So we had a big weekend o’ fun.
It all started on Thursday afternoon. I picked Caroline up from school early so she could go to Alamo City Church with me and help the LifeWay event team set up for Priscilla Shirer’s Going Beyond conference. We unpacked boxes of t-shirts and unrolled large marketing posters and spread tablecloths on tables and a million other little things that I had no idea had to be done. Caroline had the best time and believes she has found her calling setting up posters and hauling boxes from one room to another.
We left there around 4:00 and had to make the final decision about the Bike Rodeo which was happening Friday morning. Caroline said she was too tired to practice and I informed her that if she didn’t practice then she couldn’t participate in the Bike Rodeo, especially since she’d just learned to ride four days earlier. She announced she needed time alone in her room to weigh her options.
Ultimately, the allure of the Bike Rodeo won.
It wasn’t a flawless performance but she never gave up and, most importantly, never threw her bike to the ground and cursed the day bicycles were created. It felt like a victory.
Friday evening I went back to the church to help with the conference and hear Priscilla speak. Y’all will be sad to know that I did not get my own walkie-talkie and headphones this time. Or maybe I was just sad about it and y’all won’t care. They said it was because they’d only brought five of them along and gave them to more crucial team members, but I suspect it might have had something to do with my inability to figure out the difference between the talk button and the listen button. Whatever. It’s not as easy as it looks.
I worked the merch table. Mainly because I like to talk about selling merch. It makes me feel like Andy Barnard.
And I got to slip in and listen to Priscilla speak. She taught an amazing lesson on Gideon and the Midianites that will stick with me for a long time. I’m sure I’ll end up writing more about it later but I’m still processing some of it.
On Saturday morning I had to be back at the church at 6:45. For those of you doing the math at home, that means I had to set my alarm for 5:45. And because I am neurotic and tend to fret endlessly about oversleeping, I got a grand total of 15 minutes of sleep Friday night. Needless to say I left the house early enough to stop at Starbucks for some serious caffeine because you can’t work a merch table and do all that math (buy 2 CDs, get 1 FREE!) in your head when you’re delirious from lack of sleep.
But I was so excited to meet the cutest group of girls from Waco. Shout out to the Waco gals! Loved meeting y’all so much. I’m so glad the bus didn’t leave you on Friday night.
Anyway, after the event was over, we grabbed a quick lunch before dropping off most of the team at the airport. My friend, Paige, stayed behind to spend Saturday night so we could have a little more time to hang out. We headed straight to Caroline’s last basketball game of the season. I’m sorry to say that it was not their best performance. I’m even more sorry to say that they played the same team they played last week with the coach that made me want to throw something across the court. They were sad about their loss for all of two minutes until they discovered they were all getting medals.
Upon receiving her medal, Caroline immediately announced, “I’M THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD” so it would appear the loss had a negligible effect on her self-image.
After that, Paige, Caroline and I headed to get pedicures because we felt like we needed them after all the selling of the merch and the standing on our feet.
I chose an OPI color called “You Don’t Know Jacques” and couldn’t be more pleased. It’s kind of a pewter color which is normally not in my color range, but I love it for this time of year. The highlight of the pedicure was when Paige’s male pedicurist (Is that what you call them? I have no idea.) put her flip-flops back on her and then did a Ninja move in celebration of his flip-flop putting on skills. It brought us untold joy.
(Is this post as boring as it seems from this end? Because I’m kind of struggling. It’s also not helping that P is sitting next to me watching When We Were Soldiers which isn’t necessarily the lighthearted feel-good movie of the year. I may wake up with post traumatic stress syndrome tomorrow morning.)
Saturday evening, we introduced Paige to the glory that is a cheeseburger from Chris Madrid’s and then we stayed up late visiting in between countless yawns because we were about to fall over from exhaustion. Eventually we gave up the fight and headed to bed.
We woke up in the morning, went to church, and ate more Mexican food. And then, sadly, the fun had reached its end and we took Paige to the airport.
And then we went to a birthday party for P’s mom and ate cake.
And then Caroline wanted to go for a bike ride because she has decided her bike is the best thing EVER and can’t believe we let her go so long without knowing how to ride it.
Right. Whatever you say.
And that was the weekend.
On a totally different note, I just dated this post and how is it already March? My word at how the time flies.
I love reading about people’s weekends. Yours sounds so fun – mine was spent battling a virus that is tromping over people’s respiratory systems here in my corner of the world.
I had many favorite lines but loved reading once again about the Merch table – and Andy Bernard would totally be all over that Merch table talk – probably singing about it too – skibby-da-boop-boop-boop, etc. 🙂
Haha, I do the same thing about oversleeping! On the rare times that I convince myself all will be right in the world and that I WILL wake up on time…that is when something goes wrong and therefore causes me to get even less sleep the next time.
I’ll be hitting up San Antonio this weekend to see Wicked! Woohoo!
Congrats to C for completing the Bike Rodeo!
Man, you are SO cool!!! How do I know? Well, because you get to use the insider’s language–like the “merch table.” ONLY authorized personnel can call it that. I’m sorry about the headset. Did it feel like you were de-promoted? (Is that even a word? No it is NOT. Cause I just thought of the word–de-MOTED. Ha!)
