Along for the Ride

Meeting Leah

the girls and i just got back from a trip to ohio to visit family. while connor was at boy scout summer camp and chris was at work in RI, the girls and i hit steph's house in south bend (emily and tori are BFFs!!!! with lots of exclamation points) and then headed east to meet this little sweetie and newest member of our family. after a trip to a korean restaurant for lunch (which zo loved and tori hated) we hit nana and papa's house along with  my sis and her kids. it was a nice family trip.

more pics coming as i edit. and yes, i'm going to try and get it together here on the blog. it's past time.

A Tidbit

until i can wrap up my may blog post with all the pics....these pages will have to do....

journaling reads: i'm not going to tell you this was the safest thing to do with your little sister, but it was sweet...she loved it. [and for the record, i didn't see this until he was coming home...i stopped them for a photo and then stopped them from doing it anymore!]

leave it to tori to take glue and socks and end up making $36 from selling crafts in the front lawn of tim's house. the two of them are quite clever!

school's out and the days are filled with swim team practices, vbs preparation, playing with friends and reading for the summer reading program. it's all good.

Introspective

new page for the ct gallery at designerdigitals. i decided i needed a new look, and a smaller head shot on my layout.

feeling very torn nowadays. like there are a lot of things about me/my life that i need to fix. and i don't mean major fixes....life is good. just the "i'm almost 40 and it's time to take stock" fixes.

i've been reading a lot about the following topics:

blogging...making it more of a resource blog (along with family stuff) and how to do that well. good info here and here. my sis is designing me a new blog too.....hope to have that up and running this summer.

getting our finances in order. we need to sell the MDX and move on. time to get out of debt once and for all. totally diggin' this site and this site as well.

going more green. slowly implementing changes like no more plastic water bottles, cloth napkins, reusing 'grey water' and hoping to figure out composting and a rain barrel this summer. went to a presentation by this lady at church.

and finally health stuff. preparing for a summer of changes in our eating. i've been reading this book, this book, i just got this book and i've been spending a lot of time at this site trying to figure out what to do first. it's a bit overwhelming (and the ads for products are a bit fierce) but i know that we need to adjust our mindset. connor is totally on board. so he and i are going to lead the way.

so that's how this page came about. i was trying to decide what to write on it. what was going on with me right now. and that's where "desiring to be better...working on it a little bit...every day" came from.

and yes, that means updating soon with pics from 2 plays, 1 zebra tea party, a couple soccer game and anything else i've forgotten over the past month. :)

Drive By Post

 
zo and her best friend sarah. love this pic. and i love that the template allowed me to make this page in 10 minutes. credits here.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there that keep up the feeding and tending. As our pastor said this morning, that job never is over! I hope you have a day filled with whatever you want. :)

My gift to myself apparently was falling down the steps on the deck while taking the dog out and ripping my big toe nail off my toe. nice. and very graceful.

lucky for me i was planning to hang out on my computer today anyway. now i NEED to keep my foot up.

sigh.

When Surrounded by the Flu

Go to a Kane County Cougars game!

Connor's school has been canceled for a full week. so he's home until may 7th. but youth group headed out to the ball game and a christian concert anyway.

take that H1N1!!!

A Voice of Reason

my thanks to Anna for finding this enlightening article on the Pandemic of Swine Flu.  i really liked this piece. especially the sound advice at the bottom of the article regarding vitamin D. if you are nervous about the flu, i encourage you to take a few minutes to read this and even some of the accompanying comments.

Apparently They are Serious

A Rotolo Middle School student has a probable case of Swine Influenza.  Based on the recommendation of the Kane County Health Department, ROTOLO MIDDLE SCHOOL WILL BE CLOSED UNTIL MONDAY, MAY 4, 2009.  As a preventative measure to stop the transmission of infection, students and faculty are not to report to school until Monday, May 4, 2009.

All student activities, practices and meetings planned for Rotolo Middle School are canceled until Monday, May 4, 2009.  This includes all away, extracurricular activities as well as any building usage by community members during this time period.

Students and adults who demonstrate Influenza symptoms should seek medical treatment as soon as possible.  Symptoms include:

·         Fever, chills

·         Sore throat, cough

·         Achiness

·         Nausea, vomiting

The Center for Disease Control also recommends that all parties are encouraged to avoid group activities, until further communication is provided.

 

Ongoing communication will occur as new information is available.  Please check www.bps101.net for further updates.

my son is off school for the next two days. i'm sure the lawyers are bummed. if we don't go to school then there's no chance of anyone suing the school system for having school when someone MIGHT have swine flu (since the symptoms are so generic, it could be a sinus infection or influenza or a cold).

hah! take that lawyers.

oy.

Redefining the Term: Chick Flick

you can watch the trailer here (because i'm a youtube neophyte and can't figure out how to add the video onto my blog)

he's ripped.
he's a song and dance man.
he looks really good in tight white tank tops.
he's got a killer smile and an even sexier accent.
he's a practical philosopher.
did i mention he's ripped??

any other "chick flick" girls with me on friday??

Seriously?

this is the 6th email regarding swine flu that the school district has sent in the past 2 days. please note that there are no cases of swine flu in the state.

Swine Flu Alert

 

In an effort to provide our public with timely and assistive information regarding the recent developments linked to swine flu we would like to touch on the following keynote points.

 

Each of our schools has a Registered Nurse (RN) who has been trained to identify flu-like symptoms.  In addition we employ district staff who are certified in school nursing. Our district nurse has communicated with each of the RN’s to review protocols concerning the identification and treatment of influenza. Our nurses have been instructed to immediately report flu-like symptoms to parents. Local and national health authorities have provided basic prevention suggestions which will be relayed to students. These recommendations include:

 

1.    Wash hands regularly 

2.    Avoid contact with persons who are sick and in particular if they are coughing

3.    Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth unless you have washed your hands

 

Our nursing staff is in touch with the Kane County Health Department and are receiving periodic updates regarding this issue. At this point in time there have been no reported cases of swine flu in Illinois but we will continue to monitor these developments. We have been instructed to report any instances of excessive absenteeism and/or ER visits due to flu-like symptoms to the County Health Department. If this situation changes school administration will provide you additional information. If you are interested in reading more information about this health concern and related matters, the link below will provide you with valuable updates from government agencies:

 

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm

um, aren't those 3 recommendations the same recommendations EVERY DAY for EVERY type of virus?

love it when the media decides the country needs to be whipped into a frenzy about something that can be treated by readily available antibiotics.

bah.