2007 meme

I just found this in my drafts that I never published. Teaches me to check my drafts more often and finsh things ;-)


1. Where did you begin 2007? I think I was at home. I might have been at my parents, but I can't remember when we left to come home.

2. Did you have to go to the hospital? No.

3. Did you have any encounters with the police? None with law enforcement, but yes I did have an encounter with The Police. ;-)

4. Where did you go on vacation? No big vacations this year, but a lot of long weekends. San Antonio with the August Moms. Old Stirbridge Village a couple times. Pittsburgh for a 5 days to see the in-laws. Boston for a weekend with the Fly Guy to see The Police at Fenway.

5. What did you purchase that was over $500? We remodeled our living room, so I don't think any one item was over $500 but the whole project was well over $500 seeing that I spent $400 on lighting alone.

6. Did you know anybody who got married? Nope

7. What sporting events did you attend? some Sea Dogs games and my first Red Sox game in about 20 + years.

8. What concerts/shows did you go to? Saw The Police at Fenway....can you already tell that was a highlight of my year. ;-)

9. Where do you live now? same place I have for years

10. Describe your birthday: I don't remember my birthday this year...which is a very good thing....bad things seem to happen on or around my birthday, so having one I can't remember is sometimes a nice thing. :-)

11. What’s the one thing you thought you would never do, but did in 2007? Saw The Police in concert. I had long ago given up that they would ever get together and go on tour. (see it was a highlight of my year)

12. What’s something you learned about yourself? How important reading is to my life.

13. Any new additions to your family? My brother's wife had a baby so I finally have a niece.

14. What was your best month? July

15. What music will you remember 2007 by? The Police ;-)

16. Made new friends? yes several I love my Masters swim team, I am always meeting new people.

17. Favorite night out? Well I should say the night of The Police concert...it was my favorite night out, but I also had some great parties and stuff with my swim team that I really have enjoyed. Plus Fly Guy and I have subscription tickets to the local theater so we go out about once a month and I wouldn't get rid of that for anything it the world. I look forward to those nights out.

18. Any regrets? None, but I try to live my life with no regrets, no matter how bad things are.

19. What do you want to change in 2008? Maybe get a real job with benefits and such.

20. Overall, how would you rate this year? from 1 to 10...ten being the best this was an eight.

21. Other than home, where did you spend most of your time? A horse girl's school.

22. Change your hairstyle? No

23. Buy a new car? I didn't but Fly Guy did.

24. Any car accidents? No.

25. How old did you turn this year? 37

26. Do you have a New Year’s resolution? none

27. Do anything embarrassing? can't think of anything off the top of my head

28. Be honest - did you watch American Idol? no I have never watched it and I wouldn't know anyone who had been on it even if they came right up to me and said hi.

29. Start a new hobby? I became a swim official

30. Will you be happy to see 2007 go? no

31. Been naughty or nice? a little bit of both....I believe in all things in moderation ;-)

Christmas Questions

I stole these questions from the other August Moms. ;-)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I use wrapping paper. Though I have plenty of gift bags on hand for Fly Guy to use. ;-)

2. Real or artificial tree? Is this a question? Of course a real one. I live in Maine for Pete's Sake where there is a Christmas Tree farm in nearly every town.

3. When do you put up the tree?

Normally the weekend after the first complete week in December

4. When do you take the tree down? New Years Day

5. Do you like Eggnog? One cup a season is good

6. Favorite Gift you received as a child? a My Friend Mandy doll

7. Do you have a nativity scene? yes a Fisher Price nativity scene, but we keep it out all year round...maybe now the girls are older I will put it away during the year....I will have to talk to them about it

8. Hardest person to buy for? I am not sure. I think my Sister-in-law is the hardest because I don't know her as well as I should

9. Easiest person to buy for? Horse Girl

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? some of the sweaters my mother has gotten me....LL Bean rules they take back anything they have sold even if it has been monogrammed. ;-)

11. Christmas Cards…Snail mail or E-mail? snail mail, but I haven't gotten them out yet

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Nester the Long Eared Donkey...not really a movie, but a TV special

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? In August most years

14. Have you ever ‘recycled’ a Christmas present? yes.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Seafood newburg

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? colored and clear...the clear blinks if I can get it to work. I used to be all clear lights non-blinking, but after 9/11 I needed something wild and crazy and I haven't turned back.

17. Favorite Christmas Song? Such a Night by Aaron Neville

18. Travel at Christmas or Stay Home? stay home for the most part...we drive a cross town to see my parents, but that is still home because we don't need to stay there or stay at a hotel.

19. Can you name Santa’s Reindeer? yes and there is often a debate in our household is Olive a reindeer...so is there 9 or 10 reindeer.

20. Do you have an Angel or a Star on top of your tree? Angel

21. Open the Presents Christmas Eve or Morning? Both....Christmas Eve we exchange presents with my brother and his family, Christmas morning we open presents to each other and Christmas afternoon we go to my parents and open presents over there

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? people do something charitable during this time of the year and feel that covers them in being a pain in the butt and selfish the rest of the year

23. Shopping…Mall or on-line? both

24. Do you decorate outside for Christmas or just inside (or at all?) normally with are both inside and outside, but with my lack of time this year I barely got the tree up, since we are now doing 100% hydro electricity and it is quite a bit more expensive, we decided not to do window lights. I would have put lights outside, but we got too much snow too early and I refuse to put lights on a tree that already has snow on it, because the snow is prettier then the lights ever could be.

25. Favorite Christmas cookie? Filled cookies that my Great Grandmother used to make and now my mother makes once and awhile.

26. Do you own Christmasy clothing or jewelry? Yes working for the toy fund I have a couple sweaters

27. Do you believe in Santa? yes...I work with many people who have Santa in their heart all the year. There is a man I know who traveled to New Orleans after Katrina and helped people, he went to California to fight the wild fires, he packs toys for kids in need. He is 75+ years old and he is the personification of Santa to me. He gives and gives. I also know a couple who travels around the country in their RV and they stop places and build for Habitat for Humanity and do work for Churches and do charitable work feeding the hungry....they also pack toys for kids in need. They also are Santa.

28. Favorite ornament: Mice made out of corn husks. Growing up my parents had a corn husk mouse selling candied apples and now I have a set of corn husk mice dress in Victorian outfits ice skating. I have loved all these corn husk mice.

Update covering the last two months

The toy fund season is over. We were able to give nearly 8000 needy kids toys this year, so it was a rewarding, but crazy holiday season. We had so many new applicants because of heating oil prices being sky high, it was a choice between oil and toys for very many families. I didn't get my house 100% decorated. I didn't get my collection of Santas out until Christmas eve. I still haven't sent out my Christmas cards and this year is the first year I have done real Christmas cards rather then Holiday Peace cards. I wonder how late is too late to send them out?

