Happy 2nd Birthday Brayden!!!!!

 

Happy Birthday Big Boy! You have had a busy 2 years! I Love you!

 

1 step forward, 2 steps back

Seriously, I should have just crawled back into bed yesterday morning. I should have just covered my head, ignored the phone and let the boys play in their pajamas all day.As if not setting my alarm and then forgetting to pack Amaya’s lunch were not enough…

I got a call from the director that I have been working with. He had offered to help me hire teachers, use his non-profit status, get supplies, help with marketing and do registrations. This place is a big Arts Center in my former town. He said he does stuff like this to help out small towns that do not have much. Satellite program he called it.

Well this morning the woman from the community center called to tell me their conditions for using their rooms..
Thank goodness all they want is to have background checks on the teachers (we were doing this before). And their name in the marketing…like brought to you by such and such community center. That’s it! They want to just offer the rooms for the 8 weeks summer courses and then we will see how it goes.

OK great right?!?!

Well, I call my guy at the Arts Center.. I told him that right now since I only have 8 weeks I really just want to see my Arts Center do well. And if he needs to have more control over it, then ok, I can step back and then take over once the classes are established. Well, he was excited. He said he needed to go get the approval from the president of the Arts Center and then we could more forward.

Well, a few hours later I get a phone call. This time he says that the president thinks it would be better if I worked with this other group. The other group (also an Arts Center) is in our county, but has no interest in our town or expanding it’s classes. I have met with this group just because they are in charge of all the central Indiana grants, but he even told this guy today that he thought there was not enough interest in this area for him to do programs here.

So the first Arts Center has backed out. I’m furious. I have been working with him for months now. I even reminded him that I approached the community center and secured the rooms (FOR FREE!!!) on the idea that I was being helped and not doing this by myself.

I have yet to call the other Arts Center. They did not seem to excited to help me when I talked about this. The very sad thing is that this was my trail period. I don’t think I can pull all of this off by myself and have it ready for June classes. I’m not done and I’m not giving up, but damn that sucks. I really wanted to egg that guys car today. hmmm.

 

We’ve got rooms!

Yes, I just spoke to my guy on the board (who was out of town during the meeting) and he said the chairman told him I have the rooms for the Arts Center!

Now… the conditions are still unclear because the glorified secretary director of the center did not feel the need to call me Thursday night or Friday. So maybe Monday the Arts Center will work it’s way up to the top of her list of things to do on Monday.

But none-the-less WE HAVE ROOMS!!!!!!

My BIG Presentation

Oh MY GOD!Picture this ….

20 people, aimed and ready with 100 questions just for you.

Last month I was so jazzed up. Last month there was not as many people there. Last month I was greeted by smiling faces.

This month I walked into the meeting already seated. This month almost EVERYONE of the board members were there. This month everyone was either staring me down or having conversations amoungst themselves while I was being questioned.

I think things went ok. I am awaiting the vote results. I was sooo nervous, I stuttered a bit. I think my heart may have jumped out of my chest right about the time I walked in and saw the principal of Amaya’s school!!!!!! Can you imagine the things they were saying about me?!?! I feel sick.

They did say that if they were to agree to this I would have to sign an agreement that the Community Center name would be in marketing as a sponsor and that I would not have an open invitation to their facility they would possibly give me the 8 weeks during the summer and then would have to reevaluate the situation. They also said that I have to sign an agreement concerning any messes the kids for the arts would cause. Did I mention this is the community center?!?! They are so closed minded and only want to better themselves, not the community! Ugh. This was a whole new breed of people then I have dealt with in this town.

I think this will either go 2 ways—

1. They will let me start the classes and then the dream will die if all does not go well during the summer. Not taking into consideration that activities like sports and other things have already started.

2. They will just take the idea and start up classes on their own. I mean why do they need me right?

I’ll await their phone call, but last meeting when they said they would get right back to me it took 3 weeks to find out no decision could be made. I won’t hold my breath!

 

 

What I did on April 16

So today besides the normal day-to-day of taking care of my four small children I:

