Labor Day a Holiday?

Have you ever noticed that for many Labor Day means laboring? I have. I'm one of those odd balls that just doesn't get the idea of a day off for everyone. (smirk.) Okay, well maybe you don't have to go into work, but does that really mean that you aren't supposed to work at home as well?

I have a capacity to see three days as a prime time to do those distasteful jobs that are always more fun for two. To heck with spending big bucks on a hotel to travel to your fun, why not just playfully torture your spouse or significant other while you put in a new lawn, fix broken plumbing connections or can pickles? Don't the experts say that couples that play together, stay together?

I guess 'labor' and 'fun' depend on your definition. I'm having fun earning my blisters this weekend! Anybody got some ointment?

What pain?

I am pleased to announce that my odious foundation project was completed last Friday!!! No thanks to the bureaucratic machine that hinders more than helps. In real time, the crew only took 6 1/2 work days to to the job. I was very pleased with the end result. If a basement and crawlspace wall can be beautiful, then these newly redone sections are gorgeous!

I am eager to tie up the remaining loose ends surrounding the project--adjusting a couple plumbing issues that came to light with all the new light and crawlspace access, sculpting new planting beds, planting grass and getting the a/c back in business so I can remove the window a/c units. I figure that is more of the trade off of "you have to take the good with the bad" scenario.

I am currently operating under the impression that having contract work done on a house is a lot like having a baby. It is a BIG PAIN in the rump, but when you see the shiny new results, somehow you just don't care as much about the pain and the memories of the pain will diminish somewhat. Yes, I could be lying to myself, but frankly, I don't care at this point.

Thoughts from others about my previous entry

One person thought it was so nuts that she called a local radio station after reading my blog...

The station aired the story (during the evening rush hour). The DJ made a comment saying that the new rule was due to a fear of being sued for injuries.


One other reader wrote the following...

I just read your blog... Are you serious??? The kids REALLY can't run on the blacktop??? That is the single most asinine thing I have ever heard in my life...

I am SO glad that C. no longer goes there to school. As much as that boy runs around, it would just be a matter of days before he got suspended and I started with the school corporation, the newspapers & TV coverage... All hell would break loose, no way would I lay down & let that one happen, trust me...!!!

Then they have the gall to wonder why all the kids are overweight and sluggish... I am completely stunned and outraged, and we are not even there anymore...

Holy smokes...

Also, I have had a few people comment that it is sad with the ever increasing obesity of children. And one person stated, "At least they get recess." Further remarking that they are aware of at least one elementary school that no longer offers recess.

Is that even legal? It's inconceivable to me! Where are these moronic rule makers?

What is this world coming to?

Last week my youngest child came home from elementary school and told me they have a new rule.

The rule: No running on the blacktop portion of the playground.
*Note: Basketball hoops are on both ends of the blacktop.

"Surely, you must be mistaken," I say. "I'll be sure to go ask the principal about this."

This morning, I got a moment to speak with the principal...

"I heard that there is a new rule about 'no running on the blacktop playground? Is this true?"

"Yes."

"Is this a new corporation policy?"

"No. Each school may decide on this."

"So, why the rule?"

"Someone might get hurt."

Disbelieving my ears, aghast that someone might think that children running on a playground is so dangerous that it should be prohibited, I could not help what came out of my mouth.

"That is a ridiculous rule! You might as well start wrapping the kids in bubble wrap!"

The principal gasped. Then replied, "Now, wait a minute. We have a nice grassy area for the kids to run on."

"Yes. That should be very nice for the kids that like to play soccer, but what about kids that want to play basketball? It's just ridiculous to think that will work for them."

"I'll be sure to look into or this."

*Yeah, right. I sarcastically, said in my head.*

I tell you truly, the mind boggles at the lengths that some people will go to keep people safe. Think about it. Where will it end?

Dance of Joy!!

The kids have returned to school this week. Hooray! I usually do the parental dance of joy and then take myself out to my favorite book store and coffee shop. This year, I did all that in my verdant imagination.

