Happy May Day....I'm still here!

Hi all.  I probably shouldn't have let a whole month slip by without at least some kind of post, huh?  Sorry is anyone thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth or anything.  Sorry again for those of you who are disappointed that didn't happen!  ;-}

But, by and large, the truth is, we've had a pretty good month and I just didn't have much to say.  I think that's a pretty good thing!  Right?  Oh, I've had this and that to complain about, but over all, April was a good month for us. 

Let's see. In the past month I finished The Invisible Man, Deadlocked, and am now enjoying The Amityville Horror. I am very sad to have learned that the Sookie Stackhouse series is coming to an end! Like, seriously depressed over that little bit of news.  I also helped decorate for a cousin's first birthday, a rock star theme that was so much fun!

Now we're heading into May and all that brings...the end of Daisies, I'll miss those adorable little faces over the summer; Kindergarten Graduation, who wants to bet I cry like a baby?; and finally, the thing we've all been waiting for, Summer Vacation!  I seriously got tickled the other day when I heard a couple teachers talking about how many days of school are left.  I thought only the kids (and moms) did that!  Don't you love those little moments when you realize that teachers are just people, too?

Oh, and I definitely have to write a post and share my thoughts about this year's Field Day activities.  I can definitely say it was an awesome day.  Except for the terrible sunburn on the back of my neck!

Until next time.....

Well, I'm Pregnant

April Fools! 

I've never really tried to pull an April Fools prank before, and this one's pretty lame, but at least I tried!

Do You Get Wrights Law?

Assessment 101: Types of Evaluations couldn't have come at a better time, Patty has a followup appointment next week.  Some of the most helpful information I come across regarding special education is delivered right to my email inbox from Wrights Law.  There's hardly anything better than a free online resource with a lot of suggestions and answers to my questions. 

During this ongoing process of tests and waiting, I have been curious about who does what and why.  I want Patty to have all the appropriate and necessary tests in the correct time frame all the while learning as much from those tests as I can.  I have yet to find a really great guide to all of this, but at least I can stumble upon great articles from time to time that send me in the right directions.  Or send me with a good list of questions to her doctor appointments.  I mean, you can't get the right answers if you can't ask the right questions.

How to Avoid Being Taken Hostage

I am always in the market for news I can use.  I emailed this link to myself a while ago, planning to put it out on the blog.  Better late than never, so they say.

It can't hurt to read 6 Ways to Avoid Being Taken Hostage when you have some down time.

This is something that I'd like to discuss with my kids, but how do you explain something like this to 5 and 6 year olds?  I want my kids to be careful but I don't want them to be terrified.  After a suggestion from a family member, I started asking the kids where I should turn when we drove to our usual places.  They still don't know the names of roads, but at least it's a start!

Fewer Yearly Screenings?

I often wonder if I really need my yearly women's health exam.  I dread that appointment like the plague.  I don't know why.  Seems like I would be used to it, after all these years on birth control and having two kids.  But, I still dread it.

Imagine my surprise (and delight) when I came across an article called Older Americans Over-Screened for Colon Cancer telling me that people are getting screened too often for a lot of things.  If I live to be 65 I can forgo the dreaded yearly checkup!  Hooray!

I'm pretty sure my doctor will recommend yearly checkups, but doesn't one every three years sound much better than one a year?  I'll have to have a discussion with the doc at my next appointment.

Random Observations

Observation No. 1
You know those little plastic dental floss sticks?  It's like a toothpick on one end and a little string of dental floss on the other.  How is it that those end up discarded in parking lots?  I mean, who carries those things with them out of the house and then decides to just toss them down while walking from the car to the store?  That is so gross!

Observation No. 2
Have you noticed that people don't actually look both ways when entering or exiting a store?  I am a little guilty of this too.

Observation No. 3
I saw a car driving the wrong way on a four lane highway yesterday.  It took the driver, and I'm really guessing about distance here, about two city blocks and meeting two cars to realize they were on the wrong side of the road.  Of course, we were the second car and after the initial shock, I flashed my lights like a crazy person.  It's not the first time I've witnessed people going the wrong way on that same stretch of road, but most people catch on faster!

Observation No. 4
Why didn't we have the nausea/vomiting medicine filled after JT had his ER visit last November?  'Cause it would be really nice to have it for him this morning after he started throwing up at 1:30.  Oh, it is going to be a long day.

Observation No. 5
Why does everything have to upgrade?  I woke up to find that my MSN email account has upgraded to Outlook and I am not at all happy about  it. 

Kids Say...

Patty loves chocolate cake.  Or, rather, Patty loves brownies and calls them chocolate cake!  My mom made a pan and brought it over for dessert last Sunday.  Patty had had a slight case of the stomach bug on Saturday and wasn't really bounced back from it when the brownies arrived.

Fast forward to Monday night.  JT and I dug out the old ABC flash cards I had made for Patty years ago.  Trying to encourage JT to get familiar with them, I told him to show them to dad after we'd finished dinner.  When we came across C is for ice cream, Patty remembered she had a pan of brownies waiting for her in the kitchen.  Casey got her a slice and we settled in to watch a little tv.

A few minutes later we could hear the tin foil (do you say aluminum foil?) crinkling as she helped herself to another slice of brownie.  Then, barely audible, we heard her say, "C is for cake." 

Casey and I really got tickled by that.