Countdown to the fair... and panic starts to set in.

So I knew (as in vaguely remembered and thought about it not at all) that the Labor Day weekend was coming up. I've got book fairs to worry about, we don't have plans for most weekends except soccer games (it's that season now, baseball is just winding down) and scout stuff (I got roped into doing a whole day of selling popcorn in front of a store on labor day weekend, but that's another drama that I DON'T want to think about at the moment.

I have been mentally planning exactly how much time I have to do things before I REALLY have to start the final countdown stuff (pulling the seats out of the van, starting to put the boxes of books in the van -- assuming the boxes are already filled...), getting the supplies ready, etc.

When son number one last night reminded me that he had TWO DAYS OFF coming up, I think my brain went into overload.

NO. That's not POSSIBLE.

You see, that means that FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY and MONDAY of the week I'm LEAVING for the fair (on Thursday) are nearly USELESS days for getting real work done and having the brain turned on and processing properly.

If I am counting correctly, that leaves me FIVE fairly quiet, though short, days between now and the day when I have to have everything in the van, my bag packed and every detail under the sun taken care of.

I have to make a schedule for my husband of what the boys are doing that weekend & where they need to be (of COURSE the first soccer game is Sept 12th)

I have to walk my mom through driving the boys to new schools so everything will be easy for them and her.

I have to have food bought and figured out - if not prepared ahead of time.

I have to have MY paperwork for the fair ready to go -- and you KNOW I'm going to be typing up descriptions until the last minute.

I have to have all packages / books sold ready for the post office by Wednesday night.

There's more, but this is enough to freak me out now.

Why can't Labor Day Weekend be some other time?

NO...... can you hear the wailing yet?

So today, I made the executive decision to start entering just the basic data for the piles of books around my desk and putting the books on hold. Something I was hoping I wouldn't have to do. There aren't full descriptions on them. Just author, date, price paid, condition designation, and price for the show. Hopefully, I won't end up with a batch of them next year that haven't been turned to available online like the ones I found this year.

As needs must, they say.

Wahhhhhhhh! (there's the wailing).