Monday, May 26, 2008

Our eyes were too big for our bedroom or the Incredible Shrinking People!


As many of you know, John and I bought a second home in Tucson to be closer to our "kids". Because of this new adventure, we/I have been "collecting" stuff to put into the Tucson house~~therefore, my Chandler house looks a bit crowded with furniture, etc. Our house is so crowded that some of the "stuff" has spilled into our nice, big garage forcing me to leave my car parked outside! It is because of this that I wanted to bring our "new" bedroom suite into the house and put our present bedroom furniture into the garage (the newer furniture is quite big and takes up a lot of garage space). So.........I told John that we needed an "accent" wall which I wanted painted a darker color than the other walls in the bedroom. I picked out the paint and we/he painted the wall. The color is okay (I still can't pick out colors from those small chips). After painting the accent wall, John and our neighbor hauled in the headboard, foot board, and two nightstands. Oh, I forgot to tell you that this "new" bedroom furniture is from a model home estate sale and we got a great deal on it (we are poor so I spend a lot of time at garage sales and estate sales). I had to sub the day of the estate sale, so John somewhat willingly braved the tag-pulling, beady-eyed lunatics and went to the sale for me. Originally I just wanted him to pick up some pictures and stuff that would easily fit into a nice size clear plastic tub/box. We had seen pictures of the bedroom furniture the night before the sale posted on the estate sale website. He told me that he would look at the furniture and decide if he wanted it and that was fine with me. After numerous calls back and forth, John decided to buy the furniture. That brings me back to today and moving the aforementioned four pieces of furniture into the bedroom....mind you there is still a dresser with a mirror and an armoire in the garage that go with my headboard, foot board, and two nightstands. Well....the giant from Jack-in-the-Beanstalk could easily and comfortably sleep in this king-size bed! The nightstands are huge and high and the furniture is off center on the accent wall. I'm stunned because I still have some of the old, smaller bedroom pieces in the bedroom (we move pieces in and out as the walls are painted) and I don't know how I'm going to move around my bedroom with this new ginormous furniture. We thought that our bedroom was rather large since our old stuff looks like dollhouse furniture in it, but our "new" model home bedroom furniture could fit into any room at Buckingham Palace and easily accommodate the queen and all of her family at once....maybe some members of Parliament as well!!!
Alas, I've lost my bedroom and my mind isn't far behind. I can't wait to see what happens when the other pieces are moved into the bedroom (if they can even be moved into the room)! Wine, Zoloft, Valium anyone?
Loretta

To Teach or Not To Teach....That is definitely the question!


Recently I subbed in a 5th grade classroom and I was shocked to learn that the teachers at this grade level were instructing their students that the blood inside our bodies is blue! Not true, not true, I say....and said so when the entire grade level was together to view a video on the circulatory system. Everyone (teachers included) looked at me in disbelief when I gasped, "What?" when a student answered that blood is blue and the teacher said, "That's correct". Now let's be clear about this....I am not a doctor but I am a teacher and have been for 31 years. I have taught the circulatory system for many years and I have read about it in numerous publications. Contrary to popular belief, your blood is not blue inside your body and it does not turn red when it seeps from your body as it is exposed to air/oxygen. There is oxygen in your blood! The blood in your veins (check your wrists) may look blue because it is deoxygenated blood (blood that needs to get to your lungs for a fresh supply of oxygen). I could, at this point, explain the circulatory process, but it would be too complicated and take up a lot of space. Please, please don't keep perpetuating this myth that blood is blue when it is, in fact, red!