Friday, March 30, 2012

Aloha Friday...


It's Friday so that can only mean one thing, it's time for Island's life question. My question to you this week is:

Are you a nervous wreak when your children have to get a medical procure done? My 17 year old daughter is having her wisdom teeth removed today and I'm so nervous. Of course all 4 of them are impacted and the doctor has to put her under anesthesia. Ugh. Talk about my nerves. Did I mention I also have to keep a 4 year old entertained in the waiting room for over an hour? This should be good. HA! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers today.

Head on over to Island's life and answer her question of the week too....

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Tomorrow...

I am taking my daughter to get her wisdom teeth pulled on Friday. All four of them are impacted. This should be fun. Not! She is so nervous about it. The no eating or drinking after midnight isn't helping either. Poor thing.

Sorry I haven't blogged this week. We had an incredibly busy week. I'm hoping to catch up over the weekend. Hint. Guess who's kitchen cabinets arrived????

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Wordless Wednesday

Yesterday was the first day of spring and we celebrated it with Rita's free water ice. We have been going to Rita's every year on the 1st day of spring and I have never seen it so packed before. I went at 1 and I could barely find a parking space. Hubby went at 7 and the line was wrapped around the building. I thinking due to our temperatures being in the mid 70's made everyone flock to Rita's. Hope everyone was able to get their free water ice yesterday.

P.S. He's sitting outside in a t shirt eating water ice at the end of March. Crazy, I know.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

1st day of Spring.....

It can only mean one thing. Free water ice at Rita's today! Who can possibly turn down water ice? Over the years of visiting our local Rita's I have realized one thing. Get there early. After dinner it is mobbed there. I suspect today is going to be worse. We are expecting temperatures in the mid 70's. Everyone and their brother is going to be there. If you have never heard of Rita's and are wondering what the heck it is here's a link.

Speaking of spring, this past January I attended the launch of Vera Bradley's spring line. I know. I'm a little late posting this considering Vera is launching the summer line on Thursday. Maybe I'll post about attending the summer launch sometime in the fall. HA! Our Vera store was offering a promo. Any Vera purchase and you would receive a free gift. I went there to buy the in tune case for my ipod but when I got there it was way too small for my itouch. I found this little Gem instead.
The Stay Tuned case in Island Blooms. On the top just before the zipper is a tiny hole to slip your headphones thru. The other side is a metal clip to attach to your belt loop. I'm finding myself using this more for my iphone. We take walks a lot and this is a great way to keep my phone handy. I'm in love with the print. It feels so spring/summer to me.

My free gift came wrapped like this. I had no idea what it was until I got home from the Vera store. Honestly, I couldn't wait to get home and open it. And this is what it was.....

A mini kiss lock coin purse. First off I love vintage bags with Kiss Kiss locks. My love of handbags go back to when I was little and my grandmother would buy/give me hand bags. Second,notice the fabric? It's Island Blooms. I loved it even more that it was in my favorite new fabric. Two weeks before Valentines day Vera ran a special promotional handbag. It was only offered in the four new spring colors.

Want to take a guess what Hubby got me for Valentine's day???? Yep you guessed it.

The Sweet pleat tote! I just started using this bag this week. I love it! It fits so much stuff in it. I have my 4 year old all the time so you can imagine the things I need to fit into my bags. HA!
Can't you just feel the tropical breezes??? Bring on spring!!!

Hope you are enjoying the first day of spring!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Monday's are always rough....

This morning was another drama screamed filled morning. I love Monday mornings in our house. NOT. The teens are still on that state testing schedule for school. I believe tomorrow is the last day of it until April. Thank God. This schedule just does not work in my house. Everyone gets up at different times and takes turns in the bathroom. Some reason going to school later messes it up. Nobody can seem to get and in and out of the bathroom for the next person. And no one wants to use my bathroom. This morning that's what happened. My youngest daughter got up early to use the bathroom to get ready. (It's the only place she can do her make up and hair. Lighting and her poor eyesight are her 2 worst enemies.) Tornado got up later and thought she could just sneak right into that bathroom. You can only imagine the screams that went on in our house. Awful. I tried to break it up and of coarse I got screamed at too. Not cool. My youngest daughter did apologize later to me. On twitter. Gotta love technology. HA!

Once they finally settled down and went off to school,Bubby and I did the grocery shopping. Does anyone else dislike grocery shopping as much as I do? Some weeks I would rather eat out everyday than do the grocery shopping for the week. Of course I would be sick by the end of the week after eating all that gross food. HA!

