We had a fun morning. I decided I could spare an hour today, and I went to Annie's classroom to teach them how to play chess. Her teacher had requested this, and I thought I would have time this morning. As it turned out, they had a substitute this morning, but she looked at her list of tasks and decided that we could do this. Much to my pleasure, Annie was not the only one that had been introduced to the game. In fact, I was surprised by one boy in particular. I love kids at this age. Granted, they are starting to show the influence of parents more prominently (both good and bad), and it makes me realize that every one of them has significant potential. They just need some guidance. There is a boy in the class that has been a pain in the rump on field trips as well as when I visit the class. He doesn't do as he is asked, shows up for picture day with a mohawk, doesn't turn in his homework, and yet we seem to connect sometimes. He was unruly as usual today, but what amazed me was that he already knew the game. Given that half of the class had never seen the game, I was trying to limit the number or game rules that I was relaying. I was grinning broadly as the kids that knew the game informed me that I had forgotten to tell the students something, and I asked them to inform the class what I had missed. This boy did it several times. I had asked them to find the queen in their pieces, and as I walked around to check (no pun intended) that they had found the queen, he said to me, "the queen goes on her own color." I hadn't arrived at that point, yet, and asked him to tell the class. He did so very proudly.

We got a lot farther than I had anticipated, covering all the movements of the pieces, how captures are made, and how to win the game. I had no expectation of getting all that done today. I can't wait to go in again and actually have them play the game with each other.

I decided to wrap some drywall mudding tips into this post because I am too lazy to write a separate one... So, here are my tips:

o Do not overfill the tray. It will start to dry and the clumps will streak.
o Keep the sides of the tray clean. Thin layers will dry quickly and create clumps in the mud.
o Check your drywall knives for burrs that will also create streaks.
o Less is more. Do not get carried away with the application or you will be sanding forever.
o When you are done for the day, clean the inner sides of the bucket with water, smooth the surface, and add a half inch of water to keep the surface from drying.
o Clean the tray and knives every time you are ready to reload the tray.
o Always remember that every mistake can be fixed with mud and tape.
o Do not sand exposed tape or the drywall paper. It is a pain to fix the roughed surface, and will take longer.
o Pick one wall, mud and tape it. Go ahead and go through all the layers necessary. After you have cussed and fretted over it for several days, call a professional.

Returning to my hell...