#3 Funny Misconceptions about Mothers and Back-to-School

            Remember I am not writing these, or making them up. A Mom in NYC blogged these, but even she said she didn't write them either. So this is a giving-credit-where-it-is-due-chain. Want to join?
#3 is not my favorite because being from Oklahoma, my kids never had "a project on wigwams made by some Indian tribe" that we did not know (also being Native American, I know most of the major tribes). Also, I personally always liked Parent-Teacher conferences.

Misconception Number 3: Moms like back to school night. Why must we do this every year? I got it already. You’re the teacher…I’m the parent. My kid is either going to be smart or dumb. If he gets a certain number or colored dot on his discipline chart, he can’t get a prize from the prize box, pretty simple stuff.

Listen, I’m pretty old school. If he doesn’t listen to you…you can throw something at him. I don’t care. But I got a lot of work to do at home and I’m paying a babysitter right now. Plus, I’m pretty sure you are going to assign some project on wigwams made by some Indian tribe I’ve never heard of, so I need to get home and start my research.

So, I got it. We’re all here for the betterment of the kids. Blah Blah Blah. Can I leave now?

#2 Funny Misconceptions about Moms and Back-to-School

Misconception Number 2: Moms like to go school shopping. 

Are you freaking kidding me? Why do I pay taxes?…so I can rack up a 200 dollar bill at Staples for crap that we have laying around my house in junk drawers. Why does it have to be new pencils? What’s wrong with the chewed up, broken strawberry shortcake pencils sitting in the bottom of the toy box for the last 6 months? And how many subject books can you possibly need? What happened to reading, writing and arithmetic. If they added a couple of things for parents to that list I wouldn’t mind so much….why not pencils, erasers and vodka …..or some Nyquil.

"Borrowing" another blogger's blog

 If I knew how to post great FaceBook postings, I would. BUT, since I don't have the iota of knowledge how to do that, I have to turn back to "old school" techniques -- borrow and paste.
School has started (everybody knows that), so I am sharing TEN Funny Misconceptions of Moms and Back-to-School by a clever woman by the name of Diana.
One at a time. Check back for the others.

Misconception Number 1: Moms miss their kids when they go back to school.

Seriously. I’ve had enough of you by now. Every morning with the “what are we going to do today, Mom?” is finally over. I’ve had looked at your face twenty-four seven for the last 77 days. It’s time to go learn something. No more asking me about the pool, when is the next snack or if you can stay up late and watch a movie. It’s over….You’re going back to Hogwarts and I get to have a life again. 

There is a Christmas morning for parents and it’s called “back to school.”

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Stack 'em deep; Teach 'em cheap. Back to the classroom, Teachers.

          I'm no longer a teacher, but I still read teacher blogs, websites and resource materials.
         So here it is August once again. The thrill of inservice, last minute work days and Open House anxieties are already happening.
          I can't help but zoom in on the blogs, websites or anything that encourages, inspires, lists that I can recommend to those brave souls who are willing to join the education profession. Some body's got to do it, and I'm not going to be doing it any more.

Children's Nature Center opening in October

For three years the Grand Valley Zoological Quest (GVZQ) non-profit has been raising awareness and funds to build a zoological center here in the Valley.

 By October the GVZQ will open The Children’s Center at 404 Jurassic Avenue in Fruita.

         Executive Director Janet Gardner was excited to sign the lease last week for the 3000 square foot facility located across from the Dinosaur Journey and a part of the Culture Corridor in Fruita that leads from I-70 and over the Colorado River to the National Monument.

 The Children’s Center will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will consist of several educational immersion exhibits, both with and without animals. 

“Phenomenal exhibits such as the coral reefs, living fossils, rainforests, animals of Western Colorado, and arthropods will provide opportunities for both formal and informal education,” Gardner explained.

Since 2011 over 16,000 students of all ages have participated in the Grand Valley Zoological Quest’s educational programs throughout the Valley.

Fruita Fall Festival, Farm and Ranch Days, EdZOOcation Day, Boo at the Zoo, Zoorific, plus after school programs at Shelledy Elementary and Grand Junction High were just a few.

       According to Gardner, “All this without the benefit of a building to call home.

