Another Random Post

There is a huge problem with starting school as early as we do.  Yeah, well, there's the whole heat thing, and the whole "starting school in the middle of summer" thing, but there's another problem.  Transfer students that receive any kind of special education services will often come to school without  a current IEP (Individual Education Program).  An IEP is the child's program.  It includes the student's certification, date of re-evaluation, present levels of performance, accommodations/modifications that the classroom teacher needs to incorporate, goals/objectives, and how much time the student is suppose to be in special education.  If a child transfers in during the year, it's not that much of a hassle to get the needed information.  However, since we start so early, most of the school systems that the students are transferring from haven't started back yet.  Therein lies the problem:  We aren't able to get records.  So, we have to take the parents' word that they were receiving services, write a "30-day IEP" so that we can evaluate and determine if the student is eligible under the state's guidelines.  More work for us, more meetings for the parent, teacher, and principal  to attend.  Word of advice:  If you're the parent of a special  needs child or have a child who goes to school speech therapy, take a copy of your child's IEP, evaluation report, and eligibility report to the school when you register.  That would be a current copy, not one that is more  than a year  old.  If you can't find it, contact the school and let them know you need a copy.  They are bound by law to give you a copy.
*climbing off of my soapbox now*

It was too hot yesterday to even think about turning on the oven or even the stove.  We had flat bread sandwiches for dinner.  They were delish!  And they didn't heat up the kitchen!  Lemonade Cheesecake was just the right thing to top it off.  This recipe came in my e-mail from Kraft today:

Lemonade Cheesecake

1 pkg. (8 oz) fat free cream cheese, softened

1tsp. Crystal Light Lemonade Flavor Drink Mix (1 packet of the "On the Go" mix was 1 tsp)

1/4 cup milk

1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whip Free Whipped Topping, thawed

1 ready to use graham cracker pie crust

Beat cream cheese and drink mix in bowl with mixer until well blended.  Gradually add milk, mixing until well blended.

Stir in Cool Whip; spoon into crust.

Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.

It has just the right amount of lemon in it for me.  I'm guessing if you want more of a lemon taste, you could add some more Crystal Light to it.

Speaking of  lemonade, did you hear about the 11 year old in the big city next to where I live who raised $12,000 for an organization who feeds families in the area?  Last year he raised around $4500, but got started a little earlier this year.  Restaurants in the area allowed the boy to put jars near the cash registers, and a bank agreed to match up to $1386 that was collected on one day.  Good for him!

The head football coach at UT  (that's the real UT- Tennessee!) talked to the press Wednesday after practice.  I don't know how great of a football coach he is (his dad is the legendary Vince Dooley of UGa fame), but I really like what he says!  The heat must've been the topic of the day, because he addressed it and said something like:  "It's hot.  So what?  It's hot in Louisiana (where he was the head coach at La. Tech), Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, and Athens.  So what?"  I think he was tired of everybody talking about it.  He did mention that he didn't notice it was hot; he thought it was rather pleasant.  Here's a clip  of his talk.  It's kind of long (a little over 5 minutes), but if you don't watch all of it, at least watch the first minute.  I don't think he's going to coddle these boys!  LOVE HIM!

It's the Ultimate Party

I love a good party!  I've seen this banner/button on a few blogs, and SusanD.at This Day! is partying over on her blog.  So, I decided to check it out.  So, get your beverage of choice, finger foods, music, and let's get this party started!

Click on the button either at the top of this post or on my sidebar to find out all about it.  Since I'm new to blogging, this will introduce me to new blogger friends.  There's even a chance to win some free stuff!  To me, the only thing better than going to a party and meeting new people is coming away with some free stuff!

First and foremost, I'm a mom of 3 boys, 1 of whom (OS) has flown the nest and is in college.  Middle son (MS) will be flying in August, but he's staying close to home.  Youngest Son (YS) is still in high school.  We live in the SE U.S.A., in a small town in Tn.  after living in Ga. & SC.  We are living in the same small town (in fact, the same neighborhood) where I grew up, although I have never lived her as an adult until 6 years ago.  I come from a  large family (there are 10 of us), and most of my brothers  & sisters have moved back home.  I felt left out and thought it was time to come back home.  The town we live in is a wonderful place to raise children;  I'm extremely glad my husband was supportive of me to move home.  I guess it made it easier that he is a military brat who was used to moving around anyway, as oppose to me whose parents live in the same house that they've been in for 47 years.

I'm a full-time working mom; I love my job!  Working in a school system has its advantages (breaks & snow days!), and the kids keep me laughing.  That's what life should be all about:  laughing and being happy.  I used to play tennis in the summer with an "old ladies' group", but I'm going to take this summer off.  I love to read (I have so many books on my list but not enough time...especially since I've discovered blogging!), cook (the clean up:  not so much!), watch movies, go to hockey games (semi-pro), watch college football, college women's basketball (but only if a certain team is playing!), take my 2 little girls for walks in the park (as long as there aren't any other dogs in the park), and take rides in the mountains. 

