Last November, the kids and I picked up Road Trip America's newest addition of, "Caution Funny Signs Ahead". A month later, we stumbled onto our own funny sign and couldn't resist sending it into RTA. The picture is up on RTA's blog this week:
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/signs/ill.htm
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Sock It To Poverty
I have the pleasure of being on the Charity Fiskatmittee (another Fiska-word for the Fiska-dictionary) over at the Fiskateer website. This month, our focus is on Poverty Awareness Month, which is reconized in January. We are going to ‘Sock It To Poverty’ and do a Sock Drive for January.
Socks are vital to overall health of those living on the streets.
Socks are often not donated enough and are greatly appreciated by the recipient.
Most homeless and impovershed people do not own shoes that fit properly or
are not in good condition. This increases the importance of socks.Many people suffer from diabetes and other ailments and they could benefit
from socks with extra support.Not all shelters accept clean used socks so it’s important when collecting that we collect new socks.
Socks are relatively inexpensive to donate.
There are men, women and children that
live on the streests and all could benefit with a new pair of socks.More people are becoming homeless due to the downward spiral of the economy
as well as natural disasters.Here are some things you can do to sock it to
poverty:Come join us at the Fiskatateer site and learn where you can send socks.
Deliver socks to a local shelter.
Craft a ’sock box’ to collect socks and create a sign to share where the donations are going and why.
Spread the word at your local scrapbook store and set a date to collect them at
a crop.How about a “Sock Hop Crop”. Maybe your local scrapbook
store would go for a crop in honor of collecting socks for those in need.How about spreading the word at ladies groups, church, your local rotary
club.
Friday, January 16, 2009
More Cards
Here are two more cards for the Card Sketch a Day blog. Same sketch, two versions. Once again, most of the supplies came from my stash. The paper on card #2 is from a new, fun and upcoming line, My Little Shoebox. I love their stuff!Saturday, January 10, 2009
I am Losing my Mind
So today I'm killing time, browsing through my favorite scrappy websites and blogs, and I pop over to Card-Sketch-a-Day. That's when I realize that one of my 2 January sketch-cards are up on the website. Now....here is the scary part....I was getting ready to make a card for one of my son's teachers. But.....duh.....I didn't need to, I already did (his birthday is Jan 13th). What a dope. But, there's more. While I'm browsing the pictures on my laptop to upload, I come across a baby card that I put together a few months ago, also for the CSAD site. Tomorrow I was going to make a tag or a card to go with a gift, forgetting that this card was intended to accompany said gift. Oh good grief. I am loosing my mind!
These cards are created from the same sketch, just two versions. In keeping suit with most of my other cards, I put these ones together using scraps from my stash. I primarily used prima flowers and Bazzill bling cardstock. I punched each of the little date squares, handwriting the date in each one with my Sakura gel pen (love those pens).
Sunday, January 4, 2009
A Simple Christmas
This year we opted for a simple Christmas. After years of spending days putting up lights, decking the halls, and all other things holiday-related, we came up with a "keep it simple" plan. This tree is our newest addition. A small WalMart tree with packaged WalMart decorations. I love how it matches. Nothing in my house matches, so this was quite a treat for me. We still hauled in our 7-foot tree and decorated it with our usual eclectic assortment of decorations, and we hung 2 larger decorations on our wall. But that was it. I thought that we, or the kids, would be disappointed with the lack of elaborate decorations, but it was actually quite nice and freeing. The best part was that we were able to put it all way in about 30 minutes! Woo Hoo!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
BooKitty's 24 Hours of Fame
My precious Boo-Kitty is about to have her long awaited 24-hours of fame! She is the kitty for the December 4 Cat Fancy's Page-A-Day calendar. We are very happy for her, but are concerned that her head might get a bit big .
