• Look here for a gallery of 7 photos taken during Saturday's clinic.

The sun was shining brightly, and temperatures in the mid-to-upper-70s were uncharacteristically high for October. Acres of still-green grass beckoned to more than 60 youngsters, boys and girls alike in grades 2-5, to come and learn the fundamentals of the game. A squad of coaches, wearing tees and shorts and sweats and broad smiles, offered encouragement at every opportunity.

But just as the better-than-hoped-for weather proved to be an attraction to players and their families, it also drew swarms of pesky gnats. The tiny flying insects were more an annoyance than anything else, and then primarily to parents seated on the sidelines to watch their children practice. Adult arms and hands constantly waved in every direction in attempts to swat away the dive-bombing bugs, to no avail.

The kids hardly noticed. They were too busy having fun, and soaking in their coaches' directions.

The six-week series of flag football clinics will continue Saturdays from 10 a.m. through Nov. 15, 2008. To register participants call supervisor John Nodolski at 484-300-2099. The clinics are sponsored by the Pottsgrove School District Recreation Board, and are organized by Pottsgrove High School seniors as part of a required project for graduation next spring.

The board provides recreational activities for Pottsgrove community residents, with funding support from Lower, Upper and West Pottsgrove (PA) Townships townships and the school district. For more information or to support board activities, call its office in the district Administration Building, 1301 Kauffman Rd., Pottstown, at 484-300-9637.

The way you can use this activity is to ask the person to match the title to the definition of the coping strategy (and yes, there are a lot of debates about the definitions so they are by no means definitive!).  You could ask the person to talk you through the strategies he or she uses, or you could use it during assessment as a means of identifying coping resources the person already has, or could develop.  The three common activities (grocery shopping, going out to a restaurant or bar, gardening) were selected because these three are the sort of things people describe as being difficult and often avoided or carried out with difficulty.

The person can then work through the definitions and place them on the activities to show which strategies they may use - or perhaps the ones that are not so easy to use.

I found this is an activity that less 'pen and paper' people can do because it involves less writing, and it opens discussion up because people who would ordinarily not be talkative have something to occupy their hands while talking.  It's quite a useful activity particularly for practical people, or people who are more kinaesthetic in their mode of learning.

If you wanted to make it more challenging, you could put in a few red herrings - definitions that are less helpful (like rest, avoid, use pain as a guide etc), and use these as a discussion point too.

I hope you enjoy this worksheet - let me know if you do use it, and any modifications you make!

Remember you can subscribe to my blog using the RSS feed button above, or simply bookmark and come back again.  I blog most week days, and I do love comments!

This past week has seen the axis of the world tip.  Financial markets are acting without the rational restraint that is needed to stabilize and slow the relentless activity of selling.  Fear is driving people to make irrational decisions and as that cycle grows the market on which we rely implodes. 

The cycle feeds itself and the vortex shrinks ever tighter expelling rationality all together. 

People are making decisions on the spur of the moment hoping to save what little  they have in a system that has been gratified by greed. 

To break the cycle may be to sit back and not do a thing, just allow the swirling to slow and the debris to settle.   Some will pick through the rubble and begin to rebuild, others will not.  

Our financial markets are not unlike the great storms that pound the shores of this great land.  Some people will choose to rebuild and others will not. 

Often to regain a rational perspective we need to work with someone else.  Working independently is one way to allow the fear to invade the consciousness which can result in a decision being made that is not going to be the best for the long run.

The cycle of relentless intensity suggests that when more is demanded of us that we increase our velocity (activity) and some of that activity will be a reaction to the demand without the requisite understanding of what really needs to be done.  As the pace increases we falter, just as a runner will when running a race without the training to run at the front.   Our minds begin to panic when we realize that we can't keep the pace and chaos inserts fear into our minds.   With fear, action, any action seems like the right thing to do and the cycle repeats itself.  

What can be done to break the cycle?  What are you doing to break the cycle in your life?

What do you value?  What is important to you today?  

