Friday Fragments - School Daze

Friday FragmentsCan DO Attitude!

Last night I came home to this scene on the front porch. My oldest son carried these bags of cans home from school, in addition to his HUGE backpack! The pop cans were left over from a class project and he asked his teacher if he could have them. Told her that we recycle cans for money. (this pile might be worth $1). Dad made him leave them outside as the pile was leaking.

In an effort to get my boys excited about recycling, I started a "Can Collection Activity Fund". When I take my cardboard from work to the nearby recycling center, I have one of the boys bring our stash of cans to trade in for money. So far our biggest payout was $3.50!

It didn't occur to me that they would be dragging home cans from school. This is my 2nd boy to do this. I wonder what the teachers must think!

A- O.K.

This past week report cards came home and my husband attended Parent-Teacher Conferences. I am proud to report that all 3 boys are doing well and my middle-schooler made honor-roll for his 1st quarter out! The interesting tidbit that concerned my husband was that there is a possibility my 5th grader could end up in 7th grade math next year. My husband is worried that he could be in the same class as his older brother (who would not be very happy).
Some reason this made me chuckle. A little competition never hurts, right?
O.K. I guess I am a Bad Sadistic Momma!

Respect

A few nights ago, my husband reminded my youngest son that he had a math test the next day.
He thought he knew the material but we "suggested" that he study a bit after dinner. As I was getting Colin set up at his study table, my middle son cut in.

" I've got this Mom, I'm going to help Colin. I know what Mrs. N looks for on her tests."

I must say I was a bit relieved. Not sure I would have been much help. I dragged my oldest son upstairs as he was starting to mock his brother for sounding just like a teacher. As we were leaving the room, we heard Alex scolding his "student".

"Colin, you need to show me some respect! You wouldn't talk to Mrs. N like that, would you???"

Spring Cleaning - Part II - HELP!

This weekend I continued where I left off on our Spring Cleaning. I spent a bit of time cleaning out the vegetable garden plot. As you can see from the before photo below, I have my work cut out to get ready for planting this year. I didn't pull out the stakes and dead plants at the end of the season last year. One of my boys pointed out that our garden looked like it belonged to the Addams Family!

I moved on to our closets, making piles of outgrown and outdated clothing. I was making fairly good progress until I came to the Dining Room Table, which is covered with two or three years worth of old school projects, papers and artwork.

At this point I choked. I tend to be a pack rat and have a hard time getting rid of unnecessary paperwork and momentos. I am organizationally impaired as well as ADD. I took one look at the table and walked away. When faced with an unpleasant task, I tend to put it off for later. Better add "procrastinator" to my list of short-comings.

My husband is much better at this. He will sort through the piles of papers that come home, filing schoolwork and recycling art projects and papers not worth saving. This works well until one of the kids finds their treasured project in the recycle bin and rescues it. Surely Dad made a mistake! I don't have the heart to say otherwise. I end up adding the retrieved items to the growing collection on my table.

I will probably end up being one of those old ladies who is found barricaded in her house with 20 years worth of mail and newspapers. Good thing I am not a cat person! I sure could use some advice!

Earth Day - April 22, 2008

I went to recycle today and got this t-shirt to celebrate Earth Day. I love the sentiment! Every day should be Earth Day.

I have a favorite book for gardening and household cleaning tips, Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles, by Ellen Sandbeck. This paperback is full of non-toxic ways to get rid of pests ( insects and bacteria, not human pests! ).

One of my favorite tips from the book, is to take crushed eggshells and spread them around the base of plants in my garden. Slugs and other crawling bugs do not like to crawl over these sharp edges and will avoid your plants. This is also a good source of calcium for your soil.

Another great tip is to save your coffee grounds to add to the soil around your acid-loving plants such as tomatoes. Coffee grounds also make for a great air-freshner for the car or to deoderize a stinky couch.

This is an Earth Day must read!

Happy Earth Day a few days early!