The End of Summer Vacation!

Congratulations team Vinyl! Their team pulled off a victory in the upcycling challenge! Thank you to everyone who voted, and to everyone who checked out the fabulousness, but didn't vote! Sorry team 5finger, your monkey was darling! (You may want to check on him though, I think I saw a stuffed teardrop on his cheek! Stuffed monkeys are quite sensitive!)

The moppets went back to school this week. I have such mixed emotions about their return to school, or rather their mass exodus from the cottage. There is so much excitement attached to the new school year, new clothes, new supplies, new teachers, new friends, and (for two of my children) new schools. My own internal calendar is synced with the school calendar. None of that New Year's resolution business for me, my yearly fresh start is triggered by the diesel fumes of the old yellow school bus!

With their return to school, comes the thrill of almost having my house to myself (my loving husband is working from home right now and my darling youngest child doesn't start preschool until next week!), but my appetite has certainly been whetted! Glimpses of the Today Show, almost getting to hear the snarky comments Matt Lauer makes under his breath, sitting down-it doesn't get much better than that!

On the other hand, I kind of miss my moppets! I know, I know, it's CRAZY! But, I truly enjoy my children (most of the time), and they make me laugh. I also haven't quite prepared myself for the onslaught of meetings, back-to-school nights, homework, bed time and schedules! And the forms! Good golly, I have writer's cramp from filling out all of the stinkin' school forms! I'm fed up with the forms!

     Dear Scrupulous School Officials,
            Whilst filling out one of the 118 school forms I've had to complete over the past four
     days, it has come to my attention that you neither realize, nor care, that all of my children have
     the same address, phone number, emergency contact information, persons authorized to pick them
     up from school, etc. I realize it boggles the mind, kind sirs and madams, but our children even have
     the same exact siblings today that I painstakingly listed on yesterday's forms (with their
     corresponding schools indicated in parentheses behind their names as requested). As you may or
     may not realize, if there was a change in siblings between yesterday and today, I would likely be
     filling out annoying hospital forms rather ridiculous, unbelievably redundant school forms.
          While I appreciate your complete lack of awareness of the aforementioned information, I would
     like you to know that I do not enjoy writing our home address three times on the same form, nor do
     I understand it. Might I suggest looking into a way to streamline the collection of this information
     and even store it for future use?
           Finally, I humbly propose a completely off-the-wall idea for your consideration. If you really
     need twenty-two copies of the same information, I've heard of a machine that makes copies of
     papers. It's hard to believe, but from what I understand, you can hardly tell the difference between
     the original page and the copies. (I know, it sounded like hocus pocus to me too, but it might be
     worth looking into.)  The only problem I can foresee is that you would have to decide on a
     standardized format for your forms rather than the twenty-two different versions you currently use.
           There, there, loving school officials, I understand, change makes us all a little nervous, but
     really, enough's enough!
       

     PS: Could you kindly return to me the 118 forms I filled out last year? I would like to recycle them.
     Thank you

I apologize for the rant, I am suffering from an acute case of form rage! I am off to find a cure-I think it is in the kitchen, and rhymes with boffee! Coffee? Toffee? Either way, I'm feeling better already!