I have been a bad blogger

I'm sorry. I know I have been a bad blogger.

It just seems like it takes so much effort to write a post these days.

I actually started a few and never finished them.

Not too much has been going on these days anyway. We're gardening (the strawberries from our garden taste great) and I now have radishes and peas growing in my kitchen almost ready to be transplanted. Just trying to find a place in the yard to put them where they won't be devoured by squirrels and other pests. The tomatoes are already sprouting and we are trying out leeks and cabbage this year too. The mint, basil, and cilantro are delicious too. Need a second try on the cukes-they animals ate the plants we started with. I actually dislike gardening but enjoy the veggies so it's worth it in the end.

I might work summer school with the littlest kiddies. It's at my school this year which is convenient, only til 12, and only 4 days a week. So, the extra money could be useful. But I usually need my break so we'll see. Since my kids are only in camp for the afternoon this year (gymnastics camp), I could bring them with me and put them in summer school at my school. Or they could help me with my class.

The kids are good. M is talking a ton-she says things like "I go" and "What's that" and "No." Everyday it seems she is saying more and more and she is only 19 months. She's gotten very clingy and wants me to carry her all over the house, ALL the time. Makes it hard to get anything done. Both Little T and Lulu got great reports at parent teacher conferences last week. They are meeting all developmental/academic milestones and are ready for next year. The teachers are also happy with their social/emotional-behavioral growth. Totally affirms for me that we have made the right educational decision for them. Big T is also doing well. We are working on some emotional issues with her and she is making progress and growth and we can see it!! She is less anxious and happier overall. We are very blessed right now, Thank G-d!

Have been reading a lot even though I haven't mentioned it lately. I will try to put a list of the books on my next post.

That's the update for now. .

Bright spots in a blah week

This week has been rough.

Not for any terrible reason, thank G-d.

Just regular life is a little overwhelming. Especially when Sundays have a lot going on-I feel like I am always playing catch up.

But there have been some bright spots this week including:

1. Sinus rinse!! My allergies have been killing me and (thanks for the medicine advice, everyone!) I got a sinus headache yesterday on top of all the allergy drama. So I used my sinus rinse and it really works. The pressure in my head went away almost immediately. So that was a yay!

2. I made an oven apple pancake last night. Homemade. Delicious. I doubled the recipe and it was gone it 10 minutes, I didn't even have time to take a picture. I will try to post the recipe later in case anyone wants it.

3. Report card pick-up day today! Not exciting except for that I didn't need to go into work until 12 today. So I did get some stuff at home done today.

At least there have been a few bright spots this week. Maybe there'll be more, who knows?

#101

This is my 101st blog entry. I have officially passed 100 posts. That has got to be important to mention, right?


Actually, I do want to say thanks to everyone who reads, it means a lot to me. Blogging has been a way for me to express myself and share my thoughts and the fact that people out there in cyberspace find me interesting is very encouraging. So I thank you and my self-esteem thanks you too! And feel free to speak up and share. I love reading comments.


Anyway, yesterday I forgot to mention something else I love: coffee!! I finally opened my new keurig and it is fabulous, awesome, and amazing. It really makes a great cup of coffee (and fast too). I'm not sure about the tea yet but I also drink lots of tea, so I think I am going to get my money's worth. Speaking of money, I got a really good deal on it. It's kind of a long story but my mom bought the mini at Kohl's for $72 ( she had an extra coupon and it was on sale and less sales tax in MD). I then returned it and upgraded to the elite and used a 15% off coupon so only paid $100 (including tax) for it. It's normally $130 without tax so I think it is a pretty good deal. And it will be an even better deal if I don't buy coffee during the week!


I could really use the coffee today-I am sooooo tired! It is so hard to be back to the routine. Even though it was back to the routine last week, this is the first Monday in a while and it is just plain exhausting!

I think I am going to go hunt down a cup of coffee to survive the afternoon. . .

this time of year

what i am doing with my time:

cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning.

lists, lists, and more lists.

i like making lists but in this case i feel like it just showcases all that i need to do, they keep getting longer, not shorter. i did find last year's lists/menus so it should help. also, (gasp!) i am getting some cleaning help (i don't have a cleaning lady during the rest of they year).

errands, errands, and more errands

haircuts, haircuts, and more haircuts

work, work, and more work (iep paperwork just keeps getting longer)

spring break is coming!! yay, all of pesach will be spent at home and with my family which doesn't happen often (usually i have to work during chol hamoed).

worrying about all the school budget cuts happening all over the city.

hoping i will still have a job next year (i am pretty sure i will but you just never know).

researching gardening/ how to grow plants in my backyard..

more later. . .

I'm still here, are you?

Blogging is hard work. Unfortunately, all the other work in my life lately has been hard also, so of course blogging was put on the back burner. But I am still here and let me catch you up so far.

