Friday, February 5, 2010

Friday Report

(An admittedly not-great picture of the quilt top I finally finished--I should have moved the chair and the lamp, I know, and if I weren't so lazy, I'd go take another picture, this time without the chair and the lamp, but I'm pretty dang lazy. Anyway, I'm glad to finally have this done, and hope it doesn't take me a year to actually finish it. Fingers crossed!)


Yesterday the first graders at Our Fine School gave a lovely music performance entitled "Welcome to Our Garden," in which they performed such lovely ditties as "Oats and Beans and Barley Grow" and "Dirt Made My Lunch." There was some modern dance thrown in, just because everyone loves to see seven-years running around in gossamer butterfly wings and surreptitiously trying to kick each others shins.

Parents were instructed to send their children to school in bright, solid-color shirts and pants--NOT jeans. And, dear reader, I did just that. I didn't forget. I didn't mess up and send Will in a brightly-colored striped shirt. I didn't send him to school in Levi's. I did as instructed. I am a Good Mother.

But a good person? Not so much. Because I spent the first five minutes of the performance checking out all the other kids on stage to see whose mom was not a Good Mom and sent her beloved to school in jeans and a Mario Kart tee shirt. I wanted to see who hadn't read the multiple memos sent home in homework folders, which slacker moms had ignored the e-mails and RSS feeds. Who, I wondered, had messed up big time?

Because for once it wasn't me.

As it turns out, all the first grade moms at Our Fine School are Good Moms. Everyone was in non-denim pants or skirts; no one wore stripes. What a disappointment!

So after I'd ascertained that no one was wearing jeans, I indulged in one of my favorite spectator sports: figuring out who the queen bees were and who they weren't. If anyone thinks that the whole Mean Girl thing doesn't start until middle school, they are mis-remembering elementary school. Forty years later, I can tell you who my first grade mean girl was: Janet. She borrowed my pencil, then claimed it was hers even though it had my brother's name inscribed on it in little gold letters. She suggested in a wordless sort of way that if I made a big deal about it, I'd be sleeping with the fishes.

Janet was pretty, but in the early elementary years, not all the queen bees are. In fact, there are some beautiful children who are very much on the outside of the in-crowd. Maybe they smell funny or pick their noses or just give off a weird vibe. They'll get their revenge later, but in first grade, they're out of luck.

I picked out two queen bees yesterday. One of them was pretty, in a sharp-featured, tiny sort of way. She had dark gold, long wavy hair, and she looked really, really mad. That's how you pick out the first grade queen bees. They're ticked off about something, and it's probably the fact that other people exist.

The other queen bee was plain, but she also looked ticked off. The girls around her simpered. They clearly didn't want to get on her bad side. Heck, I was sitting safely in the audience, and I didn't want to get on her bad side.

I spent the rest of the show gazing at my sweet Will and thinking about how cute and funny he is and how I did such a good job of combing his hair before we left for school, so why was there a piece sticking straight out in back?

***

The boys didn't have school on Monday or Tuesday. Now it's Friday, with the weekend in my sights. Usually I'm very excited about the weekend. I get to sleep in til 7:30! I'll only drive to fun places, like the library and the yarn store! But I don't feel like I've earned this weekend. I just slept in a couple of days ago. I've hardly suffered at all.

Well, we're going to a Superbowl party on Sunday. There'll be plenty of suffering then.

If you any ideas for an appetizer I could bring, let me know.

13 comments:

Heather said...

Way to go, Good Mother! There are 4Queen Bees in my daughter's Daisy Scout troop. A troop of 6 girls. The meetings are emotionally exhausting sometimes.

Your quilt is beautiful!

Angela said...

The quilt is lovely
Queen Bees are awful
I cannot comment on Superbowl - as a mere Brit I have no experience at all of this phenomenon!
But here is a great appetizer from the Blessed St Delia http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/finger-food/savoury-mini-muffins-with-two-flavourings.html

GretchenJoanna said...

