Monday, February 04, 2008

100 ways to make me crazy

i've been the mom of an elementary school-age child for a while. long enough to have learned how to combat monday morning gumpies, long enough to have learned how to pack an amazing lunch featuring 16 different food groups, long enough to have learned how to deal with head lice...

not long enough, apparantly, to have learned to check the take-home folder before sunday night.

i was greeted by this little surprise when i thought to flip through the folder late sunday afternoon. sunday afternoon following a beautiful weekend (70 degrees!). we were not overcommitted, there was time for laundry and bike rides and spt-ing. i even read half of a book. it had all of the markings of a lazy, yet productive-in-a-good-way, weekend.

until i read the memo about 100th day.



the entire memo reads "Please bring 100 items on Monday, Feb. 4, 2008 to celebrate the 100th Day of School." you know how important this is because the memo is written entirely in capital letters. for lovers of 21st century written language, you know that ALL CAPS means *really. important.*

i had to include my ugly-but-useful $9.00 watch in the photo so you could appreciate the fact that i first found out about this important memo at 5:26 pm. (and for the record, this memo was NOT in the folder thursday night, which means that this very important information was not disseminated to the parents until friday afternoon, leaving us one weekend to prepare 100 things.) (which means, if you're me, leaving us a lot less time to prepare 100 things.)

i groaned. i had just gotten back from the store, and, even if i felt i could get away with sending, say, 100 hershey kisses, i had no intentions of going back out. "oh," i groaned," if i had only known about this earlier, i could have made something totally cute."

from the other room, i heard, "ugghhhh. not something cute, mom." (what IS it with almost-seven-year-old-boys, anyway?!?)

well, whatever. fortunately, i have a computer. and cardstock. and there was actually ink in the printer. and all of a sudden, we had these



with jack manning the paper cutter, me with the embroidery thread, and tom brady struggling to get a first down, we got busy! a few hours and one superbowl later, we had 100 bookmarks.



sorry for the fuzzy shot, but i had to document the time. it should be stated that i was in a multi-tasking frenzy, as i simultaneously made dinner and dessert, assembled another dinner for monday night, showered AND folded laundry. 100 things?!? phhppppt... i probably did 200 things!!

so, i'm thinking, there aren't even 100 kids in jack's school. well, maybe 100. if even half of them manage to bring 100 things to share.... well, you do the math. jack's coming home with a backpack full of *stuff* this afternoon. and if there are any hershey kisses in there, they're mine!

29 comments:

carlo said...

great idea to do bookmarks-- crafty and useful. BONUS

but wow, that is a lot of work. you are awesome!!

carlo said...

oh and you call that fuzzy?

umm, not fuzzy at all.

(not that i would know anything about fuzzy pics or anything, it just doesn't look fuzzy to me.)





:) love me?

Kelly said...

Not 100 day!

You are the MOM thinking of those bookmarks. I bow down. I am totally putting that one in my files!

{krista} said...

Oh DANG! I just now remembered it's 100 day here, too, and we didn't get our 100 items sent for the community trail mix they were making. Whoops!

I love the bookmarks... you go girl!

patsy said...

Wow~ those bookmarks!!! what a great idea- they are so cute. I think for 100 day once I sent 100 cherios blah. the bookmarks rock.

I wrote an update on the missionary today. Hope it's not too sappy...

michelle said...

That was a great idea! I am terrible about checking Lucas's backpack, and he is even worse about giving me papers, so I didn't even KNOW about 100 day! (and he didn't even seem to care...)

I love that you were multi-tasking and probably did 200 things -- ah, motherhood.

Holly said...

You ARE certainly resourceful--even down to the wire. Love the bookmarks--I'm sure they are the acceptable level of cuteness for the 7-year old. :) I was somewhere along the lines of 100 goldfish. Blah!

Wish the teacher had sent the note earlier though.

melanie said...

That's A LOT of things!! (the caps were a must) I'm totally impressed that you came up with the bookmark idea so fast. I would have had to count cereal or diapers, ha!

