My View

Hubby and I live in an older neighborhood. By older I mean the houses run about 25 years on average. Give or take a few. Recently a neighbor got me into walking in our little neighborhood. The weather has been perfect for it lately.  Why not? Isn't it always better with some good conversation and a lot of humor.

The neighbor works so we've been walking in the evening. But this morning I took the opportunity to get out there and enjoy the fresh morning air. After taking an allergy pill mind you. When I took a look at my hood with fresh morning eyes it was a new perspective. There were things that I enjoyed. 

Who can't pass up a family of ducks? They're everywhere along the trail. They even come up into our yards. 

 There are tons of trees along the trail. Granted they may be trash trees, but they're trees. And they provide lots of shade. I am grateful for them.

The trail also has lots of pedestrian bridges. The trail runs along a creek that's right along my hood at the end of my street. Wanna switch sides or turn around? No problem! Just cross one of the many bridges. 

I can go as far as I want on this trail without having to cross any major roads. There are underpasses for the walker/jogger/biker all along the trail. 

Well, I thought this picture would turn out better, but it didn't. There's women playing tennis in cute little skirts. No one had just t-shirts and shorts on. They were all wearing cute little outfits. Oh my! My first reaction was, "Really?" We're not living in the west part of the city. This is the "normal" part. Granted we're a little closer to the Upper Class than the Lower class, but skirts?!?!?!? 

And the best for last. There's a weirdo fishing! Seriously? I'm not sure why anyone would fish in that water. The ducks,rabbits,turtles and whatever fish there could be are to be fed and looked at. Fed and looked at only. 

By no means is this a walk along a gorgeous coastline. But, it's what I've got and it's pretty good. There's always something better, but there's always something worse. Like no view at all! I have a great view on my walk. Thank you God for all that I am able to take in during my walk! 

Lent, Second Edition

During Lent, 2011, Hubby and I gave up facebook. It wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. We didn't even cheat on Sundays. At least he didn't. I did on the third Sunday. We had time on our hands. We had to communicate the old fashioned way!

Then Easter Sunday came and went. I was perusing facebook that night and I was enjoying some pictures that "friends" had posted. I noticed one particular picture that someone had posted of the inside of their church from that morning. It was exquisite. It had beautiful woodwork and it was traditional to the bones. So, I "liked" the picture and asked if it was in the same city in which he lived. This guys response was, "Try xxxxx". Really? How in the world am I supposed to know? I'm glad I'm happy at the church we attend. That would have been a great opportunity to share his church home with others. I "unliked" the photo and deleted my comment. Whatever.

Maybe my response was extreme. But, I'm not sure that his response could have been taken in any other way. If so, oh well.

While we were abstaining from facebook during Lent, Hubby and I had discussed continuing not to participate. Either we would only look on Sundays or just delete our accounts altogether. Of course deleting our accounts altogether would be easy since we hadn't been that much into it during the Lenten season. But, I felt a tug. Delete my account? Take a breath, it will be okay.

Then we watched a show on one of the cable news networks called, "The Facebook Obsession". It highlighted the start of facebook and some of the ups and downs along the way. It all started in a dorm room at Harvard by Mark Zuckerberg. His original concept was called "facemash", where he had input Harvard students pictures on the web site and he asked for people to vote on the prettiest/ugliest students. Sounds lovely, huh? It was quickly taken down.

The Facebook Obsession highlighted a reunion story of an adult woman looking for her birth mother. I guess that's okay when both want to be found. They also brought attention to police departments who had captured criminals through the web site. Yeah for criminals being captured! One woman that the show featured was employed as a school principal. She was fired after her "private" rants about the students were seen as inappropriate. The principal had blamed facebook for her firing. I don't blame facebook, facebook didn't make her put those things on her wall. She did.

Our privacy on the site is constantly being sacrificed. The site is constantly making changes, but those changes aren't made very well known unless someone gets a hold of it and spreads the word. Even though I think my wall is private, it's not. As the show continued, I think it made it a little easier for us to stomach deleting our accounts. First we have to go in and delete our photos one by one. Joy.

The producers of the show requested an interview with Zuckerberg, but their request was denied. They were referred to the facebook's privacy page on the site.

The show also aired a partial interview by Kara Swisher of The Wall Street Journal. She sat down with Zuckerberg for an interview and some of the questions weren't even that hard hitting, but he was sweating profusely. Some have called it, his "Nixon moment". This socially awkward young adult who started the biggest social network there is to date.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't an attack on anyone who chooses to participate on facebook. It's just that we are finding it easier not to. Come Friday, we will start to delete the pictures one by one on our pages and say good-bye.

