Starting on the wrong foot...

I took the kids to school today so they could see where their rooms, desks and lockers are. My kids like to know what is going to happen before it happens so it is always good to prepare for the first day of school. It eliminates anxiety and those little things us parents hate called "breakdowns in public". Unfortunately I was the one that almost had a breakdown in public today because the school garbage is already starting and is evidenced in the letter I wrote upon arriving home:




Dear Mr. Principal:

It was brought to my attention today that two of my children will be expected to ride a bus to the local elementary school 2 days a week to receive physical education. As a parent that selected Our Catholic School for very specific reasons I am extremely disappointed that my children will be directly placed into an educational environment that I do not approve of. Busing our children to the public school for any type of education is not how I envisioned the curriculum obligations being fulfilled by the school we have been supporting. Furthermore, the message that Our Catholic School is sending to parents and the community is that they cannot adequately educate the children they have been entrusted with.

Per the information I was provided today, as soon the children arrive at school 2 days a week they will immediately board a bus to go the elementary school, some of these children will just have gotten off that bus and will be going right back to where they came from. On most days this shuttle bus is late so the expectation that the bus will be loaded and ready to transport the students to gym class by 9:00am is ludicrous. Furthermore, the idea is that gym class will end at 9:45am and that the students will be snuggled comfortably back into their seats at Our Lady School by 10:00am to learn. How do you expect children at these ages to transition from building to bus to building like adults? I was also informed that the teacher of the first and second grade students will accompany her students to this gym class. I am presuming this is so the Our Catholic School teacher can watch another teacher educate her students? This is obviously a poor use of the already sacred mentoring time that our teachers have with their students.

I will not disagree that children need more physical activity especially with the alarming obesity rates in our nation, but wouldn't every one's time and resources be put to better use if we keep these children at the school their parents have selected for them? It is ridiculous to spend 40+ minutes of travel time each week to get to a physical education class when we have a large playground area and sufficient room in the parish hall to provide our students exercise twice a week. In fact, gym class at the local elementary school will take 110 minutes out of the student week with only 60 minutes of that being actual "class" time. If we provide the same services at Our Catholic School the students could have 3 opportunities a week to exercise their bodies.

The time and planning it has taken to schedule this endeavor into two school schedules cannot be ignored. Why have none of the parents of the students that are involved been informed of the decision being made on their behalf sooner than the week before school is scheduled to start?

I am angry at the lack of communication between yourself and the families of Our Catholic School. At this point I will not allow my children to board the bus to attend physical education classes at the local elementary and I need to know what kind of accommodations will be made for any children that will not be participating.


Sincerely,

Trying Not to Start On the Wrong Foot

Hello Crim!

Dear Crim,

Please let me start by apologizing for ignoring you the past 10 years. How silly I was to think it was unnecessary to meet you in person. You could become my best friend! This past Saturday you had it all: hills, heat, humidity. What a course! Flint is beautiful indeed. I don't care what anyone else says, you've got it going on. Of course the Krispy Kreme donuts somewhere around mile 4 and then beer around mile 5 does not hurt your aim to be my buddy in any way. The support of the community was amazing, everyone had hoses out and in over 80% humidity that was a life saver. And how about all that music? You know how to keep us runners going. I also love the race t-shirt and finishers medal:

And I especially love the fact that my striped beanie matches it perfectly:

I totally plan to visit next year, maybe hang out around the elite runner check-in table and introduce myself to some of those Kenyan runners. Maybe I'll even try a Krispy Kreme out on the course instead of my Luna Moons.

Sincerely,
Late to Join the Race

Results (already!)

Maybe 08'

Looks like she can stop looking for a home and call herself Sure Thing!

She won by 4 votes, there were 3 no votes and 7 yes votes.

Welcome Home Maybe!
(and no we are not changing her name, yet...)

Election Day

The family vote is tomorrow, by secret ballot, I think her chances are looking pretty good. Maybe she ought to run for President.

Peach-Praline Cobbler

Just in case you have a large amount of peaches falling off your peach trees, as we do, or a really good produce department at your local grocery you might enjoy this recipe. It is by far my favorite thing to make with peaches. I also think it would be lovely made with apples this fall.

Peaches

Rolls

Rolls on Top of Peaches

Baked

Served

Could I Get A Job Doing This?

It was a busy weekend that started with the Howell Melon 5k Run on Friday night, blueberry picking early on Saturday morning that morphed into jam and buckle making by afternoon, and then another race at the Montrose Blueberry Festival 5 Mile run. Apparently I can't handle race peer pressure, because I probably wouldn't have run half of the races I did this summer if one of my racing partners wasn't so insistent that I pick him up to go to such and such a race. My other racing partner is a little more laid back about the whole thing and doesn't ever guilt me into an insanely early morning so I can run my heart out (thanks Mary!).

I'm thinking I should start a new job as a race reviewer, you know the kind of person that writes about how well organized the event is, if the post-race refreshments are worth my $20-$30, the quality and design of the t-shirts, if there are an appropriate number of rest rooms for the nervous runners, if the awards have any practical use besides getting the kids all excited that mom got a medal. Oh, and most importantly, if the race course was a good one.



The Howell Melon Run qualifies for excellent in all categories except for the rest room area. They had 5 toilets for over 250 women and that left me squatting in front of over 500 people just before the race began. The course was great: part off-road, lots of hills, half of it through a cemetery, view of the lake for portions. Post race food: Melon ice cream, need I say more? (And there was more, like cut up melon chucks and tasty bread.) Very well organized and entertaining with awards relatively soon after the results were in. The t-shirt above speaks for itself and as you can see the awards were very useful and although I should have a frothy Guinness in there I opted for a berry yogurt smoothie instead.

Poor Montrose Blueberry Race. They appeared well-organized but so does my husband if you don't know him. The race started late, the course was boring with no one was calling out splits at any point during the race, they didn't have a 4 mile marker, they passed out water in 3 oz. dixie cups-the ones that fall apart in your hand and at one of the water stations you actually had to cross the two lane road (which was not closed off on the other side) to get to get to your 3oz's of water. The t-shirts are okay but were supposed to be gray with a "cool new logo". The race was timed with chips, chips that the registration people forgot to mention to everyone so some people were at the start with no chip on their shoe. Post race refreshments consisted of water, bananas, apples and popsicles. Hello, us runners like to eat, that is why we run! And if all of that wasn't bad enough the timing system had some difficulties so the results were still not posted at over 3 hours post race. So just imagine what my 3rd place age-group finish would have earned me and envision it in the other corner of my shirt. Truly, I'm scared to even think about what the possibilities might be.

Kids Know Stuff

Really, these kids do know stuff. Lots of stuff so check them out! I even added them to my Essential Links so I can keep tabs on what they know, which is probably stuff I should know, but don't know because I have entered the geezer stage of knowing. Or not knowing.