Sunday, February 23, 2014

A Ton to Report

Third time's the charm!  After two false starts (thank you very little, winter from hell), we finally had our first event on Thursday, thanks to the amazing Bizzigirls, our wonderful friends and the talented vendors who shared so generously!

I won't keep you in suspense, mostly because I hate surprises and I suck at building suspense.

Our new total-    2,033 POUNDS!

YES!


There's literally a ton of food in our basement---which is a refreshing change from the 30 tons of crap that also resides there.   This food will be moving on out to the Kennett Food Cupboard imminently!

The night itself was terrific and something that I will always remember--whether we succeed in meeting our goal or not.  Note that I said "terrific" and not "perfect".  It's my life and  I'm working in partnership with a 5 year old.  Perfect just isn't going to happen.

The quest for perfection was largely derailed by both my completely overwhelming tendency to overschedule and also my patent refusal to accept that tasks with a 5 year old take 20x longer to complete than one might expect.  Seriously.  The average garden snail is speedier and more competent than I am with Miss M in tow.

Oh, and I completely underestimated (or selectively forgot) the extent of Mady's tyranny when she's both hungry AND tired.

Oops.

Mady is normally a ridiculously easygoing kid EXCEPT for when she's hungry or tired.  Combine 'em?   Little terrorist.  Combine 'em when you're about to bring her in front of a roomful of people who expect her to be St. Madeline?  Queue up impending disaster.

Mady's school day runs until 3:30 and on Thursdays, she normally attends after-school science club until 4:30.  Courtesy of winter hell 2014, the last 2 science clubs (along with anything educational for which I pay tuition) were cancelled and Thursday was selected for the first club-and-a-half for makeup.

Wanna guess what a 5 year old looks like after a full day of school, science club that ran until 5 and no snack?

I should also note that Mady does not wind down as she tires- she winds up.

When I arrived to retrieve her from science club,  she was racing the corridors of her school, full speed and no control, screaming "Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".  She looked and sounded just like I'd expect her to look if I gave her a Red Bull with chasers of Fun-Dip and double espresso.

Fabulous.  Less than 1 hour to go, and my kid's a sweaty ball of off-the-chain crazy.

Part of her charm is that she's normally a super-sweet kid, and she truly does love helping others.  Of course, I might have emphasized this charm as we've worked on the Great Food Drive.   As such, it made perfect sense (Murphy- I hate you, your law and the horse you rode in on) that she decided to dial-up the crankiness as we drove to the Mendenhall. While driving, she apprised me of her hatred of (1) every song on the radio (2) goats (3) any article of clothing ever purchased by me (4) mayonnaise (5) justin bieber (6) traffic lights (7) hairbrushing and (8) not being able to watch TV.

As I am a modicum of reasonableness, logic and I NEVEREVEREVER get wound up at all, I chose to respond lovingly to her list of concerns.

**By that I mean that I started screaming "We have a bunch of people coming out tonight to help us--and they all think we're nice people!  NICE PEOPLE!  Dammit, just shut your trap and pretend that we're nice!"  Oh, and I turned up the radio to the point where the car windows started to shake.

We arrive in the parking lot of the Mendenhall, 20 minutes later than I had deemed drop-dead last minute.  Of course, neither one of us was dressed for the occasion, so we took the time to enact a full wardrobe change in the backseat of the truck as I lied to both of us about the windows being tinted.   I figured that she's short and no one would actually see her, and I'm old....so there was a good chance that people would donate good money for me to put my clothes back on.  All good here.

We cleaned up okay...and boas always help...


We linked up with good company:


And we made nice with each other.

I look deranged, but she's cute.

Once we joined up with our friends, the night proceeded with good times and good cheer.  Yay friends!   And yay for the bartender for keeping my little lady (and her adorable friend R) full of Shirley Temples as they sat and chatted at the bar, while gorging on cheese.  THAT'S MY GIRL!

Another exciting development is that a local reporter caught wind of our mission, and reached out to the Bizzigirls to interview us.  The reporter joined up with us, and interviewed us---tape recorder and all.

Surreal.

I'm going to ignore that I have daydreamed about being interviewed about anything and I had a lineup of witty, clever and charming responses to any question that could come my way.

I drew on virtually none of those responses in the actual interview---but during the recorded portion of the interview, Mady did delicately mention that she had to use the facilities (meaning that she bleeted that she "REALLYREALLYREALLY had to pee") and I responded with love and sympathy (meaning that I hissed "JUST HOLD IT FOR 3 FREAKING MINUTES, OK?!?!?!?!")

In all seriousness, the reporter was lovely and laughed at our exchange.  Article will be published on Thursday.

We're not perfect--- but at least have fun with it.  We slap a spotlight on our imperfections out and blast them out for the world to see.  There's honor in that, right?

The night ended with us tired and happy....and grateful.

We are especially grateful to the talented vendors who shared so generously with us:

2Design Studios
3 Sisters Soaps & Scents
Katee Boyle Art 
Kate Rose Customs Magnets 
Neve Elk Hand Knits
Sweet Salvation Truffles Artisan Chocolates
Vintage Faerie Studio 

and of course, the Bizzigirls.

Only time (and effort) will tell if we achieve our goal....but I have to say, I kind of feel like we've already won.

With love and thanks,

Mady and Nicole

Sunday, February 16, 2014

An update: 1,069 pounds!

We are making progress!  Our amazing friends and family continue to surprise us with their support and generosity:




Oh, and we're in the press!  Surreal....    http://chescotimes.com/?p=4203  

While I've humiliated myself on the TV news more times than I'd like to count, this is the first time I've been in the newspaper since 1986.  Damn.  I'm old.  Enjoy the throwback below:



In gratitude,