We got home Saturday night at 7 pm. Water in the corner, water in the middle, water in the bottom of three boxes of books I'd lazily not put back up on the pallets after I'd torn the pile apart a couple of weeks ago.
Time to put the sump pump on. We don't have a Sump, just a pump, so when there's water, we manually turn it on and run the hose to the drain. But nope. wouldn't go. cleaned it, tried another hose. by 11:30 I gave up, prayed there'd be no more water, and picked everything off the floor, went to bed for a few hours.
7:30, woke up to a clock flashing that blink that says, "Nah Nah, the electricity went off. Nah Nah, you're totally screwed."
Leapt out of bed, threw on the working in the rain because there's a booksale today for the Coming of Age Class clothes rather than my Sunday clothes, got to church just before the booksale setter uppers...
Hey you non-DRE types. Ever wonder what that Tasmanian Devil of a DRE is doing on Sunday morning?
This is a program w/ 180 kids in two services, but the workload is similar for smaller congregations.
- made posters and sign up sheets for the 7th grade parents about how they needed to drive and chaperone
- talked to a parent who was indicating that although custody was challenging, they were committed to helping their kids have a good consistent RE Experience
- put all the toys from the Pre-school 3 year old room into the dishwasher in case Gwen came
- found a substitute for a classroom teacher, gathered the lesson, book, and art materials they'd need
- talked to 2 new parents, gave registration forms
- talked to the pre-school teachers about a new pay structure
- made, xeroxed, and cut postcards to hand out in classes about the New[er] family Potluck on Friday
- made, xeroxed, and cut postcards for the 7th grade class pointing out that the trip to Services at the Jewish Community of Amherst was coincidentally preceeded by a potluck
- saw Gwen, Abby, Kim and Sue all together in church for the first time since June!
- explained to someone that yes, perhaps anti-bacterial hand washes weren't good in the long run, but in the short run, this practice keeps Gwen from getting sick just because someone's 3 year old Didn't Wash Their Hands.
- checked out our alternate classroom site to double check the promised "second keypad" our entrance code would work for (because last week there was unexpected construction blocking the door with the keypad we used to access the building)-- discovered that it wasn't a keypad but a directory.
- made a back up plan for those three classes to squeeze into my office and the RE office and the empty COA room (they being on the portico trying to sell books in the rain)
- since these classes were in our building instead of the other one, arranged for 4 classes to share the TV/VCR (instead of the previous 2)
- found the markers that mark on cloth, which someone had put on the fuzzy-things shelf in the art closet instead of the writes-on-things shelf
- moved the [moveable] wall separating the Burleigh Room from the Toddler room, set up the furniture in this larger room for our 19 seventh graders
- stopped a child who was demonstrating his match lighting skills and telling me what lousy matches I'd bought
- directed a man who was looking for an AA meeting to the church where that meeting is on Sundays
- explained to another man that we provide financial help at the Help Fund committee on Wednesday afternoons, and no, the minister couldn't take a minute out of the service to talk to him
- talked with a parent who demanded to know if their kids were ever going to get a real classroom, explained that they had a real classroom, in the alternative site, listened as she said that they weren't ever in it, wanted to say, "yes they were, but you didn't come those two weeks," instead said, "The groups were in the alternative site the first two weeks, but then construction I hadn't been notified of interfered with their being able to get in last week, and this week the alternate entrance they told me existed, didn't. Next week they will be back over there." ignored the hrumphing noise she made as she turned away.
- talked to a parent who joined this year so her daughter could have a Coming of Age experience (alternative to Bat Mitzvah) who wanted to know about how mentors worked, and who were her choices
- talked to two other parents of COAer's about their mentor choices and next weeks' Mentor Training and Matching Ceremony and Parent meeting
- talked to a parent who is having a really challenging life, and figured out how she could use her skills and talents best for our program
- sent an email to the pre-school teachers reminding them that I'd just asked them to check their calendars to see if they could them to work on Friday during the potluck
- made a timeline of religious history for the 7th grade class that I'd forgotten to do during the week
- made and wore a silly hat-sign begging people to please buy books and take them away
- explained three times that both printers in the RE area were broken or malfunctioning, and that was why they had to go to the upstairs printer to retrieve what they'd just asked me to print out
- told two people that from now on there was a blank permission slip on the internet if they lost theirs
- explained to a parent that information she didn't know had been sent out by mail, email and discussed at the parent meeting.
- was greeted by many people I like and care for
- was hugged twice by kids
- was serenaded by one class
- sent one toddler escapee back into her room
- was told, in no uncertain terms, by one child that she wasn't going apple picking, they were going to a farm that had apple trees, but that the picking part remained to be seen.
1 comment:
Cindy, Cindy, Cindy!! What a crazed 18 hours!! Did the water in the basement dry up?
This list should be Required Reading for all parents!!
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