I (stupidly) volunteered to be Junior Class sponsor (in addition to Bat Girls' sponsor) last year in hopes of securing my job. Well, we all know how that played out...but now, prom approaches. Last week I dealt with the horror that is high school research papers and a horrible stomach flu. Those things seem tame compared to our prom run-up thus far. For the past couple of months, my cohort and I have been preparing for prom. Ordering decorations and favors. Running the elections and voting for prom court. You get the idea - High School Nightmare: The Movie.
My partner in all this is affectionately known to the cyber-world as "Kis" and to maintain her anonymity, I will continue to use this moniker. She has been busting her butt over the past 2 weeks - 3 months to be honest - to get everything ready. Our prom theme is "Wonderland" as in Alice in Wonderland which sounds great and exciting and creative. Except that there are NO good decorations to be had in any of the prom "catalogs". Because of Kis's creativity, we had lots of good ideas and a-shopping we did go over SB to thrift shops and antique stores to stock up on our home-grown ideas for decorations. Once we squared those original ideas away, we decided to tackle the mass-produced decorations available to us in the catalogs.
The "kits" (the only 2 available to go with our theme) we purchased from aforementioned catalogs provide us with a quaint "Queen of Hearts Gate" and oversized "Wonderland environment features". The directions and the "supplies" left a few things to be desired.
1-Everything is made out of cardboard or plexi-plastic. All the color comes off on clothes and hands.
2-There is an overabundant, and dare I say needless and tacky, use of glitter.
3-We were given 2 sets of large pieces when we needed 1 large set and 1 small set. We had to "create" the small set, requiring the use of a protractor, Exacto knives and very large rulers. (You all know me, right?)
4-One of the props requires sandbags (not included) - that's right, you heard me - sandbags. Which coincidentally, Andy and I happen to OWN due to our neighborhood's propensity for flooding, but that's another post.
5-Three strands of twinkle lights for the GIANT mushrooms did not work. (Twisted Christmas album flashbacks, anyone?)
6-The author of the directions confused concave and convex causing a misapplication of spray adhesive of gargantuan proportions. It was, sadly, uncorrectable.
7-ALL pieces require hot glue. ALL. They gave us exactly half the amount of glue sticks needed to make these GIANT flowers and mushrooms.
8-All electrical cords for light fixtures are exactly 2 and 1/2 feet long which will reach approximately NONE of the outlets in our venue requiring us to spend an obscene amount of money on extension cords and glue sticks.
9-Once assembled, all GIANT flowers and mushrooms, in addition to the 9 foot tall "gate" that looked like a picket fence in the catalog, will NOT fit into the regular elevator, the service elevator or the stairwell at the venue. We will be requesting campus security to open the General Admission gate to the stadium so we can carry the props up the SPECTATOR RAMPS in order to the get it all into the ballroom.
Take a moment, let it all process...call me with comments.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
We're still here
I realize I stink at updating these days. There's just so much to do it's hard to make time to type up life. So this post will be an overview of the last few weeks and then, hopefully - fingers crossed everyone- the updates will become more regular.
The last time I posted, the kids were sick. Since then they've been fairly healthy. Jackson's only had a small cold and Emma is battling back from an inner ear infection.
Andy took a 4 day trip to Arkansas to see some friends. He didn't get much of his Spring Break because the kids were so sick so he got to enjoy quite a bit of time off while the kids and I took my Spring Break at the end of March. We were lucky enough to have Mimi here with us for the entire week. We hung out here for several days and then headed to Disney World for 3 days, just me, Mom and the kids. We had a blast. In fact, we had so much fun that I think we have about 3 photos total from the 3 days in Orlando. Mom was able to spend Easter with us and we did take a few photos Easter morning. The sun was so bright we all look like we're in pain but the pics in the sidebar are the most recent photos of us all.
