Friday night was the Fall Festival at school. Always a busy time, especially when I squeezed a play practice inbetween school and the 5:00 start of the festival. But when I only get the soccer players who are a part of the play for one or maybe two practices a week - they're making a run for the state tournament - I have to practice when we can, even if it is fall festival day.
My class was in charge of the dunking booth and the pillow fight. I always pity the people who volunteer to be in the dunking booth, but figure they asked for it. The beginning of the night isn't too bad, but when the sun goes down it gets really cold. . .also, it's gross to think of falling into a little column of water that fifteen or so other people have already been in. (Kind of like getting into bathwater after fifteen other people!) The pillow fight. . .I had to stay there all four hours except for an occasional break. Kids love it, and most of the time my juniors could have run it fine, but occasionally you get two kids in there that really have a score to settle, and it takes an adult to keep them settled & not get hurt. So I stayed really close by.
My juniors were fantastic about being where they were supposed to be when they were signed up to be there. That was a great help. Maybe I'll try to reward them this week - make rice krispie bars or something for them to eat at lunch.
The seniors had a wonderful maze - one of the
best, from what I've heard from the people who went through it. This may be the last year for a traditional maze as we are just about out of refrigerator boxes, which are no longer being made. Mary Lee and her classmates had the usual good time that seniors have building a maze. She was gone most of the week working on it.
Yesterday I went into a cooking frenzy. Made hamburgers for Saturday lunch, then meatloaf, mandarin orange salad, and broccoli casserole ahead for Sunday lunch; then I made seafood salad and baked two cakes - one for Mike to take to Newberry tomorrow. I also fried shrimp for supper last night for Mary Lee and me. On a beautiful Saturday, when there is no place I have to go - for me that's a relaxing way to spend the afternoon. Especially when there are good football games to watch at the same time!
When I was still a child, if I ever came out to the living room dressed in something outlandish, or in an outfit that was particularly bright, my dad would always say with a big smile, "You look like the Wife of Bath." That meant nothing to me at the time; I wondered who she was but figured if my dad said it, it must be a compliment. He said the same thing to my sisters from time to time.
Well, today I taught Chaucer and was reminded again, as the past several years when also teaching Chaucer, who the Wife of Bath was.
She was a traveler in the Canterbury Tales. She wore ten-pound, gaudy hats. She had a gap between her front teeth. She had very wide hips. She had had five husbands. She wore red hose.
My dad has always been a character. Can you tell?!!
My parents are here & we're going to Greenville this afternoon to watch Mary Lee play at Hampton Park. Even Andrew gets to go - he originally thought that he wouldn't be able to, but his rehearsal time was changed.
It is hard to believe that she's playing her last game at HP today. I remember when she was a new player on the JV team and was put in late in one game. It was her turn to serve, and she underhanded a gentle lob up from the line. Everyone in the gym thought it wasn't going to clear the net - including the HP girls. Well, it barely went over and they were caught unaware. She went on to lob five points, each one misleading both teams, as well as the fans, by barely going over the net! The other team finally caught on, but it took them awhile. And now she hits power overhand serves, and has to hold back just to keep them from going so far that they go out of bounds at the back.
Pastor Brown coached JV back then, as he is again this year, and put her on as manager/player. He told me he wasn't sure if she could do it (this was in 7th grade) but he saw a little spark in her that made him decide to give her a try--and she's been playing ever since, for four different coaches on both JV and varsity teams. He said that she is his inspiration for putting some girls on the team that he is not really sure about but thinks they just might have what it takes.
It is a joy to watch my daughter, who has sat her share of pine throughout the years, be a key player on her team.
I am sitting here looking at a huge stack of papers that really need to get graded today as tomorrow senior journals come in for the second time this year and that will be plenty to keep me busy.
The second set of ten paragraphs is the group on "School," and, among other titles such as "Special Elementary Teacher" and "The Hardest Test I Ever Took," one of the entries is titled "Exceptional Chapel Speaker." I'll never forget a young man by the name of Brian, whose entry for that topic started as follows:
"The exceptional chapel speaker is the right one. The left one has a buzz. . ."
I still share that one with new senior classes each year.
I went to a workshop at the convention that was supposed to be a panel discussion about how to balance family, school, and work without going crazy or getting bitter. One lady asked a question, in tears, and it was obvious that she was at the end of her rope: "I have four children from junior high down to age three and I teach at our Christian preschool. How do I find time for personal devotions?" Good question. But one of the panelists, a sweet lady who had already revealed that she had only had one child, grown, said somewhat aghast, "Oh, you have to make time. It's the most important thing you do in your day. [agreed so far--but the clincher is coming:] I get up at 6:00 every day and have my devotions until 6:45 and wouldn't let anything get in the way of that." You could see the poor mother just withering. Four kids to get up and ready and she just doesn't have that kind of time. She was still upset, and on my way out the door after the workshop I leaned over to her and said "Sometimes you might get five minutes and a prayer to the Lord for strength. If that's the case, it's OK. Do what you can." I just had to say something to give some hope to this overwhelmed lady who needed help, not more guilt heaped upon her.