Вчерашната събота официално може да бъде обявена за ден на хомофобията и дискриминацията, като се започне с проваления протест Свобода, а не страх, към който се присламчи Боян Станков - Р. с цяла гвардия, крещейки по мегафон “гейовете и циганите ни карат да свалим знамената, но ние няма да го направим!”. Да бе, добре. Беше позволено на абсолютно незаконна по своята същност групировка да изврати протест за информационна свобода и да извлече медийни и политически дивиденти от това, но реакцията на нормалните, мислещи хора е да се отдръпнат от гражданска активност. А не е ли по-добре да се противодейства? Но пък може и това да целта - задълбочавае на апатията у знаещите и можещите.

Днес сме ние, педерасите, но утре може да е всеки образован човек, който намира смисъл в информационната свобода, пък и свободата изобщо. Съжалявам, но сме много далече от "всички европейски столици". Там само некрологът на конституцията беше на мястото си. Липсата на реакция от страна на организаторите и г-н Богомил Шопов със сигурност ще отдръпне една сериозна група хора от иначе важни инициативи.

По-късно следобед, в предването по ТВ2 "Пирамида" за участие бяха поканени Красимир Кънев от БХК, Ива Николова, професионален участник в ток-шоута и някакъв дядка, по всяка вероятност от Атака. Диспутът беше грозна картинка, като дементният възрастен господин, чието място освен в Атака е и на едно друго място, изсипа тон глупости по отношение на "хомосексуалистите", подкрепени с волни интерпретции на цитати от Библията. Понеже сменихме канала, не знам какво е станало в крайна сметка и кой е спечелил страхотното състезание, пародия на публицистика и диалогичност.

Завършекът на деня, като черешка на торта или по-скоро като свещ върху мъртвец, беше предването на гранд-каката на българската жълтения и простотия Венета Райкова. Почетен гост кой? Волен Сидеров. Според източници лидерът на парламентарно представената, но все така незаконна партия е казал, "че в този парламент също има хомосексуалисти-депутати и досега не е имало парламент без присъствието на хомосексуалисти, според изчисления около десет процента от депутатите във всеки парламент са хомосексуалисти. Според него тенденцията да се сформират гей общности в парламента, прокуратурата и съдебната система е опасна". Дъра-бъра.

Е, той самият едва ли има представа колко точно е в грешка, но не е и наша работа да се обясняваме с него и подобните му. Работа е на куп органи и институции, осигурили благоприятна среда за развитие на всякакви противоконституционни групировки и фракции. Можем да започнем със СЕМ, които масово се оказаха тази седмица бивши сътрудници на ДС и чиято функция е да осигуряват медиен комфорт на определени партии и личности на власт (квотите?), както и да упражняват натиск над неудобните, докато из електронните медии се вихри невиждано досега нарушение на законите на Република България.

Неоспорим факт е, че живеем в изключително неблагоприятна и хомофобска среда (която разцъфтя и избуя изключително много с разчупването на двуполюсното политическо статукво, без това да е чисто съвпадение), лошото е, че проблемът на давещите се е на самите давещи се, а хората, които би трябвало да се занимават с човешките права у нас, са просто едни фигуранти. Това, което мога да кажа е, че няма толкова лесно да се издавим.

Besoknya pas malem takbiran, nyebarin undangan reuni ke temen-temen sekelas plus setor duit ke Pak Ketu sama Mas Heri ( teman sekaligus navigator yang baik).

Besoknya lebaran, seperti biasa Sholat Ied plus sungkem sana-sungkem sini, nyekar ke kuburan dan ketemu sodara sampe seharian dengan menu makanan yang akan sama selama dua hari ke depan.

Yaitu
Pagi : Sate + Gule.
Siang : Gule + Sate.
Malem : Sate + Sedikit Gule.

Dan akan berulang di hari berikutnya dengan porsi yang agak dikurangi karena jika tidak konsumsi Poldan, Saridon, dan Entrostop akan meningkat.

Hari kedua lebaran, kumpul lagi di rumah Rika bahas Reuni (lagi..?).

Hari ketiga lebaran kumpul di sekolah, nyiapin acara Reuni (kapan sih Mas Reuninya…?). Bolak-balik ke sekolah seakan jarak 7 kilo rumah –sekolah bukanlah penghalang.

Hari ke-empat lebaran, hari H reuni, it’s so stressful indeed. Acara pagi dimulai dengan Tanam Pohon, Pak Ketu sempet stress karena jam 6 anak-anak masih sepi. Dan baru dimulai jam 9, alhamduliah lancar, everything were good.

