Success and Exhaustion :-)

PIRATE NIGHT WAS A SUCCESS!!!

Over 600 people attended. We were expecting between 400 and 500 so we were blown away. We had 50 cakes for the Cakewalk and had to shut that down an hour before the end because we ran out of cakes, we had 450 pirate hats to decorate for the kids - THEY were out by 7. The games went well, the book fair made a ton of money, fundraisers were mostly picked up, and all of the comments we received from kids/parents/teaching staff were positive. The basket raffle brought in over $700, so instead of spending the $1000 that we were supposed to, we actually ended up only spending $200. The traffic cop never showed up and that was supposed to be a $400 expense, so that certainly helped the budget!

I forgot my camera - I wish I had it. The decorating committee for the social was headed by 2 professional artist/designers and it really showed. They made a ship out of cardboard boxes that looked JUST like a pirate ship - complete with raggedy sails. There were 'portholes' in the ship that were strong enough to let a child go through them - the games looked so professional that the Principal asked to keep them in the supply room for future games at the school. Yay parents - they really came through.

The cakewalk was fun - I had never been to one before. My friend Cheryl had told me that it wasn't the tasty cakes that were picked first, it was the fancy cakes that were 'eye candy' to the kids. So. I used fondant on cakes for the first time. Wow - it was fun - like working with polymer clay! The next time I will flavor the fondant a bit more, I think it was 'too' neutral, but the cakes were #1 and #2 gone so I consider that a success :-) Here are Barbie and the soccer field - and they were really so simple that they were both decorated in about 45 minutes...

The work continued on Friday as I made phone calls to the 19 winners of baskets in the basket raffle that hadn't picked up their winnings - so my first 'breathing' day was Monday - but that's okay. The best part of the process was working with the women on the committee - their energy, their ideas, their enthusiasm was contagious and really helped. So, until the spring (when I'm responsible for another social) I can relax a bit.

The fall view above is from my front door. It's supposed to be windy and we're to have rain later, so I'm not sure how much longer the spectacular fall leaf show will be around - but I'm enjoying every minute of it. I'm taking the long way to places and driving through the beautiful New England countryside that I'm part of and loving it.....It's all good.

20 Years

It boggles the mind.

Oh. My. Gosh.

If I can make it through Thursday I will NEVER again complain about being bored. (not that I did before....but.....). This past June I somehow found myself the Co-Vice-President of the elementary school PTO. I tried valiantly to decline (and I have witnesses that will attest to that fact) but the teacher that snagged me as her co-Veep was just not taking no for an answer. After teaching for 38 years she kind of knows how to get what she wants I suppose. So over the summer I get used to the fact of the new position, even though I'm still finding my way around the area/town/schools. Then comes September, when I find out that the main responsibility of the Veep is to run the fall and spring socials - the fall one bringing a crowd of between 400-500 people. Yikes. I get the planning book from last year on September 13th and find out that last year they began the planning for this in July. JULY!!!!!!! Every bit of organizing/business meeting/planning/PTO knowledge exploded in me and I've been working like a madwoman towards the end - the Pirate Social, happening this Thursday night. The positives: I've met a group of wonderful women - all who have first borns in Kindergarten. Their motivation is high, their energy seems boundless, and they have reminded me of what I used to be before I became such a jaded mother of a high schooler and a middle schooler. I've been reinvigorated as a parent from spending time with these women, and that's not a bad thing. Other positives - I am reminded that I know how to do this stuff. The past three years I have spent packing/unpacking/packing/unpacking and going through countless new experiences. The year before that was consumed by my father's illness and subsequent death and figuring out my youngest daughter's gastro issues. This, THIS is what I knew in what I still view so often as my 'real life' in PA. That woman that co-chaired the huge fall fundraiser for the junior league. That woman that arranged field trips and assemblies for a five grade school for two years. The woman that could DO, not the woman that was always tired. So that's good.

The bad? I feel every one of my 42 years around these women. I have to pick up other kids, I have to get them home to do large amounts of homework, I have to feed them large amounts of real food. I have to run here and there. And, although these women would never in a million years believe me (as I never believed the women that told me when my oldest was a little guy) - "Life" - capitalized "Life" is exceedingly more complicated as the kids get older. Exponentially. I'm tired. That's the bad thing. I'm just bone-tired.

So. Tomorrow I meet the other room mom (I was asked to be co-room-mom as well by a mom that doesn't want to do it herself - do I have a sign on my forehead that says "ask her - she'll say yes"???) at Panera and plan the class Halloween party. I go buy pretzels and light bulbs for the Social. I pack up and arrange and shrink wrap 19 big baskets of donated 'themed' items from the various classrooms for the basket raffle. I make the ticket boxes for the 19 baskets and write advertising for the raffle. Tomorrow night I go to the final committee meeting and hope (really really hope. really really really really hope) that everyone has done what they should have and that it will be smooth as we walk through the map and the night. Wednesday I take the night off as it's my 20th anniversary, and then (drumroll please) it's Thursday. Arrrrgh. Ahoy Matey day.

Friday I may be found collapsed in a heap on my sofa - watching Grey's Anatomy's that I'm behind on and drinking coffee all morning in pajamas and glasses.

Aside - Water for Elephants - LOVE this book. I find myself reading it at stop lights, and I've been staying up waaaay too late again reading. Makes me think in a different way about the people in my life that are older now and how they are thinking and how I'm treating them. Love her writing.

Peace out, ya scurvy dogs - arrrrrrrrrg.

~C