TGIF: Head Shaking Edition

Welcome to....



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Go HERE to read all about how this came to be.  Basically, it's about ending your week on a positive note!

To participate
1. Write a post about something good that happened this week (or if you don't blog, tell me by leaving a comment). It can be anything!
2. Grab the #TGIF button and include it somewhere in your post.
3. Come back here and link up.  Linky is open through Saturday (even if I publish a new post).
4. Visit some of the other linkers, leave comments and consider giving them a follow.
5. Share posts on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc, if you are so inclined!

* * * * *

I have had one of those weeks in which things that make you go Hmmm have happened.  Like, things that just made me shake my head.

So, I'm going to focus on the funniness of these things.

On Monday, Mark officially began the process of having all this teeth pulled and getting dentures.

No, he's not 60 years old or anything.  He's 42, but not only was he born with weak tooth enamel, his myriad health problems have also contributed to quite a bit of tooth decay.  We all know now that unhealthy teeth can contribute to health problems such as heart disease, soooo....you can see why this is probably the best way for him to go.

But O-M-G!  It's so funny because he's only 42 and I'm only 37 and...dentures?  Really?  Hahahaha & *shaking head*!

Also on Monday, Camryn came home without any clue as to what she was supposed to do for homework.  She claimed she went to the bathroom when the teacher explained it.  I pointed out that she needed to then ASK the teacher or a fellow student what she missed.

Hello, child!  My children's lack of common sense is a continuous source of amusement to me.  So since she was totally lame about her homework, I made her fold AND put away her clean clothes all by herself.  Hahahaha & *shaking head*.

On Wednesday I completely spaced that it was early release day.  Thankfully I was sitting in a quiet house (no TV or music on) and heard AJ's bus coming.  I hi-tailed it outside in a t-shirt, pajama bottoms and birks.  Hahahaha & *shaking head*.

Oh, and earlier on Wednesday, Mark was getting ready to leave for work and turned on the kitchen faucet to rinse his travel cup out noticing that we had very little water pressure.  We both stood there as the water slowly...just....stopped....running.

Uh, WTF water?  Why did you stop?

Mark looked at me questioningly and asked if I had paid the city utility bill.

Um...yes!  I paid....half....was waiting for more money to pay the rest.  Kinda thought they'd warn us if they were close to shutting it off.

Apparently not.

We went outside and, lo and behold, there was this laminated orange card sticking out from where the water meter lives.

Terrific.

We took care of it, but it was still gonna be awhile before the water got turned back on.  I thought, oh well, guess this means I don't have to run any laundry right now!

Way to be positive, right?

Hahahaha & *shaking head*!

Lastly, after the #WaterBillDebacle, Home Depot decided to cut hours this week.

We obviously don't need LESS money.

But after the other silly mishaps of the week I can only.... Hahahaha & *shake head*.

But people, if you have any home projects on your list, I encourage you to go to your local Home Depot to buy your supplies.  Please and thank you.

Something to make you laugh:

So how was your week?  What GOOD things occurred?

Link up and make me smile!

How I Met My Husband

Today the story of how I met Mark is being featured by Rach at Life with Baby Donut for her weekly series on the subject!

Mark and I are the 10th couple featured.  You know how I like even numbers.



So, you know, go over there and read it.  (And be sure to leave a comment because comments make both me and Rach really happy.)

I'll wait.

Because if that just wasn't enough info for your voyeuristic little heart, I have written more here before....

Like this post where I shared what led up to our getting married.

And here and here I talked about our relationship.

Now, maybe go love on your SO a little! :-)

 

PS: Don't forget to TGIF with me tomorrow through Saturday!

Summer's Last Stand

For this week's listicles Stasha suggested a Summer 2011 recap.

I am a fan of looking back at what has transpired, because, as they say, hindsight is 20/20....

