Dear Darla

I hate your stinking guts. You make me vomit. You're scum between my toes! Love, Alfalfa. ~Buckwheat

giving trees

If you have never read The Giving Tree, do yourself a favor and go buy it. (I suggest 3rd Street Books in Ozark. Despite the owner's fear of racing me on foot, I still think he is a pretty decent fellow.) Let me tell you a bit about the book, for those of you who are not familiar with Shel Silverstein's finest.

There is this boy. He is constantly taking, taking, taking without appreciating what he's given.

There is this tree. She's a nice-looking tree with long limbs from which I, myself, would like to swing. She provides ample shade. Through the years, she gives abundantly to someone who never truly appreciates her-

Whoa. See that last line there?

Interesting isn't it? A tree who gives everything to people who don't care enough to even say a simple thanks. Don't worry. I am not going to give you a big schpeel about environmentalism and "saving the trees." (While I do think that's important, that is neither here nor there.) Here is what I'm thinking. I know people like this tree. My mother, for one. My father, for another. What do I do to show them how much I appreciate them? I say thank you--which is more than the boy can say--but is it enough? My dad has spent thousands of hours worrying over my safety, protection, and general well-being. I know for a fact he has lost sleep over it. He even cares enough to harp on me about checking my tire levels and carrying pepper spray at night. My mom has lent me her ear on thousands of occasions, then offered wise counsel about various tricky situations in life. Both parents have done so much for me, often without me even knowing about it. So what can I do to repay them?

The boy almost had it right; he kept coming back to the tree. While the tree wasn't particularly happy with the boy for only coming back for more "stuff," the tree did enjoy the boys' company. And while the boy (now an old man) didn't truly understand that company is what the tree really wanted, he still made the tree happy by sitting on her stump--because she had already given the boy her apples, limbs, and trunk--to enjoy an afternoon or two in his old age.

I suppose that's the lesson. The best thing you can give someone, in many cases, is your companionship. These days that is a hot commodity.

project house

I asked the kids what I should blog about today. First answer: shoes. Second answer: your students. Third (and final) answer, from Ben: houses (i.e. the kind of house in which I want to live). I'll go with that one.

Here is the thing: I already live in a house, and I must say that I like it quite a bit. It is an older home in Springfun that I convinced my parents to buy so we could flip it. I (ok, WE) fixed it up to make it pretty and loveable, and I have to admit I am pretty proud of our improvements. It was so fun to put in the hard work it took to get that house looking worthy of love again. We filled holes in walls, scrubbed and polished wood floors, painted walls and ceilings, put up new dry wall, textured the bathroom walls and ceiling, tiled the sunroom and front porch, and rearranged the front lawn so that random large rocks were not around the lawn. I know what you are thinking: I bet her parents did all the hard work. I have to admit that my dad did all the electrical stuff and the nasty stuff--cleaning out the tub, examining the crawl-space--and my mom helped quite a bit with cleaning cabinets and scrubbing floors, but I spent hundreds of hours on the thing, and I would do it again in a second. (Evidence of my contributions: One wall of my laundry room is lavender. Fiance says he's okay with the lavender, but I'm not sure I buy that.)

If I had to change something about the house, I would have the "Ugly Tree" taken out of the front yard--it would be replaced with a redbud (which, by the way, I DO have in my backyard, but it is a dainty little thing)--and I would make the porch a huge wrap-around. I would also replace the living room carpet with hardwood floor. (Note: Fiance and I got it in our heads one day that there was nice hardwood flooring under the existing carpet so we pulled up a little bit of it, only to discover a huge hole cut into the otherwise nice hardwood floors below. The hole was human-sized, so we were a bit scared there was a dead body hidden under my house. However, my dad says it was probably just a spot where the floor heater had been. Shew!)

wilting weeds

I believe the little bean plant that could no longer can. I think the frost got to the poor little guy when he was waiting by the window, and he is sickly looking. I will try to revive him with an H2O IV and update you on the progress.

what i wouldn't give

for a redbud tree of my very own.

faves

Students are listing their favorite things in life today. So, in the spirit of the day (and to counteract my particularly foul mood yesterday)...

Sharpie pens
adventure
Post-Its
honeysuckle
orchids
Pride and Prejudice
redbuds in bloom
handwritten letters
volleyball
blue
grass (but not bluegrass)
Twain
Redeeming Love
physiology
Peace Like a River
Target
Jane Austen
Anthropologie
down comforters
70-plus degrees
summer
Hawaii
surfing
hiking
chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough jackhammer with fudge in the middle
purple
chipmunks
Custer State Park
fresh pineapple
AirWick X-Press (Trust me. After PE classes this is absolutely necessary in a middle school!)
kids
laughing
RocketDog shoes
dark chocolate
granola cereal
The Office
American Idol

foul

i am in a foul mood.

i heard someone say that the other day and made a mental note to use it next time i had the opportunity.

the opportunity has been slowly approaching, and it finally pounded on my door today.