Resuming Life

A Family Affair -
Nebalee, Asset, Ashinator and me

You know how much I love the 9HealthFair?  Sure you do, I talk about it pretty much every April.

Well, I love it so much, I thought it would be a good idea to host a Family 9HealthFair.  Nevermind that the spring fairs consume my life from January through April, that wasn't nearly enough, apparently.  Nope, why not let it consume my life from June through September, too?

Jay's pretty patient.  I'm certain there was nothing in our wedding vows about being a 9HealthFair widower eight months out of the year, yet he never grumbles.  It's not like I get paid an additional salary for all of my work with the fair - it's a volunteer-run organization (for the most part - there are 20 paid employees that oversee the tens of thousands of volunteers state-wide).

And this year, it wasn't just me involved.  I recruited Nebalee to be my Wellness Coordinator.  The fall fairs are different from the springs ones in that the focus is on families, so I needed someone to coordinate kids' and family activities.  Cue Nebalee.

She did an outstanding job.  Her ideas really elevated our fair.  She asked for teddy bears to give out to the kids, so that she could teach "Teddy Bear First Aid". 

Is this the best idea ever or what?

The kiddos learned how to put pressure on bleeding and what to do if their Teddy Bear falls (Don't move!) and when to call 911.  Somewhere, there's a picture of Autobot and Kyzzer all gloved up with their bears.  Super cute.

Nebalee also managed to get the Smoke House from the fire department.  The Smoke House is a training tool that is used primarily with second-graders in our school district.  It has three rooms; the first room is where they talk about kitchen safety, the second about fireplace and heater safety, and the third room they talk about how to check a door to see if it's hot and how to get out of the room if there's smoke in it.  The third room is by far the coolest.  The bedroom door is actually designed so that if you run the back of your hand down it from top to bottom, you'll feel it go from cool to hot.  They also pump in theatrical smoke so simulate how dark and scary it can be if the room fills with smoke.  In the midst of the room filling with smoke, the smoke detector is screaming.  It's really quite an experience.

Even grown-ups like the Smoke House

This was the first year I've acted as the Site Coordinator, always in the past I've been a worker bee.  At times it was very difficult for me to do the schmoozing and glad-handing that goes on with being the Site Coordinator.  After about the first hour, everyone was settled into their jobs and didn't need me for anything other than giving tours and answering questions the bigwigs from the organization.  I guess that's a sign of success.  Everything went smoothly enough that I didn't have to race around putting out fires.

I've now got a few weeks of downtime before NaNoWriMo starts up, so maybe I can get a few things posted and get caught up with everyone.  We've got very special company coming in from the 18 - 21 and I'm so excited I just want to jump up and down.

Then, of course, November means I'll be scarce again as I try to crank out another 50,000 words in 30 days.

So, pretty much, we're back to situation normal here.