Wordless Wednesday - Swings and Smiles

DIY with Pinkie - NOT a new HGTV show.

It's Friday afternoon. I'm at work. I'm kinda bored. I have recently moved my office around and my phone is kinda hard to reach right now. So I thought I'd like to hang it on my wall so I could access it easier.

After some help from my co-worker, RitaBarrita, getting the phone's back to lay down the way it needs to in order to be wall mounted, I thought "you know this will be easy to just put up on the wall". RitaBarrita sensibly said that I needed the wall mount. I, without a shred of sensibility, said "I don't need no stinkin' wall mount! I just need two good nails."

So....I found two nails that I thought would do the job and our trusty office hammer, and went to work. The first nail went in nicely. At least it was nice to my standards since I knew it was gonna be covered up anyways. The second nail did not. This is how the second nail turned out.

This is not good.  This is not what I envisioned in my mind.

How am I gonna explain that?  How am I gonna fix it?  I evidently can't hammer a nail in the wall much less fix that mess.

Then I thought..."Well, how can I use this so that they think I meant to do it?"  This is what I came up with.

Stapler holder:

No.  Too hard to get the stapler off the head of the nails.  Next.

Coupon file:

No, I'll never remember to grab them before I go to the store.  I have to put those in my purse.

Lotion holder:

No, I'll probably just make greasy prints on the wall when I put the lotion back.

I know!  Pen holder:

I use that pen way too much to keep it up there.

Really big pencil holder:

"Yes, that's my pencil.  Yes, it's Hello Kitty.  No, you can't borrow it."  That's what I'll be saying all day if I hang that treasure up on the wall.  I am under the belief that there are Hello Kitty coveters in this office.  Trust them not.

Bar Mitzvah Party favor holder:

No.  I have that hanging up already where the partner who gave it to me can see it every time he comes in my office.  Hey, I need all the brown-nosing points I can get around here, thank you very much.

BEST IDEA YET!!!!  Bean picture holder:

Nah, I'm afraid it will fall down behind something and I won't be able to fish it back out.  And that's some of my favorite Bean footage.

In the end, I decided to save my skin and cover today's DIY project up with my To Do List.

I don't think they'll ever know, do you?

Posting has resumed.

Yes, I fixed the problem.

You know what the problem was?

Me.

Yep.

Me.

What did "me" do? I tried to schedule my posts. That doesn't sound like a "problem", Pinkie.

Well, normally, no, it wouldn't be.

If they were scheduled for 2010.

Wordless Wednesday - Ready to meet the day.

Bean is crafty, too.

Bean has been going to summer camp for about 3 weeks now and she absolutely loves it. She even asks to go to "school" on the weekends. That's something I'm sure she'll grow out of though.

Monday Bean brought home an art project they made at camp. She is very proud of her work. Here is her "callapilla".

Father's Day 2010

Bean and her Daddy enjoyed a wonderful Father's Day together. Actually, they really enjoyed the Friday before Father's Day even more. Hubz took Bean fishing at his local fishin' hole. Fishing is something that I'm not fond of because, well, because I suck at it. I don't have the patience. I don't like to be quiet. I DON'T like the bugs and frankly, I don't like fish. But fishing is Hubz' favorite thing in the world to do. He is in heaven when he's fishing. So he asked Bean if she wanted to go fishing and use her Barbie fishing pole. Well, if it's an activity that includes Barbie, Bean is ready to go.

I was invited but I don't have a Barbie fishing pole so I stayed home. Hence, no pictures of actual fishing trip. But Bean and Hubz both came home kinda smelly so I'm sure they had a great time. All I could think about was how long it was gonna take me to disinfect Bean from all the crud and mud that comes with the whole experience.

So since there are no pictures of this fishing trip, here's one of the first photos of Bean with her Daddy and another from a past fishing trip that I was actually tricked into going.  I hope Father's Day 2010 was enjoyed by all.

*Hubz looks very young in this picture.  Jerk.

Technical Difficulties or I'm dumb.

I'm still here! I'm not sure what's happening with my bloggy blog but my posts aren't posting and/or are disappearing. Please stick with me while I figure out what I've messed up.

Pinkie's Picks - Summer activities with the kids

I thought I'd share some great ideas I've found on the internet for some fun activities you can do with your kids this summer. Most of these are crafty things you can do or, like me, you can put them on your list of things you want to do. Then at the end of summer we can compare how many we actually did. Procrastinate much?

