Disheveled and Disjointed....

I didn't sleep well last night. I kept waking up every hour or so, worrying about College Boy - he went to a concert last night.....did I mention they were having a blizzard in his College Town? So I would wake up, think about him, and say a prayer for his safety and well being. (This might be a good time to mention that the ONLY thing I seemed to have slept through was his text - sent around 1:00 - telling me he was home and that the concert was amazing....) After I said my little prayer, my mind would race, until I fell asleep for another little while.... At 4:00 a.m., I gave up and got up, made some coffee, cooked some soba noodles for Babiest Girls' lunch, made some Edemame for good measure and kept one eye on CNN. Yesterday I discovered a live weather cam, aimed at the Student Union and Quad (Do they still call them that?) on College Boys campus, so I kept that going on the computer screen - I wanted to see the October Snow unfold - without the wind chill! Once I got the girls out the door for school (which involved MORE praying, because Baby Girl thinks she is grown, and has been driving to school...with both girls in the car, that constitutes a twofer in the prayer department), I threw on some jeans and headed in to work. It is now THE DAY BEFORE THE FALL FESTIVAL, which means my day off turns into one that stretches past supper time. Tables were moved, chairs hauled in and out, inflatable pumpkins plugged in and tested, Halloween candy put out and tested... I stripped the shelves of Hot Dog Buns BARE at the WalMart, then prizes were put in bowls, tennis balls put into pantyhose (Not to worry - it's for one of the games),the popcorn machine was scrubbed and sanitized....SPEAKING of popcorn.....I have been a Children's Minister for years, and I cannot tell you how many times I have used that Popcorn machine ( AND, there have been several predecessors to the current machine - one even met a spectacular and fiery end at a movie night, but I digress...) and today, for the first time after all these years , it occurred to me, as I was huffing and puffing (and possibly muttering a kitchen word or two, but that's OK, cause I was by myself) over the dadgummed machine, that if. I. lined. the. bottom. with. foil. it would make clean up a snap! I even poked holes in the foil to correspond with the old maid escape holes in the bottom of the popper.....EARTH SHATTERING, I tell you! Tomorrow, I will put my years as a Singing Telegram Clown to good use. ( One of my many College jobs - We had to blow up all of our own balloons - one dozen  with each delivery, and as we were paid per telegram, with the most jobs going to the most organized Clown, let me tell you - I am fast with some helium!) I will fill the Fellowship Hall ceiling with floating pumpkin balloons - and then - Festival Time....a night full of  lots of popcorn and hot dogs, hugs, exclamations of delight at each and every costume, eyes full of wonder and excitement, spills to wipe up, more hugs, games to oversee, candy to dispense, happy faces on young and old alike, and did I mention hugs? A few sleepless nights, and walking around disheveled and disjointed are a small price to pay for that kind of dividend......Happy Fall Festival!