I hate mice. I can co-exist with the little buggers as long as they stay outdoors and not trespass in my habitat. Well one has invaded my realm. A few weeks back Scott told me he thought he saw one in the hallway. I have searched and sniffed and run wet cloths along the baseboards looking for mouse trails. Nada. Then about 3 weeks ago as I stood at the sink washing dishes, the blamed thing walked right in front of the sink on my counter. I nearly killed myself when it happened. I started trying to hit it and it ran right across and disappeared behind my fridge. I went bezerk and cleared off the counters and cloroxed everything. Found his little grubby trail too. I put out one of those sticky traps and all I have caught was gnats.
Friday, Scott told me that we didn't have anymore oatmeal because the mouse had been in the box. All of my boxed food is kept in the lower cabinet of the kitchen. I started pulling things out and ended up throwing out a lot of food.
That little rodent had been all over everything including my plastic boxes that I keep bulk food in. More clorox!! I put the sticky trap in the bottom cabinet and about 2 hours later checked and it was totally covered in gray fur and that thing had gnawed its way off the trap. So much for being humane. It is now bald and peeing and pooping its way through my house. So I set out the clap traps dosed with peanut butter and more sticky traps and the green death pellets! Every night I check the traps and nothing. I figure now that it smells clean it won't come back. Until tonight that is. That thing is figuring things out. It pushed the trap into something in the cabinet and threw one of the traps and ate the peanut butter! This is war! I will win and catch that little bald rodent and relish the thoughts of flushing it down the toliet at this point. I am not going to cart its little squeaking self off down the road just so it can re-invade my home.
Now I am going on a cleaning binge. If something is setting on the floor I am cleaning it or throwing things out that we don't use. nothing is safe at this point. I opened my pot holder drawer and stuffing exploded out of it. That thing had been in there shredding my pot holders. I needed new ones so I should thank it for giving me a reason to get new ones but eeww.!! its been in that drawer. More clorox!
I hate mice. Last year when my grandmother lay dying in the nursing home, I sat there for days and nights with her. And one of those nasty critters came out and got on the table where my bag of oreos was sitting and started eating my cookies. It took me a couple of days but I caught that one. Before she died we had to throw away a lot of her things because it and its friends had been all in her belongings.
And one night my Aunt Ruby woke up screaming holding her head and in her hand was a mouse that had climbed on to her bed and was in her hair. She had told me that it had happened before and no one took her seriously. They did that night.
Mice and huge spiders I can do with out. I don't like using chemicals but I may have to to keep the pests at bay. Does Sulfur really work for repelling snakes? We found a 5 foot long snake skin in the yard. Not a good thing to find.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Still Waiting
Well I went in for the interview and I am still waiting. I was told that I was in line for the part time as needed position. But so far no phone call and they haven't put anyone else in that slot. So either they aren't going to hire or they just haven't gotten behind enough to call.
I am staying pretty busy with the part time merchandising. Not my favorite thing to do but it is work. I had to watch Pirates of the caribbean over the weekend. 3 times and then I actually went back and paid to see it the next night with the girls. I was not really watching the film for entertainment the 3 times I was paid to watch it. Doing the movie checks is pretty cool and not hard at all except for dealing with the theater managers. They are so suspicious that I am going to give them a bad report or something of that nature.
This week I have had to travel to all my stores and do resets on diapers. I can do those in my sleep. I still have 8 more stores to do in the Tupelo area which is out of my reion but its extra money and I need it. The great white whale was really sick and I had to park it for a few days until I could get the money together to get it repaired. Thank goodness it was not serious and was an easy fix. I am so thankful for my mechanic cousin. Rodney is a whiz at fixing things most of the time.
I am staying pretty busy with the part time merchandising. Not my favorite thing to do but it is work. I had to watch Pirates of the caribbean over the weekend. 3 times and then I actually went back and paid to see it the next night with the girls. I was not really watching the film for entertainment the 3 times I was paid to watch it. Doing the movie checks is pretty cool and not hard at all except for dealing with the theater managers. They are so suspicious that I am going to give them a bad report or something of that nature.
This week I have had to travel to all my stores and do resets on diapers. I can do those in my sleep. I still have 8 more stores to do in the Tupelo area which is out of my reion but its extra money and I need it. The great white whale was really sick and I had to park it for a few days until I could get the money together to get it repaired. Thank goodness it was not serious and was an easy fix. I am so thankful for my mechanic cousin. Rodney is a whiz at fixing things most of the time.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
just waiting and waiting
As I sit and recover from the next phase of reconstruction, I am still waiting on finding out about the part time job. Its posted at the hosptial and I talked with the supervisor. I am next on fhte list for consideration. I sure hope I get it. I might only be 20 hours a week and its an on call type of thing but its better than nothing. I perhaps can continue to do my merchandising PT work as well and make enough that way to get us out of the hole.
darling oldest daughter is really gearing up for college. She is going to take the ACT test again and is trying for the higest score she can go for. She really wants the scholarships and I do too. Funny how there weren't any out there for me or I was not ever told about them. I had the grades for them. But I worked my way through on a work study. Even taught some art history when the professor was ill my senior year. I would like to get a masters in studio art but that will have to come later. I would be an OWL for sure. Older Wiser Learner.
Surgery this time was not so bad but I am a little woozy. No pain to speak of this go round. I'll be glad when its over with.
darling oldest daughter is really gearing up for college. She is going to take the ACT test again and is trying for the higest score she can go for. She really wants the scholarships and I do too. Funny how there weren't any out there for me or I was not ever told about them. I had the grades for them. But I worked my way through on a work study. Even taught some art history when the professor was ill my senior year. I would like to get a masters in studio art but that will have to come later. I would be an OWL for sure. Older Wiser Learner.
Surgery this time was not so bad but I am a little woozy. No pain to speak of this go round. I'll be glad when its over with.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Pizza dough spinning
This kid is a student at Ole Miss and is from Oxford just up the highway from us. Now this is talent. Majoring in journalism and working radio on the side and then picks up this little talent and has gone national and international with it. And they say today's kids aren't creative. just watch him in action. This is phenomenal! I would love to see him in person.