Other things that happened during these two months is November 1st I was hurt by a student at my school job. My shoulder has been in constant pain until two weeks ago. Since it was a Worker's Comp case the school sent me to this Dr. that deals injuries that are school workers comp stuff. I ended up hating the Doctor. He never took X-rays. He didn't take my depression seriously. Because of him being that way I never told him about my PTSD acting up because of being restrained in the way the student restrained me. He would give me medication without telling me why he was doing it. Because of my history of attempted drug overdoses I steer clear of drugs unless I know 100% why I am taking them. He had this view of that was his job and I shouldn't be bothered with it. At my last appointment with him he told me that he "knew my personality" and that I must work harder to get better and he said that I would need 3 PT appointments a week. Well I went to the PT appointment and the physical therapist thought he was crazy since she didn't know of a person working harder to get better then I was.

Well the worker's comp people called me and asked me how things were going. I let the flood gates out and told her everything and how awful the Doctor was and how I felt he was trying to pad his bill. (The physical therapist I was going to was on his staff.) So the workers comp person checked with the school to see if it was ok for me to switch Doctors. I got into a new place. She spent 3 hours with me at my first appointment talking about my depression and PTSD. She took X-rays. We talked about the options. What drugs might be good for me. We decided to go with a cortisone shot right then and there. I feeling my normal self within a day or so and a week and a half later I am cleared as all better.

So this makes me even more angry about the first Doctor. He drags out my treatment for nearly two months...I am in pain 24 hours a day. I can't swim and I need to swim to make sure I don't start getting depressed. The pain was making me feel awful. So a good part of these last two months I have been feeling depressed between the pain and not being able to swim. But I couldn't let the depression get to me too much because I needed to get toys to the kids who need them. I ended up calling Fly Guy in tears a few times because I wanted to crawl up in a ball and hide from the world and from the toy fund. Once I was no longer in pain things turned around fairly quickly.

Other stuff that is going on. Horse Girl is reading more and more. The Scottish Rite Dyslexia Learning Center has been doing an amazing job. She has been able to read some subtitles on movies and things like that. She has come a long a lot faster then we ever dreamed possible. So there is a lot of excitement in this house because of that. She is also showing how good she is with math. She just loves school and her teacher is one of the top teachers I have met in my lifetime. The scary thing this is her first year teaching....what will she be like when she get more experience. She is going to be much more then amazing.....I don't think that there is a word for how good she will be.

History Girl is doing well. She has close friends which she didn't have last year. Moving to a bigger school helped with that a lot. She is finding school very boring and isn't working hard at all. We have decided to bribe her with money for grade. I am never quite sure about that, but Fly Guy said that it is what worked for him and he and History Girl are a lot a like when it comes to school. He says in the real world people get paid for performance so History Girl should be paid for performance. I figured it can't hurt. History Girl and I go head to head often about her schooling, because she is so gifted and she doesn't use it....so more or less I have decided to let Fly Guy handle History Girl and I will deal with Horse Girl since she is more like me and I understand her needs and figuring out her needs sometimes frustrate Fly Guy. So it is divide and conquer.

I have to say History Girl is very person to know and I have to say I am pleased that she is my kid. She figured out the Santa Claus myth and rather come to us and talk to us about it. She created a word puzzle telling us she knew and left it by her stocking. Fly Guy figured out the word puzzle and then we invited her down and told her she could now join the elf club. We talked about things we did to make the myth even more real for her. She seemed to appreciate the effort we put into it and she also seemed happy to be on the other end of things this year and help be an elf for her sister. We talked about how Santa is in people's hearts and stuff like that and how she should protect the people who still believe. She was willing to take up all those responsibilities.

Also on a Christmas note....having seen my grandmother two days in a row. I would like same rights we give pets and if life is just sucking please just put me out of my misery. My grandmother is just a shell of the person she was. Physically she is healthy for the most part, but she doesn't know who any of her family is. She didn't know what Christmas was, she vaguely knew some Christmas songs. If she can't remember songs 100% then she is truly gone. My grandmother has sung all her life at her church and with Sweet Adelines...singing was the biggest thing in her life and the fact she couldn't remember the words to songs she has sung her whole life, to me means that she is really gone and is just a shell of who she was.

I am sure I am missing things that happened the last two months, but that was the over view of it all.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and will have a great New Year. I am glad to be back even though my house is still a mess, but I will get around to that sooner or later. ;-)

The Badger

Ok I have been wanting to write about this for awhile, but I haven't had time to sit down lately and write.
Just before Thanksgiving our garbage disposal broke and needed to be replace. I knew the brand I wanted because it has been the brand my family has used for generations and they last a long time and do a great job. One of the model names I was researching was called "Badger." I knew I had to buy it because it reminded me of one of my favorite songs when I was a teenager..."The Badger Song" by Dead Milkmen. So I just had to get that model. Now I am sure the garbage disposal company didn't name the garbage disposal Badger to get ageing punk rock listening people to by their product, but that is what happened in this case.

Does it in the water...hmmmm

Lets101 Quizzes - Fun Quiz

Abstract thoughts: Well I would like to think so.
Loves reality and abstract: Yes
Intelligent and clever: I would like to think so.
Changing personality: Yes, but who's personality doesn't change over time?
Attractive: Depends on who you ask.
Very sexy: Also depends on who you ask.
Temperamental: Yes I can be
Trustworthy: I hope I am.
Unpredictable: No I don't think I am
Loves freedom: yes
Rebellious when restricted: yes
Too sensitive and easily hurt: this is way way too true
Easily angered: also way way too true
Romantic on the inside not outside: yes

ABC meme

Well I was tagged with the ABC Meme over at Tales from the Testosterone Zone. Yes it was several days ago, but as I said before I have been busy. :-)

A: August Mom

B: Brave

C: Crazy

D: Disney stockholder

E: eclectic

F: family

G: Giving

H: Historian

I: iron willed

J: jeans...what I wear 95% of the time

K: knowledgeable...at least I try to be

L: Learning Disabled and proud makes me see things differently then other people

M: Mainer

N: nondrinker

O: official...I am a swim official

P: Polar Bear...for many years I did an ocean swim of the coast of Maine on January 1st...I haven’t done it in a few years

Q: quiet until I get to know you

R: russophile

S: Swimmer

T: Tonks...who I dressed as for the Harry Potter book 7 release....purple hair and all....see U. ;-)

U: Unusual....my husband says strange works for me, but I can’t use strange because I am a swimmer before nearly everything else.

