I think I'm in love...

This is my new favorite Pampered Chef product. And I have A LOT of Pampered Chef products.

If you cook a lot of ground beef, you need one of these. Trust me.

And here I thought I was perfect.

I am a sarcastic person. And I have a low tolerance for people who aren't exactly like me. And I'm a little insecure. Combine these traits and sometimes my thoughts and words aren't as holy as I wish they would have been.

And sometimes God sends me a couple of Bible verses just when I need them.

And sometimes he sends me several of them over the course of a couple of days just to make sure I get the picture.

You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. - Romans 14:10

Or this one:

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. - Matthew 7:2

Or this one:

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. - Hebrews 4:13

I think He is trying to tell me something...

It's hip to be a modified rectangle.

Today is Wednesday, which means I spent the morning volunteering at my son's school.

When I first started volunteering with the enrichment program, I was assisting the Spanish teacher.

She wasn't able to volunteer any more after Christmas so we decided to switch from Spanish to music. And I think this was a good move since I don't speak Spanish and the kids were over it.

They weren't able to find a music teacher for me to assist. Instead they found another mom who like me said she would assist but didn't want to take the lead.

So you've got two assistants with no one to assist which means we've been doing a lot of limbo and a lot of freeze dance. (Don't judge. I know the limbo and freeze dance aren't what you normally think of as music class but we do have music playing in the background.)

Today when we walked into the first class the kids immediately asked where the limbo stick was and they all groaned when I told them we were going to sing a song about shapes.

Each kid was given either a circle, a square, a triangle or a rectangle. We reviewed the shapes with them and then began the song.

The man singing the song instructs the kids with the circles to stand up or tells the kids with the rectangles to stand up and so on and then he tells certain shapes to sit down and then at the end of the song, he instructs the kids to switch shapes with a neighbor and then we do it all over again.

After doing this three times, the kids were completely over it and we played Simon Says. (And yes, I know. Simon Says isn't even remotely music. It's basically just a filler until time to move on to the next class.)

I believe these kindergartners love Simon Says almost as much as they love to limbo. I will probably be muttering, "Simon says hop on one foot" in my sleep tonight.

We worked our way through three classes and finally made it to the fourth and final class.

We handed out the shapes to all the kids and then started reviewing the shapes.

"What's this shape?" I asked as I held up the circle.

"Circle," they all said in unison.

"What's this shape?" I asked as I held up the triangle.

"Triangle," they all said in unison.

"What's this shape?" I asked as I held up the rectangle.

"Rectangle," they all said in unison.

"What's this shape?" I asked as I held up the square.

There was a pause and then several kids said, "Modified rectangle."

MODIFIED RECTANGLE?!

I started to laugh thinking they were just being smart alecs and asked, "Modified rectangle?"

Their teacher happened to be passing through and said, "Yes. They (not sure who they is) want us to teach them that a square is a modified rectangle."

"Why?" I thought perhaps she was trying to be funny but then I realized she was serious.

"It will help them when they learn geometry because in geometry they refer to squares as modified rectangles."

"Geometry? When will they learn geometry?" I quizzed the teacher thinking perhaps they were going to learn geometry next year.

"In the tenth grade" she replied shaking her head.

The tenth grade?

I'm all for teaching kindergartners things they need to know to prepare them to succeed in the future, but kids grow up so fast these days. Can't we just let them call a square a square a little while longer?

Who needs a Dapper Dan?

Peter started Kindergarten in the fall. And when I bought his new sneakers, I specifically got lace-ups instead of Velcro closures. I did this with the knowledge that he was going to have to learn how to tie his shoes sooner or later and I figured he might as well have the appropriate shoes to learn on.

I learned how to tie my shoes on my beloved Dressy Bessy doll. Dressy Bessy is hard to find but they do still make her. They also still make Dapper Dan dolls for little boys but I knew Peter would balk at the idea of a doll .

Several weeks after Kindergarten started, Peter would occasionally mention that after Christmas they all needed to know how to tie their own shoes.

And after hearing this from him a couple of times, I decided we would teach him over Christmas vacation. And that was my plan.

However, I wasn't factoring into my plan that Peter would have new toys to play with so shoe-tying would not be a top priority for him and that we would be on vacation so shoe-tying would not be a top priority for me either.

Even so, we half-heartedly tried once over Christmas vacation to teach him but decided that we had better things to do and would attempt it again when we got home.

And then I didn't think another thing about shoe tying until last week when I was volunteering at school and I noticed a little girl bending down to tie a little boy's unlaced shoe. I thought to myself, "Awww. Isn't that sweet. The kids are working together on getting the shoe tied instead of bothering the teacher."

