Secular Confessions

[MashedUp]

The phone is an issue here too. We do leave the room when we make or take a phone call, but Josh follows.

So it was quite an excursion to Dorchester today. I always forget how much I hate driving in and around Boston. I put the address in the GPS and when it said I was there, there was nothing there. I called the number and the automated directions said "follow signs to the Expo Center". I did that, okay, then what? I had to stop somewhere else and ask where it was. Turned out the office of civil documents or whatever it's called is in a huge building with no indication of what's inside, that I actually drove by like 5 times.

So finally I got to registration and he's all set. He has his hearing test and skills assessment later this summer.

I hate driving in boston! I always feel like I'm going in circles and everything is so close together that the GPS is pretty useful. Plus it doesn't work in the tunnels.

[Bridget]

I think you're still fabulous, it's just that you're fabulous to us now ;) I'm sorry your brother doesn't understand. Didn't you say he wants to be a preschool teacher or something?

He's been one for over 10 years and now he's a center director! lol He also has a degree in child phsychology!

I guess nothing trumps having taken three young children out to dinner!

I know he just misses me and I miss him too. It's just when I get together with him I want to be able to really hang out and that won't happen at a restaurant.

[daylilies]

LOL!
No wonder I'm always confused when you say he doesn't understand your kids needs or their behaviors.

Mylah, my GPS screws up all the time...it thinks you can turn left off the main road to my street, and you can't. It also constantly tells me to get off the highway and go through towns I don't have to go through. I haven't named it though...it was a male for a while until I decided his voice was too robotic. The female is only slightly better.

[Bridget]

Do you have an updated one, Kate? My old one used to take me all over the place. Once I was on a road trip with Savana and Kai and we needed a dept store for some reason I cannot remember what. So it told me it was taking me to a Target or Walmart or something and I'm driving down this completely barren road with nothing but farmland and it says I've arrived at my destination. WTF?
We got one for Christmas and it's not steered me wrong yet. I cannot believe how reliant I am on it now.

[daylilies]

Yes! It even came with a program you download and it'll tell you when you need to download updates to your maps. Even after I did that it had errors.

There's a really cool children's museum in Providence RI that I would totally go to more often if I didn't get hopelessly lost every time.

[Suja]

I have some friends that are early adopters of technology. One of the pitfalls is that the kinks aren't worked out. For instance, they were told on one occasion to go through a pond to get to a road. On another, they were asked to cut through someone's backyard and then through a large body of water (like the Potomac).

[Suja]

Suja, yes, that's exactly how I pictured you. That woman is beautiful.

I should hope so, LOL! She was Miss World 1994, and probably the top Indian Actress (currently on maternity leave). I tell people that when they make my bio, I want her to play me. I'm just a slightly shorter, more average looking version of her, right?

[Ky'sMom]

Hi everyone! Back from my business trip and am catching up on all I missed.

Been meaning to ask you for the longest time, Erin. How do you pronounce Elle? Like 'L', or like 'L-E'? Kidlet likes looking at all the kid pictures when I'm on the fo and ask me 'Who's that?' all the time, and I don't want to mispronounce. She used to love that Joshua picture (I think it was him) with the ballons over his head.

Older post, but I missed it. Her internet alias is just pronounced like the letter L. I used to call her that a lot but mostly just call her by her full name - Ellasyn, but I don't like to use it a lot on the internet. Mostly we call her her full name or Ella. Ky's name is Kyro, pronounced like Cairo like the capital of Egypt. We mostly call him his full name as well but I also use an internet alias for him too since both are not easily google-able. You'll just get a magazine (Elle) and the state of Kentucky (KY) or K-Y jelly LOL!

That pharmacy trip sounds incredibly annoying, Mandy! I so wish this whole journey was easier for you.

We are watching Snoop Dogg Bad Girls of Comedy. These women are making me blush! Nasty, I tell ya. But funny. Mostly.

I do have a thing for bad boys though...so they're my guilty pleasure. Lil Wayne would be one. I know I shouldn't like him, but I do.

I watched Snoop's Bad Girls of Comedy the other day in the hotel!!! They talked too much about sex IMO and I am not a huge fan of rap, only certain rappers do I like, but Lil Wayne is also a guilty pleasure of mine. He is just freaking hilarious to me, the things he says when I actually listen to the words. I usually don't listen to the words and then one day I will and will crack up laughing at some of his phrases. He is crazy IMO.

