It's been a while since I've had a four (4) year old sleep in my home..... It's been a while since I've had to put things up... said "no, don't touch" and worry of a possible night time accident.... It's been a while since I've seen through the magical eyes of a four (4) year old.... and I can't wait!
For a Christmas present to my young niece - we (my girls and I) are taking her for a sleep over and a full day of Disneyland.... It's all about my niece day..... We have it all planned out to where we are going to go first...
We are going to start in Tomorrow Land at autopia then to Buzz Lightyear... Then it's off to sing "It's a small world" from there we are going to visit Mickey and Minnie at their homes and take a ride on the Toon Town express roller coaster..... Oh, I can't forget the Mattorhorn - there is no height limit and that's a great ride.... Then the Dumbo ride so that she can fly in the sky.... and off to sing yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me... I'm bummed that the Haunted Mansion is closed for holiday decorations removal... After Pirate's it'll be time for lunch...
From Disneyland we travel over to California Adventure to watch Disney's Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular. I have seen this show and it is incredible..... The music - the comedy - and the magic carpet riding above your head.... My niece is going to love it. And if we have time and she is not wiped out - we'll go catch a bug or two....
As many of you know- my dad died a year ago last summer. He died from heart disease caused from a life long habit of smoking - the start of his illness was cancer - tongue cancer. The cancer became so bad that his entire tongue was removed.... Directly after his surgery he developed congestive heart failure - had a heart attack or two - and had a stroke or some doctors thought - basically he became a medical mess.....
I was talking to my Uncle Kenny the other day (my dad's older brother) and he told me that he had prostate cancer - Uncle Kenny did not seem too concerned - it was more of a nuisance to him then anything else -but the comment he made was disturbing.... He said that everyone in our family has either died from cancer or had cancer and beat it - in our family it's not a matter of "if" you get cancer.... it's a matter of "when" you get cancer..... That comment is very true... Both his parents died from cancer, brothers, and sisters with cancer..... I have had first and second cousins who have died from cancer and I have had precancerous colon polyps and vaginal precancerous growths... I am thankful that we have been proactive in our medical care.. My family and I take our health seriously.... we have too...
As many of you are aware if you read any of my blogs you would know that I do not agree with Obama's health care reform - I have read several of the guidelines.... and it truly does not sound good to me... I think Australia has a good public health care program and they are the exception to the the rule.... again this is my opinion - I don't like the HMO system either - thankfully I have not had to use it - but I have watched my sister deal with her MS for over twenty years - being shuffled through the HMO maze - doctor after doctor - authorization after authorization - one doctor does not know what the other doctor is doing.... Twenty years for the HMO doctors to get a clue.. and still no results.... Thankfully, an ER doctor found my sister's brain tumor - he wasn't a HMO doctor.... today, she is tumor free and is healing well...
One of the clues to me that Obama's health care reform will probably pass is the new guidelines for mammograms - stating that women should start at 50 years old and not 40.... and pap smears only need to be done every few years.... I'm thinking the government is preparing the way for cheaper medical costs....
In November The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force came out with new guidelines for breast cancer detection in women over 50. The guidelines from this government task force states that women should start getting mammograms at age 50, not 40 as recommended before. And that women should NOT conduct self exams until age 50. What the task force neglected to release is that Utah already follows these guidelines and Utah has the highest percentage of undetected and confirmed diagnosed breast cancer in the country....
What is strange to me is how the Task force could give these recommendations.... seriously... I know many many women who have had breast cancer and most of them were under 50.....I will go out a tree limb and say this..... I bet you that the Task force members and our politicians would not wait till their 50........ What do you think?
I don't know how true this video is - but it seems pretty accurate to me.. and a little funny..
Sometimes you have to count to ten (10) and then count to ten (10) again. I am a big believer in allowing my children to learn from their mistakes.... I believe they should fight and/or negotiate their own battles - to a point. But when I come to my kid's school to pick her up and her eye is red and swollen because some girl hit her.... my mama bear claws flare out!
I tried to be the grown up and be rationale so I asked her what happened.... I tried to use the matter of fact tone so not to cause undue stress, drama, whatever... She said that she went up to her friend and "lightly" pushed her on the shoulder like they do every day - usually the friend would push back - they would laugh and they would go on their merry way.... Well, today - the friend must have had a bad day because instead of pushing "lightly" back the girl started hitting my kid with her jacket sleeve over and over again - so much so that my kid will wake up with a black eye in the morning....
