Nelly Hair

This morning as I was getting Mike's breakfast , packing his lunch, and generally helping him get ready for work I turned on the TV. This is not at all unusual as I usually have the Morning news on to see how cold it is going to be , if any trucks have hit any bridges, or accidents have occurred closing roads that Mike takes to work , and so on. This being Saturday the news was not on so I flipped from infomercial to infomercial until I found Little House on the Prairie reruns. I always loved this show as a kid especially Nelly Olsen. being the shy middle child of a lower middle class family myself, I loved that Nelly was confident. Yes she was a bit too spoiled but I would have loved to be her. Nelly was what I always dreamed that my daughter would be. I wanted to name Cindy Penelope and call her Nelly in the worst way but Mike wouldn't hear of it. In hind sight I should have never gave in but going against his wishes at the time coupled with and the rest of the family calling me nuts I did give in. As I watched the show this morning( the one where Nelly gives birth to twins) it hit me. I did have Nelly for a daughter. The similarities were amazing. I have a beautiful confident daughter who can be a little overbearing but is still sensitive and loving. The funny part was that as I was thinking that Cindy should have the name Nelly Cindy walked in. She looked at the TV then at me and asked" Do you think I can do my hair like Nelly's for prom?" Now hair styles are not my thing but " why not ? " I answered. So now I have to find a back view of Nelly and see if it can be done for our Nelly's ( um I mean Cindy's) prom. So here is a call out to all of my relatives that do hair; Can Cindy's be done like that ?

Oh no I almost forgot to make sure my dogs were legally dogs !

OK, so they would have still been dogs had I not remembered to buy their licences by the end of the month, but I could have been fined and forced to pay sixty dollars instead of thirty to renew their licences. I remembered back in December but waited to see if Iggy was going to stay with us as I would have had to buy him one too.Then with all that has been going on I totally forgot. Thankfully I remembered when I was driving by the road that the dog pound is on yesterday. I was in this neighborhood because Mike ran out of espresso and our Marc's store didn't have any. The local Italian market probably had it in stock but their price is over double per can so I decided to drive on over to the next closest Marc's. Many people must have either forgotten or procrastinated as there was a line almost out the door. Thankfully, though I had the time to wait and now my doggies are legal. Yea one for me and the doggies !

Praying while playing the waiting game

Cindy dropped off a couple resumes yesterday. These were dropped at places that she would be thrilled to get an interview at, not necessarily places that she has the best shot of being hired at. This is known as phase one of our plan. We are now at phase two which is to wait a week and see if she gets any interviews .Remembering that this has been put in God's hands makes it a little less stressful but none the less stress still seems to be creeping in. If no interview offers come in by next week, we will proceed to the phase where she drops resumes at places that are not her first choice ( AKA Nursing Homes) This phase is a lot more promising as Cindy has her certifications already. This also looks like the only job in the field where she will have her days free in the fall for Nursing school. Please continue to pray for God's will and an acceptance of God's will for Cindy.

Please also pray for My Grandmother who is ninety one . Back in August, her doctor ordered her into a Nursing home. This was taken hard by her and her children as well. Grandma has adjusted to the Home better than expected but has spent the last few days in the hospital for Pneumonia or congestive heart failure ( The Doctor jury is still out on which one) Grandma seems to be getting better but could surely use prayers.

Thirdly I would like to request prayers for my uncle. He has been in bad shape for awhile with a brain aneurysm, which has been operated on a couple times now. My uncle also suffers from a liver condition. Doctors thought they could fix his liver condition with surgery but have decided that surgery is now not an option. He was given an estimation of six months to live on his last doctor visit.

Finally, while talking to My neighbor lady a week or so ago she asked that we pray for her father who is in the late stages of liver cancer.

Thank you all.

I can't beleive I am the only one

Robby has a teacher that celebrates birthdays by having the whole class walk to McDonald's once a month. McDonald's is close by the school and only requires a walk through a small plaza's parking lot. Whomever has a birthday in that month gets so much to spend towards their purchase. The kids love and look forward to this. This activity, however lost it's appeal to me this month as today is the day and it is now five degrees ( negative nine wind chill) The high is supposed to be a warm old twenty five degrees but still. Now maybe I am over protective but letting a group of kids walk in this weather is just ludicrous. There are icy spots in this parking lot that could cause a car to slide, hitting anything or anyone in it's way. The wind chill alone could cause problems in any child not to mention one who has a history of health problems. This being said, why am I the only parent who has refused to sign the consent form for this month. Are these parents so go with the flow that they don't think or worse yet care? It amazes me. I pray that all who go get there and back safely and without incident.As for My kid he may be sad that he misses the walk but at least I am assured that he will be safe and not end up in the hospital due to complications of being out in this cold too long.

