Sometimes the best questions are those that go unasked....

Well I really thought I was in for a nice, quiet, lazy day of laundry and cleaning.

Then a friend and fellow PTA mom called me at 8:30. She wanted to let me know that she had fixed some punctuation on a letter I had written (the only thing wrong iwth it was no apostrophy in Mothers for Mother's Day, can you belive that?) before she delivered it to the teachers this morning. I swear she talked for 10 minutes BEFORE it dawned on me I was supposed to be at the school before noon today.

We are making Mother's Day cards for the kids to give to their moms. We cut out a card that folds and kinda holds itself shut for each kid. Then I made up samples for each teacher (like 26 of them) and then I wrote up an instruction letter. The instuctions were simple, have the child write a note to their moms on ONE side. It didnt matter wHICH side, but ONE side only. We would be stamping on the other side. ( I said that), and we would pick them up before the kids went to lunch today. and THat was IT. The sample was easy. I had a card cut, wrote "childs message to mom" on the inside and wrote "for PRIDE (thats our name) use only" on the outside. I told them we would be laminating the cards. And then we would add a super special element to it. a 'present'.

Most of the teachers thought it would be neat. They loved that we were doing something for each kid. But there were the ones that couldnt belive we wanted them back in 4 hours. Those that didnt know what to do with them. THose that were unable to read the instuctions. You name it, we got it.

Once we got all the cards back, we started stamping them. There were 3 of us, but one had to start working on something else half way through it. We stamped "happy mothers day" on it, the schools name on the back, and 2008. Of course we were using scrapbooking stamps and the 2008 had to be done one number at a time.

Most of the cards were done correctly. The notes were sweet too. Except one ENTIRE class wrote on BOTH sides. BOTH FREAKIN SIDES. that was IN the instructions AND on the sample. this woman is certified to TEACH our children. And we wonder why most kids now walk around with their heads up their butts. THen I find a card from a differnt class that is all done up on the inside. real good writing, neatly done cute pictures. and on the outside it says "For PRIDE use only" sometimes you just have to shake your head and say a little prayer for people.

Anyway, we got roughly 450 of these stamped, folded and back in their class envolopes in less than 3 hours. Not bad. Then we had to take them all back out and UNFOLD them. cause you cant laminate them folded.. LOL. But this part is done. Now all we have to do is laminate them, cut them out and then put the extra special really cool 'present' on it. :) The cutting out is going to be a real PITA. its not in any way even. its got dido's and such. ACK!


Well I also had to go down to Bretts room for something. Sure enough he is having an altercation. The teacher has now made a horseshoe out of all the desks. And the open part faces the board. well Brett is stuck in the MIDDLE of the horseshoe. he isnt a part of it. he is INSIDE it. and the little snot nosed kid that he seems to have the most problems with is IN FRONT of him. inside the horseshoe. When I walked down there I was greeted by the site of BRett threatning the kid because he needed OUT, and the kid kept moving his desk and chair and wouldnt let him out. A girl I went to high school with (guess that means she aint a girl no more) was subbing in there. She said it was like this all the time. And that it really wasnt Brett. She would do the same thing in his shoes.

I have went through a year of hell, wondering what was so bad in this childs home life that he had changed like he had. WELL, now I know. Its not that he is being bullied. Dont get me wrong. NOONE bullies Brett. He aint real big, but he is mean as a junkyard dog. But he isnt sneaky about his attacks. When he has a problem, EVERYONE knows he has a problem. He will call you out in front of everyone. And thats what he does. He was seeing RED. and do you know as soon as I walked in the little snot nose jumped up, ran over and said "why hello, Mrs. Byerly, how is little Bow doing? he is so cute!"

I am seeing Eddie Haskel. But not a cute and almost lovable one. I have known this kid for about a year. I never really liked him. But its not fair for an adult to not like a kid. But sometimes its real hard to be nice.

I went and talked to the principal. I told her that I was mad enough when Brett was sitting against a wall, facing the wall, but this was rediculas. I told her that Brett would NOT be going on the field trip to see Beauty and the Beast. He'd rather be hunting with his dad anyway. She begged me to let him go. They are going to stop and eat by the river and all that. I told her that I really didnt feel that it would be best for him to go, I didnt want them to get up there and Brett and snotface have an altercation and me have to drive an hour and a half to pick him up!

I usually go on their field trips, but this year I have had to sit them out. I honestly just cant afford the diesel to go. It would cost me 100.00 just to go and watch a play that sucks. Plus I really dont like kids. that many and I am ready to drive off in a lake.

