Saturday, October 12, 2013

Sing, Sing a Song Saturday

I started doing what I call Sing, Sing a Song Saturday.  I'm going to post one song on Saturdays that the boys or I like. 

The song may be part of a movie, a kid's video or just a song we like. I'll try and include why we like it and/or the history of the song/singer.

 I fell in love with the band The Good Mad this week. They are a band out of L.A. They formed in 2011 that consists of Adam Brooks, Andy Fischer-Price and Allie Gonino.

Allie Gonino is an actress as well. She's on ABC's Lying Game. The band was featured on the show as well.

Source


Good Ol' Live


Falling Asleep 


Check out their website.
Follow them on Facebook.
Like them on Twitter.
Check out their YouTube Chanel.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Random Tid Bits

  1. Midterms are over! YAY! 
  2. Daddy had a talk about how Mica has to stop blaming others for not getting his way. Mica was mad that Daddy when he told him to brush his teeth. While he was in the bathroom, he missed the ending of Curious George. Mica got mad, and turned to Dad to say, "See you made me miss my show!" Daddy turned the TV off. Isaak was pretty annoyed, and gave Mica a look. After Mica cooled down, Daddy gave him a lecture. Later on when I was told this I said, "It sounds like how a lot of my student's act."
  3. My student's didn't do so hot on Wednesday's assignment. I was super excited about the assignment. You can imagine how I felt when I was grading them in disappointment. I think they rushed it just to get out of the building. They can leave after their written exam. I had two options: 1. Give them crappy grades, and hang up work I knew was not hang up worthy. 2. Force them to rework it in my Friday class. I picked number 2. I'm so glad I did. I think a lot of them learned something today. Not only do they know I want them to push themselves, they also know how to see details, contrast and colors better!

    The Assignment: I took the posters below, and cut them up into 30 rectangles. One is of Toadstool park, and the other is Crawford, Nebraska. I the photos this summer on our trip. I added Mario Brothers to the images to each of them. All of the student got one little rectangle. They didn't know what the image was of. They also got different techniques to do on them.


  4. Flighty people need more to do. My assistant is a great guy, but he is so all over the place. If I ask him to do something he says, "Ok!", but is then on his computer doing something totally different. I've found that if I give him a lot to do, he functions better. The dynamics of different people is so interesting.
  5. My sister has been waiting all day on MRI results for my nephew Emerson. They were supposed to get them last night, and call this morning. Doctor's offices and health insurance is so needed, but really suck at times. They are looking to see if he has fluid on his brain. I guess that happens with his eye sight issues, but also swelling of the brain/head happens to. His head looks fine, and hasn't changed. We don't think there is anything to worry about. It would be nice to know the results though!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Forgiveness

I truly believe that no matter what kind of person you are, you can not get along with people all the time.

Is there a day, time frame that one of your kids/grand kids have went through a phase that bothers you? I think we all could shake our heads yes. The 3 year old melt downs just about pushed me over the edge at times. Then I'd fall asleep, think about a cute thing they did that day, and say, "Wow I have a funny, amazing child." All those temper tantrums that happened that day are nothing compared to that beautiful child I have.

We get bothered. Some of us are more forgiving than others. Let's face it, life is too short to stay mad. My Dad taught me that. His uncle and Dad fought for years. My Dad would sneak in visits with them both. They were fighting over a farm house that my uncle got through a will. Was it my dad's uncle's fault he inherited a farm house? Not really. Did my Grandpa have a right to be mad? I suppose so. He wanted his chunk of pie, so to speak. The difference me and those men, is that neither one of them ever woke up forgiving.

When I don't like something that's happening I can't always deal with it at the time. Weeks, months may go by, finally something triggers me off. It's like I don't even realize the situation bothered me as much as it does, until I confronted with the situation again.

