Gifted and Talented…

There is something that has really been bothering me lately, and I thought I’d share here on my little space on the internets.  Deep Breath… and here I go.

I have a problem.  Recently, I have heard from people I know and people I barely know about how awesome their kid(s) are.  That’s great.  Be glad your kid is awesome, it’s your right as a parent. 

But I'm tired of hearing how awesome your ‘gifted’ child is.  I’m tired of hearing how proud you are that they were chosen to be in their school’s gifted and talented program.  Actually, I’m not tired of it… I’m really rather angry.

I have three amazing kids, as most of you know.  I have one daughter that reads at an eighth grade level and one that reads at a third grade level.  Should I be be more proud of Bitty who, because of her reading skills, gets to attend ‘enrichment activities’ and is pulled out of her class to do higher level reading than her first grade peers? 

Because, if I’m being completely honest here… I had nothing to do with her extraordinary reading skills.  In fact, there is nothing Bitty did to reach that level of reading, either.  I taught her to read the same way I did with my older two and whatever God-given skills she has are inherent to her, she only enhances them with her go-gettem attitude.

That brings me to Lovely L… a girl who is in her school’s ‘reading help’ class because she has always struggled with reading and writing.  This is a child who will never be in any schools’ gifted and talented program.  And guess what?  That’s okay.  Because this is also a girl who has worked her rear off to get to the level of reading that she’s at today.  I am no more or less proud of either of my girls for what programs they may be in.  

My point?  I think pointing out how ‘gifted’ your child is belittles and unintentionally hurts other children, who through no fault of their own, will never be that ‘gifted and talented’ child. 

That’s not to say you shouldn’t be proud of your child’s accomplishments.  By all means, be proud!  But in doing a shout out on the internets, can you please refrain from letting everyone know how ‘gifted’ your child is?  Because, chances are, you (and your child) had nothing to do with do with getting them there.  God or (if you don’t believe in God) genetics did.

And because I’ve never ranted before (at least here on the blog ; ) and I’m feeling bad about it, here’s a picture of some penguins:

{Penguins are awesome}

Obviously, the middle penguin is telling the other two penguins that his chick just got accepted into the Gifted Penguin Program for Exceptional Chicks, and the other two are kind of offended.

Rant over…

But what do you think?  Am I being overly sensitive?

Five Things I Will Never Do…

When you are younger, you are told (and believe) that you can do anything.  But I know the truth.  Here are five things I thought I would do when I got older, that I will now never be able to do:

1.  Marry a young Paul McCartney.  Granted, this was a long shot even when I dreamt it up, because by that time, Paul was already fifty years old.  That, however, did not stop me from dreaming of the day I would walk up the isle with a 20-something Paul McCartney. 

Now that I’m older I know that Paul only marries blondes or women of wealth.  Also, he’s currently 64 and the time travel machine I imagined would be built by now is nowhere in sight.  So… Marrying (young) Paul McCartney is out.

2.  Live the single life in a trendy apartment in the big city.  Clearly I’m still happily married to MC, so the single part is out.  And now that I’m firmly settled into the ‘burbs, I can’t imagine not having my yard. 

But the biggest thing I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older: I’m very territorial.  I don’t think I could handle people walking down the hallway of my trendy uptown pad and touching my door.  It’s MY door!  I only want people I know touching my door! And just anybody walking down the hallway to their own trendy uptown apartment could walk by and slap their mitts on my door… IT’S MINE! QUIT TOUCHING IT!

3.  Be the pilot of a commercial airliner.  I did at one time desperately believe I wanted to be a pilot.  But I was never meant to be a pilot, and this point was driven home on a recent flight I made with T Bub and Lovely L.  As the plane taxied down the runway, I held Lovely L’s hand so she wouldn’t  be nervous and asked T Bub what every single noise the plane made was.  And we hadn’t even gotten off the ground yet. 