Why I haven't posted anything

When I started blogging many months ago, I did it because I was fed up of people complaining that I didn't send them the cute picture of Robby and the dog or Cindy with the monkey or whatever that I sent so and so. This is still the main reason that I blog, so friends and family can check on our lives from time to time and see any pictures that I feel the need to post. Another reason to blog, though has become evident lately,this reason I call venting. Here is how blog venting works. First off something upsets me. This could be someone making a comment that I don't appreciate, some one's rude behavior, or anything that upsets me. Step one is to talk to( did I say to... I meant at) Mike Sometimes this is enough to soothe me , if not I turn to my blog. As I blog about this annoyance I am careful to stick with the subject, and to blog in a way which does not condemn. While vent blogging I do not decide weather I will actually publish the post or not which forces me to be kind to the offending party and type what actually annoyed me. After I am done I usually ask Cindy and Mike both to read it then asking if it should be published. Cindy usually tells me that it is well written and that I should post it . Mike usually reads it, discusses the situation with me then leaves me with no desire to post it. I then delete it and go on with my life. The problem is that when I do this I don't realize that I haven't posted in awhile ( because I have it is just that you can't see it )

I guess this is my way of saying that I am stressed out and sorry that I haven't posted in awhile. thanks for understanding.

Sometimes the answers to our prayers aren't as easy to take as we would like.

Today was Cindy's last day at the doctor's office that she was working at. Though her instructor tried, and the doctor intended to keep her on until she found another job , his accountant informed him that he was just not financially able to commit to doing so, even with less hours. It seems that everyone is downsizing now a days . She and I talked about how we shouldn't be sad about this one ending but happy that God is reveling his plan for where she will work that will allow her to go to Nursing school in the fall which is what she hopes to do. This weekend she will get her resume updated and include her letter of recommendation from this job then send them out. Most likely she will end up at a Skilled nursing facility where she can work second shift. Though this is not Cindy's idea of a dream job, she acknowledges that it may be a good idea. Please continue to pray that she finds where she needs to be and ends up being happy there.

Update

As I posted before Mike and I did not sign the papers for Robby to be tested for "giftedness". I hoped that the school would just forget about it but I received a call yesterday . The lady was polite but wanted to inquire why we would not be thrilled to comply. I explained our position (though she didn't seem to get it) before thanking her for calling and ending the call. Will this be the end of it ? I sure hope so but I must confess that I have my doubts.

How can this be?

How can it be that though a local airline is advertising cheap flights from Ohio to Florida, none are available unless you plan to spend months there. However, if you plan to travel from Florida to Ohio, cheap flights are available ( both here and back ) for week ends, weeks or longer. Hmmmmmm why wouldn't people from Florida want to visit Ohio January through March ? There just may be something going on here.

Still Praying

Still Praying that the Holy Spirit will show Cindy her way. Thursday is her usual day off work so she is staying at school this afternoon to get her instructor to help her update her resume as well as discuss things. After school her instructor will go to the Doctor's office and discuss any options that may exist. I am doing surprisingly well at not stressing over this whole thing. Maybe it is because my stress level is already at max but I like to believe that I put it in God's hands and trust that he will work it out for the best ( of course he will). Please keep praying for this matter.

Prayer request in the middle of a busy week

We are in the middle of quite a busy week here but I wanted to quickly post and ask for a prayer request. Monday was Mike and My first thirty forty something group meeting at church.( I will post on this at a later time ) It was supposed to start at six and I was sure we would be late as Mike was waiting for Cindy at work and I was hurrying about to get some chicken soup made for dinner while trying to prepare for us to be at this meeting on time. I went to get cleaned up as the phone rang . Michael told Mike that I was in the bathroom and Mike left a message for me call him.I did and he informed me that Cindy was out of work and that she needed to get her resume updated and sent out. I asked why and he handed the phone to Cindy who explained that the doctor for whom she has been working is experiencing financial problems and had talked to her telling her that due to a former worker writing off bills of friends he is now in serious financial trouble and has to cut expenses. Her and two others pay checks( plus the termination of the responsible party) being among the cuts. He did tell her that she could remain working three or four weeks more until she is able to find another job. This could be a blessing as she may be able to get an evening job that would make applying at her choice nursing school a possibility, however Cindy likes this job and is not happy about it ending. Cindy's instructor may have options for her to stay such as having her hours cut for a few months until the doctor can recover while instead of working Cindy can take a phlebotomy class .

