RALLY CAPS LATEST and TAGGED!

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Did you guys really feel us all the way in Chicago??? Just kidding, not. *smile* Today, I'm feeling flirty...it's been awhile, but Paotie woke me up with a delicious blog that started my day off with a "Bang!"
I have news. On April 16th, Cochlear Italy (pre-)purchased 416 (there's that number again) copies of the Italian version of RALLY CAPS to distribute to hospitals throughout Italy. The Grosseto Medical Association Board just gave us sponsorization in addition to the Mayor, Province and National Healthcare Branch of Grosseto, things are shaping up for a rockin' book presentation that will most likely be at the end of May, just in time to conclude "Better Speech and Hearing Month." (Anyone know if that is an international thing?) I'm considering writing to request the presence of the Italian Prime Minister,himself. *smile* (actually, rotfl)

Just to keep an American Mamma's feet firmly on the Tuscan soil, I discovered that my 5 year old is a criminal. Two days ago we went to the supermarket and she asked me if she could have a chocolate egg, of course, I said yes. She then requested one for her brother so she could surprise him. Now, some of you might be saying, "Awww, isn't she the most thoughtful sister??" Hold onto your pants. I said, "Of course, Sofia, you are such a spectacular sister." Then...she requested her second egg. "Mommy, (she knows I love it when she calls me "Mommy") can I have two eggs?"
Response: "Absolutely not, be happy with one...my adorable child. (witch)" She hemmed and hawed and "got over it." I paid. We left. We walked home. She ran upstairs as soon as she walked in the door, in quite the suspicious manner.

I asked (Mamma radar in effect), "Sofia, did you take anything from the Supermarket?" And my sweet, innocent child replied, "No, Mommy, I just wanted to put my coat upstairs." Hmmm. To believe or not to believe???? I believed. God, am I dumb as shit!

The next day, Sofia confessed. She had stolen a chocolate egg and worse yet, she ate both of them. I am so gullible. Needless to say, tomorrow we will be returning to the supermarket where she will pay for that chocolate egg and confess. When I posted this on the Circle, one of the mom's told me her daughter had done something similar and she took her straight to the Police Station...not a bad idea, actually something I would be quite capable of doing. Unfreakingbelievable.

Wanna hear something else that I find unreal?? School field trips. Yes, today I had my middle school/high school group. You need to understand that students don't go to the zoo or a museum when they go on classtrips, they go away, away, away. One of my kids, who will remain nameless because somehow this blog pops up at inconvenient times and in surprising places, went to Pompei, Sorrento and The Amalfi Coast this past week. They were a group of about 50 and only broke one sink, curtains, bed boxsprings, shower doors and a window. (Another student who went to Monaco, Cannes, the French Riviera broke a framed painting and shoved it under the mattress to hide it, another group broke a door)He then proceeded to explain how there were bunkbeds in every room, so the guys carried one set of bunkbeds into another room, leaving that room empty.

What's a creative group of high school testosterone charged guys to do, they hooked up an ipod to a set of speakers, grabbed a flashlight, shut off the lights and had an instant DISCOOOOOOOOOO! My student said that every night after visiting really cool places, they partied. There were students drinking, smoking and hooooookin' up. He's 15. When his mom asks him if he learned anything on the fieldtrip, what do you think he'll say?? Jordan is not allowed to go on fieldtrips...EVER!

Okay, it took me a while, but here it is:

Tagged---A little blog game....

I have been tagged! :)
Christina of *LIVE*LAUGH*LOVE* Tagged Me! Here's the lowdown:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their name, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

I have to answer questions and people I tag have to answer the same questions, so here I go.

What was I doing 10 years ago:
I had been living in Italy for ten months, Jordan had had hearing aids for eight months. We were struggling to learn Italian. I was walking to the local park every day pushing Jordan in his stroller repeating expressions in Italian over and over again. I was cussing out every single Italian who didn't smile at my cute boy with the hearing aids or smile at me as we walked by. I was also playing softball as stress-relief for a series B team - we played in Florence, Arezzo, Rome, etc. so I got to do a little traveling. I was famous for always bringing the toilet paper roll. One thing I've learned living in Italy, is ALWAYS carry a pack of kleenex or a roll of toilet paper.

Five Snacks I enjoy:
In a perfect, non weight-gaining world
1. Friendly's Reeses Peanut-Butter Cup sundaes with butter pecan ice-cream (just can't get this in Italy)
2. Nutella on my finger, bananas, strawberries
3. Any pastry with glasz from Giannini (the BEST bakery in Grosseto)
3. Oreos
4. Lindt RED chocolate balls
5. My mother-in-law's tira mi su (you have NEVER in your life!)

In the real world:
1. Latte Maremma Yogurt drink Flavor: Orange, Carrot, and something that starts with an E in Italian that's not coming to me.
2. Bananas
3. special K bars
4. 3 oreos instead of 6
5. espresso with skim milk and sweet and low instead of whole milk and sugar

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Develop and fund Newborn Hearing Screening for Italy, starting with Grosseto.
2. Donate cochlear implants to families in need.
3. Develop and fund a strong support network throughout Italy for families with children with disabilities. There is so much that needs to be done in this country in the way of psychological support for people with Cancer, disability, everything.


Five jobs that I have had:
1. All-time favorite- Subsitute Spanish Teacher for the class that NO ONE wanted at Randallstown High School (They exploded a smoke bomb in my classroom AND brought in a SNAKE!!!)
2. Coach for JV basketball and softball
3. Fifth Grade Teacher
4. Phys. Ed. Teacher
5. Cocktail Waitress extraordinaire (Uniform: Backless tuxedo shirt, bow-tie, short, black mini and black heels. OMG- did I really do that? Yeah. I made 150 bucks in four hours of serving cold beers to drunk businessman. The perfect college job, fast food is so overrated.)


Three of my habits:
1. Shopping at Intimissima and Tezenis - my new favorite color is fuschia - it's Springy!
2. Blogging
3. Sparkly Lip gloss (just like Christina and Abbie! Sofia steals that, too)

Five places I have lived:
1. Where did the Brady Bunch live?
2. Beverly Hills 90210
3. Fraternity Row numbah 11
4. Melrose Place
5. Istia d'Ombrone

Add one new part:

One thing you FEAR and would never try: One of the things that REALLY attracted me to my husband was that he was a paratrooper during his obligatory military year - I would NEVER jump out of an airplane even if I were 100% certain the parachute would open.
One thing you FEAR and would try: Driving a motorcycle, terrifies me, but I would consider trying it.


Nine People I Want to Get to Know Better:
http://blog.deafread.com/mishkazena/
http://www.paotie.com/
http://pajka.blogspot.com/
http://www.hearingexchange.com/blogs/
http://berkeoutspoken.blogspot.com/
http://www.deaf-culture-online.com/Deaf-culture-blog.html
http://deaffilmblog.blogspot.com/
http://cochbla.blogspot.com/
http://crismazzullo.blogspot.com/