Stations - Part 2

Yesterday I got a last minute call to help out at Katie's school. I did 'stations' last month as you may remember when I had to teach the kids card games. This time it was going to be an activity with pennies and I had no choice but to bring Will along.

We got the call about 8:45 and had to be there by 9:00. Stations start promptly at 9:15. So I grabbed Will and ran out the door. We got to the school, gathered our supplies and began to read through the activity around 9:05.

Usually there is very little setup that must be done beforehand. We read a story, ask questions, do an activity. Here are the setup steps for my activity to 'Clean Pennies"

1. Cut 20 pieces of string, each 2 feet long.
2. Fill one bowl 1/4 full with water
3. Fill one bowl 1/4 full with salt and water
4. Fill one bowl 1/4 full with vinegar and salt
5. Tear off 20 paper towels
6. Set up 10 spots with a glue stick, scissors, 1 red star, 1 white star, 1 blue star.

Oh yeah, and you have 10 minutes to do this before 20 kindergartners descend on you. (Plus you have a 2 year old to entertain!) GO!

I SCRAMBLED! Luckily I was able to get most everything together. We were to drop a penny in each bowl and observe what liquid made the penny shine. It was supposed to be the vinegar and salt, however it did NOT work - so I cheated and grabbed an already shiny penny to show.

Then we read a story and talked about what's on the pennies. Then each kid cut out stars, glued them together, taped a penny in the middle and we tied all the strings into necklaces. After that I passed out magnifying glasses so each could get a close up view of their pennies. WHEW!

Honestly, I think teachers request parent volunteers so that we are less likely to criticize them. It's VERY difficult work and I felt like I was scrambling for 90 minutes straight.

*Note - after we got home, Katie decided that we need to clean all of OUR pennies too. So I got a mixture of vinegar and salt together and ours worked MUCH better. I'm thinking they didn't add enough salt to our mixture at school.

My confession

I've been hitting a dry streak with things to post on the blog. Not too much is happening here and I tried to think about why that is. The only thing I can come up with is that I am watching way too much TV. (But, c'mon...it's Minnesota...AND it's February. There aren't a lot of options.) Now I know, you're gonna say I could play games with my kids - and my husband and I both do. But have you ever played UNO with a 5 year old for the 76th time in one day? When you have, then you can criticize me.

So I thought I would share the horrible TV choices I have been making lately and see if they are worthy of defending.

Before I begin, on a positive note - I really don't watch TV during the day. No soaps, no Oprah (well, maybe once a month). My only TV time during the day comes 1-2 times a week I watch The View (don't judge me!) I really like their banter and their political discussions. Also, 2-3 times a week I watch an episode of Beverly Hills 90210.....the early stuff from the early 1990's...when it was too edgy for my to watch in my young years.

(Again, let your judgement slide...it's only gonna get worse.)

I might as well get the worst of the choices out of the way first. I've been sucked into my first season of The Bachelor. If you have never watched it, the idea is pretty simple. 25 women vie for the attention of one man, deemed, The Bachelor. He sends away the ones he can't see spending the rest of his life with. As John could tell you, because he was forced to watch it the other night, it's now down to 2 women....I can't turn away! It probably wouldn't be so bad, but each episode is 2 HOURS long! So I feel as though I wasted an entire night after I'm done watching it. As God as my witness, I'll never be sucked into this show again! (Well, unless, of course - they choose my favorite girl from this season as the next Bachelorette, I mean, c'mon...(kidding)) My defense? At least this show is a tiny step above Bret Michael's show, Rock of Love.

Second - I am a sucker for any tv show put out by Dr. Drew Pinsky. He has done all of the Celebrity Rehab shows, as well as the recent "16 and Pregnant" and "Teen Mom" show. Seriously, that pregnancy show and Teen Mom show was very well done. It probably didn't get much viewership from the 18-34 male demographic, as John couldn't stomach more than 10 minutes, but it really showed how horribly difficult it is to have a baby before you are ready - at any age. My favorite girl, Caitlyn was 17 and put her baby up for adoption. It followed her as she tried to deal with still identifying herself as a mom, yet having no contact with her daughter. Also - she had hillbilly parents from HELL who were against the whole adoption idea. It was very sweet to watch her and her boyfriend support each other and communicate with each other better than some couples who are much older. The other girls were just fun to watch because they sure made you feel like a "good mom" - no matter what kind of day you had!

