Intro

Hi!

My name is Roxanna - I blog at Miguelina. which used to be called Diary of a Reluctant Housewife, but is still at www.diary.blogs.com. Confused yet? Yeah, me too.

I'm not a fan of Dunkin' Donuts, crazy drivers or snow - yet I love living here. Must be the clam chowder.

I live in the Boston suburbs with my husband and two boys. My current goal is to meet all of the New England Mamas, in a non-internet-stalker-like fashion. When are we having a meet-up?

Newport or Bust!

I'm heading to a Girls Weekend in Newport, RI on Friday. Yay! 2 days of no kids, no hubbies and plenty of laughs and relaxation!

Any recommendations on where to eat, drink and play?

Guys, I need sponsors

If you haven't yet heard me shouting that I'm doing blogathon.... hear me now. I need sponsors. I'm not up to my goal yet. I'm exhausted. I've been posting since 9 am yesterday, every 30 minutes. And they aren't filler posts, they're entire stories. Funny stories. VERY funny stories.

So go read them, and then sponsor me.

I need sponsors to help me reach my goal. So please, a comment or two? And please sponsor me. Purty pleeze...

Margalit

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. . .

Wow. As someone who has family in the immediate area, this casino will make a huge impact on their lives. I truly hope it is for the better, but I doubt it.

I understand that casinos brings jobs to towns; that they pump lots of money into the local economy; and, hopefully, they give money to Native American tribes, money I think they deserve.

But, I walked through Mohegan Sun last weekend and was struck by a few things. First, in a busy hour on a Saturday night, I heard no one yelling out that they had struck it big. Then, it was standing-room only at many of the tables, tables which were commanding $25 and $50 minimums per hand. Finally, as beautiful as the decor is around the gaming rooms, essentially people were just throwing their hard-earned money into machines or on tables, all in the hopes of beating the odds.

So, now we wait to see what will happen next. And hope that this casino doesn't swallow up an entire region full of quiet beauty and open spaces.

I Deserve A Medal

Guess what Sweetie's trying to master?



As you can see by the scraps on the table and the shreds littering the floor, Sweetie is learning to use her safety scissors.

And I - the right-handed mama - am learning how to teach a lefty to use those safety scissors.

But I must say that Sweetie, and I, are doing a pretty good job with it.

Keep that elbow out and your thumb up, Sweetie!

She and I are also working on her reading. Even though I love to read and write - Even though I majored in English - Teaching a 4 year old the "rules" (or lack thereof) of the English language is quite the challenge.

That being said, I was mightily impressed with myself when I came up with this little gem:

Vowels are lazy. They usually only like to make their short vowel sounds. If they want to make their long sound, they often need each other to help out.

That's why there's a silent "E". The "E" is working so hard to give the long sound to the other vowel that it doesn't have any energy left to make it's own sound.

Other words like "boat", "tweet" and "wait" need two vowels next to each other to get one long vowel sound.

So, to review:

Elbow out! Thumb up! Lazy vowels!

This Mommy Business sure does take a lot of fast thinking, creativity and patience. And sometimes - just sometimes - I really do feel like I have the Mama Mojo flowing. I deserve a medal.

In fact - we all do. Mom's rule!

Line up behind me, ladies. There's enough bling for all of us.