Becky said...

This is too funny, Lelly :) My oldest is the same age as Jack and I am so grateful that I didn't have to send 100 things. They had a class party that I helped out with and they did need supplies for that..

I am TOTALLY IMPRESSED with your not-too-cute-but-still-adorable bookmarks! Amazing...

Crazymamaof6 said...

totally awesome 100 day item! i think i did 100 fruit snacks. oh and 100 conversation hearts. yeah fancy. i remember being in 2nd grade cutting out hearts and taking 100 red hearts for 100 day. yeah. vivid memory on that.

you are a super star mom! and everything else on top of that! i bow down!

donna said...

OH those book marks are great!!!!! I had ian bring 100
apple jacks :)

Amy said...

I can't wait until I get to face "parent projects"...ugh, not really. You did a fantastic job coming up with something great last minute. I'm sure Jack knows he has a good mom.

Price Cream Parlor said...

This is a fantastic idea because it is something that will linger longer than a stick of gum! What a super Mom you are!!!

Amanda :-) said...

Brilliant, brilliant, Lelly! I thought, from the picture, you had produced 100 stickers, but 100 bookmarks is just amazing. The cutting, punching, tying etc.

Can you imagine what even-more-brilliance you'd have come up with if you'd opened the folder on Friday afternoon?? The mind boggles!

Lucy said...

Super crafty! I'm impressed. And I guarantee that this will happen to me sometime in the future. It's in the genes.

Well done:)

Kelly said...

Oh my goodness, these are great. I probably would have said, "Go count out 100 dried beans." or something super exciting like that. I hope there was lots of chocolate for you in his backpack this afternoon.

Lacie said...

Wow! Very impressed by the quick thinking! I hope by the time my oldest is 7 I will be that quick on my feet! I am still feeling the sloshy Momma brain!

Robyn said...

I have been looking at your blog more by encouragement from 2 of my bird friends, who think you rock! I have to say now, I totally agree! WOW, MOM! Awesome idea. And the fact that you got it all done in that time and thought to document! Go girl!

tina said...

holy cow! what a lot of work and what a wonderful parent you are for not getting upset and just buckling down to produce some fantabulous bookmarks! i wonder if i would have just had to give up at that hour! my oldest son is only in kindergarten. it's hard to check the backpack on friday afternoon (thursday for us on our 4-day week). this morning, i pulled out two bags of popcorn from last thursday - untouched! glad they are only 25 cents each!

jenny said...

Way to put your crafty skills to work. I think they turned out great. And I that is WAY more useful than candy. They now will forever remember it!

Linda said...

I stumbled across your blog recently and am so enjoying it.

SPTs look interesting (and fun)...I may have to give it a try at some point.

You saved the day with those adorable bookmarks. That was quick thinking! I wish I was more creative!

This is my first comment on a blog...let's see if it works!

janna said...

how cute and what a mom!!
Today is the 100 day at my kids school too. But I just sent 100 buttons.

The Monkeys said...

I have the same problem with my boy and his backpack. I found the 100 things in the backpack just a hair earlier than that last time, so I took some paper to church and got 100 finger prints and then I let my child turn some of the finger prints into animals and stuff like that. It turned out pretty cute, but not as cute as the book marks- I would have never had enough ink in my printer!
You definitely deserve the Hershey's Kisses!

April said...

Bless you. I just sent in a bag of M&M's. I am feeling like quite the louse. Pun intended.

Missy said...

what a great idea - totally resourceful!
You rock!

Amanda said...

Wow. I have heard of the 100th day, but not taking 100 things to school! Good for your for pulling through! The bookmarks are a great idea.

Marie said...

How brilliant are you? Excellent last minute idea, and completely CUTE, to Jack's dismay!

Courtney said...

Ha - I love this!

I have had my fair share of 100 days and it seems the same story over here!

VERY CUTE/COOL bookmarks! How genius is that? You work wonders under pressure you multi-tasker!

Barb said...

I hope Jack reconciled himself with 'cute' because those bookmarks are so cute.