One of the most liberating realizations in my Christian life was that God is not a judge who will punish me if I happen to miss a day of devotions. In our zeal to get people to establish good habits of daily Bible reading (yes, a good thing) I fear we have imposed that impression on people.
Home looked very good tonight. As nice as a convention can be, it also can be tiring to be around such mobs of people. Furthermore, we drove home through rain that was the result of a huge nor'easter storm that came ashore during the night last night. I wrote more about that on the EJK family blog here,
so will spare the details twice.
I went to an old friend's duet acting workshop and got some good ideas for directing the school play. As usual, some workshops were well worth the time and some were not so good. Last night the entire faculty went to Captain Benjamin's restaurant and had a huge spread of seafood. The crab legs were wonderful!
At the teachers' convention in Myrtle Beach. Mary Lee is here with me enjoying the hotel with a friend of hers while we attend sessions. It's a good thing they hit the beach, pool, and hot tub yesterday afternoon immediately upon getting here - today is rainy and windy. The best part of being at the convention is seeing people from years ago and catching up!
First of all, an addendum to the previous post: I forgot the biggest DOWN of all! My dishwasher is kaput! It made a really, really weird noise the other night and Mike said it's had it & don't use it any more. To the best of our knowledge it was original with the house, which was 17 years old when we moved in, so it's done its time. That was the one disappointment when we moved here--the plan was to swap the dishwasher out with the new one Mike had bought me about a year before we moved from the old house (2000). Well, the old house sold and closed fairly quickly and with his weird work schedule we just couldn't get it done. So. . .it was back to a loud and creaky dishwasher for the past eight years. But it worked. Oh well, it's the loss of a convenience but certainly not a necessity.
Some random thoughts from a Saturday morning of shopping:
--I stopped at a yard sale and a little boy was seated at a stand with a cooler next to him. I commented, "You're selling drinks, are you" and he immediately ran yelling to his brother, "We've got a customer! We've got a customer!" Well, I wasn't really thirsty but after that much excitement, how could I let the kid down?!!
--I stopped at another yard sale where some little girls were selling candy bars for a fundraiser. I asked them if I gave them a dollar, would they just take one of their candy bars and split it between them and eat it for me? Their eyes got wide as they solemnly nodded. The mother mouthed "Thank you" to me, and I remembered times people were kind to my children and how much I appreciated that kind of thing. As I walked back to the car, I could hear them whispering, "Which one should we get?" "Do you want M&M's or Snickers?" It was a feel-good moment.
--The Food Lion a stone's throw from our house is a nice little store - I like it - but some of their deals, designed to bring people in the store, are so good that I wonder how long they can stay in business. A produce manager said they're prepared to stick it out for five years even if they lose money. They sent me four weeks' worth of "spend $15, get $5 off, as well as another coupon for some various product each week. A couple of weeks ago it was for a free BBQ rotisserie chicken. Quite a free offer!
--Why do people not push their carts either back to the store or to the corrals in the parking lot? How many times have I tried to pull into a parking place only to see that the reason the space is empty is because a cart is right in the middle of it. It would be so simple to move it to the proper place. I remember as a child when you had to take the cart back to the store - there were no corrals. But it seems that the more conveniences that are provided for people, the less considerate they get.
A borrowed idea from my blogging friend Bet. About today:
UP - Great practice with almost all the cast members present. It's a problem with the boys playing soccer, because practices/games overlap, but they're very careful to let me know when they can't be there. We did the basic blocking for all of the first act and we got through it twice.
UP - The cast is very enthusiastic and is working together well.
DOWN - Mike has a big test at work tomorrow and is feeling the pressure.
UP - I'm almost caught up with paper grading.
DOWN - I have paper grading yet to do, but am going to bed after this.
UP - The brakes on the van are fixed. Mike is so good to get things like that fixed ASAP when there are problems.
UP - Andrew just called. He's so excited - he's been accepted as an intern in the Classic Players, which means he'll get one-on-one mentoring each week by the speech faculty and will have an inside track for major parts in the big plays. He loves college.
Michelle Malkin has a great post about the "sisterhood of the protected female liberal journalists" on her blog. She writes with great eloquence at the hypocrisy of female journalists who are so critical of Sarah Palin's decision to be a politician when she has a family.
I wish I could express myself eloquently like some of these bloggers and columnists whose work I love to read. The ideas and the passion are there; just not the ability to express them as well as some of these talented people!
best, from what I've heard from the people who went through it. This may be the last year for a traditional maze as we are just about out of refrigerator boxes, which are no longer being made. Mary Lee and her classmates had the usual good time that seniors have building a maze. She was gone most of the week working on it.
