Follow the link-
http://www.finneytown.org/News%20Releases/B699E42E-D970-4414-B317-C71FFAB42866.html


Kinda funny how they credit all of the staff- some deserve HUGE credit for this, like the absolutely uncompromisingly dedicated Gail Seifert of Whitaker who dealt with an often strong-willed, noncompliant Nathanael every day. (Now that Micah has had the same problems, people don't remember all the times Nathanael was sent in for recess, missed homework, etc. etc. etc.) His mentor Tom Gugeon. His grade 1 teacher Laura Dolle. The band teacher Mr. Canter, who has led the Finneytown band to many excellent and superior ratings in competitions. His history teachers have been pretty superb, putting in unpaid time for review sessions. And now he's getting A's in his five weighted courses.

DESPITE the fact that Nathanael has been the school's spellcheck system since kindergarten. It got to the point where the teachers had no shame in asking Nathanael, "How do you spell.....?" Despite the fact that last year's math teacher taught some things wrong and Nathanael pointed them out specifically (go back a few entries). DESPITE the outrageous behavior of kids in middle school. Despite the total lack of discipline lately.

Ya, credit the parents, the MOM who taught him to read started at age 2 and had him reading the daily papers at 4. (You all have seen it. You can attest to it. I have him reading on tape and video.) MOM coached and mentored him all through the DC spelling bee.... OK.....

Yes, it's official. Billy Atha now lives in our neighborhood. Yes, that was the one who bullied Micah last year. Yes, him and his girlfriend, his buddies...walking around looking like eminem wannabies...so anyway...


Steve and I are still not in total agreement about when to buy a house, but we are in that we will at least next summer.

I have found houses I like in South Fairfield and Wyoming.

South Fairfield is really nice- rolling hills, regular folks, successful without being presumptuous, good school, pretty youthful, and I like the house I found there. I have looked at 4. The one I like has an awesome view. Close to my work. Trees are nice but not super old, and lots of sky. But Steve says it's too far from his work. And the transformer that's close to it is an eyesore. I didn't even notice it until the third time I was there. Then it was like, there's a transformer in the middle of the trees...

Wyoming is an old, stately neighborhood, old Victorian homes, most (but not the ones I'm looking at) very expensive, small yards with huge mature trees, many homes on the historic register, a place of old money. Think sorority suites and L.L. Bean. Closer to Steve's work. Negative? I want to see more sky. But I loooove the gardens, trees, parks. Will see 3 houses there Saturday.

Both are fairly close to where we live now, in different directions.

Other possibilities: Mason, Kings Mills, maybe even Hyde Park. I haven't mentioned HP to Steve. I'm not really even considering it because it's way expensive and it's Cincinnati. Only if Micah goes to Walnut Hills. But I'm just not keen on the city at all. But the houses are spectacular and old like Wyoming, well kept, stately. Kings is close to Steve's work, far from mine.
I hate to even consider work at all in this as a first factor. Workplaces change and for us they have a lot. I hope I stay at mine for a long time but one never knows. I know Steve would consider another opportunity if it looked at HIM seriously. He could be going to Eastern Europe a lot if Barr's acquisition takes place (they are currently in a bidding war with their competition for a generic drug co in Europe.). But if another opportunity pops up-I pray it does. In another post I will explain what I don't like about Barr right now and what I do.
I looked at houses in Ross -lots of acreage, sky, but too far from work. Ross is OK now that Fernald is cleaned up. Had seen a nice one in Harrison but that's way too far. One in Colerain I toured was so nice but I wasn't so great on Colerain schools right now. Toured one in another neighborhood nearby during an open house in which I liked the house but was sure Steve wouldn't, and I wasn't keen on the schools.
Work going well. Nathanael tried out for a play today. Micah fixes bikes for hours on end. Needless to say we have about 7 or 8 bikes here and usually 2 or 3 are in decent working condition. But Micah does a good job with them. He keeps buying these bikes for $5 and fixing them, including an old tandem (daisy, daisy...).
Steve gets on my nerves a lot and I suppose I do to his. He needs to shave. I don't understand his aversion to shaving. He gets on my nerves and during this time I contemplate just getting my own little condo. :)

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060913/NEWS0102/609130369/1058/NEWS01

I almost missed this because my goober son said, as I read my dad's comments on his blog, "Oh, I forgot to tell you about this...it was in the paper today."

I just cried and cried for a long time today- during my hour lunch I just drove to the park and cried. It felt soooo good...and afterwards so clean. Crying does clear away toxins, I hear. Everyone should do it.

I just cried mainly over how in the world someone can withstand bringing a beautiful baby into the world and then 3 days later losing your other. I just can't imagine at all. She had her babies together for 3 days.

I guess he had not taken his antidepressants as prescribed- took so many he became violently ill. Maybe he had the same stuff I take.

