Thank Goodness For Wristbands

The wee ones' school does a Carnival each year as its major fundraiser.  And yes, in this case, it's big enough that Carnival is capitalized.  It takes over 400 volunteers to put it together and run it, and it's a blast.  The wee ones love when I'm volunteering not only because it means they get to run around everywhere but also because they get no homework passes for each shift I volunteer.

The best part about those passes?  They love getting the passes.  In three years, I've yet to actually have them remember to use them.  It's a great incentive all around.

Our Carnival is huge, and everyone loves it.  It is a great community builder where you see absolutely everyone there.  And yes, this year, I even saw my chiropractor.  Everyone is there, not just kids from the school.  There are games and rides and food and everything you could want from the midway of a real fair.

The first year I went, we bought tickets by the sheet.  I went back to buy more tickets only a few times before my wallet was exhausted.  I think we lasted an hour.  Wow those tickets go fast.  The wee ones had fun, but it was a much shorter day than I'd anticipated.

After that first year, I learned my lesson.  We bought wristbands.  The wee ones actually do love the rides and spend the majority of their time there, and the wristbands are valid from noon until 4pm on a given day.  That I can handle.  It's far more cost effective, and we know we can spend four hours at Carnival before we're done for the day.

The wee ones are now thrilled.  They run from ride to ride, finding friends to go with them, and giggling the whole time.  We still purchase a couple sheets of tickets so that we can buy food.  And so the wee ones can have their faces painted.  It never fails to amaze me how talented some of the people who attend our school are.  Each year when they come show me what they've chosen for their face paint... I just giggle, thankful that it will wash off when we shower.

Little Miss was  vampire this year.  Have you ever seen a cuter one?

Mister Man chose "Bruce" - his made up character from Star Wars XIX (don't ask).

Without the wristbands, our time would be much shorter at Carnival.  And we'd probably spend less money overall because we'd see how fast it was going.  Whoever came up with the idea of doing wristbands was brilliant - and not only because it means I can volunteer for my shifts, knowing the wee ones are being chaperoned by a friend who won't need to keep coming back to me for more money!

Does your school do a Carnival, too?  Or maybe a carnival?  What's your favorite part about the one at your school?

I know we can't be the only ones who love carnivals.  Carnival Savers has a contest going on now through October 4 where you can win $250 in carnival prizes.  Go enter quick though, because this ends October 4!

I am writing this post in conjunction with VolunteerSpot, a website that helps manage volunteer activities.  I've been using it for the past two years with our PTO, and it's a lifesaver.  I found it on my own and have been using it on my own.  I recently met up with VolunteerSpot and found out that they love bloggers, too.  I'm beyond excited to help spread the word about them because I personally love them so much.  Writing this post means I'm entered to win $50 from Carnival Savers, but that's not why I wrote this post!

I Have A Brown Thumb

Friday was my last PTO meeting as secretary at Mister Man's school.  It's bittersweet, but it's sort of nice to be moving on to new things - and to pass all my duties and committees to a new sucker person.  At the meeting, the board presented the three of us who were moving on from the exec board with a small token gift to thank us for our tireless efforts over the past two years (their words, not mine).

We eat received a small plant, happily decorated with thank yous and the like, in addition to a very sweet card signed by all the administration and the outgoing and incoming board.  I loved the pots they chose, as they were so sunnily cheery and bright for spring.  The yellow daisies (ummm they are daisies, right?) are perfect, too.

I'm just not sure that someone didn't choose the flowers just for me or if this was a coincidence.

You see, I have a bit of a brown thumb, except for weeds.  I do my best with plants.  I truly do.  Unfortunately each time someone gives me a plant or flower, the same thing happens.  I water them as directed.  I put them in the right kind of light, but it never fails.  The plant slowly - and sometimes not so slowly - begins to fade and wilt and die.  My mom has learned to not give me plants anymore, but some of my friends still try.

I am proud that I've had an aloe plant and kept it alive for almost three years now.  Of course, it hasn't grown an inch in those three years.  One friend has a ginormous aloe plant in her house, so I asked her advice on what to do with mine.  She shrugged and blinked, as if in surprise that she had an aloe plant sitting there.  I just ignore it, she explained.  Ignoring the aloe seems to work for her.  My poor aloe plant?  Well, it's down to one green "leaf" with the rest now browned and starting to shrivel.