So sorry about the fire at Bobbie's dorm. Something similar happened at my dorm when I was a freshman. I was actually talking to a friend of mine who was leaning out of her room on the 3rd floor and she just said out of the blue "I smell smoke" then her roommate started screaming FIRE FIRE FIRE and everyone started screaming and running outside. Luckily I was already outside and we were fortunate that there was not that much damage, just to the kitchen on the 3rd floor and the maintenance department cleaned it up really well. Our dorm was brand new at the time and the sprinkler system went off and put out the fire before it caused a lot of damage, but we couldn't go back in for about 12 hours.

And Kate if it makes you feel any better, I still have not gotten a copy of Elle's BC and she is 3.5 years old. I have never ordered a copy of it at all because I am just lazy and don't feel like going to vital statistics even though it is about 1.5 miles from my job and I need to take my lazy butt down there and get it.

I remember once Ky lost my driver's license, I let him hold it when he was around 2 for me, thinking he could hold it for a minute while I got something else out of my purse and the freaking thing disappeared and I never could find it again. I was here in Atlanta at the time and you need a BC to get a license. My license was still an OH license and I didn't want to change it to a GA license (because my photo was extra cute on that ID lol!) So I convinced DH, who was DBF at the time to take a road trip with me to Toledo so I could get a new BC and a new license. He was soooo shocked because I got my BC in literally 2 minutes, just filled out the app and they printed it off for me. I took it and my SS card three blocks down the street to the DMV and I got a new license in about 15 minutes. He couldn't believe how quick and efficient everything was being that here in Atlanta everything takes hours to get something. Also in Chicago it takes hours to get a license. The efficiency and speed of local government in Toledo is actually the main thing I miss about living there. Most government officials are really nice and helpful and they make sure to handle your concern so you won't have to come back instead of not doing their jobs like here in Atlanta and making your life a living hell.

still am SCUBJIA so may jump on later.

Erin

[demigraf]

Ha, I joke that I'd want someone like Vanessa Minnillo or Moon Bloodgood to play the hot version of me.

ETA: That was in response to Suja's post above Erin's. She snuck one in before I could hit Submit.

[demigraf]

Hi everyone! Back from my business trip and am catching up on all I missed.

I remember once Ky lost my driver's license, I let him hold it when he was around 2 for me, thinking he could hold it for a minute while I got something else out of my purse and the freaking thing disappeared and I never could find it again. I was here in Atlanta at the time and you need a BC to get a license. My license was still an OH license and I didn't want to change it to a GA license (because my photo was extra cute on that ID lol!) So I convinced DH, who was DBF at the time to take a road trip with me to Toledo so I could get a new BC and a new license. He was soooo shocked because I got my BC in literally 2 minutes, just filled out the app and they printed it off for me. I took it and my SS card three blocks down the street to the DMV and I got a new license in about 15 minutes. He couldn't believe how quick and efficient everything was being that here in Atlanta everything takes hours to get something. Also in Chicago it takes hours to get a license. The efficiency and speed of local government in Toledo is actually the main thing I miss about living there. Most government officials are really nice and helpful and they make sure to handle your concern so you won't have to come back instead of not doing their jobs like here in Atlanta and making your life a living hell.

still am SCUBJIA so may jump on later.

Erin

Welcome back, mama! Your story of the efficiency of the Toledo agencies makes a nice response to people who think all bureaucracy is bad. In and of themselves, government agencies are not a bad thing. It's when bureaucracy gets done badly that public services in general get a black eye. When people start talking about how awful "big government" is, I want to ask them if they'd be so opposed to it if it were still big, but just done better.

[missychrissy]

Erin!!!

[daylilies]

Well, once I finally did get to the office, it only took about 5 minutes for them to give me two copies of his birth certificate. So that was good.

Erin, I never realized the names you use for your kids were not their real names. I should have done that!

[Gwenn]

Hi, Erin! Glad you're back.

It's good to hear some positive stories of government bureaucracy. I suppose I'm part of the "system" myself so I am always pleased when people feel like I do my job well. ;) But I'm not a fan of bureaucracy despite the fact that I am part of the system.

