My Local Celebrity

Yesterday Regan and her cerebral palsy story landed the front page of the newspaper. She is thrilled with her newfound celebrity and is sure TLC will be calling her at anytime to be their next big "Reality TV Star". Here is the link to the article: Regan's Story

I'm just a Girl who cain't say No (Oklahoma reference)

Don't get me wrong....I love to be busy, in fact I have tons of energy, and am terrible at being still for too long. With that being said I also tend to say yes to almost everything that comes my way. This week is a great example of how my saying yes to often all comes into play with bad timing.

This weekend we ran to Houston on Friday and Saturday so that we could semi-attend John Marks business conference. We would have loved to have stayed and hung out with all of our friends and been social, but alas we grabbed his fifteen years of service pin, ate dinner and chatted then zoomed off the next morning.

Why the hurry? Well John mark left this morning for St Louis to work all week and then be a groomsman in a wedding of a dear friend of ours on 4th of July weekend. Because of all my commitments he has to attend alone. This week along with my day camp and coaching schedule I have added fireworks stand duties (which is really good for me to focus and relax if only it weren't 100+ degrees in South Texas right now). Although to be honest I am hoping a lot of this incredible sweating outdoors will eliminate any need I have for diet supplements.

Then my friend Lori called to ask if I minded making something for her Bed and Breakfast in the morning because she was in a bind. Which seems like no big deal until I got home and realized I had no eggs (for casseroles or frittatta or quiche) and the grocery store in small town was already closed. So I am trying to be creative with puff pastry, and pray it turns out.

In the midst of all this I have to get Regan packed for camp, and prepare to have two days available next weekend to pick up Rebecca. By the way the picture above is the girls together after five weeks of not seeing each other last summer.

Raising Readers

Books are treasures in my house. Both John Mark and I are avid readers, and never go a single day without satiating our craving for the written word. Because my girls have seen our commitment to reading, and have been raised with books, they are in turn avid readers. I am a firm believer that readers beget readers....especially when you take the time to model it for your children.

Recently, a friend of mine wondered how she could get her son to be a better reader, because he was falling short in the Accelerated Reader Program at school. He had missed out on going on the school reward field trip because he could not seem to make his reading goals. I asked her if either she or her husband read at home ever, and she admitted they were more of a TV family, not really a book family. I wish I would have had some of these tips to share with her then. You can bet Io will share them when the new school year starts. The following are some great tips:

Summer Reading Tips from Tim Shanahan, author of Macmillan/McGraw-Hill’s best selling elementary reading program, Treasures. (Macmillan/McGraw Treasures)
Dr. Shanahan is also the past president of the International Reading Association.

1. Read Together! Summer usually allows families to spend more time together. This is a great opportunity to read more with your kids to help keep their skills fresh. Children learn a lot when you read to them. Even if your child can read by himself, take turns reading to each other, and be sure to talk about what you are reading. Ask questions, answer questions and explore the ideas together.

2. Ask Questions. Even if you are not reading the same books they are, talk to your children about what they are reading. Ask them questions such as what happened in the story or what might happen next, who is their favorite character, or who is the villain. This builds summarization and recall skills, and your interest helps increase their interest.

3. Leverage Pop Culture. Don’t ignore the value of graphic novels or a popular series like the Twilight books or Harry Potter. These are great ways to encourage adolescents to read more.

4. Plan an Outcome Activity. Whether you are reading to your children or they are reading themselves, plan an outcome event or activity based on the reading. For instance, if the book has been made into a movie, watch the DVD together after reading the book. Book reading can lead to picnics, museum visits, ballgames or even family vacations.

5. Mix it up. Don’t just focus on storybooks. Kids often prefer to read about fact rather than fiction, including books and articles about the environment, animals, current events, sports, and other topics. Talk to them about what they like and help them find reading materials that match those interests.

Do you have your own tip to share? Thanks to the wonderful people at Macmillan/McGraw-Hill I can reward my readers who love books as much as I do. I am giving to three readers children's books from the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill's Treasures series. Just follow the giveaway instructions. Remember if you enter Anonymously....please leave an email address where I can reach you. This giveaway will end July 5, 2009 at 12:00 midnight CST.

1. Give me your own reading tip to encourage your kids to pick up a book.
2. Become a follower of my blog or leave me a separate comment letting me know if you already are.
3. Place my button in the sidebar of your blog and leave me a separate comment letting me know
4. Twitter this post and leave me a copy of your tweet in a separate comment.
5. Post about this giveaway on website or Facebook and leave me a link to the URL in a separate comment

Windex Outdoor All-In-One Review and Giveaway

I am in the midst of running like crazy again for the next two weeks, because I help run day camp at the gym in the mornings, I still teach two classes, it is the time of year that I help my friend Tammy out at their Fireworks Stand (and a garage sale at her house at the same time). To top all that I have a potential buyer for the house coming in three weeks so I really need to paint and clean like crazy. At least I have the solution for crystal clean windows close at hand. I have Windex Outdoor All-In-One to get the outside of my house in tip top shape. I have used this before and it works like a dream, so for me to make this my go-to outdoor cleaner says a lot.

