SEW not my weekend! In a way...

I was all geared up to sew this weekend, but got waylaid.... DH was out of town until Sunday playing computer games with high school buddies, so I was a single mother. For those of you out there, I salute you!

I wasn't waylaid because of that as I knew it was coming... But late Thursday found that Maddy wanted to drive 1.5 hours away with a couple friends on Saturday morning. She & 2 friends wanted to cheer on her other friends at the Iowa All State auditions. So basically, be cheerleaders.

Since she'd only had her drivers license for less than 2 weeks AND she'd have to drive through Des Moines, which always seems like it's rush hour (at least in her eyes)... we didn't think that would be wise. So since I had nothing going on on Saturday except sewing and helping Meri hunt for a missing library book, I volunteered to drive them. She wasn't happy... But reluctantly agreed if that was the only way she could go.

So Friday night after the football game and several stops at her friends houses, she finally got home. I stayed up until she got there and then tried to get to sleep while she and her friends banged around pots and pans in the kitchen. I thought "WHAT ON EARTH ON THEY DOING?!!!!" Covered my head with a pillow and went to sleep finally.

Found out in the morning.

They had made brownies... which were COMPLETELY eaten up! sigh... And the counters and table had our pencil/marker/color drawer sprawled out with at least 3 completed posters for them to use whilst cheer-leading.

Apparently these auditions are tough. Not too many kids make it into the All State group. So some kids get pretty distraught when they perform not as well as they'd like. I know the girls have pictures of the posters but none have posted anything on FB yet... so I can't show you. They said things like, "Don't be sad! You did the best you could. Jesus loves you!" Another gave 10 reasons not to give up. And they scribbled and wrote notes and doodles all over them.

The choir instructor was there and LOVED that the girls did this. The posters now grace the walls of her class room this week!

So anyway, when we pulled into the town that was hosting the auditions, Maddy was in dire need of coffee and cough drops. The combination, apparently, is a good kick start for the day. We stopped at a convenience store and she went in. She took a long time... When she finally came out, she didn't have anything with her. She asked the other girls in the car, "Does anyone have extra clothes???" When she was putting the lid on her coffee, it dumped over all down her front and looked like she'd had an accident of other sorts. Her waist got burned pretty good, but not enough to keep her from cheering on her friends. Oh and according to her, the convenience store guy hates her now.

She wore a long sleeved "slept in" track shirt all day sporting the words, "Eat Pasta, Run Fasta" on the back all day. Isn't that funny? They have a spaghetti feed to help fund their sport.

The kids at the audition, even ones NOT from our school, thought my group of girls were pretty crazy but loved them. The kids from our school couldn't believe they actually showed up, as they said they would!

I sat at a table in the cafeteria and ate, read a book and about 10 sewing magazines for about 4 hours. Met parents of kids from other schools, found out about the abysmal music programs of some schools, and felt blessed that we are where we are.

When we got home early afternoon and for the rest of the weekend, Meri and I did other things. I had gotten inspired by the sewing mags, but felt we should find her missing library book instead. Got my craft area and the laundry room cleaned up and can actually see the counters again! Hunted in every single nook and cranny of the house for that book.

No luck... And she didn't even LIKE that book!