Meanwhile in reality, I was preoccupied with hatching a permit for some foundation repair-type construction for my 'money pit'. To pass the time waiting for the bureaucratic wheels to approve said permit, I ironed clothes and did laundry while listening to classical music on a local NPR station. I had entered the trying waiting period after giving up a $10 check with an application and nearly five hours of phone calls trying to get a verbal approval from a separate group of officials for my project.

Happily, not only did I get the permit (after giving up another more sizable check) but I saw my new construction crew begin to dig (with actual shovels) an enormous hole next to our house and then leave. It was quite enjoyable!

I actually believe that the nice Hispanic guys who did most of the digging had a good time picking on each other in Spanish (which I do not understand). I gather this partly because of the laughter that echoed in through the window, and partly from my over hearing, "I'm not the gringo." Which was promptly followed by more laughter.

New Day

Sorry about the rant yesterday. Typically, I hate to read rants. Subsequently, I am utterly embarrassed that I even wrote one.

I have completely recovered my equilibrium after going out last night with my sister, drinking wine, eating far too much Greek food (made by an actual Greek immigrant family--not some weird chain) and following it all up with a giant piece of chocolate cake. (Because no matter how good baklava is, sometimes there is just no substitute for chocolate.) Isn't it amazing what comfort food can do for your psyche?

Now, nothing is wrong except the sugar and sleep hangover remains that I know coffee will pleasantly disguise until bedtime.

The Bureaucracy: Round Two

Here we go again... My life knows no bounds of delight at having to wrangle yet again with the bureaucratic machine. This time not in the form of schools, but in the form of building permits.

You know, it really is absurd that an office makes an honest fellow pay money to them so they can decide from a ridiculous distance what is a "safe" building project. The even more absurd part is that said office levies a fee based on how much said work is going to cost the victim. (Oops! I meant to say the owner/builder of the property.)

Mind, it is just my personal feeling here that the charge follows the logic of "Hey they must have some money to begin a project like that in the first place, so therefore they must have more we could have, right?" It couldn't actually be to save the building from caving in and avoiding the demolition permit. Ha ha.

Oh, What a Web!

In the "God is still good to me, and there is still beauty around me department"....

Yesterday morning was a treat!! I went for a walk in the morning fog. I saw lots spiderwebs covered in dew in peoples' yards, four rabbits and of all things a groundhog!

Then I got home...on my way inside, I narrowly missed running into the largest spider web in the backyard. The thing was enormous!!! It stretched at least 20 feet at its top two anchor points, and the center had a diameter of about two feet. NO kidding! I dragged my husband out to see it and he freaked out. After all, what kind of crazy spider attaches a web from the downspout to a rose of sharon shrub (althea for you garden savvy folks) twenty feet away?!

I felt compelled to take pictures of it. I got a couple really good pictures of it and several other webs that adorned many features in my garden. I must admit it was very cool to see how different they all were and the creative locations chosen by my nocturnal arachnid friends. They were beautiful to see them all covered in dew droplets, much like lights or pearls.

After I was done with my pictures, I disturbed my girls. While they grumbled, I dragged them outside in their pjs and flipflops. The magic of what they saw stopped the grumbles, and they enjoyed it too.

Bureaucracy

Bureaucracies...have you ever noticed how they are not unlike a giant hydra? Heads everywhere all at once and not one independent of the other. All able to knock you down and drag you deeper into the muck that they protect, serve and propagate. Ugh.

Whatever happened to the paper reduction acts? Were they all replaced with the CYOA (cover your own a--) act? Are bureaucracies a conspiracy to steal precious minutes of lives everywhere to give credence to the idea we are all just a number and identical in nature?

These are the questions that I have after spending the morning signing my life away in the public school system so my children may attend them. Personally, I am doubting that anyone will be able to transcend the bureaucratic wheels long enough to teach them anything beyond "conformity."