Brief Hiatus

Hey there,


Sorry about the 15 days' hiatus, I've been busy! First of all, we got a new puppy! I saw a post on the "freecycle" website in my town. A lady was giving away a 6 months old black lab.

We wanted a puppy eventually, but I was planning on getting one in the spring. I talked to a friend of mine at Gallaudet, who got a new puppy last summer, about training him to use the bathroom, etc. She told me that she had to watch him very closely, and take him out every 45 minutes, then every one hour and continue to add to the time as he was able to hold it in longer. When I learned that I would have to do the same thing in the beginning, I decided to wait till spring time so that I wouldn't have to take the puppy out so often in the cold weather.

Well...guess what, I am going outside every hour now and it's pretty cold up here! Today was actually warm for me at 37 degrees with snow on the ground. Several days ago, it was at 18 degrees with wind chill making it feel like zero degrees. I did not like going out every hour during those days, but I had to! It also has been snowing for few days but not today, the snow is still on the ground. Abby have already sled in our backyard for 3 days straight. She LOVES it. The puppy loves being outside in the snow! She's so wild, running around and eating snow. Labs are originally from Canada which is what I just learned recently from another friend of mine.

I knew that I had to get her because labs are known to be the best kind of dogs for families with kids. I used to babysit for a family who had a black lab and she was so wonderful! I've known her for 6 years, and she never barked, growled, or bitten anyone. When Abby was a baby, she crawled over the dog's whole body while she was sleeping but she didn't care. Then when Abby was learning to walk, she accidently stepped on the dog's tail, her head would pop up to see what was happening but then just get up and move to another place to sleep!

Now I am noticing the something about our new puppy! She likes to follow me EVERYWHERE and I feel bad for her when I'm in my cleaning frenzy bceause I'm going back and forth all over the house, 2 story plus the basement. I have 2 bedrooms, an office, game room which is also our homeschooling room, living room, kitchen, the hallway/foyer and I have to count that one because it gets messy with all the gloves, boots, and whatever I dump there when I come in the house like mail, etc., basement, laundry room, and the guest room.

The guest room used to be simple with a bed and a futon but now it's our "dumping" room because our puppy likes to CHEW! Everything that she will chew, we have to throw them in the guest room to keep them out of her reach.

She likes to chew cardboard, stuffed animals, plastic toys, shoes, our 2 rugs, wood, pencils, pens, crayons, basically anything that she's forbidden to chew,...she wants them! Our guest room is now filling up with all these things listed above!

I already bought her 2 KONG toys which are supposed to be something that dogs can't destroy. I read the reviews on those toys and many dog owners raved on how wonderful they were because they lasted long, their dogs spent hours chewing on them, and so on. Guess what, our puppy doesn't chew on them for hours, only for 10 minutes! She also have many toys like rope to play tug-a-war with us, balls to fetch, a bone to chew on but she's interested in it only for a short time, few others, and squeaky toys too.

She's really cute, she loves to play alot so we go to the basement and she runs around playing fetch with us. She is just a big baby! I am unable to upload pictures. Something is wrong with the features on this blog!!!

On another note, I'm homeschooling Abby and preparing her for the test coming up in April. In the state of WV, the law for homeschooling is to inform the school board with a letter (notice of intent) in the beginning of the school year. Then on June 30th, we are required to provide test scores, or a portfolio summary for the school board. Originally I wanted to do a portfolio but I haven't found a certified teacher to review Abby's school work. So I went ahead and paid for the test which costs $35.00.

During this process, I learned that there are 75 kids in our county who are being homeschooled. I thought that was a big number for this little town! Especially since I haven't met very many homeschooling families. There are only 10 kids in Abby's PE class that meets once a week. Last semester, there were 18 kids but some of those kids commuted from Pittsburgh or nearby areas, not from our town.

I think I am more nervous about the test than Abby is! I explained to her about taking a test, and she said "Mommy, that's fine. It will be easy, I will do just fine." That's a great positive attitude!

I better get going, I am planning on painting a portion of our living room wall with a special paint that will make it turn into a chalk blackboard. I am looking forward to using it for homeschooling on school days. Then whenever my nephew and niece, or friends' little kids comes over, they can play with chalks on that wall!

Keep warm!

P.S. please excuse my misspellings because the spellcheck is not working!

PepsiCo's deaf commercial will air on Sunday superbowl!

I am thrilled to tell you that there will be a commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday that will show two deaf men communicating with each other in ASL! What is even better, they will show one of the deaf community's well-known jokes! I think that it's great they will be bringing awareness to the deaf culture in a positive light.

Check out the link below, CNN wrote a report on this commercial out of ten commercials that they chose to make reports on.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0801/gallery.super_bowl/8.html

New Challenge

Hi there,

I can't believe it's already the end of Jan. I feel like Feb. crept up on me!

This morning, I read a post on a homeschooling yahoo group and somebody said something about a challenge where you commit to making something a day. Anything. Knit, crochet, draw, bake, cook, craft, painting, or whatever. I went and checked it out, and it sounds like fun. The only requirement is that you make something, and you document it on their site. The best part about it is that it doesn't have to be big, they said just spend 20 minutes on it, no more than an hour. Tonight is the last day to register, by midnight.

Considering my struggles with sticking to something as a commitment...I thought I'd take up the challenge. It's only 29 days, the shortest month of the year! It'll help me tap into my creative mind (eventually) but I will start with ideas from the magazine that my brother gave me for Christmas as a subscription. It's called "Family Fun", and it's always filled with simple crafts and fun food to make with your kids. On the days I feel like cooking, I'll try out new recipes from my "Cooking for 2" magazine.

http://www.thing-a-day.com/

I'll probably post some of our creations on this blog. I wonder what we'll make tomorrow!

Dinner at my house

My brother (Anthony) and his girlfriend (Lara) came to visit WV! They stayed at our place for 2 nights, then flew back home to Boston. My sister's family came over, and a couple of friends. I think it was my first time to cook for 10 people! I actually had fun cooking up a storm! Then we had cake and ice cream for dessert. We really enjoyed having Anthony and Lara here with us, so it was a great week with bunches of people around all the times!

Abby and Uncle Anthony chatting

My turn to catch up with my bro!
Tara waiting for dinner by playing w/ puzzles
Anthony and Lara listening to Mark. See the clock on the table? It sings a bird tune at every hour. Anthony got that for me for Christmas, it's a long story about why he gave it to me. I loved it! He put it up on the wall for me with all of the ladies' help on making sure it's centered and all that, ha. Fierce cat in action!
Kade playing w/ his daddy. My sis in background.

family & friends
My nephew & niece! Kade, 3 and Tara, almost 2