(Very) Brief Update

Here is a brief update for all of you who may be wondering what the heck is going on down here:

• Switched to Time Warner Cable for phone/internet/cable, and now have wireless internet in the home. Woo hoo! I can be in my room, locked away from the temptation of TV (well, not really, because I have a TV in my bedroom. But still, I can elect to not have the TV on and there's nothing anybody else can say about it), and still get homework done!
• Jamie has had soccer "bootcamp" all this week. They placed him with boys two years older than he is, based on level of play. Don't know if this means anything in the long run, but it made me proud of my little soccer superstar!
• Jamie has also brought his reading benchmark score up 23 points, from a 60 to an 83. Go Jamie! Whoop! Whoop!
• School is spanking my butt, but it isn't anything I can't handle. (Remind me of this statement later on this semester!)
• Work is going well. I stay busy, that's for sure!

Well, that's all I have time to report for now. Y'all take care!

My Apologies

I've been remiss in my duty to post. Just chalk it up to the start of school and three very difficult, labor intensive classes this semester:

• Criminological Theory
• Constitutional Law
• Texas Politics

The only reason why I'm taking the last one is it's a required course for all undergrads. Bleuch!

To bring you all up to date, Jamie had a fantastic birthday, complete with 18 little guests all running around the bounce house place like little maniacs. Also, Jamie and Destiny absolutely LOVE Animaniacs, and at any moment will bust out with "Good night, everybody!" and once even (from Destiny) "Hellooooooooooooo, Nurse!". It was great! They constantly barrage me with demands to watch 'Maniacs (as Destiny calls it), a request which I am very happy to oblige. Jamie told me the other day that I act a lot like Slappy Squirrel. I take that as a compliment!

Much love to all. The main thing that will get me through this semester, I suspect, is the knowledge that - come December 13, 2008 - I will be a college graduate. That is - if all this doesn't kill me first!

Big hugs and lots of love to everyone who wanders here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STINKBUMPS!

Ten years ago today, Jamie was born. I can't believe how fast time has flown! Seems like just yesterday he was snuggled in my arms, keeping me up all night, making impossible demands on my time and attention... Oh, wait, he still does that! Tee hee. Anyway, it's hard for me to believe it's been 10 years. Happy birthday, baby boy!

More on Reading (and Writing)

So, here's my latest comments on the previous entry, which was partially about Jamie's lack of reading skills:

What makes this all most difficult for me is that I am what I would call an intuitive learner. I don't have to study all that much to absorb what I read and be able to regurgitate it on command for a test, assignment, etc. Jamie, however, takes after his biological father, apparently. He wasn't the most educated of persons, and had a host of learning disabilities and barely made it out of high school, from what I remember about him (regardless of the fact that I'm trying oh so hard to forget him). So for Jamie, I just don't know how to tell him how to better his reading, or improve his reading comprehension. I've never had trouble with reading. My brother and sister taught me how to read very early (3 or 4 years old), so as far back as I can remember I've been able to read. I don't know how to break it down for him to better understand the process. That's why I am seeking out Sylvan, or whomever's help in getting this child re-taught the basics. I appreciate everyone's suggestions and feedback (please, just don't make it sound like a commercial!)

Rather than make a comment that was a gazillion lines long, I thought I would make a new post about it, adding my comments on something odd I noticed the other day. Jamie is a pack rat like me. I'm in the process of organizing and rearranging his bedroom, which meant I had to pull all the assorted stuffed papers off his bookshelf. As I was going through the stuff, many items were graded assignments from 2nd and 3rd grade. But I noticed something puzzling - not only were the grades much better, but his handwriting and sentence structure were much better than they are now. Excuse me? Isn't this stuff supposed to get BETTER as he gets older, not worse? What on earth would make his handwriting and reading skills deteriorate instead of improve as he reaches higher grades? Tooz, I'm especially counting on you for advice on this based on your years of teaching experience. I also would appreciate feedback from Lydia and Ann (of course, as they both teach) and really anyone else who has either professional or personal experience with this strange phenomenon.

The Great Wakkarotti

Reading Becca's post on gas, and her son's reaction to the Animaniacs: Vol. 1-3 set has prompted me to do a little extra educational spending. So today, while ordering my school text books on Amazon.com, I added aforementioned DVD set to my cart. Everything should arrive on Friday, just in time for me and Jamie to have an Animaniacs marathon in celebration of his birthday (coming on Sunday), and as a last blow-out for me before school starts back up on Monday. (Jamie went back to school today. Poor thing!)