V: valued....well at least by my husband ;-)

W: water...between my love of swimming and my need to live on the coast water is a major part of my life.

X: Xmas charity....I work at a toy charity that gives parent’s toys for their kids during the holiday season, we give the toys to people of all faiths, but the majorty of the toys are for Christmas.

Y: young...I am the world’s oldest 16 year old ;-)

Z: zoom zoom....I drive a Mazda

Busy busy busy

It is that time of the year that I am just to busy to post often. I have a seasonal job that between November 1st and January 1st makes me so busy that I don't have time to post. We are ahead of schedule this year so I actually have Veteran's Day off so I might a few posts done today. We will see. I do have a few things I need to take care of today so we will see.

"Tessie"

Now this is very important. I need all of Red Sox Nation to find a version of "Tessie", either the original one or the Dropkick Murphy's one. We all need all play it today in hopes of a Red Sox turn around.

For you who don't know the history of "Tessie". The Royal Rooters were the first sports fan clubs as we see them today. They were Red Sox fans. In the 1903 World Series, Boston was down to the Pittsburgh Pirates (they were down 3 games to 1 out of a nine game series, so 5 games win). What the Rooters did was sing every song they could think of, but Michael "Nuf Ced" McGreevy got the sheet music for Tessie which was a song from a Broadway musical that didn't even 5 months. Nuf Ced, had all the Royal Rooters sing "Tessie" and "Tessie" helped win the day. Pittsburgh outfielder Tommy Leach even credited Boston's win to "that damn Tessie song." Well Royal Rooters ended up changing to words to "Tessie" to taunt the Pittsburgh Players. Boston ended up winning the series. It is said that the Rooters stopped singing "Tessie" in 1918, which was the last World Series until Boston won in 2004.

What happened in 2004, Dropkick Murphys came out with their version of "Tessie" which is a song about the original song "Tessie" and how the Royal Rooters used it to help the Red Sox win games. A coincidence that Red Sox won the World Series that year? I think not.

So Red Sox Nation break-out "Tessie" today and play it loud and proud. Help Red Sox win.

My info for this blog posting came from Rooters: The Birth of Red Sox Nation, it was on NESN ( for non-New Englanders that is New England Sports Network) a few weeks ago and I watched it with great interest. I found it interesting to find out that Red Sox fans have influenced games in that way. I might have to buy the DVD set because there is more info on that then the one they played on NESN.

" The Rooters gave the other team a dreadful fright
Boston's tenth man could not be wrong
Up from "Third Base" to Huntington
They'd sing another victory song"

-"Tessie" by Dropkick Murphys

First Reading at Church on Oct 14, 2007

This past Sunday the first reading at Mass was 2 Kings chapter 5:14-17, which reminded me of something that I have wanted to post here for awhile. Back on June 25, 2007 a posted how rather use the term Shoah rather then the term Holocaust and I didn't go into it then because it wasn't the blog posting for it. As time went on I got busy and forgot about posting about it. Well this reading reminded me of it.
2 Kings 5:17 is "Naaman said: "If you will not accept, please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the LORD." In this sentence holocaust is a religious sacrifice ( animal) that is completely consumed by fire. Holocaust is derived from the Greek holókauston (ὁλόκαυστον = ὁλον [completely] + καυστον [burnt]). A sacrifice is something that is done to please a god or goddess. So then a holocaust is a burnt offering that is pleasing to God.
Now why would anyone name the slaughter of 6 million Jews, plus all the other categories Soviet POWs ( 2 million), Serbs (600,000), Poles (200,000), Roma (250,000), Freemasons (100,000), Homosexual men (15,000), Spanish POWs (10,000), and Jehovah's' Witnesses (5000).....why would anyone call the slaughter of these people a burnt offering that is pleasing to God. To even think that the events in Nazi Germany were pleasing to God in any way makes my stomach turn.
Now because the term holocaust has become a synonym for genocide, people think they know what holocaust means, but most people do not track down the meaning of the word. I know I did not until I had nearly completed my BA in History. I hate the fact I did not research the term before I did my Senior Theses, because I used the term Holocaust in it, if I was to do it again, I would not.
So now you know why I use the word Shoah what happened during Nazi Germany. Shoah means "catastrophic upheaval" in Hebrew. Which seems to fit so much better then "an offering pleasing to God."
For other times and places I use genocide, because I believe holocaust should no longer be used in that way, it is a misappropriation of a word, so it should be fixed, but I know I am bucking the tide.

A number of posts

There have been a number of post rolling around in my brain lately that I need to get out, but the amount of time I have is getting so short with all the stuff going on. So just know that I am not depressed, just busy. ;-)

What do my Halloween habits say about me?

What Your Halloween Habits Say About You

The scariest thing on Halloween is you! You definitely don't want any kids in costumes crossing your path - and you're willing to scare away any who do. Sneaky and devious, people should really watch out for you. You are usually underestimated and forgotten. Your inner child is full of wonder and very sweet. You truly fear the dark side of humanity. You are a true misanthrope. You're logical, rational, and not easily effected. Not a lot scares you... especially when it comes to the paranormal. You are picky and high maintenance. If you wear a Halloween costume, it's only when you really feel like it. And it has to be perfect.

What's Your Halloween Personality?

What kind of Monster Am I?

You Are a Werewolf

You're unpredictable, moody, and downright freaky. You seem sweet and harmless, until you snap. Then you're a total monster. Very few people can predict if you're going to be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. But for you, all your transformations seem perfectly natural. Your greatest power: Your ability to tap into nature Your greatest weakness: Lack of self control You play well with: Vampires

What Kind of Monster Are You?

Well...this sounds about right. ;-)

Moms' weekend

Colubus Day weekend for the last 10 years the August Moms list has had a reunion in different cities around the US. I have gone every year. I wouldn't miss it. This year it was in San Antonio. I had a good time...it wasn't a place I would have picked to go by myself, but I am glad the August Moms went there because that means that I got to see some of the Missions and the Alamo and learned more about Texas history.

That is what is wonderful about these trips, I would go no matter where it is. It could be in the middle of no where and I would still go. As I said many times over the weekend, I don't care what we do I am just there for the company.

We ate more TexMex then I can handle. It was good, but I am going to need a break from it for about a month. We also went to Ruth Chris' Steak House. Fly Guy found this funny that I went to Ruth Chris' because I don't eat meat, so he wanted to know what I ate. Well for my meal I ordered the appatiser of crab stuffed mushrooms and shared a bunch of the sides with other people. I have not eaten red meat for long enough that I have no problem figurering out how to feed myself at a resturant. :-)

The sad part of this time of year is that there is a whole year before we get together again. It is still too early for us to pick next year's location so I can't even start thinking about next years reunion because I don't know where it is going to be except some where on the West coast.