Are you still with me - or have you given up and logged off?

I love the FX series, Nip/Tuck. It's about 2 plastic surgeons, one is arrogant as hell, a womanizer with an ego the size of most of his boob jobs. The other seems normal, but has very serious issues with self esteem, his morals, etc. This is the final season and I'm convinced they are going to kill each other off. Another show I've recently gotten into is The Amazing Race. It's fun to watch people under stress in foreign countries. No wonder so many other cultures don't like Americans.

So as I try not to get pulled into another season of American Idol, I wait for the sun to warm up the skies, the giant piles of snow to melt and the days to get longer. There, I've cleaned out the skeletons in MY closet a bit - but what about YOU? :)

Are there shows you watch, but aren't proud of? If you don't watch much TV, are there shows you WANT to watch?

V-Day bloodletting

This year John and I decided to give blood again. Our chiropractor has an annual blood drive for Valentine's Day and gives a coupon for a free 30 minute massage to every donor. Last year went pretty smoothly, although I did get kinda woozy.

We had to go at different times so that someone could stay home with the kids. John went first and said everything well well. I took off after he got home, hoping for the same results. Unfortunately, after 20 minutes of pokes and changing angles every vein they tried to drain collapsed.

They couldn't really tell me why this happened - could be severe dehydration, so when I got home I searched online and found the only answer was to give up my severe drug addiction. (Hope you sense the sarcasm!) I don't seem to remember sticking myself daily over the past year into my veins so there must be another reason, I'm thinking I was dehydrated although I drank OJ, coffee, water and milk all before my appointment.

Oh well, another time....perhaps.

Friday Funny

V-Day is coming

Obviously there hasn't been a lot going on at our house this week...hence the limited number of posts. We've been busy making Valentine's for Katie's class party tomorrow. This will be her first official Valentine's party and she's very excited. She's already made plans to wear a skirt for the occasion.

Katie has 'requested' that we all make her a Valentine...I haven't done that yet, but I plan to. Better get busy....

Overall, that's about the bulk of our holiday plans. (Can you really call this a holiday?) Do people really go all out and buy each other big ticket items for Valentine's? I suppose there are. John and I were never big Valentine's Day people. Prior to kids we usually went out to eat...crowded restaurants, long waits and all. He sent me flowers one year before we got married and he's brought flowers home after work in years past after his co-workers suggested it. :) But I'm ok with no flowers too.

He gets the short end of the stick, really because I don't give him much. He got candy in his truck one year...years ago. He'll probably score a card this year and some take-out food.

And you know what? That's pretty close to perfect.

Ok...anytime now!

It's snowing here again today...

We had two days of 'shovel-able' snow last week and are set to get another 5-10 inches through tomorrow. School has been let out early, although Katie still had normal kindergarten this morning.

I don't mind taking 6 more weeks of winter, but could it possible not snow the WHOLE six weeks?

The view out my kitchen window...our small back deck...the thermometer is covered up so I can't even tell how cold it is!

Friday Funny...you know you missed it.

American Idol....Pladsen style

We sometimes get the chance to catch a few minutes of American Idol, in between supper clean up and PJ's. The other night we were watching and Katie decided that she wanted to be a judge. Of course Will wasn't really up for singing or performing. "Will, do you want to sing your ABC's?"

"Ummm, No fanks."

So that leaves John and I...two people just craving for the spotlight. (That was sarcastic in case you didn't catch it.) We had to stand up in front of everyone while Katie sat on the couch, high on her throne. I sang Twinkle Twinkle and the I Love You song. I got 2 big thumbs down for my song choices. For one audition she told me better luck next year, but then I begged and got a "yes", and the other song I got straight through to Hollywood.

