On the seventh day, we rested

It's Sunday morning as I write this.  The house is very quiet as both kids are still sleeping, Bassam is on call--so already off to work.  Charlie is sitting patiently at the front door waiting for our neighbor's dog and cat to come over for their usual morning visit.  

I should probably get the kids up for church, but it was such crazy week, I'm going to let them sleep.  Friday was the end of the 3rd nine weeks at school, so needless to say it was a busy one.   I think some of Matt's teachers were short on grades, so all of his classes had not only a big test last week, but also one (or in a couple cases -- two) quizzes.  Needless to say, there were lots of late nights studying.  He is especially glad to be finished with "To Kill a Mockingbird."  I think Bassam is, too.  He read it (I never had), so had taken the reins for reviewing it with Matt for quizzes and tests. 

Incidentally, I am finding  I am one of the only people I know (around my age) who hasn't read "To Kill a Mockingbird."  I'm left to wonder, am I lucky?  Should I read it now?  Was my public education in the western suburbs of Chicago seriously lacking?  

Speaking of books, we closed up book fair on Thursday morning. For three days of work, we did pretty well.  I still miss the excitement of book fair at elementary schools.  And in middle school you don't get the kids who come in to buy books with a ziplock bag full of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.    Next week is going to be even busier with Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week, but after that it's SPRING BREAK, so I just need to make it through Friday! 

This weekend Gracie and I drove to lovely Milan, TN (2.5 hours west of Nashville near Jackson) for a baton competition.  Since it was an early start on Saturday, we left after dinner on Friday stayed in a hotel.  The last 45 minutes of the drive is decidedly off the beaten path, which wasn't ideal since it was pitch dark at the time.  Also because we lost our GPS signal multiple times.  But we finally made it, both exhausted and ready to sleep.   I never sleep well in hotels--too loud.  But the pillows were comfy (always a plus) and they had a free breakfast, so I won't complain.

The competition was a LONG one.  We arrived at the gym at 8 am and left at 5 pm.  A long day for Gracie twirling and a long day for me sitting on the bleachers.  Ouch!!  It was a big competition, especially in the morning when the teams were performing.  Gracie was thrilled that her pal, Callie, who we met last year at a competition and then became friends at twirling camp last summer, was there, too.  Better yet, they weren't competing against each other since Callie is in a different age and division.  Biggest highlight of the day was Gracie's NO DROP solo at the very end of the day. It was her first of the season and the last of 5 solo performances!  The biggest disappointment was probably dropping her baton during one of her struts earlier in the day.   In a strut, you march with high knees and she hit her baton with her knee and it literally flew out of her hands.  She picked it up and recovered beautifully (noted by the judge on her evaluation, not just the opinion of this mama), but disqualified her.  Since it was a part of a title event (the biggest one of the day, no less) it took her out of the running and landed her squarely in last place.  

Having said that, the day was otherwise successful. She left with three other titles for her division, Hall of Fame Solo Champion, Strut Queen and Miss Majorette, plus 3 first places and a second in open events.   

We don't compete again until late April.  The next one is an NBTA competition, a different organization than today.  It doesn't allow any tumbling/gymnastics, which is one of Gracie's specialties.  Needless to say, she has to spend the next month revamping her routines to remove tumbling and add other skills.  It's also a state competition, so sure to be even bigger!

But for today, we rest. 

Snow flakes and Book Fairs

We woke up to snow on the ground.  Actually, since I get up at 4:25 am, I woke up to snow FALLING to the ground.  It was pretty heavy when I left for the YMCA at 4:45, but was only sticking to the grass and trees.    Still, the powers that be in Williamson County declared a 2-hour delay, so the kids didn't start school until 9:45.  I had to be there at 8:30 to open up the book fair, but it was better than the 7:15 that I had originally planned on.

Day 1 of the book fair down -- 2 to go.   I love a short book fair.   Still Gracie managed to pick out a stack of paperbacks.  Matthew could barely be bothered to look.

Here's to less snow and more books!

