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Wednesday, August 31, 2005
~Here's How I Woke Up...~
Slam! (my bathroom door)
"Mama, I just shut your bathroom door and its locked and no one's in there but the cat" (Kallee)
UGH. See, here's the thing. I am not a morning person to begin with. And my fibromyalgia makes it so hard to get out of bed. I have to turn on the heating pad, warm up my muscles, and *then* get out of bed. And now the 1st thing I have to do is break-in my own bathroom and save the cat. Its not the kind of lock you just poke w/ the end of a wire hanger. You have to get the phillips head screw driver, take apart the door knob and then open the door. And there's Simba the cat sitting there looking at me like "took you long enough,"
And that was the beginning of my day. As I type this tho, I am so aware of the fact that I have a home, a bed, elec to heat my pad and cool my home. Unlike so many up in LA, MS and AL etc. I still haven't heard from my friend C. She lives in Laurel MS. I'm sure they don't have elec, I'm just hoping they are safe. I've been searching the net for info on this town in Jones County but all I can find is Hattiesburg which is 30 mi south of her. I haven't heard from another friend T in Flomaton AL either. I'm thinking things are prob better for her. I'm praying for them both as well as all in that awful area right now.
I've been thinking about Natalee H and her family alot too. I think today the judge begins to decide whether Jvds stays another 30 days. Britt and I talk about this every day. The whole innocent til proven guilty BUT I truly believe too that those boys and more know exactly what happened. We still cannot believe how that one boy could hold an entire country and its people as well as the H-T families hostage and not just tell the truth. Just leads me to believe that the real truth is not as simple as what "we" all assume it is. $$ and connections are powerful tools aren't they? It looks like there may be *alot* under the surface of this nightmare. All I can say is they(whoever they all is) did not begin to think that Natalee's loved ones would actually dig in and stand strong and FIGHT. They just didn't realize the power of a parent, mother...especially a Southern one!
OUR DAY:
After the doorknob incident, we ate breakfast and the kids made a tent in "the pit". The pit is part of our livingroom that is sunken 3 steps down and has a wide carpeted bench on 3 sides and a floor to 3/4 ceiling assorted shelves and cubby-kinda-things that we have picture frames, a kids computer and tv, assorted GI Joes, Barbies, trucks, legos, books etc. Any way, the bottom is about 5'x5' and they made a tent. They brought all their fav stuffed animals and books and played in there for a good 2 hrs! After that they wanted to "do some school" so I got out their workbooks. Here's what who did LOL!
Kallee: First Grade Combined Subject Workbook:
Learned to fill in the blanks for counting in tens. Ie: 10 _ _ 40_ 60_ _ _100. It took her a little bit to get it. She was trying to make it harder than it was. Once she figured it out, she flew thru it.
Worked on beginning letters for words and their sounds. Ie: Picture of a cat and under it is _at.
She did 12 of them and then the next page was the opposite(how a word ends and its sound)
The 3rd page was a picture and under it was the middle letter and she figured out the 1st and last letter. She did great!
Dallas: Pre-K Combined Subject Workbook:
Find all the squares on the page and color them. Then rectangles. He stayed in the lines relately well.
Next was trace the dotted lines. It was like a succession of U shapes and then V shapes. He said he couldn't do it, that it was too hard. :( He was about in tears. He wasn't pressing hard enought to see the colored pencil omn the paper. I tried to show him how to hold it and press, but he couldn't hold it like a pencil and got frustrated.
We decided to go a different direction and got out the Mama/babies puzzles. Each animal family has 3 puzzle pieces. So you find the 3 pieces to bring the Mamas to their babies. He did great at that and he didn't want them spread out but Put each new one on top of the last set as if making 1 pile/row. He did the whole set 2 times.
Played on his Leapster with the Kindergarten program. Finding letters and spelling 3 letter words. Also eye to hand coordination (moving the person along a tight rope to jump in the correct barrel to "win" the right letter). He does that sort of exercize well.
