Slow Down, Gym Shoe!

A Meme I Stole.

I'm just in the mood for a meme today, so I jacked this one from Snarky Mom.
1. What do you add to your coffee? I don't generally like coffee, but if I do drink it, I like vanilla creamer!2. What are you reading now? Everything Asian, by Sung J Woo3. Do you own a gun? Nope
4. Are you registered to vote? Yes5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Yes, very, because I hate to be touched by strangers!
6. What do you think of hot dogs? I like them with mustard. Hold the ketchup! This is Chicago!
7. Favorite Christmas Song? Silent Night
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Dr. Pepper.
9. Can you do push ups? Noooooo!10. What was the name of your first boyfriend/girlfriend? I think it was Brian! (I was 10)
11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? The heart locket with the kids' pictures inside!
12. Favorite hobby? Reading and blogging (just like snarky Mom!) Also arts and crafts.
13. Do you work with people who idolize you? I suppose Little Bear idolizes me some of the time... although definitely not always!
14. Do you have ADD? Yes! Yes I do! Thanks for asking!
15. What’s one trait that you hate about yourself? I get tired very easily!
16. What’s your Middle name? Marie.
17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment. I'm hungry. I have to pee. Lily pooped on the floor and I had to put her in her cage and I think that hurts me more than it hurts her!
18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday.Candy, silly string, a pop. (Don't ask...)
19. Name 3 beverages you regularly drink. Dr. Pepper. Milk. Kool-Aid!
20. Current worry right now? Will this stinking puppy ever be potty trained?21. What size do you dress to?  Uh, what does that mean?22. Favorite place to be? The beach in the summer! Or disney world!
23. How did you bring in the New Year? A riproaring party at Tigerlily's parents' house! We slept over!
24. Where would you like to go? Italy.
25. Name three people who will complete this. nobody
26. Whose answers do you want to read the most? Anyone with the time to answer it.27. What color shirt are you wearing? dark pink hoodie
28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Hmm, never tried it!
29. Can you whistle? yes30. Favorite colors(s)? Red and Purple31. Could you be a pirate? I always wanted to be! But I couldn't kill people.
32. What songs do you sing in the shower? These days, probably something from Pufferfish's Wee Sing tape, which is stuck in my head!
33. Favorite girls name? Emily34. Favorite boy’s name? Jeremy35. What’s in your pocket right now?  chapstick, money, driver's license, library card, food stamp card
36. Last thing that made you laugh? The puppy had a dingleberry on her butt!
37. Best bed sheets as a child? Tie dye!38. Worst injury you’ve ever had?  Busted my head open on Dez's car and had to get staples!
39. Do you love where you live? I love  my house. I like this town okay.. I wish I lived near mountains or the ocean or any other form of nature, though.
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? 4-one in the basement, one in the front room, one in the back room, and one in Monkeyboy's room.
41. Who is your loudest friend? Probably Diana!!!42. How many dogs do you have? two at this house, one at my mom's.
43. Does anyone have a crush on you? Hmm! I dunno!
44. What are the most fun things you ever did? A disney cruise, disney world (both with my mom), going to six flags, swimming in the ocean, camping on the beach, swimming in the river, hiking in the redwoods, the Peace Festival.
45. What are your favorite books? I love Jodi Picoult books these days... but I love all books!46. What is your favorite candy? kit-Kats47. Favorite Team? What sport? White sox. and baseball.
48. What songs do you want played at your funeral? "Ripple" by the Grateful Dead, "Follow the sun" by the Beatles.
49. What were you doing at 12 AM? Sleeping.50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Hey where is my phone?

Observed At A Local Suburban Foodcourt...

The scene... a typical suburban food court in a busy mall just before Thanksgiving. Enter a Crazy, Abusive,Evil Auntie Who Is Obviously A Crackhead (CAEAWIOAC), and three children between the ages of two and six.

CAEAWIOAC: "Okay, kids, I only have enough money for everyone to spend two or three dollars on a snack. What do you want?"

Kids: "dfjlsjTacobellsdlfsljSubwayslfjsdkfjBurgerKingjsf;lsjletsgosomewhereelseasdlkjas;dlicecream!"

CAEAWIOAC: "Everyone stop talking at once! You can each pick a place to get something. Rafael, what do you want?"

Kids: "dfjlsjTacobellsdlfsljSubwayslfjsdkfjBurgerKingjsf;lsjletsgosomewhereelseasdlkjas;dlicecream!"

