Baseball Mom

Hmmmm....

Where to begin?  I guess I'll start with T's tournament this weekend.  His first game was at 8:30, which meant we had to be there at 7:30, and the field is about a half hour away.  We dragged the kids out of bed, got them dressed amid much crabbing and whining, and headed out.  They both fell asleep in the car on the way, and we woke T up about 15 min. before we got there, so he could be non-comatose for the game. Alex and I dropped Husband and T off and went to find a Starbucks.  Luckily, the gods were smiling on us, and there was one about 2 minutes from the field.  After that, I looked back and Alex was sound asleep!  I went to McD's and got him a sausage mcgriddle, and we headed back to the fields.  I sat in the car, hoping he'd wake up, and making several attempts to talk to him and make him wake up, and then just gave up and watched the game from the car while he slept.  It wouldn't have been worth it to wake him up and deal with the crabbiness.  T didn't play a whole lot in that game, which was probably a good thing, since he was so tired.  The guys were outclassed by this team, and lost 15-0 (I know) but that team ended up winning the whole tournament, so they were goooood.  The second game was right after the first, and was way more fun to watch.  The teams were pretty evenly matched, and we won 5-2.  We then headed home for a four hour break, and all of us just lay around in front of the a/c because it was 90 degrees by that point!  We went back for the 5:30 game, and played one of those teams with the rabid fans with weird sweatshirts with things like "Caiden's mom", "Aiden's sis", "Grayson's mom's divorced brother in law" etc. written on the back, and matching team-colored hairbows (not so cute on a 30+ year old with dyed platinum hair and a fake tan/boobs like most of them were) and cowbells.  The boys on these teams tend to have a bunch of stupid chants too--"We wanna double, just a little double, we wanna triple just a little triple", etc.  We lost 10-5, and I was just happy to get the hell outta that heat, and away from those annoying people.  That night we went to Wendy's and in the drive-thru, the woman who was working there turned around to her co-worker and said, "OH, damn" about something.  Alex, in the back, piped up, "Mom, did she say the D-word?" .  I was pissed, and she saw that, so she says, "I mean, DARN."  After that, when the girl brought our fries to her, she said, "It's about fucking time."  I could. not. believe. it.  You can bet that Wendy's co. got a blistering email from me, after listening to my kids question me about it all the way home.  The next day, we went through the same morning routine, tired, grumpy kids, etc. and played one game at 8:30.  It was already HOT out, and T played the whole game, so he was tired.  We lost and were done for the weekend.  Our coach is looking for some smaller tournaments that have no teams who are competing for the little league world series attending, because being beat SUX.  It was fun anyway, and the next one is in two weeks, way far up north.  We'll probably get a hotel, because we can NOT drive an hour and a half in the Tahoe back and forth. We'll most likely save money if we figure out gas money vs. hotel expenses by spending the nights there. 

T's EEG was a disappointment.  His neurologist called me yesterday (on a Sunday...way to freak me out) and said that she was seeing a different type of seizure activity than before, and wasn't sure if it was because of a different EEG tech, more electrodes, etc. so she wants him to have an MRI.  He's never had one, so she just wants to see if there is an underlying cause to these seizures.  I was panicking, and thinking "BRAIN TUMOR" of course, but she said that if it was a tumor, we would have figured it out long before this, since he's had seizures for 5 years, and has no other symptoms.  She is looking more toward bundles of nerves that are irritable, and therefore cause seizures.  I asked her if the chances that he'll grow out of it are still there, and she said that they are, just not for a couple of years.  Hopefully the MRI shows nothing scary, and his treatment will continue as is, since he's been seizure free for 3 years on this medication and is doing fine.  He's pissed, of course, because he hates taking his meds, but hey...it makes him a normal kid so that's what matters!

