The "IT's"

Have you ever wondered what the top five things tweens and teens say are? I think I have some ideas.

5. The phone is ringing.....(apparently we haven't taught them how to answer the house phone)

4. My room IS clean.....I don't know what that other stuff is (by "stuff" they mean their shoes, clothes, backpacks, pillows, books, basically anything that would need to be picked up and put away)

3. I can't find....(insert anything here because they can't find anything)

2. Do I have any clean.....(again insert anything here because there comes a point where it's hard to determine whether or not their clean let alone their clothes.

and the number one saying for our tween and teen.....

I don't see "IT"!

Now let me clarify "IT". "IT" could be anything that you ask them to get for you or for themselves. Like the milk in the refrigerator or toilet paper for the bathroom or their toothbrush. Today I will be scouring the house for the list of "IT'S" that could not be located this weekend. Apparently you have to have the title of MOMMY to locate the "IT'S". Kinda like having super powers or magic.....The "IT'S" can only be summoned by the MOMMY. So today I will pretend that I am a superhero and use my special powers to find the "IT'S".

I see a superhero costume with the letter "M" on the front, and perhaps an invisible plane in my future!!

One Dark Night

Following is a story that my daughter wrote for a school assignment. I'm pretty proud of my kids and hope that the love of writing stays with them forever! Her work has not been edited or altered in any way and has only been copied with her permission! Hope she doesn't sue me later in life!

I was walking back to my house and I noticed someone following me. I kept thinking about what my mom had told me always keep my head up and looking around, so no one would following me but like any other teenager I don't listen much. So I just kept on walking down the street looking at all the candy that I had gotten from trick or treating that night. My house was just around the corner. Not to far I thought, I thought that I should race myself to the house. On your mark, get set, GO! I dashed off into the darkness thump, thump, on the porch getting ready to go into the house and wait I must be in the wrong house. I walk outside right address. So I walk in again, Mom Dad, are you here I hear a voice in the house Honey I think someone is here! I'll get the door cried a little boy nobody's there cried the little boy. Yes I am can't you see me? The little boy shut the door right in my face. I was so shocked by the way he treated me I closed my eyes and screamed my lungs out, when I opened my eyes I had found myself in my bed in my room it was only a dream. I sighed in relief. I will never admire candy like that ever again.

The End

Now, my daughter is only 11 but I think that it's the cutiest thing that she has warned me already that teenagers don't listen. Now with the right editor I think she could be a hit!!

I believe I see book signings in my daughter's future!!!

What do you know for sure?

Humans are ambitious and rational and proud. And we don't fall in line with people who don't respect us and who we don't believe have our best interests at heart. We are willing to follow leaders, but only to the extent that we believe they call on our best, not our worst.

— As told to Mamie Healey

John Francis, on Silence

After witnessing an oil spill in San Francisco Bay in 1971, Francis thought about how one person can make a difference. His talks with neighbors about his decision to stop using motorized vehicles often turned into arguments. "I decided to give my town a gift of my silence, to not speak for one day," he says. "I started learning things—the first was that I hadn't been listening." He chose to be silent for a year—and then 16 more. In 1982 Francis founded Planetwalk to raise awareness of environmental issues.

When I didn't speak, it allowed a more intimate communication. People let me touch them. I could tap them on the shoulder. I could grab their hand and write a word on their palm. I could physically move them to see something.

Silence is a practice. You don't just think, "Oh, I got it now."

You don't need words to say "I love you." My family and I communicated all the things we needed to when I was silent.

— As told to Jack Otter



Anywhere the struggle is great, the level of ingenuity and inventiveness is high.

We spend most of our lives cutting down our ambitions because the world has told us to think small. Dreams express what your soul is telling you, so as crazy as your dream might seem—even to you—I don't care: You have to let that out.

— As told to Tish Durkin

Tony Bennett, on Other People

I was going through a terrible divorce, and my personal life was a mess. I goofed so bad. That Christmas I was in a hotel room by myself. It was the first time I'd ever spent the holidays away from family. All of a sudden, I heard some music. I opened the door to find one of the greatest surprises of my life: There was a choir singing "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever." My friend Duke Ellington, who happened to be in town for a concert, had heard I was alone. So he sent a choir for me. For years this kindness from Duke lifted up my whole life. It showed me that no matter how bad things seem, there are always people in this world who care about others. That revelation changed my life.


I see a clear day in my future!

A Part of History

WOW!! What a night!! Regardless of who you voted for (and please don't continue reading if you didn't vote for that is just WRONG! Unless you're not of legal age!) it was history in the making!!

I wondered as the night wore on what it must have felt like to hear JFK or Martin Luther King. Do you stop and realize that no matter what your politics.......history is being made. These are the moments that will be written and talked about.

Obama told a crowd of more than 100,000 in Chicago’s Grant Park. “Even as we celebrate tonight we know that the challenges tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime: two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century,”

Calling Obama "my president," McCain vowed to work with him to help repair a nation facing profound challenges at home and abroad.

"These are difficult times for our country, and I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face," McCain said.

After booing Obama's name and offering a few jeers, the crowd came to recognize the history in the evening when McCain paid tribute to the nation's first black president by recalling his own favorite commander-in-chief.

"A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters," McCain recalled. "America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States."

These are the moments that you remember where you were when you heard that U.S. President Elect Senator Barack Obama would be our 44th President.

I watched with my 14 year old son and my 11 year old daughter and asked them how they felt about what they were hearing and how they thought they would have voted. I asked if they understood the significance of the moment regardless of who won.

My daughter said "Like when 9-11 happened?"

My son said "I was in school when that happened."

As I listened to their conversation that continued about 9-11, I thought, wow... two of the people that I love the most do get it.

And I realized that I was watching history being made.....my history....the moment that my children would talk about to their children.

Yep what a night!

This morning Bush called Obama's win an "impressive victory" and said it represented strides "toward a more perfect Union." He said the choice of Obama was "a triumph of the American story, a testament to hard work, optimism and faith in the enduring promise of our nation."

I see change in our country's future!

Presidential Election 08

So it's finally arrived!! All I can say is "Please get out and Vote!" Exercise your rights! My saintly husband and I voted early this morning and were not at all surprised to find the line wrapped around the building and a traffic jam that would put the playoffs to shame! It was a welcome sight!!!

We hope that this is the scene for every polling place today!!