Back in November, I caused a stir by sending an unauthorized email to our PTA email list regarding the lack of performances for half the school. I was asked to resign moderatorship of the list, which I refused. Since then, my reception with the PTA has been "cool" at best (including several facebook unfriendings, which FB totally ratted them out about by offering them as suggestions for people I might know LOL) . Of course, having fans has never been my motivation in life and I have not let the subject drop( raise your hand if you really thought I would. I'm the person that wouldn't eat at Chevy's for 3 years because i broke my toe there and no one asked if I was ok).
Because of my persistence in the matter, the music teacher was invited to the November PTA meeting, where, after seeing it wasn't my own personal crazy and other parents didn't like it either, she agreed to schedule some in class performances for the grades not doing musicals. Lame and a total cop-out, when she easily could have put an additional grade on stage before the musical, had them sing a couple of songs and be done, however, after she made it clear that she isn't REQUIRED to do ANY type of performance, I figured it was the best we were going to get and decided to leave well enough alone.
Since November, I have emailed her at least 3 different times, asking when she plans to get the performances scheduled. At the meeting, we were told they would be in January, February and March, so they would be over by the spring musical in April. Well, as of today, not only have none been done, none are even scheduled. I emailed her again tonight, asking for a concrete date and not the blow off she has given me the other times I've emailed about it. Her previous email, sent Feb 1st, said she knew the "what" (inviting parents to join the class in their classroom and seeing music education first hand) but not the when. She assured me parents would have plenty of notice about it.
Tonight's email pointed out that we are near the end of 3rd quarter, that I'm emailing about this AGAIN and I'm afraid these things she promised, in the face of angry parents, won't actually happen because the end of the year gets crazy. I also cced the principal on this email, hoping to encourage her to get some concrete information to parents.
I really think she believes if she ignores this long enough, I'll drop it. Not only is she totally off-base with that idea, she is sadly mistaken if she thinks that once my kid in in a grade that performs, I'll back off about it. What she fails to realize, I'm certain, is that I have another kid coming in and they will be on opposite years. Until my kids or that teacher is gone from that school, I won't be letting this subject drop. She doesn't understand the mess she has unleashed on herself by tangling with me. I will NEVER let her off the hook.
However, I'm at the point that fighting the battle by myself isn't that effective. So, if I haven't heard from her by the end of the week, I intend to pull out my handy-dandy school directory and type in all the email addresses of all of the K, 2nd, and 4th grade parents (198 students out of 407 total) and encourage them to start contacting her and the principal. It is time this is taken care of. When I sent the original email to the PTA list, I was accused of "trying to start a riot" against this teacher and encouraging a "torch and pitchfork mentality" among the parents. Honestly, if that is what people want to believe about me, then I'm willing to make it a self-fulfilling prophesy. I will not use the email list to contact the parents because that is viewed as an abuse of my moderator powers. However, everyone in the school has the directory (I know, I made and passed out all the copies myself) and has the same ability that I do to contact other parents to take a stand.
On slightly more positive note, I'm willing to bet no one approaches me about being on the board this year. LOL
Despite this issue, I still love the school. I still think the administration and staff are among the best in the district. I think, in general, the teachers are hard working and really care about the kids. I think that the parents are involved and everyone is interested in making the school the best that it can be. This is a minor detail in the grand scheme of school choices but it is my current soapbox.