Watch Chris Spin at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXb_16FJ2CU
Watch Chris Spin at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXb_16FJ2CU
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
watching old movies
The last thing a hopeless romantic needs to do is come across 'AN Affair To Remember" in the middle of the night. I had every intention of going to bed a quasi-decent hour until I saw the Annette Benning/ Warren Beatty version was on the Hallmark channel. Now I have seen this thing I don't know how many time and I still squall like a baby. And last night was no exception. I tried not to cry but I did. I went to bed sobbing like a baby and woke up with red eyes. Such a good movie. a 4 hanky to be sure. I don't care if its Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr or Warren and Annette. 'An Affair to Remember' is just that. memorable.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Thoughts on purses
Why do we carry purses ladies? Just think about it. WHY do we saddle ourselves with one of those things? Because our mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers before us carried one? Because we feel an innate need to carry everything but the kitchen sink around with us on the off chance that we will actually need it?
I hate my bag! Yes I said HATE. I absolutely, positively HATE my purse. Now if you are one of those women that just can't live unless you have the latest fashion purse or has to be color co-ordinated with your outfit, stop reading right this moment. This is not going to be a pretty tome. I am writing this for all those women that realize that they are bad at bags. They understand that their bag is a reflection of their bad housekeeping, hopeless disorganization, their chronic inability to throw anything away and their absolute failure to have a bag that matches each and every article of clothing they might own!
This is for the woman whose bag is full of squashed, vintage candy bars, loose 'curiously strong' mints covered in God only knows where the lint came from! This is dedicated to woman that has tubes of lipstick with no tops, melted Chap Stick of unknown vintage and half drunk bottles of water. This is for the woman that has wadded up bunches of Kleenex in her bag and you are not quite sure it was used or not. Eeeewwww! But it comes in handy when you run into that roadside rest stop and there is not a smidgen of toilet paper to be found!
There are scratched reading glasses, leaky ballpoint pins, crumpled and torn loose checks from the checkbook and that extra toothbrush that I think might have been used to scrub the bathroom tile with at one time from the looks of it.
I am one of those women that is still carrying a 'winter bag' in July while everyone else is carrying those darling little Vera Bradley cloth bags flashing a profusion of summery colors for all to see! I am no good at bags! I don't give a hoot if I am still carrying a straw bag in the winter snow. I don't care if I carry leather in the summer. I am no good at bags. After my mastectomy I could not carry a bag so I decided it was time to downsize. I got a cute little organized one and proceeded to throw out the trash. I found a flashlight I thought I had lost, $75 in loose change (I kid you not! The purse had a lining that was worn thru and the loose change had been slipping in there for years!) my bank debit card that I thought was lost, an extra pair of comfy slippers and a pair of panties (haven't got a clue!), a cosmetic bag that I forgot to zip so it was not only nasty, it was empty, 3 rosaries that were knotted together and it took a lot of prayer to separate them, the kids report cards for 3 years, the keys to my house, my moms house and a business I had closed down 8 years earlier and a book that I was reading. I could have fled a nuclear holocaust with what I had in that bag.
So I downsized for a while, but little by little things start creeping up on me. Pretty soon I found myself slipping that cute little organized lightweight bag into a larger bag and then a larger bag and then a suitcase!! I finally have found the answer to my problem tho. I don't give a rip what people think about my purse now. I found just the right thing for me. Its a back pack. And I do clean it out pretty regularly. I throw in my wallet with all the necessary papers that I need, a chapstick, my cell phone, a bottle of water, and my big heavy key ring. I don't care that its not fashionable or cute or cost less that 12 dollars at the local Wal-Mart. Its functional, its waterproof, its disposable. Its not a Prada, or a Dunne Bourke, or a Vera Bradley or any other high dollar high profile bag. Its just a bag. It reflects me, it doesn't have a style therefore it can't go out of style!
Oh I still have my cute little evening bags that I use about twice a year that are only good for holding a tube of lipstick that I never use. But the rest of the year, I am perfectly content with my plain Jane, utilitarian bag.
I hate my bag! Yes I said HATE. I absolutely, positively HATE my purse. Now if you are one of those women that just can't live unless you have the latest fashion purse or has to be color co-ordinated with your outfit, stop reading right this moment. This is not going to be a pretty tome. I am writing this for all those women that realize that they are bad at bags. They understand that their bag is a reflection of their bad housekeeping, hopeless disorganization, their chronic inability to throw anything away and their absolute failure to have a bag that matches each and every article of clothing they might own!
This is for the woman whose bag is full of squashed, vintage candy bars, loose 'curiously strong' mints covered in God only knows where the lint came from! This is dedicated to woman that has tubes of lipstick with no tops, melted Chap Stick of unknown vintage and half drunk bottles of water. This is for the woman that has wadded up bunches of Kleenex in her bag and you are not quite sure it was used or not. Eeeewwww! But it comes in handy when you run into that roadside rest stop and there is not a smidgen of toilet paper to be found!
There are scratched reading glasses, leaky ballpoint pins, crumpled and torn loose checks from the checkbook and that extra toothbrush that I think might have been used to scrub the bathroom tile with at one time from the looks of it.
I am one of those women that is still carrying a 'winter bag' in July while everyone else is carrying those darling little Vera Bradley cloth bags flashing a profusion of summery colors for all to see! I am no good at bags! I don't give a hoot if I am still carrying a straw bag in the winter snow. I don't care if I carry leather in the summer. I am no good at bags. After my mastectomy I could not carry a bag so I decided it was time to downsize. I got a cute little organized one and proceeded to throw out the trash. I found a flashlight I thought I had lost, $75 in loose change (I kid you not! The purse had a lining that was worn thru and the loose change had been slipping in there for years!) my bank debit card that I thought was lost, an extra pair of comfy slippers and a pair of panties (haven't got a clue!), a cosmetic bag that I forgot to zip so it was not only nasty, it was empty, 3 rosaries that were knotted together and it took a lot of prayer to separate them, the kids report cards for 3 years, the keys to my house, my moms house and a business I had closed down 8 years earlier and a book that I was reading. I could have fled a nuclear holocaust with what I had in that bag.
