Yesterday and Today...

Yesterday was just AWESOME FOR ME. First, I had number-crunching to do for school. Because it seems that it fell to the two of us, Dan, the treasurer and me, the vice president, we were closing up everything from our Secret Santa event. What I did was take all of our numbers, put them into a spreadsheet and have Excel process all the numbers. It really made it easy for me to finalize the paperwork for the company. All I have to do now is write a check when we go back to school to pay them for the products that the kids brought. Well, we didn't make much money at all, but the kids had fun because they were able to purchase some nice gifts to give for Christmas and the prices were reasonable for them. Next year, though, we are probably going to raise the prices slightly more than we did this year. The money goes back to the kids at school anyway for events and projects they do. Plus, we're currently trying to raise extra money for Smart Boards. They are awesome. It's like have a GIANT computer screen as your chalk board. If I remember, I'll write more about the Smart Boards here.

But, since I was at school, I had lunch with Cassi. During lunch, we had to (oops, I had to) fill out invitations for her to give out to the girls in her class. Her birthday is on Dec 30, which is a Saturday. Last year, we did "make your own pizzas." This year, we'll probably do that, plus have a sleep over. So, (shhh, Rob doesn't know this yet), but, we'll probably have a house full of girls, like 10 of them, plus Cassi. Hmmm, trying to figure out where we're going to put all these girls. I think we'll end up moving furniture to use the entire living room space (minus furniture) for them all to sleep in the living room. I think for next year, we'll try to get the basement finished as a giant play room.

So, after lunch, I found out they hadn't made their gingerbread houses yet. I offered and was gratefully accepted in helping make the houses. It was a DEFINITE plus because 6 of the kids in the room were home sick. YEP, something crazy is happening with the kids getting sick and dropping like flies. It's this CRAZY weather. It's all because Vegas Princess has our snow in Las Vegas.

I WANT IT BACK!
(and the cold too)

At least with cold weather, all these ugly bugs would go away!

But, what we did was use milk cartons (again, remember we used them to make log cabins). It seems that milk cartons are so versatile, but I digress. There were 2 of us parents in the room. We got the opportunity to make the houses for the kids who were sick. As of today 2 were still there as the kids were too sick to come to school.
We used graham crackers and vanilla frosting to keep the crackers on the house. Along with that, we had sprinkles, gum drops, gum "leaves," round mint candies, candy canes, gum (the chewing kind they used for doors), necco wafers (yummy), etc., etc. But, I forgot to bring my digital camera. I did have my cell phone, which I always carry. I walked around and took pictures of the kids. I'll post a second posting with the pictures. They had so much fun and so much of a mess.

Today, I spent most of the day running around, doing things at school. At first, I had to just drop Cassi off and come back home. After Rob got home from work, he tells me he needs help getting gifts together from our Watkins stock for the girls at work. So, I help him and get back to school. Finalized crunching the numbers, brought our gifts for Cassi's regular teacher, special ed teacher, and the crossing guard at the intersection to the school (who's always so friendly and helpful to everyone). For the party, I made (last night), berry rice crispy treats. This was my first and probably only time for the treats. It is SUCH A MESS! But, the kids enjoyed them. I also brought bags of animal cookies and juices. It was a good thing I brought them because the other kids weren't there for the parents to help out. I'll make sure we do something extra special for the Valentine's party in Feb.

Cassi is now out of school until Jan 3. What will I do with her for all that TIME? Tomorrow, she is going to Pa's until Sunday. Trying to talk with him on the phone, and trying to get him to understand WHY she had to go to his house. Finally, I said to him, rather loudly, since Cassi was sitting right next to me, "Daddy and I have to have our FINAL phone conference with Santa to go over his list to make sure he knows that Cassi was good or bad or inbetween. Plus, she has to come back Sunday night because she needs to be sleeping here when Santa comes. And, daddy wants to help her open her presents Monday morning, if she gets any." Working for the hospital, Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day night are both work nights for Rob. He gets extra pay, along with a bonus for working. Then he's off for the entire week, until Friday. He says he wants to have the basement ready for them to play when the girls come, but I wonder if he realizes HOW MUCH work there is to do in the basement to get it ready. Okay, I guess I've got 4 days and nothing else to do.

WRONG! But, for the party, I will get it ready. Even though it's the basement and can be cold, I've got a heater I can bring down to the basement for them to keep warm while they are playing.

With that, I'm going to go. Yep, I know it's 9:34pm and not on a school night, but I'm ready for bed. I'm beat!

Love to all,
Cathy
8^ )