The random caption on her calendar page cracks me up. It reads, "Punishment in the form of screaming, chasing, striking, or squirting water at a misbehaving cat will only serve to increase the cat's stress, not solve the problem". There couldn't possible be a better caption for BooKitty, as evidenced by the this layout:
By the way............I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving week. We drove down to Southern California to visit our son who couldn't make it home for the holiday. We had a wonderful time, but I'm still trying to catch up!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Only In Virginia City
This weekend was quite the event. It was the Fisk-a-Friendzy Regional Crop in Virginia City. It was a busy day full of adventures, and our field trip to the train station was definitely a highlight. But, behind every story is another story, and here it is:
Scene 1 – The Three Stooges Act: This story starts in the parking lot of the Virginia City Ramada. Angela gathered Amy, Hisaho and myself up so that we can go spread some Fisk-a-Magic at the train station. Her instructions were simple, “Find Tom and spread the Fisk-a-Magic”. OK….so those weren’t her exact words, but I can’t give away all the details, he he. We first haul all of the boxes out of Angela’s car to place them in Amy’s car. Here is where we encounter problem #1. There are just too many boxes of goodies (darn, right? LOL). “Yeah, uh, this isn’t going to happen,” says Angela. So, we haul them back to Angela’s car and decide to drive it, much to Angela’s horror, to the train station. At first I thought she horrified at the thought of one of us driving her van, but it turns out that she just didn’t want us to see the inside of her “messy mom van”. Not a problem, Angela! Except for the smattering of rain dots all over the floor, your van looks a lot like the inside of my car. If anything, it’s a bit cleaner!! This is when we ask Angela where the train station is. She says, “Um, I was hoping that you guys knew”. Crickets chirping, as we all look at each other without a clue as to where we are driving off to. But, that doesn’t scare the Nifty Fifties. So, we pile into the van and attempt to drive off into the sunset. But, we hear this constant chiming. Angela to the rescue…..we have a door slightly ajar and she explains to Amy that the car has to be in “park” before the door will reopen and then close fully. No problem. Door closed and we drive off into the sunset, again. Nope……we only get a few feet and the chiming continues. Sigh. It turns out that I left another door open. As Amy attempts to put the van in “park” and press the “door open” button, she instead hits the wiper button and the window washer button, haha! Finally we pull ourselves, and the van, together, and drive off into the sunset, again. Well, except, it’s really not sunset. It’s 11am, but more on that later.
Scene 2 - What a Crazy Little Town: So we head out on E street. We know it’s E street because the Ramada is on E street. But, that is our only clue. Apparently street signs didn’t exist back when Virginia City was founded, and it hasn’t occurred to the residents to erect any. This, in turn, confuses the Yahoo Maps, Google Maps, and Mapquest people. Just ask any Fiskateer who tried to find the Ramada using written instructions! And forget using a GPS system up in the mountains. So, we were on our own, winding our way through this tiny town. Hisaho and I had come across a “train this way” sign the night before, and that memory got us going in the right direction. Unfortunately, E street comes to a premature dead end. As we approach the end, we see a road sign that isn’t in any DMV book I’ve ever seen. We drive toward it, leaning forward, squinting, and it is a sign with a crooked arrow that says, “Keep Going”. Hahahahaha!!! Eventually we arrive at the train station, which we almost passed because it’s pretty small. In a “do as I say, not as I do” moment, I get out of the van and run across the railroad tracks. I could see a parent, sitting next to his child, just shaking his head and no doubt thinking, “What a stupid lady”. I approach an old train car turned ticket booth turned gift and candy shop, and a very “Virginia City” looking man, dressed in complete western wear, steps out.
At this point I begin the first of many charming, but incredibly awkward, conversations with “Western Guy” (yeah, I never got his name). I ask, “Are you Tom?”. In complete character he tells me, “Tom? No Tom here. I expect he’ll be here ’round about 11:30, maybe noon”. It’s now about 10 minutes after 11, and the Fiskateers are due at the train station at 11:30 and I’m starting to panic just a wee bit. I explain that I’m with Fiskars and he says, “Oh, yeah, the ‘orange’ train. Well, ma’am, I reckon that the train will be pulling in about 11:30”. Yes…..the train WE are supposed to spread Fisk-a-magic on. Now I’m really starting to panic. So Western Guy asks, “Are you Angela?” nope, not Angela. “Are you Julie?” I say, “No”, but then start to panic more. Were we supposed to bring Julie with us? Did we forget Julie? Where is Julie?!!!?!! Now I’m really confused. Western Guy acts like he has no clue, but he knows of Angela, and somehow knows about Julie. He asks who I am, and then points to the van and wants to know Amy and Hisahos' names (I thought I was going to lose him Hishaso’s name, lol). He tells me, “Well, ma’am, if you’re not Angela and you’re not Julie, then I don’t reckon I can help you.” This is when I remember that there isn’t much cell reception way up here, so the little bit of panic I’m feeling turns into full blown panic. As it slowly dawns on me that this guy really isn’t “in character”, that this is his true persona, things start to get even more interesting.
