See You On Monday!!

I know it's Friday, and the the day I should be writing letters - but because of missing my blog post yesterday, I decided to skip the letters this week.  I can't really think of any letters to write, anyways.

Instead, I'm gonna write a regular post.  Because I didn't get to yesterday, and I've got stuff going on this weekend I want to talk about.

Yesterday morning, I woke up and looked at my phone - like I always do - to see what the time was.  I'm one of those weird people that uses her phone for EVERYTHING.  And that includes a clock AND my morning alarm.

So, I check to see what time it is... screen is black.  Not usual, because I have this digital clock display that stays on my phone all night.  I push the button on my phone, nothing happens.  And then I realize I didn't plug my phone in the night before and the phone is now dead.  It's still dark outside, so I know that I haven't over slept to the point that school has already started and I have 20 kids sitting in a classroom wondering where their teacher is.. but I felt too refreshed for it to be the middle of the night.

I jump out of bed and run to the living room to look at the clock on the wall.  It says 3:30.  Phew.  No biggie.  I go to the coffee pot, and that's when I realize that I didn't see 3:30 on the clock - I saw 6:15.  DANG IT.  DANG IT.  And DANG IT, again.  I usually leave the house at 6:30.  So, operation "get your behinds out of bed and get moving" commences with the kiddos.

By some miracle, everyone is dressed and ready to go by 6:45.  Goes to show that Peanut doesn't need 45 minutes to glam herself up in the morning...and I'm able to shower, dress and put make-up on in a matter of 20 minutes.  I made it to work by 7:15 - and still had plenty of time to get my classroom ready before the kids arrived.  Phew.  Crisis averted.

This whole week has been like that, though.  Having a short week is great, but it also means less time to get the stuff done that I need to get done.  I've felt like I've been rushing around since Tuesday morning.  A lot of it has had to do with the fact that I haven't had 2 hours every day after school to work.  That's because Peanut had a volleyball game Tuesday night and last night.  And, I'm under even more pressure because I'm not going to be able to do any work this weekend.  That's because the whole family is going camping.

Speaking of Peanut playing ball - WOW!  I've got to see her play twice, now, and even though her team hasn't won a game yet, my Peanut is pretty darn good at volleyball if I say so myself.  Here's a pic of her playing.  It's so hard to get good pics of the action - because everything happens so quickly...

Although, with Peanut now playing ball and trying to not have to do any work this weekend has really put a strain on me.  Progress reports go out today - so I've been trying to get all my grading done and grades entered.  My plans haven't been written for next week, yet, and I can't leave today without that being done.  I haven't even started packing for the trip.  It's just been one time-induced stressful week.

Back to the trip.  This camping trip is something that's been in the works since July.  But, with the horrendous heat, bad work schedules, and burn bans, we just haven't been able to go until now.  That's also why I chose not to say anything about it until the last minute - because I was scared I might jinx myself and we'd have to cancel once again. 

Thankfully, apart from my trying to get everything crammed in to a short amount of time, it appears the trip will go ahead as planned.  It looks as though we are going to be pretty lucky in terms of weather.  It's been miserably hot all week with temps close to 100 every day.  This was something we were trying to avoid by waiting so late in the summer to go.  But, the weather gods must be shining down on us today - because as long as the weather man is right, we're going to have a beautiful, mild weekend.

Tonight we may have to sit in the tents while it rains.  But tomorrow and Sunday, the highs are not supposed to even get in to the 80s.  HALLELUJAH!  I can definitely deal with that.  And being that we camp prehistoric style - tents, camp fire, etc. - I think it will be delightful to have such cool conditions.

Unfortunately, the camp fire part is out.  The camp site we're going to is still under a burn ban - so our source of cooking will come from a BBQ - and there will be no s'mores over an open fire pit.  And there will be no light from the fire - so we'll have to tell ghost stories around a battery operated lamp.

Whatever the conditions.  Whatever we can and can't have.  I am determined to make it a fun, relaxing weekend.  It's pretty much the only vacation we're getting to take - so we might as well make the most of it.

When I get home this afternoon, it's going to be pedal to the metal trying to get everything packed and ready.  And I thank all things holy that I'll have the Sonata this weekend to pack all the gear in to.  Do you know how hard it was to pack for a camping trip in the back of a Mazda 3?  Dang near impossible.  If the kids weren't cramped enough, they had to deal with stuff packed in around them.  Now?  We don't have to worry about that.  The best thing about an SUV is the storage room.  I even have room to take my lounge chair - so I won't have to spend the weekend cramped up on a camping chair.  I can lay out with my feet up on my sun lounger.  Sounds delightful, doesn't it?

Alright.  Time to do what I do this time every morning.... when I wake up on time, that is.

Be back Monday morning!!