Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
Monday, Jan. 13 – Chilly outside. SOTD is Chanel No. 19 edp again, my birthday present. So beautiful. The rose is particularly noticeable in the edp, and it smells wonderful with a rose lotion like The Body Shop Moroccan Rose.
I’m craving roses. You?
The hot local issue is whether or not the County Board of Supervisors will support the School Board’s proposal to build a new middle school, thus consolidating the two existing, 60-year-old middle schools which used to be high schools before the “new” high school was built, 40 years ago. There is a considerable amount of opposition, particularly in the town which is the county seat. This town used to be the center of population and of industry/business in the county, but as time has passed and development has moved elsewhere in the county – closer to where the Interstate runs through it – the county seat town has lost a lot of these businesses. There are a lot of reasons for this (the furniture and textile industries in particular, which used to make up a good deal of the business, have nearly all moved out of the US to other countries), but those who live in the county seat are concerned that the loss of the school within town limits will lead to further deterioration. There’s also worry that raising our property tax (which is one of the lowest in the state) will cause our many older residents financial hardship.
I am all for a consolidated middle school. I understand that there are concerns that must be addressed: 1) finding the money locally since Virginia has gradually supported less and less of the financial burden of education, 2) the aging population, 3) the disposition of unused and aging school buildings, 4) keeping Pulaski residents happy, should the new middle school be in the center of the county as the high school is and not in the county seat. Still. Neither of the middle schools have been maintained properly, and their roofs leak, their paint is peeling, they have structural integrity issues. There is an enormous push to renovate the existing buildings rather than build new, and if those schools were in good shape I’d agree. They are not, however, easily renovated. Pulaski Middle, which my parents attended when it was a high school, has 23 different floor levels. 23! And since any renovation must bring the school into compliance with ADA, those 23 levels must be reduced to two or three (with elevator) or one level without. In addition, the Pulaski site does not have room for athletic facilities, and the Dublin one does not have adequate space for parking. Neither building, of course, is compliant with current safety standards.
GAH. The citizens’ hearing meeting this evening was not pleasant. There was a whole lot of “don’t raise my taxes!” and “don’t take our school away!” going on, but there was in general a consensus that something has to be done about the schools. (Dublin Elementary, built in 1968 on the cheap, must also be renovated, and nobody seems to be disputing that in the least. It was designed by an architect who typically designed strip malls rather than schools, and it is as uncomfortable a building as I have ever been in: there is no air conditioning, of course, but in contrast to the un-air-conditioned schools that I attended in my youth, the rooms are constructed so that windows are minimal and cross-ventilation nonexistent. The heat index reached over 100F in August last year and the year before, and there were at least a handful of days that all county schools were closed because of the heat index at DES. It’s a mess.)
Tuesday, Jan. 14 – Warmer today. SOTD is Vagabond Prince Enchanted Forest. Sadly, I have discovered that my 10ml decant has EVAPORATED!! Down to 4ml!! I am aghast. The top was loose… don’t know if I did that or it came that way, who knows. Anyway, this one is centered around cassis bud/blackcurrant, and it is incredibly tangy, with some pine and quiet florals and a lovely skin-scent drydown.
Wednesday, Jan. 15 – Day started out not terribly cold, but we got some blowing snow later in the day. No accumulation. Cold, though – The CEO built a nice fire. I finished cleaning up allll the Christmas decorations, including my nutcracker collection which we left on display until my birthday. SOTD: Soivohle Centennial. I don’t know WHAT is in there that makes it feel fuzzy, but it is. It reminds me of a fuzzy sweater in a deep orangey-salmon color that I used to wear in college. Is it a patchouli-amber-civet angle? I’m not sure. It is noticeably floral and very chypre, but warm rather than chilly as some chypres can be. Also, it lasts for hooooooours on me, which is unusual.
The high school band was invited to nearby Radford University to play at a basketball game. Their own students are not back yet as they haven’t started their spring semester, so it was nice for RU to invite an area high school to play. I’m sure everyone at the game enjoyed it, too. Gaze said it was fun, even though RU lost to Virginia Military Institute. VMI is a much smaller school and somewhat limited in its capabilities to recruit for athletics, given that the cadets must meet certain physical standards so that the cadets can serve in the US Army after completing their degrees. It’s one of two colleges in the US that run a mandatory ROTC program concurrently with their academic one. It is a given – if you attend VMI or The Citadel in South Carolina, you WILL be a member of the corps of cadets, and you WILL be subject to the normal requirements of an ROTC program anywhere else. (To clarify, VMI is strictly Army ROTC.) It’s a tough life. 
I will say, though, that the cadet uniform is one of the most attractive military uniforms I’ve ever seen – similar in design to that of West Point, but it’s a slightly darker, bluer gray. To the left here is a picture of my friend Terry Plunk in his VMI uniform. 1st Lt. Plunk was killed in the Gulf War while clearing land mines.
Thursday, Jan. 16 – Addicted to Centennial again. I go through stages of not being able to get enough of it… which is bad, because I bought this 11ml for a ridiculously low price when Liz Zorn put several items on clearance. However, a number of people bought it because of the sale (myself included), it became better-known, and now I doubt it will ever go on sale again. Sadface. This means that I shouldn’t be profligate with it. Finding that balance between careful use of resources and enjoyment of them is so, so tough…
After showering in the afternoon, I put on L’Artisan Traversee du Bosphore (I think I read somewhere that this has been discontinued recently), as it is a soft and cuddly sort of scent, all rosewater Turkish Delight and soft buttery suede. I always have to be very cautious in wearing fragrance to community chorus practice, as there is (at least) one soprano who feels that perfume closes up her throat. She may be right, I can see that possibility, and it only may be certain ingredients that bother her, because I notice that orientals and high-pitched fresh florals seem to get the most comment. Shampoo scents don’t seem to trigger her Perfume Alert mechanism.
Went to bed in Parfum Sacre, which is so lovely and comforting.
Friday, Jan. 17 – The boys are out of school for teacher workdays at the end of the 9-weeks grading period, and we’re trying to think of something fun to do. In the meantime, there are errands and housecleaning, and SOTD is Olympic Orchids Ballets Rouges. Went to the grocery store and somehow managed to buy everything EXCEPT the laundry detergent we were out of… gah.
Saturday, Jan. 18 – We had a women’s brunch at a church member’s house this morning, just the ladies of the church (we range in age from late 50s down to early 20s, and I think that’s pretty cool. We do have one older woman, but she’s having knee trouble and didn’t feel like getting out this morning, so I hope we’ll see Miss Nancy tomorrow. SOTD was Carnal Flower, which is just so fresh and beautiful. Gorgeous. It’s odd, you know, I keep seeing people talk about Carnal Flower having big sillage, but it does not on me. You have to be within about two feet of me to smell it… perhaps if I spritzed six times it would be big.
The boys went with the youth group to eat pizza and then go play laser tag, so The CEO and I went out to dinner and then came home to watch Bull Durham. Fun.
Sunday, Jan. 19 – Good church service today. SOTD: Pierre de Velay Extrait No. 11, which I probably should review in full at some point. If you like Roja Dove Diaghilev, Mitsouko, Centennial, and Ballets Rouges, you would probably get on fine with No. 11, which is a chypre with floral leanings, and it’s lovely. I don’t like Mitsouko, and Diaghilev was a touch outside my comfort zone, a little too chypree, but I do really like this.
Invited my MIL over for dinner and had a wonderful time.