History Girl's First Swim Practice

History Girl had her first swim practice this evening. Maybe I should change her name to Swim Chick here....maybe, but not yet. I am so proud of her I could burst. History Girl is known for not really working hard at anything. She coasts, she is very smart, and because of that she can do well and not really apply herself. It is something that she gets from Fly Guy....I am not being mean or anything if you asked him he would tell you the same thing. Any how back to History Girl and her swim practice. They were working on stroke drills to prefect their swimming form. Drills can be hard to do because you really have to think about what you are doing, but History Girl did it all and without a fuss. She listened well, she took criticism well and the coach was very good at complementing her when she did do what he wanted her to do. She swam about 500 yards in the hour practice, which is a fraction of what I do, but for a kid who is just starting that is pretty good. She does have a natural breaststroke...with a little refining she really will do well at it. I am so proud of the fact that she really worked hard at something and she did an amazing job. I told her how proud I was of her and how she did a great job.

Fly Guy is out this evening so I can't even share with him how proud I am of History Girl. I tried to call him on his cell phone, but he didn't pick up, so I am stuck gushing here. :-) Can I say again how proud I am of her? :-)

San Antonio next weekend

On Thursday I get to go on my yearly vacation away from being a wife and mother. I go meet up with my August Moms in different cities around the country. This one is the 10th annual one that we have had and I wouldn't miss it for most things...I can't say I wouldn't miss it for anything in the world, there are a few things I would miss it for.

Say in the future if one of my girls end up getting married on the August Mom reunion weekend I wouldn't be going. There are few other things that I would stay back for.

I am the type of mom who realizes that there are many things that Fly Guy can do with the girls and do them better then I can. I know the girls eat better when they are with him then when I am feeding them. *shrug* What can I say cooking is a chore for me, not passion. Fly Guy is their dad and a good one at that and so I don't think twice about leaving. Plus my parents live close enough for back up if he needs it.

People I talk to are surprised that Fly Guy is ok with me going away for the weekend. He goes away for fly fishing a few weekends a year, plus he goes away on business at least once a year. I figure I go away maybe twice a year for a weekend. Once with the August Moms and once with college friends. They don't question me being left with the girls, but they do when I leave they question it. Which is a bit double sided don't you think?

Well I am looking forward to being with my August Mom friends.....eating good food, talking into the night, wandering around a city without having to worry about kids getting into things or yelling "Mom!" and stuff like that. :-)

Swimming and History Girl

Yesurday History Girl got a chance to try out for a swim club. The coach really liked her. History Girl is going to try it for a week before I am willing to sign her up for it. Not only it is expencive, but it takes a lot of time and effort.

I have been swimming competively since I was a little younger then History Girl. My mother expected me to get myself to swim practice on my own. Which I did without a problem. My mother only made it to one of my swim meets and that was only because my Grandfather (her dad) wanted to see me swim, since he was a swimmer. My dad made it to the meets he could because he worked nights at the time. If you work for a morning paper then you work nights to get it ready in time.

Ever since I became a Mom I wanted a daughter who would be a swimmer. Even though I wanted that, I never said anything about it because I never wanted them to feel like they had to do it. I told them both they had to learn how to swim. A child of mine doesn't grow up on the coast without learning how to swim. If they didn't learn how to swim I wouldn't let them go on boats/ships/etc. So they learned how to swim.

So I am so excited about this. I hope she likes it, but I needto make sure that I stay the suppoter and not become her coach, because having swum competively off and on for 25+ years, I have coached many of my teammates. I shouldn't coach my own daughter because it would hurt our relationship.

We are already having one minor problem. The swim club has a parent/child meet. History Girl has already told me that if I swim agaist her and win, she will be upset. I reminded her that she won't always win there will always be someone better then she is. She said that she understands it just would hurt if I beat her. Well I am one of the top backstrokers in the state in my age group, so if we swim backstroke I will beat her and a good number of the younger kids in the club...I am not delusional...I know the senior swimmers would beat me to a pulp. :-) Maybe I will do an event that History Girl isn't doing and then have Fly Guy swim agaist History Girl. ;-)

What color crayon are you?

You Are a Red Crayon Your world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors. You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself. Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense... and sometimes overwhelming. Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships. Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy. What Color Crayon Are You?

Grammer Test

Well with using all the little tricks I have come up with over the years and I lot of thinking it out, I got an A. Which I find it hard to believe, my grammar is bad. I was pulled out of English from the time I was 7 to when I was 12 to work on dealing with my LDs. My grammar is bad and I have to admit it was taking a foreign language helped me finally figure out English grammar.

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

Which Sesame Street Personality are you

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

What Soda Are you?

You Are Diet Coke

You are energy in its purest form. No need to complicate things with sweetness. And while people may hate your aftertaste, you are seen as a necessary evil. Your best soda match: 7 Up Stay away from: Coke

What Kind of Soda Are You?

Red Sox and being green

Well I bet the people who follow baseball would expect me to write about how the Red Sox has won its first division title in 12 years. Yeah yeah...that is great, but it isn't what I am going to write about.
It turns out a couple of my favorite things are converging. :-) Fenway Park is going green. They are making the grand old stadium environmentally friendly. I think I am more excited about this then the division title. They are planning on collecting empty water and soda bottles in the 5th inning. They are changing to a more efficient lighting and expanding their recycling program. My favorite is that are going to offer more locally grown, organic produce in the concession stands.
They are making these changes over the next 5 years in order for it to be all done by 2012 and Fenway Park's 100th birthday.
So the Red Sox might be Division Champions, but they are also doing the right thing. Which to me is always the more important thing.

Swimming and being social

Swimming started up for me on Monday so I am back to waking up at 5am. Yes it is early, but I need to remember that swim practice is the one sure way to snap me out a a long running depression. Not only it is because of the hard work...more work then if I was swimming a lone, but it is time with my friends.
Fly Guy for the longest time thought I never spent time with my friends and then he realized that he was looking for me to have the same pattern he has. He gets home from work comes home hangs out with me and helps get the girls to bed and then he goes out to hang out with his friends. It took him awhile to realize, but pattern is to wake up at 5am and get up go to the pool hang out with my friends pre and post workout. We talk about swimming, family, friends, work, school, etc. I have put in a workout and I have been social for the day even before Fly Guy wakes up. So once he realized that he no longer asks me why I don't go out with my friends. He realizes I hang out with my friends three times a week between 5:15am and 7am so I am good. ;-)
I saw this quote in a competitive swimming supply catalog and I had to cut it out because it is really true:
"Try explaining it to a non-swimming and you'd think it was rocket science. They ask you, "How is swimming a team sport? You're out there by yourself, it's all about individuals." But invite them to a practice, if they're willing to get up that early and they;'' see true teamwork. Friends pushing each other. Every practice, every lap, every race. Everything you do, you do it together, as a team. You pace each other. You race each other. It's personal."
I get goosebumps when I read that, because it is so true for me. Swimming helps me on so many different levels that it is hard to explain. Yes there is the obvious..the exercise, but there is the emotional well being part and the social part and it is all something that a non-swimmer doesn't get and I need to remember when I feel myself sliding in to a longer stretch of depression then I feel I can handle.