Also, I KNOW Jacques!!!! I’ve worn that very color. Maybe once or even TWICE.
Happy March!!
I’m really sorry to end that above comment so abruptly, but I literally had nothing else to say. Nothing smart, nothing funny. So, basically this: nothing.
I think that is my brain’s way of saying, “Goooo tooooo beeeeddddd.”
Is that a headlight from the Sta Wa on her bike?
Yes, March. Only 299 more shopping days until you know what….
Yes, it is indeed the first day of March. So long, long Winter. BRING ON THE SPRING!!!
How exciting to read that Caroline had enough confidence to participate in the Bike Rodeo after less than a week of practice! Queen of the World. That made me smile. 🙂
Sounds like a great girls’ weekend. Thanks for sharing!
Ha! My hubby too suffers from the nervous about oversleeping so can’t sleep at all thing–it’s no fun! But it looks like y’all had a fun weekend!
I hate it when I know I have to get up at a certain early time in the morning and really have to get my act in gear and wake up every 15 or 30 minutes all night long.
A living could be made moving boxes from room to room.
I think I financed my college education doing that kind of work. And I still do it as a teacher!
Move this from first to second grade. That needs to go to fourth grade. You get the picture.
I am reading this thinking to myself… “Well now, this is what it would be like to live in the south.”. Flip flops instead of boots. And crazy… Our kids have to wear winter coats n hats to basketball and then change indoors. It never occured to me to play outside!! We have Soccer and baseball in the summer – the rest in the gym or on the ice rink. On the other hand my little guy will play hockey til the end of March. And about April we will begin to have grass. (Another thing we do indoors in Canada – Easter egg hunts!! :))
We just hide the eggs in the snow up here in Alaska. tough kids. tough bunny.
Look at you with your merch! Just don’t start calling us “Tuna,” okay? 😉
I’ve only seen Priscilla in her Bible study videos, but she is an excellent speaker–so engaging! I bet she’s amazing Live. 🙂
you make me laugh sooooo hard! 🙂 and i can relate about the sleeping thing. if i ever have to get up early and actually DO something(ha!) i have super paranoia that the alarm won’t go off and i’ll oversleep. good thing i am a stay at home mom and can sit and drink coffee all morning in my pj’s! HA!
Oh the Ninja move for his “flip flop putting on skills”. I needed to lol this morning. It feels like groundhogs day AGAIN and that put a smile on my face. Well, that and leave it to OPI to come up with a color called “you don’t know Jacques”. LOVE IT!
We had the pleasure of living in San Antonio for a year and I can’t tell you the amount of salivating that happened at the mention of Chris Madrids, even at 8:30 in the morning. YUM!!!!
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who had a fun-food-filled weekend – LOL!
A big “woohoo” to Caroline for the bike rodeo and soccer medal!
And, Priscilla’s event was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I just heard that her Life, Interrupted book is coming out today, so I’m thinking that it would be a great book for a summer study group.
POST traumatic stress, that’s funny! 😉
Andy Barnard is a great person to aspire to be. As is a box mover and poster hanger. Your family has great goals!
So… what excatly is a bike rodeo? Very curious.
And I’m totally jealous that you got to be Andy Barnard for a weekend.
So does that mean Caroline’s basketball season is over since she got the medal?
I don’t even know how you had the energy to do all that stuff. I need a nap after reading about all of that. LOL
I was glad to read your take on the Oscars. I too found the show somewhat boring. And I wasn’t blown away by the fashions. A few great ones, but I felt some of the outfits weren’t flattering.
Any post that references a merch table and Andy Bernard is anything but boring.
You always brighten my day (hope that’s not too much pressure).
Cheers,
Sara
I just had to comment to let you know I am enjoying my first ever cup of choffee. (I had to google “big mama blog choffee” in order to find the complex recipe.) It is delicious and I am happy. So thank you.
I’m so glad that you seem to always tell us that you go to church. That’s important and it is good you mention it. It encourages me and you are being a good example. Thanks!
Totally NOT trying to stalk you but I got the same OPI color this past Saturday during my Girls Only Day pedicure! Too funny
I’m laughing because my hubby was watching “When We Were Soldiers” on Sunday night. I was so stressed afterwards that it took me hours to fall asleep.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who frets endlessly about oversleeping. And how cool is that, that you get to bring your daughter along to have her minister right alongside of you? Best of both worlds. 🙂
I am so completely with you about the oversleeping-phobia. I thought I was the only one with that curse – if you ever figure out a cure, please let me know.
sweet sweet big mama!! thanks for the shout-out to us waco girls!! it was SUCH a blessing to meet you!! i like you even more now :). the whole weekend was so refreshing for my soul. much love!!
I have nothing else to say but, that I also am currently in LOVE with ‘You Don’t Know Jacques’… I may just wear it all summer too!
WOO HOO! I feel so partially famous! So great to meet you face to face. Thanks for the shout out, but even more, thanks for sharing your life with us! Blessings!