Monday, October 5, 2009

Weekend Wrap Up... One Day Late

I feel like we finally had a semi relaxing weekend. It was nice! I'm SO thankful that it worked out for me to take last Friday off. If I take a day off, I want it to be a Monday or Friday, and this time of year that is tricky. We are slow again, like we always are leading up to the holidays (slow time came early this year! No es bueno.) but on Mondays and Fridays we have work to do for our football programs.

I'm not sure how much I have explained about our summer project, so forgive me if I repeat myself here a bit. I will be brief. We make football programs for several schools over the summer. It is kind of like making mini yearbooks. The schools sell ads and we create them. Like someone will turn in 5 pictures and the words "Johnny: We are so proud of your many accomplishment. Enjoy your senior year. It will be the best time of your life!" (That's a common one!) and we make it into a masterpiece. A 3.687 x 4.375 inch Mona Lisa. Not really. But that is what some parents expect. Anyway (sorry, I said I would be brief!) we create the books over the summer. They are anywhere from 36 pages to 178 pages. Most of them are around 100. We did 7 schools this year. It makes for busy summers, but it's nice to have work to do. During football season, every time a school plays a home game, they sell the books at the gate before the game. Sounds simple enough. The thing that keeps us busy all season though is the center insert. There is a center section in each book that changes for every game. For our small school it is only a 4 page section. For our biggest school, it is 32 pages. The inserts have information that is updated for each game so we can't print those in advance.

The way it works, theoretically is Monday morning, the parent in charge will turn in the information that we need – usually a letter from the coach, "Players of the Week", and pictures to turn into collage pages, and sometimes pictures and text to feature a certain sport – and we have about a day to adjust the pictures, create the pages, get them proofed and approved and to the press. Most weeks we have three schools with home games, so we do that three times. Some weeks we have four schools.

So once the inserts are sent to the press, the printer has three days to print them and then on Fridays, we fold the books, staple them together and cut them down to size. Again, it sounds simple enough.

Here's the catch: Parents never turn in things on time.

This week we have three schools to do, and only one of them got sent to the press today. So most weeks, the work that I need to get done on Monday falls over into Tuesday, which I don't mind because I like having a project to work on, but it makes for SERIOUSLY hectic Fridays. If everything gets sent to the press on Monday, there is a chance that one of them will be printed by Thursday and we can have it done a day early. But that's not possible when everything is turned in late.

I say all of that to say, it is kind of a miracle that I was able to take off last Friday. Last week we had three schools. One of them was our biggest school, which is so big that we actually send it to another printer, who prints it for cheaper than we could because he has a bigger press. The other two were our two smallest books, one of which was only ordering 50 books for the game last week. So there were two books to be assembled on Friday, but it was only a total of 200 books, whereas most weeks, we assemble closer to 500.

Last Monday, when I realized that we had a fairly light load, I snatched my chance and asked my boss if I could take the day off. I was a little nervous about it, because we ALWAYS get guilt trips for taking time off, and sometimes it's not worth the hassle. But I needed a day off. I needed a day where I didn't have to talk to anyone. And it was a good day =-)

I didn't sleep late, like I thought I would, but I didn't get out of bed until 8:30. I crafted from 8:30 to 11:30 and then I ate an easy lunch, showered and took my time getting ready for a 1:10 movie. I enjoyed Whip It =-) I was hoping it would be my new favorite movie. I wouldn't say that is the case, but I did enjoy it. It is purely enjoyable. GREAT CAST! I laughed a lot.

Brett had a half day, so when I got home, we rested for a bit and then headed out to a quick, easy, and most importantly, CHEAP dinner at New York Pizza, Pasta and Subs. $3 for a GIANT slice of some of the best pizza I've ever had. Then we headed down the road to the Lewisville comic shop and snagged a book for Brett that we have been on the lookout for for a little while. I think that we got home around 8:00. NICE! We spent the rest of our evening crafting and video gaming. Guess who did which =-)

Saturday morning we went to a BEAUTIFUL outdoor wedding. Our friends Lance and Becky got married at Legacy River Park in Arlington (I might be wrong about that name... Kelly?). It was gorgeous. Gorgeous weather, gorgeous setting, gorgeous wedding party... all of it! Greatness! My camera battery was dead so I didn't snap any pics, but I hope that I get a chance to visit the park again someday.

After the wedding, we came home and napped. Boy oh boy, did I need a nap! I stayed up super late on Thursday so I would sleep in on Friday morning. That was my plan, but it didn't work out. ha! And then we got up early on Saturday because the wedding was at 10:00 in Arlington. So I was a sleepy girl! But I felt much better after the nap. When we woke up, we made dinner and watched Young Guns II. Not exactly a masterpiece, but a classic for many children of the 80's.

Sunday morning Brett taught Sunday school again. GREAT lesson! We had a tiny bit of drama on Saturday night and it kind of wore us out. We decided that we needed a little extra rest on Sunday, so we actually slept a little late, went to breakfast and then went to Sunday School. I'm so glad that we did. It was the best quality time that we have shared in weeks!

Then yesterday afternoon I went to Laura's Premier Jewelry Party. Wish I had had money! I want the "Pure Sophistication" necklace and the "Gold Lace" earrings. Maybe next time.

Last night Brett grilled burgers and we watched the Rachael Ray Chefography. I love her =-) I think she is cute as a button.

The week is already one day gone and we are looking forward to the weekend! The Woodlands, here we come! I'm super excited!

Wow. That was a long blog. The end.

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