1. It was a different summer in a lot of ways.

2.  The weather was not very summer-like for most of it.  Really and truly, I am not exaggerating.  And then we got Indian Summer here into September, with a cool rain starting just yesterday, the 25th.  It's like we had an extended spring, a little summer and are now butting heads with fall...?  All I know is it seems to me that we no longer really know what "normal" weather is.

3.  Back in June, we began the summer with a few milestones.  Little did I know how different those things would feel today.  My oldest is a middle schooler, my youngest is a kindergartner, with nothing in between.  I really don't care for extremes, yet one is glaringly personified in my children.  At the time that AJ graduated Pre-K and Camryn graduated 5th grade, I had no idea their age difference would feel twice as obvious in just a few months when they each started new chapters in their little lives.  Wait.  I can't even say "little" about Camryn anymore!

4.  We didn't spend the 4th of July with other families this year.  Was still a good day, but not really special or memory-making.

5.  I dove head first - or perhaps, belly-flopped - into becoming a bonafied blogger.  It's really become a part of me, part of my identity.  I didn't know I had so much to say.  It's very liberating and empowering and cathartic.

6.  Camryn turned 11 and became a Tween.  My little girl is officially growing up.  You may think your little ones are growing up every day, but let me tell you, it will hit like a ton of bricks when they turn 11 and leave elementary school.

7.  I went from fearing the idea of travelling without Mark for a week to loving it and being so excited about it I could have peed my pants!  It was wonderful to get back to Lake Tahoe.  It was also wonderful to come home, which I think is exactly what a vacation should do for you.

8.  I actually got a tan this year!  Even a burn.  But I had to leave Washington to do it.

9.  The kids' days were filled with Orbeez, Frisbees, tennis balls, Hula Hoops and a Slip N Slide .  Oh and they spent all their allowance on buying ice cream from the ice cream truck!

10.  Then there is the start of school and Girl Scouts.  AJ went from afternoon pre-K to morning K and Camryn is bussing clear across town for the completely different experience of middle school.  This is Cami's first year as a Cadette Girl Scout and I as her troop's co-leader.  We've hit a few bumps in the road trying to get used to everything.  There really have been many changes since last June!

But it's all good.  We are easing into our new groove...or being slammed by it, I can't decide which. Next we will be thinking about HalloGiveMas.  Ohmigosh, really?  Again, already?

Seasons change, time marches on....

"There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart."

~Celia Thaxter

The Worst Night of My Life

The title of this post is not an exaggeration.

One year ago yesterday, September 20, 2010, my husband Mark went to the ER having his second heart attack.  The next day, a year ago today, he had double bypass surgery.  While in surgery it was discovered that he had pericarditis, a staph infection surrounding his heart, and he was septic.  This can easily kill a person.

That night, after Mark had made it through surgery and seemed stable, his heart stopped 3 times.

After a year I still gasp a little when I talk about this.  I still want to cry.

I didn't start writing about this experience until November 2010, when I and my closest friends realized I needed to do something, to get it out somehow.  The first step was to admit I was having a hard time.

I realized I probably had post-traumatic stress and that helped me understand what I was feeling a lot more.  I went through fully feeling my love for Mark to being deeply touched by movies I watched.  I easily felt like the sky was falling any time any little thing was off in my world, and there was a lot of crying.

By the end of November I felt like things were shifting back to the positive and maybe my head was too.  Yet I still also felt heavy, like the weight of the world was on my shoulders.  I had this one really good moment when I didn't think about the night from hell, instead thinking about the day they pulled Mark's breathing tube out and he was finally awake.  I was so on an emotional roller coaster, but I spent the rest of the Holiday season focusing on the good things.

I had hoped by the new year I would somehow just snap out of my funk.  Unfortunately you can't simply order these things up.  2010 had been split pretty much in half, the beginning an exciting time when we bought our house, and the end dealing with the aftermath of the night from hell.  I wished so much I could wrap it up and tie it with a pretty bow and be done.

