Mana Mana

Okay, so for those of you in the know, you will feel my pain. Just to play catch up for those not, this past week was like that dreaded dead week before finals. You study study study and live on late night pizza and coke. Well, for the last week I've been running on pure adrenaline. For the two weeks leading up to report cards, I spent many hours grading papers. Now keep in mind that I have approximately 57 students in all (1st-4th). It takes about 3-4 hours on average per grade level to complete their report cards. Add in additional grading, prepping for parent conferences, and our required presence at the annual open house for prospective new students...you do the math. I was ready to put a cot in my classroom. Let's just say that I didn't see my family much this week. That's alright though 'cause they know that I love them and expect this every term. They've grown accustomed to my crazy schedule and just hang in there until summer rolls around. Life is then calm once more...but I digress.

I had the option to work from home on Friday, so I took it. Slept in and watched a little TV. Then I got back to the grindstone. It was harder to concentrate at home with all of the distractions, but I was more relaxed. I managed to finish by 5:00 at least. Whille I was working on some literacy center games, K wanted to help me. Together we cut out these cardstock cookies with magic /e/ words and pictures Cookie Monster on them (this info is important for later). She was a big help and we made lots of progress. My brain was zapped, my body exhausted, and my will to keep going for the day done. So we went to bed kinda early. I'll come back to this in a minute.

So over the course of the week, my mind was overloaded with work-related worries and my focus was all about getting those pesky report cards finished. In the midst of all this, we experienced some bittersweet moments at home. We received some unsettling news that DH's inheritance from his father's estate will be fairly taxable. We had been led to believe by his brother (and executor) that it would okay and the funds had already been taxed. Well, apparently not and so Uncle Same will get his big bite. Suffice it say, we can kiss any tax refund goodbye and will in fact owe big time. I'm not mad about it so much as just frustrated. Grrrrr. It is what it is I guess.

So DH also purchased an upgrade in the amount of space to our computer's media vault. I am not well-versed in the technical lingo or how it all went down, so I'll give you the nutshell version. While DH was attempting to install the new upgrade, something happened to cause it to completely wipe our system. We lost not only all of our music and video downloads, but our *gulp* photo archive as well. We went digital right around the time K was born, so the bulk of our photo library was on the computer. Outside of a few CDs we had backed up early on, we lost nearly 90% of our pictures that I've taken over the last 5 years or so. Needless to say I went numb. Grrrrr. Since I was deep into report cards, my mind didn't have the room to deal with this. So I shoved it aside for the week. Now I am truly grieving this loss. I keep hoping a miracle will happen and DH will be able to work some computer magic and retrieve them, but I guess I shouldn've hold my breath.


In addition to all this, my kids overheard some advertisement for a casting call for a talent agent opportunity on the radio. They begged me to call. With stars in their eyes and dreams of ending up on the Disney Channel, I called and an appointment was set for today (Saturday). Well, we were asked to bring 2 recent pictures (head and full body shot). Ummm, that is no easy task when all of your pictures have been erased. As if that weren't enough, I misplaced the battery charger for our digital camera, so I couldn't even take new pictures. Then the informational email that they sent about the event went to my spam folder, and I accidentally deleted it. So I ordered some uploaded photos that I thankfully had online through Costco's website, but those wouldn't be ready in time. Grrrr. N was having second thoughts and K was still excited to go. I was too busy with work stuff to even deal with this thing and was resigned to skipping the audition entirely.

Having finished my report cards the night before, I woke up this morning and decided not to disappoint the kids. I gave N a pep talk and he agreed to give it a try (since it had been his idea to call in the first place). With renewed energy, I searched the whole house for an elusive stack of photos that I had taken the previous summer. I thought there would be some good photos in that bunch. Well, it was nowhere to be found, so I had to make do with school photos and a couple of random ones I was able to round up. Professional attire was required, no jeans or sneakers. N looked handsome and K looked ready for Easter brunch. I took time to do her hair up nicely and then she proceeds to mess it up every chance she got. Then I had a bad clothes day and couldn't figure out what to wear. Seriously bad clothes day, not that it mattered what I looked like, but you know what I mean. Then we tried to leave early enough to run a couple of errands. I get the kids into the car and begin to pull away. Three times, I have to run back into the house to retrieve something I forgot (wallet, directions, etc.). Would we ever make it to this audition? Seriously.

We first stopped by the bank to get some cash. Then we were off to the shoe store to get some matching pink shoes for K's oufit. Brown shoes just don't go well with pink tights and a blue dress. We were getting low on time, so I figured we better get to the audition in downtown Portland. With light traffic, we would just make it. I think I got behind every slow car on the road, but managed to make good time anyway. Didn't have any trouble finding the hotel it was being held in, but wow was parking a nightmare. I think the parking attendent had was on a power trip. He made me park my car in three different places, charged me $7.00, and could care less if he was making us late (I told him I needed we had an appointment to get to). Grrrrr. I wondered if the universe was conspiring to keep us from getting to this thing.

Finally, we made inside to the ball room where the auditions were being held at The Marriot. I thought it was going to be just us and a small group of people. Wow was I naive! We stood in line to get application materials and sat in a big room full of hopefuls. I chatted with a lady there with her daughters. Turned out she had had a frazzling morning as well and we had a good laugh. She ended up having to run out to feed the meter, while I looked after her girls. She asked me if I'd heard about the earthquake in Chile and I hadn't. What flashed through my mind was a conversation I had just recently had with a 4th grader that dreamed of visiting Easter Island, just off the coast of Chile. Random coincidence or strange precursor?

On a side note, I work with two teachers (they happen to be sisters) that are from there, so my heart and prayers goes out to them and their family.

Then after a long wait, they said some introductory words, played a LONG promotional video, and then we got to the audition portion. That part literally lasted just minutes. The kids were asked a few questions, did a cold read in front of a camera, and that was it. In all, it lasted about 2 hours. The audition process consisted of two different opportunities. One was to get a callback to possibly sign with the talent agent, the other was to get an invitation to an entertainment industry symposium that provides training and networking opportunities for children in Orlando, Florida. You have to get and invite AND pay a big fat fee to attend. Not exactly a scam, but not a path we want to take. I was always told if you have to pay to play, it's not worth the say.

On our way back home, we stopped at Costco to pick up some things. Then we went to McDonald's to pick up some milkshakes to treat the kids. The poor guy at the drive-up window knocked over a bunch of stuff. Was everyone having a wierd day or what? Then we stopped by the grocery store for a few more things. While inside, a clerk was passing out cookies and dressed up as none other than Cookie Monster. After the crazy-making week I'd just had, I had to laugh at this coincidence. I can't even begin to list all of the kooky things that have happened lately. The only thing I can think of that sums all this up is this little youtube gem from the muppets.