So THIS Is What It's Like To Be The Rabble Rouser...

Isaac asked me after Wednesday's class if I would be ok being the one to cause the class to be canceled. I said of course, I would be FINE, but the truth is, I never thought that would actually be the outcome...

I went by the district offices yesterday and let them know of my concerns. While not met with QUITE the level of outrage I would have liked, the lady took my concerns seriously, mentioned that they didn't know the teacher was subletting her position to her husband, promised to call the teacher and took my name and number.

A couple of hours later I got a call from one of the administrators. Here's where things stand now (in bullet points since that's how my brain is working right now!):

-The district had NO idea her husband was teaching the class. She had a conflict come up and "thought it would be ok if he was just the permanent substitute" without letting them know, even though it's her name on the check. That is so completely immature to me.

-The district let her know it was not ok and there was a simple fix. Her husband has to go through the paperwork, be hired with a back ground check before next week's class. If all the paperwork clears, they will call all the parents, let them know what happened and let the parents decide whether or not to continue in the class. Refunds will be provided for anyone that wants one. If his paperwork DOESN'T go through by the next class, class will be canceled.

-I asked whether or not I could stay, should the class continue and she said she wasn't sure and would get back to me.

-Off the record (um...) she mentioned that she would have had the exact reaction as I did. That she was horrified that they didn't know he was the one teaching. It definitely validated my feelings.

So. I am very happy with the district's response. It's exactly what they could have done. However, I'm 95% sure I'll be getting a refund. It will be CLEARLY obvious what "parent" had the issue and I don't want it to be awkward for Sammy. Esp. if I can't stay. But added to that, I feel this couple, which, most likely just immature and not thinking, did not, well, think. And I don't really want to reward that behavior. I feel they pulled one over on all of us. And I'm really not ok with that.

And, um, also? I'm not 100% ok being the reason the class may be canceled...Apparently my need to be liked is bubbling to the surface...


(lloyd cole, brand new friend)

Week Two

Are you ready for week two in the on-going "tumbling class" saga? No? Sorry, then...

Last night was the second week of tumbling class. We got there just a little late, they were starting right after going over the rules. All the kids were there, the parents were not. Neither was, sadly, the real teacher. But her husband was! So we have "not the real teacher" random man alone in the gym with eight 4 year olds. Yeah. That was the shot. I wasn't going to go anywhere. Luckily, he didn't make a deal of me staying (I'm guessing he thought I was staying for Sammy's comfort...), but I WILL be headed to the district offices tomorrow. This is simply not ok.

I am baffled that no other parents seemed to have cared. Drop off the kid and leave. There was one mom who was in a chair just outside the door, but other than that? Nada. In fact, when we were leaving, I saw a family dropping off for the next class (which, I think, is the 5 year old class). Pull in the parking lot and didn't even walk the kid to the door. And the door, from the parking lot, is around two corners of the building, NOT something you can see from the parking lot. I get that I'm over protective, which I am not apologetic about at all, but that just seemed...crazy? Why am I the only one this is concerning to, you know? Because we live somewhere "safe"? Um...

On the other front, we had progress. No tears but no participation, either. Shoes off, on the mat right off. He wouldn't talk to the teacher at all and scowled when talked to, but when he wasn't being talked to, he was quietly mimicking the movements and flirting with the cute little shy girl who was eating lint off the mats near him. But no crying. And when the time came to clean up, he was the first one helping (that's my boy!). So I'm thinking with a few more weeks...

(And, for those of you playing along at home...THE quilt is now available as a pattern. To purchase. EEEEEEK! Maybe I really should try?)


(the stills, still in love song)

Rat In Me Kitchen

Sammy had a dentist appointment this week. It went well, of course, though it was the first time he clamped his mouth shut and had to have it coaxed open...After the appointment, he gathered his balloon and we brought it home.

When daddy got home, he taught Sammy to tie the balloon to his stuffty rat's tail. We ate dinner, we cleaned up and put Sammy to bed. And I went back into the kitchen. Where there was a rat, with a balloon tied to its tail, sitting in between the bathroom and kitchen. And scared the poor mommy to death. Not once, but three different times.

And when someone is scared by a stuffty rat in their kitchen, there is only one thing to do. Start singing UB40, of course. Which will also make your husband laugh and wonder how you know the words to that song. After all, Isaac and I's musical pasts rarely intersect, but on the last summer night in 2010, we found crazy common ground with a rat in the kitchen...




(rat in mi kitchen, ub40)

How Will You Go

Amy and I were talking last week in Denver. We met 18 years ago, right at the beginning of college. If I had gotten my way, it was a meeting that would have never happened. See, I wanted to go to college in Salt Lake, but, obviously, didn't. We both mused at how,, if my plan had gone through, there would have been no friendship. What a weird thought, right? I know, I know...we would have never known what we were missing had we never met. But still. It made me think. Eighteen years ago Amy and I started out on a friendship journey. It's taken that long (well...MAYBE not that long) to feel that this is for good. Forever. And it's such a great feeling. We pick up where we left off, every time we see each other again.

I love my friends now. I'm cognizant of the great women that surround me. But sometimes I get into my own head in ways that are detrimental. People come up to me and tell me how great I am, how confident I am, how sure of myself I am...I just sometimes laugh inside. I want to chuckle about how right this very minute, the same second they are complimenting me, I am dying inside over the very high school "do they REALLY like me or were they just saying that, because I don't think they really like me" type feelings. I keep waiting for those feelings I have with Amy, here. I know it's going to take time, but I'm impatient.

Sammy and I went to get ice cream on the way home from the dentist yesterday. When we walked in, there were four older women, each with a sundae. They were talking and laughing, clearly enjoying their friendship. I smiled a little bit, though a tiny wistful. Someday, when we get our kids in school and life is less hectic, I'm looking forward to that - the type of friendships that don't seem to take as much work, that ebb and flow easily, without the crazy, getting in my head. But for now, I will do my best to nurture those connections I have already made. Starting with my little (non)knitting circle tonight.


(walk this way, run-dmc / aerosmith)

Top 5 Cure Songs

Disintegration was HUGE for me in high school. HUGE. It reminds me of my best friend. And, uh, also the cute guy with Robert Smith hair that lived near us. Man he was hot.

I am not the biggest Cure fan, but I certainly really like them and they have a permanent place in my musical catalog. And for me, they have always had this air of romanticism about them. In addition to just being awesome wallow music, it's mystic is unsurpassed.

Tawnya's top five:

1. Pictures of You: Popular? Yes. My favorite and one of the top songs to put me in an instant nostalgic mood? HECK YES.


2. Love Song: Huh. Just played it and it made me even MORE nostalgic than Pictures of You. Who knew? And we just won't discuss that horrible cover that everyone plays...


3. Close to Me: Um...because it's just AWESOME.


4. In Between Days: This may be the first song by The Cure that I was ever REALLY aware of.


5. Just Like Heaven: Because I had a pulse in the 80s. Seriously. This was our teenage love song!


Honorable Mention: Plainsong (did I mention Disintegration holds a special place in my heart?), Hello I Love You (yeah, yeah, yeah...not REALLY a Cure song. But Vedder's version of I See Red is my favorite version of that Split Enz song, so I'm running with it...), Why Can't I Be You, The End of the World