Washer Tourney

Last weekend we held the 1st Annual Comal County Washer Pitchin' Tourney. We didn't have a large turn-out, but we did well. As the president of the association told me, we broke even and that is good. Here are some pictures.....

My Life as a Blogger

I have friends that have such interesting lives...or at least the posts they have on their blog make my life seem so very boring in comparison. I have one friend that tells me her posts are true, but have a certain level of embellishment. I'm all about that....but even so, I look at my life and it is fairly boring.

Typical day in the life of Lynette: get up, get dressed, get Rileigh up and dressed, drop her off at Betty's, go to school, after school come home and teach swim lessons, fix dinner, bath/read/bedtime for Rileigh, work on the computer, get some reading done and fall asleep. That's it....nothing exciting, nothing that interesting......so I apologize for those folks that look here for excitement!! ha, ha.....you'll find some posts that have dark humor, but not excitement! But, by all means, come and visit again! :-)

115th Comal County Fair

I have been active with the Comal County Fair Association for over 11 years. This is the first year that Rileigh has truly enjoyed the fair. Last year we took her to the parade, but I'm not sure how much she enjoyed it. This year....she LOVED it. She laughed and clapped as the horses, fire engines and bands went by!

I took her to the bull riding competition today and she also was able to ride her first pony. She was so excited and held on like a trooper! There were some children that were crying, but Rileigh was laughing and saying, "Giddee Up!!" as she rode along. She cried when it ended!

We saw the chickens and ducks and was happily startled by a rooster crowing. She also learned not to put your hands in the cages of the chickens because they will peck you!!!

Book Talk Friday

Today we won't be having a book talk for two reasons: 1. I am knee deep in Washer Pitchin' Tourney stuff and 2. I am currently trying to catch up on my Reader's Digest magazines....they are piled up and I need to read and dispose of before they collect any more dust. I'll be back next Friday to share with you the ending of my book and the beginnings of my new book choice.

I hope everyone has a FANTASTIC weekend. If you are looking for something to do Saturday, come out to the Comal County Fair grounds for some washer pitchin' fun!!!!

Warriors in Pink

Have you heard of Warriors in Pink? I hadn't until last night when I was reading my Reader's Digest. This site has TONS of stuff that you can purchase (cute stuff) to support breast cancer research. 100% of the proceeds go to research and the stuff is very reasonably priced. Additionally, there is an entire line if you are an Army wife (I'm not, so I won't purchase that stuff, but it sure is CUTE!!). Warning to my family: you will probably be getting something from here for Christmas (yes, I've already started shopping and thank you very much, I am almost done!!!).

Happy Thursday, it is almost FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WWW - Hurricane Relief

America is a VERY giving country. I know we stick our noses into WAY too many other countries' business, but when it comes to disaster relief, we are making plans to help before the storm has even finished passing. So I ask you, "How many countries are coming to our aid after Hurricane Ike?" Maybe I am ignorant, but as of yet, I haven't heard of any. Where are our neighbors now?

I'm also curious as to how SO much attention was focused on Louisiana with Hurricane Katrina, but it doesn't seem that even half that much attention has been placed on this most recent disaster.......regardless of how prepared Galveston was, it is underwater and thousands of people lost everything.....where are all the celebrities to step up and have fundraisers to re-build Galveston? I just don't get it!

Fun With Tissue Paper

Malc's birthday was Friday and he had a gift on the counter. I'm taking out the tissue paper, flattening and re-folding it (yes, I do re-use what I can!) and Rileigh asks for the tissue paper. I ask her if she wants a hat and I try to tie it around her head like a bonnet, that doesn't work so well. So I tie it on her head like a bandito and "Presto!" we have a hat that she is VERY proud of. I took these pictures of her and she was just so proud that she could see herself. It was great when I showed her the one of the two of us because she pointed to the phone, "Mama" and then to me, "Mama." She had a borderline perplexed look on her face!

Then she didn't want to give me back the phone.....so to get back the phone I told her we could call Daddy. That worked! You gotta do what you gotta do!!! I always put Malc on speaker phone and she was walking around the house pointing out her toys to him....I'm in the background explaining to him what she's doing. Entertainment at the Kitchen house!!! :-)

Bedtime dilemmas

Bedtime, it is supposed to be that last bit of time in the evening, after dinner and bath, you and your child sitting on his/her bed, reading books, kisses good night and all is well b/c mom gets to go try to get the house ready for the next day while child drifts off to sleep and dreams of whimsical places....right? NOT in MY world!!! Borderline Hades happening at mi casa!!!!

My little one will give you a defiant and definitive "NO!" if you ask her about going to bed. Let me tell you, I know all about rituals and schedules (you are talking a Type A person here!) I've been putting her to bed at 8:00 p.m. for the past YEAR!! We should have it down by now...nope, the past month has gotten worse and worse. She screams, she kicks, she RUNS to her door, even before you get to it and CRIES, "Mama, NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" What do you do?????

She's not a cuddly child, so rocking is out of the picture. She'll sit with you for about five minutes in the recliner and then she's off and running, same thing happens if you try to get her to lie on the couch with or without you. She doesn't even want to read books at bedtime and I'm guessing it is because she knows what follows. Additionally, she doesn't want to take a bath and I'm thinking it is because of the same thing, too. She does still like to read, but just not after bath or in her room with me!

My sister suggested "separation axiety." Not sure b/c on most days when I drop her off at the sitter, she could care less about me. So, let's say it is separation axiety, what do you do?

I made a chart (of course I left it at work yesterday, today it is already in the car, ready to go home!) and am going to try to give her stickers and if she get's three stickers in a row, we'll go get ice cream. This goes back to my behavior management/special education training. We'll see what happens.

