Princess Grad

Our homeschool group recently had a graduation ceremony for the Kindergarten, 8th and 12th grade classes. Gabi was our first to actually have a graduation ceremony. It was a neat experience to see that as our kids get older, this age old tradition of graduations will be carried out even though they aren't in the school system. For the senior class, they showed a slide show and had the parents come up with the child as they received their graduation certificate. My little "Princess Grad" had a few things to say too.

Our homeschool leader, kindly asked Gabi what her tiara said. Apparently, she had forgotten and had to remove it to see! And as you can tell, she made the entire audience laugh!! What a nut!

She also asked her what her favorite homeschool memory was, to which she responded, "Going to see Pioneer Tunnel." And then, "What was your favorite SELAH {our homeschool group} memory?", to which she responded, "Making the food!" {in kitchen chemistry class}. And her last big question, "What is your favorite thing to do?", and her reply, "Playing babies with my sister Livvy!"

Well, you might not be a public speaker but you might one day learn to make people laugh and do stand up comedy!

Congratulations my Little Foo! You did it! You've survived your first real year of homeschooling and your off to first grade! YIPPEE!

My Little Princess Grad

New Addiction

I have a new addiction and I'm not afraid to admit it. For years, I have been addicted to clothes from Gymboree for my kids. I specifically like their clothes for girls and all the matching accessories they have. Since the girls are getting older, I have found it harder to even branch out into another clothier for them because of the mainstream fashions. If you haven't noticed, our young girls are looking more and more like miniature runway divas. Hello, doesn't anybody stop to think about how those scantily clad 7, 8, 9 year old girls will want to dress when they are say . . . 15 and their bodies have now passed puberty and they are considered young ladies. Why would they want to change their ways of wearing mini skirts, sweatpants with words across their behinds, crop tops, high heels and off the shoulder shirts?? I'm sorry but I don't want my girls looking like that now OR when they are teenagers. I like them looking like little girls.

So, a friend of mine at work told me about a company that I had heard about but never thought I could afford. And since the company was all on the West Coast and in South Africa, I had never been in one of their stores. Well, hold on to your credit cards ladies, because not only is this store affordable but they have the cutest darn things for girls (and boys too). The store is called Naartjie. Now their website is very hard to use and it seems that most of the time, the size that you want is not in stock. But never fear, I've already spent enough time finding a way around that silly website and now passing my knowledge onto you. The best way to get what you want from Naartjie is to pick a store from their store locations list, any store, pick one that sounds nice to you. Click on their email address and compose a list of the things you want, including the SKU number, size and color. Send that email to that store. If that store doesn't have what you want, guess what, they'll find a store in their system that does. THEY'LL do all the donkey work of finding your list and then take care of getting it all sent to you under one shipping charge. Now, how nice is that! Talk about customer service! So, are you curious now?? Wanna see what Naartjie is all about. I took a photo shoot of the girls tonite in one of their outfits. Take a look!

So, what do you think??

P.S. I use the Glendale, CA store at the Glendale Galleria. They are very customer friendly and do a great job finding my endless list of matching Naartjie outfits for the girls!

Permission Slip

My sister and I were just discussing an adage and trying to figure it out. I even Googled it because I was sure there was another part to it but I was disappointed to find out that there wasn't. The adage is:

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I was positive that there was a part about being fooled three times. So, I'll just stick to my Three strikes, you're out! adage. I use that adage mostly with disciplining my kids - I'll tell them once to quit a certain behavior, I'll tell them again what's going to happen if they don't listen to me and then I'll follow through with that consequence. I'm pretty good about follow through and find that has made such a difference in their behavior.

I guess I've never really thought about the need to extend the adage that I have adopted to other aspects and people in my life. Just as my sister feels she's the "Resident Doormat", you could probably call me the "Resident Scapegoat". I am usually put into that role only with my family. Whenever anything goes wrong, somehow, it's always my fault. Even when the situation doesn't even involve me, somehow, somewhere, it's my fault. A subtitle that falls under the "Resident Scapegoat" title is the "Resident Advocate". In our family unit, I think each of us at times plays this role. And I think it can be a good thing to sometimes offer another point of view if you have an issue with another. But at the present time, that subtitle is biting me in the butt.

So, here is what I have to say to that.

I hereby give myself permission to no longer be the 'Resident Scapegoat' for my family. I am adult enough to admit when I have wronged someone. I am mature enough to say 'I'm sorry' to that person - even though it might take me a while to collect my feelings and get my emotions under control. When it actually IS my fault, I'm mature enough to recognize it and proceed accordingly.

And as far as my role of being an advocate, I also hereby give myself permission to no longer take on that responsibility. I feel I need to do that because, One, Two, Three times I've been screwed and you know what,

YOU'RE OUT!!!!!

