365 Days of Decluttering Challenge

This is a very cool idea. I accept the challenge!

Today, December 28, 2009, I shall begin to declutter. One thing each day... physical or mental clutter.

Merry Christmas 2009

I went to Mass at 10 PM last night. Max was still awake when I got home, but not because Scott wasn't trying. He finally went to sleep soon after, as did I. I awoke to the wind at 2 AM... thank goodness!

The house awakened at about 7:30 AM. That's when these photos were taken. The big gifts were, for Max, Elefun, and for Ignatius, Super Mario Brothers for Wii. There were other gifts, but these, by far, were the highlights. Scott has been longing for a Presto Burger, the burger machine of his youth, for a few years. It was that you could only find them on eBay or somewhere similar. Now, Presto has re-released them (in an updated version).

Santa brought me some money which will be used on a new phone, since mine will not charge. Woo hoo! IPhone with video, here I come...

Merry Christmas to all! Hope Santa was good to you!

Merry Christmas!

Eclipse Counter

Yes, it's true. I'm a Twilight junkie. Just to prove that, look to your left on our blog home page and you will see a countdown for Eclipse, which is a little more than half a year away from release. Yep... running from reality yet again.

Yeah, but...

Every now and then, as the parent of a student with an IEP, I receive a progress report that shows Max's goals and how he is doing with them. A little report card.

One would think, being the data queen that I am, that this information would make me happy. And logically, it should. However, it is also a stark smack in the face with the reality stick. He is functioning at the 36 month level. He is 56 months old.

Now, I KNOW he has had the same span of deficit since we started intervention. And I also know that, without intervention, he would have had, perhaps, a larger gap. But it doesn't make it any easier to look at. As I looked through Ignatius' childhood records, he was always above where he needed to be... no worries, except how to challenge him. I know... apples and oranges...

So, it is still somewhat of a mystery to me as to whether or not Kindergarten will happen next fall. His teacher seemed to think it was in the realm of possibility. But he will probably be a year behind academically/socially... so how do you know?

Deep thoughts... back to grading for me!

Goodbye, Internet Explorer!

Been a PC/Windows fan for as long as I have had a PC. Tried Macs and actually have an iPhone, but the platform just doesn't feel like home. Moving on up to Windows 7 here in a few days. Alas, Mr. Gates, I am dumping Internet Explorer. I poo-pooed people who told me to venture to different browsers... thougts of AOL buried deep in my psyche. But when a simple Image Uploader was blocked for no reason the other day, I realized that I was in a bad relationship. IE8 and I needed to part ways. Locking up, shutting down, taking forever to load... I blamed it all on my poor little laptop. Well, no longer. I am now with Firefox by Mozilla. I am pretty crazy happy with it, particularly the spell check setting that will give me suggestions not matter where I am (blog commenting and the like). The install was easy, transferred my bookmarks, favorites, home tabs, etc. No crazy toolbars every 5 seconds. And it's free. Yes, I will still be a Windows user... PC all the way, baby. Just not Internet Explorer. Sigh.

Faking out my stomach, Installment #1

Rather than denying my body what it craves, I am trying to find ways to fake it out. When I find successful ways, I'll post them here.

Installment #1: Yes, it is apple cobbler.

Cut an apple into 8ths (use your typical apple cutter).
Wrap it in aluminum foil with the pieces together, leaving a cylinder in the middle where the core was.
In the center, place a few Craisins, a Tbsp of Splenda brown sugar, a sprinkling of cinnamon. Sprinkle oatmeal on top.
Bake for about 20 minutes... 350 works well.
Take out carefully. Sprinkle with Splenda sugar (not the brown sugar).
Enjoy.