Last night Cindy and I attended Mass and a Baptism of the Holy Spirit afterwards. Our prayer includes that the Spirit will guide Cindy to where God plans for her to be. Your prayers for the same would be appreciated.

A neat gift idea

Now that Christmas is over and most have already returned those gifts that were opened with a smile while the thought " what was he/she thinking ?" running through their minds. I have found the Wal Mart photo site and ordered these Wal-Mart Digital Photo Center: Store:Mug:Create. for the kids. Cindy and Michael take cappuccino or hot chocolate with them to school on cold mornings and these are perfect. The best part is that they are not at all as expensive as I thought they would be. I ordered them a week ago , received my E mail that they were ready and picked them up at the store ( to avoid a shipping charge) yesterday. They are beautifully Bright and vibrant. This site has so many neat things (playing cards, tote bags, ties,

etc)that I can not begin to list them all and all are more reasonable than I would think. The best part is where can you go wrong with pictures. If photo's are not your thing,( what could possibly be wrong with you ? OK sorry, I love photo's but have to realize that there are some out there who do not share my desire to have every inch of Wall space covered with photographs of family ) How about taking a snap shot of your little one's art work and having it put on a clock for his/ her room? You can for less than twenty dollars. I can see many people getting photo gifts from me in the future. Maybe as soon as Valentine's day ! BTW, just a reminder that My Birthday is coming soon :-)

It has to come down soon !

The Epiphany is over and the feast of the Baptism is this Sunday. Our Christmas tree really has to come down. Sadly I didn't get a chance this year to set and enjoy it's lights but I guess that my time is up. It seems as though life just gets busier and busier. I am told that in a few years, when the kids have moved on with their lives I will have more time on my hands than I know what to do with but for now I don't see that ever happening. Maybe as I put away Christmas decorations, I should pull out Easter.Maybe then I will get decorated before Palm Sunday. Sounds Like a plan to me .

My brain is getting tired

After some prayer, a little thought, and an hour long conversation between Mike and I we have decided that it is in the best interest of everyone involved to refuse to sign the papers for Robby to be tested for identification as gifted. It all boils down to the fact that he is what he is and no label will change that.He seems relatively happy with himself and school now for this reason and many more we don't see why we should mess with it. My prayer is that the school lets it go and doesn't try to go over my head like another district did with Cindy but I have no control over this so it is in Gods hands.

Yesterday was the day which Cindy was given off school to either job shadow or visit a post graduation school. Actually Wednesday was the day but Cindy works Wednesdays and told her instructor that she wouldn't take a day off work to go work ( Shadow) for free.

We visited her first first choice in nursing schools . Unfortunately this school ( and most others) does not offer evening classes which means that Cindy would have to quit her job and find one that didn't start until after four. This is no easy task in the medical assisting field as most offices close by then. I have a couple tips on where we may find afternoon classes but would like to ask for some prayers. If this other school works out, she would still have to leave work by four o'clock which would have to be OKed by the doctor. It would only be for eleven months but who knows if the doctor will go for it or not. Cindy knows that the education is most important but wants to try to keep this job as she likes it. Please just pray that God works it all out for her .

Another one to think( and pray ) about

In today's mail there was a letter from Robby's school. I have received many of these letters from this school as Cindy and Michael both attended . Cindy her eighth grade year when we first moved to this house and Michael two and a half years before we were able to convince the staff that he did indeed have ADHD ( even though he didn't exhibit behavior problems like most with ADHD) and got an IEP written up where Michael can not be in any classes with thirty or forty some students as his concentration simply can not handle it. My efforts in getting Michael an IEP were upsetting to the principal of this school as well as many others so in an effort to punish me ( Which turned out to be the biggest favor that they could have given me ) they outsourced Michael.( basically this means that he attends classes at a county special needs school but is still a student of his home school and will graduate with his class when the time comes )

Anyway, these letters, in my experience are never good. Upon seeing it my heart sank. Robby has never received less than an A in his life though his speech issues have landed him an IEP since preschool. My first thought was here we go. My adrenaline started pumping and I was ready to make some calls and rip some heads off. I ripped open the envelope to a letter to inform me that they think that Robby may be gifted. They want my consent to do further testing to identify him. Wonderful I thought, Cindy was also a straight A student when they asked that I sign to have her tested for "giftedness". I refused and found out that it didn't matter. Cindy was identified and labeled. Cindy was then sent to another school building in a questionable neighborhood where gifted classes were held ( so that the gifted kids would help bring up the school's averages) Cindy was then expected to do work grade levels above hers. Once there she was told that she would not skip a grade like before promised but would just have to work harder for nothing. Cindy ended up hating the program and her grades dropped. When we moved she felt she didn't need to do homework or study which caused it's own set of problems.