Life doesn't work that way, does it?  I was apparently on a slow path to learning some pretty effing huge life lessons and it was kind of pissing me off!  But I kept plugging along, writing about whatever revelations came to me.  I had this one really awesome day that I just had to share....

Then 6 months post-surgery came and I realized I was still traumatized.  But I also realized I didn't care anymore about whether or not that was OK or normal.  I was where I was with it all and I would get wherever I needed to be whenever I got there.

That bit of wisdom allowed me to start blogging about more of the other things in my life.  I actually just realized this going through my posts.  Wow, it is so interesting to look back at things after some time has passed!

So where am I at today and what does coming to the 1 year anniversary of the worst night of my life mean for me?

It means a lot has changed.  I've changed.  Mark has changed.  We've both learned so much and gained so much wisdom.  Do I wish it didn't take traumatic events to teach us thick-headed humans important things?  Yes.  Do I wish we had never had to experience that?  Absolutely.  Do I wish Mark's doctors hadn't felt the need to repeat over and over again that he should have died?  Ya think?  Pretty sure that didn't help me a bit.

But as I sit here now, I think coming so close to losing my husband is now just another notch on my belt, so to speak.  It's just one more thing we've gone through.  It's one more experience woven into the proverbial tapestry of our lives.  I know now that what I felt that night will always be with me, sitting on my shoulder, whispering in my ear.

But maybe that's OK because then I can't take anything for granted.  It's not allowed.  I have come away from nearly realizing my biggest fear with a fuller heart and with so much gratitude, I can't even fully express it.

I will always be traumatized, damaged, scarred.  But that's OK too.  It's all part of who I am and I think, who I'm meant to be.  I'm not saying it doesn't suck, because it totally does.  But it's not all bad.  In fact, there's plenty of good.

I've shared this quote before:

"We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, `Why did this happen to me?' unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way."

~ Author Unknown

Back in the Day

Being a kid today is so much different than it was when I was a kid!

I was born in 1974.  I grew up in the 80s, graduating high school in 1992.

Oh the 80's!  But that's an entirely other subject....

What I'm talking about today are things I wish my kids could do nowadays that I did when I was a kid.

I'd like to say that I wish they didn't have to sit in car seats or wear bike helmets, because I manged to survive without them, but honestly, those things keep kids safe and that's a good thing.

However....

source

1. I drank whole milk.  Today, pediatricians tell us to stop that by the time our kids are 2, to switch to 2% or even 1% or - gag - fat free.  I think "fat free milk" is an oxymoron.  Nevermind the fact that I no longer like the taste of milk.  That's not the point.  I'm talking about my kids!

source

2.  I climbed trees.  I can't for the life of me find a decent climbing tree anywhere!  My cousins had a great one right in their backyard and we climbed it every chance we got.

3.  We had lots of family get-togethers.  It seems like having parties with kids now can only be for a kid's birthday party.  We don't get together, just families, and have fun together much.  The adults in my life felt fine with having their fun right along side us kids having our fun.  Seems like everyone wants more separation nowadays.

4.  I could run around town.  Even though there really isn't any more danger to kids these days than there was years ago, we are now afraid to let our kids out of our sight.  I guess this is because of the media?  I don't know, but we are so worried they will be kidnapped or worse.

5.  I could stay out until the street lights came on.  My parents knew about where I'd be, but not always specifically.  I had more freedom than my kids do.

6.  I could go to the bus stop by myself even in Kindergarten.  I have to be at the bus stop with AJ when he gets on in the morning, and the driver won't let him off after school if I'm not standing right there.

7.  I ate Twinkies.  I don't think I've ever given one of my children a Twinkie.  I wasn't even sure if they still existed until I found this picture!

8.  I was a latch-key kid.  I had my own house key and was at home alone after school all the time.  Even as early as age 7.  No parent does that now.  But I was fine.  No boogieman ever got me and I never burned the house down.