So I downsized for a while, but little by little things start creeping up on me. Pretty soon I found myself slipping that cute little organized lightweight bag into a larger bag and then a larger bag and then a suitcase!! I finally have found the answer to my problem tho. I don't give a rip what people think about my purse now. I found just the right thing for me. Its a back pack. And I do clean it out pretty regularly. I throw in my wallet with all the necessary papers that I need, a chapstick, my cell phone, a bottle of water, and my big heavy key ring. I don't care that its not fashionable or cute or cost less that 12 dollars at the local Wal-Mart. Its functional, its waterproof, its disposable. Its not a Prada, or a Dunne Bourke, or a Vera Bradley or any other high dollar high profile bag. Its just a bag. It reflects me, it doesn't have a style therefore it can't go out of style!
Oh I still have my cute little evening bags that I use about twice a year that are only good for holding a tube of lipstick that I never use. But the rest of the year, I am perfectly content with my plain Jane, utilitarian bag.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Math challenged
There!! I said it. I admit it. I am mathamatically challenged. Most artists are. Why do you think the term 'starving artist' is so appropo?
And my darling husband is no better. So our poor children don't get any decent math 'genes' from us. Which is sad for out darling daughters. Poor high school Junior daughter is wallowing in math at public school. As long as we could do it at our own slow pace at home we were just fine. But she is now where she has to do it according to the prescribed time line and she has a dork for a teacher. This poor man is a basketball coach and its obvious that if you aren't into sports then he is not into you. He also is not qualified to teach algebra 2. I don't mean certified. He is certified to teach anything but he sure is qualified to teach it. At any rate he found out the day before school started that he had to teach this class of algebra 2. He lost the kids on the first day. He rarely sends home any school work. They rarely do any problems from a book and the ones that he sends home he doesn't qualify. So are they proportions, equations, distributive property, ratios? What the heck do you want them to do? Well last night I finally found the algebra help that we needed. It's like Eureka! We have lift off. We can do some problems and actually understand them. At least until she walks into his room and and he totally confuses her again.
And my darling husband is no better. So our poor children don't get any decent math 'genes' from us. Which is sad for out darling daughters. Poor high school Junior daughter is wallowing in math at public school. As long as we could do it at our own slow pace at home we were just fine. But she is now where she has to do it according to the prescribed time line and she has a dork for a teacher. This poor man is a basketball coach and its obvious that if you aren't into sports then he is not into you. He also is not qualified to teach algebra 2. I don't mean certified. He is certified to teach anything but he sure is qualified to teach it. At any rate he found out the day before school started that he had to teach this class of algebra 2. He lost the kids on the first day. He rarely sends home any school work. They rarely do any problems from a book and the ones that he sends home he doesn't qualify. So are they proportions, equations, distributive property, ratios? What the heck do you want them to do? Well last night I finally found the algebra help that we needed. It's like Eureka! We have lift off. We can do some problems and actually understand them. At least until she walks into his room and and he totally confuses her again.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
My favorite things
I have been a huge fan of For Better of For Worse since it started. I could swear that Lynn Johnston was living my life or parts of it. And She always was going thru the same things I was at the exact same time. We had babies 'together' and went thru menopause 'together'. Now her father is living thru the effects of a stroke and she has crawled into that aspect of my life also. I lost my Dad nearly 11 years ago and before that for 3 years we lived with the residual aftermath of a massive stroke not unlike the one that the comic strip Grandfather is living thru. This week has been all about the aphasia aspect of it and she has nailed it down once again. It brought tears to my eyes today seeing how it is from the viewpoint of the stroke victim. My Dad couldn't tell me things either, all he could do for a while was say s*** or loblolly pine tree. That made for some interesting conversations and dinner table talk to be sure! OR picking up the fork and calling it spoon but then if I said 'show me the fork' he would point right at the fork. So the brain knew the object but the words were just elusive. He never could get my name again but he would just always call me the 'elderest' if I asked him who I was. And He remembered my birthday by numbers so I changed my phone number to those and he could always call me. Matter of fact he changed everything to those numbers because he could remember them. He labled me and my sister by what he remembered us doing. I was the painter and she was the cook. (Both our specialties, Art and Food). He is still alive in our memories even tho he left us so long ago.
Thank you Lynn Johnston for triggering my memories and for being so understanding of what goes on with a stroke victim and the family.
Thank you Lynn Johnston for triggering my memories and for being so understanding of what goes on with a stroke victim and the family.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Recovery time
Tuesday was surgery day. I started fasting on Monday since I couldn't have anything after midnight. That is so hard. Surgery was scheduled for 11:30 AM and I could not have so much as a sip of water. I ate a bowl of oatmeal and drank a 20 oz glass of green tea before midnight and that got me through.
I finally found me 2 pair of warm pajamas that had button front tops. Those were hard to find this time of year.
My blood pressure was a bit elevated but that was because I was a bit apprehensive about being put to sleep. I have a tendency to want to not to wake up. I can hear people talking to me but I can't respond. I told the anesthesiologist about it. I don't know what he did but I woke up this time with no problem. I came thru the surgery with no problems. Until I got home.
I'm not really sore or hurting now. I took the pain meds at first but by Wednesday morning I was sick as a dog. I could not even hold down water. I don't know if it was a 'bug' that jumped me or what. I didn't get sick from the meds after the first surgery. I decided not to take the pain meds and have been taking tylenol extra strength instead. that is really all I have needed.
Dr. Adams removed the saline tissue expander and inserted the silicone implant. Its healing nicely and looks and feels quite normal. I am very pleased with the reconstruction so far. I am not sore except for the area around the sternum. He gave me a little extra something or toher for cleaveage. I should have told him I didn't have cleaveage before. It doesn't hurt but it is annoying. Its getting better tho.
I'll go back on Monday for a checkup.
I finally found me 2 pair of warm pajamas that had button front tops. Those were hard to find this time of year.
