6:00 Wake up and began my busiest and longest day of the year.
1st Hour: I walk in and a sub is in my room. I have never had a sub on this day ever. I almost can't believe it. Basically I lucked out that no one was absent and they had to send our permanent sub somewhere. I had nothing planned but students just finished a handout that they started the day before. I am off to the gym for Homecoming rehearsal. We lift down a stair case and two platforms from the stage to the floor, set up giant cardboard pumpkins and glass slippers {can you guess our theme?}, turn on blue lights, and start organizing the 26 students involved in the coronation ceremony. Lights out, mics on, spotlight shining, and....go!
2nd Hour: I go check on students in the home ec room who are making jello and pudding for the Spirit Assembly games. We have some missing pans so I go out to my car and find them. We wrap up the first run through. Adjust and start over. We have to finish by 10:00 because we have a fire drill which they were already nice enough to move back from 9:00. At the end of this second time we have to put every thing back up and clear the gym.
3rd Hour: Fire drill. We come back inside and send students to class. We tried a new idea of a meme contest but I never figured out how to pick a winner and didn't even have them turned in until Thursday afternoon. I brainstorm with principal and he decides I should hang them in the lobby and have middle school students vote. I proceed to tape them up and individually visit each middle school classroom to ask for their votes. Back to the principal's office to brainstorm the cafeteria set up for the dance tonight.
4th Hour: Check on students in home ec room who are baking 8 dozen cupcakes and making pink lemonade for the dance tonight. I plan with students who are decorating for the dance on how and when to set things up since the concession stand for the two basketball games that happen before the Homecoming coronation and dance. I go round up the supplies: napkins, tablecloths, cups, lights, and deliver to home ec room. Back to principal's office to brainstorm how to set up a t-shirt table to raise money for Student Council.
5th Hour: He finds me an awesome cart so I go organize the shirts into piles by size, then make and print signs to hang in front of each pile. Ironically, the mom who has volunteered to help me sell them e-mails me and we hash out the time and plan for the night. Student Council also does a big fundraiser for Valentine's Day so all morning I've been tracking an order from Sam's Club for 300 carnations, hoping they will come in before lunch. After lunch I am booked every minute until midnight. I start getting supplies ready for the Spirit Assembly that starts immediately after lunch. {I already have 12,000 steps by this time.}
Lunch: On my way to get my lunch, the district secretary calls me to let me know the carnations just came in. She has volunteered to open them for me and get them organized into buckets with water and solution. I almost cry at this offer since I have zero minutes to spare. After I finish eating, the elementary school secretary catches me in the hallway- the florist is on the line saying that she gave the wrong order of flowers to my dad. While she stays on the line, I call my dad and send him back to the florist to get the Queen's rose bouquet. Lucky timing? I think not. Jesus has my back.
12:45 My student council meets to get our tubs of supplies and lay out a game plan for the assembly.
1:00-3:10 Let the games begin! During our assembly we play tug-of-war, 3-legged race, 4 corners, hungry hungry hippos, scavenger hunt, hunger games relay race, jell-o eating contest, inch worm race, chariot race, and 3-point shootout. While I am tallying the points, the cheerleaders getting ready for their dance. We announce the winning class- seniors- and hurry to get everything cleaned up before the bell rings.
3:15-4:15 Even though I need to get home and get ready to come back, I still have last minute jobs to finish. I have to proof 14 pages that my mistresses of ceremonies will be reading and print out final copies. Print out pictures of the court. Deliver last minute dance supplies that I forgot earlier to the home ec room. Finally head home.
4:15-5:30 Go home to grab some food. Laminate the pictures of the court as last minute gifts. Curl my hair. Change my clothes. Sync my phone so that the cheerleader's dance song is on my phone so the girls can practice one last time. Back to school I go!
5:30-6:00 I'm back to school carrying my own Christmas lights to use for dance decorations as well as the Queen's bouquet. I go to the dressing room for the boys and girls. I lay out pictures, programs, and the engraved keychains we've ordered as gifts as long with the flowers each girl will carry. I need a box to put the rest of my programs in so I dump out a box from my cabinet and finally head down to the gym. I'm also the cheerleading coach and the game starts at 6:00. Luckily I walk in the gym and there is an extra 10 minutes on the clock. My girls are warmed up and ready to go.
6:00-8:45 I am now wearing my cheerleading coach hat and at halftimes and between JV and Varsity games, I am circulating to make sure no one needs anything and to check on my t-shirt selling volunteers. Between games I record my girls doing their Illinois loyalty dance. At halftime I record them doing their hip hop dance....and the crowd goes wild. We win 83-44! As soon as the games end, I switch back to my Student Council sponsor hat. My teacher bestie heads down to herd the cats while I open up the stage and the dads in the crowd help me lift down the steps and platform and so on. We get everything ready to go in about 12 minutes. Let's get this show on the road!
9:00 The ceremony begins. I stand by the mistresses of ceremonies during the coronation. At one point, I realize I've forgotten to take the crowns out of the display case. I literally run down the hallway to the lobby just to see that my teacher bestie already had everything under control.
9:45 The ceremony ends. As the crowd mingles, takes pictures, and celebrates, I rush to the cafeteria to get the dance started. My student have already plugged up the lights, poured balloons everywhere, and set up the food and snack table. I turn on the music and then head back to the gym to herd the cats toward the dance.
10:00-11:00 I hide in my little closet in the back of the cafeteria playing DJ on my laptop and iTunes while the 30ish kids who stayed are having a great time.
11:05 I hit the lights and start kicking people out, asking them to take cupcakes and pop balloons on the way out. We get the cafeteria cleaned up pretty quickly but then we have to put all 20 tables back. There are 4 student council kids left at this point and their boyfriends who help. Next we go back to the stage to pop all those balloons and unplug everything.
11:30 All the kids and the superintendent are gone. It's just me and the janitors. I push a cart of random leftover supplies back to my room. I have to print out blank bell ringer templates for my students because I can't be trusted to get to school early enough on Monday morning to do it.
11:45 I'm home. I am cleaning my makeup brushes while I cook chicken strips for a late night dinner.
12:00 I crash on the couch with my chicken strips and "This Is Us" playing. I chase that down with cookies and milk and fall asleep to the joy of having no alarm set.
I ended the day with 28,040 steps which is my personal best and is a total of 12.47 miles.
P.S. It took me an hour just to type all of this! And teachers everywhere know how many millions of tiny things I left out!