Today it was at work. For years I've gone with my class to Kansas City. The field trip was fun! Other co-workers would find it annoying to get up at 5:30 am, and roll in late around 7 pm. Not me. I was excited to go. It was a trip down memory lane. I went to college there. All the sudden they swiped the trip from me. The trip went in a different class, so no one asked me if I still wanted to go. They just gave it to another person, who teaches the current class it is in. I know, no big deal! Now I don't need to get up early, and go home late. But I enjoyed the trip. It got moved to a day I teach, and a class I don't teach in. The guy that's going is my helper on that day. He asked just this morning, "Can I get out of helping Alissa to go to KC?" I happened to over hear this.

If something happens at home I tend to talk about what's bothering me. Then move on.

At work it's different. What seems to be a big deal to me, is not to someone else. I start to question my own emotions. Am I silly for being upset? Maybe I'm over reacting, and so on. As a woman I react differently than my male co-workers. They fly off the handle on things. I sit in my office and debate with myself for awhile before I say anything. I try and look at my problem from all sides, which sometimes makes the problem much bigger than it really is. I tend to over think things.

I've noticed that work, and swimming lessons they do not like my lengthy evaluations. So I address things at the moment now. People react better when they don't get accused. I have to be very careful about saying how I feel without saying, "You are wrong, I'm right." tone to it.

In an email I address it as I feel this way and that. I'm writing now because you have asked me in the past to address things at the moment, not in an evaluation. Towards the end I ask if I've understood something wrong, or if I did something wrong please let me know. No accusations. The crazy thing was, is right after I wrote the email I didn't care what the answer was. I just felt better for writing my thoughts down.

What do you do when you get mad? Do you have trouble letting things go? Do you get mad at big things, or little things more?

Hand Holding


Daddy decided to go meet up with Isaak at school last Friday. He wanted to see how Isaak is with his classmates. Especially since the teacher said Isaak follows one girl around all over. A boy makes fun of him for having a "girlfriend".

Daddy ate lunch with the lil' man, and went out to recess to play with the kids afterwards. Daddy said, "I was the cool big kid on the playground. All the kids wanted to play with me." I was laughing. He's "cool" now. Back in the day he was picked on just like many other kids are.

Do you ever think that it would be nice to have one adult play with kids on the playground? I think this would help kids to get along. I know teachers are out there, watching, but not playing along with the kids. Just a thought I had.

Daddy was playing tag, all the kids were trying to catch him.

Isaak has a new kid in his class. Isaak was happily running along the playground like many of the other kids. He was running holding hands with the new girl, and another girl was holding his other hand.

What can I say? He likes the girls. Kindergarten drama! At least he talks about a few boys as well.

Just curious what did you get picked on for when you were a kid?

I got picked on for being shy. I just had trouble opening my mouth back then. I was so shy, I wouldn't even order food at a fast food place. I would have thought I would have been picked on for needing special help with reading and math, but I wasn't. In upper elementary I was picked on for having a bra early. A few boys snapped it. It was so embarrassing then. Now I'd just turn around and punch them.

Daddy got picked on for being skinny, being the new kid {he moved schools once}, and being shy as well.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Emerson Standing Like it's No Big Deal

I haven't shown my nephew Emerson in awhile. Many older readers know about Emerson. I do have some newer readers that do not.

He was born with Trisomy 18 AKA Edward's Syndrome. In the hospital babies born with this, and Trisomy 13 are called, "Incompatible With Life". It is because many are born with a hole in their heart, in their brain, or have other severe issues.

Emerson hasn't had it easy, but he hasn't had it as rough as many others with his genetic condition.

I could get into all the stuff he has had done, he's doing pretty good, so I'm not going to. He will have to get an MRI on the 10th for an eye surgery coming up.  It's to double check if there is fluid on the brain, but he has no other symptoms to go along with that. It helps that we have many nurses in our family that know what's what.

Emerson has been practicing being in the crawl position, sitting and in the stand position. One fun thing I got to watch is him playing with a car. Isaak pushed the car towards him, and Emerson pushed it back. He thinks his brothers are funny to.

The only thing he's missing in these photos are his glasses. They do help him see better, but they fall down a lot.