We had our end of season party yesterday afternoon after we'd collapsed for awhile after the tournament.  It was at a local park, where we played most of our games, and we sat in the shade (it was 95 degrees), ate potluck, cooked bbq, and visited while the kids played soccer in the hotness.  The parents were so happy with our photographer's pics that I downloaded and printed.  Each kid got about 10-15 pics, and a baseball frame with their name, number, and team name, plus a pic.  One of the moms made ball holders (lucite, shut up) for each kid, with their name, number, and 'game ball' so they could have their team mates sign their game ball and put it inside.  It was really fun, and the parents were so thankful.  We were too...this was the BEST group we've ever had in six years of running a team.  Most of the 12 year olds will be back with us next year to move up to Pony division, and we'll pick some up from another team that's merging with us.  Husband will also coach Alex for his first year in PONY baseball next year.  Two teams, two jobs, what the heck, why not?

Fack!

OMG, I had a new post written, all about our camping trip, and was in the middle of downloading pictures onto it, and the freaking explorer 'encountered a problem and needed to close'.  WTF?  I lost the whole damned thing.  It sucked.  Anyway, our camping trip was lots of fun.  I'm glad we planned it for right when school got out, because it made it seem like we were doing something special to celebrate.  Our sites were right on the water, and when the tide was in, the kids did lots of swimming.  They caught snakes, played in the two creeks, climbed trees, and just generally acted like wild animals for four days.  Everyone needs to do that once in awhile, right?  We walked our dogs, drank lots of bacardi smoothies (yep, we bring a blender just for that purpose), hunted butter clams, picked oysters, and sat in the sun.  It was pretty nice all weekend except for one huge windstorm in the late afternoon and all night one night.  I'm talking some serious wind, too...we had to bring our awning in on the trailer because it was flapping so hard, and one trailer down the way had their awning break because they left it out.  Crayzee!  Both boys had physicals the day we got back, and by god, it took 3 hours.  I am not kidding.  They're both healthy, and both the boys got shots.  Thank God they're older, so now I just have to promise to buy them a video game to get them to take a shot like men.  Or, really like women, since we all know that men are wusses when it comes to pain.  T had a game against the toughest team in the league (they kept their team together instead of sending kids to allstars so they could do tournaments this summer) and the allstars won 20-10.  T hit off their best pitcher, so that was good.  They have a tournament this weekend and it's gonna be HOT.  It's about a half hour away, and we play at 8:30, 10:30, and 5:30, then Sunday until we lose.  We have our team party for our regular team that afternoon, and I've spent the past two days uploading pictures from the photographer's discs (Husband has a longshoreman friend who is also a pro photographer and he took over a thousand pics of our kids during a few games) onto costco.com and ordering over 300 for the kids' families.  We got them baseball frames with nameplates instead of trophies, and they have a gameball holder each, so they can get the ball signed by the team and put it in the holder.  One of the moms painted each player's name and number on the holders...they're pretty cool.  Alex had his party tonight at the local pizza joint, and it was so, so nice of his coach to change it for us...we were camping during the regularly scheduled party.  It was fun, and then we went to c0ldst0ne for ice cream...YUM!  Here are some pics of the WINDY day at camping...

the two T's playing on the rafts in the rough water

Alex trekking through the water

and trying to keep his raft from flying away-our campsite is directly to his right

it was so windy, the para surfers were out...

this looked super fun, especially after a few bacardi smoothies

Oh, and I forgot...last week before we left, we were at a ballgame, and Alex had a boil on his arm.  C took one look and told me to go to the doctor right away (she's a nurse) because it looked like MRSA.  We kept it covered in case it broke open, and I took him in the next morning.  They cultured it, and sure enough--the boy had MRSA.  He's done with the antibiotics, and it's all better.  Let's hope it stays that way...that was a close call!  We got in before it spread, and I was real happy to have a nurse for a friend!  I better save this before windows closes me down again...T has an EEG tomorrow to see if he's outgrown his seizures...cross your fingers!

Don't faint...

Yes, two posts in one day...it's nothing short of a miracle!  I had to post again, because GUESS who won the championship of the Bronco B division?  Yep...we did!  Our boys had some really good games these past two weeks, including a 10-0 shutout.  We played that same team last night, because we had to beat them twice to be the champs, and we won 21-14.  It was a craaaazy game, lots of hits and runs--they had our pitcher's number and our kids made some bonehead errors, but we came out on top and got some cool plaques after the game.  The boys were proud, and our regular season is done (sob).  Here is a little something to go along with that--

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A COACH'S WIFE WHEN:

1. You have uniforms, cups, socks, belts, and team jackets draped over every available surface after washing them.

2.  There are no less than 15 baseball caps with the team logo on them at your house, and a few in the car in case someone loses one or forgets one for a game.  You also have an extra uniform jersey in your car, because you never know.

