$5 off Coupon at Walgreens ...

yes, again. :)

Click here: http://www.walgreens.com/hotbuys/default.jsp?ec=hn571_getcoupon

Military Camp Debriefing ...

"we are the young marines.

we'll show you what we mean

we'll beat the best, in every contest,

we'll beat them nice and clean.

semper fi

oooorah!"

ok, so my eldest son is back. there are a TON of pictures that the camp photographer took of the boys, on the website (click the title of this post to connect to their shutterfly page - picture albums a, b and cc are of the younger kids, and the rest of the albums are of the older kids).

the quote above is what they said when they were in formation, right before their awards ceremony.

HOW CUTE WAS THAT?

AND, my son won an award for most fish caught! YAY!

ok, what he actually caught was a turtle. but YAY!!!!!!!!!

he had a great time. his roommate wasn't the nicest kid on the block, but, that was a good lesson for my child to learn. everyone isn't going to be nice to you just because you are nice to them (but yeah, i SO wanted to kick that kids ASS -- pardon my french. yes, that really is french -- i mean REALLY, but, that's another story altogether. yeah, i have anger issues sometimes ...)

so some of the highlights were that he shot a rifle, a paintball gun and a bow and arrow, and he got to play in a lot mud (see the pictures). he also learned things like about-face, right-face, and left-face.

WHEEE!

his younger brother was so jealous. he can't wait to go next year.

and honestly ...

i can't wait to send him.

now, if only there was somewhere for me to send that unruly girl of mine ...

and on the 5th day, they rested ...

Summary of the Introduced Bill
HB 1534 -- Four-Day School Week

Sponsor: Kingery

This bill allows school districts to establish a four-day week
upon a majority vote of the school board. The number of required
hours in a school year remains at 1,044, but the number of days
will be 142 rather than 174.

alright, i first heard about this as an intro on the news. never did hear the actual story because i had to leave the house before the actual story came on (that's one of my pet peeves about the news. everything that i am interested in, is buried late, late, late in the program, but, that's another blog topic for a later date ...).

anyway, i decided to figure out what was going on. if you click the title of this post, you should link up to the story that i read.

anyway, after all of the dust has settled, i have one question ...

WHO'S WITH THE KIDS ON THAT 5TH DAY?

WHO'S BEARING THE COST FOR THE KIDS ON THAT 5TH DAY?

WHO'S REALLY SAVING MONEY?

well, i'm thinking, that while the schools are saving money on that 5 th day, that parents are the ones bearing that cost in childcare expenses of some sort.

or am i wrong? have i missed something?

174-142=32

so, that's 32 days that kids aren't in school. a little over a month.

using one school district's rate for all day care, of $22.50 per kid per day, that's an additional cost of $720. per year, per kid (ok maybe a little less as there is a $1.00 per day discount for additional kids) - NOT to mention additional fuel costs for parental pick up and drop off and lunches. so, i'm thinking that increases costs for the parent to about roughly $1000 extra per kid per year.

have i missed something? am i wrong about this?

whereas things are tough all over, seems like in missouri, things are just getting tougher.

moreover, for kids who are old enough to stay at home on that 5th day - uh, what are they doing? hanging out? sleeping? playing video games? cleaning their rooms? robbing my house? WHAT?

and doesn't this somehow mitigate the importance of education? i mean, can you really learn and retain the same amount of information in 8 months as opposed to 9 months?

the article states that the 4-day school-week is used mostly in rural areas.

hmmmmm, when i think about a rural area, that doesn't really bring to mind affluence, or low drop-out rate.

the article also states that 16 states across the country have adopted the 4-day school week.

hmmmmm, seems to me that i just saw a commercial where the us was WAY BEHIND in educational standards compared to other countries.

does anyone but me see a problem here?