Kemudian dilanjutkan dengan donor darah, dan saya sebagai salah satu panitia dengan sedikit menjaga gengsi dan mempertaruhkan harga diri, saya nge-Donor, iya diambil darah-nya, pake jarum lewat selang, bukan saya muntahin langsung ke ember. Awalnya cuman pengen tahu golongan darah saya apa. Setelah diperiksa ternyata B, keren kan B..?.Eh beneran Wi' darahku B, keren gak golongan darah B?.

So if you guys desperate looking for B type blook dont't try to call me, sudah cukup sekali aja ngedonor, dapet telur rebus, sama susu bendera plus obat bernama Cerovit. Semoga sekantung darah saya bermanfaat bagi mereka yang membutuhkan, dan dapat mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa (emang bisahh..?).

Dan acara malam reuni gak berlangsung dengan sukses, tapi saksuesss banget. It’s done because all those hands working together, benerkan Pak Ketu?. Dan tentunya hanya seorang ketua panitia yang amat sangat devoted dan tahan banting yang bisa mewujudkan obrolan ringan seputar acara reunian jadi kenyataan.

Dan beberapa hari setelah lebaran dan termasuk kunjungan ke rumah-rumah kawan menu makan siang saya adalah RUJAK, R-U-J-A-K sodara. Bahkan sehari saya bisa disuguhin R-U-J-A-K di dua tempat yang berbeda. Terimakasih saya ucapkan kepada para ahli yang berhasil menemukan pil diare, dan ucapan terimakasih saya sekali lagi buat ENTROSTOP (silakan kali mau pasang adsense di sini..yuk mari).

Dan inilah bentuk rujak yang saya makan berdua dengan Wahyu di rumah Dhani, karena sebelumnya masing-masing sudah habis 1 bungkus, jadi yang terakhir ini cuma kita korek-korek dan dimakan ala kadarnya.

Rujak : Mengenyangkan dan bikin mencret

Dan berikut gambaran suasana Reuni Alumni SMANSA Pamekasan 2003, termasuk dua orang MC abal-abal yaitu Reny Barends dan Teguh Sitohang (Sitohang ya, bukan Bekti atau Syahputra) yang membuat acara tampak sangat meriah, meriah karena teriakan penonton sulit dibedakan antara histeris sama nyuruh kita turun.

All in all, semua berjalan sesuai dengan rencana, Pak Fa, Pak Kholik, Bu Rika, Bu Chaca, Pak Heri, Bu Pipit, Pak Mujahid, Pak Didin, Pak Andre, Pak Pri, Pak Dadang, Pak Rusli, Pak Risa, Bu Medita, Bu Reni, Bu Intan, Bu Tria, Pak Kunto, Pak Mamang dan Bapak-Bapak serta Ibu-Ibu lainnya yang tidak bisa saya sebutin satu-satu disini, adalah mereka yang tak kenal lelah pagi, siang, sore, untuk tetap awake demi acara Reuni. Good job guys.

Setelah acara Reunian selesai hal pertama yang saya lakukan adalah kembali sungkem ke Bapak dan Ibu karena sang anak ini jarang betah di rumah. Dan solusi yang paling cerdas yang saya lakukan menambah satu hari lagi untuk libur, jadi yang saharusnya Minggu sore saya harus balik, ditunda menjadi Senen sore, sekalian ikut acara LPJ dan rujakan di rumah Rika.

Entah kenapa ya pas musim-musim libur lebaran rujak petis Madura seolah jadi menu favorit. Bahkan pas kemarin nyiapin acara Reuni, saya sama Pipit, Reni, Mitha plus Mas Heri muter-muter nyari warung Rujak yang sepi, gak ada. Semuanya rameee, antreannya beda tipis sama antrean orang yang ngantri di depan J.CO.

Teknik yang kita gunakan adalah mencari warung yang order-nya paling dikit, setelah checking around dan muter-muter akhirnya dapet tempat yang pesenan rujaknya tinggal 17 bungkus. 17 bungkus ya, di ulek sama satu orang, satu cowek, jadi jangan heran kalo rujaknya agak terlalu asin, mungkin selain garam, keringet mbok-mbok yang jual juga ngasih rasa asin yang berlebih.

