Victories!

The School District

I spoke at the school board meeting two weeks ago about the hazardous weather policies. The meeting room was packed--standing room only because they were honoring a bunch of kids for various achievements.  My turn to speak came early in the meeting and you could have heard a pin drop when I was done.

I could tell that the school board was listening intently.  The superintendent turned red and was shooting daggers at me.  I couldn't judge the audience's reaction because my back was to them, but when I returned to my seat, the man who as sitting next to me reached over, grabbed my arm, and said "you did a really good job."

The meeting carried on and I stayed until the end, when everyone was released so that the board could do business not subject to the open-meetings laws. And as I was leaving, two different board members came up to me and assured me that my message was heard and that something would be done. They weren't technically allowed to respond to me at all.  And one of them indicated that this was the first he had heard about this whole situation. (Odd, since I had copied them all on my original correspondence. It seems as though the school district is filtering what gets through to the board.)

So, this week I received a letter from the school board.  They are instituting new emergency procedures, creating an emergency operations center so that all key decision makers will be in the same room during an emergency, and purchasing a two-way radio system so that the administrators can communicate with each school during emergencies, even if there is a power outage.

I am thrilled with this result and proud to be able to show my kids that you can make change happen if you are determined.

Soccer

We won our first game this week!  Although it was a bit hollow, because we were playing my twins' team, and our team is much bigger than theirs.  We pummeled them, even though I intentionally played my girls in their lease effective positions the second half.  But my girls are really improving and coming together as a team.  I know I'm not the best coach in the world (hell, I'm still not straight on all the rules!), but I do think I'm good at letting my girls know when they do well. They are all in the awkward pubescent stage, and you can just tell that some of them really need that extra boost of confidence they get when they doing something great on the soccer field.

Fatness

I've lost about 10 pounds recently, without really trying.  I'm below where I was when I was sticking to the super-strict nutrisystem diet.  I think it's in large part because I quit buying bread.  I still buy sandwich bread, but no garlic bread or dinner rolls.  I love bread. I could seriously eat it to the exclusion of everything else, and I was adding bread to our meals every night.  So I guess cutting it out is a good thing.

Probably being on the soccer fields instead of at home in front of a computer or tv helps, too.  And since PS and TT are trying out volleyball and softball, both new sports to them, we've been spending lots of time in the yard practicing their various sports.

Mediation Frustration

I generally think mediation is a good thing.  It gets the parties to the table and gives them the chance to settle their differences before incurring the expense of trial. Most of the mediations I participate in are court-ordered or contractually required because clients never really want to go to mediation.

And clients are never happy when they leave a mediation.  No matter how much I try to limit expectations, or how many times I tell my clients that mediation means compromise and every party has to give up a little more than he really wants, they are never really satisfied after a mediation. Because they had to give up a little more than they wanted, just like I warned.

They don't realize that the saved tens of thousands of dollars (or more) in attorney's fees.  Or that they have a bird in the hand instead of a shot at trial.

It's just so frustrating to know that you got a really good result that was truly in your client's best interest and to have the client remain dissatisfied.

Don't Do Yard Work in Your PJs

Really, I'm not a crazy old cat lady.

Tonight I came home from work and immediately changed into my comfy ladybug PJ shorts. And then I remembered that my car smelled like a forest because it still had cedar mulch in the back that I had never unloaded. So I ran out to unload the mulch.  Then I decided that it didn't really take that much time to put down the mulch, so I would just run around front and spread it real quick.

Then PS's BFF came walking by and stopped for a chat.

Then  my neighbor came out front with her daughter and stopped for a chat.

Then the girl scout leader came by the drop off a birthday party invitation for the twins.

All while I was mulching the yard in my pjs.

So if you ever think that you'll just be out in your PJ's for a second, just stop.  Because there is no surer way to ensure that all of your neighbors will want to chat than to wander outside in your pajamas. I'm just thankful I was still wearing a bra.

RIP Play Fort

We disassembled the girls' play fort yesterday. It made me sad. I distinctly remember when we put it up 7 years ago--it took an entire weekend. The twins were 3 and PS was 5. It cost what was a small fortune for us back then--when we were still single-income family.  I think we used our tax return to buy it (oh how I miss looking forward to doing my taxes and getting that extra little bump). But it was worth every cent.  The kids played on it endlessly, and sometimes half the neighborhood would be in out back yard.  In the summer, the kids would turn on the hose to make a water slide.

But the kids are bigger, and don't play on it anymore.  They're too big for swings and slides. And they want the yard to practice soccer and volleyball and softball.  Our yard is big, but for some inexplicable reason, we built the fort dead center--and once it was up there was no moving it.