3.  Your Vera Bradley big tote has a scorebook, lineup card box, and LOTS of pencils in the side pockets, plus 3 hardballs, a camera, sunscreen, an extra red belt, and gum.

4.  You have chairs in the back of your car from February to October.

5.  Speaking of the back of your car--it contains 3 bat bags, 1 bucket of baseballs, a 'hurricane' swing trainer, cleats, about 10 sweatshirts, a black and red fleece blanket, 2 umbrellas, a cooler, two team jackets, a box of game balls, baseball snacks, and extra powerade in it.

6.  The front of the car has 4 ball caps, another scorebook, eyeblack stickers, and a couple more sweatshirts in it.

7.  The players frequently come to the fence in the dugout and ask if you have ranch cornnuts, and if not-do you have any other flavors?

8.  People are paying you for trophies, tournaments, and parties.

9.  You have a category in your email address book for team people, so you can send out practice reminders and game changes.

10.  You know the website to look up tournaments in your area.

11.  Your crock pot gets a workout during baseball season.

12.  You look like a pack animal when going out to a game field.

13.  You find yourself having to shut yourself up when talking to non baseball people about baseball.

14.  A co-worker asks you every day, "How'd you guys do last night?"

15.  Kids in the hall at your workplace ask you if you won your game last night.

and...

16.  You get toward the end of the season and feel sad and sentimental, but you also think to yourself, "I am so done, and looking forward to a summer with no commitments."  and then your kid gets asked to try out for the PONY allstar team, and you jump up and shout, "YES!!!" and hope to God that he makes it...

so he can play all summer, too. 

update:  HE MADE IT!!!  I'm so proud.

Meme and more!

I've been tagged for a meme by MissAnne (since for some reason my stoopid link creater thingie isn't working, her website is colormecomplicated.blogspot.com) so here's the deal:

1.  Post the rules on your site.

2.  Post six random things about yourself.

3. Tag six random people at the end.

4.  Let them  know by leaving a comment on their site.

5.  Let your tagger know that your meme is up.

Here are six random things about me that you probably didn't want to know:

1.  I hate socks.  And don't like to wear shoes if I don't have to.  I take off my shoes as soon as I get home, and don't wear socks unless I have to.

2.  I like to sleep in a COLD room with the fan on, and will cover up if I need to, but leave the fan on.

3.  I have a night light in my room and I like it!

4.  I hate celery, and only like lettuce in a salad--not on burgers, sandwiches, etc.

5.  Sometimes I flip my kids off behind their backs if they're being assholes.  Yep, I do.

6.  I keyed someone's car door at the Y because they parked like 3 inches from my car (it was a long time ago, you guys)

So, I tag :

Karly (wipingupsnot.com)

T (anonymous website, you know who you are)

Auntie Becky (mommywantsvodka.psys.org)

Momumo (momumo.blogspot.com)

and two more people who would like to do this meme...

