Gifts

Posted on May 16, 2012 by vwbug

Ok, so I missed getting my mom’s gift to her by mother’s day. No joke. It will be arriving in the next couple of days. I really missed it. Oh I called her on ‘the day’. And the day before just in case I couldn’t get through on ‘the day’. Likewise I have issues with her birthday. You would think I might breakdown and get something with a november birthstone in it to remind me. But I have a feeling it wouldn’t help. Mom, I know you read my blog… I love you and I’m sooooo sorry I didn’t get your gift there before Mother’s Day. I’ll try harder for your birthday. Hugs!

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What a handsome young man

Posted on May 16, 2012 by vwbug

My oldest son is growing up. He is at my chin… and possibly higher… at the age of nine. 9. NINE. Ugh. Still, he is a boy and can’t stand still for a picture. Best one I could get was this one:


My heart stops when I remember how he was a little dude compared to now. He has become the sweetest young man. He tries so hard. He has a difficult road in front of him but I know he will succeed. Just being a mom makes it hard to watch. I’m just glad he is my child.

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A new arrival

Posted on May 16, 2012 by vwbug

We had a guy at work leave to the ‘mother ship’. Nice guy but very moody. Now we have a nice guy with kids and not moody. I like him. If the first guy wasn’t able to hear about it, I would buy cao cigars to give to the team and celebrate. Seriously… the other one drove me nuts. He constantly complained about me. Yet, asked me so many questions… which I was able to answer. But oh my goodness if I forgot something and had to ask him a second time within 6 months I was a horrible employee. Arg. I’m glad he is gone. And I am very very happy we have this new person. He is easy to work with, has shown me some stuff about computers I never knew and … I have helped him as well. We are all happy. I like this. Makes it fun to go back to work.

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On a roll…

Posted on May 16, 2012 by vwbug

Hubby is out of town and I actually have time to sit and type up some posts. Talking about ‘on a roll…’, my oldest just got started on his drum set. Yep, no more snare and bells (xylophone to the rest of us). The drum set. It is … noisy.

My youngest is playing the piano. He now is deciding whether to take up the trumpet, sax or guitar. *blink*. Hmmm… which way should I suggest he go? Which will be least annoying… the answer is…

Yaa, I don’t have an answer. It will be whatever he wants to play. Guess I’ll be finding another music instructor for the summer. Shoot me!

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On the look out for deals

Posted on May 16, 2012 by vwbug

My friends have gotten me into looking for the best deal. There are so many promo codes out on the web and on the phone. Free Shipping or 25% off or buy one get one 1/2 off. With two kids, it is amazing how just a little bit helps. I lost the link to buy some nice shirts for next school year. I’ll be hunting my friend down again for that link. Suppose to be UV protection polo shirts with that wisk away sweat feature. Great for growing boys. So much to do…

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FCAT writes fails – Say What?

Posted on May 16, 2012 by vwbug

My oldest comes home and says 27% passed the FCAT Writes. D’oh. I must have heard him wrong. So I did a search on FCAT writes scores. In the Tampa Bay Times yesterday, it said:

the Florida Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously reduced its passing score on the test from 4.0 to 3.0 for purposes of assigning school grades.

At 4.0, fewer than one-third of students scored at proficiency levels. At 3.0, that result rises to closer to 80 percent.

The HuffPost Miami stated:

As a result, 2012 FCAT writing scores in the state plummeted. Among fourth graders, only 27 percent scored a 4 or better as opposed to last year, when 81 percent of fourth graders got a 4 or better. The drastic dip in writing scores was also seen in eighth and tenth graders.

Wow. What went wrong? I can’t seem to find the answer to that one. Though there are a lot of opinions. Personally, I think the FCAT should be stopped. No no no… don’t get me wrong. I believe testing is necessary to make sure the children are getting educated. It helped that there was standards so you knew if you went from South Florida to North Florida, your child would be at the same level. But honestly… if you switch states… you can’t guarantee your child learned the ‘right stuff’ to keep up with the kids in the class in the new state. Again, I think kids should be tested. That teachers should have key indicators as to how well they are teaching. I just don’t think FCAT is the right answer. And this is a great example of why. Look at the difference between the two years. There will be a huge number of dollars spent on analyzing what went wrong. Ugh. Tax dollars at work – NOT. Drop it. Go back to having the schools test the kids and possibly set up a standard for half the key indicators for the teachers state wide while the school does the other half. That might just work. Maybe. Even set that some key indicators for kids. By the end of third grade they have to be exposed to cursive writing and pass a test on it.

