Adventures of a Rainy Run/Walk

Muse for the day.....

The day started out raining. Hard! It was pouring, some of the roads were flooding, and we had 300 people attending our event. Of course, as President, everyone was looking at me asking me if I was going to cancel. I finally decided that if it was thundering and lightening it would be cancelled. If not, it was "a go." This ended up being the right call.

Remember the last post, "show me the ice cream?" I had decided to buy an extra 75 ice creams based a a 75 degree forecast with sunny skies. It wasn't until last night that the weatherman said the forecast had changed to rain. We really didn't need an extra 75 ice creams.

By race time the weather was down to only a light sprinkle so we were able to go on as planned. The runners actually liked running in the mist. The walkers were decked out in appropriate rain gear. We had about 275 people attend even though it was completely iffy weather.

I am very thankful to the entire 63 scheduled volunteers who all showed up!!! Who ever hosts an event with that many volunteers and they all show up?? Then we had 5 extra people show up who volunteered to help!! It was great, no one was over worked, and with all those extra volunteers were were able to eat most of the extra ice cream with only 9 left over. Those 9 are currently in my freezer. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone!!! LOL.

Show Me The Ice Cream!

Musing about ice cream and other things.

My volunteer group is hosting a 5K run walk this Sunday. We have over 50 volunteers signed up to help and a projected 300 or so participating. A good size group with the economy in a slump. Everyone seems less able to afford to participate in these types of events right now so we are thankful to have 350 people attending.

We are having refreshments, an assortment of fruit, granola bars, water, and ice cream. Everyone gets a T-shirt for participating. It should be a fun time for all.

Who would have guessed that the #1 debated item is the ice cream we are planning on serving after the race? Not me, this came as a total shock to me. We are constantly discussing ice cream and the quantity to have on hand. We have had no fewer than 5 discussions on the topic. Should we or should we not order more.

This is a moving target. We don't know how many will actually register. Our goal is to raise money so buying extra ice cream and no one eating it is a problem. But then again, not having enough ice cream and not meeting the expectations of the participants might be a bigger problem. Then there is the question of should we have ice cream at all? After all, this is a sporting event for the runners. Perhaps encouraging people to eat ice cream is an undesirable thing to do.

I suppose having ice cream wins out. Some of our participants have been there for the last 8 years and they expect ice cream. So...... ice cream it will be!

Awards Ceremony - Where were the Boys?

My muse for today....

Wow, the school year is finally over. Graduation ceremonies were yesterday and the school sent out another group of future High School prep schoolers. It seemed like a great group of students. There were the usual standout performers. Extra smart, extra talented, ultra pretty in the group. It was just like something you would read about in one of those fantasy prep school novels.

It was a curious thing when 15% of the class got 100% of the awards. Four of these achievers got 4 or 5 awards each! Another curious thing was that they were all girls. Couldn't they find a boy to give an award to?? It would have been nice to spread things around a bit. This is after all a co-ed school.

I suppose, if your good at everything, that makes you eligible for every prize. The school could have saved us all a whole lot of time and just had these 5 girls stay up there the whole time and read their name and give a listing of the prizes. Picture this, give an award, girl goes and gets the award and sits back down. Then call the next award for the next over achiever, then it's time for the first girl to get back up, etc. It went on like this for about 25 minutes.

There were a few of us parents that were getting bored. Jealousy? Perhaps. But maybe it is because it seems silly to not spread things out just a little bit more. I find it hard to believe that there were no worthy boys in the entire graduating class. Seems like a bit of favoritism going on here. What do you think?

Finally - The school year is almost over

My muse for the day.....

Wow, another school year has just about finished up. The last final for my daughter is tomorrow morning. The final month of school has been a whirlwind of activities. Dances, outings, tests, projects, placement seminars, class elections, community service events, parties, and gobs of homework! I am amazed she has time to sleep anymore.

We should never forget about the homework monkey. It seems to follow us around constantly. Hours every night and on the weekends too. Then the projects on top of the homework. When I was a young girl (lol couldn't resist) we never had this much homework. Yeah, occasionally we did projects or had an hour or so of homework, but 3 to 4 hours per night - no way. For me, homework ruins a good day. It is frustrating to see your kid work and work and work just to get finished. No free time, no time to really enjoy a nice walk or ride on the bike. Just homework.

I am so happy that we will be free of the homework monkey for a few months. It's time to have a bit of fun intertwined with secondary school essays. At least she can work at her own pace.

Vacation here we come......

Random Happy Thoughts

My muse for today....

I really enjoyed the opportunity to list 6 random things that make me happy. I decided to do an encore run.

Flowers - all kinds, never met one I didn't like.

Ice cream - my very favorite is malted moo crunch. It is a special ice cream made only at a local ice cream stand.