Another part of our weekend o'fun is a planned surprise trip for me and Stinkbumps to see "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" at the movie theatre. Jamie and I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this movie for over a year now. We may even buy the soundtrack to it. I'm going to see if Rachel will let me take Destiny, too (or even if she wants to go see it, too).

Sunday is Jamie's birthday bash at Inflatable Wonderland. I have a feeling I'm going to need a really BIIIIIG dose of Excedrin when it's all said and done. What's important though is that Jamie have fun, and the birthday party is NOT in my home where I have to worry about who's breaking what, how loud the dog is barking, etc. etc. etc. I'm very happy to pay for a party elsewhere if it prevents me from having the worries associated with in-home parties. Jamie is going to freak when he sees what Momma got him this year - however, I won't say what it is here lest he sneak to my blog to see what all I'm writing about him. He's gotten pretty savvy to the fact that Momma talks about him on her blog, and sometimes he isn't too happy about (welcome to the wonderful world of being embarrassed by your momma, kid).

Finally, Jamie's hopes for a Nintendo DS have been dashed by a 66 in reading on his report card. He's been told he'll get one when that sucker comes up to a B or higher. An appointment with Sylvan Learning Center is upcoming. Also, Rachel's aunt Merrilou, who works at the church's school with kids who have learning difficulties, has volunteered to work with Jamie for 20 minutes every week before AWANA. Hopefully, all this helps.

"Okay, I love you. Bye-Bye!"

New Year's Funk

Having been nagged... excuse me, encouraged... to blog a new post, I figured I would give you a brief run down of what's going on here in South Texas.

• Even with all my recent time off, it still isn't enough. I would gladly take another week of work off at this point (too bad it won't be happening anywhere other than in my dreams);
• Jamie went back to the specialist in Corpus Christi yesterday about his stomach. They've prescribed an acid reducer, and want x-rays of his upper GI area. If he's not better when we go back next month (Feb. 6), they're going to do an endoscopy down into his stomach;
• Jamie turns 10 next weekend (Jan. 13). How the heck did he get to be so big already? His party is going to be at a place called Inflatable Wonderland (note - please remove all minds from any potential gutters. However, I must admit this sounds like a really good title for for an adult movie featuring latex blow-up dolls... Or as an alternate title for the movie "Lars and the Real Girl"). IW is this place in the mall that has giant inflatable bounce houses and obstacle course type stuff. Seeing as how Jamie has plans to invite 20 of his closest "friends" to this party, donations of extra-strength headache relievers for me and Rachel will be gladly accepted;
• Jamie goes back to school Jan. 7, and I go back on Jan. 14. I hate to think how tired I'm going to be when the semester is in full swing. Seeing as how I'm so tired, maybe my New Year's Resolution should be to be in bed every night no later than 10:30 p.m. I have a feeling I won't be able to keep that, but I think I'll try. I'm tired of always being tired.

For those of you wondering, Christmas was good for my mixed clan here in Texas. Many thanks and appreciation to all those who sent us various and sundry stuff for the holidays, good wishes, warm thoughts, etc. Our love to you all.

Not Much to Report

Not much new to report, other than the fact that we'll be getting both Christmas Eve and Christmas day off this year, which means a lovely four-day weekend! Woo hoo! Unfortunately, I'll be spending it running back and forth between Destiny's birthday party (she's four tomorrow, but the party isn't until Sunday afternoon), Dad's house, Rachel's family's dinner, etc. Still, it will be nice to spend time with family - whether biological or not.

Jamie missed school yesterday due to a slight cold, but he was better today and able to go back to class. I also read to Jamie's class this morning. I absolutely love reading to the kids, though I noticed today that 4th graders aren't as easily entertained as 2nd graders. I suppose their getting to the age where having an adult read to them isn't "cool" anymore.

Speaking of school, Jamie is currently failing his reading subject, but has A's and B's in most everything else. Looks like a big chunk of my school money in January will be going toward getting Jamie a private tutor at Sylvan Learning Center. He goes to tutoring at school, but only for writing. The school only lets each kid do tutoring in so many subjects. Plus, he's already in remedial reading anyway. There isn't much more that they can (or will) do for him, other than make him repeat fourth grade.