Scene 3 – You Want us to do What?: As Western Guy continues to give me a bad time, another man steps out in an attempt to rescue me. I explain the situation to him, and then Western Guy translates what I said into his own Wild West lingo. They both take note that they can see Tom’s car “down yonder”, and proceed to point it out to me, asking me if I can see Tom’s car. Um, no…..I’ve never seen Tom’s car in my life, so, no, I don’t see it. The two then argue about whether or not they should send us over to Tom, because, as they so chillingly point out, “You’ll never find it on your own”. So Western Guy chuckles at the thought of us heading out into the unknown and proceeds to enlighten me with directions. “Well, Ma’am, you need to head out down this here road. Now you head over the railroad tracks just down over there. You see those tracks?” Um….we’re at a railroad station…..there are tracks everywhere!! “So you go over the railroad tracks, then take the road a ways and you’re gonna go ‘round the “S” bend in the road. So you take that “S” and then keep driving a while. Now you’re gonna come to these two old buildings, and when ya’ do, turn left and go down that there dirt road.” And famous last words, “You’ll know you’re there when you’re there”. And if I’m not??? Oy!
Scene 4 – Off-Roading in Angela’s Mom Van, Yee Haw!!: So as I run back over the railroad tracks, I’m thinking, “Huh?”. I jump into the van and repeat what I can remember and off we go, trying to figure out these directions. It was easier than I thought it would be, but one wrong turn would have resulted in a search party being formed instead of a train ride! So we hit the dirt road and the off-roading fun begins. Poor Angela……her poor car, nearly bottoming out. Oh well, the show must go on and sacrifices must be made!
We eventually arrive at a sign that says, “No Trespassing”. So, of course, we trespassed. We were on a Fisk-a-mission, after all! Amy later wrote that she felt like a rebel. I think, deep down, all 3 of us did, hahaha! We arrive at our final destination within the train yard and pull up to a wreck of a train. Amy’s turn to panic….she says, “Is THAT our train?” hahahahaha…thankfully, no, it wasn’t. The actual train was still a bit further. We get out and head over to a train with orange lights on it (of course). I feel like we’ve reached the promised land! We find Tom on our first try. Thank goodness!! Not only was Tom nice, but he was sane. A plus in my book any day.
Scene 5 – The Fisk-a-Magic begins: What??? I can’t tell you this part!! This is where the Fisk-a-Magic happens, so I’ll leave this part up to your Fisk-a-magination.
Scene 6 – The Fisk-a-Bug: As we head back to the railroad station, mission accomplished, we pass a green and orange bug. We screech to a stop (Angela, your van has great brakes, he he he). Of course, we did what any good Fiskateer would do, despite a pressing timeline, and we jump out and take pictures. I realize later that the Fisk-a-Bug is probably older than young Amy. I realize even later, that it’s probably older than all 3 of us. Ha!
Scene 7 – Mission Accomplished: As we cross back over the railroad tracks, we are met with a sea of orange people. Our people. We sneak the van into the lot and go over to show Angela a picture of the “train”. Of course, we show her a broken down train. The look on her face was priceless! What an adventure (and, yes, I took pictures of the Fisk-a-magic, he he).
