Daddy + Trampoline = Fun

Sometimes It Gets Cold In Florida

Cold enough to break out with the coats, gloves and hats!!!

Sometimes you need a warm hug from big sister to get the chill out of your bones. :-)

45 Things I've Learned in 45 Years

*~~ Today is my birthday and I'm 45 years old. ~~*

I've always enjoyed gaining another year under my belt. Even the supposed hard ones, like turning 30 or 40, were welcomed with open arms. I wore each year proudly, almost like a badge of honor.

This is the first year that it's difficult, but not because of the number 45. Difficult because it's my first time having a birthday without my mother here with me. (Actually, it's my first birthday without either of my parents, my father passed away 20 years ago).

Throughout my life, my mother & I always had a very strong and close connection. She was my mother and my friend and I miss her so much. I always shared my birthday with her because it was "our" day. I was what they considered a high risk pregnancy and she spent a lot of time in the hospital. I would buy flowers for her on my birthday, as a thank you for having me. This year I'll buy them and place them near her urn. I think that'll make me feel better than not buying them at all.

I've learned some valuable lessons so far and I look forward to learning more in the next 45 years. :-)

45 things I've learned in the first 45 years of my life.

1. Time may heal most wounds, but not all.
2. Love is not always the answer
3. Life is what you make it.
4. Real friends come through for you when you need them the most.
5. The public school system in this country sucks and is getting worse every day.
6. Unschooling rocks!
7. Hurt people hurt others.
8. We are all connected
9. Religion does more to seperate people than bring them together.
10. Hard rock is best served LOUD.
11. Biology doesn't make a family.
12. Chocolate does make things better
13. My mother was right when she said "This too shall pass"
14. People may try to hang their baggage on you...don't let them.
15. When people come together, in the wake of a tragedy, it's a beautiful thing to be part of. (RIP to all the souls killed on September 11, 2001)
16. Change is growth
17. Dogs are great friends
18. Don't listen to the attendant - lift those hands up when you're on a roller coaster!
19. Al Sharpton truly is a jackass.
20. There are times in our life when we just have to move on.
21. Always, always listen to your gut instinct.
22. Take responsibility for what you say
23. Take responsibility for your actions.
24. Sometimes revenge feels good
25. It's a good idea to take a deep breathe before saying something you might regret
26. Some people come in to your life for a short time but you remember them forever.
27. Never gossip about someone in a public restroom.
28. Doctors do not always know what their talking about.
29. DCF/CPS/DSS does not always have the best interest of the child at heart.
30. Learning is everywhere
31. Being the white parent of two brown skinned children, I've found racism in places I wouldn't expect.
32. I am a REAL parent. If you ask me where my kids real parents are, I'm going to slap you.
33. My kids are my REAL kids. If you ask me why I don't have kids "of my own", I'm going to slap you again.
34. People who say #32 and #33 are misinformed about adoption and have no idea what they're talking about.
35. I've never been mainstream or traditional
36. I have met some really cool people through the internet.
37. Being gay is not a sin.
38. New York City is the best place on earth
39. My husband will always be a 16 year old at heart
40. Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission
41. Just because you've always done something a certain way, doesn't mean it's the right way
42. If I don't write it down, I'll forget it.
43. Animals deserve to be treated with respect
44. I feel at home in a book store
45. Life is short - make the most of it

Oh My God: Girl Scouts And Religion

If you read this blog with any frequency, you know that both of my daughters really enjoy Girl Scouts. As a matter of fact, Jacqueline (my youngest, pictured below) is a five year girl scout, starting when she was a daisy, she's now a junior.

One thing I appreciate about the Girl Scouts is they don't affiliate themselves with any one religion. Although the word god is in their promise, their policy is "Since the Girl Scout organization makes no attempt to interpret or define the word 'God' but encourages members to establish for themselves the nature of their spiritual beliefs, it is the policy of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. that individuals when making the Girl Scout Promise may substitute wording appropriate to their own spiritual beliefs for the word 'God'."

They go on to say "The Girl Scout organization does not endorse or promote any particular philosophy or religious belief. Our movement is secular and is founded on American democratic principles, one of which is freedom of religion".

Jacqueline and Shawna attended summer camp with the girl scouts this past July and had a really great time. A couple of weeks ago, we were discussing camp for this coming year and Jacqueline told me something she had forgotten about from this past camp.

It seems that Jacqueline, while talking to some of the girls, exclaimed "Oh my god" to something that was said. So what's the problem you may wonder. Nothing, as far as I can see. Except one of the camp leaders didn't approve.

Let me share my letter to our local Girl Scout Council about this matter.

My two daughters are both long time girls scouts who are very active within their community. My nine year old is a five year scout, starting when she was a daisy and is now a junior girl scout.

