Consumed

I officially opened up my Rock The House (school carnival) binder today. I will probably be consumed from now until March. I'm not sure how I got talked into being Vice President of the PTO, which means chairing RTH again this year. I've spent the last couple of hours sitting at my computer working on volunteer lists and sending out emails begging parents to chair booths. I may need a drink or two when the rejection emails start coming back. (Just kidding.)

For those of you who put up with me through out all of this last year, I'm going to need your support again as I'm flying solo this year. So if it fails, it's all. on. me. Yikes.

I learned something from last year, though. I am going to do a lot of delegating. These people are going to find their own volunteers. Why should I do it for every single committee this year? That is probably what consumed so much of my time last year.

Let the good times roll...

Spring Fever

I'm not sure what to do with myself. I've spent the last week getting my PTO binder in order, updating all of the paperwork in it and making sure it's ready to go for next year. There are only a few receipts left to come in and it's looking like our profit is going to be $14,600.00.

I could (and should) spend the day doing laundry and housework, but it's too hard to get serious work done around the house when everyone is home and sitting in front of the TV - makes you want to curl up and take a nap. The downstairs area that the girls spent the night in is a total mess. I should really do something about it, but am pretty much unmotivated at this point.

It's hard to snap back to normal daily life after being so consumed by RTH. There are a million things I need to do now that I've got the time, but I just can't seem to focus. I'm looking forward to Spring when we can get out of the house with the kids and have some fun. I'm getting sick of being cooped up in the house all the time.

I've got our zoo membership application on the counter and ready to be sent in. The Peoria Zoo is undergoing a major renovation right now and by Spring it's suppose to be completed. There is also a huge wooden park with mazes and tunnels next to the zoo that the kids love. Our membership will get us into any zoo all the way from St. Louis to Chicago and more for free. I'm thinking some road trips are going to be in order once the weather gets nice.

So, no more snow and ice. I'm done and over it. I want to see trees and plants bloom and come to life again. I'm ready for Volleyball matches and Baseball and Softball games. Bring me cool spring nights with friends, bonfires and Margaritas. Please, bring it soon!

Must Sit Down And Write Post

You'd think that with the school carnival being over, I'd have time to breathe. I've still been pretty busy tying up loose ends and trying to figure out our profit. I swear, you can tell people until you're blue in the face to get their reimbursement forms in on time, but there are always some that don't listen. So, I still don't know what our profit is yet. I keep trying to get numbers from our treasurer, but she's not done yet and it's frustrating. Until I get those numbers, I can't even come up with a rough estimate. So I wait.

Saturday night couldn't have run any smoother than it did. Everything went off without a hitch. Many parents and teachers have said that this year was more organized than ever and that the kids finally had enough to do to keep them busy. In the past, it's always been about making money through the Raffle and the kids ended up bored because they haven't had enough to do to last the whole night. This year we added all kinds of activities and games and it was a huge success. The kids had a blast and the parents were impressed. That's what matters.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my family and I did pretty well in the Raffle ourselves this year. We won the iPod Nano Video (that is now mine after finessing it out of my daughter's hands), a Picnic In The Park classroom basket filled with all kinds of fun stuff, a Cold Stone Creamery Gift Basket (which reminds me that I have to order Ashley's ice cream cake for tomorrow), ice skating passes, a small gift bag that included a $15 gift card to Anecdotes, a small gift shop here in Peoria, and a bunch of free kids meal at Chili's. My mother in law won a Remote Control Helicopter for the kids to play with at her house. I'd say we all made out pretty well.

While Bret and Ryan enjoyed the carnival, Ashley and her friend ran a booth all night. They worked their butts off. The only moment I got to sit down was to eat dinner with my family for about 15 minutes. I had Bret go through the line and get all of our dinners and met up with him and the kids at the table. My reasoning was that the carnival had me all night, but I was determined to eat dinner with my family. Once dinner was over, I did indeed run around all night, making sure everything ran smoothly and keeping the DJ on track. It was a lot of fun, but when I did finally get home and into bed, the wheels in my head were still spinning at a hundred miles per hour.

There have also been some new developments since all this started. A week before the carnival, our PTO President announced that she and her family are being transferred over seas to Australia for 3 years through her husband's job at Caterpillar. He leaves this weekend. She and the kids leave next month. It's going to be really sad when they go because she has done so much for the school this year. I'm now preparing to learn how to run the PTO for the remainder of the year in her shoes. Will someone please knock me in the side of the head to see if my common sense returns?

