This is the Face...

...that did not launch 1,000 ships. It did, however, become the face of the Fall Festival at Issa's school. I actually took this picture to showcase the new bangs (which I stole from Issa), but it is also what my exhausted face looked like last night. I really wanted to curl up with a glass of wine in a bubble bath. I settled for a glass of wine and some time with my computer planning a Fall Festival.

It all started so innocently. I went to a meeting of the fundraising committee yesterday morning. Somewhere in the first five minutes of the meeting, my head nearly exploded. As it turns out, the "traditional" Fall Festival just started last year, and it was a disaster, but we don't want to change anything. Umm...? And even though it's run by the fundraising committee the goal is to break even. Umm....? And we don't really know what we're fundraising for. KAPOW...my head exploded. A few highlights of the meeting:

1. Do we need to have a discussion about having lights? There were no lights last year, and we didn't need lights last year, but it was a big discussion. Should we have it again?


2. We need to add some new activities because the ones last year were not popular; no one really remembers what we did except a bouncy house and hay maze, which everyone loved.


3. People want to help but not be in charge because they don't know how. If the head of school tells them exactly what to do they will happy to do it. This even applies to leading the clean up crew. Apparently, we need to write directions for putting trash in the dumpsters.


4. How many cups do we need? How many come in a package? What does that cost? We need to know so we know whether to charge $3.50 or $3.75. And how much should we charge for painting a pumpkin in addition to the cover charge? How many rolls of quarters should we get for change?

This is when I could take no more. We are charging $5 per child, including the pumpkin because we are not dealing with quarters! If we make a little money--fabulous! It's a fundraiser. The committee dubbed me a genius with that idea.

I came home and let my head stop spinning. Once that happened, I sent an email to the head of school, who looked as annoyed as I was during the meeting, with a few ideas. She was thrilled, and when I went back to school last night for a general parent meeting, she asked if I would just run the Fall Festival.

So...I came home last night and drafted a list of activities, a layout for the event, a volunteer schedule and sign-up, and a supply list. If everyone agrees, we are well on our way...just in time for me to start planning the holiday bazaar.