CAEAWIOAC: "Quiet! Okay, Rafael, do you want Taco Bell? Lets go over to Taco Bell. Here are the things you could get... soft taco, crunchy taco, potato taco, bean burrito, three layer nachos..."

Kid 1: "Three layer nachos! Yeah! Thats what I want! Those are my favorite! And I want a large Coke!"

CAEAWIOAC: "You're not getting a large Coke. You can have a small Sprite." (Orders the food and pays for it with a Paypal debit card.) "Okay, lets go sit down, and then I'll get the rest of the food."

Kid 1: "No! Thats not what I wanted! Not that kind of nachos! Not with this stuff on it!"

CAEAWIOAC: "But these are three layer nachos! This is what you wanted!"

Kid 1: "Noooooooooo! I wanted plain nachos!"

CAEAWIOAC: "I'm sorry, Rafael. I'll try to scrape all the beans and junk off, right after I get the food for the other two."

Kid 2: "I'd like a tunafish sandwich from Subway, chips, and a drink!"

CAEAWIOAC: "No, Subway doesn't have a dollar menu. How about something from Burger King?"

Kids: "SkldjsfWhopperasdfjasCokesfsdjsdfjFrenchfrifkjsdChickenNuggetsslkdjf;sfjMilkshakelfkkkMustard!"

CAEAWIOAC: "Aaaaaaah! What? First of all, Rafael, you already have a snack, so you can't get Burger King! Second of all..."

Kid 1: (Puts head down on table.)

kid 2: "What a cry baby! Cry baby!"

Kid 3: "Cwy baby!"

Kid 1: "I am not crying! Shut up, you stupid heads!"

Kid 2: "I'll eat the nachos, and Rafael can get Burger King, then."

CAEAWIOAC: "Good idea, Little Bear! Here you go!"

Kid 2: "Aaaaah! Yuck! These are disgusting! I'm not eating these! I want Subway!"

Kid 1: "Thats not fair!"

CAEAWIOAC: "Everyone stop it! Ugh! I was trying to do something nice and let you have a snack, but this is not working. We're done. Nobody gets a snack. We're done." (Throws nachoes away. Starts to throw Kid 1's drink away, but stops, thinking of the dollar and twenty cents she spent on it,)

Kid 1: "Hey, I'm still drinking that!"

CAEAWIOAC: "Fine, drink it, here!"

Kid 2: "Hey, why does he get a drink and we don't!"

CAEAWIOAC: "You can share it!"

Kids: "Nowayimnotsharingwithhimherthatsgrossyuckiwantmyownnofairwhy!"

CAEAWIOAC: (who is starving herself and really wants a snack) "We'll try this one more time. We're all going to Burger King, and you can each get one thing off the dollar menu and one drink. Got it?"

Kid 2: "Iwant a kids meal!"

Kid 1: "I want a Whopper, fries and a Coke!"

CAEAWIOAC: (speaking slowly) "No. Listen, We're gonna get one thing off the dollar menu, and one small drink. Okay? You can get a Whopper Jr, french fries, or chicken nuggets."

Kid 2: "Can I get a Whopper Jr and french fries?"

CAEAWIOAC:: "NO! WE'RE EACH GETTING ONE THING FROM THE DOLLAR MENU, AND ONE DRINK! What do you want?"

Kid 1: "Just a Whopper then!"

kid 2: "I want a Whopper too!"

Kid 3: "I want chicken nuggets!"

CAEAWIOAC: "Okay, can I please get two Whopper Juniors, one chicken nuggets...."

Kid 1: "No, I want french fries!"

CAEAWIOAC: "Okay, give me one Whopper Junior, one french fries, one chicken nuggets..."

Kid 2: "Can I have chicken nuggets instead?"

CAEAWIOAC: "Fine. Then, I guess, two chicken nuggets, one French fries, and I'll have a Whopper Junior, and four small drinks."

Cashier: "What kind of drinks, please?"

CAEAWIOAC: "Um... Little Bear, please stop talking while I'm talking! You have to wait! Rafael, pick up all of those crowns you just knocked down. Pufferfish, I can't pick you up right now, I'm trying to... Rafael, I said quit touching the Burger King crowns! Now pick them up off the floor! Little Bear! Quit tapping my arm! Please wait just one minute! Pufferfish, where are you going? Wait... what was your question?"

Cashier: "Uh, what type of drinks do you want?"

