Where, Oh where, has that little backbone gone?

Oh where, oh where can it be? In a very weak moment last September I succumbed to the logic of my cousin Eileen. You see, she has a son in between Mari and Julia in age and lives here in the same town. Burke has attended the public schools here in town since Kindergarten while my girls attended a private school. So when we decided to switch the girls over to public school this year I was keen to pick her brain in an effort to 'come up to speed', so to say, on how things 'worked' in this school district. By this I mean, how political and back stabby are the crowd I'm diving into and what do I need to do as a parent to smooth the waters for the girls' entry into this different culture of education! My cousin would be known in my day as a "Rah rah". One of those effervescent, enthusiastic, the grass is always green personality types. I am sooooo very NOT like that! I'm sarcastic, distrustful, and quite un-politically correct. I am also the OLDER cousin and should have known better than to try and embrace her advice given our very different personalities. But noooooo! I go and dive right in and offer to be Julia's Room Mother....on the premise that it will get me up close and personal with the new classmates and help me see first-hand the dynamics of this new school. What was I drinking that day????? I am NOT Room Mother material....period. It's now too late. The damage has been done. I am official and have one assignment under my belt to date. Once the Holiday Party ended, I thought I was pretty much off the hook until Valentine's Day. Me, the distrustful, doubting Thomas and I bought the line about only "having three obligatory" assignments with this gig?!?!? Yep, you got it. The teacher e-mails last Friday that the PTA is having a fund raiser and that I need to organize all the kids in the class to decorate a ''platter' which will be auctioned off during an upcoming event......oh, and they need it by the 15 th but the only day she can squeeze into the curriculum for them to paint is between 10-11am TOMORROW?!?!? Oh, and another thing....can it somehow tie into their current Science topic of the Solar System? I consider myself fairly crafty. I'm not at all intimidated by "coming up with a platter that ties into the Science lesson". As a matter of fact, I had three different options e-mailed to her by Saturday! It's the wrangling 18 third graders wielding paintbrushes that FREAKS ME OUT! So I've done some strategizing and pre-prep. I've secured the conference room that is ever so conveniently right across the hall from their classroom and I've made a rough schedule of TWO (and only 2) at a time to come and have roughly 5 minutes each to get 'finger printed'....you'll get this at the end of the post! The platter is a 15 inch SQUARE white glazed ceramic piece like this. I'd have shown you the 'before' only I was well into the prep before it dawned on me that it could work as a post topic! Lucky for me I'm in a medical profession because after rushing in and out of Hobby Lobby 15 minutes before it closed tonight, I then read the paint bottle's directions. Platter MUST be thoroughly cleaned with alcohol before applying paint! Took a couple but they did the job. These cool Enamel paints can be used on an already glazed piece! Now it's not going to be dishwasher or microwave safe but it's meant as a display piece, not for use, so I painted away. Not being a painter, brush selection was pretty much limited to these cheapo sponge jobbers. This is how far I had gotten before having the brain storm to use this as a post. A handy, dandy blow dryer sped up the process!! Seeing as how I just started this at 9pm and when all the paint was in place it still needed to be put into a cold oven, brought up to 350 degrees for an hour, and then not removed until the oven was again cold, I didn't have time to let the different colors have time to 'air dry' if I was to get any sleep. Believe me, kids around a sleep deprived me are in jeopardy!! Getting the idea now? I ended up free handing the green continents because the stencil kept leaving marks in the bottom coat of paint that I did not want to show up after the baking. Now, tomorrow, the little angels need only come and dip their thumbs in whatever color "star/planet" they want to be and press it onto 'outer space' then clean their thumbs and return to class.....quickly! Thus I intend for Galaxy 120(their room number..get it???) to be as pain free for me as possible. Seeing as how I am the ONLY adult there to supervise this I'm pretty sure the picture taking will probably not happen...I'll try to multi-task by dipping thumbs with one hand while manning the camera with the other...but no promises! On a humorous note: ...and you thought I was joking when I called icicles "Nature's Popsicles"!!!!! Don't WORRY Auntie Peggy!!! Just keep saying, "Immune systems are built by being challenged!" Deep breath Auntie Peggy, deep breath....I have a fresh inhaler. Oh, and where did Mari get the idea that icicles can give you parasites ??????? Hmmm, just how did that get into her head?