Cleaning.

WARNING: BORING CONTENT BELOW

We are getting company tomorrow. My dad from Ohio. So we have been doing a bunch of cleaning today. Did a ton on the porch. Have like 10 bags of trash to go out this week and some other stuff to go to the garage until we get it hauled.
Now I am working on cleaning out the shelf in our hallway. It has all of our scouting things on it. Leader Guides, Project materials etc. I now have all the books in binders. All the supplies in a container and all the trash in a trash bag. The top shelf is completly empty so I have the camera case up there now. Need to clean off the top of the stand in the living room now where the camera case used to live.
Still have some laundry to finish and need to run the sweeper and mop the floors and then I think thats about it for the cleaning. The bedroom is ready for my dad to sleep in. Hopefull the weather won't get to hot while he is visiting since his bed is in the attic and it gets hot as heck up there. Anyway. Nothing much else to say. Alex is coming out about every 20 minutes to tell me he can't sleep. Its hard when he is going "but mommy.. I can't sleep" but I know it wont be any better to let him stay out here than in his nice comfortable bed.
Alright.. off to watch some DVR while I finish the cleaning and make sure Alex is in bed.

Closing up the fan factory.

Well, at least thats what our house looks like during the summer. We have 15 fans that I can think of running during the summer. It brings a nice breeze through our house for the most part. Unfortunatly the weather has been cold for a few days now and the house is starting to be a bit more chilly than I want it to be.. and it hasnt been getting up to the 80's like it normally does when it is 40-50 at night.. So I closed up the shop so to speak and took all the fans out of the windows and shut down the non window units.. Now lets hope the house warms up some.. cause I am FREEZING!

Updates

This Blog here is actually one of 4 I have had since 2004. The first two. A family blog and a school blog for Alex where hosted on our personal web server. We no longer have the site or the server but I had the blogs saved on my computer. So I just moved over those blogs to this site. They are from 2004-2006. There is a mix of blog postings and pictures under those years. I also moved over the entries I had on my live journal. So if you are bored. You can always go back and read the old posts and see the pictures as well.

Sleep Would Be Nice!

So, it is 2:46am and I would REALLY like to be sleeping. That would REALLY be nice. Unfortunatly, I have a sore throat. On top of that my neighbors have been soooo loud all day and still haven't stopped. Then you add that I can hear the cat out here scratching at my barely 6 month old couch and you can see why life is scheming against me in the sleep department. Unfortunatly, I can't just lay in the bed awake because Jason works at 7am and he needs to get some sleep. I NEED to get some sleep. Alex has school in the morning and I have a meeting at 8:15 at the school for the Q-site committee. But here I am at the computer. Just remembering that I need to find my notebook I use for Q-Site. Also remembering that Alex forgot to study for his spelling test. Which means he has to get up early and study. The good news is, my meeting is at 8:15 and school breakfast doesn't begin until 8:30 so he will have 15 minutes to sit outside the door of the room my meeting is in and study for his spelling test. That will definatly be more helpful than trying to force him to get up early and study.
I would go take a shower right now so that I didnt have to get up even earlier to take one. Unfortunatly it is 40 some degrees out and the windows are open because if the cooler air fills the house overnight then we need less fans during the day to bring down the 80 degrees the temp gets up to during the day. Our bedroom and Alex's room are warm enough at night not to be an issue.. but getting out of the shower with wet hair in a cooold bathroom definatly lacks the plus side of life in my opinion. Oh well, guess I will go lay on the couch and see if I can doze off there. Maybe watch a few of the DVR'ed shows that I know the rest of my family doesn't wish to watch with me. The ones they act like I am torturing them when I watch. Namely anything on the CW. Anything that runs during the day or anything that doesn't involve MMA Fighting or Professional Wrestling.. or Pokemon.

Change.. Bored... Sorry..

I apoligize if you have some strange layout experiences on my blog today. I can't decide what I like and keep changing it til I find something I do like.

PSSA Results

We got the letters from school today telling us what our students individual scores where on the PSSA ( Pennsylvania System of Schools Assessment) Alex's grade ( 3rd last year) tested in two areas. Math and Reading.. and he was soooo worried about them all year that he made himself sick over it..
In the Reading the scoring is as follows
Advanced is 1442 and above
Proficient is 1235-1441
Basic is 1168-1234
Below Basic is 1167 and Below
Alex's reading score was 1367 which is Proficient.
With Assessment Error Margin of 1322-1412.
Which meaning on a diffrent day or enviroment he could have scored up or down to those numbers.. the lowest is still proficient but the highest is Advanced.. and he was only 80 pts away from advanced..

