Hangin' Wif da Chicas

Pardon my absence. I went away for the weekend for a scrapbooking retreat hosted by my friend Janelle. She does this twice a year for her scrapbooking friends. I'm not a scrapping goddess like most of the women who go, but truthfully, it's pretty much the only scrapbooking I'll do all year, so I can't imagine not going. It's great to spend a whole weekend being some version of creative without having to officiate squabbles between the siblings, butter anyone's toast or do emergency laundry.

My buddy Erika is in the picture with me and she was irritated that the picture was being taken since we barely groom for 48 hours. (Silly of her. She never takes a bad picture. We've vacationed on cruise ships before, where there are photographers stationed here and there on the formal nights. Those guys always take a few obligatory shots of her and her husband, Jason, before they say, "Uh, excuse me, sir, could you just step out of the shot, please." And then they snap away at just Erika, while she tosses her head and smiles gleamingly.)

In food news, I have the job of Room Mom for my daughter's 4th grade class. They are starting their last round of standardized testing this week. The school really drills it into the kids that proper rest and nutrition are essential for a good performance and I need to make phone calls to other parents for the purpose of rounding up healthful snacks for the teacher to distribute each morning before testing.

Many families in our town are living at poverty level and I feel all up in knots wondering who is appropriate to ask for a donation. I posted the question on Facebook: "Should I ask only folks for healthy ISTEP snacks who I know can and will say yes (which means mostly white and middle-class) or should I give lots of people a chance to contribute and worry that I'm asking too much of someone?" The people who responded wanted me to ask people of all demographics. That SEEMS like the right answer. However, it also SEEMS like it's right for the people who have more to give more. And it SEEMS wrong to ask people who have less to buy snacks for my children, you know? I liked the response of one of my high school friends, who said that when she finds herself in a similar situation, she remembers that she wouldn't want to be robbed of the privilege of speaking for herself, and that I should just go ahead and ask.

I just have to ask four people for four days worth of snacks. I guess I'll ask four people I don't know and hope for the best.