Leaving tomorrow!

My favorite story from this week was told to me by Jackie's 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Lachmann. Apparently another teacher popped into her classroom to tell her about an encounter she had just had with William, our kindergartner. He was wandering down the hallway, taking his sweet ole time, so she asked, "Can I help you? Where are you going?" He looked at her and replied, "Puerto Rico."

Today's big events were 1) leaving Penny the Puppy and 2) Jackie's performance in The Jungle Book. Penny is staying with Teresa, a groomer in Monroe. So she is not only with a couple who loves dogs so much they've made it their business, but she is in plenty of canine company. There must have been a dozen dogs there today for her to run round with. Teresa asked me when we plan to return? I told her that Bill informed me yesterday we have a one-way ticket (gulp!) but we will definitely be back, after all we still have a house full of stuff here. She then told me that she has 2 dogs of her own. One of them is a poodle. The reason she has the poodle is the owner never came back. I assured her that wouldn't be the case with us. Hey, we're Facebook friends, so it's easy to track me :)

Jackie's play was great. It was definitely terrible timing since I didn't start packing our clothing until after the show (ie 4pm) and spent a lot of time this week going back & forth with rehearsals. But hey, makes our story even better. She played Kaa (the evil, manipulative snake). Definitely a stretch for her, the angel that she is (and I'm not being sarcastic) but she did great. Amazing how much she loves being on stage. And a few really good friends came to watch her, which was just so touching. They were also at last night's send-off party, which was also just perfect. I know they're all being super friends because they know we won't be able to resist coming back here since we'll miss them so much :)

During all this, I've also been working on bringing Achieve to CT - a triathlon camp for kids. It's an amazing 6 week summer camp for kids ages 9-14. My meeting at the Waterbury YMCA about it yesterday couldn't have been better, and if all goes well we'll be the first Achieve camp in New England! I just have to get my USA Triathlon coach certification, which will hopefully happen this year. The training workshops apparently fill up within 5 minutes, so I need to stay on top of this from my island perch. Please feel free to send me reminders! This is truly a dream come true for me - training 20+ under-privileged kids to swim, bike, run (and make healthy choices in every aspect of their lives) - and basically achieve what they never dreamed was possible.

OK, off to finish smilepacking (my friend Mike came up with that term, I love it!).

xoox

Susanne

T-2

The kids didn't have school today. I cleaned the fridge. I had a meeting that was very important to me in Waterbury. Jackie had her dress rehearsal for tomorrow's musical. Between all of that - all I managed to do re: packing was bring up the suitcases from the basement. At which point I realized we are one suitcase short since I donated all the other ones. Oh well, for once I guess I'll not overpack. Tonight our Ultimate Frisbee club is having a little going away thing for us. Fortunately, it includes kids so there will be no rolling home at 2am. But there is a full moon, which explains my insane decision to place Penny the Puppy permanently with someone 2 days ago (which I retracted when Jackie knocked some sense into me with her hysterical cry, "Mami, if you give Penny away I will never forgive you the rest of your life!"), so one never knows.

T-3

My day:

7am wake up (decided I needed my sleep more than a workout, after all these 1am bedtimes)

8:30am fight kids into winter clothing because much to our shock, a blizzard had started (don't think it was in the forecast, but I haven't watched the news in ages since my brain is already in Vieques and I've no interest in Tiger & Elin, Democrats vs. Republicans, Leno vs. Conan...

8:45am kids are off on the bus

9:00am Penny the Puppy & I are off to Teresa, who will keep Penny for us for the 2-3 months we're gone, as long as Penny passes the interview

9:15am Stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic as CT drivers still learn to drive in snow

9:40am finally arrive at Teresa's pet grooming salon. Penny is initially submissive among all the dogs but within 1 minute happily enters the chaos

9:45am stuck in traffic again, cancel my meeting with fellow life coach and instead have delightful phone meeting

10:15am arrive home and get flurry of phone calls about schools having early dismissal. Thank the dear Lord that William is in day care on Thursdays after the stupid half day of kindergarten, so I can still pack etc

10:20am - 12:00pm pack up 5 boxes of books, magazines, board games, homeschooling materials, nutritional supplements, netipot, fuel belt... and gobble down PB&J & glass of milk

12:15pm meet with Jackie's outstanding 3rd grade teacher to get some more materials

12:45pm fight back tears as I watch Jackie's classmates not want to let go of her

1:00pm head to shipping place with Jackie, ship all our stuff, amused when she hears the clerk say "it will arrive in about a week" and Jackie gleefully realizes she doesn't have much work to do (she thinks) until the boxes arrive

1:20pm stop at KMart to load up on dog food and get Jackie ballet slippers for Saturday's Jungle Book performance

1:45pm-3:00pm Fold laundry, check to do list, cancel Feb pediatrician appointments

3:00pm head over to pick up Penny, who has been having the time of her life and now has a new BFF, a weimaraner named Jewel

4:00pm pick up Willo from day care

4:30pm drop off kids at Colette's house

4:40pm take Penny to vet for bordatella shot

5:15pm leave Penny at home

5:45pm head out to coaching appointment

7:00pm back at Colette's for kids. Decide to stay and have a glass of wine, slice of pizza, and chat with a great friend while Jackie & Willo entertain her stunning 3-yr-old twins

8:15pm head home with 2 very tired children. Bedtime.

8:30pm look at the piles of laundry and decide to create this blog instead, while listening to "Hope for Haiti" soundtrack

10:00pm very relieved that I will for a few months not have to worry about Bill driving home from the airport in the middle of the night, on icy roads

OK, off to tackle laundry and survey my summer clothing situation. Good night!