Introduce yourself to your statistics classmates

Hi everyone, Jill Daniels here. I live in Hamilton, NY home of Colgate University. I am currently a wife and stay-at-home mama of three (Hayden a kindergartner and currently wishing Santa had brought him his two front teeth for Christmas, Cameron a 4 year old with some killer dance moves, and Bailey my baby girl who is seconds away from running away with Cirque du Soleil. Oh, and I'm a part-time waitress at Rusch's Bar and Grill in the booming metropolis of downtown Hamilton.
The last experience that I recall involving Statistics was the year 2000 which was the LAST math class I took as an undergrad student. Also upon recalling my grade in that class I would have to state: Statistics = Fear. I am currently holding down a 4.0 GPA (first time I my life!) and it is my fear that statistics will be the demise of that grade point average.
I would have to say my biggest questions or concerns about this course are; (1) do I currently know enough “statistics” to be able to do what will be required of us in this class; it has been a long time since 2000. And (2) Will I be able to juggle my life, job and school work while maintaining my academic goals.
The slogan that best describes me at this phase in my life = “Sometimes you feel like a nut; Sometimes you don’t”. Granted, I know this is asking you to choose between Almond Joy and Mounds chocolate bars (personally I would just take both), but for me it is a direct reflection of where my brain is at. For those of you who have brought children into this world, hopefully you can sympathize with me in that there is truly an internal connection between the placenta and the mother’s brain cells. When the placenta is delivered so is a portion of the mother’s brain. For me it was a triple whammy! I lost 1/3 of my brain is just less than 3 years! Sometimes I feel as if my brain walked out on me and sometimes I don’t, I swear I didn’t used to be this scatterbrained!

confessions of a bitchy housewife

so...this week has been one of those weeks that I could just feel irriatation coursing through my veins. The whining and complaining of three young children didn't help the situation much. Nor the fact that I was mentally prepared to be sitting on an island in the middle of a lake in the Adirondack mountains today....and, um yeah, obviously that didn't happen.

This all started toward the end of last week when I was on the verge of booking the campsite and was watching the forcast, which was looking very promising, and Brian told me to hold off that his co-workers father was sick and may need surgery. If that was the case we may not beable to go, because he would need to be at work. So optomistic, I get back on Reserve America website put in the campground, check on every single day from here to the end of July with a two night avaliability.....NOTHING! (irritated, yes. hoping we can still go, absolutely. Being totally selfish, yes. proud of that, no. ) So the days are ticking by...Brian still knows nothing concerning whether he will beable to leave work or not... the forcast is improving with every passing day the temperature is rising for the Saranac Lake region....the campsite we want is still open... my excitement to go somewhere other than Poolville Rd is mounting.... it now all comes down to the answer Brian will give upon is return from work (which would leave only hours to get packed so that we could hit the road by 8 A.M.) But....that answer was, Nope, not gonna happen.

I was dashed against the rocks of reailty, acted like a spoiled bart (I totally see where my children get it from, damnit if at 30 I didn't act just like them) I sulked and carried on all evening. At some point I sat down at the computer to pour over the campground again, seeing if by anychance there had been a cancelation. And low-and-behold an island had opened up and is currently avaliable this weekend and next week.

One of many reasons why I love Brian, he was supposed to play in a gold tournament this weekend, and unlike his selfish, bitchy wife, he is currently seeking someone else to take his place* so that we can go camping this weekend.


*seeing his unselfishness and the total control of his emotions, I feel very embarrassed and ashamed of the way I have behaved this week**

**I did confess to being a total brat and appoligized, but it surely didn't make up for the way I acted.

For Sale

Three Children for sale!
Three Children for sale!
Three crying and whining young
children for sale!
I'm really not kidding.
So who will start the bidding?
Do I hear a dollar?
A nickel?
A penny?
Oh, isn't there, isn't there,
isn't there any
One kid who will by this five, three and two year old for sale,
These crying and whining young
children for sale?


its been a rough day today! and to think summer is only weeks underway!

Adapted from Shel Silverstein's origional poem "For Sale"

Life is great

So...Hey, Blog! it's me.

did you miss me?

I missed you.

I have been so busy typing crazy projects and powerpoint presentations and reading major life changing controversial issues. But that's all done for now. I have until the end of august to get my house clean and enjoy my kids, with out yelling at them to be quite and let-me-be while I read research articles and classmates posts. What a relief it was last night to beable to sit and watch "Chuck" and not have to force myself to go to another room so I could get homework done. best part, I'm carrying my 4.0 into the fall semester!

