The Chatter

If you have kids, then you know that October 24th is the date High School Musical 3 is released in theaters. 

To add to the excitement, the folks at www.jibjab.com have a sendable e-card where you can upload a face and have that person “appear” in the video.  Boys can be Troy Bolton and girls can upload their face to be Gabriella Montez.  Lots of fun, but be warned…it’s addictive!
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/own…ured_templates

Yesterday afternoon, I discovered that some unauthorized charges were put on my credit card.  While our family was on vacation in Arizona, the thief was hard at work in Florida, filling up gas tanks. 

My credit card company was very responsive.  They immediately closed the account and reissued a new card which I received by overnight mail.   I was without a card for less than 24 hours.

To prevent further fraudulent activity, I contacted the three major credit reporting companies, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax to put a “fraud alert” on my credit report.  This will prevent any new accounts from being opened in my name unless I am contacted.  I also ran a free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com to see if anything funky was on my report.  Fortunately, it looks fine but I will pull another report in 4-6 weeks to doublecheck that no fraudulent activity is in the works right now.  The website allows you to access your credit report at each of the 3 major companies one time each year.  So, if you stagger them throughout the year, you can view your credit report every four months for free (or every two months if you are married).

One handy tip I did find when investigating what to do when your credit is compromised is to remove your insurance cards from your wallet.  Most cards contain your social security number.  It is recommended that you make a copy of your insurance card, use a Sharpie permanent marker to black out the social security number and carry the copy in your wallet.  I never gave a second thought to having the social security number on the insurance cards and it would be scary, indeed, to have your wallet lost or stolen and surrender this information to a potential identity thief.

A little background info first, my 3 kids have always been at home, when my first born turned 4 the Jan before his school year started I enrolled him in preschool in order to get him into a ’school type’ routine and some social interaction.  This pretty much worked out fine, he was in pre-school from Jan-Aug and then went into Kindergarten.  I did the same with my middle one, he is a July baby, so when Jan came around I enrolled him in a pre-school. 

He did NOT adapt nicely, he had a terrible time adjusting, I was also pregnant with baby number 3.  The pre-school closed in May 2006, so I enrolled him in a summer program the elementary school was running for incoming Kindergartners, perfect I thought…he’ll be here Jun-Aug and then Kindergarten starts.  Well two weeks into the program it closed because of a low turnout.  At this point I am 8 months pregnant and only 1 1/2 months to go until kindergarten, seeing that he did not adjust well to change, I did not want to enroll him in yet another school just to take him out in less than 2 months.  I decided I’ll keep him home. 

Augusts rolls around and it’s time for Kindergarten, at this point I now have a 1month old and the only thing my middle one understands is that he is off to school and mommy is home with the new baby.   It was a very hard adjustment, but working with his wonderful teacher we were able to help him adjust.  Here is where there was some issues, in both pre-school programs he was enrolled both teachers felt that he might not be ready for Kindergarten, his maturity level was not quite there.  I was ready to pull him out of Kindergarten and wait one more year, especially since he had just turned 5 a month prior to Kindergarten starting.  His Kindergarten teacher felt he was ready and to give it some time.  By December he was doing wonderfully and made progress, he was promoted to 1st grade.

First grade was the same nightmare at the beginning, he was miserable, he was having nightmares and could not sleep alone.  Once again I worked with his teacher, she was young and it was her second year of teaching.  I sensed that even though I worked with him at home with flashcards and reading he was still struggling.  By January I knew it was going to be a possibilty that he will not be promoted to 2nd grade.  I had several conferences with his teacher, she mentioned that he is exhausted by the end of the day and she felt it was because he was constantly trying to keep up.  She mentioned that he is the youngest in his class, I know some adults who were the youngest in their class and they did fine, I did not know if this was not the case with my son.