CAEAWIOAC: "One Coke and three Sprites, please."

Kid 2: "No, I want rootbeer!"

CAEAWIOAC: "Rafael, Pufferfish, do you want rootbeer too? Okay, one Coke and three rootbeers..."

Kid 2: "Why does he get another drink? He already has a drink!"

CAEAWIOAC: "Ugh, thats right! Okay, two rootbeers and one Coke... LITTLE BEAR FOR PETE'S SAKE STOP TAPPING MY ARM AND TALKING WHILE I'M TALKING! STEP AWAY FROM ME RIGHT NOW!"

Kid 2: "But its an emergency! I need BBQ sauce!"

CAEAWIOAC: "BBQ SAUCE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN EMERGENCY, LITTLE BEAR! PUFFERFISH, WHY ARE YOUR SHOES OFF? RAFAEL, GET YOUR HANDS OUT OF THE KETCHUP! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? LETS ALL GO SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW!"

KID 2: "Hey, how come he got fries and I didn't?"

(Five minutes later... the three children are running in and out of a near by photo booth, screaming, as CAEAWIOAC curls up in the fetal position underneath a table and mutters to herself.)

THE END!

Spiritual Conundrum

I mentioned in a different blog post that I recently started going to church, usually bringing Little Bear with me. I love the church because the people are so kind, to me and Little Bear and also to the world in general. This church's theory is that instead of evangelizing with words, they simply live their lives as evidence of their beliefs. They try to help as many people as possible. For instance, when most church youth groups do Mission trips, they go to places where they can try to teach people about God and the Bible, through spoken and written words. But at this church, when the youth groups do Mission trips, they go to places where they can serve food to the homeless, or rebuild houses, or give toys and books to children, or other things that directly help people. The church also operates an Outreach Center where people in the community can go for help with food, clothing, shelter, etc.

So. There is one thing that I am not particularly fond of at this church. The minister! 
I don't know why. I'm sure he's a great minister. He's the one that, at Sleep Out Saturday, made a point of telling all of the kids there that they always had a safe place to go and plenty adults to help them if they ever got into trouble or danger. But I think, during Sleep Out Saturday, I also grew a little wary of him when he kept on yelling at the teenagers there. The youth leaders had planned a bunch of games for the kids, around the theme of homelessness. One game was Jeopardy, with questions about different aspects of homelessness. The kids were divided into teams, the youth leader was keeping score, and of course the kids were getting into it, playfully arguing about how many points they'd gotten. The minister, who was there, started snapping at them, telling them to quit goofing around and worrying about the score, and to learn about homelessness instead. Which sort of defeated the purpose of a game, I thought. And they were teenagers... really good kids, though... and it was late at night, at a special event, and they wanted to be silly.

I also grew wary of him when I heard him speak to the adult congretation similiarly, scolding them to stay wide awake and pay attention to him as he spoke.

A few weeks earlier, I had felt my stomach sink when he gave a whole sermon about how people should not try to make suggestions about what church should be like, because they shouldn't expect their church to be custom-built for their enjoyment. He specifically mentioned that nobody should expect a Blessing Of The Animals, because he thought it was silly and he would never do one. That kind of made me sad, because, I adore animals, and I've always wanted to attend a Blessing Of The Animals. Plus, I don't think its right to say that such a blessing is silly, because it is a traditional blessing in many Catholic churches in honor of Saint Francis Of Assissi on his Feast Day.

So, okay, the minister doesn't particularly care to bless animals and is easily irritated by teenagers. Fine, right? But my heart really sank the day he gave a sermon about how we should all be more patient with the "little ones."

He explained, he didn't just mean the children, but also the "little ones" who didn't have as many abilities or talents as the rest of us, and the "little ones" who crowded the doors of the Outreach Center each morning asking for hand outs. This made me feel uncomfortable on so many levels.

First of all, it implied that people with special needs, and people with serious financial problems, were somehow not quite as adult as the rest of us. They were actually "little," as in, beneath us.

Second of all, it implied that nobody in the congregation who was listening that day was one of those "little ones." Which hurt me, because I have special needs and serious financial problems. ANd I do not want to be seen by the church as a "little one."

I don't know if anyone else felt as uncomfortable as I did when he said that. But I definitely felt very disappointed. It just didn't seem right.

So. I don't want to leave this church and find another church where I am more comfortable with the minister, because I really love all of the people at this church and the things this church has going on. But I have a feeling I cannot look to this minister for a whole lot of happy, fuzzy, churchy feelings on Sundays!

