And In My Spare Time, I Will Create a Cactus

As it turns out, I have a full roster of volunteers already committed to Fiesta!  I cannot even begin to tell you what a relief this is.  It’s all beginning to come together.

Except for the decorations.  I’m in charge because no one wanted to create the decorations and I’m a crafty soul, in love with school supplies and latex paint and clever ideas.  Tonight found me wandering the wide aisles of not one, but two local home improvement stores.  I was in search of thick foam insulation suitable for turning into a Mexican village scene and a cactus or two. 

I even picked up a gallon and a quart of latex paint on clearance because it was tinted wrong.  (I bought two more gallons, but had to pay full-price, minus a $5.00 rebate by mail for each one).  I bought supplies–all except the 2″x4’x8′ boards because I only had a small car with me.  Tomorrow or the next day, I’ll pick up the big sheets and the painting fiesta will begin!

I went to the church before I going to the stores and discovered that our church storage room looked like (how I imagine) the stockroom of a Goodwill store must look.  Twenty small wooden chairs formed a tangled hill.  A wheelchair, crutches, braces and a walker were propped up against empty shelves.  Two Christmas tree and assorted decorations had been shoved into the room and blocked the path.  A dozen swimming pool noodles were scattered on the floor, along with a half dozen hula hoops. 

What a mess. 

So, I spent an hour and a half straightening up that nightmare before I even peeked into the room which houses the Mexican tissue paper flowers the church ladies have been industriously fashioning out of materials from the dollar store.

All I have to do, really, is work out all the decorations, assign kids to crews, conduct a couple of meetings, send out letters to all the volunteers and survive the actual week of the Fiesta! 

The week after that?  I’m taking the week off from babysitting and intend to see the local sights, including the Grove of Patriarchs Trail.

But first, I have to survive.