When your child has a Google account and other good reasons of why we have been away.

I swear.  We do still exist.  My first most excellent and really the one big excuse that is why I haven't been on here is because K has a Google account for school.  Thanks to a good friend who handed an old laptop down to K, she has her own computer and now accesses her account from there, but here-- it gummed up the works.  I couldn't gain access.  We tried logging her out.  We tried logging me in . . . Nope.  No can do.

So now.  For some odd reason it has now decided to allow me to come back.

Hey!  I've missed y'all!

Since mid-September, a lot has happened.

K is doing yoga.  Loves it.  Loves Miss Jenn and enjoys her Monday evening class with her.

K is in the 7th grade.  Loves her middle school.  Loves that they give them more freedom than at the other school she attended.  She feels less like the new kid this year, has friends but still deals with the same ole middle school garbage we all dealt with at that age.  It is amazing how the same crap goes on and on.  Just this time we get to spin some social media into it.

Speaking of, we still do not have her doing anything with social media.  She has learned far too much from what others have done that they shouldn't have.  She's okay with hanging back.  She's asked about Instagram, but do people really need to see pictures of her?  Um, not really.

School is still a challenge for K and we've just come to the conclusion that it always will be.  It frustrates her at times, but as long as she is trying her best, that is all we ask of her.

We're divorcing Toyota.  (We aren't divorcing.  No worries.)  Since July, I had both the local Toyota dealership and the tire place juggle us back and forth, telling me that my front end shaking in the RAV was just tires, no it isn't, yes it is . . . Well, it wasn't.  No one believed me.  My front right axle was about to go out, but the Toyota dealership told me that I was fine to drive on it for a year.  When it was replaced, the repair shop told me that it was rare to replace the axle and mine was in worse shape than he had ever seen.  Stabilizer links went out.  A coil spring broke.  (The big, giant springs that you have under your car.)  My differential was leaking.  We've discussed this with Toyota and the response was, "Well, what do you want from a car with 100,000 miles?"  Toyota offered to work with us to replace my vehicle but when they were told that while we are okay financially, we couldn't afford to purchase a car and to have a car payment, all offers were rescinded.  I told the gentleman that 100,000 was half life for a vehicle from them considering that two other Toyotas we owned had over 200,000 miles when they needed retired.  One had over 235,000 miles!  Again, they care none, their quality has gone to crap and we're stuck paying the bill.  Subaru will be our next pick.  We just have to finish paying off braces, buy a violin . . . It'll be a while.

November really sucked.  The month started out with my brother's house burning up.  Turns out that there was an electrical short in the rental they were living in.  They ran out to the store, came back and found the back of their house up in flames.  They lost a dog and a rabbit as well as all of their belongings besides the clothes on their backs and some tubs of Legos.  They had no renter's insurance (don't ask me why because they certainly had the funds for it) but a lot of generosity has pulled them back around.  They are currently waiting for the house to be rebuilt and have plans to move back in some time in May.

M's Aunt Ann died.  She was 92 or 93.  As she was a beloved family member, she had lived a long life and will certainly be missed.  We went back and forth for the calling hours and funeral, M serving as a pallbearer.  We enjoyed time getting together with family and sharing a meal before all of us went off to start life again.

Less than a week later, M's Uncle Jimmy passed away.  This was quite sudden.  A shock.  Uncle Jimmy had just been sitting next to me at the funeral dinner the week before.  "How are you feeling, Uncle Jimmy?"  "I'm doing great!"  I still hear him answering back in his Uncle Jimmy voice.

M's heart was completely broken.

Once again, M served as a pallbearer.  Poor guy.  Twice in one week and this one was the most difficult one he had to do.  Grand kiddos came up and put coloring pages in the casket.  Of course, that was when I broke down.  So very sad.  K was so sad that she opted to go to school because she couldn't handle the funeral.