All of you church-goers (or temple goers, or mosque-goers, or wherever-it-is-you-go goers) has this ever happened to you?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Commercial Break: Dirt Devil Holiday Buying Guide!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hoover and Dirt Devil. All opinions are 100% mine.

The following is a sponsored post. Enjoy!

Obviously, the holidays are coming up. Right now it seems like there's a little while left to prepare. But Thanksgiving is looming in the immediate future, and do you know how quickly the rest of the holidays will follow?

Everyone knows that I'm broke as of late. And, due to the economy, even if you aren't completely destitute like me, you're probably looking for ways to cut back on spending while still making the holidays great.

The people with Dirt Devil have created the Dirt Devil Holiday Gift Guide to help you do just that.

When I first heard about it, I thought it would be, like, a whole bunch of coupons or advertisements for Dirt Devil products. But its actually a downloadable guide with over three hundred ways to save money online, on all sorts of products, including Dirt Devil products.

It really is amazing. You're going to have to block in about an hour to read through this guide, try all of the tricks, visit all of the recommended websites, etc. Not only does this guide lead you to a bunch of different sites where you can find information on Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, but it teaches you how to search for coupon codes and promo codes to save as much as possible on the products you want, and how to find cheap or even free things all over the Internet. They also teach you how to find sites that offer free shipping on Free Shipping Day. (On that day, which is in mid-December, many sites offer free shipping and a guarantee to have the product delivered to you in time for Christmas!)

Of course, the guide does also point you towards some special Dirt Devil deals, including "Gifts for Her," "Gifts for Him", and "Family Favorites."

They even have a section that tells you where to find printable coloring books and games to keep the kids busy while you get ready for holiday parties! 

I'm going to check out a lot of the sites in this guide. It is free, and easy to download, so I really suggest you check it out. You'll definitely find at least a few ways to save money!

Tot School Learns About The Five Senses!

Welcome to another episode of Tot School! I've been making my Tot School posts every other week lately, so I hope you don't mind another sort of long post!

Way back when Little Bear was only four and I was doing preschool things with her, we did a five senses theme... but back then I was only doing daily themes, so we didn't really do much! This time, our five senses theme lasted for five days (but actually spanned over two weeks since we didn't do something every single day.) I think the five senses is definitely one of my favorite themes!

Here's what we did!

We started out with our magnet board and a song. I found this little five senses theme online that is sung to the tune of "Farmer And The Dell." It goes:

I use my eyes to see, I use my eyes to see, and when I want to see a star I use my eyes to see!
I use my ears to hear, I use my ears to hear, and when I want to hear a bird, I use my ears to hear!
I use my nose to smell, I use my nose to smell, and when I want to smell a flower I use my nose to smell!
I use my tongue to taste, I use my tongue to taste, and when I want to taste a peach, I use my tongue to taste!
I use my hands to touch, I use my hands to touch, and when I want to pet a dog, I use my hands to touch!

I used my trusty Fun Foam to make magnet board pieces to illustrate this song. I would sing it, and Pufferfish would pick out the right pieces and put them next to each other on the board! This was one of her favorite things to do, and we did it every morning after our Calendar. We love our magnet board!

 

Another really cool thing we did was play Sound Bingo. I really wanted to find a way to make a file of this game so I could share it with you, but I could not get it ready in time, so I'm just going to tell you how I made it.

1. I went on the Internet and downloaded free mp3's or .wav's of lots of different sounds that I knew the kids would recognize. For instance, several animal sounds, a toilet flushing, laughter, a yawn, a sneeze, a faucet running, a vacuum cleaner, a drum, etc.

2. I made Bingo cards that each showed sixteen of the sounds I had downloaded. (I had to hand-draw the pictures, since I don't have a printer!!!)

3. I wrote down the names of all of the sounds I had downloaded, on scraps of paper, and mixed them up in a bag.

4. I randomly drew names of sounds and played them for the kids. The kids would identify the sound together, and then figure out if they had a picture of that sound on their card! Like regular Bingo, they had to get four in a row to win.

The kids loved this game, and we played it until each kid had won twice! I gave them leftover Halloween candy as a prize!

Isn't that a cool game? It takes a little time to put together, but its worth it. You can also buy similar games at teacher stores for about thirty bucks, but I don't have that many bucks!!!