And then two days later Peter came home from school, threw down his back pack in a huff and exclaimed, "Today was a horrible day!"

"What happened, honey?" I asked.

"Well, they didn't have fruit pops for lunch like the menu said, my shoe came untied in the morning and I had to leave it like that all day, Joey kept talking and wouldn't be quiet and I didn't earn any extra bananas." He crossed his arms and pouted and even tried to work up a few tears so I would know just how horrible the day had been.

"Why didn't you just ask your teacher to tie your shoe for you?" was the first thing out of my mouth. It seemed to me that would have been an easy fix and would have quickly made the horrible day a little less horrible.

"Because," he said in an exasperated tone, "it's after Christmas and the teachers aren't tying any more shoes."

"What? What do you mean the teachers won't tie your shoes?" Surely he was confused.

"You remember. After Christmas we had to know how to tie our shoes because they weren't going to tie them any more."

He did mention that they needed to know how to tie their shoes after Christmas. I will give him credit for that. But he failed to mention the most important part - that the teachers wouldn't tie them any longer and the shoes laces would just be left to drag on the ground posing a tripping hazard.

Could they not have sent a note home? Because it is a requirement at this elementary school that all students have a backpack. And contained in this backpack is an agenda (which I paid for!) where the teachers and/or students when they are older write homework assignments and there is a folder in the backpack (which I paid for!). One side of the folder is labeled "Keep At Home" and the other is labeled "Return To School".

So great pains have been taken to ensure ease of communication between parent and school. It's not like when I was a child. Back in the 70's, (at the exact same school that Peter attends now) if a teacher wanted to get a note home to the parents, it was PINNED to our shirts!

So notes go back and forth all the time. The school doesn't seem to have a problem reminding me that it's Chick-Fil-A Night or McDonald's Night but apparently it was too much trouble to let me know that as of January 5th, there would be no more shoe tying!

After I got over my extreme annoyance (at least I think I got over it), I decided that my child was not going to be the only child walking around with untied shoes.

So, I did what I do every time the kids need to be taught something. I told Dan that he needed to do it.

And that night, right after dinner, my dear sweet husband sat Peter down to teach him how to tie his own shoes.

I heard things like, "Make an X" and "Now make a loop, sort of like a bunny ear" and "I know it's hard, but nothing worth doing is easy".

And after two lessons, I am happy to report that Peter learned to tie his own shoes. He's slow, but he can do it.

And we didn't even need a Dapper Dan....just a Daddy Dan!

Miracle Monday

In January, I told you about Taylor.

She was the 10 year old who had been hit in the eye with a pellet from a soft pellet gun. She had severe corneal damage and bleeding behind the eye and had lost vision from this eye.

After remaining propped up for 5 days (sleeping that way as well) and wearing an eye patch she still could not see. It was determined that Taylor had a traumatic cataract.

After much prayer on the part of her mother and friends, a retinal specialist told them that Taylor would eventually be fine. She would need glasses and would need to have cataract surgery in a few years. And Taylor gradually began getting her vision back.

But now the doctors are saying that she can't wait for the cataract surgery. Currently, WITH glasses, her vision is only 20/200.

The doctors wanted to implant a special lens. The cost of the lens and surgery was going to be $5000. Taylor's mom, Michelle, does not have medical insurance and wasn't sure how she was going to pay for this.

Michelle and her friends began praying for another miracle and then she received a wonderful call.

The eye surgeon is going to donate his time. The lens maker is going to donate the lens and the Children's Volunteer Network is going to pay the surgery center. And after this surgery Taylor will have 20/20 vision again!

When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; and their sight was restored. Matthew 9:28-30

Do you have a miracle or an answered prayer you want to share?

It's easy to participate in Miracle Monday. Just post a miracle or an answered prayer on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post as well.

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. If you have a miracle you want to share, please go to this week's edition of Miracle Monday and post it there. Thanks!

I'll be back when the whining stops.

There was a lot of whining around here this afternoon.

A lot.

At the height of all the whining and complaining, Sarah decided she wanted to play Go Fish with me.

Sarah: (in a really annoying whiny voice) "Maaahhhmmmmmmeeeee. Will you play Go Fish with me? Pleeeeeaaaaasssseeeeeeeee."

Me: "Sarah! Please stop. All of your whining is sending me over the edge!"

Silence

Sarah: (looking up at me with big round eyes) "Are you ever coming back?"

Silence

Me: Oh, all right. Just go get the cards!

I'm sure they aren't reading this, but just in case...

Not that the executives at FOX or American Idol care, but I have written down a few steps they could take to improve their faltering ratings and to make the show less uncomfortable for me to watch.