Beginning of the end

We had our first playoff game last night.  Husband was unable to be there, because he had a golf tournament with one of the companies he works for, inspecting cargo.  He called several times during the game, of course, and got updates.  One of the assistant coaches took over, and to say the least, he was a little stressed out.  He came to me before the game, and wanted to know if I would do the lineup (husband already had) and make the magnet board with the batting order, which is not a problem since I do it anyway.  He changed a couple of things, and helped the boys warm up.  The team we played was basically the bottom of the barrel in our league.  The coach and his son were with us last year, and for a few years before that, but decided to leave and form a team with the football kids from their team.  Husband was secretly relieved, because this guy was a problem from day 1.  He was a sponsor of our team, so expected that his kid would get to play whatever position he wanted, complained, and thought he could do a better job than our coaches all of the time.  His 'better' job has earned his team a record of 0 wins, 13 losses.  Guess he didn't do a better job.  His kid is very cocky, with no reason, and was teasing T at a birthday party at the beginning of the season when we were supposed to play them the first time, and saying that they were going to beat us, etc.  He also told T that he was a crappy pitcher and couldn't strike him out unless he had gotten a lot better than last year.  In that game, Husband put T in to pitch since we were whupping on them by 12 runs, and I heard the kid telling his teammates that T sucks and is easy to hit off of.  It was sweet victory when T struck out the first batter, then the cocky kid came up to bat.  T struck him out too, then the kid after him.  We won by 12 runs that night, and the kids kinda underestimated them last night, I think.  They weren't really 'on' after not playing for a week due to the terrible weather we've had lately, and made some errors.  The asst. who was in charge pitched one of our kids too long and allowed some walks, and they put a kid at first base who'd never played there.  Needless to say, they took some chances that Husband would never have taken, and it was a little scary for awhile...we did end up winning 12-7 after the kids started teeing off on their pitcher and got 6 runs in one inning.  T was a little pissed after the game because he never got to pitch, and also played 2 innings at second, then sat the rest of the game because the coach wanted to put one of our boys in whose dad returned from Iraq last night after 15 months and was able to make it to the game.  THAT was really cool, and I made sure to welcome him home and thank him for being over there.  T understood, but was a little upset that the coach didn't put him (T) somewhere else instead of making him sit 5 innings.  I told him that I thought that the coach was a little overwhelmed at being thrust into the head coach role, and just wasn't thinking about it at the moment.  He also took T aside and explained to him why he wanted the other kid to play and T was fine...he's an easygoing kid, and wouldn't hold a grudge. 

Our kids at school are just DONE with being there...Jesse (the kid I work with) just can't stay in his seat and listen right now--he's baked.  Only 3 1/2 more days!  I talked to the principal and he said he's going to try his best to keep me at our school next year, so that was good news!  Here are a few pics of the tournament and our team mascot Mandy...

our boys bonding at the tournament-look at Alex in his helmet!

medals being awarded (the two boys in different uniforms were picked up from a different team for the tourney)

Alex supervising the medals ceremony

Mandy-our mascot

Scattered

I have been the lamest of all possible bloggers lately.  I just feel so scattered, and while the end is in sight, right now it's craaaazeee around here.  School ends next Tuesday, and I'm looking forward to sleeping in and having no set schedule, but we've had to take out a 401k loan to keep up on bills, since I won't be working.  I thought of trying to be a summer school para, but there are no available jobs right now, and I have no one to watch my kids.  I also thought of getting a paper route or something that I could do at night, but then I decided that it would be minimal pay for a lot of work and gas, plus I wouldn't get a paycheck until late July, which wouldn't help much.  Anyway, my mom was nice to me and paid my mortgage this month to help us out, and we have loan money on the way.  We never dreamed that my dad's house would be on the market for almost a year with no takers.  We keep lowering the price, but so far no go.  We're going to be doing a lot of staying home and just being.  We also plan to camp still, but cancelled one trip to save gas.  I hope that I'll have a job in our building this fall, but I won't know until then, and if not I'll sub for other buildings. 

Baseball is drawing to a close for both kids.  Alex has practice twice this week, then a game against the parents on Sat. and a bbq, then one more week of practices and a game on the 21st with a pizza party afterward (we'll miss it...camping, but we may drive in for the game).  T starts league playoffs tomorrow and probably will play tomorrow, Thursday, and Saturday, then maybe Monday.  We're done except for tournaments after that--we may do 2 or 3 this summer depending on what kids can do them.  I, as usual, will miss baseball.  I know the kids will too, but T will get to try out for his middle school team in the fall...hope he makes it!  If this crappy weather keeps up, everything will be rained out for months anyway. 

That close!