The idea of having him repeat 1st grade had me with such anxiety, I talked to anyone who would listen…. “what would you do??”.  Along comes May and now I’m in a conference with not only his teacher but the curriculum specialist.  In order to be promoted, he had to meet one of the three criteria for promotion.  He barely passed one, he needed at least at 30 to progress, he got 34.  After about one hour of discussing the pros and cons of retaining or promoting, they informed me it was my decision, although they reccommend retaining him, and I had through the end of July to decide.

What to do……..

Incredible things happen around us every day.  I am guilty of being too busy or just having too much on my mind to see these special things…sometimes miracles….nature’s gifts…or just small everyday things happening.

Since I have been sick I have had a lot of time to think about life.  I wonder what I have been missing or what I want to see and do.  However, even with my new agenda there are just some things that come to us whether we are looking or not.

Friday, to the school playground, we headed out for an extra recess.  Just a quick stretch our legs and get to know our new classmates.  One of the students noticed a Monarch Butterfly just flapping his wings and going nowhere.  It was huge and its brilliant orange color really stood out against the black.  Its pattern was his own tattoo that Mother Nature picked out.

The stranded butterfly grabbed onto the student’s finger and kept on flapping to dry its wings.  All the students came to observe.  In order to keep him safe and unharmed we put him on the back of a bench for all to see but not to touch.  After a few moments the butterfly attempted to lift off into the air.  He did not make it too far though and landed back on the ground.  I decided to save him again from the recess that was about to start.  

He grabbed onto my finger still flapping away.  I wished that I could bring this brilliant butterfly home to put into my garden where some other butterflies hang out.  That was not possible so I brought him over near an overgrown field.  I couldn’t get him onto tall grass so I found a twig and he walked onto it.  I then gently laid it on a slant on top of the grass.  I wished him good luck on his adventure before I walked away.

I am excited that I was able to experience this butterfly drying his wings and attempting to start on his journey up close.  In my area we see a lot of Monarchs flying around, however I have never held or ever helped one out before.  I feel honored that I was able to hopefully help him out.  He has an incredible long journey to make.  I find that amazing. 

This butterfly has made me think about my personal journey and how we all need a little help to continue on our way or be the one to offer his or her assistance to make it a little easier for someone or something.  Sometimes not only can we be aware of what is happening but we are fortunate to be able to participate in incredible things happening around us…being a part of life at its best.

 Always Sunni

Mama Fox here and welcome to my Den!  The place where I’ll share sly things that I’ve learned along the way - everything from fiction to finance; from cooking to kids; from travel to tulips; from sweepstakes to VEEPstakes - anything goes in the Fox Den.  I hope you’ll enjoy spending time in the Den.

A cancer update…I found out a while ago that my PETscan is scheduled for September 17th at 8:00 am. I have been trying to ignore it.  My doctor wanted it done last week; however, it is difficult to take time off from school at the beginning of a new year. So we compromised for the 3rd week of this month.

Really though, I have been playing a game lately with outcome of my cancer.  Out of sight, out of mind!  Tomorrow, September 9th, will make 8 weeks since my last chemotherapy.  I am not missing any treatments, needles, or shots at all.

Every day I feel a little better and more like me.  In fact, in these last two weeks I have been feeling great!  I think am about 75% my old self.  I am sad because I missed summer (I was just starting to enjoy my favorite season.) but excited to be back into the classroom again. Plus my grandson’s birth has brightened up my life.  To tell you the truth, I haven’t thought much about my cancer.  However when I do I am afraid it is not going away yet. 

Now as my scan date gets closer my mind has been going crazy thinking about all the scenarios that could play out.  The “What ifs?”! 

What if the new spot is still there and hasn’t grown?  Will it be watch and wait?  What if the spot has grown?  Will I need surgery right away? Could they put off surgery until after my daughter’s Halloween memorial?  What if it is gone and it was a false positive?  What if they say you are in remission? When will I be 100%?  How do would I stay cancer free?  What if there is more spots?

 At the beginning of the year….I said to myself that 2008 would be a lost year and was not going to be good but look out 2009…a new beginning.  Then the last results we received left me upset, shocked, not cancer free and lots of uncertainty. I was not moving in the right direction.