Throughout all of this, I've remained smoke free. Over the weekend I did have some really strong cravings to smoke. I got through them, but it wasn't fun. I've been trying to get back on the Chantix since my doctor's appointment, but I just can't remember to take it - or my other medicine. Life should start to calm down now this week, which might help, but I'm not sure what to do with the Chantix. I don't want to slip up, but I just can't remember to take the darn stuff. Without it, I do notice more cravings so it may be best to try and discipline myself into taking it.

Ok. I'm off to try and get my poor neglected house back in order. Everyone is about out of clean underwear here and I've been trying to get the bathrooms clean since last Wednesday.

Oh My!

Wow. That went really fast. It's all over and done with and was a HUGE success! I'm going to go drag myself down the hallway and find my bed.

I'll share all the details tomorrow, but will leave you with this: We only have a rough estimate at this time, but we made more money this year than any other year.

Plus Ashley won a classroom basket and we also won an iPod Nano and 4 other prizes in the Raffle! Whoo hoo!

I'm beat, but man was it awesome!

Rock The House Decorations

After 3 more hours at school this morning the decorating is done and we are READY to ROCK!

This is the quilt that all of the first graders made for our Silent Auction. I want it bad!!!

Ryan's square:

To see all of the decoration pictures, click here.

Preview

Guess who's son was the top seller of Raffle Tickets in his classroom? Ryan was super excited and very surprised during school yesterday when he was announced the winner.

Yesterday was pretty much a whirlwind of chaos and fun. The big night isn't until tonight, but we were at school until 7pm setting up last night. I snapped a few pictures in the gym, but the lighting isn't very good in there and I have no idea what setting to put the camera on. We're suppose to meet back up at school this morning to blow up balloons and finish up the decorations. I'll get more pictures this morning because I stopped taking them last night when I realized I was going to have to take new ones today when we were done. These are just a few of the booths in the gym. Wait until you see the commons area where everything else is. It looks awesome, if I say so myself.

Stop The Clock

I just need a few more hours in each day. Can someone make that happen for me? Between taking care of the catering order, redecorating ticket cans, painting Plinko boards, drinking Margaritas at TGI Friday's (yum), carting kids to and from volleyball and tutoring, collecting dinner ticket orders daily, keeping tabs on 20-some committees.... I'm ready for this thing to be here already.

Today was the final day for raffle and ticket sales. I spent most of the school day going through and filling orders and am happy to say that our dinner ticket orders have officially exceeded last year's total. Adding the gondola option along with the original Spaghetti dinner that we have catered in paid off. Our raffle - which is our major money maker - is only $600 away from last year's total. And the carnival isn't even hear yet. I think I may have pulled this off after all.

The kids are excited, which is the best part about the whole thing. All day today, as we worked through 3 lunch periods, we had kids coming up to us and asking us who the top winners were. It was great to see them so into it. My son doesn't know this, but he is one of the top two sellers in his classroom. His classroom also sold the most tickets. (Don't look at me - another kid in his class sold over 800 tickets and we weren't even really trying.) The funny part is that they win a pizza party and my son doesn't even like pizza. Ha! He'll be really surprised and excited on Friday when he finds out he won. Maybe I'll bring him a Happy Meal the day of the party instead.

*Sigh* In 2 more days it'll be here. (Friday pretty much means it's here because that's when we start getting the school ready for Saturday night.) The most relaxing 25 minutes I've had all week were when I sat in my van drinking a White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks while I waited for my son during his tutoring session. Chloe snacked on graham crackers and juice and I sipped away in a relaxed haze. And then it was over before it began and it hasn't slowed down again since.

Two more days.... And you bet I'm taking pictures that night to share!

Back From The Brink

(I have no idea what is up with Blogger and their line spacing problem these days!)

I'm back. Did anyone miss me? Does anyone still come here? It feels like forever since I've posted.

I'm still not smoking. How, through out all of this stress I've been under the past week or two, I've managed not to smoke is beyond me but I'm still going strong at 10 weeks and 3 days. I had an appointment for my annual physical on Friday with the doctor that prescribed my Chantix. She was proud of me, which in turn made me proud of myself. I told her that I've been weening off of the Chantix and even then am still not remembering to take it. She told me that she recommends patients to take the Chantix for 2-4 months longer than the recommended 12 weeks to keep them on track and to keep them quit. I've got a prescription to extend it, but am not sure what I should do. I do still get the tuggings, and while I get through those tuggings just fine, I am wondering if I should stay on the Chantix. The only reason I had stopped taking it was because I couldn't remember to take it routinely, so the nausea had been a real problem. We'll see.

