Well, Since my last post, I have started back to work, watched the season premiere of my most favorite show in the world - LOST! Gone to my first digital crop, and have spent hours doing lesson plans and planning for both Tiers of the Transitions Class I am teaching. Plus - Ellen decided that dating Tyler was not working out. She said that since they had been such good friends for so many years, it felt weird - like she was dating her brother. They never really saw each other or did anything, so it really sort of fizzled out on its own, but they were able to remain good friends and that was what she was wanting! She has been hanging out with Branden again. They talked and decided that all the fighting and bad vibes going on between them was dumb and tiresome, so they are friends once again and are talking to each other and seeing each other more frequently now. I am sure that down the road, they will end up back together again - Just like Chris had always said, and I dont mind if they do... I just told her she needed to be sure she was able to forgive everything from the past with him, able to accept him for the way he is, able to start fresh with him and not from the point of view like they have already been dating for a year, and they should take it very slow and be open and honest with each other from the start.

So far, from what I can tell - they are doing just that. Well see what happens... like they say, only time will tell.

INAUGURATION DAY!

Today was a historical day. The first african-american was inaugurated in as the 44th president of the United States. Not a very good time to come in as president, but I think he will do some good for our country!

Miracle on the Hudson

WOW! I am sure everyone in the world now has heard about this miracle in NYC. This is truly a miracle! A US Airways jetliner filled with 155 people on board heading from La Guardia Airport in New York to North Carolina, lost power after striking birds in the air and within 5 minutes from takeoff, Pilot Sullenberger was amazingly able to make a split second decision to glide the plane into the Hudson River and that decision ended up saving EVERY single person on that plane! I can not even imagine how scared all those passengers muct have been realizing the engines were on fire and smelling the jet fuel and then hearing over the intercom "Brace for Impact", but if I have never witnessed a miracle before - there certainly was one here in the Hudson River! I just find this picture amazing. Here are the passengers of the plane, standing on the wings of the plane that is slightly submerged in the water so it looks like these people are standing on water!

All I can say is "GREAT JOB" to Mr. Sullenberger, the co-pilot, the flight attendants and all the rescue people in the boats that came to the rescue of all those passengers within minutes of the crash!

If I ever am in a plane again, I sure hope Pilot Sullenberger is at the drivers helm!

My Day

Well, The beauty of being a teacher - a part time teacher at the local college is that I am off for about a month during the Christmas season. Well, I have been off more than most of the regular working people ---- My class doesnt actually start till Jan. 21st, but I did go back to work today to test 2 potential students wanting to enroll in the class. The nice thing is that I get paid for it!

Now, You are probably wondering why I have a picture of an elliptical on my blog today, arent you? This is whay... Jason and I bought one today!

I started my day early. REALLY early! I got up at 5am because I woke up with a stuffy nose and just couldn't go back to sleep. SO I got up, put on my sweats, made coffee, read the paper and then got in the shower and dressed. Took Ethan to school by 8am, checked e-mail, tried to do a webinar online but I lost connection and got frustrated when I got back on, so I gave up and instead got all the stuff ready for the testings I had to do later on in the afternoon.



At 11am, Jason and I went to eat Thai food (yummy!) and by 12 noon we were headed to Dick's sporting goods to look at and maybe buy an elliptical.


His doctor told him he should get one since having 2 knee surgeries. It is easier on the knees than the treadmill, so he did hours of research on Sunday and finally decided on one that he found out they sold at Dick's.


We tried it on for size, liked it and decided - Yep, that is the one we want.


We bought it although it had to be special ordered and then will be delivered hopefully some time next week, Then he went home to work and I went to Best Buy to return my Christmas gift from Donald that didnt work and I looked at the portable printers. Ended up getting the HP Photosmart 637. I was bummed though because I tried to print a picture from my memory card to see the quality of it and they were out of black, so the picture was horrible - mainly all red!


The good news is that it was on sale Plus I got a free pack of photo paper and the machine is RED and I only paid like $20 for it because I had all the rest in store credit from returning Christmas gifts!



Then I ran to work and tested 2 students in about a 2.5 hour span.

I got done about 6:30pm and then Jason calls and says "Do you mind stopping at the grocery store and buying milk and pop-tarts?"


Sure... I will be home later than I wanted to, hungry and still have laundry in the washer and dryer, still have to do homework with the kids, etc, etc, BUT I WILL DO IT!


So, I stop at the grocery store, buy more groceries than just milk and pop-tarts and get home around 7:30pm. Realize The Bachelor is already on and I watched that all the way through to the end of True Beauty.



