I'm on vacation!

I'm loving this afternoon school thing. The kids switched from the AM session (7:45AM - 11:50AM) to the PM session (12:05PM - 4:10PM) and so far it's working out much better.

First of all, I'm not a morning person at all. In fact, I try to avoid communicating important information before 10:30AM. (Perhaps if I went to bed at a more reasonable hour, I might be more with-it in the mornings, but I never can seem to do it).

It's like our entire day is just shifted in a favorable direction by a few hours. The kids woke up whenever they felt like it today, and so did I. . . We had a leisurely morning and I took them to school.

Secondly, dropping off at noon is so much better than picking up at the same time. Literally the entire student K - 12th student body, mom's, dad's (and even dogs in some cases) are trying to navigate through one giant gridlocked traffic jam since AM *pick-up* and PM *drop-off* are happening at exactly the same time. In years previous, I was stuck in the traffic, worrying about my kids while they were waiting what seemed like a mile away down in the hot, dusty chaotic circle drive as I strained to get a glimpse of them through the crowds and held my breath and prayed, prayed, prayed for their safety. But now, during all the chaos, they're safely in the car with me, and I drop them off practically at their classroom doors. . . .Then at pick-up time in the afternoon, there's no rush because only the PM moms and students are on campus and everybody's done for the day.

Thirdly, at noon, restaurants are open! I get to have lunch with Karlon every Monday. And Stores are open too! I get to go shopping! (Not that I had much time to play with last year anyway what with all the runs back and forth to Cedar Park for Kindergarten drop-off and pick-up), but no store worth going to is open before 10AM, and by that time, I'd be so worried about watching the clock to make sure I was sitting in the circle-drive by 11:25 or so, that the risk totally outweighed any possible benefit save the rare event I knew exactly what I wanted and where I could find it.

I'm wide awake by noon and can be all kinds of productive. . . .the kids can stay up late guilt-free. I feel like I'm on vacation! Of course, it helps considerably that this is the first year ever that I'm making only ONE drop-off and ONE pick-up to a single campus.

Surprisingly, after all of that, I do have some mixed feelings about my "baby" going to first grade (but that's a blog entry for another time). Sad feelings aside, Jon's teacher is the absolute Mary Poppins of teaching and taught Brandon Language Arts last year, a literacy rotation the year before and writing and spelling the year before that. So of all the mom's who have to drop their precious babies off without being allowed to walk them into the classroom (new policy this year), I'm probably the most comfortable one in the whole bunch!

10-year old quote of the day

At open house night for school Mrs. Cherry, the mom of one of Brandon's classmates asks him, "So, Brandon, how was your summer?"

Brandon's reply:

"Do you know where the snacks are?"

Lessons in common courtesy are now top priority, kicking longtime front-runner, the three R's, down to number 2.

Things I've Skipped

In the interest of time, I have skipped the following things that are ordinarily non-negotiable during The Great Transformation. It bothers me a little, but I'm sure I can forget about it if I just keep moving forward.

1. Cleaning inside and re-organizing all of the kitchen cabinets

2. washing everything on the kitchen counter tops with a sponge and a sink of soapy water. (Instead, I used clorox wipes and paper towels).

3. Washing windows in the family room -- they're covered 99.9999% of the time with roller shades anyway.

4. I did not use q-tips to clean corners - it'll have to wait until next time.

5. I did not dust every cranny of every nick-knack with q-tips, but I dusted as thoroughly as I possibly could with a swiffer duster.

6. I dry-dusted the ceiling fan in the family room instead of taking it apart and washing the globes and blades with soap and water.

7. I haven't washed the slipcovers on the sofas (yet), and I might just try to forget about that too.

Speaking of which, I absolutely love this sofa:

Cindy Crawford Beachside Denim Sofa

Rooms to Go

Instead of a sofa and love seat, we bought two sofas so we could switch the pillows around and they'd get equally crushed (Karlon's idea -- and a very good one -- after two years they still look nice). It's basically a plain white sofa with a denim slipcover over it. Being denim, everyday soiling is disguised rather well, but if I ever get the notion, I can just unzip the covers to the cushions and pillows and throw them in the washer. Plus if the back pillows ever go flat, I can add my own batting to fluff them up. The description online says that it wears like a favorite pair of jeans, and I have to say that it really does. Even the worn areas seem to add character to the piece instead of actually looking worn. And hey, ripped jeans are coming back in vogue. We may not have to replace family room furniture for a very, very long time!

Final Scores Are Here!

Whaaaaaa-hooooooo!!!

Three hundred's and a 98! Semester averages 100, 100, 100 and 96!

I should note for the record that the language arts test was 23 pages long and included a written, 3-paragraph composition.

. . .A score of 98 is absolutely outstanding!

EXHALE!

Things that make me smile

Here's the first in a series of things that make me smile. This one never fails, regardless of mood. Even just the song has the same effect now. I downloaded it to my iPod and always smile - maybe even chuckle a little - every time I hear it.

Buried Treasure!

Well, not really. But it's always fun to anticipate what I might find during a cleaning extravaganza.

So far I've found:

one very dead, very dry, shriveled up lizard.

a baby pacifier (we called them "suckers." Ah, memories)

an unopened package of Coconut m&m's which I kindly shared.

a perfectly unopened can of Strawberry Crush which I hid in the fridge and have *zero* plans to kindly share.

**The perfect place for Stetson's water and food bowls. Why have I never (in almost 4 years!) thought of putting them out of the way, under the kitchen desk?

(added 7/27) an entire canister of coffee grounds we all forgot about. Had been stored there since last year's Great Transformation. Apparently I promptly forgot that I had reorganized them.

(added 8/4) MarioKart 64 for the DS! Jon was sure happy!

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I'm sure it'll get more interesting as I go along.

The kitchen is looking good. Fridge, windows, floors and baseboards are on the agenda for tomorrow ~ then the real trick will be figuring out how not to cook anything for the rest of the summer ;-)

Passing the time

Not that I don't have a ton of stuff to do, but I always feel like if I sit and wait in front of my computer, the scores will show up faster. I know this isn't true, so I've sent the kids upstairs while I listen to really loud music and clean house. This is a massive undertaking and should serve as a sufficient distraction.

(My faithful dog sits at my feet as I type even though the music is blaring in here).

"The way to let me know you want to volunteer is to come downstairs."

Every now and then somebody hangs their head over the railing and shouts a question about when am I going to be finished or can they have a snack, but no volunteers yet. Bummer.

So another day has gone by. Still inhaling and exhaling. . . The first two exams are marked "received." Probably the others won't be received until Monday . . .and the professor has five business days from "received" to grade them, so I can at least be grateful I probably won't have to wait through a second weekend for the scores.

Please reference last year's before and after pictures of the house and imagine it about twice as bad as it was then. If there's anything I love, though, it's a challenge I can throw my whole heart into. . . so this should be good.

. . .And so begins this summer's overture of The Great Transformation!