So much and so little

January is almost over and as I think about my goals for the month I've done fair.  I've completed reading 10 books for a total of 2,965 pages.  Read two books from a new author that I really enjoyed, Debbie Viguié. Very clever plot with the main characters, one who is a church secretary at a Presbyterian church and the other a Rabbi from the Synagogue next door. It's called the Psalm 23 Mysteries. They're cute and clever and quick reads. I'm thinking I need to buy book 3 in the series since book 4 comes out next month.  So the goal of reading at least 4 books, CHECK!

I've also had good success with the mybible360.blogspot.com site.  I've had 3 or 4 faithful people to comment almost every day. I'm only about 3 days ahead myself so I need to get caught up there.

I've been doing much better with the soda and not drinking as much.  I still love the taste.  My guilty pleasure.

The budget and keeping the balanced checkbook are still the weird ones in my life. I managed to NOT overdraft either account so that's good.

Things are good, busy but good. My greatest battle right now is getting Mark to do his homework and live up to even half his potential.  It's maddening to say the least.  So, for your listening pleasure and mine... a mindless tribute that ask the question, "Why is the Rum Gone?"

What If…

What if… Mark’s two favorite words. If you know anything about Strengths Quest you will understand when I say Mark is high end “Deliberative” He makes me a little crazy sometimes and I’m deliberative as well, but I don’t think I hit as high on the scale as he does.

Tomorrow my baby turns 13. It’s hard to believe. I’ve been uploading my pictures to flickr and have been working on 2000 and 2001.  He was just a bright eyed boy that was quick to smile and laugh. Today he’s still bright eyed though he’s generally quick with the smart comment. Then again, he’s 13. He is a good kid, he has a tender heart, but he’s also opinionated and isn’t afraid to say what he thinks. Sometimes I wish he wouldn’t always say what he’s thinking, but in the long run he’ll probably be a better person because of it. Too often I don’t say what I think when I should.

Not only do I have the excitement of my baby’s 13th birthday, but Tuesday I leave for Las Vegas for the American Society of Training and Development conference. It should be a good conference and getting away for a few days is nice.  I’ll admit it I’m looking forward to it.  I’ll be posting my learnings on the training blog rather than my personal.  Any after conference antics will be posted here. But as we know what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!!!

When Mark was first born he had a low body temperature and so here they have him laying on a heating pad trying to warm him up. He also was born with an irregular heartbeat. That disappeared for awhile and reappeared at 6 months and stuck around for about 3 years. Now all seems to be good.

A Million Word or Less About Mark Magnuson

This past Monday Mark started seventh grade! Hard to believe that my baby is in middle school. However, the school year has started well and Mark is getting himself up and seems to be engaged. One of his teachers asked that one of the parents write about their child to help her understand him better.  She so doesn’t know what she asking for!?!?!

Mark is our second child, born eight years after his brother Tim. Finding that I was pregnant with Mark was the first of many surprises. He surprised us by showing up three weeks earlier than expected. Although he looked so much like his big brother did, he was definitely a very different personality. From the beginning he needed little sleep and was in constant motion. (something he’s just now grown out of!) 

Although Mark didn’t start talking as early as his brother when he started talking he gave us full sentences. He is very articulate and quite comfortable talking to children younger than himself as well as adults. Especially when he was younger he tended to have friends that were two years older than himself.

Mark ended up having the same teacher for both first and second grade. It was during second grade parent/teacher conference that we had the hard discussion about Mark’s behavior. No matter how hard he tried or what discipline method was taken Mark couldn’t sit still. He would ask to go and sit at the desk by itself so he could work, but within five to ten minutes he would be wandering the room socializing with everyone. There were other symptoms that indicated that Mark has ADHD. Thankfully, his doctor did a great job prescribing a medication that helped him mellow out, sit still, and focus without causing negative side effects. 

Another thing that the doctor recommended was for Mark to be involved in team sports.  For four years Mark participated in KARE Youth League.  It was a great opportunity for him to participate in football, basketball, baseball, soccer, and track. Although he was not a standout athlete he did excel at track and basketball. It was fun to watch him in basketball playing defense against other kids as they pushed each other back and forth.

Mark is artistic. He’s done some beautiful work.  From 2005 until 2010 he participated in the Young Rembrandts program through the school.  In 2010 he started the Kids’ Art program in Glendora.  It has been amazing to see his growth as an artist.  I need to update it but I have a website of his artwork at: http://markart.magnusonhouse.com  This year at the LA County fair this piece will be displayed.  I hope he gets positive affirmation on his work.  As I mom I know I’m biased but I do believe he’s amazing.

I think one of Mark’s greatest strengths is his heart. He can be totally obnoxious, rude, crude and just socially unacceptable. But when it comes down to it, he has a soft heart for people and can be so very kind.  In the last year or so he has become a much affection person.  He cracks me up how he will hug people he’s just met like he’s known them forever. I love that about him! Though sometimes he just a little TOO social as I’m sure his teachers will see. 

