Live music is such a wonderful thing. I can't explain how great it is to see someone perform in person, especially when they're as good ad you hoped they would be. Not to mention the admiration I have for anyone who can get up in front of people and just put themself out there like that. Saw Nanci Griffith last night in Madison at the Barrymore, she was great. I just love her voice!

Is there a speech therapist in your life? If you're one of the many people dealing with Developmental Disorders such as PDD, Aspergers, Autism, stroke recovery and more, you've probably worked with a speech therapist.
Speech therapists work with people who can't make speech sounds, or can't make them clearly; those with speech rhythm and fluency problems, people who have trouble understanding and producing language; people with cognitive communication impairments, such as attention, memory, and problem solving disorders; and people who have oral motor problems. From small children to the elderly, they work with people of all ages. They work in schools, hospitals, and private offices. If you are one of the many people who have been helped by a speech therapist, and know how hard they work, you'll appreciate this cute t-shirt from autismshowucare. This cute shirt has a classy, simple design and the words "Speech therapist have a way with words." It is available in a number of colors, with short sleeves or long sleeves.
Autismshowucare.com sells this design and more t-shirts and gifts supporting autism awareness. According to their home page, "We sell and design Autism Awareness T-Shirts and Gifts to help create awareness and educate our communities. Autism is a tough road and it is our job to be a voice for our children. Please take a look at some of our colorful and meaningful Autism Awareness Designs. We have gorgeous looking Autism T-Shirts and Hats. Our Autism Awareness Christmas Ornaments for 2008 are just perfect for Grandma & Grandma. We carry sharp looking Autism Bumper Stickers, Magnets & Tote Bags. Our Autism Support Sweatshirts will keep you warm and send a great message. Autism License Tags for Mom, Dad, and Aunts & Uncles really helps to educate our communities. Our Aspies designs have zest and look great. And for our children suffering with Apraxia we have great T-Shirts & Gifts and you and family. So, lets do it; it is time to show your support to the child or adult in your life on the spectrum with Autism, Apraxia, Aspergers and PDD; we are here for you to help make a difference in Autism Awareness. We also carry great T-shirts and Gifts for our Occupational Therapist & Speech Therapist."
I think this design would make a great Christmas gift or thank you gift that any speech therapist would appreciate. Show them you appreciate their hard work with a cute gift, it's a great way to say thank you.



go here for more information from Wikipedia about becoming a speech therapist.


This blog post is a part of a crossover blog. Other participants in this crossover blog are:

http://ateasetees.wordpress.com/

http://www.blogbydonna.com/

http://getyergoat-goatgifts.blogspot.com

http://www.nanwrightart.com

http://randomshirts.blogspot.com/

http://skeetzteez.blogspot.com/

http://idesignbrian.wordpress.com/

http://www.shopkeeperdesigns.com

http://autismshowucare.blogspot.com

http://www.gocamelphotos.blogspot.com/

http://einselgaenger.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgOeDr2lZ7Q

Have you seen this video? You can find some of these cool products at www.freshgreentees.com Great Christmas gifts, shop early! Always a coupon on the home page!

Okay, I have to say, I just did a design I really like. This sounds silly, as I'm doing new t-shirt designs all the time, but sometimes I get so caught up in SEO (didn't even know what that was until I started my Cafepress store!), uploading designs, blogging, tracking visitors to the web site, and all the other stuff you just HAVE to do, it seems I never get enough time to do things I WANT to do. (I know, if I could save time in a bottle...) Anyway, here's a design I did last night that I really like. Check it out at my FreshGreenTees.com store.