Senin Sore adalah betul-betul waktunya balik (harus..), setelah SMS orang-orang tanya kondisi di tempat kerjaan, tanya tugas ke temen-temen kuliah, hari pertama setelah libur lebaran semuanya masih dalam nuansa halal bihalal, dosen gak ada, kerjaan juga gak ada (katanyaa…sih ya).

Pulang, ayoh pulang.

Senin sore saya balik ke Sorbeje, di tengah perjalanan di daerah Camplong bus yang saya tumpangi nubruk Truk yang ngerem mendadak. Saya yang waku itu kebagian duduk di kursi tengah paling belakang yang nggak ada penghalangnya mental kedepan dengan kursi menimpa badan. Ya Alhamdulilah gak ada korban, mungkin satu-satunya korban yang cukup serius saya sendiri. Dan kondisi bagian depan bus cukup parah.

Karena ini pengalaman pertama saya dalam suatu accident berskala besar dan mudah-mudahan yang terakhir (terakhir kecelakaan pas SMA naek motor trus nabrak nene-nenek, masih skala kecil), maka saya cukup excited. Dengan mengabadikan momen bersejarah tersebut sekalian juga sapa tau ada kru TV yang ngeliput, dadah-dadah ke kamera kan lumayan bisa masuk tipi.

Untung ya, saya nggak duduk di samping Pak Sopir yang sedang bekerja.

Ya, itulah liburan mudik saya, intinya libur Seminggu itu masih kurang. Malah orang rumah nyuruh nunggu sampe lebaran ketupat.

Tapi ada pesan penting dari nenek saya pas saya mau pamitan berangkat.

“Awas ati-ati bawa tas, sekarang banyak orang jahat yang masukin narkoba di tas orang, ituh kayak di tipi-tipi”

Selamat kepada dunia sinetron dan pertelevisian Indonesia yang telah membuka cakrawala dan cara pandang nenek saya, beliau selain ngerti bumbu dapur juga kenal modus kasus narkoba yang melibatkan banyak artis.

Wassalam.

Karena sudah hopeless dengan teknik memformat ulang drive C, hingga teknik konservatif dengan membiarkan computer didiemin semaleman hingga ditinggal nyuci berjam-jam juga tidak membuahkan hasil. Maka saya mudik dengan pikiran masih kebayang computer yang masih belum beres, tapi jreengg..jreeengg, setelah saya tinggal 8 hari, dan computer saya nyalakan, lha dalah kok bisa detect usb-nya.

It’s magic, it’s miracle, it’s bukan sulap bukan sihir. Tapi nggak tau juga ya, kalau tiap Jum’at melem saya harus nyembeleh ayam warna putih trus darahnya saya siramin ke CPU, itu lain cerita. So far my PC is just fine.

Well, dalam waktu dua hari sejak rencana dadakan yang diprakarsai oleh Mbak-Mbak di tempat saya mengadu nasib, yaitu sebut saja Mbak Septi sebagai coordinator pelaksana, Mbak Riska sebagai bendahara, dan Mbak Nora sebagai spoke person, Totok Joni sebagai pencari dana dan saya sebagai tim Hore sekaligus si pembuat kotak donasi dari kardus Milo. Akhirnya terkumpul sejumlah rupiah yang rencana awalnya dibelikan sembako yang akan dibagikan ke beberapa keluarga di daerah Medokan Semampir.

Tapi setelah dikalkulasi ulang, ternyata paket sembako untuk 50 keluarga ternyata overbudget, dan kita juga belum sempat minta H.Syaikon untuk nyumbang, apa kabar ya H.Syaikon?. Jadi paket sembako diganti dengan paket biskuit/kue plus takjil dan makanan berbuka. Yaitu sama dengan 50 bungkus nasi, 50 bungkus kolak, dan 50 paket biskuit yang masing-masingnya berisi dua pack. Ya tinggal dipikirin gimana ngangkutnya ke tempat baksos. Dua peswat herkules mungkin dah cukup.

First things to do adalah belanja barang di Sakinah Swalayan (Sakinah Swalayan, Harga Hemat..Barang Lengkap, InsyaAllah kalo gak kosong), belanja 50x2 pack = 100 pack biskuit dengan ukuran, bentuk, citarasa dan harga yang sama itu sama susahnya nyari empek-empek di Manokuari. Jadi semua biskuit yang keliatannya mirip kita borong semua, mungkin kalo disyuting trus sambil diikuitin Helmi Yahya kita berasa ada di acara reality show Uang Kaget.