Showing posts with label angry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label angry. Show all posts
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Negligent parents
I get that not all parents are interested in being "helicopter parents" I get that many of them feel like I'm crazy because I do hover. However, there is a line between "hands off" and full on neglectful. Tonight, I observed (yet again, I see it far too often in this town) the latter at the park. TB has soccer practice at a local park. RF is helping coach so while the boys run around, I've been taking MT to the playground. While were there tonight a little boy, probably 3 or 4 came out of his house, which borders the park, and came over to the playground. The first problem is that his parents were no where to be seen. The much larger problem was that it was 55 degrees, the sun was setting so it would only get colder and the kid was wearing NO PANTS! He had on a jacket, shoes and just his underpants. While I have no issues with kids who don't want to wear clothes, there are limits to that and a time and a place for everything. On to the rest of the evening. This kid was horribly behaved! He was pushing the other kids, sliding down the slide into them, grabbing them as they came down the slide, etc. There was another little boy who was not even two and twice this kid came flying off the slide and nearly kicked him in the face. The other mom and I both told him to knock it off and both times he ran a little bit away and then came right back, only to start over again. I finally told MT that if he touched her again, she had my permission to stop him, however she felt necessary. Those of you that know MT, know she doesn't take well to being pushed around and I have to say that she showed admirable restraint in not ending his behavior right away.
Finally his dad came out of the house and sat on the park bench talking to his dog. Eventually, the boy ran off with another boy. His dad didn't seem to notice that he was gone. I could see him from where I was at and he was clear outside the park, playing IN THE STREET, in front of the houses that border the park on the other side. Several minutes passed and finally the dad noticed that the kid was gone and he gets up and says to the dog "gee i wonder where they ran off too" He looked around the rather small playground and then said to MT "did you see were the boys went?" She turned her back and ignored him. By then, practice was over and we headed out. I have no idea if he ever found him. I have to assume that at some point, the boy would have found his way home, because it seemed like he was turned loose to roam the neighborhood on a fairly regular basis.
Finally his dad came out of the house and sat on the park bench talking to his dog. Eventually, the boy ran off with another boy. His dad didn't seem to notice that he was gone. I could see him from where I was at and he was clear outside the park, playing IN THE STREET, in front of the houses that border the park on the other side. Several minutes passed and finally the dad noticed that the kid was gone and he gets up and says to the dog "gee i wonder where they ran off too" He looked around the rather small playground and then said to MT "did you see were the boys went?" She turned her back and ignored him. By then, practice was over and we headed out. I have no idea if he ever found him. I have to assume that at some point, the boy would have found his way home, because it seemed like he was turned loose to roam the neighborhood on a fairly regular basis.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
I'm Freak...
And I have an attitude problem (I'm also a little petty, which factors in here as well). Most of you know this. However, I have an attitude about something in particular this time so you all get to read about it.
The walk is Friday. Although I didn't chair a committee, I have put in quite a bit of time working on it. I plan to put in quite a bit more time before it is all over because, as part of the hospitality committee, part of my job is to help set up, be there for the event and help tear down. Last year, I was at the school from 7am until 12:30. I don't anticipate it being any different this year. That is not an insignificant amount of time and energy on my part.
I found out today, that despite all that time, I won't be getting a t-shirt this year. I won't even have the opportunity to buy one because they simply weren't ordered. I understand that t-shirts are a huge expense and take away from the bottom line of the event. I realize that it is cost prohibitive to hand one out to anyone who shows up the day of the event. However, this feels like a huge slap in the face to anyone who actually did any work for this event. Honestly, we had several meetings this summer, they knew before today that people wouldn't be getting shirts. They knew the day they ordered them and we should have been given the opportunity to buy one if we wanted one. I would have gladly purchased one because I don't care if they are GIVEN out, I just want a shirt because I think they look cool this year (I have on from last year and it is pretty lame. The only place I will wear it is to work out). Was this done deliberately to cause ill-will and bad feelings towards the PTA (cause, seriously, thinking about not actually joining this year over this whole thing)? I doubt it. Was it poor planning and general jerkiness? ABSOLUTELY!!
Am I still going to the walk? I thought about not but TB wants me there and I wouldn't bail at the last minute because I know the chair of the hospitality committee is counting on me being there. Will I work very hard while I'm there? Not as hard as I would if I had shirt.
