Monday, May 12, 2008

Stop Hitting Your Kids!!!!




Everyday should be National Spank Out Day!!! Stop Hitting Your Kids!

Another One Bites The Dust

Actually, I'm quite disturbed by this news. I've been teary-eyed off and on since I heard about it yesterday. Someone I grew up with, went to school with, and who was in my husband's class in school died under suspicious circumstances early yesterday morning. Aaron B was a good guy. Dodger even roomed with him and a few other guys right after high school. His family, and he, have been long-time residents of my little hometown. My dad still lives there, the incident happened just around the corner from my dad's residence.

This is the 4th person (that we know of) from Dodger's class (one class ahead of mine) that has died (the other's are: Ryan A [motorcycle accident], Mike B [suicide], and Abe W [automobile accident]). This is the craziest one so far, although Mike's suicide was pretty messed up, too. I hope they find out what happened and who was responsible. Please, pray for his family, the not-knowing has to be making this so much harder for them.

Update: This case has finally been solved!

Mother's Day

Really, I can't stand Mother's Day (it feels so much like Valentines Day... a day conceived to get people to spend their money and celebrate love one day out of the year, when love should be a daily expression).  I don't have much of a relationship with my mom and I don't need a day to remind me of that.  It all feels so contrived.  The dinner after the dance concert (our dance concerts are always on Mother's Day weekend) and feeling that I have to buy her something, when I really don't have the extra $ to do so.

And for myself, as a mother, I don't want 1 day out of the year when my family feels that they should celebrate me.  My family is pretty good about staying in tune with each other every other day of the year.  I don't need a special day celebrating motherhood.  The celebration is in the small things that happen throughout the rest of the year.

KWIM?

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Free Printable Checkbook Register and Calendar


SUPPLIES needed for ONE register:
  • File downloaded
  • Printer 
  • 10-12 sheets of printer paper 
  • 1 sheet of cardstock paper 
  • Paper cutter, OR scissors and ruler 
  • Stapler 

PRINT THE REGISTER:
  • Print 10-12 copies of PAGE 1 ONLY
  • After the printing is finished, print the same number of copies of PAGE 2 on the blank side of the printer paper, making sure page 2 is printed upside down from page 1. In order to fold the pages correctly, Page 2 MUST be printed 'upside down.' (Please see TIP section below
  • Print ONE copy of the Checkbook Register Cover, using the cardstock paper. It's located on page 3 of either choice. 
TIP: On my HP printer, the page is printed to the tray: printed side up, and the image appears facing the printer (upside down.) When printing the back side, the printed sheets are taken from the 'out tray' and the stack is placed exactly the way they came out of the printer: printed side facing up, and the image is upside down, into the 'in tray' of the printer. The sheets do NOT get rotated, or flipped over to the blank side to be printed.

YOUR PRINTER DIRECTIONS MAY VARY. PLEASE CONSULT YOUR PRINTER DOCUMENTATION FOR MORE INFORMATION.

ASSEMBLE THE REGISTER:
  • Line the "cut line" surrounding the checkbook register pages with the paper cutter blade to trim the edges evenly. Scissors can be used to do this, if you don't have access to a paper cutter. You can draw a line connecting the 'cut lines' to make your cutting straighter. Two horizontal cuts (top and bottom) and two vertical cuts (left side and right side) will be made, for a total of 4 cuts. Repeat this process for the checkbook cover. The checkbook cover will be longer and wider than the checkbook register pages. 
  • Individually fold the trimmed checkbook register pages from top to bottom. Stack them one on top of each other. Flipping from one page to another, you should see the "Issued to" at the top of each page, and along the crease. 
  • Fold the trimmed checkbook register cover from bottom to top, so the words are on the OUTSIDE. Personally, I like to have the 'info' side (register info about when it started/ended) as the back, and the "This Register belongs to" info as the front side of the cover. Insert the folded checkbook register pages into the cover lining up the creases. 
  • Place the register pages and register cover (with the cover facing up) in the stapler, with the crease of the folded stack of pages as the part that will be stapled. Staple all pages with three staples spaced evenly, from left to right along the crease, then fold along the crease one more time.


CALENDAR

Below is a calendar that you can customize to the size that you need and then download it to either Word or Open Office (Open Office is free to download here: http://www.openoffice.org/) and print.

  • Go to http://www.calendarsthatwork.com/ 
  • Click on The Sample Calendars in the left-hand sidebar.
  • Scroll down until you find the Yearly Landscape calendar. Click on it. 

Here are the specs that I used to make it the right size to use with the checkbook registers.
  • Page Size: A3 
  • Resize content:  Width: 80%  Height: 60% 
  • Calendars per Sheet: The 5th option, which has 4 red squares. 
  • Adjust the Starting On date to the beginning of the year.
  • Running For will automatically adjust to 4. Leave that as it is.
  • Click the Sample Calendar print option.  This generate a downloadable file.
  • Save it to your computer.
  • Print.

You will need to trim your calendar and tape it to the register. Or better yet, print it off on sticker paper, trim, peel, and stick it to the register.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Spring Dance Concert 2008

 Here are a few pictures from Dancer's spring dance concert this evening.

Dancer, Megan, and Jan