Treasure Store

I went to the Treasure Store (this time the Unique in my neighborhood) twice this week. Once on Monday because it was 1/2 price day to look for accessories for The Boy's Halloween costume (score! a cream turtleneck for Luke Skywalker for 75 cents), and again today to look for a warmer jacket for The Tot (no dice; there isn't much in warm, stylish jackets for either boys or girls).

Disney II PTA

Disney II PTA has been formed! Tonight, I attended the office PTA.org meeting to charter the Disney II PTA. It was a long meeting, with a lot of discussion about member dues.

I'm Secretary of the new organization. Now that that's out of the way, you can click beyond to read more about the rest of the meeting.

Ruth Johnston (RJ), Chicago-area Field Service Representative for the Illinois PTA organization, called the meeting to order at just after 6 p.m. About 70 parents, teachers, and Disney II Principal Chkoumbova were present at the Disney II gym/auditorium, 3815 N. Kedvale, Chicago. Renee -------, interim PTA planning chair, was also present. Caroline Bilicki served as Secretary Pro Tem.

Employing Robert’s Rules of Order, RJ began the meeting with a brief introduction of her background, role, and PTA mission.

Renee gave a brief recap of the October 14 planning meeting, outlining the group’s goals for tonight’s meeting, including establishing an executive board for the Disney II PTA and setting up committees.

RJ reiterated PTA’s mission/background (see 10-14-08 meeting minutes) and asked audience members to state their reasons for coming to the meeting tonight. She said, “You have a voice! We want you to be active and have a part in this. Our mission is parents coming together to advocate for children.” Steve K----, Sandra B-------, Lisa G----, Tiffany O---, and Rachel C---- spoke.

A Name to Make it Official

With no more questions about PTA, RJ moved to the first order of business: establishing a name for our group. This is a necessary step in establishing our organization, filing paperwork with the national organization, and receiving non-profit status

After a brief discussion, there was a motion from the floor to name our PTA group Disney II PTA. Seconded. There was a motion from the floor to waive future discussion and go straight to a vote on name. Seconded. Both motions passed by a show-of-hands vote.

We are Disney II PTA.

A Membership Drive and Dues

RJ led us to our next (and most contentious) order of business: establishing membership dues. A lengthy discussion ensued amongst many audience members. RJ reminded us that $3.25 of each member’s dues will go to the national organization. Dues are paid on an academic year. Other schools/groups structure their dues at $20 with 2 membership cards, $15 with 2 membership cards, $12 with 2 membership cards, $10 with 1 membership card, $5-6 with 1 membership card. She said that PTA is not a fundraising tool in and of itself. There is no proxy voting allowed according to PTA national by-laws (Disney II PTA will establish its own by-laws during a November board/by-laws meeting).

Motion from the floor to make 1 family = 1 member. Later rescinded.

Motion from the floor to make 1 membership fee = $10 with board discretion to waive fees in cases of financial need. Later rescinded.

Motion from the floor to establish dues of $10 per person and$20 per family (with 2 membership cards). Motion to vote. Seconded. In stand-up-and-be-counted vote, motion is defeated 29 to 26.

Motion from the floor to establish dues of $5 per person as a suggested minimum donation. Motion to vote. Seconded. In stand-up-and-be-counted vote, motion is passed 40+ to 4 with several abstentions.

Election of Officers

The next item on the agenda was to elect officers. RJ called for additional nominations from the floor. Initially, there were none. RJ presented the candidates by reading their statements. They were:

• Tony M---, President
• Brenda D---, Vice president
• Martina G---, Vice president
• Caroline Pollock Bilicki, Secretary
• Steve K----, Treasurer

Each stood up to identify him/herself to the audience.

Motion from the floor to consider making 2 VP positions on the board. RJ led discussion. Motion to table discussion of succession of power from president to 2 VPs. Motion from the floor to name 2 VPs to executive board. Seconded. Move to vote. In show-of-hands-vote, motion is passed nearly unanimously.

RJ reiterated call for nominations for PTA President. None. Nominations closed.

RJ reiterated call for VP nominations. Tony M--- nominated Ron S----, who accepted the nomination. Ron lives in the neighborhood, has a son in the tuition-based preschool at Disney II, has experience serving on non-profit boards, and wants to maintain a high quality of life for our children.

The other VP candidates also had a chance to present themselves.

RJ reiterated call for nominations for PTA Secretary. None. Nominations closed.

RJ reiterated call for nominations for PTA Treasurer. None. Nominations closed.

Motion from RJ to vote by show of hands to elect President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Seconded. All candidates were voted in for these positions.

Voting commenced by paper ballot for the positions of co-VPs. Renee, Caroline D., and Helen administered ballots. Brenda D---, Martina G--- elected co-VPs with 40 and 43 votes, respectively. Ron S---- received 23 votes.

Membership Drive Commences

With voting out of the way and time slipping away, RJ invited members-to-be to pay their dues and get their official membership cards.