Bad poetry

Twas the last day of book fair

And all through my house

There wasn't a thing to eat

Not even for a mouse

The laundry was piled up 

In and near the hampers without care

With hopes that the children

Won't run out of clean underwear

There's mail on the desk

And boxes stacked on the floor

I'll try to finish Christmas decorations next week

And not a minute before

I have 165 unread emails

It's a new record, you see

But if you're waiting for a response

You might want to call me

Now it's Friday

And the weekend is almost here

Book fair closes at 2 pm

And I won't shed a tear

We'll stack them, we'll pack them

We'll count all the cash

Maybe I'll celebrate 

With an end-of-book fair bash

Or I might just go home

And chill in my chair

Wearing jammies and eating pizza

Counting down the days until the next fair

Wednesday wish

It's only Wednesday, but I kind of need this week to be over.   It's not bad stuff--just too much stuff.  

It's book fair at the middle school, so lots of hours over there.  Unfortunately, I also double booked myself on a 2 day field trip to JA BizTown with Gracie tomorrow and Friday.  Add to that a band concert last night (Matt rocked it!!), band chili dinner, a Girl Scout meeting and talent show on Thursday, my last band practice of the season on Thursday night, extra choir practices for Gracie in preparation for her concert next week, music lessons and a math competition for Matt, there just aren't quite enough hours in the day.  

Listen, that list sounds stupid, I know.   It felt stupid typing it.   And it's felt stupid every time I've had to call my parents or friends to help get my kids to things because I can't be in two places at once.  

Some of the stupid is my own fault.  Some of it is just the time of year.

If we aren't FB friends, check out Matt's awesome solo at his concert!  This was the afternoon performance they did for visiting 5th graders.  He did just as well in the evening, but was dressed a little snappier.

Book Fair Finish

Yesterday I wrapped up my very last book fair at the elementary school.  I've chaired it for 7 years.  I've seen 3 librarians and 4 media assistants.   I've dressed up as Clifford 4 times.  Those 7 years include 12 fairs (5 years with 2 per year, the last two years just a single fair) and conservatively represents $312,000 in sales and $75,000 in proceeds to the library.

I don't say this to toot my own horn.   I am proud of myself, but more importantly, I really enjoyed doing it.  At least most days.   I am blessed to be able to volunteer so much with the kids' school. But with Gracie leaving elementary school in just 7 short months, there is a whole new chapter waiting to be written.

I think I'm excited about it.  But a little bit nervous, too.  I don't know what's next.  I don't really know what I want to be when I grow up.

For now, surviving getting the kids through 5th and 7th grade sounds like a pretty good goal.

And co-chairing the book fair at the middle school.

No more books!

Middle School book fair is "in the books."

Since Kenrose is only doing one this year, I am officially done in my capacity(ies) as Book Fair chair at both schools.

Whoo hoo!!

I can now join the roller coaster ride known as Christmas shopping/baking/decorating/preparation already in progress!

Friday!!

Book Fair is half over.  Yay!

Of course, that also means we have half to go. 

I've ordered a lot of books. I've sold a lot of books.  I've bought a lot of books. 

This weekend....no books....just lots of laundry, school projects with the kids and organizing life for another busy week. 

 Happy to unwind tonight with Heather.  We hit Christmas Village for the 12th straight year.  Very few Christmas gifts bought, but we did find a few fun things for ourselves!  Shopping, dinner and catching up with one of my bestest friends?  Best present ever! 

Happy toes!

My first day Book Fair-free.   Well....almost.  I went into to school to help the librarian submit the final financial report to Scholastic.  The numbers were definitely down from last spring, but with 5 snow days in the mix, I think we did as well as could be expected.   The financial report didn't take long, so I stuck around for another hour to help check in the onslaught of library books that are returned the day after book fair.  After that, Target, Publix and a pedicure.  

Ahhhhh....pedicure!

Of course, as much as I needed pedicure, the grocery store was also of the utmost importance since they cancelled school tomorrow. Yes, another snow day!  I have no idea if the bread and milk shelves were ransacked at Publix, because I bought important things like frozen pizza, carrots and bacon.

Priorities!

Brown bag vacation!

As I get ready to close down Book Fair tomorrow (HALLELUJAH!!), I want to give thanks to my awesome kids for buying lunch every days since this crazier-than-normal thing started.  