The Facebook Obsession

House of Blues

Recently, a vendor that services Hubby and other managers at this office invited us to a concert at the House of Blues. The night would be filled with free appetizers and drinks. It sounded pretty cool so Hubby and I, among others accepted. The singer that was performing was Chris Cornell. He used to be part of Soundgarden*. As a solo artist he's pretty good. I even have one of his songs on my iPod, so I thought, "How bad could it be?"

As I obsessed for days about what I would wear**, Hubby was able to get his parents to come over and stay with the kids. It was a date night and we were going to have some fun. Neither of us had been there, so we were looking forward to the experience. 

I guess we were so excited to go that we were the first of our group to show up. Awkward. The email that our host had sent said, "Your host for the evening is Mo. He'll take you to our private room". When we went to the side door, there was Mo. Mo was someone who could have been mistaken for a Marine mercenary. Very tall, built and he didn't seem to have a sense of humor. You don't mess with Mo. 

When we got on the private elevator it was daylight outside. When we got off of the private elevator, the atmosphere was filled with rock and roll, alcohol and a little bit of sexual tension for grins. The large room was filled with Persian rugs and privates booths. The bar was stocked with skinny bitches playing bartender. 

Finally some others that are part of our group show up. Pretty people that I have absolutely nothing in common with. Just about. I had asked the wife of another couple if she had ever been there before. Her response was that she had been to the gospel brunch on Sunday once in LA. She followed with, "It was great. But, I'm not religious or anything." Huh? Was I supposed to apologize for that? 

Hubby was smart and had a sandwich before we left, I thought I could wait it out. It was a long wait. But, well worth it. The crab cakes were some of the best I had ever had. Sliders, mashed potatoes and prime rib was also served. YUMMY. I figured once the food was served it would be okay to step away from the Coca Cola and go for something a little harder. Those drinks weren't watered down either. It was time to stop after just ONE long island iced tea and go back to Coca Cola.

After the gin and vodka had been diluted in my body, my eyes were clear enough to see the plaques on the wall. There were two of these wall decorations. They were divided into six squares each. Each square had a couple in different positions. Need I go any further? Get my drift? 

Finally, the concert was about to begin and we went to our section. He sort of talked a little. Sang a song. Talked a little. Sang a song. There were a few "F" bombs thrown in. I was just hoping Chris would perform the one song I had on my iPod. He never did. Unless he sang it during the encore, that we didn't choose to stay for. Monday was coming and it was coming fast!

It was something fun we hadn't done before. The vendor mentioned to Hubby that if we ever wanted to see somebody there, just to let him know. It was nice to be treated to a fun night. It was interesting in many ways. But if they talk business again, I just hope it takes place in a private suite at Rangers stadium***. =)

*"Black Hole Sun" ring a bell? If not, that's okay. 

**My wardrobe is a combination of a gym rat's wardrobe and a failed attempt at mismatched, halfway cuteness

***Talk about a wedding stress reliever! A few days before Hubby-to-be and I were married, we were in a private suite at Rangers stadium!! That's awesomeness! 

So You Want a Window That Operates?

During Spring Break* this year, I got a wild hair to look at some model homes in a neighboring city. Gorgeous, doesn't even begin to describe it. The sales lady even had a British accent. I loved to hear her talk. There was one model that we thought was perfect. We walked through and noted all of the questions we had and decided to go talk to the sales lady again.

One of the things I loved about this model was the huge window above the kitchen sink. I have a window above my kitchen sink now. It's not huge by the model standards, but it's a window. I noticed that the window in the model didn't open. How bizarre. So that was a question that I wrote down for the saleslady. 

I have at least three reasons why I like to open the window above my kitchen sink:

*I've been cooking something that seems to have taken a turn for the worse, and I need an infusion of fresh air. 

*It's gotten awfully warm in the kitchen and it needs to be cooled off

*It's a gorgeous day outside, and if I can avoid turning on the a/c I will

When we got back and the saleslady asked for all of our questions we got to the window above the kitchen sink question. Her response was, "You're so cute". When I gave her the reason of just wanting to not turn the a/c on if it's not necessary, she went into the shpeal about how their homes are oh so energy efficient. Dad gum, sometimes I just want to open the window. To get that window to open would  be an upgrade. Something to think about. 

Then it came time to see what lots were available. The lots had premiums so we wanted to know what we would have to include with the cost of the house. Then she marked one lot with a NEGATIVE $55,000 on one particular lot. 

DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING. That noise I heard were the bells going off in my head. On her map it looked like it could have been green space. She mentioned it was an electrical substation. So. We could save the $55,000 now because we'll need it when our kids grow up and develop nervous twitches from living right next to an electrical substation. Amazingly when we drove the neighborhood to see the lots, there were other homes right up next to it. It's their prerogative. 

So, I can forgive the saleslady's pretentiousness when asking about an operable window. But, I have the wherewithal to not settle for a house that butts up against an electric substation. Even if the house was a dream house. 

*Spring Break this year was filled with looking at model homes all around Collin County. There was even a home/lot that Hubby was salivating over. But, his commute would have doubled. Unless he got a job somewhere closer to home. No pressure, dear! =) 

Dear School Board

It's been all over the news lately about school districts needing to make cuts to the budget. The school district that I am in is no different. I'm not here to point fingers as to whose fault it is. It doesn't really matter at this point. We're at a crossroads and we need to work together to get through. 

In my district 223 teachers were given pink slips this week. Add to that number 120 support people. With two children in elementary school, this troubles me. Hubby and I moved to this area for the reputation of the school district. Now we find ourselves looking at private schools to ensure a quality education for our kids. My kids deserve the best and I'm not sure that my school district can provide that quality education anymore. Can I make some suggestions from a parents point of view? 

At our particular elementary school there is a receptionist and an office manager. The woman who is our receptionist is perfect for the job. She's friendly and knows everybody. The office manager sits right behind her with a plate glass window between them. If the receptionist isn't at her desk for whatever reason, the office manager will look at you and let you wait til the receptionist comes back. Why is she there in that position? If the receptionist has to be away from her desk for an extended period of time, volunteers will cover for her. Why doesn't the office manager cover for her? What is there for her to manage? 

In the months of October and March my school district has free breakfast for all of the children. Everyday. It needs to stop. Imagine how much is spent on those breakfasts each day in the entire school district. I know it's for the benefit of those children who don't get a quality breakfast before school each day. Have you seen what they serve as the free breakfast? Give me a break! It's the parents responsibility to make sure the children have a full stomach when they arrive to take on the challenges of the day. I am painfully aware that there are parents out there whose last priority is to make sure their kids have breakfast. It's time to stop being lazy and think about our children. Put them first. 

Next month the district will celebrate with an employee service and retirement banquet at Southfork Ranch. Followed the next month by a teacher of the year banquet and The Plano Centre. Why do we need a separate celebration for these? Why can't these things be celebrated in a school gym like school dances and spirit rallies? If they should be celebrated in a economic times like we are in, isn't there somewhere that's a little more budget friendly? I understand that we need to keep the morale up for our teachers, but we also need to get a grip and buckle down. There are too many people that will suffer because of budget constraints. 

The average salary of the Central Administrative support is $88,178*. That's the salary for someone who is in the pretty buildings who don't have to share bathrooms or breathing space with the kids in their school district. The average teacher salary is $52,375*. Am I the only one who sees the imbalance here? Some of the people in the pretty buildings need to visit the classrooms a little more often to see who the outstanding teachers really are. I would at least like to see them show what their value is. Why do they get paid what they get paid? Why are they an asset instead of a liability? 

I realize that teachers are making what the market calls for, but is there that much paper to be shuffled around in the pretty buildings? 

Then, there are some teachers who shouldn't be teaching. I spend an adequate amount of time in my kids school by volunteering. There are some teachers that SHOULD BE given the pink slip. There are some that just have the job because they need something to fill their days with. Bye bye! I want teachers for my kids that WANT to be there. They know going in that they don't get paid millions of dollars, but they do it for the love of spreading knowledge. They do it because they want to share in the experience of growing minds and expanding creativity. 

I don't have a degree in education. I don't have a degree in finance. I'm just a mom who wants the best for her kids. I'm a citizen of the district who wants to prevent anymore pink slips going out to teachers who love what they do and who make a difference. I'm a person who wishes that common sense was a little more common. 

When making difficult, yet necessary cuts to education spending it's irresponsible and insulting to teachers and taxpayers for administrators to suggest that in-classroom spending be the first to go**. 

Cuts need to be made in public education.....but not in the classroom. 

*redappleproject.com

**protecttheclassroom.com

21 Days

It's been 21 days without facebook! The funny thing is, my world didn't come to an end. Amazeballs! Twenty one days of not worrying if so and so saw my latest post, or if I was or wasn't the intended target of someone else's post. I'm not worrying why that person sent "Happy Birthday" wishes to her and I didn't get any. It truly is out of sight, out of mind.

It's been three weeks of not getting twisted up into knots over garbage spewed out by people with opposing political/social/religious views. Isn't there enough stress in life without adding that crap to the mix? 