Some fast facts about Mark:

• His middle name was for his grandfather that he never got to meet: Ray
• His birthday is January 23
• He wears a size 10.5 shoe
• He loves computer games WAY too much
• He is writing a book and drawing characters for it
• He placed 2nd in the Youth State Bowling Tournament in Doubles in 2010 (we haven’t gotten the results for 2011)
• He placed 1st in the Youth City Bowling Tournament in Team competition in 2011

There is so much more I could tell you about Mark, but a little mystery is good.

Oh what a week or Is this a good looking kid or what!

Do you remember the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon? At the end of each cartoon the narrator would say something along the lines of "Join us next time for ... Or ....." and they would be two totally random titles. Anyway, I digress...

Monday through Wednesday was crazy busy and I felt like all I did was run. This summer is going to be a busy one with the Google Apps deployment and several offices transitioning to VoIP phones. Thankfully I will have some help with the GA training.

Somewhere in my social media world I shared the story of Mark asking me one morning if I knew how to tie a tie, which of course I had no clue. Being the resourceful child he is he found a YouTube video and figured it out. In fact, he did quite a nice job. Tonight he gave me the pictures to prove it.



Is he not a good looking kid!?
So yes, I will be spending the $42 to buy the pictures! He is so worth it!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy Birthday Mark!

Twelve years ago today and three weeks ahead of schedule Mark arrived in our lives.

I woke up around 8 that morning to realize there was something wrong.  No bags packed nothing ready to go to the hospital. So I quickly threw some things in the suitcase grabbed the brand new digital camera (my first!) woke up Erwin and off we went to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital they had no paper work on me so it was a fun little scramble to get me admitted.

The real fun started when they took my blood pressure and found it sky high! So I labored on my left side in hopes to keep my blood pressure a little lower.  Not sure if it helped or not but that's what they made me do.  I unfortunately let them give me Demerol in hopes it would take the edge off, no such luck!  Just made my brain mush.

Just a little after noon (yes, just 4 hours after the first indication that something was up) I was ready to start pushing.  Of course, Mark opted not to cooperate and patiently wait to be born. The visual my husband like to use is it was like being shot out of a cannon.  He was grateful the doctor had good hands and could catch Mark.

Mark had a few issues after being born. First his body temperature was a little low so they had to put him on a nice heating blanking to warm him up.  I didn't know until several hours later, but he was experiencing an irregular heartbeat.

Later in the afternoon Erwin went to dinner. The nurse came in to give Mark a bath and I asked if she could remove my IV since they weren't using it anymore. She did but left the shunt in just in case they needed to give me something for my blood pressure. She then bathed Mark and left. I was still on my left side with a brain of mush. I soon heard Erwin walk into the room and then step into the hall and yell, "Is my wife suppose to be bleeding like this!!!" When the nurse removed my IV she didn't close off the shunt so with every heartbeat blood would shoot out of the shunt. I was soaked through the blanket, the sheet, and my gown.  Not pretty!

Mark's heartbeat hadn't straightened out so he got an EKG. So when I started having chest pains that night the next thing I know they are doing an EKG on me as well as blood gases. Funny sky high blood pressure and chest pains they start jumping. Thankfully we were basically fine.

But yet the fun was not over!! Around midnight they had to move us out of our room (more babies to be born) and across the hall to the C-Section rooms. I wish I could say that was the end of the excitement, but alas it wasn't.  Around 3 in the morning I hear Mark cough and it sounded funny. I turn on the light to find blood next to his mouth.  By this time I was like "What else can happen!?" I ring the nurses station and told them my baby just threw up blood.  They were there in seconds and off he went to the nursery.  Thankfully, it wasn't anything major. Due to his speedy entrance into the world he didn't get properly suctioned out.  Of course, the nurse came in to take my blood pressure which she was dreading. What do you know?  The lowest it had been all day!!

So here we are 12 years later and Mark is still full of life and adventures.  He is a blessing! (although at times a very CHALLENGING blessing!)

Happy Birthday Mark!

A Very Neat Day at SeaWorld San Diego!

Today Mark and I journeyed south to one of my favorite places, SeaWorld California. We were late getting out and wanted to make a stop for the elusive Wii. I wanted to pick up a used one for Mark, but alas, there are none currently out there. I guess GameStop has to hold on to them for 30 day, something to do with Pawn Shop laws. Needless to say Mark is annoyed. (What else is new!)

Anyway once we got here we found an ice skating rink at SeaWorld! Long story short, I bought Mark a day pass for the skating rink. He's very been on any type of skates so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was better than I could have imagined.

Here is the first video of him trying to skate. He's in a red and white plaid jacket:



We ended up coming back two more times. He definitely got my money's worth in the amount of time he spent as well as just the amount of fun he had. It was great to watch his abilities and his confidence grow each time he went around the rink. Unfortunately, he had on short socks, which meant he had no protection from the top of his skate boot rubbing on his leg. It was pretty sore by the time I took this video. It was one of his final laps around the rink. This time he is wearing a black King's jacket. You'll see him wipe out big time, pick himself up and kept right on skating.