Fiscal Year Vote

After the break, RJ moved to the final agenda items, including determining the organization’s fiscal year. Motion to forgo discussion and vote on July 1 – June 30 fiscal year. Seconded. Motion passed unanimously by a show-of-hands vote.

What’s Next?

Tony M---, new PTA president, called for volunteers for a by-laws review committee. This meeting will take place sometime in January. Please contact him if you’d like to help with this task.

The new PTA board will work with Ms. Chkoumbova to determine a date in December for a general PTA meeting. With that, Tony adjourned tonight’s meeting.

Copies of these meeting minutes can be found on the PTA Google group or with Ms. Santiago in the school office.

Annual Apple (Pumpkin) Picking Trip

Today, we trekked up to Woodstock, Illinois for the 4th annual Chicago Mama apple-picking trip. Unfortunately, all the apples were down, so it became a pumpkin-picking trip only. The Dad and I knew about the apples before we left in the morning, but The Boy and The Girl did not learn this until we arrived at the apple orchard and learned that the shop was closed. (The Dad and I did not know the shop would be closed; we were hoping to at least buy some apples.)

It was just as well that the picking season was over. It was darn cold today, with a fierce wind. The warmest part of our day was walking through the corn maze at the Red Barn on IL-Route 47; the stalks of dried corn provided nice protection from the wind. The Boy and The Dad went through once while The Girl got her face painted. Then we all went through together, finding letters at various turns to form an anagram. Thanks to my nascent addiction to Facebook's Word Challenge, I didn't have much trouble forming witch hat out of the letters. We had lunch and pie/cake/cookies at the Red Barn also, and picked out pumpkins. The Tot was so cute trying to pull the wagon full of heavy pumpkins through the gravel on a very blustery day.

We pulled into Homestead at about 1 p.m., but the barn was completely locked and even the "Honk for Service" placard was hidden from view. We took the briefest of strolls to see the trees, and sat on the swing bench to take a family photo. Then we headed back home. The Dad obligingly swung through the parking lot of the Huntley outlets, but there wasn't anything remotely appealing on the directory list, so we headed back into the city.

Cut Rate Toys

My adventure for today was a trip to Edgebrook's Cut-Rate Toys. The purpose of my visit was to purchase a Radio Flyer Runbike to give to The Girl for Christmas. The Boy is incapable of keeping a secret (which is a good thing for a 5-year-old, in my opinion), so I brought The Tot with me on the errand.

Despite Saturday traffic, it only took us about 15 minutes to drive there. I drove up Central Avenue, which proved to be gorgeous as it wound through the Forest Reserves. Finding a metered parking spot along Devon Avenue was easy-peasy. I even let The Tot walk across the street (holding my hand, of course).

My neighbor had told me that Cut-Rate Toys was a dingy little store, but I didn't think it was that bad. It was actually quite spacious and I felt less enveloped by stuff as I have in boutique toy stores like Building Blocks Toys and Timeless Toys. It was also refreshingly not a Toys R Us imitation; that place gives me a headache after about 5 minutes. CRT had a good mix of toys -- Darda cars, Melissa & Doug sets, Lego, Brio, Fisher-Price and some party-supply quality things as well.

I found what I needed right away while The Tot discovered the train table. Cut-Rate Toys has at least one aisle of wooden train accessories (tracks, locomotives, cars, etc.), most of which are Thomas the Tank Engine or Brio. The Tot zoomed into the train table and did not move much during our 45-minute visit to the store. He cried for quite a long time when we left; he did not want to leave the choo-choos.

I had been planning to take him for an ice cream at The Chocolate Shoppe, but he wandered into a salon just before the ice cream parlor and the owner gave him a dum-dum sucker. He forgot about the trains and was a happy camper for the drive home.

Abt Comes to Visit

The lovely and always polite service people from Abt Electronics paid us a visit today. While they are always polite, they don't come to visit merely out of kindness. Instead, they came to install our new range and microhood. The range part went well -- it is so nice to have a working oven after 3+ months without one. The ignitor on our old one went kaput (again!) at the end of July as we discovered when making cookies for the neighborhood garage sale. Of course, I had just mixed up a triple batch of cookie dough when this happened. The Girl and The Boy were disappointed; The Tot was apoplectic when there were no cookies at the end of that interminable (for a 1-y/o) wait.

But today, they came, they installed, and we now have a fabulous oven! Unfortuntately, we were not so lucky with the microhood. I should know by now, but still have yet to learn after 6 years of doing projects in my 105-year-old house, that whenever I take on a project, it is going to domino into more side projects than I had originally anticipated. Such is the case with my microhood project. I now need to re-route my vent-to-outside ductwork further up the wall; anyone know a great HVAC person for this? It's such a simple thing; I feel like I should be able to do it myself, but fear becoming what I've grown to hate (as an owner of a home that is 105-years-old): a DIYer who does it badly.