>A Bad Day at School: Reality Show Edition

>Assistant: Who was that guy who visited your classroom late in the afternoon?
Daisy: the Superintendent of Schools for our district.
Director (to photographer): I hope you got a good angle on him. He’s the big guy, the boss of the boss of the bosses.
Daisy: I hope you didn’t get the kid falling out of her chair while he was there on camera.
Assistant: That was funny! And the kids who kept giggling; didn’t get that this was an important guest.
Daisy: Funny? Hardly! He must think I’m a complete disaster; the kids were awful while he was here!
Director: We followed him next door. That class told him math is boring.
Daisy: Shakes head, hand on forehead. Is it Friday yet?

Back up, earlier in day.
Liaison officer: I need to talk to Johnny.
Daisy: Johnny, go with Officer Krumpke.
Director: Can we use that? He might be a juvenile offender. Those records would be sealed.
Daisy: No, no, no. He’s just a bully who needs a little, um, firm hand. One with a badge and handcuffs to impress the point.
Liaison officer (returning to room): We need someone who actually witnessed the incident.
Daisy (to class): That means someone who saw it happen, not someone who heard the rumors.
Officer Krumpke: Speaking of rumors, let me clear up a rumor that’s going around in your grade. I am not a school security guard; I’m a police officer.
Daisy (aside to Officer K, as they walk into the hallway, motions toward gun): That’s a heck of an arsenal for a security guard.
Officer K: (laughs out loud)

Back up, earlier in day
Daisy (quietly, turns microphone off): Carter, did you take your medicine at lunchtime?
Carter (bouncing on chair): What? What?! I didn’t do anything.
Daisy: I’ll give you a choice: show me which you choose. You can start reading here, quietly, or you can take some time to settle down in the office.
Carter: No way!
Daisy: Show me. You’re not in trouble; you just need to choose where you’re going to read.
(three minutes later)
Daisy (on phone to office): Carter’s on his way; he needs a little time to settle down before he comes back to class. He’s bringing his book and his reading log.
Assistant to director: Gee, all the other kids settled down now, too.
Daisy: It’s called removing the entertainment. Now back away with that camera and let me teach these kids to read!

Back up, shortly after sunrise
Assistant: Why do I have to ride in the mom-van with you and the photog?
Daisy: You drew the short straw. Oh, drat. Darn it!
Assistant: What happened? Did you forget your homework? Your lunch box? Ha-ha. Ha-ha.
Daisy: Worse. I forgot my coffee!!

Maybe that explains everything!

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>What is Compost Happens all about? My elevator pitch in rough draft

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Who am I? I’m Daisy, and this is my blog. I write it, I maintain it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Once in a while, I make changes. Unless we’re professional bloggers by trade (and some are), any of us in the blogsphere will change what we can and spend time within reason to keep our blogs unique and good quality.

Last summer the buzz for bloggers included creating an elevator pitch. For example, if you were in an elevator at the BlogHer conference and you had to quickly describe your blog, what would you say? Here’s my first attempt:

Compost Happens is a personal blog: part family, part garden, part eco-consciousness. It chronicles my home life, teaching life, coffee, garden, …. oh, darn it, this is getting too wordy.

Okay, here goes again.

Compost Happens is a personal blog: part family, part garden, part crunchy green eco-writer. I’m Daisy, and I’m the groundskeeper here. I take care of family, garden, and coffee, when I’m not teaching and doing laundry.

That’s a little better, but it’s still a rough draft. Should I mention A Mother’s Garden of Verses or Mid-Century Modern Moms? Maybe. Now I’m thinking and revising, and that can only lead to positive changes.

Any changes, however, need to retain the integrity of the blog. Reviews, for example. The FCC is now regulating bloggers’ reviews, calling for clear disclosure of donated items and paid posts. Frankly, BlogHer ads have always required that kind of disclosure; it’s not new. Mothertalk/ MomCentral, unfortunately, is getting some negative exposure. I commented on a post related to integrity of reviews, and the emails came flooding in.