.

5 Minute Management Course

I've been meaning to post this and I'm tired of it sitting in my inbox so I'm going to do it now. This was an email sent to me by a friend.

Lesson 1:

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.

Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you $800 to drop that towel. "

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, "Who was that?"

"It was Bob the next door neighbor," she replies.

"Great!" the husband says, "did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?"

Moral of the story :

If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2:

A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.

The nun said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?" The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again.

The nun once again said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?"

The priest apologized "Sorry sister but the flesh is weak"

Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129.

It said, "Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory."

Moral of the story:

If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3:

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out.
The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish."
"Me first! Me first!" says the admin clerk. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world."

Puff! She's gone.

"Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life."

Puff! He's gone.

"OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager.

The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story:

Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4:

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?"

The eagle answered: "Sure , why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:

To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 5:

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:

BullShit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Lesson 6:

A little bird was flying south for the Winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:

(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

THIS ENDS THE 5-MINUTE MANAGEMENT COURSE

Toofless Again

It all started out as a regular day. Dh (short for darling husband) was home teaching school and what would I do with my free morning?? He had to go to work this afternoon and I really didn't have much to do except make myself stay in bed and wonder if there was anything I REALLY needed to do. As I sat there, I remembered that I wanted to call the dentist about Olivia. She has had a loose tooth for a while and about a week ago I noticed that her gum was swollen. Not the gum directly around her tooth but starting at the roof of her upper lip extending almost to the tooth line. She has employed me to wiggle her tooth every nite in an attempt to make it come out faster - I guess. The morning I noticed the swelling, I just figured that I had wiggled it to much the night before and that the swelling would go away. Much to my chagrin, the swelling stayed where it was and never went away. It even looked a little worse. I started to get concerned that it might be an abscess of some sort so I decided to give the dentist a call this morning. I actually thought that the swelling looked almost like her new tooth coming in but figured that it was way to high up in the gumline to be that. If it actually was her new tooth coming in, it was sure popping out of her mouth at a strange place!

So, that's how my day started. What was to be a relaxed morning doing things for myself and running my errands without any kids, basically turned out to be a morning with Olivia at the dentist. My suspicions were right, the swelling WAS actually her new tooth coming out. But what I hadn't prepared myself for this morning, was the fact that the dentist wanted to pull the baby tooth out since it was impeding on the new tooth coming in.

Oh, boy.

I don't know what it is with my kids and their teeth pulling antics!!

But here we go again!

My princess was a brave little trooper and I tried to help her relax by teaching her some imagery techniques. I had her close her eyes and picture the dock in Florida where she loves to sit and what the sunsets. To picture the 'coconut fish' in the water and feel the warm sunshine on her face. They gave her several shots of novicane and my princess just sat there and squeezed my hand as I gently talked to her about her favorite place in Florida. Before we knew it, that little baby tooth was out. The dentist reminded Olivia that she had a special pink phone that only dentists have to contact the tooth fairy about special feets of courage like Olivia demonstrated today. It was so amazing to watch my little girls face light up. She called her cousin tonite just to tell her all about that special pink phone.

So, her she is, toofless again.

Signs

My granny is a sign reader. When I was a little girl, wherever we went, she was always reading the signs. Street signs, billboards, advertisements, street names. If there was a sign on the road, she read it. I always thought this was a really funny trait and always made fun of her. As I grew up, especially during the time that I learned to drive, I found myself doing the same thing. And the funny thing is, as I read the signs in my head, I read them in my granny's voice. I found this trait in myself very intriguing and only in the past couple of years have I been truly thankful for the influence that my granny has left on me.

You see, reading these signs has not only added information to my brain at times but also humor. There are lots of times that I will be looking for a particular store or street name and I will say to myself, "I remember reading a sign for that!" Since I have a photographic memory, I can usually also picture that sign that I had read. Many a times, that sign reading granny has saved my hide and saved me from getting lost simply because I remember reading a sign.

And, at times, my sign reading abilities has made me laugh. Remember last July when I posted about the sign (and actually took a picture of it) that said:

Drive carefully and wear clean underwear just in case.

That was a hysterical sign and had so much significance to me.

Just a few days ago when I was at a doctors appointment, I noticed a white sign amongst a newly landscaped flower garden outside the office. As usual, I stopped to read the sign and had myself a fabulous laugh for the morning. It read:

Please don't discard cigarette butts here. The squirrels come out at nite and smoke them and we are trying to get them to quit.

Now, doesn't that just make you laugh??

BTW - answering that question in the COMMENTS section of this post, is perfectly acceptable. Not answering it is failure to be banned from reading my blog. I know who you are, so you better leave your opinion.