1) You are so funny. Thank you for sharing your wry perspective with us!
2) I appreciate the Queen Bee observations. I have always been clueless about these things, which maybe are in the "wise as serpents" category...?
3) You deserve to enjoy your weekend, if not from having suffered, then from having accomplished that pretty quilt top. Sorry about the party.

Sara Padrusch said...

Oh yes, I too strive to figure out all of the classroom dynamics based upon seeing them in a 25 minute production. I am a very small person.

Of course, now that we homeschool I can only assume that I have assumed the role of Queen Bee. Which is rather how it should be, no?

Great quilt chickie!

Tracy said...

Oh you are Such A Good Mother! Woohoo for you remembering what Will needed to wear!!!!!!!

Your quilt is amazing. I could sit and look at it for days and see something different all the time. Incredible.

Hmmmmm...I wonder who the Queen Bee's are in our Prep class. I've managed to sneak in there a couple of times this week. The only girl that stands out, to me, is the one who is just a 'Contrary Mary'.

Is deep fried egg-and-breadcrumbed camembert too fancy? Sorry...had some yesterday and have fallen in love all over again. I have a bit of a thing for cheese platters, in general. As long as it has camembert and dried apricots on it.

This blogger has lots of yummy-looking ideas http://stolenmomentscooking.com/top-10-super-bowl-recipes/

Pom Pom said...

The quilt top is beautiful, Frances.

Gumbo Lily said...

Hey Lefty, I'm lovin' the photos on your blog! The quilt is fabulous. The colors!!! And I don't mind a bit the chair and the lamp. It shows us that you live in a real home with real things around you. I like that.

So glad the musical went well and that you could be listed amongst the good mothers.

Happy Saturday!
Are you going to the yarn store? I didn't know there was such thing as a store for just yarn. Wow.

Jody

Gumbo Lily said...

P.S. The Super Bowl party is at my house tomorrow. Just our kids tho. Here's an easy thing to take. A block of cream cheese, and pour over a good salsa (like mango peach) and serve with tortilla chips. I'll be serving that along with a big pot of chili.

Jody

Pom Pom said...

I had to come back and tell you that I've been thinking about the Queen Bees. I don't really know what to do about it. There are two queen bee teachers at school that get on my nerves and poison my happy atmosphere. I try to avoid them but it is VERY hard. Have you read Queen Bees and Wannabes?

Left-Handed Housewife said...

Heather: Wow! 4 Queen Bees! How does anyone survive a meeting?

Angela: Thanks for link! Believe me, you're not missing anything by missing out on the Super Bowl. The commercials are good, but you all have much better commercials than we do all year round, I hear.

Gretchen: It's almost shameful how much I still feel all the Queen Bee stuff. It's part of the reason I write for kids--to give them hope this too shall pass. It doesn't seem like it will at the time.

Sara: Yes, you are the Queen Bee of your happy household, very much as it should be! That must be one of the great fringe benefits of homeschooling, especially if you're the mother of daughters--no mean girl nonsense, or at least a lot less of it.

Tracy: Deep-fried camembert sounds amazing! It also sounds like it would take years off your life! But then, so does watching the Superbowl ... Thanks for your kind comments about the quilt. I'll post a nicer picture when I'm done putting it all together.

Jody: Thanks for your supportive comments on my picture. I actually love seeing how people's rooms/houses/workspaces look. Still, I wish I were a better photographer. I hope your Super Bowl party was fun. I actually ended up enjoying the one I went to.

Pom-Pom: I have read Queen Bees and Wannabes--very interesting stuff! I don't know what to do about grown up Queen Bees, either. They're even scary than the 7-year-old ones!

victoria said...

Sweet memories, I remember adoring that "Oats and Beans and Barley Grow" song....

Shellym said...

Ahhh, first time I have read your blog and I love your humor. I will be back! Saw a comment you made on another blog I read all the time: graspingforobjectivity

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