The Great Goldfish Drama!!

(or why you shouldn't let your kids play the games that give out penny goldfish as prizes!!)

Soooo...Friday night was our school's Harvest Festival. Each of the teachers had to create booth with a game or food or something. I was no exception. I was face painting and feeding chocolate to the many attendees of this great gathering. While I was so occupied my children were generally running amuck with their tickets.

One of the booths was a fishing booth.

They were giving out goldfish as prizes.

My son came to my booth proudly displaying his catch...to which I exclaimed rather loudly..."no, no more pets, no more!!" (We have a dog, two cats, and a mouse already...all of which came to us as hand me downs or orphans...)

Well, as a teacher I had to stay to the bitter end to clean up. So did my kids. Before I knew it my kids were the proud owners of not one...not two...but ELEVEN goldfish!!!!

SIGH!!!

We brought them home and put them in a large vase. I went to Wal-mart and bought goldfish food. I warned my kids that fish like this don't usually live very long.

The next morning we had our first porcelain funeral. We were down to ten.

Last night we lost seven more. Down to three.

Today, after school, two more had bit the dust. Down to one.

Tonight we had our final flushing...and I get my vase back.

My kids swear they loved them while they were with us...and they can't wait until next year so they can get some more fish....

I think next year I'll give away drumsets as prizes!!!

Be Part of the Solution!!!

My friend, Niki, and I were talking the other night and we were wondering when we became old enough that everyone around us seems to be diagnosed with cancer...

Is it our age or is it THIS age...an age of chemicals and hormones and who-knows-what in our food, water and the air around us?? Maybe it's just the fact that a diagnosis can be made sooner and more people are FIGHTING cancer instead of just dying before they even know they have it.

My grandfather had lung cancer.

My dad has battled prostrate & skin cancer.

A good friend of mine and my old boss, Lynne, battled skin cancer.

My MIL battled skin cancer.

I had a scare a month ago, where it was a possibility that I might have thyroid cancer.(It wasn't)

My aunt just underwent a masectomy for breast cancer. (She's doing well and recovering nicely!)

A good friend of mine just had to undergo a biopsy for possible breast cancer (it wasn't, thank God!!)

My best friend, Heather, just endured the most hellish year of her life, undergoing chemo to ward off sarcoma of her kidney. She almost died from the treatment three times. But without the treatment her chances of surviving were, well, slim.

I used to be able to sit by, donate a few dollars, and hope that "those" doctors and researchers would find a cure for cancer...you know, in a benevolent wishing for World Peace kind of way.

This past year it's gotten really personal. This isn't just about finding a cure for cancer...this is about finding a cure for my best friend, and my family, and my other friends, and the millions of mothers, fathers, children, and friends that not only hope for a cure but desperately need one if they are going to live to see another birthday...this is about being part of the solution.

My best friend is participating in the Relay for Life this year and I hope you will go support her...for me, for her, and for yourself. Because if you haven't been personally touched by cancer, it won't be long. Be part of the solution...go to this link,Heather's Relay for Life Page and help Heather exceed her goal in a way she could never imagine!!

Happy Birthday!!

 

Today was my baby's birthday. She's twelve. That's officially a tween. Almost a teenager. I have twelve months. It has made me incapable of sentences longer than four words! Oh that was more.

I remember when she was a tiny little thing that I could hold in my hands. It seems like yesterday. One more blink and she's going to be all grown up.

This year she didn't want a traditional party...she wanted to take her friends to a movie and Red Lobster!! (P.S. It would have been cheaper to have a huge party!!LOL!!) What a grownupish thing to want to do. We went to see The Seeker. It was a pretty good movie...sort of a thriller made for tweens. A little scary but not too horrible...Decent storyline. Most importantly, the tweens with me had a great time!!

I know she's going to grow up to be a wonderful young woman. She's already well on her way there. She's grounded, she loves the Lord, and she's comfortable in her own skin.

I love you, honey, Happy Birthday!!

 

The girls!!

 

And then there are the boys....

