All Crazy All The Time

I am looking at the dawn of this groggy Monday morning wondering just how on earth I made it through the previous week without having a heart attack. So! Much! Going! On! And all at once! It was unreal.

On Monday we finally got to celebrate John's birthday. At least, that's what *I'm* calling it. Two months ago, John made the executive decision to use a portion of our tax refund to buy tickets to see Pearl Jam!!!!!! (And since I couldn't think of any gift to top it, I'm calling that his gift!) We were both beyond excited since a) it's one of our favorite bands, b) John hadn't seen them in concert since 1991 when they gave a spectacularly BAD show in Indy [not exactly their fault, as the sound in the venue was horrible--and this was about three months before they hit it HUGE, so no one knew who this opening band for the Red Hot Chili Peppers was!], and c) John and I are averaging a date about once every 18 months, and we're totally DUE!

The logistics of finding folks to watch my kids and also cart them to their activities that night was um, NOT FUN, but hey, it got done, and I owe some people BIG TIME!

The concert was AMAZING. John's been to loads of concerts, but I've only been to a handful (Is there a correlation in the fact that he stopped going to concerts after he met me? hmmm....). This was easily the best concert I've ever seen. Pearl Jam is just amazing live. I'm so thrilled that we got to go!

John had a few too many beers, so I got to drive home (I got one beer at 7:00 and nursed it until 11:00--kinda guessing I may be the one driving home). An hour's drive is no big deal--unless you'd been up really, really late a few nights prior, and you're up way past your bedtime now. But I found some gum in my purse, and then it was all good! We got home around 1:30 in the morning.

Tuesday I was completely wiped. I put the kids on the bus, and I went back to bed. I didn't get up until Izzy got home, and I probably didn't wake up properly until around 3:00. I got Mary ready for her softball game, and then I had to help slacker Keith with his homework (TWO assignments he didn't finish in class! Plus he was behind on his reading journal!). John takes Mary to her game, and Keith and I get back on homework. Then, around 7:30, my GS co-leader calls, "Aren't you coming to the Service Unit meeting tonight?" Meeting? WHOOPS! It wouldn't have been a big deal, except that I was supposed to bring important stuff for the meeting. Izzy was already in her jammies, and Keith still had homework to do, but we all got our shoes on, went out to the garage, and...John had the mini-van. The mini-van in which I put the important stuff so that I wouldn't forget it for said meeting! And he and Mary were 20 minutes away at her game. Crap! Can you say LOSER? Yeah--my portion of the meeting just had to be skipped.

The next few days are kind of a blur. Along with baseball/softball going on every night, I was also putting together a Daisy event for my Service Unit for Saturday. I spent the rest of the week making sure I had enough crafts, games, songs, and supplies to entertain 50-55 kindergarten and first graders. I had a nightmare Tuesday night (after the important meeting faux pas) that we were all at the event, and I forgot most of my supplies, and I had to keep leaving the event to go make trips to Wally World. Yeah--stress much?

Well, I made my list and checked it twice, and thrice, and yipes! I couldn't help feel every time I bought more stuff that I didn't have enough stuff! (And I started buying for this WEEKS ago!). LOTS of shopping got done. Lots of emails/phone calls/visits to my co-leader for sanity checks. The last thing on the list: go get the keys to the church where we were having the event. No problem. I remembered! Got my keys! Everything looked good!

Saturday afternoon I made a last minute trip to Wally World to buy MORE crayons and MORE markers and MORE scissors in another panic attack of not-having-enough-STUFF! I got to the church 45 minutes before the event started...and the keys would NOT FIT IN THE DOORS!!!! It's like a bad joke, right? I'm all prepared, and I'm early to the event to get things set up in a timely manner, and....

Well, Mary and Izzy were with me (Izzy to attend--Mary to help until John came to get her for her softball game). I told them to stay in the mini-van while I went around the church trying more doors (these keys have got to open up SOMETHING, right?). Well, it's a pretty BIG church since it's also a school. I kept going around and around the perimeter and finding doors and trying keys and trying my darndest NOT to cry!

I finally got to the other side of the building where there is a playground, AND another one of my older girl helpers playing on the swings (wonder how long that poor dear was there waiting for me?). Another mother on the playground said she thought she saw someone go into the main office. REALLY? OhThankGoodness!

The main office was open (yes!). I found a live body (YES!). And she confirmed that yes, I indeed had the wrong keys (GAH!). She gave me the key right off her key ring, and then we walked through the building to open that door so that I could collect my children and start unloading my stuff. As we're trying to unlock the door, Mary runs by it holding Izzy's hand, and Izzy is in hysterics! OH! The poor dear started freaking out when Mommy didn't come back to the car right away! (Oh! Mom should have brought them with her, but Mom didn't realize it would take THAT LONG to get inside the church! BAD MOMMY!) At this time, my Daisy co-leader has shown up with HER supplies and HER kids. We get Izzy calmed down, and then we hurriedly start setting up for this thing--starting thirty minutes later than we intended. Within a few short minutes, the annoyingly PUNCTUAL people start showing up. Thank heavens many of them were GS leaders and mothers and others who are willing to lend a hand (and actually, I asked for all these folks to stay and help ahead of time). (And BTW: we couldn't figure out how to keep the door OPEN, so I had to finally set up an older girl at the door to open it as folks started filing in.) We finally had all the craft tables and supplies set up, and got things started.

It was chaos--but "organized" chaos. I know that you can't keep five- and six-year old still for too long, so my mantra for this thing was to KEEP. THEM. BUSY. And, yeah, it was noisy, and yeah, a bit confusing, but yeah, I still think they all had a lot of fun. Of course, I spent most of my time be-bopping between tables making sure everything was moving along, and moving ahead, and what-happened-to-the-volunteer-who-was-teaching-this-craft????! I'm still amazed everything ran as smoothly--and timely!--as it did. My rough schedule was pretty-much followed, and everything was done, and every kid picked up, in quite a timely manner! Um...wow?

After that ordeal, my co-leader and I had been asked by the church to set up tables and chairs for the next event scheduled. No problem! I mean, the church let us use their space for free, it's the least we could do, right? Well, I had no idea the tables and chairs were so HEAVY. And we had to set up an extra 12 of them (with eight heavy chairs at each table). And we had our little girls running around under our feet. And...well, if I'd known, I would have asked more adults to stay--or at least found a husband to help! It took us over an hour.

Calming down after all of that was not easy. My heart was still racing when we left. I took Izzy to get something to eat (STARVING!), and then we went to the pet store. And we looked at puppies and kittens and puppy products (oh! good grief!) and even puppy training classes. And we talked about our new little guy and what kind of toys he might like and how we'll have to keep the house extra-special clean for him, and...I just can't wait for him to get here!