Emma is playing soccer and I somehow was volunteered to help coach the team. Thank you, Andy. (It's not really his fault but I like to tease him about it since he's the one who told the coach's husband that I played in high school.) Out of 4 scheduled practices, we've only had 2 due to weather. We've had 3 games, of which Emma has played in two. She didn't make the game last weekend due to Jackson's cold and her ear thing. Andy was working most of the weekend and dragging 2 sick kids to the soccer field by myself didn't sound appealing. Here are a few pictures from her first soccer game. She's got lots of speed but little stamina. In addition, she's a little...prone to distraction. The dogs in the yards of the homes near the church are quite the attraction - even during the game. she really likes playing though, which I'm excited about. This Saturday will be my debut coaching. I am solo this weekend and next weekend because the real coach also signed her son up for tee-ball which overlaps with the soccer games. So, it's Coach Reagan to the rescue. Wish me luck. But here are a few pics of our soccer star.
Jackson is growing and talking so much. His new phrase is, "Mama, I need that." This could apply to anything from his pacifier to his dirty diaper. He's mastering simple sentences and he has embraced the Terrible Twos with wide-open arms as evidenced by his full-frontal face-plant in the middle of the street Sunday afternoon. He was so distraught it caused a passing 6 year-old on a bike to stop and offer assistance. When I explained that he was merely throwing a fit, she replied, "Yeah, my brother does that all the time. Well, see ya!" At least we're not alone in our trials and tribulations. If you look closely at the following photo you will see evidence of true sibling connection - Emma is spitting in his hair while Jackson tries to whack her with a stick. Ahh, childhood.
Hope all is well with you all. Here's hoping I can keep up with the posting.
The last time I posted, the kids were sick. Since then they've been fairly healthy. Jackson's only had a small cold and Emma is battling back from an inner ear infection.
Andy took a 4 day trip to Arkansas to see some friends. He didn't get much of his Spring Break because the kids were so sick so he got to enjoy quite a bit of time off while the kids and I took my Spring Break at the end of March. We were lucky enough to have Mimi here with us for the entire week. We hung out here for several days and then headed to Disney World for 3 days, just me, Mom and the kids. We had a blast. In fact, we had so much fun that I think we have about 3 photos total from the 3 days in Orlando. Mom was able to spend Easter with us and we did take a few photos Easter morning. The sun was so bright we all look like we're in pain but the pics in the sidebar are the most recent photos of us all.
Emma is playing soccer and I somehow was volunteered to help coach the team. Thank you, Andy. (It's not really his fault but I like to tease him about it since he's the one who told the coach's husband that I played in high school.) Out of 4 scheduled practices, we've only had 2 due to weather. We've had 3 games, of which Emma has played in two. She didn't make the game last weekend due to Jackson's cold and her ear thing. Andy was working most of the weekend and dragging 2 sick kids to the soccer field by myself didn't sound appealing. Here are a few pictures from her first soccer game. She's got lots of speed but little stamina. In addition, she's a little...prone to distraction. The dogs in the yards of the homes near the church are quite the attraction - even during the game. she really likes playing though, which I'm excited about. This Saturday will be my debut coaching. I am solo this weekend and next weekend because the real coach also signed her son up for tee-ball which overlaps with the soccer games. So, it's Coach Reagan to the rescue. Wish me luck. But here are a few pics of our soccer star.
Jackson is growing and talking so much. His new phrase is, "Mama, I need that." This could apply to anything from his pacifier to his dirty diaper. He's mastering simple sentences and he has embraced the Terrible Twos with wide-open arms as evidenced by his full-frontal face-plant in the middle of the street Sunday afternoon. He was so distraught it caused a passing 6 year-old on a bike to stop and offer assistance. When I explained that he was merely throwing a fit, she replied, "Yeah, my brother does that all the time. Well, see ya!" At least we're not alone in our trials and tribulations. If you look closely at the following photo you will see evidence of true sibling connection - Emma is spitting in his hair while Jackson tries to whack her with a stick. Ahh, childhood.
Hope all is well with you all. Here's hoping I can keep up with the posting.
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