Wrapping up the loose ends of being an elementary PTA board member mama.

I have been on the PTA board for 5 of 6 years of my child's elementary school years.  I have been:

Corresponding secretary my first year.
3rd Vice President (fundraising) my second year.
President my third and fourth years.
2nd Vice President (school newsletter) my third, fourth and fifth years.

I have handed over the following chair positions:

Book Fair
100 Book Challenge
Garden Fair
Birthday Book Club
Membership

I have trained.  I have written manuals.  I have sent documents via e-mail.

I have shared passwords to accounts.

The last two days were the final BOGO Scholastic Book Fair of K's elementary school career, with her being employed as the "babysitter" of the youngers coming up in her shadow.  She has been raised as a PTA kid.

She has seen me in the halls on a weekly basis.

She is not too shy or too embarrassed to stop and always give me a surprise hug from the back or a quick peck to the cheek.

I think she might actually look forward to my being there.

The staff all knows me.

I leave the school knowing that I've left the PTA in a better condition than it was when I received it.  We were a broken mess that was in the midst of trying to be fixed.

I got our new building to be built bigger than the school district was intending to build it.  They were going to built it for 60 less students than the enrollment at the time because of "2016 projections."  Well, 2016 projections were off because our enrollment remains the same as it has always been-- between 510 - 530 kids.

All those kids?  They basically know me, too.  I praise them over good work.  I tell them how cute their shoes are, how I like their hair doodles, how great they are working together, how nice their smile is and so forth.

I also peek around the corner and bust them for playing in the sinks.  I make them walk when they run down the hall.  I've escorted them back to class after the book fair if they are prone to "wandering."  If they have been unkind to me, I will tell them that they have been unkind.

I and my child have been blessed to have an experience that has been so largely positive in elementary school.  A few years were rough, but the other years were golden enough to knock down the rough spots of the few years of bad.

Soon it will be middle school.  Soon that will be 6th grade.  I'm sure we'll make it, but it makes me sad that this chapter closes.

Gotta let her grow up, though.  I can tell you one thing though, I will never be another PTA board mama.  Oh, I will help.  I have no problem with that.  I would just like to live an existence of being thankful for the wonderful things going on in the school and not have parents continually complain to me about things that they think that the kids should have or do, but about how no one actually wants to help execute their ideas.  This isn't fair or that isn't fair.  I leave a very active and very giving PTA. I'm curious to see how PTAs and parental involvement will continue as K grows older.

Until then, I still have Garden Fair Planting day, cotton candy, baseball game for 5th grade, end of the year picnic, movie day, dance (a very informal one during the school day), 5th Grade Recognition breakfast . . . My duties aren't done yet.

Dear Clothing Industry,

I have an 11 year old daughter whom I love more than anything.

She's tall for her age.  She's over 5' 1", which I might add is taller than me.

She is long waisted and the bulk of her weight lands squarely on her torso.  This is not a build that you consider when making clothes. Not everyone is built like a ballerina.

My baby is, well, starting to be a young lady.

When looking for garments for her the other day, I've found that she can wear some in the children's section, but mostly pants.  Shirts are too short.  They give her the Dora the Explorer (first generation) kind of look.  More disturbing though is . . .

. . . why are all of the bras made in junior sizes PADDED?

My baby doesn't need to enhance anything she has.  She needs to be a responsible young lady and to wear proper undergarments, but at 11, she does not need padding, nor does she need wires.  It took me so long to find proper items that I needed for her.

Pajama shopping was a hoot, too.  Children's pajamas are way too short.  Adult pajamas are basically, well, too adult.  I did track some down at Kohl's, but it wasn't without great pains to do so.

It would be great if we had a clothing industry that catered to helping our children to remain CHILDREN and not to enhance what little bits that they have.  I don't believe in having my child dress as an adult.  It would be wonderful if we had an industry who was willing to allow our children to remain kids.  Let kids be kids and not mini adults.  Allow them to dress respectfully, age appropriately and not suggestively.

Just some feedback from a frustrated mama.

Thank you for your consideration,

Amy

Letter Carrier Food Drive- Saturday, May 9, 2015

Don't forget to leave a bag of non-perishable food items for the Letter Carrier Food Drive this Saturday!

Walking side-by-side in marriage.

I had a customer in yesterday who really got under my skin.  He came in, I happily told him to let us know if he needs help with anything.  Truly.  That's what we're there for and we are happy to help.

