General Mumblings

Katie had some friends over for a birthday slumber party. We went to the mall and they all got manicures. Their nails are all nice and fancy now. My nails aren't... Next time, maybe? I think they had a fun time - there was lots of giggling, smiling, and goofing off. The girls Katie had over are sweet, respectful, and fun - I enjoyed having them here! Even when their movies were over -at 1:00 a.m.!- they went upstairs and were quiet in Katie's room until they FINALLY fell asleep!

Tomorrow we are meeting our family in Burlington, MA at the Rain Forest Cafe for my nephew's birthday. Only my brother in law knows we'll be there so it'll be great surprising everyone else!! Should be a good time.

I read that Stephen King said some insulting things about Stephenie Meyers' writing abilities. She's the author of the Twilight series. I think that's a bit unprofessional. Perhaps she doesn't write poetically or eloquently but her audience seems to think she writes JUST FINE. Twilight is written from the perspective of a 17 year old girl - the writing style goes along with that! I don't know, it just bothered me that someone would say something negative about this author who is enjoying GOBS of success from her books. Anyway...

I guess that's about it for now. Have a great weekend!

Allison's Reward Chart

Why do you suppose that sometimes when I try to work the electronic devices in our home I don't have any trouble whatsoever, and other times I CAN NOT make them work no matter how hard I try? For instance, I'm trying to SCAN a picture on our handy fax/copy/scan/printer machine. It WON'T WORK! I've done it plenty of times before but this time it ain't happening. I'm a TAD BIT FRUSTRATED. I wanted to share this cool chart I made for Allison today.

Fast Forward three minutes...
IT WORKED - IT WORKED!! Hallelujah! So, here's the cool chart I made...

We were having some difficulties getting her to do things without CONSTANTLY repeating ourselves or having to listen to her complain about doing them. Meal time has become an especially trying event in our house lately also so I wanted to FIX that too. The child LOVE, LOVE, LOVES television and I limit it ALOT - same thing with computer time and video games. That makes them the perfect reward! Each time she does something on the chart she earns a rock to put in the jar. Once she's earned five rocks she can choose between a half hour of TV, computer, or video games. I included some things on the chart that she does anyway, without any trouble, like brushing teeth or getting dressed. That way she can earn rocks faster - the goal being five per day. Don't mind my pathetic attempts at drawing - I don't claim to be any sort of artist! So, we'll see how this works. Just now she wanted to go over to her friend's house and I asked her if she picked up her toys. "Can I do it later?" she asked. I reminded her about the rocks and she said, "Oh, yeah!" and got right to work. We might be onto something...

Finally - February!

I haven't posted pictures in a long time. I haven't taken very many pictures recently. Sorry. Now that January is OVER and February is stretched out before us in all of its SHORTNESS, I will try to be more motivated to both take pictures and share them with you!! Afterall (is that one word or two?) spring is just around the corner! I can practically FEEL it!! Actually, I can't feel it at all, but I'm trying to!

Did any of you notice the new blogger gadget I added last week over there --->>>? It shows who follows the blog. If you decide to be a follower you get to find out right away when I've posted something new and incredibly exciting. You can follow anonymously if you want or you can say who you are. Check it out - I thought it was a cool little gadget.

We went sledding in the dark Friday night with my parents. The local golf course has fantastic hills for sliding. We were the only ones there so we parked the cars right by the hill and left the headlights on. It helped a bit but it was still dark enough to make it extra fun! I think my dad had more fun sliding down the hill than Becky did! He'd try to go farther and farther each time down. It was the climb back up over and over that did him in. Me too actually. My mom and I went down a bunch of times too but I don't think either of us LOVED it like the rest of our group! It was fun - not too cold - and certainly not crowded! Poor Allison could NOT make it back up the hill! She'd get almost to the top and then sliiippp back down. It was kind of comical!

Katie is having a sleepover party for her birthday. Friday night three of her friends are coming over for homemade pizza, then we'll go to the mall where they will each have a manicure, then back to our place for some movies. I'm going to rent them Goonies and Gremlins. Remember those? I think of them as classic 80's flicks! They're both a little suspenseful, creepy, funny, etc. And there's a little bit of romance too - perfect for 14 year old girls!!! Speaking of Katie, her math teacher called this morning. He wondered if Katie had mentioned that he'd asked her to be in the advanced math class and she was supposed to have checked with us. She never did so it was a good thing he called. I told him that of course we'd be happy for her to be in the advanced math class! He said her grades are fantastic, she's a great student, head of her math class etc. He said she has a great understanding of pre-algebra concepts now and that this algebra class should be just enough of a challenge for her. She was a little hesitant, saying that her friends who are in the class are "doing awful!" but then I reminded her that she had ED who just happens to be a math whiz!! Seriously, the guy's brain processes that math stuff like nobody's business! Katie had it made in the shade!

How 'bout them Steelers! That's all I have to say about the Superbowl.

Time to get things done! Happy Monday!