Ok I admint it it is time for me to go back to work I am now making pillowcases for #1's new room. She has a shocking pink quilt and brite blue floors and drapes!
Back to words, I am going to make it a process for me to work on...think about words before I speak. I do very well at the beginning of a school year with the new ones, but get grumpier by the end of the year. I have one month left with them and I want it to be positive. I have been away long enough to see them with new eyes. Not only do I have to use this with the kids but also with the staff. I need to remember that they are all tired, stressed and grumpy. I have had 5 weeks off they haven't. It is time to be positive and not get sucked into the drama!

Family! we gotta love them...

actually we do love and accept each other without any judgements. I am very blessed to have a family that has little to no drama in it! Thank you to my higher power to bless me with a great family. That's my dad in yellow a grad 85 years old!

I've been up reading blogs this morning. The theme seems to be words: words that hurt, words of advice, words to live by. Why do let words control our lives? We worry about what to say, when to say it, where to say it, how will they respond?
Why do words have so much power? Why do words seem stronger than actions so many times? A child of mine will call me totally stressed over a "wrong done to her" we spend a lot of time talking about it, it takes about 30 min of talk to undo 30 seconds of a bad action or a bad word.
When I do collages I often will put in one word of inspiration to enhance the art work.
Maybe we should work on talking less, listening more and thinking positively about ourselves and others more.
I think this is especially true of young adults and preteens, they should not be allowed to talk until they are 45.

Saturday My family and I went to Woodside near Half Moon Bay (below SF) to Filoli national Trust. It was beautiful

the gardens were outstanding. It had rained the night before so the air was crisp and clear. The flowers all had water droplets on them it was a beautiful day. The garden is not elaborate but has some simplicity to it that makes it beautiful. There was a rose garden, a woodland garden that made you feel like little fairies would just pop out at you if you looked closely. There was a celctic know made from bushes. One of the best parts was they are labeled, to help us plant named challenged people. Gary I am sure you would have enjoyed it.

I took about 30 pictures and none of them came out. I am hoping my sister's pictures did come out. I need to start saving for a new camera.

The down side was after going over the pass twice my sinuses got messed up on the up side I had a Dr appointment to discuss test results. I got meds to help with the sinuses and allergies.

Here I am in all my glory! I am getting Grandma practice! This is my niece's child. He was not one of the fingerprinters in the house his sister was. The house seems so quiet now. I really enjoy all the energy, noise, chaos and most of all the love of the family. I thrive on all that stuff, my house didn't but it cleans eventually. I know remember why my house wasn't clean when the girls were little, I was way too busy beign a mom rather than a housekeeper.

I HAVE FINGERPRINTS ALL OVER MY HOUSE!
Baby Danny sticks his fingers in all the dogs mouths, he head butts them and chases them around the house. The 4 year old is outside playing in the water, she tries to stick a dog in the water (he doesn't like the pool) I have toys all over the backyard. The 6 year old is at the table with stamps, markers, lots of paper and glitter. She borrows my Harry Potter book to read and we make arrangements to get her the next ones when she is done.
I love it. I love the noise. I love the chaos! This has been one of the best vacations I have had this year.

I found this on another website, I admit I stole it it was just to funny. This is dedicated to all the people and situations who frustrate me!

WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Last night I was watching Law & Order. they were dealing with pedophiles on line. I was watching and listening to the names of the bad guys. They sound innocent, playful etc. basically they are names that try to describe what they want who who they are (kinda) It made me think of my on line names. the first name I had and still use varations of is 8 years old, patticakes. I chose that mainly because of my love of kids and hopefully my playful spirit I have. When hotbot went out I had to add numbers since MY name was taken at hotmail. I look at it now and wonder do people think I am a pervert wanting to prey on kids? of course here patticakes was again taken so I added lesbo to the front. that defintely identifies my sexual orientation.
my daughters first name was fox something ( she was head cheeleader for the Foxes) thus her name...I thought people might think she thought she was a fox. I know when I read names I label them from that name, afterall we choose these names not someone else, so they should be all telling about our personalitities. I wonder if that will someday, if it isn't already, a field of study in anthropology or psychology?
enough thoguhts for the day. i've been up since 5 so my day is trucking on

Addict tagged me to use the letter c come up with 10 words and tell what they mean to me. I had done this on word with cute little pictures but they didn't copy.