While I know they will definitely eat BETTER and HEALTHIER lunches when I'm back on the job, I must admit that I have not missed making them one little bit.

Snow, snow it's time to GO!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think my kids are over the snow.

Don't get me wrong, they are happy to have another day off of school, but after 4 days straight of playing out in the snow and sledding for HOURS, only Gracie ventured out to play today with a friend, and that wasn't for very long.  

Needless to say, I didn't go out and play in the snow today either.   Once again, I traveled our horrible, icy neighborhood roads to get out to the perfectly clear main roads to get to Sam's Club for popcorn and fruit (staples!).   We picked up Gracie's pal, Will, on the way home and later Matthew's friend, Jackson, came over.  While they played video games, Twister and whatever else, I made sense of the mess that is Book Fair. 

You see, Book Fair was supposed to start this week.  Needless to say, 4 snow days put a crimp in those plans.  So much of today was spent rescheduling classes, recreating the volunteer sign up and sending out and responding to emails.   I've even managed to rally 10 people to help me set up the Book Fair on Sunday afternoon (the cases arrived Friday afternoon before "snow week") so we will be ready to go and open for business on Monday morning.

That has made an already busy weekend even busier, but I think it will be well worth it.   Luckily tomorrow's basketball games were cancelled so I will at least get to spend some time with my sister who is in town at my parents' house!

we all help in our own way . . . .

Until next Friday morning, my life revolves around book fair.   Despite it just starting, I've made two important decisions.

1.   Book fair right after fall break was a bad idea.  It was a necessary because of the school calendar, but a bad idea nonetheless. 

2.  Since we have a new librarian, I am going to make it my goal to trim down the book fair to one week for spring.   This will involve inconveniencing teachers, creating complicated schedules and changing how "we've always done things" (even though it's only been done this way for the last two years), but I think it is worth the effort.   And since I have been a chair for this event for four and a half years and am on my third librarian I am as close to as an expert as you will find, at least at our school.

Between traveling and jumping right in to book fair chaos, it's fair to say my house is a bit neglected.  Not only does it need a good top-to-bottom clean, but there a number of bigger projects to get to sooner, plus piles to go to Goodwill, the school clothing drive, stuff for the kids to try on from last year that may or may not still fit, etc.  It's a bit overwhelming, which is not how you want to feel about your home. 

Anyway, as  I was picking up before my parents came over, (tonight's heroes--bringing pizza for dinner, plus sticking around to alter Gracie's Halloween costume and help the kids study for tests!), Gracie said she would be glad to help around the house.    She scampered up the stairs and I figured she was busy picking up the playroom, straightening her room or wiping down the counter-tops in the bathroom.

Wrong.

She reappeared 30 minutes later with this elaborate chore chart. 

I like the idea, but I don't think this will cut it. Naturally, Matthew protested chores assigned by his sister.  And Gracie managed to avoid both of the jobs she assigned for herself today. 

Back to the drawing board.

Book fair fun!

The craziness of Book Fair has commenced!

We set up on Tuesday, did "sneak peek" today and tomorrow we start sales!   Super excited about a fun selection of books on this year's fair.  As usual, it's harder to get volunteers in the Winter/Spring sale, but with a few personal phone calls/emails we've managed to make sure the shifts that are most critical have enough hands on deck.  My co-chair is in the midst of  some very difficult challenges with one of her children (prayers for her daughter, Ellie, are much appreciated!), so it's meant taking on some extra responsibility.  But deep down, the love of books conquers all  and I'm looking forward to a fun fair!

As I have entered a decidedly contemplative stage in my life about what I should be doing personally/professionally/academically (more on that another day . . . ), I've decided to look at this week as a good time to challenge myself to find a balance between working 8 hours a day, while still meeting all my home, parenting and other commitments without being a neurotic whack-a-doodle.  Hats off to all of you who do it---and do it well!

Is it Friday yet?

Y'all, I know my posts are few and far between lately.   But I am up to my eyeballs in  . . . everything.  

First, Halloween is tomorrow. I love me some Halloween.  I finally got around to buying my treats yesterday, only to hear we are expecting storms of incredible magnitude on Thursday night.   Seriously?  I can't imagine worse timing.  Pretty much every neighborhood in B'wood has declared the "rain date" for trick-or-treating will be Friday.

