She Strikes Again

The while you were out one person crew strikes again. This time Rojelio's office received a window treatment makeover.

Going from mini-blind BLAH . . .

. . . to sunshade and cable curtain AH-HA.

Gotcha again Rojel. I think next time we should set up a video camera to capture the true initial reaction.

6 1/6 Snowdays

So far this year Annie has had 6 1/6 snowdays. Snowday is a common term we used in Michigan, seemingly because school would be cancelled due to the amount of snow on the ground, making it unsafe for children to get to school. The interesting part is that really only about half these days we actually had snow, maybe up to 2-inches on the ground, the rest were primarily because of ice.
One benefit of living so far from where you work is that the weather could be totally different 45-miles away. Everyday Annie drives over Afton Mountain to get to work. The day this last winter storm started there was a 20-car pile-up on Afton.

Snowdays may not be the most accurate term used to describe these days off. Regardless, we'll take'em no matter what you call'em . . . snowdays, icedays, badweatherdays, layaroundthehouseanddonothingdays . . .

Two days off last week, three days off this week. Annie may need a map to remember how to get back to work.

Too bad not all of us could have the day off.

A Toboggan . . . or A Toboggan

I do a screening with Kindergartners to see how their speech-language skills are developing. There's this part where I have to get them to say certain words in order to hear how they produce the sounds.

HAT, HAT, all I want them to do is say HAT. My prompt, "When it's cold outside you wear a coat, gloves, and a _ _ _." I say this as I am pointing to my head.

Kid #1 response, "A toboggan." Oh poor kid. He only understood the cold part, totally missed the prompt of me pointing to my head. I corrected the young lad, explaining a toboggan is something you ride down a hill in the snow; you know like a sled.

Kid #2 response, "A toboggan." WOW! That's the second kid that said that. Kinda weird. Did they go to preschool? Again, I corrected this child and moved on.

I had a couple more students make the same mistake. Well they are only Kindergartners, they live in Virginia, there's not much snow here . . . I made excuses for them.

A few weeks later I found myself in the room when the preschool teacher was giving instructions for an activity. I was listening with one ear as she identified the different winter clothing items.

"Coat, mittens, scarf, toboggan, boots, snow pants . . . "

My ears perked up. WHAT . . . wait . . . did she just say toboggan? I looked up and sure enough there was a picture of a winter hat.

Surely she must have misspoke. Is this where all the Kindergartners got it from? It stemmed from preschool? Not wanting this class to mislearn the vocabulary I enquired. And sure enough . . . toboggan is a term they use for a winter hat. Who would have thought . . . not me.

I was dumbfounded. They were right. All those kids I thought were mixed-up. This . . . this stocking cap was their toboggan.

I grew up in Michigan, of course I knew what a toboggan was. But did I really? I knew what my toboggan was. And they knew what their toboggan was. But our toboggans were not the same.

I thought they were mixed up. They probably thought I was crazy.

English is one language, but we cannot forget the great dialectical variance it has.

Rojelio & Annie enjoying the first snowfall of the year in their nice warm toboggans.

GOFF . . . HUH . . . ?

What is Goff?
Goff is a city in Nemaha County, Kansas. In the 2000 census, the population consisted of 181 people, which included 60 households and 43 families. The non-diverse racial makeup included a 91% white population. The median income for a household in Goff was $35,781; the male median income nearly $10,000 more than females. None of the population was below the poverty line.

What is Goff?
A misspelling of the word golf, goof, or another word similar in nature.

What is Goff?
One could use Goff as an onomatopoeia. You know a word, or occasionally, a grouping of words, that imitates the sound it is describing, and thus suggests its source object. Goff could be used to describe an audible swallow that often occurs in a nervous or awkward situation.

Here is an example:

Kelly calls her fiancee Austin on his cell phone.

"Hey Aut!"

"Hey . . . uh who's this!?" Austin replies.

"Austin! It's me Kelly," she said in a stern tone.

" Yeah, uh . . . err . . . (GOFF) I knew that (GOFF) . . . just kiddin with ya Kel," Austin spoke nervously.

Awkward silence.