9.  I hardly ever needed help with my homework.  Why do my kids always need help?  Well actually, just Camryn since AJ hasn't had any homework yet.  Is it just that she's got ADD?  Is it actually harder?  I think some things are harder, but some stuff isn't being taught anymore at all.

source

10.  MTV was brand new and pretty much only videos.  I'm not an old fuddy-duddy who doesn't like new music.  On the contrary, I like a lot of what comes out.  But I won't watch MTV anymore because it's hardly about music.  And I don't really want my kids watching it because they're just going to see a whole bunch of crap.

What would you add to the list?

Magic Moments

Shell at Things I Can't Say has been hosting photo link-ups for a few months now and this month is...

So below please enjoy some of my favorite pics from over the past year or so!

My little boy's sweet face

My daughter having dessert on her 10th birthday, smiling at her friend.

This is special because it was our first meal in our house

This is MOST of my Dad's side of my family out at Lake Roesiger here in WA state.

Christmas 2010 - the first in our house

OMG, this cake! It is a BLACK and silver ice cream cake from DQ for AJ's 5th birthday. The black frosting made a HUGE mess! I do not recommend black frosting. But he thought it was pretty awesome, and I guess that's all that matters.

Portraits we had done of the kids to commemorate them being 5 & 10. AJ will never be exactly half of Cami's age again.

I've shared this picture before, but I just love it! Camryn at her Girl Scouts bridging ceremony back in June.

A sibling moment

Me and my kids walking on a Lake Tahoe beach

Me and J.Ho...and a hose :-D

How to Whore and/or Pimp Your Blog

About a month ago I wrote this post about how I felt like I was whoring myself all over the Internet for the sake of my blog. Upon reading this, someone (I could swear it was Jenn at Fox in the City, but I can't find the proof!) innocently suggested that I write a “how to” post all about whoring your blog, and essentially yourself, out to the world.

Warning:
I do not claim to be a professional in social media, networking, advertising or whoring. I simply aim to outline what I've learned about the whoring process. Most of this is dead on true, some may be exaggerated. You be the judge. The words “whoring” and “pimping” will be used interchangeably. Because really, what’s the difference?

* * * * *

Once upon a time there was a girl who did not blog. Then one day she decided to set one up. She hadn’t read many blogs before and didn’t have the first clue what she was doing, how to put herself out there so people might read what she wrote, or if she even wanted to.

The girl dabbled with blogging at first. Then got pretty serious with it, using her writing space to work on some issues (her tagline for awhile was “because blogging is cheaper than therapy!”).

Then one day in the Spring of 2011, after she had already been blogging for an entire YEAR, the girl’s little bloggy world opened wide up! It all began with the desire to share a knitting pattern with other knitters but she needed a place to post the pattern for these other knitters to find. Then it was the idea to set up an Etsy shop of the girl’s knitted items…

And then BAM! The girl realized she WANTED people to find her. To hear her and share with her. The next thing she knew she had discovered a blog called Things I Can't Say and joined in on her very first blog hop. From there the girl was whisked away into a new-to-her world full of blogs, comments, Twitter (#wineparty!) and social networking.

* * * * *

First and foremost us bloggers gotta stick together! There is so much to be learned from each other, and the purest bloggy love you can give and receive is commenting. Second and foremost is Twitter.

During #SummerBlogSocial I wrote about how I didn’t get Twitter for the longest time. Well that’s because I didn’t go there often enough to get the lay of the land. I was too enamored with Facebook, I guess. Coincidentally, I began getting bored with Facebook around the same time my blogging world opened up, so I was cool with giving Twitter a second chance.

The only problem with Twitter is that things happen fast and the attention span of tweeps isn’t real high things are easy to miss. So you have to tweet your post several times throughout the day in hopes that a bunch of your followers will actually see. Here is where a little thing called Triberr can help.

