Thanks to my cell being dead I missed a call from the tumbling center’s owner letting me know KJ’s practice had been moved back 45 minutes, but it was no big. Instead we got treated to a super-fun (and candy-filled) parade at our county’s seat.

The girls collected mass amounts of sugary goodness while we were treated to seeing so many fun floats, including

our tumbling center’s cheerleaders,

some neat old fire trucks,

local celebrities,

and even some equine visitors as well.

After the parade we the rest of the afternoon practicing tumbling, signing up for the summer reading program at our local library (you can learn more about summer reading programs here), wandering around the NC Spring event, and practicing softball with KG.

We finished our day with pizza and ice cream.

Yes. Today was a perfect day.

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**Although last month, October, was Domestic Abuse Awareness Month, I still felt called to post and share with you what Verizon is doing locally to have an impact on their community and for the battle against domestic abuse. If you know a company that is doing big/good things for their community drop me an email and let me know! Note: the below information was sent to me in a press release from a PR contact that works with Verizon in Louisville.**

Verizon Wireless HopeLine^® program

Domestic violence survivors and their children in Lexington will benefit from a $7,000 donation made by Verizon Wireless to Chrysalis House, Kentucky’s oldest and largest, licensed substance-abuse treatment program for women and their children.  The grant will aid survivors of domestic violence who also struggle with substance-abuse, a common problem for women who have dealt with abusive relationships.

The grant will help fund medical and psychiatric care, dental and health exams, educational materials and wellness supplies, including everything from personal hygiene items to laundry detergent, for women who are survivors of domestic violence and are also recovering from alcohol or other drug abuse.

Chrysalis House is a comprehensive, long-term program that has grown over the past 30 years from a six-bed halfway house to a holistic agency providing a continuum of services in multiple Lexington locations. The nonprofit agency serves more than 200 low-income women and their children annually—many of whom have suffered from domestic violence—

and has more than doubled the national average rate of success for substance abuse recovery.

“Due to Verizon’s generosity, Chrysalis House is now able to provide high quality substance-abuse treatment and domestic violence counseling services to the women and children we serve,” said Mary Allison Belshoff, Assistant Director of Chrysalis House. “Chrysalis House assists more than 200 women and their families recovering from abuse and drug and alcohol addiction each year. Words cannot express our appreciation.”

This is the second consecutive year that Chrysalis House received a grant from Verizon Wireless. Last year, the nonprofit organization was awarded $7,000 for similar purposes.

This year’s gift was made possible by the Verizon Wireless HopeLine^® program, which converts no-longer-used wireless phones into support for survivors of domestic violence.

Since HopeLine’s national phone recycling and re-use program was launched in 2001, Verizon Wireless has collected more than 7 million phones, distributed more than 90,000 phones with the equivalent of more than 300 million minutes of free wireless service to be used by domestic violence survivors, and awarded more than $7.9 million in cash grants to domestic violence agencies and organizations throughout the country.

In Kentucky last year, Verizon Wireless and the Verizon Foundation donated more than $18,500 in cash grants as well as phones and airtimes to local domestic violence agencies and shelters.

HopeLine wireless phone donations are accepted at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores across the nation, including the locations at 1895 Vendor Way, 2901 Richmond Road and 3695 Nicholasville Road in Lexington. Verizon Wireless encourages everyone who plans to give a phone to HopeLine to make sure service on that device has been discontinued and to erase any personal data on the phone. Phones given to the HopeLine program are refurbished and resold for reuse or disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.

“Chrysalis House serves as a critical lifeline for hundreds of area women who, having survived domestic violence, must now begin the hard work of overcoming years of substance abuse,” said Store Manager Lesli Daughetee, who presented the donation to Belshoff during the Nicholasville Road store’s weekly meeting on Friday. “The HopeLine program enables consumers to donate their old phones to benefit two great causes—protecting the environment and preventing and raising awareness of domestic violence.”