John stood up and sang I Believe in Miracles by Pearl Jam, (he sucked up, knowing that Katie likes that song too). While Katie liked his song choice, she told him that he needs to sing louder, but sent him through to the next round as well. She's ruthless.

I hope Katie never wants to play this 'game' again. It's really stressful.

Girl's weekend

I was lucky enough to skip out on John and the kids this past weekend and spend it with some friends. Saturday morning I headed to Wisconsin to hang with some of my roommates from my college days. We planned the weekend a few weeks ago and decided to make it just us girls; no kids, no husbands. It had been about 6 years since we got together like this so it was much overdue.

We felt very strange realizing that we didn't have to make sure kids were fed by 6:00. So we headed out to eat around 6:30 and spent almost 3 hours talking, chatting and laughing. Our first stop was The Starlight Lounge. It's a martini bar complete with 70's furnishings. The girls each tried some fun martini's, but I stuck to my usual beer. I'm never sure how my stomach will react to hard liquor so I like to drink what I know. After our drinks we went down, (I swear) the steepest steps in Wisconsin, to Buzzard Billy's and had some tasty southern cooking.

We were asleep by around midnight and headed home the next afternoon. Even MORE interesting is what the kids did with John while I was gone. Somehow or another, Katie managed to talk Dad into talking her and Will to Chuckie Cheese....on a Saturday. I think John scored some MAJOR points there because it sounds like it was quite a fun time. Maybe he's started a new Saturday tradition that he'll just want to continue every week from here on out.... :)

No Friday Funny....again.

Sorry - no Friday Funny here.

Katie's fish Betty died yesterday. (Well, yesterday was the first I noticed it....thinking it had happened earlier.)

Anyway, she was understandably very upset. We've talked about it and today we got Betty out of the water and cleaned her tank for the last time. (Katie wanted to leave Betty in the water for one more day.)

There's been no talk of more pets just yet. I don't think Katie is interested in another fish, and I'm not up for a turtle, which is what she wants. For now, house training Will is taking up enough time.

YAY! Someone is reading me!
The blog world is full of 'awards' for different blogs. This is my first, and I'd like to thank all the little people that make my blog what it is. (That'd be the ACTUAL little people themselves...my kids.) Anyway, thanks to Shelley Bakes for passing this to me. If you have a moment, check her out...she's yummy.

This award comes with instructions, which are as follows:

1. Post the award on your blog. Present this award to seven others whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged you.
2. Tell those seven people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP, inform them of these guidelines, and ask that they link back to you.
3. Share TEN HONEST THINGS about yourself.

Hmmm...10 honest things, ok. I'll give it a go...gonna try and make them ones not everyone knows.

1. I color my hair. I do. Can't deny it. It's not a drastic change from my natural, just a something with a bit more kick. I've colored my hair on and off for the past 14 years and don't have any reason to stop.

2. The only reason I attend church is because of my aunt Carol. She is my Dad's sister and passed away last May. She was very big into the church and took me every Sunday when I was younger, sometimes kicking and screaming. So now, I don't go to church to feel closer to God, I go to feel closer to Carol, which I do.

3. I don't like chocolate. I can eat a candy bar, but that's about it. I don't want cake, ice cream, brownies, etc. This weekend I got peanut butter bars with chocolate frosting on them. I cut off the frosting and just eat the peanut butter part. Some consider that blasphemy.

4. If I had a million dollars and there was no risk and no recovery time, I'd get a boob job. Sorry, I just would....probably. When it comes right down to it, I spose I would chicken out. However, I like to imagine a boob job.

5. I'm a stay-at-home mom right now, but when Will is old enough to go to school I'd like at least a part-time job and that scares the hell out of me. I'm scared that after 7-8 years of being a full-time mommy I no longer have the traits employers are looking for. I'm not 'in demand'. So these days I'm trying to buff up my resume with volunteer work when I can.

6. My husband and I are in agreement that we are done having kids. Two is a great number. But....we have both admitted that there are days when we could be talking into another. (For the record, he admitted this before I did.)

