kindergarden and stuff....

First day of school for the new school year, or almost autumn of 2013.  It's a bittersweet day because I have to go back to work after a way too short vacation, and I knew I was going to be hurting physically - and I was right.  It was tough!  By the time I came home I could barely walk; between the shoulders, the hands, the neck and the back I was having a pretty hard time.  

However - it was also fun, because I was able to see a lot of the school kids that I've grown attached to over the years.  Working with kids is at once gratifying, soul soothing and frustrating.  And even though I make shit for money, most of the time I enjoy my work - I just think they really need to take a look at our pay scales.  I'm pretty sure if I had children I could qualify for foodstamps and medical.

The other fun part of this was seeing my grandchildren at school - one of whom is starting her first grade year, and the other who is just starting out in kindergartend, and happily has the very same teacher that my granddaughter had for kindergarten.  I am so very happy this worked out, and also that my granddaughter has a teacher who I think is the best first grade teacher in the school.

:)

I have two grandchildren...well, two and one honorary grandchild.  My youngest grandchild has a new (ish - 8 months old now) baby brother, and mom (my son's ex) and her new man call me and my husband grandparents of their baby - which I think is very sweet and generous of them.  The daddy of the baby is very good with my grandson, and I respect him very much for that.  There's all kinds of pictures of him treating Elliott just like he's a parent, or at the very least a favorite uncle - and I know Elliott is in good hands with him.  And now that I see the baby with them, you can tell that this guy is total dad material, and treats Elliott with as much caring and love as he does his own new baby.  That's pretty cool, especially when considering that this guy is about 19 or 20 years old.  He's the youngest responsible parent figure I've ever seen.  Think about it - most 19 to 20 year old boys are more concerned with partying and having a good time than being a family guy, and this man knew when he first started dating my son's ex that she had a young son, and just took the whole package.

This post wasn't supposed to be about them, though - this post is about my grandson starting kindergarten and my granddaughter going into the first grade.

I am feeling older and older....

But...it is such a trip watching the kids grow.  And their first day of school picture was kind of funny - there's Liliana and her long time friend who are going into first grade - and then there's my grandson (Liliana's cousin) towering over them, going into kindergarten.  In his class he is almost the tallest - there is one girl who manages to be even taller than he, and he's pretty tall.  He's taller than your average second grader.  Or at least the average second grader at our school.

Elliott is the tallest of the three, and the youngest at five years old.  The young boy next to Liliana is six yrs old, and I scribbles his face out because he's not my relative, so I didn't feel right posting his picture.  Liliana is six years old, and though she's been growing at the same rate as her cousin, he's consistently at least five inches taller than her.  She used to get angry about this, because she would yell out "I'm older, so I'm BIGGER" til she realized we were only talking about her size, not her age.  :)

I work at the school they both attend, and I'm kind of excited, because since Elliott stays weekends with daddy, and daddy lives with us, I get to keep him with me at school and bring him home with me on Friday.

Hoping he enjoys daycare (where I work) and that he has a good day.  It seemed like - for as much as I saw them, anyway - that both kids were having a pretty good first day.  Though when I asked her if she liked her new teacher my granddaughter said...

"Yes, but I don't love her like I love Ms F.  I love Ms F.  I love Ms F more than her. I love Ms F more than any teacher, I love her the MOST and I ALWAYS WILL!"

ummmm....okay babe.  Life is great when your very first teacher makes such a good impression on you....

and I'm very happy that Elliott has the same teacher that Liliana has, and I hope he loves her at least almost as much as Liliana loves her.  

Every child should come away from their kindergarten experience feeling like they had the best teacher in the world.  Liliana is already going into first grade with a good attitude toward school because she had a good start with her kindergarten teacher.  I wish all kids had a teacher like Ms. F

A special shout out to all those teachers in the world who not only teach our children and grandchildren - but make the special effort to create a loving and caring environment for their students.

Monday, Monday (baaa daaaa, daaadadada) So good to me...(daaadaaaadadadada) All I hoped it would be.....yeah, right.