Have you seen this show... True Beauty? It is really kinda' funny! These people are so vain! They are thinking that they are on this show to see who is the most beautiful person, which of course they ALL theink they are, but what they dont know is that they are being watched all the time and are also beign judged on their inner beauty! They are presented with different tasks, some they know about and some they dont to see how they do and then 1 goes home at the end of the show having to learn and see all they did bad showing they dont have inner beauty!


The girl who left last week was HILARIOUS! She tried so hard to justify herself!



I swore off The Bachelor a while ago, but since it is Jason from the last Bachelorette show, I decided I wanted to watch. I fell in love with him from The Bachelorette and just cried when he wasnt picked! I REALLY hope he picks the right girl and falls in love with the right person for not only him, but his son, Ty! There are some pretty caddy girls and immature girls on this show - as usual and some that are obviously NOT ready to be a mother!



Well, tomorrow hopefully should be fun day for me. I am going to try to catch up on some scrapbooking. Finish the calendar I was working on this past Saturday and maybe even do some digital stuff!

The great Vaccinations and Autism debate!

This kind of hits close to home for me since I've worked with A LOT of autistic kids and now adults. This is the first time I have ever seen it done this way though! GREAT SHOW!

FIRST of all let me say that I not here to judge ANYONE on thier choice, or to say one is a better decision than the other for you. These comments are just what I feel and think after watching this show and I truly believe everyone should make the best desicion for themselves based on the knowledge they have and what they think is best for them and their family!

I watched Private Practice last night and they had a great story line about the whole dilemma of whether vaccines cause autism in kids or not and the dangers of NOT vaccinating your kids!

It was not a big debate over whether the vaccine causes autism, but it mainly hit on the other side of the coin - what can happen if you don't vaccinate your kids!

A mom had 3 sons. The oldest has autism. Was born fine, was a happy child until the age of 2 (or about). After getting vaccinated, "his light turned off" as his mom put it. She TRULY and strongly believes that the vaccine caused the autism in her son.

Well, she has 2 more boys whom she has chosen not to vaccinate.

She had been living in Switzerland for a little while to enroll her autistic son in a special program there for autistic kids and just had come back to the States when her middle son got sick, a cold or something minor she thought.

She had been in the waiting room a long time and he had been playing with other kids there before the doctor got him in the exam room. He had a fever of 102 and after examining him, the doctor discovered he had the measles!

They had to shut down the whole clinic and vaccinate those who were willing and could get vaccinated, go through all the records of everyone and even the CDC had to be called. Big mess. Anyway, the little boy ended up getting worse, was now in the hospital with 104 fever and the mom still refused to vaccinate the youngest son. She didnt want to take the risk of him developing autism too!

Well, her middle son stopped breathing because his throat was so swollen, they had to put in a laser scope to help him breathe and he was getting worse by the minute!

After getting the sick son to breathe and they stabilized him, the doctor went and vaccinated the younger son without the mom's permission!

She was screaming at the doctors saying she was going to sue them and the hospital if anything happened to him. Well, her middle son ended up crashing and no matter how much they tried, they could not save him! They tried ofr over 30 minutes before they called it.

He died of measles complications!

It gave a really good perspective of the other side of what could happen if you don't vaccinate your kids!

I know it is really sad when a child develops autism, but it is not a death sentence!

Having your child get really ill with a disease that could have been prevented if he had been vaccinated and then him dying from it IS a death sentence!

It was SO sad! I admit, I cried! It was so sad to see how here was this cute, healthy boy who had just learned to tie his shoes and loved to play with his brothers got so sick, so quickly and died from a disease that there is a vaccine for!

I know it is a chance you take either way. but after watching this show - I would rather take the chance and vaccinate than not!

It was so sad to see the mom, hugging her 2 other boys and sobbing and hearing her say the words "I thought I was protecting them by not vaccinating them!"

I have to say that when I had all my kids and was a new mom, I never once thought to not have them vaccinated!

I just thought that it was every mom did for thier children, you had no choice. You just did it.

My dad was a pediatrician and in all the years of him being in practice and me even helping out in his office, not once did I hear about someone choosing not to vaccinate their kids.

I am glad that I guess I just did it without ever knowing the dangers, because I know I would have agonized over the decision to vaccinate or not.

And after seeing now how many kids do have autism and seeing how many parents think it was caused by the vaccines, I was on the fence about how strongly I felt about vaccinations, but after watching this show and the perspective they did it in - Wow! Without a shadow of a doubt - I would vaccinate my kids!

You can say I am lucky that none of my kids developed autism because of the vaccine or you can call it whatever you like, but I would NOT be able to live with the fact that I have a dead child that died from something I could have vaccinated him from!

I am not saying you should or shouldnt vaccinate your kids.

