Bless the internet, google, cell phones, and freeways...

In that order! Christmas shopping can be a struggle sometimes and sometimes not. I've never been good about getting ideas for people early on in the game. So, for me to be looking for something before the 15th is pretty much a miracle so I thought I'd be doing good. Well, not so much! That's where the Internet comes into play. I had no idea where or what kind of a certain item to get Kyra so I started browsing. Then I googled it and got even better ideas. Then they offer free shipping...oh wait, not on that item it's out of stock. But wait again, you can pick it up from the store nearest you. Oh, but wait, that store doesn't have one. Or the next nearest one, or the next...and the list goes on. But I'm really excited that I found the perfect item. There's no way I can go wrong with this baby. But how do I get it?! I have a friend coming from San Diego, they have one. I have a friend traveling to Albuquerque, they don't have one. Do I have the nerve to call the friend with toddler twins and ask her to haul it over here for me?! Not yet. One more try the next day. But wait...the Peoria store has one (or more?)! Yippee for me. But wait again...yesterday I traveled to a Costco on 19th Avenue because they were supposed to have something else that we needed. No such luck. So as I leave the house, headed to Peoria I get on my cell phone and call the Sears I'm headed to. It rings, and rings, and rings again. Three tries to the department before I get someone. She checks. No luck, but they have some up front, does she want me to check up there? Well, ya...please. She takes my name and number and I keep driving, expecting to get there before she calls back. But no, just a few minutes later and we have an affirmative that the item is not only in stock but the have several and they are already assembled! Woo Hoo! Now comes the getting there. Freeways. Hmmm. Did you know that it only takes 30 minutes to get to Peoria? Who knew?! That was a really slick hour of shopping and now we will have a happy girl. Well, several happy girls (I got one too, and Tasha's is already purchased but not assembled). Too bad I still have shopping to do. All that trouble and it was for a gift from grandpa. Since when does the mom have to do all the shopping?! Oh well, we love him and his desire to give us what we want and I know it isn't a check on Christmas morning. Boy are we going to have this year. Thanks Dad.

Generalizations

People of all ages seem to make assumptions or generalizations on subjects and people. It seems like adults do all the assuming which tends to be negative. We say or think things like why people are broke, why other peoples children behave a certain way, and how things could have been better "if only...". But then there are kids who haven't learned to be cynics yet. They have to whole world to look up to and learn from. They are learning to cope and figure things out and try to find a place and make a statement. Here are some of the great things I've heard/seen come from kids lately:

"I love you three" in response to my "I love you two." I'm sure both my kids have used this one when they were in the learning to count stage.

"The freeway is loose today" came from my 9 year old. Well, why not? It's not bumper to bumper so it's loose. Now we joke about it all the time.

"Only girls go to preschool" came from Tasha's 4 year old friend Justin. I guess when the only kid you knows that goes to preschool is a girl, then that is true.

Friends when they meet just once. Tasha will go play at IKEA and talk about her friend. You can also convince her to go someplace because her "friends" will be there. She may or may not know someone, but if they are her age they are her friends. WOW! Could adults learn something from that!

Now here's one that relates to reading. Good generalization, bad assumption, and terribly difficult to overcome...I had a first grader that used the sound "w" every time he saw the letter "o". What?! I was so frustrated. Here I'm teaching him phonics, he knows that "o" has the sound in "hot", but insists on saying "w" every time he sees it. It took me a month or more to figure out why he was doing it. We were reading a book, he was sounding out most of the words and occasionally there would be a sight word he would just say. Hmmmm, one of those sight words was "one". DUH! He probably learned it in pre-school with all the numbers on the wall or with flash cards he did with someone. So gosh, there's no good solution to this one. We discussed the issue of "cheater words" again and it took a good month to fix but he got over it.

So what's your favorite (or least favorite) generalization?!

I Love New York!

The Big City! The Big Apple! Crazy traffic, drivers, shoppers...everything about it makes me ache to go there. Public transportation that is convenient, city lights, festive/traditional activities accessible to all. Time square, the Flat Iron building, SoHo, Uncle Nicks Greek restaurant, Manhattan Temple, Central Park, Washinging Heights and my Aunt Yota. Tiny pizza stores with no room to sit, stand, or move...you buy and leave to eat your pizza huddled on the stairs to the NYCity Public Library. Even the dingy smell of the deisel fuel that looms in the air is appealing to me, aaahhh, the smells of NYCity! Car horns, sirens, bings and clunks of the subway, "yah, yah", aaahhh, the sounds of the city! The hustle and the bustle that isn't so crazy if you accept it, relax, and enjoy the experience.



I'm intrigued by any movie or book that takes place in or is about NY. I don't like them all but it draws my attention like nothing else, except maybe WWII. I'll put on "You've Got Mail" for background noise when I'm up late at night...I know right when to look up for the scenes of the city "...he loves the streets of New York almost as much as I do...".



