SATURDAY PWYC

[DeeClutter]

Can't think of a title at the moment. I'm in the middle of packing for Disney. We're in no hurry this morning -and it's supposed to rain anyway. We're taking both cars and leaving mine for DS-A & family.

DSonIL has already left for family therapy day at GD's residence. He absolutely was not very willing to go "I feel like I'm being forced to go." You think? Well, it's his turn for a change. DD has done EVERYTHING FOREVER. Hopefully it will be a lot better than he thinks.

Thanks, Sunny, for the prayers and good thoughts. MY prayers go out for Mr. Harmony.

Gotta run. Happy packing, Helia.

[OKay]

Good Morning!

>>>>skippable rant
Last night the Mother of LO best friend in school called and talked for a long time. She is concerned about the mandated testing. Her son didn't do well at mid-point testing and is considered "deficient and at risk". This is hard for a young mother to hear. The teacher told DFriend that her son was one of three in the class that was "at risk" academically. DFriend knows that LO was youngest in class and our kids are in speech therapy together.....so she thought LO might be one of the three. (he isn't). As an old Mother this drives me crazy the changes in school since our kids attended 30 years ago! The academical pressure put on kids at an early age has totally changed. The mandated tests are timed and the kids must be "ON" and go fast or they will score poorly. If they don't answer within 3 seconds their answer is counted wrong even if they answered correctly. Some young children do well with this but others don't. Some respond slower - even though they know the answer. Experiencing test failure at such a young age is crazy! DFriend has sought the advice of other teachers and has decided to hire a tutor for her child so he can pass those test and be able to go to 1st grade next year. Kindergarten is no longer just about learning social skills, fun and games. It is now full of testing and pressure to succeed or be "left behind".
<<<<</Rant over

I'm out of the house most of the day.
** This morning I am going to big library in town to attend a lecture about "Composting for your garden and your health"
** This afternoon LO and I will attend DNephew birthday party at YMCA = heated swimming pool. OH YES!

[Sadie]

Hello dear ladies,

beautiful weather here

Work day for me.

have a great day!

[BookSaver]

Good morning, villagers ~
Last night I discovered that Bravo channel has been added to our cable lineup. We have not had it for many, many years. Back then I used to like it because they had a lot of interesting independent movies, and shows recorded from live Broadway performances.

However, I just looked at the schedule for today, and there is nothing there that I would ever want to watch. It's all "reality" shows about the celebrity "housewives" whose lives and dramas just do not interest me at all. Ugh.

Why couldn't they have added a channel with 24 hours of arts & crafts, nature documentaries, or science education? Especially since the channels that used to do those kinds of programs (Discovery, HGTV, A&E and such) have also changed to mostly showing "reality" or competition shows.

Well, that's my rant of the morning. Need more coffee ...

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Finally! Semi-public wifi I can get through on!

It is still Air New Zealand's connection since Air Canada's connection doesn't work. Thankfully the lounges are right next to each other and NZ doesn't change their passwords on a regular basis.

On my way home. Don't know when I'll get there because we have a very tight connection in Toronto, only 45 minutes for me to clear immigration. Dh has checked all the bags since he has Nexus and will be through quickly. I won't have to wait for the bags so will get a jump on the line but it isn't much of a jump. If I miss mine, I'll just be moved to a later flight so it doesn't matter, he can go home by cab and then pick me up with the car.

There will be no time to eat and AC doesn't serve food on flights since we aren't upgraded so I need to eat as much as possible now. Except it is 7 a.m. and my tummy isn't awake.

[Cowinkie]

Morning ya'll
Just zipping through but wanted to tell you Okay if LO's friend is in speech his IEP should cover his testing and address this problem. If not the mother should talked to his sped teacher abt this. Under the law at least here in AZ and AL the IEP should address standardized testing, especially with a child that has a speech problem. Many are slow to process and verbally answer questions. Many IEP's that I have written state that the child be given extra time when orally answereing questions. It is a standard requirement for my speech students...

Back to my house blessings.....