For more information on the Verizon Wireless HopeLine program, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

About Verizon Wireless in Kentucky

In Kentucky, Verizon Wireless has more than 150 employees and 120-plus locations including company-owned retail stores, indirect agents and national retailers.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable and largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving more than 92 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 79,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD).  For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com.

As a mother, daughter, wife, and friend I am thoroughly grateful for donation and community outreach from Verizon.  Having known women I love become victims {and survivors} of domestic violence I have seen first hand the dramatic effects abuse can have on an individual and their family. If you, or someone you know, is a victim of domestic violence please seek help immediately. It is not your fault {or theirs}. Please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at: 1−800−799−SAFE(7233) or TTY 1−800−787−3224 or visit http://www.thehotline.org/

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Today is Election Day; school  is out today and some companies still let you off work today.  For one reason: To make sure you face no adversity when it comes to letting your voice be heard; to vote.  Did you? Did you take your children with you? I’m sitting here tonight, bundled up in my recliner, thinking about the past 10 years {that’s how long it’s been since I was old enough to vote}, where our country {and government} has been and where it is going, whether my vote {my vote} will really bring around any change {hell…if anybody’s vote brings change}, and about the excitement my 7 year old has about Election Day.

You see, KG is not your average 7 year old. OH no. She’s our budding politico.  As soon as the election signs start going up, KG starts asking questions about the different candidates.  KG was in kindergarten when President Obama won and was sworn into office…she was crushed to have to go to school that day, but thrilled to find out Principal J was allowing the whole to school to watch it.  So when I woke up this morning and the first words out of her mouth were “Are you going to vote today?” I wasn’t terribly shocked.

Now you know I don’t get political on here. We discuss enough politics in my home that my blog {and so my readers} are spared from it.  That being said…I do feel it is your responsibility as a parent to vote and to take your children with you.  As the old saying goes {kinda}: “You can’t complain if you don’t vote.”  But more importantly you should be teaching your children the importance of informed voting, of having your voice heard.  Voting wasn’t a huge issue in my house growing up.  My dad can’t vote and I never heard any of the rest of my family talk about voting except to talk about the evils of the other side of the political aisle {either the Republicans or the Democrats depending on who’s house I was in}.

At 18, I voted in the Presidential elections for the first time and felt robbed, cheated, and a bit disenfranchised when Al Gore was robbed of the Presidency in 2000 {Thanks again Florida}.  After those elections, and the horrific attacks on September 11th, certain members of my family took an avid interest and an extreme stance in politics…they also took to pushing their political agendas over on myself and Jon.  In a way it was a good thing, it pushed us to learn more about candidates and forced us to make a choice whether to vote for who our family wanted us to…or with who we felt was in line with our morals and vision for the country. Sadly, for that election there was not a candidate who fit perfectly so we also learned about choosing the lesser of the two evils that year.

Fast forward several more years and you find Jon and I with two daughters and an even clearer view on where our political lines fall {interestingly enough Jon and I are on opposite party lines}.  While we may not always agree with the other person’s candidate choice, the one thing we absolutely agree on is the importance of teaching our children to take responsibility for knowing their beliefs, values, and morals and to be thoroughly educated voters.

Voters.

Because whats the point of being educated and having an opinion if you don’t voice it?

I want to raise well educated and informed voters who go out on Election Day and let their voice be heard.

What about you? Do you take your kids to vote? Why or why not?

Did you write a post or an article about this Election Season or Election Day? Leave you link in Mr Linky here and then just link back to this post on your blog.

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Well, I figure since it’s been two weeks since our Fall Festival I owed you guys like a really awesome title. What’cha think?

Today our PTSO board held our annual post-Fall Festival meeting to discuss the final income/expense numbers, to talk over suggestions we have for next year, and generally decompress after the amazingly stressful last 2 months. I would like to say that I was waiting until we had the meeting to write about it, but really…that would a lie. I’ve just been so overwhelmed with work, homework (finals were this week), and life in general that I just couldn’t write.  Now that the meeting is out of the way I am feeling a little relieved and more ready to write about it.

