Parenting tip

I know you've heard the nanny say it a million times, (if you watch that show).

Get down on their level.

This works for teenagers as well as little ones. No one wants to be talked down to. You would be surprised how differently someone responds when you speak to them at eye level rather than talking down to them.

Getting below their level and talking up to them can have surprisingly good results too. Especially when interacting with a child (or even an adult) who has trust issues.

Try it out, but don't just talk to them at that level, listen too. (I know what I'm talking about, I get paid to do this).

Christmas comic

Late Christmas Present

For Christmas my parents gave each of my boys cookie dough or brownie mixes. So it didn't seem out of the ordinary that they gave me a package of sugar free, fat free Jello pudding. I figured they were being thoughtful, and wanting to encourage my recent weight loss, gave me a healthy yet tasty alternative to some of the snacks they gave my kids.

The pudding didn't get put away in the cupboard (where it might have remained for a long, long time until I remembered it), but kind of floated around until after 3 days of begging (and 5 days of sitting on my dresser) Mark finally convinced me to make it. I even had to go to the store to buy milk. Imagine my surprise when after getting out a pan and jug of milk, I opened the pudding -not stopping to wonder why it had been taped shut- to find not pudding, but a miniature flashlight.

I remembered then that one of the things I had specifically asked for (not on my official Christmas list) was a flashlight that would attach to my hand or arm so I would have 2 hands free when I'm walking my dogs in the dark and have to pick up after them (yes, I actually do pick up after them).

This flashlight is very bright despite it's size and attaches to my finger with velcro so it points wherever I do. Very nifty. I think it's very cool, (thanks Mom and Dad), but Mark was disappointed that he didn't get pudding. -Della

Evidence of Children

As I was walking around my house today I noticed several things that wouldn't have been where they were if I didn't have kids. By this I mean that not only would I probably not own these items, but they would not have been in the positions that they were if not for my 4 boys.

Please note: -Foam darts on the entryway chandelier. I can't reach them, I'm waiting until they fall down. (Maybe a broom would reach?)

-Scuba mask by the bathtub. It's not even swimming season. Which is maybe why Mark felt the need to practice seeing underwater during his bath. In fact, I think he took a bath just so he could use his mask.

-Robosapien battling the WWE Superstars in a geotracks landscape. (I think robosapien is winning).

As eager as I am for school to start back again, I've gotta say I love this stuff. No one can say my house isn't lived in. Hopefully those who walk around my house recognize not only that we live here, but that we love here too.

-Della

Family Puzzle

Tanya's mother-in-law is inviting family for the holidays. At the top of her list is her only son's only wife's only mother. What relation is she to Tanya?

(This one is really easy).

Holiday Tip

I got an e-mail with a bunch of these comics. So even though Christmas is over, It's still the holidays, and I hope you enjoy these anyway.

Puzzle

Which of the scrambled words below is least like the others? (The difference has nothing to do with vowels, consonants or syllables.)

DTENTSI ROTCOD KRCLE FWLORE

If you are wondering why Santa didn't come...

Ever have one of these days?

Harder Puzzle

Each of the following words is scrambled and missing one letter. They all share the same missing letter. Can you figure out the missing letter and unscramble the words?

YREREU

EPUI

TIEU

ANTIU

Happy Birthday Grandpa

My grandpa, Mark Franklin Everett was born Dec. 26, 1914. He died about a year and a half ago, but if he was still around he would be 93 today. I miss him, but I'm sure he's happier with Grandma. We had a great Christmas yesterday and went to see I Am Legend last night. It was really good. One thing that I liked about it was that it inspired quite a bit of post movie discussion. I'd discuss it now, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone who plans on seeing it. I hope everyone is enjoying my blog.

Puzzle

Here is another pretty easy one.

Molly collects china figurines. All of her shelves were full, but she got 8 more figurines as Christmas presents and had to put up 50% more shelves to hold them. How many did she have before Christmas?

Our tree

Our tree is still waiting for presents. Notice the geotracks around it. This track has been in many different configurations over the last 2 weeks, but has been simplified to a basic ring around the tree.

Wow, it's getting late. I'm posting this right before I head for bed. Wait! I think I hear something on the roof!

Merry Christmas Eve

Toby isn't sure if it's a merry Christmas or not, but he's at least going along with it.

Rudolph gets the night off

By the time I'm posting this Santa is probably delivering to England and the kiddies in New Zealand are already playing with their toys, but if you look outside in the sky tonight you might see a red glowing light, but it isn't Rudolph.

