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la caotica, projects & surf

so… question

4 August 2011 // Political Rantings // 6 comments

Like a slightly obsessed political junkie, I’ve been following all this debt ceiling deal very closely. I recommend checking out this post on The People’s View for a summary on what the bill contains.

My concern is about the department of education, seeing as how a lot of political writers are betting on that getting substantial cuts.

States and counties pay for their own school systems. I know I’ve been paying into mine through my property taxes every year. So the federal department of education… what exactly is their role? I know they are supposed to orchestrate the No Child Left Behind business, but I’m wondering what their budget actually consists of. Are they sending money to states to help with the costs of education? Is this one big duplicate bureaucracy like is being suggested by Tea Partyists?

I’ve got a list of phone numbers for my own local school system and maybe I can find someone knowledgeable on this subject because I have a knee jerk reaction to cutting educational funding. Let us not be breeding a nation of idiots! But if it doesn’t seem to be going towards actual schools and instead is used to pay people who come up with standardized testing… well, I would be the first to swing the axe.

As a student who had to take SOL (Standards of Learning) tests in Virginia every three years, I can safely say that I abhore them on several levels. I passed them without any problems but it was more the fact that our teachers always had to cut other things out of our curriculum to focus on whatever areas would be present on the tests. Then there is the inherent panic of not passing the test and having to repeat a grade.

I feel like a lot of learning has been lost in the mess of trying to make sure students get the appropriate scores. There is even trouble in Atlanta, GA about teachers who would fix students exams to ensure better grades so that their school would receive more award money from Race To The Top.

Crazy. I just want it to be very clear what exactly their budget is for. What benefit they are giving to the students of our country. Because if it is mostly administrative drivel, I feel the money could be better used elsewhere. Every district has admin personnel, every state has admin, and to add federal admin as well… Mayhap we can consolidate.

I’ve sent out emails a few places and have some phone calls to make. So if you may have any additional info, share!


enjoying the summer

27 July 2011 // Photos // 3 comments

Tip for tiring out kidlets: acquire soccer ball. Visit park with large field. PUNT that ball. Inspire children to chase. Repeat as needed until they crawl back to the car or lay down in the grass.


in which i ramble about my garden

25 July 2011 // Green Thumb Trials, Photos // 5 comments

First things first. This week of killer heat has probably ravaged my garden. I know for a fact that almost all of my impatiens are dead and my poor caladiums have fallen on their leaf-faces. Not enough watering and also RABBITS. Fucking rabbits. No really. Ignore all of those plants over there and just nibble on the ones that I’m trying to grow. Feast in a neighbor yard, please.

But we shall get past this. The summer is only halfway through, mayhap they will revive. Until then, here are some pretty pictures to reminisce with.

Can we say flowering pepper plant? With baby bell pepper? YES WE CAN. =D I try to make sure and water it every day. I fail. But I try. The pepper? Getting bigger and looking delicious. YAY. I cannot wait to stir-fry it. Or even just rinse it off and munch on it.

My sweet pea plant is one of the most prolific plants in my garden. It comes up every year, everywhere, hanging on everything. I love it when it blooms and I hate having to hack it off the chainlink every winter. This time I got a picture of the pea pods too. I meant to collect the pea seeds but I think most of them have fallen already for next year. Jas is forever plucking stems of the blooms and giving them to people, or she’ll loop them through Kayla’s collar for some flair.

I will forever remember my caladium looking like this. Splendid. I hope it perks back up and shoots out leaves everywhere. It was so pretty.

My fabulous potted butterfly bush. I am kind of ridiculously proud of it. As it is I’m debating planting it in the back yard because apparently they can grow up to five feet in a season. The thought of this plant towering in the yard with all those pretty blooms… well, it’s terribly enticing. But if I keep it potted, then I can take it with me next year. Decisions, decisions.

And speaking of plants that got left, here is my lovely french hybrid white lilac tree. It has grown from the twig of last year into an actual plant with leaves. Finally! Last year was a test of patience. I remember opening the box and looking at the stick with a few roots like… I’m pretty sure I overpaid. But it’s growing. You can’t tell from the angle, but it’s a foot tall. And hopefully it will bloom next spring. =) Grow, lilac, grow!

Plant deaths of the year: FOUR mint plants (uprooted by enterprising kidlets), my 3 coleus plants (at least, I’m fairly certain they are goners, water them as I might), all my lavendar seedlings (also kidlets), one of my two tomato plants.

Plants I thought would die but didn’t: the SEVEN rose of sharon’s I got from a guy on craiglist who was redoing his landscaping. Free to those who wanted to dig them out. Actually, I only dug out one but it was a monster and so while I was unearthing the roots he got a bunch more for me. THEY HAVE BUDS ON THEM! The other tomato plant, since I haven’t watered it very often at all.

Plants I want to get this fall: more daylilies for along the fence. I want a multitude of colors. Then if I break up my bearded iris I can intersperse them and what a happy picture that would make.

ALSO! I’m killing off my brainstream page because I’ve hooked up the homepage with the tumblr/twitter/flickr feeds. Holla. So you know. You can keep tabs that way too.


one foot

24 July 2011 // Photos // 0 comments


chipping away at summer goals

24 July 2011 // Rambling // 2 comments

Spent a bunch of time fixing up the caotica homepage. It’s not finished since I have to edit the twitter box. I found the right php code but it’s only for the most recent post and my brain is too scrambled by the late hour for me to be creating loops. Tomorrow, maybe! Then I have to make a box for it. Need more purple.

I also found the baby blanket that I’ve been knitting up for a future little nephew. It got lost amongst laundry baskets. =\ Oy. Laundry. How I hatest thou.

Mostly because my washing machine decided it didn’t want to drain anything about a week ago. Thankfully we bought a five year warranty on that thing so the good people of Sears will be by later in the week to FIX IT! Yay. I hope it’s just the hose or a switch or something. A quick fix. Because I have laundry piling up and I feel kind of slummy hauling it in the car and doing it at a relatives house. It’d be like a circus. In go the kids, me, and on with the swirly machines! And then back again. No bueno.

In more positive news, our furnace is no longer leaking water in the basement. And I’ve identified 10 pieces of furniture that will be LEAVING my house by August at the latest. That is my goal. Now I need to convince someone with a pickup truck to help me haul this crap away.

I’m taking downsizing our life very seriously.

This post brought to you by two cups of hot tea. And a nap earlier. =D