp.

Late Sunday afternoon, they shut the water off in our city... The water treatment plant had flooded.

Wednesday, we had water to flush the toilets and to shower... Friday we had clean drinking water.

It was a mess, the city is still a mess and peoples homes are now condemned.

Of course the water went south. Cedar Falls, Des Moines, and many other cities flooded. All but 8 counties were listed as a "disaster" by the governor

Heres pics of the river, well normally there is a trail there and not the river... and other areas of the City.

Moles? Dwarfs? Gnomes?

Something is digging up our yard at night. Strange part, there is no hole under the piles of dirt... there are no ants or other bugs in the dirt... they are just piles of dirt on top of the ground that keep appearing over night. Is it the garden gnomes?? Are they playing a trick on me? I know they can be mischievous, but WHY THE YARD? Is it aliens? Are they dumping the dirt in the back yard as some kind of out of this world experiment?? WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE BACK YARD AT NIGHT?!

Below are pictures of the mysteryous dirt piles... Number 1 was the first one to happen about three nights ago... Number 2 was the next night, and number 3 & 4 appeared this morning... The last picture is all of them...

Sorry for the low quality, it was taken with my 1.3 MP camera phone since my actual camera batteries are D E A D.

New things

Ok... the last few months I have come across several websites claiming to have the best product and if you send them 10 dollars you can give a hippo water roller to poor people in Africa so they can haul clean water to their homes. Then I come across another website about sending the people in Africa croc shoes so they no longer have to walk barefoot. Now today, I came across the next new lifesaving product called a LifeStraw. As much as I would love to help out the African people, I must say my family must come first. Whether it be shoes, clothes, books, toys, they just come first. Usually, I then come second lol. I hope if you read this, and if you have an extra $10 you could help send these people the shoes, straws, and rollers that they need.

In my next life I hope to be a rich humanitarian so I can travel the world and lend a hand where needed. It wont happen in this lifetime, and I apologize for that...

And.. I just want to add, that if I did have an extra $10, I would put it towards one of several things on my current "want & need" list: getting the fence put up, cutting down the Mulberry tree so we can have back that part of our yard, an outdoor patio set so the inlaws and us have a nice place to sit outside while we have BBQ's (and so I have a table outside to do homework on), insulation for our attic and sidewalls, a hammock chair and stand, and well an emergency savings fund.

So again, I feel bad for those who are starving and can not have safe drinking water in Africa, I do think that we should focus a bit on the American society too. There are starving people here also, even though you can not tell by looking at the number of morbidly obese. There are also homeless people who have families... For the richest country, we sure treat our own pretty shitty when it comes to them being homeless, disabled, or even an armed forces vet. Lets get AMERICA put back together first.

Card

My husband asked me at the last minute to make a card for a co-worker for his 15th wedding anniversary. Heres what I came up with

Well fine.

I will update my blog. I don't remember how long it has been, but here I am...

I am currently trying to keep up with my homework, housework, kids, laundry, and this thing called spring cleaning. I actually love to do spring cleaning, but because of my backlog of laundry and housework, the spring cleaning does not get done.

My children have managed to keep their room clean since I cleaned it. They do go a couple of days without picking up, but it is still considered manageable.

I am so bogged down with homework, it seems to take me the entire week to complete my readings and assignments. Its ok, I wont be in school forever, right??

UGH The housework... We had Caitlin's birthday party on Wednesday night and the house still has trash here and there from the presents, tags, and toy packaging. Why must stuff come with so much packaging?? Ill work on this sometime today.

As for the yard, I did get all of the MONTHS of dog poop in the front yard cleaned up yesterday. That was a nice accomplishment. Now for the side yard!!

We have one less dog (long story) so you would think the poop would be cut in half. Unfortunately, it was the little dog that was banished, so the large pooper is still adding large dog logs to the yard! LOL

As for the laundry... ugh. If I could remember to start it at a decent time, and remember to put it away when its out of the dryer, I would be a million miles closer to being caught up then I currently am! Fly lady says a load away keeps the mountain away. I wish I could grasp that concept!

Ok back to writing my paper that will determine what the subject of my final paper will be about. I am having problems starting it, knowing what order to put it in, and just plain getting it organized. We are supposed to pick a social problem and why we want to write and research this problem and which perspective we feel it has.

Frosting...

UGh.

I read on someones blog about how they took the premade frosting and whipped it in with their mixer and it almost doubled in size. DO NOT TRY THIS!!! All it did was make the frosting sticky. It did not double in size, nor was it light and fluffy... it was a sticky gooey mess.

Pictures and stuff to come later...

APRIL FOOLS!

Unfortunately, this is no April Fools joke. If it is, its a pretty elaborate one that affects the entire city...

Every morning...

All I can think of is "STARBUCKS?! WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST OUR CITY?"

*sigh*


I just want a Frappichino, Caramel, Extra sweet :/

No one around town seems to sell the bottles of caramel frap anymore :(

Yes I am fully aware of the Latte' Factor, and don't really see this as a problem since I usually buy a bottle of frap from the gas station anyways.

I guess I could drive 35 minutes to the Casino for a frap...hmm naw...

Srsly...