In less than a week, the school carnival will be here. Friday the craziness will truely start and by Saturday evening it'll be all over with. I pray that it's a big success. As long as it makes as much money as it's made in the past and the kids have a great time, I'll be able to sleep at night again.

Below is our baby. My co-chair's husband made this Plinko board for the carnival. The kids have all complained that there weren't enough games in the past, so we've loaded them up with lots of choices, but this here below is our baby. I've put many, many coats of paint on it and am ready to add the letters and numbers to it now. (My house looks like a mini carnival with a Plinko board in the living room and a bozo type bucket game in the hallway.)

Along with planning the school carnival, Ashley has thrown a birthday sleepover party in the mix for the following weekend. She decided that she wanted Dance Dance Revolution for the game system downstairs to use during her party, so my mom and brother went in on it for her birthday. Bret has it playing through his stereo system and she's been practicing all day. I tried it - it wasn't pretty. LoL. But with that and Karaoke, I think she'll be set for her party now.

Ryan's Blue & Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts was tonight. His Den made a dragon costume to go with the whole theme they had going on. It was way to cute to see them trying to keep up with each other while they walked around the room.

Ryan earned his Tiger patch and 5 belt loops. (Guess I have to go buy the belt now.)

As soon as the banquet was over, we headed over to catch the rest of our Niece's birthday party.

Where they had trick candles. I love those things.

It's been a long day and I'm ready for bed. Last night we had friends over for dinner and drinks and I'm really dragging now. I'll try not to be such a stranger, but it may be difficult until after next weekend.

The Day After My Almost Breakdown

Today has been a much better day than yesterday. I got my van back this morning and am so glad that the whole curb nailing nightmare is behind me. Teri, my co-chair for the school carnival got a lot of things taken care of on the school front over the past two days while I dealt with a lot of behind the scenes stuff that piled up over the 5 day weekend. I've determined that the 5 day weekend may have contributed to much of yesterday's stress. Yesterday pretty much felt like Friday, Monday & Tuesday all in one. I was in bed by 9:30pm last night and got a really good night's sleep.

There is still a lot left to be done for this carnival, but I feel like we've gotten a lot accomplished in the last two days. I just have to remind myself that I'm doing this for my kids.

I'm sorry I don't have much else for you, but if you saw my kitchen table (and the rest of my house for that matter) you'd tell me to close the computer and get back to work.

The Countdown To Insanity

9 days. That's all that's left. The school carnival is in 9 days. I'm stressed out and ready for it to be here and gone. The sad part is that I probably won't even be able to enjoy any of it because I'll be running around the whole night like a chicken with its head cut off.

This event has taken up so much of my time and patience that there just isn't enough left in me for anything else. I just about broke down today. There were so many things going on this morning that I thought I was going to lose my sanity.

My van is done ($1800 later), but getting the check from the Insurance company has turned into a nightmare. Apparantly it takes more than 6 hours to print out a check. Now I'm here at home with 6 kids so it's not looking hopeful that I'll get my van back today.

I should have known this was going to be a difficult day when I rolled over to turn off the alarm clock this morning at 6:13am (already running 13 minutes late) and rolled over my son in the process. I have no idea when he climbed into bed with me, but he was there when I woke up.

I have no idea where I'm going with this, other than that I am exhausted and just want to sit down and spend time with my family and have no other obligations beyond that.

I apologize for ranting - I'll try to be in a better mood tomorrow.

Hiding Out

It seems that everytime I check my email these days, I end up sitting at the computer for an hour. My inbox has now turned into my "To Do" box. I've also got these lists following me everywhere I go. The sad part is that they just keep getting longer because they are on going things that need to be constantly followed up on for this carnival.

So I've decided to be super duper productive today. I closed my binder, set aside my written out to do list and put the lap top away for a bit. (I hear the confusion in your heads.)

I needed a break and Chloe was still napping, so I got to work recovering our kitchen chairs. It's been a project long past due. Proudly, both of my kids have come home from school and noticed them right away. Ten bucks says it takes my husband a lot longer. Ha.

If I had known how easy of a project this would be, I would have done it a long time go. I like the way the lighter color looks better, but it was just impossible to keep clean with how many kids go through my house in the course of a day. So here you have it - as good as new.

And then I looked out the window and noticed that I had failed to notice it had been snowing for some time now. I guess we're in for 4-6 inches tonight and tomorrow. Oh Joy!