So here we go...Pinkie's Picks for neat summer activities with the ankle biters kiddos.

1.  Create a memory game for your little ones using family pictures just like this one at Smart-Bottom Enterprises.  

2.  Edible peanut butter play dough that is PEANUT FREE!  Wha?  Huh?  Just check it out at Smashed Peas and Carrots. 

3.  Make foam bath dolls like these at Serving Pink Lemonade for some fun in the tub.

4.  Enjoy some bird watching after you make these pinecone bird feeders from itmom. 

5.  Make some discovery jars/bottles like these at Sometimes Creative. 

6. With the Fourth of July coming up, you could fashion this idea from Creative Jewish Mom to make your own flags to celebrate.

Wordless Wednesday

My office wall.

Note to my RSS feed readers.

I'm sure you all have picked up that I'm not that savvy on all this coding and html doodads and stuff. I used to think I was pretty good with a computer until I started this blog and until I got old overnight. But anyways...

If you read my posts in a feed reader like Google Reader or whatnot, I'm worried that all of my pictures from each post aren't coming over. I noticed this myself in my Google Reader this weekend. I only get one or two of the top pictures but I do get all of the text. I know I have selected the full posting on my settings so I don't know why all the pictures don't come over.

If you click on the link to open up the actual blog then all of the pictures are there. And no, this isn't my clever way of getting more traffic. LOL But that is a good idea...mwaahhhhah!

If anyone knows why this is happening to my feeds, please send me a message. I'd really appreciate it.

The Water Box

I was inspired to make a water table for Bean after reading this post at Fireflies and Jellybeans.  I found a storage box we had and tossed in some of Bean's bath toys along with some of my kitchen items.  Ours really isn't a table.  It's more of, well, okay, it's just a water box.  There, I confess!  I wasn't inventive enough to come up with something to elevate it up so it doesn't really qualify as a table.  But I just needed something to interest Bean for a bit.  She had been cooped up in the house all weekend with a low grade fever (thanks to summer camp).  So this was the best I could come up with.

After Hubz came outside and saw what a water table was, he looked at me and said, "why didn't you just put her in the bathtub?"  Sometimes he has no idea how close he comes to the brink of danger.  Bodily harm is just waiting around the corner for him.  

I think she enjoyed playing with it.  To tell you the truth, by the time I finished carrying out water to fill the box, she was over it and onto something else.  I could have just filled it up with the water hose but there was a spider that had taken up residence over the spigot and I wasn't brave enough to evict him.  I do hope he pitches in something on rent but I'm not holding my breath.

(No, I hardly ever brush her hair.  Why bother?  And I only give her a bath on Saturday, whether she needs one or not.)

Gosh, our front porch really needs to be pressure washed.  I guess I'll add that to Hubz' "Fat Chance" list.

You might say "Hey, Pinkie, that was a really good idea putting Bean in her swim suit to play with her water table."  But I can't take credit for that one.  Bean has started wanting to wear ONLY this swim suit or her "Cinderella dress".  That's it.  No matter that we don't have a pool of any sort.  No matter if there is no fairy godmother and a pumpkin coach.  If she's not in either one of those pieces of clothing, the girl ain't happy.

And if you look really close, she also is bound and determined to always wear her shoes on the wrong feet.  No matter how many times you switch them, they always wind up on the wrong foot.  I'm not paying for a podiatrist.  That's all I'm saying.

I think now I'll use this same box to make a small sandbox for Bean.  I just wonder how much sand will be left in the box after she's done.

Almost Wordless Wednesday - Cinderella Dress

Bean calls this her Cinderella dress.

She even wanted to accessorize with those hair bows.  She picked everything out herself.

I like this girl's idea of Cinderella.

First day of Summer Camp.

Today was Bean's first day of summer camp. This is the first time she's been to any type of camp, school or daycare. We've been talking up camp to her for weeks now. She would skip around saying "I wanna go to school". She was very excited about this mainly because they have a playground or what Bean likes to call a "park".

I got her all ready and dressed and cutie-fied this morning. She was even happy to pose for the camera.

She was ready to go, ready to get to the "park".  We arrived early.  Very early.  Right after the teacher.  So we waited around in the car for a bit.  Bean kept saying "Mommy, open the door.  I wanna go to the park."