When I posted an honest review of James Patterson’s Dangerous Days of Daniel X, Mothertalk quoted a select few lines that made my post sound neutral, if not positive.
When I reviewed Return to Sullivan’s Island, I was again honest. Mothertalk asked me to change the review. I modified a few lines, but I could not make the book sound good. It just wasn’t. In fact, the first Sullivan’s Island was so much better I wondered if the author had really written the sequel.
Since then, I’ve been blocked from doing further book reviews.

Mothertalk/ MomCentral doesn’t seem to get it. Glowing sugar-coated reviews are not credible. If I encourage people to read a book, it’ll be worth their time. I’m a teacher, published in professional journals, a teacher of reading and writing, an educated reviewer. By telling me to change a review or not post it, they compromise their site’s integrity.

Frankly, I don’t plan to compromise mine.

Compost Happens is a personal blog; part family, part garden, part crunchy green eco-writer. I’m Daisy, and I’m the groundskeeper, taking care of family, garden, and coffee. I post honestly and straight from the heart. Count on it.
Like it or not.

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>Thinking of Thanksgiving

>The random thoughts that come with Thanksgiving planning sometimes surprise even me, the blogger with a category label for Random Thoughts.

Let’s try an organic heirloom turkey this year! Last year the Fabled Fairies earned a Butterball coupon (or two). This year we noticed an ad for a nearby meat market and their turkeys and decided it was worth a try. Local business (all of 6 blocks away), quality product (we’ve bought their sausages and pork chops and other meats in the past), what’s not to like? If we decide we prefer the (gulp) mass-produced meat, we’ll go back to it next year. But seriously, I hope not. A few more dollars on a special turkey will be dollars well spent.

Brother and Sister-in-law will be staying at their Chicago-area home this year. They’re expecting a tiny new addition to the family, and mama-to-be may feel uncomfortable fitting into a seatbelt. Staying home will allow her to relax and maybe, just maybe, start timing contractions in the comfort of her own home. We’ll host a slightly smaller party: our own nuclear family, including La-Petite-home-from-school, my mom and stepdad, and Chuck’s parents.

Sister-in-law usually brings the pies; maybe it’s time to try the bakery down the road from the meat market. I love to bake, but pies are not my specialty, and I don’t think a mixed-berry dump cake would fit the Thanksgiving menu.

Now I just need to decide if we’re having rootmash or regular mashed potatoes – or both. Opinions? Preferences?

Yes, I KNOW there’s a Packer game. Chuck is thankful that it’s in Detroit; he’d have to work if the game were at Lambeau Field. We’ll plan our dinnertime around it, and squeeze a radio into the kitchen so the cooks don’t miss a play.

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>Random acts of Fridayness

>Last Friday was so full of random occurrences, I couldn’t write a straightforward blog post to describe the day. Even attempting a chronological day wouldn’t make sense. So…. here goes, in no particular order.

Random Acts of Fridayness

While I was in the kitchen putting together Twice Baked Potatoes and pork chops, Amigo was listening to old time radio dramas. “Mom, this one is Dinah Shore. Groucho Marx just invited her over for dinner.”

Near the end of the school day, a coworker burst into the room and told me that her son, a fighter pilot, would be in the flyover at the upcoming Packers game in Tampa Bay. She (my coworker, not the pilot) is a total non-sports person. This may be the first time in her life that she voluntarily watched a football game!

My fortune cookie at lunch told me that I’d be having a close encounter of a positive kind.

A substitute teacher, in for two weeks for a teacher who was hit hard by H1N1, brought me Starbucks (16 oz. Pike Place blend, black) as a thank you for helping her with science plans.

I pulled up to Jo to Go this morning and the barista (should that have two r’s?) knew what I wanted: 16 oz. hazelnut, black.

Chuck thought he might have to work late, but the newsroom was able to cover the stories without sending him out with the satellite truck.

Daughter sent word by g-chat that her computer now gets internet in her apartment. It’s not really a fix, more of a patch, but she was able to chat with her mother on a Friday night. A techie friend came over and helped her connect.