It's funny the things that you don't notice anymore when you're not outside smoking all the time.

Crazy Busy

This week really flew by way to fast. I've been so busy planning this school carnival for Ryan's school that I feel like it's all I do anymore. (Do you see my house nodding it's head in agreement?)

Yesterday was the big Kick Off Assembly at school and it was a huge success. Sadly, I wasn't able to run it since I had two babies here yesterday and it was scheduled for right smack in the middle of nap time. I hear it was a huge success and that the kids are getting really excited about all of the new games and activities we've planned for this year.

Four weeks from today, this carnival will hopefully be a huge success. As long as we make $50 more than last year's profit, I'll be happy. More would prove that I really know what I'm doing, but I'll just settle for $50.

My mom is coming down to visit this weekend, so all things carnival are being put on hold for the weekend - or at least until the next time I open up my email and have a million emails to respond to.

Moving on, I called Ryan's principal yesterday morning regarding the situation with "the little punk" and don't really feel as if I made much progress. While she agrees this problem needs to be taken care of, I got the sense that she was questioning what Ryan is saying. She said that she had a hard time believing that the recess monitors wouldn't see this kind of behavior. Obviously she hasn't seen that the monitors stand around in a corner talking while the kids run around unsupervised.

She also said that she talked to "the little punk" yesterday morning and, of course, he denies everything. She said she was pulling him from recess, but that maybe Ryan had him confused with another kid. Ryan has pointed the kid out in his yearbook, so that is unlikely. Then when I asked Ryan if he was at recess, he said yes and that this kid pushed him down again. What in the world is the problem over there?!

Bret emailed the principal himself yesterday afternoon, but he hasn't gotten a response yet. He basically asked if there was anything he could do and informed them that he could rearrange his lunch hour to help supervise recess if need be. He pretty much said what I wanted to scream at her, but with a little more tact.

So, we wait again. However, starting next Monday I'll be at school daily in the morning to collect school carnival stuff and copying newsletters, so you can bet I'll be arriving there right as recess is starting.

Hiding Out

I may be doing too well at this school carnival planning stuff. They want me to do it again next year. NO!!!! HELP!!!!

Went to Body Pump this morning...Lord, am I out of shape! I'll be soaking in the tub while Chloe naps is anyone needs me.

Blame It On The Mojito

We had our monthly PTO meeting tonight and I sat down here to work on that, but Teri (my co-chair) took me out to Friday's for an Ulitmate Mojito (Man, is it going to take awhile to finish this with how slow I'm having to type.) and I'm probably not going to get much done....um....correctly?

I made myself go to Body Attack at Gold's this morning. All by myself with out my little gym buddies. I told myself that if I could get through the first half and make it to the running track that I'd let myself leave if I wanted to. Of course I didn't end up leaving. I pushed my way through it and let me tell you - there's a reason they call it Body Attack. By the time an hour was up and we had made it to the last track, I could barely lift my leg up to kick and forget the freaking knee repeaters. But I did it and have lived to tell about it.

I've made an unpleasant discovery, though. The shortness of breath and wheezing I get during that class weren't entirely smoking related. It was better this time as a nonsmoker, but I had to hit my inhaler half way through. Maybe that will get better over time, too. This class is tough - there were times I could feel my heart trying to jump out of my chest, but I just have to remember it was just as tough before and it got easier after a couple of weeks then, too.

So, if I'm still able to move in the morning, I'll be going back to body pump tomorrow to further torture myself. And on Friday? Body Step - yes it's step aerobics, but just as brutal in the cardio area as body attack and just as brutal as it sounds. Sounds fun, right? (I'm actually looking forward to it.)

Time to go sleep off the lingering effects of the mojito...

Your Turn

Over the past few days, I've been stressed out and busy working on the planning for our big school fundraiser that is held next month. Everything else seems to have been dropped by the wayside. ("Yes, I hear you!" she says to the moaning pile of dirty laundry and dishes.) Yesterday I literally sat at the kitchen table for the better part of the day calling all of our volunteers to straighten out a mistake that was made early in the school year. You see, our school had mail in registration this year instead of the 'ol normal registration day where you go in and do things in person, and all parents were asked to fill out a volunteer form and check off which areas they were willing to help out in. For the school carnival, we had many parents check off more than one committee - some as much as seven. I knew we should have called each one of them to clarify where they wanted to help out at, but that's not what was done and they were put onto every single committee that they checked off. So, I had to call and do damage control because parents were complaining that they were getting too many phone calls. It was all just a simple mix up over how to handle the sign up sheets, but it almost got out of control. Luckily, it was able to be taken care of before more of our Committee Chair's started making their phone calls. Yikes.