So what do you think?  This is how I received my PTO plant.  Do you think someone knows me, or was this purely coincidence?

Posting at Chicago Moms Blog Today

I'm hanging out over at Chicago Moms Blog today - I'm in the process of passing the hat in my PTO world and wow is it so not the world I thought it was! Come take a gander and make me feel loved!

Give yourself a present: Enter one of my giveaways for a week of summer day camp for ages 5-12 here, a fun Shrek-tacular prize pack here, or a $25 Wal-Mart gift card here.

I'm Going Crazy; Don't You Want To Come Along?

I am losing my mind. Seriously losing my mind. I don't know how it happened or where it started, but it's definitely getting worse lately.

A week and a half ago, the school nurse asked me to pick up socks and underwear and sweats for her, since she hadn't had time to buy the $100 worth the PTO buys her every year. I agreed and asked her to send me an email. She did me one better. She wrote the sizes and info down on a sheet of paper for me.

I went to W-M (her suggestion)and got the list out of my purse. Or tried to. It wasn't there. Then I looked on the seat of my car, where it must have fallen out. I hadn't left the car since she gave me the list. It had to be there somewhere. It wasn't. I took a deep breath and hoped I remembered enough of the sizes and items that she'd be happy with my selection and went shopping.

I chose the items - including finding the $3 sweats and $4.25 packs of 6 underwear and $5.50 packs of 10 socks. I loaded everything in my cart and started for the front. That's when I realized that I'd left my nice blue mini-accordion binder that has our tax exempt info in the car. I sighed, left the cart, prayed it would be there when I returned, and headed for my car. Amazingly, the cart was still there, and I purchased my $100 worth of items. Phew.

Then at the book fair last week, I ran into a mom who volunteered to do our ink cartridge recycling for us. She'd start doing drop offs immediately. Yay! I told her that I had everything in the car, and I left her with the cash box while I went to get the info for Office Max and Staples where I turn in our printer cartridges for recycling. I grabbed the Office Max folder that was sitting on the seat where I'd used it the day prior, but I couldn't find my blue mini-accordion binder that has all my school stuff in there -- including two $30 Staples vouchers I need to spend by October 31 and a $15 Staples gift card. And my grocery coupons (including some free items). And our tax exempt information.

Ugh.

It was NOwhere in the car, but I figured I must have brought it into the house when unpacking the car accidentally. I decided to look for it when I got home. When I got home, I looked for it on the island, but the island was (miraculously) clean. It wasn't in the office on my PTO table. In fact, it wasn't in the house at all. My stomach started turning thinking about everything in that binder that I needed. I never take it out of the console of my car, except when I'm using it to shop.

Oops.

I left it behind somewhere. I tried to think back to the last time I'd used it. Maybe at Dominick's? Or Trader Joe's? Or Staples? Or W-M? Then I started counting the days since I knew I'd last seen it and groaned.

On Friday, Little Miss and I ran errands after her gymnastics class as I continued to puzzle over where I might have last seen it. Then I remembered my disaster of a trip to W-M. Where I'd had to hand back some items to the cashier because I was over my $100 limit. Where we had a ton of trouble with my tax exempt card because he couldn't read what number it was and kept coming up with other organizations. Where I was so flustered by the time I walked out of there that I was ready to just go home and go to bed.

I bet I left it in the cart as I put the three bags of socks, underwear, and sweats into my car. And I bet it isn't there anymore.

Since we were headed to the town where the W-M is located anyway, I figured I'd stop in to ask if it made it to the lost and found. There were three people ahead of me, and they all had apparently very complex issues -- to the point where the woman working the customer service desk apologized to the woman in front of me. Fortunately, Little Miss was fairly fascinated trying to identify all the coins on the Coinstar machine.

As I started to describe my precious blue mini-accordion binder, the woman pulled out the lost and found bin. Amazingly, it was sitting on top. And nothing was missing from it. Hallelujah!

But it gets better. My work has an ID badge that we must scan to get into the building. We scan it to access the copier. We scan it when we want to print out anything. We scan it pretty much all day long. We had an off site event requiring our ID badges, and I put mine in my purse.

