Day 2, Ripping up the Carpet

Oh what a day, and hardly anything done on the nursery, but alas the grounds have been manicured and some paperwork has been filed.

Today I just felt like mowing the yard and cleaning the house. I dont know why i didnt just start going at the nursery, Oh I remember! its because I have ADD! This morning's errands took me too Lowes to buy new pulls for the dresser/changing table, and 300 dollars later I was back at the house using my new sledgehammer to bust up some old decaying tree roots scattered around the yard. That was fun. I think I pulled something though.

Then I started on with my new edger! well that was it, I just did lawn work and cleaned the house for the rest of the day. Which brings me to something you should know. Have you ever heard of Method Cleaners? Does this picture ring a bell?



Well, its an awesome line of cleaning products that are eco-consious and all that, but more importantly they smell great and the minimalist graphic design makes it look cool enough not to have to transfer the contents into a dispenser. Just so happens Karim Rashid designed the packaging. Figures. Anyway, you can get this stuff at TARGET. Figures.

find out more here http://www.methodhome.com/

But I warn you, and this is the whole point, DO NOT BUY THE GLASS CLEANER!!
ITS HORRIBLE! all it does is leave a hazy film. I had gone through and replaced all of our cleaning products with this stuff, but im beginning to second guess the stainless steel cleaner and I am definitly now a Windex Man!

Remember the time in Pulp Fiction when Harvey Keitell asks Quenting T if he's an Oak man?
Anyway, i Digress.

So while I was at Lowes I came across the truck Hitches. Hmmm, a truck hitch. This gave me an idea. An idea so grand it will be filmed. Theresa wants a front porch. Right now there are some hedges in the way of this little idea of hers. The hedges must be removed. Hmmm, truck Hitch!

Here are them HEDGES.


So Im thinking of,,,,,whats the word? Hauling? no. ummm. Yanking? No. Ummm. Oh i know,
IM GONNA HAVE TO GUNN IT!

Now my freind stephanie thinks this sounds too much like an MGD commercial but I can definitly tell you that with my years of Advertising Expireance that this is indeed a High Life commercial. complete with lawn chaired spectators and all. I will be filming this for sure!

Speaking of filming stuff, Charles and Ray Eames made almost a hundred films! and they also designed the Rawr! Rocker.


oK! Now here is the story of the this Rocker. It is really called the R.A.R. Rocker. I knew this a long time ago, and at the time there was nothing amusing about this title. I have always been a big fan of the LCW and the DCM, both designed by Charles and Ray Prior to the RAR back in the 40's.

wHATS up with all the acronyms you say! well i guess acronym is not the right word here, but whats up with all the letters you say! Well its my guess, and I could be wrong, this is just a theory, but it's because that the first ever paid contract that the Eames were awarded was by the Navy. and hence the letters and such. If you've ever worked with the government you know that you can't just ...oh say....name a leg splint for injured soldiers the "Leg' O Steel"!!! No!
You have to give it some coded name that is easy to enter into the 8 bit computers. So this is where they came up with the way to name stuff. Oh, by the way RAR stands for Rocker Armchair Rod.

find out more about the EAMES'S HERE!

http://eamesoffice.com/index2.php?mod=intro

Ok, heres the funny part. So since working at DWR, I have heard some very interesting pronunciations. "sir, excuse me, how much is the Ames Rawr Rocker?" I dont crack up anymore but I will swipe the customer with my hand all clinched like a claw while yelling RAWRRRR!!! This all happens in my head of course.

So I have been wanting this chair for a long time, especially b/c it relatively affordable. The first time I sat in one I was dissapointed. But i would sit in it at meetings, and it really started to grow on me. So when T got pregnant, I was all, "what are we going to name the baby? Oooo I get to buy a RAR Rocker!! " OK! so maybe not in that order.



Well I showed it to T and luckily she is small enough that it is comfortable for her. For me, its all about the look! thankfully i do like sitting in it, but i'd get it even if i didnt, that is if T approved it.