Math Scoring was as follows
Advanced 1370 and above
Proficent 1180-1369
Basic 1044-1179
Below Basic 1043 and Below
Alex's score was 1355 which is proficient
With Margin of Error being 1298-1412. Even before that he was only 15 pts away from Advanced He got 9 out ot 9 in Algabraic Concepts and Data analysis and probability 7out of 9 in Meausurement and Geometry and 27 out of 30 in Numbers and Operations. Which makes the state recommendations of advanced math work in both of the 9 out of 9 categories and continued grade work in theothers as well as in alll the reading sections.. he is soooooo happy.. In Math the entire grade level 3 ( this years grade 4's ) scored 20% over the state proficient level.. Highest in the school

The Trials of Having an Autistic Child!

The one thing I truly dread in the day to day of Alex is when he gets hurt. If its a small insignificant hurt like a bump he can cry and whine for hours. If its a big, important hurt. ( like the time he had cellulitis in his foot.. or stiches in his face) he will just go on like nothing is wrong. Not worrying about or acknowleging the pain. This is the problem I am currently having. On friday he hit his toe HARD at the karate school. Oddly enough not during class but after. His toe was purple the next day when I checked. I told him we would keep and eye on it and it didnt get worse or seem to hurt more than it did the time prior that I checked it. Today though he comes hobbling out of school with his teacher. Seems another student was swinging a chair around and hit Alex in the foot ( not the one with the sore toe) after a while at home he is fine and never said another word. The foot looks fine and he is walking fine on that one. BUT when I go to check the other foot this evening it is more purple than it was and is now swollen and purple down to the joint. I asked him if it hurt more he says no. Then tells me well. It probably looks worse cause when teh kid hit my foot the chair it swung back around and hit the top of my other foot.. OF COURSE.. the one he didnt complain about. So now its swollen and purple and when pressed to be honest he says it does hurt really bad... so I guess we are off to the ER. Will talk to Jason and determine what to do. If we wait til morning no one will get any sleep. And if we go to the DRs office tomorrow it will take 2 days for them to read the results rather than the few hours in the ER.

UPDATE: We are home. Dr took X-rays. No breaks. The tendons are injured but he says it will be ok. Meds and Try hard not to reinjure it this week.

I hate this.

Let me start by saying, I have never been a person to go to the drs for every ache and pain I have. If i smash my toes.. well.. I know they are broken, I know the dr cant do much for it. What is the point in going to the Drs? Same with a sinus infection. Or a cold etc.. I go to the drs when I have no other choice. Like back in January when for some still unknown reason I lost all ability to speak and think straight. But for the most part I just l ive with whatever pain or trials I may have, I know what causes them and just deal with them. I don't need the dr to put a name to what wrong to me to make me feel better or worse.

That being said a few years ago some members of my family where diagnosed with Fibromyalgia then began a constant demands that I go to the dr and be evaluated for it as well. It makes me crazy. I have done the research. I know what Fibro is, I know what the signs and symptoms are. Frankly I know that I have Fibro. So why go to the Drs and pay money to have him tell me what I already know?
Things I already know and have told the most recent dr that I saw. I am miserable and exhausted daily. I don't want to get out of bed during the day and I can't sleep at night. I ache all over almost everyday. I get headaches regularly. I have IBS symptoms that have been there for years that I have learned to just deal with because like all the other problems listed above. If I don't deal with them. I don't have a life. I learned long ago that sitting there wasting away your days complaining about not feeling well just adds to the not feeling well of it all. I was feeling much better for a while when I was taking Hapkido. Unfortunatly gas prices, job changes and regular old life got in the way and I had to stop taking classes in favor of paying the bills with that extra money. It really stinks but again its part of how life is.
This blog is really just a whiny why me blog and I can totally understand if you are annoyed that had you read it. I know no one can fix the things that are bothering me. I just needed to gripe and moan for a little bit.

New Neighbors.