After that event, I didn't go into the office for a week and a half. As I got ready to go that morning, I realized that I hadn't seen my ID badge in awhile. I verified that it was not tucked into the corner of my car's console where it belonged. I searched my purse. I searched the purse I'd been carrying prior to that. I searched my husband's car. And I decided that I wasn't going to print anything that day.

Last night, I decided I had to find it. I didn't want to pay $15 to get a new ID badge made. I cleaned out my entire car. I searched my purse thoroughly again. I searched my husband's car again. I searched the outfit I'd worn the day of the off site event. I looked everywhere. It was nowhere to be found.

I decided to bite the bullet, and this morning I asked to have a new ID badge printed. The security guard mentioned how he always keeps his in the console of his car so he doesn't lose his. I smiled nicely and bit my tongue. A new one was printed, and for whatever reason, they didn't charge me for it.

I went upstairs. As I was waiting for my computer to turn on, I saw a receipt that had my credit card in it sitting in my purse. Not wanting anything else to get lost and/or stolen, I decided I'd recycle it while waiting. I pulled out another three or four receipts and other papers that I no longer needed. As I poked through my purse, I felt something in a side pocket of my purse.

You'll never guess what was nestled in there. Of course, it was my old ID badge. How I didn't manage to find it the other thirty times I looked in my purse, I'll never know.

Ironically, my new ID badge swipes me in and out of the building, but it asks me for some unknown PUK code when I try to print or copy anything. Fortunately, my old ID badge still works. So now I have two ID badges. How long before you think I lose both of them at this rate?

Does anyone have any good memory drugs? I can't afford to lose it like this!

I'm Learning

Last year at this time, the former PTO president at the wee ones' preschool was calling me again, begging me to be president this year. The rest of the board and committees had been set up, but the president was missing, and you can't have the PTO without a president. It would dissolve, and the special needs preschool the wee ones attend needs the support of the PTO more than most schools.

I pointed out that I work. I pointed out that I had two small children. I pointed out that there had to be other people. She pointed back to me, with it being me or no one.

I gave in, and this year I was the PTO president. I made it work, and it wasn't too bad. Had I more time, there are certainly things I would have done differently or worked harder on, but everyone seems satisfied. In fact, I'm up for another term next year (unless one of you wants to take the reins? No? No one?).

This coming school year, Mister Man also moves to kindergarten at our elementary school. Since all the PTO presidents in the district gather on a bi-weekly basis, the co-presidents at the elementary school have been salivating at the knowledge that I had a child at that school starting next year.

While having a picnic in our front yard on spring break, a woman stopped by my house to introduce herself. She was on the nominating committee at the elementary school (oh, to have enough PTO members to have or need a nominating committee!). She'd heard that I was coming to the elementary school next year and wanted to pitch a few ideas to me.

Her first idea was to be the webmaster. After regaining control of myself after my hysterics, I explained that probably wasn't the job for me. She then suggested the art chair. As I learned more about it, I realized that it was mainly focused on work done in April and May. With our major fundraising event occurring on Cinco de Mayo, I knew there would be a conflict.

So I declined to do the art chair. Check it out! I said no!

She countered a few days later -- via phone this time -- with the idea of running the holiday shop. Apparently this is actually not a fundraiser but just a fun shop for kids to come pick out items for family members at reasonable costs and do fun little activities. And I would have volunteers to help run it.

I do want to be somewhat involved in the elementary PTO (assuming we go to that school, but that's another post altogether), and the preschool has nothing major going on in December, so I said I'd work on that with another mom to help.

Then comes this week. Ms. Nominating Committee stopped by my house again. I've noticed that phone calls are for easier things with her and in-person visits are the ones that are the harder sells.

Apparently next year there will be no gala, so that leaves somewhat of a hole in their budget. Instead of doing a major fundraiser, they had the idea of doing smaller fundraiser throughout the year. And it's more important to get the person to chair the "ad hoc fundraisers" than the holiday shop. So would I pretty please consider doing the ad hoc fundraisers?

I took a deep breath. I thought about it for a moment. And then I told her no. I explained that I worked three days a week or more and that I was still the PTO president at the preschool. To take on something of that magnitude that required work throughout the year rather than in one finite period was too much for me.

She pushed, telling me that it wouldn't be so bad that I could have other moms help me. And I stood firm. I'm already burned out with everything, and that's just not something I should add to my plate.