(post all coments to the blogsite)

the girly-girl ...

this is my last post today, i PROMISE!

my daughter is turning into a girly-girl (i think).

seems as though, even though she endlessly tortures her older brothers (and me, see earlier blog on how they are all trying to kill me), she is still more girly than i may be comfortable with.

for example:

- she USE to love swimming, and now, she won't even get her face wet.
-she runs like a girl.
-she thinks that shaking her little butt is cute. (and yes, i'm working on that)
-she tries to talk baby-talk to get her way, or when acting silly. (again, working on that)

i am just not sure what's going on. the boys were (and probably still are) trying to make her more boy-friendly. she can almost pass gas at will, and she thinks burping is the greatest thing ever. whereas i don't approve of that, it's really distressing that she doesn't want to swim anymore.

granted, she's three now, and she might just change her mind ...

see? she's FICKLE!

sigh.

ANOTHER Dead Bird ...

look, i have no idea as to what's going on at my house, HOWEVER, there's another dead bird on my property.

no, it didn't prevent me from getting into my garage, however, it WILL stop me from going anywhere NEAR my gaslight (you know, that tall light standing in the middle of the front of people's yards ... my mom had to tell me what it was called).

see, they actually LIVE in my gutters. my gutters are covered by a metal mesh covering, i suppose to keep things OUT of the gutter. i didn't realize that birds were actually living there until one morning, as i was leaving the house, i actually HEARD them running from the side of the house around the corner of the house and then saw them fly out of the gutter.

i'm thinking that the yard guy is going to have to take care of that.

yeah.

the yard guy ...

to diet, or not to diet, that's the question ...

ok, about 3-4 weeks ago, i started the atkins diet. and i am ACTUALLY losing weight. no, unfortunately, it wasn't my "bright idea" to try atkins. a friend of mine went on it and spoke so HIGHLY of it, that i thought that i would give it a try.

she got all scientific with it and measured and weighed everything before and during -- i'm just kinda plodding through, very unceremoniously. BUT, although she's way cooler than i am, it's WORKING!

today, i am wearing a pair of pants that use to be snug, and now, they aren't. i can actually sit down and the pants don't do a stranglehold on my thighs (the ladies might know what i'm talking about. it's the phenomenon where your pants fit ok until you sit down and the spread of the thigh takes up all the room in the pant-leg ... ).

anyway, sure, i crave cupcakes and cake (i even had a food dream where i ate a cupcake and swallowed it, then realized i was on a diet -- i can't even DREAM about food. that's upsetting to say the least).

anyway, i'm pleased with the whole low carb/no carb diet.

well, the results, at least.

see what happens when you bow to peer pressure?

he's in the army now ... well, almost

yesterday, i drove my 7 year-old (almost 8 year old) to military camp.

no, he's not a "bad" child and i was not trying to punish him. it's a really fun place where boys (and only boys at this particular military academy) rappel 40 ft walls, swim, learn archery, camp out, and shoot rifles (among other wonderful things).

when we got there, we went through this really organized sign-in procedure where he was "issued" his uniform. the uniform consisted of a military hat, camouflage shorts, and a t-shirt with the name of the school across the front. they were ALL TOO FREAKIN BIG FOR MY LITTLE BOY! which, of COURSE made it all the cuter!

i think that he's going to learn a lot of cool stuff while there. i'm so very excited for him. and of course, i sent him a letter (mailed it on saturday so that he would get it today).

my worry? is that the older and/or bigger boys might be mean to him. sigh.

anyway, i'm really excited for him, and can't wait to pick him up on saturday -- oh, i almost forgot to mention -- there's going to be a "ceremony" on saturday. i can't even IMAGINE what that's going to entail.

i'll be sure to take pictures and post them.

that's right.

i'm actually going to POST a picture.

UPDATE: i just called the school. yes, i did. and was told that he had an opportunity to call on tuesday. so, the only LOGICAL thing for me to think now is that a larger boy prevented him from calling me. or that he was last in line, and larger boys took too long on the telephone and when it was his turn, it was too late. yeah. i think that's the ONLY explanation that's feasible. the good major is supposed to call me back with a report of some sort. i'll keep you posted. damned larger boys!