As the plane revved it’s engines in preparation for takeoff, Lovely L, who’s hand I was now crushing in a death-grip of motherly love, had an idea.  She leaned over to T Bub and said, ‘we have to get this plane off the ground! Help me pat!’  If you’ve never seen an episode of Little Einsteins, this will make no sense to you.  But my 11 and 13 year old ‘pat, pat, pat, pat, patted’ the plane into the air so I would quit being terrified by the plane taking off.  (Yes, it helped.  I was laughing hysterically by the time we were in the air.) 

Because it doesn’t matter how many times it’s explained to me, I will never comprehend the physics of how that thing gets and stays in the air.

4.  Win a metal in the Olympics.  Note how I didn’t say win a ‘gold metal’.  I had long ago decided that just winning a metal would be good enough for me.  Once I won, I would wear my metal around to family events and tell funny stories of my time spent in the Olympic Village. 

However, there was one minor setback in my journey to the Olympics.  I was not actually good at any single sport.  And by not very good, I mean astoundingly bad.  I figured I would probably have to settle for a winter sport like the luge that didn’t seem to require much coordination. 

Now that I’m older, I realize it would take all of about three seconds before I crashed the luge sled thing and possibly killed myself.  Since I don’t think a metal (gold or not) is worth my death and I’m not speedy or coordinated enough for any other sport… the Olympics is definitely not going to happen.

5.  Have two sets of identical twins.  Maybe more.  Yeah.  That’s not gonna happen.  We’re done here…

No, really.  I mean it. ; )

Conference Awesomeness…

I recently attended my very first conference, the Minnesota Blogger Conference.  And it. Was. Awesome.

Because suddenly, I was among my people.  People, that when I handed them my business card, didn’t ask, ‘so… what is it that you do exactly?’ 

Some things in life are a given.  I am a parent, and when I show up at school most of the other adults there are also parents.  We have a common ground to start from.  But when asked what I do…

I originally answered, ‘I write’.  Because that didn’t get the head tilt that, ‘I write for my blog’ did.  But after hearing the inspiring speakers at the MN Blogger Conference, I’m holding my head up a bit higher and saying with confidence, ‘I’m a blogger!’

I’d like to treat you to a little recap of my day:

Missy Berggren and Arik Hanson introduced our keynote speaker, Mr. Lee Oden of Top Rank Marketing.  His knowledge and enthusiasm were contagious and I remember wishing I could bottle him and his energy up to carry around with me.  Hmm… 

Although that sounded a little less creepy in my head, I maintain my position.  I was completely inspired by his opening speech.

After that we had breakout sessions and I choose Power Networking.  I’m sure, without a doubt, that Paul DeBettignies was awesome.  Inspiring.  And incredible.  But I will never know because my brain was too focused on the fact that he looked like he could be MC’s twin brother.  To say I couldn’t concentrate on what he was saying would be an understatement. 

My only saving grace was that he didn’t sound like MC.  Otherwise, there might have been a chance of my trying to leave with him.  And that would have just been embarrassing, people. ; )

The next session I chose was Building Communities Online and Off. Kate O’Reilly moderated a panel with Stephanie Meyer, Jen Emmert, Ian Schwartz and Meghan Wilker. The first thing I learned was I have a lot to learn.  Since my goal for this blog is for it to become a community, I really needed to pay attention.  Since my pen quit working, I wasn’t able to write it all down.  And since I have the memory of a goldfish, I don’t remember much of it. 

However…

What I was able to take away from this session is that I am now part of a community of bloggers.  And I have no doubt that if I needed it, someone who was in that session with me would help me out (read: let me see their notes ; ).

Lunch: TACO BAR!  My love of tacos is equal to my love of Dr. Pepper so I tried very hard not to eat myself into a taco coma.

Next up was Scene and Story: Make Your Writing Sing with Kate Hopper.  We did a couple of writing  exercises and what I learned is that my writing doesn’t sing… It depresses.  When asked to write about my childhood, it started out all good, but slowly morphed into a not-so-happy story.  Same with writing about someone close to you.  I won’t share who it was, but holy schnikes… It appears to me that my subconscious is not a very happy place.   Thankfully, Kate Hopper was so cute and bouncy, she easily brought my mood back up.  Because I really didn’t want to start crying in front of a room full of people I didn’t know (Cause, yeah…I was sitting in the front row where everyone could see me.  Why do I do that to myself?!?).