I kept sitting there thinking "You keep your seat, missy.  This is going way too fast for Mommy."  I kept catching myself tearing up and I'd silently admonish myself.  If Bean doesn't cry, why should I?

Let me tell you why.  All she sees is a world full of parks and playgrounds.  All I see is the day she gets in her car and drives away from me.  Melodramatic, huh?  Yeah, I know.  That's me.  These are the times that Hubz likes to refer to me as an "emo kid".  He didn't even know what "emo kid" meant until I told him and now he turns around and uses it on me.  I'm not filling him in on the down-low any more.

Soon it was time to turn her over to her teacher.  I silently thought to myself "make sure this one stays happy and safe.  The others are on their own."  I'll probably never be offered the job of Room Mom or anything like similar with that attitude. 

Bean was happy to go.  She headed straight for the slide.  I headed straight for our car.  I even made it out of the driveway before I started crying.  I didn't want the other moms to know I was a rookie.

So there you have it.  I can't wait to get home and hear about all the fun things Bean got to do today and if she loved camp. 

Montessori? Is that a special at Olive Garden?

When I tell people that I'm sending Bean to a Montessori school for summer camp, most of them ask what a Montessori is.

Well, that's a good question. And it's one that I didn't really have a well formed answer for. I have had several friends that went to Montessori schools when they were younger and they loved them. They said they had a great time and learned a lot. I was told it was just a different way for kids to learn how to do things. They are allowed to learn on their own time and in their own way.

Well, I've been trying to do that with many things in my life and haven't had much luck. So that wasn't what sold me on Montessori. What sold me were the people themselves that I knew had attended Montessori schools. These people were great students and all did well in school and went on to do well in life. That's what I hope for Bean, too.

So in order to have a good answer to the question of "what is a Montessori", I started doing more research.

I found the Wikipedia page on The Montessori Method.  I will say that after reading the first half of this page, I wondered what kind of new age, frou frou place had I signed Bean up for. But then I came across this paragraph and it says exactly what I know to be true of my friends that went to Montessori daycare.

From a 2006 study:

On several dimensions, children at a public inner city Montessori school had superior outcomes relative to a sample of Montessori applicants who, because of a random lottery, attended other schools. By the end of kindergarten, the Montessori children performed better on standardized tests of reading and math, engaged in positive interaction on the playground more, and showed advanced social cognition and executive control more. They also showed more concern for fairness and justice. At the end of elementary school, Montessori children wrote more creative essays with more complex sentence structures, selected more positive responses to social dilemmas, and reported feeling more of a sense of community at their school.

[If my brother-in-law reads that paragraph, he's gonna tell me I'm just trying to grow another Democrat.  I can hear it now.]
 
I also found this explanation on MontessoriMom.com and it explains that the teaching method focuses on developing a child's independence.  That's something that Bean is pretty good at demonstrating already but hopefully she will learn how to better assert her independence.  We can only hope.

...It is also an approach to education that takes to heart the needs, talents, gifts, and special individuality of each child. It is a process that helps children learn in their own way at their own pace. The main concept of Montessori is to promote the joy of learning. This joy of learning develops a well adjusted person who has a purpose and direction in his or her life. Children, who experience the joy of learning, are happy, confident, fulfilled children. In essence, Montessori helps bring forth the giftedness of each child.

Another important skill it teaches is self-reliance and independence. It helps a child to become independent by teaching him or her life skills, which is called practical life. Montessori children learn to dress themselves, help cook, put their toys and clothes away and take an active part of their household, neighborhood and school.

Montessori works in a methodical way. Each step in the process leads to the next level of learning. When a child plays, he or she is  learning concepts for abstract learning. Repetition of activities is an integral part of this learning process.

For young children Montessori is a hands on approach to learning. It encourages children to develop their observation skills by doing many types of activities.

I am excited that Bean has a chance to spread her wings and learn new activities.  Well, I'm nervous and excited.  I think this will start her off on a lifetime of learning and not just learning but loving to learn new things.  Being interested in learning and exploring.  But even if it doesn't live up to all these lofty ideas I have in my head, I know for sure, 100% for sure, that she will definitely love snack time and playing on their little playground.  Some things in life you just "know".

Summer camp here we come!

On Monday, Bean will start a Montessori summer camp program. This will be the first time she has gone to a school or daycare. She is very excited. She keeps saying "I want to go to school". I am nervous about the whole thing. The closer we get to Monday, the tighter my chest seems to get. My friend asked me today why I was so nervous and anxious about it and here's what I came up with.