And, THAT, is the rest of the story:
Scene 1 – The Three Stooges Act: This story starts in the parking lot of the Virginia City Ramada. Angela gathered Amy, Hisaho and myself up so that we can go spread some Fisk-a-Magic at the train station. Her instructions were simple, “Find Tom and spread the Fisk-a-Magic”. OK….so those weren’t her exact words, but I can’t give away all the details, he he. We first haul all of the boxes out of Angela’s car to place them in Amy’s car. Here is where we encounter problem #1. There are just too many boxes of goodies (darn, right? LOL). “Yeah, uh, this isn’t going to happen,” says Angela. So, we haul them back to Angela’s car and decide to drive it, much to Angela’s horror, to the train station. At first I thought she horrified at the thought of one of us driving her van, but it turns out that she just didn’t want us to see the inside of her “messy mom van”. Not a problem, Angela! Except for the smattering of rain dots all over the floor, your van looks a lot like the inside of my car. If anything, it’s a bit cleaner!! This is when we ask Angela where the train station is. She says, “Um, I was hoping that you guys knew”. Crickets chirping, as we all look at each other without a clue as to where we are driving off to. But, that doesn’t scare the Nifty Fifties. So, we pile into the van and attempt to drive off into the sunset. But, we hear this constant chiming. Angela to the rescue…..we have a door slightly ajar and she explains to Amy that the car has to be in “park” before the door will reopen and then close fully. No problem. Door closed and we drive off into the sunset, again. Nope……we only get a few feet and the chiming continues. Sigh. It turns out that I left another door open. As Amy attempts to put the van in “park” and press the “door open” button, she instead hits the wiper button and the window washer button, haha! Finally we pull ourselves, and the van, together, and drive off into the sunset, again. Well, except, it’s really not sunset. It’s 11am, but more on that later.
Scene 2 - What a Crazy Little Town: So we head out on E street. We know it’s E street because the Ramada is on E street. But, that is our only clue. Apparently street signs didn’t exist back when Virginia City was founded, and it hasn’t occurred to the residents to erect any. This, in turn, confuses the Yahoo Maps, Google Maps, and Mapquest people. Just ask any Fiskateer who tried to find the Ramada using written instructions! And forget using a GPS system up in the mountains. So, we were on our own, winding our way through this tiny town. Hisaho and I had come across a “train this way” sign the night before, and that memory got us going in the right direction. Unfortunately, E street comes to a premature dead end. As we approach the end, we see a road sign that isn’t in any DMV book I’ve ever seen. We drive toward it, leaning forward, squinting, and it is a sign with a crooked arrow that says, “Keep Going”. Hahahahaha!!! Eventually we arrive at the train station, which we almost passed because it’s pretty small. In a “do as I say, not as I do” moment, I get out of the van and run across the railroad tracks. I could see a parent, sitting next to his child, just shaking his head and no doubt thinking, “What a stupid lady”. I approach an old train car turned ticket booth turned gift and candy shop, and a very “Virginia City” looking man, dressed in complete western wear, steps out.
At this point I begin the first of many charming, but incredibly awkward, conversations with “Western Guy” (yeah, I never got his name). I ask, “Are you Tom?”. In complete character he tells me, “Tom? No Tom here. I expect he’ll be here ’round about 11:30, maybe noon”. It’s now about 10 minutes after 11, and the Fiskateers are due at the train station at 11:30 and I’m starting to panic just a wee bit. I explain that I’m with Fiskars and he says, “Oh, yeah, the ‘orange’ train. Well, ma’am, I reckon that the train will be pulling in about 11:30”. Yes…..the train WE are supposed to spread Fisk-a-magic on. Now I’m really starting to panic. So Western Guy asks, “Are you Angela?” nope, not Angela. “Are you Julie?” I say, “No”, but then start to panic more. Were we supposed to bring Julie with us? Did we forget Julie? Where is Julie?!!!?!! Now I’m really confused. Western Guy acts like he has no clue, but he knows of Angela, and somehow knows about Julie. He asks who I am, and then points to the van and wants to know Amy and Hisahos' names (I thought I was going to lose him Hishaso’s name, lol). He tells me, “Well, ma’am, if you’re not Angela and you’re not Julie, then I don’t reckon I can help you.” This is when I remember that there isn’t much cell reception way up here, so the little bit of panic I’m feeling turns into full blown panic. As it slowly dawns on me that this guy really isn’t “in character”, that this is his true persona, things start to get even more interesting.Scene 3 – You Want us to do What?: As Western Guy continues to give me a bad time, another man steps out in an attempt to rescue me. I explain the situation to him, and then Western Guy translates what I said into his own Wild West lingo. They both take note that they can see Tom’s car “down yonder”, and proceed to point it out to me, asking me if I can see Tom’s car. Um, no…..I’ve never seen Tom’s car in my life, so, no, I don’t see it. The two then argue about whether or not they should send us over to Tom, because, as they so chillingly point out, “You’ll never find it on your own”. So Western Guy chuckles at the thought of us heading out into the unknown and proceeds to enlighten me with directions. “Well, Ma’am, you need to head out down this here road. Now you head over the railroad tracks just down over there. You see those tracks?” Um….we’re at a railroad station…..there are tracks everywhere!! “So you go over the railroad tracks, then take the road a ways and you’re gonna go ‘round the “S” bend in the road. So you take that “S” and then keep driving a while. Now you’re gonna come to these two old buildings, and when ya’ do, turn left and go down that there dirt road.” And famous last words, “You’ll know you’re there when you’re there”. And if I’m not??? Oy!