She told me that she would put Brett in another class, assign an aide to kinda be with him, she would work it out so that he wouldnt be tempted. I told her that if she felt it would work out, I would let him go. She really thinks she can make it work. So I relented. Now if I get a phone call that they have dropped him off on the side of the road I am gona be pissed. I warned them.

Once school was out I went and got the princess of criesalot and Matt from daycare, he had rode the bus over there. We had to go grocery shopping.

The kids were on a roll tonight. Wanting everything in site. and Brett had a 10.00 bill burning a hole in his pocket. They got mad cause I wouldnt buy them candy, or the nifty little jiuce boxes. They are always wanting lunchables, but I wont waste money on them. They wanted cashews, and got mad cause I bought off brand chips. They REALLY got mad on the cereal isle. Rayley wanted Barbie cereal, the boys wanted cat litter cereal ( dont ask me why they call it this, they have called fruity pebbles 'cat litter' since they were teeny tiny), They begged me to even buy them the 'cheap stupid cereal in a bag' I refused. It was plain ole cornflakes or nothin. They voted nuthin. I got the cornflakes anyway.

But I did see where there was a special on Frosted Flakes. A big box for 1/2 price. It was 2.50. I got that. They were so mad they just thought I was getting more corn flakes.

One time Matt said "Its not fair, all my friends get to bring lunchables, and drink soda's at lunch" I told him that when he got grown he could take lunchables and drink a soda at lunch. But until then, he was just lucky I wasnt making him take meatloaf and water in a thermos. THey get vienna sausages and Hugs (a little thing of faux juice).

When I refused to buy the individual lunch bags of chips they REALLY got upset. They said itwas embarrising to have to eat their chips out of a ziploc bag. I told them that when I was growing up ALL we had was chips in a ziploc. There was no such thing as individual bags of chips in our lunches. They didnt belive me. Then they started asking if I had koolaide jammers, or capri suns, or juice boxes. I told them that no, we had kooliade in a pitcher, yes, there was such a thing as Capri suns, but we didnt really get them, they were more of a luxery for when we were going somewhere, and no, juice boxes didnt ever make it into my lunch box.
"well what did you drink at lunch then?"
"we had Koolaide in a thermos."
"whats a thermos?"
I tried to explain what it was. ANd that it would LEAK ALL over your lunch if you wernt careful. And that our lunch boxes would be concidered a lethal weapon at schools today. They were shocked. Then one of the smart asses asked me if I was able to eat a sandwich with lunch meat or did I have to cut peices off a ham like at Thanksgiving.

I told them that we had lunch meat, and even had sliced bread. AND cheese slices.

I was able to leave there after only spending 218.00 I didnt buy ANY meat. It was awful. Next week we are buying a calf. Then in 6 months we will have fresh meat. of course its gona cost a fortune. But I hope it will be worth it. between buying the calf, feeding it corn for 6 months and then having it butchered we are looking at my entire grocery budget for 2 months at least. Of course maybe it will last longer.

Once I got the kids home I instructed them to unload the truck. Me and Bow HAD to get him fed. He was cranky and I was getting there. So we came in and sat down. I was finished about 15 minutes later and they were playing dodgeball with a sodapop bottle. I got them back on task about the time their dad called. we were on the phone 17 minutes and 13 seconds. Not one sack had been brought in. So I calmly walked outside with my pingpong paddle. Amazingly enough they were able to bring in 3 and 4 bags at a time and had the truck unloaded in less than 5 minutes. I had planned on putting up the groceries once they got them in. I had just wanted all the meats and milk and such in before it went bad in the heat. And knew I had to get Bow fed. Plus it doesnt hurt them to help me every once in a while. I also dont like them to put stuff up. I can NEVER find it again. I have been tempted in the past to call them AT school to find out where they put something.

Then Rayley decided to pose a question that I guess was weighing heavily on her little mind.

"well since you are done with Bow, why are you just standin there, you could be helpin us ya know"

Before I could comment Brett and Matt realized that possibly she might have a good question and decided they should pursue the matter further.

So once they got done putting all the groceries up it was time for bed. They were upset that they had not been able to play all night. They had only gotten to work. They were SOOO mistreated.

I asked them if they remembered the 15 minutes I was on the phone with their dad? The 15 minutes I was nursing Bow, then the hour it took them to put up the groceries.. They said they did. I told them that WAS their play time. They had just squandered it.

You know, when you piss off a kid before bed, they go to sleep really quickly?

So here I sit, eating my second bowl of Frosted Flakes, which are hidden at the back of a top cabinet, and enjoying the quiet.