Triberr does this cool thing of autoMAGICally having all the other tweeps in your “tribe” tweet out your posts. Once you’re signed up, you don’t have to lift a finger. The only downside I’ve noticed is that there are a lot of review and giveaway blogs out there and I know some tweeps feel like those tweets get spammy (try saying that 3 times fast). I’m not talking about bloggers who do that sort of thing sometimes. I’m talking about the ones whose sole purpose is doing reviews and giveaways. There seems to be a line between love and hate where that’s concerned. Anyway, I know that Triberr has helped some people find my blog and for that I appreciate it. Besides, remember that bit I said about attention spans things happening fast on Twitter?

OK. So. Next I saw a news headline (on Twitter) that said StumbleUpon has exceeded Facebook in its users’ social networking reach. Someone “stumbles upon” something they think is cool, shares it, someone they know sees it and “stumbles” it, and so on and so forth. It’s really no different than Facebook or Twitter in that regard, but the key here is that StumbleUpon stumbles are being clicked on more often and reaching more people, apparently than “likes” and sharing on Facebook.

While all the blog conferencing was happening over the summer I also heard that LinkedIn is another tool that bloggers can use to show their more professional side. Because yes, you CAN be a professional blogger if you want to. Or, you can be semi-professional. You could also just dig on the swanky title LinkedIn gives you when you sign up as a blogger: Independent Internet Professional. Nice, right? For me, I like the idea of putting myself and my blog on LinkedIn because I do take my blogging seriously. It has become important to me. I love my blog. And yes, I am open to the perks opportunities it might bring my way.

Now here’s where some serious whoring comes in. There are these other sites you can join called Klout and Foursquare. Klout is exactly what it sounds like: a measurement of your social media influence. Now, the formula for this seems to be as secret as the Colonel’s original recipe. Mostly it seems to be for contributing to Twitter fun because the things Klout decides you’re influential about are sometimes suspect. My friend SG wrote a great post blasting Klout for their insensitivity. I mean, somehow I’m influential about “thriller”. WTF? I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that song nor MJ anywhere!

But you can’t help yourself. You will play along with Klout even if only you hope to one day have them recognize the things you feel you should be influential about. I have to admit, I’m pretty proud that both coffee and wine are on my list.

What?

Foursquare is my newest social media pimp. It’s like Facebook check-ins on steroids. I guess you earn little badges and can become a “mayor”. A mayor of what I have no idea. Like Klout, I’m pretty sure it is something you can take a little less seriously than the other things, yet it’s still a possible means of making connections that you otherwise wouldn’t.

You think I’m almost done, don’t you?

I have yet to mention all the blogger community sites out there. I probably don’t even know of all of them, but here are the ones I do know of:

• BlogHer
• SITS
• Studio30 Plus
• Bloggy Moms
• The Lady Bloggers Society
• Theta Mom
• Picket Fence Blogs
• The Mommy Blogger Directory
• Bloggers.com

And the ones I know of who want to help you get the perks of blogging:

• Business 2 Blogger
• The Clever Network
• Social Spark

I must point out, however, that the 2 blogger product review opportunities I’ve received so far have not come from the above. They have come from commenting on other blogs and simply making myself and my interests known. I got to sample and review wine (LOVE) and next up is digital scrap booking software. These are simply 2 things I talked about, and someone noticed.

I inadvertently whored myself. That’s gotta be a talent.

So let’s recap, shall we?

I think the whoring/pimping order should be:

• Start your blog
• Get on Twitter
• Find other bloggers and blogs to follow
• Participate in Hops and Memes
• Comment and reply to comments
• Make bloggy friends
• Set up a Facebook fanpage
• Get invited to join a Triberr tribe
• Join StumbleUpon and stumble your own posts as well as other stuff you like
• Make sure it’s easy for people to follow you with plenty of options right at the tippy-top of your sidebar
• Sign up with LinkedIn
• Participate in the silliness of Klout and Foursquare
• Add your blog to every single blog directory and community you come across!