He comes to me.  He starts talking.  It's a bit incoherent.

He speaks of a girl who asked him to marry her.  Of course he had to say yes.

He's married.

He's not married.

How could he marry?

He talks on about artists and art.  I engage in the conversation.  He talks about my boss.  I discuss certain aspects of the work.

He speaks of attending college.  I say something in regard to that and he tells me that he's illiterate.

:tip of the head with the attending college comment:

He continues to talk.  And talk.  And talk.  I can't fully understand him, but I give a bit of a grunt and nod from time to time.  (I can understand the idea he speaks of, but not details.)

Toni comes up.  She had been setting a jewelry case in the back.  He turns.  I kick her in the shin so she knows not to leave.  (I apologized later in case I bruised her.)  He rambles some more, then goes to look around next door.  Later, she told me that she had been keeping an eye on the situation and came to be with me on purpose.

I called next door just to have him followed a bit.  I didn't think he would steal anything, but I had no idea what he would do or what customer or coworker he would corner.  Matt was sent to hang with him.  He later told me, "I didn't know what you had against 'Duck Dynasty' until he opened his mouth.  Then I knew."

About 10 minutes later, the guy comes back through.  He talks of marriage.  He talks of marriage "Being a man and a woman, whites with whites, blacks with blacks and Muslims with Muslims."  :chewing on the inside of my cheek:

"Well, I think it's most important that people marry whoever makes them happy."

His response?  "I think that obedience is most important.  Obedience is more important that happiness, don't you think?"

I may have closed my eyes.

I may have taken a deep breath.

I picked up the phone and called a male coworker over.  He was over faster than I ever thought he could move.

He left almost immediately after Dan arrived.

Here's the thing, I don't pull that trigger all that often.  I'm not the girl to always have a man come to our rescue.  He seemed a little unhinged and I just didn't know which way things would go with him.

What do I think of obedience?  Well, it's great when you are a kid or an animal.  My thoughts and how we are structured in our marriage is that we're equal in this marriage.  My friend will say that she and her husband walk side-by-side.  She said that she doesn't walk behind, but doesn't walk in front, either.  M and I are that way.  There are times one takes the lead a bit more than the other, but we both take care of each other.

Happiness IS most important to both of us.

M's specification before marriage is that we had to enjoy our jobs.  If we didn't enjoy them, we had to move on.  Neither one of us have changed jobs that often in our 18+ years of marriage.  M moved from one permanent park position to another because of continual displeasure with his job.  I moved from the wedding boutique partially out of complete unhappiness and partly because I was trying to find a job art related.

We have a small house that we can manage because that brings happiness to us.  We love our neighborhood.  We love our little plot of earth.

We have basic vehicles that we take care of and own until they die because that brings happiness to us.  Shopping for cars stresses us out.

Neither one of us makes demands of the other.  Instead, we work together-- as a team.  There is no submissive wife.  (He knew that long before marriage.)  There is no submissive husband.  (I wouldn't want that.)  We are helpful mates to each other and I would want nothing more.
 

The Finicky World of Vinyl

We didn't want to pull that trigger.  We tried not to.  We knew that 1.  It was an expensive hobby.  and 2.  We didn't have a turntable.

Bring Christmas and my husband gifts me a turntable.  Turns out that I had put some vinyl on my list, but with the intention of collection only.  He thinks that it is insane to just own vinyl and knows that I'm not a collector.  I'm a user of things.  I hate having a ton of stuff just sitting around and, well, doing nothing.

Fast forward to now.  This was our first official Record Store Day where we owned a turntable that we could use to spin some delightful wax.  RSD was Saturday and though both of us knew about it, M worked and we were helping him with his Earth Day Fishing Derby.

I got a bit of an itch that night though.

"You know, I didn't realize that Slayer put out a 7"."

"I knew."

"Do you want us to see if we can find it?  I have one I'm looking for and we can stop tomorrow before soccer."

A little arm twisting :sarcasm: and we landed at our record store the next day.  Of course, they had what I was looking for plus a 2011 RSD PJ release.  No Slayer for M.  Bummer.

I went home and did, despite other people's choosing, spun my Citizen Dick (one side, of course) and The Frogs version of Rearviewmirror.