One of the less lovely things about living on the street I do is that the house next to us is a hovel of a rental property. The owner will not let the tenants in the house to do any repairs etc. So during the previous renters long tenacy it fell into massive disrepair. How the house has not been tagged as a code violation is beyond me. As a direct result of the less than desirable house, the crappy landlord and the low rent. We have now had two sets of new neighbors since the beggining of the year..
First Set: Three Kids under 10, 4 adults and tons of trash @@ which they left outside about 4 feet away from our back window for over 3 weeks.. Talk about stench. They finally moved when they had to take the landlord to court because when they where one day late with the rent he changed the locks and through their belongings out into the street.. Fun Fun that was.. They where here a little over 5 months total and played their music all hours of the day sooo loudly that I could hear it clearly at the other side of my house.
Second Set: Moved in over the last few weeks after coming over to clean for the time before that. They are still cleaning..( house couldnt have been THAT bad) and only seem to do it at 2 AM in the morning.. Followed by them pouring the cleaning chemicals into the backyard so the WHOLE street and yard area reek all night long. The front sidewalk is covered with empty ciggarette packages and ciggarette butts. They had yet to introduce themselves to us so we wherent sure of the size of the family. Just that it had a few kids.. As of this evening I know there is AT LEAST 3 adults and 3 children 5 and under living there. How do I know this?? Because the one adult pounced on us when we came home this evening trying to beg for Ciggarettes. Sorry, I dont smoke. Thats why my sidewalk is NOT covered with butts @@ NO, I didn't actually say that.
I don't give them long really. The neighbor behind them is a set in her ways elderly woman who made the long term tenants miserable when they where there.. and the one across the street is much the same.. They are sweet women to the good, quiet, clean, hardworking families on the street.. but when those that have no care for the neighborhood and show it with their trash, their volume and their screaming.. Yes screaming.. at 4 am.. at the kids none the less.. They let them know in big and little ways that they would prefer they move their residency somewhere else.
It really is sad because we would love to have some nice, hard working family with kids live next door that we could be friends with. Alex would love to have a boy his age next door. Doesnt seem likely though. Instead we get 5-6 month tenants with no care for parking places, trash ordinances, noise ordinances or general consideration for their neighbors.

Stomping my Foot

and throwing a fit... No, not Alex. Me.. lol.. My brothers leave for the weekend got cancelled cause of these stupid hurricanes.. Stinks royally and since I can't change it, I guess I will just pout instead. Really stinks. He hasnt been home in several months and when I talked to him a few minutes ago he says it looks like another two months til he has a chance to get home again. I know there are a lot longer times guys have been away from their families. We have been there too. Doesnt change how much it sucks though..

Gonna Try Again

So, Not sure why I am such an Abysmally bad blogger, but alas, I am and there is no denying it.
So, what is currently going on in our lives.
Last week marked the beggining of 4th grade for our house. I can't believe that 4th grade is already here. Its insane. Things are going well so far thanks in large part to a very understanding teacher and the luck of the draw in having a close friend of the family doing her high school community service in the same classroom 1-2 days of the week. Definatly makes for a comfortable, understanding work environment.
Alex is also very busy with learning Martial Arts. He has been taking classes since April of 2007 and in July of this year earned the rank of Jr. Blackbelt. He was very excited and proud of his accomplishment as is the rest of his family. Jason and I also take classes at the school but I am taking a break til finances sort themselves out and Jason is taking a break til his schedule sorts itself out. Hopefully both of us can get back soon as we really enjoy both the classes and the people we take them with.
On the Cub Scout front things have been slow. Alex took the last year off following the loss of an adult scout leader he was VERY close with. It was hard for all of us and especially hard for Alex who considered Mel one of his close friends. That being said we have tried very hard to help him understand that Mel wouldnt want his death to be the reason Alex gave up scoutng and he will be starting back next week. Hopefully he remembers how much he enjoys it.
Also taking up his time currently is a new hobby. Fourth graders are given the oppurtunity to take one year of music lessons at school to see how they like it. Alex has chosen to learn the violin and is very excited about the prospect. He has had one class already and is still head over heels in love with the idea so I take that as a very good sign of things to come. He learns things fast, remembers them and devotes himself. Hopefully the violin will be the same as other things in his life. He will love it.
Some big changes have happend lately in our family as well. The biggest and most important being Jason is no longer a manager at Pizza Hut. Having changed jobs after 8 years at Pizza Hut to take a Managers position with McDonalds. The new job offers more hours, more pay and a better work enviroment. He will miss the people he was close with but knows how to keep in touch. He wont miss the poor hours, low pay and drama. Neither will I.
Now, some pictures.

This first is Alex after we wen to see WWE Summerslam Tour

First Day of 4th Grade