Uncle Jimmy passed away Thanksgiving weekend, so it was kind of difficult to hit the ground running with Christmas.  We did everything we usually do, but it seemed that we were going through the motions.  That isn't how Christmas is supposed to be.  In my own lil head, I just kept hearing Aunt Debbie sobbing.  Oh, how she broke our hearts, too.

On happier ends of things, because I think I haven't been sprinkling dust of happiness thus far, M celebrated his 45th birthday and we celebrated our 20th anniversary.

We've hit some concerts this past season, the most recent being The Lumineers.  We saw them down in Columbus.  K absolutely loved the concert.  M, not his music, was blown away by their performance.

That brings us to today.  I have a tray of soon-to-be seedlings growing in the window.  It's early, but I've settled in on the fact that winter is just not to be this year.  I made a new spring wreath and put it up already.  I also changed the garden flag to the "Welcome Spring."  Again, must embrace.  I could act like it is winter, but . . .

K and M worked on the bikes the other day, parted two bikes together for her (she had a bike that she won that needed a new rim) and the two of them biked about 9 miles the other day.  Walking at night is going to start happening again.  We all miss it.

Crocus' are up.

K brought me bloomed dandelions in JANUARY.  It's Ohio, y'all.  Just remember, climate change isn't supposed to be a real thing.

K is looking forward to the Solo and Ensembles competition coming up.  She'll be playing a solo on her violin.  I did just learn that she needs piano accompaniment.  Hmmm.  Gotta look into that.

We're here.  We're pulling through and frankly, I am looking forward to summer.

September 11th.

Image credit to:  www.hayspost.com

7th Grade, Middle School and a new start.

My kiddo started middle school on August 18th.  She has tutoring first thing of the day.  She'll be toggling grading periods between math tutoring and reading tutoring.  Am I sad that she qualified for tutoring in both areas?  No.  I'll tell you why.  The math is a given.  Girlie has needed math help since they started math in 1st grade.  What about reading?  Well, she reads all the time.  The previous district had them read not for content but to read.  They read to memorize, but truly taking in stories in full wasn't something that they pressed.  Kids were given spelling lists to memorize but not given lessons to know that which they were spelling.

All that caught up to K last year.

Memorizing spelling is fantastic except when parts of speech, antonyms/synonyms, definitions and ability to effectively use the word came into play.  This bit her firmly in the behind.

So, she reads.  Kiddo probably reads more than most kids you know.  She needs help with upping her game with vocabulary.  I'm glad that they saw this need and that they are willing to attend to it with her.  Her previous school district did not do this.  Frankly, they didn't care.

We went to open house the other night.  The open house was very well attended.  So well attended was this open house that they have to split it into two nights.  7th one night and 8th the other.  Parents are supportive.  Teachers are HAPPY to be there.  Parents are kind.  They don't deny that their children may have a deficit.  "Let's work together to fix this."  It is amazing.  K's previous district had disrespectful parents running amok and blaming all of the teachers for their children's deficits.

Not everyone will have the valedictorian student in their home.  That's okay.  Not every student will make perfect grades, perfect strides or perfect choices.  That's okay.  The task at hand is to work together as a team to work through these things.  I'm thankful that we're afforded the opportunity to have K attend a district that is lightyears ahead of her home district and that they are willing to work with us to improve her schooling experiences.

The teaching team seem to be strict.  That's good.  They are loving, but they are trying to stand on these kiddos to get them prepared.  Expectations have been laid out and are CLEAR!  This is the first time she's ever received syllabus' (or syllabi?) explaining what should be expected from both sides.  GRAND!

There are lockers and locks, changing for gym and navigating school halls with the expectation to be on time to class.  There are notebooks and organizational quizzes, writing and parental editing every evening, accountability and expectations.

We're good with all of that.  We're good to have a staff expect great and wonderful things from our daughter.  A new school year is in session.  :smile:

Happy 4th of July!

Zillow and The Lumineers: Did Zillow listen to the lyrics?

I'll say from the very beginning that I love The Lumineers.  M bought me Cleopatra, the special splatter version, the day before it was actually on sale.  I would see them if they came anywhere remotely within reason.  Love them.