 And it had fallen into increasingly greater states of disrepair. When we started taking it apart, we were surprised at how brittle the wood had become.  It was only a matter of time until someone got hurt climbing on it.

And so it came down.  And our yard is now a huge empty field, perfect for sports. And my daughters are no longer little girls in pigtails yelling "Mommy, push me!  Higher!  Higher!"

Settlement, Schools, Soccer and Bottle Caps

Wow this week was a whirlwind. Most of it was spent trying to settle a case with a trial setting on Monday that was never supposed to go to trial in the first place. The opposing party (the client, not the attorney) made things unnecessarily difficult, and I spent more time on this settlement agreement that I have on cases with 20 times the value. All the while, having to continue with trial prep.  Fortunately, I was far more confident in my ability to go to trial with 1 week's preparation that my opponent, and in the end, we got it done.  But the moral of this story: don't count on your agreed motions until signed by the court.


I also managed to settle another case and have continued to wage battle with the school district.  They refuse to put a hazardous weather policy revision on the agenda for the next school board meeting. But I can speak as a member of the community.  And so I will, and I will continue to pursue this until the policy is modified, but this is far more difficult than I anticipated.  What exactly is more important than ensuring that kids aren't released to go home alone in the middle of tornadic storms? This shouldn't be a controversial subject.

And PS went to the ortho, who said that her break was slightly more serious than the ER led us to believe, so she was put in a real cast that she has to keep for 6 weeks. (We paid an extra $25 for a waterproof cast that she can swim in or wear in the shower--I had no idea there was such a thing!) TT was sent home sick on Tuesday and stayed home Wednesday, too.  SS started feeling bad on Thursday and stayed home Friday.  I felt like crap on Friday and wanted to stay home, but I had to settle my damn case.

The weekend hasn't been much more restful. We were up at 8 yesterday to make sure PS got to volunteer orientation at the library at 9.  But the library wasn't even open at 9.  At 10 TT had soccer and I took PS back by the library for orientation, to learn that it wasn't until 1.  Back to soccer fields until 11, quick unhealthy lunch, back at soccer fields at 12 for my game.  And we only had 7 players!  We are supposed to have 10 on the field! PS is out and two others told me that they would be out, but we still should have had a full team plus 1 sub. We had to borrow TT and a girl from the other team just to start. (Rec league, I've never seen a forfeit.) Two others eventually showed up, and it worked out ok.We lost, again, but we are getting so much better, and we took lots of shots on their goal.  And a couple of our girls got great self-esteem boosts, which is all I really care about.  By this age range, all of the really good players have moved on to club soccer.)

DH left at 12:45 to take PS back to the library (3rd time today!), while I finished up the game.  Then I went to buy supplies for PS bottle cap fundraiser project.  Holy cow those supplies were pricey!  We would have been much better off if we had more notice and could have ordered online. I told her that I would donate the supplies, and I hope she earns enough to clear what I've spent.

Then to Target for necessaries and swimsuit shopping for the twins because they have a camping trip next week for which they insist they need new swimsuits.  Finally back home at 4 and spent the rest of the day with my girlies working on the bottle caps. 

Hopefully today is a little more relaxing.  But PS is supposed to have friends over to work on the bottle cap project, so we'll see.

It sucks when your mom is a lawyer

So PS decided to come up with a fundraiser to do for NJHS that would to benefit the victims of a recent disaster in our area (which I may or may not have mentioned recently). She came up with the idea all on her own, came up with a plan, presented it to her NJHS sponsor and got approval.  She and a group of buddies will be making bottle cap necklaces to sell at school during their free time.

When she asked where to get images to put on the necklaces, I suggested etsy.  She found tons, and was so excited, "Look, they have some with Hunger Games, and Harry Potter and even Nightmare Before Christmas (her favorite movie of all time.)"

And then I said, "we can't buy those image because they are all licensed or copyrighted."

Now I am not an IP lawyer and don't really know anything about copyright.  But I'm pretty darn sure that Katniss and Peeta straight from the movie poster are not freely available for anyone who wants to turn into a 1" circle and sell for $2 to anyone dumb enough to pay it.

I did eventually find sellers generating their own artwork and found lots of cute stuff. But I think PS is a little miffed that I shot down the coolest stuff.

Week from Hell

So I wrote to the superintendent and the school board, and copied our two local newspapers. Both newspapers asked to print my letter, and a full 36 hours later I got a lame response from the superintendent.  I'm going to have to keep pushing this issue and demand that a discussion of their severe weather policies be added to the agenda for the next school board meeting.

Meanwhile, PS fell today while rollerblading in PE and broke her arm. (My brother said "Why are they roller blading at school?  So they can get away from the tornadoes faster when the bus drops them off?") So I got to work at 9, and then got a call at 10 to come get her and spent the next few hours in the ER. 