So if the powers that be happen to be reading this, you can implement these changes and thank me with free Diet Coke and tickets to the finale in May after your ratings improve. Just once in my life I would love to be able to scream, "I'm going to Hollywood!" while waving around a golden ticket but my voice is horrible and I'm slightly over the age limit for contestants so free tickets will be the only way I'll ever get there.

Here are my list of changes: (And if you happen to read Musings of a Housewife, I listed these in her comments section after I read her recap of last night's show.)

#1. - Eliminate Paula as a judge. Kara is a wonderful judge so, in addition to being a little crazy, Paula is now redundant.

#2. - Eliminate the Red Room and the conversations they have there. And wow! How painful was it to have the parents in the room? Especially after all the horrible performances last night. Someone, please make it stop!

#3 - Make the show shorter. I love me some American Idol but last night's show was at least 30 minutes too long. Shortening the show could be accomplished by eliminating the Red Room and by making the judges comment time shorter. Now that there are 4 judges they should all speak less or at least just skip over Paula.

#4 - Eliminate the catty comments between Ryan and Simon. I hate it when they are bickering. It makes me very uncomfortable and it isn't funny at all.

#5 - Provide a little more assistance to the contestants when they are picking out their songs. Horrible, horrible song choices (like last night) make for a horrible, horrible show.

Whew! I feel better now that I got that off my chest. And even if they don't read this and don't make these changes, I still love American Idol and look forward to watching it every week.

And can I just say that Danny Gokey sure can sing. He was my favorite going into Hollywood Week and after last night, he is still at the top of my list!

PS - Did anyone else think Ted Danson looked very freakish with his silver hair and black glasses? I guess he stopped dying his hair. And why were he and Doogie Hauser sitting together? Are they promoting a movie or a new TV show? Why were they even there at all? Usually they save the "stars" in the audience for the final 3 weeks or so. I guess I'm not the only one who loves me some American Idol.

Miracle Monday

Happy Miracle Monday!

Many of you may be familiar with Amy over at Signs, Miracles and Wonders.

Amy's son Spencer was born in December of 1999. Minutes after he was born, Amy knew something was wrong because he wasn't crying.

He was taken to the NICU where the doctors stabilized his breathing but early the next morning a nurse observed him having what she thought was a seizure. He was medicated for the seizure but then went into cardiac arrest.

Amy and her husband were then told that Spencer's little body was shutting down. They brought the baby in for Amy to hold for the first and last time.

They began praying for Spencer and calls were made to family and church members to inform them that Spencer had died.

The nurses already had the death certificate ready and were just waiting for the last heart beat so that they could call the official time of death.

However, when the family heard Spencer was near death, the family began to call friends to ask for prayer. Most people were praying for Amy and Greg,

But one lady named LouAnn had been praying for God to show her a miracle for several months. So when she got the call that Spencer had died, she began to pray John 14:11 -14.

"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

LouAnn was not surprised at all when she got the call that Spencer was alive. Even the doctors said that they had experienced a miracle that day!

After two weeks of testing in the NICU, Spencer went home where he progressed normally with physical therapy.

Three years later, Spencer was diagnosed with Epilepsy and has suffered many seizures and many trips to the hospital. And Amy has become an Epilepsy Advocate Speaker.

She wrote yesterday that Spencer has not had a seizure since January 14th - almost 5 weeks! Please keep Spencer and the rest of their family in your prayers.

Do you have a miracle or an answered prayer you want to share?

It's easy to participate in Miracle Monday. Just post a miracle or an answered prayer on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post as well.

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. Please come back next Monday if you would like to link to a miracle on your blog. If you are looking for other miracles, please check our Miracle Monday archives located on the right sidebar.

Bird Feeder – We Made It, Showcase Saturday

I was in charge of the craft at Sarah’s Valentine’s Day party at preschool this past Thursday.

I wanted a craft that did not need glue or paint so I scoured the internet until I found a cool bird feeder at Ordinary Life Magic.

All you need is stale popcorn, bits of dried fruit, florist wire and some thread.

Since it was a Valentine’s party, I shaped the florist wire into a heart and had the kids sting the popcorn and dried fruit on it.

We left some space at each end of the wire so I could twist the heart to close it. Then I tied string through it so that we could hang it on a branch.

I will say that the heart shape proved to be a bit much for the hopped-up on sugar 4 year olds. A small circle would have been more manageable for them. (Perhaps we should have done the craft before the cupcakes!)

I think they turned out really cute and the birds are enjoying their treat!

Sarah working on the bird feeder at school.

Sarah’s best friend Sydney.

And I popped way to much popcorn so later on that day I had Jennifer’s girls, Caity and Cheyenne, make some too.

For more great craft ideas, head over to Ramblings of a Crazy Woman.