The walk is Friday. Although I didn't chair a committee, I have put in quite a bit of time working on it. I plan to put in quite a bit more time before it is all over because, as part of the hospitality committee, part of my job is to help set up, be there for the event and help tear down. Last year, I was at the school from 7am until 12:30. I don't anticipate it being any different this year. That is not an insignificant amount of time and energy on my part.
I found out today, that despite all that time, I won't be getting a t-shirt this year. I won't even have the opportunity to buy one because they simply weren't ordered. I understand that t-shirts are a huge expense and take away from the bottom line of the event. I realize that it is cost prohibitive to hand one out to anyone who shows up the day of the event. However, this feels like a huge slap in the face to anyone who actually did any work for this event. Honestly, we had several meetings this summer, they knew before today that people wouldn't be getting shirts. They knew the day they ordered them and we should have been given the opportunity to buy one if we wanted one. I would have gladly purchased one because I don't care if they are GIVEN out, I just want a shirt because I think they look cool this year (I have on from last year and it is pretty lame. The only place I will wear it is to work out). Was this done deliberately to cause ill-will and bad feelings towards the PTA (cause, seriously, thinking about not actually joining this year over this whole thing)? I doubt it. Was it poor planning and general jerkiness? ABSOLUTELY!!
Am I still going to the walk? I thought about not but TB wants me there and I wouldn't bail at the last minute because I know the chair of the hospitality committee is counting on me being there. Will I work very hard while I'm there? Not as hard as I would if I had shirt.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Random anger and a few good things
It makes me really angry when people lie about the time they spend working out. RF's work has a gym, it costs 1/10 the amount of most gyms in town to go to so I do. Occasionally, they run contests for gifts cards to various places for participating for a certain amount of time. They aren't competitions since anyone that completes the program gets a gift card. That is what got me back in the gym this time. They are giving away a $30 Best Buy gift card for working out 3 times a week for 30 minutes per time for 8 weeks. I've already spent the gift card in my head so I have to complete the challenge to get get my stuff. I realize that what other people do has no bearing on my progress (which is 6 minutes at 3 miles an hour on the stairs right now) and "they are only hurting themselves", but when they screw around I want to yell at them. A lot of people fudge their in and out time on the log. I will be in there, 10 minutes into my time on the elliptical and someone will come in, sign in, ride the bike for a few minutes, sign out and leave. Their sign in time is almost always listed as before mine and their sign out after. There is a prox card sensor/lock on the door that you have to scan your ID to get in but I don't know how often that log gets compared to the written one. The other thing they do is come in, piddle around reading the fit facts, do a couple of reps on the weight machines, spent 10 minutes sipping water, do a couple more reps, watch some TV, a couple more, chat with the other people, etc. So they may actually be in the room for 90 minutes but they are only working out 20 minutes of that time. Lame. I think in addition to the door being locked, all the machines should have codes on them and you should have to input your code to turn it on. Then it would log the amount of time, under your account, that you worked out that day. Then no cheating. I've been told I'm the only one that cares and as long as people pretend to complete the program, that is all they care about.