It's been twenty one days free of the abbreviations, LOL, ROFL, FML, FOCLOL, FTW, FOCROFLOL, BRB, BBS, and BS. Half of those I don't even know what they mean. And I don't care either. If it's not funny enough to spell the whole thing out, why bother?

I did wonder what the reaction was after Brad chose Emily. But it was so long after the fact that I was wondering that nobody would have been talking about it still. When Elizabeth Taylor died, it was on all the entertainment shows what celebrities were tweeting. Honestly, if you don't respect her enough to spell out "Rest in Peace", why bother? I'm sure 140 characters will allow you that much. 

I chose to cheat for one brief moment. There was one birthday that I wanted to acknowledge by snail mail. I had their address in my facebook messages. I checked my messages for their address. I filled out the envelope and logged out. That was it, I swear! Before Lent started I did prepare other birthday wishes by using the Hallmark facebook application. Is that cheating? 

Is it cheating when I visit a web site (protecttheclassroom.com) to click on the little facebook "like" button? I haven't done it since it would show up in the facebook newsfeed. Since facebook wasn't around in Jesus' time I can't really apply the question, "What would Jesus Do?". I'm pretty sure He could care less! 

I'm not trying to come across as pretentious or judgmental. This is my journey through Lent 2011. With three weeks left it's easy-cheesy-lemon-squeezy. 

P.S. I'm not blaming the tool. That would be like blaming a gun when someone shoots another person. It's the person who is to blame. I'm choosing not to play the game. 

Held hostage

There's a web site I just adore. They have some of the funniest videos. EVER. This came across my email inbox and I thought this was a keeper.

Haven't we been in this situation*?

*Of course all of the children I know are angels, but the unending barrage of questions are enough to make us want to strangle the store clerk........

I Am Projected Out!

Fourth grade seems to be the year of the project. At least the second semester is anyway. And I'm beat!! I don't believe I've ever worked as hard on something as these projects. Should I be working this hard? It's not my project. I've done my schooling. But what kind of mother would I be if I didn't do anything? 

As soon as we got back from Christmas break it was announced by my fourth grader that she had a science project due. Excuse me? We had just had two weeks off  that we could have used to work on this project. But alas, that time was gone and we had to buckle down and get it planned, started and then finished in two weeks. We did a  project on density. I have to say it was pretty fun and I think we did a darn fine job. You should have seen the ones that actually got ribbons at the science fair. Augh! 

The next project was to make a travel brochure about The Alamo or any other battle site in the state of Texas. This was prompted on the day AFTER it was due by a phone call from the teacher telling us our fourth grader hadn't turned it in. Seriously, I was about to hit the roof. We hustled  to get this thing printed out. I did all of the research while my kid was at school. I told said kid to choose what she would like to put in the brochure. Hubby was in charge of getting this thing printed out with what little printer ink we had left in the printer. This was on a Wednesday. 

That very next Thursday we were building a piano out of a gift box for the music teacher. Yep! The music teacher had all of fourth grade make a music instrument. This was assigned some time ago, but my fourth grader forgot about it. Until the week it was due. Thank God the piano didn't have to make music, it just had to look like an instrument. I was mad, frustrated, flustered and wondering if there was a rock I could go hide under. 

Now I'm breathing down the back of a "Free Market" project. The kids have to come up with a product to sell to the other kids and the proceeds go to a charity chosen by the teacher. Where do I start with this one? The kids make a product and the fifth grade comes around to all the stations and buy their goods if they so choose.  Hello? Kids running out school with money? What if the "charity" is the teacher's mortgage company? If this were truly a free market project the kids would have to cover the costs of their product first then any remaining monies would be considered profit. 

The kids chose to do sand art. They would provide the sand and the plastic bottles and the kids that want to shell out the money they can make their own designs. I've seen how much colored sand costs. I'm stunned. I've seen the recipe for making my own colored sand and I have no desire to have the leftover 15 pounds of sand laying around the house. Even the least expensive plastic bottle is about $1.19 each. 

Dear teachers, I'm projected out. I've had enough. These projects are a little too much back to back. Some of these are middle school worthy projects and we don't have anybody in middle school yet. Like I said, do I just let my kiddo take a hit on her grade if she doesn't get it done?  Or, do I jump in and help? When is it too much help on the project, and when is it not enough? 

*Winter Break, Christmas Break, call it what you will. I call it what it is. 

Lent: Day 1

This year I've decided to give up facebook for Lent. An opportunity to get closer to God and far more distanced from my computer. Closer to my Creator, and farther apart from those that might not have the best of intentions. 

