Thank heavens I left New Jersey. They start out with the most liberal governor you can get (who bought his way into his position) and now they are doing the typical "I know what's best for you" form of government. This guy is far from what I would trust to make such major decision about my family and I.

A few months ago they added a laundry list of new immunizations to the list of those already required before your child can attend school. Now they are pushing new legislation to require HIV testing for all mothers and newborns.

I am not against immunizations--well, most of them. I had my children protected against the major illnesses DPT, Polio, HIB...but I drew the line with that lousy varicella vaccine. My children each had the chicken pox, they have natural antibodies. My niece has missed school twice with forms of chicken pox--and she had the shot. She also was more miserable with one of the strains than any of my children were with full blown chicken pox. I am drifting off....

What gets me is that the people in New Jersey are just letting all of this legislation happen. Why are they allowing this to be forced down their throats. It would be nice if the general populations would stand up and say, "enough already!!" New Jerseyans need to take back control of their lives. I hope things change soon, my family there shouldn't be pushed around like this.

very sad

Greed makes you loose football games...and the Pats should have gone down tonight :(

Hmm...this is interesting.

I don't know if I agree with all of this. It sounds so sweet and nice and well, I don't know if I agree with all of that. I know I would go out of my way for anyone--even someone who treats me like sh*t if I knew they really were in a bad way. It's the way I am, but I don't forget when I am treated badly, and it takes a lot for me to forgive. (G*d knows, we have had many discussions about this flaw of mine.)

On the eve of Thanksgiving, I can't help but look back and think of all that I am thankful for. Alto2 tagged me to describe myself through the alphabet--ugh, me??? Anyway, I will do it, I promise. However, I am working on a take off of that for tomorrow. (I know you can think of it yourself with that little hint, can't you??

It's been a tough month--finally being released from the doctor after surgery. The follow up was a lot more stressful than the actual preparation. Then I was lucky enough to have parent conferences with the parents of all of my students. (That went better than I thought it would--I only had a few parents who were unhappy that I didn't wait until next summer for surgery.) It ended with the announcement of scores for National Board Certification. My scores were what I expected. The one portfolio that I expected to re-write is the only one that scored where I expected it to. The good part was it was also the only portfolio that scored low enough to be eligible to attempt to re-write it. I will bank all of the other scores for next year. All in all, I know I am an accomplished and successful teacher...but it would have been nice to have this behind me.

This week has been a nice relaxing one, for the most part, and tomorrow I will spend the day with my husband and the kids celebrating all that we are thankful for. I pray you all will be with those you love physically or in spirit. Know you all are loved very much!

Crafty find

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I have been spending the week trying to figure out what I can make for holiday gifts for my co-workers and family members. I like hand made when I have the time--and energy.

Yesterday I found a new ceramics shop about 2 1/2 miles from my home. I love it! I haven't painted ceramics in years--I first started painting when I was expecting ES as I was making everything for his nursery (bedding, etc. ) and I wanted a lamp in his room.

So, today I found these really nice candle holders that look like a ring of holly. ES was with me and had to indulge my looking when all of a sudden he exclaims from across the store- "Mom! Look...you made this for grandma and grandpa--but I think yours looked nicer." Oops, son, didn't I teach you to hold your personal comments for when you weren't within ear shot of others? I do agree with him though :).

If these go well, I am going to make the dragon fly baby for my new niece--due to arrive in the world the end of January. I may also make the butterflies :). Keep watching, if I get these done and they look nice, maybe I will post a picture.

What kind of person is excited by this?

Most of you probably don't know that I can sew. My mother taught me to sew on her sewing machine when I was 6 years old. I now enjoy sewing for relaxation.

This is a store I walked in to in Herrenberg (Germany) and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. If you haven't figured it out yet, those are buttons. Well, tubes of buttons with a sample of what is in the tube attached to the top of it. There were buttons of every size, shape and color. I couldn't decide which ones to buy and I never got the chance to go back and look again. Next time I am there I intend to get some. I have never seen so many different buttons in any one place. Oh, the other side of the store was just as exciting, it had zippers . Not just one or two, look at them! The funny part was the store didn't have any fabric in it, just notions. I think next time I go I will have to take patterns along. There were also decorative stitchery edging also.

I should have known that I wouldn't be able to blog every day of the month. I got home last night from soccer only to find that my internet service was "out". It just was repaired about 30 minutes ago. Grrr. Oh well, I am still going to stay with it--I need to ket my mind back into the groove of writing for me:).