In conclusion, despite the lack of order in the recounting, it was a good Friday. Now the suspense: will such a day happen again? Will Daisy have a pleasant Friday ever again? One that’s eminently bloggable? Stay tuned, readers, and we’ll see if there’s another day packed with random acts worth reporting in the life of Compost Happens.

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>Preparing for winter, thinking of spring

>The chairs are stacked, and the cushions are stowed away in the basement.

The new composter is set up on bricks, within reach of the driveway. I will actually be able to compost coffee grounds and filters all winter long!

I’m still thinking about the old bunny hutch. The hutch is old, not the bunnies. Our pet rabbits have house privileges now; we don’t use the hutch any more. I’ve been stashing my garden tools there. The debate: should I take down the hutch completely? The rhubarb could expand into this area. Or should I keep it, take off or repair the doors so it’s more usable? I think I’ll decide in the spring.

Still to be done: put away the little cello-playing frog (hiding behind white roses) and take care of the roses. The rosebush on the right is a knock-out breed; according to my current information (provided by my mother) it doesn’t need to be cut back and insulated for the winter. It’s trying to send up one more bloom before the snow comes. Should I chance it?

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>Open Sesame — Street, that is.

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One of my favorite lines in the original Muppet Movie is Big Bird’s response when Kermit and Fozzie offer him a ride to Hollywood. “No, thanks. I’m on my way to New York to break into Public Television.” Anyone watching the movie knows Big Bird and knows where he’s going. Can you tell him how to get to Sesame Street?

When we were in Seattle last July, Chuck and I visited a traveling exhibit of Jim Henson’s Muppets. Sesame Street, the Muppet Show, early commercials – you name it, it was covered. I couldn’t take pictures inside the exhibit, so we took pictures (of course) of the advertising on the way in and on the way out. How to get to Sesame Street, in my book, leads straight to Jim Henson, with a good helping of Joe Raposo’s tunes on the side.

And if muppet memories aren’t enough, go visit Mir at Wantnot. She’s doing her best to give away a DVD called Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days. Her contest expires tonight, so go on!

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>Upcycling

>Reducing, recycling, reusing, repurposing, and – upcycling? What’s with this new trendy green term?
Reducing: buying less, buying products with less packaging, planning ahead for making less waste.
Recycling: returning something to a plant that will make it into the same product or something similar, such as aluminum cans.
Reusing: ‘Nuff said. Use it again. And again. And again.
Repurposing: finding a new use for a product. Chuck brings home Chinese food, Daisy turns the foil dish into a small baking pan. A store receipt becomes a bookmark. Old t-shirts get torn into strips to hold tomato plants to their supports. You get the picture.

So how is upcycling different? Upcycling takes repurposing to a new level. An object gets repurposed with an attitude, so to speak. One famous example is the old television turned into an aquarium. Not everyone can take upcycling that far, but think accessible. Think possibilities. Glasses from the thrift store can turn into candles for teacher gifts (mine was cinnamon, very pretty!). A pretty t-shirt gains a ruffled skirt and becomes a little girl dress (I bought one from a crafter and La Petite, then age 5, loved it). I’d place my rain barrels in this category, too; two fewer big plastic barrels in the landfill, used for a very eco-friendly purpose.

I don’t sew well enough to quilt, or some of Chuck’s and Amigo’s favorite t-shirts might become quilts or throw pillows instead of rags or tomato supports. I think the old-socks turned white-board erasers is more of a repurposing; it’s not a step up in the world for the sock, although it does make it more colorful. How about the polka dot chair project? I don’t think that qualifies as upcycling; the chairs are still chairs, just cuter than they were at first.

So, dear readers, add to the list.

  • What does it take for repurposing to become upcycling? Does the coffee can full of pencils count, or is it more of a simple repurpose?
  • What have you upcycled – or seen and admired as an example of upcycling?
  • No, I don’t consider Brett Favre in a Purple uniform to be an example of upcycling. That’s an example of – never mind.

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>Ode to Bubba the Singing Fish

>(refrain)

Bubba; the singing catfish, fit to be fried,
Your outrageous talk leaves us fit to be tied.
Bubba, oh Bubba, you’re still quite a dish,
Hangin’ out on the wall like a filet-o-fish.