[Harriet]

OKay, I agree with you. Ultimately, the decision by the young mother to find a tutor may be helpful - her child might find the experience positive. But it shouldn't come because of this type of test-induced anxiety (and I'm just glad it sounds like it's anxiety for the parents and not the child right now).

Elizabeth, put a bandaid on it and create a silly story you can wink about - "My kickboxing instructor slipped on a banana peel." Carry the camera yourself to get the photographs you choose to get. Around your neck if you need both hands a lot.

Ivy, I saw your question about the Storage area of Focus cleaning. That's always been a very broad topic for Focus, because there are so many types/buildings/places that it could cover. Before we get started in a thread to chat tomorrow/Monday, you'd probably enjoy looking back through past Storage week threads to see all the different ways Focus cleaners decided to spend their time, and how they wondered, too, about what all is a part of "storage". I know blessed and BookSaver have had discussions about it. blessed started the 2012 thread for it and had some good insights. I'll think about it some more and when we start I'll hopefully have an idea of what "storage" means to ME, too!

Have been trying to post this. phone calls galore.
HRH's ddad has been put into ICU. We will get on the road soon and try to make the next small window of visiting minutes.

[Emptynester]

Hooray!! I can finally post. Have tried several days but haven't had the time to fool with it. (It takes about 5 minutes to reboot and reconnect - but I've been busy)

Wed. we went to Surprise for a memorial service for a dfriend. It was well attended and people came from Yuma, Gila Bend, Congress and Lake Havasu.

The rest of the week, I've been dealing with a funeral lunch that needs to be served on Sunday. Since this is my first one, I have to find out what is usually done, what the family wants, visit the funeral home (where the family wants to have it) and get the volunteers to make the goodies. Subsequent ones will be a lot easier - but this one is stressful.

On top of that, DH's computer died. But, after I had made an appointment to get it looked at, it started just fine. I've been running scans and uninstalling bogus programs and it seems to be A-OK.

Time to get my you know what moving. TTFN

PS: If I disappear, it is probably because I can't get on as I have the computer in a new, more accessible place.

[Nancy]

This week when it got stressful I would try to think of being through it and getting 6 new chicks on Tues.
My fav. HGTV show is on Yard Crashers all morning.
I did not get a walk or ex. Inside much except for a we bit of cleaning.

The kids were good dgd loved her time here after her first few min.

I slept in today h. Turned on the hens lite time to consider a diff. timer. I have one but it does not fit.
I made coffee.
Had a muffin for. Breakfast.
H. Was happy he got to haul gravel yesterday.
I need to make a deposit then I will not be charged to put money on the debit card.
Waving to En!

[Harmony]

Nancy, I always watch those HGTV shows with an eye towards what's the ongoing maintenance/cleaning problems going to be? Though it all looks nice, sometimes I wonder what they're setting themselves up for. Cushions, comfy yes, maintenance free, NO! Fountains, we'd be cleaning out the mosquito larvae and frogs....

Not to speak of those outside kitchens! I have enough work keeping up ONE!

Anyway...moving on...
Catching up on all the laundry around here. One load folded/hung; one outside drying; one in washer now. I'll do all the rags & throwrugs whle DH is out as it won't bother me as much to not have the rugs around...I take my shoes off if I must..he just stomps around grumbling about nowhere to wipe his feet!

Couple phone calls made. Appointment set for Friday here, insurance audit (last one) I think I'll be able to handle as I have all the work done ahead.

Dust continues to settle. Going to run the mop around the 2 worst rooms and wipe a few places. I still have not done the dining room yet either.

DH is catching up the on the weeding one last time. We are going to grout tonight after the sun goes down. Whew!

Harriet, sorry to read DFiL in ICU. Not the right way to be going. Praying.

MT, a funeral lunch at a funeral home? I'm glad we don't do that, our luncheons are all in our own fellowship hall. Good luck with all the planning. YOU CAN DO IT! Someone on our committee agreed to head up our Hospitality and that was a huge thing...several of us jumped right in and said we'd help her. It' a big position for us.