Saturday, May 31, 2008

Home Reno-Bailey Style

Last spring I got ambitious and did a major cleaning throughout the house (with the exception of the lower basement where my school boxes are still stacked against the wall). I had planned to do some painting inside but only got as far as the fence. The Tom Sawyer trick didn't work and so Senor Ping and I ended up doing the fence by ourselves. Between the heat and mosquitos the job dragged on and my enthusiasm for painting waned.
During the winter I had contemplating what colors to paint Megan and Allan's bedrooms and after many months of indecision I finally made up my mind. I started shopping for bedding and switched some of the furniture around. And today I started painting. Allan, I am sorry to inform you that your blue "Toronto Maple Leaf forever" bedroom is no more. The hockey posters are gone (but not thrown out) and the jumbotron light fixture will be put in storage for you. The carpet is gone and new flooring is next on the list.
And then the tough part, sorting through the piles of things that came out of the room. What to keep and what to put in the garage sale next year? Startrek toys and a tub full of Lego, hockey and baseball cards (don't worry they are safe), books, t-shirts and football jerseys, Sonic the Hedgehog comic books, Magic kit and much much more!
And then comes Megan's room. The painting will be the easy part. A new bed and room for my sewing machine. Some photos taken on our Europe trip. But wait, again we have some treasures to sort through. Basketball medals, my little ponies, stuffed animals and books, books and more books! Where is the "Clean Sweep" or "While You Were Out" gang? How am I ever going to decide what to keep and where to put it? Maybe I'll put it all back and let the kids sort through everything.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Nine Down and Two To Go

I am spending the weekend at the drama festival which showcases the best high school plays in the province. When I was teaching this was a weekend I looked forward to all year. First, I hoped that I would be directing one of the plays at the festival. (and I was thrilled when this actually did happen. I still get goosebumps just thinking about the play and just heard another school did it this year but was told it was not as good as ours). Second, I watched each play with great anticipation, in my mind casting my own actors into the roles and imagining what it would be like if I chose to direct that play in the future (and in other cases thinking NEVER, NEVER, NEVER). Third, I looked forward to networking with other teachers and directors and hearing about what plays they had done and what they were planning to do.
Now I just come to the festival, sit back, relax (no kids to supervise, therefore, no chaperoning at the dance) and critique the plays. So far we have seen 9 plays. All but 2 of them ran 60 minutes (a couple had to have been over the regulation 60 minutes). The plays range from themes of fairytales and the big bad wolf, teenage angst, baby angst (no not what if I have a baby but I am a baby and what am I going to do about these adults around me), a mother-son bedroom scene, more teenage angst, dating angst, teenage angst, doing a play angst and more teenage angst. I have had enough of the angst, please give me something else!!
I have enjoyed some of the actors though, my favorites are the 6 foot baby and the 10 year old waiter. I am looking forward to the plays tomorrow and then I will record my votes for the awards and later check to see how close the adjudicator and I are in our thinking.