NEA....
The HSLDA has this interesting article on the funding of the NEA.

Biding my time..........waiting to leave for the dentist
The church (my parish, not the Vatican) gave me a lovely mum on Secretary’s Day. It was in a four inch pot. My theory of gardening is “Miracle-Gro, Miracle-Gro, Miracle-Gro.” When we moved it in today it measured about 4 ft across. Looks like it is going to bloom again. I think we caught it before the serious frost got to it.

Miracle-Gro Violet Food has done wonders for the violets that Bridget gave me this summer. I decided it was time to take care of plants instead of waiting for them to die and then throwing them away. Now it has become something of an obsession. I’ve managed to help revive a moribund violet that Emily brought home from the library. (Even I knew that keeping it on a cart in a dark backroom and not watering it was not the way to treat it........)

This must mark a new phase in my life. There was a time when I resented the gift of a plant. It would remind me of the ads that the Humane Society puts on TV before Easter to discourage the giving of live animals. Why give a living thing as a gift. Especially after having a baby, my reaction would be, “Great, I already have another person to take care of and now you want me to nurture a plant, too? Why not give me a bunny or a chick while you’re at it?”