My blood pressure was a bit elevated but that was because I was a bit apprehensive about being put to sleep. I have a tendency to want to not to wake up. I can hear people talking to me but I can't respond. I told the anesthesiologist about it. I don't know what he did but I woke up this time with no problem. I came thru the surgery with no problems. Until I got home.
I'm not really sore or hurting now. I took the pain meds at first but by Wednesday morning I was sick as a dog. I could not even hold down water. I don't know if it was a 'bug' that jumped me or what. I didn't get sick from the meds after the first surgery. I decided not to take the pain meds and have been taking tylenol extra strength instead. that is really all I have needed.
Dr. Adams removed the saline tissue expander and inserted the silicone implant. Its healing nicely and looks and feels quite normal. I am very pleased with the reconstruction so far. I am not sore except for the area around the sternum. He gave me a little extra something or toher for cleaveage. I should have told him I didn't have cleaveage before. It doesn't hurt but it is annoying. Its getting better tho.
I'll go back on Monday for a checkup.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Its not too little storage!
I finally see the problem!! Its not that I don't have enough storage space! I have too much stuff to put in my home to start with. For starters lets roam through my kitchen. yes it needs more cabinets and counter space. ANd I really could use a more updated refrigerator instead of the loverly harvest gold one from 1970 that sometimes starts freezing things in the lower part instead of the freezer part! But what about this angle......there are only 4 of us living here. We have the ocassional dinner guest over. I have enough dishes for for 12 people....3 times over. I have plastic plates and china plates and pottery plates. I think the plastic is going to get tossed. I have a 'ton' of odd and end glasses and coffee cups. They are going to hit the donation pile too. I am going to pare this mess down until all I have left are plain glasses, my Christmas china and the nice place settings that I saved and got for myself a few years ago. I may just box up the dishes and sotre them in the basement and label them as college bound for when my girls finally leave the nest. But I don't need them cluttering up my cabinets. So the kitchen is my next organization target. Maybe I can finally find space for all my little gadgets that I like to use when I cook. And as things wear out or break down, THEN I will replace them.
I do have a pantry and I don't like going to the grocery store so I buy in bulk the mainstays that I use regularly like corn and peas and diced tomatoes and other veggies that I process and can myself in the summer.
Things that make me go whaaaaa!!!!
Why is it when I get a new coffee pot, I keep the old carafe like it will really fit the new one!
Why do I keep the plastic storage containers when the lids have gotten warped?
Why on earth do I constantly have to check the back of the refrigerator for the cure for some disease because I forgot to throw out the leftovers!?
I do have a pantry and I don't like going to the grocery store so I buy in bulk the mainstays that I use regularly like corn and peas and diced tomatoes and other veggies that I process and can myself in the summer.
Things that make me go whaaaaa!!!!
Why is it when I get a new coffee pot, I keep the old carafe like it will really fit the new one!
Why do I keep the plastic storage containers when the lids have gotten warped?
Why on earth do I constantly have to check the back of the refrigerator for the cure for some disease because I forgot to throw out the leftovers!?
Surgery and financial wrangling and deductibles
Used to be that a person could get ready for surgery the old fashioned way, get your house cleaned and straightened up, make sure there were plenty of cooked casseroles in the freezer so that all the family had to do was pop one in the oven and viola! dinnner was served while you recovered. The clean laundry was neatly arranged in closets and drawers and the beds all had clean sheets for you to recuperate on.
Now, its wrangling with the hospital financial offices over who is going to get the deductible, them or the doctor and everyone wants you to pay them the deductible first. I just got off the phone with the surgery center and explained that the deductible was already met through the doctors office. That means that when I get there I will pay one third of what they think I owe. And I just got the last surgery paid for this week on top of paying the surgeon his 20 percent that my insurance doesn't cover. I got a little specheil about wondering which one would file first. I can tell you from the past experience that the doctors office filed really fast. much quicker than the surgery center did. Those bills just dragged on in. And for something that will take half the time that the first one took it seems like the price is higher this go round. I know that we are lucky to have health insurance but it seems so hard to be able to actually get something done. This isn't cosmetic, its reconstruction for heavens sake. I have waited 6 nearly 7 years for this day, to be cancer free and on my way back to the way I was (plus a few years of aging!) before the mastectomy.
I can't begin to say enough about my doctor. He is wonderful. the TOP DOC in my humble opinion with his reconstruction skills, very compassionate and a dry sense of humor. I am ready for this next surgery to be over and get this uncomfortable saline bag out of my chest. I don't think I would like the saline implants at all. I am glad that I going to have the silicone 'gummy bear' implant by Mentor. Its going to be much warmer and look pretty good too.
Health care for the American people needs to be less imposing. I don't believe in going to the ER for every little thing that happens and unfortunately that is what a lot of people do. I take responsiblity for my health and I only go to the doctor when its absolutely necessary or for my yearly checkups. Now I have a regular overall exam, the yearly breast exam, the yearly bloodtest and bone density exams, and after this year I will add the yearly visit to Dr. Adams to my list to keep up the progress on this implant for the study I will be in to help other women like me. My nose is twitching as I become more and more of a guinea pig for medical research.
You are welcome fellow breast cancer survivors. You had better be 'TICKLED PINK' as I 'MAKE STRIDES' for us in the recovery and reconstruction department.
Now, its wrangling with the hospital financial offices over who is going to get the deductible, them or the doctor and everyone wants you to pay them the deductible first. I just got off the phone with the surgery center and explained that the deductible was already met through the doctors office. That means that when I get there I will pay one third of what they think I owe. And I just got the last surgery paid for this week on top of paying the surgeon his 20 percent that my insurance doesn't cover. I got a little specheil about wondering which one would file first. I can tell you from the past experience that the doctors office filed really fast. much quicker than the surgery center did. Those bills just dragged on in. And for something that will take half the time that the first one took it seems like the price is higher this go round. I know that we are lucky to have health insurance but it seems so hard to be able to actually get something done. This isn't cosmetic, its reconstruction for heavens sake. I have waited 6 nearly 7 years for this day, to be cancer free and on my way back to the way I was (plus a few years of aging!) before the mastectomy.