Red Sox

Well ever since I started my thing of listening to songs related to the Red Sox they started winning again. They did lose on Sunday, but I had stressful stuff going on at my house that day so I didn't listen to any music that day.
Yesterday I had "Who Killed Tangerine" by Tears for Fears going through my head. (It is a song from the Fever Pitch soundtrack...Fever Pitch is a great Red Sox movie and it doesn't hurt that it has Drew Barrymore who I could watch forever.) Any how the part that was going through my head was " And when you think it's all over It's not over, it's not over" and I thought it was going through my head because swim practice has started up again and that describes swim practice pretty well...you think it is all over, but nope it isn't the coach has thought up something new to do....well it turns out that it had nothing to do with the swim practice, all to do with the Red Sox and Yankees. When I went to bed I wrote the Yankees off as having won the game. A-Rod got a grand slam they were beating Tampa Bay 5 to 0. Tamp Bay is last place so of course with a grand slam and all that the Yankees will with against Tampa Bay...so I went to bed. Well "And when you think it's all over It's not over, it's not over." Imagine my surprise when I woke up and found out the Yankees lost by one run.
Also when I went to bed Red Sox were winning, but it was close, and they brought up Gagne. Well in Maine we call him GAG-nee, because he tends to give up a lot of walks and hits and stuff so when he comes in at the end of the game Red Sox might not win. So I figured well it looks like the Red Sox might have lost this because of Gagne....well once again "And when you think it's all over It's not over, it's not over."
So that is why I had this song virus. Because I need to remember that things aren't over until it is over. ;-)

Happy Berth Day

Well the Red Sox have earned a playoff berth. I was worried there for a bit. Of course being a typical Red Sox fan things I do in my daily life effect how well the Red Sox play. :-) Since Friday I have listened to songs that are related to the Red Sox in some way and then they turned around. ;-) Of course they only started having problems because my dad left his lucky hat at our house the last time he visited. ;-)

What kind of chocolate are you?

You are Milk Chocolate A total dreamer, you spend most of your time with your head in the clouds. You often think of the future, and you are always working toward your ideal life. Also nostalgic, you rarely forget a meaningful moment... even those from long ago

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

I love chocolate of all kinds though dark chocolate is my favorite and has been since I was about 10 years old, so I am a little disappointed I didn't get to be dark chocolate.

Update

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile, but I have been busy and have been fighting of a bit of depression.
History Girl has settled into the Middle School without a problem. She has made new friends and she is loving taking French and she is doing her homework without me being on top of her about it all of the time. I am very proud of how well she has bounced back from her awful year last year. What upsets me is that her teacher from last year will take the credit for History Girl stretching herself this year, but nothing could be farther from the truth. If History Girl didn't have Fly Guy and myself backing her up and helping her when she needed it her teacher from last year would have driven History Girl into the ground without a second thought.
History Girl has joined the drama club and she want to be a part of the girls only book club and she is planning on joining the swim team. So she is really stretching her wings.
Horse Girl has had a cold for the last few days, but even with the cold she has been working so hard and has impressed her teacher with her work ethic already. I was pleased with her teacher when I first met her at the beginning of the month, but the more I interact with Horse Girl's teacher the more I am amazed with her. Teaching is her second career, she has her masters degree in city planning and she is two courses shy of her masters in education. What has impressed me more then anything else, is that she has been teaching them how to do quiet reading. She first had them start with only reading 3 minutes the first day and they talked about what worked and what didn't. They are now up to reading 20minutes quietly. She is also teaching them how to work independently. She will have them work in small groups later, but she thinks it is pointless for them to work in groups if they don't know how to work independently. She is working closely with Horse Girl's special ed teachers and actually having them guide her to make sure she give Horse Girl enough challenge without frustrating her which is a hard balance to find sometimes.
The other thing that is interesting about this teacher is that she was born in the United States, but as a child she moved to Argentina and didn't speak Spanish and she was dropped into a school not knowing how to communicate with the teachers and her peers. She ended up living 12 years in Argentina and learned to speak Spanish fluently. Now she has English as a second language students in her classroom and she can completely relate to what they are going through. She uses her Spanish to talk to the Spanish speaking parents and so those parents are getting more information about what is going on in the classroom then they have gotten in the past which is nice. She is developing an new curriculum because in second grade at Horse Girl's school they study the neighborhood and how cities are laid out and stuff like that. With her city planning background she is creating a new way to teach that segment.
Oh it is becoming more clear that second opinion we got on Horse Girl and ADHD was correct. Now that she is able to read and write more, she has no attention problem and only a very little bit of fidgeting problems. Her teacher said that Horse Girl was one of the few kids she knows listens to her all the time and gets the directions the first time. There have been times that she has been made an example of because she listened and got to work without any more prompting. The teacher even used to word attentive to describe Horse Girl. So this all makes me glad that it is more clear that it isn't ADHD...with it being up in the air before and me feeling in my gut it wasn't ADHD and the first person saying it was and the second person saying she didn't think it was, but she would have us wait and see how Horse Girl was doing when she was 10 because then the dyslexia should be under control and not a factor in figuring it out if Horse Girl had ADHD.
I was reading this article. A couple paragraphs really stood out to me.

"If you're born with a brain that harbors dyslexia, I would say, "Lucky you!" You have untestable and immeasurable potential. You're a surprise package; no one knows what you can do, including you. But I can tell you from years of experience that you can do special things. You have many talents that can't be taught, and a brain that eludes the predictive powers of our wisest sayers of sooth.

But I would also say, "Watch out!" You need a guide, one who has been down these trails and can show you how to get through the desert and over the mountains. You need someone who will never let you give up, someone who can make you know that there's more to you than you can show or tell right now."

These paragraphs are what I would love to be able to say to Horse Girl and maybe someday I will. I am proud to be able to be her guide. I know more about what she is going through then most teachers. Even her teachers know this because it is not often that they get a parent who has the same LD as the child and the parent was diagnosed and treated for the LD since she was 6 years old. It has really given them some insight that they didn't have before.

Well it is getting late for me and I should try to get a better sleep schedule if I want to keep this depression at bay. So that was my overly long update on what is going on.

