The Price Family Home Companion

Red: Aggressive, Insensitive

According to The Boston Globe:

A mix of red and blue, the color purple embodies red's sense of authority but also blue's association with serenity, making it a less negative and more constructive color for correcting student papers, color psychologists said. Purple calls attention to itself without being too aggressive. And because the color is linked to creativity and royalty, it is also more encouraging to students.

"The concept of purple as a replacement for red is a pretty good idea," said Leatrice Eiseman, director of the Pantone Color Institute in Carlstadt, N.J., and author of five books on color. "You soften the blow of red. Red is a bit over-the-top in its aggression."

I'm not sure whether to be more worried about ridiculous premise of the story here or the fact that there's such thing as "color psychologists."

Olympic Insight

Chantell, Salem, and I have been watching the Olympics together each evening. Salem isn't too interested in the swimming competitions, but she gets a huge kick out of the gymnastics.

She repeatedly says I one do dat and he's feenish, mah turn while doing summersaults or throwing her arms up triumphantly (yes, it would be nice to have some pictures here, but our digi-cam is boken).

The best one yet, though, was during the men's team competitions, Salem said Dee doe es open. Confused, Chantell tried to figure out exactly what door it was that Salem said was open. I nearly died laughing as that's a statement Brody and I were saying just days earlier after one of the girls bobbled the dismount.

Bush's Hollywood Stronghold

According to Ireland On-line:

Sharon Stone blames US President George W Bush for the absence of a lesbian kissing scene in Catwoman - because of the current conservative climate in America.

I was beginning to wonder if there was an explanation for the recent onslaught of pure, holy, moral, family-oriented films coming out of Hollywood the past 3 years!

It's funny that I can't think of any right now, but never mind that. Apparently it's all because of President Bush. At this rate, I bet there won't even be any Rated R movies after Bush's next term.

Let me get this straight. We're supposed to believe:

• First, that the country's conservative climate is because of President Bush (I don't remember him electing us)
• Second, that the country's alleged puritanical streak is a bad thing
• Last, that Bush now has a stronghold on what Hollywood produces?

I'm having a hard time, um... swallowing that.

Acid Spill too Close to Home

From HoustonChronicle.com - Acid spill shuts part of U.S. 59:

The Richmond Fire Department has asked residents living within a quarter mile of the incident to shelter in place. That mostly covers the Canyon Gate subdivision, a brand-new development with few residents and many homes still under construction, which is south of the site.

Canyon Gate is adjacent to Greatwood (due west) and very close to our end.

Chantell and Salem were headed to the mall (away from the spill) for play group around the time this happened. A couple hours later, on their way home, they heard about it. A shelter-in-place was issued and it was recommended that air conditioners be turned off.

Chantell figured that although we weren't in Canyon Gate and that the air conditioner was on during the worst of it anyway, it'd be best to comply on both counts anyway.

The shelter-in-place has now been lifted and it would seem that everything is OK now (minus the horrendous traffic), but it was a unnerving for my girls to be so near the accident. I'm just thankful I installed some new air filters (finally) this past weekend!

Bush Economy Rolls On

The economy adds another 112,000 jobs in June. Don't look now folks, but that brings us to 1.1 million in the last 6 months!