After shopping we did our "Monday after grocery shopping" ritual. Dunkin Donuts. A few weeks ago in our coupon flyer(I"m not sure what this thing is actually called. We just get one in the mail every week.) We received a card to get free ice coffee or Tea every Monday until April. I'm not sure how we got one because there were a lot of people on facebook who never did. I did discover something on facebook. If you like Dunkin Donuts on facebook look and see if they have a page for your region/area. Our regional Dunkin offers specials for a few days. The first week it was a free med ice coffee. The next time it was free oatmeal. This week is a .99 breakfast sandwich. Not too shabby. The coupons usually run from Monday to Thursday. I do recommend checking again on Wednesdays because last week they ran another coupon that was only good until Friday. If for some reason your coupon doesn't want to print don't hesitate to email them. The first week I could not print the darn thing. My mac didn't want to play nicely. I emailed them and they tried troubleshooting for me. It didn't work so they emailed me the coupon. How's that for customer service?

If I come across anymore offers from Dunkin or anywhere else I will try to pass them along. If you find any special offers feel free to leave it in the comments or email.

Have a great day....

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Top O' Evening to ya.....

Happy St. Patricks Day to all my Irish (or not so Irish) family and friends. The pesky little Leprechaun came early. He manged to turn Bubby's chocolate milk green. Needless to say Bubby was not amazed. At. All. He refused to touch it. I did what every mom would do. I put the chocolate milk in a dark sippy cup. He had no clue he drank the milk. HA! The Leprechaun also left a Bob The Builder DVD. That made up for the green milk. *I didn't blame him for not drinking the milk. It kind of grossed me out too.*

That pesky little Leprechaun even left a little treat for me. How sweet was that? I should be grateful he didn't play any other tricks on us. I got off easy this year he only moved a few of my decorations.
Foo decided to have two friends spend the night tonight and I decided to keep dinner easy. I didn't make any special Irish dishes. I figured they probably wouldn't eat any different foods. I made them a pizza and homemade fries. I did however make a semi Irish dessert. The last few weeks I noticed that Andie's cupcake recipe going around on pinterest and decided to give it a whirl.
It's not a hard recipe to make but it is time consuming. It's a three part recipe. The cupcake,filling and the frosting. Warning it is very minty. You must be a fan of cream cheese to appreciate the frosting. I'm not much of a fan of cream cheese. Hubby and one of my daughters loved it. My 17 year old did not. She's like me and not a fan of cream cheese. If you like cream cheese and mint this is a recipe to try. I'm off to get the little guy to bed. He's been a bear all this week due to the time change. I'm hoping next week he's not so cranky. A Mom can dream,right?

Hope everyone had an awesome St.Patty's Day!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Aloha Friday


It's Friday so it can only mean one thing. It's time for an Island life's Aloha Friday. My question to you is this:

Are you a fan of Daylight Savings Time? I hate it. Don't get me wrong, I love the whole staying light longer. It's the whole changing every clock in the house and watches thing that drives me nuts. Let's not forget the worst thing about the whole hour forward. It completely messes up the kids. I thought it would only mess up my 4 year old but it was causing havoc on the teens this week as well. Can't we just pick a time and stick with it? Is it even necessary anymore to keep changing the clocks ahead?


Don't forget to head over to Island's life and answer her question. Hope everyone has a great weekend......

Thursday, March 15, 2012

One more test

Today I am off to take my son to his hearing appointment. Last week when he was being tested for learning disabilities they decided to also test his hearing. The audiologist isn't in the office on Wednesdays and couldn't test him. I was hoping they could test him last week to save me a drive back there. The intermediate unit is an hour from my house and a bit of a pain to get to it. But as parents we do things we don't want to do and fight to get our children services they need. The intermediate unit has all but said he is not going to get any services. It looks like I am going to be doing a lot of fighting. Ugh. I'm just waiting for the official word. The reality is the only way he is going to get services is if he fails this hearing test. Kind of sad. I just hope he cooperates with the audiologist. Oh and sits still. Not his strong point.

Have a great Thursday.....

