Debi and Travis discuss children on computers and easy ways to keep them safe on the Internet.
First, let me say something about cooking: Everyone can cook! I often hear women say, “I just can’t cook!”. What I hear is, “I WON’T cook”. Well, it’s time to suck it up people! The recession is at our door and we can no longer sneak past it on the way to the restaurant. Also, ANYONE can cook! If you can read, you can cook! There is so much help and support for you! There are old fashioned cook books to new media websites to find easy recipes. You can even go a more traditional route and call your mom, grandma or auntie! I find the web a terrific way to find new recipes that are easy to follow! The Food Network website even separates its recipes by technique, i.e. crock pot, grilling, baking, etc. Each recipe has a five star system to let you know it’s level of difficulty! I even found a web site that will let you type in ingredients you have on hand and then give you a recipe using those ingredients!
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Kate Gosslin deserved to be left by Jon. I called this years ago. As I saw the show unfold, I was amazed to see the treatment of her husband becoming worse and worse. She controls and demeans him on EVERY show. She overrides any decision he tried to make. If he puts the kids into time out, not only does she take them out, she tells the children he is mean. She makes fun of his weight and his hair loss. She is down right bitchy! “Oh, but she has to be controlling to handle all those kids!” I hear mothers lament. I was a kindergarten teacher and for 7 hours a day, I could control 30 kids without being a jerk!
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So many mothers are looking at their children, and their children are looking back at them and singing that all too familiar song that children have been singing every summer; “Mommy, I’m bored!” I wonder if Eve had to hear it from her sons, Cain and Abel; “Mom, I’m bored! Mom, there’s nothing to do! Mom, My brother is bugging me!” I wonder is she just shouted in frustration, “Go outside and settle it yourselves!”
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So we started the home schooling and there have been some wonderful moments. I am working with, Mrs. Lloyd, a lovely and patient teacher at our local public school. At first, I was hell bent and rigid to get my hours in and followed a lesson plan to the “T”! It was efficient and I found that we accomplished all the lessons in a matter of a few hours. Then, with Mrs Lloyd’s encouragement, I started to relax and enjoy the lessons and looked for creative ways to extend the lessons. There was less and less paper work to turn in to Mrs. Lloyd and more and more to talk about!
Pilar couldn’t wait to give her some home made scones and butter from our colonial history lesson. She baked and brought her a home made loaf of Irish Soda bread. Pilar was embarrassed to give it to her because she thought it turned out ugly. Mrs. Lloyd took one look at it and exclaimed, “It looks so beautiful and rustic, just like you baked in a colonial oven!” We have taken trips…everywhere! The California Science Museum (photo above), the History museum, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a California Mission… we turn all these trips into learning opportunities. She joined a book club for kids her age, I didn’t even know they existed! We visited her older sister, Anna Maria, who gathers wool and spins her own yarn. We sat and spun with her all day. It really brought home what being a colonist went through to provide for their families. Pilar has read 4 books in one month. In 11 years of being read to and 6 years of reading on her own, Pilar has never liked to read. Once the formatted book reports were no longer required, books came alive to her and she loves reading! We have done several science experiments…3 on one day! We took pictures and discussed the process of diffusion and osmosis.
I am more relaxed in my teaching and proud of my daughters capabilities and skills. As you can see, I have had time to blog!
Sure there are lows. I am on the other end of every bad mood and temper tantrum. If I do not reach out for support and ask my husband for help, I get overwhelmed. I will write a separate blog about the meltdowns and how I didn’t even take my own advice. Stay tuned!
My schedule has been so unpredictable and I have some emotional upheaval but am feeling back on track and ready to write my sassy blogs.
Stella got her grove back and Deb feels some dancing coming on!
First, to those of you who read my blog daily, thank you! I appreciate your stopping by! I have not blogged in almost a month and it is because my husband, our daughter and I made a very important and life changing decision.
Due to a difficult classroom situation, we had to withdraw our daughter from her fifth grade class. Our choices were public school, another private school, or home school. Since we made this decision at the end of the semester, we were looking at a solution for four months, not the entire school year. Our public school system was not acceptable. Another private school would be costly as we would have to pay for registration, book fees and new uniforms and all for just 16 weeks before we had to do it all over again for the new year.
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So this crazy woman who already has 6 children with no father in sight, gets artificially sperminated to produce another 8 babies…all born at once! They are called Octuplets. She has been hospitalized for months prior to the births, which cost the tax payers money. This single mother of 6 had declared bankruptcy last year. How did she have the money to go through this medical procedure to begin with? I can’t even get my ears pierced or my teeth cleaned without giving a full medical history! I have to pull a co-pay out of my pocket before I can even get looked at by a doctor. How the hell did she get approved to stuff her uterus with more children than I can fit into my SUV?
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We love our babysitter, or like my 11 year old likes me to refer to her, our kid sitter. There are so many things you need to consider when hiring a sitter. My oldest daughter, Anna Maria, supports her self and pays college expenses by baby sitting. She is a great sitter and is in demand and has a full calender. She has even been hired to sit for a child who has yet to be born! Now, I call that “in demand”! My daughter has shared with me some horror stories about people who have never even met her, ask her to baby sit…they don’t know her, she doesn’t know the children…yet these people are willing to leave children with a total stranger! Of course, she does not even consider these charges.
Here are some guidelines I have learned to set when interviewing and hiring a baby sitter.
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Finally, the new year is here! I headlined 2 shows on New Year’s Eve and the audience members were more than ready to say good riddance to 2008! No one I know had anything good to say about last year! Most of us think we can get hit by a tow truck, dragged 3 miles and left in front of a closed-due -to-the economy soup kitchen and when you came to would utter, “At least it is better than last year!”
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