My American Child

My dear daughter Roo is American, born in the US of A. She is proud of the fact, thus we celebrate not only Canada Day but Independence Day after all she can trace her American roots back to the early pioneers. Is that twisted?

She loves pioneer stories. She loves stories about the foundation of the United States. I think it is cool that she is a history buff just like her mom.

We want to wish our American readers and Happy 4th of July! Here is our favorite American song performed by none other then the man Born in the USA.

Today we had a breakfast of pancakes with strawberries and blue berries, tonight we will have New England Clam Chowder (after all weren't most of the founders from New England) and Frosty Fireworks while watching the real fireworks on tv.

Twisted Mourning

This week the world lost 3 icons from the entertainment world. For me personally, it was a time that allowed me to remember growing up, and bumping into a star.

Last night as I watched the coverage of the loss of Michael Jackson I was torn. Yes, the man is truely an icon. He changed the music world and well besides Elvis there was no one like him, no one with that iconic status. He was an innovator, dancer and singer that changed the face of music. He personally was weird. Music was great, but personally he had demons. He was different. I loved his music though, As a child it was about the Jackson 5, and well Thriller, Billie Jean and more were the songs of my teen years. I watched the videos on Utube last night with Roo, and introduced her to his music. It was neat to watch a new generation come to know him. She loved the zombies of Thriller.

Then we talked about Farrah Fawcet and how pretty she was and how every girl wanted to have hair like her but me. My sister had the Farrah cut for years. We talked about Charlie's Angels. We talked about how she battled cancer just like grandma. We talked about courage.

Earlier in the week, when Ed McMahon died I was moved to tears, why? I got to meet the man on more then one occasion. I lived in LA for part of my young adulthood, actually I lived on Venice Beach, but that is a story for another day. I dated a great guy who was a sound tech on a certain tv show. While out for lunch Mr. McMahon sat down at the table next to mine. It seemed somehow he knew my date. The two men talked and I was introduced. Mr McMahon was the simply the nicest gentleman. We would meet again on the set of Star Search a couple of months later and again he was simply a very kind and generous man. I also got to see him and Johnny together as I went to see them tape a show. It was magical to watch the chemistry.

All 3 will be missed. I know for me each of these people made me smile. Made me laugh. Made me sing and want to dance. Thank you each for that!

The Twisted Year Comes to An End

I have never been more thankful to see a week finally arrive on my calendar.



Roo and I have really had a twisted school year and well I am thankful. Why? The year from hell is over.



In September we were faced with a sudden move to Nova Scotia, a quick apartment hunt, and I was stupid and didn't do due diligence when placing Roo in a school. She ended up in the school from hell. From the beginning the year was more then twisted.



When I placed my daughter who has an established learning disability in the school nothing was really done but adapt the program a bit to give her support. She struggled all year, thank God, I am smart and supplemented her learning here at home.



When I asked for an IEP, they decided not to put her on one, they said she was too smart.



When I asked for help after she started getting bullied, I was met with a wall. I was faced with a principal in denial. Roo was regularly tormented by school yard thugs who I hate to say this but have parents that don't give a damn. She ended up in the emergency room on more then one occasion because of the school yard antics of other children. As I talked to other parents ( and I tend to do that) I found out that Roo was not the only child facing this nightmare. Others were as well.



I called the school board. They referred it back to the principal. I felt like I was running in circles. I called the trustee, who was polite but really didn't say or do much. I then called the police and they wanted to get into the school to talk to the class ( we had a class of grade 6ers that well were the cause of 90% of the problems), again they got stonewalled by the principal.



I even got assaulted about a month ago by a mom of one of the bullies after her daughter lied to her and said I had grabbed her( truth is I have never grabbed a child- and had had no contact with said child on the day in question). My daughter witnessed that assault. There are now police charges over that one.



This really has been the twisted year. I pray Roo can recover from it. I pray she can flourish as she will move to a new school in September.



Today as her class had their end of the year field trip, I looked around at the kids and the teacher ( who was the only saving grace- she had a decent teacher) and could not help but let out a sigh of relief as the year is coming to a close.

Tweet Zero

Not long ago this mom had not even heard of twitter, then a fellow blogger started blogging about tweeting, this mom decided to join Twitter on a whim and guess who became an addict: me.

As my daughter and very sweet or can I say tweeter then tweet daughter Roo approaches tweenhood I was looking for a new blog for us to tell the twisted tale that is our lives.

I am the Mom, Hollie, some of you may know me as @simplyhollie or my wicked alter ego @commoncentsmom but this is where you want to be if you want my views on parenting a tween girl who thinks she is twenty.

I am a mom first, internet hack second, blogger and friend when I get up for air. I am loving learning about Social Media and so is Roo, so expect plenty of posts about Twitter, Facebook and You Tube. Roo is the typical tween with a heaping of Asperger's tossed in. She loves fashion, music, and anything to do with computers.

You will find me tweeting it at @tweeterntwisted.