So, between his soccer, Sylvan, AWANA at church, etc., looks like I'm going to wind up more tired than ever next semester. He's worth it, but it's very frustrating to me. I know he's smart, he's got a vocabulary akin to most high schoolers, for pete's sake! Why is reading so difficult for him? Why is it so hard for him to sit down and read a passage, then figure out the stinkin' main idea? He brought home a reading passage assignment the other day - he'd gotten a 55 on it. I'm ready to tear my hair out! And I'm tempted to ground him until he's 18, but I know that won't solve whatever the problem is. Hopefully, the teachers at Sylvan are as good as they claim to be. I suspect they're going to have to start all over with him and start at the very basics of reading. Something isn't computing. The hardest thing for me right now is understanding WHY he has so much trouble with it. I'm trying very hard to understand, but I'm finding it difficult. I have to keep reminding myself that he isn't me, and I'm good at things he isn't (reading) and he's good at things I'm not (math). I just ask that everybody pray for us, send good kharma our way, etc. while we try to figure out what's going on, and how to make him a better reader.

Updates on School, Jamie, etc.

Concerning Jamie - Still no new news to report. He goes back to the specialist on January 2, where they will most likely run more tests. For those of you who don't know, Jamie has been having severe stomach pain, vomiting, reflux, and all sorts of other gastrointestinal types of distress. The school nurse suggested I get him checked for an ulcer. So I took him to his pediatrician, who said he would rather have Jamie see a pediatric GI specialist. So, I tried to get him to see one in San Antonio, but they are all booked up through the end of the summer, and aren't even taking appointments anymore. So then I looked for one in Austin - same story. So, then I called one at the Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, and they were able to see him on December 10. So we went, they took a lot of blood, asked a lot of questions, then asked us to come back in 3 weeks for blood results and to run more tests. What ever it takes to get my boy well.


In other news, school is finished! Yay! Here is a tally of the final papers and their results -

GOV 4903.50 (E-government)
Paper Topic: "Delivery of Services: How the Digital Divide is Undermining E-Government's Efficacy"
Pages: 12 - written in 3.5 hours, started writing 5 hours before the paper was due
Paper Grade: 100%
Course Final Grade: A

SOCI 4903.50 (Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism)
Paper Topic: "Women and Capitalism"
Pages: 5 - written in 1.5 hours, started writing 4 hours before the paper was due
Paper Grade: 100%
Course Final Grade: A

SOCI 3523.50 (Sociology of Cyberspace)
Paper Topic: "Sociological Impact of Cell Phones"
Pages: 5 - written in 2 hours, started writing 6 hours before the paper was due
Paper Grade: 100%
Course Final Grade: A

Okay, I'm done bragging now. It's time for us to go start putting up the Christmas tree.

This is Finals Week

That is why you haven't heard from me much in the past couple weeks - getting final papers done, finishing up huge assignments, and readying for finals week. You won't see much of me until after Thursday. Have a good week, y'all (and pray that I don't go insane from too much work and schooling!).

Also, pray for Jamie. He's having some medical issues. Today was spent driving 307 miles round trip to a specialist, only to be told to come back in three weeks for tests and the like. Today they took blood. He was so brave! No tears, no nothing (this is the first time he's had blood drawn - 5 vials!!! - and not cried!) Anyway. Pray for my little guy.

Love you all.

More NYC Pics

More Central Park Pictures:

Jamie playing at FAO Schwartz:

Shades of Tom Hanks a la "Big"

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Hagrid, life-sized and made out of Legos!

R2D2 and C3-PO

I Can Has Cheezburger

If you want to laugh, and look at cute/funny/sweet pictures of animals, go to www.icanhascheezburger.com. There, you can see pictures like this one...


moar funny pictures

Pee before you read it. Some of them might make you dribble if you don't.

A New York Minute

Saturday, November 17, Joel picked us up right on time at La Guardia. It's so good to see him after so long! Then we rode a bus and the subway, then walked a bunch and got back to his apartment. We basically dropped our stuff and headed back out again. We walked up 9th Avenue to Central Park, then cut across to the Met. I forgot to take my camera with me, so no pictures of Saturday's jaunt. I blame only having had one hour of sleep for my forgetfulness.

Sunday, we headed to the Museum of Natural History, where we saw a cool film in the planetarium about cosmic collisions, and Jamie got to explore to his heart's delight about space. Then we went over to the part of the museum which was featured in "Night at the Museum." He was really excited about our wanderings there, even if the pictures don't show it. I think he's entered that stage where cameras are the enemy.

You know what? I'm going to be lazy and merely show you what we did in NYC, instead of telling you.









More pictures and more details on the NYC portion of the trip, as well as a rundown on our Kentucky visit, later.

A New York State of Mind

Wow! In just a couple of days Jamie and I will be jetting off to NYC! Woo hoo! I can't wait to see my brother. I haven't seen him in a long, long time!

It has been nearly impossible to keep my mind on school and work this week. Just as a I start to research prices on equipment for my boss, or research homework at home, I get sidetracked and wind up surfing for things such as:

• Free and cheap things to do in NYC with your kids;
• Subway routes to and from La Guardia airport;
• Finding Joel's apartment on Google Earth; and
• Museum hours and info.

