Crazy, but nice.

The furniture project is coming along, although the Thriller had to pull out the heavy artillery to get the original stain off the coffee table. After struggling for a couple of hours, it’s ready for its first coat of stain. It’s taken the sideboard two days for the first coat to dry…see where my Monday is going?

Still, a good time was had by all last night when we went to Cain Park (in Cleveland Heights, near Case Western Reserve U.) to hear our friend Lisa Biales perform with her band and guest artists Ronstadt Generations out in the open air. What a great show; it really turned folk music on its ear.

I was beyond impressed with Lisa’s bluesy honkytonk singing, and her fiddle player was just the right touch of awesome. But the Ronstadt boys (the brother and nephews of Linda) were exquisite — especially Cincinnati Conservatory graduate and cellist Michael. It was not to be believed.

Check out some clips of his playing on their new album, now available. It was so enjoyable: tight, silver harmonies, and I swear that Michael kid, in two hours of nonstop playing, played not a single note or double-stop out of tune. And expressive, wow…so expressive.

And it wasn’t ghastly hot as it had been, so the outdoors was a player in the evening as well. A great time indeed.

How goes your Sunday morning? Mine’s lazy, but then it’s company for lunch, and off to the cinema later. Ah, hugs to summer.

PS — we had dinner at the Winking Lizard before the concert. I stopped to admire the huge fake lizard in the glass cage. Then I saw it breathe. Oh dear.

Even better when it’s Pay the Fink Day.

Yesterday’s furniture stripping foray seems to have been a success. The stuff the Thriller had stored in his tool lair in the basement did the magic.

Out with the old

Ready for the new

Yesterday, he took care of preparing the coffee table (yes, we have two pieces of furniture injured by our combined fumble-fingered use of nail polish remover), so we’ll spritz then scrrrrape that before leaving for points north today. I have a meeting in Cuyahoga Falls at noon, followed by our Costco run.

Happy happy happy 10th anniversary to Seamus and Hannah! And thank you for giving us the Js. 

OK fiends, don’t even think about not enjoying this day. The weekend is almost here!

Furniture Fink out.

Look at me, all productive & stuff. Ooooooo…

Yesterday was Upstairs Closets and Tackle the Sideboard Day. Behold…

Clean

Clean

aaaaand clean.

And seven garbage bags of clothing and shoes went to the Volunteers of America. *fist pull*

Then there was the sideboard. I got as far as gooping it up with the stripping compound. It’s pretty much dried now, and I will spritz it with water to soften it up, then scrrrrrrape it off. We’ll see how the stuff worked. If it’s anything like another stripping job Mavis and I did a couple of years ago, it should be A-OK. If not, well…there’s always the ball peen technique.

And then — a lovely surprise! We got to have the Js over for a slumber party. We had a great dinner and played on the Wii (it was just too dang hot to play outside), after which they took a long, leisurely bath, had a snack, brushed teeth, and conked out. It was an unexpected treat.

So yeah…is it Thursday? Today, after boys go home, I have to scrrrrrrape the sideboard, then run to school. Plowin’ through the list, plowin’ through the list.

How about that?

Sheepus! I’ve been going nonstop since 7 a.m. today. How about you?

A few days ago, I told you about my involvement with BATs (Badass Teachers Assoc.), an organization now 23,000 members strong, dedicated to the eventual repeal of the Common Core and its attached high-stakes testing in public schools.

Well, there are also state associations that hone in on local issues. I was asked last night to serve as an admin in the Ohio BATs group. I accepted.

Whoa. Now I’m in the soup, lemmetellya. Meeting in Akron on Friday already. Here we go. But along with that, my dance card holds other fun stuff. Real barn-burner material, like:

• Cleaning out closets, getting ready for the annual Volunteers of America clothing drop
• Starting the furniture stripping, thanks to my dang-fool clumsiness with nail polish remover
• Ordering music for fall
• Finishing choreography (bottle dance is done, yay)
• Driving to school and getting some stuff I need

You know, just small stuff. In addition to the big stuff. But hey, I’m glad to be busy and engaged (although I’d rather just sit here and write to you all day).

FO

It’s one of those mornings when only an IV fulla caffeine works.

I can’t locate the video I saw last night on an entertainment magazine show, but people are going kookoo for Twinkies. There was more news coverage in the US about that than [insert really important, newsworthy item here]. Oh, America, America. Your class is world-class. Haha

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The Thriller and I like to laugh at the SyFy Channel movies — especially the scriptwriting. My favorite line from the Sharknado trailer? We’re gonna need a bigger chopper.

http://youtu.be/iwsqFR5bh6Q

Tara Reid, John Heard? I just might have to catch this one. Get it? Catch a shark? Hey, I know someone who did that once, but I can’t find the picture of it to save my life. Nuts, I hate that. Edit: Here is a small version of the photo. I had to prove to my students that I really did it.

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And did you see this? Oy. How this ever got past a producer is something I would openly ask about if I were the station manager. And they say an intern did it. Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t interns generally want to turn into full time employees, and if not at that particular station, at some station where they might need a reference from the interning location? *scratching head*

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But hey, it’s the weekend, so little things can stay little. The Js come for an overnighter tonight, then we’re off to Bob & Kay’s tomorrow. Hopefully there’ll be time to stop and see Mr. A (grandson #3) before the weekend’s out. Now that there’s some big stuff, lemmetellya. Enjoy yours this weekend, hear?