We did that on Hearing day, of course. Pufferfish also painted a picture with a blindfold on, and with jingle bells tied to her paint brushes, so she could "hear" what she was painting! It was hard to get her to keep the blindfold on, but she did enjoy the sound of the jingle bells on the paint brushes.

 

On Smelling day, Pufferfish and I cooked up some homemade playdough. 

 

I divided it into four parts, and mixed a different scent into each part. I mixed peanut butter into one, Nestle's Quik powder, into another, lemon Kool-Aid powder into another, and cinnamon into the last one. Pufferfish (and the big kids, when they got home) had to smell each one and guess what it was, before they could eat it. The easiest to guess was the peanut butter one. They all thought the chocolate one was cinnamon, until they smelled the actual cinnamon one! 

 
 

 

We also painted pictures using Kool-Aid as paint. It makes the painting smell great! You have to use a whole packet of Kool-Aid powder, mixed up with only a cup or so of water, to make the scent last a while. 

 

For Taste day, we only did one activity... We painted with pudding! I made vanilla pudding and colored it with food coloring, so the kids could paint with different colors and also taste it! (We couldn't really keep the pictures though, because of the risk of ants!)

 
 On Touch day, Pufferfish glued objects with different textures onto a piece of paper, creating a work of art that a person could enjoy with their eyes closed! (We used rice, beans, cotton balls, feathers, beads, and shapes cut from sandpaper.)

  I also had some Play Foam (not to be confused with Fun Foam) that I had been saving for this occasion! It is like tiny foam beads held together with some sort of sticky stuff. It can be used like playdough, and it never dries out! It has an awesome feel to it, and can be kind of addicting. I gave each of the little ones a packet of glow in the dark Play Foam, which kept them occupied for a while!

 

We didn't have a particular Seeing day, since we could see everything we did. For each activity, though, I would ask Pufferfish, "Which sense are you using?" She was great at guessing the primary sense that was being used, such as Touch for the Play Foam. (Strangely, Little Bear was not so good at this. She thought Hands, Feet, Feel, and Touch were all separate senses! I guess I didn't do such a good job on this theme with her when she was four!) I would ask Pufferfish to think of what other senses she was using. "Can you also smell the Play Foam? Can you see it? But you can't taste it, right?"
 
 We also made one final Jack-o-lantern, to illustrate the letter J.

 

That was a pretty good couple of weeks, wasn't it? Stay tuned for the next two weeks, in which we will learn about Thanksgiving, and also do some Character Counts stuff!

 

 

 

Everything I Did Today

Do you ever have a day where you don't really do anything extraordinary, but then when you look back on it it seems that you had a really extraordinary day? Thats the kind of day today was. Let me reflect upon it for you.

1. I volunteered at Special Olympics. I actually have been volunteering there every Saturday morning for a few months with the Young Athletes program. Young Athletes is for little, little kids, ages two to four, who obviously are too young to be in the regular Special Olympics. Most of the kids have either autism or Down syndrome. Its sort of an introductory course for them. Basically its a half hour each Saturday, and they just practice some simple skills like balancing, kicking a ball, jumping, etc. Today was the final ceremony for the fall program. I was paired up with a little boy I've helped before, an extremely sweet and extremely shy four-year-old named Ben, who clung to my hand and whispered, "You're Miss Nicki" to me the whole time. It was a lot of fun. On Saturday mornings it is sometimes hard to get up and go to a volunteer job, because I'm already tired from watching the usual suspects here at home... but then, after I go, I always feel so much better. I feel happy and hopeful. There was this one day when the program was really short-staffed and, instead of being paired up with one kid, I was paired up with three kids! I had Ben, plus another four-year-old boy with autism who is more noisy and hyperactive than Ben, plus Ben's three-year-old sister who is just a typical goofy three-year-old. It was pretty difficult trying to herd all three of them from one "station" to the next... the second little boy kept running off across the gym every time I was busy trying to help Ben or his sister, and Ben was just getting overwhelmed and starting to shut down, and his sister was just kind of being a three-year-old. So it was hard work. But by the end of the half hour, I felt practically jubilant! I was exhuberated! Today, after getting Ben through his final ceremony, I felt just like that.