I can't begin to say enough about my doctor. He is wonderful. the TOP DOC in my humble opinion with his reconstruction skills, very compassionate and a dry sense of humor. I am ready for this next surgery to be over and get this uncomfortable saline bag out of my chest. I don't think I would like the saline implants at all. I am glad that I going to have the silicone 'gummy bear' implant by Mentor. Its going to be much warmer and look pretty good too.
Health care for the American people needs to be less imposing. I don't believe in going to the ER for every little thing that happens and unfortunately that is what a lot of people do. I take responsiblity for my health and I only go to the doctor when its absolutely necessary or for my yearly checkups. Now I have a regular overall exam, the yearly breast exam, the yearly bloodtest and bone density exams, and after this year I will add the yearly visit to Dr. Adams to my list to keep up the progress on this implant for the study I will be in to help other women like me. My nose is twitching as I become more and more of a guinea pig for medical research.
You are welcome fellow breast cancer survivors. You had better be 'TICKLED PINK' as I 'MAKE STRIDES' for us in the recovery and reconstruction department.
Three Trees (a moral story)
Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving andeveryone would see the beauty."Then the second tree said, "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull. "Finally the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the Hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.
"After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter," and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.
At the second tree the woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree. I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship. When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the Woodsmen said,"I don't need anything special from my tree, I'll take this one," and he cut it down.
When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feedbox for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.
The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreamsof being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end.
The third tree was cut into large pieces, and left alone in the dark.
The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams. Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.
Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said "Peace" and the Storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.
Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.
The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be goingyour way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, God will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best. May your day be blessed, may God cradle you in the palm of His hand!
"After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter," and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.
At the second tree the woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree. I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship. When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the Woodsmen said,"I don't need anything special from my tree, I'll take this one," and he cut it down.
When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feedbox for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.
The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreamsof being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end.
The third tree was cut into large pieces, and left alone in the dark.
The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams. Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.
Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said "Peace" and the Storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.
Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.
The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be goingyour way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, God will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best. May your day be blessed, may God cradle you in the palm of His hand!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Thursday's Musings
It is so so cold. the weather is so bizarre this time of year. The yellow bells are trying to bloom one day and the next day its bitter cold and sleeting. If we don't get snow we get ice and I would prefer not to have that. I don't like extreme heat or extreme cold. I could really be a bear cos in cold weather I just want to curl up under a warm cover and sleep.
Well I sent off the 20 percent to the doctors office for my surgery. Isn't that something? You have to pay the 20 percent up front before the surgery is performed. Guess I can't blame them. I should start doing that for all of my art work. Get at least a third of it up front to cover the cost of the supplies that I will have to purchase to get started. A business head I don't have which is probably why I don't have a 'business' any longer.
Have you ever had a cat in heat? Lord have mercy on us if we live thru this. I now understand what the term 'caterwallin' means. That is all she does. And that danged tomcat is out in the yard calling her. She sounds awful. ITs like we are killing her. Its a good thing people don't act and sound like cats. On second thought I have seen some humans that acted just the way this cat is right now. Oooo slap my face!!!!!
Well I sent off the 20 percent to the doctors office for my surgery. Isn't that something? You have to pay the 20 percent up front before the surgery is performed. Guess I can't blame them. I should start doing that for all of my art work. Get at least a third of it up front to cover the cost of the supplies that I will have to purchase to get started. A business head I don't have which is probably why I don't have a 'business' any longer.
Have you ever had a cat in heat? Lord have mercy on us if we live thru this. I now understand what the term 'caterwallin' means. That is all she does. And that danged tomcat is out in the yard calling her. She sounds awful. ITs like we are killing her. Its a good thing people don't act and sound like cats. On second thought I have seen some humans that acted just the way this cat is right now. Oooo slap my face!!!!!
Monday, January 15, 2007
Attitude is everything!!!!
Attitude
There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today?" So she did and she had a wonderful day.
There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today?" So she did and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. "H-M-M," she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today?" So she did and she had a grand day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. "Well," she said, "today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail." So she did and she had a fun, fun day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head. "YEA!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"
Attitude is everything.
Be kinder than necessary,
for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.Live simply,
Love generously,
Care deeply,Speak kindly.......Leave the rest to God
Be kinder than necessary,
for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.Live simply,
Love generously,
Care deeply,Speak kindly.......Leave the rest to God
Sunday, January 14, 2007
my new aristocratic title
 | My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Grace Lady Vonda the Infinite of Longer Interval Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title |
This is fun. I think I like this name!
Friday, January 12, 2007
keeping in shape
well I am slowly but surely adding to my exercise routine. I bought an exercise ball for my core exercises. It took forever to inflate that thing. I have always been weak on the left side because of having polio when I was younger. Its hard for me to use the resistance bands with that side. I am walking carrying weights in my hands. and trying to hit 5 miles a day when walking. My step counter goes on in the morning and I take it off at night. Every step counts.
My surgery is scheduled for Tuesday morning January 30. I have to send in the money next week for the 20 percent that insurance doesn't cover. Its gonna be tight around here for a while. I have to go ahead and get the surgery now because if we put it off I won't be able to get the implant shape that will actually look right. I will be part of study on this particular shaped implant so that other women that have had the type of surgery that I have, will be able to go thru reconstruction and look some what normal. Using the regular 'round' implant is not what a radical mastectomy patient needs. She needs a teardrop shaped implant in order to achieve a natural look.
I don't like being put to sleep but its necessary for surgery, so I want to be able to be in the best possible shape. I wish I could finish losing the weight that I need to lose but I would rather take it very slowly.
Sitting on this ball actually takes some serious concentration. My back feels good tho.
My surgery is scheduled for Tuesday morning January 30. I have to send in the money next week for the 20 percent that insurance doesn't cover. Its gonna be tight around here for a while. I have to go ahead and get the surgery now because if we put it off I won't be able to get the implant shape that will actually look right. I will be part of study on this particular shaped implant so that other women that have had the type of surgery that I have, will be able to go thru reconstruction and look some what normal. Using the regular 'round' implant is not what a radical mastectomy patient needs. She needs a teardrop shaped implant in order to achieve a natural look.
