Work, Read, Weed

*1*
KB, Feeche and I got a fair bit of the mudding, corner rounding, sanding and finish mudding done in 3 bedrooms upstairs. Feeche and I are going to complete the huge new closet today (had to go back and actually mud in holes), paint and then use that as a storage areas for the piles and pounds of trim wood we stained last summer. The last bedroom, the one we've been using as an office instead of a "Lego," "Barbie" or "Christmas tree (think miscellaneous) room," needs a LOT of mudding and tapping. A whole new retaining wall, and a huge ceiling area where we took out  a closet (removing the large box closet turned the room from an awkward "L" shape to a much more useable rectangular shape). I'm sure no one cares but me, but it's rather cathartic to write it out and say, "We are getting it done!"

*2*
Watched Waiting for Superman; falling test scores, "failure factories," school reform, school reformers, lotteries and the evils (duh, they did their job, they are now the evil empire. Please, someone take out the Death Star!) of teacher's unions. There wasn't a whole lot new in here if you follow education news at all. My take away was that there are some super hero educational reformers out there, Teacher's Unions (democratic lackeys) are just as Machiavellian as ever and should be legally disbanded with the eye to making America's educational system work effectively.
In related new I cast my vote this week for my own property taxes to be raised in support of my local schools. This state has a rider that the schools can't just grab and take money they think they need. I applaud that. The reality is that good schools = good communities. I'm not opposed to paying for something I don't necessarily use overtly. I'm opposed to Unions and systems taxing without representation to promote an agenda that isn't voted on and strong arming teachers, the community and kids in to paying for their lack of accountability.



*3*
PSA: Are your hands dry from weeding, washing dishes and cars and cats (like mine are?). Get Bag Balm (you know, the stuff you put on sheep and cow udder's to keep them from cracking?) We got some for our Old Lady Pooch cause she has  sores on her front forelegs that won't heal (thanks to a thyroid condition). I've been using it for 2nd degree burns on my arms (true confessions: I know multi-tasking doesn't work. I know it. I've read it. I believe it. I don't live it. Suffice it to say, don't pull stuff out of the oven, while talking on your cell phone, while directing your 8 yo. The result is not pretty). It moisturizes and heals and works miracles, even for garden dried, housewife weary hands. (Someone should pay me for this).

*4*
Reading:  In the Land of the Believers: An Outsider's Extraordinary Journey into the Heart of Evangelicalism by Gina

Welch. It might be more aptly named, A Bird's Eye View at the Life of an Atheist." Not only does Welch make vast and sweeping generalizations that are poorly researched about the "evangelical community" (for starters she uses fundamentalism and evangelicalism synonymously), her writing style leaves a lot to be desired. I am so metaphored out in some paragraphs I have to go back and look for the subject of the sentence. What is with this style? It is not poetic. It is not illuminative. It is BAD writing. Seriously, editors, the.king.is.nekked!!  I have, oh, so much  more to say about this book, but will save it for another post. For anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the postmodern atheist, this is a must read.

*5*

The kids and I spent hours in the yard this week, moving plants, weeding, harvesting lettuce and spinach, parsley, some basil and chamomile. I'm working on coming up with something clever and inexpensive for the cukes to grow on and we finally landed on using the 2 remaining dog kennel sides to form a lean-to in the cucumber area. Our attempts at French intensive beds have gone a bit too far. Cub helped me with the beet seeds and the beets are now crowding the cabbage so much that some of the cabbage is angling.

*6*

School this week consisted of lots of reading (Lawhead is the author of choice this year), grammar, and Feche getting his lines for Shakespeare Camp down solid. He has MacBeth from Scene 3 on in the Dover edition; lots and lots of lines. This is my son who can't spell worth beans, can barely write in cursive but can explain complicated science concepts to me his siblings with patience, can talk about the Punic Wars for hours and can memorize like it's fun. My kids are idiot savants. I take full credit.

*7*

I am going to re-do the buffet.  The confederate grey never darkened and it now looks like a military somethingorother. I had high hopes of posting my b.a.utiful buffet in a blog "reveal" but it's on hold. I have to go buy more paint. I'm thinking orange for the laundry room. My analytical Doctor Scientist husband thinks off-white is living on the wild side of color but I'm hoping that it's in enough of a corner of the house he won't mind.

Is anyone else having problems with blogger? I can't post comments without a huge hassle, can only post pictures sometimes and spell check isn't working. What's up?