Friday

I'm sick. Blech.

Yesterday was Pizza Lunch day at school. It took 2 moms nearly an entire day to count money and sort the order forms, took me nearly 2 hours to roll all that coin, and then a student teacher had the *nerve* (more like lack-of-experience, I should say) to add the helpful hint, "You should get more parents to volunteer" AS SHE TOOK A SLICE OF PIZZA OUT OF THE KITCHEN, BELONGING TO A STUDENT, AND *ATE IT* .

What the...???

Actually, I wasn't there, as I was home sick with Jake. I got this info after the fact. I felt so rotten that one mom out of however many there are at that school had to sort through 170 pizza orders, 170 chocolate/white milks, 25 pizzas, and then make sure it was all in the classrooms before the lunch bell rang. Top it off with, this one mom had strep throat and a fever but didn't want the kids to miss lunch. And then this not-smart teacher comes up with that delicious piece of wit.

At the beginning of the year, we sent home forms asking for help throughout the year with various events: book fair, selling raffle tickets, pizza lunch. We received about 50 forms back, with phone numbers and email addresses, or people claiming that they wanted to help (evenings, weekends, whenever they could squeeze an hour in). So we emailed those 50 people asking for help on hot lunch day--sorting orders at home, taking their lunch hour to come to the school to help. You know how many answered this email? BIG FAT ZERO!!! How very rude. At least answer the freakin' email. Or don't send back the stupid form with your offer to help.

I know people work, that's a complete non-issue. I rolled $500 in change after the kids went to bed. My husband works 60+ hours per week and he puts together the student yearbook every single year in his free time (although he is now thinking that it's time that someone else steps up or the project just doesn't get done). Do you know some socialist countries requre that parents put in a set amount of volunteer hours at their kids' school? It's a requirement of the student's registration, and employers are expected to give their employees a morning or afternoon off once a month.

It has nothing to do with government money, and anyone that says that is copping out. It's sheer laziness, we're living in a society that thinks that raising their kids is everyone's responsibility but their own. That one person's comfort level is more important than their kids' well-being. Most people get 2 weeks holiday per year, but no way would they take even an hour of that time to make their kids' school a better place to be. It's all the fault of the governement, that they're not throwing enough money at the school system. What a load of crap. You can't tell me that not one out of 320 parents couldn't use their lunch hour to help out, or couldn't work a bit later that day so that they could take some personal time during the day. Never mind that our school doesn't do field trips anymore because no one will volunteer to chaperone.

And then: to hear parents sit in the playground after school complaining, "You know, at our old school, there was hot lunch every month and it was way better than Pizza Hut. And our old school had field trips all the time!"

I'm so pissed off right now...

My new favourite song :)

I can't find a video...

Flyleaf - Do You Hear What I Hear

I love that song no matter who sings it, but I really like this version.

Karma!

The other day, there was this little boy running all over my house yelling, "I'm the only one who's not sick! Ha ha, suckers!" and laughing his bum off at us...guess who was up all night puking??? Poor kid. So Jacob is at home with me today, but he's eating and drinking and everything is staying down. He cried during the night, because today is Pizza Day at school, and he didn't want to miss it :( . I told him that I would make sure to let the hot lunch moms know to wrap up the pizza for the kids who were sick today (I'm sure there are a few) and to stick them in the freezer for next week.

Our school had 7 teachers at home sick yesterday...lots of subs running around and lots of kids looking like walking zombies. This is one tough bug :( . I hope everyone is better by Saturday, that is the night of Scott's Christmas party.

Pics

Sam's Christmas shoes, made with this pattern: Mini Moc pattern
It's super, super easy and you can make it with just scraps you have laying around. Someone gave us a nice Christmas dress for Sam, and I wanted some shoes to go with it, but I wasn't interested in paying for them (cheapskate, remember?). I also wasn't interested in buying new fabric, and I was out of leather scraps...so I looked around and found an old pair of Jacob's sweatpants with a hole in the knee (it had been sitting in my mending pile for so long that he had outgrown them LOL). I also found some lace scraps in my stash. Put them together, and this is what you get. I went through my ribbon box and Kylie's bead box to embellish them a bit. They're sort of like Robeez, where there is elastic at the ankles and they are un-kickable. Great pattern.


