When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.
This has been a week of checking things off the list. I finished reworking the sister-to-sister (visiting teaching) ministry in our congregation. I mailed several packages - one to my son (with the item he couldn't fit in his return luggage and some cookies from mom), one to my teacher niece, Kara, and one to my BFF, Jan, with the snowflake ornaments made by her mom. I wrote my Christmas thank-you notes. With the help of my husband, my son, and my son-in-law, we finally made the transfer to a smaller laptop, intended to make traveling with a computer easier. However, there was nothing easy about weeding files and figuring out how to make all my photos fit on a laptop with a smaller memory. We moved the photos to an external hard drive. Thanks to the guys on my team who guided this process and put up with my grumpiness along the way.
It's also been a week of embracing the humor that life brings! I got this text from my niece on Thursday: "I got a package from you the other day. We were hosting a dinner party and I got busy and didn't text. Who made the snowflake ornaments?" Uh-oh! The snowflake ornaments were supposed to go to Jan. We prepay and preprint our labels at home and it appears that I put the labels on the wrong packages. I emailed Jan, curious that she hadn't wondered about the teacher postcards and magazines that she received. The reason that I hadn't heard from her was because she hadn't opened the package. She set it aside, knowing that it was her mom's snowflake ornaments. Here's the note I sent her: "Hello udder sister, I heard from Kara who got your snowflake ornaments. So that makes me think you got her teacher postcards and magazines. I'm a mess! ~Your goofy sis And here's the reply from my BFF (also known as udder sister): "I'll contact Kara & we'll ungoof it." Only one problem, Kara ate Jan's fudge! There wasn't any fudge in Kara's package since it was a flat priority envelope! I celebrate that the people I love are willing to "unroof" my mistakes!
Finally, we had a wonderful celebration Tuesday afternoon at Books Brownies & Beyond as we listened to the ALA YMA's webcast. We were thrilled that two of our titles received Newbery Honors - The War that Saved my Life and Echo. We were surprised that a picture book won the Newbery award. I read Last Stop on Market Street to the group, we revisited the Newbery criteria, and discussed what made this book distinguished. We are excited to move forward from our Mock Newbery focus to a biography/memoir focus.
There's no better way to celebrate books than with a lively room of fifteen middle schoolers!
Love the "ungoof." This kind of attitude would serve everyone well.
ReplyDeleteWhat a crazy week you had, Ramona! Such a funny story about the package mix up and that Kara ate the fudge. I bought a Mac two years ago and have yet to transfer all of my files from my other laptop over to it because it just seems like too much work. You are a braver woman than I am!
ReplyDeleteThe mail mix-up is too funny!
ReplyDeleteLove that you got it all "un-done", the Ramona mail crisis, I'll call it. Too funny, especially about the fudge! But also love your wrap of the Newbery Books & Brownies. What a lovely discussion that must have been! Yet, The War That Saved My Life got an honor. I loved it too. Finally, happy about the tech all complete. That must feel very good. Have a good rest of the weekend!
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm leaving it up to Kara and her "Aunt Jan" to undo my mess!
DeleteThe fudge consumption made me laugh! So glad you have so many loved ones to share in this goofy life.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Newbery Honors sure threw us a loop! I love that they are sending the message that picture books can meet the standards of this honor!
Ramona, your story makes me smile. With good intentions in place the goof makes for a memorable story. It's great that everyone in your family knows how to laugh and move on to plan B. Enjoy your long weekend.
ReplyDeleteAs busy as your week sounds, I think your one little goof is pretty remarkable. I am sure I would have had more. Sharing the awards with students makes reading so much more pleasurable...and the brownies too!
ReplyDeleteI too have been chipping away at a lengthy to-do list. Glad you were able to sort out the goof. :) Your books and brownies crew sounds so fun.
ReplyDeleteLove the story about the mixed up packages. It made me feel very good since I do things like that all the time.
ReplyDeleteUn-goof...I'm adding that to my vocabulary!
ReplyDeleteI love the way your posts are always so full of life! Thanks for celebrating.