Windex's instructions:

SPRAY window and cleaning pad with garden hose.
WIPE window with cleaning pad.
RINSE window with garden hose. No need to hand dry.
The benefits of using Windex on your outdoor windows include:

Windex's® Special Sheeting Action Formula that prevents streaks and spotting
Clean 20 windows† with a single pad! (refills available)
Reach up to 11 ft. so you can safely and easily tackle tough outdoor grime without the hassle of using a ladder.
Now you can test out Windex's Outdoor All-In-One window cleaner for yourself, because I am giving away Three free kits! This giveaway is open to United States residents only. Just follow the giveaway instructions. Remember if you enter Anonymously....please leave an email address where I can reach you. This giveaway will end July 2, 2009 at 12:00 midnight CST.


1. Tell me what you like about Windex (must do to qualify further entrees) in a comment.
2. Become a follower of my blog or leave me a separate comment letting me know if you already are.

3. Place my button in the sidebar of your blog and leave me a separate comment letting me know
4. Twitter this post and leave me a copy of your tweet in a separate comment.
5. Post about this giveaway on website or Facebook and leave me a link to the URL in a separate comment


Ember there are three chances to win so Good Luck!

Do they make sheets for Clutter Cling?

As I am throwing clothes in my laundry today, and sorting through cabinets once again for garage sale fodder to clean out, it occurs to me that I am using sheets for static cling, but I do not know how I keep getting stuck with clutter....is there such thing as clutter cling sheets?

Every six months (seriously) My friend Tammy and I have a garage sale. I do not know how every six months for the last several years I can still come up with boxes and boxes of things to designate for a garage sale. I keep getting rid of tons of crap, and it turns around to show up again. On the plus side it is always a few hundred dollars I can count on twice a year, so I am not complaining. Last year I managed to get rid of some old patio furniture sets which I still need to replace with something cute and sleek (oh wait that might add clutter).

Of course the girls closets are an endless source of income for me because they have so much clothing that they grow out of pretty quickly. There are the video games and movies, they no longer watch or play with. The books John Mark and I have read and do not deem rereadable enough to add to our shelves. Even though we had a very succesful fall sale....I am up to ten boxes and a few pieces of furniture for summer. I wonder How much will accumulate when that is all gone. I really need to develop some clutter cling sheets quickly and absolve myself from all the junk once and for all.

Clear Ears Review

Can I just start this review by saying.....you should really read instructions and not assume anything before reviewing any product. Here was my assumption, and where I got way off track. I received my Clear Ears and placed the product on my stack to review. Then when we went to my sisters this weekend I knew we would be getting in lots of pooltime, and I was anxious to test it out. So Regan and I get to the pool, and because I don't read the instructions.....I put plugs right away in her ears to swim and test them out, But that is NOT what these are for. In fact they are even more fantastic then I had even realized.

You see in my naivete I had Regan swimming around and assumed these were going to absorb water to keep out of her ears. Clear Ears does indeed absorb all the water, but it is for after swimming use to dry up all the excess water that sometimes build up in ears and can cause that nightmare of swimming issues, the dreaded swimmers ear.

Well after our first trial and error, and my realization that I had indeed misinterpreted the entire product, we tried again the next day. At the end of swimming I squeezed and put these very soft flexible foam pieces into the outer ear canal of Regan's ear and waited for five minutes. Five minutes later i pulled out the ear plug, and she shook her head from side to side and said" Nope no water at all, mom...those work great"!

Well it just doesn't get much better than that, and since I had taken the YouTube video doing the wrong thing with Clear Ears (although it is cute video you should have seen it, lol). This time you are taking mine and Regan's word for it.

Clear Ears is available at major retailers this summer and through Cirrus Healthcare at the suggested retail price of $5.99 for five pairs. Which if you have troubles with swimmers ear is well worth the cost.

Should I get a Ticket....We have a Plan

Today Regan and I were heading back from Austin to spend Father's Day with John Mark. With construction constantly changing at my exit off of I-35, I managed to run a stop sign. Luckily no other car was anywhere around me....but Regan pipes up from the back seat with this little gem:

"Oh Great Mom! Now if a cop stops us, I will have to pretend to cry just to save your bootie."

So apparently my child has a backup plan in case I am stopped for random traffic violations. It entails crying hysterically in hopes that the officer will feel sorry for me and let me go on. The sad part? It has worked for a friend of mine

Several years ago a friend of the family was driving with her two children and was pulled over for a traffic violation (don't remember what anymore). As the cop car comes to a stop behind her she turns to the kids in the back and says to her daughter "A, honey I am really sorry about this, and I promise mommy will make up for it"....she then turned to her son and said "K, please pinch your sister really hard!" well her son complied, and her daughter started crying hysterically, and as the cop strolled up and she rolled down her window....he immediately apologized, pointed our what she did wrong, and sent her on her way with not even a warning.

The story had been passed around for years as a funny tale amongst our friends, and I guess Regan had overheard it at some point and adapted a plan of her own. I wonder does anyone else have a ticket plan?