The end of the day was drawing near, and I ended my fantabulous bloggy day with the lovely Erica Mayer.  Her session was Vlogging: Lessons to Learn From TV.  I have already tried (and failed) several times to post a Vlog, or video blog.  But… apparently, when you stick a camera in my face, I go all Gumby.  Not turning green, per se, but definitely having the stiff, stick-like movements going on. I looked like my own robot clone in the videos I took, and over articulated everything I said. 

You know, maybe I’ll post one.  Then we can laugh at me together… Because laughter brings people together, and I’m all about community, right?!? ; )

And that was my day.  And it was amazing… The people I  met, the friends I made, the things I learned… All of it, amazing.  And If you have a chance, click on some of the names I mentioned above and take a look at their blogs.  Maybe they’ll inspire you, too.

 

A huge shout out to the sponsors of the MN Blogger Conference:  Top Rank Marketing, KARE 11, and Allina.  Thanks for helping make this conference the success that it was!

Parenting Moments #2…

{I wrote this on T Bub’s birthday last week}

 

Here I am… sitting at the Water Park of America, watching my {newly} thirteen year old son. He wouldn’t be happy to know that I’m writing about him, to be sure. But this is the first time one of my kids has hit the teens, and I have to admit to being a little freaked out by that.

 

Okay… more than a little freaked out.

Why?

I just realized I’m past the halfway point. You know, the half way point of how long I get to keep him…

 

{Twenty-four hours old}

 

Although he’s already started making decisions for himself, he’s still mine until he turns eighteen. And if I had known how fast this time would fly, maybe I would have held on a little tighter…

 

{Five years old}

 

But I realize that my whole goal as a parent has been to teach him how to be an adult. MC and I have been teaching him to be responsible, thoughtful, caring… and a productive member of adult society. Together, we’re giving him the tools to be on his own one day.

 

{Nine years old}

Here’s where my heart screams: But that’s technically only five years away… And I’m not ready!

But my head knows how far he’s come: from a kindergartener that didn’t like to be touched, spent the day underneath his desk and couldn’t handle having his crayons out of order (or his Matchbox cars, or his trains), to a first grader with one loyal friend, to a nine year old who learned how to hug his grandparents (yes, learned how to hug. We worked on this for years…), to a thirteen year old that can converse with friends and not talk only about planes (or trucks or the Aerial Lift Bridge {long story}).

 

So here I am… sitting at the Water Park of America, and I can’t believe how lucky I am that I get to be this kid’s mom. And I’ll use this birthday as a reminder of how blessed I am to have been allowed on this journey with this awesome kid.

 

{Happy 13th Birthday, T Bub!}

 

What Am I Doing At School…

Alternately titled:  Back to School with Your Bad Self

Straight out of high school, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with myself.  My mother and grandmother informed me that I would be moving from Indiana to Arizona and enrolling in college there.  And sure enough, the summer I turned eighteen my grandmother hauled me to a college in Arizona and set me up with some general ed. classes. 

It was at that point that I decided I wanted to become an Interpreter.  I would fly the world, and armed with my knowledge of six to eight different languages, I would interpret for whomever could afford my outrageous fees.  And so, at the start of the next semester, I took Spanish II and Introduction to German and Russian classes.

Once my grandmother caught wind of what I was doing, she promptly told me that trying to learn eight languages would be nearly impossible.  And I was struggling;  it was definitely hard.  And so, at the start of the very next semester, I went back to finishing my general ed. classes with an emphasis on Childhood Development and Psychology.

People, that was sixteen years ago.  And here I am, back in those same general ed. classes.*

*Yes, seriously. Since I never graduated and all my credits are over ten years old, I have to retake those classes in order to earn a degree at this school.  As MC would say, it is what it is… 

So here’s a recap of my first week at school:

Highlight:  Another student asking me if I still lived with my parents or if I had my own place.

Low point:  Actually doing the math and realizing that I am, in fact, twice the age of most of the students.

