And already with the lice? (Not us, thanks for asking.) Damn. Those school nurses do not get paid enough. Wacky Girl is itching, I’m itching, Wacky Boy is itching, scritch, scritch, scritch.
She had a great day — all is well here.
No word today from C.
from WM:
staying home today, not going to fountain, not going to park, not going out for Last-Day-Of-Summer-Before-School-Starts-Tomorrow celebration lunch cuz Wacky Girl is morose and weepy. She is the youngest in her class. And the smartest, according to her. (And me :)
“So I guess I’ll just be the youngest, and the smartest, all year,” she said, huddled in lump in corner of kitchen, crying, in between chewing on a zucchini muffin top.
Then she came up with a plan: Flunk first grade. “It’ll be harder than kindergarten!” she said. And brightened up at the possibility of having to re-do first grade, thus being one of the oldest, next year. Good to have goals, i guess.
I’m morose and weepy still over flooding, and everyone uprooted or worse. Prayers and more prayers and off to light my candles.
Help however you can — lots of clothing drives, food drives and fundraisers going on around the country. Sean Penn took a boat around to pick up survivors. Harry Connick Jr. and Sean Penn need to run for president and vice-president.
lots of love,
WM
ps I quit my new job. Just. Like. That. Turns out they didn’t want someone part-time. Well, they wanted to pay for part-time, but have them there full-time, Mon-Fri. It just wasn’t swinging for me. You know what they say in Texas — Que sara, sara.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and… SCHOOL WILL BE OUT! I’m more excited than the kids.
“I have bursts of being a lady, but it doesn’t last long.”
— Shelly Winters
from Wacky Girl:
I’m excited that school is going to be out in four weeks! What I have learned so far in kindergarten:
absolutely stellar day for WG, who received, in order:
1) a certificate, blank journal and crayons from school, for SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETING A WHOLE WEEK OF NO TV!!! (a side note — now that we’ve had no TV for awhile, when we do watch an hour — or two, let’s be honest here — THE KIDS ARE GROUCHY AS HELL WHEN I TURN OFF THE TUBE. So we’re trying to stick with no TV. Although I will be watching “Lost” tonight, don’t get me wrong. I (heart) Sawyer. “Don’t get me started! I like ’em scruffy, too!” as my friend Wacky M said. But she likes Naveen Andrews (Sayid) even more…) Back to Wacky Girl, and her day of prizes…
2) a certificate from LeVar Burton for sending in a story to the PBS Young Writers & Illustrators Contest (I (heart) LeVar. WM. Is it spring or what? Good Lord.)
3) a poster with stickies slapped all over it — her critique for the artwork she submitted for last week’s Talent Show at school. “Nice colors!” “Cool, girl!” etc. Totally love our school.
All in all, a great day.
kisses,
WM
It’s almost time for the Friday Advice Column. Questions?
No time to blog — off to a v. important PTA meeting. OK, i have a
question for you all — why the hell can’t we drink at public school
PTA meetings? It seems only fair.
ttfn,
WM
More education stories in the paper today, about how the state has more money than they thought. No, not really, cuz there is even less money now for schools. (Well, which is it?) More teachers will need to be fired. The school year will be shorter. But the district is hiring seven people to do PR and “communicate.” So they apparently have the money for that. I cannot communicate well about any of this. I guess I wouldn’t deserve one of their $100,000 + a year jobs, since i am unable to communicate about this subject that is so near to my heart.
I never finished up this topic, sorry. Got too busy railing.
School carnivals take a heck of a lot of planning but man, are they ever worth it! (And I think we might even have made a little money, which is always nice.) We had two huge bounce-arounds (these are spendy, but the kids love them), a rootsy-folksy band that appealed to the crowd, a magician, a bunch of games (ping-pong ball toss into iced tea glasses, sports booth, cakewalk, all of those), face painting, and a Cajun feast with rice and beans, jambalaya, cornbread and Moon Pies.
The photo badge booth, where the kids could get their pictures taken and put their sweet little mugs on a button, was a hit, as was the arts & crafts room. It gave people a nice quiet space to mellow out. They made “shoebox floats” (for the parade) that they decorated with paper and glitter, and they could make Mardi Gras masks, too. We also sold a ton of feathery Mardi Gras masks and glow necklaces, for a dollar apiece. (You can get a lot of materials online, for cheap. And sometimes party stores will give you a school discount.) We raffled a bunch of stuff off and had door prizes, too. There was a big parade through the halls
at the end.
