Friday and Saturday

Second Friday blog entry: Here I am again in early evening. Liberto just called to say he's on his way and asked me to order a pizza. I've placed the order and now, as I sit here in the quiet of the living room, I can't stop myself from adding a little blog entry about an item on this evening's local news. Surprise of all surprises, Groves High School did not make AYP. Groves has never made AYP. Earning this status has been the goal of every new Groves principal in the last five years (there have been four principals during this span of time). Not that I believe that the mega-testing spawned by NCLB is the last word in measuring student knowledge or potential, but gosh darnit, I do believe the students are somewhat responsible for learning and the blame for school-wide low test scores shouldn't be placed entirely upon the teachers. The frightening part of this news story was that out of the six Chatham County high schools, only two made AYP, including Windsor Forest, Paul's alma mater, and Savannah Arts Academy, which is like a mini-college, where students have to apply, be accepted, and maintain an 80 average. Out of all the Chatham County schools, including elementary and middle, only half made AYP. Leonard Pitts recently asked in one of his columns, "Don't school systems realize that at-risk students usually have at-risk parents?" In other words, the problem is not in the classroom.

Saturday: Same old story, the cat woke me up earlier than I would have liked for a weekend---7:00 a.m.---but I'd slept well, so I rolled out of bed, fed both animals, and started the coffee. As we read the newspaper, Liberto noticed a 50% off sale at Green Frog mattress until 10 a.m. We'd been thinking that we needed a new mattress for Paul soon, so we decided to go out and check out the sale. Paul now has a new mattress and boxspring, to be delivered on Wednesday. Then we'll be able to set up his room again. He's been staying in the guest room for the past few weeks because Liberto was putting the wood floor in his room.

Next, we drove to a friend's house to pick up some seeds from one of the plants we'd admired in their backyard. It's a big bush with large yellow blossoms that smell like honeysuckle or jasmine. The common name of the plant is "yellow four o'clock." Next, we went to Home Depot to get some pine straw and potting soil. We are not landscaping enthusiasts like our next door neighbors, who seem to spend most of their time and money grooming their front yard. I like being outside, but I don't particularly like weeding the front beddings in the 100 degree sun, so I avoid it and postpone it. So does Liberto. But today, despite the temperature, we got out in the front yard and did some work. Yard work is hard work! It's a much more vigorous aerobic than anything I've ever encountered in the gym. By the time I came in, I was dripping.

So now I fully deserve to sit down in front of this Lifetime movie with the laptop until I decide what to do next.