getting my feet wet

There comes a time in every mother's life that she finds extra hours in the day

because her youngest child has started public school.

I was almost there 5 years ago, but we were blessed with Abby, who definitely needed

my time.  Now, I'm finally at that place where I feel I can branch out a little past my home and church work.  I started off by signing up for the library in each of the schools.  They said I would probably only have to help once a week, so 3 times a week was a good start, I thought.

Somehow along the way it has ballooned into volunteering at the elementary school all day on Thursdays, being the "buyer" for Abby's class, and heading a small area of the PTA.  This is all for the elementary so I'm thinking the middle and high school will just have to find help elsewhere for now.

I really do enjoy helping on Thursdays.  I start in Abby's class, then go to the library for a couple of hours (my favorite is reading to the kids), then I help the 5th grade teachers.  I come home tired so I can only imagine how the teachers must feel after a long day every day.

Today, I went to my very first PTA meeting EVER!  That's right 23 years of parenting and I don't think I ever went to a meeting, at least that I can remember.  Unfortunately, I was still tired from traveling over the last week and found myself struggling to keep my eyes open.  

I'm sure my newbie self made a "grand" impression.  

Well, my new job with the PTA  is over the Costume Closet.  Originally, they tried to talk me into being the 4th out of 6 vice presidents to head up a larger committee (they were desperate), but I put a kabosh on it since I'm really just starting this getting involved thing.  So with the Closet, I have to find and organize other volunteers to work there.  It's this old school gym that has been converted into a costume rental place (we used them for Halloween).  It's open to the public and the schools use it quite often.  Each school  that volunteers there gets a percentage of the profits.  I love to walk through and see all that has been donated.  You can find anything there!  Sounds easy enough, right?

Hopefully I'll have a good time while I get my feet wet!