I'm finally learning to say no. And I have to say that it felt pretty good. It's not my responsibility to ensure that every position on their slate is filled, and I can only sign up for what I have capacity to do.

Then again, we had the kindergarten orientation on Thursday, and the VP of fundraising was there and thanked me for agreeing to work on the ad hoc fundraisers. I think I set her straight. I hope. If not, does anyone have any good, easy fundriasering ideas?

They Don't Want Me!

I’m so bummed. I donate blood every 8 weeks, making my appointment for the next donation as I’m munching on the cookies the nice people at Heartland Blood Center so generously provide.

This is my 8 week appointment, and since I usually go right after yoga, I had a 9:50am appointment. However, there was no yoga today due to a conflict on my instructor’s part, which actually worked out well. A local elementary school had a huge rummage sale today, and they volunteered to share the profits with Mister Man’s preschool and another local elementary if parents from the two schools pitched in with volunteers.

Peachy! I rescheduled my blood donation to the earliest available appointment, at 8:10. I was still going to miss the opening of the rummage sale, but I’d be there by 9:30 – since the school is 15 minutes south of me while the blood center is about 20 minutes northwest of me.

I showed up right at 8:10 on the dot, yay me! And it wasn’t too busy, which is unusual for a Saturday morning. I filled out my paperwork and read my educational materials. At that point, I realized my temperature was going to be very low because I’d been drinking water in the car, but I figured I could explain that upfront and have it not be an issue.

I actually briefly thought about deferring. I didn’t feel sick at all, but I was slightly sniffly. While I was 99% sure it was due to allergies, I’m a neo-natal donor (O Negative blood is all they’ll give to newborns and for good reason!). The immune systems of those babies are especially delicate, but I pretty much knew I was fine, and if for some reason I felt at all off over the next couple of days, I can call and ask them to toss the blood.

The nice lady was pretty much immediately ready for me, and we headed into the little room for our chat. She checked over my paperwork and verified that I’d indeed read the educational materials. She handed over the little thermometer, and I explained about my water issue. No problem.

Then she starts taking my pulse. Up next is the blood pressure, which in a twisted way is my favorite part. I tend to have low blood pressure, and I always try to see if I can beat my last score. Last time it was 96/58.

As I was thinking about this, the pulse check continued. Finally, she looked up and asked me if I’d had a lot of caffeine this morning. Curious, but sensing that something was unusual, as I’d never had this question before, I explained that I – horror of horrors – don’t like coffee and don’t drink anything with caffeine.

She hmmm’ed. Uh-oh. I figured that for some reason my pulse was racing, which was a bit of a surprise. Then she explained that my pulse was skipping, and that they have a new order in the last two weeks that anyone with a pulse that skips has to be deferred. She tried it again, but apparently my pulse skipped again, so I have to wait 24 hours to donate. Which is Sunday when they’re closed. Which means I am now rescheduled for next Saturday.

Per the nurse, this is sometimes a fluke thing where your pulse skips but the next day, it’s fine. She assured me that most likely it’s nothing to worry about. So now the debate starts – do I google skipping pulse and see what horrors await me in the 0.005% chance that whatever I discover applies to me or wait until next Saturday to see if my pulse has stopped skipping?

The only good news is that I was able to get to the rummage sale by 8:45, and they definitely needed my help. They sold tons of stuff (probably literally) by the time we closed at 4. Amazingly though, there was still so much stuff left that hadn’t sold – including some really nice stuff, which is a shame. Fortunately, they have arrangements with charities to take what doesn’t sell (with the exception of things that should have been thrown away in the first place by the people who donated them). Quick PSA: when donating something, if you wouldn’t give it to your best friend because it’s too gross/broken/out of date/torn/stained, please don’t donate it to charity!

I won’t know until next week how much the rummage sale made, nor our split, but between the Cinco de Mayo event and the rummage sale proceeds, our PTO definitely will have some funds to start off our year right.

Plus, a woman I was talking to at the rummage sale has a brother who can most likely donate ice cream for our school if we do a back to school picnic (which I have my eye on doing as a way to build more of a community).