Scene 4 – Off-Roading in Angela’s Mom Van, Yee Haw!!: So as I run back over the railroad tracks, I’m thinking, “Huh?”. I jump into the van and repeat what I can remember and off we go, trying to figure out these directions. It was easier than I thought it would be, but one wrong turn would have resulted in a search party being formed instead of a train ride! So we hit the dirt road and the off-roading fun begins. Poor Angela……her poor car, nearly bottoming out. Oh well, the show must go on and sacrifices must be made!
We eventually arrive at a sign that says, “No Trespassing”. So, of course, we trespassed. We were on a Fisk-a-mission, after all! Amy later wrote that she felt like a rebel. I think, deep down, all 3 of us did, hahaha! We arrive at our final destination within the train yard and pull up to a wreck of a train. Amy’s turn to panic….she says, “Is THAT our train?” hahahahaha…thankfully, no, it wasn’t. The actual train was still a bit further. We get out and head over to a train with orange lights on it (of course). I feel like we’ve reached the promised land! We find Tom on our first try. Thank goodness!! Not only was Tom nice, but he was sane. A plus in my book any day.Scene 5 – The Fisk-a-Magic begins: What??? I can’t tell you this part!! This is where the Fisk-a-Magic happens, so I’ll leave this part up to your Fisk-a-magination.
Scene 6 – The Fisk-a-Bug: As we head back to the railroad station, mission accomplished, we pass a green and orange bug. We screech to a stop (Angela, your van has great brakes, he he he). Of course, we did what any good Fiskateer would do, despite a pressing timeline, and we jump out and take pictures. I realize later that the Fisk-a-Bug is probably older than young Amy. I realize even later, that it’s probably older than all 3 of us. Ha!
Scene 7 – Mission Accomplished: As we cross back over the railroad tracks, we are met with a sea of orange people. Our people. We sneak the van into the lot and go over to show Angela a picture of the “train”. Of course, we show her a broken down train. The look on her face was priceless! What an adventure (and, yes, I took pictures of the Fisk-a-magic, he he).
And, THAT, is the rest of the story:
Saturday, November 1, 2008
A Prima Surprise!
What a nice surprise for me! About 1 month ago, Prima Marketing offered free flowers for the first 250 people to respond to their Breast Cancer Awareness blog. Thanks to my Fiskateer friends who pointed me to the blog, I was one of the first 250. In return for the free goodies, we were asked to make something (card, layout, project) and submit to Prima. I did, and it appears in their October 31st blog.
What a fun way to participate in something that means so much to me (Breast Cancer Awareness....the flowers are just a plus, he he he).
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween! Here's hoping for a dry one for all the little ghouls and goblins.
>>>>>>>>
My new cards for http://cardsketchaday.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Card Sketch A Day Blog
~~~~ I am having great fun this year participating in Susan Costanza's Card Sketch A Day Blog. These 2 cards have already been shown on the blog......and there is more to come :-) !
http://cardsketchaday.blogspot.com/
Friday, August 29, 2008
I Think I Blinked!