Oh, and lest I forget, keep up on your content as well. Because no matter how you whore your blog, if people come to it and don’t like what they see, they won’t stay.

People are fickle, really.

I suppose now you want a nice little package to wrap this all up in?

You’re in luck. I happen to have one.

It’s about.me.

Once you’ve set up profiles on every social/professional/fun networking site you can handle, your final step is to set up ONE MORE profile that links all your other profiles in one place!

I feel I may have overwhelmed you.  I have a solution for that too.  There's this great site called Eli | Rose Social Media where you can go to get guidance on all of this.

Phew!

That, my friends, is the blogger whoring and pimping process in a nutshell.

Now go. Go pay your pimping dues like a good little blogger.

And then go take a shower.

Disclaimer: This very informative post was written for the sole purpose of helping my fellow bloggers in their pimping pursuits. I am in no way affiliated with any of the websites I mentioned and linked to, nor have I been compensated for this post. I’m not THAT big of a whore! Sheesh, what do you take me for?

I Hate My Kids' Math

I’m naming names today.

I’m going to vent about the biggest thorn in my side as a parent of school-aged children.

The PTSA?

No.

Homework?

Nope.

Buying all the supplies?

Not even that.

It’s the elementary math curriculum our district adopted the year my daughter entered first grade. The year she was going to really start delving into doing actual math.

Cami is moving on to middle school this year, and will therefore start a new math curriculum. Thank God!

But my son AJ is entering kindergarten so we have to do it all over again with him.

Because even though most of the parents I know, and even many of the teachers, don’t like it, the district seems pretty committed to sticking with it.

This way that they’re teaching my kids math is vastly different from the way I learned math. This makes it rather difficult to help with the homework. It makes Mark and I feel really dumb!

They are pushing our kids to learn more sooner now, but that’s only part of. Because regardless of when I learned math concepts, I still learned them (mostly).

It’s the WAY this curriculum teaches them math that I just don’t get. It doesn’t make sense to me so it makes it super hard to help it makes sense to my kid.

They claim:

• The nation's leading Pre K — 6 math curriculum
• Scientifically research-based
• Builds student's mathematical knowledge from the basics to higher-order thinking and critical problem solving
• Proven record of success

I’m not seeing it.

It doesn’t even focus on kids memorizing basic math facts!

It tells them to make “ballpark estimates”.

People, math is like the ONE thing in life that is black or white, no shades of grey. 2 + 2 = 4 and that’s that.

There should be no, “Well, maybe it could equal 5.”

I understand teaching and learning are different now. I’m cool with that because “when you know better you do better”, right?

But while they are challenging kids more today, they’re also neglecting some things. For example, my 11 year old still can’t tell time on an analog clock very well. I remember doing worksheet after worksheet with little clocks printed all over them where I had to write down what time each little clock displayed. I recall learning this in 3^rd and 4^th grade. Camryn is about to enter 6^th grade.

Is it a sign of the times? Because another thing they’ve neglected to emphasize in school today is cursive handwriting.

Even still, this particular math curriculum drives me nuts because of concepts like:

• Ballpark estimates
• Adding with partial sums
• Describing chances
• Magnitude estimates
• The partial-quotients division algorithm

What?? Does any of that make sense to you?

Don’t answer that if you’re a math whiz!

The rest of us with average math abilities are scratching our heads.

To add insult to injury, while the teacher goes over what they need to know in class, the homework is HARDER than what they worked on in class. Camryn’s tutor told me this.

How does THAT make sense?

Speaking of the teachers, they have to take classes themselves in order to know how to teach this curriculum.

"They" say it’s designed to be cyclic and supposedly kids learn better this way.

But it’s completely confusing us parents! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to Google something from Cami’s homework in order to help her with it.

So today, because I muddled through with one child, but have to start all over with another…..just this once, loud and clear, I say….

Eff Off Everyday Mathematics!

And just for good measure…

Eff Off Marysville School District!

*Sigh*