The Meal That Doesn't Want to Be

Every once in a while, the best intentions just go awry.

It's 7:08 and we have still not eaten supper.

I started the fire at 5:30. But I waited to put the pork chops on until the potatoes were nearly done.

By the time I decided to put the chops on, the fire had completely burned up.

Re-started the fire.

I just put the chops on.

The potatoes are very close to being burnt.

Table Conversation

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black," I said.

"Well, now...that doesn't make sense. What if the pot isn't black?" Nate wanted to know.

And from there it all degenerated.

One thing I will definitely miss about having Taylor in 6th grade is his constant references to his two male teachers.

"Mr. B-- says this,"
"Mr. B--thinks that."
"I think Mr. P plays 'Warcraft' when we are all doing our deskwork."
"I'm worried that Mr. B--is addicted to caffeine."
"Mr. P--is always saying we should think outside the box."

I sure do hope he gets 7th grade teachers that are half as good as the team he had this year. He struggled in math and gotten a little lazy periodically in Social Studies, but for the most part he's had a great year.

New 7 Wonders of the World

So we've all heard about the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World:

The commonly known Seven Ancient Wonders of the World were all man-made monuments, selected by Philon of Byzantium in 200 B.C. Today, only the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt remain.His selection of wonders was essentially a travel guide for fellow Athenians, and the stunning sites were all located around the Mediterranean basin, the then-known world.
The monuments he chose, to be remembered in perpetuity, were:

The Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Temple of Artemis
The Statue of Zeus
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
The Pyramids of Egypt

All had been built between 2,500 B.C. and 200 B.C.

Well, since only the Pyramids remain, there is an organization now that has decided it would be good if new wonders were selected. But rather than having the sites chosen by only one guy, they have launched a project enabling people from all over the world to vote on them.

21 sites are listed on their website. Votes will be collected until July 7.

New 7 Wonders

Bed Perspectives

3:11 a.m.

ME: "Hey!"

HE: "You've got all the covers!"

6:07 a.m.

ME: "Yeah...look. I don't have hardly any covers."

HE: "You gave 'em to me."

I've Been Remiss

I haven't posted since late April. And here it is almost the middle of May.

School is winding down and so of course there is stuff going on over there. Now we are in the middle of standardized tests, so I'm helping monitor test-takers each day. 5 days in all. It's not too bad. I take a book and just glance around. There are two adults for each group. Each day it's about 3 hours.

Mensa Boy has done quite a bit of traveling these past few weeks and there will be more coming up. I think things won't die down until the second week of June.

Nate needs to find a job for the summer. I suggested to him last night that he list a few places he'd like to work. He mentioned Lowe's Home Improvement, but that would be a bit of a drive. I'd like to see him within 10 minutes of home, since I'll be taking him to and from work most of the time.

Taylor does not have plans for the summer at this point. Our boy Freddy, who comes here after school, will be with us most of the summer and they will have a good time. We've also talked about Taylor taking some pottery lessons from a friend of mine, and he may also go to Minnesota for a week-long visit before we go up there.

I do not have summer plans. The school stories will of course fall away, so I'll be hoping to pick up some other interesting things to write about. But I would also like to do some painting here at the house. We still have a few rooms that have not any paint at all. Still the contractor's flat cream color from 2002. Yeah, we are slow about stuff like that.

So this is a dull post. Sorry about that. Perhaps one of these days I'll post a message full of righteous indignation that my least favorite people won "The Amazing Race." Maybe I'll save that for when "American Idol" and "Survivor" all wind up.

Oh. The snake. I didn't mention the 12-foot python.

There are not too many people who can get me to stuff like this. Best friend Rena was able to talk me into going to her brother's to take a photo of the 12-foot, dead python they found in their shed. My photos did not turn out...as it was all crawling with MAGGOTS! The assumption is that someone had it for a pet and could not care for it any longer, releasing it outside.

hmpf. Just tried to put Eric's photo on here and it won't upload.