Madame Secretary

 Well, it's official; I am the new co-secretary of the Beechview PTA.  While I realized that this might not be earth shattering news (or probably really even that exciting to most people) I am ecstatic.  There's no skirting around the fact that the past three years have been a bit of a challenge for me and I have been more than a little hesitant to 'put myself out there' so to speak.  This is a HUGE step in what I'm hoping is the right direction.  I think it will help me break out of my shell, meet tons of new people and get involved in something I'm really passionate about; my kids and their education.

I went to my first meeting tonight where I was officially elected in and then went out for a drink with my fellow Board members.  They all seem like really great people and I'm looking forward to working with them.  They were all very excited that Noah isn't even officially a student at Beechview yet but I'm getting involved.  You know me, no point in doing anything half way...  I am really excited about this new undertaking and the growth and opportunities that it will bring.

In other news, they did manage to have Field Day today.  And we brought all his 'stuff' home.  I've included a picture he did at the beginning of the year and a picture of the same thing as on the end of the year.  What a change!  As I told Grant I don't think it is as noticeable as it was last year, but there's no denying that there has been a lot of growth.  Can't believe he'll be done on Friday...  We're planning on getting him his first pair of 'tie' shoes as a graduation present :)

And to wrap it up for the day, Happy National Vanilla Pudding Day.  I tried my hand at making pudding from scratch and was delighted with the way it turned out.  When I have the time, think I'll be making it this way more often.  While there is something to be said for 'instant' pudding, sometimes the extra effort makes things that much tastier.  Also, Kristi's cooking tip of the day; if you're using corn starch in a recipe add it to your liquid ingredients when they are cold and then heat them up.  When you add cornstarch to a hot liquid base you can sometimes get lumps, but this way you should have a smooth pudding, gravy, whatever.  Try it, it works :)

Alright, half a dozen things to do yet before I can call it a night, including prepping a taffy apple salad for tomorrow (the recipe says the longer it sits, the better it is...)  Hoping the Tigers get out of this rain delay shortly.  The temperature here has already started to drop dramatically (there's only a high of 62 tomorrow, boooooo) and I don't think we'll see 80 again for about a week.  Oh well.  Kid Kitchen tomorrow!  Until then...

 What a difference a few months makes...

 Vanilla Pudding