Jumping through hoops, in vain...

I hate fundraisers.  This may not be the first time I've said it, and it certainly won't be the last.

My son participated in a fundraiser that had a sales contest in which, if you sold X amount items, you would win a pizza party at CiCi's pizza.

Have I mention my son is gluten free?

So, fine... Yes, I will sign the permission slip for the limo ride that I don't really even agree with so that my son can go to the pizza place where he can't even eat.  And yes, I will make the goddamned gluten free pizza so he won't feel left out.

So, that's what I did.  I got up this morning, got both kids off to school, and attempted to make a pizza.  Lo, and behold, I did not, in fact, have the jar of pizza sauce I thought was in the fridge.

 Crap.  I'll go to the store.  No, don't have time for that.  So, that's fine... I don't need any jar of store bought pizza sauce, I have tomato sauce, I'll make my own.

So, I did.  I made sauce, assembled gluten free pizza, cooked it, cooled it, wrapped it, and took it to the school by 9am.  (Yes, putting me over an hour late on actually working.) He retrieved his pizza and said, "My teacher doesn't think they'll let me bring it." WTF? He can't eat their pizza, so why not? I assure him it will be fine, but I'll call just to double check.  So, I called, and sadly, Teacher was right.  No outside food.  It's a food safety issue.

But no worries...  He can eat salad.  I'm sure he'll be thrilled.

What becomes of my gluten free early morning creation?  God knows... Hopefully he gets to eat it at some point.  I'm pretty sure 10am is too early for wine...

Safety first

I'm sort of a safety nut.  I'm very serious about car seat and seat belt issues - proper installation of car seats, use of booster seats, proper wearing of seat belts in the car...  (Yeah, I don't care if your mom lets you put the should strap behind your back. When you're in my car, you're gonna wear it the right way, k?)


When the cheerleading ladies held a meeting about Cheer Competition, we were told the girls would be going to competition in a limo.  Another mom raised her hand and asked if the limo would have seat belts.  They said no, that they had asked, but since law doesn't required seatbelt use in limos, the limo wasn't equipped with them.

Damn.

Now my daughter is going to hate me, because she's not riding 45 minutes away in a car full of unrestrained 4-8 year old girls, most of which shouldn't be in a car without a booster seat, much less without a seat belt.

I discussed it with her father.  He agreed with the safety issue, but thought that she should be allowed so as not to be left out.  I wasn't going to budge from my position, though.

I broke the news to her the night before the competition.  She wasn't very happy.  I had read this post the week before about a dresser falling on a 3 year old.  I told Grace the story, and I asked her what if something happened, and that were me, and what if those people were saying to me, "You could have said no to the limo."

Picture Day

Here's nice tidbit from last week...


Grace, today is picture day.  Was there a form I needed to turn in, or is this one that I buy later?

 I don't think so, I didn't get any form. 

Are you sure?

Yeah, I think you buy them later.

[fast forward about 9 hours]

[in a huff] Guess what Mom, he took my picture for the yearbook, but I'm not going to get any pictures because you didn't send any money!

*sigh*

"Hi, is this Cole's mom?"

Oh, Friday. I'm always glad to see you. Lately, though, you've been bringing with you some not-so-fun phone calls from teachers. I may reconsider my position on Fridays if this doesn't change soon.  

"We're just calling to let you know that Cole got 6 conduct marks this week. He already had a lunch d-hall to serve this week, but he managed to find someone to talk to during lunch, so he's going to have to have a do-over on that one, and he's also going to have to serve an after school detention next week. We can do Monday or Thursday, which do you prefer?" 

Um... Can I choose none of the above? No? Oh, well okay then, I guess Thursday looks great for me.  

Oh, this child of mine.  

Yes, he has Bipolar Disorder. Yes, he has ADHD. Yes, he even has Oppositional Defiant Disorder.  Oh, I did I mention he's gluten, sugar, and milk free, also? Life is not so easy on my poor sweet son. But we work so hard to make sure he has no barriers to success. He takes medication from the doctor, he takes whole food supplements from the BEST chiropractor, his diet is modified to exclude food that is detrimental to him. But still, there's only so much we can do. Clearly.  

So, back to this afternoon...