Did he think it would be okay to take way more than the dose...was he feeling down...was he feeling replaced? Was he feeling weird about being a brother for the first time at age 20...who knows...but I look at that kid and think, what a great kid...omg yes I know Anna Nicole made herself into a cartoon...but neither she nor her son nor any family deserved this or anything bad...maybe she didn't deserve the gazillions of her dead octogenarian....she just deserved those two precious children God gave her. Well nothing is as we deserve, right? We live in a fallen world where bad things happen.
The only people who could ever deserve to feel so bad don't have the capacity to feel that bad. Pardon my rambling thoughts, it just brings me to tears...maybe a little more because I have 2 beautiful boys myself, one almost that age. Having a baby and then losing another, who can handle that roller coaster?

It makes no difference to me that she's the one who proved that the real formula to Hollywood success = bad boob job + senile billionaire.

I felt so sad for Anna Nicole Smith. I just cannot imagine so much joy and so much grief all mixed up together. It is so incomprehensible. Usually there is joy, there is grief, and they happen separately. That son of hers, they're saying he may have died of a heart attack, what a sweetie. OMG I cried and cried today. Her son came to visit her in the hospital right after she had her sweet little baby girl, and he fell asleep in the chair by her bedside and didn't wake up...it may have been a heart attack. It's so hard for me to comprehend such tragedy; I wonder sometimes if that poor kid wanted to hide of shame due to his mother's utter lack of tact and the way the world laughs at her. But all the while he has seemed so easygoing. That poor kid, what happened! All you want as a mom is your kids together. She only had that for 3 days. I wish I could bring him back, not because I care so much about Anna Nicole, but because I just care and know how love is.

This blog is temporarily subtitled "Some Things I Know and a Few that I Don't" and someday I'm going to post my rambling essay about all the things I know, or think I know. Until that day comes, let me say for the record:

If you put your house on the market to sell, I would like to state that the top five list of things I do NOT want to see when viewing it online or in person are:

5 Weird paint ideas, especially with bedrooms. I don't know why but you must think I relish the idea of living with your bright blue walls with pink curtains. Or that I relish painting over them and ripping your curtains to shreds if you leave them (don't). No wonder your house is selling for 50K less than the others around it.

4. I don't want to see dark wood paneling of the 70's. That's what happened the first time I bought a house. The people who had lived in my house had a "horse farm" theme. The attempted to make the house look like a stable. Ladies and gentlemen, Quincy no longer lives in his houseboat and that wood color is no longer with us. Please replace.

3. Your dirty carpet your dogs peed on is going to have to go. Just give me bare floor. I don't care how ugly it is- it's much prettier than your disease-infested carpet.

2. NO Beanie babies, My Pretty Ponies, Precious Moments, Care Bears, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or superheroes of any kind. Oh and if you're thinking it's just because it's the 90's stuff, think again. Same goes for Teletubbies, Spongebob, and the Princesses. Get the OUT! OUT! OUT! NO MORE SPONGEBOB!

I'm going to make two exceptions: Cars and Thomas the Tank Engine. Because I like those. And I'm right and you're wrong. So there. D'ya wanna fight about it? Let's take this outside...

And last but not least, the one thing I HATE MORE THAN ANYTHING:

WALLPAPER BORDERS!!!!

Again, I am right and you are wrong if you have and like wallpaper borders. There is just about nothing more annoying than a running set of oranges and pears dancing just under the kitchen ceiling. How cluttered can a room look? Let's see! All we have to do is tack on a foot-high ribbon of pink and purple flowers three feet off the floor all around the living room.

No, I do not want a stripe containing pictures of cilantro, oregano, basil, and paprika running the length of my prospective kitchen, along with their flowery-written Italian definitions. No, I do not want Barbie and her horse iterated 20 times along the border of the insanely pink girl's room. (And that's another one I dealt with in my current house. Prancing little white horses...a veritable nightmare!)

Everybody please repeat:

WALLPAPER BORDERS are EVIL and MUST BE DESTROYED!

BTW Dave, I took my kids to Crossroads. Micah did his best to mask any enjoyment but seemed to be OK, though I don't know how well he really listened...Nathanael really enjoyed it. I will take them to the comedy night sometime. I know there's one tonight but they're both out doing other things currently.

The excellent hour of 11:45 a.m. is superb for my kids who will sleep practically all day long.

We did the fireworks tonight- the fam and Karl. (sigh) Steve and Karl drank, Karl way too much. I worry about him. Fireworks were spectacular as usual. I will have to hand it to Cincy- they get better and better every year; nobody does fireworks like Cincy. People come the world over just for those.

So I'm in Borders yesterday and among the things I peruse is a tatooing magazine. You can see famous artists and their current work. So why do these talented artists assume everyone wants one of the following (for that's what it seems their work almost exclusively is): a wormy, rotting skull; deformed, monstrous beasts at war on your shoulderblades; a rotten fish; a wormy bunch of innards; a severed geisha head; a severed chicken head; a severed bloody hand giving the rock-on salute; a bondage scene; a pile of corpses. Uh...okay, so artfully done...now why would anyone wear ink like that on their body for the rest of their life...whatever happened to eagles, dreamcatchers, doves (like my tat), dolphins, flowers, hearts (even broken ones), Crazy Horse, Celtic crosses, mermaids, and well, you know, something pretty that is not shooting eyeballs across your chest or vomiting down your leg. Do tattoos HAVE to look like Creepshow??? What GIVES?