70.5 Hours!

Okay - I had started a draft and forgot to save it - so now I have to start all over. 

So, it's been a while since I've posted any PTO related stuff.  I think that's because once all the hubaloo of an event or activity is over the last thing I want to do - is revisit it.  Not because it didn't turn out well, but because it was so stressful making sure it did turn out well.  Who wants to look back on an event/activity and recall the time crunch, emails begging for help, filling in when no one else would, making a mess of the time I was supposed to be enjoying with my kid at the function, etc. 

But, I think I'm past it now so - here goes:  Just a few short days after the book fair closed we had our Halloween Parade and fall classroom parties.  I cannot thank the PTO mom who took over coordinating homeroom parents enough.  That was a huge job, stressful to boot.  She did a remarkable job and I actually got to be an observer and participant rather than a planner and a worker.  It was nice - so I will not count that toward my PTO hours (though I can guarantee she spent many hours working it all out!). 

So, just a day or two later I sent out the first FFN (Family Fun Night) communication calling for our first meeting.  We had our first meeting at the Pine Tree Grill (a little wine and oriental chicken salad helped make the evening rather enjoyable).  Our wonderful treasurer with whom I co-chair the event made a fantastic agenda encompassing the whole event from A to Z.  This made planning and taking or assigning jobs easy.  I worked on a sign up sheet via signupgenius.com and she edited it - between the two of us it is pretty complete.  I sent it out to 50 on-call volunteers that evening - and, of course, only a few have signed up.  Other than that I've begun to work on some donation request letters.  We'll call that 2 1/2 hours.

Monday I went in to facilitate the Spotlight interview with a couple of 4th graders.  The one kid was so cute.  I told him the PTO newsletter would be posted for everyone to see and he said, "I don't know what to think.  This has never happened to me before."  Aww.  But, that lasted only about 20 minutes.

Then, on Tuesday I had to help with Market Day pick up.  We don't have a rep since ours quit prior to this year.  So, Market Day has been pulling reps from other areas.  Last month we had a rep up from Milwaukee.  So, this month the rep had to be at a DePere school by 3:15.  When I showed up at 2:30 she hadn't started doing much of anything.  And, ultimately, I was left to separate the boxes of food by category number, box by order, and take money all by myself until 4:30.  That was 2 hours but normally - we have two people doing that job.  All I can say - is thankfully it wasn't a huge order this month.  I had sent out an email requesting help to 40 people - and only 2 replies came back.  No, was the reply from both, of course.  Ridiculous!

Then, on that Thursday we had our PTO meeting.  Allow me to back up and insert time spent on the agenda and PTO newsletter - I'll give it an hour at most.  The meeting went well - with 7, yes - seven, in attendance.  Why do I even bother?????????  Big question.  At any rate, there may not be a PTO next year because there is no vice president to take over.  And, personally - if I were paid to do this job I would gladly take on the role or one or more schools.  But, because it is volunteer and I do have another paying job - I need to back off next year.  I am now realizing, with a 9th grader and a 7th grader - who both are already seriously looking into carreers and colleges - I need to make more money.  Ha!  Which means - I need to work more - and volunteer less.  Anyway - add 1 1/2 hours to my tally.

Speaking of our PTO meeting and our failed referendum - I could make this a separate post but it ties in with the whole volunteering and school theme. . .  So, I worked as hard as I could to answer questions from my neighbors.  I tried my best to get my hubby to vote "Yes" (which he did eventually), I wrote a letter to the editor, I helped put flyers in newspaper boxes, I included info in my previous months newsletter - and most of all, I was hopeful.  In the end the referendum failed.  Okay- so now, we move on.  My kids still are in the best school district, greater tech/athletic field or not.  The village I live in was a huge opponet and the village president stated if it passed Hobart would attempt to seceede from the PCSD.  Well, just a day after I received a survey from Hobart wanting to know the age of kids in the house from 0-19 and what school they attended.  After a lot of jumping to conclusions and threatening to opens a can worms I spoke with a village trustee and kind of found out the truth (which isn't exactly innocent - but it's more factual than it was when I contacted WLUK's Report It and sent out various text's, etc.)  Long story short - they are considering creating their very own school district.  But, I'm not sweating it - it'll be years in coming and as long as when it does I can keep my child (by that time I'm guessing I'll have only one in the district) in the Pulaski district - it might not be a bad option for the citizens of Hobart.  It is a long drive to Pulaski, but it's hard to really complain about it if you value the quality of education and a district that educates the whole child and aims to prepare them for life beyond primary education.  ??

And, moving on - catching  myself up here - just this week we concluded our Hansen's fundraiser.  Pick up took place earlier this week with us only having to store a few items that weren't picked up at the pre-determined, advertised, pick up day and time.  I find it funny that just after the PTO meeting and discussing the issue of difficulty in getting volunteer help - I was able to find more than enough.  ???  I did, however, send out the request breaking it down into 3 1-hour segments.  I wound up with (including myself) 4 for the 1st hour, 2 for the second hour, and 3 for the third hour.  It was wonderful.  If I had had work - I wouldn't have been there.  But, since I didn't (well, I did have charts to review at home), I came and assisted.  My volunteers for the 1st hour were there for 20 minutes, I think.  I find it amazing how quickly things can get done when you have many people helping.  There's a quote by John Heywood - Many hands make light work.  Love it!  So true!  For me, it was a total of 2 hours.

And, earlier that day I met with our Family Nights coordinator and one other volunteer and we made great progress towards a Holiday Family Bingo Night.  I'm quite excited about it.  We could use it to make money but the whole purpose was to offer a family activity in which the point - is simply to come together and spend time having fun.  So, I hope we have a great turn out.  We met for 2 hours. 

Now, that puts me where in terms of hours????  11 hours plus the 20 minutes - I like to make it easy and keep the number pretty round.  I've been generous in counting my time for other activities so I'm rounding up to 11 1/2, if my math is correct, for a total of . . . .