Working backward. . .

3 out of 4 of the kids have been sick lately, nothing major but just bad enough that they can't go to school. Which is ugh.

Husband had the stomach flu (food poisoning?) on Thursday which meant I was doing my stuff and his to take care of the kids. Made all of Shabbos before work on Friday (woke up at 5) and then went to work and had a full day. Whew, was I tired.

Have had crazy amounts of IEP's to write and am still not done. I truly dislike 8th grade IEP's, all the transition paperwork is such a pain to make up write. I also had a parent meeting with the principal, that's a whole post in itself. Just to sum it up, just because a student has a disability doesn't mean they can't be lazy! But it's always easier to blame the teacher. Like I said it's a whole other post which I really hope I get time to write soon!



I might have a future pro bowler for a daughter. We took the kids bowling on President's Day. It was the first time we took them (Big T went with school but it was the other girls first time ever). Little T kicked all our butts! And the ball was almost as big as her! And I know it's not a fluke because we recently aquired a Wii and the kids have been bowling and she is beating us all on the game too.

Funny story: At dinner one night Little T asked me to put "creases and wrinkles" in her hair. It took us a while to figure out she really meant curls. Sometimes she uses the funniest vocabulary. That, combined with her individualistic personality makes for some funny conversations (she also recently started calling me "momster").

All I've got time for now. Hope you haven't forgotten me!!

Not in the mood.

To Blog.

I just haven't been in the mood to write. It might be that I mostly write my posts at work and it has been one BUSY week.

Or maybe I'm just not in the mood to write.

I just don't feel like detailing all the mundane details of my life.

However, I will do a little complaining. (I always have room for that!)

Last Sunday we took the kids to Chuckie Cheese's (I had a coupon-it's such cheap entertainment!). And watching the people that go there is entertaining too. There was the mom that let her small children run up the skeeball ramp to put the balls in the holes. Really?

And then there was the mom that let her son put at least 25 tokens in a row in the game he was playing. So he could play it non-stop even though there was a long line of kids waiting for the game.

Am I the only one who thinks that is WRONG? I was trying to think of a way to tell her this but I thought I would lose my temper, so I didn't. ( I really, really need to learn how to be more assertive!) Those kinds of things bother me so much because of the lessons that it (doesn't) teach children. What about respect for others? What about taking turns? ARRRGH-it makes me angry just to think about it. At least my daughter waited nicely, and it was a teachable moment for us-why we don't do stuff like that.

In other areas, I finished in a perfect world and DID NOT like it. Sure, the writing was great, but I hated the topic. I don't like books that have "alternate realities"-things that could/might happen in the (near) future. I just get so disturbed, unhinged really. It screws with my perspective of the world and that is NOT a good thing. And it didn't really give a hint to it on the back of it. (Another book like this is The Road by Cormac McCarthy-which I read, and I heard they are making into a movie, which I WILL NOT be watching). Anyway, the Borders cashier recommended it, I will not be listening to her again. Although in her defense, she hadn't read it- she just said her friends liked it. LIAR!! Ok, I'm being a little (a lot) harsh, but that's the mood I'm in.

I am finishing another book called In the Heart of the Canyon by Elisabeth Hyde. It's fiction, about a whitewater rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. The topic is a little light, but well-written and I certainly needed that after the aforementioned book. I'm almost done, and then it will be on to the next one I got out of the library. I am in a reading mood I guess (more than normal).

I would like to get my act together and start/finish a knitting project. Maybe thanksgiving will be a good time-the baby blanket I was making for my nephew is now a toddler blanket.

This morning I made zucchini bread and brownies, washed dishes, cleaned out the fridge, showered (baby also), took care of some other odds and ends for Shabbos-so I do feel like I accomplished something. (I guess I did throw in some mundane details after all).

Now I have to go accomplish something at work-time to go write an IEP.

You might be bored. . .

Not much has happened of late.

Kids going to school, schedule resumed.

Life is actually pretty calm. Which is really wonderful. And I do mean that. But doesn't give much in the way of blogging.

I'm a little stumped for topics.

I did start reading some new blogs last night (it's really addicting once you start) and I did realize something. Just an observation that I made. Many people have blogs that keep them somewhat anonymous. Most of their audience is made up of people who don't know them in real life (IRL). My case is the opposite. Most of the people that read my blog are people that I know. I haven't tried to promote this blog in any way or broaden my audience. Which is fine-I started this for me, not for any other reason. But, since most people know me I can't share everything I probably would if people didn't know who I was. I guess I am afraid of judgement and of being too personal. Sometimes I wish I could just say whatever I want. Although it seems the older I get, the more I do that anyway.

That's my deep thought of the week.

----------------------

Little T did say something funny a while ago. She asked me to buy a new house, one with a pool. I explained that houses are a lot of money ( I even told her "hundreds of thousands of dollars"). I asked her if she had that much money. She said no and then told me she had an idea.