The bottom of the shoes: now that Sam is walking around furniture, we needed a non-slip grip on the bottom. Again, I searched through my junk until I found some black fabric paint...works very well.


...and just a cute picture of my baby with blue candy all over her face :D .

Monday

This past Friday night, Kylie was feeling better so we left Sam at Scott's parent's house and trekked off to the theatre down the street. My God, there were so many people there! I had no idea that Twilight was opening the same day, and the theatre was wall-to-wall teen-aged girls! Unreal!

We were about 3/4 of the way through the movie when the call came in -- Sam had barfed all over Gramma, all over the floor, and all over the furniture :( . I stayed with the kids to finish the movie, while Scott went back to get our girl. She was a little wound-up, and clingy, but ok. Actually she hasn't barfed since, but I haven't given her any cow's milk, either. Just nursing and a bit of watered down apple juice (which she doesn't like anyway). Later that night, Kylie and I were betting each other, what time would Jacob throw up??? I took the 'between 10 and midnight' time frame while Kylie chose 'between midnight and 6 am' time frame. He never did get sick.

Saturday night, Kylie got sick again, and now it's Monday: Jacob is at school, Scott is in bed (couldn't get up this morning), Sam is hugging my leg and I'm a bit sore...but ok. This flu hit us like a ton of bricks. I have so much to do today: figure out the winner of the Grey Cup pool ticket raffle, count the hot lunch money and organize a deposit, roll the coin, and do up the monthly financial report for the Parent Council meeting on Thursday.

But I think I'll just lay around and convalesce instead...I've used up all of my energy in typing this.

Hope everyone else is having a good day.

Pics

Jacob's Halloween witch he made at school...he hates crafting now, so this is precious to me :) .


My goofball Jacob, making a Crabby Patty on the Lite Brite.


We woke up to a bit of snow this morning, but I don't think it will last. The weekend is forecast to be around 2C, and that is supposed to carry into most of next week.


Kylie wanted me to leave the pumpkins up...she likes it when they start to rot and their lips curl in, making them look like old people who forgot to put their teeth in lol.


Part of my squirt lid collection. I don't know why I felt the need to take a picture, but I did it anyway. Admit it, you were wondering why I haven't mentioned my collection in a while. Point of interest: my mom noticed that something in her cupboard had leaked onto her basket containing her own collection of squirt lids...while most *sane* people would just throw the lids away (she has 2 baskets full, so would she really miss a few?) she took them all out and carefully washed them and their basket, then lovingly put them all away.

I laughed so hard I nearly peed myself.

Now my mom is cursing me because she is reading this and doesn't know how to leave a nasty comment to get me back...rofl...

Friday

Today, Kyie is home from school, sick. It started around lunch time on Wednesday, when the principal called to tell me that poor Kiki was in the bathroom throwing up :( . I knew she didn't look good the night before, and she didn't want breakfast on Wednesday morning...she's back to eating now, but gets tired really easy so I've kept her home with me for just another day. I like having her here...even if she is just a big lump sleeping on the couch :) .

Jacob came home from school the other day, and burst into tears: his teacher wouldn't let his friend help him to tie his shoelaces, and the teacher wouldn't help either, so Jacob walked around all day with an untied shoelace and tripped quite a few times. I understand that the teacher has 20 other students that he needs to tend to, and that Jacob should learn to do it on his own (we've been practicing at home), but really...let Jacob and his friend have a few minutes to work on it, even if just for safety's sake. Sometimes I wonder about that teacher...

Today is just a day filled with washing diapers, sewing up some shoes for Sammy to wear with her Christmas dress, and then hopefully, if Kylie feels a bit better tonight, we are all going to see Madagascar 2. I ordered some passes with our Airmiles so it's free :D . That's just the way I like it :D .