I don't like being put to sleep but its necessary for surgery, so I want to be able to be in the best possible shape. I wish I could finish losing the weight that I need to lose but I would rather take it very slowly.
Sitting on this ball actually takes some serious concentration. My back feels good tho.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
studio photos
this is one shot of my art studio. It faces the north and the cold air just really seems to seep in that window so I hung my flamingo shower curtain in front of it. I have flamingos everywhere, even on my ergonomic kneeling stool. This is pretty organized for me.
This is the view behind me when I am sitting at my drawing table. Its shelves and drawers full of art books and my canvas and paintings and more flamingos! I have a lot of stuff!
A great Homeschool article
This is a great article about homeschool in Mississippi. I get so tired of people asking about the 'socialization' of my kids. Since when is it normal to be around only people your own age? That is not real life. I really don't want my kids learning from some of the other kids anyway. Listen to the slang they pick up (My bad! instead of my fault) or the horrible spelling (I luv Bois: I love boys!) and then the mean attitudes. oh yeah that is all that I want my kids to learn so they will fit right into society. Read the article below.
V
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53622
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Homeschool regulation: The revenge of the failures
Posted: January 4, 20071:00 a.m. Eastern
By Bruce N. Shortt, Ph.D.
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com-->© 2007
In their never-ending effort to "help" homeschoolers, public school bureaucrats periodically try to increase homeschooling regulations. This makes K-12 education perhaps a unique endeavor: it's a field in which the failures regularly, and astonishingly, insist that they should be able to regulate the successful.
Never mind that homeschoolers consistently outperform children institutionalized in government schools or that the longer a child is institutionalized in a government school the worse he does in relation to homeschooled children. Never mind, also, that international surveys of academic performance show that in the course of 12 years government schools manage to turn perfectly capable children into world-class dullards. No, the same education bureaucrats who consume an annual cash flow of roughly $600 billion to achieve previously unknown levels of semi-literacy and illiteracy among otherwise normal American children feel compelled from time to time to abandon their diligent pursuit of intellectual mediocrity to offer proposals for regulating homeschool parents.
The latest outbreak of education bureaucrat compassion comes from Mississippi. There the Grand Panjandrum, indeed, the very Mikado of Mississippi education, Superintendent Hank Bounds, is working at creating a panel of Quisling homeschool parents to determine whether homeschool families should be further regulated.
(Column continues below)
Why does the estimable Superintendent Bounds think that homeschooled children would benefit from more attention from Mississippi's crack team of government educators? Well, because he worries that some parents might take their children out of government schools and then fail to educate them. As Bounds inarticulately put it in a November news conference:
"… [Y]ou must realize we all have this moral and ethical responsibility to deal with those situations where clearly it's nothing more than a child abuse situation when parents pull their children out of school, say they're being homeschooled just because parents ... don't want to be involved in the education of their children. ..."
Subsequently, the editorial staff of Jackson''s Clarion-Ledger came to Bounds' aid by translating this gibberish into English. Evidently, Bounds and his Clarion-Ledger cheerleaders think that Mississippi parents are removing their children from Mississippi's government schools just so that they can deny them an education at home.
Interestingly, neither Bounds nor the Clarion-Ledger point to any evidence that this is a significant problem in Mississippi or anywhere else. In fact, a little reflection would indicate that this expression of "concern" is more than a little disingenuous. After all, if you really don't want your children to be educated, the most effective strategy is to institutionalize them in one of Superintendent Bounds' government schools. That obviously requires much less effort than keeping them at home.
Moreover, if Bounds really wants to characterize a failure to educate as "child abuse," then what is to be said of him and his bureaucrats who are responsible for a school system in which a catastrophic failure to educate is the norm? According to the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, often known as "The Nation's Report Card," Bounds' bureaucrats have failed Mississippi's children and taxpayers as follows:
Reading: 82 percent of Mississippi's fourth-graders cannot read at grade level, with 52 percent not being able to read at even a basic level. By eight grade, 82 percent of Mississippi's children still cannot read at grade level, with 40 percent being unable to read at even a basic level.
Mathematics: 81 percent of fourth-graders are below grade level in math, with 31 percent lacking even a basic grasp of mathematics. By eighth grade, math illiteracy is burgeoning in Mississippi: 86 percent of students are below grade level in math, with 48 percent lacking even a basic understanding of mathematics.
Science: 88 percent of fourth-graders are below grade level, with 55 percent lacking even a basic knowledge of science. By eighth grade, 86 percent of Mississippi's children are below grade level, with an amazing 60 percent lacking a basic grasp of the subject.
Lest anyone be under the impression that the NAEP has unusually high academic standards, testimony before the Board of Governors for the NAEP indicates, for example, that the "advanced" mathematics questions for the eighth-grade NAEP are at best comparable to fifth grade questions in Singapore's math curriculum. So, while the NAEP may not require high levels of academic competence, it does highlight Mississippi schools' systematic failure to educate.
And just where does the performance of Superintendent Bounds' Mississippi education bureaucracy put Mississippi's children nationally? Dead last in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math (tied with Alabama), and third from last in fourth-grade math and eighth-grade reading. Note that Bounds' schools manage to produce these prodigious levels of academic failure by spending roughly $7,000 per student per year, an amount that would pay tuition at many, many excellent private schools. One shudders to think what Bounds' "educators" might accomplish with even more money.
Apart from worrying about the possibility that a homeschooling parent somewhere might be lying in bed eating bon bons instead of teaching junior, Bounds and his editorial friends also fret about homeschooling parents who have not finished high school. With a little research, however, anyone, even including editorial writers, can discover that there is evidence indicating that children homeschooled by parents without a high school diploma are at no disadvantage at all compared to public school students.
As it turns out, in a basic battery of tests that included writing and mathematics, homeschooled children whose mothers hadn't finished high school scored in the 83rd percentile while students whose fathers hadn't finished high school scored in the 79th percentile. Bear in mind, too, that children in Mississippi public schools do not on average come close to doing this well on any legitimate, nationally normed test. Moreover, there are also studies that indicate that regulation does not have any positive impact on the academic achievement levels of homeschooled students.