Her words "If we all lost our teeth and put our money under our pillows, we could save up the money the tooth fairy gives us and buy a house that way." You can imagine my face, I was not expecting her to say that. My response "Honey, I don't think the tooth fairy has that kind of money AND not one in our family would have any teeth left!" (in fact I know the tooth fairy intimately and she is in debt-of course I didn't say the last part). Sometimes I just cannot keep a straight face with that kid! She just cracks me up!! I really do try not to laugh though, she gets angry at me when I think she is funny and she wasn't trying to be. Which is basically all the time.


Anyway, that's all I've got. Let's talk about the book on Sunday evening around 8ish? Oct. 25th? Hope that works for everyone.

Moving On

Baby deleted post I just wrote.

And I was going to say I miss her now that I am back at work.

Oh well, what I wrote probably wasn't good enough to publish and she just saved me from embarrassment.

And I do miss her. A lot. When I see her in the afternoon and evenings she wants me to hold her for hours. Literally. She yells her head off when I put her down. Which makes it hard to get anything done around the house AND my back hurts. But that's ok because she's only 10 months once. Before I know it she'll be a year and then two. So I am happy to hold her while she still wants to be held.


I'm getting off topic, though. In other news, the engineer and construction workers finished my classroom. Over Labor Day weekend. It looks beautiful, no holes in the ceiling or burst pipes sticking out of the floor! I am getting high off the fumes from the sealant they used to finish the floors. Even with all the windows open and 2 fans going. But I am really appreciative of all the hard work they did-I need to get them a present! Maybe I should give them the 2 Brittney Spears tickets my bro-in-law with Downs Syndrome won. (He's lucky like that).


Also, I am not feeling well. I have a sinus infection and finally went to the doctor today to get some meds. I feel yucky and achy and have been fighting it for a week. Now the drugs have to fight it for me.


Reading-wise I am having a hard time carving out time to finish anything. But I am trying. I read Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner. Not my favorite of hers ( a little too predictable) but a light read. I am reading The White Queen by Phillipa Gregory but I just started it so I can't say how good it is. It's historical fiction and if anyone likes that genre you are welcome to read it along with me. I have to finish it soon, it's due back at the library next week. I also can't verify how clean it is, although I don't think her books are too graphic or inappropriate. But that's a personal decision. I'm too tired to add links, so google the books if you want to know more.

That's the update for the week.

Sorry I've been so neglectful

I feel like my blog is a 5th child that I have been neglecting.

I'm sorry blog!! And to those readers out there who read my blog, I haven't forgotten to write. It's just with vacation and all the logistics that go along with it I have been hard pressed to find the time to write. I am working on a post about the trip. Hopefully it will include some pics (even though the best shots are on my sis's camera- the best camera ever-I have camera envy!) In fact, I hope to include some pics that Lulu took, she is becoming quite a photographer at the ripe old age of 7.

So a longer post is coming soon!!

2 Adults+ 1 laptop= less blog posts

We have been existing with only 1 computer (gasp!).


The husband has been working from home A LOT. I am happy about that, I really am. But the blog is getting ignored.



I wanted to write about the good deals I got this week (even though I do not profess to be a professional coupon saver or deal finder-I do occasionally find good deals and I AM a cheapskate).



I wanted to write about the art workshop I went to focusing on how to incorporate art into your classroom teaching. I wanted to show pictures of the projects I made.


I wanted to talk about my obsession with the show House Hunters. Not sure why I am obsessed. I am not looking to buy a house. But I do find it fascinating. And how my children are now obsessed with it too, they even guess which house they think the people will buy.


I wanted to post pics showing the great furniture finds that we found on craigslist and how we rearranged our house-I even took before and after photos! ( Haven't figured out how to get them off the blackberry and onto the blog but I'm sure my husband can help with that).



I wanted to post about Little T wanting to wear her bathing suit backwards and let it all hang out. Just a little too much naked, bare skin in the front for me.



I wanted to post about the tragedy of a small child dying and how you can feel so much pain but also be brought so close to G-d. Everyone is affected when something like this happens. Unbearable pain and unspeakable hardship.



There you have it. All the things I wanted to say this week and didn't. Well, maybe I did say them, just not the way I originally intended. It was a full, busy week and it looks like next week will be more of the same.


Maybe we should get another laptop? Maybe not.

Post lost in cyberspace

I am angry at blogger-I wrote a post today and when I went to publish it there was an error message and -BAM, no more post. How can that be-it was saving all along! Where is my post? It wasn't a great post, it was actually kind of random and probably not worth trying to re-write it. I really can't remember what I wrote anyway.


I just really haaaaaate putting effort in something and then having it not work out!!!


Will write more later, I hope!