I sent both of them to the summer camp past summer where they both had a great time. Recently, while talking about her experience, my youngest informed me of a situation that came up that I wasn't aware of before.

It seems that while in a conversation with some of the other girls, my daughter exclaimed "oh my god" to something that was said. The camp leader told my daughter she wasn't allowed to say that, corrected her in front of everybody and told her from now on she's to say "oh my gosh".

I explained to my daughter that she was not wrong and the leader had no right to correct and censor her. I told her that saying "oh my god" is a matter of personal and religious preference and that the leader had no right to expect her to believe in the same thing as her. I told her to speak up if that ever happened again and not to be afraid to disagree when she feels someone is imposing their religious views on her. We talked about how there is no one right way for everyone and that the leader should have known that.

I feel that the camp leader forced her own religious beliefs on my daughter by censoring and correcting her. Those are her own personal beliefs and not beliefs held by my family. Personally, I wonder of she would have done that to me, as another adult but I doubt it. Will this be a problem for this years camp? Are camp leaders going to impose their own personal religious views on my children?

And the reply I got.

Hi Joanne,
I received your email regarding your concern for your daughter and her camp experience from last summer. I appreciate you bringing your concerns to me and I am sorry that your daughter was just now able to share her experience with you. You are correct in your information that you shared about having the right to have her own personal religious beliefs. I appreciate the lesson you shared with her regarding this topic and encouraging her to speak up when a situation like this happens. Particularly if the information is being shared by adults in a impressionable role like a camp counselor or a leader volunteering for Girl Scouts. It is important that all our beliefs are respected. I am really sorry that your daughter had a negative experience. The issue is a training issue with my staff and though I cannot promise that a situation like that will not come up again, I can assure you that the staff will have training on this subject area and will be expected to adhere to the policies of Girl Scouts. I do hope that your daughter attends camp again this summer. If I can assist you in anyway in the future please do not hesitate to let me know. Thank you again for bringing this to my attention.

I'm satisfied with their reply and we looked upon this whole situation as a learning experience. My girls and I had several interesting discussions because of this on topics such as censorship, religion, tolerance and authority. I want my daughters to understand that just because someone is an adult who may be in a position of authority (coach, troop leader, etc), that doesn't mean that everything they say or do is correct and to be followed. It's also important to me to be a role model for my children and by standing up for what I believe in.

Because my children spent a long time in foster care before we adopted them, they had been raised to listen to and not question adults. While some parents may want this type of behavior, I don't want them to blindly follow what someone tells them, just because that person happens to be an adult.

girlscouts
girl scouts

Thanksgiving Update

I made it.

The first major holiday without my mom.

*sigh*

I think this was just the warm up for Christmas. lol

So the eight of us went out to eat (see post below) and that was nice. The food was good and the owners were Italian and from, where else? Brooklyn!! I tell ya...we're taking over Florida!! LOL I meet more New Yorkers here In Florida than when I lived in New York. lol

So after that, we all went back to my house for a friendly (10/20 cents bet) game of poker and more eating while my kids watched one of their favorite movies National Treasure. They're so psyched for Book Of Secrets to come out next month!

I also want to post some pictures of a couple of projects that Billy & I finally completed using things that belonged to my mother but my daughters and I are on our way to the gym to work off yesterdays meal so I'll do it later. :-) Have a great day!

You know you want to.

I'm going to sit next to mom and maybe if I stare at her long enough, she'll give me a treat (even though I've had three already).
You know you want to mom.
Look how cute I am!

Getting Dressed Up

During our recent trip back home to Brooklyn, we attended a 50th wedding anniversary for my aunt (my mother's youngest sister) and uncle. It was a fabulous party for two people that are just as much in love now, as they were on their wedding day. :-)

These are some pictures that we took after we got dressed (we're in the condo that we rented for that week. We sold our house in Brooklyn a couple of years ago). I love that Jacqueline has the heavy metal horns up. LOL

It was a very emotional party for me but I'm glad I went. I know it meant a lot to my aunt to have us there and watching my daughters shine on the dance floor was beautiful.

Someone there asked me about the "s" word (you unschoolers know what I mean). My poor daughters...they just don't know how to interact with others without the public school system to teach them.

As I said in my post on unschooling and socialization, I laugh on the inside when someone asks me that.

Really...I do. :-)

Rollerblading

Billy and the girls went rollerblading a couple of weeks ago and I snapped a few pictures of them as then left, and then again as they came home. This sure beats gym class in school. LOL

Daddy to the rescue. :-)

Halloween 2007

I just realised I hadn't shared any pictures from Halloween. I posted some on Forever Parents, but not here so here's a few of Jacqueline and Shawna.

Soccer

Shawna & Jacqueline just finished their first season of soccer and they gave it a two thumbs up. :-) It's starting up again next month but we'll skip that one and start again in April.