Oh My! Where did the summer go? It seemed like it was just a few weeks ago that summer vacation started, and now DS has been back in school for 3 weeks already. And what a summer it has been......wisdom teeth have been pulled (thankfully not mine), hairs have turned grey (sadly, mine because DS is learning to drive), my oldest has started law school, and...well....to get caught up, just check out my Scrapbook.com blog:
Some of my blog entries will make you chuckle, and some will cure your insomnia, hahahaha!
I have added lots of stuff to my gallery over there, but I think my favorite is "Oh Baby". I used the Basic Grey Oh Baby papers, and Bo Bunny Baby word book.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Hangin' with Becky Fleck
Saturday was a super fun day for me! I spent the day at Suzy West's store, Picture Me Perfect, in Fremont with Suzy, her staff, lots of friends and fellow scrappers...........and Becky Fleck!!
That's me on the left, and Becky in the middle. On the right is classmate, Sonda Tadlock.
Becky is the author of PageMaps, which is this awesome book that has many, many sketches, and includes pop-out cards for cropping on-the-go. She also has PageMaps on line, and I've had 1 layout and 1 card appear on that site. Becky is very sweet, friendly, funny, and is a great teacher who works hard to create a stress-free class.
Becky taught 2 classes on Saturday using Basic Grey products. Did you know that she is a designer for BG? It was fun having her show us which of the papers she personally designed from the Suagared and Euphoria collections. We had fun with paint, made a huge mess with glitter (sorry, Suzy!!), played with rub-ons, stickers, and I'm sure other things that I can't think of right now.
We created 2 albums using BG chipboard albums. One had a unique design to each page, so there was lots (and lots and lotsand lots and lots) of trimming and cutting.
I sure wish that I had pictures of the completed projects to show you, but..............in class number 2, I cut into my finger with my microtip scissors. OUCH! . Not good. It took a while to stop the bleeding, and Suzy had to bandage me up (sorry once again!). I've learned that everyclass seems to have someone with a scrap injury. I guess it was just my time. I had to stop scrapping and deal with my dumb, injured finger. Sigh.
Afterwards, we all hung out at the store and dinner was brought in from the Market Broiler (ymmmmm). It was relaxing and fun and I couldn't ask for a nicer scrap-day.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Page Maps - Again!
YAY! I have another PageMaps submission . I submitted a card for Becky Fleck's June PageMaps. What's more exciting is that I get to meet Becky at the end of this month. She is teaching classes at an LSS (about an hour away from me) at the end of June. I was surprised to learn that Becky is a designer for Basic Grey! One class will be showcasing BG's new Sugared collection. I can't wait!!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
PageMaps Publication
I'm so excited! My "Beautiful Timing" layout is featured in Becky Fleck's April 2008 PageMaps newsletter. I love Becky's website. Here's a link:
Most of the products used were from my January 2008 Memory Works kit.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
I hate paperwork!!!
I am slowly.....no, make that quickly, drowning in paperwork. This time of year, many parents are signing their students up for SAT's and paying their obligatory $55-ish fee. This is all just a vague memory for me now, given the age of my oldest kids. For my youngest, though, it's a WHOLE different ballgame. sigh. He has dysgraphia due to anatomical abnormalities in his hands. For that reason, he needs to use a computer during the essay portion of the SAT's, and quite possibly for all of those hundreds of little bubbles that must be neatly filled in.
So, instead of paying $55-ish, we are paying $$$$ (yes, that's 4 $$$$) to obtain proper assessments to attach to an application to the College Board. There is the neuro-psych, the psychologist, the school psychologist, the occupational therapist, and the school career counselor on Team Stephen. And the paperwork?? Oy! I have filled out SO many applications to date that my neck hurts, and I've made so many extra copies of prior assessments that by all rights, I should have each line of all 100+ pages memorized by now. sniffle. NO, make that SNIFFLE!!!! There isn't enough Excederin back and body pain reliever to help me this week. And yet, we're only part way done. Two reams of paper, one ink cartridge, numerous car trips, numerous phone calls, one school meeting, and we're still in the process of obtaining what is supposed to be a free service for disabled students. Oh....it could be free. We could go through our school district for all of the testing, but the problem with that is when my son steps onto public school property, he is suddenly "cured". He can't pass simple occupational therapy tests administered by private professionals, yet magically seems to pass the tests at the public school. I guess anatomy isn't something that our public school district administrators are required to learn. Why does this miracle take place only on public school grounds? That's easy to answer....if he fails the public school test, then they *gasp* will have to pay for the services that we otherwise have paid for. Arrrrgggg!!!! Sure, we could, and should, hire lawyers. But instead we've chosen to put our money into private education and private professionals. Our school district's lawyers are better than any other lawyer that I've seen any parent hire yet, but that's a WHOLE other story.