Of course, no attack on homeschooling is complete without someone raising the "socialization" question. At least in this Bounds' pom-pom wavers at the Clarion-Ledger did not disappoint: "Can homeschooled children cope with social pressures, people skills? More is learned in a classroom and school setting than A-B-Cs. …"
Again, like the other "worries" deployed in scaring the public into supporting expanded homeschool regulation, a little research would have shown this to be a baseless concern. In 2001, Greg Cizek, associate professor of educational research at the University of North Carolina, summarized what researchers know about the "socialization" question: ''It is basically a non-issue. … If anything, research shows that because parents are so sensitive to the charge, they expose them [their children] to so many activities." More recently, a study of 7,000 homeschooled adults found, among other things, much higher levels of civic involvement, participation in higher education, and life satisfaction among them than adults who were not homeschooled.
By attacking homeschool parents, Bounds is playing a familiar game. The goal is to distract the public's attention from the abject failure of the public schools for which he is responsible. After all, no government school system so thoroughly fails to educate as Bounds' schools. Nevertheless, Bounds wants the public to believe that the same bureaucrats who daily busy themselves producing massive illiteracy in Mississippi's public schools should have more power over homeschool parents, even though homeschooling parents are already doing a magnificent job with their children.
Perhaps we can all agree with Superintendent Bounds in one respect, however. Mississippi does need more regulation of education. Consequently, as a public service, here is my modest proposal for reforming Mississippi's public schools: Homeschooling parents should regulate Bounds until the students in the government schools for which he is responsible academically outperform homeschooled children. Unfortunately, this recommendation is not likely to be accepted, which means that state superintendents of education around the country will continue to be able to tell parents upset about the job their local schools are doing, "Well, at least we're not Mississippi."
Related special offer:
Get Shortt's book "The Harsh Truth About Public Schools"
Bruce N. Shortt has a Ph.D. from Stanford and a law degree from Harvard, was a Fulbright Scholar, and serves on the board of Exodus Mandate. He is the author of "The Harsh Truth About Public Schools" and several resolutions on Christian education submitted to Annual Meetings of the Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Shortt is a member of North Oaks Baptist Church and currently practices law in Houston, where he resides with his wife and homeschools their sons.
V
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53622
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Homeschool regulation: The revenge of the failures
Posted: January 4, 20071:00 a.m. Eastern
By Bruce N. Shortt, Ph.D.
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com-->© 2007
In their never-ending effort to "help" homeschoolers, public school bureaucrats periodically try to increase homeschooling regulations. This makes K-12 education perhaps a unique endeavor: it's a field in which the failures regularly, and astonishingly, insist that they should be able to regulate the successful.
Never mind that homeschoolers consistently outperform children institutionalized in government schools or that the longer a child is institutionalized in a government school the worse he does in relation to homeschooled children. Never mind, also, that international surveys of academic performance show that in the course of 12 years government schools manage to turn perfectly capable children into world-class dullards. No, the same education bureaucrats who consume an annual cash flow of roughly $600 billion to achieve previously unknown levels of semi-literacy and illiteracy among otherwise normal American children feel compelled from time to time to abandon their diligent pursuit of intellectual mediocrity to offer proposals for regulating homeschool parents.
The latest outbreak of education bureaucrat compassion comes from Mississippi. There the Grand Panjandrum, indeed, the very Mikado of Mississippi education, Superintendent Hank Bounds, is working at creating a panel of Quisling homeschool parents to determine whether homeschool families should be further regulated.
(Column continues below)
Why does the estimable Superintendent Bounds think that homeschooled children would benefit from more attention from Mississippi's crack team of government educators? Well, because he worries that some parents might take their children out of government schools and then fail to educate them. As Bounds inarticulately put it in a November news conference:
"… [Y]ou must realize we all have this moral and ethical responsibility to deal with those situations where clearly it's nothing more than a child abuse situation when parents pull their children out of school, say they're being homeschooled just because parents ... don't want to be involved in the education of their children. ..."
Subsequently, the editorial staff of Jackson''s Clarion-Ledger came to Bounds' aid by translating this gibberish into English. Evidently, Bounds and his Clarion-Ledger cheerleaders think that Mississippi parents are removing their children from Mississippi's government schools just so that they can deny them an education at home.
Interestingly, neither Bounds nor the Clarion-Ledger point to any evidence that this is a significant problem in Mississippi or anywhere else. In fact, a little reflection would indicate that this expression of "concern" is more than a little disingenuous. After all, if you really don't want your children to be educated, the most effective strategy is to institutionalize them in one of Superintendent Bounds' government schools. That obviously requires much less effort than keeping them at home.
Moreover, if Bounds really wants to characterize a failure to educate as "child abuse," then what is to be said of him and his bureaucrats who are responsible for a school system in which a catastrophic failure to educate is the norm? According to the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, often known as "The Nation's Report Card," Bounds' bureaucrats have failed Mississippi's children and taxpayers as follows:
Reading: 82 percent of Mississippi's fourth-graders cannot read at grade level, with 52 percent not being able to read at even a basic level. By eight grade, 82 percent of Mississippi's children still cannot read at grade level, with 40 percent being unable to read at even a basic level.
Mathematics: 81 percent of fourth-graders are below grade level in math, with 31 percent lacking even a basic grasp of mathematics. By eighth grade, math illiteracy is burgeoning in Mississippi: 86 percent of students are below grade level in math, with 48 percent lacking even a basic understanding of mathematics.
Science: 88 percent of fourth-graders are below grade level, with 55 percent lacking even a basic knowledge of science. By eighth grade, 86 percent of Mississippi's children are below grade level, with an amazing 60 percent lacking a basic grasp of the subject.
Lest anyone be under the impression that the NAEP has unusually high academic standards, testimony before the Board of Governors for the NAEP indicates, for example, that the "advanced" mathematics questions for the eighth-grade NAEP are at best comparable to fifth grade questions in Singapore's math curriculum. So, while the NAEP may not require high levels of academic competence, it does highlight Mississippi schools' systematic failure to educate.
