Bills, Bills, Bills

Well, it's official.

I, as a homeowner, have made my first mortgage payment!!

We're even paying a little extra each month to save thousands on interest in the end. Sigh...feels good.

(You know what also feels good? The thin mint cookies I just ate. Thanks to my awesome niece, Claire! ;)

Moving on...

The other night I watched the Academy Award nominated documentary "The Lottery" by Madeleine Sackler. It follows the story of four families in Harlem, NY who enter a lottery to win their child a once-in-a-lifetime education in one of their charter schools. Hundreds of thousands of families enter every year. Only a couple hundred get in. It gives astonishing statistics about the levels and standards of education in the New York public school system, (such as "58% of black 4th graders are functionally illiterate" and "about 50% of students in low-income communities will not graduate high school by the time they are 18") as well as opinions from those against the charter schools. "Why would anyone be against a better education for children" you might ask? I asked the same thing. It seems to be mainly Union workers who feel the most threatened. Understandable. I mean why wouldn't they be upset at the possibility of someone taking away their "right" to do a half-a**ed job at something that influences millions of children and will affect this country for decades to come. ("The achievement gap between low-income students and their higher-income peers cost the US about $500 billion per year.")  The film also shows some parents of public school children who don't appreciate the charter schools shedding light on how horrible their educational system is. Seeing reactions like these saddens me. However, other parents stating that we should learn from these charter schools so we can implement what works into the public schools gave me hope. And it gives me hope to see all the people working so hard to better the lives of these children that are the future.

I'd also like to point out that they discussed how the backgrounds of the children in the program weren't a deciding factor in their success. It didn't matter if they were a poor black child growing up in a single parent household struggling every day. It showed that if you give young children the right opportunities and teach them the necessary skills, they are capable of extraordinary things.

It was a great documentary and a wonderful way of helping others to be aware of this issue and the realities of our schools.

On that note, I'd like to thank my writing partner tonight:

She had many ideas for the blog tonight... Most were veto-ed immediately.

Introduction

Welcome to my blog!

Now before you get excited, let me start by saying I don't expect too many people to read this blog. That is not why I started it. Honestly, I started it because I needed a hobby of sorts to fill my time. I also thought it could be somewhat therapeutic, like a journal. Sure, it would be exciting to see a comment here and there. But hey, I've been good at talking to myself for years!

That being said, if you're still reading, thanks! (You must be bored.) But never fear, you have several random posts about my life to look forward to.

And I should warn you, I have OCD tendencies. And those tendencies love to make LISTS! My brain needs to compartmentalize everything or I begin to feel overwhelmed. So here we go, my first blog list:

Current Interests:

• Eating healthy, especially fresh fruits and veggies
• Exercising - P90x and running (I am still struggling to get into a routine with this, but I'm working on it)
• Reading - fiction, non-fiction, blogs, whatever
• Music - melodies and lyrics that invoke strong emotions
• Two of my faves right now:  Adele and Mumford & Sons
• Gardening - now that Ryan and I have a house (that already has 2 garden boxes in the backyard!) we look forward to growing some of our own vegetables
• Minimalism - getting back to the basics, spending less and having less makes for a richer life. After moving 8 times in the last 9 years it has been a huge weight off of us to donate a lot of our "stuff" and get rid of the "consumer America" mindset.
• Learning - now that I've been done with school for a few years, it's nice my interest in learning has sprung up...sigh... I'm finally regretting sleeping through history class (sorry mom and dad...I still got an A though...good test taker) but I love watching American Pickers and Pawn Stars. I know, these obviously don't make up for high school history classes, but I learn tons of new things each episode. I highly recommend either if you've never seen them! They make me giddy:) The Discovery Channel is also wonderful.
• Lately, I've also been wanting to educate myself about things going on in other parts of the world. I plan on watching some documentaries and will post reviews afterward.

So these are some of the things I will probably be blogging about in the posts to come. Thrilling, huh?! Hold on to your seats, people! Get ready to be inspired!