Ini bukan foto sidak Balai POM yang menarik produk bermelamin dari China

Yak, inilah mereka yang beruntung di episode Uang Kaget Spesial Ramadhan (duit receh gak masalah)

Rombongan yang terdiri dari Tiga Mbak-Mbak tadi plus Totok, Mas Aam, Mas Busyet, Mas Tutus, Nuril dan tiga orang cewek angkatan 2007 ngumpul di Sakinah. Trus langsung menuju tempat operasi di Medokan Semampir.

Rombongan Para Pencari Tuhan

FYI, sasaran acara baksos kita adalah anak-anak binaan temen-temen KAMMI, yang usianya kisaran TK-SD. I thought it’s gonna be fun at first, anak kecil pasti lucu, pasti masih lugu, polos, dan menggemaskan.
Itu dipikiran saya awalnya ya, mungkin anak kecil kalau jumlahnya 5 atau 10 orang teriak-teriak sambil lari-lari masih keliatan lucu ya, tapi kalo sudah 50-an anak, masya Allah. Pengen saya bekep dan masukin karung satu-satu.

Kalo lagi diem mereka manis-manis

Tapi itulah tantangannya, salut lah buat temen-temen KAMMI yang punya program rutin buat mereka.
Dan acara berakhir dengan sukses (sukses means : nasi bungkus, takjil, dan paket biskuit ludes), terima kasih kepada temen-temen, kolega dan dermawan yang telah menyumbang. Mungkin dua bungkus biskuit bagi kita nggak seberapa nilainya, tapi buat mereka bisa jadi satu-satunya parsel lebaran yang mereka terima. Semoga Allah meberikan limpahan rahmat kepada kita semua. Amieenn.

Yeachhh It's my turn

This is Holyrood park where I ran today for the first time in several months. It was the perfect day to start running, the weather was sunny and not very cold. The air had that freshness about it that just makes you want to move! I'm very happy I tried this. Gotta go now, though, I need to get to the library before it closes.

cukup lama blog ini ngga dibuka, maklum sibuk yang tak menentu tea :)

tapi kalo di fikir lagi apa yang disibukkan kali ya, ngurus rumah dah ada yang ngurus, ngurus anak ada yang bantuin, paling-paling faktor M nya aja kali ya yang gede, ya MALES.

ah tahu lah akhir-akhir ini,  perasaan campur aduk gak karuan. sedih, kesel, and gak pararuguh.

Gaetan Lee

Choose an area in your life, then on a piece of paper write down ideas about it. Maybe you want ideas to become a healthier person, or ideas to save more money, or to study harder. Come up with at least 20 ideas before reviewing them. Not everything you have written down will be good, but quite a few ideas will be. Now all that's left is to implement them!

"To obtain the gift of holiness is the work of a life." John Henry Cardinal Newman

"God does not require of us extraordinary things." Saint Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney

"To live well si to work well, to show a good activity." Saint Thomas Aquinas

Now you try. What make-believe name can you create by combing the first 2 letter of your 3 (or more if you have more) names? Does it translate in another language?

Налага ни се да понасяме търпеливо цяла седмица откровено хомофобското поведение на народни представители в лицето на Огнян Герджиков от НДСВ и Надя Кочева от БСП, които не пропускат да намекнат, че ако не слушкаме, ще ни отнемат и малкото, което имаме като права. БХК в оценката си може да започне от най-горе - изказванията на премиера около парада, заплахите на народни представители, неадекватни институции и медии. И да стигне до дъното - лумпенпролетариата, комуто е позволено да прави шествия със свастики, да извършва безнаказано насилие, защото явно едни граждани са по-граждани от други граждани. Какво е това - двойни стандарти, дискриминация или норма, която не прави впечатление никому, дори на нас?

