Monday, May 3, 2010

Sucking Up

In case you were unaware, or don't have school aged children, today is the start of National Teacher Appreciation Week. So, thanks teachers! And thanks especially to my friends Elizabeth and Sissy, who deal with masses of hoodlums in their prospective halls of learning on a daily basis.
Oh, and thanks to Caroline's teacher, as well. But, she doesn't read my blog, so this attempt to express gratitude is quite futile.

Instead of an unread blog shout out, Caroline made Mrs. Fay an appreciation card yesterday. First, we went to Michael's to procure supplies: scrapbook paper and stickers. Thankfully, we found out earlier in the week that Mrs. Fay's favorite color is purple, which made the selection process much easier for Caroline me. Caroline was too busy ogling the dollar aisle merchandise to care what paper we picked out. She tried with all her might to convince me that she needed this light bulb looking thing on a string that lit up in vivid color. She said that all I had to do was put it next to her cheek in the mornings and the colorful lights would wake her up. To which I replied, "you almost always wake me up, so that's not a likely situation." I told her that I'd just end up throwing it away in a few weeks after I keep tripping on it or discovering it in odd locations, like in MY bathroom or in the vitamin basket.

Speaking of MY bathroom, let me tell you a story. Caroline has her own bathroom; her own bathroom with her own toothpaste and toothbrush. And yet, she insists on brushing her teeth in MY bathroom. It's all okay, I've learned to deal with it. She even has her own toothbrush in my bathroom, but yesterday she used MY toothbrush. SHE USED MY TOOTHBRUSH! And that's when I got kind of mad. You see, I don't share toothbrushes or cups. Yes, I'm a germ freak, and yes, it's okay.

Anyway, back to the purple paper.




I also found this "I heart my teacher" sticker in the scrapbooking aisle.





I'm saving the remaining paper to decorate a box of homemade cookies we're sending in on Friday.

A lot of the classes have a specific Teacher Appreciation Week schedule: everyone brings in a flower on Monday. Tuesday they bring in a note. Wednesday is Spa and Pamper products, Thursday is small gift cards and Friday is baked goods.

Apparently Caroline's class is lame, because we're not doing that.

While I'm sure each teacher would appreciate 25 gift cards and notes, I can't say that they'd exactly appreciate 25 bottles of lotion and baked goodies. That's a lot, if you ask me.

Lame or not, we're going about it in our own way. Today, Caroline brought in her card and two other moms brought in a bouquet of flowers and a potted plant. Tomorrow Mrs. Fay is getting a school supplies goodie basket. Wednesday I'm making scones and someone else is bringing coffee. Thursday is the PTA sponsored teacher luncheon and Friday we're bringing in cookies and a gift card.

It might not be 25 flowers, 25 gift cards and 25 bottles of noxious body spray, but it's the thought that counts, right?

2 comments:

Sissy said...

Thanks for the shout out!

Okay, let me give you the skinny on the gifts, so you can be the cool parent: Don't give baked goods unless you know her favorite thing or you know she isn't going to get 4 million packages of cookies. During our TAW, I got some peanut butter fudge, which I loved, and three boxes of Ferrero Roche, which I CANNOT STAND. And then I have to pretend and say thank you.

We don't care how impersonal a gift card may seem. Every $5 card adds up. It's a treat to get a $5 coffee in the morning that I didn't have to pay for myself. And if you know that she loves a certain store then you can't lose!

Those are my tips. Ignore if you choose! Won't bother me at all.

Alison said...

Craig likes those Ferrero Roche. I'm not a big fan, though.

I know her teacher LOVES chocolate so I'm making my old stand by double chocolate chunk cookies...plus I'm making some for Caroline's teacher from last year who loves them.

I asked her the other day if someone were to "hypothetically" bring her coffee one morning, what she would like. Just so we didn't bring her something she hated. As it turns out, she doesn't like fru-fru coffee, so I also know not to get her a gift card to Starbucks.

I'm definitely getting her a gift card. EVERYONE likes gift cards. Probably to Barnes and Noble. Teachers like to read. They should, anyway.