Open Houses

For the first time ever I didn't have to split my time at a school open house between two classrooms and I will never have to do it again. From here on out Horse Girl and History Girl will always be in different schools.

On Wednesday we had our first Open House at the middle school History Girl is attending. We spent 10 minutes in each classroom met all her teachers 6 of them in total. The French teacher seems like she will be fun, which is surprising to me since both French teachers I had I didn't get a long with. One I made angry because when I was taking French and Russian the same year even though I had been taking French for three years and it was my first year taking Russian, I just grasped Russian better so there were many times I didn't know the answer in French, but did in Russian or I would answer "I don't know." in Russian. This all made my French teacher angry since he told my parents that I shouldn't take Russian because I didn't do well at French. Well it turns out I just didn't like French and didn't like the teachers I had for it. So I have always had a negative view of French teachers so I was surprised when I liked History Girl's French teacher. Also History Girl's Band instructor is very excited about having History Girl in Band not only because she plays French Horn, but because she went to band camp this Summer. The Band instructor said she lets the kids who play French Horn more leeway because of how rare they are. Well History Girl is every excited about middle school and wants it to be Tuesday since that is the first day of school.

On Thursday we had the Open House at the elementary school for Horse Girl. Horse Girl is going to be in 2nd grade this year. They hired a new 2nd grade teacher because they like to keep the classes small and Horse Girl's grade is large compared to the other grades so the school keeps hiring a new teacher when her grade goes forward in order to keep the classes small....then when the year is over the teacher is moved somewhere else in the district. So we have never met this teacher before. She is very friendly. What impressed me so much is that she checked the files of all her students and then talked to the speech therapists and resource room teachers to find out what she could do to make the year go well for the students with IEPs. I am so pleased and impressed that she did for me what I am used to having to go up to a teacher to tell them Horse Girl has an IEP and we will be having a PET meeting before October to bring the teacher up to speed. She did this all herself. You should hear Horse Girl's speech therapist talk about Horse Girl's teacher.....it is like the teacher walks on water because she has done this one little thing. Hey I totally agree with her with this...it makes our lives easier and makes us feel that she does really care about Horse Girl and the other kids with Learning Differences.

Horse Girl talked to her new teacher for awhile. Talked to her about the reading she has done over the Summer. Horse Girl has read at least 15 mins a day and worked on workbooks and listened to Harry Potter books on her iPod. Horse Girl told her teacher all about that and the fact that she had taken part in a Horse Show this Summer and won two ribbons.

Then we went up to visit Horse Girl's speech therapist and her reading tutor. It makes sense that she would want to spend more time visiting them then any other teachers because she spends more time with them then any other teacher. Horse Girl helped her Speech Therapist set up decorations in the speech room. Her Speech Therapist was so pleased to hear that Horse Girl didn't regress at all over the Summer when it comes to her speech. The Speech Therapist was also noting that Horse Girl is putting together long sentences when she is speaking and when she is doing that she is having word recall issues. She has always had word recall issues, but now with the really long sentences with the complicated concepts she is trying to express the word recall issues are more noticeable. The Speech Therapist plans to work on this more this coming year. Both the Speech Therapist and the Reading Tutor were impressed that Horse Girl could now match up the letters with the sounds they make. Which was something she had a lot of problems with last year. I think she was able to do it now with no problem because of all the workbook work she did over the Summer.

Just so you know I don't make Horse Girl do all this work. I do make her read at least 15 mins a day and I make sure she takes part in the Extended Year Services the school offers for her in the Sumer. Everything else is work she makes herself do because she wants to and she wants to get better with her studies. I am a big believer of her having a Summer like a regular kid, which she does then on her own she adds stuff to it that helps her. Her work ethic is just amazing and I believe she will go far because of it.

So it looks like Horse Girl will be starting this year better then we had hoped for.

Horse Girl has been on the waiting list for the Scottish Rite Learning Center for 18 months and she finally made it to the top of the list. So this year on Mondays and Wesnesdays after school she will be getting extra tutoring to help deal with her learning differences. Scottish Rite Learning Center is one of the best places to get help for Dyslexia and they are always doing the cutting edge tutoring for the kids. I feel so glad that Horse Girl is taking part in this tutoring. I am looking forward to see how this year goes for her.

Tsar Nicholas II and the Fairy Tale

Well it looks like the fairy tale ending that the romantic side of me wish for will not happen for Tsar Nicholas II.

I always held out some hope that one of the members of the Tsar's family made it out alive on that dreadful night of July 17, 1918. When I was younger I always hoped that it was Anastasia, I knew it was crazy but I had hoped and of course we all know the DNA testing showed that Anna Anderson wasn't the Grand Duchess. Then when I got older I heard about the rumor that floated around the Soviet Union saying that Alexei survived that night. I knew that was a long shot with knowing what the photo of the cellar room looked like after that night. I have known in my head that there was no way a 13 year old with hemophilia could survive what happened that night. In my heart
there was another different story. I am an optimist and I like the fairy tale ends for stories.

When they found they found the original set of bone on April 19, 1998 it turns out that Alexi's bones were missing along with one of the Grand Duchess. (They had trouble figuring out which set of bones were which Grand Duchess since they were so close in age.) That let me hold out hope that there still could be a fairy tale ending to the story of Tsar Nicholas II.

Well today there was an announcement they found more bones and it looks like belong to Alexi and the missing Grand Duchess. I am glad that the door can be closed on this part of Russian history, but I am sad that I am no longer going to be able to wish for my Fairy Tale ending to the story of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.

A call from horse camp

I just got a call from Horse Girl's horse camp. The councilor who is in charge at the barn called to tell me that she is sorry Horse Girl had such a hard day yesterday and that this group of girls aren't meshing as well as some of the other groups she has dealt with. There were some that were picking on other so badly this morning that they made them all sit down and talk about how you are suppose to treat people and things like that. So I might have called, but seems like they were going to have this meeting with the kids no matter what so it really turns out that it wasn't just Horse Girl having problems and all seems good now.

What annimal am I?

You're an Oyster!

You don't have a ton of complexity or identity on your own, so you've
made an effort to focus on making a nice and sturdy house. It gives you the
appearance of being interesting as well as a good place to hide from your critics
and those who might expose your secrets. At least you can remind us all of what
humble beginnings we've all come from. People associate you with really good
crackers.


Take the Animal Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Overreacting?

