New Post on Life W Hashi

Check out the new post on Life With Hashi. Feel free to leave a comment on the post. I would love to hear what you all think.

FF 55 Untitled #6

She disrobed and saw a pair of eyes staring at her. It made her more aware of her body.

It’s not like she hadn’t been here before.

She hoped the outcome would be different.

It was time to face the truth.

No pounds lost.

“Damned scale!” she said as she tossed it into the trash.

Flash Friday 55 is brought to you by the G-Man. If you feel like participating, just stop by his place and let him know that you've posted.

Dream Car

Some people want this as their dream car...



Or this....
Maybe even this (though I really don't know why)....


But my dream car? It's this......




With plenty of gadgets baby!!


It's all about practicality with me. I know a lot of people are getting away from vans because they are 'deemed' uncool, but when you've got a gaggle of kids that are involved in many activities who need to get to and fro and you take family vacations, I think this is far better than being cramped in a tiny car or not-so-roomy truck. With any luck, I'll have one of these by the end of the year.

Help, me! I'm Melting.........

My daughter had a baseball game yesterday at 3:30 in the afternoon. See how strong the sun is?



This is me before, during, and after assistant coaching the game:

Yeah, it was FREAKING hot outside! 103 mother bleeping degrees. Of course we lost again, and we called the game after the 4th inning because of the 10-run rule plus the heat.

P.S. Please forgive my crude paint shop art. I'm really not good with that thing. LOL

FF 55 Untitled #5

You loved him.
You bore his children.
You thought you had the perfect life.
Then he left.
In the long run, maybe it was a good thing.
There were days when you felt bad that you let your kids down.
Then there’s today, where you feel like he is sucking the life out of you.

Flash Friday 55 is brought to you by the G-Man. If you feel like participating, just stop by his place and let him know that you've posted.

Update: This sad tale probably would have been me long ago when my ex and I first separated. I want you to know this isn't really about me now. I have been married to my current husband for almost 4 years. I think that some legal things with my ex help to 'inspire' this. I have spent a LOT of money on attorneys in the last 5-6 years. LOL I appreciate all your wonderful supportive comments. I really could have used these kind of words back when I was getting divorced. xoxo

My Brain Uncramped For Another Minute.....

Sadly I can't remember what exactly I was going to post about. When it comes back to me, I'll have a somewhat half intelligent post. Now here's hoping it uncramps for tomorrow's 55. I'm thinking 'uncramp' is not a proper word, but it sounds good to me anyway.

My Brain Has Uncramped For Just A Minute....

Yesterday I saw an article that said foreclosures in Nevada will affect as many as 40,000 kids academically. I knew I had to read it. My son once said that the best thing that his sisters have going for them here in California are the schools.

I lived in Clark County area of Nevada which is basically Las Vegas, Henderson, and I believe Boulder City, North Las Vegas, Mesquite and some other census-designated places. This area is larger than the state of New Jersey. Vegas itself is a lot bigger than most people realize. Schools are being constantly built because of the amount of people who have moved their over the years. They are in constant need of teachers. But I digress.

In Clark County alone there is an 88.5% foreclosure rate! Kids who don't have homes usually do worse or drop out of school. I don't think this is the only reason for the high dropout rates that the CCSD has seen over the years. I should know. My son's a dropout.

My son didn't drop out because he had no home, and it wasn't because he wasn't smart. Matter of fact, he's highly intelligent. But when you combine teachers who are discontent, don't care if you make it through high school or not, and boredom, it's a sure-fire combination for not finishing school.

I remember him coming home from school one day and saying that he had a teacher tell his class that he didn't care if any of them didn't pass the class or graduate. How are kids supposed to take interest, when no one else will? I know there are those who say it starts at home, but there's only so much you can do. You entrust your child to their teachers in hopes that maybe they'll be better educated than you. I always see stories of teachers who made a difference in their lives, but I've never had that. Neither did my son. Probably, not a million more other students.

When we first moved to California, both of my girls were behind everyone here. My youngest was in Kindergarten and had not even started learning to read yet in Vegas. Here, they were already reading pretty fluently! She has had a hard time trying to catch up. Now, she's not that far behind, but still not there all the way. Luckily, Mini-Me has always been academically inclined. Where she was a bit advanced in Vegas, she was now trying to catch up. She caught up in just a week or two, and whereas she was advanced in a lot of areas in Vegas, she's only advanced in a couple here. The California state standards are high. Graduation rates here are high as well.

You would think that CCSD, with all it's schools, funding, etc., would be the one with higher graduation rates versus California, where some schools are closing due to lack of funding. I'm not saying that there aren't schools here that aren't up to par, because there are. My kids went to one two years ago. This is why I love the school that they are at now. The first school they were at here is one of the top 10 schools in their district. This is the first year for the new school which is comprised of students from the first school as well as teachers. They just finished state testing in April and results will be mailed over the summer. I've got a feeling the kids at the new school did pretty well.

I just found this as I was researching the dropout rates. Here's a bit taken from this Nevada Appeal article, and I'll leave you all with this:

'The school district received a grant of almost $20,000 last year to find students who left school. Sue Chambers, federal programs facilitator for the district, and community members surveyed students between the ages of 14 to 22 for reasons why they dropped out of school.

Chambers said the goal was to identify traits that caused students to disconnect from school.

"What we found was relationships matter between students and teachers," she said. "Students want help and encouragement from adults."

The survey revealed students do not feel they belong when not involved in school, social clubs or activities.

"Without one of these you will see early signs of problem behavior," Chambers said.

Identifying reasons children leave school is a start to solving the problem.'