Unless you're a total music aficionado - if you're younger than 40 {and that might be pushing it} you won't know the lyrical references to this song - or the words in the post title;  or the tune...But for those of us born around 1960 or before, maybe a little after, you'll remember the tune, you might remember the lyrics and you will have heard of the Mamas and the Papas. For an oldie, it's a happy little song.  Not my usual sort, but the chorus is catchy.

I'm not really looking forward to a wonderful Monday - after all it's the beginning of another long work week.  However, it's also going to be my first physical therapy appt for my neck - which has been torturing me the last three or four weeks.  Hopefully, it will do some good - I AM looking forward to some neck relief - since the neck stiffness has added another dimension to my chronic pain, along with daily headaches...  So maybe they'll help me, though the pain is caused by bone spurs.  So not sure how p.t. is supposed to work with that.  I'm holding on to some hope anyway.  No Matter What!  So THERE, Monday! {yup - still not a fan of the Monday}

Monday also means time for It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Sheila at Book Journey....

The grandson pictured in my button above just turned five.  This picture is from when he was three, I believe.  He has a busy weekend - his dad took him to our town's Rose Parade.  Then his uncle and I took him for a day of shopping.  He had $45 dollars from his B-day to spend, and I had to do a little bit of shopping.  His shopping was way more fun than mine.  LOL.  He bought himself two pairs of b-ball style shorts, and at the third store we stopped at, finally picked out some toys.  He'd been so good about shopping, behaving and being all 'round pleasant during it all, that I chipped in the five bucks he was short. I figured he would have had it if he hadn't been responsible and spent his money on CLOTHES.  What five year old buys CLOTHES?  Good buys all around.  Then we watched a movie together.  Which was precious - he usually likes to spend his time with grandpa, dad or uncle - not gramma.  So the fact that he felt like laying on the couch with me and watching a movie was even more precious.

I didn't get a whole lot of reading done this week.  Between the pain, the headaches, new t.v. shows (So you think you can dance and Family Tools) and season finales, I had a hard time concentrating on reading.

I think I only finished one novel, and that one wasn't even a novel I was reading for myself.  it was a children's novel I was reading to a class and then couldn't stop reading it when library classes were over for the year....

What Came From The Stars
by Gary Schmidt
middle grade level 
Even though this is supposed to be for middle grade - the main character is in 6th grade, with a younger sister.  I was reading it to a group of third graders and they were enjoying it a lot - though some chapters were very difficult to understand, especially since it was peppered with words that seem to be completely MADE UP - it was another planet, after all.  But the chapters featuring Tommy and friends were captivating my audience.  And here we were at the end of a school year, no more library classes, and we hadn't been able to get through the book.  I've had this happen to me before, where we haven't been able to finish reading a book, but this is the first time I've felt compelled to take the book home and finish reading it on my own.  This was a very good book, with some suspenseful moments, some intense.
Book basics - on a planet far, far away, in a galaxy far, far away there is a race of people being over=run and destroyed by another race.  This planet has two sons, and their art is also their magic.  As a last ditch act of defiance, one last council man puts ALL the art of the people into a chain, a special chain and sends it through time, space, galaxies  - far away where it falls through the atmosphere and then the sky of earth into.....  Tommy Pepper's Ace Robotroid Adventure lunch box - a lunch box that is a little too young for him, but that his grandmother sent to him, so his father makes him use it...and thus begins a dangerous adventure where Tommy experiences the memories and talents of a people far away.  Tommy is also now in danger...

Other books I'm currently reading include:

Charlaine Harris' Dead Reckoning 

and a story by J.A. Campbell titled Brown Vs. the Martians featured in Science Fiction Trails.

I just received a copy of Science Fiction Trails, and started Brown's latest adventure.  Almost finished reading, and enjoying very much.  What isn't to love about "Canadians" and their blue blood?  

***None of the animal pics I used today were captioned by me - but they're funny as hell!***

It's Monday, and.....Well, It's another Monday

It's bad enough when we get sick...but when kids get sick, it's hard to watch.  I'm not talking a simple cold, but the kind of sick where a normally bouncing off the walls type of kid is layin around, listless.  The kid who normally eats us out of house and home when he's with us had no appetite.  Between the sick, the fevers, and the sore throat he's skinnier than ever.  His mom had him for the first part of the sickness, and then it was daddy's turn.  He spends weekends with Dad and us.  Happily, by his second day here, he was making a comeback.  Even though his energy burned out quickly - he did play a little.  And he wanted to eat something besides popsicles for the first time in almost a week.  He couldn't eat very much - stomach probably shrunk but he ate.  then he went to bed early.  On the mend.  His dad and mom took good care of him.  It's different experiencing this as a grandparent.  You're worried about the kid, but not the main caretaker, so the pressure is different.