Okay - I am trying to be mom detective - is this serious? Do I need to notify the school? As I was trying to make the wise and mature adult decision - one of my kid's friends came up and asked why the other friend was slapping her over and over again while my kid kept saying stop.... My first thought was why didn't my kid haul off and pound on the assailant ... but you know - I couldn't say that one... So I decided to go to the Principal's office. I had my kid explain to him what happened - but my kid's story changed slightly from it's a huge deal and the friend said she was happy she hurt my kid - to we are friends and I don't think she really meant to hurt me...
So here I am not knowing what to think.. geez preteen drama....... I don't remember being like this - but I am guessing my older sisters and mom would assure me I was..... and by the way - the Principal is having a sit down with both girls tomorrow - even in fun, drama, and anger - you should never never hit - unless you are defending yourself.... at least that's my take...
When I was in school the highest GPA you could achieve was a 4.0. Today, the perfect grade is no longer perfect - there other factors involved - college credit courses for higher grades - extra academic requirements to achieve a higher score... Honors classes - I'm not sure what the highest GPA is now - I think it may be 4.3? Maybe 5.0 in some schools - do you know?
When I was in elementary and junior high school - I don't remember that much homework - I really don't remember any in elementary except for the occasional book report or class project.... Today - kindergartners are getting in upwards of 1-2 hours of homework - seriously... this is crazy. Not only is there a ton of homework - the studies in my opinion are much more in depth... much more difficult.. and expectations are much more higher....
My kids have been in the private school arena and next year they will be going to public schools. My main concern is that the lack of funding in the public schools may hinder my kids.... other kids from achieving their goals... Granted I am not knowledgeable about the public school system except for what I hear in the news.. I hope that my kids will continue to prosper...
The other concern I have is the competition to get into a good college... Because of the budget cuts in California - and I am guessing everywhere - there are less students being admitted - tuition costs are higher and the competition is fierce - a 4.0 student with high SAT scores may not get into the university of their choice - there are students that have gone beyond the "perfect" score and graduated high school with a 4.3 and received high SAT scores..
The time for being a kid in school and enjoying yourself is long gone.... Not only does the child have to have excellent grades, they have to have an incredible amount of community hours, and other extra curricular activities... My oldest starts high school this fall and is already starting to stress out - her dream is to go to a University in a different state to experience the whole "college life" and I support that - but she is going to have to go beyond the norm..... and reach for beyond perfect..... it's tough being a kid today...
Today I got into a disagreement with my husband - a loud disagreement... Okay loud on my side - quiet anger on his... things were said that should not have been said - again on my side... Because my husband is a man of little emotion - I sometimes find myself saying or doing things just to get some kind of reaction... A reaction to show me that yes he is listening to me... yes that he cares..... I know that I am not alone in feeling this way - men and women are just different.... Dusty and I are different - very different... God created us this way and sometimes I wonder what God was thinking... I know His plan is perfect... but some insight at times would be nice....
In many ways Dusty and I compliment each other... Dusty is an excellent provider and motivator - he makes it possible for our family to live a nice and comfortable lifestyle and he keeps me from being completely lazy... I on the other hand can put together any technical object - from computers to DVD connections - to figuring out why something is not working - this task drives Dusty insane - he doe not have the patience for these kind of things... Dusty needs someone to take care of him and I am good at that... Most times I want too... but not today. Today, I am in a lot of pain - sore back... but it is very hard for Dusty to understand the pain due to the fact that I still went grocery shopping - I still took the kids to Disneyland yesterday - I still do things that people who are in pain just don't do.... I do these things because I am a mom.... a wife.. and if I don't do it - who will? So when I was putting away the groceries today - I was so angry to see my husband sitting on the couch watching TV - not bothering to get up and help... thus the loud yelling from me... "Don't you see I am hurting?" "Why can't you just be there for me?" and so the tirade went - Dusty looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights..... I am guessing he was wondering WTF happened??
This is a perfect example of the way men and women communicate.... at least the way we don't communicate... I'm thinking - isn't it obvious that I hurt.... why isn't he jumping up to assist??? Dusty is thinking - well she went to Disneyland and grocery shopping so she must be okay and if she isn't okay - she'll ask for help.... I expected him to read my mind.... he expected me to ask for help if I needed it.... after 20 years of marriage - you would think he would learn my non-verbal communication skills.... or maybe I could just ask for help.......