Wow, so much has happened since that last time I posted...Hayden is now 5! He's going to kindergarten in the fall you know? Can you believe it?....I can't. Wasn't it just yesterday that I was all enormously preggers with him. We've begun the process of getting him evaled for a sensory disorder. It feels really weird to think that your baby has something wrong with them. But if this will help, I'm all for it. He starts t-ball tonight, he's really excited about it. Cameron is busy being either sweet as sugar or a rotten little devil, but he so damn cute being either one. Yesterday, he and Bailey were watching Sesame Street and I ran up stairs to get dressed and when I came down, Cameron comes running to me with his "romantic eyes" (he's got 'em and damn if he ain't gonna be a lady killer) anyway so he comes running to me and gives me a big hug around my thighs and says "mommy...you look......exquisit. That means your bufidal." And then smiles his biggest, cheesiest smile! I asked him where he heard that word and he said "It's the Word on the Street" God bless Sesame Street! Bailey is parroting her new one I...eye...Love...luuv...you...Yyyyooouuu.

Well, what else is new? We will once again be taking our Mini-Van on a major trip down to the southern states. This time not quite so far...first stop, Moorsboro, NC then over to Knoxville, TN. We embark on our journey the first week of June. The kids are so excited to see Uncle Zach and Aunt Seweenaa and Sabannah. We have a years worth of catching up to do!

Well I promised myself I would spend less time on the ole' computer and here I have been reading blog posts and facebook for the last 45 minutes. I'm out of here baby! I can't promise that I will write more blog posts but I will try and update more during the summer.

Those bad words that sound so funny...

So...Butt face...I mean Cameron has been on the name calling train for a solid 4-5 months now. It started by calling Uncle Benny "Shirley" and Uncle Benny calling him "Becky" and has grown to Cameron making up his own ridiculous name calling insults (moo-py doo-py and the likes of anything that ends in "py") to the kicker....calling daddy a Butt Face while playing the other night. Brian sent him to timeout sternly, and once the door was shut, we both about smothered ourselves in the pillows stifling our laughter.
The kicker came yesterday when we were playing outside and my sweet cherub middle son, grabbed his crotch and said "suck my penis."
Now, the thing to remember with Cam is that he cannot pronounce certain sounds, trucks are fucks and tree is free, and there are others but the "tr's" are the only think I can think of right now. Anyway, I wasn't sure I heard him correctly so I looked at him and said "what did you say" and he said it again. What? (again) IT (again)....Cam where did you hear that? (he named a name like Ralphy ratting out Schwartz) And I told him that he shouldn't say that. Moving one...
Now I'm still not sure what I told him that he shouldn't say, because of his 3 year old lisp. But when it sounds just like he is saying Suck and Penis in the same sentence you have to react, I mean what other word goes so well with penis....(um....thats not...oh never mind) So, now the question is where did he get that from? Brian and I don't talk like that at home, the only other place is nursery school. There is "that boy" that is always in trouble. But what do you do, chalk it up to those things they learn when you send them out into the real world, and if it is coming from his nursery school and the kid that is doing the trash talk is that kid that is just a punk and discipline doesn't make a blip on his radar, should my son be removed from that environment? Is that to dramatic? It is our baby and we don't want our 3 year old talking like that.....Why didn't God make an instruction manual?

I have just given birth...

...to a 20something page project for my Physical Education for the exceptional learner class. Its amazing how attached you can become to a totally hypothetical case study. I have made up more malarkey in the last couple months referring to my two case study students. Now normally there are laws in place about privacy and such stating that teachers can't discuss by specific name the students that they have and the conditions and disabilities they have. But that is all out the window here at The Daniels 5. So let me introduce you to Sam and Tom. Sam is a 15 year old boy who has Down syndrome. He is a good kid, sweet natured, friendly, he does have the occasional verbal outburst, but who doesn't, right. My favorite student out of this duet is Tom, Tom was injured in a horrible sledding accident last winter and is now paralyzed from C7 down. He has a great attitude about his situation and is so determined to get out of his power wheelchair and into a manual chair. He is all into getting a Sled Hockey league started up at the Morrisville Iceplex he as coordinated his efforts with the One kid...One Sled...One shot...A hockey player for life program that initiates a loaner sled program and runs learn to sled skate programs. Its awesome to see what this kid is doing. and I made it all up out of thin air! They are merely a figment of my imagination! So after grooling over this final project which is to mold all of the assignment through out the semester into one eloquently written chapter form paper. I submitted it last night and I totally have the feeling that I just gave birth. I'm exhausted and tired I just want to go to sleep, but I can't I keep reading it over, (even though I already submitted it) much like you do when you just sit and hold your new born baby because you know this baby will only be 1 hour old, 2 hours old, 3 hours old, 4 hours old, for that 1 hour and you don't want to miss it. I hold it in my hands, as if through some Devinne intervention the grade that I have earned will magically appear in red ink with a circle around it at the top of the page with a little smiley face next to it. But I'm nervous at the outcome, just like with my babies, are they going to be OK, am I going to be a good parent, are they going to grow up to be productive members of society? Well, time will tell with all thing, now it is time to celebrate with a nice frosty beverage! (let me see what do we have...Ah-HA....Segreams Fuzzy Navel! 9:45 AM never a better time than the present to celebrate with a Fuzzy Navel! Happy end of the Semester Friends! CHEERS!