(background guitar vamp)

Bubba’s been fishnapped, with no ransom that could rescue him from the clutches of La Petite, who couldn’t stand hearing “Bad to the Bone” any more and hid Bubba high up in a closet. Unfortunately, her brother grew, and grew, and became tall enough to search the highest shelves of his closet and find his old friend, Bubba!!


Repeat refrain.

(background guitar vamp)
Bubba’s been eaten, too. Chewed up by a sneaky rabbit who liked the taste of vinyl, soft rubbery material, and found this funny looking fish to be the perfect material for gnawing. Bubba’s tail is down to nothing, but its hard plastic base still tries to wave when he says, “Hey, drop me a line sometime!” The head? There’s not much left. Maybe he needs to join the scarecrow in singing “If I only had a brain!”
(guitar improvises a short lick from Wizard of Oz tune)

Repeat refrain.

(background guitar vamp)
Bubba, the survivor fish, has been thrown across the room in frustration. Darn thing goes off when we’re not ready for it; sometimes even the television blinking will set him off to announce “I’m bustin’ outta here tonight; you with me?” Bubba, the adults in the house would be happy to oblige. Garbage night, perhaps? You’re too big to flush down the toilet like a requiem for a pet goldfish.

Bubba, oh Bubba, ne’er to be fried
We’d go on without you; believe me, we’ve tried.
Bubba, oh Bubba, your history’s long
And storied, I’ll say, as I finish this song.

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>A Bridge Party

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This was the view in front of us.
Behind us, the river.
Amigo applauded the band when the ceremony was done.


Then we visited Chuck, hard at work keeping the news of the Bridge Grand Opening on the air.
Doesn’t the inside of this truck remind you of the cockpit in the movie Airplane?


And finally, we walked the length of the bridge (before traffic was allowed!) to get us back home. Home, for a warm drink and a snack.

The bridge is open to traffic now; maybe soon I’ll drive across the brand new span!

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>Just Another Saturday – or not.

>It was almost a typical Saturday.
The to-do list read as usual:
Laundry
Correct papers
Clean kitchen
Clean bunny cage

Added to the list yesterday:
Prepare Halloween candy for trick or treaters
Set up pumpkin, light candle
Start fire in fireplace
Rake leaves off sidewalk so trick or treaters can find their way

Here’s the Ta-Dah! list:
Laundry (dull, boring, but necessary chore, got done in between everything else)
Correct papers: lots of them! (Science, spelling, language arts, and more science: more than usual due to make-up work in the latest wave of H1N1 in my school building)
Clean kitchen, and re-do it after supper (and wonder why I manage to want to run the dishwasher when there’s a load of laundry in, every time)
Clean bunny cage (Why does she get so anxious when I’m taking away her dirty box? I replace it with a clean one right away. She doesn’t have to wait.)
Rake leaves: done, but only in the front yard and only enough to clear the sidewalk. It was so windy that raking is almost pointless, like shoveling 2 inches of snow when there’s a dozen more coming. (Did I say snow? I didn’t mean to even think of snow. Not yet. You didn’t hear that.)
Prepare Halloween candy; I tested one of each kind to make sure they were all fresh. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it.
I set up the pumpkin, but it was too windy to light the candle. Next year, we’re getting the battery operated tea lights.
Start fire: while I was out replenishing the candy supply, Hubs started a fire. Sort of. Eventually. It was kind of like this.
1. Open damper.
2. Set up wood.
3. Set up firestarters in form of old Braille paper or cardboard.
4. Light fire.
5. Realize damper was left open after last fire, and now it’s closed.
6. Open damper.
7. Take down smoke alarms.
8. Turn on ceiling fan, open windows a crack, turn off heat.
9. Blow on fire; get it started, finally, for real.
10. Wait patiently for house to clear of smoke.
11. Sample new supply of Halloween candy to make sure it’s suitable for late trick or treaters.
12. Settle down on couch in den – Ah. Saturday night. Life is good.

Now the to-do list begins for Sunday. That, folks, totally revolves around the Big Game that kicks off at 3:15 at Lambeau Field.

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