"So . . . what's up Kel!?" Austin tried to recover.

Continued silence from Kelly.

Austin attempts to repair the situation, "I love you . . . Kel . . . you there!? . . . hello?"

What is Goff?
Goff is the 946th most common family name in the United States. It is particularly prevalent among those of Welsh or Irish descent.

So what is the point of this? Why define Goff? It all has to do with Annie's friend Kelly. Though all these definitions are meaningful, the last definition is the most relevant to Kelly. As of December 31, 2006 she joined the Goff family, now too having the 946th most common name in the United States.

Congratulations Kelly and Austin. The wedding was a blast and a great way to bring in the new year.

The newly announce Mr. and Mrs. Goff

Kelly just realized she had advanced in the alphabet. Going alphabetically from the Ws to the Gs. Way to go Kelly! We're so proud you have moved up in the world!

Shannon, Mrs. Goff, Annie, Alissa, & Cindy

Shannon with her Seth

Cindy with her husband Tim

Alissa with her husband Mark

Whether it be geography, spelling, English grammar, surnames, or just good friends, I think we all inadvertently learned a little something about GOFF.

O Tannenbaum

It was a beautiful December afternoon. The perfect day for a Christmas tree hunt. We went to the closest lot around; the Boy Scouts were in control. A tree that was not too big, not too small, not too prickly, not too limp . . . a tall order to fill for a young couple that does not have the Christmas tree picking experiences as Annie's parents do.

Yes, Annie can recall the cold Michigan days she and her brothers were scattered about the tree farm, knee deep in snow, given the task to stand point and guard the perfect Christmas tree, only until the next perfect one came along that is. As a child she thought, "How am I going to fend an adult away from this tree, I'm just a kid, their going to have saw, axe, or something sharp and not listen to me. Oh my mom will be so mad." Other thoughts, "I've been standing here a really long time. I hope they haven't forgotten about me. What if they left me here!? No, I'm sure they would do a head count or something before they left. Wouldn't they . . . mom . . . dad . . .!?"

But I digress . . .

We pulled into the lot. Before even completely parked Annie's eyes narrowed in. It was like a magnet attracting her with such great force and not being able to pull away. Quickly exiting the car she made a bee-line to the tree. Not too big, not too small, not too prickly, or too limp. Perfect. Rojelio suggested maybe looking around for a minute to see if anything else catches their eyes. Nope, a quick trip around the rows and we were back guarding our beloved Frasier Fur. It was unanimous.

There was one problem. We only had $11 cash between the two of us. A mere overlook, who carries cash these days anyway. But that wasn't going to cut it for these Boy Scouts. Rojelio jetted across the street to the gas station to use the ATM. Annie was left at a tree yet again to protect the perfect tree from predators. She stood as close to the tree as she could. Others kept walking by, looking at the tree, even touching the price tag to investigate. "How dare they, can't they see this is my tree." She began to have flashbacks, "Where's Rojelio? I saw him go into the gas station. Oh my gosh maybe the there's a robbery over there or something." She no longer wanted to fend off the gawkers. She whistled for a young Scout. The tree was moved off the to side . . . whew no longer on the market . . . what a relief. She could relax.

A few hours later . . . sorry I mean minutes, it only felt like hours, hours of unarmed battle to save what was rightfully ours. Rojelio returned with cash in one hand and an ice cream sandwich in the other.

Here are some picture highlights of our tree, some new ornaments, and our homemade tree topper.

Happy Holidays from Rojelio & Annie!

Our homemade tree topper.

A ginger bread man the preschool made for Annie.

This ornament looks like one of our family members, Chica.

Gotta love a duck. It's McQuackin'!

Keeping up with the Jones'

Our Christmas spirit started a few weeks ago. We noticed many of our neighbors, especially the adjoining ones, had small lighted holiday displays. A light up bush here, a candle in the window there, wreaths and garland strung about. To "keep up with the Jones'" we took on the task of hanging lights. We opted for LED color changing lights. They fade across the rainbow spectrum or as some like to say Roy G. Biv. With the combination of the lights being LED and fading across the spectrum we have dubbed our house Vegas. It is so bright and in your face. We think we even saw it on GOOGLE EARTH! These pictures do not quite give them the full justice they deserve.