Two weeks ago, our awesome little school held our annual Fall Festival to give the parents, students, and teachers a chance to come together, eat some delicious chili, play some games, and raise some money to support our school community.  We saw a dip in attendance this year, but thankfully only saw a minor dip in the total amount raised.  After all those weeks of stress it was so good to see everything we all worked so hard for come to fruition and know that it was all going to support our children’s educations.

It’s inevitable when you’re working for something as important as your child’s education, there is going to be stress. When you add all the background and behind the scenes information {and stress} that I am privy to as PTSO secretary, I am usually a nervous wreck by the time we finally get to Fall Festival.  This year, to be honest, I stayed relatively stress-free up and until the last 4 weeks or so {which is about the point when I realized our local donations were way down}.  I’m so thankful for the amazing volunteers I have every year who help me solicit and collect donations.  Since we feel sending out Thank You cards to our donors is a must, each volunteer is also responsible for preparing a Thank You card for the donors they solicit from {the PTSO pays for the cards, mailing labels, and stamps}.  I had to do all of the Thank You cards by myself for two years, so I am especially thankful for their help in that department.

Each year we learn more and more about what needs to be done differently and we make specific plans for the next year.  Our PTSO always holds a wrap-up meeting to discuss the board’s perspective on the night, our suggestions, and ideas for the coming year; we also hold a post-festival meeting for the parents so they can come in and give us their suggestion and observations from the night.  We do this because for the majority of the evening we {the board members} are running around the school and don’t really get an opportunity to observe the actual festival as much as we might like…but the parents do. The parents are the ones who can tell us if the dinner we served was worth the amount charged, if the games were age appropriate, or if they had any general suggestions or ideas for the coming year.

Despite all the stress, hard work, and long-days that sometimes comes along with school festivals, we find it is always worth the price.  Last year, with the money mostly raised from our Fall Festival, we were able to help put airliners {tablet pcs & projectors} in each class room and send the entire school to see a ballet for Christmas.  I’m always reminded how “worth it” it is when I walk in our school and see students actively engaged in learning and enjoying it!

In the coming weeks, I’m going to be posting some tips to making your school’s next Festival or Silent Auction successful and (a little) less stressful…so stay tuned!

We Love Face Paint!

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Last year I had the opportunity to partner with Office Max and giveaway, on this blog, a $100 gift card to a deserving teacher you, my readers, recommended.  I also had the privilege of hosting a “A Day Made Better” party to gather supplies for teachers in my own school.  Well, I am excited to say that I have partnered with Office Max again this year to raise awareness of and bring an end to teacher-funded classrooms.  The average teacher spends approximately $1200 out of their pocket to purchase supplies for the classroom and while many parent-teacher organizations help the teachers, it simply isn’t enough.  That’s why Office Max joined with Adopt-a-Classroom to bring about the “A Day Made Better” campaign again.  This year “A Day Made Better” was held on October 5th when 1,000 teachers received $1000 worth of must-have school supplies. These teachers, who are nominated by their principals, exemplify what it means to go above and beyond the call of duty in the classroom.

When, as part of my being a Max Mom, I was given the opportunity to surprise a CES teacher with a $100 gift card to Office Max for them to use on supplies for their classroom I jumped.  Our PTSO (Parent, Teacher, Student Organization) provides each classroom teacher with a $200 each year in reimbursements for classroom supplies and we are always looking for ways to provide more help for our teachers and I feel blessed to be a part of it.  However, we have had an influx of new teachers recently who are starting fresh in classrooms all their own and who have not yet had the time to build up a stock of supplies for their classrooms.

Let me introduce you to Mrs. P, she is the brand new Arts & Humanities teacher at CES and is newly married as well! {Congratulations!} As the new Arts & Humanities teacher and young teacher, Mrs. P had to start this year with few supplies at her disposal for use in the classroom.  I am happy to announce that I was able to present Mrs. P with a $100 Office Max gift card yesterday.  Mrs. P seemed so shocked at having been chosen, I hope this will help ease the need for supplies some.  I know it will go a long way to providing some fun and education to the students at CES.