Something else that irritates me is book series. This used to be basically a Sci-Fi thing, where books would have 27 books in the same series. Never bothered me until it bled over into mystery. Of course, I love the hold system at the library and have many series on hold but if it isn't a Champaign book, you might get your hold in 2 days, you might get it in 2 weeks, your book might be working on the first solo hike around the world and you might never get it. So I still end up browsing the shelves, looking for something to fill time until my next book comes in. Of course because everything is a series, you can't just wonder down the aisle and pick up something that looks interesting anymore. If you do, you might end up with the 2nd, 10th or 50th book in the series. RF says "research it before you leave and find the first book" I say, "since I pick books that have interesting covers, that doesn't work, besides even if I did, there is no guarantee that the first book would be on the shelf and then I would back in the hold system again". I'm fine with the concept of series because I like getting to know the characters better and I like knowing that I have more to read. I just don't like not knowing where the book is in the series. Name your book whatever cute, funny, punny title you feel the need to call it. Then in large print, somewhere on the cover say "the 3rd book in the Britt Montero" series (the series I'm currently reading) so I don't end up with book 2 and 4, thinking I have 2 and 3 and wondering WTF is going on when I crack open 4 and it is talking about stuff I have no idea about, leaving the book to languish on my counter for over a month while I wait for book 3 to come in (which is what happened to me with the last bunch of books I got)
We got our new fridge yesterday. We have been telling the landlord since we moved in that that thing was on it's way out. It has always made these horrible creaking and groaning noises whenever it kicked on or off. Recently, it has started having different temperature zones in it. Some areas are a little warm, leaving my pop less than pleasant. Other areas are so cold food is freezing. I can't tell you how much stuff I've had to toss because it froze (stuff that isn't supposed to freeze, like tomatoes). They left the old one so the new one had time to get cold and we could take our time switching the stuff over. I left it plugged in all night and started moving food this AM. We are going from a side by side to a top and bottom. The fridge part is about 4 inches wider than our old one, which I great. It has 3 shelves, instead of 2 and it is taller. The freezer, on the other hand, is teeny, tiny. I fit about half the stuff in our freezer in it. A lot of it was stuff that has been in there for ages (some frozen fruit from when I made smoothies for breakfast when I was working, before I got pregnant with MT) so I threw a lot away. But I also knew that this is about the emptiest the freezer is going to be because grocery shopping is Tuesday. I called the landlord and asked if we could keep the old fridge and put it on the porch. She said sure, they couldn't do anything with it. So they are coming sometime early next week to hook up the water line (new fridge has an ice maker in it) and haul the old one to the porch. I'm going to use it for freezer space and for drink and other stuff that temp doesn't matter in the fridge. Now to clear off the porch to make room for it.
Finally, does it make me a bad mom that I declined to sit upstairs and watch "Bedtime Stories" with my kids because my dad i up there? I did promise TB that I would watch it with him again tomorrow afternoon but I couldn't bring myself to hang out up there all night. Plus, it sounds like they are jumping off things and generally running wild and I'm rather glad I'm not up there right now.
Something else that irritates me is book series. This used to be basically a Sci-Fi thing, where books would have 27 books in the same series. Never bothered me until it bled over into mystery. Of course, I love the hold system at the library and have many series on hold but if it isn't a Champaign book, you might get your hold in 2 days, you might get it in 2 weeks, your book might be working on the first solo hike around the world and you might never get it. So I still end up browsing the shelves, looking for something to fill time until my next book comes in. Of course because everything is a series, you can't just wonder down the aisle and pick up something that looks interesting anymore. If you do, you might end up with the 2nd, 10th or 50th book in the series. RF says "research it before you leave and find the first book" I say, "since I pick books that have interesting covers, that doesn't work, besides even if I did, there is no guarantee that the first book would be on the shelf and then I would back in the hold system again". I'm fine with the concept of series because I like getting to know the characters better and I like knowing that I have more to read. I just don't like not knowing where the book is in the series. Name your book whatever cute, funny, punny title you feel the need to call it. Then in large print, somewhere on the cover say "the 3rd book in the Britt Montero" series (the series I'm currently reading) so I don't end up with book 2 and 4, thinking I have 2 and 3 and wondering WTF is going on when I crack open 4 and it is talking about stuff I have no idea about, leaving the book to languish on my counter for over a month while I wait for book 3 to come in (which is what happened to me with the last bunch of books I got)
We got our new fridge yesterday. We have been telling the landlord since we moved in that that thing was on it's way out. It has always made these horrible creaking and groaning noises whenever it kicked on or off. Recently, it has started having different temperature zones in it. Some areas are a little warm, leaving my pop less than pleasant. Other areas are so cold food is freezing. I can't tell you how much stuff I've had to toss because it froze (stuff that isn't supposed to freeze, like tomatoes). They left the old one so the new one had time to get cold and we could take our time switching the stuff over. I left it plugged in all night and started moving food this AM. We are going from a side by side to a top and bottom. The fridge part is about 4 inches wider than our old one, which I great. It has 3 shelves, instead of 2 and it is taller. The freezer, on the other hand, is teeny, tiny. I fit about half the stuff in our freezer in it. A lot of it was stuff that has been in there for ages (some frozen fruit from when I made smoothies for breakfast when I was working, before I got pregnant with MT) so I threw a lot away. But I also knew that this is about the emptiest the freezer is going to be because grocery shopping is Tuesday. I called the landlord and asked if we could keep the old fridge and put it on the porch. She said sure, they couldn't do anything with it. So they are coming sometime early next week to hook up the water line (new fridge has an ice maker in it) and haul the old one to the porch. I'm going to use it for freezer space and for drink and other stuff that temp doesn't matter in the fridge. Now to clear off the porch to make room for it.