2. I watched The Outsiders with Monkeyboy. Monkeyboy recently had to read The Outsiders for school. He really enjoyed it, which made me happy, because The Outsiders was (and still is) one of my favorite books. My little brother and I used to watch the movie, like, once a week. We wanted to be in the sixties so bad! Anyway, Monkeyboy was excited to learn that there was a movie of The Outsiders in existence. So today, after volunteering, I went to the library and rented it, and me and Monkeyboy watched it together. Afterwards, he had tears in his eyes as he mourned the tragic deaths of Dally and Johnny. (Of course Bob died too, but who cares about him, he was a jerk anyway!)  I loved seeing Monkeyboy connect to The Outsiders!

3. I took the little ones to McDonalds Playland. We ordered three small pops, and stayed for three hours! I didn't mean to stay that long, but it was a perfect evening at McDonalds Playland... not crowded, but always at least two other families with children in the room. Little Bear and Pufferfish were playing so wonderfully with the other kids! Little Bear actually organized the entire McDonalds Playland into a game of hide and seek. It was funny to see about ten little kids, all strangers to each other, crouching down to have their feet counted for "Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum, In A DIsh." (Sometimes I do have to tell Little Bear to quit being so bossy, though! She loves it when she's the oldest, and she'll be clapping her little hands and saying things like, "One two three, eyes on me!" and telling the children that they cannot share hiding spaces and things like that.)

We also saw Munchkin, one of Diana's best friend's daughters, there. It was strange because Little Bear came up to me and said, "I met one of Princess's friends! I think I met her at Princess's house!"

"How do you know that she knows Princess?" I asked.

"I don't know. She just looks familiar," Little Bear explained.

I saw the little girl she was talking about, from a distance. "Oh, you know what? She looks a lot like Munchkin (Princess's little sister). Thats why she looks familiar to you." As the little girl came closer, I added, "In fact, she looks exactly like Munchkin! What the heck???"

I still didn't believe the little girl could be Munchkin, since she was there with a man I didn't recognize, and her mother and sisters were no where in site. But when I asked her name, sure enough, the little girl replied, "Munchkin!"

"You're Munchkin? Are your sisters named Princess and Sweetie?" I asked.

"Yes!" giggled Munchkin.

"No way! Do you know us?"
"Ye-es!" Munchkin giggled some more. She is a giggler.

It turned out that she was there with her grandpa, and her sisters were somewhere else with their aunt. I guess that was why I was so disoriented. But Little Bear was happy to be playing with Munchkin!

4. I finished the book I was reading. Thats what I was doing during the three hours that the girls were playing. It was pretty easy to keep one eye on them, and read at the same time. The book I was reading is called Q & A, and it is about a teenager from India who makes it onto a TV quiz show, wins a billion rupees, and then gets arrested on suspicion of cheating. (Does this plot line sound familiar? You will find out why in a minute!) I loved this book and was really into it. I loved the story of Ram, how he overcame one obstacle after another, and how everything in his life seemed to happen for a reason. The topic of destiny was an underlying theme. I didn't find out until the end, that this book is actually what the movie Slum Dog Millionair is based on. When I finished the book, I was excited to go home and watch Slum Dog Millionair on demand. But since I looked the movie plot up on Wikipedia, I'm not sure I even want to watch the movie any more. It is definitely not going to be as good as the book!!!

4. We made a Get Well Book for a lady at our church who has cancer! I just thought that project up to keep the girls busy while I made the pizza and let the dogs out, but they made a beautiful book that I am going to send to the lady at our church. That project lasted them until nine o'clock, and then I gave them Popsicles for dessert, and then they were actually begging to go to bed! (Pufferfish kept saying, "Please I sleep now?"

So! Hows that for an extraordinary day?

I am going to sleep now myself... See ya in the morning!

Why I Wish I Could Sew

I cannot sew. I should be able to sew. My mom can. When I was little, she sewed all the time. She would often give me a washrag clipped into one of those wooden circle things people use for doing needle point and she'd give me a needle and thread to sew my own designs on the cloth. One day I stepped on my needle. Panicking, I screamed and stomped my foot, driving the needle further in. It was not a serious injury, but it traumatized me... and that was the end of my sewing career for the next ten years or so!

It turned out to be just as well. Years later in junior high and high school I had to take sewing classes and I found out that I really couldn't sew! I have horrid hand-eye coordination. When trying to deal with a tiny needle and thread, my eyes cross, my hands shake, I start getting all sensory-disfunctional, and I end up feeling like I need to curl up into the fetal position and roll around on the floor for a while to calm down!

