At Considerable Cost

If you've watched much PBS Kids programming lately, you'll notice there are quite a few programs whose focus is vocabulary development.   I have a story from my teaching days to give you an idea of why that emphasis is so heavy in educational television.   One day, when reading to my fourth graders, one of my students raised his hand.   When I called upon him, he said, "What does that mean?"   I had just read a description of a curtain being drawn across a stage.   My first thought was that he had never seen a stage or any production performed upon one.   So, I began to explain what a stage was.   "No, not that," he said.  "The "C" word.  What's that?"   Curtains?   I started to explain what curtains were.   Some of the children spoke up and began to give their own descriptions, but many of them were describing blinds or shades.   After I described fabric t...

  My first rule for outdoor furniture is that it must be used or deeply discounted.   It's not just because it's cheaper that way, but also because it's just common sense.   I grew up in south Louisiana, with heat and humidity.   Now, I live in Texas, with heat, a bit less humidity, and intense sunlight on our home.   Outdoor furniture takes a great deal of abuse under these conditions, so no matter how much I might spend on a brand new set of it, the wear-and-tear is still going to happen.   We gradually outfitted our back porch and last spring, I found furniture for the front porch at an estate sale.   The set was a little more than I wanted to spend, but it's hard to find pieces like these.   They are from the 1960s and were used on a screened-in porch.   Another selling point for me was their small scale.   It's hard to find diminutive patio furniture.   ...

We wait. Sometimes I wonder if it's odd to share pictures of our home decorated for Christmas.   Odd to other people, that is.   When I was growing up, Mama's friends would call and ask if they could bring people over to tour our house, especially at Christmas.   It wasn't for the physical house itself, but for the many pieces, usually from garage sales, that Mama had refinished, painted, and then beautifully arranged.   Plus, my original intent for this blog is to record our lives and my thoughts for my children, so here are some pictures of our home, decorated and waiting for Christmas 2013.   It's been a gradual process and even though I doubt it every year, it always comes together by Christmas Eve.        Candle welcome at our front door   Our Grinch tree: Hallmark makes a new Grinch ornament each year I haven't had a tinsel-covered tree since I was a little girl. ...

Before move-in I found out the weeds between the pavers LIKE salt.   I poured salt between the squares and the weeds have thrived! The ceiling fan was white and rusted, so I just painted it black.   It worked perfectly well; there was no reason to replace it. It's been nearly two-and-half years since we moved into this house.   It's taken almost all of that time to get our back porch together.   And it's not a large porch.   The poor place has been a dumping ground for tools and toys some of that time.   I made several attempts to pretty it up, but each time, something fell apart or I got lazy about keeping it together. We had a mild spring and June this year.   It gave me the opportunity and motivation to get outdoors and spruce up some areas which had been neglected.   My back tells me I overdid it a bit, but that's another story.   In addition to front flowerbeds and the front...