1. Children; the reason I go to work each day
2 color --crayons…love them they show my life what I need, crave and can achieve
3 comments: I always have one
4 content: how I am regarding most of my life now
5 chaos: how I do not miss it in my life, even though it is occuring right now with 3 dogs running through the house (I can handle that kind of chaos!)
6 can do: some of my favorite words in the world
7 commitment: to my wife, my family and my job
8 circus clown: sometimes I feel like I am juggling the world which happens to be a 3 ring circus
9 comfy: a comfy old shoe is how I describe my relationship with my wife…worn in comfortable won’t get rid of…a source of support and comfort
10 caution: I need to do it more sometimes and less at others I haven’t learned how to balance this one

aDDICT i TALKED TO #1 TODAY SHE IS OBLIVIOUS TO WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE WORLD THAT DOES NOT INVOLVE HER I guess this is good for her!

Look at what I found today in the middle of my rosemary, sage and who knows what else. There is one corner of my "garden" that I let do what it wants to do. I just provide water and sunshine. I assume there is probably a lesson for me to learn here too: such as give them foundation and they will bloom to be who they are. That is part of my letting go process right now with my students. I am sure it is good that we are off for 5 weeks before we go back for the last month. It gives me time to seperate and prepare for the next group coming in. I am very excited about next years kids...I have more than just hispanics I have an Indian, Jap-mexican, white, and who knows what else. I love the diversity in my life!!

Yesterday I recieved a phone call about a dear friend who has been hiding info from us. He has full blown AIDS and had a brain anuriaism (or what ever, spelling is not my thing) he also has some kidney issues that is hereditary that causes brain problems. He is only 34ish and sonds like an old man in speech, needs therapy for walking talking etc. I love him and my heart aches for him. I wish he had been able to open up his secrets sooner when more of us could have been there earlier, but the good news is he is on the road of recovery from the "stroke" thing. I will continue to send lots of love to him and hopefully he will be able to come back some more to us.

I spoke to #2 yesterday about the need for a will, she thinks I am on crack..I told her she has assests and the state will take them for themselves it doesn't go to her sisters. She thinks she is too young to think about that. Hopefully #3 will have some influence over her on this issue. I know just keep adding water and sunshine and she will bloom in her own way. She needs to find her own way.

Well the wayward son finally called yesterday. T went to Bulgaria 3 months ago. Prior to that his mother cosigned for his truck loan. Long story short he went to Bulgaria left the truck for us to bring back here and quit making truck payments. We have made 5 payments as many as he has made, I work a 2nd job to make these large payments. He now wants his truck back for the summer while he is working on a new visa to go back. I don't care that he wants to go back to Europe, I care he thinks he can have the truck back. The good part of all this is that his mom (my wife) has realized that she never should have co-signed (esp without talking about it to me) and that he is irresponsible when it come to money. He has already turned in 2 vechiles he couldn't do payments on (he's only 24) We finally talked about it. I refuse to give him the truck until we have the money we put into the truck. Also until he pays his own insurance, and sets up automatic payments to cover the truck. I am tired of being his clean up crew. I hope his mom is too, it has effected our relationship more than once. He is a pot head with some major emotional issues...I believe it is called emo.
The good part it makes me grateful for my children and their attitude towards life. They are all three pretty responsible children I mean adults. I am very proud of them. #3 just got a raise is now paying all her bills (I was writing checks for her until she got her own computer on ship), she makes car payments and I get to drive it! #2 has been with the same company since 19 and has bought her own little house and car. this without the benefit of a college degree just lots of hard work and determination. #1 works 2 jobs, put herself through college and is doing well.
I thank Em for a lot of good modeling, I could not have done it without her.

well I went back to work this week to subb for a few days after finishing the kitchen
I am have so inovlved with the house I have forggoten the outside world exists
I found out on Monday when I showed up to teach and only 7 children were there out of 20. Of course this was good since 67% of the kids were out that day. I had forgotten that it was the immigration walk out. I teach at a predominately hispanic school, not all are illegals but some are. One aspect I found out about the propsed law was that as a teacher I could be prosecuted for teaching illegals. How can it be wrong to teach children how to read, write and respect others. I am sure that if it comes down to it I will keep teaching. I believe in following the law but some laws are meant to be broke!