Smells like teen spirit

And it is a delightful scent. The Quad looks deserted at 7 a.m. but 'long about lunch time kids will be screaming their little hearts out trying to garner points for their class. It's Spirit Week here at our high school. A week of festivities leading up to the Homecoming game and homecoming dance. It is a week of yelling and screaming and dressing up and acting crazy, in a good way, and having a barrel of fun. The Student Council decides on the theme of the costumes - yesterday the staff had to wear P.J.'s and I lounged around in my grandson's reindeer-print, XXL, flannel pajammies with my own UGG's on my feet. It was a very comfortable day. General consensus was that it would be a wonderful way to come to school everyday. The kids' theme was salad dressing. Let me explain that - Freshmen were Healthy Choice. They dressed in athletic or exercise gear. The sophomores were Ranch dressing - dressed up as cowboys and farmhands. The juniors were Thousand Island - Hawaiian inspired and the seniors were Caesar Dressing and were toga-clad. I always dread the toga day because I invariably run out of safety pins and am challenged to find different ways of draping sheets around teenagers.
Today is Color Day. Each class has a color.
The color doesn't change from year to year. The Freshmen are always orange; the sophomores, red; the juniors, yellow and the seniors take on our school color, green. Wearing costumes and colors and yelling loud accumulates points for your class. The staff just lends its support by dressing up and showing all-around spirit. Most of us can't really choose one color so we dress in a combination that is nothing short of haute couture. Kids come by my desk all day to make sure I have worn their class color - Today I am sporting an orange shirt, red pants, a yellow sweater and green tennies. I am a vision. Look at the rest of us










Tomorrow the staff has to dress like students, oh yeah I've got my very saggy blue jeans ready. It is going to be a challenge keeping them up (down) around my toosh. How do they do that, anyway? The kids have a whole schedule of costumes that includes babies and senior citizens, sophisticates and teenyboppers. Does it get any better than this?
The homecoming football game - I cannot wait. I am a rabid high school football fan. I go to every game, home or away, and I yell until I'm hoarse. I have accumulated all sorts of green gear - down jacket, fleece blankets, beanies, boots, gloves, scarves so that I can watch in warmth and school-colors.
Saturday is the Homecoming Dance. It's semi-formal. Okay, okay when I was in high school, when my kids were in high school, even, a semi-formal dance was a dance where the boys wore a suit and the girls wore tea-length or cocktail -length gowns. Formal dances were tuxedos and long dresses. Semi-formal and formal dances were like the Emmies and the Oscars. These days formal is still long gowns and tuxes but semi-formal? Well, according to the kids that means no jeans and only nice tennis shoes. Seriously! You gotta love 'em.
Right this second I have two kids at my desk - juniors - who are wrapping their legs in yellow caution tape. I have managed to unearth some yellow cloth tape from the bottom of a drawer and that is being employed to secure the caution tape around athletic shoes as big as boats and thighs as thin as pretzels. This is the best job EVER!!!


I didn't take a picture of myself today except for the pin on my yellow sweater. Didn't know I did modeling, did ya.