CES wasn’t the only local school to benefit from Adopt a Classroom and Office Max; another local teacher was one of the teachers surprised on October 5th with $1000 worth of  essential classroom supplies.

As a Max Mom I will also be guest posting on A Day Made Better’s Blog, along with my other fellow Max Moms. So keep a look out for me there too!!

About “A Day Made Better”

“A Day Made Better” is a national cause founded by OfficeMax and nonprofit organization, Adopt-A-Classroom, to lead the fight to erase teacher-funded classrooms. Annually in October, more than 3,500 OfficeMax associates surprise and honor more than 1,000 teachers at Title 1 schools across the country with a total of $1,000,000 worth of classroom supplies – $1,000 per classroom. Nominated by their principals, teacher recipients receive this honor for their exceptional contributions and going above-and-beyond as an educator. The name, “A Day Made Better,” is derived from the concept that OfficeMax and Adopt-A-Classroom can make at least one day better for teachers by providing them with essential classroom supplies. Through more than 1,000 simultaneous teacher surprise events, the cause seeks to call attention to the issue of teacher out-of-pocket spending and motivate the public to take action by supporting local educators through Adopt-A-Classroom. “A Day Made Better” was first conducted in October 2007 and has since funded over 3,500 teachers and attracted donations for more than 10,000 classrooms through Adopt-A-Classroom.

**Disclosure: As a part of the Max Moms team, I was given the choice to run a giveaway on this blog again with a $100 Office Max gift card or to pass on to a local teacher.  I chose to pass it a long to a local teacher I knew needed it.  I received no payment for my thoughts here.**

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For teens ages 16-19, Toyota Driving Expectations goes beyond what is currently taught in typical driver’s training classes in order to help them identify and react to dangerous driving situations. To better understand the critical relationship between distractions and reaction time, teens navigate a driving course while drinking water, listening to loud music and talking on a cell phone. They also experience hard-braking maneuvers on wet and dry pavement, and maneuver through multiple slalom courses under the watchful eyes of professional drivers.  For parents, the experience offers insight into some of the problems facing teen drivers and provides creative approaches for effective coaching.

Toyota Driving Expectations will be held at Bass Pro Shops’ parking lot, located at 951 E. Lewis & Clark Parkway in Clarksville, Ind., on October 9-10. The first class begins at 9:30 a.m.

Space is limited, so register early.

For more information and to register, please visit: www.toyotadrivingexpectations.com.

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Image Credit: DiscoveryEducation.com

use brown paper bags), and Mommy to a sometimes daycare-goer (but who must always have her lunch packed) I have run into a familiar problem. While we use plastic reusable sandwich containers and plastic reusable containers for our fruits and other goodies, I still can’t help but feel we’re just not helping the environment all that much.

True, we no longer use the 15 plastic sandwich baggies/snack baggies a day that we used to, we are still using plastic containers.  Bear with me while I work this out on here…my blog {The blog I’m fairly certain few people actually read anymore…sure it might come to your inbox/google reader, but do you actually read this stuff?}.

I’m ready to forgo using plastic, of any kind, in favor of products that are sturdy, easily washable, ec0-friendly, and frugal.

Do these products even exist?

Am I doing more harm than good by getting rid of the plastic containers I already have to trade up/out for cloth or wooden containers?

What do you use in your child’s lunch? Are you a baggie person or do you have a clever, eco-friendly, and frugal way to send your kids their lunch in style?

I’m all ears! Share!

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What does it take to get people interested in their school? I know it was just the first meeting and all, but still. The first meeting of the year is often one of our most important. We go over the budget and start planning for our Fall Festival {our largest fundraiser of the year}.