7. I used to smoke. It's hands-down the stupidest decision I ever made, but at the time I was too young and invincible to care. I smoked for about 7 years and quit once we decided we wanted to have kids. There are days I wish I had a cigarette. About once a year I'll get the opportunity to have a couple puffs and they almost take me down. Can't comprehend how I used to do that every day.

8. I was in a bad relationship when I was much younger, not very healthy, not gonna go into details. Over the last year I've really been able to let go of the anger I carried around because of that. No longer holding grudges against that person and it's a very nice feeling.

9. I can wiggle my eyes. I don't know how else to explain it. I'll show you sometime if you're interested. People used to get weirded out.

10. I love summertime...I'll even take springtime. Round about this time of year I start to get itchy for spring...but really longing for summer. It's never long enough, I never get everything done I want to do, never get to the park enough, etc. But I wouldn't want to live in a place where the seasons don't really change at all. I think I would take things for granted. It's good to lose summertime too so that you'll notice when it comes back.

I don't read a LOT of blogs, so I can't pass this on to 7 other people because I just don't have that many....so I'm just doing one.
I'm passing this award and instructions on to....

Heather and Drew Just 4 Alicia

Will's Gym Class

Last week Will started attending a child gym class. Katie used to attend these classes when she was younger. I won 4 free weeks of classes for Will in a drawing held last year and I've finally made time for it. (I also won 4 weeks of kickboxing classes for myself...we'll see if I ever make time for that!)

Anyway, on Thursday morning now Will goes to "Gym Class". Last week as we were going to class he said that Grandma Mary would be there too. What?? If finally dawned on me that he is thinking "Jim Class" as in Uncle Jim. After the initial disappointment, he recovered and had a good time.

I started taking Katie to this class when she was about 10 months so that she could play with other kids her age. She really had a hard time adjusting to other kids. Usually she was afraid of them. By the time we stopped going she was over 3 and could have taught the class herself. Will doesn't need the socialization, he gets enough of that through our other commitments. I'm hoping that these classes will help him with listening and following directions. (I can hope.) I plan on continuing these classes probably through the next 3-4 months. Once it gets warm outside I think we can find other stuff to do. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of Will in class soon.

Our own Frosty

John and Katie were very busy Sunday afternoon. (Prior to the Vikings game) Katie and John built a snowman on our back patio. And while he scares me every time I open the blinds, he is a very cute snowman.

We also bought a new TV over the weekend. It only took 18 months to finally break down and get one. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to help the Vikings pull out a victory last night. Oh well. I'm ready for baseball to start anyway. It's fun to hear the kids cheering for the Vikings. Every time a touchdown was scored, Will got upset because he thinks it should be called a "touchUP". Probably since we were raising our hands in the air as we shouted it.

7 Years

Today isn't a Friday Funny post, instead it's our anniversary. And while I could use this time to crack a joke or make a funny comment about marriage, I won't. Today we celebrate 7 years of marriage, and to me, that's a big number.

Some of you readers may have been married 20+ years and you laugh at the thought that 7 years is a long time. Well, you gotta start somewhere, every year is important. And I know in my soul that we'll be celebrating 20+ years as well, just not yet. :)

These days it seems that 7 years of marriage isn't as common as it used to be so I'm proud of us and our family. We've both had great examples to follow in our families.

So today we'll probably break out the wedding video and wish that we were on the beach in Key West again. We'll have crab legs for supper and I'll make Key Lime Pie for dessert. And it will be the perfect way to celebrate 7 wonderful years. I couldn't imagine spending it with anyone else.

Fort Zachary in Key West

Outside Kelly's (restaurant) - after supper

BTW...I'm so proud of my $200 dress. It was a steal!

Happy Birthday!

There's a few birthdays this week I wanted to acknowledge....

Happy Birthday to my sister Denise, my BIL Jim, and our friend Joe! They all celebrate their birthday's this week and weekend...have a good one!

Day 2

Day 2 on the "Extra Time" snow pants front...

It went VERY well and extremely smooth. Good morning.


Disclaimer: Past performance is not an indication of future results.

