FOOTBALL AT HIGHLAND

Is the sport of football so important that it overlooks family morals? It must be to coaches at Highland High School. Why do I say this, it's because the coach has called for a football practice on Labor Day, a national holiday. This is the last hurrah for summer and probably the last chance for families to get together. Is his life so lacking friends and family that he has to call a football practice on a holiday. Do they also practice on Christmas and New Years?

Vontoo Voice Messaging

Do you remember last week when those terrible storms came rolling across the midwest? Well, they brought a lot of destruction to the area and with a grandchild in school it was a surprise to get a recorded message from the School Superintendent letting me know that my "student" was safe at school and ready to be picked up. I was impressed that they managed to take the time to get this message out to all of us parents who were worried.

I was also wondering how they managed to put that together so quickly, and after a little investigation I found that services like Vontoo voice messaging do just this. You set up an account and upload your "call list" and then in just minutes you create your phone message and send the message out to all of your contacts. Or, you can create the message and schedule a time in the future for it to be sent out.

Do you remember LaKisha Jones from American Idol? She worked with a promotion going on at a local nightclub--if your phone rang--and you answered it--it was her voice telling you all about the upcoming event at the nightclub. How brilliant is that? Get a star to take 3 minutes out of her day--and your message is recieved by thousands! I think she should have used the service to call everyone and tell them to vote for her on American Idol.

For emergencies, this really was a nice system to have in place-I just hope they don't need to use it for anything worse than a storm warning.

CAR SHOPPING

Have you ever gone car shopping. What a joke. My daughter asked me to go with her to look at a car she wants to buy. We get to this place and the salesman comes out and of course that greet you like you are old friends. My daughter had been talking to this guy on the phone so he knew what car she wanted to look at. Oh, by the way we got there at 6:25 p.m.. After this family greeting he takes us to see the car. He opens the door and we each take turns sticking our head in to look around. Then we walk around the car one, two, three, four and five times with nobody saying a word. Finally I said "can we take it for a ride". He got the keys and a plate and my daughter, myself and two granddaughters get in and take it for a ride. The girls wanted the radio on as Julie and I tried to figure out how to turn on the air and the radio. When the ride was completed, the salesman came over and of course asked how we liked it. Again we walked around to car one, two, three, four and five times with nobody saying a word. Finally I broke the ice and said lets put some figures together. Well to make a long story short, figures were put together and the credit man said it would be ten minutes for him to get a answer for her. We went into the waiting room and sat, sat, sat until he finally came out of his office and said he would have to call her tomorrow because there was nobody at the banks right now. He said not to worry she will get the car and he would call her tomorrow. I HATE SHOPPING FOR CARS.

INNOVATIVE TUTOR

How did you do in school? May good maybe not so good. I did alright but I think I could have done better if I had the help of an Innovative Tutor. Score Learning offers these types of special people to help your child want to learn and do well in school. An Innovative Tutor is a person having the skill and imagination to create new things. Maybe that is what some children need to help them progress. My granddaughter is one of those children that could use this help. Imagine mom and dad how much easier your job would be if you had the help of an Innovative Tutor. It wouldn't take the weight of helping your child off of your shoulders but it would make it a lot easier.

REPLY TO NLYNNECT

Thank you for your comment. I know the feeling of excitement for your daughter. She is going off on a new adventure and yes you will miss her but keep in mind she will share these adventures with you when she comes home from school. Enjoy the time to yourself.

LAP BAND BY JOURNEYLITE

I am overweight and want to do something about it. My daughter did and she looks great. She opted for a procedure called lapband. What it is, is a Adjustable Gastric Banding that reduces the stomach capacity and restricts the amount of food that can be eaten at one time.

JourneyLite is the company that can do this for you because they are nation wide. During the procedure the JourneyLite surgeon will be making tiny incisions and inserting long shafted instruments through these tiny incisions to wrap the inflatable silicone band around the upper part of the stomach. A small camera is passed through the incision so the JourneyLite surgeon can see the operative site on a video monitor. After the lapband is in place a small stomach pouch has been created to hold a smaller amount of food so food storage in the stomach is reduced. You will be monitored to be determined if the lapband has to be adjusted to create a smaller of larger opening to the stomach.

My daughter has had this procedure done and for the first time in 13 years she wore a bathing suit this year. She has lost 42 pounds since having this done. The lapband procedure does work so look into it at JourneyLite at one of their many locations.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Yesterday was the first day of school for my granddaughters Angelica and Delaney. Wanting to make sure they got there I drove them myself and walked with each to their room. All school personnel were wearing sailor hats to highlight the theme of Sailing to Success. There were enough people to help you get to the proper room that you couldn't get lost if you wanted to. After I saw that they were safe and sound I left the building with a smile on my face knowing that I was going home for a few hours of peace and quiet. As I looked around it was if everyone was smiling. I wounder why.

4th GRADE READING TUTORS

Does your child like to read but has trouble reading and understanding what they read. I would suggest a Reading Tutors help with this problem. A place that I am going to look into on the advice of my niece is Score Learning Centers.

At Score, they know that reading becomes a lot more challenging in the fourth grade. If your child would like to become a more advanced reader, Score will provide your child with a fun and positive tutoring environment. Their Advanced Program allows your child to progress at the own speed. Your child will develop a strong understanding of the subject matter after each lesson with the help of Academic Directors. When you think about it , the only struggle your child should have with reading is putting the book down. I will certainly look into this program for my granddaughter who is going into the fourth grade.

