Pinball, Fags, and T Parties. PS.. I'm hot.

I know I'm not the only person who has a brain like a pinball machine. Big old steel balls (in my case it's actually a few slightly chipped and misshapen marbles rolling around) bouncing off bumpers and ringing bells and lighting up lights and making electronic noises and generally being the absolute attention whore to beat all attention whores, my brain is. Although there have been occasions where I was pretty sure I had balls of steel, it turned out to be an illusion. They're just marbles. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Todd*'s mom went on a mini vacation with her boyfriend over Spring break and sent Todd and Brian* to stay with her parents in another state.

The boys came back to my program suntanned.

And Todd came back out of sorts, grumpy, and uncharacteristically sullen. It's been very obvious that he's just not the same sunshiny guy he's always been.

And because I've been around kids a long time and have gone through all the required course work to know, I recognize his changes as a possible warning sign that something may have happened to him. My mind wouldn't go there except that I know he spent his vacation time with his grandparents and his mom wasn't there with him.

But there are no other signs. And his mom is a teacher. Certainly well-versed in how to spot signs, too. And it was her parents he was with. So wouldn't she know? Right now there isn't anything concrete that I could report, either.
Can you imagine the phone call?
"I have a kid in my program who's acting strange."
But I'm keeping an eye on him.
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Remember Liam*? His dad has seemingly lightened up a bit lately. He came in to get his son twice last week while Liam was (gasp) hanging out with girls. And he jumped up from the table and ran to his dad, jumped into his arms and squeeeezed his dad around the neck. And his dad laughed and said, "Get your stuff." Greeted me in a friendly manner, and as far as I can tell, wasn't too worried about Liam's choice of people to hang out with.

Liam did find me last week though to follow up on the whole gay issue.
He said, "Do you really have a gay cousin?"

I answered yes, I did, and he wanted to know, "How do you know she's gay? Does she, like, tell people?"

I said, "Well, she chose to marry a woman, so that pretty much lets people know, I guess."

And then he asked,"Was her dad mad at her for being a fag?"

I kept my voice calm. Did not change expression.

"Liam, that word is offensive. It's not polite to use it at all here. Can you make sure not to say that here again?"

His eyes got wide.

"Oh!" He said. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. That's what my dad calls them."

And I said, "Well, generally people just like to be called people. Or by their names."

I didn't address his father's homophobic issues.
I can't.

Wouldn't fix anything anyway.

I can just be there to talk to.
And I will as long as possible.
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Time for a T Party.
I sent the flyers home with parents last week. Time to bring in a plain 100% cotton t shirt in either pastel or white for our tie dye event.

Lyssa's going to come out to the school and volunteer to help. Usually when it's time to do an event with kids is when I really get the urge to experiment with the dye. Which of course doesn't happen, I don't have TIME while I'm teaching kids how to do this.

The parental deadline is April 21.
A Friday.
So I can go to Sprawlmart and purchase a few shirts for however many kids whose parents forgot theirs over that weekend and no one will go home sad 'cause they didn't get the opportunity to dye a shirt.

But this year? I am charging the parents five bucks per shirt if I have to furnish it. Does that seem outrageous?
If they forgot to get their kid a shirt, and I have to drive to the store, crutch in there and pick up a few shirts for 3 bucks each, is two dollars for my trouble over the top?

Last year I had to furnish six shirts and two families never even bothered to pay me. Would you be pissed if you forgot your kid's shirt and they got one anyway and dyed it and then the teacher asked you to pay for it?

Speaking as a parent, I think I'd appreciate that the teacher planned ahead and took care of the possibility that being a busy parent, I may have forgotten... and just pay for it with a 'thank you.' 

But that's me. And really, I don't want to offend anyone, but doesn't that seem fair?

I'm NOT going to have a kid who wants to dye a shirt feeling left out. And the people who did not pay me last year... well, I know the kids will not know that, they'll just remember that they got to do a shirt.

In fact, I don't even remember which parents didn't bother to pay. Doesn't really matter. The kids were proud of their creations, which of course is the point.
I'm overthinking this, aren't I?
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Eric and Lyssa had a date on Saturday. They went to a Chinese strip mall. Grocery store, clothing store, a place that sells Tchotchkes and out for lunch. Brought home a bunch of chopsticks for me, I wanted some for a craft project at work.

I recently purchased plastic communion cups from Amazon for a project, too. I'll have to show you some pictures once we do it.

Eric contributed to that project, too.

I know I've mentioned once or twice that my job is a family affair.
It's one reason I'm so good at it, I have a LOT of resources.

Speaking of resources, Tami is always finding things for me at Goodwill for my kids. She's stopping by with a delivery of fuse beads between the time I write this post and the time it publishes. She's going to be treated to a vision of beauty... bright blue thermal shirt over a dark blue one, plaid pajama pants and my hot pink slipper boots.

At least my hair is clean and my teeth are brushed.
:)

I know. You think I'm hot, don't you?
I don't blame you. Everyone does.