She's Got Spirit, Yes She Do!

Forgive my entire lack of grammar skills.  It couldn't be helped.

As you may remember my darling eldest child is now a Rah-Rah.  She hates it when I call her that as Cheerleaders no longer shout "Rah-Rah!"  but I persist because I think it's funny.

Her school colors are maroon & white ("When I say 'maroon' you say 'white,'" doesn't have quite the same ring as, "When I say 'purple' you say 'gold.'" But that's just my opinion) so when it came time to cast up last night, that's what she went with.  

Her teachers were impressed but have also said she didn't have to go to such extremes to show her school spirit.  

Now she's waiting for the swelling to go down so she can take her silver sharpie to school and let everyone sign it.

We saw the Orthopedic surgeon yesterday afternoon.  He said the bone had shifted just the tiniest bit but because of the position of her growth plates and her age it won't cause a problem.  We go back in next Thursday night to have it x-rayed to make sure things haven't shifted.  I fear my child may begin to glow in the dark after all this radiation.

The cast has cut the pain down considerably.  She's taking ibuprofen a few times a day for the pain, but it's not bad.  Itching seems to be the biggest issue at the moment.  We may try benadryl before bed tonight.

Have I really thought this through?

I've just realized that I'm a little over a month out from starting my new job.  This is going to come with some serious changes in the FarmFamily house hold.

First of all, I'm giving up my morning duties and Husband will be taking over.  He will be in charge of getting the FarmHands up and ready for school. He will be making breakfast, brushing hair, and running them out the door to the bus stop.  He will be kissing good-bye and making sure everyone has their back pack & lunch box.

While he's doing that, I will be making breakfast for 20-40 children.

I'm going to have to re-work when  and how I cook at home.  For the past 15 years lunch has been our big meal of the day.  I've cooked what most would serve for dinner at noon so Husband would have a good meal before he left for the day and there would be leftovers to send in his "lunch" to work.  Now I'm going to have to cook of an evening or make serious use of my new, uber-fancy crock pot Husband got me for my birthday.  I cannot leave the poor man to live on frozen pizza and pork burgers for weeks on end.

With BabyGirl in cheerleading, we'll have to accustom ourselves to numerous trips back in to school to pick her up after practices or drop her off for games.  She'll have to learn to get her homework done in study hall.  Late nights after basketball games will become her norm.

But the thing that concerns me most (at the moment) is how I'm going to adjust my sleep schedule.  I'll still have to accomplish everything I've always had to do in the few hours after the FarmHands get off the bus before they go to bed plus some extras what with cheerleading tossed in the mix, but I'll need to get my self to sleep hours earlier than normal.  I can't be up until 11:30 folding laundry and still be at work by 5:30 the next morning.

Things are going to be different.  It's going to happen rather suddenly.  We'll all have to make serious adjustments.

I guess it's not just Mom who's returning to the work force.  It's a family affair.

When High School comes back to bite you in the butt.

I was the quintessential drama geek in high school.  I wore weird clothes (really, no one wore knee boots and rust colored corduroy skirts in 1993).  I listened to weird music.  I had entire segments of the Muppet Movie, Monty Python, The Princess Bride, Rocky Horror, and other cult classics memorized.  Broadway musicals were my life's ambition.  One thing I was not was 'preppy.'

In fact, anything to do with the "popular" crowd, I abhorred- school spirit most of all.  In fact, I detested sports of any kind.  I though the cheer leaders were bubble headed ninnies.  I was pretty sure the football players couldn't spell Shakespeare much less read him.  Yes, I was a reverse snob.  If you weren't a band geek, drama geek, or had purple hair I didn't want anything to do with you.

Yes, I was the girl who spent hours at football games (I was in the flag corps in the marching band) screaming the names of cheerleaders when their backs were to the stands while pretending I hadn't said a word when they bounced around & scanned the crowd for the friends they thought were calling them.  I was the loudest of the protesters who felt the cheerleader's skirts should at the very least fall within the length limits set forth by the school dress code.  I was the black clad, red lipstick wearing misanthrope who read Sylvia Plath during pep-rallys (OK, so I never read Sylvia Plath in high school, but you get the idea).  In fact, the closest I ever got to cheerleading was when I helped Did dress like an anarchist cheerleader from the Smells Like Teen Spirit video for Halloween.

Today all of that has officially come back to bite me in the hind quarters.  BabyGirl made the cheer squad at school!

What has the world come to?  I am now a cheer mom.  Heaven help us all.


In all actuality, I am over the moon proud of BabyGirl.  She worked really hard & is super excited about this new venture.  I'm super excited about the socks and sneakers she's going to have to become accustomed to.  Cheerleading is going to open up a world of not only sports and team activities to her, but it's going to open up a world of yet unworn fashion.  I can't wait to see how this goes.

So do not be surprised to find me screaming my head off in the stands when someone shouts, "If you're here for the Warriors say, 'HEY!'"

HEY!!!