Finally, does it make me a bad mom that I declined to sit upstairs and watch "Bedtime Stories" with my kids because my dad i up there? I did promise TB that I would watch it with him again tomorrow afternoon but I couldn't bring myself to hang out up there all night. Plus, it sounds like they are jumping off things and generally running wild and I'm rather glad I'm not up there right now.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
In the button pushing factory
Isn't it amazing how, no matter our age, our parents can still manage to push our buttons?
Many of you know that our house is a duplex that we share with my parents. It is a 2 story and they have the top half and we have the basement. Because of this situation, we have outrageously cheap rent, which was huge factor in allowing me to stay home after I lost my job.
Last night, we were hanging out upstairs. TB was looking for something in the toy room and MT was running a doctor's office in the bedroom with all her stuffed animals. I went into the bedroom and was told "you can't be in the doctor's room so get out" TB just wanted to whine about his inability to find a yo yo so I sat in the dining room and started reading my book. My dad came through and heaved a heavy sigh followed by muttering to the tune of "you do nothing but sit around and read, lazy" I hollered after him "I'm sorry if you don't like it, but no one asked for your input" At which point he decided that right then was the time to air all his issues with me (we haven't gotten along, except for a short period after TB was born, since I was about 10. His biggest issue, apparently, is that I dare not work while I stay home with the kids. The arguement went something "why don't you get a job so you can buy a house and take care of your fucking kids" (yes, this was said in front of said kids) Of all the responses that went through my head (and trust some of them were GOOD, if crazy sarcastic) I chose "why don't you bite me? No one ever asked you for a fucking thing so you can just go to hell" after which I gathered the children (amid protests) and came home.
He is on my "Chevy's" list now, which basically means that if I ever interact with him again, it will be too soon. If he ever says another word to me, things WILL get ugly. I will say every mean, vicious hateful thing I have ever said in my head to him straight to his face and it won't be pretty for anyone.
As a result of this, the kids and I won't be spending time up upstairs when he is home anymore. Because of that, I was forced to clean off our outside stairs since I won't be using the inside ones because they come through their dining room. The outside stairs were so gross. We rarely used them because they are concrete and they are kind of steep so it was just easier to use the inside stairs. Because we weren't using htem, they got all full of bugs and dirt and then I wouldn't use them because they were awful. While I cooked dinner last night, I started cleaning them. I don't really have a phobia of spiders but I don't like them. I was so icked out by the sheer number of spiders that were in the stairs that I just sprayed a boatload of Raid and shut the door. 15 minutes later, I went back and cleaned up all the bodies. Then I swept down all the cobwebs and as much of the dirt as I could. I had RF put in a new lightbulb (since we weren't using it, there was no point in lighting it and attracting still more bugs) and today I scrubbed all the stairs with bleach water and called our landlord about getting a banister on those stairs so they are less dangerous to use.
