Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Confessions of a Marching Band Mom

Marching Band has taken over my life! At least, it will for the next few days:
  • Tuesday: make sure I have all the supplies I need for our Nationals trip. This means trips to the bank (Boy needs cash!), the store (Boy needs socks!), and the vet (cats need daycare!), although since the weather's nice I can make the trip by bicycle and get my daily exercise, killing two birds with one stone. Then I have to do laundry and collect all the things I need to pack, in case I missed something and have to go back to the store. This evening, I have to drop off the boys' bedrolls for the truck, and deliver craft fair signs to people who've agreed to help put them out this weekend. Somewhere in there I have to fit in balancing the checkbook, getting some copyediting done, and not getting behind on NaNoWriMo, before I head to flute choir practice.
  • Wednesday: deliver Boy and his luggage to school by 6:30 am. Do my own packing, get in one last TKD training session, maybe some writing work, gas up and wash the car, and meet the boys at school before driving down to Indianapolis in the evening. Arrive by 11 pm and get the cabin ready for 22 girls to arrive around midnight.
  • Thursday: Get the girls up before 7 am. (Gack, but at least I'm not on breakfast duty today.) Ride with the kids to the practice field, hang out, maybe get some writing done?, hang out some more, help cook dinner, go back to camp and supervise cabin full of teenage girls.
  • Friday: Oh God, why did I volunteer to do this? Up before 5:30 to help cook breakfast, then accompany kids to rehearsal, back to camp, and then out to Lucas Oil Stadium for preliminary competition. Watch most excellent show, maybe a couple others, then accompany kids to mall for the evening. A break! At a mall! Where 98 high school bands will probably be! (Imagine my exclamation points wilting here.) Back to camp and lights out.
  • Saturday: More chaperoning, plus more competitionhopefully both semi-finals and Finals. Accompany band back to camp at 11 pm for pizza celebration. Lights out by 1 am if I'm lucky.
  • Sunday: Leave camp early (7:30 or 8) to get back home in time to prepare for flute choir concert in the afternoon. Get home and crash. Hopefully, I'll have enough volunteers to put out signs so I won't have to place any myself today.
If you don't hear much from me on the blog this week, you'll understand why. I'm not sure I'll have internet access, let alone time to post. I'm with the band! At least, whatever part of my brain still working is.

4 comments:

  1. You get no sympathy from me on the up before 5:30 am thing. I roll out of bed at 5:00 5-6 days/week, at work by 7:00 am.

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  2. Yes, but you probably got to bed before midnight, right? I had about 19 hours sleep over the four days, but it was totally worth it.

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  3. Hi Diane...I came across your blog one day, after reading a friend of mine's and then I decided to hit the 'next blog' at the top, and after several hits, stopped because your photo caught my eye. We have been to Europe many times and I recognized the places in your photos. But I started to read your blog and have LOVED every word. I have gone back and read all your old blogs, too. My children are now grown (first grandbaby coming in February), but when they were small, hubby and son & daughter took TaeKwonDo for MANY years and earned their first degree black belt. I was the family cheerleader! I am just in the process of finishing my first quilt, so I was also interested in your quilt photos. I just used a panel for my top though, and quilted the layers together..not brave enough yet to tackle a 'real' quilt. Hopefully, I will give it a go very soon.
    My Mom and I are avid readers and will put Pride & Prejudice on our list. We have worked our away through every Charles Dickens and alot of other classics, To Kill A Mockingbird, Uncle Tom's Cabin, alot of Thomas Hardy books, etc.
    I live in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, just outside Toronto...in one of your old blogs you wondered if anybody reads your blog...I DO ! It reminds me of that movie Julie/Julia when the girl was writing her cooking blog and wondered if anybody was reading it and she waited to see if anybody would post a comment.
    Anyway, I have 'blathered' on long enough..nice to talk to you...thanks for all your interesting stories and photos.

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  4. Thanks, Nancy! Glad you're enjoying my scattered thoughts. The Blathering has gone international! Although since my m-i-l is Canadian and I live close to the border, you might not be the first neighbor from the north to read my blog--but definitely the first to post! Thanks for stopping by; I promise to be more consistent in blogging in December.

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