Къде сме ние като общност, има ли ни, къде са Л-тата, Г-тата, Б-тата, Т-тата и всички останали? Защо няма гражданска реакция, защо не може да се застане на единна позиция и какво се случи през последните 6-7-15-20 години? Наистина ли хората нямат проблеми, както мнозина обявиха около парада? Явно да - наличието на няколко подземни бара, пред които все още няма скинари е напълно достатъчно, за да се чувстват хората щастливи в съботно-неделната си мъгла, преливаща махмурлийски в обичайната седмична мимикрия, когато всички сме хетеро. Някой уволнили, друг набили - те са си го търсили! - друго обяснение няма. А малцината останали активисти не успяват да застанат на общи позиции, времето неумолимо тече, и накрая ние ще останем с един напълно ненужен и неприложим Семеен Кодекс, заврени в клозета (въпрос на интерпретция на closet, а ние май сме точно там).

August 30, 2008. Yippie finally we went to Waterbom. Since I got here, I really wanted to go there, but the ticket is very expensive. And now HSBC credit card offering buy 1 get 1 free, valid until Oct 6, 2008. And last week, I asked the information there the price of the tickets (Rp 140.000 for adult and Rp 90.000 for children) if I wanted to use HSBC card. I calculated that we only pay Rp 230.000 for the tickets.

We went along with my friend’s daughters. We got there around 1 pm. And when I asked the price for HSBC card, it shocked me, the price is Rp 211.600 for adults, and Rp 119.600 for children (publish rate price). Luckily the ticket’s staff gave me other option to pay the cheaper price for 2 adults and 3 children. Because my HSBC card is using visa, she said that for 3 children is Rp 243.000 ((Rp 90.000*3)-10%), plus adults using buy 1 get 1 free Rp 211.600 so total is Rp 425.500 (454.600-29.100 (I couldn’t find out what this is)). We must deposit extra money to be spent for renting a locker or to buy food inside, then she gave me a band called Splash Band that store my credit information (for the Splash Band is Rp 5.000 if we lost it, it already been cut into my credit balance).

We went inside to change and rented a locker, the family locker is Rp 60.000 (the locker itself Rp 30.000+deposit for the locker Rp 30.000). Fyi, small gazebo Rp 50.000, but we didn’t rent it. Luckily we read blog from others experience that we could brought ourselves towels, so we didn’t have to rent them either hehehe…..

Here we were….I couldn’t wait to see inside this expensive waterbom. First we saw, a bucket of balloons that filled with water and then we throw them to the throwing target (I forgot what it called), and beside of that game, a swinging chair maybe called Euro-Bungy that can swing up and down. You had to pay for those games.

Then we went forward, and found the Superbowl slide, for me this game was not scary. We slide fast before we got into a big bowl, spin pretty fast inside it before we slide again to the finish point.

We found also kid’s pool, Lazy River, and slides called Smashdown, Race Track, Macaroni Tube, Raft River, Jungle Ride, Boogie Ride, (those slides were near each other), Boomerang (near Superbowl). The most exciting slide for me and my husband was Smashdown, because it liked you had been threw and then smashed down hard then slide fast. We played twice, the first one, I didn’t dare to watch, but the second time, I dared to watch but when I slide fast after I had been smashed, I made a little movement, that was fatal (please don’t try it), I almost hit the slide, and my nipple had been slipped. My husband saw that accident and then scolded me because my head almost hit the slide. The rest of the slides we had tried but only Race Track we didn’t. Fyi, if you want to make your kids play these slides, try first Raft River , because when we read the instruction we thought the safeties was Boomerang, but we got wrong because at the end of the tunnel the speed was faster and had waterfall. We as adult felt not comfortable, maybe for children felt a little shocked. My kid didn’t scream, but when we offer another slide, he said no. And for the Lazy River it was nice if you want to have a little nap (be careful you get sleep and you forget that you are in the water even it’s not deep but it can make you drown for a while) hehehehe….

We tried to buy snack and ice cream (the price is Rp 8.000 if you buy near the kids pool, but near the locker it was more expensive). There were also corns for Rp 6.000, other foods (but I saw the price were expensive from the normal price especially for the juice).

Finally we finished around 4 pm and were satisfied. We got changed and returned the locker key, then got my deposit back. Then we went to buy breads at Discovery Mall because we were so hungry, then we went home, had a quick dinner, took a bath, then ready to sleep.