The planet Mars is really bright and close to Earth tonight. Only like 50 million light years away or something. So check it out. Maybe it is Rudolph.

Another Holiday Puzzle

What holiday is represented by the letters below?

G H I J K M N O P

Holiday puzzle

Here is a holiday puzzle that should be pretty easy.

The vowels have all been removed from the following holiday lyric and regrouped in the right order but with spaces at odd places. Can you put the vowels back where they belong?

RDLP HTHRDN SDRND RHDVR YSHN YNS

No sense of humor

During the drive home from church today T told me to slow down. I encouraged him not to worry because if I didn't slow down in time the impact from the car ahead of us was sure to stop us.

He didn't think that was helpful, and said as much.

-Della

Good Quote

"You can't protect the world from stupidity."

This quote was said by someone we all know and love. Any guesses who?

New Puzzle

This one's a little tougher. Fill in the missing letter.

3,4,5 T

1,2,3 S

6,7,8 T

11,5,3 N

2,3,3 ?

Jesus jokes

I believe God has a sense of humor. Otherwise this world would be a dreary place. (And I probably wouldn't be here).

Some of my favorite bumper stickers are about Jesus. I found a new one yesterday. I now have 4 favorite Jesus jokes. I found all of these either on bumper stickers or refrigerator magnets, or someone (Niki) told me about them.

-Jesus is coming. Look busy.

-What would Jesus do, for a Klondike bar?

-I found Jesus. He was behind the couch the whole time.

-Jesus loves you. But I'm his favorite.

If you were paying attention to my Christmas list you noticed that I asked for a Jesus action figure, and a "Jesus Saves" coin bank. Come on, that's funny.

Word of the Day

Freakilishly.

Chris referred to me as being freakilishly tall yesterday. So I guess most of the people in my family are freakilishly tall. Maybe I just have a freakilish family.

I think it should be taken as a compliment.

-Della

Puzzle

Can you find the pattern in this sequence of numbers? What are the missing numbers?

2 4 5 7 8 10 11 __ 14 __ __

How it goes

We have been in Virginia Beach for 4 months now and have been loving it. Our work that we are doing with the city is going very well. Well enough that they have asked us to take on another "project". We will meet with them to discuss the details this week and if we decide to accept it we will start the 27th or so. We are excited to get going with another since our first 2 are getting to be a bit more stable and are needing a little less continual focus. We have always said that if you bust you hump the first 3 months that it starts to get easier after that. It is also a good sign that the city feels things are going well enough that they want us to take on another. This was somewhat of an experiment to begin with, being that what we are doing hasn't been done here before on the level that we are doing it. We have spoken with some friends that we worked with in Richmond who are interested in moving here and doing this with us. It would be great if they did for a lot of reasons, not the least of which would be the support we could offer each other. More to look forward to. -Della

Quote for the day

"I am not here to cash out. I am here to make change" -Barrack Obama

New puzzle

Can you read the word contained in the following letters? The word is in order, but backwards, and does not use all of the letters._____DASDIONEDASDI_____

Today's Puzzle

What 2 words, formed from different arrangements of the same 7 letters, can be used to complete the following paragraph? The problem was presented in congress by the _______ . She said she was aware of an act of _______ by a trusted officer. I'll give the answer tomorrow.