I came home and passed out, and so did the rest of the Wacky Family. Also I completely went into a sugar coma from the cake Wacky Girl and Boy won in the cakewalk, and the large box of peanut butter cups I devoured with almost no help from other family members. This sugar binge was followed by gin and tonic binge with the in-laws while they were here — damn, no wonder my head is fuzzy. Whew.
Some tips:
* If your in-laws are coming for a visit, make sure they arrive the night of the carnival, not the next day. Otherwise they miss all the fun! Plus you can rope an extra volunteer or two this way. (Wait, maybe this
was intentional on their part?)
* Start planning way in advance — at least three months. A lot of the bigger stores avoid charity donations by requiring at least 30 days notice — some even want six to eight weeks. Well, I understand they need time to get signatures on forms and to dither around calling “corporate” and all that crap, but it also lets them off the hook because they know that all of us Wacky Mommies and Daddies are running around at the eleventh hour trying to pull it together. Dithering, as it were.
* Get a letter from the principal as soon as you’ve set a date, so you can photocopy two bazillion copies and take them around to everyone. People you would never expect to cough up will totally surprise you, and people you think are sure bets will let you down. Gift certificates, donated items, cash money — all are gratefully appreciated. Baked goods are adored.
* Expect the unexpected — one of our “for sure” donors completely flaked out, and one of our donors who we didn’t think was even going to donate a day-old cake for the cakewalk came through with a carload of muffins, pastries, cakes and about 100 of those yummy little mini-fruit pies (which we sold with dinners).
It was fun. I’m already planning next year’s! Go for it at your school, if you’re hesitating. The kids will be happy, even if it’s not perfect, and the grown-ups will like it, too.
It’s red hot over here cuz I’m pissed off. Again.
(An aside — the carnival ROCKED! The kids had a blast and the grown-ups did, too — more on that tomorrow…)
I just read a dorky story by Stephen Beaven (he says it’s pronounced “Bevin” like Evan, not “Beaven” like “Beaver” note to SB —
change your byline, dude) and Amy Hsuan in today’s Oregonian. Headline was “Neighborhoods hot; schools not” and was all about how North/Northeast Portland families are sending their kids elsewhere to school. (The westside, for instance, or private.)
Hello? Rilly???
Why is the story dorky? Cuz they don’t get to the g.d. point: Race is an issue. Education is political. N/NE
(my part of town, where i was born, raised and schooled, thank you, yes I’m an eastside rat) has been about as “diverse” as white Portland gets, ie — there are black and white and brown and yellow and red people here. That’s why I like it here.
You hear more languages here than just English. And more and more white people are moving in to what they cleverly call “the ‘hood” and displacing the families who have lived here for decades. And the new transplants are refusing to attend the schools in the neighborhood because why? There are still black people here. (And brown; white, make that “poor white” not “classy white,” like the transplants believe themselves to be, argh; yellow and red people…) It makes the transplants uncomfortable.
Last year, three white PTA moms told me their kids couldn’t attend the neighborhood schools because (direct quote) “We’d be in the minority!” (Technically, they wouldn’t. But the mix at some of the schools in the neighborhood — don’t ever say ‘hood, okay? It pisses me off — is approximately 1/3 black, 1/3 white, 1/3 Hispanic, small percentage Native American, Pacific Islander, and Asian. So if you’re thinking “us” (whites) against “them” (anyone who’s not white) yeah, then white is the minority. What’s the problem, petunia?)
Stephen and Amy quote a North Portland mom who “did her homework” (her words) and decided to send her kid to a westside school, cuz the North Portland school in their neighborhood “didn’t have the resources to educate the students.” And Ainsworth, where her young’un is now going to school, has a Spanish immersion program. Baby, you didn’t do your homework, cuz Beach
Elementary, right up the street from you, has a Spanish Immersion program! Did they bother to mention this in the story?
No.
Did this family bother to try Beach, to see if they liked it?
No.
Did the story mention race issues? Economics? Snobbery? One of the moms was bragging that she would never have her kid attend King, her neighborhood school, but she got such a good deal on her house, she can afford private school tuition! Well, you rock, baby! Good for you!
Who will your kid play with, when she’s not in school? Will she know her neighbors’ names? Will you?
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