So far, the classes are okay.  Years of life experience have given me new ‘school eyes’, and I’m no longer afraid of the teachers or the other students.  I ask questions when I have them, and I don’t care what the other students think about me.  Well, that’s kind of true… I still like to be liked, but they’re not my peers. 

My peers?  Most of us are parents of a certain age, and some of us have kids only a few years younger than the students I’m taking classes with.  But my peers are all adults, and that cannot be said for some of my fellow students.  I don’t think age makes you an adult, I believe life experience and responsibility does.  I’m being brutally honest and saying I was definitely not an adult at the start of my college experiences.

That said, I’m excited to start this journey of Back to School.  I know I’m still in the ‘honeymoon’ period with school; right now I love it.  I’m hoping to hold on to that feeling when life gets tough, as I know it will: I am a parent of three kids and a wife first and foremost, and I expect there will be times that that will get in the way of my schooling. 

But here’s the thing – I love blogging and the awesome friends I’ve made as a blogger.  I love designing web elements and playing with the code to manipulate the web pages.  I simply love everything about this whole process… and that is what I’m going to school for.  I am now a VCOM student and my area of study is multimedia / web design. 

Pretty nifty, eh?

Well, enough about me…

What are you up to this week? 

 

Proud…

I have a wonderful memory of my Nana from when I was *much, much* younger.  I had come to her with a huge problem and I knew she could fix it. 

My problem?

No other girls liked my favorite color.  What's more, they were telling me that my favorite color was ugly and that I should like pink or purple.  Those were girl colors, more acceptable and the norm.  Not yellow…

So I asked my Nana what I should do.  And although her exact words didn’t stick in my mind (it was a really, really long time ago), I can remember exactly how she made me feel. 

Proud.

I should be proud to be different and what’s more, I should keep on liking whatever it is that I like.  I don’t have to like what everyone else likes!  This was a revelation to my nine year old brain, for sure.  Then, she filled me in on something else. 

Her favorite color was green. 

WHA?!?  Even I knew that green was a boy color, just like blue!

…Well, so much for that lesson…

 

I never did let anyone ever talk me out of liking yellow, though.   

Want some more color inspiration?  Check out other great {color} stories over at Gussy Sews!

How To Describe…

How do I feel right now?

*Giddy*

*Nervous*

*Amazed*

*Thankful*

Holy good golly, I can’t believe what I’m doing.  Looking around, I don’t feel like I belong, but I know I do.  Still, these kids look half my age…

Okay, I’m not quite that old, but…

At (mumble, mumble) years old, I am {again} sitting in a classroom.  Yep.  As a student.  I can’t quite believe it myself, and I feel amazingly blessed that I have this opportunity. 

That’s not to say it doesn’t feel weird.   I feel way too old for these kids, this classroom, this environment.  I was done and done with this place… school. 

So then why does it feel so right?  Why do I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be right now, and what I’m supposed to be doing? 

Truthfully… this is the first time I didn’t let outside influences choose for me. 

But you’re really good with kids, you’re supposed to be a teacher or do work with children…  You really love all that medical stuff, it really comes easily to you, you’re supposed to do something in that field, why don’t you use your EMT training…

Nope.  I won’t be pursuing any of those things.  I’m taking a complete leap of faith.  I am, after all… Fearless.

Going To The Chapel…

One of my absolute favorite things is being invited to a wedding. 

There is something about listening to a couple say their marriage vows that makes me fall in love with MC all over again.  Today I feel blessed to have been invited to the wedding of two people that I didn’t get to know as friends the traditional way. 

I know them because, after meeting Bitty in soccer, this little guy took a liking to her.

By the time school started, Little A and Bitty were best friends.  By Bitty’s birthday, he was ready to propose and brought a ring pop to her party.  All through the school year, most of Bitty’s conversation involved her ‘boyfriend’ Little A.

Side note:  Turns out, Bitty doesn’t like ring pops.  So she gave it to Lovely L.  But then there was some confusion, because the kids at school told Bitty that if Lovely ate the ring pop, that Lovely L was now married to Little A.  I squashed the whole thing and said that Bitty and Little A should just remain ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’ for right now and no one should get married.