Family - None of my family lives close by, so it is nice to see one of them. It usually involves travelling but it is worth the time and effort.

Golf - Yes! A good day is going golfing. A bad round of golf is better than a good day working.

Playing Pogo games with my sister and other family members. It is fun to do something recreational with a family member even if it is only on-line.

Sudoku puzzles. - I find these puzzles enjoyable. It keeps my mind engaged trying to logically figure out what number goes where. A great way to spend time on an airplane.

Family Genealogy

My muse at the moment....

My daughter has a project in history class where she has to do a genealogy chart. I was quite taken aback by how much I don't know about my family. I couldn't even remember my grandmothers maiden name. Wow. For some reason this hit me kinda hard. What's up with the fact I don't know even this much about my grandparents? Granted, no one really talked about themselves, but still, it seems strange to me now. My parents are both gone as well so there is no asking them. Then I had the realization there is not even one cousin I still speak to or see on my father's side of the family. What is going on there? It is not that I wouldn't speak to them or don't want to speak to them, I have never made an effort. Hmmmm... I should do something about this situation.

My husband breezed through his genealogy chart in just a few minutes. He pulled the information out of his memory banks. No need to refer to very large family tree diagram that he has stored in his desk. He can trace his family tree back as far as 1617 in Germany. Wow, I can't even do the 20th century. He even started spouting out where a lot of them are buried. Oh boy, I am woefully behind. It is really kind of embarassing. I have sent out an email to my siblings in the hopes that they are not as ignorant on the subject as me.

I think its time to start learning about more of my family!

Six Random Things That Make Me Happy

Hi there,
My sister Pouty Baby has tagged me, I am now suppose to come up with 6 random things that make me happy and then go and tag others. Finding others might be the difficult part.

Here goes:

#1 - Golfing, I need to golf more. It puts a smile on my face and reminds me that I am not as athletically challenged as I think. I have a great country club to play and a very nice group of ladies who check up on me because I rarely show up anymore. Golfing makes me smile - so I guess I need to get back to the course.

#2 - I like talking about my daughter. She finds this embarrassing. Is it my fault she is talented? No. When she won a swimming medal at finals and I talked about this phenomenal achievement given her shoulder disability, she was annoyed. When I told someone else that she won the school science fair, she was mad. But hey - if I stop talking about her she might get the idea I am not interested. My mom told me once that I was her least favorite child. Oh gee thanks Mom, don't think I haven't thought about this for the last 40 years. No way this is going to happen with my kid, I make sure to tell her how much I love her and how great she is. We shall not have her saying I was hurtful for the next 40 years.

#3 - Going for an antique car ride. We have a couple of antique cars that actually run. There are no windows, one of them doesn't even have any doors, and no seat belts. It can be a bit scary at times, but the wind in your hair and face is exhilarating. Good thing there is a windshield so no bugs get squished on the face! We like to go to ice cream and bring the old car. It is a magnet for meeting new people. It's nice to share some of the cars' history with others. Ever here of a 1911 Knox car made in Springfield Mass? Well, its old and looks like the Beverly Hillbilly's car. Someone painted varnish on it in the 40's and it turned a nice shade of olive.

#4 - Going shopping with my daughter. This is the case when we don't spend more than 1 1/2 hrs shopping. Otherwise I tend to get tired and bored. It seems that I don't find much for myself. Every now and then I splurge on her and let her get something on the extravagant side. After all, what teenager doesn't need a real Marc Jacobs bag, or a nice pair of Tory Burch shoes? Her daddy likes to buy her stuff at Tiffany's. I suppose there is an inequality there since he has never purchased me anything from there. But no matter, it makes me smile when he does something nice for her.

#5 - My yearly holiday cookie swap. This a bit obscure seeings how it is not the holidays. But this is the one holiday thing I look forward to each year. Usually 10 of us ladies make 5 dozen cookies each and then swamp 6 cookies a piece so we have a great variety. There are always cookies I would never think of making. The great part is having dinner and a martini. We have done this at the Country Club or at my house. One year we got a foot of snow the morning of the party, but 6 of us intrepid bakers still made it. Later they said the holiday's would not be the same without the cookies. (Ok Pouty - are you coming to the cookie swap?) It is a not to be missed event.

#6 - Going to my weekly lunch date with my husband. Yes, it sounds a bit cheesy doesn't it? But I really like going to lunch with him. The week is very hectic and there is no time to go out for dinner and fully enjoy ourselves. Every school day brings about 4 hrs of homework and there is more on the weekend. Yucky. So, we usually go to one of your favorite Thai restaurants and occasionally a fish restaurant. My husband has ordered the same thing for the last 3 years at the Thai place. They just put the order in when they see him. So, this is a fun time to have a bit of a date and break up the week. I always look forward to our next time.