Britt:
worked on some make up techniques, set up her homeschool journal which I have been asking her to do for months. She has been on her laptop and was playing w/Harley(her Yorkie)
She is frustrated and wants to get a job but since Dad and I are sharing 1 vehicle til his gets fixed, she'd have no ride. Hopefully she'll be able to do that soon.
Oh and the question of the day from KalleeFaith while they were eating chicken and FFs tonite....
"Is this chicken we're eating a real chicken chicken?" Oh, Lord. So I said "Remind me to answer that tomorrow" . Is it bad to hope she'll forget that one for a while? I mean Britt and I don't eat red meat any more but I know how these conversations go when kids start to realize what they're eating and what it used to look like. And Kallee will take the answers harder than most I think. She'll become obsessed with the whole thing...
Mama loves u... 8:01 PM
Monday, August 29, 2005
~~
Britt Dallas 
Mama loves u... 10:36 PM
:
~~
Father's Day 2005
Mama loves u... 9:47 PM
:
~Going Crazy....~
I am messing around with some pictures and the whole picasa/hello thing. I wonder why some pictures are found in files and some aren't? I am so not a computer wiz LOL! I dug up the one of the dolphin for Kallee from yesterday's viewing of zoobooks.
I love pictures! I have tons and tons that I need to make into albums....yeah riiiight! I've been saying that since Devin was born more than 20 yrs ago! Really, I need to tho.
I love the pic from Father's Day. All of our kids in one place plus a nephew. The sand turtle was JJ's(the nephew) idea at Little Hickory Island on my birthday. They worked allot of the day on that one, gathering certain color shells and seaweed. The seaweed grossed Kallee out big time LOL!
The one of Britt and Dallas was taken just the day. Britt was on a picture-taking tangent.
We watched off and on today Hurricane Katrina moving thru LA,MS and AL. Btdt. Not fun. All that wind, rain and rising water! Kallee was shocked at how only the roof tops of some homes were showing. Some of my Southern Mamas friends live in MS, AL. I'm praying they are all ok.
I didn't get to write yesterday, but we had a little fiasco here. I told Kallee that she could warm up a bagel in the microwave. I said no more than 30 seconds. The child hit 33:00 min! She held her finger on the 3 and the 0 too long. It was only on for about 2 min but I wasn't in the room. Big mistake I know. Well, lets just say our smoke detectors don't work OK? At least there were no flames.... So we're running around opening windows and doors turn the ac off. Smoke and stinky yuck! And since this is sw Florida, its hot and humid and HOT! Half an hr later we decided the heat outweighed the yuck so I turned on the ac. But it wouldn't turn on. OMG! Took me 2 hrs to find some switch out in the garage.(Not the breaker either). Any way, we survived, KalleeFaith is scared to go near the micro and I will never leave the kitchen again! LOL!
I'm tired...g'nite!
Mama loves u... 12:59 PM
Saturday, August 27, 2005
~Lazy Rainy Saturday~
Funny, since Hurricane Katrina missed us, now we have the rain. Of course its the outer bans hitting us and its really just like any other rainy day...coming in squaws.
The kids let me sleep in today. Britt made the kids breakfast, they cleaned house, the lanai, and Britt made me breakfast in bed. My capucchino and a plain cinnamon bagel. I woke up at 1pm! It was great and much needed. It didn't occur to me there was an ulterior motive. It really didn't. Boy was I wrong. I won't get into it b/c I know Britt wouldn't appreciate the details, but lets just say it was to butter me up to say yes to something I had very definately said NO to days ago. So the NO a second time didn't go over well at all. She's locked in her room, and is ignoring me. She came out to make her own dinner and as soon as I walked in the kitchen, out she went. I'm just not used to this, she's usually much more mature than that. But then again, thats why she thinks I should say yes....NO!!!