So,
although my heart is still broken over the Packers losing Brett Favre, I've decided to buck up and face reality. I will always love him, and I will always love the Green Bay Packers (although I'm a little pissed at the management). Anyway, as the song from the Titanic movie says...my heart will go on...
So I've been busy working on my Cafepress t-shirt and gift stores, and will now make a shameless plug for my newest design...Barack Obama and Joe Biden in 2008.
I will be working on more designs, and as the election comes closer, will be putting more on campaign buttons and yard signs, so please check it out.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with Squidoo, but it's pretty cool and fun. I'm including some links here to Squidoo "lenses" that I've created, check 'em out! Here's one on Barack Obama wear/buttons/ political swag that can all be found online.">Barack Obama merchandise

This one is all about going green, yes it features my online store FreshGreenTees.com, but there are a lot of resources and articles too, on other great recycling products and hypermilling. ">Going green Squidoo lens

If you're going to New Orleans, I urge you to check out my fun things to do in New Orleans lens. ">fun things to do in New Orleans My husband and I attended the annual Jazz and Heritage festival, and it was fabulous. The food there was wonderful, as well.

One Squidoo lens that is close to my heart, is the what to do in Madison, Wisconsin lens. As Madison is my hometown, and a great place to live or visit, I'm pretty fond of it.

If you're not familiar with the concept of hypermilling, I urge you to check out my Hypermiling and Smiling lens.

• I live in an idyllic little town called Black Earth, Wisconsin. We're just west of Madison, Wisconsin, a farming community with a lot more to offer. The history of Black Earth is interesting, and the Black Earth Historical Society keeps track of this rich and varied history.

Today, Black Earth (population 1,380), and Mazomanie (just up the road, and in the Wisconsin Heights School District with Black Earth), is a wonderful place to raise a family. The kind of place where you can walk down the street in the summer and get an ice cream cone, walk back and stop to chat with your neighbors who are out in their yard playing with the kids, throwing a ball for their dog. We have a great library, , the largest shoe store in the midwest, there are also some gas stations, churches, and restaurants in the area, including Heiney's Dining and Rookies Food and Spirits. Also, Black Earth Meats offers some wonderful products, including local and organic meats.
There is also the famed Black Earth Creek, renowned for Trout fishing. You can learn more about the Black Earth Creek Watershed here. It's a beautiful area, with lots of rolling hills and prairies including the Black Earth Rettemund Prairie. This is how beautiful it is here...sometimes I see deer behind my house, down by the stream, and as I watch the sunset, I think it's too beautiful to be real, and I am so lucky to live here. It's clean and safe, and filled with good, caring people.
The Mazomanie community also has a lot of things to offer. From art galleries, a local swimming pool, a local farmer's market on Saturday mornings, to a gandydancer festival, parades, and more, there is just too much going on in to list here.
The Wisconsin Heights School District is facing a terrible crisis. There are about 900 students in pre-K through twelfth grade. A combination of the way Wisconsin funds it's schools, and a declining enrollment, have put the families in Black Earth and Mazomanie in a terrible bind. To be honest, the school district is having to cut programs and raise prices on sports and extra curricular activities. My kids attend these schools. They have received a wonderful education so far. They continue to receive excellent teaching, from wonderful qualified teachers, and have had some great learning experiences. The class sizes are ideal for learning, and I know most of the teachers, and am involved in the school district and know that the teachers and administration here really care about the families. It's a wonderful community to live in, and a great place to raise a family.
So, what can be done to help this school district?
ONE: What are you looking for in a hometown? WOuld you like a hometown feel with low taxes, low crime rate, a high quality of life, and a clean, natural place to live just down the road from one of America's top cities to live in? Consider visiting Mazomanie and Black Earth Wisconsin. There are a lot of beautiful houses available, and with the real estate market the way it is, you can get a great deal on a beautiful place to live. Spread the word, Black Earth and Mazomanie are wonderful communities to live in! Black Earth Field Days is celebrated at Veteran's Park in Black Earth August 9, 10, 2008 (and every August), check it out! A parade, fun kid's games, there's something for everyone!
TWO:
There is a group called Vanguard Pride consisting of families in the are who are trying to help our community and school. Please check out their website, they have a lot of good information on their website, and are trying to come up with some great solutions to the financial problems of the school, as well as spread the word of all the great things going on here. Their home page sums it up well "We would like to introduce a unifying concept called "Vanguard Pride", with the tagline; preserving our schools, preserving our community.

Many have reached the conclusion that without a unified sustainability plan, our local schools will be closed in two years.

