Thread: Erato's Musings

I must be insane So, yeah... as many of you may or may not have noticed, I have not been around in awhile. Probably on a small fraction of those who have noticed might be asking why. This is because I have recently learned that volunteering for any extracurricular activity for a small child or group of small children is officially signing the paperwork to be admitted to the looney bin. Signing my First Name My child is into everything. From the time she was two until now, and probably for many years ahead if her lofty goals speak to her desire to continue, she has been in ballet and dance classes. Despite the Nutcracker not being until mid December, it has already been looming over me. Monthly dance payments, trips out of town to specialty stores since the one we had closed this summer without any notice at all, fretting about costume sizes and accessories needed. Okay, so the last part isn't that hard since she is an Angel this year and with it being so close to Halloween, you can find things like halos and glittery wings all over the place. But I'm already noticing a huge difference between Beginning Ballet to Ballet I. Signing my Last name The kid is officially in school now. That has never been more obvious. I remember things being so much different from when I was in kindergarten to her being in there now. When my mom was in PTA, it was a few meetings here and there over the course of a whole eight months. Now they've started at the beginning of August. Three days into school we were slammed with a fund raiser. Guess who idiotically signed up to help process orders? They've done away with the famous Accelerated Reader lists and decided it would make perfect sense to switch over to this new program, that basically does the exact same thing but is more complicated. Some parents got roped into helping the school's media center get ready for the change. Now, when we first told this, I was thinking it would be so simple as updating a few lists and putting in existing information. But no. It can't be that easy. Ever. It has taken hours upon hours of volunteer time, sitting in uncomfortable pint-sized chairs, and scanning in every book... every damn piece of equipment that has nothing to do with anything... into this new system. Why the hell does a decades old projector needs to be scanned into something related to 10 page books with 5 words per page is completely lost to me. October is peeking its head around the corner just to remind me of Math night, a college hosted trick-or-treating event, and a Halloween party the school is having. Signing the date Oh Girl Scouts. How I envied the color corresponding uniforms with all the nifty iron and sew on badges when I was little. How I still drool over the cookies I can only get for three months out of the year. How I'm ready to set every damn troop on fire now. I was sort of bullied into the role as troop leader by being told that my little girl, who was all over me to sign her up since the newsletter came out months ago, would not get into a troop if not enough people volunteered to be leaders. She'd be placed on a waiting list until the next year rolled around. Even then, it was not a sure bet if not enough people signed up that year too. She was literally tearing up at the recruitment meeting when she heard this. I reluctantly raised my hand. A whenever-I-want job as a writer could not be placed over the happiness of my child. My schedule was open the unfinished project could always be put on the back burner for whenever I had some free time. Besides, it would be fun having a handful of girls, planning some meetings, maybe doing some group activities with them every now and then... and of course, I'd have first dibs on the drug cookies. The last month has seen me logging more computer time than I did when I was in college. The 'handful' went from being eight girls, to almost eighteen after I called everyone on the recruitment list. There were three times as many who luckily lost interest. As the number grew, I was quickly becoming more and more hesitant. I asked if there was someone else who could take part of the group from me. Of course, Daisies Kindergarten to First Graders is a relatively new age group. There is no one else. I just keep seeing the face of my child, her heart literally breaking before my eyes, when she found out that all because of lack of adult involvement she wouldn't have this coveted spot. So down the list I went. To shake things up a bit, they've decided to add these things called Journeys into the mix. Sure, you can get your regular petal badges, but there are 12 more potential badges that look a lot cooler than some oval shapes around a yellow center a kid can get. The last few weeks have been spent coming up with lesson plans for meetings. Sounds easy enough. It isn't. New troops can't do fundraising their first year. Daisy troops, even established ones, can only rely on cookie money unless otherwise approved. I've been trying to come up with things that can get the point across with recyclables and school supplies kids should already have. Even then, when my projected expenses came up to about 170 per girl with just badges and books... that number is huge. Turning it in Okay, so this is really more of an addictive pastime, but Diablo 3 finally hit Xbox. All this parent stuff when the land of Whimseyshire and killer cows and flowers is waiting for me? Yeah... I'd rather be vegging out in my Gamer chair making callouses on my thumbs. However, I think I have most everything done for a little while. I should be good to go.