Rule #1  Never look them directly in the eye when you know they are grumpy/psychotic.  The glare from them can freeze you on contact.

Rule #2  When you are aware of said grumpiness, say as little as possible. Don’t try to fix it or make a suggestion. When needed to inform them of something important, make it very informal and indirect (while not looking at them)  for example:  “Lunch box is on the table.” Is much better than “Sweetie, I put your lunch box on the table by your backpack. Please don’t forget it.”  That last statement may just make them leave their lunch box on purpose.

Rule #3 When later that day your twelve-year-old is happy, humming and the sweet child you remember DO NOT ASK THEM WHAT WAS WRONG EARLIER!  They will revert back to grumpy. Just be happy that they are happy and get some hugs in while you can!

Rule #4  The rules change day by day and sometimes hour by hour. Do your best and remember that someday they will enjoy your company, help and support.  At least I have been told this. I hope they just weren’t saying it to give me hope…..

Artwork credit

Elle is an emergent reader, reading on her own a bit, but still needing help.  Reading with her can be fun or can be tedious depending on her level of stubborness at the time!  What is so great about this book is that we are reading short lines together, which keeps her (and me) from getting bored.  There are mostly rhymes which is great for new readers and writers and the book gets silly which means fun!  Fun while reading is so important when they are young. We can’t make it a chore.

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the reasons for homeschooling Enu was to give her some one on one time that she missed when she was little.  This book offers a fun and easy way to spend that precious time with her. She missed the fairy tales and rhyming books. She missed the silly reading stories.  She adores this book. We have reserved the other titles in the series:  Very Short Fairy Tales and Very Short Mother Goose Tales and I am hoping to get them in time for vacation.

I get happy when I find something with multi-uses and this book fits the bill. I encourage all parents of emergent readers or parents of older-adopted children to check this book out at your library and give it a try.

Have you read this book with your kids? Is reading time bonding time for you all as well?

(Disclosure: I recieved no compenstation for reviewing this book, nor was I asked to review it. I borrowed my copy from the library. Amazon links are not affiliate links and I will not get any money from them.)

Art Credit

Meg's BFF

During my senior year of school I donated blood for the first time. I was so excited to do something so important.  About an hour later, I apparently turned green in Biology class and remember my teacher holding my hand while they waited for the wheelchair.  He was telling everyone that reactions like this to blood donations are all in your head. That I really wasn’t ill.  I can tell you that I fibbed a bit on the weight so I probably shouldn’t have given at all that day.  You have to be 110 pounds to donate and I was about 100 at that time (oh the days).  Sure I lied, but I wanted to give. To help. To save a life. Corney maybe, but true.

Picture hating Mita

The other day I got an email asking to get some of my Girl Scouts to help volunteer at a local blood drive.  They needed the girls to walk around the Farmer’s Market and get people to go to the Bloodmobile parked on the street.

I used to work for the American Red Cross over a decade ago (yikes!). I took blood from volunteers.  During my time  I was so impressed with people of all walks of life donating blood, in essence giving life. While walking around the market last week talking to people, it amazed me of the responses from people.

“It hurts to bad.”

“I need my blood.”

“No one wants my blood.”

Worse were some of the looks people gave us without bothering to even use words.

The girls walked a lot and moved out of their comfort zone, learning how to make a “pitch” and asking people to donate. It is not easy. We came up with a few jingles that we didn’t use, but got a good laugh over.  One was “Lose some weight, Donate today.” Another was ” Save Bella, Donate today.”  Good times!

I thought I would share a few facts to help encourage others to donate blood:

*Every blood donation has the potential to help (possibly save the life) of three different people.

*It will take about an hour of your time.

*All needles used are new, clean, safe.(Yes, some people are still afraid of getting AIDS from giving blood)

* It really isn’t painful. Just a stab at first…come on a little poke. It’s more painful to have a splinter dug out!

Check out if you are eligible  to give.  Here is a great page to learn about blood, it even has games!

I encourage you all to think about donating blood in the next few months. Not all of us are able to due to health conditions and such, but if you can, please give it a try.

Have you ever donated blood? What were your thoughts about the process and how did you feel afterwards?  I am scheduled to donate at BlogHer11 in a couple of weeks, after the 5K run thankfully!

Don’t forget to enter my contest!

(I am not affilated with the American Red Cross, nor was I asked to blog about this. I just like the idea of helping others!)

I like to give. I like to give time and money, resources that are not always easy to come by but are important to make the world go round. As I have gotten older I have become more judicious with my giving. I investigate the place my money is going to and such, but I still give.  I wish I could give more money and time to places that need it and causes that touch my heart.

The other day I read a blog from a girl dying from Leukemia. She started a bucket-list blog and is asking people all over the world to get on the registry to donate bone marrow.  I swabbed my bone marrow this morning and popped it in the mail.  The organization (DKMS) asked for a t$65 donation to cover the cost of processing, but they would take a donation of any amount or none at all.  I didn’t have an extra $65 bucks this week, but I did have my GiveBack account.

GiveBack.org is a site I signed up on last year.  It is a site you can shop through and get a percentage of your purchase back in to your GiveBack account.  Then you can donate the money to any registered charity. Simply. Easy. Fun even. I have shopped on Shopathome.com and through Upromise before to get the rebate back, but I really like the twist with GiveBack.org.  It helps me give, easily, even anonymously if I wish and the feeling I get with giving back is much bigger and longer lasting than a $20 check I can get every few months.

The account adds up quickly, as I like to shop online.  Check it out! Have fun and find your charities you like to donate to.  Right now GiveBack.org is celebrating giving with 100 days of giving. Someone can win big money to give away to a charity close to their heart!

(Disclosure: Thanks to the One2One network for reminding me about the 100 days of giving with GiveBack.org!)

Hubby and I

I cannot express my love and thanks for Hubby in a blog post. The words are impossible to conjure up in my head.

Three years of dating. Fifteen years of marriage. Four kids. Peru. Four states. Thirteen-ish moves.  All together. My partner in life at all times whether they are stress-full, boring, exciting or magical.

Hubby is handsome, intelligent, thoughtful, patient, kind, funny and loyal.  He is a great father who loves his girls immensely.

He is also a bad dancer, likes talk radio over music (I think a little goes a long way) and doesn’t get the whole Twitter thing.  No one is perfect ;)

Here are some pictures of the gifts.  I have so much fun playing Santa…thanks!

Photo Credit Mandy W. 2009

We just got a camper…I doubt it is made of ivory or gold, but not a bad anniversary gift!

I thought  I’d show you all some pictures of us through the years.

What we called our "Africa" picture. 1993

Married in 1995.

Trip across the US in 1997.

Trip to Disney in 2005.

Our Real African picture in 2008!

We really need more pictures of ourselves together!  Aren’t we adorable though?