And will all this effort be successful? No. Not at first. The College Board has a nasty habit of immediately disqualifying all applications for accommodations. We will most likely have to appeal, which is why we are starting this process about a year ahead of time. Thank goodness for knowledgeable school personnel and staff, because they are the ones who told us to act NOW.
And the reward? Well, long term it will be a college education and greater independence for our son, who is an academic genius. But short term, it will be another round of testing in another year and a half to obtain accommodations for college. The fun never ends.
OK....time to take my whiny, neck-achy, fatigued body back up to the copier. sniffle.
So, instead of paying $55-ish, we are paying $$$$ (yes, that's 4 $$$$) to obtain proper assessments to attach to an application to the College Board. There is the neuro-psych, the psychologist, the school psychologist, the occupational therapist, and the school career counselor on Team Stephen. And the paperwork?? Oy! I have filled out SO many applications to date that my neck hurts, and I've made so many extra copies of prior assessments that by all rights, I should have each line of all 100+ pages memorized by now. sniffle. NO, make that SNIFFLE!!!! There isn't enough Excederin back and body pain reliever to help me this week. And yet, we're only part way done. Two reams of paper, one ink cartridge, numerous car trips, numerous phone calls, one school meeting, and we're still in the process of obtaining what is supposed to be a free service for disabled students. Oh....it could be free. We could go through our school district for all of the testing, but the problem with that is when my son steps onto public school property, he is suddenly "cured". He can't pass simple occupational therapy tests administered by private professionals, yet magically seems to pass the tests at the public school. I guess anatomy isn't something that our public school district administrators are required to learn. Why does this miracle take place only on public school grounds? That's easy to answer....if he fails the public school test, then they *gasp* will have to pay for the services that we otherwise have paid for. Arrrrgggg!!!! Sure, we could, and should, hire lawyers. But instead we've chosen to put our money into private education and private professionals. Our school district's lawyers are better than any other lawyer that I've seen any parent hire yet, but that's a WHOLE other story.
And will all this effort be successful? No. Not at first. The College Board has a nasty habit of immediately disqualifying all applications for accommodations. We will most likely have to appeal, which is why we are starting this process about a year ahead of time. Thank goodness for knowledgeable school personnel and staff, because they are the ones who told us to act NOW.
And the reward? Well, long term it will be a college education and greater independence for our son, who is an academic genius. But short term, it will be another round of testing in another year and a half to obtain accommodations for college. The fun never ends.
OK....time to take my whiny, neck-achy, fatigued body back up to the copier. sniffle.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Calling all Brain Cells
I have noticed that since my surgery, that I am not the smartest knife in the drawer (as my DD would put it.....yes, smartest instead of sharpest, silly girl).
Case in point, this last week I managed to do, in over 200 weekly trips to Oakland, what my husband did in 2 just trips. I got a parking ticket (oh boo hoo, I'll get over it)
Now in my husband's defense, he parked next to a broken meter and thought the warning sign "You will be ticketed if meter is expired, even if meter is broken" was just some sort of verbage put there to scare away people who dared to park next to a not-so-obviously broken meter. He soon found out otherwise.