Our board works hard all summer while even the teachers get to take time off to get ready for the coming school year. We plan out the fundraisers, trying to be sure to only choose high profit yielding ones so we don’t have to beg the already over-extended parents for money over and over. We do landscaping at the school to make sure when the students arrive they have a nice, clean, welcoming school to come in to. Our board plans giveaways for the teachers and little ways to say Thank You {and only 1 teacher out of all of them makes it to nearly every meeting, most don’t ever come at all.}

Again, I know they’re busy…that they’ve been there all day and are ready to go home, but really? Is one day every month {heck I would take every 2 months} that much to ask. We’re always prepared for our meetings with an agenda, we start on time, and end exactly 1 hour later {sometimes sooner}. And by the way, we’re busy too. Most of us would love to be home with our children or relaxing with our husbands, but we’re there…every month. We spend countless hours during the year in classrooms or around the school making sure our teachers have the support they need and deserve.

But really it seems to me that this lack of participation on the part of the parents isn’t contained to just PTSO meetings, we see a slow-down, a lack of volunteering in parents starting in around the second grade. Parents come in with their kiddos in Kindergarten gung-ho ready to volunteer their hearts out and by the time second grade rolls around they’re barely stopping at the front door long enough to drop their kids off. Teachers and students need parental support through out the years, the copies don’t stop when your child reaches second grade and neither do the activities. We, as parents, need to step up and support our children and their teachers through out their school career. As we are able.

I understand work happens, but many of us are able to volunteer during the day {SAHMs I’m looking at you} even just one day a week. If you work, consider volunteering to help prepare lessons after work {like at night when you’re watching Glee} or on the weekends. If you’re a handy man {or woman}, let your school know you’re willing to help with repairs or improvements on the weekends or whenever you’re available. Schools are flexible and always need more help.

The more you volunteer and show your children their education is important to you, the more important it will become to them.

Do you have any suggestions on how to encourage parents and teachers to get involved in their PTSO? How about ideas to encourage volunteerism?

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4^th Annual Shotgun Festival

Celebrating Germantown!

• • • Saturday, June 26, 2010

• Noon – 9 PM

• 1101 East Kentucky Street (Kentucky and Schiller)

Shop for Records, Art, Glass, Crafts, Plants, Green Ideas.
Game and Activities for Children.
Enjoy the summer with German style food and an assortment of beer.

Official 2010 Shotgun Fest Music Lineup!!!

• Noon – Monkey Boy
• 1:00-Tamara Dearing
• 2:00- Squeeze Bot
• 3:00- Heidi Howe
• 4:00-John Gage
• 5:00- C+
• 6:00- Lotus Blake
• 7:00- PRAIRIE WISDOM
• 8:00- Your News Vehicles

AFTERPARTY @ NACHBAR

• Cougar Express
  The Deloreans

Shotgun Festival is sponsored by the Germantown Paristown Neighborhood Association

I did not receive any compensation for this post. Think of it as a public service announcement.

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Instead of using shredded baked chicken pieces I switched out and used Tyson’s Grilled and Ready Frozen Fully Cooked Chicken Breast Strips.

Chicken & Dressing Casserole

Ingredients

• 3/4 package of Tyson’s Grilled and Ready Frozen Fully Cooked Chicken Breast Strips
• 2 14 oz. cans of Swanson’s Chicken Broth
• 2 pkg. Stouffer’s Stuffing
• 1 TBS butter, cut up
• 1 12 oz jar Heinz Classic Chicken Gravy
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix stuffing and broth as directed on stuffing box, allow to moisten.  Spread chicken into 13×9 inch pan, cover with stuffing, add pieces of cut-up butter to top, now spread the gravy on top of the stuffing and sprinkle the cheese on top of that. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until hot.  Serve with hot rolls.

Now this isn’t the most healthy meal, but for a special occasion or to say “Thank You” I think we can overlook health issues. Try it and see if you don’t find something to appreciate!

Disclosure: Collective Bias & Tyson provided me with a $50 gift card and 10 free product coupons for this campaign. This compensation in no  ways hinders my ability to provide unbiased facts and reviews. If you have any questions about my disclosure policy please see my disclosure policy.

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