I was surprised when I was toodling around the bedroom, folding clothes and the Zillow commercial came on.  A familiar tune came on.  I love the song Sick In The Head, but I also know that I have to pull it from my iTunes selections to play at work.  You see, they drop the f word.

As the song plays along and as people are considering purchasing houses, the words go through my mind:

People say I'm no good
Write me off, oh yes they should
F%$# 'em they're just sick in the head

They're writing my history
Think somebody should've asked me
Everyone was safe in their beds
Their beds

And I said

I won't live, won't live like them
Everyone, they're all seeing red

I don't know
If it's alright with you, but I'll be gone
A ghost will be here in my stead, my stead

And I said

I can't live life underneath it all
Everyone is older now and gone

I will not be here forever dear
So let's just make this count a lot in here

People say I'm no good

Just wondered.  Zillow, did you consider the viewers that may know the lyrics?

Take care of yourself . . .

It's been a while.  My apologies.  I admit that I've been spinning in other lands and well, ye ole blog has gotten ignored.  However, I come to you with a very important PSA--

Please go for your annual exams.

Oh, I'm good and up to date.  My aunt, however, was not.  She had not chosen to go for an annual exam since she was cleared after she had my cousin 34 years ago.  Just this morning, after having been taken off life support and having been moved to hospice care, she breathed her last breath.

She died.

What did she die from?  Stage 3 Uterine cancer.  She could have had an exam and it would have shown.

She could have gone to the doctor when she noticed symptoms, but she chose to ignore them.

When you go through menopause, you shouldn't ever have bleeding occur again.  If you do, something is wrong.  She ignored it despite having that happen.  I'm thankful that my mom didn't ignore that when it happened to her.  She had a hysterectomy, no ill effects and she is well.  She is well because she listened to her body.

She was about my build-- 5'1" and about 140ish.  She lost 80 pounds.  She was losing her hair.  She couldn't stand up straight.  She was in incredible pain.  She took so much Advil that she ulcerated and consequently that perforated her stomach and colon.  The tumor that they removed was the size of a football.  It was so large and pressing so hard on her spine that she had an incredible bruise across her back.

She went into the hospital almost against her will on April 19.  She masked symptoms.  She was in SICU the entire time.  She had 3 major procedures in about 24 hours time and several procedures after that.

She had gone jaundiced.  That was getting worse.

I asked the nurse last week, "Is this as good as it gets?"  She didn't know.  We knew that she hadn't chosen life for herself.  We don't quite know why.  At 59, she had so very much to live for.

She has left behind two children, ages 34 and 39.  She has left behind two grandchildren and two step grandchildren.

Her children are now orphans.  Their dad died as a result of a car accident when Heather was 11 and Bill was 6.

What devastating loss for them. While she was not particularly close with our family any longer, we never shunned her from the family.  We never ignored her if she was around.  She remarried and chose to basically distance herself from the family.

I still sent her a Christmas card every year.  I didn't want her to think that we forgot about her.

So please, I know that it is not the most pleasant exam of our year.  Please.  Go forth and have your exams.  Please don't ignore symptoms.  Please take care of you.

The Empowerment Plan Coat- Warmest Winter 2016

The Empowerment Plan Coat

- The EMPWR coat is a water-resistant and self-heating jacket, which can transform into a sleeping bag, or be worn as an over-the-shoulder bag when not in use. The coat is constructed of upcycled automotive insulation, fabric from Carhartt, and other materials provided by generous donors.

- The Empowerment Plan can produce 1,000 coats on a budget of $100,000. Our studies show that for each 1,000 coats distributed, we can save 14 lives. Each year approximately 7% of homeless individuals die from hypothermia. Our coat reduces this statistic by over 20%.

- It costs $100 to sponsor a coat, which covers the cost of labor, materials, and overhead expenses.

- While these coats will save lives this winter, our ultimate partnership goal is to bring an Empowerment Plan factory to Chicago.