What is the World Coming to? Or, Maybe I Need to Get More Sleep

Nobody in this house has time to post anything lately unless it's like 4 am, but this really sucks and demanded my attention. Not joking. I was just thinking to myself yesterday, I need to go buy another bag of pistachios.

In other news items, I seriously thought I was reading The Onion when I saw this Obama speech excerpt today.

This news was disappointing in a couple of ways.

And, I've been experimenting in the kitchen.

Well, by now, I don't really see the point of going to bed. I guess I'll just finish working so I can enjoy my day off Tuesday.

Another year, Another IEP

Springtime, for us, means more than just baby lambs and chicks bumbling along, brave crocuses daring the harsh dip of the thermometer to temper their cheer, and leaf tiny buds promising shade from the hot summer sun to come. Springtime means we once again get to meet with Annie's team (teachers, therapists, school officials, etc.) to evaluate the past year and plan for a successful 12 months to come. It's the annual IEP* meeting. Now that Annie is nearing the end of her kindergarten year, we have had 4 annual IEP meetings - yes, 4. That's how long my six-and-half-year old has been in the public school system: 3 years of preschool and now kindergarten.

This is not a post about IEPs, really. Nor is it my intention to go into detail about our meeting. Actually, I just wanted to say that we really had a good meeting this past Tuesday. IEPs are occasionally entered into with trepidation (referring to Ryan and me - I can't speak for Annie's team, but I suspect there may be similar emotions); sometimes feelings are hurt, spines are brindled, miscommunication can occur. Six or seven adults speaking on behalf of one kid can lead to some interesting outcomes, but I think we all left Tuesday evening feeling pretty good about our plan for this next year.

When Ryan and I received our invitation into the world of special needs (when Annie was 11 days old and we learned that she has 9p-minus) we had no idea what we were in for. It's been a learning process each and every step of our adventure. And not just for us - for everyone who works with Annie. We all pick things up along the way. We all drop things along the way, too. (That's just life, isn't it?) I look at my little girl and I can see many obstacles ahead of her, but if I turn around, I also see many hurdles she's knocked down. And credit for what she's overcome has to be shared with everyone who's on this ride with her - so I guess I just started this post today with the intention of saying "Thanks" to everyone who has held Annie's hand along the way - or even just reached out to her. I'll say it again. Thanks!

*Individualized Education Plan

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh/ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh...

Spring has sprung! Okay, it actually springs tomorrow, but my daffodils have crept out of the dark earth to pay homage to fresh breezes that rustle newly unfurled leaves, birds that twitter in a sing-song way, and tiny blades of bright green grass that bravely push brittle, dry, brown stalks aside.

Maybe this annual cacophony, bidding farewell to Old-Man Winter, is what has alighted my mind with music full of energy and FUN. This Baltimoria song, in particular, has been playing between my ears and making me smile, as if I alone know a delightful secret.




The secret? Why, it's the most most powerful law in the universe. Without exception, every human being has the ability to transform any weakness or suffering into strength, power, perfect peace, health, and abundance......Oh wait, that's Rhonda Byrne's secret.

All right, I admit it: I have no secret. Just a happy smile when I hear fun songs that bring back memories of good times.

It's D-E-D!

We have one of those silly, little plastic cell-phones - you know, the kind that makes clicking, beeping, screeching-ish sounds. It's the kind of phone where you just hope for the batteries to wear out soon. Like yesterday! And guess what? Yesterday, those batteries gave all they could and then the juice was gone. Yesss!!

Well, Annie wasn't very thrilled about a blue plastic phone (sporting pictures of Cinderella along with her voice, "How nice of you to call....") that didn't actually chirp and trill and drive the rest of us batty. She asked me to please fix the Cinderella phone and I told her that I didn't think I could, because I was certain we didn't have any replacement batteries that were the right size. A perplexed look flitted across her face before her upset expression took over. "Just fix it!" she demanded. I said (with a smile in my heart, if not on my face), "Annie, I can't. The batteries are dead." She looked aghast and said in a horrified voice, "Oh no! We killed them?!"

Here's the rest of the story: when I dumped the batteries out in my attempt to show Annie that they were, indeed, dead, she insisted I put them back in. So I did. What could it hurt, after all? Only my sanity, apparently. I guess a good 'ole jostling around was all a those power cells needed.Yes, my friends, the phone works again....

Are You Smarter Than A Third-Grader?

It's so glaringly obvious to a 9-year-old! Honestly, do kids at this magic age pay any attention whatsoever to real-estate or market demand, the subsequent downfall and whatever else has hindered our nation so terribly as of late? I think it's safe to assume that generally, kids this age don't give much contemplation to a world that extends much beyond their own backyards, their computers and Poptropica, and their best friends. But see, 9-year-olds don't have to concern themselves with the foibles of Wall Street, the dire reports from the Fed or the blame-game being played in the land of Real Estate. 9-year-olds have superior common sense!

Emi is reading Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day, which apparently prompted her thoughts about real-estate and economics:

• Before people build more houses, they should make sure there are people who are going to move into those houses, so that they don't just have houses that nobody will live in.
• When houses are being built, they should recycle everything out of the old houses first and use whatever they can from the old houses in the new houses and tear them (the old - circa 1975? - houses) down so there aren't just houses with no one to buy them.
• People should just buy what they really need and not use all their money to get stuff they don't really need so they won't run out of money.

Third-graders could have kept us out of our current economic mess. Maybe if we listen to them, they can get us out of it, too!