(that's Jacqueline's two coaches in the photo)

Buddie...on the move

We recently went away for a few days to celebrate our 4th adoption anniversary and although I actually do have photos of us humans to share, I wanted to first post this video of our iguana Buddie (yes, we took our iguana...and two dogs on vacation with us!).

As you can see, she was shedding her skin. Unlike snakes, they don't peel all at once and that week it was her head, which is very annoying for her.

Time at Brooklyn Lake

A couple of weeks after my mom passed away we rented a lake front house about an hour from where we live so we could clear our heads and just spend some quiet time together. here are some of the photos we took during that week.

Me near the lake:

Billy:


There were grapevines all over the property and Shawna & Jacqueline spent HOURS collecting them and making all kinds of potions and concoctions with them.

Billy practicing his golf:


Jacqueline and Shawna on the lake. Jacqueline is getting ready to jump and wanted me to take her picture as she did it.

Ready...

Set...

JUMP!!



Climbing trees (Jacqueline):


Shawna in the tree:


Billy joins in.


Jacqueline bought along the laptop so she could work on the third installment in her Princess Barbie story. She already had the first part published in Connections, an unschooling ezine.


Ironically....the lake we stayed on was called Lake Brooklyn. For Brooklynites like us, (now living in Florida) it was a nice surprise.

...and the house we rented was on Brooklyn Bay Road:

NaBloPoMo

I decided to join NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) this year. I wanted to do it last year but found out about it to late. It's a challenge to post something to your blog everyday for the month of November and was inspired by NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) whose challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

So...I started yesterday with Unschooling Voices #10 (Hello to those who are here for the first time!) and here's a post for today, so looks like I'm off to a great start. LOL My family & I are going away for a few days but we're taking the laptop so I'll be around. :-)

Here's where we're going. We're staying there to celebrate our 4 year adoption anniversary! Unfortunately, Cimion won't be there (he doesn't come home until next week-more about that another time) so it's just the four of us.

Plane Ride

Our recent trip back home to NYC for my mothers memorial service (we moved to Florida in '02) was my daughters first time on an airplane. My husband & I have flown many times and don't think it's a big deal anymore, but seeing it through their eyes was great!

We flew out of Orlando....Jacqueline & Shawna in the airport waiting to board.

Billy took this picture of us on the plane:


Jacqueline took this picture.

Coming back to Florida, we flew out of JFK (always an experience in itself-lol)

Waiting for boarding to be called...Billy playing on the laptop and Jacqueline reading over the material we got on our trip to the United Nations.


Billy took this picture of two tired girls and one very awake one. lol


Shawna took this from her seat:

I just realised from posting these that Shawna wore her Girl Scout shirt both flights. lol

Not-Back-To-School-Pool Party '07

On August 20, we hosted the 3rd annual Not-Back-To-School Pool Party at our home. I wasn't sure if I wanted to have it this year because it was so soon after my mother passed away (I hate typing that-it always stops me for a minute). After going back & forth, I decided to have it. My family was fine with whatever was going to make me feel better and they would go along with what I decided.

We had a bunch of local homeschooers/unschoolers (our local homeschool group is a mix of everything-lol) over for a day of swimming, playstation, eating, hanging out, playing, talking and having fun.

Greenwich Village ~ NYC

Here's more pictures of our recent trip home to New York City. We made a stop at my favorite place in NYC....Greenich Village. :-) I worked and hung out there for many years and to me, it's just the coolest place in the city. (Dive) bars, (hole-in-the-wall) clubs, CBGB's, Rocky Horror, punk rock stores.

I was so happy to see my favorite clothing store Trash & Vaudeville was still open! I had to take my girls in there! Actually, Shawna got a little scared and had to leave. LOL She stayed outside with Billy and out friend Vito, who hung out with us for the day.

Over the last few months, Jacqueline (my newly nine year old) has been very interested in my pre-mommy fashion days and we've talked a lot lately about mohawks, multi-colored hair, motercycle jackets, black nailpolish (ah! those were the days!). Anyway, she's been dipping her toe in the hard rock pool a lot lately and decided to buy a "punk rock skirt". One of those short, pleated, plaid mini skirts. She had brought her own money and had enough for the $35 skirt.

First of all-I was so estatic that one of my daughters wanted to buy something at a store that almost 100% of my wardrobe had been bought from when I was younger. So because of that, I did what any punk rock mother would do.

I bought it for her. :-)

Here's my girls with the shirt, Shawna's holding it before she ran out.

Jacqueline & I outside the store, with her wearing the skirt. She's also wearing the black fishnet fingerless gloves she bought.

Yes, I'm a proud mama. :-)

We also went to Washington Square Park, which has a lot of cool history. There's always something going on there and we hung out and listened to some musicians. That's Jacqueline putting a dollar in the case.


Billy & Vito in the park.



It was a really nice day. :-)