Crowd control

The cast of the next Olney Arts Council production

I think this is the longest I’ve gone without an update, but this week was busy and uneventful at the same time. Busy with cleaning, hair appointments, volunteering, school conferences…all the mundane stuff no one wants to hear about. Then again, nearly everything I write about falls into the mundane.

Thursdays are normally crazy, but for extra fun this week I threw in a haircut and a promise to deliver dinner to the wonderful woman who usually cuts my hair. With the exception of two maternity leaves, Jennifer has cut my hair exclusively for six years. She is amazing with scissors and is an all around peach. I just love her. So, I was so upset to learn she was diagnosed with melanoma last week, and would be having surgery. See girls, I know I look ridiculous with my huge hat and 50+SPF, but I have my reasons. The pearls, I have no excuse for.

I also helped with school pictures at Meredith's pre-school on Thursday morning. I laughed all morning, except when I stopped to roll my eyes at the horrendous garden-scene background and to cringe when the photographer had the children lay their cute little faces on the wrought iron gate she placed in front of them. I’m fairly confident I won’t be ordering the super deluxe package.

Thursday night, Michelle B. (Not to be confused with Mel B., the Spice Girl from Dancing with the Stars.) and her girls came for an overnight visit. Our kids were all so wound up and w-i-l-d, no one fell asleep before 10:30 p.m. They were having so much fun we couldn’t be kill joys.

I paid for it with embarrassingly cranky kids at the Museum. I knew we were in for it, when we pulled into the museum’s parking garage and wound up parking on the top floor. The 20 or so school buses parked in the field trip lot was also not a good sign. My fears were valid. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the place that busy. Despite the crowds we still managed to fit in most of the exhibits we thought Maci and Marni would enjoy.

Considering the lack of sleep, the kids did really well until…Alex fell down. We were in a small exhibit area packed with lots of parents and kids. It’s a quieter area, so I was kind of enjoying the near serenity when my daze was interrupted by a piercing scream. Since he was a foot in front of me, I obviously knew it was Alex, but the scream was so loud, I didn’t recognize it. Of course we drew the attention of everyone within a mile radius. I half way expected to see his leg dangling and in pieces the way he was carrying on. Nope. Just a bump, exhaustion, and histrionics. It sort of went down hill from there. Meredith was furious at me for making her use the restroom, and left the museum sobbing and puffy.

Michelle’s girls, who had the same amount of sleep, couldn’t have been better. They are so sweet and fun and Meredith, especially was so sad to see them go. We hope we haven’t scared them (or you) into cancelling any future visits with us! :)