As you may have guessed by the 9 siblings, I am a Catholic.  I am rediscovering my faith and struggling to be a faithful follower.  I'm very friendly, honest, and loyal.  I love learning about different cultures!  So, if you visit my blog, you may read about my boys, my dogs, my husband, high school sports, college sports, being an almost empty-nester, living in a small town, being Catholic in a small southern town, books, etc.  In other words, just a whole hodge-podge of things!

But, enough about me!  Hop on over to see what the noise is about at 5 Minutes for Mom:  The Ultimate Party Blog and meet some new friends!  Who knows, you may be one of the lucky ones who leaves with a prize!

As far as the prizes:
Of course my first choice is to win the Grand Prize:  a Toshiba laptop  from 5 Minutes for Mom  (Might as well dream big, right?).
My realistic top choices are:  Be My Guest Certificate (2 night stay) from Hilton Garden Inn, Soy Collection Moisturizing Candles Gift Set from Soy Delicious Moisture Candles, or a $100 Gift Certificate to Restaurant.com from Thrifty.Jinxy.
If I should happen to not win any of the above, here are my other choices in no particular order (from the US Continental Only Prize List):
28, 32, 36, 37, 49, 57, 70, 73, 74, 75, 82, 87, 88

Y'all have a good time and come back soon!

FINALLY!

It's finally here...the first day of Spring!  I was finally able to ride in the car with the windows rolled down!  I also decided it was time to put a little "Spring" on my blog!

Yesterday I met a friend at her condo and we walked to lunch at The Tomato Head.  This was my first time eating there at this location.  It's downtown (or as we used to call  it:  "Cowtown") with tables sitting out front.  I was going to take a picture, but didn't want anybody to think I was a stinkin' tourist, or a local who has never seen tables outside on the sidewalk before.   Even though I could eat meat yesterday, I stuck with the plan and had a Cheese Melt, which was delicious, by the way.  It's probably a good thing I didn't look to see what the dessert specials were, because you tell me if you could've passed these up:
The “Guten Nacht Gorilla” Special Dessert: Whole Bananas Spiraled with Cinnamon and Brown Sugar and Wrapped in Pizza Dough – Topped with Vanilla Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream
Cupcake of the Day: Strawberry Tiramisu
Vegan Cupcake of the Day: Red Velvet
Cobbler: Blackberry/Blueberry/Raspberry with a Scoop of Vanilla Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream

I didn't think so!  We took the long way to get there (my friend forgot exactly which street it was on!) and the short way back.  This friend is my "football" friend:  Ever since we moved back, she is who I sit with at high school football games.  Her son is MS' age and she has a daughter who is a year younger.  I call her daughter my "surrogate daughter".  I absolutely love her, and if I had a daughter, that is what I would hope mine would be like.  She (the daughter) has come to away games with my husband and I a couple of times.  She's a great kid, and my friend is doing a wonderful job being a single parent. (And, no, she's not reading this!)  On the way back, we saw these signs of Spring:

And this when I got home:

Okay, you gardeners out there, tell me if these are weeds:

I know they look like clover, but they're actually really little and dainty.  And these:

I know that they're all weeds, but they really are pretty...too pretty to pull right now.  And there are so many of them!  My plan is to spray weed killer on them and save my back.  I really, really thought about pulling them, but I did get in there and rake the leaves and dead weeds out, so it actually looks like a nice weed garden instead of a crazy, messy one!

Husband and YS went camping last night.  They put 2 of the motorcycles on the trailer, and drove up to the mountains to camp. Husband's thought is that there are fields so he can let YS get more comfortable on the bike.  He has high hopes that YS will want to ride and they can take long rides together.  OS rode some and MS has no interest whatsoever.  And, I think I've mentioned how I feel about it.  YS wanted a picture and suggested I put it on my blog, so here it is:

Since it was just myself & MS, he decided he wanted to take advantage of being able to eat meat on a Friday during Lent, and wanted to go to Burger King.  They do have the best french fries, y'all!  As we're heading over to BK, he gets a phone call and is talking to a friend.  Then I hear, "I'm heading to Burger King with my mom.  We're on a Burger King Date!"  MS is my son who has never had a problem with coming up to me in front of his friends, and grabbing me and hugging me and telling me he loves me.  He is forever my Snuggle Bunny!

In other news:  MS has made his college decision.  Looks like he will be donning Big Orange in the fall.  This is really crazy, but even though the school is only 15 minutes away, I'm really nervous about him going there.  It's just so big, and that, to me, is scary.  I guess it's just the unknown for me:  I didn't go there because it was too close to home; I was ready to get away and be my own person.  I told him that he needed to meet people from other places and not run around with people from this county or that he ran around with in high school.  I don't want it to be an extension of high school;  I want him to meet people from other backgrounds, and I want him to be ambitious enough to want to get away from this small town, even if it's only for a short time during his life.  He needs to see what else is out there.  If he lives on campus, I don't want him coming home every weekend; he needs to develop relationships with people who aren't from here.  But, he wants to be there for this:

and even this:

I can't say I blame him, because if he goes to the school I went to, this is all he'll get:

Now I'm sure everybody is wondering how many pictures I can get in one post!  Hope everybody has a nice Saturday!  I'm going to leave you with a link up to Then Sings My Soul Saturday (TSMSS) with Amy over at Signs, Miracles, and Wonders.  This is one of my favorites; another one that I've played over and over and over!