In my case, however, well.....I have no defense. But I still blame that surgery! I swear that some of my brain cells are still "under". It's the only thing I can think of! So here I was in Oakland last week, pulling up in front of my son's doctor's office. Normally I pull into the "double parking zone" while DS hops out and heads into his appointment. I then drive off to find friendly, free parking a few blocks away. This day, however, we scored the jackpot. There were 3 open spaces in front of the office!!! I pull into the front space and DS hops out. I plan to park, but look up and see a meter. There weren't meters at the other spaces, and so I think, "Du'h, I'll just back up and park at the spaces without the meters," totally forgetting the new parking system in Oakland. The new system is no meters.....you simply swipe your credit card at a central machine, receive your parking permit, and then dash back to your car before the meter reader can start writing a ticket (I've seen people get tickets while standing at the central meters!). Now I knew this when I pulled up, and planned to go to the central meter. But, I guess seeing the old parking meter there threw me off. After backing into a "free" space, I got out and walked to the doctor's waiting room where I sat, all smug at my "brilliance". After the appointment, we walked to the car where I found my parking ticket, snuggled into it's bright green return envelope (sure....parking is inconvenient, but paying the ticket is?), stashed under my windshield wiper. Oh why wasn't it raining buckets on that day? So I look at my ticket, look at where there is no meter, and say out loud to DS, "This ticket says that I have an expired meter? How can I have an expired meter if there is no....." Click! The lighbulb goes on!
All I could do is laugh at myself, and go home and pay the blasted fine!
Case in point, this last week I managed to do, in over 200 weekly trips to Oakland, what my husband did in 2 just trips. I got a parking ticket (oh boo hoo, I'll get over it)
Now in my husband's defense, he parked next to a broken meter and thought the warning sign "You will be ticketed if meter is expired, even if meter is broken" was just some sort of verbage put there to scare away people who dared to park next to a not-so-obviously broken meter. He soon found out otherwise.
In my case, however, well.....I have no defense. But I still blame that surgery! I swear that some of my brain cells are still "under". It's the only thing I can think of! So here I was in Oakland last week, pulling up in front of my son's doctor's office. Normally I pull into the "double parking zone" while DS hops out and heads into his appointment. I then drive off to find friendly, free parking a few blocks away. This day, however, we scored the jackpot. There were 3 open spaces in front of the office!!! I pull into the front space and DS hops out. I plan to park, but look up and see a meter. There weren't meters at the other spaces, and so I think, "Du'h, I'll just back up and park at the spaces without the meters," totally forgetting the new parking system in Oakland. The new system is no meters.....you simply swipe your credit card at a central machine, receive your parking permit, and then dash back to your car before the meter reader can start writing a ticket (I've seen people get tickets while standing at the central meters!). Now I knew this when I pulled up, and planned to go to the central meter. But, I guess seeing the old parking meter there threw me off. After backing into a "free" space, I got out and walked to the doctor's waiting room where I sat, all smug at my "brilliance". After the appointment, we walked to the car where I found my parking ticket, snuggled into it's bright green return envelope (sure....parking is inconvenient, but paying the ticket is?), stashed under my windshield wiper. Oh why wasn't it raining buckets on that day? So I look at my ticket, look at where there is no meter, and say out loud to DS, "This ticket says that I have an expired meter? How can I have an expired meter if there is no....." Click! The lighbulb goes on!
All I could do is laugh at myself, and go home and pay the blasted fine!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
My First Fiskars Training!
This last Saturday was my first Fiskars training. I was set up for 8 people, but life comes at us fast and only 2 were able to make it. So sad for the rest, because Jackie, Karen and I had a blast! So much fun!
My next training is a private one in March, followed by my last group training before Fiskars stops the program on March 31st. I sure hope that more people can join me before then, because we had such a great time. We had to laugh at how much mess just 3 people could make!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Ouch - That's Gotta Hurt
Poor, dumb, sweet BooKitty. For her entertainment, and ours (of course), Santa brought us a light-up squeeze ball. Squeeze the ball, and it lights up with all sorts of colors. Boo enjoys it, or rather she did. Last night Stephen squeezed the ball and placed it on the floor in front of her. She bent over for a sniff, and "wham", it came to life. It scared the beejeebers out of her, and up she jumped, several feet straight into the air (Michael Jordan would have been proud). There was just one itty bitty problem.......she was sitting under the coffee table when she did this. So, what would have probably been a 5 foot vertical jump became an 8-inch abrupt stop with her head. Ouch!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
