Manic Mays

Very busy at the moment. May is always like this and yet I'm always slightly shocked by the pace. Our school year ends on June 9th (I know, bloody ridiculous) so the end-of-year activities are all crammed into May.  Little Guy is studying Japan so his class has a wonderful tea ceremony in a few weeks. There's a high school orchestra performance somewhere in there, with my teens both playing (violin and viola); we have a jazz performance next Friday (Man-child on guitar) and I seem to remember volunteering to take fruit, paper plates and something else for the spread afterwards.Oh yes, and Little Guy's piano recital. Oh and a rock concert (Nirvana) in a few weeks. Oh yes, and my mother's arrival at the end of May. (Must get the guest room cleared out.)

The Queenager is graduating high school (sob) so May is full of "last-ever" things, culminating in Prom on June 11th. Fortunately, her school downplays it a bit, so there's no ridiculous limos and other things to worry about, but it would be nice if she would focus on finding a dress. For some reason, she needs to know who she's going with before she can choose a dress!! (Figure that one out). She has been told that someone is going to ask her soon, so I just wish he'd get on with it.

I also have my sponsored walk next Saturday to raise money for "my" little school in Ghana. I never know how many people are coming but there's a good buzz about it this year and I've already have about $1,000 worth of donations. (I have some fabulous friends who never fail to support it.) Most importantly, we have a sponsor who has committed to donating 50 cents for every dollar we raise - Yahoo! That's just reminded me - I need to organise getting shots/jabs for me and the Queenager as we're going to Ghana in July.

What else? Oh yes, I help run a massive garage/jumble sale which runs for two whole days (21 and 22 May). We collect stuff every Tuesday morning throughout the school year and it takes us (with an army of volunteers) 2 whole days to set out three gyms full of tables. The profits go to our school's scholarship fund and it's a lot of fun, but very, very exhausting.

But the straw that will break this camels' back? I got called for stand-by jury bloody duty for May 23rd. Can you believe it? I have to phone up that night and see if they want me the following day. I don't suppose "I'm really busy and my mum's coming in a few days" is a good enough excuse is it?