Think God will understand that I'm tired?

It's been a busy busy weekend. I hope this is the last one of it's kind. It started Friday night with our school's first chili cook off.

Okay, that wasn't my chili display, but it made for a great photo op. That was the "Best Presatation" Winner.... and Runnin' Man.

It turned out to be a lot of fun with a lot of participation for a Friday night considering many people have other events to attend. There were at least 25 participants, lots of teacher volunteers, and live entertainment from one of the teacher's husband.

This teacher won Best Overall. Hmm, I didn't agree, but what do I know!

There were many compliments on what a great idea it was. Not to toot my own horn, but it was my idea. Now, I have to admit, with my recent encounter with the PTO Prez, I didn't put much input into the whole planning of it. I became a rebellious teenager and let Mrs. Do-It-All, well, do it all! I stepped back, as I wasn't feeling appreciated for what I have done and I let her handle it. Hopefully it stressed her out a little... Okay, hopefully it stressed her out A LOT! LOL!



The principal, who was one of the judges, stopped to let me know that the cook-off was a WONDERFUL idea and that we should do it every year (yea me!) and she also, yet again, let me know how much she and the staff loved the school shirts this year (my idea as well. I'll have to check my archives to see if I've told the story behind that yet). So I feel accomplished with PTO right now, even though I have taken it easy this year.


While I was at the cook-off, I only had Runnin' Man with me as Miss Missy was visiting a friend in order to stay out of my hair while I worked and Sir-Talks-A-Lot was attending a birthday party.


So after the cook-off, it was off to pick up Miss Missy and then off to pick up Sir-Talks-A-Lot about 20 minutes away.

The party was all STAR WARS and Sir-Talks-A-Lot had a ball. I was the last one picking up because of the cook-off, but when I got there he was not ready to go.





Have you ever gotten a compliment about your kid that made you just know that you had to be doing something right?


The party was for one of the school's coach's son. (is that grammatically correct?). He said to me that Sir-Talks-A-Lot was the most well mannered kid that he has ever taught in his, I think, 8 years of teaching. And he said it with a straight face! He even repeated it. It blew me away! I mean you always try to teach your kids to me good and well mannered and respectful. I don't know about you guys, but I put the fear of God in my children if they go somewhere and are not good. But honestly, I wasn't ever really sure how well they take head to what I say. I mean, they're not that great for me. Manners seem to get lost a lot in the house.


Just hearing that makes me know that I am doing something right with that boy... and the other two. That's probably the best thing I've heard in a very long time!


So the rest of the weekend was a blur. When we got home, the boys had a sleepover for Runnin' Man's best friend that, even though he was being punished for a bad grade on a test, I let them go....2 hours late.


They came home from the sleepover about 8 the next morning and it was a mad dash to get ready for Sir-Talks-A-Lot's football practice at 9am and Runnin'Man's football game at 10.



They tied 7-7, ONLY because they gave up not one but TWO touchdowns with penalties!


From there is was off to finish up the day with an FRG fundraiser at an all day boyscout event.


I'm tired all over again just writing about it!


I know I'm wrong for this excuse, but this is the reason I have been skipping out on church since Hubs has been gone. Sunday is the only day where I can rest. I know it's bad to give time to everything else all week and choose to put the Lord on the back burner, but I pray that he understands. That's why they have Joel Osteen and Creflo Dollar preachin' on Sunday mornings, right?

There are some things in life that stick with you and you never forget. Certain memories from your yound life that never leave you. This might be one for them.

Is this why PTOs have a bad name?

You know, I really had to step back and take a breather today after getting an email from a fellow PTO member, The Prez.

Now, I had to take a step back and breathe because honestly, I have to make sure that I was careful with how I approached this situation. I'm still not sure how to handle it and I'm not sure I can talk about it here without saying my REAL feelings, but I will say this. I now see why PTO/PTA's have a rep all over the US. I see why when people hear JOIN PTO they run in the other direction. I understand now why PTO's/PTA's are often considered cliquish and many parents don't want to get involved.