Good thing is, by Sunday morning, he was feeling more himself.  Voice was still a little off, but I got a nice hug good bye from him, nice and strong.

As usual, It's Monday is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey.  Bloggers visit each other blogs and see what we'all be readin'. 

This week, I actually read three books!  Three! but just barely three.  Feels good to finish more than one.  And one of the was pretty Kick Ass.  Actually - all are very good in different ways....

finished

Clean by Alex Hughes.

a telepath who is trying to hold down a job while  fighting an addiction finds himself trying to protect a partner who seems to hate him, while trying to solve a string of odd murders, attend NA meetings and deal with the distrust of the whole police force - all while being able to read thoughts.  (that's gotta be awkward, yes?) It's set in the future - and has an easy SciFi feel, low on tech explanations.


American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout
A narcissistic vampire finds himself stuck in a town that no one can get out of.  Unfortunately, there's another being that just might be 'higher in the food chain' than he is...and the townspeople are a little stressed out.





The Burn Zone by James K Decker

there are these beings from outerspace, who have accidently landed on a building, or more (killing over a million people).  In apology, they have been providing the country with tech - improving human lives....or are they?  As part of the deal, some people are paid to act as surrogate parents to Haan babies. A huge amount of food resources are spent on the Haan, leaving the humans on food rationing. One surrogate suddenly has her life turned inside out when her military father is arrested for treason.  
Current Reads
I've just barely finished reading The Burn Zone, so I haven't settled on the next book yet...
But some possibilities are...

showing off the grandchildren

Grandson playing guitar and singing

And granddaughter, learning how to ride a bike with training wheels...

I think that both of these videos are from last winter, aka 2011/2012.  And I just saw them.  Let your mom in on the groove, people!!! Grandma needs to see more good stuff!  hopefully a little sooner.  :)

sigh....

glad to be a grandma, glad to have some pics - and so very happy to watch them.  :)

It's Monday and getting closer to winter break - aka Christmas Vacation

Lately I haven't been reading a lot - but I did manage this week to finish a book - which I thought I was going to finish in two days.  It's been a busy week though, the week of one of my sons' birthday, a couple of days in the middle of the week where we had my grandson for a couple days since his mom was in hospital having a baby, (we got to go see baby, very cool) and then we had my granddaughter this weekend.  My granddaughter went Christmas shopping with me - this year shopping was for only one child, and she helped me pick out presents for her cousin, my grandson.  I already had ordered her present online, so I guess that means I'm done shopping.  I always try to buy presents for the grandchildren to give to each other, and have them wrap them.  Then I try to have at least one thing for them to give their moms, since I think moms should get presents from their kids even if the present is a teeny tiny flower.  Just so they can pick it out, wrap it and think about their mommy on Christmas and Mother's day.

My granddaughter tried very hard to make me tell her what I bought for her, even tried to pull the angry card, then the sad card.  Didn't work.  I told her she shouldn't make me sad by taking away the surprise from me to her.  Seemed to work, she then focused on something else.  I did buy two little polly pocket Disney characters for her, but I told her they were for me.  I tend to collect little toys, so she thought it was totally reasonable that they were for me.  I am going to have Elliott decide if he wants to give it to her or not though.  And I think we're going to find a present for his new baby brother.  We don't have any claims on him, since he's no relation other than being my grandson's baby brother, but when the father handed the baby to me to hold, he did introduce me to the baby as one of his grandmas, which was very generous of him. I love babies, and wouldn't mind being considered one of the grandmas.  I'm not expecting visitation rights, but if they want to share time with the baby and me, I'm all for it.

Back to the reading...

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?  is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey.  One of my favorite bloggy memes around, we go list what we've been reading, share via Mr. Linky at Book Journey and visit other blogs.  It's a good way to find new reads, get a feel for what people are reading.