Draw me closer to you, Lord. 

I've never really taken Lent seriously before I met my husband. Over lengthy discussions over time it was made clear that sacrificing something so little for such a short period of time pales to what Christ sacrificed for me. I've tried in the past, one thing or another with giving up something. It was always in the back of my mind that Sunday was coming and I could "cheat" on that day. Christ didn't "cheat". 

Remain in me, Lord. 

I guess I've always used the excuse that I'm not as strong as others and I gave in to a spirit of failure. That I'm not "as big" of a Christian as this person or that person. That it might be expected of me to not succeed. In all reality, I didn't totally depend on Christ to get me through. 

I can do anything in Christ, who strengthens me. 

Granted as I write this, it's only halfway through day one. I'm sort of praying for the desire of facebook to just go away. May this Easter season give me a stronger faith, patience, love and forgiveness that I need. 

May Jesus be my only social network. 

Joining Church and a Comedy of Errors

When Hubby and I got married we knew that we wanted to raise our family in church. Following Christ and building our faith is a major part in our belief system. Hubby and I were married in a mega church here in the area. We followed the mega church when they moved, but it was easy to see that we couldn't stay. It was just too "mega" for us. Hubby came from a smaller church background so we decided as a couple to start looking for another church home.

We found another Baptist church not too far away and felt like it was a good fit. The pastor was warm and friendly and he hails from the "land of Gar" (my hometown). We met some great people in a Sunday school class. People in the same stage in life. It wasn't too much on the traditional side, but it was at that time. It was there that I had attended my firt Maundy Thursday service.

Our comedy of errors starts whenever we walk down the aisle to join the church. When we decided to join this church the pastor met us at the end of the aisle. He asked, "How do you come to us today?" Hubby says, "Fine". Now for those of us who have joined a church or two in our past we know what the pastor is asking. He's asking if we come by:
(1)transfer of letter
(2)believer's baptism
(3)professing a new belief in Christ

After laughing a little, I jumped in and said we were joining by transfer of letter*. We were on our journey of building a faith and and foundation. We were active in our Sunday school class for quite some time. Until some other friends had gotten caught up in some political game and we let them influence our heart about the church. I look back and think how disappointing that whole episode was. We should have been objective. We should have given the benefit of the doubt. Our Sunday school class was falling apart and people were leaving left and right. On to the next church....

After a short stint at a church locally, we ventured out to another city to try and worship there. It was a very traditional church. It's a church calendar following, liturgical church. We walked down the aisle there and our comedic moment there was that when it came time take a family picture there the camera broke. The minister said he would get back with us and try to take another picture, but that never happened. That's okay. The drive there was a bit tedious. I'm not sure we really ever fit in. So, Hubby agreed to start visiting churches again.

We ventured out to other denominations, but that was a waste of time. Even other denominations were turning over to the contemporary side and it was a turn-off. We finally decided to try a baptist church that we had visited a few years earlier. They had been in some transition time earlier and now they had a new pastor. I was curious. Hubby finally agreed to visit. We've been visiting since early November. I was encouraged. Hubby really enjoyed listening to the pastor. Hubby said that this pastor has given some of the best sermons that he's ever heard. Bingo! We had found a baptist church that (1)offered a traditional service (2)had a Sunday school class that felt right (3)was close to home.

Finally. We reached the point when we were ready to join. We had told the kids that they were to just leave their stuff in the pew and we would go back for it. Hubby and I started down the aisle. The kids just stand there in the pew looking at us. I kept walking, Hubby stopped. I walked right into Hubby and there was a slight collision. After I compose myself we had to stop and tell the kids to come along. After we finally made it to the front the pastor met us and we expressed our intent. The man that took our information couldn't get our names right. He was trying to write our names on name tags and he couldn't hear worth anything. At one point I wanted to yank those stickers away and just write our names myself. Then Hubby was introduced to the crowd under his legal name. That threw us off a little bit, because even the lady that introduced us knows him by the name we call him.

We actually had a minor scare as the minister was introducing us. There was a wasp or hornet** buzzing around and it landed in the minister's hair. Right on top of her forehead. She never knew. There was another family that was being introduced and the minister had mentioned they were from Alabama. When we were in the receiving line, everyone kept asking if we were the ones from Alabama. I wish I had a sign with a picture of a hand with the finger pointing to the family next to me.

Hopefully, joining another church is behind us. It seems that the comedy of errors increases as we move churches. If I don't laugh about it, I cry. Just kidding. It's good to see that God has a sense of humor.

*We still laugh about that 13 years later.
**Don't know the difference, don't care. I don't like either one.