Moving on. (Pause.) Who am I kidding? This is where I need some suggestions from the peanut gallery. Each game that we're doing will be giving out prizes such as small erasers, pencils, bite size candy, yadda yadda yadda. But we have one special game that we want to be a huge success. Bret is over at my co-chair's house right now helping her husband build us a shiny spanking brand new Plinko game. This too will have prizes, but I really want them to stand out compared to the other games since this is "our baby". We need to have 3-4 different prizes that start out cheap and small and build up to cool. All under this game's $50 budget. That can accomidate 400 some players. My brain is tired, so I'm asking you to lend me some of your creativity. Any ideas? Pretty, pretty please?

What? It's Friday? When Did That Happen?

What a week. I think I've been sitting at the computer for 3 days straight working on plans for this school carnival. We had our second meeting last night and ran into a glitch with our volunteer list and spent quite some time emailing back and forth with each other last night to come up with a solution. So I spent most of today making phone calls and sending out emails trying to get it all straightened out. I don't have much of a voice left. In fact, two phone calls ago I had to ask the mom if I could call her back because my voice was completely frogish like. Thank goodness it's Friday.

Running Away

After spending 2 1/2 hours last night and another 3 hours so far today on planning for the carnival at Ryan's school, I've decided that I'm going to run away and not come back until the thing is over and done with at the end of February. (She screams like a madwoman while pulling her hair out in front of the computer moniter.)

How in the world did you ever manage to get us sucked into chairing this thing, Teri?

Has anyone else taking Chantix had a harder time concentrating while talking this drug?

Coming Up...

Pictures from our weekend in Springfield. Ryan has been on a Abe Lincoln kick, so what perfect timing, right?

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But first I have to get through running my first PTO meeting tonight for the school's carnival that's in February. I am so ready to start the delagating process of this! How about you, Teri?

Poof

I was all set to sit down and post some really cute pictures from Ryan Cub Scout field trip this morning when, Poof!, they just disapeared. I downloaded them from my camera and when I went to look at them, the folder was empty. Then I went back to my camera and found that Picasa had deleted them from there, too. What's even worse is that I had taken a picture for another mom of her son holding the American flag during their opening ceremony and now I have no picture to email to her. So now what you get is some serious ranting of the problem with some parents these days...

Last night I spent three hours shooting out emails to everyone that had signed up to help out with the carnival for Ryan's school that Teri and I are chairing. I must have sent out emails to a couple of hundred parents and can you believe that I've only gotten responses from 3 parents so far? Sad. I hope they don't think we're giving up easily, because they will get a phone call - or maybe a few hundred phone calls. Hopefully the responses will start flooding in once the weekend is over.

On a totally different subject, the kids have their Halloween costumes all picked out and ready to go. They are really excited. Ryan is going to be a Chicago Bears football player and Ashley and her friend, Danielle are going as ketchup and mustard. It was quite hilarious watching them try them on in the store bathroom last week. The costumes are bigger than they are. Now if we could just find the time to head over to Apple Blossom Farm to get our pumpkins.

Well, I'm off to finish cleaning my house. Break's over.

Yeah, Because We Didn't See That One Coming

A couple of months ago, Teri got her self sucked back into the PTO at our kids' school as the Vice President. Along with this comes the responsibility of chairing the biggest fundraiser that the school puts on - the school carnival. Being the nice person that she is, she couldn't find it in her to say no.

I've been there. Secretary. Scrip Sales Chair. Girl Scout Leader. Girl Scout Service Unit Manager. Fall Fundraiser Sales Chair. I've done my time, right? Well, guess who's bailing Teri's butt out? (Holds breath.) Me. Did you get that? Let me say it again. Me. (Let's out breath.) She's been trying to find someone to co-chair with her since she signed up for it but hasn't had any luck, until now. She used the 'ol, "I'd do it for you" bit on me. Like the sucker that I am, I agreed. Then I started thinking about the fact that I'd get to be a part of something that benefits our children in such a big way. This fundraiser averages a $14 thousand dollar profit each year that buys the students and teachers things that they otherwise wouldn't be able to afford. And not to toot my own horn, but I am a whiz when it comes to organization and computer work. I'm getting excited about it now. We'll have a lot of fun together doing this, but first I need to go organize her freaking binder because it's making the hair on my arms stand on end with how messy and disorganized it is. Then we can get started.

Yep, I'm a sucker.