NOT USING TURN SIGNALS

Today there was an artical in our local newpaper about people using turn signals. Now that I think about it there are many drivers that either choose not to use them, don't know how to use them or don't that it is against the law not to use them. I'd like to know the stats of how many accidents are caused by people who don't use their turn signals. Better yet what about the people who don't turn them off after making a turn. I always wait before I pull out when I see a car coming toward me with their signal on. I can't remember how many time that person does not turn but goes right on by. If I had pulled out I would have been involved in a accident. So to you don't choose, don't know how and don't know the law, WAKE UP before you become a stat.

REGISTERING FOR SCHOOL

As a 67 year old widowed male person, I never thought I would be registering someone for school again. Well I am. It is my granddaughter from Texas who will be living with me because people say I shouldn't be alone. Now I can't have any lady friends over. Don't get me wrong I love this child dearly and she has such a beautful name. Angelica. Isn't that pretty.

I thought I had all of the necessary papers when we went to the school corporation headquarters to prove residency. Yes, I was missing a birth certificate even though she has gone to school here four years ago. They filled out the papers with my promise to produce a birth certificate at the time I was registering her at school. So off the the Dept. of Heath we went in Crown Point. When one does this they always have visions of waiting hours. Much to my surprise, once we got her birth date correct, I was out of there in less the 10 minutes. After that we went to her favorite place, believe it or not, Tractor Supply.

Today we went to her new school to register her and dish out some money. I don't ever remembering paying to go to school when I was a kid. So anyway with that phase of registration complete I was $125.00 poorer. $100 for book fees and $25.00 for a debit card to be used to buy breakfast and lunch. I see it as going for a good cause, her education. The school bus even picks her up in front of the house which is good for the both of us.

SCORE LEARNING CENTERS

When I was a kid going to school I don't think the word tutor even existed. If it did it was only. for the rich kids. I sure could have used tutors to get me through school. I will be looking into this tutoring program for my granddaughter.

At Score they know that fun and engaging learning is the best way to keep your child involved in learning. Their Academic Directors are dynamic tutors who can answer questions, but can also provide positive feedback and help motivate your child to keep moving forward. If your child needs that one on one personal attention with a Math Tutors, Score provides the support they will need. At they make sure double digit divisors don't turn into double-digit headaches. Look into this great program like I am going to do for my granddaughter.

REPLY TO ELIZABETH EDWARDS

Thank you for your reply. I think that it is wonderful that you are doing the 2007 Lansing Memory Walk. Walking 5K and raising $200 to help fight this disease is a great effort which I am sure is shared by others who will join you in this walk. My thoughts and prayers will be with you and all who participate in this walk. God Bless you all.

Alzheimer's Association Walk

If there is one cause that most people in the world can get behind it's Alzheimer's disease. Did you know that there isn't an age that is safe from this terrible illness. I've read cases where young people as old as 19 have been struck with this disease that robs them of their life, and their parents of their children. It is horrific at any age, and most commonly it is thought of in regards to our senior citizens.

The Alzheimer's Association is currently putting together a "Memory Walk", where teams of walkers can accept donations and sign up to walk in this great event. It is nationwide, and they are currently looking for Team Leaders, Team Walkers and Individual Walkers to participate. I will have to check into some of the plans for the Indiana area, but if there is a Charitable Cause that anyone can get behind, this is it. There is a cure out there, we just need the funds to find it. The faster we do, the fewer people will be subjected to this mind robbing disease. There really is a lotof hope out there!

I know my niece is planning to sign up as a Team Leader in the Chicago Area--but teams are needed everywhere--the more people we get walking--the more funds we get for research. I really don't know if it's too late for my generation--but if we work quickly enough--we can eradicate it before it affects my children and grandchildren s generation.

REPLY TO NLYNNECT

Thank you for your comment to my post about the weekend in Wisconsin. Yes it was really fabulous. I know of the Great Wolf Lodge in the Wisconsin Dells and that too is very nice. I found that the place we were at is not as pricie as the Dells. I guess the Dells has only so much time to make their money whereas this Yogi Bear Resort is open all year for winter sports. Im
sure there are many places just as nice in Texas. My daughter lives in a little town called Shiner Texas about 90 miles SE of Austin. Once again, thanks for the comment.

COUPON CHIEF

Do you like to shop online? Do you like to shop online and save money? Well I have found a place where you can do just that. Its called CouponChief.com and this site has online coupons for all of your favorite stores.

It's getting to be that time when you should be thinking about the upcoming holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Make that wishlist for you favorite person and check out CouponChief.com. I like shopping for Christmas and one of my favorite stores is JC Penny where I know they have good quality merchandise at affordable prices. They are even more affordable when using coupons. Another place that I like shopping at is toysrus where they have any toy you can possibly imagine. Toys for the young and old. Learning toys, challenging toys. Toys ranging in price from 99 cents to 900 dollars. Something for everyons pocketbook. Check out these sites and see what valuable coupons they have to offer you.

FANTASTIC WEEKEND IN WISCONSIN

I had a nice surprise last Wednesday. My sister-in-law, Dottie, called me and asked what me and my granddaughter Angelica were doing this weekend and invited us to accompany them to the Yogi Bears Jellystone Park Camp Resort in Warrens, Wisconsin, This is about 45 minutes past the Wisconsin Dells. What a wonderful place. It has a indoor and outdoor water park, several swimming pools, tons of activities for young and old. I have a camper in a Yogi Bear Park in Indiana and you would put 8 of my parks into this one, that's how big it is. They have tent camping, pull campers, park models and camping sites with cable TV. We stayed in a Villa which slept 12 people. My sister-in-law and her husband and I had our own room. There is a loft that my niece and her husband and two children had and my granddaughter slept on the couch in the living room. It was hot during the day and nice and cool at night where you could open the window for perfect sleeping. I will tell you more about this wonderful weekend in future posts.