Randomitis to the tenth power

1. A good quote from an excellent blogging and FB friend: "Just a message to all those opposed to "big government:" feel free to stop using roads, drinking clean water, using police and fire services, courts of law, military protection, and, oh, anything else that the government by the people, for the people, etc. is set up to provide."

2. The search continues for our housing. Rentals are expensive and hard to find. Investors are slow to make decisions about fixer-uppers. Short sales for our house are enigmatic. And all the while my patience is slowing running down the drain.

3. Big garage sale tomorrow. Come over and buy our junk!! Johnny C and I will be up late making the garage presentable, then up at the crack of dawn for the early birds. I've assigned the kids to make AND clean up supper tonight so we can work on the garage sale. Wish them luck!

4. My Twin #2 made the Varsity soccer team! She's only 15 but that girl is a whiz with a soccer ball. And she's darned cute to boot. We're very proud.

5. An extreme right-wing friend complained to me that all her cowardly liberal friends and relatives have unfriended her on facebook because of her views. I told her I wouldn't, but that I also wouldn't stop anyone from taking her on in the comments . . . which happened . . . so she unfriended me. So who's the coward?

6. Feels more like late September here. Although there were tornadoes in Minneapolis yesterday!! They don't usually drop down out of a cool cloudy sky, but drop they did. Lots of windows out and trees down.

7. I need some time with my extended family. I just feel it in my bones. Wish life weren't so freakin busy.

8. Last night I made zucchini bread, because that's almost all I know what to do with all that zucchini this time of year. The recipe must have had a misprint because it sure seemed like a lot of baking soda. The dough rose like crazy, fell in globs to the bottom of the oven, and smoked up like wet branches on bonfire. The house reeks now, and the bread tastes like too much baking soda.

9. Fall is upon us. Summer flew like the clouds.

10. A casual friend died suddenly on Monday. Mother of 3, 45 years old, active in our town and schools. Sad doesn't even begin to cover it.

Things I want to hear

I'm waiting to hear the following . . .

From a GOP member: "Now people, cool it with the death threats and the stupid accusations of death panels and forced euthanasia. You're just proving we're all wingnuts! Some of us have an education, and some brains, and we need to discuss this matter like adults!"

From my kid's friend's parents: "Hey, how 'bout we split the driving? We drive one way and you drive the other?"

From Sarah Palin: "I must admit, I'm just really not qualified."

From our mortgage company: "We finally understand what you've been saying all along! We'll stand to keep thousands by renegotiating your loan!"

From my kids: "Mom, I'm really sorry I've been such a pill. How about I make dinner tonight?"

From my employer: "We've decided you are all valuable, and all this talk about layoffs will end right here, right now."

From my neighbor: "We're going to be keeping our yappy dogs inside more often, and definitely after 10pm. You need your sleep!"

From President Obama: "We freakin won! Enough of trying to appease these yahoos! We're going ahead with what's right and what's decent, and they can just sit on their thumbs and spin."

From Rupert Murdoch: "What have I done?"

From Dick Cheney: "I have a few things to get off my chest. Start the tape recorder."

Kinda says it all

Be sure to read the sign in the middle!

My garden pictorial

Johnny C just brought home a pink bathtub from a remodel job, so of course the logical place to put it is IN OUR YARD!!! We are such trailer trash.

My basil crop: sweet, Thai, and lettuce leaf basil.

Canna lilies in a pot

PUMPKINS!

My gardening shed - built by Johnny C - which used to be the coolest play house ever! Now it's the perfect place to keep my tools. I'm going to miss this little house.

Today's harvest: some gladiolus, zinnias, 2 cucs, 8-9 plum tomatoes, sweet basil, purple basil, and Thai basil.

The raised beds Johnny C built and I planted - all made with scrap lumber!

My garden under the influence of the sprinkler. The bed that looks empty just finished all the carrots. Onions are still cooking, and the 2nd and 3rd harvest of beets are popping up.

Johnny C's homemade cuc trellis - made with scrap, old nails, and twine.

The Real Deal

This is my hero - I know I've said that before. All this hype over the movie makes me feel like the rest of the world is horning in on my childhood icon. I adored her show - she got me hooked on cooking.
Saw the movie last night. Meryl was fabulous, but the "Julie" parts made me want to throw my Milk Duds at the screen - contrived, cliche, sickly. Amy Adams is a doll but I hated her in this role. It summed up everything I resent in Gen Xers.

Gov. Pawlenty, would you like to buy our school supplies?

Dear Governor Pawlenty and your GOP friends,

Please quit stating that you've balanced any kind of Minnesota state budget without raising taxes. This is a complete lie and you know it. All you have done is shifted the cost of education and public services to the small business people and the homeowners. On top of that, you've committed the unthinkable by tossing hundreds of folks off state-funded health care. What you've done is placed any spending "cuts" on the backs of the lower middle class and the poor, whether they be your supporters or not. Our property taxes have steadily climbed just to keep our schools from completely hemorrhaging. We have ratios of 35:1 in some classrooms, even with levy after levy.

Strangely however, you raised taxes with lightning speed on voters in Hennepin County when the Twins franchise wanted a new baseball stadium. So this "no taxes" pledge seems quite flexible and arbitrary.

Here is one shining example of increased cost to the little guy: our school supply lists. Please take this under consideration. And the list below doesn't cover our two High School students!

For a 4th grade student, the required supplies are:
4 spiral notebooks
1 large eraser
3 pocket folders
1 composition notebook
1 three-ring binder
Clean gym sneakers (nope, the sneakers they wear everyday won't cut it)
Scissors (you read that right - the school no longer supplies scissors)
Ruler
Calculator (the kids in our school must all have the same multi-function calculator at $15 apiece)
Facial tissues (again, you read correctly!! Schools can no longer afford kleenex! The families must supply the classrooms)
School glue
1 box of colored pencils
Pens
8 black felt tip pens (these are for the teachers! The school no longer supplies our teachers with adequate office supplies)
Highlighters
Post-it notes (again, for the teachers)
Markers
4 glue sticks (these last about 4 months, then we buy more)
4 Odorless dry erase markers
Pencils
A large supply box
Antibacterial wipes (nope, the school doesn't supply these)
Hand sanitizer (to share with the classroom)
Ziploc bags

Also, our teachers are buying quite of bit of their supplies from their own pockets!! Our PTO encourages families to review a Teacher Holiday Wish List rather than the usual holiday gifts for instructors. These wishes include reams of construction paper, glue, tape, pens, gifts cards, books, and more kleenex. Why should the taxpaying families have to provide these basics?

So stop working only for the advancement of your party, and start working for the people of Minnesota. The majority of us have no clout and no power, but you have sworn to serve us and need I remind you that we pay your salary and provide you a house? Get some real work done.

ADDENDUM: I've been thinking about this all day. I propose we ask our legislators to provide their own health care coverage, pens, kleenex, copy paper, tape, etc. and that they be fed EXACTLY what most school kids are receiving in their hot lunch program. Also, that their computer equipment only be upgraded as often as the poorest school in their district.

Will my art inspire?