I'm sure there are tons of examples of this on the innerwebs - but I modified one I saw on First School from a "family hand flower" to a "family hand tree."  Basically, we I traced each family member's hand onto a piece of construction paper, and then we I cut each hand shape out.  EJ loves to use his scissors, although his ability to cut out shapes needs work.

Then came the exciting part for EJ - the glue, of course!  I had glued a large cut-out of a tree trunk onto a 11"x14" piece of white paper, and EJ struck with the glue.

While I made suggestions for the first two leaf-hands to go on the top of the tree, EJ decided the other two would be "falling" from the tree.  Well done, kiddo!

I love this little family tree!  I might put our names on it later, so in 20 years I don't forget which hand is EJ's and which is Dieter's. 

I came across this great site today that is heaps of fun and wanted to let you all know about it. The Punch-O-Matic is a free online animation tool that lets you make your own mini-movie by adding photos, text and music. Although the photos you can use are limited to what is available through punchstock, it's still lots of fun and worth a look!

Click here to view the Ruffian Industries movie... "Raising Ruffians"

Dinner THEN: salad with dressing, roll with butter, roasted chicken, baked potato and green beans; 618 calories, 21g fat.  Dinner NOW:  Hardee's Monster Thickburger; 1,410 calories, 107g fat.

Snack THEN: 16oz. soda and small plain popcorn: 423 calories; 11g fat.  Snack NOW: 44oz. soda, large popcorn with butter topping, 3 oz. Milk Duds; 1,989 calories, 87g fat.

In addition, so much of what's been designed for our high-tech age keeps us from moving around.  We sit for hours at the computer - working, shopping, reading, researching, playing games, even making friends.  Without ever leaving the couch we can answer the phone, change the channel, and send e-mails from our hand-held devices.  Studies have shown that some kids raised on these gadgets may expend almost no extra physical energy in the course of a day.  But here's how it used to be:  We got up to change the channel.  We walked to the corner mailbox to send a letter.  We ran around the backyard to play a game.  We got up to answer the phone.  We went to the library to do research.  We made new friends in the park or at the bowling alley.  Parents went for a walk after dinner.  Kids went outside and just played.  And those little expenditures of calories really added up.  Let's look at the difference:  THEN: wash and wax car by hand; 200 calories.  NOW:  drive through car wash; 9.5 calories.  THEN: walk two blocks to mail letter; 22 calories.  NOW: type e-mail and send; 9.5 calories.  THEN: Play tag for 45 minutes in backyard; 225 calories.  NOW: play video game on couch for 45 minutes; 85 calories.  THEN: drive to mall, walk to store, try on clothes, pay, walk back to car and drive home; 133 calories.  NOW: sit at computer, visit store's website, choose item, type in credit card info and get item from mailbox; 17 calories. THEN: walk to co-worker's office and hand him documents; 19 calories. NOW: stay at desk, attach documents to e-mail and hit send; 4 calories.  THEN: drive to photo developer, drop off film and return next day; 178 calories.  NOW: sit at computer and upload photos; 29 calories.

So, what to do?  Be intentional!  Eat and move with a purpose!  Good health habits won't happen by accident in today's world, but everyone can learn new and better habits.  Here are some ideas:  1.  Schedule family meal times, just like you do for soccer practice or dentist appointments.  Plan meals in advance, shop for groceries as a family.  I send "scouts" out in my family for grocery items and it speeds the time spent at the grocery store, plus gets our family members moving.  2. Make family meal time fun by turning off the TV and talking to one another.  My Mom used to ask each member of the family to share one thing they enjoyed about their day, or "news" they learned about, or their opinion of a current event.  We all gained great conversation skills, bonded as a family, and learned critical thinking.  I still use these skills today and have used this technique in my own family.  Make sure you respect each opinion and don't pass judgement!  3.  Go out and play in the backyard.  Shoot hoops, throw a ball around, bike through the neighborhood, play tag, play badminton, go for a walk, or anything else you enjoy.  Even 15 minutes of fun together burns calories, reduces stress and promotes family bonding.  4.  Limit passive computer and TV time by taking a break every 20 minutes.  Do some stretches, household chores, go out for a walk, etc.  It reboots your brain, clears your mind, and burns calories.

So, do one thing today!  And, do one thing tomorrow.  And, the next day.  Pretty soon you'll have some new and better habits.  And, it will feel good!