2nd week of AP testing menu plan

 It's the second week of AP testing and I have three test days this week.  One of the tests I'm proctoring is Music Theory, and one of the test elements of Music Theory is sight singing with a recorded response.  The recording portion of the test takes about 10 minutes, and each student has to record separately, in a room by themselves.  Y'all.  There are over 24 students taking this test.  And I'm the only proctor.  I asked the coordinator if we were really going to be there an extra four hours plus to get the recording done.  Fortunately, no we are not.  We're calling in reinforcements and there will be three rooms recording at once.  Even so, it'll take more than an hour to record all the responses.

Anyway, I've modified my meal plan once again this week* to account for possible low energy levels on testing days, making some things ahead of time, and planning others that are super easy and fast.

Here's what's on the meal plan this week:

• Fend for yourself (both because of testing and because of a track meet)
• Easy beef stroganoff, green beans
• Tacos (from the freezer) with all the fixin's 
• Chicken fried rice (doubling the chicken and reducing the amount of rice)
• Pizza, salad
• Marry me chicken (y'all, this is so good), noodles, broccoli
• Grilled top sirloin steak, mashed potatoes, grilled green veggie

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*Thank goodness for that lasagna I made Monday for me to just pop in the oven on Tuesday last week.  I hadn't read the recipe carefully, and the Bolognese sauce had to simmer for an hour.  That definitely would not have happened if I hadn't made it ahead of time.  I even had enough ingredients to add two (8x8") lasagnas to the freezer stash--it would have been three if I'd had more noodles.

From the Vault: Online MLM parties

I found this unpublished post in my draft folder and thought why not?  Why not post this completely formed post from three years ago as is?  I haven't been invited to any online MLM parties in a long time--are they still a thing?  Or are my friends and relatives just not having them?  Anyway, here ya go:

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Have you noticed that more folks are hosting their MLM parties online these days?  The first I was invited to was in April(ish) of 2020, so I'm not sure if it was happening before then, or if online parties were born of pandemic necessity.  I kinda like the online format.  It means that I can "attend" parties thrown by far-away friends, and I don't feel as pressured* to actually buy anything at an online party.  The most important positive factor of online parties is that I don't have to interact with anyone in real life.

I'm not a fan of the Facebook forum, because ugh, Facebook.  I am also not a fan of the week-long party.  My favorite was that one in April(ish) of 2020, where most of the action happened on one day, and then we had 4 or 5 days to place our orders.  I was able to devote one afternoon to refreshing the page, and I was sure that I didn't miss anything.

Here's what's bugging me today.  The past three of these things that I've participated in, I have asked the sales consultant for a link to a specific product that I was not able to find on the website.  None of the three actually gave me a link, and one of them, when I said I couldn't find a specific product and could they give me a link, sent me a screenshot of the item.  I guess to prove that it was, actually, available?  But dude.  I just told you that I can't find it on the website.  A screenshot is not going to help.  And in order to get that screenshot, you went to the product page.  Would it not have been just as easy to just give me the stinking link at that point?  Do you want to make a sale, or not**?

That's what gets me.  I'm expressing interest in buying a product, and asking you, the sales consultant, to make it a little easier for me.  I know for darn sure that if we were at an in-person party, you wouldn't be giving me a product number or a screenshot.  You would be finding the item, and writing it down on the order form for me.

Is anybody here an MLM sales person?  Do you know why these people are unwilling to give out product links?  

* * * * *

* Notice, I didn't say I don't feel pressured at all.

** I did not purchase anything from that party.

AP Testing Season & Menu Plan for the Week of May 5

 It's AP testing season, and y'all know what that means.

Actually, you probably don't know what that means, at least not what I mean when I say you know what that means, because I don't think I ever told you: I'm an AP proctor.  And being an AP proctor is exhausting*.

As of right now, I am scheduled to proctor 10** AP exams over the 3 week regular and late testing period.  There will probably be more.  It's kind of a lot.

It's my third year, so now I know I'm going to be exhausted, rather than having the exhaustion sneak up on me, so I'm preparing mentally and environmentally.  I'm planning meals with testing in mind, and making some ahead of time.  Fingers crossed I don't completely crash each day I have testing (and then stay crashed the next day).

Here's what's on the menu this week:

• Beef & cheese chimichangas (making extra filling for the future). avocado, green beans 
• Lasagna (making this on Monday: baking and eating on Tuesday, plus an extra to freeze), garlic toast, salad, raw carrots
• Fend for yourself
• Chicken fried rice, applesauce
• Pizza***, salad
• Grilled chicken ranch skewers, garlic toast, salad
• Grilled hamburgers, buns, salad, raw carrots

Can you tell which days are my testing days this week (hint: there are three of them)?  Wish me luck and good energy this week!