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Wordless Wednesday~Normandy Farms

Hubby,Bubby,&Tornado
I was organizing some pictures on my computer and found this one. This past summer we took a camping trip to Normandy Farm in Massachusetts. This place is amazing. Our friends had been there years ago and asked us to go with them last summer. They told us you will not be disappointed. They were right. It's not just a camper campground. They also rent out cabins. Normandy has four pools! One pool is located indoors. A 20,000 sq feet recreation center that houses the indoor pool. Actives non stop for the kids. Two playgrounds for the kids. A bike park and a dog park. They also provide a dog walking service. Not to mention a hot food stand. Now, I know what you are thinking. Burgmom,"What if I don't have kids or I don't want to take them with me?" Best part. Normandy Farms has an adult lounge and an adult only hot tub! They really do offer something for everyone. I've been trying to convince Hubby to go back there. Unfortunately I think we are going to postpone most of our camping trips until our youngest daughter graduates high school. It's getting tougher to work around every ones schedule. You can not imagine the hassle we had last year trying to plan camping trips around every ones work schedule. Ugh.

P.S. That little cabin playhouse in the photo they rent those out. Yep. You can have that put on your site(with a fee) for however long you want it. We did not. It was a little to pricey for me.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Gaining some wisdom or perhaps losing some...

I spent the morning in the oral surgeons office with my daughter Tornado. Our dentist wants her to get her wisdom teeth out. I was trying to put it off for as long as possible but she has been complaining how much they hurt. The oral surgeon examined her and decided they should come out. It turns out they are impacted. All four of them. Ugh. As the doctor put it, the good news is medical will cover it instead of dental. Insurance can be so finicky sometimes with coverage. Hubby and I were on the phone with insurance for almost an hour just trying to get a list of oral surgeons who are a part of our insurance. I just hate dealing with insurances. Can't they just be a little bit nicer and cover a tad bit more? Ok. Enough of my rant. Tornado is scheduled to have the teeth pulled March 30. She's really looking forward to it. HAHA! After the dentist we headed over to my 2nd favorite drive in. Sonic. I can't seem to get enough of their cherry cokes and I don't even like soda. We are now enjoying the rest of this sunny 75 degree day. It's the middle of March and its 75 degrees! Needless to say we all have spring fever. The girls' high school have the state testing this week for 11th graders and the rest of the school doesn't have to report until mid morning. It's making them long for summer even more. Nobody wants any cold weather for the rest of the season. Bring on Spring!

Have a great Tuesday!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Aloha Friday

It's Friday so it can only mean one thing. It's time for an Island life's Aloha Friday. My question to you is this:

If you had Facebook as a teen do you think your teenage years would have been harder? I believe mine would have been a nightmare. More than they already were. And they were tough. I'm not sure how kids today deal with facebook and the internet in general. I think about the girl in high school who made it her job to make my life a living heck. I can only imagine if she had facebook back then. Geesh,I don't think I would have finished high school. She was that mean.


Don't forget to head over to Island's life and answer her question. Hope everyone has a great weekend......



Thursday, March 8, 2012

Evaluation day

Yesterday my son finally had his evaluation with the county intermediate unit. I knew as soon as we walked in there he was not going to qualify for any services. As soon as they started asking questions,I JUST KNEW IT. It's the same old dance every time.  I'm not sure if it is just my state or all states but ours only gives services if the child scores less then 21%. My son scored 37%. I'm stunned that my state finds any thing less then 50% acceptable. Whatever happened to "no child left behind"?  I mean didn't we get that drilled into our heads for years? They seem to think he would benefit from a preschool setting to help him with his issues. You know the ones he doesn't have. Sigh. Here's my theory on sending him to school. If he has issues and is in a classroom with 20 other kids, he is going to be a distraction to others. The teacher will have to stop class and correct his behavior. Therefor other kids are going to miss out on learning and he will be labeled as difficult. How is that helping him or others? It's not. And that's the problem. They also don't think he should go to Kindergarten next year but should go to preschool. Umm...Isn't that the same thing??? They also want him to come back for a hearing test next week. I guess just to rule that out. Luckily after facebooking yesterday my friends chimed in with some advise. Places they have sent their sensory kids.  In the next few days we will be looking into other options.

Wish us luck.......