When I was a kid my parents just did what the teachers told them to do with regards to my learning differences. They never did anything more then that. When they were told that the gifted and talented teacher didn't want me in his class because I had learning disabilities, my parents didn't stand up for me then. If you ask them it was because the gifted and talented teacher hit some students and they didn't want the teacher teaching me because of that. In my mind that means you don't want that teacher teaching anyone and then you should work to get rid of that teacher. Then see about getting your LD kid in the gifted and talented program because she qualified for it, but that isn't what they thought they should do. The funny thing is a few years later my brother was in the gifted and talented program....hmmm double standard maybe?

Any how I am telling you this because my view of sticking up for my kids might be a little warped because what I grew up with.

Today when I picked up Horse Girl at the bus stop from Horse Camp, she told me she was being picked on because of how she speaks. I talked to her the whole walk home and when we got home I called the camp to tell them what was going on. They said they would look into it and find out what they can and call me tomorrow. Horse Girl heard that I called them and she got angry with me because she wants to be like everyone else. Well that just nearly killed me. I totally understand just wanting to be like everyone else when it is clear my brain works differently then everyone else. Being different is something that I have had to deal with all my life and it has taken me most of my life to realize it is ok that my brain works differently then other people.

Maybe I overreacted calling the camp, but it isn't like they are going to announce that someone said that Horse Girl is being teased and her mom called about it. How am I suppose to know what is within the normal for a reaction to something like this. Maybe I need to realize sometimes Horse Girl will be upset with me doing what is what I view is right.

The Which Lolcat Are You?

Your Score: Lion Warning Cat

61% Affectionate, 80% Excitable, 46% Hungry

You are the good Samaritan of the lolcat world. Protecting others from danger by shouting observations and guidance in cases of imminent threat, you believe in the well-being of everyone.
My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 51% on Affection

You scored higher than 98% on Excitability

You scored higher than 49% on Hunger

You scored higher than 0% on Felinity

click here to find out Which Lolcat Are You?

The Police - I have seen them so now I may die in peace.

On July 29th I went to see The Police in Fenway. Well I have been a fan since I was 11 or 12 years old. So this totally fulfilled some major dreams for me. I had completely given up on them ever getting together again.

Fly Guy and I left the girls with my parents and left to go to Boston around noon on the 29th. We got to the Hilton Back Bay sometime around 2pm only getting lost in Boston once. ;-) We ended up walking around Newbury St. looking for someplace for lunch/dinner and found a really nice Greek place called Steve's. It was very good and I would go there again.

We went back to the hotel and got the tickets and headed off to Fenway even though it was a couple hours I just couldn't wait around the hotel. We headed to Fenway and stopped at Boston Beerworks for a little bit. Ended up going into Fenway at about 6pm which was about an hour before the opening act hit the stage. Turns out our seats were right next to Pesky's Pole. It was a great location, we could see the stage without a problem and we could see the monitors without problems.

The opening act was FictionPlane. Fly Guy and I couldn't figure out how a band that bad could open for The Police....it turns out the lead singer is Joe Sumner....does that last name sound familiar? Gordon Sumner...aka Sting. The lead singer was Sting's son. He was truly not walking in dad's footsteps that night.

The Police came on stage at about 8:15pm and played for for about two hours. Sting was good, more of a mature voice then he had when The Police were originally together, but that makes sense. Andy Summers seemed not to be feeling well, but he did a good job, but not to the level we were hoping for.

As for Stewart Copeland.....I have always said that he was the best rock drummer ever, but I was wrong. Saying he was just a drummer diminishes what he does. He is a percussionist and he was incredible. I cannot explain how awesome it was to finally see him in person. He was just amazing. Not only did he play his drums with a skill most people just dream of, but the other things he played gongs, some sort of hanging chain thing and random percussion items was just amazing. My mouth just dropped open seeing him play Wrapped Around Your Finger it was amazing. He also has aged very well when it comes to looks . ;-) I had photos of The Police all over my room for a few years during my teenage years and I so crushed on him and it is good to see that he has aged well.

The set list can be seen here. Luckily the weather stayed good even though it seemed like it was going to rain several times.

I am so glad to really see Stewart Copeland work that I still feel like I can't put it into words. So what I have written above will have to do.

I have seen several concerts of various bands, but I have never had such a good time as I did at this one, it has to be because I have been waiting for it well over half my life and I knew every single word to every song. I just checked my iTunes Police playlist I have 126 songs in it. I have the Strontium 90 stuff to the Message in a Box stuff. So I know The Police backwards and forwards.

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic has been one of my favorite songs for ages so it was nice to see it live. Some of my other favorites are not as well known so I am not surprised they weren't played, for example Visions of the Night (my current favorite), On Any Other Day (my favorite when I was 13) and J'aurais Toujours Faim De Toi (my favorite when I was 18).

Turns out The Police is coming back to Boston on November 11th...I am really thinking about going again. Fly Guy is good with going again. He liked The Police before we even started dating. It was one of the two major things that drew me to him. That plus the fact he knew who the False Dimitriy was.

So anyhow after the concert Fly Guy got us quickly back to the hotel. Since he goes to Red Sox games several times a year he knew the best way back to the hotel. We got there and ordered room service and went to bed.

Next day went out to Tealuxe for breakfast and a run to Trader Joe's and then headed home and stopped at the Portsmouth Brewery for lunch and made it back to Maine to pick up the girls from camp at 2pm. All and all a good 26 hours. ;-)

Solar home uproar

I have lived in Maine most of my life, I have lived elsewhere for only a handful of years, so I am a Mainer through and through. I miss the ocean, the pine trees and sea rats....err seagulls when I am away from Maine.

To me part of being a Mainer is being in tune with nature and the environment. When I was growing up my parents did organic gardening before it was hip. They composted everything they could get their hands on and I didn't know that there were people out there that threw away newspaper rather then bundling them and taking them to be recycled. You should have seen me when I first went away to college....I had emotional issues when I had to throw out a newspaper. Recycling wasn't common then and my roommate just didn't understand why I had a pile of newspapers in the corner.

Even now I don't go a day without thinking about what choices I am making and how it effects the world around me and a lot of it I attribute to being 7th generation Mainer. When Fly Guy and I bought our house we could afford to buy a house any where we wanted and nearly any house we wanted. We wanted a small house, because it takes less time to clean and less oil to heat. We wanted a place that we could walk or ride our bikes to a lot of the places we go to. We contract to have our electricity come from dams with fish ladders so we aren't dependant on fossil fuel for that and it doesn't harm the fish which is important for the environment and for Fly Guy so he can go fly fishing. It is all about living simply so others can simply live. It is more then just a bumper sticker to me.

Why am I telling you all this. Well in a town very close to where I live there is a house being built that is going to be solar powered. I think that is awesome. The car mechanic I go to has a windmill and generates his own power which is something I would love to do, but we don't have enough land to do it.