I was hoping the tree in Rockefeller Center would be decorated and lit when we got there, but according to the NYC websites I've seen, the tree lighting ceremony isn't until Nov. 28. Bummer! However, The Rink at Rockefeller Center is open, so maybe I can get some good pics of Jamie ice skating. I won't be ice skating, though. Don't think my foot can handle it yet.

The most important thing, though, is seeing Joel and Leah. I can't wait for them to see how much Jamie has grown. My brother, bless his heart, has even been researching online how to play Jamie's Avatar: The Last Airbender trading card game with him. Jamie will be thrilled, because I won't play it with him. I don't understand the rules, and frankly, I don't think Jamie does either. Each time I've attempted to play it with him in the past, what he says the rules are changes. I think once Joel figures out how to play it, he may be the one teaching Jamie how it's really supposed to be played. Can't wait to see you guys!

(And yes, to my Kentucky folks, I'm really looking forward to seeing you guys, too! Love you all great big bunches!)

Thanks, Strangeite!

I found this nifty little doo-dad on Strangeite's blog and hijacked it for myself. I like anything that implies I am, in any way, a genius.

Get a Cash Advance

New Recipe

Our poor little collective recipe blog looked so lonely, I just had to put a new recipe up. I added my cheater's recipe for homemade bean soup. You can check it out here.

I Could Make My Own MasterCard Commercial

Two tickets to see "The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D": $15.00

Small Popcorn and Super-Large Drink for us to share: $8.75

Embarrassing the crap out of Jamie by mouthing not only the lyrics to every song, but just about all the dialouge as well:

PRICELESS!

Lift Every Voice and Sing

Don't try to call me tomorrow night, as I won't be home. To belatedly celebrate my birthday, Rachel and I are going back out to the karaoke tavern I liked so much back in August. We've invited a ton of people, and told those people to bring a friend if they like, so there should be a whole bunch of people there (some of whom I won't know, but hey, who cares?). The goal of the evening is for there to be a grand time had by all. I mean, c'mon, with karaoke, a small dance floor, pool tables, food and spirits, there's gotta be something for everyone there, right?

Rachel's babysitter's 16 year old son, Alex, is going to stay the night and babysit the kids for us. He's a good kid. Jamie loves him to death. He told me once he wished Alex was his big brother. Jamie loves school holidays when he gets to go with Destiny to the babysitter's house, that way he can hang out with Alex and play video games, ride bikes, etc. So Jamie's really excited about tomorrow night, too. He can't wait to show Alex his Avatar: The Last Airbender plug-n-play video game, watch the new ATLA episode (which, he better remember to record for Mama!) and just hang out with Alex.

And in pursuit of our fun tomorrow night, yesterday Rachel called me at work and said, "You know the money you were going to use to pay your share for Alex to babysit? Well, tomorrow night's on me. You use that money and go get yourself a haircut. Consider it another birthday present." I've been complaining for a month now that I needed to go get a haircut, but just didn't have the money. Wasn't that nice of her? So, now I've got a sassy new haircut, and I was even able to find a cute new top on sale that was within my budget, so I have a new blouse to wear tomorrow night, too. Tomorrow night's going to be a LOT of fun!

Gratuitous Eye Candy

Just thought I'd post a pic of Jamie's Halloween costume I made this year. Well, not so much made as assembled, with some crafty bits thrown in. Anyone venture to guess who he is, and from what television show?

And here's an interesting shot from just before an early-morning soccer game:

Colbert "Realer than Brownback"

I think that would make a great campaign slogan for Colbert. "Colbert '08. Realer than Brownback". Read more about Colbert's presidential campaign here.

Just Call Me "Nerd Queen"

So, Tooz sent me this quiz to determine my nerdiousity. I knew I was a nerd... but I didn't quite realize I was SUCH a nerd! Wow. Who knew the chick who baredly passed basic chemistry would grow up to be a science geek (I blame it on my current job. I have to do all kinds of things I never thought I'd have to do/remember).

See? Here's how much of a nerd I am:




And, on another note, Happy Birthday to me today! I'm going to copy off Everett and declare that I am 29 for the third year in a row. Rachel took Jamie out shopping this weekend so he could buy me a present without me accidentally seeing what it was. That was very nice of her. Tonight, we're going to have a sit down family meal, and my birthday cake will be cheese cake with strawberries on top. Yummmmmmm! I'll be thinking of you all while I'm scarfing that creamy cheese cake down...NOT!

Big hugs and kisses to you all!