(I knew my time in the investment field would come in handy.)

F@#king snow pants

I've always hated the winter season...cold, dangerous, etc. This year I have a new reason for my contempt of this time of year: snow pants. Oh yeah, and lets add boots to this list too.

4 out of 5 of the mornings that Katie gets ready for school she throws a fit when she gets her snow pants and boots on. This fit usually lasts only a few minutes, but it's long enough that we are hurrying and yelling at each other because the bus is a-comin' on down the road, and it seems to spiral out of control. I add gas to the fire, she explodes. She pushes my buttons, I yell. And we both have a rotten start to our day, which should be spent enjoying time with each other.

Here's her issue (and I really can't blame her because I think I would feel the same way. Probably the reason why I chose to NEVER wear snow pants to school.) Once she gets her snow pants on...she's still fine. I pull her pant legs down on the inside so they aren't scrunched up inside. She's doing ok. Then we move onto the boots. Here's where things get hairy. As she steps into the boots, they push up her jeans inside her snow pants. There goes hell, breaking loose.

I've tried to pull her pant legs down and tuck them into her boots, but then her boots won't close.
I've tried pulling her pant legs down OVER her boots, but her pant legs are too small for that.

I've tried rolling up her jeans before we put on the snow pants, but that just makes getting the snow pants on impossible. And the school requests that she wear snowpants to school because they spend the first 15 minutes of school playing outside.

My solution? Start getting her ready 10 minutes early so she has time to throw her fits. Just work them into our morning routine. Oh yeah, and add brandy to my coffee.

The bus comes at about 8:10. I like to be out there by 8:08. We start getting ready at 8:00. Nope, not going to work anymore. So today I had her start getting ready at 7:50. I thought, well now she's going to be mad because we're going to be standing around and she's going to get hot. No way. She was a perfect angel getting ready this morning. Everything went ok...she still complained that her pants didn't feel good, but she used a calm voice and explained the problem, which we decided we couldn't fix. We headed out the door at 8:07 and the bus came right on time.

Do you know what this means!??? Yes, Deb, you've found a solution to your problem.

No - silly readers. It means tomorrow morning is going to be hell.

One afternoon a few weeks ago, Katie decided she wanted to play outside. She got all dressed, threw a MAJOR tantrum (which I walked away from) only to find her 15 minutes later...asleep....on the floor...in all her gear.

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street

On Saturday the four of us went to Sesame Street Live. Katie and I had been to these shows before, but it was the first time for the boys. As you can see, everyone was excited.

Once the show started, Will was pretty enthralled. His interest started to wander towards the end, but we never had to get up from our seats. He didn't get scared either, even though it was pretty loud.

It's fun to watch the faces on the kids, and sometimes even more fun to watch the faces on the adults. Seems everyone knows at least one character on Sesame Street.

Friday Funny

This is kinda fuzzy...hope you can still read it! It helps to click on it...will open in a new window.

A day in kindergarten

This morning I volunteered at Katie's kindergarten building. A few days each month they have 'stations'. These are small group activities that parents volunteer to lead. This was my first day and holy cow it was stressful. Those kindergartner's take a lot out of you.

Katie had already asked me not to tell everyone that I was her mom. She said it would be way too embarrassing. Too bad! The teacher who introduced me made sure to point out that fact. :) So in the first group I lead (I lead 2), Katie sat in back and didn't raise her hand for anything. I had to call on her. But she did say I could come and volunteer again.

The good thing is that they already have all the supplies and activities lined up for you. I was assigned to teach a couple card games to the kids. We read a story about winter, talked about outside activities, inside activities and some fun things to pass the time in the winter...hence the card games. They were pretty simple games - war and old maid. (Of course you can't call them that...the PC names for the games were Top One and All But One. Yeah, I threw those out the window and went with War and Old Maid.)

After school I asked Katie if she thought I did a good job.
"Well, it went a LOT better than I thought it would go." said Katie.

"Well thanks. I was pretty nervous!" I answered back.

"Yeah. Me too. I thought for sure you'd mess it up."