So, I throw it out to you....Mother's of All Knowledge, WHAT DO I DO?????? I don't want bedtime to be a negative, I don't want to "cave in" and God-forbid, let her sleep with me (don't even want that can of worms!), I don't want her to stay up all night. I am waking her up an 1.5 hour earlier and she isn't taking a longer nap. I'm trying to get her in bed thirty minutes earlier, to compensate for the time difference. She is tired when I pick her up in the evenings, so I know she needs this sleep.

HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!!

Book Talk Friday

I know you have been anxiously waiting to hear about my new book!!! I am currently reading, The Camel Club, by David Baldacci. I've read a handful of his books and this one isn't as good as others. This is the first of a trilogy and I can say the second in this series, The Collectors, is GREAT!!! (I read it prior to knowing it was part of a trilogy.) It could be that by the time I crawl into bed to read, I'm about ready to drop dead.....but I can tell you Camel Club doesn't capture my attention like The Collectors did. The Collectors was one that you could stay up all night reading, carry it with you everywhere b/c you never know when you'd have two minutes of down time that you could continue to read.

I digress.....The Camel Club is an interesting read and it does give you a lot of background knowledge on the characters you'll continue to follow through the trilogy. Stone, the main character has an unknown past and lives in a cemetary, he's the grounds keeper! Stone is searching for the truth and has a tent stating this outside the grounds of the White House. He had his posse witness something they shouldn't have and the book is a cat and mouse game of finding out the why's of this, all while trying to stay alive. There a lots of twists and turns and it does leave the reader with a lot of questions. It leaves you with questions about our government and how much does J.Q. Public really know. Does our government have people assassinated? How much power does Homeland Security, the CIA and FBI really have? What do they know about you and your family?? It's questions like this that jump out at you.

Would I recommend it? Yes, I would. Who knows, maybe by next Friday I'll be more fired up about it....and maybe I won't be so very tired either!!! I do have two other books waiting in the wings.....so I'll have to decide who is the next lucky read!!!! My goal is to have it finished and be able to give you a two for one next week: the end of my current one and the beginnings of my new choice.

In the meantime, I wish all of you happy reading. If you come across a good read you'd like to share, by all means, SHARE!!!!

Good Karma

Do you believe in Karma? I do. I really believe that if you think positively and do positive things, you will be surrounded by positive in return.

Monday evening, after yoga, I was talking to my Yogi, Sara, and I was talking about buying my sister a yoga mat (we are doing a yoga workshop this weekend!). Then she ran to the back, grabbed her hat with all the names of the August 6 free yoga classes contest, and guess who's name was drawn??? MINE!!! Yippee for me!!! I won six free yoga classes.

Free Yoga WinnerCongrats Lynette!!! And thanks to eveyone who submitted picutres! And there's still room for more, so continue to email or bring in your yoga pictures.

At the end of last year, when I decided I was going to be at a new school (hadn't even had an interview yet!), I gave away all of my school shirts. Some of my friends asked if I wanted any money for them, and I graciously said no. Today, I received four FREE school shirts that I can now wear on casual/jean Fridays. That's what good karma is ALL about!

I hope you are able to surround yourself with good, positive karma. Happy Thursday to ya!! :-)

WWW - Testing in our Schools

I've been in education for over ten years, does that age me??? Anyway, testing has always been a part of being a teacher. I remember, back in the day, when I was in school and we had the TAAS test. It was important, but I didn't feel like it was the focus.

For the past four years, I was in a teaching position that didn't focus on the TAKS test and I also had a majority of seniors, so it wasn't a focal point b/c the majority of them had already passed the test the year before.

Well, now I am in a new district, new school, new position and I have NEVER felt such PRESSURE regarding the TAKS test. In all our meetings prior to the school year and all subsequent meetings, it is ALWAYS brought up in one way or the other.

So, who is at fault.....the teachers? Nope, because the school administrators are the ones who pressure the teachers. The majority of teachers I know would rather scrap the test and move on with TEACHING. Administrators? Nope, because the district administrators are putting pressure on school administrators about test results. District administrators? Nope, because TEA puts pressure on them. TEA? Nope, because state legislators make these laws that require all of this testing. State legislators; actually, yes, a large part of the blame is on their shoulders, but not all. The public? YES! The public is talking out of both sides of their mouths. They want schools to be tougher, more rigorous. So, how do you ensure this is happening, what is the accountability? Testing is the best way to do this. Why? Because of the amount of children you are talking about. But, when it actually comes to holding that bar high, the public gets upset when there are high failure rates; what are the TEACHERS doing wrong. No one is willing to look at themselves and ask if they are supporting their children to the level they should be.

Business owners are complaining that graduates don't know anything when they come to work for them; must be the schools' fault. What have these students been doing for the past 12 years of their lives???

Parents want their children to be able to play and have fun, not sit and do homework all night. But there has to be some homework to help support what your child is learning all day in school.

Back to legislators, they listen to the public and develop a level accountability, pass the job onto TEA and we have TAKS testing. However, these legistlators haven't been in a public school since the day they graduated, unless they recently went to see their grandchild in a school play. They have NO idea what schools are like and they surely don't accurately remember their school days.

ALL people, regardless of whether or not you have children, need to take the time to voice their thoughts about testing to their state legislators. Our education system needs to be over-hauled and the bar needs to be raised.

Labor Day - What it really means!

To all you moms, this won't be a surprise, but Labor day is really a that you cram as much stuff into one day b/c you are off from work and the weekend is one day longer!! I got a lot of stuff done yesterday, but boy am I TIRED from all of it!!!! I'd like to say this was mutual b/n me and my spouse, but he was out enjoying the first day of dove season.....and he didn't even bring anything home!!! Isn't that the point of hunting???? Oh well, what do I know, I was just at home LABORING!!!!

Hope everyone had a great day and got a little bit of rest!