bountifulplate

When Lauren was in elementary and middle school, I volunteered as much as I could in her classroom and at the school.  Now that she is in high school, the volunteer opportunities are not as plentiful as they were when she was younger, though some do exist :) Volunteering in Dominic's classroom has been very minimal since he is in a special education classroom.  He is into his routine and schedules and if I showed up (unannounced), he would automatically think something is wrong.  I have had to find other ways to give of my time at his school.  A handful of years ago, I used to be that gal that would "over volunteer" and I would be completely overextended and exhausted.  What I have discovered as I have gotten older, is that it is okay to say the word "no" when someone asks you to volunteer.  When you say that word, though, it's sometimes hard to not feel a little guilty about it!  I currently serve on a committee with a multi-year commitment at my chur...

We recently went through something with Dominic that really had me perplexed.  He was battling a stubborn stomach bug that kept him home from school on and off for about two weeks or so.  After he started feeling better, I got a few phone calls from the school that I needed to go pick him up because he was not himself (crying, complaining, whining) and it appeared he might get sick at school.  When I brought him back home, he would perk up and pretty much be back to normal.  This past Monday, he didn't even last a half hour before his teacher called.  Tuesday, he woke up, but then as soon as I mentioned the word "school" he started saying his head hurt, etc.  It was beginning to really affect the entire family. Lauren thought Dominic was "faking" his problems because as soon as the word "school" was mentioned he starting the crying and the whining.  I wasn't so sure. Dominic does get migraines, but he usually has a whole different set of sym...

It's been pretty busy around our house lately, so it's been a while since the hubby and I have been out on a "date." We had to wait until Lauren (our babysitter) had an opening in her schedule, so she could watch Dominic for a few hours.  As our "date" grew closer,  I decided to put on a nice sweater and apply a little makeup. This past Saturday, we headed out to a Chinese restaurant that we hadn't been to in a few years.  Guess we should have called the place beforehand, because it was all boarded up and out of business! Instead of heading back home, we tried a second Chinese restaurant that luckily was open! The restaurant was packed - I guess a lot of other people decided to go out on a Saturday night.  We didn't have a reservation, so we had to wait a little bit.  It was interesting to look around at the other people there.  I saw a lady by herself, other couples out on dates (like us), and families with kids.  Seated right next to us were two g...

Since Lauren is now in high school, we only need to go to her parent/teacher conferences if we have a specific "issue" that needs to be discussed.  I am able to look at her grades and progress through an on-line grading system, so I have a pretty good handle on what's going on with her.  The hubby and I went to Dominic's parent/teacher conference last week.  When he comes home from school every day, I'll ask him how his day went.  He usually says, "good!"  He can recite back to me his entire schedule for the day (like whether he had gym, art or library), but there isn't usually a lot of detail involved. At Dominic's conference we discussed his progress.  At school, they work a lot with him on social interaction.  We heard something pretty cool that he did recently.  They are learning about the United States and where each state is located on the map.  One of Dominic's classmates was struggling and didn't know where one of the states was l...

I know that I just wrote a post about manners about a week ago, but I neglected to include phone "manners." Get ready, I'm hopping up on the old "soapbox!!"  A couple of years ago, Lauren started getting phone calls on her cell phone from a bill collector.  The calls got more and more nasty and threatening.  They were trying to reach the person that had Lauren's cell phone number before her.  They would say things about being immature, etc.  I thought the bill collector would get the message that by not returning the phone calls that they had the wrong number. I finally had to call this company and explain to them they were calling a teenager's cell phone!!  The calls ceased after that :) About six months or so ago, the phone rang and Lauren answered it.  I have taught her that if someone on the phone asks for the hubby or I (and we are not at home or can't come to the phone), to tell them we are unavailable and that she can take a message.  La...

It seems like whenever I run into any of my friends who also have juniors in high school, within five minutes, the talk turns to college.  Now that Lauren is past the halfway point of her junior year, it was about time to get some college tours set up.  I have several friends that have kids in college already and my stepson has gone through college and graduate school, so I have some idea what it's like having a kid heading to college.  Lauren wants to visit two colleges over the upcoming spring break.  Getting the tours scheduled was pretty easy - it was completely done on-line. Yesterday, I bumped into a friend of mine at the grocery store who has a son that is also a junior.  Of course, within less than five minutes we were talking about colleges :) I got the impression that her son prefers a smaller college, Lauren is thinking of a big school.  That's the great thing about colleges.  They come in all different sizes. Kind of like Goldil...

What exactly is "junk?" A common definition - old, broken and useless things.  I remember when we were cleaning out the in-laws house.  We had a dumpster and were throwing what we considered "junk" into it.  Since it was just my hubby, Lauren and I cleaning out a three-story house, with a basement and a two-car garage, we called a company that cleaned out houses of its contents.  A man and woman showed up. They weren't interested in the inside of my in-laws house (like I had hoped).  Instead, they jumped into the dumpster and started fishing around in there. They were pulling all kinds of things back out of the dumpster and wanting to pay us for it.  I don't think they thought any of the stuff in there was old, broken or useless :) Okay, how many of you out there have a "junk" drawer?? That's the drawer (usually in your kitchen) that seems to be a catch-all for items that don't have anywhere else to go. The drawer under where we keep ...

Lauren loved Barney when she was little and Dominic is currently going through a phase where he loves watching one of the Barney videos about Christmas (in Dominic's world, Christmas would be every day!). One of my favorite songs that Barney used to sing was, "Please and Thank You." Say what you will about Barney, but he did have good manners :)  About six months ago, when I let out a big sneeze, Dominic said, "bless you!"  Wow, I think that was the first time he said that at the appropriate time.  I have been working for several months with him on knowing when to say "thank you" and "you're welcome" when you're supposed to.  He has known how to say it for several years, but he didn't always recognize when he "needed" to say it. Now, if we don't say you're welcome when he says thank you quick enough, he'll say, "what do you say?" or one time he told me, "say you're welcome, Mommy!!"  G...

The hubby and I try all year long to not eat meat on Fridays.  Lately, it seemed like I was rotating the same things every three weeks or so for dinner - seafood soup, shrimp stir-fry, and baked fish.  Guess you could say I've been in a Friday night dinner "rut." When I have made chili in the past, I have used ground meat or ground turkey.  On Friday, I was at one of the local grocery stores and they had a great deal on bags of peppers (green, yellow, orange and red). As one who can't pass up a bargain, I scooped up a bagful thinking I would figure out how to use them later :)  Last Wednesday, I had a routine appointment with my cardiologist.  He was impressed with how well I was feeling and said basically, as long as I take my medications and continue the way I am, he doesn't want to see me for an entire year!!  What I have noticed is that if I have too much sodium in a day, even though I take a medication to reduce the sodium (Lasix), I h...