He stood for a few minutes. Then he got excited, and started to tilt off to one side.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

WW: Story Time With Grandpa {Linky}

This weekend we went to celebrate my Mom AKA Grandma and Brother in-law AKA Uncle Eric's Birthdays.

I got some great expressions on camera. The sucky thing was the lighting. I had the camera set to manual, I bumped up the light, and they still came out grainy. Oh well.

My Dad AKA Grandpa was telling Mica and his cousin Evan all about how he met my Mom AKA Grandma.

Mica and Grandpa


Mica, Cousin Evan and Grandpa


Bunny Ears



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If you have a moment enter my low entry Ergonomic Pen - The UGLee Pen Giveaway

Monday, October 7, 2013

Cheez-It Review

My Dad told me a story a long time ago about how my Mom was in labor to have me, and he was sitting off to the side eating cheese crackers. My Mom of course said, "Put the cheese crackers down! Come help me!"

I think I was destined to like cheese crackers.

The trouble is, is that many types of cheese crackers are loaded with calories, and awful oils. I still have to watch my intake of cheese due to my lovely allergies. A little cheese to satisfy my craving goes a long way. 


Cheez-It gives the same taste as Cheese Nips or Cheez-Its, but has half the calories!  I really want to try out many of Fiber Gourmet's other snacks and products. They make sure their products have extra fiber added to them. They've been featured in Good Housekeeping and Woman's World.


 Ingredients:

Modified Wheat Starch, Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Palm Oil, Natural Shredded Cheese and/or Natural Cheese Flavor, Salt, Yeast Extract, Yeast Lactic Acid, Paprika, Red Pepper, Yellow Mustard Seed, Dough Conditioner (Enzymes). Contains wheat and milk ingredients.

About Cheez-It: 
  • Tangy Cheese Cracker Taste.
  • 11g Fiber Per Package (44 % of Your Daily Value!)
  • Each package has about 30 crackers.
  • Just 60 calories per oz - compared to 140 in Cheeze-Its®
FiberGourmet
Cheese Thinables®
Nabisco
Cheese Nips®
Special K
Cracker Chips
Serving Size 1 oz 1 oz 1 oz
Calories 60 140 110
Fiber 11g Less than 1g 3g

What We Thought:
  
Daddy, Mica and I each tried a single bag. We all thought they were pretty good! 

Daddy did say, "Well they do taste healthier than other cheese crackers." I don't know if that's bad, or good. He says that with anything I make that's made to be healthier.

Mica gobbled them up in seconds. 


I couldn't tell a big difference in them in comparison to other crackers. I think it would be a great thing to have around for school lunches. Generally if I'm packing the kid's lunches I try and add something snack like in there.

$5 Off Coupon 

By liking them facebook icon you can get a $5 off coupon! 

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review. I did get products to help with the review.
 
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I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Ergonomic Pen - The UGLee Pen Review and Giveaway


I really love the pens I got for review from UGLee Pen!

'UG' stands for Ultimate Grip and 'Lee' for the physician who spent 8 years coming up with the perfect pen design.


What I Thought:
  • The grip is so nice. I'm used to pens with no grip at all. 
  • Since I'm a teacher, I write on grade slips often. I'm also on the computer much of the time, so my hands get tired. It helps to know that I now have a pen that is easier to write with. It feels smooth to write on anything really! 
  • I did write on smooth paper, and turned around and drew on canvas. I wanted to see if it would write on something textured. It did!
  • I let Isaak play with the pen as well. He loved it!
  • I didn't see on the packaging if it is water resistant for art techniques. I just decided to try it out. It didn't make my drawing bleed a whole lot, but it wasn't as clear as it originally was either. They made no claims about this pen being water resistant. It was purely my own experiment.
  • I think they will help the kids when we work with them on learning cursive. I get why they are taking cursive out of the schools, but I think it's an art form. If my kids don't get it in school, I'll teach them.


