Wordy Wednesday, Smackdown Version

PlusOne has been at it again. Godzilla and crocodile are having a smack down.

I guess Godzilla won.

Lucky likes to tuck her nose into things when she sleeps. Isn't she cute?

I am keeping watch over her. I am a good sister like that.

Why You Check Your Child's Homework

Memere sent this to mom, who thought it was so funny, she had to post it. Please refrain from drinking coffee, tea, or milk when reading the following.

(This mother works at Home Depot - she is selling a shovel.) Understandably, the teacher thought she was a pole dancer.

Mom says she bought my coat from Petco years ago. She has never seen another like it. Sorry to all of you who wanted one just like it.

Look Out, Here Comes Mom

I don't know what mom is doing. I think she is having a fit of some kind. She says she is cleaning, but I have never seen the house this messy. Take PlusOne's playroom for instance. I mean, just look at it, does it look like she is cleaning to you?


She says she is organizing, and tossing anything he doesn't want any more. But if that's so, why is there this huge mess of stuff on the floor?

You know what this calls for, don't you?


You got it. Lucky and I are gonna snuggle and ignore it all.

Really, it's the only thing we can do. I just wonder how long this will last.

Disappointing Day

Mom is bummed.

PlusOne's team, The Global Defenders, did not do very well. The groups have 2 minutes and 30 seconds to complete as many challenges as they can. Their were too many programs in the robot so PlusOne's teammate had to search for the program he wanted, wasting valuable time. After the second match, they had 5 points and were 17th out of 18. The high scores were 150 - 170 per match!

They finally got the robot to work better for the third and final match. But it still didn't complete many challenges, if any.

The presentation went over on time and for the teamwork presentation PlusOne said the group really did not work as a team. The robot presentation went okay except for a couple of not so gracious comments. Mom does not know the scores of the individual presentations, so they could have been good. Each presentation was worth 25%, as were the matches.

Mom was disappointed because she expected to see everyone working on something, instead of two people doing everything and not talking to anyone else. Mom asked the coach if there was a team leader and she said that she discouraged that because they were supposed to work as a team. She was very hands off. It drove mom nuts. Mom understands that on competition day the kids are supposed to do everything themselves, but how can they be a team if the coach is hands off, solve it yourself and never taught them how to be a team. (Earlier in the year, one of the students kept laying hands on PlusOne, going so far as to choke him, and when PlusOne told the coach he got hit, her response was "then stay away from him.He finally stopped right when mom said if he does it again I am calling the principal.) When mom discussed this with her she said she never knew there was an issue. She knew there was one with the boy's younger brother, but not with him. She also talked about the boy's leadership abilities, which mom thought were non existent. He did, however, have a foul mouth and liked to talk about his girlfriend, sex and other inappropriate subjects. He is in 8th grade, so this is his last year.

Mom also didn't know that the laptop was old, that the computers were old (mom could have seen if she could rebuilt them, and got a donated laptop from her computer guy) that they needed tee shirts, and sponsors, if any parent could have gotten them. So all in all, mom was very disappointed in how it went, especially when she saw how other teams worked. Memere was there for a bit and her take on it was "there were 6 kids hanging around and 2 doing all the work."

Mom knows about teamwork. When she went for her black belt, she was the team leader, but they were a TEAM! Everyone worked together for the goal. Mom felt the goals weren't spelled out, that one kid decided what was going to be done and that was it, but he wasn't the leader. The coach would "comment" on something, or "talk" to them about something, but mom didn't feel that they listened. If they were a team, why didn't they decide as a group what to do about the too many programs in the robot? Arrrrggggg. Sorry, mom needed to vent.

Mom is not sure if she will let PlusOne join next year.

Cold and First Lego League

It is getting colder here in NH. I don't like going outside in the cold.


PlusOne puts my coat on in the morning, so I stay warm, but I still don't like getting out of bed and going outside.


With PlusOne and mom at the First Lego League Competition, I hope to do more of this with dad. He may go watch for a while. But if I sit on him, he may not want to disturb me.

Nevis asked what First Lego League is. So here is an answer:

FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is a global program created to get kids excited about science and technology. Geared for ages 9-14 (up to 16 outside of the U.S. and Canada), FLL utilizes theme-based Challenges to engage kids in research, problem solving, and engineering. The cornerstones of the program are its Core Values, which emphasize contributions of others, friendly sportsmanship, learning, and community involvement.

The challenge this year is Global Warming. PlusOne has been doing a lot of research on it. He tells mom that bears in Northern Spain no longer hibernate in the winter. Mom was very surprised by that.

Mom will, no doubt, tell you all about it on Sunday, with photos and everything. Oh joy! Another day my blog is hijacked.

Oh What A Night

Beezer gave us an award. He is so sweet. Mom really likes him. He also gave this award to Auntie. This is what the award says:

"With the Premium Dardos, recognize the values that each blogger shows each day in commitment to transmit cultural values, ethical, literary, personal etc. that, in short, demonstrate their creativity by alive thinking that remains intact from their letters and words."

It was a really nice way to end the day, because mom forget to clean the oven the other night (chicken juice splattered on it and mom had to go to class), so when she pre-heated the oven for PlusOne's dinner, she ended up with a house full of smoke. Dad took command and off to dinner they went. (And yes, mom did clean the oven.)

So mom is not really interested in writing her review of The Immortal Prince. She liked it. And is looking forward to reading the next one, if that tells you anything. She also just finished reading Shadowbridge (which she really, really liked) and she is sort of tired. And just in case you think mom likes everything, she did NOT like Spirit Gate. She got two or three chapters into it and just couldn't stand it. And she likes Kate Elliott. Go figure.

PlusOne's Lego League Tournament (?) is Saturday, so you can all give a good root for him and his team. Mom is playing helper/chaperone. I think she'll need some down time when it's over.

This is in case anyone forgot what I looked like.

Or my true nature.

Thursday Thirteen

Today's Thursday Thirteen is about fabric. See these?

And these?

And these?

They all contain fabric. Mom has quite a stash. Want to see?

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