SHEs Organized

Good morning, villagers ~
Yesterday's errands were enjoyable but took so much longer than I thought they would. As a result, I was not able to do much desk work last night.

Therefore, today I will be with Dee and Harmony in the Land of Paperwork. Still finishing things for the library group, and in the middle of several reports for the sewing group.

Sewing group meeting is tonight. Someone else has volunteered to set up the room, which will save me a lot of time. The program topic will be about machine embroidery, which for me is an unknown and mysterious craft. I'm also looking forward to the part of the meeting where members show their current projects, that's really my favorite part.

I noticed at the last meeting that our storage cabinet in the meeting room is really messy. If the other person really does come to set up the tables & chairs, then I can spend my time before the meeting putting our shelves in better order.

Must refill the coffee cup and get back to Emails and reports.

Forgot to mention that on the weekend we got one of those real estate flyers, looking for us to list. Currently there are just 2 houses for sale in our village because it is so popular. I mentioned to dh that I'd offer the house to friends first before listing and he agreed. Yesterday, unprompted, that friend came to us and said that they would like to buy our house when they move. They currently have 18 months left on a lease so it won't be immediate, but it is in the near future.

I guess I won't redo the bathrooms!

I will continue to dejunk.

We aren't planning on buying, we are planning on renting an apartment condo in the city. That way we are free to pick up and move whenever we want or travel and not have to worry about power outages, snow removal, lawn cutting, house watching, etc. Living with one car will be much easier in a city with transit and car rental agencies close by.

We are used to living in apartments when we travel so it is just a matter of adjusting our expectations from a 2500 square foot house (with another 700 square feet of high-ranch rooms in the basement and an additional 400 square feet of basement storage) to about 1200 square feet or less. The antique dining table and other furniture in the dining room plus my grandfather's upright grand piano are the big problems although it would be tempting to leave the piano with the house (the potential buyer is our church musician and she doesn't own a real piano.)

Dd and ds will hit the roof. Ds in particular since his possessions will be stored here still around that time.

Harriet ~ Oh, yes, I totally agree with you about machine embroidery. People are so excited about their new machines, and I'm trying to be polite while thinking ... just not my area of interest.

It's really cute for baby things, but I don't sew many things for babies. I've seen some gorgeous purses, but I wouldn't spend thousands of dollars on a machine to sew handbags. I've seen beautiful embellishments on jackets & Tshirts -- but I can do beautiful embellishments with my old sewing machine. Machine embroidery is a very expensive hobby, and y'all know I'm a penny pincher.

So for the meeting tonight, I will be happy to admire other people's work, but won't be taking notes to use for myself. I'll be even happier that it's someone else giving the program. Thus, after I do general meeting announcements, I can sit back and relax!

CI: Plugging away on reports.
Since the shower faucet part hasn't come yet and there's a lot of water going down the drain, I found some containers to try to save more of it. I can do a couple of loads of laundry in the cold water, with only a little extra labor. (We've already been capturing some of it in a bucket to flush the toilet in that bathroom.)

First IEP meeting went well. We met with Speech pathologist, LO teacher and school principal. WOW! That program really does like paperwork! LO hasn't even started speech therapy yet, but his folder is already filled with papers. Not sure how many forms we signed and initialed today, but would guess around 1/2 dozen. I don't remember all the stats and technical terms they told us, but I like how responsive they were to my questions and request. I do remember a couple facts they told us LO talks like someone 3 years old (1.5 years below his current age) and I remember they said he has 36% pronouncing his vowels correctly. I was surprised to learn that his teacher wears hearing aids. It relieved my concerned that LO would be "put down" for his lack of hearing/speech....even if the put-down isn't intentional, it seems to frequently happens to anyone who is different than the normal. LO will have speech therapy 2 times a week. The time spent with speech pathologist will be take out of his PE time. I'm excited about this!

Next up - process paperwork that came in the last 24 hours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_syndrome

https://www.google.com/search?q=fetal+a ... 16&bih=597

For those who are unaware...FAS stands for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and FAE stands for Fetal Alcohol Effects. These are children of mothers who drank, usually heavily, while pregnant. This disorder effects the behavior of kids and sometimes even the way they look. Most Native American reservations have many children like this. So do the inner city areas of large communities. Though there is treatment for these kids, it is very difficult. Their brain does not work or respond like "normal" brains do. I find these kids are very difficult to teach, and I'd like to think I can teach anyone.

Kids that come of the Rez..what they call their reservation...have other difficulties too. Their culture is still very involved with their heritage. My Rez kids won't look me in the eye when talking to me...they have been taught that is disrespectful. They don't talk much to adults and usually have a difficult time adjusting to the non-white world. That's because many are still taught we, the whites, are still their enemy. Hard to believe in this day and age that this still is practiced but it is.

I have a dear friend who is full blooded Navajo. She was born and raised on a Rez here in the area. She only spoke Navajo until she was 8. Then her father, fearing that his family would be doomed to the "life on the Rez" courageously moved them to a white area. My friend didn't start to learn English until she was in 3rd grade. She is brilliant. She became an accomplished cello and pianist and at the age of 18 traveled for 4 years to Europe playing in an symphony. She has even preformed for the White House. She became a sped teacher and worked with me. She has taken it upon herself to become an ambassador to any Native American student that enrolled in our school. She has taught me so much about her culture.

When I worked in Mobile, I had many FAS students. I worked in inner city schools and until then knew very little about the syndrome. My heart goes out to Dee and her family.

K in C Nodding We live less than 20 mi. from res. here.
Did a spiff last night putting away some holiday decorations man did that ever feel great! Now I just need to find a spot for the Easter stuff I pulled out of the play house.