Turns out, the qualities you look for in a Kindergarten boyfriend are some of the same you’d look for in a husband:

Friendly (always has a smile for her)

Willing to share (even the marble game that doesn’t have a lot of pieces)

Like some of the same things (in this case, the love of Legos and the Lego Star Wars video game)

While I don’t know what the future holds for Bitty and Little A, I can say that I send the best of wishes to my friends as they get married tonight.  And as I watch them say their vows, I’ll squeeze a little closer to MC and reflect on how far we’ve come as a family and vow to always try to be:

Friendly (even when we’re mad at each other)

Willing to share (I promise not to eat all the pretzels or the last of the popcorn)

and

Like some of the same things (football, concerts, music and the outdoors)

 

 

To D, R, and Little A:  Congratulations in advance. I am truly and deeply happy for you three as you start your new life together!

{Not} Thinking Out Loud…

Yep.  I’m holding out on you, people. 

I have a lot buzzing around in my head, but I still can’t bring myself to say it out loud.  Maybe I don’t want to jinx it.  Maybe I’m afraid what people will think.

It’s not a bad thing, to be sure.  But instead of just writing it out and being all excited, I keep typing a sentence, then deleting it.  Then, staring at a blank screen…

Maybe it’s because I’ve started so many things that I never followed through with.  Maybe I realize that once I write it down, I have to accept the truth of the statements I write.  Maybe it’s because I want everything I write to only be the truth and not some gloss over.  Maybe, maybe, maybe…

Although I’m tired of the maybes, I guess I’m not ready to say it out loud.  I really thought I was… honestly and truly told myself that I’m not afraid anymore.  But the fact remains:  I can’t write about it right now and the original post I wrote in April is still sitting in my drafts.

When I read over the one I wrote in April, it makes me happy and it makes me cry at the same time.  It makes me sad for the past and excited for the future.  That should be a good thing, right?

So what’s holding me back?

I guess for now, I am…

Thinking {In My Head}.

How Humid Was It?

Last week, it was so humid outside that when we woke up and came downstairs, we couldn’t see out of any of our windows.  They were completely covered in condensation.  It was like being on the outside of a greenhouse looking in, but we were in our house looking out.

So I sent the BLT outside (in their p.j.’s) to check it out. It only took them a minute to figure out they could ‘write’ on the condensation.

 

 

As for me?  I think I’ll stay indoors.  ; )

Fourth Of July Recap…

After Christmas,  my favorite holiday… no,wait… Lemme start again.

After Christmas and Halloween, my next favorite holiday is the Fourth of July.  I thought I would share with you our Fourth of July {in Pictures}

{The day before the Fourth, people save their spot on the parade route by putting out blankets, chairs, and tarps. To my amazement, these items are not stolen by the next day}

 

 

{Lovely L and Bitty watching the parade.  We did not set out a blanket the day before.  MC and I sat up on a little hill and let the kids find a place on the curb.  As newbies, we’re just not used to having to plan a day ahead for our parade spot yet}

 

{My patriotic watermelon.  I way I figured it, watermelons have a similar rind to pumpkins.  Why not carve it?}

 

{Then, back to our house for a barbecue, bocce ball and sparklers}

 

{Playing with fire. I mean, sparklers}

 

{The fireworks are shot off at the end of our neighborhood.  Our city puts on a great firework show with all our favorites.  My favorite?  The one that explodes and looks like glitter.  Also, it makes a sizzling noise like bacon}

And there you have our Fourth of July.  What fun stuff did you get to do this Fourth?

Holey Doorframe, Batman…

While preparing my backyard for our Fourth of July celebration, I noticed a small strip of paint had peeled off the stoop of the back door.  Wanting the backyard to look its best for the party, I got out some sandpaper and paint and prepared to do a Quick Repair.  

As I sandpapered the stoop, more and more paint chipped off.  I realized my Quick Repair was turning into a Big Job. 