There has to be a balance of control and many times among women, that's a hard task.

Last year, being a part of PTO was fun. This year not so much.

Last year, I was quiet about a lot, agreed with a lot. I was a worker bee and I pretty much did what I was asked.

This year, I have opinions and ideas that I want to share, changes I'd love to see happen. This year I want to get more people involved, have more people taking charge of events. Give people the opportunity to fully be a part of PTO. I feel like if you put the opportunities out there for people to get involved and let them put together their groups and plans then you get more involvement than just that of the board members and the people they beg to help.

When you have a president who wants to be in control of it all, doesn't want to step back and give others a chance to shine, my ideas for a better PTO go right out of the window. When you're dealing with a control-freak-micro-manager who feels that she should be the chairperson for every event or at least someone "she knows" should chair, PTO will never work the way that it was truly intended.

Oops, I guess I said more than I wanted to say. Hope I haven't hurt any one's feelings here.

My Blog.

Deal with it!

FRG and PTO? Am I crazy?

Am I the only one who has kids that start back to school on Monday?

I haven't bought the kids so much as a SHIRT for school yet and I'm not sure when I will find the time. Not only do I have to help out at OPEN HOUSE, my husband's company FRG (Family Readiness Group) has a family day planned. I've also agreed to take a position on the FRG. I want to stay as busy as possible this year to kind of help ease the time as much as possible.

Tuesday was back to "work" for me, as PTO had to be present for the Teacher Breakfast that we host annually.

I was up...... uhh, well I had my alarm clock set for 7am. Do you know the last time I saw the 7am sunlight????

I pushed snooze a few times before getting up. Why would I do that knowing that the kids had to get ready, too? I don't know. Because I'm lazy like that. See, where Karen, out PTO Prez, messed up was telling me the right time that the dang on thing was suppose to start.

RULE #1: Give me an extra 30 minutes! Never give then the right time to arrive. I WON'T MAKE IT! I get that from my mom!

So, the tee shirts came in and they are ADORABLE!!!!

I was so worried about coming up with a school shirt that everyone would like and that would SELL! I think I did it! The teachers were PLEASED with my selection. Everyone was, maybe except for Karen, who was upset that I didn't run it all by her before presenting it to the principal. But, you know me! The HELL with her! She'd been out of town, I did the work, it turned out great. Didn't need her. I think Karen can be a bit a of control freak, and after a year of people whispering in my ear about that, I'm finally picking up on it.

It's funny, because, I'd heard about all the controversy that could be involved in PTO. But I was suckered into the position by my FAVE teacher and went in all jolly and cheerful. Just wanted to help, do my job and make a few people happy. For me, it was never about politics. I would have been fine without the VP title and done the same amount of volunteering. Most people choose not to join because you have these few cliquish folk who are "in power" and think they are OBAMA! Well, with us it really isn't like that. We all seem to get along great with PTO and with the staff and I enjoyed my first year.

This year, I'm hoping will come out the same. If I can get Karen to calm down, reliquish some of her power, allow others to take control of projects, things will be fine. If not, I may just be a PTO member next year (smile).

I'm not sure what I'm thinking taking on all these volunteer positions, but I have a feeling that there are many more out there that will be calling my name this year. Perhaps I need to trade them all in on a JOB! But I think this helps me WORK on that because I guarantee it will look good on a resume'!

Spring break is over dag nab it!

Day two of the week after spring break.

Already I have been nominated to do PTO VP all over again and been asked to bake. BAKE? I don't remember signing up for that committee!

It's for the soldiers who helped our school during spring carnival, so it's for a good cause. And when it comes to thanking the soldiers, I'm all for it. Not only are they protecting our lives and our freedom, but they are also a huge part of our every day community, and for that, I'll do what I can to thank them!

But I guess the old saying, "No Rest For The Weary" rings true! You must keep persevering no matter how tired or overworked you are, in the eyes for this PTO demons (not me, them!)

There was a time when I never thought I'd say this, but Thank Goodness for Spring Break!

