Monday, August 31, 2009

Not a Single Person


I had a dream last night that I performed in the Ray of Hope Talent show and NO ONE CLAPPED.

I was super embarrassed when I woke up. Also, I was mad at Rachel because she was the one who suggested that I do the solo.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Learning and Living

Here are some facts, followed by a conclusion:
  1. Yesterday was Rachel's first day of school. She is at this very moment working on her school work.
  2. I am jealous of her school work.
  3. Lately, I have been going to the library and checking out books on subjects like "behavior management" and "common syndromes in children" and "how to energize your employees."

Conclusion: I want to go back to school.

Where should I go?

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Update

Two things are all you need to know about my life right now:

1) I have been very busy with camp and FC and all the working that I do.

2) They started selling MY FAVORITE GRANOLA BARS IN THE WORLD again at Fred Meyer. Unfortunately, they can only be purchased in a multi-pack of 10 granola bars, only 2 of which are my favorite kind. So I have to buy these big packs just to get 2 of my favorites.

Favorite Granola Bar: "Food Club" Chewy Apple Berry

It is an off-brand generic that has no web site (I just checked) so I can't provide a picture. However, it is the most delicious granola bar ever made. They used to sell them in boxes of just 10 Apple Berries (glorious day!) but then they stopped inexplicably a few years ago. Until today when I was at Fred Meyer and I saw the Multi-Packs.

If anyone would like to arrange a 80%-20% payment agreement for these granola bars with me, that would be great. You pay 80% and get the rest of the bars, and I pay my 20 percent for my 2 bars.

Actually, it should be more like 85-15, because it was my smart idea.

Let me know if you're interested.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

A Special Flying Colors Story

Once upon a time there was a little Ray of Hope camper named Justin. Justin started coming to camp 2 summers ago when he was 7. He and his 3 siblings had recently been removed from an abusive home and moved in with their aunt.


Justin also participates in Flying Colors (which is the program that I help run) which is held after camp is over every day from 3 - 5:30. When his aunt enrolled the kids in the program a few years ago, she pulled me aside and explained to me about Justin's extreme academic and school anxiety. He had some undiagnosed learning challenges that have kept him behind in school and he had developed a pervasive fear of failure.





The first year we had him in Flying Colors, he refused to even enter the "classroom" area because it reminded him of school. He would get sweaty and jittery. We worked with him and he was able to complete some assignments sitting in the hallway, but never really joined the class.





This year, Justin was doing better emotionally and so he progressed to being able to at least sit in with the class. He was very anxious about doing any school work but we paired him with a volunteer to help him one-on-one and that seemed to help.





Each kid had to set a goal for their multiplication "timings" (where they get 5 minutes to complete a page of 100 multiplication problems). Unfortunately, even though Justin is entering the 4th grade in the fall, he didn't know any of his multiplication tables. His volunteer partner and his teacher and him all worked together to decide that his goal would be to learn his 2's.





At the beginning of the summer, Justin couldn't even complete 1/2 of the worksheet with 50% accuracy. Daily he would get discouraged, and daily we would point out where he had improved, how he was working so hard and that we were proud of him. Slowly, he began to improve.





On Monday, Justin anxiously came up to his teacher and said, "I'll never finish the whole page. There's too many." She told him, "I bet you'll do better than you think you will. Just go a tiny bit faster than you did yesterday, and see what happens."





Justin's volunteer partner sat across from him and gave him a last minute encouragement before the timer began.





At 4 minutes, 38 seconds, Justin's hand shot in the air because he had finished his entire page. His volunteer buddy and him pumped their fists in the air and celebrated. When the timer went off, Justin ran to his sister and said, "I did it! I finished the page! And it was 2's!" They hugged and I rushed and got my camera and took his picture with his completed worksheet.





I've never seen a child so proud of himself. The whole class celebrated with him.





When Miss Alyssa corrected his work, she verified that he had completed the page with 100% accuracy. He was the first kid at Flying Colors to reach his goal this year.



"I'm not held back by what I can't do. I'm held back by what I think I can't do." - Jim Fay

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Bug Bite


I got the ultimate bug bite this weekend. Actually, it was a normal bug bite that swelled into the ultimate bug bite. On my forehead. The above picture is my bug bite and a special sneaky Zach in the background.
By the end of the evening, it had swelled into a tumor-like bubble that stretched from my temple to my eyebrow.
Just thought I'd share this with you.


Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Raindrops keep falling on my head

My ceiling is leaking!


Leaking!

That only happens in children's story books. But it is happening to me. I woke up to a mysterious drip, drip, drip DRIP DRIP DRIP sound and it took me at least 30 seconds to figure out what it was.

It was my ceiling.

Monday, August 3, 2009

What I Did When I Won the Lottery Yesterday

Just kidding. I didn't win the lottery. But that would be cool if I did.

In other news, I watched Meet the Robinsons the other day and I thought it was very adorable. I give it 5 stars.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Raspberry Rescue


Today I rescued 3 lbs of raspberries.

I went to Boxx Berry Farms with Carolyn and Rachel and we intended on just getting blueberries. Other people had told us that the raspberries were "piddling out" and they were probably "gone" by now.

But then the Boxx Berry Farm-ers asked us if we wanted to pick raspberries or blueberries, indicating that there were some raspberries left. Since they are my favorite, we went to the raspberry bushes, not expecting much.

Well, there were MILLIONS OF RASPBERRIES! And they were so beautiful! And they wanted to be picked!

What if no one ever came to pick those berries? And then they just died because no one picked them? And they never fulfilled their Raspberry Destiny?

Luckily, we picked them. Saved them.