And just where does the performance of Superintendent Bounds' Mississippi education bureaucracy put Mississippi's children nationally? Dead last in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math (tied with Alabama), and third from last in fourth-grade math and eighth-grade reading. Note that Bounds' schools manage to produce these prodigious levels of academic failure by spending roughly $7,000 per student per year, an amount that would pay tuition at many, many excellent private schools. One shudders to think what Bounds' "educators" might accomplish with even more money.
Apart from worrying about the possibility that a homeschooling parent somewhere might be lying in bed eating bon bons instead of teaching junior, Bounds and his editorial friends also fret about homeschooling parents who have not finished high school. With a little research, however, anyone, even including editorial writers, can discover that there is evidence indicating that children homeschooled by parents without a high school diploma are at no disadvantage at all compared to public school students.
As it turns out, in a basic battery of tests that included writing and mathematics, homeschooled children whose mothers hadn't finished high school scored in the 83rd percentile while students whose fathers hadn't finished high school scored in the 79th percentile. Bear in mind, too, that children in Mississippi public schools do not on average come close to doing this well on any legitimate, nationally normed test. Moreover, there are also studies that indicate that regulation does not have any positive impact on the academic achievement levels of homeschooled students.
Of course, no attack on homeschooling is complete without someone raising the "socialization" question. At least in this Bounds' pom-pom wavers at the Clarion-Ledger did not disappoint: "Can homeschooled children cope with social pressures, people skills? More is learned in a classroom and school setting than A-B-Cs. …"
Again, like the other "worries" deployed in scaring the public into supporting expanded homeschool regulation, a little research would have shown this to be a baseless concern. In 2001, Greg Cizek, associate professor of educational research at the University of North Carolina, summarized what researchers know about the "socialization" question: ''It is basically a non-issue. … If anything, research shows that because parents are so sensitive to the charge, they expose them [their children] to so many activities." More recently, a study of 7,000 homeschooled adults found, among other things, much higher levels of civic involvement, participation in higher education, and life satisfaction among them than adults who were not homeschooled.
By attacking homeschool parents, Bounds is playing a familiar game. The goal is to distract the public's attention from the abject failure of the public schools for which he is responsible. After all, no government school system so thoroughly fails to educate as Bounds' schools. Nevertheless, Bounds wants the public to believe that the same bureaucrats who daily busy themselves producing massive illiteracy in Mississippi's public schools should have more power over homeschool parents, even though homeschooling parents are already doing a magnificent job with their children.
Perhaps we can all agree with Superintendent Bounds in one respect, however. Mississippi does need more regulation of education. Consequently, as a public service, here is my modest proposal for reforming Mississippi's public schools: Homeschooling parents should regulate Bounds until the students in the government schools for which he is responsible academically outperform homeschooled children. Unfortunately, this recommendation is not likely to be accepted, which means that state superintendents of education around the country will continue to be able to tell parents upset about the job their local schools are doing, "Well, at least we're not Mississippi."
Related special offer:
Get Shortt's book "The Harsh Truth About Public Schools"
Bruce N. Shortt has a Ph.D. from Stanford and a law degree from Harvard, was a Fulbright Scholar, and serves on the board of Exodus Mandate. He is the author of "The Harsh Truth About Public Schools" and several resolutions on Christian education submitted to Annual Meetings of the Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Shortt is a member of North Oaks Baptist Church and currently practices law in Houston, where he resides with his wife and homeschools their sons.
Back to work
Well today is the day that my other students are supposed to come to school. So far only one has made it. I haven't heard from the others. Sure hope they come on.
I took pictures of my new and improved downstairs area. It is neat compared to what it had become. I still have a lot I need to try and figure out if I can live without it. clutter just becomes a fact of life when you have children around. I started by cleaning out my bookshelves. I have so many duplicates and 'fourplicates' of text books and I don't need that any longer. So I am selling off my extra textbooks. who needs 4 math books in all levels of math and algebra!! Or English Grammar from grades 4 on up? It is amazing just how much room I now have. And I filled one book case back up with novels and my theology books that I had been stacking in every corner and on every flat surface that I came to.
I am really happy with my studio area. It looks so nice and organized now.
I took pictures of my new and improved downstairs area. It is neat compared to what it had become. I still have a lot I need to try and figure out if I can live without it. clutter just becomes a fact of life when you have children around. I started by cleaning out my bookshelves. I have so many duplicates and 'fourplicates' of text books and I don't need that any longer. So I am selling off my extra textbooks. who needs 4 math books in all levels of math and algebra!! Or English Grammar from grades 4 on up? It is amazing just how much room I now have. And I filled one book case back up with novels and my theology books that I had been stacking in every corner and on every flat surface that I came to.
I am really happy with my studio area. It looks so nice and organized now.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Green Tea, airbrush art and klutzies
Ahhh the studio is shaping up nicely. AND I found the chuck to my favorite airbrush when I moved stuff around. I searched for a month and finally gave up and drove to Memphis to get a new one. So now I have a spare. I can also get back to working on the rendering of the '66 corvette stingray that I was working on. Word of caution....do not allow husbands around drawing tables when doing airbrush work. especially semi-klutzy ones. This is the 2nd rendering of the same car I am doing. The first one was already about 30 hours worth of work when the green tea was spilled on it. I held my cool and bit my tongue and just threw the first one away. You can do a lot of things to a painting or drawing in progress but you can't spill anything on an airbrushed painting in progress. It is instantly ruined.
I will take a picture of the said studio and the rendering in progress sometime this week. I have one more major little item to move and that is a huge bookcase with all my many textbooks. I have moved that poor thing so many times. And the books are lucky to still have spines attached. I love my books tho. I have thousands of them and they are all over this house. I should have my own 'presidential library'.
I will take a picture of the said studio and the rendering in progress sometime this week. I have one more major little item to move and that is a huge bookcase with all my many textbooks. I have moved that poor thing so many times. And the books are lucky to still have spines attached. I love my books tho. I have thousands of them and they are all over this house. I should have my own 'presidential library'.
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