....the incomplete is clearly more beautiful than the perfect. A deeper beauty in the blemished than in the unblemished So many of us go crazy trying to make everything perfect and it is OK when it is not. The incomplete use to drive me crazy also. I needed to start something and get it done perfect now. I use to struggle with that alot and learned to be a little more patient. Sometimes it does work tho. I like to take time to sit outside and read a magazine or book or even to take time to watch the birds. Before I use to go out and think about all the weeds that I need to tend to, or the grass will need to be mowed in a few days. I now can sit out there and just be in the moment. That took a lot of practice and sometimes I can still feel myself struggling with it.

Last summer, as my oldest was coming into his sophomore year, I convinced him to try honors lit. He had required reading, 3 novels to complete before school started, quizzes on them week one. I felt bad for him, reading Jane Eyre is not how most 15 y/o boys want to spend their summer. ;o) So I said I'd pay him 3 cents/page. Which earned him $10-15 for each novel. His brother, then 11, thought that sounded like a good deal. So I made him the same deal and he also read about 3 books, but shorter. I do not pay my kids allowance for chores, so this deal was especially sweet to them. If you don't want to do money, you could do points. In the Accelerated Reader system so many schools use, each book is worth points. The last school my kids went to had an "Accelerated Reader Store." Kids could spend their earned AR points on cool school supplies, small toys, trading cards- a lot of stuff donated. You could trade points for privileges. Maybe 60 minutes reading (or points/pages) earns an extra 30 mins of gaming/TV time. My 12 y/o needs motivation/reward to read. Even it that's a grade. He knows he is required to pretty much always be reading during the school year. He has to turn in reading response homework and take AR quizzes. So he does what he has to do, he does want the grade. I don't pay during the school year. Unless there is a book *I* want him to read, something of more literary quality than he might choose on his own. Even his reading teacher this year said she will offer rewards for kids who read books from the classics or Newbery prize lists. My 12 y/o loved the Eragon series. Those were challenging at the time he read them, and long. We borrowed them on CD and he followed sometimes. He loves to listen to books on CD. If I download them to my iPod, he will listen in the car or while waiting for siblings practices. (I found out our library has a selection that can be downloaded free and used for 3 weeks before they expire.) I do not see that as cheating, following along with the text while listening. And when it's for pleasure, just listening. My DS has a huge verbal vocabulary. His teachers who know that reading/writing is struggle for him are amazed b/c he uses higher level vocabulary in conversation than they expect him to have based on his reading. But he will not recognize half those big words on the page. That frustrates him. It confounds me, too, when he brings me the books, "What's this word?" b/c I've heard him use the word, correctly, for years! But when he follows along with the CD, he gets so much more of the vocabulary, it's very instructive. He is also just a verbal learner. He can read a story on his own and recall next to nothing. But if he hears it, he knows every detail. So this combination makes sense for him. My 9 y/o DD, sheesh, I'd have to pay her NOT to read! A "special treat" for her is a trip with me to the library or, better yet, bookstore! I hope her interests stays this strong. I just gave my DS 39 Clues, a mystery series that comes with cards with passwords to go online to supplement the mystery solving in the story. I don't know how it is yet, I literally gave it to him as walked out the door to school this a.m. and I have not read it yet myself. But I think it's an interesting idea, especially for less willing readers who do like computers (is there a kid who doesn't?). The school librarian has recommended a series called The Olympians, by Rick Riordan. The first one is called The Lightning Thief. Children of Olympic gods/goddesses are alive and living normal lives today, except they have to save the world. This appeals to me b/c of the allusions to classic mythology, a very good thing to be familiar with. Yet I'm told kids love the books b/c they are witty. Actually, classic mythology is in our school's reading curriculum in middle school, so it gets bonus points for me. Myself, I love the kids books by Carl Hiaasen, Hoot, Flush and the latest, Scat. I think they are hilarious! The misfit kids discover the "bad guys" plotting a crime against the environment and break a few small rules to prove it (like skip school, sneak out). It always ends well, lessons learned by all, and the bad guys especially get some punishment. The best irony! But be warned, parents who expect really clean books for their kids, there are some 4-letter words and misbehavior. It does not bother me b/c I think the books are too much fun to read, and it does work out well in the end. Also, they are excellent ways to talk about character development, descriptive settings, irony, foreshadowing, and more, on a kids' level. They are great to read together and talk about, there are good topics for discussion and humor to just enjoy together. Jerry Spinelli, another really good author to know for middle grade readers. Kids love him, topics they can relate to, funny, and not usually too long. But look at the summary, b/c of the topics, some books are for more mature readers than others. Some are great for 4th grade, some better for 8th grade. Remember kids really do learn a lot from reading fiction. Not just vocabulary and spelling. But they pick up great information (like the mythology stuff, or in Hiassen's books, geographic details about the environment) that they will store away in their minds. What they learn from good fiction will help them across the curriculum. (Yes, I'm a middle school reading teacher, I'm just not working these days.)

The only way Chili's has your addresses is if you (or someone) gave them to them. If it's a legitimate Chili's email you're perfectly safe to use their unsubscribe link. But I'm not sure it's actually coming from Chili's from the limited description given. Hijacked address lists and such are usually from people who refuse to secure their computers and it makes it tougher for everyone else. This is why I quit using any email account but the freebie webmails (unless of course for work accounts). Then it's a simple matter to close it and set up a new one when people expose me to the hassles. Computers, like cars and, well, people for that matter, require some basic maintenance and protection. Spammers are getting creative and make things look legitimate and people get fooled easily, which the scammers and spammers count on to profit. People buy or just plain send money to them. It's profitable, which is why they do it. If nobody sent them money, they wouldn't bother. Plus when people forward everything, they're asking for trouble. They give a list of addresses without using bcc and not only expose themselves but everyone in the list. Then a bunch of those people hit the forward button too, refuse to use bcc and expose that many more, and so on and so on. The forward button is the cause of a lot of problems for a lot of people. I seldom even open forwarded emails, especially from certain people. Some are only sending dumb jokes I've heard before, "warnings" that are hoaxes and political rhetoric and false anyway or are silly chain emails purporting that if you love God, you'll spam everyone you know plus 100 people.... If people can't take ten seconds to set up a new email, bcc it and clean off the extraneous characters they're rude and inconsiderate and I don't care to try to decipher the email >>>>>though ::>>:all >>>the >>>>>garbage. Are you running a good firewall? Have you run antivirus *and* anti-malware programs lately? Secured your browser? Now's a good time to do it if you haven't. Most will run in the background and many can be set up to run automatically so effort is minimal.

Gosh Ya'll are GOOD!! I love the Christmas background..but since this gift is to be displayed year 'round, I don't think the Christmas-y look will work!! Really chaps me that's it's rainy/wet today. I'd planned on working on these blocks, but I can't spray the sealer on the pictures when it's damp..or it'll never dry!:(