* * * * *

* At least for me it's exhausting.  It stems from a combination of my social anxiety (having to hang out with people I don't know for hours at a time), along with just not being used to having to be anywhere on a specific day at a specific time anymore, plus having to leave the house before 7 am, looking presentable.  Oh, and then there's being in charge. 

** Bubby's taking three, all in the first week.  He's way more resilient than I am these days, and he's also used to being out of the house for at least 8 hours a day on week days, so I feel like it will be a less exhausting experience for him.

*** We might be fending for ourselves and/or going out to eat this day because I have two tests during the day, plus two choir concerts that evening.

Track & field is a strange sport (and I'm glad to be a part of it)

 So I came to my blog to look up a recipe, and, as I tend to do when I visit my blog, I looked back at some of the most recent posts.  First of all, I believed, with all of my brain, and down to my toes, that I had posted (at least) once in 2024.  Nope.  I did not.

And second, I noticed an asterisk in one of the posts.  It looked like this: 

...track and field is a strange sport*

And the asterisk said:

* More on this in a future blog post

And I was appalled, because I did not, in fact, write more about this in a future blog post.  Well.  This is me, keeping my word.

Track and field is a strange sport.  There are so many different events, right?  There's running short distances.  There's running long distances.  There's running medium distances.  There's running short or medium distances while jumping over things that have been placed in your way.  There's running various distances in teams carrying a metal tube.  There's running and jumping long and running and jumping high.  There's running and jumping three times in a row.  There's spinning in circles and throwing things.  There's running with a pole, planting the pole, and using the pole to carry yourself over a bar, where you then crash down on a padded mat.  Hopefully.  And that's not all.  That's just what happens at a high school track & field meet in my state.

I love this about track & field.  There's literally something for everyone.  Don't like to run?  Well, my friend, you can throw things instead.  Don't like to jump three times?  Why not jump just once?  Have a death wish crave adrenaline?  Try pole vault or hurdles.

So there's a lot going on, right?  And a lot of it is happening at once.  And if you're a parent, your kid is participating in, at most, 4 events.  And those events might include both the first and the last events of the day.  And so you stay, for hours.  Like 4, 5, maybe even 6 hours if the meet is not efficiently run, and you spend just a few minutes* watching your kid actually compete#, and the rest of the time you cheer for the kiddos running by, or read a book, or watch the pole vaulters hurl themselves into the air on the end of a stick and marvel at their bravery, or sit miserably doing none of these things because it's raining so hard you can't see.

But wait, there's more.  This might be specific to our team, because it's kind of a big team: you don't know if your kiddo will actually be going to and competing in any given track meet until a few days ahead of time.  If you're on the football team, you know that there's a game every Friday, and you're going to that game unless you're injured or sick**.  You may or may not play, but you know that you're obliged to be there.  Track?  Nope.  The coach will let you know on Sunday if you're going to the meet on Tuesday.  Bubby's first season, I dutifully wrote all of the track meets on my calendar at the beginning of the season.  I don't do that anymore.  I hold my after school schedule lightly, and wait for that Sunday evening email.

And more. Track meets attract teams from schools you've never heard of before.  They're not in your conference.  They're not in your division.  Sometimes, they're not even from your state.  But here they are, at the same meet as you.  And the meets don't matter.  It doesn't matter one bit how your team does at any of the meets during the season.  The conference champ is not the team that scored the most points at their meets that season.  The conference champ is the team that scores the most points at the conference meet, where finally, finally, all of the teams are from your conference.

And then do you know what happens?  It starts over!  You go to the regional meet, and if you do well there, you'll qualify for the sectional meet, and if you do well there, you'll qualify for the state meet.  So nothing matters except those last four meets of the season.  And even then, while winning your conference is cool and all, it doesn't matter to move on.  Clean slate for regionals.  You can win your event every single time during the season, but if you have a bad day at regionals, your season is over.

Track and field is a strange collection of sporting events all rolled in to one, but I love it.  You know why?  Because anyone is welcome regardless of talent.  Every team member is given the opportunity to compete, and every team member is celebrated for their accomplishments.  There's a girl that I've been watching for three years.  She runs distance events.  And she comes in last almost every time***.  But there she is, at the next meet, running again.  I love her.  I love that.  It's not about winning for her.  It's about showing up and doing her best for herself.

So there you go.  Track & field is weird and wonderful and inspiring and oh-so-tedious, and I am so glad to be a part of it.

* * * * *

* In my case, it is less than a minute of watching my kid compete because he sprints and jumps, and those are fast events.

# One time my kiddo went to a meet as an alternate for a relay, and no other events, so I went to the meet, sat there for hours, and watched him hold the blocks for the boy who was running the first leg of the relay, because he wasn't needed.  Then we left.

** And sometimes even if you're injured you go to the game.

*** One time, and only one time, I've seen her be not-last.