Where'd the Week Go?

According to my calendar, the last week was short... only four days of work and school, with Monday being a holiday... so why do I feel like it was at least three weeks long? Probably because I packed three weeks worth of stuff into it!

To begin with, I should say that I finally succumbed to a sinus infection (stupid allergies have been hideous this year) and on Monday I began a course of antibiotics. To get the proper idea of this week, imagine a stuffed head, crackling ears, a headache and pressure each time I leaned forward -- plus, enough sneezing and blowing to put Kleenex in the black for another quarter.

Tuesday was Field Day at Thomas's school. I volunteered, and offered to be put wherever they needed me most -- which happened to be in the childcare center, watching the little ones of the other parent volunteers. There were a good handful of us in there keeping an eye on the 18 kiddos signed in, so the 3 and a half hours went pretty quickly. I went straight from there to yard duty, and spent another hour and a quarter racing around the lawn with very hot, very tired kids who were done with a capital "D." (The rule of thumb seems to be for every five degrees above 60 Fareneheit, at least two children will need to tattle on a perceived wrongdoing every three minutes. This week we hit the low 80s. Sigh...)

Wednesday was minimum day, but Megan had a choir performance in Healdsburg in the afternoon, to be followed by a potluck picnic dinner at a local park. The performace was actually a taping at a local access television station, so the kids sang for an hour and a half in front of a huge green screen, melting under the hot lights in their all-black ensembles. Poor little munchkins! I dropped off and returned for Meg, and when I got there the kids had strippped off socks and shoes to stand on the cool concrete floor, but there was no water to be had... luckily I carry a case in my van (da-da-da-da-da-da! Super Mommy!), and carrying the handful of bottles into the studio I was rushed by the entire group with gleeful cries of "WATER! THANK GOD!" For all the discomfort, though, the kids did a great job of maintaining... ah, showbiz, eh?

The potluck at the park was fun, too, with hot dogs and lots of fresh strawberries and veggies with dips and of course, the most popular course, desserts. (Strangely enough, many parents brought popsicles as their potluck offering -- clearly making up for the super-hot studio experience!) The magic cookie bars I brought disappeared in no time at all -- maybe that's part of their magic? :)

Thursday was Field Day at Megan's school, and I had signed up to volunteer there, as well. As I was getting into bed on Wednesday night I had that sudden cold dread feeling of "UH oh... Did I sign up to bring some food, too?" Yep. Each class had an assigned category to attend to, and Ms. Jordan's class had "Healthy Snacks." We raced through our morning routine and hit the grocery store, snagging a veggie-and-dip tray to bring as our offering, which was just perfect... whew! When I showed up to do my volunteering, there didn't seem to be anywhere they needed me... so I went to the cafeteria and helped sort the food offerings into some semblance of order. There were tables full of hot dogs --  more packages than I've ever seen in my whole life, just piled up in a huge mound in all sorts of packaging: beef, turkey, chicken, Kosher, ball park, plumping, generic, you name it. The tables (plural: TWO of 'em) next to the hot dogs had mountains of hot dog buns. To the other side of the hot dog table were more chips than most grocery stores have in stock on any three-day weekend:  tortilla chips, plain, ruffled, barbeque, sour cream and onion, sun, and every flavor Dorito the company makes. The drink table had Capri Suns in more flavors than I had ever heard of, too -- fruit punch, lemonade, red berry, strawberry, mixed berry, swizzle berry, island berry, berry red, berry-berry... okay, I can't name them all, but you get the idea. Then there were the desserts... if you can picture it, it was there, with at least three packages' worth on hand. Same with the healthy snacks -- fruit, veggies, crackers, cheese, muffins, granola bars, fruit rolls -- we had it all.

Except, it turns out, a way to cook the hot dogs.

For 300 kids.

So two teams were dispatched to two houses, and my fellow volunteer (and Girl Scout co-leader) and I got to cook a tub o' hot dogs and stuff them in buns, stand them in rows along big cafeteria trays, wrap them in foil, and then drive them back to the school. That took the entire morning, up to yard duty time... but I heard reports later that that lunch was the "best hot dog lunch they'd ever had!!" I think the endless supply of chips and desserts may have had a hand in that, but I welled up with pride, anyway. :)

(Oh... by the way... I now know I don't want to be a cafeteria lady when I grow up... so the day was useful for that bit of info, alone.)

Friday was the last day, but it felt sort of anticlimatic with all the other hurrying I had to do (haircut, grocery store, and going out for an evening with relatives in San Francisco)... In a way, I was glad for the busy-ness, as it prevented me from getting too sad about missing the on-going first graders, and the retiring teachers, and all the friends I've made this year on campus. I'm planning on going back next year, so that's something to look forward to... but it's going to be different with Thomas at anther school and a whole new batch of kindergartners!

The next few days are going to be quiet and dull by comparison... Thank God!! If you need me, I'll be the one in the corner, staring at the wall and mumbling about hot dogs and volunteering and did I forget to pick up that kid --???