The second I got home, Big Boss started calling, and I swear either he or Secretary called me every 5 minutes for the next two hours. Apparently the second I left the office all hell broke loose. I have a case set for trial on April 16th, but just asked the court to abate while the parties work out a settlement plan.  The court said no. So now I have to start trial prep ASAP, because I don't think the opposing party is going to get their act together beforehand. I would be psyched to go to trial--I have a solid case the the defendants have no defenses--but I know it's just going to be a bunch of prep work for something that never happens.

Then I had soccer practice.  With PS's arm, I am now coaching a team on which none of my own children are playing.  How the heck did this happen?

Back home trying to draft a joint motion for continuance that the court probably will not grant since it didn't grant my joint motion to abate. Don't really have a good argument.

I need to be in my office first thing in the morning, but I have a hair appointment and its too late to cancel (plus my grey roots are a nightmare). Oh well, how much difference will it make whether I'm there at 9 or 10?

So glad tomorrow's Friday, but as of this moment, it looks like I will be spending my weekend drafting my examination questions and motions in limine.  Whee!

Mama Stress

Today goes down as one of the top 10 most stressful in my life.

 Around 1:00 I got an email that soccer games were cancelled tonight.  That seemed strange, since it wasn't raining.  So I got online to check the weather and saw that there had been two tornado touchdowns nearby. Within minutes tornado sirens were going off around me.  And shortly after that my building was evacuated to the ground floor.  The upper floors of a glass building are not the place to be in a tornado.

The storms swung east and I was able to return to my office. But east was toward home--where my kids were. And I was blocked from them by a line of severe thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes.

I took solace in the fact that the kids were still at school.  That the school was surely safer than most any other place they could be.  Any my nanny texted to let me know that she went to my house early.

And then tornadoes started to touch down within miles of my home and the kids' school.  One was heading directly toward them. The meteorologist started naming off the schools it was heading toward and ours were in the path. It hit two schools in a neighboring town.

My paralegal (who lives in the same town and also had kids in school) and I just sat in my office watching in horror as the tornadoes headed toward our kids. We were helpless.  There is not much worse in this world than watching a tornado move toward your kids and not being able to do a damn thing about it.

My only comfort was that the schools were safe buildings.  PS was texting me that there were under their desks in lockdown.  The school district sent emails that the kids would not be dismissed until the storms had passed.

But then, I got a text from SS saying "there is marble size hail and tornadoes all around us."  I asked, "where are you?"  And she said "in the closet under the stairs."  At home.  During a very short break between two lines of storms, my idiotic school district put my ten-year-olds on a bus and sent them home.

The sirens started going off again while they were on the bus.  And so the idiotic bus driver dropped them at their stop and said "run as fast as you can to your house."

Thankfully my nanny was there. But how many kids did my idiotic school district send home to empty houses when there were tornadoes moving toward our town and neighborhood?

I am furious.  The school district will be hearing from me tomorrow.  What the fuck were they thinking?

In the end, we are all ok.  I left work as soon as the tornadoes passed, and picked PS up from school at about 5:00. But it is horrifying to watch the aftermath on the news and imagine that my kids could have been in the middle of it all.

Adventures in Soccer Coaching

I'm not sure what I envisioned this experience would be like before I jumped in with both feet, but it actually seems to be going ok. I was up front with the parents about my lack of experience, and so far they have all been really supportive.  I think they're just thankful it's not them.

My team includes an age range from 10-14.  Yes, that is a big range, and there is a huge range in the sizes of the girls. We have tiny girls that could pass for third-graders, and girls that are nearly my size. However, we are one of the bigger teams.  The twins play in the same division and their team is much smaller than ours.  And the team we played last week was much smaller.

But they still beat us.  Because my girls are worried about hurting the smaller girls. So in our team scrimmage at practice this week, I put the biggest girls up against the smallest girls and talked to them about how size doesn't matter and your job is to keep the ball away from the other team no matter their size.  In fact, the best player on our team is one of the smallest.  She's a little powerhouse.

And then we played reverse dodge-ball--because all of the girls were ducking whenever a ball came sailing toward them.  So I let them chuck balls at each other and the goal was to stop it without using their hands. (I had to text my SIL to ask how to stop a ball with your chest without hurting your boobs.)

And we worked on throw-ins because I hadn't covered that before our first game, and we kept getting called on improper throw-ins.  Oops. Who knew the soccer rules were so dang specific about how you can throw in the ball.

So, I am definitely not the best soccer coach in the world, and our team is not going to be taking home the World Cup anytime soon, but we're having fun and the girls are doing great, especially considering the incompetence of their leadership.