• sent and email to “The Director”. I had phoned last week and was waiting on a reply so I tried that instead. Then amazingly he wrote back and “thank you” for keeping him in the loop, but did not tell me any if the information I was wanting to know on his end. So I emailed him back to find out what the president of Center for the Arts had to say about my program. No reply yet.
• sent an email out to my guy on the board. He had said that although he was going to be out of town for the Community Center meeting on April 17th that he would pull each board member aside and let them know who I was, why I was coming and to let them know it was important for them to be there to vote. I am still waiting on a reply from him.
• Yesterday, I took all the boys to Amaya’s school to get her tested. An instructor from another school is coming to give Amaya the test. It seems that when the director of the special needs department called the school, the principal and the teacher gave her the impression that Amaya was below preschool level. (She’s reading!) So sometime in the next week or two Amaya will be given the preschool entrance test. Testing her on her colors, shapes and sorting skills. (She’s reading.) I don’t want to jump into too many things at once, so for now I am sitting back and waiting for this test and it’s results. These are things that Amaya has known since she was 2yo so I am sure the test should be no problem. After that I guess I will push for the kindergarten test and then for the first grade test. Did I mention my daughter is reading? And pretty well too! But for some reason the teacher and the principal say that her learning level is far below that of her peers. She’s reading!
• Today we had Daisies. I brought one of the little girls home from school with Amaya to play until our meeting started. It was fun the kids were great.
• After that was the Town’s Improvement Committee meeting, it was a good meeting. We discussed replacing the trees that have been cut down due to the upcoming road construction, fund raising for the group, and writing a grant to cover the price of steel benches we hope to get. We had a sample bench on site, it looked fantastic and will really fit in with our “old timey” look.
• Attending was a member of the county’s Chamber of Commerce that I had needed to call. She is going to help me pull the population numbers together for getting a grocery store here in town. I need to find out how many miles we need to drive from town to get 20,000 people. Fun right.
• At the end of the meeting I was given the grant application that I now get to write myself. It looks easy enough, they have specific questions they want to know, like “What do we plan on using the money for?” and “How much it will cost?”. Plus a bonus, the president of the grant committee is also the head of our local girl scouts! Man, networking really pays off!
• I have enrolled Amaya in T-ball for this summer and I am waiting to find out what team she is on and when they practice.

Tomorrow evening is my 2nd presentation to the Community Center Committee and hopefully they will be voting and I will finally have a decision. I have decided if it takes much longer to get an answer I think I will have to postpone classes until the fall. Many of the summer sports and childrens programs have already had enrolments and have begun. I’m afraid parents won’t want to over book their children.

Today’s funny.

I have been holding onto this picture for a few days hoping I could have a happy ending to the story. BUT I don’t think this job is going to get done unless I do it myself, I think my hubby is on a self-proclaimed vacay.

My now 6 month old is still in his bassinet. This is mainly because my loving husband has not taken the time to build his new crib. It’s still in the box in the garage.

So do you think he is too big for his bassinet now Daddy?

 

(Maybe if he stands up and walks out of his bed things will get moving.)

 

 

What’s not to love about April 15.

April 15

1. Today is tax day. Tax forms must be postmarked by 11:59pm tonight or penalties will come.
2. April 15, 1912 was the day the Titanic sank just off the coast of Newfoundland on it’s maiden voyage killing 1517 people.
3. 1865 Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.

Today is my birthday. I think it is an OK day, but every year, all through my life, one of these three major events has been brought up to discuss about today. What do you think of when you think of April 15?

 

 

Where have I been?

Seriously, I WANT to know! It’s been 10 days since my last post. I have been in a fog illness, drama, stress, fun stuff.

So here are my top ten reasons for being MIA for over a week.

10 - Is for the 10 phone calls that I am waiting on people to return. These include…my board member, the chairman, “The Director”, 2 ballet instructors, the truancy officer for Amaya’s school (my 5yo that rides the bus has 5 morning tardies–explain that.), the special ed director to confim testing dates for Amaya, Amaya’s principal, her teacher and another parent who has dealtwith the school system before.

9- Well, I am going to choose to skip this one… I may choose to fill it in at a later time

8- Is for 28. I will be 28 on Tuesday. Not that I have been spending too much time dwelling on this, but I’m pretty sure after 28 the years start going back downwards right?!? Not that I’m dwelling though.

7- Is for the 17th. Well I finally heard back from the Community Center Committee. I have to give another presentation to them..hoping that they will have a quorum this month and hoping that they will approve my proposal right then so I can get this thing moving!

6- Is for my baby Grayson who turned 6 months old today. Is a a big part of my sleep deprivation and delirium.

 

 

5- Is for my 5 year old daughter Amaya. This last week I received a letter from her kindergarten teacher about her intentions to retain Amaya in kindergarten next year. Not because she is not smart , not because she does not know the material. No it’s because she gets bored and tries to keep herself entertained. So I am busy fighting this and trying to get her tested, away from school, by someone new.

4- Is for EVERY 4 hours, every 4 hours, EVERY 4 hours that I had to give my little Grayson breathing treatments in the last 10 days for bronchiolitis which seems to be caused by RSV.

3- Is for the 3 different types of antibiotics Brayden had to take for his pneumonia that seems to have started as RSV.

2- Is for 2 weeks from today my big boy Brayden will be 2 years old!!!! Birthday planning is underway, even with my sluggish mind. Two is also for the 2 trips I made to the after hours pediatrician last week to take my younger babies to the doc.

