d i n a n e . n e t 

…have you ever noticed how luscious paint is?

Get it? Get it?

Things we’ve done:

• Signed a pile of papers;
• Ordered new floors;
• Ripped out half the counter tops and the sink;
• Pulled approximately eight trillion glass shelves out of the walls;
• Spackled the holes left by the shelves and about twelve trillion hanging nails, hooks, and push-pins;
• Ripped out an old security system;
• Patched the holes in the walls left by said security system;
• Ordered a dish washer, washing machine, and dryer;
• Sanded down the walls;
• Primed and painted;
• Ordered a different dish washer because the first one wasn’t actually available;
• Ordered some new counter top;
• More painting;
• Rescheduled delivery of the appliances;
• Had hardwood floors installed;
• Had carpet installed;
• Had hardwood floors ripped up and reinstalled;
• Canceled one counter top order and selected another;
• Rescheduled delivery of the appliances, again;
• Mowed the lawn;
• Trimmed the hedges;
• Put in a good-sized, water-proof mail box;
• More painting;
• Plumbed the new sink;
• Cut a piece of overpriced plywood into a temporary counter top;
• Installed faux-counter, sink, and garbage disposal;
• More painting;
• A fair amount of packing;
• More painting;
• Yet more packing;
• More painting;
• Still more packing;
• Wired for the dishwasher;
• Changed out some outlets and dimmer switches;
• Changed out all of the wall plates;
• Installed better thermostats; and
• More painting.

Things we still need to do:

• Finish packing;
• FiOs installation;
• Appliance delivery (for the love of everything ever please come…);
• Install the dish washer;
• Install the washer/dryer;
• Clean up the disaster area that is currently in place of the living room; and
• Touch up the paint in the living room.

Things we’ll do after we move:

• Peal-n-stick tile for the currently carpeted second bathroom;
• Touch up the paint on the cabinets;
• Counter top deliver (man, I wish it were sooner, but it won’t be);
• Put up some chair rail;
• Take care of the overgrown bushes in the back yard;
• …;
• …; and
• …

Of course, I understand that it never ends.

It was good for me to get that all out though. I feel as if we are quite accomplished. Much due to our very helpful friends. I’d really like to thank you guys so much. Thank you to the people who offered to help without being asked. And even more thanks to the people who we asked, and who didn’t spit in our faces and tell us to pound sand. You are all very kind. We may have been able to move in without your help, but it would have involved some all nighters and probably tense conversation.

I can’t wait until next week. I’ll be moved in, and walking to the train. Luscious.

I read an article on Boston.com that got me all twisty. So, get ready for…

Opinion Time with Diane

First, here’s your required reading: “New meaning to school colors” by Russell Contreras

Lucky for me, that article had a comment board associated with it. I’ve gotten mired up in a few of these in the past (most notably the one about all-female colleges - but that’s for another episode of OTwD). After wading through some people afraid that a uniform kills individuality (hey, take a look at what you’re wearing today… I bet half of you are at least wearing something less comfortable or less you than you’d normally choose so that you fit in at your job, be it required or just subtly enforced), I found myself posting, once again, on a tangential topic. Rather than rehash (or make you read the entire board - Boston.com boards can sometimes get scary), I’ll quote myself:

It’s not the uniforms that bug me. I wore uniforms when I was in high school (note, it was a parochial school, but still). The worst part of my uniform was that the skirt was a requirement, not an option. Also, the uniforms cost way more than $8-15.

But something does bug me. The split school in high school. I don’t know much about the way Lawrence schools are run, so please pardon any ignorance, but I fear that the kids will get themselves too targeted too early. What if (to give an example that may or may not be me…) someone was really good at math, science, and technology, but also loved to sing and perform. They would have to choose? And if they chose “wrong” would they get screwed out of college choices when they changed their mind a couple years later? I never even made that choice, to be honest. I double majored when I got to college. But would that option be lost to someone forced to choose a concentration so much earlier? And even more immediate, would they even be allowed or welcome to participate in after school activities that span both of their favorites? Would math team and drama club mutually exclude each other?

High school can be a kind of weird place socially already. What about the effects of “well, all my friends chose health and human services, so I’d better go along with them.” Or if you don’t choose what your friends choose, are you now an outcast of your group of friends when you show up in the “wrong” color shirt? And does it cause a rift between the kids and their parents when the parents think they’re doing what’s best for the kid by enroling them in business management and finance, when the kid really wants to be an art teacher when they grow up?

That kind of stuff bothers me.

But uniforms? Naw. So long as they’re not too expensive for the kids (and if they are that there’s a plan in place to help poorer kids buy them on a deep discount), I don’t have a problem with uniforms. They probably are better, or at least easier on the teachers and staff (who have a hard enough time as it is), than letting the kids wear what they want. From experience, I know it’s easier on the kid to wake up and just throw on another copy of that outfit you wore yesterday.

(And seriously, Lawrence. I can reassure you that your uniforms are far less obnoxious and ugly than the ones I had to wear…)

– me

Mm… Oxford button down white shirts with straight knee-length or longer navy blue polyester skirts, nylons every month but the first and last of the school year, a nasty polyester and completely non-warm button up navy (but not quite the same navy) sweater, and shoes with no more than 1 inch of heal in your choice of colors*.

* I hope you like brown, black, or navy closed toed and closed back shoes.