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Wordless Wednesday

I do exist! It's the running joke in my house. I take most of the pictures and that means I'm never in any of them. You look thru our family albums and it's like I don't exist. Between us, I don't like having my picture taken. At. All. The other day it was so nice out Bubby,Tornado and I were hanging out in the yard. I had my daughter snap this photo of me and the little guy. Not too shabby! Yep. I'm good for another 3 years. HA!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Tomorrow

After waiting almost three months my son goes for an evaluation tomorrow with the intermediate unit. Those of you new to my blog my son has struggled with food texture/sensory and processing issues since he was a couple of months old. It has been a long battle trying to get him services. The early part of his life because he was still a foster child we had to take him to the doctor the state insurance recommended. She was a quack. No offense to state doctors but I have never been to a doctor like that in my whole life. First off her office was in an old Victorian house and looked like the 1960's threw up there. Nothing was updated. Horrible. The one day we were there for baby shots she wasn't feeling good so she didn't give him a shot. Yep you read that right. We had to go back another day. Who does that? She never picked up on Bubby's reflux even after I told her several times that he spit up excessively. That's where some of his issues started. After we finalized Bubby's adoption we were free to change his doctor. Unfortunately our doctor wasn't covered under our new insurance and took him to a pediatrician some friends recommended. I would tell this doctor time and time again about his eating habits. I was told the same thing, he will get over it. Give him time. After months of things not changing I was able to get Bubby evaluated for our state's 0-3 program. He qualified for services. He was actually doing really well with the program. When children turn 3 they reevaluate the child to see if they still need services for the preschool program. The state didn't feel like he needed services anymore. WHAT??? They felt he would outgrow his issues. Not only didn't he outgrew them he also developed other issues. Hubby thinks he might be dyslexic. I have been working with him for months on numbers and letters. There are always a few he just can not get. Even if you show him the flashcard and tell him what it is. Two minutes later he still can't tell you what the letter/number is. As frustrating as it is for me, I can only imagine how frustrated he must be. The last two weeks he has been so out of sorts. Rubbing his head on the carpet,putting things in his mouth, and being a wild man. I am hoping that maybe they can finally tell me how we can get him over some of his issues and get him ready for school next year. I'm terrified that his issues could keep him from attending school next year. They will be testing his motor skills,speech and sensory. I was told they might be testing his hearing as well.

Praying and keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow turns out to be a good day!


Sunday, March 4, 2012

So, Who do you think you are?

I can't say enough about that show. Last year I started watching "Who do you think you are"? for the first time. If you aren't familiar with the show it's about finding your roots. Every week they feature a different celebrity looking for someone in their family chart. Ancestry.com sponsors the show and they teach you how to use their search engine to find the hardest people on your list. They give tips and tibits to help you in your quest. I love how they give you incite on the whys of your family history. It's no big secret I have been researching my family tree for a while. You can find the story here and here. This past Friday it was Reba McEntire. I *heart* Reba! Reba was searching for her mom's side of the family when she found her 6th great Grandfather. She couldn't figure out why his father would have sent his 9 year old boy to America without any adults. Not just for the trip but as in no one here in the USA that he knew. The historians were able to explain to her the Whys. Those of you who have ever done a family tree understand this. How many times have you uncovered a fact on your search but don't understand the Whys? A lot of time records only list the facts. I found a Why recently myself. I found my great grandmother on a census report when she was 14. The report lists her as living with step grandparents. I would love to know why she was living with them and what happened to her parents. The biggest Why is who are these people and what is the connection with them.  I have asked around my family and nobody has any knowledge of her parents. Not even names. Nor do they know who these people are and whatever happened to them. She apparently never mentioned anything of her past. Kind of sad when you think about it. See how much easier it would be if I had the Whys. I wonder if I could get "Who do you think you are" to do my family tree? You know, since I'm a non famous celebrity. ;)

If you have never watched the show before check it out. Check your listings but here it's on Friday nights at 8. 29 days until they release the 1940's census report. Woo Hoo! Can you tell I'm excited? My grandmother will be in this report plus my other grandparents marriage should be on this too.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Aloha Friday


It's Friday so it can only mean one thing. It's time for an Island life's Aloha Friday. My question to you is this:

 What type of music do you listen to?  In our crazy house we listen to all types of music. Country to pop to rock to contemporary christian to big hair loving 80's. I do confess I don't like rap music. At all. A lot of the lyrics offend the heck out of me. *I don't mean to offend anyone who loves Rap music. I know a lot of people who find country music offensive and that's OK too.*

Don't forget to head over to Island's life and answer her question. Hope everyone has a great weekend......

P.S. You might have noticed I haven't posted since last Friday. Guess who got hit with the stomach bug? Yup. Me. Today is the first day all week I have felt somewhat normal. I'm hoping to catch up on emails,comments,twitter, and blog reading. I also realized since I was the only one who got sick last week there is a great chance of someone coming down with it this weekend. Lucky me.....