         The Children’s Nature Center will be the first step in the Zoo Quest to have a non-profit, self sustaining accredited zoological science building on the Western Slope so Valley residents will have a local facility and not have to travel 250 miles to Denver or Salt Lake City, and visitors can learn about the area wildlife and beauty.

Executive Director Janet Gardner is very excited to reach this three-year milestone for GVZQ. “Opening this Children’s Center will allow us to expand our education programs and increase our outreach to the community about education, conservation and importance of animals in our lives.”

“Imagine the excitement in education we can create with The Children’s Nature Center!”

Exhibit sponsorship opportunities available call Janet at (970) 245-6588.

Visit us at: www.gvzooquest.org

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/gvzoo

I'm Nobody, so I'll write my Memoirs

Everyone said I was lucky it was a small stroke. That I would recover use of my right side, but it would take time-- weeks or months.  Homebound, basically stuck in our second floor bedroom, I had nothing to do. I couldn’t walk, write, or read without extreme focus or pain for the first month.

As the numbness and tingling of my nerve endings receded slightly, I contemplated the future. Of course I looked at the dark side of mortality. Planning my funeral, or even worse, accepting the limits of living an active life, pressed me into depression. That was the second month.

Loss of reading and writing hampered me the most. The two activities had kept me sane through 31 years of teaching and 36 years of raising four children. Now, I could do neither, not even work part-time at the library or freelance write for two local newspapers. Just lie there in bed, take my pills and cry; I was really having a pity party.

Only for brief moments, I would not allow self-pity to bring me down. I would make plans for the future, no matter what. We needed to sell the house and move to a rancher—downsize that’s what I told my husband and friends. Of course, I couldn’t do the lifting, packing, moving as I discovered quickly when I tried. I did walk to the new neighbors’ house and get their tossed out moving boxes. I spent two days back in bed recovering from “over-doing” that much energy.

That’s when I decided. I’m going to write my memoirs.

I’ve never done anything famous or heroic, but things just happened to create my complex story that sounds unbelievable in some ways.

But after 60 years of love, friendship, family and work, I think every one has a life that is uniquely designed just for her/him. We are all “nobody” until we tell our stories.

I'm nobody! Who are you? 


Are you nobody, too? 


Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell! 


They'd banish -- you know! 



How dreary to be somebody! 


How public like a frog


To tell one's name the livelong day


To an admiring bog!

             By Emily Dickinson

Fruita recycling for GVZQ

Recycling is not easy, but anything worthwhile is not easy.

Consider the Grand Valley Zoological Quest (GVZQ) efforts to build a certified educational center here on the Western Slope.

Thanks to businesses, individual contributors, donors, educators, fundraisers, social media and volunteers, Zoo Quest non-profit is raising funds through paper recycling.

Last month a Paper Recycling bin was placed in Walgreen’s parking lot at the corner of Aspen and Cherry Streets in Fruita. People filled it within one month.

Kudos to Fruita Times, Walgreens, and the Welcome Center—these local businesses told us of their efforts to help GVZQ—by recycling their pounds of old papers: newspapers, brochures, shredded or whole computer or office paper, etc.

Kudos also to all the individuals who recycled any extraneous papers: newspapers, inserts, telephone books, Post-it TM notes, paperback books, hard cover books, magazines, envelopes, colored paper, cardboard, egg cartons, dark-colored accordion files, cereal boxes, soft drink or beer cartons, soft cover computer manuals, paper bags, even junk mail, whole or shredded, all types of paper, (except tissue and plastic coated) etc.

Be sure to remove staples and clips.

NO PLASTIC or TRASH as recycling items.

Any business, family or individual may drop off miscellaneous paper items at the Fruita Walgreen’s recycle bin.

Waste Management is servicing the paper bin; all proceeds going toward The Children’s Nature Center.

Contact www.gvzooquest.org or GVZQ on facebook if anyone wants recognition for donating, sponsoring or recycling for the GV Zoo Children’s Nature Center.

After three years of its quest, Grand Valley Zoo Quest and supporters can help the planet, educate the children, and save the zoological animals by donating paper clutter to the GVZQ bin in Fruita.

 Coming soon – another GVZQ paper recycle bin will be placed at the Monument Village Shopping Center in the Redlands.