Chronically Sleep Deprived

I forgot to mention that we sold the old washer & dryer for $50 to one of those places that refurbishes/repairs them. So that money counts as a discount on the new one, sort of.

We do a lot of testing at work. We test students when they first enter our program, to find out what level they are and group them with other students at similar levels. Then we test them every sixty hours to measure their progress. Some students get really nervous about the testing but most take it in stride. Some of our students have advanced to the point where the test we use doesn't really measure their progress, since it's designed for basic students. For these more advanced students, Kate has started offering the TABE (Test of Adult Basic Education). This is a test commonly used in adult education programs for native speakers. Students are tested in reading and math, and given a score and a grade equivalent. If they get a grade equivalent of 4.5, that's halfway through fourth grade. A 6.1 is the beginning of sixth grade. I'm not sure exactly how they decide what is normal for each grade but I'm assuming it's an average of some kind. So, several of my stude

Cause I always have a lot of random, unrelated thoughts, and it would really be better if I did a lot of short, frequent posts instead of long rambling ones. Need to work on that. So. A few months ago, when we moved into this apartment, we bought a used washer/dryer. Just a cheap set. Honestly, I didn't really think too hard about this one, because it was the only set in our price range available when we were moving, and I just went with it. In the future I will never buy a used washer/dryer set from a woman who has five boys. After getting it into the apartment, and really looking closely at it, it had this gunk on the outside of the tub. And to clean it really well, I'd have to take it apart. So I did. And this is what it looked like: That stuff all over the inside of it? Yeah, still don't know what it was, but my father-in-law's guess is crank grease. It took a whole lot of 409 and a few scrubbing sponges, but I got it clean. It's a good thing I'm not pregnan

1) The Fourth of July! We're going to a pancake breakfast, complete with a "parade" - as in, all the neighborhood kids biking, triking, and walking around dazed. To be followed by cheeseburgers, swimming, and fireworks, the first time we've actually planned ahead since we got married. 2) Bus passes. I work for a charter school and I can get ANNUAL bus passes for $65. They are coming in August, and we plan to use them a lot. If gas continues to climb, we can use them even more. 3) The community garden. John found out that the vacant lot behind our neighborhood library is a community garden. They have community lots with assigned pick days. All the produce you want to pick for free! And it's organic! They also accept compost contributions. I feel so guilty throwing out all the peels and leftover bits of fruit and veggies. It's all going to the community compost now, and that makes me feel so good. 4) The 13 x 9 inch pans I finally went and bought. Already this w