 

(This was from Brady’s first bday.)

1- Is for the 1 more day of work I have on Monday!!!!! Wahooo!!!! I have been trying to make it to work every night with the exception of those late night trips to the urgent care. 1 is also for the 1 trip I made to the ER last week when Brayden was running a fever and having trouble breathing. Chest x-rays revealed that more antibiotics would be needed and Brady’s pneumonia was not yet gone.

 

I think that is just about it.

Oh,

We also painted last weekend.

          

I hung decals in Amaya’s room.

     

I have been sick. Sore throat, ear aches, stuffy nose, ugh. I am spraying down the house with Lysol daily.

 

(Here is the faucet my nose has resembled lately, cute huh?)

And I have been doing homework on my first glass-work picture. Not much news back on that yet. Pretty cool stuff though.

 

Yeah, ok I think really that is it. Sorry for not posting sooner.

 

Thank goodness everyone is getting better everyday!

Hubby and Zaney are doing well too. Here is a pic of the whole crew!

My town’s Improvement Committee!

I did this because I thought it would be a great way to meet people, to get my name out there and to find out what the town has planned for the future.

 I attended my first meeting March 19 and at first I did not plan on letting out all of my crazy, dreamy ideas, but I could not help myself.

I told them how I have contacted a country-wide grocery chain and been in contact with them to look into adding a grocery in our now grocery-less town.

I told them how I would love to have the old train depot turned into a family restaurant. I can see tables inside and out and all the people of the town being able to come there sit outside and enjoy food and family.

I even told them my idea to try to get the interurban railroad going again through our town! Yes, I have BIG dreams! Apparently they like big dreamers and they asked me to come back!

So April 2 was the next committee meeting. They are going to attempt to pull together a few different non-profit groups in the area to sponsor part of the downtown area. We hope if we purchase beautiful custom benches, one group will purchase a planter and one group will purchase a trash bin. Our downtown area is really all there is to town so making that pretty is 90% of making everyone take pride in the town. They just started construction on the highway coming into town. By the time it is done (12-24 months) we will have a brand new road, brand new side walks AND brand new “old fashioned” street lights with a place to hang potted flowers. So my big goal is I want pretty trees planted along the pathway. ahhhh It will be so pretty.

At the end of the meeting I volunteered to help with some grant writing. I had been told there is a workshop offered in January that would cost about $300. So I thought since that is a while away I could help with this and learn a little bit about the process. Well, I guess I now get to write the grant! AND they offered to send me to another grant writing seminar at the end of this month! This is very much a win, win situation for me. I am so glad that I raised my hand!

After the meeting the president of the Improvement Committee took us through the glass museum. Now you would not know it right off, but my town is “The Glass Capital of Indiana”. So a glass museum makes sense. Well, of course having 4 children 5 and under I had only dreamt of looking inside that building. It was so wonderful inside! So much history. During our tour the president told us of how one of the closed factories had recently donated rooms full of glass pieces to the museum. Boxes were piled on the floor, dusty glass was everywhere. She told us in the early 1900’s this glass factory would purchase pieces from all over the world in order to copy study them. These priceless pieces had been locked in a special back room, a room that was forgotten when the factory closed in 2002. A new factory has just taken possession of the building and said that what the museum did not take would be crushed by the end of the week. I tell you all of this because in a back corner covered in cob webs and pigeon poop was a glass-work that has been estimated at $1 million! And why am I mentioning this on my blog you ask? Well I volunteered to do some research on these pieces. To find out where they were made, when they were made and an estimated appraisal price. It should be lots of fun!

2 Weeks!

I have said before that I lack patience in some things. This would be one of them.

Two weeks ago I gave a presentation to the Community Center Committee. I sat there, smiled and shook hands. After asking numerous questions they informed me that they did not have a quorum and would have to get back to me with their decision. The chairman of the committee mentioned that since my whole plan depends on using their facility that they would get back to me as quickly as possible.

So what would that mean to you? I thought ok, maybe a few days, maybe they will speak with the other board members and by the following week I will have my answer and conditions. One week went by. Finally, I emailed my contact on the group. He mentioned not have enough members to make a vote and that he would find out more and call me that night. Didn’t happen. I lack patience when business people make a commitment and then break it. I have major things that I need to be doing to get this thing off the ground. And guess what?!?! I can’t do it unless I know if I have the building or not!

 So for 2 weeks I’ve been waiting…

I have not phoned “The Director”. I did not want to just call to tell him I had no idea what was going on.

I have not posted here because it bummed me out to think that I did not know what was happening or when I might find out.

Tomorrow I’ve decided I will start making some serious phone calls. I will have these people talking about me all weekend long!