Except for my dysfunctional neighborhood.

Whatevs . . . if rain ruins the fun, we're taking our act on the road to another neighborhood Friday night.   I called a mom friend in a nearby subdivision and asked if we could crash her 'hood if I promised to bring a huge bag of candy to make up for the extra carpet-bagger trick-or-treaters.

Problem solved.  We briefly considered trick-or-treating tomorrow night at the mall. It's not completely off the table, because let's be honest, it would be fun to score Kit Kats while checking out boots, right?   But if the storms are as bad as expected (let's be honest, it's 50-50!), I may not want to drive out to the mall in the first place. 

In other news, book fair continues.   In 36 hours it will be over.  I'm ready.  It won't be our biggest sale, but we'll still collect a nice sum for the school library, so I can't complain.   Except that I'm tired and I wish students didn't insist on wiping their nose with their hand before handing me money.

Ewwww!

And finally there is school...actual school work, not volunteering.  Today Matthew had two tests.  One of them was science and we spent hours helping him prepare.  You can ask any of us about Weathering and Erosion.  Then, on  Friday (yes, the day after Halloween, for those of you keeping score at home!) he has a huge project due.  It includes writing his own non-fiction book about Great White Sharks, preparing a PowerPoint and a poster.  Seriously?!??   

They have been working on it at school, which is all well and good, except that Matthew has very limited ability to manage unstructured work time in the classroom.  It's got all the makings for disaster for a kid with ADHD.   He took some great notes from his resources, but since his handwriting atrocious, we had to go the typing route, which meant all kinds of work at home.   However, it did make the PowerPoint easier (there were three options for that part, and of course, Matthew chose one that involved working on the computer).  So we cut, we pasted and we downloaded the theme from Jaws for the background. 

Ta da!

Well, we're wrapping up the jack-o-lantern carving now and I'll share pictures tomorrow!  In the meantime, I need get a Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin out of my hidden stash and relax!





 

Done!

Book fair is O-VAH!

By 1:30 this afternoon, all the boxes were packed up, the library put back together, the money counted, the credit card slips tallied and the final paperwork finished.  

And with that, I breathed a sign of relief.  

As I returned home to my messy house, piles of laundry and dust bunnies under my furniture, I was reminded of the cost of the last two weeks.  Never mind the financial cost of the bags of books that I purchased for my kids and their teachers.  

I'm a sucker for books. 

But the payoff is also books.  Books in my kids hands.  More books in their classroom.   And most importantly, the proceeds from the book fair used to purchase hundreds of new books for the school library.

And yet despite all these books, as I make our to-do list for the weekend, you know what we're doing tomorrow?

Going to the public library.

Football, books and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

So glad this week is over.

It seems a little wrong saying this since it was Halloween, which I love and book fair, which although makes for a crazy week (plus), I really love, too.

Maybe it's just the crazy that I'm ready to say goodbye, too.   So, GOODBYE CRAZY!

And hello to laundry, grocery shopping, house cleaning and the myriad of other things I have ignored over the last 5 days. 

Notice that this list does not include Halloween candy?  See, I haven't ignored everything.   

Book fair was a success.  We had around $24,000 in gross sales, which is not the largest we have had, but bigger than last fall, so no complaints on my end.  My back has a few complaints as I made the mistake of throwing a heavier-than-I-could-handle box on top of one of the Scholastic cabinets during tear down yesterday.    

Calgon Ibuprofen, take me away!

Matthew had his first playoff game last night.  The 49'ers shut out the Steelers 30 to nothing! Whoo hoo!  Matthew is still limping a bit, as he twisted/sprained his ankle on Tuesday night at tennis class.   Unfortunately, I had no luck convincing him to "take it easy" during trick-or-treating on Wednesday, so I insisted he miss football practice Thursday night so he could play on Friday.   It has slowed him down a bit, but somehow he is able to skip on the field between plays.  Yes, I'm soooo happy about that.   We play again this morning at 11. 

Go 49'ers!!!!

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday --check!