Many have not yet realized that losing our schools also means losing our community.

Vanguard Pride's near term objective is to sustain quality local schools in the most cost effective manner possible.

Great efforts have been made to analyze costs and cuts have been made to optimize the cost of local education. To the credit of many, the tough task of successful cost cut cutting has been accomplished.

The reality is that we are at a point where we are both out of time and out of the kind of cost cutting ideas that will make a difference in the ultimate outcome.

To maintain confidence in our school district, a plan needs to be in place demonstrating a clear path of how quality schools will be sustained.

This group will take on tasks that support the objective of sustaining quality local schools, as well as provide a conduit for community input.

We will support community pride, as our communities are a place people chose to live: young adults starting out on their own, families raising their families, retirement age adults. We have many multigenerational families in our communities who chose to stay here as well as families who relocate to choose to live in our beautiful rural communities..."
We love our community and our schools, we welcome new people to come and experience life in a small town, with a lot to offer. If you have suggestions for ways to help save our schools, please contact me or post them here.
Thanks for reading, and please visit Black Earth and Mazomanie, Wisconsin, soon! If you know someone looking for a great place to live, please suggest our area!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgOeDr2lZ7Q

Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle gave each other a celebratory fist pump, (fist pump, fist bump, knuckle touch, whatever you want to call it). I didn't think too much of it, but the news had a field day with this. They showed it over and over, in slow motion, had people commenting on it, decided that this was just another example of how Obama is in touch with the younger generation, how Barack Obama is hip and cool. Not to mention, way younger than John McCain. My husband laughed and said "are they kidding? I've had an old white guy from Indiana doing the fist pump at me for 3 years, at work". I laughed. SO then I thought, does this really show that Barack Obama is young and hip, or does it just show that the media is in love with him? I'm not sure, but they were making such a big deal out of the whole bumping knuckles thing...I just had to come up with a shirt for my online shirt store. It had to be original, had to be funny...what to do, what to do? Finally I came up with this...I call it Barack Obumpa.Barack Obama/Obumpa I thought it was kind of cute and clever, then my 11 year old walked by and said "that's kind of a lame pun." So, now I'm not so sure. I old him it will probably catch on like wildfire, but he may be right. What do you think?

Sometimes I wonder, what is it about Pokemon that my son finds so fascinating? He and his friends can play for hours, with the cards, the video games, their imaginations...the characters have different attributes, strengths, health points and more. I can't keep it all straight. I try to play and I just glaze over after about 5 minutes. I can't keep all the information straight, and I would prefer to going back to playing Candyland. Does this make me a bad mom? I don't know. Do any moms get this game and play it with their kids? I've seen a few girls into Pokemon, at the Pokemon regional championship in Wisconsin Dells this past year, there were probably 10-20% girls, (and women), the rest were boys (and men). Is it something with the way our minds work? I know men and women are genetically very different, I've seen it in my own kids. Pokemon "battles" bring out something in my son...is it like 30 years ago when my brothers played Cowboys and Indians, (which no one can play anymore, because like everything else, it isn't politically correct). So my brothers would play cowboys and indians, and my sister and I would play "ranch" where we put our Barbie dolls (don't get me started on Barbies and girls sense of self worth...) onto my sister's horse statues and pretended they lived on a ranch.
My sister was always "Pam" (popular girl's name, for sure).
Now, years later, as grown women, my sister has her own horse, and I have low self esteem. Coincidence? I think not! So, my son loves Pokemon, even though I know it's marketing and big companies trying to get our money...I can't help but marvel at how much joy he gets from playing the game with his friends. And it helps him work on his social skills, that's for sure. Also, he reads the cards and memorizes the facts and statistics, so it can't be all bad, right?
Right?
Oh, as always, check out my CafePress stores, CreativethoughtTshirts.com, Creative Thought T-Shirts and Giftsand Fresh Green Tees. I'm adding lots of new designs, and really trying to get things going. My best seller is this Barack Obama Yard Sign sign, so it will be interesting to see how the whole presidential nomination and election shapes up!