Yesterday Britt decided to start on a research paper just out of the blue. For a kid that hates conventional schooling, she does these a couple of times a year. This time she chose the pull out in Gaza. Amazing. She could've picked much "easier" subjects but yet she didn't. I have to admit, I don't know much about this subject either. I told her I can't wait to see what she finds out so she can tell me. (Well, I guess it might be a while til she tells me since she isn't speaking to me right now ;)
Kallee saw someone playing a flute on a kids show today and decided she wanted to make one. I gave her a roll from inside the papertowels and told her to decorate it. She made diff. color circles for the holes on top and then she made Dallas one too. So she's been tooting that all afternoon. Dallas was sitting on the floor for at least an hr today playing with a deck of cards. Just moving them around etc. I wonder sometimes what he's thnking? They each wanted me to read from their zoobooks. Kallee's is about dolphins and porpoises. We talked about the boat we chartered a few yrs back and how as we sailed around there was a dolphim playing in our wake. She doesn't remeber it, but she's seen the pictures many times. Dallas' is about whales. They scare the h@ll out of me! Its hard to be interested in something for your kid when it terrifies you. I try not to pass my dislikes and fears onto my children.
Kallee is sorting her change in her toy atm machine/bank. Its kinda cool b/c you have to put the right coin in the right spot.
I started to read the book The Out of Sync Child. It sounds like Dallas I think. I really need to keep reading but its one of those things you have to pay attention to and when the kids are up I can't seem to retain the info. At nite, I have no excuse, I just don't usually want to think about it. Does that make sense?
I'm also reading Under the Tuscan Sun. Not the movie one tho. This is more a journal of a couple who vacation in Italy every summer and decide to buy an old house there to re-do and all the ups and downs that go with it. It sounds awesome and you can see the places in your mind as you read. I would love to be there!
Oh I almost forgot....Kallee asked me 2 questions yesterday. I mean, she asks them all day long but these 2 stuck out.
1. Why do cats and dogs have whiskers?
2. Whats a soul?
Mama loves u... 11:27 PM
Friday, August 26, 2005
~~
Wake of the Blue Note 2000
Mama loves u... 9:45 PM
~No Rain and a Little Wind....~
NBC2 Online - First Alert Hurricane Tracking Center
is all we have had so far from Hurricane Katrina. We dodged it so far. It's funny b/c it looks like it tried to miss us LOL! Cool.
Mama loves u... 9:59 AM
Thursday, August 25, 2005
~Hurricane Katrina is Coming Our Way...~
At least she's not hitting us like Charlie did! Since its coming in from the east, Pompano Bch, Ft Lauderdale etc will get the worst and we'll get tons and tons of rain. Some wind gusts but I'll take 50 instead of 130+ mph any day LOL! I got all the potted plants in from around the koi pond, laid down all the little angel-statue thingys that are out there, moved the patio furniture toys etc out of the pool lanai. Squirt the turtle will be moved in his tank to the garage in a while....I didn't go down to the dock, but I'm pretty sure that there's nothing loose down there. The water's getting higher already, it'll probably go over the dock by tomorrow night, but the house etc is far enough up that it should be fine. i hope the electric doesn't go out tho...I hate no elec! I am so not the camper type LOL! I envy those who are but it's just not happening for me.
Lets see, what went on today? Ummm...Britt slept in til 2p....she's been on her laptop, done the kitchen, pored through the Fall Vogue Issue, we've both been doing laundry.
Kallee did about 5 pages in the 1st grade book. I tease her all the time b/c she wants bookwork. NO-one ever wants bookwork! LOL! But then Kallee sure isn't like anyone else I've ever known. She amazes me day after day! She's beginning to read alot of new words lately. She sight reads. Sounding it out is no help for her. She'll see a word once and usually know it after that. She gets frustrated so easy on her printing tho. She wants it perfect every time. She's 5. I keep telling her it takes practice. She doesn't want practice, she wants it right the 1st time. UGH! She's been playing with her ponies today too. I can't think when the last time she had them out. Dallas was lining up his Spidermen against her ponies....