Ugh.

I decided to walk away from the now Big Job of repairing the stoop and headed out front to pull out some seedlings that had taken root in the gutter over the garage.  Dragging the ladder out of the garage, I set it up and began pulling weeds and tiny little trees that had nestled themselves in the gunk that had settled at the bottom of the gutter. 

It was then that I noticed that the gutter was not actually attached to the fascia right below the roofline.  It was just hanging there, loose and unattached.

Ugh. 

MC was in the backyard, cutting up all the branches from our recent tree adventures.  He had been watching me mess with the stoop earlier, and warily watched as I walked over to him with more bad news. 

I told him what I had found out about the gutter and he asked if I could please not give him any more bad news until after the Fourth so he could enjoy the holiday weekend. 

So, I headed back to finish the stoop.  As I scraped the paint near the doorframe, I saw what looked like a small hole in the door itself.  I scratched at it a little bit.  Then I poked it.

{HOLY SCHNIKES.}

Uhh… Hmm.  Okay… well…

I used a screwdriver to clear out the hole in the door.  I looked at it for a long time before walking over to MC. 

Uh… hon?  I just wanted you to know that I… well.. uh… There was an earthworm in our door.  That’s all.  I’m gonna fill the hole in now and then paint over it.  K?   

I am not kidding, people.  As I scraped the debris out of the door, I nearly had a heart attack when the screwdriver came out of the hole with a wiggly critter on it.  A WORM.  In my door. That is seriously nuts.

Oh.  And disgusting.

Since I was already messing with the stoop, I decided to pull off a strip of metal that had at one time been the track for a sliding screen door.  The metal strip came off with relative ease, but pulling it off had left all the screw heads sticking up out of the stoop. 

This is why all my Quick Repairs turn into Big Jobs. 

I eventually got the screws pulled out, the hole in the door and one in the door frame filled with putty and the stoop sanded down.  I laid down a couple coats of paint yesterday when I realized I was painting the stoop with white paint that clearly states Interior on the front of it.

Ugh.

At least it’s white now.  And you can’t see any holes.

Have you ever run into a project that didn’t quite turn out like you expected? 

In Which My Brain Ruins Father’s Day…

My Brain and I have a tenuous relationship on most days, and Fathers Day was no exception. 

For a few weeks, I had been in contact with my sister and mother-in-law,  helping them plan a Fathers Day breakfast for the guys. 

{My boys with their boats on the St. Croix River}

It should have gone off without a hitch.  And then I woke up… on Fathers Day morning… with a massive migraine. 

I woke up, crying and slobbering all over MC, who had been sleeping peacefully up until that point.  He knows the drill, and went off in search of an ice pack and migraine medicine.

 

{First game at Target Field, the new MN Twins stadium}

But it’s Fathers Day, and I am supposed to be helping cook up an awesome breakfast for the guys.  Instead, I can barely open my eyes and lay shaking in my in-laws basement.  I had taken the migraine medicine, and now I can think a little.  And I am ticked.  Stupid Brain!  Why would you pull this on Fathers Day?!?

Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law cook up a delicious meal and we head home.  Where MC tucks me into bed after giving me another migraine pill.  At some point later in the day, I wake up, headacheless but feeling completely drugged and loopy. 

{Hiking in Wisconsin}

I come downstairs to MC preparing to cook his Fathers Day supper.  I offer to help several times, but end up wandering aimlessly around the house instead.  Finally I pull it together enough to tell him, ‘No way you’re doing this yourself.  I’m grilling the burgers and brat thingys.’

It only occurs to me as I’m lighting it that I haven’t actually cooked anything on a grill since 1995. 

The rest of the evening is a blur except for the key points of 1.  I didn’t burn or otherwise ruin the brats and burgers and 2.  I took a shower.

Although I didn’t get to do any of the things I planned to do for Fathers Day, I hope MC knows how much I love and appreciate how much he does for me and the kids. 

And if my Brain ever tries to pull a stunt like that again, we’re going to have a serious discussion…

Just A Guess…

Can you guess what these two are doing?

An Award? For Me?