The only sewing I've ever enjoyed was canvas stitching. This involves a giant needle, thick plastic canvas with holes already in it, and nice, thick yarn instead of thread. (I also eventually discovered I like knitting! That involves really huge needles!)

Anyway. There was really no point to me telling you any of that. Except that today Pufferfish and I went to a story time at a store called the Land Of Nod. They have awesome toys and decorations that could be described as unique and whimsical. (I love the word whimsical, don't you?)

I loved this thing in particular:

Pufferfish loved climbing into it and looking through the windows. And I've been wishing lately for a way to make a quiet and cozy space, like a reading corner, in the playroom. Thing would be perfect, wouldn't it?

The only thing is, it costs $130!!! Yeah. Totally not in my budget.

I started thinking that I could make one. I could use a hula hoop for the top part, and sew, like, a curtain, around it. I could cut out windows and everything. Except... I can't sew.

Nope, not even with a sewing machine! I cannot thread the thing for the life of me!

So... if anyone knows of anyone who makes these things and sells them for cheaper, on Etsy or wherever, let me know about it! Or if you have any other ideas on how to simplify this for a dunce like me?

 

Country Music

Rafael: "I don't really like Thursdays because we have music class."
Me: "What do you do in music class?"

Rafael: "We have to sing."

Me: "What kinds of songs do you get to sing?"

Rafael: "Well, today we learned a country song."

Me: "Really? Which one?"

Rafael: "It goes like this... `My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty...'"

Sleep Out Saturday!

Some of you may know that i spent several years being homeless. So did Little Bear's dad. In fact, thats how we all became a family... Anthony and I were both eighteen years old when we met, as two homeless teenagers staying in an adult shelter. We were the youngest people in the shelter by a decade, and we stuck together like glue. We called each other brother and sister. Later that year, Anthony went to jail for supposedly helping to steal a car. (I don't really think he did it, since he never even learned how to drive well enough to get down the driveway until many years later!) While Anthony was in jail, I became friends with Diana. Anthony got out of jail, and Diana often drove me to visit him where he was staying in the city. Eventually, the two of them fell in love, got married, Anthony adopted Monkeyboy, and Little Bear was born!

Anyway, every year on the first Saturday in November, the county where I live has this event called Sleep Out Saturday, where a lot of people agree to sleep outside for one night and experience a little bit of what homeless people experience. Monkeyboy, Marcus, Sarah and I did it last year. This year Monkeyboy and Sarah didn't want to do it, and Marcus lives in the city now... but Little Bear really wanted to try it! So I brought her with me.

We do Sleep Out Saturday through a church near our house, where Little Bear and I also sometmes attend services. (I actually discovered this church through last year's Sleep Out Saturday, and once we moved to this town, we were only a few blocks from it, so I decided to start attending.) At this church, the high school youth group does Sleep Out Saturday, but they invite the entire church community to participate too. Except usually nobody ever does. So it was just the youth group, plus me and Little Bear! It was very cool though. The youth group leaders and kids made Little Bear feel very special, and it really was a great experience.

When we first got there, we had to set up our spot to sleep, out in the front yard of the church, using cardboard boxes. Here are some pictures of the dwelling we pulled together. I used three boxes to make a sort of two-room box, where Little Bear and I could lay next to each other, and see each other through a window, but have our own space. Little Bear also had a "living room", the big blue box that the high school kids had decorated.

Next we watched a movie called My Own Four Walls, which is a documentary where kids who are or have been homeless talk about their experiences. Did you know that the average age of a homeless person is nine? And in the county where I live, its eight? Most people think of homeless people as being adults, especially with addictions and mental illnesses and what-not. There are many homeless adults, including people with mental illness or addiction, but the number of homeless children greatly outweigh them.

After that, we did a project where each person got two dollars, and we had to go to the grocery store and try to buy enough food for a meal. Little Bear and I teamed up with some others in the group, pooled our money, and had a feast of PBJ sandwiches, chips, carrots, and chocolate milk. The object of that project was for the kids to realize that healthy food actually costs more than junk food. A lot of the kids wanted to get something from the dollar menu at McDonalds, but they had to realize that a person can't live for very long on the Dollar Menu alone! They also had to realize that, for a homeless person, actually having two dollars to spend on a meal might be a rare luxury!

We went to a rally where Sleep Out Saturday participants from all over the county gathered. It was pretty boring for Little Bear... a lot of listening to speakers and just walking around... but one cool thing was, they taught us how to do the dance to that Black Eyed Peas song, "I Got A Feeling." Remember how on Oprah the Black Eyed Peas played that song and everyone started dancing? That was the dance we learned! Little Bear loved that. Plus. at least she got a free T-Shirt!