A Little About UGLee Pen:
  • It's the world's most comfortable ergonomic pen. In fact you can write all day without strains, or cramping.
  • It has a full size grip, which is so nice!
  • There is finger tip grooves for easy writing.
  • It gives a person smooth writing. 
  • You can refill the 1.4mm ball pen. It's better on the environment!

The UGLee Story:

"While a student in Medical School, I began my search to find a pen that would relieve my hand fatigue. After years searching and hundreds of pens purchased, I decided to design an ergonomic pen of my own. I hope you enjoy the true comfort of the UGLee Pen!" - James Lee, MD


Giveaway Time:

This giveaway is for a 3 pack of UGLee pens. The colors will be chosen at random. This is a US only giveaway.
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Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review. You need to be over the age of 18 to enter. This giveaway is for the US only. I did get products to help with the review. The winner will need to respond back within 48 hours, or I will pick a new winner. 
 
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I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Busy Bees

Mixed brood comb. Flickr photo by Gord Campbell

At Work

It's midterm time at the college I teach at. This time always = a busy time. I'll do my best to get back to people. I'll try my best to return comments; not because I have to, but because I want to. If I let one comment back at ya slip, at least you understand why. Next week I'll be MUCH better!

This year in particular is a crazy year. I'm changing all my handouts, tests and keys over to the program InDesign. The information will copy over, but the font, size and styles will not. I also have been catching my own errors. I guess now is a great time to see them! At least I get to look forward to this time next year; all the documents will already be transferred over!

One of my books went out of print. With all the new reading assignments, I bet I'm one of the only ones that's reading it! I do have to read it because I have PowerPoints on the reading assignments, and test over them. Art students in general do not like to read. This new book is move advanced than their last one. That's both good and bad. Good because it gives them a jump start into understanding how design and typography work. Bad because it goes through things faster than my lectures previously went. I've decided to leave my lectures where they are at, and build new, additional ones that go over the reading. Repeating isn't always bad. Especially if things are explained in an entirely different way.

At the Y

Isaak and Mica went into a non competitive swim team. Mica kept up. Isaak did not. Isaak's a good swimmer for his age, but they were having him do strokes he was never taught. They put him in a swimming lesson that was at the same time. That to was too hard as well. Mica's continuing on with the swim team. Isaak took many steps forward, and many steps back. I only wanted him to move up one lesson. Soon we'll get it right.

Mica still loves Jiu Jitsu. We'd love to put Isaak in there to, but you have to be age 6 and up to join that one. There is no way we'd be able to make it to the Y at 5:15 for him to participate with the younger class.

At School

The school has put in game nights for each class; on different nights. The only trouble is, is that siblings can't go. One of us (me) has been going. It's a good thing. I now get why they have them on different nights. It's to exchange phone numbers, and to get to know parents better. Then play dates can happen.

At Home

We had 2 play dates this weekend; one for each kid. They went well, but Isaak was super excited; so much so that he was showing off, and having a hard time understanding that you have to still listen to Mom and Dad. Now we have to go over friend etiquette with Isaak. It's Isaak's first friend over from this school. He was trying to be goofy to make his friend laugh. Then when it was time to pick up, Isaak still wanted to be goofy. His friend was doing all the pick up work. I think showing off is normal. It's just that we have to talk to him more about how to act when friends come over. It made me feel much better when Mica's friend's Mom came to pick up her son, and told us she had problems with her son when her older daughter has friends over.

Blog

Today is a catch up day. I have two reviews to write. One being a giveaway. I also want to blog for a post to go up Tuesday night, a post to go up on Wednesday night and another to go up on Thursday night. Do you pre-post, or post right away?

Disclaimer

The opinions on this blog are my personal take on products and topics relating to motherhood. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.

I am not compensated to provide opinions on a variety of topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are my own. If I claim to show knowledge of certain topic or product I will only endorse products or services that I feel, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement.

If you have any questions about this blog, or want to get in contact with me please email me at: anapeladay@gmail.com