1. I'm afraid she'll beat up all the other kids. She isn't really aggressive but she doesn't like to share and I'm afraid this might create all kinds of opportunities for those wonderful parent-teacher conferences.

2. She's a klepto. She loves little treasures. She has no thought as to whom those little treasures belong to. I find all sorts of items in her pockets and purses every day. I have a box of items that I have to return to her cousins already. I don't want to have to start a school return box, too.

3. I'm afraid she'll freak out the first day. Or really, I'm afraid I'll freak out on the first day. She is normally very independent but she does have her shy moments. Those moments cause her to attach herself to my leg and she does the best impersonation of shrink wrap you've ever seen. I asked the lady that showed me around the school last week if on the first day, was I allowed to hang in the back of the room to observe and make sure she acclimated herself to the school, or if they preferred parents to get in and get out. She opted for the get-in, get-out method. I was crushed. How can I make sure my baby is okay??? She needs her mother! Okay, she really doesn't. Most times I'm lucky to get a "Bye Mommy" in the mornings when I drop her off at Giggles. But I need her to need me and I'm afraid that this first day of camp will be one of those rare times that she needs me.

4. Did I mention I'm afraid I'm gonna freak out when I drop her off? Yeah, I did and I am.

This is a big step for Bean. I know that she's gonna love being around other kids her own age. I know that she's going to love to play with all the new toys. I know that she's gonna do great. And I hate all of that.

Okay, I don't really hate it but it is another big sign that my baby isn't a baby anymore. She is stepping out into the world for the first time and she has to do it on her own. She will do great. She will love it. I just hope that on the second day I don't have to return many items and I don't have to apologize to that many other parents.

Beanisms from May

Kids say the darndest things, right?  Well, I thought I would try and share with you some of the things Bean was overheard saying last month.  This may or may not become a regular blog feature.  That all depends on how funny her material is.

1.  That under scares me.  (She just discovered thunder.)

2.  Don't tell me whateber.

3.  Oh crap.  Daddy say dat.

4.  Dem ants bite me.

5.  Daddy poot-ted.

6.  I wanna go to the park.  (She says this anytime she sees one of those wooden playsets - in a park, at a church, in someone's back yard.  There seem to be a whole lotta parks I never noticed.)

7.  I bootiful.

8.  Don't put dat in my mouth.  It only goes on my lee-ips.  (Said after trying chapstick as a snack.)

9.  Is it dawrk?  (She asks us if it is dark outside at all times of the day and night.  She does this because we have told her that the park closes at dark, that she has to take a bath and go to bed when it gets dark and that she can't play outside when it's dark.  She seems to have to constantly check this I guess to make sure she gets her day's worth of fun in.)

10.  I like Hannah Monhannah.  (Her older cousins watch Hannah "Monhannah" over at Giggles' house so Bean knows who she is on sight.  I hope she finds something else to replace this soon.  And since we are from the South, when Bean says "I", it's more like "Eyyyyyeeeeee".  She already knows how to draw out her vowels!)

And my absolute favorite of all the Beanisms I've heard so far...

"I lub you".

One more time around the germy block.

Well, I've gone and done it one more time.  I am sick again.  I just don't get why I keep winning the germ lottery. 

But thankfully, so far, Bean isn't sick.  I'd rather be sick any day than her.  You feel so helpless when your babies are sick. 

Last week I was diagnosed with a pretty bad urinary tract infection.  I've been prone to these since getting a really horrible one a few years back right after my liver surgery.  This is the first time I've had one though in almost a year.  I was prescribed an antibiotic but my doctor still sent my cultures off to be examined.  She called me yesterday and told me that she got the results back from the cultures and the antibiotic that she originally prescribed for me and I completed is resistant to this particular strain of infection.  So now I have to begin a whole new round of antibiotics.

Then on top of that, my nose freaked out on me yesterday and went crazy.  I don't know if it's allergies or some type of ebola that I have going on but I must have sneezed every minute for an hour yesterday.  My sides and my nose are killing me. 

Hey!  Aren't you glad you stopped by today to read this blog!  You now know more about me than you ever wanted. 

Those of you that have walking germ boxes, I mean children, or are exposed to said germ boxes, how do you avoid the sickies?  I am definitely into avoidance at all costs.  Please give me some tips!