We had lots of fun at the tournament this weekend.  It was so busy, I only took a couple of pictures!  The boys played at 9, 1, and 7 on Saturday, which meant that we had to be at the field at 8.  The field is half an hour away, as I mentioned in my previous post, but as I also said, it was textbook Husband behaviour in the morning.  He got up super early, and got himself ready, then sort of sat around and bossed everyone else until we were ready to go...TOTALLY ON TIME, then was all huffy in the car.  Finally, after thinking that this was exactly what I blogged about, I said, "We're going to be there totally early, there's nothing to worry about...you're stressing out for no reason."  That kind of calmed him down, especially when we got there way ahead of all of the other families on our team.  Two kids were kind of late, so the coaches were stressing out because they were two important ones.  They made it at the last minute, and our boys played well.  They played a team that was part of a big club, the Longhorns, and we drew their second team, not their select team-luckily!  One of the other teams in our league played the Longhorn Studs (the select team) and lost 8-0.  We did lose, because our boys were NOT hitting the ball, but only 6-3.  We stayed at the park for the break between 10:30 and 1, because we would have had to be back by 12 anyway, so the kids horsed around at the skate park that is part of the complex.  The dummies didn't think about the fact that when they were sliding down the ramps on their butts, they were also ripping out the back of their pants.  Like 5 kids played the next game with ripped pants...crazy!  None of the sports stores close by had black pants this late in the season, either!  Luckily we had a pair that was a hand me down, and was too big for T, but OH WELL, you made the bonehead choice to slide down the cement in your other ones, and ya got a belt, so you're gonna have to wear them!  We won the second game 6-5, then went home for a break.  The kids got tired during the break, and probably ate too much, so they lost big time...I don't even remember the score!  The next morning, we had to be there by 7 am!  Hell, it was hard.  The boys played so, so well though, and ended up 10-running the other team, and won 13-2.  This meant that we ended up playing again at 12, since it was single elimination.  I felt sorry for the other team, they were definitely mostly 11 year olds and lost ALL of their games after coming all the way from Canada.  They reminded me of us last year, when our kids were smaller and made more mistakes.  They were nice, and so were their coaches, so Husband took it easy on them after awhile.  The boys lost their last game horribly--like 13-2, so we went home and collapsed!  The kids took showers, I washed the uniform for the game TONIGHT, and we watched Night at the Museum and ate burgers.  Both kids were exhausted, and fell asleep by 9.  T stayed home for a recoup day today, because he was so tired.  Hope everyone had a great weekend!

UPDATED:  Our team had a game tonight against a HUGE rival...one of their coaches was with our team for the past 5 years until he decided to take his kid and go to this team, and two of their kids played on our tournament team this weekend, and plan to do so all summer too.  Our kids were just ON tonight.  Coming off of a tournament weekend, it can go one of two ways...the kids are too tired and have a terrible game, or the kids are pumped up and confident, used to hitting off of tournament pitchers, and have the game of their lives...and we had the game of our lives tonight!  They did SO well.  Their defense was just awesome, T participated in a double play, and one of our weaker players caught a line drive in the outfield, plus we only allowed 2 runs all game.  Our hitting was amazing, and the kids cranked the ball out to the outfield many times...it was so great to see!  They won it 13-2...yee haw!!!  We're going into the league playoffs next week, so hopefully they can keep it going.

Yeesh

The night before a baseball tournament tends to get a little crazy.  Our friends' daughter has a tournament tomorrow, but her first game is at 3 pm.  I WISH!  T's first game is at 9, which means be at the field by 8, and the field is a half hour away.  If we don't leave like 45 minutes before we have to be there, Husband will be a basket case, and we'll have a very unpleasant morning, so we're getting up super early.  That's always fun with two boys who HATE getting up and are pure evil in the morning.  I was pleasantly surprised, though, when I sent T upstairs at 9 and went up there to check on him at 9:30...he was asleep!  Practice tonight must have worn him out.  I just finished getting out most of his stuff, and now the extra hats are running through the dryer so that I can give them to the extra guys we picked up from another team for this tournament.  We borrowed a shirt from one of the missing players from our team, and have a couple of extra nameless shirts left from our season last year, so one will just have to be doctored to make a new number, since that number is taken by a current player.  Those jerseys are now drying on my kitchen chairs.  There are cleats, cups, hats, jackets, etc. EVERYWHERE!  The boys will play at 9, 1, and 7, then Sunday will depend on our wins/losses tomorrow.  We'll get at least one game Sunday, and we're hoping it's not the 8 am game!!! That's the worst!  So anyway, the night before a tournament, you tend to see things like this around my house...

yes, my fridge is messy...there are 3 more of those powerades on the next shelf too.