 

Oh Look!! It's cake!! For me!!

Look Out Moms...Disney's got it out for you!!!

SPOILER WARNING - If you haven't seen Disney's new movie The Gameplan don't read this...I might ruin it for you!!

Tonight we treated our kids to a movie and took the kids to Disney's "The Gameplan." It was a GREAT movie!! We laughed louder than I have at a movie in a long time, and we cried...for awhile I had Sarah in my lap telling her, "it'll be okay, honey, it's a Disney movie, they always have a happy ending" and it was true...it had a happy ending and all was well, everybody wins, and we all wiped away our tears.

On the way home, however, we got into an interesting conversation which caused me to pause. You see...in this movie the little girl's mother dies and that's why she ends up with dad, not that he knows that for most of the movie. Isn't that what happened to Bambi?? And Nemo?? Who's the writer in the Disney movie house that's got a thing against mothers?? Who starts the conversation?? "Hey, we need a new Disney movie...let's off a mom, send the kid to live with dad, and all will end up happily ever after...works every time, right??"

EXCEPT for MOM!! She's still DEAD!!

And let's think about this...Did Ariel have a mom?? Cinderella was an orphan but not before Dad made a really bad decision and remarried. Snow White was another victim of an evil stepmother after her mother dies in childbirth...obviously, these dads have bad taste. Aladdin? Dad took off, mom died. Jasmine? She doesn't have dear old mom around either. Belle? No mom. Hunchback? Orphan. Mowgli? Orphan.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention, as my kids pointed out to me as I was bemoaning the demise of all the Disney Princesses moms that not ALL the Disney character's moms die. In 101 Dalmations, for example, or The Incredibles, mom managed to stay alive.

Still...to all you Moms out there...if your child dreams of someday being a Disney Princess (or Bambi) watch out...your days are numbered!!

I have to brag just a little!!!

Okay...so the brag is really for the program because I'm the loser kindergarten mom that totally put off this project that I did for my daughter instead of with her...

Do I get Brownie points because it will be something she will treasure for YEARS to come??

I have SO been wanting to make her an ABC book for the last, oh, year and a half, and just never had time...

Well, with the motivation of her needing a "family project" to share with her kindergarten class and my FABULOUS new scrapbooking software I made a 24 page brag book (8x8) in about an hour and a half...printed it off on my computer...trimmed, loaded into the album I had bought to do this project a YEAR ago...and I have the totally cutest project ever!!

I used a preloaded book that you can finagle and play with a little and I dragged and dropped pictures into it and LOOK WHAT I DID!! I'm so excited about it I couldn't wait to share it even though it took longer to load it than it did to make it in the first place!!

It's missing some letters of the alphabet and some obviously important people like the Nations because I didn't have pictures of them on my laptop and didn't have time to fight the dinosaur to pull them off the old PC but I can update that over our two week break, take some posed pictures to fill in the odd letters (q for quilt maybe?? Maybe a picture with the queen?? Maybe a picture dressed up AS a queen...that might work) and whallaaaah!!

What I couldn't get done in a year is now done in a couple of hours and some photo paper. I LOVE DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING!!!!!

Another favorite!!

 

Here is one of my favorite pages...

 

It's been a long time....

since I've posted! I guess I'm speechless!! That's hard to believe, I know...me? speechless?? The truth is I've been up to my eyeballs learning about Arizona history so I can finish up the credential...almost there, I took my last final on Saturday...whew!! I just have one more hurdle to go...the big state test...which scares me to death!! Meanwhile I've taken up a new hobby!! Digital scrapbooking!! I've already scrapped 20 pages in the last 7 days!! I will see if I can figure out if I can upload pages here to share!! I've always loved scrapbooking but doing it digitally has SO MANY advantages!! Way less stuff to log around (just my laptop!!)...No wasted stuff or pictures, everything is fixed with the undo button!!...really cute stuff you can download for free if you know where to look!! Last but not least, I can share my scrapbooks with friends and family all over the world with a single email!! I love it!!