Bless my sweet husband that lets me run away to NY! I know he does it partially because he has NO desire to be there. He suffered through a one day experience, once. That was enough for him, Billy, and his parents but Kyra and I went back...a couple of times! I've been as a tourist, visitor, and as a mock tour guide on a 3 day crazy pre-Christmas adventure. There is nothing like Christmas in NYCity! My favorite visit was a time with my mom. She came along for support, as one of my aunts was in the hospital. We staying in the Bronx, rented a car, and enjoyed all our time away from the hospital. We drove to Astoria to get a taste of Greek life, food, and got our nails done. I conquered NY City driving, and YES, was honked at, and did some honking of my own (I think, or was that my vision of greatness?!). We didn't do any of the touristy things, we just were.



So, to my sweet friend who is moving to NY and is not excited. I hope you read this and become excited! I've never lived there, but really feel like I could. You have a fabulous adventure ahead of you and I'll come stay with you anytime you'd like!

"Gag me!"

I actually used that expression the other day and I couldn't believe it. It came out without even knowing it and I was completely embarrassed. I didn't acknowledge that I said it, I just kept talking, hoping that nothing quite as ridiculous would come out again.

This evening I admitted my blunder to my husband and he laughed. Not quite hysterically, but pretty good. The hysterics didn't come until later and they were from me. Bill proceeded to spout off a list of 80's sayings beginning with the complete version of of gag me..."gag me with a spoon!" Here's what else we came up with...

Like, TOtally. (you TOtally agree with them)
What-ever. (emphasis on the E in ever.)
I'm soooooooo sure.
Like, OK. (usually sarcastic)
As if. (was that the 80's or just from Clueless?)
Barf me! (or Barf me out)
Bodacious. (That could refer to anything. Boys usually used it in reference to tatas.)
Don't have a cow! (I think we used that to the max! My friend was known to moo.)
Fer sure.
Gnarly and grody were good discriptive words for anything nasty.
Tubular (just an expression, I'm not sure what it means)
Grody to the max. (this doesn't even need explaining, does it?!)
Totally radical, dude. (another guy one, I think I hear Sean Penn saying it)

Well, now that I've got that out of my system hopefully I won't let any of them slip out again.

Bad Hair Month

I realize that it is only the 4th but it is and will be a bad hair month. Literally. I've been fighting with my hair since my last cut and it made me mad. Mad, hormonally challenged, emotional women should not be allowed near scissors. Especially in the morning when they are late getting their children to school. Especially a second day, when they are late again and their hair is wet. Especially when they tried calling 2 salons the night before and both were closed and there was not hope in sight at a real person helping them out.

It was a mess and I almost cried. Then I determined that I wouldn't get out at school and would head to the nearest Great Clips. That sort of worked except that nobody keeps hair books out so that you can show them what you want done. I can't ever explain what I hate and how I style it. So now the bangs are much shorter than I ever would have wanted just because the sides were angled funny. Whatever! I almost cried again. I know it's just hair so I only got to the teary eye stage.

So now I will take it out on my house and clean the heck out of it for as long and Tasha will let me. Maybe I'll put up the Christmas tree and the nativity and try to get the Christmas spirit. As for my me and my hair, we'll be the ones hiding under the Santa hat.

Rainy Day Hike

Kyra's school hikes. They hike 3-5 times each year. The first all school hike is planned usually a month in advance and lasts all day. It's amazing to see 100 kids plus teachers and parents zooming up a desert hill. All right, there is no zooming (except for the 20 or so that have to prove a point or are avid hikers) but it is pretty great to see all that energy.

The first all school hike was this past Friday. Yes, Friday, November 30th, 2007. Check the weather report. We got more rain that day than we have all year. And we were hiking in it. That was crazy, but fun. All the kids were decked out in garbage bags. This is Phoenix, who has rain gear?! So we didn't win the "friendly to the environment" award that day, but I think the school makes up for it during the rest of the year.

We didn't get to play on the rocks because common sense made us leave early. And I'm sure it was record time getting back to the car. It only took 1 hour to hike out because it was raining on us the whole time. We didn't really get cold until it came to the car ride home. That was fine though because it gave us an excuse to stop at Starbucks for some Hot Cocoa. Try it with a little Amaretto syrup, yum!

The Wheels on the bus...

My baby rode the bus today! Yes, my baby is 3 1/2 but holy cow she's little! Ever since she started preschool she has been talking about riding the bus. Her friends ride the bus. Her friend even rides the bus when his mom has to come to school at the same time. I thought kids hated to ride the bus. When does that start, elemenatry school? Jr. High? High Schoo? Personally, I never rode the bus. My parents strategically picked a house within walking distance of every school I ever attended.

Back to Tasha. What made me think that this was OK? When Kyra was 5 I was terrified to send her to all day Kindergarten. But now there's Tasha and I don't think it is a big deal. Is it because she's my second? I'm less protective? She's more independent? I don't know but neither one of us looked back after she was on. As I was driving, I thought about driving by her school to watch her get off but then I knew that would be ridiculous. Silly me. She was soooo cute!