There are quite a few ‘Awards’ I have bestowed upon myself lately.  Chiefly:

Patch Queen of the Universe

Master Indoor Gardener

and, let’s not forget

Hypocritical Parent of the Year

So when I received an award from someone else, I was shocked!  Why, who on earth would think so highly of my fantabulous blogging abilities (myself excluded) to bequeath me with an real, live, actual award?   

My new bloggy friend Mitzi from Moonlight and Magnolias, that’s who!  Thank you so much, Mitzi, I am honored…

Now, like everything else, there are some apparent rules I have to follow.  I now have to list seven things about myself that you may not know.  So here goes:

1.  I have a Tiki Bar in my basement.  MC and my cousin actually built the thing themselves.  Frankly, I think everyone should have one of these; it really livens up the cold, damp confines of an unfinished basement.

{Here it makes a brief appearance in my living room for MC’s birthday.}

2.  I see dead people, er, uh… What I meant was, I can draw people.  No, really I can!  Draw them, I mean…

{Sorry. My scanning abilities leave much to be desired.} 

3.  I am afraid of the Grand Canyon.  Sure, it’s amazing and beautiful.  But it’s also a mile drop to the bottom.

{I’m smiling because we were done and leaving.}

4.  My house is the same age as I am.  Recorded the same month and year that I was born.  That’s pretty cool, right?  Okay, maybe it’s not that exciting, but who else can claim that?  Anybody? 

That’s what I thought.

{Awww! I <3 my house!}

5.  When I was younger, I wanted to be a commercial airline pilot.  Let’s all just be glad that never transpired.

{Hey, so which button do I push to start this thing?}

6.  I don’t like swimming in lakes.  Yep, that’s a tough one since I live in the Land of 10,000.  But there are fish in those lakes.  BIG fish.  With teeth.

{Would you want to be in the water with this?}

7.  I once fell up my stairs and tore the cover of my bible.  That’ll teach me to read and try to walk at the same time… Maybe I should consider books on tape.  I’ll look into that. ; )

Now comes the best part.  I get to bestow this award on someone else! 

Sommer at Designer Garden

Laura at Mom Mart

Sue at Creative ‘Try’als

And brand-new blogger and Etsy store owner

Sharon at Elphia Designs

Congratulations ladies!  I hope you enjoy receiving your Versatile Blogger Award as much as I did : )

Have You Met The BlogFrog?

When I first started this blog, I had a few definite ideas of what I wanted.  The first was that no one I knew in real life would even know I had a blog.  So much for that… 

The second thing I wanted out of this blog was to create a place for parents to come together to share our thoughts and ideas.  In fact, the name of this blog was supposed to be Thinking Out Loud and not Kadbury Is. 

Side note: Thinking Out Loud was already taken, and the web host I use (Blogger) suggested that I name my blog something like thinkingoutloud94736.blogspot.com.  I don’t know about you, but Thinking Out Loud 94736 is missing that certain thing… Mainly the ability to remember the 94736 part.  So, I went with Kadbury Is…

Now, I realize by merit of this being my blog, that most of the time it’s only me who’s doing any thinking out loud.  And while I loooove getting comments and responding to them, that’s usually where the conversation ends.  So I’d like to try something different…

BlogFrog is a social forum like Facebook or Twitter but with a twist.  On BlogFrog, you can ask that burning question you had about breastfeeding and like-minded moms will help you out.  Or, if you have experience with ASD kids, maybe you can help out another parent by sharing what has worked for you. 

Although many of us are parents, I don’t want to limit it to just parenting.  I share a lot about crafts, decorating or repairing and the occasional recipe on my blog.  I’d like those things to be topics of conversation too!

Sound intriguing?  Over on my sidebar, I have added the Thinking Out Loud community.  Clicking on Visit My Community will take you directly to my BlogFrog page, where you can share what’s on your mind by clicking on the Forum tab.  Or, maybe you can help me out by sharing your ideas on how to help Bitty B stop sucking her thumb.

Won’t you head on over and join me?  I’m looking forward to hear what you have to say.