Silent Auction..why you should donate?

The reason you are here is to read about why this school is important to me. As I start off with this story, it takes place when my family and I moved to Illinois where I attended public school. I was placed in a self contained classroom with a wonderful teacher who signed and talked at the same time. (Yes I am deaf if you must know!) Part of the school schedule was that we had to go to the regular classroom with my hearing peers and to learn more about certain subjects. Well this is the part I hated! Why did I hate this part? The school system had a sign language interpreter that would come with us to the 'hearing classroom.' I did not know sign language which was confusing for me since the interpreter did not move her lips. Plus I really did not like the classroom teacher in this room. That is when I would come home crying and being upset about the school because when I got called on in the classroom, I did not know anything. I felt so out of place. At the time the school would not provide me with a Cued Speech interpreter.

Let's back track here. We found out that I was deaf around age of five and at the time the audiologist recommended Cued Speech to my parents. That is the solution that we went with. The reason why they suggested it was because I was already a lipreader! Are you thinking what the heck is Cued Speech? Read on.

What is Cued Speech?
Cued Speech is a mode of communication based on the phonemes and properties of traditionally spoken languages. Cueing allows users who are deaf or hard of hearing or who have language / communication disorders to access the basic, fundamental properties of spoken languages through the use of vision. To learn more about this method, click on the website link. Cued Speech Website

Back to the story! So what the school suggested at the time (now remember this was way before the disability act was passed and all that) that they would hire a Cued Speech interpreter to teach me Sign Language. Uh.. what??? This boggled my mind when I learned about it at a much older age. My parents did not like this idea at all. It did not make sense to them. What happened was that they took me out of the school and started up AEHI/AG Bell Montessori School with some other wonderful parents!! Cued Speech was provided there. It had a mixture of hearing and deaf children in the classroom. Check out the school link below.

AEHI/AG Bell Montessori School Link

I attended the Montessori school for three years and then was finally let back in the public school mainstreamed with a Cued Speech transliterator! I was mainstreamed from 5th grade to high school. Then off to college I went.

The reason I'm telling you this story is because my parents knew what I needed and did an amazing job. Plus the school's annual silent auction coming up which is a huge impact on receiving donations for the school to keep it going! The last reason for letting you to know about this school is this is my way of getting the word out and giving back to the school.

The school itself is amazing. I remember it being in various locations before it finally settled in Wheeling, Illinois. Where it resides now has a huge playground, a gym, lunch room, amazing rooms for the students and all wonderful facilities. Just wow!! Plus the school is a "Green" building as well which I found fascinating and glad that they have that. Check out the link about the building being Green Link

So donate today. You can send money donations or donate for the silent auction that is being held April 14 at the Hilton Hotel downtown Chicago. Contact the school if you are interested in helping out! Contact Link

I look forward to hearing of wonderful donations being made as I will probably attend the silent auction event! Let's keep this school going.

S

Hansel and Gretel Review

So off to the movie theatre in Florida with my husband to see a movie! We picked out Hansel and Gretel Imax event! While waiting in line we were like the youngest ones there considering we went on a Monday. So after getting the tickets, the movie was to be closed caption too! So I was thinking how was this going to work.

So while getting the closed caption device which was glasses! Now this was a first for me. I have never had glasses before. So the lady there explained to me how it works and such and I gave it a go! She did mention they only had the glasses in for about 2 months. I got the glasses and hubby got the popcorn and drink. Off to the movie we went!

THe previews were suppose to be 3D too but it didn't work! Then when the movie started, it didn't work either for the 3D aspect. So my husband went back out to get me a pair of 3D glasses with the closed caption glasses on with it. Well I felt weird but it did work. Honestly I like the captiview box better!

The movie itself was awesome! It wasn't what I expected and the cast was great! I loved the storyline. The gal that played Gretel made my husband and I think where we had seen her from. As we found it was Prince of Persia! :) My husband liked the redhead in the movie...hahaha She was cute I have to admit. The guy who played Hansel was hot. I knew he was from Avengers movie who played Hawkeye. It was a great film.. Oh and the gal that played the main witch also played in the Xmen movie as Jean Gray. It was nice to see her!

If you like action, horror and all that, then this film should be seen. Nice twist on the fairytale!

S

Wildlife from S backyard

I figured I share you with some photos of the wildlife that has been spotted from my backyard....enjoy the pics!!

S

New Necklaces Made by S

Necklaces made by S. All cost $12.00! The pendants are double sided!

Love Necklace (side 1) with Lady's hand kissed with red chain

Love Necklace (side 2) with Cupid with red chain

Bird Necklace side 1 with purple chain

Bird Necklace side 2 with saying "With You It's Like a Dream" with purple chain

Flower Necklace side 1 with black chain

Flower Necklace side 2 with black chain

Blue necklace with black chain (Side 1) - Birdcage

Blue necklace with black chain (side 2) - Black diamond & Blue

More to come soon....Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

S

Top 10 Places We want to Visit

S Top 10 Places She Wants To Go To:


Ireland

France

Hawaii

Louisiana - New Orleans

Poland

Germany

Croatia

Sweden

Would love to visit England again

Australia



S


L Top 10 Places She Wants To Go To: France

Brazil

Africa

South Korea

England

Maine

Louisiana - New Orleans

Washington - Seattle

Montana

Alaska

L

Where would you like to go? Any lovely recommendations for us to go to?

S has been to the following states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Connecticut, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, Washington, Arizona! The only place she has been outside of the United States is England - London which she loves and would love to go back one day again!

L has been to the following states: Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas! The places she has been outside of the United States is Norway, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Denmark, Canada and Bahamas.

Music on the radio

As some of you may know that I"m deaf but I love to listen to music. I decided to let you know every time music comes on the radio, I may recognize some songs but not all. I never been a fan of trying to figure out what the name of a song that I like but that's changed! There's a new radio set up (I assume has been out for a while) that you can have in your cars that list the song and artist! Can I say I LOVE this!!? It's the little rings that make it worthwhile!

Yes I can hear music if you are wondering. I like all kinds: country, pop, metal, alternative, new age, celtic, classical, broadway, rock..list goes on..although one thing not too keen on is rap cause it's quite a feat to follow it sometimes. If there's something I like, I will learn the words to the song and memorize it. Yes I am a geek too. Nothing new there.

If you got any cool music I should check out, let me know! Thought I'd share this little bit to you all.


S

Zingo Game

Overview of the Game:

This innovative game encourages pre-readers and early readers alike to match the pictures and words on their challenge cards with the tiles revealed in the Zingo! Zinger device. The first player with a full card wins the game by yelling “Zingo!” Two levels of play, and several game variations keep the zaniness going for hours!

Ages: 4 and up ------ Players: 2 - 9

My five year old got this for Christmas and at first he was not sure about the game. After playing it a few times, he loves it! He asks to play it all the time with me! Great game. Even my youngest joins in on it even though he's two! I suggest to pick up this game today if you are looking for something different.

S