So with my fingers, toes, arms, legs and anything else I can cross for good luck and for those words I need to hear….remission.  I am also thinking that maybe my new grandson will be a good luck charm since he is the best thing that has happened in 2008.  He is our new beginning and moving in the right direction.

Here’s to hoping for great news at my doctor’s appointment on September 20th….the last appointment of the day.  Please let me hear those words that will allow me to look only forward to a brighter future without my dark clouds hanging over me at least for a while.

Always Sunni

Well South Florida, so far, is in the clear.  It appears that Ike will head through Cuba, I do feel bad for anyone who is in Ike’s path as it appears he is a powerful storm.  The stores were alot calmer yesterday afternoon so I was able to pick up more water and just keep on-hand for any potential storms that may come our way…. Wilma did hit in Oct.

As for the dryer, my husband and brother-in-law opened it up and noticed the thermostat broke, it looked like it burnt out.   Fortunately we just have to replace that part, unfortunately it will take a week to get here per the Sears appliance parts sales rep mentioned.

With three kids, I can’t imagine not doing laundry for a week!!  Guess I’ll be lugging my wet clothes over to my sister’s house and dry it there!

To those in Ike’s path….be safe!

This is my first post in “Blog World”, so I will give a brief introduction.  I am a full time working mom of 3, two very active boys ages 9, 7 and the long anticapated princess age 2.  Married 11years but have been together a total of 20, as my darling husband likes to point out, he has alot of patience.   I am also co-owner, along with hubbie, of a Taekwondo studio, he is also the instructor.

With so much going on, I thought it would be a good outlet for me to blog about issues that arise in my day to day activities. 

The current “issue” would be Ike, churning it’s way slowly west,  we are located in sunny South Florida and are watching this storm.  I am hoping it will stay south of us, but the reality is either way we have to prepare just in case it turns our way. The last thing you want to do is be out there trying to hang shutters while the wind is kicking up.

So yesterday after work I thought I would get a head start on getting some water, recently had in-laws visiting and they drank all my bottled water that I had in storage.  Went to Walmart and guess what, just a couple of the small 12 packs of water, so I picked up two. Not only that but it was so crowded you would have thought it was Black Friday. 

So I decided, no problem I’ll go to Super Target, just around the corner, I’ll stop to get gas while I’m at it.  Stopped to get gas and there’s a line!!! Forget gas, I’ll try later.  Drive over to Super Target, much calmer scene but same thing only a couple of the 12 packs left, picked up another two along with some other items.

Meanwhile, I have the 3 kids with me, two of which are continually asking “When are we getting ice cream”  Their elementary school had a promo going with Dairy Queen, class with the most visitors/customers that go to Dairy Queen get an ice cream party, so I told them we would go as long as they behave during my errands.

So now I’m heading to Dairy Queen, got in the long line with an antsy 2 year old while the boys hung out with some classmates they ran into.  Went to another gas station, long line…… finally found a gas station where there was just one car ahead of me.  So I enjoyed my Blizzard ice cream while waiting my turn.

Got home, exhausted, but at least I found gasoline and some water. 

Today more preparation, this is the first time we are threatened with a storm since we’ve owned the school, I have to remind hubbie to pick up plywood for the school and also I’m thinking we should pick up some of the mats and maybe put something down to block any water that may come in through the door.

For home preparation, we need gas for the generator, some more water and bring in all our outdoor furniture/ornaments.  The news says Sunday will be our “Action” day, the day we should put up shutters and prep our outdoor area.

I do not want to wish this storm on anyone and I wish it would just fall apart, but if it had to go somewhere, please not South Florida!!!

Oh and did I mention my dryer stopped drying…… [Read more →]

I love, love, love the summer!  Bring on the heat & the humidity & I’m a VERY happy girl!  The last few weeks here have been very sunny & very warm; TOTALLY my kind of weather!  I’m loving it!  This week’s weather is no exception!  88 & sunny expected everyday!