I guess I was on "blog hiatus" the last few days.   It wasn't really a planned hiatus, but maybe the break will give me more to write about.

Not necessarily more interesting, but sometimes you have to take what you can get. 

On Wednesday things started for the fall book fair.  We set up that morning  and started doing "preview" on  Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday.  Basically, each class comes in for 15 minutes and can look around.  They can choose to make a wish list for when they come back or simply browse.  Often it helps us guess what will be big sellers and get a head start on the reorder process. 

It is also that special time of year when I wear things like this to "advertise" for book fair.

In other news . . .

Matthew logged two football practices this week.  The playoffs started tonight and I'm excited to report that the 49'ers beat the Eagles 34 to 6.   Yay!   Matthew was so excited!  He had a couple great tackles tonight and will play again next Friday.

Meanwhile, Bassam and Gracie were off to the Girl Scout Father/Daughter Sock Hop.   While Bassam did not dress for the theme, Gracie was excited to get another wear out of her poodle skirt.  We skipped the cardigan ("dancing makes you sooo sweaty, Mommy!") and the glasses and added a polka dot blouse and scarf for tonight, because it's always best to change up your look, no? 

Charlie insisted in being in all the pre-dance pictures.  I think he felt some kind of "oneness" with the poodle on G's skirt.

And in addition to all of the excitement with book fair, football and dances, there's all this excitement to report on my house.

Except there's not.

The electrician wrapped up the wiring (or at least the wiring for this stage of the porch project) on Wednesday morning.   As soon as the electrical inspector from the city came by, they'd go ahead and start working on the tongue and groove ceiling inside the porch.

Except he didn't come Wednesday afternoon (which quite frankly, I didn't expect).

And he didn't come Thursday. 

And guess what?    Yep, you guessed it.  He didn't come today.   

But I am told that he is coming Monday.  But I'll believe THAT when I see it.

Meanwhile, the kitchen is actually quite spiffy.   I'm really trying to hold off posting pictures until my dining table arrives, which is on November 10th.    My window treatments were hung on Wednesday.  They look so lovely and put such a nice finishing touch on things.   Alas, there are still a couple random electrical projects (2 more cabinet lights, outlet covers, etc), replacing a rogue cabinet pull and finishing up my cork board above the desk (which originally was supposed to be a magnet board), but I have faith (no really --I have faith!) it will be done soon.  Like really done.  And hopefully really soon.

Who's with me?

In the meantime, I'm hoping to catch up on sleep this weekend.   Bassam is on call, but hopefully it won't interfere with plans to carve jack-o-lanterns, go to Pumpkinfest in Franklin and cheering on Vandy tomorrow night --although it's going to be COLD!

Bundle up!  Go Dores!

 

Book fair week

We're in the middle of Book Fair week at school    I love Book Fair and I'm convinced being the chair is one of the best PTO posts.  It's a crazy week or two each semester, but then you're done.  And nobody asks you to do much of anything else because you ran such a big event.   Still, I'm there all day, every day, less about an hour and 15 minutes.  Tonight was family night so it meant staying late until 7:30.    Thursday and Friday it means arriving at 7:20 am to open up early to grab the crowd in for Muffins for Mom before school.

Nevermind that I'm one of the moms who should be enjoying those muffins.

Really, I think the dads have it better.  They get donuts.  I'm all for alliteration, but donuts top muffins any day.

But back to the point of my post (if there is one), finding the balance to get it all done is something I clearly haven't accomplished during my weeks of Book Fair chaos.  About an hour ago, I finished up Matthew's Robert E Lee costume (presentation is tomorrow after all!) and I don't mind admitting that I used HOT GLUE to attach both the buttons and all the gold trim to the grey-ish jacket I found at a thrift store.

Nevermind it is a woman's jacket.   Shhhh.  Please don't tell Matthew. 

I didn't have a solid meal plan in place for the entire week, which has made dinners a little haphazard.  But the kids have clean clothes.  The house is clean tidy-ish. 