I just wanted to say GREAT JOB to the producers of Private Practice for showing us a different perspective of the great dilemma over autism and vaccines! It really got me thinking!

UGH!

UGH! That is how I feel right about now!

I didnt wake up in the very best way, having a HORRIFIC headache and my tummy hurting and just feeling yucky, but I wasnt in a bad mood and as the day went on, I was feeling better, but my mood got worse!

I got to sleep in till 9am and after taking a shower and getting a few things done around the house, I picked Rebecca up from school and took her to an ortho appointement. After that, she and I went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. That was nice since we hardly ever get to spend time just her and I alone since she is always in school, or taekwondo or with daddy and I am usually working!

Well anyway, Ellen asked Daddy to take her to work, so he did - in her car! Apparantly she got mad that they were taking her car and she made some nasty, uncalled for 17 year old sassy and rude comments! Well, Jason decided to walk in the house screaming at me - ME! of ALL people! I wasnt even there! Well,, he comes in screaming "I sure hope you can drive the Maxima because that is the last time I am driving it!"

HUH? WHAT? First of all, he knows I can not drive the Maxima.

THAT was one of the things I told him I KNEW was going to cause a problem, because it is a stick shift and I dont know how to drive a stick shift!

Well, he basically was mad and was venting about the fact that Ellen asked him why they were taking her car, and he just said, "because". Well, she got all mad saying he is ALWAYS driving her car and he has his own car and he is putting miles on her car, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!!!!!

First of all, he doesnt ALWAYS drive HER car! We just got it 5 days ago! The only time he has driven it was on his 2 day trek home from Ohio after buying it and when he picked her up after work last Sunday and took her for a 1 hour lesson and one other time when he drove us all out to eat but she sat in the front so she could see how he was pushing in the clutch and shifting gears, watching the rpms, etc... AND, it is not HER car! Jason's name is on the title! We paid for half of it and she is up for a rude awakening if she thinks she is going to throw that phrase in our face! HA! SHe has another thing coming!

I know he is a man, and doesnt handle this sassy 17 year old girly girl teenager very well (Never has) - BUT to walk in and be mad at ME? I DONT THINK SO!

I start yelling at him that he is barking up the wrong tree. He has no right to come in the house all mad and start yelling at me over something Ellen did or said! If he is mad at her, then he should talk to HER and deal with HER about it - NOT ME!

He knw I was right, but couldnt admit it, so he says (in a MUCH calmer tone), "I am not mad at you, I am just trying to have a conversation with you over what happened!"

Well buddy, let me tell you - you need to work on your "bringing up a conversation approach", because this way doesnt work and especially not with me!

Of course, then he is even more mad now and walks away and we eat dinner in silence and then he leaves to take Becca to Taekwondo.

Now, dont get me wrong, we HARDLY EVER fight! But these things, this kind of attitude just IRKS me!

I am sure everything will be fine and back to normal when he gets home, but let me tell you - Ellen is going to have one long talk with her momma tonight when she gets home from work!

I love her because she is my daughter and my first born, but let me tell you - during these whole teenage years, I have not been liking her very much!

Sometimes I look at her and she doesnt even feel like she is my daughter! She is like her own person, a girl coming and going who I happened to know and tolerate in the house! When did that happen?

I know she didnt mean to say what she did in the way she did, but the sad thing is that I know she meant what she said. She can be very selfish and just had her head up her a.. when she was saying those things to her dad! I dont even know if she appreciated ALL he went through to get her this car!??!

UPDATE: Ellen apologized to Jason all on her own! I did not have to say a word to her about it!

Although Jason was still upset with her about how selfish and un-grateful she can be and was, I was proud of her for realizing on her own and deciding on her own to apologize to him! She got NO prompting from me (since I honestly forgot to say anything to her when she got home from work!)

On the other hand, she was a very happy girl on Tuesday. After going through a horrible break-up with Branden (the love of her life for 1 year), she hasnt had a boyfriend in over 3 months. She has had some guys come around and call her that like her, but No real guy she wanted to call "Boyfriend". Well, that all changed Tuesday. Tyler offically asked her out at school. He is a boy from her school that she has known for like over 5 years and they have been "friends" but I think there has been some flirting going on recently. He seems like a really nice and sweet boy, but I have only met him twice and both times were for less than 1 minute. He has pale white, smooth skin, red hair and just seems very "soft". He is very nice and respectful. All that matters is that he really likes Ellen and Ellen likes him and right now he makes her happy which she hasnt been in a long while!

I remember what it felt like to be heart broken and feeling down in the dumps, so I am glad to see a smile on her face again and see that glow in her cheeks knowing that someone out there likes her! I am looking forward to getting to know this boy more!