March 4, 2005
-
This is a day for a miscellaneous rambling. I have not blogged in awhile. Life just hasn’t let me. I have been horribly busy, mostly with work, and the weekends have been filled also. It’s been a good time, but it has left me without time for some of the things I enjoy. Life is like that, I guess.
Monday afternoon, Dan and I went to a peaceful protest rally at the Minnesota State Capitol. We were there to protest the budget cuts for education. One of the speakers was a Lutheran minister. That kind of surprised me, since many of the parochial schools in Minnesota are Lutheran schools. I admired him for being there to stand up for public education. Minnesota has had one of the premier school systems in the nation, but it is declining because there is no money. Classes are larger than they should be and there is no money for books and supplies. All of that is in the name of saving tax dollars. I wonder why nobody thinks of the undereducated population we are creating. They will be a drain on the taxpayers for years. I hope we were heard.
I am subbing today. I have sophomores and seniors in social studies classes. The seniors are discussing what T-shirt messages reveal about our culture. It is interesting, but many of the students are not really participating in the discussion. They are well behaved, though.
Dan is busy painting all of our ceilings. He started with just one, but one clean white ceiling makes all the others look bad, so it has become a major project. Next comes the living room if I can ever pick a paint color. It has been awhile since we did any painting, so it will be a pretty noticeable change. This summer, I want to take the wallpaper off the walls in both of our upstairs bathrooms and our stairwell. I think I will paint those rooms. By fall, our house will look quite different.
The final payment on our Hawaii trip is due in a few days. I am still scrambling for money. I will have to take some out of our retirement savings. The pay cuts we both took last fall have made budgeting a little more challenging. We are going to make the trip, though. We are traveling with friends and don’t want to let them down, plus we need the getaway. I will figure out how to make up the money.
We also had a new kitchen floor put in. We have needed that for quite awhile. I haven’t figured out how to pay for that, either. Life is full of challenges.
I have been committed. Actually, I think maybe I need to be committed. Committed is a term for the new structure of Peter Noone’s fan club. I am one of two committed reps for Minnesota. Our job is to try to make the fan experience more enjoyable. I wonder what I am getting into!!!
I have been trying to make Xanga visits today and am getting a message that some of the sites I am trying to visit contain spyware and the system here at school will not let me access them. I guess I will have to wait until I get home to visit those sites.
That’s my ramble for today. Have a great weekend!
Comments (8)
Would the people in Minnesota be happier to pay say a extra dollar in tax to have the good schools that they once had but then again do you know your dollar is been spent in the right place . At least you have a lovely holiday to look forward too
PS congrats on going on to the committee
We have the same problem with our school system in California. They just keep cutting the budget left and right. If something needs to be cut it is always education first. I just don’t understand the logic at all. And good for you for going to the protest. If we had one near here I would too!
Have a nice weekend.
How the money is spent in USA ?
School is the better investisment for the future of a nation .
I am glad you are going to Hawai soon . you deserve this trip .
Courage to Dan . To paint ceilings is certainly not a pleasure party !
Love
Michel
I need my ceilings painted…road trip???? You will love Hawaii; it is a fun place to go. Where will you stay, which islands? People think teachers make too much money because they only work 9 months. They don’t realize the intensity of the job and the extra hours necessary to do it well.
Hurray for your stand at our State Capitol! I will be going there on March 10th, to rally for Safe, Decent and Affordable Housing for all. I am co-chair of our apt’s tentants union. Our tenants union consists of people that live here in property-based Section 8. We fought, around a year ago, to have our owner keep the Section 8, instead of ending it. We made tons of phone calls, talked to the city, talked to an attorney, etc. He did, finally, months later, sign to keep Section 8. We celebrated the fact that we wouldn’t have worry about homelessness, for another 5 years. Of course now, we are worried about the many cuts bush wants to make: to Section 8 and lower-income housing, as well as cuts to healthcare. :::jumping off my soapbox:::
You are going to Hawaii-wow! Lucky you. Have never been there, but my son, his wife and 2 boys have been there quite a while, as my son is in the Navy. Can’t afford to go. Have a great time there, and hope you will have many photos to show off!
Years ago we paneled the living room so we wouldn’t have to paint it. Light wood but I’m tired of looking at it.
Unfortunately we couldn’t panel the ceiling.
I would like to have heard what the kids said about the t shirts. In fact I may start up a conversation with them about all the tattoo’s and piercings I see on the young now days.