Paint Gate

i think a couple of months ago i posted something about me being our church's preschool coordinator. we go to a smallish church, so we don't have a preschool minister.

i've had this position since a little before thanksgiving, and i've had lots of plans to do things. first thing i wanted to do was to get preschool a bigger budget. for the last several years (maybe as long as 5), the budget has been $270 - FOR THE WHOLE YEAR!! i thought that was ridiculous, since there was tons of things the ministry needed. so when budget requesting came around, i shot for the moon and asked for $3000. i had it down to the penny why i wanted the money, and even had a letter telling them why they should give it to me. :) needless to say, i did not get the whole amount i was asking for, but i did get a good chunk of it! i'm also very happy to say i managed to get our childcare workers a well deserved raise; they love me now!

so anyway, some of my request dealt with having some money to paint the 8 preschool rooms we have. i did get my money, but it got transferred from my budget to building's budget. no big deal, at least i got it.

since our church is a typical baptist church, there is always a mountain of red tape you have to get through before you can do anything. i knew i was supposed to call the building committee's chair to tell him i was ready to spend my line-item money on his budget. to my surprise, he promptly told me he cut my budget within his budget, and not to go over my "new" amount. alright, that ticked me off, but hey, at least i'll get to spend some money.

so my next step was to go to the sherwin williams paint store and negotiate a price. i made sure i looked harried that day, and i that i also brought the kids with me - i wanted them to get me out of there as soon as possible with a great price! don't worry, they did.

the next step in the process was to present my color choice to the person on the building committee who "approves" paint color; she happens to be our PDO director. and let me tell you, she's been pushing to have the rooms painted yellow for years...well, i just let her pick out the color, and MAN was it yellow!!

the preschool parents came out two weeks ago over spring break and painted the rooms daffodil yellow. those rooms glow, let me tell you. unknowingly, when we looked at the paint wheel we looked in the "bright" section...otherwise known as the neon section. it was hilarious watching the volunteers reactions when they were painting. "man, that sure is yellow" pretty much sums up comments.

wednesday came along and we only had one or two rooms left. we were all very pleased with the progress and how things were coming out. but, our joy would not last. our music minister happened to come along and pitch a huge fit over the paint color. i won't go into all he said, but basically heads were gonna roll. his complaint had me pretty rattled. i mean, i did the things i was supposed to!! he even came by a room on sunday and made a snide comment about how bright the walls were...jerk.

well, the whole nasty incident was brought up in staff meeting that monday. and he was asked to call me, and all the parents who witnessed his hissy fit and apologize to us. he was very gracious when he called, and i have not let it hinder our relationship. i appreciated his humbleness...

so for years to come, when new members make comments about how the walls in the preschool rooms are very yellow, they can be informed, yes, we know - it was all a part of michelle mcneal's Paint Gate.