I joined the Girl Scouts today!

Yes, you read that right. I, a 29 year old mother of 3, joined the Girl Scouts today with my 5 year old! I took her to sign up and wound up as a co-troop leader. I am actually very excited. I was a Daisy when I was little and I remember some meetings, selling cookies, earning a couple of patches, and attending a Day Camp at Tri-County Lake in Fordyce. I also happen to remember attending the Girl Scout 75th anniversary celebration that was held...in Warren? I remember a big white and green cake and releasing white and green balloons with our names and addresses inside. I'm excited to get started and get the girls' vests ordered!!!

I joined the Girl Scouts today!

Yes, you read that right. I, a 29 year old mother of 3, joined the Girl Scouts today with my 5 year old! I took her to sign up and wound up as a co-troop leader. I am actually very excited. I was a Daisy when I was little and I remember some meetings, selling cookies, earning a couple of patches, and attending a Day Camp at Tri-County Lake in Fordyce. I also happen to remember attending the Girl Scout 75th anniversary celebration that was held...in Warren? I remember a big white and green cake and releasing white and green balloons with our names and addresses inside. I'm excited to get started and get the girls' vests ordered!!!

School...and other things to worry about

So my "baby", Abby, is about to start Kindergarten. I have plenty of anxiety about that one single satement. Add to that the fact that I know NOTHING about her school, teacher, the way it all operates, hardly any of the parents of any Kindergarten students....and it's enough to drive me mad!

We went to orientation last Friday and my anxiety was compounded by 100%. Her teacher seems nice enough, and has been teaching quite a few years. The school has an open classroom setup, which is odd to me. None of the classrooms are actual "rooms". They are all divided off by bookshelves, boards and other things just no actual walls. I, personally, found it distracting because Abby's teacher was softspoken while the lady next to her was quite loud. Not to mention the parents in our class were talking among themselves and not even attempting to listen to the teacher as she explained a few important topics such as how important it was for her to know how each child gets to and from school.

Yesterday I took Abby for a haircut and mentioned my disbelief at the rude parents to the lady who was cutting her hair because I knew she also had a child starting Kindergarten at that school. She was amazed that something like that bothered me! She said, "well, most of us have done it all before and we don't need to hear it again." She went on to say that she hadn't listened to her child's teacher, but she and the person she had been talking to weren't rude about it but that she didn't hear the part about reading and points and needed to go back and ask. The whole point of orientation is to tell all 15 parents crucial info so you don't have to repeat yourself 15 times!

I am going to stop now before my blood pressure goes up. My point is, if the parents don't care....how will their kids learn that education is important? And meanwhile, MY child is stuck in the middle and I am not excited about that at all.

What can I DO?

Lately I feel the need to DO something. I mean, sure I'm a stay at home mom of 3, so technically I have plenty to do and can't get caught up.

I would like to start babysitting and at least I would be contributing financially to our family while still being with my kids. I am also looking for a way to give back to others. I really think that I would like to volunteer and help foster children in some way. I think if I could give foster parents some relief by babysitting or something similar it would be perfect. I just really have no idea where to find out how I can help. If anyone knows of volunteer programs in Louisiana, please pass along that info.

Dear Alzheimer's....

I am not a fan of yours.

My sister and I, along with our 5 children, visited our grandma tonight at St. John's Place in Fordyce. I'm not sure that Mamaw ever knew who any of us were. It broke my heart. Mamaw is a tough woman, and I feel like the nursing home has broken her spirit. She so badly wants to go back to her house and tend to her flower beds and be with her dog, Fluffy. She just wants to be outside during the day. I have no doubt that she would work herself silly if only she had the chance.

Mamaw will be 86 in about 3 weeks, and I wish there was some way for her to be at her own house these days. If I lived closer I would happily stay with her 24/7 so that could be a reality. She enjoyed visiting with us, and she loved Sophie. She gave her a bottle, burped her, and Sophie being her usual jovial self cooed, laughed, and played with her. It seemed to make Mamaw happy. I hope that it did. At 86, I hate to see her so unhappy and I hate to be the one to have to make sure the door closes when we all leave. She so badly wants to get out that darn door and always asks me to tell her the code.

It's so hard to see such a strong person in such a helpless situation.

Teachers...

Lately, as Abby is learning new things it brings back memories of when I was in school and my favorite teachers. I was one of those kids that LOVED school. From day one I loved it. Much of that was because I had the very best Kindergarten teacher a child could ever have. Her name was Miss Linnie Grice.

I will be 29 in a couple of days and I remember exactly what Miss Linnie smelled like. I remember that she kept her paddle (yes, teachers had paddles when I was younger) under a big stuffed puppy dog on top of the filing cabinet. I also remember Drell Rainey had more meetings with that paddle than I'm sure he ever wanted to. I remember at nap time on days when it was raining Miss Linnie would leave the door open and I would listen to the rain.

I remember a pair of monkeys Miss Linnie had above her door that said "left" and "right" and sometimes when I'm thinking really hard about something those monkeys pop into my head. I remember where her alphabet chart and counting chart were hung. I even remember that the bathroom in our classroom smelled like tempra paint.

I remember many times when we sat around the piano in her room singing fun learning songs as a class. I remember making butter in a Mason jar. I remember cleaning the glue off the tables with shaving cream....boy was that fun! Snack time was always fun, and whenever I have to take snacks anywhere for kids I think of Mrs. Ruby Hamilton's peanut butter Rice Krispy Treats. I also remember Miss Linnie making me taste a mushroom at some kind of taste testing thing we did and how gross it was. I still don't like mushrooms no matter how much I want to.

As I sit here thinking I am full of nostalgia and tears are likely at any moment. I can't think of any single bad memory from Miss Linnie's classroom. Well, unless you count one day when I had to stay in at recess to re-color a picture of a blue bird that I rushed through and scribbled on. I find it strange that I don't remember exactly which kids were in my class, although I remember Drell Rainey, Veronica Tolfree, and Vincent Stroud with perfect clarity. I mostly remember Miss Linnie and how much I loved her.

Thanks, Miss Linnie, for all the great memories!

Abby can READ!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday my biggest baby, Abby, came home from school with "sight words" on flashcards. She's in a little preschool here and yesterday she won the phonics game with 61 words! Today she read me 3 books from this set:

http://www.leapfrog.com/en/preschool_toys/sing_along_read_along.html














She is so excited! She's waiting for Daddy so she can read to him.