The Great Minnesota Get Together (aka THE greatest state fair) starts this week!  What great weather I’ll have for my opening day festivities!  Gotta love it!  Food on a stick, warm weather, sun, & a great fashion show put on by my fellow fair goers!  Ahhh…perfection!

So where’s the cruelty you ask?  Well, last week I noticed a “spot” on my eye.  I didn’t wear my contacts for a few days & thought all was well….until yesterday morning when I was about to put in my contacts….now the OTHER eye has two spots!!?!  What the heck?!  Thankfully, I was able to get in to see a specialist yesterday afternoon, who informed me that I have ulcers on my cornea (those are the spots) & that I have two cornea infections! 

Here’s the “eye”rony….when you have cornea infections, you’re VERY sensitive to sunlight!  Noooooooooooooooo….not my sun!!  But yes, indeed, I’m feeling like a vampire because sunlight just makes my eyes water & my nose run!  Even when some lamps are on I cringe just a little bit.  Hopefully things will be back to normal in a week or so.

Until then I’m almost wishing for cloudy days…especially when I go to the Fair.  Never thought I’d hear those words come out of this mouth…the mouth of the girl that loves heat, humidity & the sun!

And that, my friends, is why irony is cruel!

–SAHWannaBe–

Jen

I swear, the best thing I did this spring was get an iPod.  I’m totally loving listening to my Disney podcasts every week!  I listen to a few of them & while some have repeat info, it’s fun to get another’s take on it…plus, some of these people are just so funny to listen to…

Anyway, thought I’d share some of my favorite tidbits from those that I listened to this week….

-If there are any Hannah Montana fans out there (or you know someone who is like my niece), there is a website that allows you to sign up for free Hannah Montana wake up calls!  Apparently the theme is “back to school” so not sure if she says “Hey, wake up almost time for school!” or what, but seems pretty fun.

www.hannahmontanacalls.com

-I’m a HUGE magazine slut!  Can I say that about myself in my own blog post?  Well, I am.  I love shiny, glossy pages, I love looking at photos & yeah, sometimes I even read an article or two.  Well, to fuel my magazine AND Disney loves there is a new magazine coming out that is all about Disney parks & resorts!  I cannot wait to get this new publication!  The first issue will be out in September & they are offering a pre-order special where you can save $5.00 of the subscription rate!

www.celebrationspress.com

-Ticket prices increased & the 2009 dining plans were announced.  It’s always good to be in the know about these things when planning your next Disney World trip!  In addition to the two dining plans that were available in 2008, they are adding another counter service only dining plan.  I think it’s a very good idea for those that love the convenience of having your meals prepaid but don’t want to take time out of their park time for a sit down meal.

-Does anyone remember Escape from Witch Mountain the movie from 1975?  I LOVED that movie.  It probably started my dream of having witching powers!  Anyway, it was announced that next year, Disney is releasing another movie with the same title & it’s not going to be a remake, it’s more of another version of it.  It stars Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson & Carla Gugino…but according to imdb, the original star Kim Richards (I remember her voice most) will also make an appearance in the new movie.  (Side tidbit I learned…Kim is Nicky & Paris Hilton’s aunt…who knew?!)

-My favorite rumor of the week is that some rooms at the Caribbean Beach Resort (CBR) are being redone in a Nemo theme or a Pirates theme.  Both of which I think would be very fun if you are Nemo & Pirates fans!  Not sure how many rooms will be done this way, but they did say that rumor had it that you could book these specific themed rooms starting sometime in 2009.  Wonder if they will plan on doing themed rooms at other resorts?  Perhaps a Stitch themed room at the Polynesian?  Or maybe a Beauty & Beast theme at Port Orleans French Quarter??  Hmmm…maybe I should send my resume in to Disney’s Imagineering….

Again, these were just a few of my favorites I thought others might enjoy.  I love being able to hear other people talk about Disney on my iPod! 

Stay Magical!!

-SAHWannaBe-

Jen