The one book I managed to finish reading was Steel's Edge, of the Edge series by Ilona Andrews.  From a few things I've read, this might be the end of the series, at least in print from.  I did read a comment from Gordon Andrews (part of the writing team) that said they might continue the series with a few stories in e-book form - which would be great, since I have really enjoyed this series even with the Romancy twist.  Even though they do a bit of the romance in this series, it's not overdone - rather it's a part of the story, with a scene or two of some intense sex, but the whole tone of the book IS NOT all "oh god, this man is so hawt", or the girl is "so sexy, my manhood is harder than steel" etc.  Nope, these books have a good plot, good dialogue, good twists and great stories to tell, with some sex in it - but not the focus.  I'm not sure why people who love UF have complained about them being too romance tinged, they're nothing like some of the UF out there that should be classified as Romance.  Good novels, with good stories.

Currently reading - 

many, many books but a lot of them I've misplaced or am not in the mood to finish.  I might read a book I ordered used (finances are ROUGH right now, so I have to go the used route with some novels, especially with new novels that I haven't experienced writing styles of yet).  I just received a copy of Across the Universe by Beth Revis.  It's supposed to be a SciFi novel, but might also has a bit of romance in the plot - I think.  

Another book I've started this week (off and on reading, can't seem to be doing much more than off and on reading lately) is Blood and Feathers by Lou Morgan.  To tell the truth, I don't even remember buying this book.  Seriously.  I'm beginning to wonder about my brain - menopause seems to make people forgetful, it's doing a number on me at least.  The first two chapters are very interesting.  Teeth appear in a woman's yard.  Not just teeth, but huge teeth sticking out from the lawn.  That's just the start... ahem.  The website for the book is pretty cool - there's a section for the characters, a playlist (seems to be a popular feature for books now, a playlist the author either listens to or envisions for the book.  Not sure if I'm a fan or not, but I could totally get into it if it were on screen.  I'm not against it, though. How can anyone actually be against music, anyway? And it's a nice way to explore new music - new to me - or to actually place a name for the songs I might have already heard)

sigh.....Monday.....it's so hard for me to sleep on Sunday nights, because I know they lead to Monday.  heehee.

really.

Not a fan of Mondays...Friday, now!  That's my day, though my favorite is Saturday!  Love Saturdays.

;)

Manic Monday, wish it were Sunday....and kids

Every time I type "It's Monday...." the tune and some of the lyrics of Manic Monday by the Bangles runs through my head. I say some of the lyrics, because for the life of me, there are very few songs that I can remember all the lyrics to. Manic Monday is not one of those songs.

Not that I'm a huge fan of 80's music (I'm not), but there is something catchy about this one. :)

Well, we all know what Monday's mean in the book blogging world. For a lot of us, it means this weekly meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Full guidelines are available at Sheila's blog, but basically we list what we're reading, what we've finished reading and maybe what we hope to read...in my case it's going to be what I'm still reading, and...

that's it.

I don't want to commit myself. LOL I have a load of books ready for me to read at anytime. :)

I love books.

This is the book that I concentrated on this week. Witch Hunt by Devin O'Branagan. It is an intense book. There are some fun parts, but it's intense. I find myself drawn into this story of the Hawthorne Family....past and present.....

I'm also currently reading Kalayna Price's Grave Witch. I haven't gotten very far into the book, but it's holding my interest, and I hope to finish reading it soon - maybe over winter break. click on cover for excerpt.

Sometimes I need to read complicated Sci-Fi. I need to read about people flying from planet to planet, from galaxy to galaxy, or to read about far off people, or computers a computer geek can only dream about. I recently ordered (on my last before x-mas book spree*) Dark Space by Marianne De Pierres. Who, I think, must have a genius level i.q. I'm quite a few chapters in, and this is a complicated, compelling read.

My past weekend was spent reading (of course) playing with grandchildren - who were finally able to interact with each other for about one hour Saturday morning**, and ahem -cough, cough - playing Farmville - cough, cough, ahem! I spent entirely too much time re-arranging my ponds and flowers, and plants in one area on my "farm". It's kind of pretty, though it's a complete waste of time - this farmville crap. Did you know that you can actually take a "picture" to share with friends and family? (like they give a sh** )

Oh yes we can! I'm sharing it with you -

'cause that's how I roll, yo!

