I forgot

Driving to work today I was sitting at a stop light and a maroon Mazda Tribute drove by. My initial reaction was, "what is my mom doing all the way over here?" Then I quickly remembered I was the one driving my mom's Mazda and she now owns a cute little mini. there for that other car was somebody else. Ha that's my life.

My favorit things about computers

AUTO-SAVE!!! If you could sing that and waive your hands like at the end of an opera it makes it that much cooler. So say it again... AUTOOOOO-SAAAAVVVE!!

Yes that's right. You forget about this nice piece on you computer until your typing up something important and you have limited time to redo it.

I lost the power twice today and the first time I thought I had lost over a page of parent report and if you have ever done an eval, that is the most important part. It shows the parents that you were really concerned and listening to them. If you get a couple of facts mixed up or flipped around it does not look good on you. Also I am the type of person that as I write I let that information exit my brain. I will put that info back in my brain after I start treating the client, but the time between me writing the evaluation and seeing them. They really do not exist in my head.

So thank you auto save, for making me look like a wonderful, caring clinician.

America's got Talent

Have you seen the show? I have. It's a new show for me that I have started watching this year. Sometimes it is really awesome. Sometimes not. But I have thought about the show for a while. I have decided that singers/bands should not be aloud on this show. I mean singing is a wonderful talent, but if you are looking for a new show for Vegas don't you think you should have something that is way new? Vegas already had 10,000 singers and music groups one more is just one more. But some of the things on here are awesome like the people that are rock climbers and have a synchronized dance on the rock wall. Awesome! Singing songs some other famous person wrote and has already sung. Boring!

The END

In the words of the the Black Eyed Peas:
Welcome, Welcome to the END. Do not panic. There is nothing to fear. Everything around you is changed. Nothing stays the same.

Today is the first day I started telling families about my resignation. I got choked up with several of them. Lots of questions started today. Why are you leaving? Where are you going? What is going to happen to my child? Who will be the new therapist? Most of these questions I cannot answer.

It also is 18 days away from our concert. And yes in case you couldn't figure it out we are heading to Th Black Eyed Peas concert!!! Oh so excited!

-three posts tonight. Keep reading!

Movie review

This weekend, BJ and I were able to head on a date. Just the two of us. It was wonderful. We headed out to the movies to see...Despicable Me. Yup that's right the last two movies BJ and I have paid for have been cartoons. 3D cartoons at that. Then we...SHHHHH...snuck into Grown Ups.

Despicable Me was super cute, super funny, and unlike any Disney movie, did not make me cry. What I did realize, 3D movies are flipping expensive. The matina price was 10 bucks a ticket. That is stupid crazy expensive. I don't even what to know what regular price is.

Then because I wanted to see it, Elijah was with Grandma, we strolled into Grown Ups. I loved it. However, I would also love to see the first 10-15 minutes of it because that's what happens when you show up late for it. But it really made us start to talk about who/what families we would want to go away with for a week plus to a cabin and no TV. That was a tough one and the answer was not final yet. We need more friends to have children and see how our parenting styles mesh before we plan anything further.

P.S. Katie and Olivia- I have a great plan right around your fourth birthday. Hint hint, it involves a giant mouse and lots of fairy tales. I just keep forgetting to let you know :)

I have a walker!

Yeah so my life has begun to change. Oh wait, that happend about 13 months ago when that giant child of mine popped out. But this weekend it officially became more crazy. Elijah has decided that he can now walk. More than 1-2 steps from this thing to that thing. It is more of "I will walk around the kitchen table, out of the kitchen, into the living room and then climb up all the stairs before you even blink an eye. I have split emotions about this new talent. The first emotion I have is super excitement becasue now that his eyes are not inches above the ground he is not eating every piece of dirt, fuzz, bug, piece of dog hair and what ever else he finds as he crawls past it. The second emotion is sheir terror because now he is constantly at a new level which means more things that he can find. However, with both of these things going on, my house now loooks like a tornado has got through it and as much as I hate it, I love spending time running around with the baby making it messy instead of cleaning it. So this is my public apoligy to anyone who will be visiting my house before fall, because why waste a good weeekend inside cleaning instead of outside at the park.

We Are a Big Family

Everyone has a family. Everyone actually has several families. I have several families, friends, work, church and garage sale. Every family has their own special place in my life. Garage sale family get together for 2 straight weeks in the summer with a couple of days before and a couple of days after. The rest of the year they are just church family. Today we went to a funeral for one of the younger Garage sale family members. This young boy had grown up with us. He had helped us in toys since he was little and once he was strong enough he started helping move all the big things around. As sad as it all is being in an environment where there are family members scattered throughout gives you strength and helps you get through it all.

Next year won't be the same with out you! You will be missed!