Happy Place on Earth

Today Mark was out of school at 11:30 so I took off the day off so we could go to Disneyland. Of course, Mark almost platooned the whole thing by not getting his work done at school so he had not only his homework to do but classwork as well. But he pulled it together and got it finished so we left about 12:45 to go to the Park.

Thankfully there was no traffic and the park was not crowded at all! We rode Space Mountain twice (It's all Halloweened up! VERY COOL!) We also did Buzz Lightyear (and I beat him!!!)


Mark wanted to do Captain EO again so we did that, then moved from Tomorrow Land to Adventure Land.  We rode Indiana Jones, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and then over to Big Thunder.  In the midst of the rides we stopped off at the Golden Horseshoe to see Billy Hill and the Hillbillies.  It's a fun show and Mark seemed to enjoy it.

So for all you who haven't had the opportunity to see Billy Hill and the Hillbillies I turned to my favorite website of late, YouTube.  I found a set of great videos, in High Def of the group.  They are really nice.

He Amazes Me!

Mark is still struggling with the new school.  He tells me he's keeping an open mind, but I'm not all that convinced. But tonight we were grabbing a quick bite to eat at Sam's Club before youth group. Mark was talking 90 miles a minute and I just causally mention, "You need to be back on your meds." to which he responded, "Ya I was going to mention that." As we talked about it he told me that he needed to be back on his medicine for his ADHD.  I admire his self awareness and his willingness to admit what he need.

Today we're going to visit the Czech Republic:

The last Tuesday of August

Second day of school for Mark and he's doing okay. Today he admitted he liked the way his teacher was running the class, but he didn't like the people. Which isn't new, he has people issues on a regular basis.  Of course, tonight before going to bed he told me he was "homesick" for Glen Oak and wanted to go back.  All I can do is hope and pray that he will make some good friends.

It's been awhile since I went to Poland so I'll head west (at least I'm pretty sure it's west) to Germany.

So where we are in Hamburg

This is a fun site there's 7 webcams to choose from:

This is going to be a busy week, but I've already accomplished some things so I feel good about.  Hopefully the rest of the week will be productive.

His First Art Show

Today was Mark's first art show in Glendora.  He chose to display one of his original pictures from his Dragon Fables game.  This isn't necessarily my favorite piece, but his teacher was very impressed by how hard this was and he wanted to tackle and he did a great job.  I just posted his most recent picture from the 20th as well as some free hand stuff he did on his own of Sonic characters.

You can check out Mark's Art Work at: markart.magnusonhouse.com

In other news Mark is changing schools this year.  He was identified as GATE prior to 4th grade, but his school didn't have a GATE class. In a perfect situation he would have received the enrichment and challenges to fit his needs. But in practical is wasn't happening.  His teachers tried, but when you are juggling 30+ kids some of which are high maintenance it's really hard to do. He's not 100% sure about the change, even though he initially suggested it.  He's worried about leaving his friends and it's change, something he hasn't experienced much of in his life. He makes friends so easily (keeping friends is the tough part).  He'll be fine and will probably be mad that I didn't move him sooner.

Next week Mark starts school and hopefully it will be quieter for me this week compared to last!

If you're seeing this on Facebook you can check out my website at: www.magnusonhouse.com

Congrats Mark

Today was the end of the summer bowling league.  Mark did OK got a couple of trophies and certificates, but the really cool news was how he ended up doing in State Tournament. Their team ended up in 6th place in state which isn't too shabby in my option, no scholarship money for that.  HOWEVER...



He and his double partner ended up finishing 3rd!!!  And they each get $100 in scholarship money.  He's only going into 6th grade and I think he's already earned about $300 in scholarships. He keeps going he might actually have a decent scholarship fun.

Again, I'm proud at how well he's doing.  He's a good kid.

State youth Bowling Tournament

Today we finished the state youth bowling tournament. Mark did really well. Yesterday in the team competition he bowled a108, 97,&98 His average for the tournament is 81.  Today was doubles and singles which means bowling 6 straight games without a break. In doubles he bowled 134,110,& 108.  Her received a pain for being 50. pins over average. For singles he did127,93,120!

 I was extremely proud of not only his bowling but his attitude and sportsmanship. He was on a team where he didn't know the Kids very well I but he seemed to have fun. All the kids did well. Hopefully they will get some recognition.

State youth Bowling Tournament

Today we finished the state youth bowling tournament. Mark did really well. Yesterday in the team competition he bowled a108, 97,&98 His average for the tournament is 81.  Today was doubles and singles which means bowling 6 straight games without a break. In doubles he bowled 134,110,& 108.  Her received a pain for being 50. pins over average. For singles he did127,93,120!

 I was extremely proud of not only his bowling but his attitude and sportsmanship. He was on a team where he didn't know the Kids very well I but he seemed to have fun. All the kids did well. Hopefully they will get some recognition.