Uses Garbled Discourse

This is one of the 21 points of the Florida Performance Management System, and one of the things I'll be evaluated on come Tuesday. Hopefully, I won't be garbling my discourse. I watched a mandatory training video on FPMS last weekend. It was pretty funny -- made in the era of big hair and even bigger eyeglass frames. I have to say it was informative, though, as it took me through all 21 points I'll be graded on in my summative evaluation. The assistant principal will be doing the evaluating. Wilma is now the AP at Davidson, but when I knew her in a previous life, she was a math teacher at Crestview High School. I can already tell she will be a valuable ally during this, my first year teaching.

I think today is the first turkey-free day since Thursday -- but hey, the day's not over yet. We joined my cousin and her family at the "camp" across the lake to scarf up a Southern Thanksgiving meal: collards, turnips, cracklin' cornbread, turkey, ham, "dressing" (as opposed to stuffing), peas, chicken and dumplings, cranberry relish. And, of course, those desserts -- sweet potato pie (Ed and I like it with fat free Cool Whip and a sprinkle of nutmeg) and something called "Pie Delicious" which turned out to be, basically, chocolate fudge in a pie shell. Well, it was all good, as was the time spent with the Parker clan. Ed and I have been eating turkey and dressing ever since. We took a break today and had lunch at Cracker Barrel.

Work on the house continues. Ed is sanding the second side of the house now, the side with the office/guest bedroom, second bath and utility room. He's just about finished what he can do with the pole sander and will start hand sanding tomorrow. Once the primer is up on that side, he'll tackle the great room/kitchen, starting all over again with the taping, mudding and sanding. That man has the patience of Job. I wonder where he "goes" when he's engaged in a tedious, never-ending task? Ed doesn't complain. He's in his element and sees the building of this, hopefully our last home, as one Big Project. I'm so blessed to have a man who likes to work and is good at whatever he puts his hands to.

This afternoon, we made a trip to Lowe's. I found a light fixture that will work over the kitchen sink, and we picked out some porch lights. We also looked at kitchen sinks, and I was delighted to find a cast iron double sink by Kohler that will fit the bill for the new house. I had talked to Ed about getting an old farmhouse sink, and explained that I'd like the kitchen to be "country eclectic"; instead of a wall full of cabinets, I wanted it to look like it was made up of furniture pulled from other rooms of the house and adapted to function in a kitchen. We drew up some sketches this weekend, and I like the way our thoughts are flowing. Ed did some sleuthing at pawn shops and salvage places on Friday and happened to find an old farmhouse sink at a place owned by a second cousin. Tommy wanted $500, but told Ed to take it home and show it to me before writing the check. I'm glad he did. It's a nice piece and in very good shape, even has a built in drainboard on one side (it's a single bowl), but I was dismayed at how shallow the bowl was, only 5". Ed and I poked around on the Internet last night and found a serviceable sink at Ikea (of all places) for $199. But, finding something comparable closer to home is even better. The Kohler comes with a custom fitted cutting board, too.

We also had fun looking at ceramic floor tile and paint colors. I came home with a fistful of paint cards. I have to admit that the names are enough to make me swoon: April in Paris, Homestead Maize, Cosmopolitan Olive. We won't be living in a house with white walls, that's for sure. Right now, I'm considering a light green (Hazy Jade) for the living room and a pearly flesh color for the master bedroom (Buttery Pink). We won't have much exposed wall in the kitchen, a perfect excuse to go with a vibrant gold color on the limited wall space. I have a friend in Oregon who has beautiful Tiffany blue in her master bath. That may find a way into the house here, too. The difficult task will be making choices when all the colors are good enough to eat.

Five days off from work and I hardly know what to do with myself. I mean, I've felt like I've been "unemployed" again. I did spend a day and a half getting the coming week's lesson plans ready, but other than that I've done nothing related to my Real Job. I went shopping on Wednesday. That worked out perfectly because everyone else went on Friday. Ed and I have watched some college football (Roll, Tide) and had a tapas dinner in front of the tube. I even started reading an "adult" book, not one from my classroom collection. I've enjoyed the break, but am now ready to plunge back into the final weeks before the end of the semester.