Here’s to you Mrs. Jones

20 Mar 2013 3 Comments

by wifemothereventplanner in I need to tell you about this right now Tags: A, childhood, Education, Elementary Education, Hollywood, humor, Life, Memories, Photography, School, Student, Teacher, Teaching

This is my boy and his all time favorite teacher – Mrs. Jones.

A second after 3rd grade started, the teacher he was supposed to have all year had a baby and Mrs. Jones stepped in. She immediately turned the room into an interactive, dynamic place – new rugs, new wall coverings, new everything. It wasn’t just room B-6, it was Hollywood. All the “kiddos”, as she called them, were mini directors in their own productions. The room was covered in colorful, themed imagery. She was animated and sweet and my boy (and the whole class) loved it.

As the year went on and we all got to know Mrs. Jones, it was clear how much she loved teaching and how much she loved our kids. Yes, all the usual teaching stuff happened. They learned, they read, they wrote. But her class was more than that – it was fun. It was silly. It was over the top. And it was exactly what those little people needed. I’ve never had a teacher send me daily updates (sometimes more!) or pictures of fun things the class did that day. We even got Sunday reminders of what the week ahead would look like. I don’t know about you, but I try very hard to forget where I work from Friday night to Sunday night, not her. It was obvious that this wasn’t a burden for her.

This past week we got a letter from the school that our original teacher (who I’m sure is a wonderful person) is coming back for the last two months of school.

Devastation ensued.

9 year olds crying everywhere.

I still remember my favorite elementary school teacher, Mr. Walter Freeman. 4th Grade. He ate oranges at his desk every morning. When you went up to talk to him, he had a citrus halo around him. Is it weird that almost all my good memories have food related connections? Anyway. He was dreamy.

Teaching is a calling. You need some sort of superpower to be able to walk into those classrooms every day and actually enjoy being there.

So good luck to you Mrs. Jones – there’s a lucky class out there waiting for your cheery voice. Thanks for making a really good memory for my boy.

Close….

17 Mar 2013 1 Comment

by wifemothereventplanner in Brave New World Tags: Family, garbage, home, humor, Life, Photography, sanitation

You know those weekends when the garbage bag almost makes it to the garbage? And then you just come to terms with it being on the floor. And you start using it. And then it gets fuller and fuller to the point where it’s too late to stuff into the can. That would be wasted energy, you think. The next bag will go right in, you decide. And the other three people that live with you decide the same thing. You’re not committing a crime. This is no big deal. I mean… How type A would you have to be to get totally obsessed with a dumb bag.
Oh thank god.
My husband just threw the bag out. I love him.. I just hope he puts a new bag in. Happy Weekend!

Do you world Promise?

13 Mar 2013 1 Comment

by wifemothereventplanner in Brave New World Tags: Baby, Brothers, Family, humor, Kids, Life, Only child, parenting, Photography, Siblings, Sisters

These two monkeys live in my house and yell and fight and laugh all day long.

They’ve been at it since she was 5 and he was born.

They are 5 years apart. Two little Scorpios.

She was going to be an only child – imagine that! But then we came to our senses and added the ying to her yang.

They are so different. And so alike. They write each other letters of love and devotion – and then sell each other out at the drop of a hat.

She’s his best friend – says him.

He’s her best friend – says him.

When they tell each other secrets they make a “world” promise. The biggest, most powerful kind of promise. A promise that, if broken, can have dire circumstances. These usually involve hidden candy in their rooms, newly learned bad words or inappropriate videos on YouTube. The usual world promise stuff.

Last night I was writing another blog post and my girl asked what the topic was. When I told her what I was writing about she said,”oh. you should write about me and Jack.” So there you go.

Big Mac without the Mac

07 Mar 2013 5 Comments

by wifemothereventplanner in I need to tell you about this right now Tags: Burger, Diet, Family, food, humor, Lunch, Nutrition, Photography

Actually, this is a Whopper no meat.

I couldn’t help myself today. I needed something from a drive-thru window. I didn’t need to supersize it or make it a meal. But I really wanted this sandwich.

Did you know that McDonald’s and Burger King all have veggie versions of their famous sandwiches? Not a veggie patty (ewwwww). I’m talking all the goodness of the burger with none of the meat. The meat is the goodness you say? Meh.

Don’t be fooled. These aren’t healthy by any means. I may have knocked out a few thousand calories, but there’s more where that came from.

Give it a shot next time. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Well – you might be. If you need beef in your burgers you’ll be disappointed.

(ps – I like raw onions. I don’t get to eat them often because I don’t live alone in the wilderness. but I like them. alot.)

Anyway – what did you have for lunch?

Cat Nap

01 Mar 2013 5 Comments

by wifemothereventplanner in I need to tell you about this right now Tags: animals, cat post, Cats, Electronics, Family, humor, Life, Nature, Photography, Sleeping, Snoring, Video

Gird your loins.