Really a low key day. I am still using my heating pad between my back, hips and arms. So tired of hurting. That drive up I75 did nothing good for my body yesterday. :(
Tomorrow is Britt's yearly physical. I want to have her mole on her back looked at and there's at least one other one too. I also want to discuss her headaches. These have been w/her since she was a baby. They come and go. We always start looking into them when they come one on top of another but when they back off, she doesn't want to deal with it. Don't know tho if the Dr's office will even be open tomorrow am. Depends on the storm I guess. I'm supposed to pick up Dallas' glasses too. They're finally in. He wanted the "spiderman" frames, but I just got new lenses in his gold ones for now. I'll get a second pair in a month or 2. I'm so glad Kallee's exam showed her eyes to still be fine. Britt goes in Oct. Hers were -7.00 last yr....the eye dr told me that her own were -9'.00 so that made me feel like Britt wasn't the worst out there.
Shane started his classes yesterday and today. I have to find out how he likes them. He's happy that neither are too early am or evening classes that way he can still work every day too. Devin's start next week. Tues I think. He is down to only 1 job and 2 days off a week. He's been looking tired. I can't believe our baby boys are 19 and 20 and 6' tall! Mama's bay-bees!
I think I'm gonna get these kids settled down and ready for bed.
Mama loves u... 10:00 PM
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
~Kallee has a Boo-boo pinky...~
She was out by the pantry and I don't know if she tripped or what, but her hand hit the wall and the pinky went backward :( It hurt her so bad she couldn't let go of it. I hate that kind of hurt! After about a half hr I talked her into putting ice on it. I was trying too figure out if she was really hurt and needed medical attention or if Drama Queen was taking over LOL! In the end I think its ok. Sore, but ok.
Its been one of those days....
Britt's eyes are red and dry so she took the contacts out and put the glasses on. She broke her cellphone charger (thats serious business!) and then she spilled the tea tree oil all over her bathroom. Eeeeeew that stuff stinks! I've been spraying the Fabreeze all over the house trying to get the smell out. To top it off, Dallas' spiderman tooth brush landed in it. I don't think he realizes that he can't use it anymore. I'll have to get one just like it tomorrow.
It was really pouring this afternoon. The cable and internet were out for about 2 hrs.
Dallas is doing better using scissors. He uses only 1 hand now. He doesn't get the idea of cut and push the scissor forward to cut more tho. I was holding the paper and moving it toward him as he cut. I hope his new lenses are in tomorrow. He's squinting alot. He needs them.
He said he had a headache last evening. He was even laying around and didn't have an appetitie. So not him. O gave him some children motrin and a while after that, he was hungry and ate his PBJ. Wonder if the headache had to do w/not having his glasses right now or was it allergy/sinus?
Kallee read 2 books yesterday. Duck is Dirty and I forget the other. The point is she read. Dallas seemed to be reading Duck is Dirty at a different time yesterday. Then I was watching him and I think maybe he has memorized it.
Britt is on her laptop. The kids are watching Sponge Bob. Dad is sleeping in his chair.
I'm thinking of taking the 3 kids up to Nanny and Grampy's tomorrow for the day. His 78th bday was Sunday.
Simone (Britt's friend) is back in Germany from her summer visit. I don't know if I mentioned that before. She will be coming for Christmas w/her parents. I can't believe those 2 girls have known each other since they were 7. If Britt hadn't been in public school back then they prob never would have met. Its funny, Britt always hated going. I mean HATED. Some days I'd drag her kicking and screaming. Some days I'd just give in, too tired to fight w/her. I always let her stay home on picture day. There where only 2 school pics I got of her from 4k-6th grade. But in 3rd grade, Simone moved here from Germany and Britt was picked to be her buddy and help her learnthe English language (she knew none) and also help her w/her math(Britt hates math and didn't do well at all) But I think that kept Britt going to school. They became friends and Simone began to speak English etc. It was a funny mix. Simone is so outgoing and just radiates energy, and Britt comes across as so quiet and shy. They were the best combination! They moved back to Germany when they were about 13. And have kept in touch thru email and visits here in the states.
I think I'm going to call parks and rec about gymnastics for Kal and Dallas. I think it would be good for them and they really enjoyed Joey's bday party @ the gym. They enjoyed the mommy and me classes we used to go to 2.5 yrs ago. But didn't like the idea back then of switching to a class where they went out there w/the teacher and I sat in the chairs and watched. Now they're too old for me to be out there....I'm too old too LOL! Soooo will they go? I hope they do.