The ironic thing is our next-door-neighbors name really is Jones. And even more ironic is that they are the only ones in our row that do not have lights up, though they have a beautiful holiday pumpkin on display!

It's not easy being hubbell house tamarisk . . .

It's not easy being hubbell house tamarisk or summerhouse blue or frappe or some other color like that . . .

The much anticipated upstairs bathroom has been completed. I have to say not as complex as the downstairs bathroom, but very clean, fresh, and vivid. So many different colors to choose from, but of course we went with our two favorites, green and blue, or should I saw hubbell house tamarisk and summerhouse blue.

Upstairs bathroom BEFORE

Upstairs bathroom AFTER

Polish Princess

There once was a Polish girl.

She got a new blue enamel roaster.

"What shall I do with this new roaster?" she thought. Well, what else would a Polish girl do with a roaster but make gołąbki.

And that she did. "What a meal!" she praised.

THE END.

A 36.78 Pounder

Saturday was a glorious autumn day here in Charlottesville. Luckily there weren't any sick people at the hospital so Rojelio had the day off.

We went on an old adventure, but at a new place. We usually called them cider mills in Michigan, here in Virginia this was just a plain old orchard. The two names could be synonyms if it weren't for the whole production of cider aspect. Carter Mountian Orchard. The name explains it all. The orchard is perched on the very top of a mountain over looking Charlottesville. The view was astounding. It was even more incredible to see how small downtown Charlottesville really is; especially when comparing it to our previous city of Grand Rapids. The biggest building in town seems to be the white one in the middle of the picture . . . which is actually the hospital.

As tradition goes we had to have cider and doughnuts. FRESH HOT doughnuts right off the . . . oil!?

Here's the view from the doughnut cam.

After we indulged, Rojelio spotted a few people carrying long poles with small cages on one end. Interesting. We stalked these carriers and found their destination was the apple picking check-in booth. As soon as those poles were brought back other consumers seized them. It didn't take long for us to figure out these poles were a hot item and hard to come by.

We were up for the challenge. We decided to hang out and shark our prey. Rojelio spotted him. An eight-year-old boy. The pole was bigger than he was. What an easy target. As the boy neared the check-in counter Rojelio swam in his current, being careful not to trip over the pole drowning in the dirt as the boy dragged it behind. SNATCH! A successful hunt.

Now that we had a pole and bag for our apples we were ready to hit the orchard.Yeah sure there were some apples within an arms reach, but what's the fun in that. We were so eager to have a pole to use; that was the primary reason we went out in the orchard. We got to try our hand at pole-picking.

This was a state-of-the-art facility, a doughnut AND pole cam. Who could believe it!?

For the grand finale, Rojelio walked away with a 36.78 lb pumpkin.

What do you call an over-weight pumpkin?

A plumpkin.

We had a doughnut-eatin', cider-drinkin', pole-pickin', pumpkin-haulin' good time!

It's What I Do

It's What I Do
by Annie F. Hokett, MA, CCC-SLP

These kids come to speech-language therapy,
I teach them everyday,
To learn to talk,
And know what to say.

I help kids practice the /r/ sound,
The /s/ and /th/ too,
If they already knew how to say these sounds,
I wouldn't have anything to do.

Some need help with vocabulary,
Some need help following rules,
This girl needs help with oral motor,
Because she always drools.

Many kids have trouble with grammar,
Pronouns, adjectives, and verbs,
Formulating sentences can be hairy,
They say, "I don't know what to do with all these words."

I've heard him scream, whisper and holler,
This boy sounds very hoarse to me,
He's been unable to phonate at times,
That's why he gets voice therapy.

Some kids have apraxia,
Speaking is not hard for me or you,
But these kids have trouble forming words,
They really really do.

The new kid has trouble with articulation,
An IEP is the way to go,
I will give him intervention,
Unless the State regulations say NO.

Whether it be articulation, language, voice, or fluency,
I'm here everyday,
I do the best job I can,
To get these kids on their way.