While I was scrubbing the stairs I made a super discovery. I was looking for a pair of old pants to wear while I cleaned because I didn't want to get bleach on my "good" clothes. I rooted around in my closet and came up with an old pair of jeans in size 34 (I wear men's jeans because woman's don't fit right). I thought "I'll never wear a 34 again so it won't be that big of a deal if I get bleach on them. Besides, they probably won't even zip so I can just pitch them when I'm done" Miracle of miracles, they not only buttoned but zipped as well. They were tight, tight, tight but then as I wore them, they loosened up. By the time I was done, I could not only squat in them but I could bend over as well. 10 pounds and I could wear them fairly comfortably!! This is amazing. I don't think I've worn 34 since before MT was born. I hang on to all my old sizes thinking that one day, I just might be able to wear them. At for those pants, it looks like "one day" has come sooner than I expected!
Many of you know that our house is a duplex that we share with my parents. It is a 2 story and they have the top half and we have the basement. Because of this situation, we have outrageously cheap rent, which was huge factor in allowing me to stay home after I lost my job.
Last night, we were hanging out upstairs. TB was looking for something in the toy room and MT was running a doctor's office in the bedroom with all her stuffed animals. I went into the bedroom and was told "you can't be in the doctor's room so get out" TB just wanted to whine about his inability to find a yo yo so I sat in the dining room and started reading my book. My dad came through and heaved a heavy sigh followed by muttering to the tune of "you do nothing but sit around and read, lazy" I hollered after him "I'm sorry if you don't like it, but no one asked for your input" At which point he decided that right then was the time to air all his issues with me (we haven't gotten along, except for a short period after TB was born, since I was about 10. His biggest issue, apparently, is that I dare not work while I stay home with the kids. The arguement went something "why don't you get a job so you can buy a house and take care of your fucking kids" (yes, this was said in front of said kids) Of all the responses that went through my head (and trust some of them were GOOD, if crazy sarcastic) I chose "why don't you bite me? No one ever asked you for a fucking thing so you can just go to hell" after which I gathered the children (amid protests) and came home.
He is on my "Chevy's" list now, which basically means that if I ever interact with him again, it will be too soon. If he ever says another word to me, things WILL get ugly. I will say every mean, vicious hateful thing I have ever said in my head to him straight to his face and it won't be pretty for anyone.
As a result of this, the kids and I won't be spending time up upstairs when he is home anymore. Because of that, I was forced to clean off our outside stairs since I won't be using the inside ones because they come through their dining room. The outside stairs were so gross. We rarely used them because they are concrete and they are kind of steep so it was just easier to use the inside stairs. Because we weren't using htem, they got all full of bugs and dirt and then I wouldn't use them because they were awful. While I cooked dinner last night, I started cleaning them. I don't really have a phobia of spiders but I don't like them. I was so icked out by the sheer number of spiders that were in the stairs that I just sprayed a boatload of Raid and shut the door. 15 minutes later, I went back and cleaned up all the bodies. Then I swept down all the cobwebs and as much of the dirt as I could. I had RF put in a new lightbulb (since we weren't using it, there was no point in lighting it and attracting still more bugs) and today I scrubbed all the stairs with bleach water and called our landlord about getting a banister on those stairs so they are less dangerous to use.
While I was scrubbing the stairs I made a super discovery. I was looking for a pair of old pants to wear while I cleaned because I didn't want to get bleach on my "good" clothes. I rooted around in my closet and came up with an old pair of jeans in size 34 (I wear men's jeans because woman's don't fit right). I thought "I'll never wear a 34 again so it won't be that big of a deal if I get bleach on them. Besides, they probably won't even zip so I can just pitch them when I'm done" Miracle of miracles, they not only buttoned but zipped as well. They were tight, tight, tight but then as I wore them, they loosened up. By the time I was done, I could not only squat in them but I could bend over as well. 10 pounds and I could wear them fairly comfortably!! This is amazing. I don't think I've worn 34 since before MT was born. I hang on to all my old sizes thinking that one day, I just might be able to wear them. At for those pants, it looks like "one day" has come sooner than I expected!
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