When it got late at night, we made S'mores outside. Well, probably most homeless people don't make S'mores on a regular basis, but... it was fun!
 
 

Little Bear adored this one group leader, "Z" (thats her actual nickname) who spent a ton of time with us.

Little Bear stayed up pretty late!

Here she is in front of the Sleep Out Saturday sign...

--- running around the tents trying to hide from me...

---and just sitting around.

Eventually she got tired and wanted to crawl into her cardboard box. I gave her about four hundred blankets and tried to make her as snuggly as possible, and she fell asleep quickly. Here's Little Bear tucked into her box!

In the middle of the night, though, Little Bear got cold, so we went inside and slept in the sanctuary with a few other people. We slept well for the rest of the night. Here is Little Bear when we first woke up in the sanctuary! It was cool because we woke up to the sunlight streaming through the colorful stained glass windows. Little Bear said she wished there were stickers that you could put on regular windows to make them look like stained glass. Do you think that kind of thing exists?

We went downstairs and ate breakfast with everyone...

Then we did one more group activity.

The minister was there to talk to the kids, and he talked about how all of the kids in the group had a built-in safety net. He said that no matter what happened to them, they would always have an entire crew of adults they could call to ask for help... the youth group leaders, and others around the church. He promised them that, no matter what sort of dark, terrible, sludgy, gross, icky experience they were going through, there was nothing that could happen to them, or nothing they could do, that would be so terrible that the adults around the church would turn their backs on them. He gave all of the kids his personal cell phone number, and encouraged them to program his number and other adults' numbers into their own cell phones or write them down on cards to put in their backpacks, so they would always be able to call someone for help if they needed it.

Then he explained that a lot of times homelessness occurs when people do not have a safety net.

The kids got rolls of toilet paper, and on each ply they had to write the name of someone they could go to for help if they needed it. They had to try to think of lots of different people, so they would realize that if one person couldn't help, the next person on the list would, and so on.

Earlier in the week, when we were first talking about Sleep Out Saturday, Little Bear had asked lots of questions about how I had become homeless and about what happened to children if their parents couldn't take care of them. I told her that some kids went to foster homes if their parents couldn't keep them safe at home. But I told Little Bear that that would not happen to her, because she has many, many people who would quickly step up if something were to happen to Diana. I reminded her of her three grandmas and two grandpas, her multiple aunts and uncles, and family friends. I assured her that someone would always be there to care for her.

This must have sunk in for Little Bear. Because at Sleep Out Saturday, she suddenly put her arms around me and said, "You'll never be alone again, Nicki! You have so many people who love you, including me!"

Does that not make you want to cry???

Anyway. Sleep Out Saturday ended when church began. At our church the little kids go into the service with the adults for the first fifteen minutes, and then get released to their Sunday School classes. In church we sat with Z, who is now Little Bear's bestest friend on Earth. After Little Bear went off to Sunday School, I started thinking about the idea of home, and the idea of church. In the video we had watched about kids who were homeless, a lot of the kids had talked about how they loved school because it was the most secure place in their lives. And I started thinking how church could be like that too. I was so happy that we did Sleep Out Saturday because I thought it was good for Little Bear to learn about homelessness and to just have the experience. But I was also happy because, even though Little Bear and I have been attending that church on and off for a few months, actually spending nearly twenty-four hours at the church and sleeping and eating there and everything seemed to introduce Little Bear to the church itself. I feel like now there are a lot of people there who know us, and who already adore Little Bear. When Little Bear ran off to class, I was thinking how now she could walk around the church on her own with the other kids, and I could ask people, "Have you seen Little Bear?" and they would know who I was talking about and they would have seen her. 

I kept remembering how the minister had promised the youth group kids that they had that built in safety net of people they could trust. And I want that, I want that for Little Bear and Pufferfish. And myself, too, you know?

 So this is sort of a rambling post. And I don't exactly know how to end it. So I'll just end it like this... THE END!
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

Onion (Unknown)

Why do I feel so bad today? It was a good day. But sometimes I feel like this blog and my stupid Facebook games are all that keep me from letting go and flying away like an empty balloon, disappearing into the atmosphere. I don't know who I am or what I am or where I belong. Or maybe the answer is Nobody, Nothing, Nowhere.