A BOX TOPS CRISIS! and other suburban moments.

First of all, all day long I thought it was Wednesday until about 4:00 when another teacher said something about how excited she was that tomorrow was Wednesday and I was like, *record scratch* “WHAT?!”

Secondly, last night Chris and I went to the Florida Film Festival to see a screening of our friend, Brett Haley’s, new movie, Hearts Beat Loud.  Brett was actually in town for the event because he was speaking before and after the showing, so we met him with some of our friends at a bar before the movie and then went out for dinner afterwards.  ON A SCHOOL NIGHT!  What has gotten into me?!  But let me tell you how good this movie is…  It is so good that I forgot I was seeing it because it was Brett’s movie.  I forgot we were at a film festival.  I forgot we were even in a theater.  I forgot that I was sitting on the front row and had to stare straight up for two hours.  It was THAT good.

At one point, I felt Chris moving in his seat next to me and I snapped my head over, startled to find there were other people in the theater with me!  But there definitely were other people there.  It was a sold out showing, actually.  Which is funny because as we sat at the bar across the street from the theater before the movie started, Brett kept insisting he didn’t think anyone would come and so we didn’t really rush to get over there or anything.  But when we walked in, the ENTIRE THEATER WAS FULL, except for the neck-breaking, very front row, which is where we ended up sitting.  So much for VIP connections…BRETT.

I’m so happy for Brett because each movie he sells gets better and bigger than the one before.  Hearts Beat Loud is his third movie to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and it actually sold at the festival, too, which means it will be coming to theaters near YOU (even internationally) around Father’s Day, which is perfect because this is the sweetest story about a father and a daughter.  Oh, my.  It will hit you right in the feels. Go see this one, friends.

Third, the most horrendous thing happened in my little suburban life this week.  One of my responsibilities on the board of my kids’ school’s PTA is Box Tops for Education.  You know, those little pink labels you clip on food boxes and send in to raise money for schools?  Yeah, those.  I hate them. Everyone hates them.  They are awful.  But three times a year, I have my honors society kids at my middle school sort and count them for the elementary school as a community service project.  They get service hours, I get my Box Tops counted, and the elementary school gets money.  Everybody wins.

Except this week.  Nobody won.

I picked the giant tub of Box Tops up from the elementary school last Thursday, with the plan for my honors society kids to sort them on Friday.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time at our meeting and didn’t get to the Box Tops, so I put the tub underneath a desk in my classroom to keep them safe and headed home for the weekend.

Monday morning, I walk into my classroom to find… (wait for it… wait for it…) *GASP* the box with the Box Tops was E-M-P-T-Y.  Apparently, the custodians at my school THREW THEM AWAY on Friday after my honors society meeting when they were cleaning my classroom.  Y’all, it was $500 worth of Box Tops!!!!!  I almost cried.

I immediately went to my administrator and explained what had happened, and they assured me they would have the custodians dig through the dumpsters to see if they could find them, but it has now been two days and none have been returned to me.  I am so upset!  I have a PTA meeting on Thursday and I have to tell the board that not only are the Box Tops not ready for mailing, but that I don’t even have them anymore.

Oh, friends.  Drama, trauma for this Momma Llama.

Fourth, I have a crush on Zak Efron and I feel I need to report that to someone.

Fifth, enjoy these pictures of the kids from our spring break a few weeks ago.  We spent the morning hiking through a park close to our house.  I would like a gold star and a pedicure for taking the kids onto a hike in the woods by myself, with no protection from snakes and woodland creatures besides throwing my children in front of me.