When I Grow up

Alright everyone in the "I don't want to comment on your blog" club. Now I know there are a few of you that comment every now and then, but the rest of you...I made it easy to comment. I added some "boxes" to the bottom of the post so all you have to do is check one that you think goes best with your feelings after you read the blog. Now if you are feeling daring you can also comment and elaborate on you explanations of your check or add another possible box down at the bottom.

On another random note, we started a new office manager today and I think I am about to pull my hair out dealing with the mess. Now Some of you may know that I worked in registration during college and as mundane and tedious as it all was, I think I would love to run an office. However, the more I see of our front office, I have decided I wouldn't want to run the front area of any medical place. Sick people or people in need of a service that they actually don't have to pay for are not the most reliable or nice people in the world. Or maybe it is actually all the extra paperwork that has to do with insurance companies. Now that is a good reason to not want to work somewhere. There will always be crabby people. But anyway. I would love to be in charge of an office, making appointments, telling people who make 5x more than me what they should do and when they should do it. I enjoy that.

I have found my voice twin!!

About 5 and a half weeks ago I started a Speech-Language Pathology student. I thought I was super lucky because she was already an Speech Path Assistant and had been working for 2 years. Little did I know I would find me. She showed up and jumped right in with two feet. She is awesome. I barley need to offer assistance. However, as I was sitting in one of the sessions a couple weeks ago I started to realize how much the two of us sound the same while we treat. most therapists have their every day voice then they have their super sweet, super "I can make you do anything" voice that they use during therapy. We also each have a couple of staple words and phrases that we seem to use over, and over, and over, and over. That way when the child starts to copy our voice and our special words/phrases we know they have been in therapy long enough. Most of the time that means time to kick you out the door but other times it just means its time to work on some thing new. Anyway, I started to realize my student and I have the same therapist voice, and the same words. I then told her about my observation and we laughed it off. About 2 or three days later we were sitting next to each other treating and sure enough, out popped the same words in the same voice at the exact same time. We both then froze, looked at each other, and laughed it off. It wasn't until Monday that I realized how bad it really was.

We ended up video taping a little guy during an evaluation to get a great language sample but due to his severe stutter I needed something super wonderful, which is why I went with the camera. And no Jen, this one did not have anything about 10 pointers or deer stands. Well Monday, we were listening/watching the tape and we had to stop the camera several times because we couldn't tell which one of us (neither of us were ever actually on camera) had just done the talking. I'm not going to lie either there are still moments when if the child wouldn't have looked in the direction of the speaker, I still wouldn't know who asked the question.

Therefore, all this verifies that my student should get an A for the term because if watching a tape pointed at the client and I can't tell if it was me on the other side or her, that is awesome for her!

I wish I took pictures

This weekend was so action pact I had zero minutes to take pictures. If I would have taken pictures I would have had a wonderful baby post. I could give it a try but it just wouldn't do it justice without the cute pictures. Now I'm sad.

More or less we spent a lot of time over at my Dad's house this weekend. They have recently adopted a new 5 month old crazy puppy (but all 5 month old puppies are crazy), and have taken in 2 five week old puppies for foster care. Elijah enjoyed the baby puppies because they were the size of his stuffed animals at home but these ones moved. Initially he was a little held back with the puppies because they have super sharp teeth and nails, but because of the size he was just overly infatuated with them. The 5 month old puppies he enjoyed but only if he was far enough away from it that it couldn't lick him to death. And actually at one point in the weekend, when Bandit was outside I caught Elijah climbing into her crate and closing the door. It was real cute. So because I didn't take any pictures you will just have to imagine me chasing two little puppies in one direction, a little baby in the other direction, and trying to hold a conversation with an adult who at the same time is chasing all the puppies at the same time.

12 month doctor visit

On Saturday Elijah had his 12 month Doctor visit, granite he is just days shy of being 13 months but hey what can you say when you have to find a Saturday when they have open appointments. Anyway my baby now is up to 23 lb 12 oz (58%) and 30.3 in long (55%) over all he is almost average for his age! Wahoo, go us we kept our baby alive for a whole year and he is doing good! Sorry no pics. We were so busy this weekend I didn't have a lot of time to grab the camera.

Oh and I think Rescue can read, because as I typed the blog for the other night Rescue realized she hadn't eaten any undies for the week and took care of that for me. GRRR...that dog.

I have a confession

Rescue has an issue... That issue involves frequently eating my undies. It is really frustrating because as far as I can tell there is no rhyme or reason to when or why she decides to do so. I typically average losing one to two pairs of undies per week. I lose more on the weeks that the laundry basket does not make it back into the bathroom, or on weeks when there is a significant weather change. She is real sneaky about this too. She will get every one else busy in the house and go up to the bathroom, then by the time we realize she is missing from our family activities, gone. And what makes it even more frustrating is it's not like the whole pair of undies goes down. She just chews it enough for the undies to be completely unwearable. I have also found that she prefers the newer, most comfy undies. I have pairs of undies that I would love for her to eat...NOPE that would make me happy. The nice expensive comfortable ones gone the second or third time they are worn. I mean really dog! Anyway, my confession.

