Summer of Chaos

The girls, now ages 7 & 8, have reached the age where spending their summer in day care is not their idea of a good time.  So........we came up with a plan about February that we would hire a student this summer to care for them out of our home, with the idea that they could stay very busy with activities.  The perfect summer, right?  Go to the library, and the park, and the swimming pool.  Do arts & crafts.  Play games.  Play in the yard.  In theory, it all sounded perfect.  But in theory, I seem to have forgotten that: 1)  I run a very busy appraisal business from our home, 2) children this age will all test an authority figure if there is another authority figure present, and 3) my youngest has a very challenging neuro-developmental disorder that includes manipulation at the highest levels.  UGH!

So each morning, our babysitter arrives.  She has honestly done FAR better than I would have if the roles were reversed.  FAR FAR FAR far better.   But still.......the noise level is through the roof and anytime she asks/tells them to do something that they don't want to do, they run to ME to see if they can get me to allow whatever it is they want.  I'm doing my darndest to reinforce the babysitter's authority when she's here, and send them back to her.  But in the meantime, I'm pulling my hair out.

So......whose idea was this???  :)

I'm running for school board. Yep......For REAL!!!

Last week, I filed to run for school board.  No joke.  On November 8th, my name will be on the ballot.  Right next to my opponent.  And people will either vote for me.  Or they will vote for him.  But either way, in the next 4 3/4 months, I'm going to have a LOT of opportunities to speak my opinions about local and not-so-local school issues. 

Its a little mind-boggling.  I mean......I'm familiar with the democratic process, right?  But still........when it comes right down to it, it was remarkably easy to throw myself in front of the bus.  In Washington State, there isn't even a fee to file.  It's free!  Just sign up and say you want to run!  WOW! 

As my opponent and I are the only candidates for the seat for which we are vying, we don't have to run in the primary in August.  (Hallelujah!)  So.......I'm getting focused on November 8th and developing a plan for how to reach potential voters.  I live in a GREAT school district and would love to be part of the team that continues moving forward.  I want to help our teachers' voices be heard a little louder (figuratively, not literally), I want to encourage more parents to step forward and speak their minds when they have an issue, and I want to make sure our students know that school is about THEM. 

I will have another blog up and running very shortly as a support to my campaign literature.  I will provide the link when that is ready to go, so you can all check in there and see where I'm headed with this.  In the meantime, I hope you all smile!  An SPD Mom is running for office!!!  WAHOO!!!  :)