Things on my mind

No pictures, but a few things to blog about:

1. I always love getting a good deal. I have found some really good deals lately and thought I'd pass one tidbit on....we need a rental car for our visit to CA next week so I went online looking for the best prices. I wasn't happy with the prices I found so I went on priceline.com and did the name your own price option. I've always been leary to use it before for flights because you don't find out the airline or times until you pay but I figured for a rental car it didn't matter what company we got. My offer was for $20/day for a full size car. It was accepted by Avis so we saved over $300! So if you're ever looking for a rental car use priceline and save some money :) Another exciting good deal was at the outlet mall. I went to the Crocs outlet and got the kids each a pair of Crocs for $5.00 each. They were supposed to be $9.99 for the first pair and then half off the next, but for some reason they rang up $5.00 each. Love me some shopping, especially when I get good deals. Gotta do my part to stimulate the economy!

2. I know we live in the midwest, but to me we are still TEXANS! So, I'm having a problem with my children sounding like midwesterners. I even hear myself saying things without my Texas twang...makes me sad. We are no longer mommy and daddy. Now it's Mam, Mem, don't know how to write it...and de-ad...don't know how to write it. My kids teachers have all been great, but they are midwesterners with big accents and that's all they hear most of their days and they are picking up on it. We have to get out of here soon or they'll talk like this the rest of their lives!!!! Nothing against Midwesterners, it's just that I like to think we are Texans....

3. Keep Maddi in your prayers. Those of you who know us know that Maddi has had one little thing after another since birth. Nothing big and most things have resolved on their own but we are facing the next "thing" with her. She has been having trouble with reading comprehension and even math on some days at school. We took her to a psychologist for educational testing this week. We will get results on Tuesday. I'm afraid it's going to come back ADD. All things considered, it's an easy thing to be diagnosed with and better than some of the other things it could be. It's just that I REALLY don't want my child on medication. This girl has been on some type of medication since she was 2 weeks old starting with her heart medications, then it was meds. for her kidneys, then it was meds. for allergies and eczema. We are doing allergy shots to try to get her off meds. Now we might have to use some sort of med for attention. She is definitely not the hyperactive child, it's more inattentiveness (the day dreamer) and it's most common in sweet, well behaved girls her age. As a teacher I couldn't understand why parents would not want to help their child and medicate them if they had add/adhd. Now it's come full circle and we might be faced with the same decision and now I see the other side of the coin. I want to help her and I want her to be successful at school but I'm really struggling with what we might hear on Tuesday. I guess I could use the prayers as well!

4. I am glad January is almost over. Read in the paper today that this was the coldest January in 25 years with an average temperature of 19.4 degrees. Bring on the heat!