The other day went into the bathroom and saw a pair of undies where they should not have been and I knew instantly that the dog had gotten another pair. However, when I picked them up to throw them away and see how much of them she actually ate, I realized that there were just a few holes in them. So me being cheep, threw them in the wash and am currently wearing undies with teeth marks in them. I mean compared to all the other pairs of destroyed undies, these are practically still new!

Oh and does anyone have any advice on how to get your dog to stop eating your undies?

Dentist

Off to the dentist today. Was told for the umpteenth time that work that was done 14 years ago needs to be redone, and they found some more cavities. Wahoo. So when do we get them done?? Well, I guess I need to get my new health insurance with my new company started first. Then I think I might procrastinate a little more.

Have you Heard of fainting goats?

Well I have one better. I have a fainting mom. Sorry mom, as I was driving home today I some how started to think about you and your amazing ability to pass out.

As I was driving home I started thinking, not sure why my brain jumped to this, that I have already forgotten the level of pain I was in when I was actually in labor. I do still remember the pain the weeks following so we are still several years away from thinking about another little one in our family. Anyways, after I thought about if I could remember the pain I was in, remembered a couple of weeks ago in church we were coming back from communion she bumped her knee on the pew. At first i thought nothing of it, then I remembered a couple months ago when my mom bumped her knee she passed out. Then I started thinking, is this bump enough to knock her out? What should I do if she passes out? Should I just leave her? I know she will come back around and I wouldn't want to draw that much attention to her in church for a stupid knee bump. So I started checking to see if she was okay and she was a bit nervous, but then it passed and we never lost consciousness.

But this whole memory on the way home made me laugh. Still does.

The Power of a Sale

There are times, I admit, that stores go and mark up a price then make it 10-20% off. It sounds great at first and then you sit there and stare at the price for a while and realize that that sale price you just paid was really more than the original price. And yes, I admit, I was one of those people who spent more than I should have on several occasions. I also admit that there are times in my life that I have seen a sale, realized the deal and bought whatever it was, even though I had no need for it in my life. However, yesterday on the way home I found a sale that I just couldn't pass up. Wal-mart is having a crazy sale on school supplies, and well there are certain school supplies that I go through and need every once in a while. So for $10.52 this is what I bought:

12 glue sticks ($1.50)

1 bottle of white glue ($.25)

2 packs of 10 primary color fat markers ($2.00)

2 packs of 10 primary color skinny markers ($2.00)

176 pages of construction paper ($4.00)

and tax.

So happy. And most of this will be to make a nice set of home made flashcards. Wahoo!

Optional Stop day!

I swear, I think I missed the announcement. Did you get the announcement?? Well after my driving to and from work today I think I collectively figured out what the announcement was.

ATTENTION:

On the 12th day of July all red octagons with a white boarder and big white letters that spell STOP, need to have the following phrase follow it, If you want to.

If this was not the memo it certainly was something close to that. Yeah, driving super sucked today. However, I was also starting to feel that with all the construction crews on strike that now means that your drive like a bat out of hell through the unpaved, pot hole infested, no curbs, no street lined streets. It's awesome.

Lets go Boating!

Every year my mom and Sonny try to give each of their kids a weekend on the boat. Last year, due to the new edition to the family, I had to miss my boating day. This year we were supposed to go boating the day before my birthday but it was raining and ugly. Yesterday, we had a make up boating day. Elijah enjoyed the boat, near the end, I think he even might have loved it. It is something that needs to grow on him, especially since he has to be restrained in such and uncomfortable life vest the whole time. The moment we all got in the boat we all started feeling sorry for the boy because he could barley move and it was ridiculously hot and the boy looked like he was wearing a snow suit. We quickly found a spot to "park" and we got out to enjoy the swimming. I was brave and put my post-baby body into a pre-baby swimsuit AKA-bikini. Once out of the boat we took Elijah out of his life vest and we did lots of splashing and playing with water balls and stuff. Then we put daddy on the tube and drove all crazy to lunch. After lunch we headed back to the dock where Elijah slept the entire way back. Not real sure how he slept in that bulky life vest, but he did. Next year he will have a more comfortable life vest because he will be bigger so he will have more area to spread out the floaty material.

Shopping

I love to go shopping. I love to buy things. However, when I go shopping I enjoy knowing how much money I have to spend. With changing jobs I need to help prep the clinic for the massive amounts of speech evals I will be doing to build up my empty caseload. Therefore, I am about to shop through several bunches of catalogs and spend a couple thousand of $$ of speech-language tests and forms. Okay well I won't be spending it, but I will be requesting it that's for sure. Wish me luck!

