Miscellany

My new crop of sophomores are so cute!  I love them so far.  I heard some rumors from the junior high that this was a rowdy, disruptive bunch.  I don't know if they've just grown up since junior high or if junior high is just so hellish that it makes kids into demons, but they are great kids.  Of course, it's only the second week.  They could all turn on me like a pack of honey badgers still. 

We've never had a garden as good as this one.  I've had to throw away so much produce, and it just feels so sinful to throw away food when people go without.  I always tell myself that I'm going to use it all up, and then a week or two goes by and it's bad. I'm too lazy to can/bottle it or cook mountains of baked goods containing zucchini.  I've thrown away at least a dozen giant zucchini, tons of bell peppers, a little corn that went bad before we got to it, tons of cucumbers, quite a few roma tomatoes, red peppers, anaheims, and I think that's it.  We've done well at eating the asian pears, carrots, potatoes, onions, beets (gag), and most of the corn.

I started reading The Book Thief the other day.  I was really excited to read it because the reviews are all good and the critics are all "life changing!" and I'm 10 pages in and thinking I must be a dimwit because I don't get it at all.  Maybe my tastes in books are the literary equivalent of Spam, and this book is just too sophisticated for me.  I don't know.  All I do know is that, so far, I don't really care about Death and find him rather confusing and pretensious, and I don't really know what the deal is with the book thief and it feels like torture to have to read far enough in to find out.  It feels like the author is trying too hard to be poetic or unique or something I don't have a word for, and it's just annoying to me.  I flipped through to see if it got any better, and it looks like more of the same.  Going back to the library. 

I would like to go camping, if Sean could ever get a weekend off.  Or half of a weekend off.  A Friday night off and a Saturday night shift?  The weather is perfect.

Josh has been on this big science kick for a while now.  I think it's so cute, but I hate the messes he makes.  He was cleaning pennies with salt and vinegar, and he must have touched the top of my salt shaker to the vinegar, so now it's growing green salt crystals.  Doh.  The top of it where the salt comes out is copper, so it must have reacted like the pennies do.  Time for a new salt shaker. 

Josh's other big kick is catching bugs.  He's always catching grasshoppers and whatever else he can find.  Yesterday he was googling what to feed them so that he can try to keep one alive for a change.  Gross.  They are out there trying to feed the latest one a carrot. 

Josh and Lexi wanted to go to garage sales this morning, so we set out to find some treasures.  We spent $20 and we bought:  a bread machine, a tablecloth for camping, about 10 books, 6 or 7 Playstation games, an assortment of pots for plants, a batting helmet, a roller skating baby doll (Baby Skates!!), The Office Season 2 on DVD, a Jazz jersey for Josh, 6 assorted shirts/pants for Lexi, 2 pairs of sandals for Lexi, a pair of boots for Lexi, a few skirts and a sundress, a Planet Earth puzzle (unopened), a book that folds into a little stage with different stage sets and Disney Princess paper dolls, a Littlest Pet Shop big toy, a kids art project, a lip gloss & 2 headbands (new, of course), and a pot of fake gerbera daisies for my classroom.