Our school and Black History Month

I've been M.I.A in the blog world as I have been EXTREMELY busy in my own lately. Who'da guessed?

Okay, so as you all know, I was bamboozled into being a PTO VP at the end of last year. Well, when they said that you are expected to spend 30 hours a week at the school, I simply laughed. Me? 30 hours? UNPAID? FREE? VOLUNTEER TIME? HA!

Okay, well they weren't kidding because there are seriously times when I have to be at the school or working from home JUST AS MUCH AS THE FREAKIN' TEACHERS!

So we are in the middle of Black History Month and I, along with a few other wonderful volunteers, have been responsible for the activities. We have planned a performance by some African dancers called the Abatsu Dancers that I am very excited about. This will give kids bit of understanding of the culture from which African American come from.

We have put together a series of black history facts to be read over the intercom for the students to listen to, learn from and possible earn prizes at the end other the week.

We have also worked out behinds off on putting together a "Taste of Soul" luncheon for our wonderful teachers. We have asked for parents to donation and we have solicited (that sounds DIRTY) business for some southern style soul food and I THINK we finally have enough! I'm so excited and nervous about this whole thing that I can hardly sleep. I had a nightmare that the dancers showed up an hour late and our principal kept giving me the evil eye while the kids waited in the auditorium for the show to start.

I've had a heck of a month, but you know what? I feel it is rewarding. I feel that had we not taken the initiative to put this all together, our students would not gotten much out of the month itself.

I'm proud to say that I was on a committee committed to educating the students on something that was overlooked last year, our school's very first year.

And now, I'm tired as heck! And I can't believe that I'm gonna say this, but I can't wait for this month, the shortest month of the year, to be over! LOL!

Mama Days

The rain decided to hinder my workout plan yesterday. It's okay, though. I figured that if I at least get in 3 good days a week, I'll be better off than where I was before. So today, Mrs. "Confident" (I kinda liked The Big Head name better, but we'll go with that) went for a quick walk around the trail and it went by so fast. I guess because we just talked and moved. I feel great after that and I have plenty of adrenaline going.

I haven't even mentioned the whole back to school thing. I was excited about back 2 school. Today is day four and the kids seem to really be excited about it so far. Runnin' Man, my oldest, is more excited than the younger one, who I will now call Sir Talks-A-Lot instead of MCS. Anybody who knows him knows that name just fits him so much better.

I think it's so cute that when he chose his clothes and he wanted to wear a collar shirt rather than the t-shirt and shorts I'd picked for him. He wanted to look, "handsome" on the first day. He's my photogenic one. The one that loves to be in every picture. He's the one that has always come home clean, even back in Pre-K.

Sir Talks-A-Lot on the other hand wanted to wear a wrestling t-shirt on the first day, which I decided against. I put him in a polo shirt as well. He came home unsure of how much he likes school, same as last year. He said they have a lot of work and some of it is hard. Not the same as last year. He's usually saying that he knows everything. He's a lot more difficult that Runnin' Man ever was. If he doesn't understand something, he doesn't want to get it. I'm not looking forward to homeowrk nights with him at all!

I know that school is going to be a bigger challenge this yea for the boys and I love it. They are bothe very smart. And I love it when they are challenged and not just flying through everything. Let's me know they're learning something.

This year is going to be a challenge for me. I'll say it in 3 letters...... P. T. O. ! Yeah I got suckered into this PTO thing and they were true to their word when they said I'd have to do 20-30 hours a week. UNPAID??? Are you kidding me??? LOL. For the looks of it, Miss Missy and I will be spending plenty of time at the school for one reason or another, for one fundraiser or another, then for one fieldtrip or another on top of that. I'm not so bothered by it, but I think Hubs might be a little annoyed by it taking up more of my time. I enjoy having something to do personally, since we've agreed that I'd stay home with the kids, PTO is a great way for me to have some adult interaction.

BUT, Good Lord is it going to be a lot of work. Get ready PTO parents, cause I aint doing all of this alone. I'm soooooo about to start delegating.