Oh yeah… and the wee ones are back safely from Florida! They had a great time and told me all about the purple and rainbow slides that they loved and the Shamu jumps they saw and the belly splashers they did. Then they crashed. At least they know that tomorrow is Mother’s Day and they they’re supposed to be quiet when they wake up. We’ll see if that really happens though!

More Whinging...

With all the running around I’ve been doing today, you’d never know that my kids were out of town. I voluntarily got up at 7:30 this morning, and I won’t be in bed before midnight.

I did get a lot done today though. My day started off at Little Miss’ preschool to drop off raffle prizes to mom’s there who entered the Cinco de Mayo raffle at Mister Man’s school and to see how the Teacher Appreciation baskets turned out.

I made the photocopies for the gift card fundraiser and put them in backpacks at Mister Man’s school and made sure the therapists were paid. I got my groceries for dinner tonight – it’s Tuesday, so I cook for two other families. I even stopped by two car dealerships, but more on that another day. Plus, I wrote the PTO welcome letter and got that to the school, made lemon chicken kabobs and a Mideast pita salad for all of us then headed to volunteer at the elementary school’s rummage sale setup to volunteer hours so Mister Man’s preschool can share in the proceeds. Plus real running when I got home and an hour long conference call to talk about who’s calling which Cinco de Mayo winners. No wonder I’m pooped. And crabby!

So let me vent….

First, although I’ve essentially been strong-armed into taking on the PTO president at Mister Man’s preschool, apparently it’s a different story at the elementary school. There’s currently a coup going on, as one of the moms relished telling me. No one likes the PTO president and apparently she does a horrible job and blah blah blah people are refusing to participate this year. She runs the barbeque and uses her husband’s catering company and pays them $11.50 per person for burgers and hot dogs while this other woman set up a caterer to do chicken, burgers, brats and Italian beef for $6.25 per person before the event was taken away from her so the first woman can have it and let her husband do it. Man the stories this woman told. What’s wrong with these women? The whole thing is ludicrous. The PTO is about the kids and helping them, not who is king of the hill and has more power. But the cliques aren’t done. If this is what I have to look forward to when Mister Man starts kindergarten, I’m awfully disappointed.

Second, let’s go back to the plane ride from Houston. I realize that some may disagree with me on this one, but when rules are set in place for safety, follow them!

I’ll set the stage for you:

The plane is taking off from Houston, and it’s a pretty rough takeoff with lots of wind shear. We’re about 3 minutes into the flight, and we’re obviously still climbing.

A seven year old (or so) boy in the row behind me starts whining “Daaad” and kicking the seat in front of him (fortunately where his baby sister was sitting in her carseat). This continues for a minute or so before the dad tells the kid he can unbuckle his seatbelt. The kid does and runs to the back of the plane. Apparently, he has to go to the bathroom.

Immediately, over the loudspeaker comes the flight attendant, “The seatbelt sign is still illuminated, and it is not safe to be out of your seat. Please have everyone return to your seats immediately, and when you use the restroom, you must wear shoes.”

Yep, not only did the dad send the kid to the bathroom when the plane was a rockin’ but he went in bare feet! Ewwww! Quick, quick, can you name another one of my quirks?

Now, I get that when kids have to go, they frequently have to go. However, we had a rule in my house that you can’t go anywhere that we’ll be away from a bathroom until we had used the bathroom, even if it was only a drop. I use the same rule with Mister Man (and will with Little Miss – who is currently wearing Lil Swimmers as pull-ups, I’ve been told!), and knock on wood, it’s worked great to date.

At seven years of age, the child (and the parents) should have known better in my book. Not only are they putting their child’s safety at risk, but what about the other passengers on the plane? If the plane rocks hard enough (and it was rocking) as the child is walking up or down the aisle, he can easily whip into someone and hurt them and him.

The friend flying with me had a different take entirely. She has an eight year old daughter and agrees that by seven he should have more bodily control or awareness. However, she felt the flight attendant was completely out of line. “When a kid has to go, he has to go. It’s better than going in the seat. (To me, that misses the point, and I agree that going in the seat is not exactly ideal.) Besides, there’s no rule that you have to wear shoes in the bathroom. There was no reason for the flight attendant to call out that kid and embarrass his family.”

We obviously are on different sides on this one, and it has me wondering if I’m being too crabby and old lady-ish. Maybe I should book myself a massage to relax. Your thoughts?