*While I'm getting paychecks during the school year, I like to spend a little bit of money every month buying myself a few books. This is why I have so many books to read, because I buy them 9 months out of the year. However, every December, I put myself on a book-buying-stoppage, because I think that instead of buying myself books, I should use the money for presents for others. Of course, then I pout - especially since I end up buying books for my nieces.....:( lol

**My two grandchildren are, of course, cousins. They are one year apart (give or take a month). Even though they live in the same city, they don't see each other that often because of the conflicting schedules of everyone. Especially since my middle son (father of my grandson) broke my heart (rended it in two jagged pieces! lol )and moved out of the house, they see each other even less. I, however, have been able to see each of them once a week. My grandson (two and a half) has a sleepover with us every Friday night (courtesy of my son) and my granddaughter (Three and a half) spends every Saturday night over. I could take her from Friday to Sunday, but I've been exhausted. Well, this weekend, the grandson was still here when the granddaughter came. They were able to spend over an hour together.

It cracks me up to listen to them play. The boy is about four inches taller than her now. He's having a bit of trouble speaking though he tries very hard. He speaks, we just don't understand everything he says. (mom is getting some speech therapy for him soon) The little girl bosses him around and talks circles around him. He usually does whatever she tells him. When he doesn't, watch out! They spend a lot of time shrieking and laughing together. Good Times

Saturday they were both running in the hall way, and she fell down. He helped her up, and holding her "hurt" hand gently up in the air, led her to me, saying "here, g'ma kiss hand". and brought her hand up to my mouth - so I kissed her hand and he looks at her and says, "There, better now" and then they both run off to play.

Priceless little moments that don't last long.

caramel corn, football and rupunzel

I'm totally failing at reading challenges, even the mini reading challenges. I'm reading The Enchantment Emporium for the GLBT AUGUST reading challenge and as most of you know by now, August is now over. I'm still reading this book though - because A-it's interesting and entertaining and B-hey, it's Tanya Huff. She's always a good book....I shouldn't say that, because although I've read most of her other "magic" contemporary books, I couldn't stay interested in her Smoke and Mirrors series. I didn't hate them, but just didn't feel like finishing Smoke and Mirrors. Someday, I'll try again.

I'm over halfway through this book, and am enjoying it immensely! Normally I would have had it finished within a couple of days, but work and all the afterhours computer data inputing crap I'm doing is totally kicking my ass. The other free time seems to be spent with grandchildren (which I can't get upset over - it's the grandchildren!) or sleeping. Way more important than finishing challenges, although I can't help that little teeny incessant guilty feeling about not finishing things........

I've also noticed that since I've been too busy/sick/tired/busy again to post regularly - I don't think ANYONE is reading my blog anymore. No one is commenting, so now I'm feeling a little lonely and ......lonely......

Ah well, that's the way of the internet and our attention spans nowadays.
Not that I even considered my blog a hugely important busy blog - but it's nice to see a few comments here and there, so you don't feel like your just typing to yourself...which I probably am, anyway. Time to start de-lurking and commenting on other people's blogs. This is something that I struggle with, because I always have this feeling that whatever I might find to say would have already been said by someone else, or else it would be boring or unimportant......I've always struggled a bit with shyness and being taught as a child to NOT bring attention to myself. Those lessons stick with you for your whole life.

On a less possibly whiny and hopefully a more positive note, my evening was spent with just my granddaughter and I together watching Astro Boy on cable demand, popping caramel corn, burning home-made french fries and switching back and forth from a kid's show to the Fresno State football game to watch a friend of my boys play football. He's on defense and it was trippy to see him on t.v., all suited up and at his football aggressive best, stopping the other team from scoring. It was a lot of fun, even though I didn't see every play. My granddaughter was also pretty excited to see him on t.v. and learned his jersey number pretty quick. She pointed him out to me a few times - yelling out "He's Winning!" everytime she saw him onscreen. Then of course, she kept looking for his girlfriend, who she just loves. He's brought her over a few times and she's been sweet enough to really pay attention to a little toddler girl, winning over her heart forever.