Now do I really want to start this whole process again with Robby? First off what if he is tested and finds out he is not gifted? Will he feel like a failure when those who he was tested with are recognized and he isn't ? Second, if he has straight A's now why ruin his GPA by making him work harder causing his grades to possibly fall.

On the other hand though, if I do not consent will they go over my head again? If not will Robby resent my " holding him back"? I just don't know. My gut says tear up the letter and pray that the school lets it go. But is this the right thing to do ? I think I best pray on this one . Come to think of it I should start now as they gave me a whole week to decide. I just love this school !!!!

Rude or Not rude

As some remember,last Thursday when Cindy returned to school from Christmas break, we were unable to find the gift which we had bought for her teacher. This gift was , in my opinion,perfect for this teacher.Though we looked and looked we didn't find it. I finally gave up and went to a near by store and bought a replacement gift . The replacement gift was a coffee and candy gift set that was marked down in the store's after Christmas sale. Though it wasn't a bad gift, it just wasn't as personal as the one which we had ordered and received months earlier.
Cindy's teacher seemed to appreciate it but I have felt bad about loosing the better gift.

Well, today, while looking for another lost article( yes we loose a lot around here) I found the gift. I really think this teacher would like it and want to give it to her but it would be rude to tell her what happened. By the same token, Cindy can't just show up with another gift without an explanation. It is not specifically a Christmas gift so perhaps I could give it to her for Easter, or as a Thank You at the end of the year but then my other kids may want to start giving teacher gifts in this way, which is not my intention to start. Hmmmmmmm what to do? I guess I will have to think some. Just what I need , to think!

60 Degree temps today

You just have to love Ohio weather. Less than a week ago it was snowing and very cold. Mike and I both broke out our heavy winter coats. Mike even started wearing long pants for a couple weeks there. Last night we didn't even need our light jackets as we ran a couple errands. Today it is supposed to go up to the 60's. No doubt next week will probably bring more snow but for now we will take what we can get.

Quote of the Day ( Thanks Linda)

God whispers in your soul and speaks to your mind. Sometimes when you don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at you.

( How many bricks have you been hit with lately ? )

As Promised

Big fireplace in Lobby
Mike and me in lobby

The kids with lobby sign

Mike and I enjoy lazy river

Robby goes log hopping

Michael on rock wall

Robby on rock wall

Cindy joins me in the adult hot tub

Let's go !

Great wolf lodge

Some answers to the questions asked about our new Years eve stay at Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky Ohio.

Yes we all had a descent time. The water park itself was smaller than I expected but offered quite a few options. There was a kiddie splash wading area when you first went in, then a 3 ft children's activity pool divided into two sections. One was water basketball and the other was just a fun area with a floating snake to climb on. The next section was a small pool area with floating "logs" and a rope ladder type thing overhead to hold on to and climb from log to log. Next to this was a tree house water activity area. It has small water slides, climbing areas, and that sort of thing. there was a huge bucket that would dump every ten minutes or so .( This is like the activity area at Geauga Lake and many other water parks only smaller) next to this area there was a wet rock climbing wall ( for an extra $5 charge per climb ) . There was then a pool that had straight kiddie water slides . Next to this was the steps up to the three water slides that went outside the building and then back in to dump you out. The dump out pool was right next to a small simple lazy river. Then there were two hot tubs. First was the family tub, then secluded behind many man made rocks was the adult only tub. This set up gave a tranquil place for adults to relax, however you could not see out from it so someone else had to keep an eye on your kids while you were there. This was great for us having older children but was not as much of an option for those with small children.

The water park itself could have been cleaner as there was trash on the floors here and there. The adult hot tub also had black corrosion around the rocks above the pool itself near the back. People also had left empty cups and wet park towels set in this area. Since Sodium chloride was the main form of sanitation of water you had residue and corrosion on all of the stainless steel throughout the park which was quite unsightly in some places. There was no shortage of towels in the park as none were allowed out of the park. There were bins all over for used ones and life guards would have a shift in their rotations to pick up ones left on the floors, etc. They would then take the dirty to the laundry rooms and bring back warm clean ones folded and in insulated carts. There was never once in my stay that there were not clean towels available.