So im all excited about this chair right, well people outside the design click keep giving me the Ojo! My dad came to the store to visit and I showed it to him. He laughed and asked, "how are you supposed to get in that thing??" Other people also think its crazy. And I will admit, its not the most comfortable rocker, in fact its probably the least. Every one says, "how are you supposed to fall asleep in this thing. Well, thats kinda the point. I dont plan on sleeping in a rocker thats in the kids room. The rocker is there for guests and mama and me to be with the child in their environment. If I had a gargantuan stuffed glider of sorts, it would swallow the room. the scale would be off. and there is no way in this life that one of those most comfortable pieces of "Rooms to Go" luxury is finding it way anywhere in this house. You saw the period, it was right after house,

OHHH!!!!!

BUT, I am concerned that I could be nieve, young and foolish. And I am also concerned about guests being able to rock the baby as well. Half well, 3/4 of my family could not fit in the RAR rocker! So I'm getting this!!!! It's way more comf and My dad can at least fit in it, so he flashed the gold card and ordered me one! Thanks Dad! I think he got it for himself though. I'm a Garcia too, This aint my first rodeo.



check it out here - http://www.dwr.com/productdetail.cfm?id=7830

Ladies and Gentleman, i give you the Rex Rocker! Rex and Rawr! Hilarious!
The rex will be in the bedroom most of the time for those fall asleep moments and is still compact and lightweight! The thing even folds for quick trips to the mountains or to the in-laws. Mountains. It must be getting late.

But Alas! I did make progress on the room. I ripped up the carpet, and guess what little gem was hiding beneath the carpet! No! not wood floors, a moroccan themed linoleum!



whoa! Umm...The Red Fez called....they want their tile back! The room is very lound now. Tomorrow is pretty booked, I am not sure I will get to paint or not. We shall see!

Now, talking about Montessori. just what is it and such? well i dont want to overwhelm yall, so i will give tidbits as i go. A good start would be with Maria Montessori.

I copied this from a site

Maria Montessori was, in many ways, ahead of her time. Born in the town of Chiaravalle, in the province of Ancona, Italy, on August 31, 1870, she became one of the first female physicians in Italy upon her graduation from medical school in 1896. Shortly afterwards, she was chosen to represent Italy at two different women's conferences, in Berlin in 1896 and in London in 1900.

In her medical practice, her clinical observations led her to analyze how children learn, and she concluded that they build themselves from what they find in their environment. Shifting her focus from the body to the mind, she returned to the university in 1901, this time to study psychology and philosophy. In 1904, she was made a professor of anthropology at the University of Rome.

Her desire to help children was so strong, however, that in 1906 she gave up both her university chair and her medical practice to work with a group of sixty young children of working parents in the San Lorenzo district of Rome. It was there that she founded, on January 6, 1907, the first Casa dei Bambini, or "Children's House." What ultimately became the Montessori method of education developed there, based upon Montessori's scientific observations of these children's almost effortless ability to absorb knowledge from their surroundings, as well as their tireless interest in manipulating materials. Every piece of equipment, every exercise, every method Montessori developed was based on what she observed children to do "naturally," by themselves, unassisted by adults.

Children teach themselves. This simple but profound truth inspired Montessori's lifelong pursuit of educational reform, methodology, psychology, teaching, and teacher training--all based on her dedication to furthering the self-creating process of the child.

Maria Montessori made her first visit to the United States in 1913, the same year that Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel founded the Montessori Educational Association at their Washington, DC, home. Among her other strong American supporters were Thomas Edison and Helen Keller.

In 1915, she attracted world attention with her "glass house" schoolroom exhibit at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco. On this second U.S. visit, she also conducted a teacher training course and addressed the annual conventions of both the National Education Association and the International Kindergarten Union. The committee that brought her to San Francisco included Margaret Wilson, the daughter of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.

The Spanish government invited her to open a research institute in 1917. In 1919, she began a series of teacher training courses in London. In 1922, she was appointed a government inspector of schools in her native Italy, but because of her opposition to Mussolini's fascism, she was forced to leave Italy in 1934. She traveled to Barcelona, Spain, and was rescued there by a British cruiser in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War. She opened the Montessori Training Centre in Laren, Netherlands, in 1938, and founded a series of teacher training courses in India in 1939.

In 1940, when India entered World War II, she and her son, Mario Montessori, were interned as enemy aliens, but she was still permitted to conduct training courses. Later, she founded the Montessori Center in London (1947). She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times--in 1949, 1950, and 1951.

Maria Montessori died in Noordwijk, Holland, on May 6, 1952.