Another cat post.

I took this video for my boy – who is in mad love with this cat. Since it’s Friday and my brain can’t function – I decided to use it as my post too. A nice Friday cheat.

I came down this morning to find Lexi sleeping in her spot and making a noise. Kinda like snoring or sleep meowing. I dunno.

She was doing it loudly enough for me to hear it in the kitchen. By the time I decided to go get my phone and tape her, she’d mellowed a bit.

Stick with the video…around the 2o second mark, like a great whale, she starts again.

The round blob of fur is hard to figure out.

Here she is in all her fat, whiskery, stank eye splendor

Conference Call Via Kitchen

27 Feb 2013 Leave a Comment

by wifemothereventplanner in Yes, I'm an event planner Tags: Event Planner, Events, humor, Life, Photography, Planning, work, Work-at-home

This used to be my office. I started this job 6 years ago doing the normal working commute. Out the door early, kids at daycare, work all day, pick-up kids at daycare, work at home some more, sleep, repeat. Then, in 2008, when the financial world took a hit, my company was bought by a bigger company. Loads of people lost their jobs. The event world stopped in its tracks. There was a 4 month period of time when we pulled back on everything we were doing, Almost all events stopped. It was scary and unnerving but thankfully we came out of it. The slow climb back for events in the corporate world finally settled about 2 years ago. In the meantime we got to know this big, bad, machine-like company we were now a part of.

A company this size has its challenges to say the least. Everything is automated. Conference calls are a plague. There’s always someone, somewhere in the company doing exactly what you’re doing (sometimes better). It’s annoying.

But then, amidst the cluttered meetings and impersonal employee environment it shines through. A big, fat, encouraged, living, breathing work-at-home policy. Thousands of people working from home.

Almost my entire working career has been within the financial world. Let me tell you something. There is LITERALLY no other company doing this. None. Zip. That I know of and can get a job at anyway (trust me I’ve tried). So I took the leap and became a stay-at-home-worker or a work-at-home-stayer. Whatever.

Does it solve everything? No. See my post on Monday.

But it has helped a ton. My kids aren’t little anymore, they are at school all day and even when they come home at night they are pretty self-sufficient. And in the event world – there really is no 9-5 work day. It’s usually nights, weekends, holidays etc. Which is fine, that’s what I’ve signed-up for. But I’m an early riser. Some days I’m more productive from 6am-9am then I am all day. Other days I need to work on Sunday nights so I have some time to ease into my week.

It works for me. It works for my family (although I think they wouldn’t mind me being gone a little more than I am, let’s be honest).

I do miss my work family – and we do try to get together as much as possible in human form.

But if this is the future of business – sign me up! That office above is empty now…errr…or it will be once I remove all my crap that I still haven’t gotten around to.

Now excuse me while I do a conference call, wash the dishes and work on a power point. In that order.

how YOU doin’?

25 Feb 2013 3 Comments

by wifemothereventplanner in I need to tell you about this right now Tags: Anne Frank, Career, current-events, Daily Life, humor, Life, people, Photography, stress, Therapy, work

My day. In a nutshell. Actually in a picture.

This isn’t directed at everyone. Just 80% – 90% of the bastards I talked to today.

Sorry. Tomorrow will be better.

Like Anne Frank, I believe that in spite of everything – people are really good.

Am I comparing my sad little issues to one of the most horrific stains on human history?

Maybe.

So what.

You must have a really good camera

23 Feb 2013 7 Comments

by wifemothereventplanner in I need to tell you about this right now Tags: aviation, Cars, Farm, humor, Life, Nature, Ocean, Photography, polaroid camera, transportation, travel, Trees, Woods

Ever notice that people usually say you have a nice camera when they see a photo they like? This cracks me up. Maybe it’s my incredibly talented eye. Or my amazing sense of lighting and mood? Hee hee.

Here are some photos taken with a camera phone, a Nikon, a Kodak disposable, and an old school Polaroid camera. Betcha you can’t figure out which is which is which. And really, who cares.

Night Riders

21 Feb 2013 2 Comments

by wifemothereventplanner in I need to tell you about this right now Tags: Car, Driving, highway, humor, Life, Nature, Photography, travel, Vacation, Vermont

I’ve never done an all nighter. Not even in college. So, last Saturday night, well into my 40s, I did it. We had 3 short days to enjoy in Vermont and my daughter had a dance she couldn’t miss. So around midnight, we loaded up the kids and left. In 6 hours we’d be having breakfast in our favorite spot in town.
My husband drove. We had coffee. We had snacks. We were on our way.
I fell asleep before we hit the highway.
To be fair, I did get up a few times. So it wasn’t a deep sleep. Does that count?
Here I am waking up at 2am…

And then 5am…