As much as I have loved blogging here, I am changing locations. If you would like the new address for my website, please comment here and I will email or facebook you the address of my new blog.

thanks so much!

Gracie says her tooth is loose!!!! We’re so excited!

We’re heading out to the Liberty Bell Memorial Museum today. I hope it is fun, as well as educational. We began formal schooling last week and did well. Yesterday, however, did NOT go well.

SOMEONE who shall remain nameless allowed my daughter to stay up 2 hours past her normal bedtime Sunday night. I warned that it would not go well. And I was right. All day yesterday, said daughter whined and cried and acted extremely irritable. We did not accomplish any school work and FINALLY the child took a nap 30 minutes before a playdate. I woke her in time for the playdate because I’d spent all day trying to get her to catch up on rest and that was the stipulation. Plus I wanted her to go to bed back on schedule.

So she’s reading about Plymouth history and quite pleasant this morning. Yeah!

On a side note, we will be traveling to Boston Friday, September 4 and returning home Saturday, September 12. (I think the dates are right–the days are correct for sure!) We look forward to seeing our family and taking the kids to a living history museum– Plimouth Plantation. Grace has been working very hard on a 8-unit “History Pocket” of Plymouth and Colonial life. We plan to visit a replica of the Mayflower and the unassuming “Plymouth Rock”, as well! This will be a wonderful reward for her hard work. AJ, too, will enjoy chasing the chickens at the very least!! (We covered Columbus’ discovery of the New World, and Ponce De Leon’s discovery of America last year when we visited St. Augustine).

AJ started preschool yesterday. He was very excited about his teacher and his new friends and his new lunch box AND his new underpants! Then he walked into the classroom, completely overwhelmed by all the excitement, and fell to the floor sobbing. Apparently he recovered at snacktime. We will arrive earlier than most tomorrow to transition him a bit easier.

Wednesday, I brought Terry home after our hospital ordeal. He was very tired and weak and pale. He asked me to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy before it closed that evening. I grabbed the script, ran up to the pharmacy, walked in, looked at the script, and realized it was for lab work. I went home, ran inside with the car running to grab the script, couldnt locate it. Went outside, turned off the car, realizing it might be a while before we figured it out. Terry realized that he did NOT have additional medication to pick u p and had gotten the message confused at the hospital, after we read all the discharge info and went through the paperwork. I breathed a sigh of relief, because I was feeling rather worn out myself.

Fast forward to Thursday morning. AJ and I were about to go pick up his immunization waiver and go to Chik Fil A to grab lunch. I could not locate my purse. Now, we all know Im rather scatter brained and set things down and find them in odd places later. If I get Alzheimer’s when I am older, we will probably have trouble identifying it initially because I do odd stuff now. The house and van are in pretty good condition because I spent all last week cleaning, anticipating our vacation in NC. I thought I’d left it in the van, but knowing me, I assumed I’d misplaced it. We searched the whole house, top to bottom, and searched the van.

We concluded that I left the van unlocked Wednesday night and my purse between the two front seats. My cell phone was in my purse and went straight to voicemail when I called it. We have some troubled teenagers in our neighborhood and the police officer told us that he was certain it was them. But good luck proving it.

What sucked the most? Terry’s wallet was in my purse, because I was trying to keep it “safe” while he was in the hospital. I didn’t leave it home because I was afraid it would be lost or stolen! So both of our driver’s licenses, all of our credit cards and check cards, my social security card (I don’t want to hear it, thanks), my picture of me smiling at the camera while AJ glares from his school, my 16 -hour -doesn’t- come- off- no- matter- who- you- kiss- or- what- you- eat lipstick, $30 cash, and my purse and fancy red wallet with a pink S my sister gave me are all missing. Oh yeah, and my LG Chocolate phone.

So poor Terry, just home from the hospital, had all this extra stress upon him. We cancelled all of our cards, suspended my phone, put a fraud alert on my social, put stop payments on the missing check book, got Terry a new driver’s license (because HE keeps his Social Security Card secure someplace OTHER than his wallet), went to the bank and ordered new check cards. . . .

So if you’re trying to call me, call the house #.

Lesson Learned: Lock your car.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I finished knitting my Yogini Bolero while Terry was in the hospital. It was incredibly stressful, logisticaly and emotionally, and I found solace in the repetitive nature of knitting. Instead of just sitting in the waiting area at the emergency room twiddling my thumbs or nervously interrogating nurses, doctors or janitors (as I saw others doing), I had my emergency knitting ready to go. My fingers flew and in the end, I have a quite useful product that cost me financially 25% of what they cost new at the store.

