Life has been extremely busy for us this month. I'm not going to go into lengthy details because nothing deters a busy auidence like a long, long blog entry that requires *gasp* scrolling.
Here's the quick and dirty:
I volunteered to be in charge of a Super Saturday craft that required massive amounts of my time and was way more than I could chew. I spent every waking moment working on the project and running 11 miles per day, and working 3 hours per day and taking care of the family/household. My brain was 100% focused on this from the late part of September up to October 12th.
October 13th-Super Saturday/Get ready for Disneyland while Andrew works more and more and more.
October 14th-18th-Disneyland: Stay tuned for more on this soon.
October 18th-21st-regaining my sanity and control of the post vacation laundry, only to lose it again on the 22nd when Andrew was sent to San Diego to help with the fires.
October 22nd- Beginning Single Mom status and taking over a huge project that Andrew was supposed to have done before Disneyland but didn't get done. What "project" is that, you ask? Well, let me tell you about it.
Project #1: Andrew calls at 11:00 AM to tell me that he will be going to San Diego and asks if I can meet him at the strike team meeting location 40 minutes from our house sometime between now and 2:30. He's not sure when he'll be there so it would be best for me to leave now to make sure I'm there in time. Oh, and bring his iPod, sunglasses, the camera and video camera. I said no. I wasn't about to give up my entire afternoon to sit at the strike team depo with two children who will have missed their naps and wait for him so he could have an ipod. Sorry Charlie.
Project #2: Spin Spidey. Our ward is having a huge halloween carnival tomorrow night. They have been planning it for 18 months. Andrew took over this project about 3 weeks before Disneyland. He said he would have it done, but he didn't. He did however have the whole idea locked down in his head and most of the supplies purchased. That was good. So, I was left to do it. I have included a picture so you can see the final result, which I am totally proud of. I look at this and think, "I am woman, hear me roar." I am surprised that I was able to complete this all on my own, while again...working, running, taking care of the kids, and with 1 day to spare. Ahhh.
Here's what I did. I used a jigsaw to cut the wood. I loved it, and now I want one. I don't really cut much wood, but if I need to cut more, this is the tool for me. My kids were strapped into strollers watching me, so don't worry, they were completely safe. I covered the entire thing with chicken wire, then took a break to prep for the neighborhood watch meeting and to prepare neighborhood maps that were color - coded by block captains. I also atteneded the neighborhood watch meeting and then afterwards returned to the spider project. I stuffed it with newspaper, then filled it with expandable foam. The next day I cut all the excess foam off and paper mache'd it. I did break to take the kids in for school pictures where I had to stand in line, right in front of a playground with both kids dressed in their Sunday best for 1 hour in the sun. It was horrible and I thought I wouldn't make it through the morning. Surprise, I did. After the paper mache was dry I covered the entire thing with fur, which in my opinion, made this spider. That night (Wednesday) my neighbor came over and helped attach it to the stand. I added the legs today and my neighbor attached the wheel tonight. It's done. All that's left is for us to take it to the chuch. Oh yeah, I also decorated my booth this morning with tons of spider webs. I hope they don't all blow away by tomorrow morning. I'm not really into the eyes. I wasn't meaning for them to be in the triangle pattern so I think I'm going to take them off and adjust them. I need some help in the eye dept because I don't really like them.
So, I can write about this now and laugh and be happy because things are getting better. October was a really bad month. We did lots of fun things, but I feel like I've almost killed myself squeezing so much in. I am really looking forward to November. We're going to take it easy, stay home and SSSSLLLLLOOOOOWWWW down. I need a big break or as Calvin would say, "A big easy."
So my email started out with the quick and dirty but clearly is getting way too long.
Here's a picture, and the latest with Andrew is that he's having a great time and won't be home until sometime next week. Whatever, I'm over it at this point.
5 comments:
Angela you are awesome. We could have used you at our trunk or treat last night which, to put it kindly, seemed to require minimal preparation. There was a punchbowl filled with water! Our food was the chili that people brought and water!
By the way, they were planning this for 18 months? Since before last Halloween? I didn't know activities committee people lasted that long.
Your spider is amazing Angela. You forgot to mention the part about the chicken wire...I think. Anyway, all I can think now is that poor "deployed" Andrew has no iPod and is sleeping on the sidewalk in Hellhole Canyon. I'm sure he will survive.
Claire, the punchbowl full of water thing sounds actually kind of funny, but in a sad way. Did the church run out of water pitchers?
Hey! My dad is always helping out Russell and Becky. You should have called him. One year he built a robot monster for the ward Helloween party. It was the one with the rotating arms and the Yoda mask. And, yes, we did win first place.
I've been wondering if Andrew was down in San Diego. I'm glad he's having a good time. Sounds like a nightmare to me.
That spider is awesome. Will you have to keep it at your house or is there a supply closet where the church can keep it for next year?
THe spider is great! Definitely hold on to that! Your costumes were great! Gary is still laughing about Calvin calling him Daddy! I hope life does slow down a bit for you!
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