The granddaughter is now in bed, after telling me a long drawn out bedtime story about Rupunzel that had parts from a satire Rupunzel book mixed in with the more traditional story. In her version, the prince forgets that Rupunzel actually has a back door. There's nothing like having a mixed up fairytale told to you in a whisper by a three year old girl.

Night Preciosa!

Feel Good Friday - I love this meme!

hosted by The Girl Next Door Grows Up; I love this meme, no matter how bad a day I'm having (and there have been some doozies lately) I think about this meme and find something positive.

Teeny bit of history, for the story tonight. I have one son that has a son himself. He and the mom of son couldn't continue their relationship, but thankfully they have kept the break-up drama to a minimum and because my son lives with us, I get to see his son whenever he gets him. Now he gets to have his son for two separate overnights a week. His mommy misses him a lot, but I think she realizes that she gets some important down time from being a mom - even when she gets a little bored with nothing to do, and she's great at having my son take part in the raising of the kid. My grandson will be two in May of this year. He was born with a cleft lip and bilateral cleft palate. When he was a few months old he had his first surgery, to close the lip. When he was 10 months old they did surgery to close the palate. Up until then, even though the doctors had said it was okay to feed him baby food, most of us stuck with the formula, because the food went up and into the nasal passages and out through his nose. Some of it would end up in his stomach, but not much. He was able to use a bottle like a champion though, so he continued to thrive on the formula and juice. Ever since he healed from his second surgery, the kid loves to eat. He loves to taste all foods, and usually likes almost anything you give him. It's not until recently that he's begun to turn down a few things. This cleft palate business has also left him, hopefully temporarily, with speech problems. Hardly anything comes out very clear.

I also have this little puppy - he's really a year old now. He is part smooth fox terrier and half chihuahua. Apparently the mom is smooth fox terrier and there's a little chihuahua that gets into her yard and gives her babies. My dog stands about a foot tall, and a little over a foot long. He looks like a miniature german shepard. He also likes to eat. Everything in sight.

Imagine, a little toddler boy, who eats continuously, walking around with a snack, sitting down to lunch or dinner, or lounging on the couch with fruit or popcorn. Guess where the dog is. Right near the boy. They spend most of their awake time within six inches of each other. We noticed pretty early on, that when the boy was eating from the highchair, he would purposely lean sideways and throw food down to the dog. Loves to feed Skippyjon. So of course Skippyjon follows his boy everywhere. Loves the boy - a lot.

Tonight was my son's night to have his son. But he had to work tonight and hours are hard to come by, so when the opportunity came up, he took it. I -being grandma- am second in command for the boy. The boy right now, is in a phase where he does not want me to do anything for him (especially when daddy is around). He doesn't want me to change his diapers, clean his nose or face, etc. When his grandpa is around, I usually end up having him do things for the boy, but tonight it was just me and him for a while...and Skippyjon.

Well, my grandson reluctantly allowed me to change him, and I was able to wipe his face - but boy was he pissed when I told him it was time to go to bed. He was crying for his dad. And saying the one phrase that he says extremely clearly - "G'AMMA NO!" So I put on Shrek 2 for him ('''ek is his version of the word) and lie down with him on his dad's bed. Skippyjon, who has to be near my grandson as much as he can, jumps up and lays down with us, between us and puts his head on the boy's thigh, looking adoringly up into his face. I'm trying not to throw-up from the uber-sweetness of this moment. The dog is sooooo-in love with my grandson. My grandson is MAD! that I'm the one putting him to bed. He turns to me, starts to cry G'AMMA NO!, DADDY! again, when he spots Skippyjon. He stops midyell and says (very sweetly) 'kippy! and touches the top of Skippyjon's head. Then he turns to the t.v., watches Shrek and continues to idly, absentmindedly, fondle the dogs ears, scratch behind his ears and pet his head. It sounds so common and everyday - but this is a boy. A toddler boy (they usually pound on animals) A toddler boy who was very pissed off seconds ago, and is now petting the dog like he (the boy) is older, not even yet two years old. After that - suddenly he was calmer and happier. He even gave me a good night kiss. Now he's sound asleep and Skippyjon is still by him on the bed.

That's my feel good moment for the week.