Christmas List 2007

• Every year I try to do a creative Christmas list. This tradition started when I was about 13 and wanted an original gameboy. I believe there were about 150 items on my list and every ninth one was "gameboy". The following year was similiar but my most desired item that year was a pair of roller blades. I hope you enjoy this year's list. You might even enjoy finding some of these actual items listed online. Della’s Christmas list 2007 I have previously gotten complaints that although people wanted to buy me gifts from my list they had difficulty finding what I had asked for. So this year I made sure almost everything on my list actually exists and can be found and purchased. Here goes:
• Screaming slingshot monkey,
• Panini Press,
• Tickets to the Jazz Wizards game on Feb 1st.,
• (While at the game) a triple double for Boozer,
• A 5x5 for AK,
• 10 3's for Okur,
• A partridge in a pear tree,
• Black 13 cubic ft. mini fridge,
• Kai body butter,
• Crayola Crayon Executive pen set,
• John Kerry chew toy,
• 4 slot toaster,
• Chocolate fondue fountain,
• Summer sausage,
• Nabaztag, the know-it-all rabbit,
• Nike+ ipod running set (it has a sensor in your shoe and a transmitter that plugs in to your ipod and tracks your distance, speed, pace, time and calories burned. Then Lance Armstrong’s voice comes on to tell you when you’ve reached a personal best).
• Amp for nike+ ipod,
• Flying pig for all seasons,
• Fuzzy slippers,
• Fuzzy slippers with headlights,
• A pedicure set with foot lotion so the fuzzy slippers won’t itch,
• A pedicure,
• For my big left toenail to grow out with out a hangnail,
• Pet select love glove pet grooming kit,
• Glowing bricks,
• Spy Ear secret agent listening device,
• Lego Star Wars the complete saga video game,
• Books by Stephenie Meyer, -New Moon -Eclipse -Twilight,
• Roomba vacuum,
• Get Off the Phone excuse machine,
• Tandem bike,
• Ipod touch,
• Digital picture keychain,
• Holy, the flying cow,
• Fooseball table,
• Fooseballs,
• Waterboy the movie,
• Trip to racecar driving school,
• Ice cream maker,
• Jesus action figure,
• 15 ft trampoline,
• Safety enclosure for 15 ft.trampoline,
• Lindt chocolates,
• Ear muff headphones,
• My own hazmat suit,
• Gummy bacon candy,
• Lego mindstorms NXT robot (you build it and control it and can even call it from your cell phone to give it orders. Better than a teenager).
• One share of Nike Stock,
• Handheld electronic Sudoku game,
• Self shaking salt and pepper shakers,
• Purse made of duct tape,
• Taboo the game,
• Yummy smelling candles,
• Subscription to salt of the month club,
• Tiny laser tag game,
• Tan double breasted trench coat made with anti-pill fleece,
• Sunglasses with mirror sides (so I can see behind me),
• A Fedora,
• Sandisk Sansa shaker mp3 player (blue),
• USB powered foam missile launcher,
• Guitar Hero 3,
• Lunch lady action figure,
• Inflate-a-bowl,
• Spongebob squarepants skateboard,
• Motorized cooler (a food cooler with wheels and a motor that you can sit on and drive),
• Laser sighted pool cue,
• Pool table to use laser sighted pool cue,
• Harvest your own pearl kit,
• Lego Star Wars Death Star Replica Set,
• Iphone,
• Isis puzzle (It’s almost impossible),
• Solution to Isis puzzle (each one has it’s own solution),
• Cap’n Danger Stunt Monkey,
• Rabbit nativity set,
• Red pocket rocket bike,
• Country Club dog house (for Toby and Sam),
• Ultraviolet toothbrush sanitizer,
• Remote control sumo wrestler game,
• 40 years of Hot Wheels 40 car set,
• Digital picture frame,
• Official Ralph Waldo Emerson Tranquility Sound Machine,
• Nose shaped pencil sharpener (guess where the pencil goes),
• Eye Clops Bionic Eye (view anything at 200 times it’s original size on your tv screen),
• Nice smelling perfume,
• Amazon Kindle digital reader,
• Mikhail Gorbachev keychain,
• Radio Flyer wagon (metal, not plastic),
• A piece of Ireland,
• Ultimate Nike+ runners gift set (includes nike+ ipod set, ipod nano, and nike gift card),
• Super Spork, spoon knife and fork all in one,
• Uncle Oinker’s bacon flavored mints,
• Star Wars Transformers Darth Vader/ Death Star action figure,
• The amazing flying alarm clock,
• XM satellite radio,
• World’s smallest RC car,
• Pocket fortune teller,
• Barbie I Love Lucy Lucy and Ethel gift set,
• Stress eraser (little electronic thing that trains you to breathe calmly and regulate yourself),
• Ice cream maker,
• Moses action figure,
• My size throne (not Barbie version),
• Pop Art toaster,
• Crime scene towel,
• Devil duck keychain,
• Candy pet rat,
• One year of housekeeping,
• New green ipod nano (perhaps in a ultimate Nike+ runners gift set),
• Wii points,
• Twinkie flavored lip balm,
• Salt n’ vinegar flavored Crick-ettes snacks (yes, I think they are actually real crickets),
• Surround Sound Music chair,
• Subscription to Chocolate of the month club,
• A real life true to love Garage door (Oh, wait! I got that one this year!),
• Sushi band-aids,
• Chicken Chucker catapult gun,
• Bowls that hold a whole can of soup (This has been on my list before and I got some of them a few years back, but they have all broken and I need new ones),
• Jesus Saves coin bank,
• Screaming rubber chicken,
• Holiday table runners (no, I don’t want your children running on my table),
• To learn to speak Swahili (Lonien means good night),
• Electronic Yodeling Pickle,
• (Last but not least) A Life Size Statue of Mark Twain,
• One thing I do NOT want: Barbie Cher Doll (Please don’t turn back time).