Bfth's Boring Blog

Didn't watch it.  Didn't feel the need to. (And most likely will not be watching the next two presidential ones and one vice presidential one.) If you did watch, was it truly a debate or just two people talking over each other?  We any relevant issues actually discussed or debated?  (I'll leave it up to you to define what relevant is.)  Did any of it actually make you change your mind on a candidate?  (I'm completely serious here.  I am actually willing to listen to rational thoughts from all sides of the fence.) I might have watched if ALL the candidates participated. (There are more than 2; there's also Jill Stein of the Green Party and Gary Johnson who is Libertarian.  You might say that these two don't have a shot in hell of winning, but the way things are going in this country and the world, I have to wonder if we are not already in hell.)  I might have watched if instead of it being a "show" it was truly a forum where questions were asked an

wet jet for you. Not necessarily a brand name, it's true..." With apologies to Steve Martin, the tune has been going through my head all morning.  (Maybe it's an earworm to you know that I've started.)  Yes, I know the original lyrics refer to the thermos that Navin Johnson is going to get for his true love Marie, but I have been singing the tune with my modified lyrics happily today. You see, it was another sad morning for me in the bathroom. I'm standing there brushing my teeth looking at a dirty sink that no one seems to wipe off, but me.  (And I don't wipe it as often as I should, which I'm thinking should be daily.)  Then I looked down at my white tile floor, which has you probably have guessed, isn’t all that white.  Three people + one bathroom = perpetually dirty looking floor.  I won't even mention the tub/shower (which has mildew growing on the mold) or the toilet.  I'd like to keep the bathroom clean, but usually when I think

I'm BETH.  That's the name that my family has called me since I was born.   Sometimes I've been called by Bethie (a nickname started by my brother) or Bethers (a nickname that started in college), but I've always been Beth.  I've never been Liz (although I have tried it; just didn't fit).  I've never been Eliza, Betty or Betsy.  Plain and simple, I'm Beth. This blog says that I'm BFTH, a name I gave myself when many years ago I in a group that was making name bracelets with beads.  We ran out of Es so I used an F (hey it's pretty close).  Hence, I became BFTH.  I thought it was pretty cute, so when I started this blog, I used it.  (Sadly, I no longer have the bracelet.) Plain and simple, if you are referring to me, you should call me Beth, or a variation of that if we are close friends.  (Very few people have the honor of referring to me as Bethers.) I've nothing against the name Elizabeth.  It's on my birth certificate and o

Summer is now OFFICIALLY over.  Autumn is here.  It's time drink our pumpkin spice lattes, pick apples and put up Halloween decorations. (Ok, technically, according to Bfth regulations you shouldn't put up Halloween decorations before the 30th; unless you are my neighbor who is CRAZY about Halloween and also works crazy hours as an EMT/Firefighter.  Because of this, I give him a BIG PASS.  No one else is exempt!) As much as I LOVE summer (and I DO LOVE summer), I think I might love autumn a little more.  Of course I love pumpkin spice! (http://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2016/08/bfths-pumpkin-spice-season-rules-and.html)  I love pumpkins period.  I tend to buy more that I need (do I really NEED any since I'm not eating them?).  We decorate/carve a few. (Can't do that before the week before Halloween or then tend to get rot/mold.  We've also had a problem with squirrels digging into them.  While I appreciate the good taste of pumpkin, to stave off gnawing anima

In 4th grade, which was the first CCRAP experience we had my son performed at Level 4 for Language Arts and Literacy.  His score was 3 points over the Level 4 cut off.  His math performance was at Level 3, which is obviously not as good as Level 4.  Supposedly that means he was approaching expectations.  (Who's expectations, I'm not exactly sure.)  His score was just a few points under what it would have taken to be Level 4.  (So he was just shy of achieving the "Met Expectations" level.) In 5th grade, his second year of CCRAP he performed at Level 4 for Language Arts and Literacy.  This time his number was slightly higher.  Moving towards the middle of the "Met Expectations" range, but not close to the Exceeded Expectations.  In Math, he was still at the Level 3 but higher than the year before (but not by much.) In reviewing the school, district and state averages for this past year, I see that in Language Arts and Literacy he is above the all the

Just celebrated my 20th (as you know if you read my previous post) which got me thinking about the wedding and honeymoon period.  It was a great, but if I could, I would make some changes.  Of course some these changes involve "bending" time and other "out there" impossibilities, but why not? Anything is possible  (when it's not possible)!  Here's what I would change: I would have a bridal registry.   The standard stuff that was out there didn't float my boat that much so I didn't.  If I could change, I'd put more thought into it. I wish Target had been around then. (Ok, they've been around since 1962, but they certainly weren't in my neck of the woods.)  Maybe I would have crowd funded part of the honeymoon!   I would change the date.  While I loved being married on Friday the 13th and love 9/13 period, I would change the date so that my husband's grandfather could have been present.  (Too long a story

... Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play, they’ve been going in and out of style but they're guaranteed to raise a smile. Ok, so maybe that wasn't what happened 20 years ago today.  Twenty years is a LONG time.  Almost, but not quite half a life ago for me.  It was the day I got married and I wish I'd kept a diary or a blog. (Why was there no Facebook?)  I've tried to recollect as much as I can for the day. It was overcast in the morning.  It rained for part of the day down at the shore, which is where the wedding was held...  Mostly drizzle, but I understand in North Jersey there was a real downpour in the late afternoon.  Which led to pile ups on the Garden State Parkway.  Several wedding guests decided to turn around and call it a day.  My DJ got stuck in traffic and claimed that it was so bad that when he saw the news copter overhead he got out of his car and started waving, in the hopes that we'd see him and know t

We all know where we were and what we were doing on September 11, 2001.  I don't think there is a man or woman who was alive on that day, no matter what your age was, who doesn't recall in vivid detail their day.  But what about the day after? What were you doing on September 12th?  Were you still stunned and immobile?  Were you trying to "get back to normal" as best you could?  Were you crying?  Were you praying?  Were you standing in line to donate blood? September 11th was a dark day, not just for the country, but for the entire world.  Our response; the world's response, showed us just how much light we could generate when we banded together. When we worked TOGETHER for a common good.  When we gave what we could and then gave more. It's important that we all honor and remember September 11th every year.  But it is also important that we remember and live as we did in the days that followed.  No I don't mean in sorrow and fear, but with lov

Summer officially continues onward till September 22nd, but for many parents, the summer ended next when school started again.  (Maybe it feels like its already ended to those who had have children with sports training and band camp?)  Despite it being 90+ degrees outside, in my mind, it should be autumn. But wasn't it just yesterday that school let out and a great graduation ceremony was being held for the class of 2016?   On the other hand, doesn't the last week of June feel like centuries ago?  The days whiz by and time seems to speed up so that what happened just a week or so ago is so far in the past that I can barely remember it. The men from the Department of Public Works who water the flowers that line the avenue now do so in the dark of the mornings, where it was once light.  The fields of the high school which looked like they would never be anything but piles of dirt and rubble seem ready to be played upon.  The annual summer concert series held in town s

Thank You. I'm saying it now, first and foremost, because you probably won't hear it enough this year.  And for what you do (or will do) throughout this year is deserving of a thank you up front.  I have heard it said that teaching is a thankless profession.  As for me, I feel that teaching is a profession to be thankful FOR.  I cannot imagine what my life would have been like without the amazing teachers I had and I know my son's life is richer because of you. Yes, I may have bitched about all the supplies I had to buy this year, but that's not important.  What is important is that you are educating my child. Notice how I said educating, not testing.  Despite what the state department of education might think, the measure of a teacher is NOT standardized test scores, but the knowledge that each individual child walks away with.  There is nothing "common" at the core of a child, or any human for that matter.  Because you are a teacher, you KNOW that t

Most everyone knows the theme song from "M*A*S*H” (or at least everyone I know).  The show was on the air for so long and lives on in eternal reruns, so I'm pretty sure if you heard the opening stains, you'd immediately recognize it and associate it with the show. The song has a title and lyrics (which are sung in the movie; not in the tv series).  The official name of the song is "Suicide Is Painless."   While it is a beautiful melody, the lyrics are haunting.    The refrain is “S uicide is painless. It brings on many changes and I can take or leave it if I please. and t he 5th verse says:  " Th e sword of time will pierce our skins. It doesn't hurt when it begins. But as it works its way on in, the pain grows stronger...watch it grin." Life can be painful, there's no doubt about that.  There is not a human alive or who has ever lived who has not experienced the pains of life.  But suicide is NOT painless. Suicide is extremely painful.

September is here and school is starts in less than a week!  And this is what my dining room table looks like: It's not pretty.  It hasn't been for months.  It's obvious that no one is dining in my dining room! It started out with the backpack full of (dare I say it) crap from the last days of school.  I didn't have time to weed through it all as we were going away on a family vacation the next day.  Once we got back from there I had to whisk my son off to a week of camp.  Then there was the new job...and then... Well I eventually DID clear of the dining room table...for the most part.  I left a few things that I thought he could "reuse" for the upcoming school year.  What a shocker!  School supplies that actually made it through more than one year???  Well, the locker shelf made it out alive; of course that was the 2nd locker shelf that we bought.  Other than that there were a few pens and highlighters that could be reused.  The most amazing of all