I have a messy counter to go with the messy fridge, and yes...there are cleats on the counter.  And Tylenol...don't forget the Tylenol.

Um, okay.

So has anyone else noticed the new setup for the typepad posts? I don't like new things, and it's a little scary, frankly.  I'll do my best.  My boys and Husband have just headed out to a baseball game (not ours...yes, it's a sickness, they go watch other teams in our league play) so I have peace and quiet for a couple of hours...yea!  We have a tournament this weekend, so they need to go talk to the new recruits that we've picked up from other teams for it.  We just returned from camping for the four day weekend.  It was the first time we've used our new trailer, so it was a little nerve wracking, hoping that everything would work properly.  We had a tent trailer before, and this is a step up.  It was really nice having the bunk beds, and Husband did fine setting up the stuff like sewer line (ew), propane, batteries, etc. so everything worked perfectly.  It was nice to have a toilet in the middle of the night!  It's not a big trailer (25 ft.) but it fits our needs just right, since we are outside most of the time anyway.  I was most nervous about hauling it up there--we've only pulled it from the guy's house that we bought it from, which was about 30 miles away, to here, and the roads to the campground we went to are really winding and narrow.  We did good, except for once near the end of the trip when there was a construction ahead sign, and I saw some orange cones and assumed that that was the construction, since there was not a sign warning of flaggers or anything, and then the cars just STOPPED about a block in front of us.  I was totally putting on my fake brakes and telling Husband, "Oh my god, they're stopped, they're stopped, oh shit!"  but he pumped the brakes, the trailer brakes worked, and we stopped.  Thank you Jesus!  E and C weren't as lucky as we were, however.  We got there around 3, and were waiting and waiting for them to get there, but since E didn't remember to get the brake box installed on his truck for the trailer, we knew they had to do that.  It got later and later, and I began to wonder where the heck they were.  Our other friends got there, and said that they'd seen E and C broken down on the side of the road, and that E had hitchhiked to the nearest town to get transmission fluid, since it was all over the ground.  Their truck would go into reverse, but that was it.  Long story short, AAA came to get their truck, I went to get them, and E pulled their trailer to the campground with my Tahoe.  AAA dropped their truck off at a small repair shop in this hole in the wall town, and the next day when he called, the owner said that he wouldn't work on it since he didn't tow it...asshole!  He also wouldn't release their truck until Tuesday, since he didn't feel like getting his ass in to the shop until then.  AAA came and picked it up anyway, and towed it back to our town, then sent a tow truck out to the campground on the last day to tow their trailer home too...pretty nice of them!  Anyway, don't ever go to McKenzie's auto repair shop in Morton, Wa. because the guy's a jerkoff.  The next day we had a pretty normal day, hung out, walked the dogs, etc. The kids pretty much take off together and check in periodically through the day.  They had fun riding bikes, playing in the reservoir, on the big toys, etc.  T and the other T met some older women too--14, who were probably playing around with the little boys' heads and flirting with them...hell, they knew they'd never see them again, and I probably woulda done it at that age!  Thunder rolled in later in the day, and it rained all night, but not 'til bed time so that was awesome, listening to it on the trailer roof.  Candy came with us, and although it takes her awhile to get used to camping every time, she had fun.  When we came home, she slept all day and through the night, she was so exhausted!  She split her claw lengthwise, so it's kinda gross.  I just keep putting antibiotic ointment on it and hoping it will get better, but if not I'll take her to the vet.  Here are some pics for you~

Candy-in Alex's chair

                                                                Honey, your ass doesn't fit in the bigger chair either

E and C's dog Louie, waiting for C to come out of our trailer

The dads skewering chickens for us to roast over the fire

yum!

the kiddos playing two square

tired Louie

hmmm, these pix look bigger than before...maybe I do like new things!