M did find his Slayer 45.  He texted me.  It was "cracking and popping" on the one side all over the place.  I did listen to it later.  It has some pretty intense surface noise, but it kind of is what it is.  The pull was limited to 5000 copies worldwide and though contacting the distributor/manufacturer, it seems as if there isn't a really great resolution.  He's received vinyl from this particular outfit before.  It had chunks out of the edges and a big scratch across "his favorite song."

He bought me the Jeff Ament vinyl and it's warped.  The needle rides along like it is on a roller coaster track.  It plays fine.

Surprisingly, my friend purchased a limited edition release that he waited months for.  It arrived and it had two huge skid marks.  They didn't play on his turntable.  They were replaced and since he had the extra, he asked if I would like them.  I said sure and you know what?  They play just fine without skips on my turntable.

We don't just drop the vinyl from the package and onto the turntable.  Nosiree!  There is cleaning to be done.  Then you have to flip the adjustments to make sure that you're running for a 45 and not a 33.

Now, M wants a needle cleaner.

We bought a record cleaner.  Works like a charm.

Here's the thing.  Neither one of us remember doing any of this stuff when we were kids.  We just slapped the filthy vinyl on the turntable, dropped the needle and listened to it.  There could be hunks of peanut butter stuck to it.  It could be skipping all over the place.  We also reached down WITH OUR HANDS and removed the fuzz from the needle.  You mustn't do that now.  YOU'LL RUIN THE NEEDLE!

Has vinyl equipment gotten more finicky over the years, or have we?

Pharmaceutical coupons.

I've hit a desperate state.  I sat with my doctor this morning, told him that once again, Nasonex and Allegra could only do so much.

"So, you want an allergy shot, huh?"  :insert smirk:

"Yes, please."

I explained that I've been blowing (literally) through boxes of Kleenex and frankly, I hadn't been sleeping other than the night previous, but that was the first in about 6 nights.

I've woken to my husband very quietly tip-toeing out of the bedroom with pillow in hand.  I'm such a sinus wreck that it's sending my husband to seek sleep elsewhere.  I should add that he needs complete silence when sleeping (or loud music) and I've not been completely silent nor have I been melodically snoring death metal to him.  Poor guy.

So I got the wondrous shot.  I swear that between the shot and a little shot of rain, I'm starting to feel like a new woman.  I'm excited to sleep AGAIN tonight and to be able to get rid of crusty red nose.  A few nights ago, I woke up with baby bubble booger nose.  That was gross.

So knowing I was going to Dr. W, I had to get my Epi Pen refilled (the other was outdated) and to get a new prescription of Nasonex, which surprisingly ran out just this morning.  I knew that I had a Nasonex coupon from online, but thought I'd give Epi Pen a try.

I found one.  $0 copay!  Hooray!

I went to the pharmacy with coupons in hand.  The pharmacy tech never gets mad about the coupons even though she has to back the script back out of the system and refill it and rebill it.  She came to me and said, "You know, I'm going home to find that Epi Pen coupon.  I have to pay $80 for mine and I've got an old one because I just can't afford it right now."

So sad!

I told her that she was probably glad to see me!  I told her that I've now learned that any brand name prescription I have, I will look to see if there is a savings card or coupon online.  I also have the Lipitor card.  I'm able to get brand name Lipitor for $4, when if I would get generic, it would cost me $25.

So go forth!  See if you qualify!  Look for coupons, people!

Renewed appreciation.

My husband and I have been married for 18 years.  We've hung out for 21.  We been through ups and downs, but nothing that has had us ever consider parting ways.

Ever.

We're lucky that way and I know it.

Recently, stories keep tumbling in my door about family members and friends in dire straights with marriage.  There has been infidelity, verbal abuse, growing apart and cases of mutual disrespect.

M and I were having a heart-to-heart last night.  I was regaling him with stories that were told to me of loves lost, hearts broken and those just trying to scrape it together to make it work.

"Makes you appreciate me a little more, doesn't it?" my man said to me with a grin.

I truly have been fortunate.  Tacky to say, but a lot of men would have left me after being told that I couldn't have children or risk a 90% chance at death.

M would tell you that he has been fortunate because a lot of women would have left him for his undiagnosed digestive ills that he's been battling for 12 1/2 years.

Never once have either one of us considered it.

M and I have always had a mutual respect for each other.  A coworker was talking a few weeks ago and I mentioned something.  She told me that the relationship that M and I have together isn't that typical and that we really were made for each other.

I know it.  So does he.

How fortunate I am.  How fortunate we both are.