Ok, off that high horse… I still can’t believe what I heard today.

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Hurricane Season is on its way

Posted on May 16, 2012 by vwbug

Yaa, last thing a Floridian wants to hear. I keep looking at storage units. They have metal buildings and wood ones and brick ones. Makes me think of the Big Bad Wolf. Which would last? Why? Because I need a place to store our gasoline for the generator. We cannot put it in the garage because the smell seeps into the house within a day. But I don’t want it in a shed that is going to be 120F during the middle of summer either. Sigh. Guess I’ll just have to break down and do some real research on it. Ugh.

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Humor for Wednesday

Posted on May 16, 2012 by vwbug

Russ and Sam, two friends, met in the park every day to feed the pigeons, watch the squirrels and discuss world problems.

One day Russ didn’t show up. Sam didn’t think much about it and figured maybe he had a cold or something.. But after Russ hadn’t shown up for a week or so, Sam really got worried. However, since the only time they ever got together was at the park, Sam didn’t know where Russ lived, so he was unable to find out what had happened to him.

A month had passed, and Sam figured he had seen the last of Russ, but one day, Sam approached the park and — lo and behold — there sat Russ! Sam was very excited and happy to see him and told him so. Then he said, ‘For crying out loud Russ, what in the world happened to you?’

Russ replied, ‘I have been in jail.’

‘Jail!’ cried Sam. What in the world for?’

‘Well,’ Russ said, ‘you know Sue, that cute little blonde waitress at the coffee shop where I sometimes go?’

‘Yeah,’ said Sam, ‘I remember her. What about her?

‘Well, one day she filed rape charges against me; and, at 89 years old, I was so proud that when I got into court, I pled ‘guilty’.

‘The damn judge gave me 30 days for perjury’.

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Finding my house

Posted on May 15, 2012 by vwbug

Lately I have been having to give directions to my house… and it is always entertaining. Let’s pretend my house address is 123 27th Avenue. I have to explain to people that they will pass 26th Street, 26th Avenue BEFORE getting to 27th Avenue. Did you catch that? There are two 26ths and the one before mine has Avenue in the name as well? I kid you not this is all over my neighborhood. To make matters worse, there is a house address of 123 26th Avenue. I know them well as we are constantly trading mail when a new carrier comes a long.

I was thinking about getting illuminated house numbers just so I could be different. Particularly since I have had some out of town guests coming by at 7pm at night. It is still dusk/dark at that time. Though it is not that dark now adays… summer is a com’in. Yaa, luckily only the mail has been an issue this last couple of weeks. Everyone has found me just fine. I still wonder who came up with the road names in this neighborhood…

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Mother’s Day Part 2

Posted on May 14, 2012 by vwbug

The boys (via Dad) got me the greatest of gifts. First the youngest convinced my hubby to buy me mop shoes.



The boys had so much fun with them! I wore them as well. It was very cute. Particularly since the youngest brought home a ‘ticket’ for me to use that said he would dust for me.

They also gave me some Earth boxes. www.Earthbox.com I had an acquaintance that had some on his back porch. For over a year he grew stuff in them and it rocked. I am tired of growing stuff in the back yard for our squirrels, rabbits, caterpillars and the like. So I asked for some of these. Not expecting to get them. My hubby spent the day pressure cleaning the back porch so I could get them set up. And then… they didn’t come with coasters. They were optional. Luckily they came with $10 gift certificate. Though when I tried to place an order using them it said the number wasn’t valid. Guess I’ll be making that order today via the phone.

It was wonderful. They boys are great kids and I’m very blessed to have such a family. I just wish summer was here already.

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