When I heard the Yarn Harlot in Vero Beach, she talked about research at Harvard showing that repetitive visual-spatial action helped people deal with stress and trauma. However, they concluded that it wasn’t practical to keep “emergency knitting projects” handy. Well, it works for me!

I just found another site called Knit on the Net where a fellow knitter, Betsan Corkhill, is promoting the therapeutic benefits of knitting.

Her site says, “It’s already known and accepted within the medical profession that occupied people feel less pain and depression, so that’s a good start. However, the large amount of anecdotal evidence suggests that knitting has much more to offer. It isn’t simply about keeping people occupied with an activity they enjoy. It’s not just ‘old fashioned’ occupational therapy either. There’s a lot more to knitting than initially meets the eye!

“The rhythmic repetitive movements of knitting are important – quite how, we’re not absolutely certain of yet, but we have our theories. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that they induce a form of meditation very similar to Mindfulness. Recent research has shown that Mindfulness can be very effective in treating depression and chronic pain. It can also help those who are fit and healthy to combat stress and to manage life’s downs. It helps you to put into perspective any traumatic issues that would normally dominate your waking thoughts helping you to find a stable balance between problematic events and feelings and more positive, pleasant sensations within the current moment. It’s a state of mind where you’re not mulling over the past or fretting about the future.”

She goes on, “The rhythm of these movements has a calming effect which is already being used successfully to manage disruptive behaviour and ADHD in children. Many who have written to me say they use their knitting to manage anxiety, panic attacks, phobias and conditions such as asthma, where calmness is important. Of course the portability of knitting means you can carry your calming remedy around and use it when and wherever you need. This portability makes knitting, along with some needlework projects, unique in the craft world.

The automaticity of knitting is important, too. It occupies some areas of your brain, whilst freeing up others. Many find that this enables them to ‘zone out’ to become ‘mindless’. This gives your mind a mini break from any problems, enabling you to escape into the sanctuary of a quiet mind. This brings down stress levels and breaks into negative or ruminating downward thought cycles.”

Works for me!

I’ve been doing some research. It appears that a medication that was prescribed to Terry has caused all of this drama. I’m relieved to think it’s not cancer. And pissed to think that a dr would prescribe this medication despite many warnings about it from the FDA.

Hopefully his body will stop attacking his platelets. Hopefully they will let him come home soon. I missed vacation, I’ve missed Terry, and I’m ready for him to spend some time at home with me and AJ.

In other news, I made it to the grocery store today. AJ and I are having bacon and eggs for breakfast. Because I finally bought eggs. And bacon.

In other news, the pasta maker from Goodwill didn’t turn out so well, so I will be returning that tomorrow. We had leftover pasta from about a week ago for dinner tonight in lieu of the fresh stuff. AJ didn’t mind.

A friend of mine loaned me a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It’s quite incredible. We’re on lesson 22, and Grace has learned how to sound out words and read small one and two sentence “stories.” The pace at which she learns is quite incredible. I was getting frustrated with our early attempts–she has been able to recognize all the letters in the alphabet for 2 years, but didn’t get the concept of “sounding it out.” This book changed that.

Every day, she asks if she can have “Princess Lessons.” She puts on a pretty princess dress and decides which Princess she would like to be. I’m her “teacher” and I “rescue” her from the evil stepmother or wicked queen. Reading unlocks the door to the dungeon!!!!  She loves it, and after her lesson she gets to choose a piece of candy or a sticker. It’s so cool to watch her learn.

I was reading the newspaper at 5 years old, and I’ve been a bit disappointed that she hasn’t caught on to reading as naturally as I’d expected. However, I have no idea what formal instruction I received through daycare and preschool. And I started kindergarten early, in private school.

 Anyways, this curriculum is amazing.

I really really really like John Edwards. I hate that he’s the underdog. He seems to be a man of integrity and compassion. I like his concern for the environment. I like his humble beginnings.

I’m a grammar/spelling diva, so I thought I’d share something I learned. In a recent blog, I posted about Grace lying in bed. I wasn’t sure whether the correct term was “lying” or “laying.” Basically, lay means to put an object somewhere. Lie refers to the practice of reclining. A way to remember this is “lie lies in rec-li-ning.” That’s how I’m going to remember it, anyways!

Here’s an interesting link regarding lie vs. lay.

Grace is more ill than I thought. No temperature–but she threw up.  I changed her sheets, bathed her, and put her in bed with a bucket. Here we go.