A Time For Everything

It shouldn't be much of a secret as to how much I love my son...he's smart, funny, handsome, and mostly a good boy.


One thing about him that makes me laugh is his love of crackers. Yep. He can eat a sleeve of plain old salted crackers as a snack. But even more funny/cute is his love of oyster crackers. I don't know what it is about them, but he is always so excited to see them when I bring them home.

On a totally unrelated note, there's a thing going on in the writer world...it's sort of been going but I've noticed it again. And that's the trend/action/practice of friending/following/liking a whole bunch of other people's blogs/Facebook/etc. I understand why they do it. Supposedly it looks better to agents or editors who may check out your social media platforms if you have tons of friends and followers. But to me, going around friending/following/liking a bunch of sites/blogs/Facebook pages of people you don't know and who's stuff you care nothing about is cheating. But whatever. I guess I shouldn't be holier than thou about this. I suppose there are things I do that other people could hold up and say people in glass houses...But I'd rather have 17 faithful followers who really read my blog on a weekly basis than 1700 people who just want me to reciprocate and pad their numbers. </ rant>

Friday I mentioned Battle of the Bands that Sonshine was participating in...well, it rained here in FW all day Saturday. Yet the district in its infinite wisdom proceeded. So by the end of the event, children and marching uniforms and instruments were soaked. Directors and chaperones were soaked. Attendees were soaked. And why? So a band who didn't need the money could win $1K.

I'm not really angry about the money. The band that won it was probably the best. It was the best of the bands I actually got to see play, anyway, and the general consensus is that they are very good. On the other hand, our group came in dead last--eighth out of eight. I know we weren't the best, but we sure as hell weren't the worst. The band that played just prior to us performed their UIL show music for Pete's sake. This was supposed to feature drum lines!! They should have played cadences and things. And we came in last??? Ugh!

And when they announced the three finalists and we weren't among them, our group looked at each other and went HUH??

Well, enough ranting. It's Monday and the 1st and I have things to do, so I'll catch you on Wednesday!

I'm band booster prez. First board meeting Thursday evening. Oh boy, oh joy. Speaking in front of people used to scare the shspit out of me. Thanks to two years as writing group chapter prez, I can do it with few qualms. Well, as long as the group isn't too large. And I know what I'm talking about. If I had to speak to, say, a Cowboys Stadium full of people, I might faint from nerves. But I digress...

Fulfilling my duties in this position is going to stretch me further as a person. I'm not really looking forward to it, cuz growth and change can be scary. But I knew the job was dangerous when I took it, but take it I did. For my kid. For the other band kids I'd grown to love last year. For the band director. And yes for myself. I'm a volunteer. I like to be part of a group. Sometimes, yes, I even like to be in charge. Even though I'm more of an introvert than an extrovert.

Now, I didn't seek out the job. The band director asked me if I'd do it. Last summer the co-prez died and his wife did not rise to the occasion and the band director ran the band on her own last year. It was a lot of work and pressure for her especially as she's also the primary care-giver for her 85-year-old mother who is somewhat incapacitated. I readily agreed to take it on.

And now my heartstrings are being tugged. Almost half these band kids can't afford or won't be able to pay their band fees. Now the band director doesn't turn them away, she waives the fees she can and the band booster picks up the rest. But that means we have to raise just that much more money to cover those costs. And now it seems our major source of income--the NFL--may not pull through for us. As long as the lock out goes on, there are no NFL games for us to work at Cowboys Stadium. Yes, there are other events scattered here and there at the stadium like concerts and soccer, but we never make nearly as much money. We average $1500 an NFL game times three or four time a month...

So I'm in "beg" mode. I've modified a letter provided by the band director and will be soliciting sponsorships for twenty-five kids. And that's just for marching season. Other things, including band trip scholarships, will come later.

So shameless plug, if you can spare $5 or $10 (more is of course welcome), please consider making a donation to the EHHS Highlander Band. Visit their website: www.ehhsmusic.org and the Paypal button is at the top. If you'd rather pay by check, make checks payable to EHHS Band Boosters and mail to EHHS Band Boosters, 5701 Shelton Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76112. And pass the word if you know of others who'd interested and willing in supporting the arts, but especially supporting the kids here on the east side in Fort Worth. (Thanks!)

And that wasn't even the point of this post! Oh well.

If you have ideas for how to raise money please let me know. Though, FYI, direct selling doesn't work well around here. We're having two car washes the next two Saturday mornings and the band director is thinking of doing a "movie in the parking lot". I have some ideas on how to expand that...

And now it's time to get some other stuff done!

Keep cool!

(Update on new roof and writing room soon.)

My road trip to Austin to see my kid play with the band on the steps of the Capitol Building...

The video: you may recognized the tune if you're a fan of PBS.



And just a few pics...

Setting up:



The whole group after the fact:



Me and my kid on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol Building:

Sonshine leaves on his band trip tomorrow morning at 4am-ish. The students going on the trip are required to be at school by midnight tonight and they will be locked in the band hall until the bus arrives.

This is the first time Sonshine will be away from home without a family member for an extended period of time. I'm a bit nervous as he's fifteen...

Hubby gave him the 'talking to' this morning and his band instructor is no pushover by any stretch of the imagination. And generally he respects authority, so I probably have nothing to worry about, but there's still that niggle: I don't want it to be *my* kid who leaves a lasting impression of the negative kind on the whole event.

And according to the band director, band is one of the few school groups that has never had an incident while on trips and consequently still gets to go on them.

They will playing one official event tomorrow afternoon and the rest of the weekend will be fun, fun, fun...

...for them. I'll be a bit nervous until Sunday when I know the bus is on its way home and my kid is safely ensconced thereon with no further opportunities for trouble-making.

So I decided to go to Hobby Lobby today. I was hoping that despite it being black Friday, the craft store at 11:30 am would no longer be jam packed.

Well, it hadn't been jam packed at all according to the cashier, but regardless of the crowd, everything I bought, except one item, was 50% off. The one item was 30% off! So $73 worth of stuff for $36. Woo Hoo!! It was as if my trip was meant to be. :)

I decided to make little goodie bags for all the band kids and I wanted to include an ornament with their name and the year. We had all the other little things going into the bag, save the home made cookies, except the ornaments. We (DD and I) wanted something pretty easy to make, hence the trip to the craft store.

First stop, the wood section, hoping for a lot of something we could easily paint and decorate for 34 kids. No such luck. But when we went over to the Christmas section, we hit the jackpot. Letter ornaments--four different Christmassy designs. We ran into trouble with Ms though. There are five kids whose names start with M, but we could only find three of the four patterns, so unfortunately we have to have two dupes there. But the best part was they were only 49 cents each after the discount!!! Woot!!

So all that's left to do is personalize each one, bake the cookies and put the little goodie bags together. And deliver them of course. Can't wait to see their faces and collect all their hugs!

So Parade of Lights tonight downtown and then back home to work on these ornaments. This is one of the parts of Christmas I love the most--the unexpected giving and the reactions of the receivers.

What's your favorite part of Christmas?