Still sick

Yeah that is real awesome. Which has gotten me thinking, on these super hot days and I am eating hot soup, What do people in Mexico, Africa or other really really warm countries eat when they have the flu?? Because if I have to eat soup that is equally as hot as the air temperature outside I just might die!

Happy 4th of July: By Elijah

Mommy and Daddy got me up today and said it was number 4. I thought the coolest number was number 1 because that is how old I am. We hung out all morning in our PJ's then I took my nap. When I woke up I had the biggest poopiest diaper in the whole wide world. I decided to share it with Mommy. She didn't think it was so cool and made me take a bath with the dog sprayer. Then we got dressed in my American Flag outfit that Grandma Okel got me for my birthday.

We got in the car and drove out to where a lot of people were. It was super hot, but mom kept saying we were going to watch a parade? I found out what that meant quickly. We sat and watched Grandpa Okel march and shoot his gun. Then we saw the fire trucks and the whole fire family going to a fire very, very, slow. I liked to wave at all the people. Then there were people throwing things at us. Mommy and Daddy wouldn't share with me.

Then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Sarlina's where we hung out and had dinner. I had to eat my dinner fast or else the doggies would eat it. That Bandit, she kept taking everything I wanted. Then we went to see Fireworks. Mom was getting nervous because most kids she knows (Uncle Brett) scream at fireworks. I don't know what the big deal was. They were super cool. I wanted to touch them but Mommy said they were to far away and I really shouldn't touch them. That didn't stop me from trying. I want to go see more fireworks. Daddy said we might get to go to a baseball game with fireworks! I hope so.

Happy...6th? of July?

Alright, so I know I am a bit late for the 4th of July wishes. But in all fairness to myself, there was so much happening this weekend that there was no way I was going to get it all done, and blog. Then I got sicker than sick last night. I mean I haven't been this sick since probably before high school. Blah, I just pray I get to go back to work tomorrow.

Back to my weekend...

Let's start with Friday. I had a full day of work on Friday and then I headed home to get ready for a high school friends wedding. It was my first Indian Wedding and it was beautiful beyond words. Some pictures of the evening.

Saturday we drove down to Peru to get our wonderful little boy from my in-laws and to celebrate my nephew's 8th birthday. When we got home I realized I could wait no more and needed to go shopping. That's what I did. I bought one of everything at the store. I then came home and had a wonderful fire in the back yard with the neighbors.

Sunday we went of to the parade in Lisle (man was it hot), then to Grandma and Grandpa's to cool off. We then walked down to the Warrenville fireworks where we ran into Sara and Dan, the newly weds Aliyah and Derrick, and all the old Warrenville crew.

Monday we headed over to a coworkers house to have a cookout. I love there house it is wonderful. We then headed home. Later that night something moved into my tummy and put me down for the count.

Oops

I promise the weekend was awesome. I also promise that I have a ton of pictures. However, in the last 30 min. my internal organs have decided to beat me up. I am going to bed and I promise I will blog about the weekend tomorrow. Sorry

Something Every home needs

A FIRE EXTINGUISHER!!!

Alright so the reason we have a fire extinguisher. Last year in either July or August I woke up to feed the infant and saw something out of the ordinary down the block. So I had woke up BJ and we made the plan to take a walk at 2 or 3 in the morning. What we found?? A three car, 4-5 room single family home completely engulfed in flames. No body was hurt, but the family lost all of there belongings and their cars. The real kicker was that the reason they were awake was because they had family or friends visiting from Texas and the friends lost everything they had brought with them too.

ANYWAY... BJ and I went out to Target and bought us 2 fire extinguishers, one for the kitchen and one for the garage. They are one of those things that you think.."hmm we should have one but I sure as hell hope we never have to use it." Which in my mind equals WASTE OF MONEY! Why would I spend money on something I might never use? Well let me just tell you.

Answer: My husband has ADD. Lately I have begun noticing that his ADD is getting a little more involved. AKA- he has become more distractable and will start things and not finish them. So we have a lot of started projects and eventually we have some finished projects. When he gets his mind onto a task he does a great job, however, sometimes there are casualties. Tonight was a casualty. Apparently after the party, he moved the grill back to it's home in the back yard and put the grill brush in the grill for easy transport. Y'all following? Well tonight I wanted to grill the sausage we had. BJ went out started the grill and went back inside. Several moments later he looked out the window to realize there were flames coming out of the supposedly empty grill. He then proceeded to scream for the neighbor to take the baby, run inside grab the fire extinguisher in the kitchen, realize what was on fire, turn off the propane and spray the flaming grill brush to oblivion.

Now our grill is out of commission because it is covered in fire extinguisher dust stuff until it gets clean, and back to the reason the grill caught on fire...that could take a while.

All in favor of getting my hubby medicated for around the house activities say "I."