I swore I wouldn't

Okay, so...many of you know that I'm a PTA board member at our elementary school.  I've done it for about 6 years now, and it's actually pretty fun, as long as you have the right people on the board with you.  I sort of vacillated this year about running again, because my co-president is quitting to go to nursing school.  I also don't know if I have the time to be pres. by myself, but whatever...if I didn't do it, it may not go on, and I want our school to continue to reap the benefits of our fundraising and stewardship.  I'm the only one who has been a board member for as long as I have, and the board needs leadership to keep on going, and no one else would do it.  Alright, so for about the past month, the middle school boosters (not PTA...WAY more informal and not governed by the stoopid laws) have been advertising, and basically pleading for people to step up and be the booster board.  I totally ignored all of the damned emails, newsletter articles, and signage.  There was no way in hell that I was about to put one more thing on my plate.  Nope.  See where I'm going with this?  C called me last week, and suggested that we go to one meeting, to see what it was about.  We've both been booster members all year, and she's volunteered for some things, I haven't because I have been at work when they needed people.  She got to know some of the board members and decided that maybe we should check it out.  Being her loyal friend, I went tonight.  They were an informal group, with a fucking TON  of money (like almost 50 grand in the bank...wtf?) who basically get together and decide how to spend the money, and who to give grants to.  Everyone who wrote a grant request for tonight's meeting got their wish...new science kit?  Sure, here's $250.  New algebra stuff?  Sure, here's 220.  New storage bins for the drama costumes?  Yep, here ya go.  $400 for new soccer uniforms?  Well, the ones for basketball and baseball are ugly, so here's $1500 instead, go and buy new uniforms for ALL of them.  Kinda cool, and luckily they have a really supportive group of parents who sold $15,000 worth of cookie dough this year.  Profit.  Anyway, long story short, after asking some questions and deciding that it wasn't too scary, me and C are co-vice presidents.  I don't think it will be overwhelming, and I'm not the ass kissing pta mom type, so hopefully no one will expect that.  They didn't seem like it either, so we'll see.  The main reason that I left that meeting wanting to blog as soon as I could, was this one WOMAN who showed up.  There's always one, you know.  She was a parent of a sixth grader, just like C and I, and apparently lives down the street from C.  Her kid is kinda weird, but super smart, and she was there to volunteer her services for the website and e-newsletter...thankfully, because she also was apparently there to volunteer her services as a know it all too.  First, she suggested that the middle school adopt a policy that the kids all leave through one side of the building, so that traffic congestion was not so bad in front of the school, and that the 'bigger kids' escort the smaller ones out to their parents cars.  BANG!  Shot down in flames by the board members and the assistant principal, who looked at her like she was rat fucking crazy.  They explained to her that you can make rules, but there are always some who are not going to follow them.  And, that three doors are not adequate to let 800 kids exit in a timely and safe manner.  And, that all the buses stop on the OTHER side of the building.  Later, she said that she was a little disappointed in the school for not letting her know, via phone call (we have a thing called connect-ed where the principal records a message and it goes out to all families in the school/district/whatever) that there was a 6th/7th grade dance two weeks ago.  BANG!  Shot down again...the assistant principal explained that we are very limited as to what can go on a connect-ed call, and that this was not important enough.  A couple of other board members told her that her kid needed to tell her these types of things, and that it was posted right on the website for all to see.  Finally, she stood up at the end of the meeting and got out these little cards.  She handed one to each of the board members, and put a little stack in the middle of the table.  Everyone looked at the cards, and most set them down with dumbfounded looks on their faces...some even put them back on the stack.  The cards said something like LISA D---, Noah, Violet, Ruby, and Henry's Mom, with a picture of each of her kids in the corners, a fancy border, and her phone number and email address.  WTF?  She then said that she also does photography.  One of the board members piped up and said, understanding dawning on her face, "OOOOOHHHH, so this is your BUSINESS card."  To which the woman replied, "Well, actually, my KIDS are my business."  Now, I've been a mom for like 13 years...ever since I got pregnant with T, but never have I felt the need to validate that with a business card.  I figure that the people that matter (ie: my family) KNOW that I'm a mom, and that that's important to me.  I don't need a card.  I certainly wouldn't hand them out to a booster club board that I didn't know, and I definitely wouldn't get defensive and snotty when asked about them.  It was just weird.  My first thought, as I watched her weakly suggest that we have an auction (met with the fingers crossed like a cross thing...like warding off vampires), was I CAN'T WAIT TO BLOG ABOUT THIS!