Britt says she want to take up Kickboxing or something like that. I hope she does. She could kick ass at that! We have to find a good place here in the Cape. I'm hoping between Kelly and the boys and her we can find a decent one.
Mama loves u... 7:33 PM
Sunday, August 21, 2005
~It's Been a Long Long Time!~
It seems like it's never a good time to sit down and work in here. I always want to wait until I can really pay attention to this but truthfully, if I wait that long, I won't have any kids at home to talk about! ;) So lets see what I've got to talk about...
Britt:
Had to restore her laptop today. She hasn't had to do that for quite a few months. She was really getting frustrated about getting the laptop back to wireless status. Took her a few hrs of trial and error but she got it! She jokingly said maybe she should restore people's computors for a living!
She's been doing allot of reading on the laptop too. And working on her live journal and keeping up w/friends that way, as well as email and IM.
She's also been going thru magazines that are her favs: Vogue, Teen Vogue, Seventeen, In Style, sometimes Glamour. I know there's more but I can't think of them. She's always looking for new make up tips and excercizes and healthy foods and ways to change her hair. I'm really impressed with her. She doesn't just skim the articles and pages in general, she digs in. Funny b/c she doesn't like to read books much, but will read these magazines all day and also read stuff that interests her on the net *all day long*! Reading is reading isn't it? I start to feel guilty and think she should be reading the classics but...
She's been working on her houses too. On paper and on software. The programs she has tho aren't that good for interior design. If you make the livingroom a certain color or pattern, all the rooms have that on their walls too. ??? Doesn't make sense to me. The exteriors are pretty cool. Diff amount of levels, materials(brick, siding, stucco) assorted shape and size windows that you have to make sure your measurements of the walls and windows correspond w/each other(Math) It also landscapes too. She makes some really cool backyards with pools and ponds and gazebos etc etc. You can even pick the color flowers you want! So why you can't do that w/the walls inside is beyond me.....
She was half way thru Unit 1 in SOS 10th gr and the computer crashed :( Of course we hadn't backed it up, so she started over yesterday. At least we know she'll have unit 1 down pat ;)
We've changed the livingroom twice this summer and the 1st time we switched the den and the diningroom too. She finished all the walls in her room. Still need the right bed set tho...
Britt's been cooking about half of the time and me the other. Homemade mac and cheese, stuffed shells, cookies, cherry shortbread etc. JJ(her cousin) spent part of the summer here and he is an excellent cook to learn from! He can take food items that don't even seem to go together and turn it into a gourmet meal!
He also did a little bit of art work too. Watercolors, shading, colored pencils. Britt dabbled in the water colors briefly. He's an awesome source of creativity.
We've been following the Natalee Holloway disappearance and discussing girls in clubs and the situations they are faced with and how not to lose your head etc. Also discussing how Aruban law is different and the same as in US. Geography works into this a well. Where is Aruba? What countries/Islands etc is it near? What language do they speak? How large/small is the island? What country are they part of? How big of a part does tourism play there? Tourists from where? We've also been talking about theories and fact/opinion and options to get results. We've discussed how "connections" work among groups of people. There have been discussions of what we would do differently if we were in the investigation. Its harder tho in this case to even *guess* whats going on b/c the Dutch/Aruban system is so different and closed compared to ours. Although, if the evidence is not that great, in the US, the kid might not even be in jail! So there's good and bad in all systems. None is perfect.