Yet despite those successes, I still feel like I'm just barely getting by.    For the third day in a row I haven't remembered to call the kids' dentist during business hours to ask why I keep getting reminders to schedule Matthew's appointment, when I'm 100% 94% certain I scheduled one at our last cleaning.    I was ecstatic that I remembered to call B's mom this evening to wish her a happy birthday.  Even though we celebrated with them on Sunday, a birthday call is always in order.    Luckily, I remembered at 7:30 pm, not 10:30 pm. 

And let's throw another one in here . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

My point in all this rambling?  To all my friends who get it all done and make it look easy---I tip my hat to you.  You are truly amazing women.

A bird, a dog and the Cat in the Hat

I was reminded that I didn't share pictures from the final two days of the Closet Challenge.    I made it the full 30 days with no repeats (minus jeans), except for the  60 minutes on Valentine's Day when I wore the red t-shirt again.



This birdie sweater makes me giggle!

 

Not my typical weekday look since I stopped working outside the home, but I had a meeting that required dressier attire.  

But what you really want to see is what I wore TODAY!

And since you might not be able to tell, I'm the cute one on the left in red!  Today was book fair preview day so my co-chair, Christy, and I sported these fabulous costumes (she is Geronimo Stilton) to greet the buses and car-riders as they arrived at school this morning!! 

And if that wasn't enough, we finished the day seeing the 2nd grade musical, Suessical Jr.    It was a great show with lots of fun music!  And with Dr. Seuss' birthday/Read Across America Day right around the corner, it was wonderful timing.    Matthew was awesome and we enjoyed front row seats that we won in the Family Fun Night auction in the fall.  Perfect ending to a very long, but fun day! 

Shhhh!

Four days of Book Fair down and one to go. 

Yes, it was another long day at Kenrose today.   But I'm really not complaining.  We are having a very successful sale and the volunteers have been terrific.   Having said that, I was glad to get a "break" late this morning  when I ran up to North Nashville to the Scholastic Warehouse to pick up an order that we wouldn't otherwise get until tomorrow.  At least 3 other Brentwood grade schools are doing Book Fair this same week and I'm convinced that is at least part of the reason why the deliveries from Scholastic are constantly delayed and more title are out-of-stock. 

And did I mention in the last 24 hours I have completely lost my voice?    I can whisper.   Not much more.  This made being a cashier during Donuts for Dad this morning difficult, but we ran three registers to keep things moving and we had to have the fastest people running them.   Luckily, I was able to grab another volunteer as my sidekick . . . she bagged up my orders and hollered out answers when my scratchy whisper couldn't be heard.

For now, it's just lots of hot tea and honey.  I can't say that it's helping, but I don't know what else to do.

Well, besides stop talking.

Bow ties and pumpkins . . .

It is Red Ribbon Week at Kenrose (and across the country), so we are promoting a drug-free and healthy lifestyle.   Today's spirit day theme was "Dress for Success."

*giggle*

I'm pretty sure plenty of kids would have preferred "Crazy hair day" or "Mismatched sock day," but whatever.

Matthew definitely got in to the spirit of things.

Meanwhile Gracie was dressed less successfully and more for the Pumpkin Patch, as today was the kindergarten field trip to Gentry Farm.  The weather was fantastic, their were loads of pumpkins for the kids to pick and no one got sick on the bus.   Yes, a perfect field trip.

I was one of the class chaperones and had a great time.  Two moms of boys in the class mentioned to me that their son was in love with Gracie.    Seriously?!?  

Returned to school shortly after noon and headed right over to book fair.  It was day 2 and everything was still running smoothly (knock on wood) despite losing a few volunteers who were home with kids with strep.     It was also the Family shopping night where we stayed open after school until 6:30 pm.    Yeah, I was there all the way to closing.   So grateful to my mother in-law who picked the kids up around 4.  

The kids came in after school and amassed a ginormous pile of paperbacks they wanted.   I also pulled aside a couple of the much-coveted erasers shaped like iPhones.   They cost 99 cents each. and the kids were over-the-moon excited about them.   They better be equally excited about the large quantity of books I purchased.  I won't even tell you how much, because Bassam might read it and flip out.   Let's just say the 10% discount was a good thing to have!

While I'm happy to wax on about the many funny anecdotes that go along with field trips and book fairs, 4:30 is going to come awfully early and I have to get to boot camp at 5:00 a.m.

Good night!