Since we went on New Years eve , we paid over a hundred and fifty dollars more than the next nights rate would have been. This I would never do again. New Years eve activities were terrible here. During the night there was a room with karaoke, one with a Disney movie playing, a hula hooping contest, and a place to get a free paper tattoo. that was pretty much it. The park did close at ten and each room got one duck ( from five to seven one room has markers and stuff to decorate your duck ) The ducks were put down a water slide at ten and the winning duck from the race won the family a free night stay. After this there was a DJ with many people crowded into the tiny lobby to ring in the new year. I am surprised nobody got trampled at this event that I personally didn't stick around for. I grabbed a couple glasses of champagne and a couple grape juice and headed up to the balcony to watch the new year come in.

There was also a buffet dinner for an additional thirty dollars per person. This was set up ( before the DJ) in the lobby right out in the open where the food was exposed to everyone walking by. I personally witnessed one kid's wet bathing suite dripping on fresh vegetables ( simply laid on a table cloth on a table) as he reached for some. Another child pushed clean dishes back on a table and leaned up against them with his wet suite dripping on the dishes as he waited for someone. Needless to say thirty dollars per person was too much for food poisoning so we passed on this .

The room that we had was nice and seemed clean, Other than promising a bigger refrigerator than it had and our balcony lights being burnt out ( December weather kept our drinks that didn't fit in the fridge cold ) I have no complaints here.

Other positive points of this place were; great decor ,very friendly front desk staff, and no over crowding in the water park because you have to stay there to use the park. there are no day passes sold.

Negative, other than the before mentioned was a staff that were not very knowledgeable. I asked one employee, the time that the buffet would end ( so we could use an elevator, that was closed due to hall way seating , to take Michael back to our room so he wouldn't have to climb three flights of steps) her reply was I don't know" I asked another employee , who was renting lockers, if there were any top ones open. Again I got " I dunno ". The guy running the rock climb wall couldn't tell me the cost per ticket ( in his defense you had to buy them at the gift shop but still) and finally I forgot to pack a bottle opener for Mike's Sam Adams so he called the front desk to ask if any were available in the gift shop. He was told no so he went to a near by store to get one. An hour later I went into the gift shop and there was a box of them for sale.

Would I stay again? Maybe but never on New years eve when it costs four hundred dollars a night.

Pictures coming soon as soon as I unpack the cameras and dump the cards.

Now where did I put that ?

Believe it or not I didn't get a chance to take a nap today. Mike went back to bed after we brought the dogs home but I had to take Cindy to work at twelve so I just stayed up. After taking her to work I passed a Wal Greens and seen that Christmas merchandise is now 75% off. Of course I had to stop. Then I had to go to another to see if they still had the animated dog that I loved but didn't want to spend full price or even 50% on. Of course the dogs were gone but I realized that if these stores are at 75% off Big Lots would probably at least be at 50% off so I went there. Then I went to party stores looking for 2008 sun glasses. Cindy wanted a pair for graduation. I got one pair but those were the only ones within an hour from here or so it seems.

Now I am home and realizing that the kids go back to school tomorrow. This means that Cindy has to take in her best friend's and teacher's Christmas gifts. Her friend was in the hospital the last few days of school and her teacher's husband was having emergency surgery on the last day so neither got their gifts. The problem is that I can not locate the teacher's gift. I know I had it before Christmas but I think Santa must have taken it away. Maybe some of you can send a prayer up for me on this one. Maybe I should just cut my losses and go buy something else.we'll see.

Happy New Year !

Our family would like to wish all a Healthy Happy 2008. May it be your best ever !

We are back from ringing in the new year at The Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky Ohio. We had a pretty good time. I have been asked many questions such as How it was?,Was it worth the price?, Would I recommend it?,Will we go back next year? and other such questions. Since there are three indoor water parks in Sandusky( all within a half an hour from each other) this was also the buzz between adults at the park itself ( it is amazing how many conversations with strangers that one has while spending hours in the adult only hot tub).

Since I only slept for a couple hours new Years eve . Spent the day in the water park ( hey walking from the hot tub to lazy river while checking on the kids can be exhausting )followed by a three hour drive home, partial unloading of the car, and a few other things before retiring to bed for a few hours before it was time to pick up Clancy and Clarissa at the pet resort.. I am beat. I will post some pictures and my review of the park soon .