We followed the Idaho case about the Mom, bf and older son that were bound and killed and Shasta and Dylan were missing. That was really a strange situation w/not many clues. We both felt that the kids must still be alive b/c why else would they be taken? Well, that one ended up with a miracle ending in 1 aspect...Shasta was spotted w/the guy, she was saved, he was arrested. But Dylan was gone. The things that sweet little girl had to endure is unimaginable. That she is alive is amazing! God has things to do thru that girl! That monster of a himan in in jail and all kinds of things are coming out on him....we talked about how people cannot be trusted and how a rapist/molester/whatever does not necessarily look a certain way. Again, being aware and making smart choices are key. Not that Shasta had a choice. That she survived is a testimony in itself! (Btw, that was another whole Geography lesson too)
Of course we've been watching news about Iraq which has had quite a few different lessons: The constructing of their new government, working n their new constitution and its delay of 7 days so far. Another story coming from Iraq at different angle is the Cindy Sheehan story. This the mother whose son died fighting the war last yr. SHe is camped outside Pres Bush's ranch demanding to meet w/him directly. She wants to tell him that he murdered her son and that our armed forces should live Iraq immed. These are some of our thoughts on this: Should he then meet with every deceased soldier's family members? Why is she dishonoring her son and his decision to join the armed forces? We read on one news website (FOX) that a soldier emailed in with histake on her stance. It really struck us and I hope she saw it too. This soldier felt that she was dishonoring/discouraging every person in our military over there. Men and women who put their lives on the line every day to make this world safer. He felt personally hurt that the mother of a soldier would act this way and he even asked what she thought her son would say if he could comment on her actions. Hmmmm.
We've been following the Gaza withdrawl too. I don't know much at all about that and I told Britt we could dig up some history on that. I do know that this is a very big deal. More Geography, history, current events and some religious discssions are coming out of this one.
(For not using allot of books, we sure are learning allot of Geography, history, current events and Math)
Oh! We followed the shuttle from take off to touchdown...even went outside to try to see take-off but there were too many clouds over here that am. We discussed temperatures as something goes thru the atmosphere and how material can be affected. Talked about the booster falling away at the appropriate time etc. The pics fdrom space are always incredible! We also discussed re-entering the atmosphere and what can go wrong (based on the challenger accident a few yrs ago) (I believe it was) and then the shuttle "hitched a ride" back to FL this week. Even tho they didn't land on their 1st day of choice due to weather changes in FL, they did land the 2nd in Houston
Then there is always the every day stuff like chores, taking care of Squirt the turtle, Harley's care and feeding. She's been trimming him slowly to give him a short spiky coat for a while. She's about half done.
Then there was the day her cell phone wouldn't charge. The holes where the attachment goes were messed up. We asked Dad to look at it. He took the whole thing apart, Literally pried it apart. And by the time he was done, it not only wouldn'r charge, but it wouldn't turn on. Or close right. LOL! She was not happy! You do not ever leave her w/out her cell. Sooo to my shock she took the whole thing back apart, slowly put it back together, and worked on it til she got it to light up, and then dial, ring and get the screen to work! The only thing that still doesn't work right is the camera part, but she has her digital. She's turning into technical woman! LOL!
Add photography to the education too! SHe loves that digital camera and has taken tons of pics and learned about all kinds of option on the camera as well as what you can do with it once you download them to the laptop. She hates directions and manuals but does very well figuring this stuff out on her own. Only when she has no other choiice will she go to the manual. For a person who hates math and english/spelling etc she does pretty well!
Gardening has been an activity this summer as well. Weedpulling, plants, trimming all the crepe myrtles, extending the koi pond area and taking out bushes and vines. Care of the fish in the pond too. We learned how loud a frog can croak and the breaking point of a human's patience for that noise! (Mama is the human and 3am is the breaking point)
Her friend Simone is visiting from Germany for a month. They always have allot of fun together and catch up on all they have done while apart. She'll be back for Christmas and prob spring break too. Shane took them and Syd(Britt's cousin) up to Busch Gardens in Tampa for 1 day a few weeks ago. They love the rollercoasters etc! They followed the trails that lead to the different habitats and watched the animals in each of them.
While Sydney was here in FL, Britt got to spend some time @ Syd's grandparents on her mom's side. The grandma(Sonnee) loves interior design and she favors contemporary/modern with a shot of funky. Yes a grandma. Britt really enjoyed that. She went to the beach with them several times too.
I know there's a ton more of things we have read, looked at, discussed, seen, participated in, experienced etc but this enough ro write for one night. I started this @ midnite and its now after 2am!
Gotta get to sleep! The kids will be up around 9ish.....
G'nite!
~mama
Mama loves u... 12:07 AM