[daylilies]

I was looking at some nice carafes and decanters on uncommongoods.com for my dad's birthday and now I'm in the mood for some red wine. LOL
Do you guys think this would be cool? http://www.uncommongoods.com/product...canter#Reviews It's his 65th birthday but we're not doing a big bash or anything. My stepmom is taking him out to dinner and I'm going to meet them there and surprise him. She's also trying to get his sister to meet us there.

[Gwenn]

It's nice but I don't know your dad's taste. Go for it if you think he would like it.

[daylilies]

I think he would like it. They drink wine often and the style fits him.

[Gwenn]

Sounds like a nice gift, then!

[daylilies]

Mandy, are you going to do more entries on your speech-language blog? I keep going back to see if you've added anything.

[missychrissy]

I think it's very elegant looking Kate.

[daylilies]

My dad's tough to shop for because anything he wants he pretty much gets for himself. He does like elegance. Last time I went over there he was going on about how he got all his antique furniture refinished. Josh was playing with a tin container I thought was pretty harmless, turns out it was his grandfather's and it's a rare production. I swear nothing in that house is cheap or common!
I'm not sure if he'd think 'oh great another decanter' or if he'd like it. I always kind of beat myself up over gift shopping. Christmas is very stressful for me.

[missychrissy]

I think he should accept whatever gift you choose graciously. Anyone over 5 should, actually. But I know what you mean...my father pretty much has everything he could possibly want. I try to get him music related things he'd like. It's not really about the $. One of his favorite gifts was Michael Jackson's "This Is It" dvd. Another was a Three Stooges dvd collection. I remember watching them with him when I was a little girl.

[Gwenn]

I know what you mean about gift shopping.

I do intend to do more blog posts. I started it right before going back to work and then became overwhelmed at the amount of writing I was doing every day. I need to get back to it. L's post about Baby S is giving me some directions for another post. I wanted to do a post (or series) on language development but it's such a big topic I got overwhelmed. But I can see that as a starting point.

Remind me if I don't follow up on it!

I think I'm better when I have a concrete question to deal with, so you should all give me requests for blog topics.

[daylilies]

Oh no, he'd never say anything negative in front of me. I just don't want him to put it in the back of the cabinet when he gets home, you know?
My dad mostly likes jazz which I know nothing about. He has a couple things on his amazon wish list but I wanted to get him something he didn't think of.

[daylilies]

I know what you mean about gift shopping.

I do intend to do more blog posts. I started it right before going back to work and then became overwhelmed at the amount of writing I was doing every day. I need to get back to it. L's post about Baby S is giving me some directions for another post. I wanted to do a post (or series) on language development but it's such a big topic I got overwhelmed. But I can see that as a starting point.

Remind me if I don't follow up on it!

Okay!
I like the idea of a series on language development.

[missychrissy]

When are you done for the year Mandy?

[Gwenn]

The end of May. Coming up pretty soon. We start back really early for next school year, though. My contract actually starts the end of July and the kids start August 2. The reason for that is the board approved a new calendar with a full 1-week fall break in October and a full 1-week spring break in March (currently we have 3 days only), as well as our usual Rodeo break in February. So we go back 1.5 weeks earlier and that takes us into July! I'm excited about fall break, but don't want to work in July.

[missychrissy]

That's just nuts! It seems like a lot of schools are adding these extra breaks in the midst of a school year. I wonder if the ultimate goal is to have kids in school all year long? We used to get out June 10th-ish but now my kids are in school as late as the 23rd of June because they added an extra week break in February that we never had.

[Gwenn]

There are some places that have been experimenting with year-round schools. Basically the kids go for 3 months, then have a month off. A lot of people really like it, others don't. My mom's school was year-round for 1 year and she loved having the entire month of December off. I don't necessarily think it's a bad idea.

[daylilies]

I don't know...I think after a month off it would be hard to get back into it. But I guess the same could be said for summer vacation. I also think it would be tough on the parents, having an entire month off in the winter. Maybe that's just me. I'm not a huge fan of winter.

[Gwenn]

I can really see both sides of that argument. It is SO hard to go back to school at the end of summer. Plus, I'm always a little bored by the end of summer (perhaps where that blog came from?) But I like the idea of having the uninterrupted stretch of time to do something productive with (like write that stupid book or work on the house). I think daycare would be an issue for working parents, though. I guess it is either way, though. It's the same number of school days, just broken up differently.