Any how back to this solar house. The neighbors of this solar house are all upset that a solar home is being built next to them because it is a 'monstrosity' and it looks like "the movie with Jodie Foster in it. You know with the aliens and such." There have been articles in the paper about this. It makes me angry when stuff like this happens anytime of the year, but at the height of tourist season it makes me even more angry because all these out of staters see this and don't get the impression of Maine that I believe is the true impression of Mainers being people who care about nature and the environment. I know I would be proud and excited if one of my neighbors ended up getting solar panels...it means they are putting their money where their mouth is and living what they believe. I don't understand when people don't think about the environment before aesthetics. People complain all the time about our nations dependent on oil from other counties and here is a person actively doing something about it and they end up being harassed by their neighbors. I am embarrassed that these neighbors call themselves Mainers....I hope that are really are "from away."

Here is an article about the solar home I am talking about in Scarbrough, Maine. I hope Laurance Gardner and his family realize there are many people out here that support his solar home 110%.

More about Putin

Well Putin is still doing stuff that makes me worried about a New Cold War. Putin has suspend participation in NATO arms-control treaty. This means that there will no longer be NATO inspections of military sites and they will no longer have a limit when it comes to tanks or other heavy conventional weapons. Putin says that there are extraordinary circumstances that are affecting the security of the Russian Federation and require immediate measures.

Alexander Golts a military analyst for Yezhenedelny Zhurna says that this doesn't mean that there will be a build of of Russia's millitary because Russia has no resorces for it. I think he must not be paying attention to Russian History. Russian leaders starved their citizens in order to make sure they had resorces for the millitary when they felt it was needed. Russia also has control over large amounts of oil that EU needs so Russia has more resorces then Alexander Golts is willing to pay attention to.

Here is an article on Yahoo News.
Here is an article from Pravda.

Responce to a Comment

There was a comment posted on my 8 random things post that I felt I should answer here. No I never lost anyone lifeguarding, but yes I do worry about teens lifeguarding because I know that not all teens realize what sort of responsibility that is part of being a lifeguard. I was not a typical teen when it because during the same time period I was lifeguarding I was a founding member of my high school's student rescue so I understood the resonsiblity that I was taking on it both areas. I liked the fact when I started lifeguarding I had an adult lifeguard with me the whole time. It was two years before I lifeguarded without an adult with me. That time I had an adult really reinforced the responsibility that came with being a lifeguard.

To this day I still count heads the whole time I am on the deck at a pool, just the way my brain works even today.

What Your Latte Says About You

I took this quiz even though I don't do coffee and barely do tea....I figured what the heck it is a slow day might as well take it. ;-)

What Your Latte Says About You

You don't treat yourself very often. You find that indulging doesn't jibe with your very disciplined life. You are a very serious person. You don't have time for silly antics. You have a good deal of energy, but you pace yourself. You never burn out too fast. You have a healthy relationship with caffeine. You're definitely not dependent on it. You are a child at heart, and you don't ever miss the opportunity to do something playful. You are sophisticated and daring, but you are never snobby.

What Does Your Latte Say About You?

Closest Book Meme

I stole this Meme from Doc Thelma's House:

The game:
1. Grab the nearest book to you.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

I had to go upstairs to get a book since all the books downstairs are Horse Girl's books which long if they have more then 12 pages. So this is the closest of my books.

It is "The Fate of the Romanovs" by Greg King and Penny Wilson, it is an ok book not one of my favorite ones on the subject.

"In January 1918 Medvedev was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the Dutov Front under the command of Serge Mrachkovsky. When Medvedev returned to Syssert in April on three weeks' leave, Mrachkovsky visited his factory and asked for volunteers to form a detachment for the Ipatiev House. Not wishing to return to the front, and, as he said, "missing my family," Medvedev signed on for guard duty. During his service in the Ipatiev House, Medvedev also worked as a courier for the Ekaterinburgh Checka."

Summer in Maine

I love Summer in Maine. The smell of the ocean and the scent of the pine trees mixed together is intoxicating to me. I can't even imagine living some place else during the Summer. It is also one of the reasons I rarely vacation outside of Maine in the Summer, it just isn't worth it to me, I live in my Utopia so why go any place else?

What I don't like about Summer is that I am a Taxi Driver for the girls. That is the main reason I haven't been posting lately. I look forward to Fall so I can start living outside of my car again. The only reason I am not in my car this morning is Fly Guy has taken over my morning route so I can go see the new Harry Potter movie this morning. So I am very happy...I love it when he does stuff like this for me.

This year Horse Girl is getting Extended Year Services (EYS) one hour a day four days a week. That is suppose to end at 9am and her Summer camp starts at 9am. I wish teleportation would be invented soon. I end up picking her up early from EYS and dropping her off at camp late. My view is that she needs the EYS, but she also has to be a kid with normal Summer activities. It is hard on me because I get so stressed about getting her from one place to the other, but it works out and I need to learn to relax a bit.

I am so proud of Horse Girl. She has been working so hard. She reads to me 15 mins a day every day, sometimes when it is a harder book she tires out and I take over. Her upper level reading level is H/I, she has trouble, but she can do it with help...she can read F level without any help at all. My hope is that she continues to grow over the Summer and the other kids regress a bit (mean of me I know) and she can start on a good footing since I know this is all so hard for her, but she pushes herself like no other person I know.

Eight Random Facts Meme

I was tagged by One Feather Tail a while back, but life has been busy and I haven't been able to do it.

OK, here are the rules:

1. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
3. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.
I am not going to tag any one since I don't read many Blogs and all I do read have already been tagged.


1. I crashed my bike when I was 11 years old and was knocked out for several minutes and never told my parents. That is why I am so crazed about my girls needing to wear helmets.

2. Between working as a lifeguard and volunteering on a rescue I have saved a handful of people's lives so I know that I have already left a mark on this world.

3. I am very tone deaf. Makes living with a person learning French Horn very tolerable and is why I played drums rather then an instrument that I needed to tune.

4. I have watched a sex slave auction in New York City. I went to a S&M/B&D club with a friend who was researching human sexuality in college.

5. My inner voice has an ego the size of Texas....I just wish the inner voice could get around the bad brain chemistry and show itself to the outside world more often.

6. I hate all natural toothpaste....I want chemicals in my toothpaste please.

7. My earliest memory is me driving my trike down the stairs at my grandparent's house. My aunt and my grandfather were babysitting me. They had to take me to the hospital, and I remember the Doctors blowing up exam gloves to entertain me. I still have the scar on my forehead.

8. I have a fear of swimming in the ocean. I have a Tri in September where the swim is in the ocean....we will have to see which wins out...my fear of swimming in the ocean or my love of Tris