Finished!

I will be the first to admit I am not the best at planning things out, or giving myself enough time to complete something.... aka I am the world's biggest procrastinator! This, strangely enough, goes hand in hand with being a perfectionist. How is that, you say? Well, my theory, if I don't have time to do a task exactly how I want it, and complete it without interruption, then why start it? Silliness, I know.

Anywho... we waited until the last moment to finish the kids 4-H record books...

*What I wanted to have happen~ Shianne would complete her 4-H story and project reports on grandma's computer. Kaitlynn, Noah, and Jessica (Kate's friend, my 4th child) would write out their 4-H stories, and I would help them, if they needed help, typing it up. Then on Saturday, we would all sit down and complete their PDR (personal development report) together. Then do some finishing touches, and have them turned in no later than Sunday morning. (they were due Monday evening)

*What actually happened~ Shianne came over Saturday morning... with nothing done, except her story- in rough draft form. Jessica had nothing done. Kaitlynn was the ONLY one that had most of her book done, except her PDR and couple extras. Noah needed everything typed, because of his problems with writing. So this meant 4 people needed the computer, with Internet access, all at the same time.
Shianne was given first dibs, she quickly typed up her story, while I helped Kate with another section of her book. A question arose, so I called one of the ladies in our group. While on the phone with her, I had Shianne in my other ear, complaining that I needed to get off the phone to help her with the 'next step'... hold on.. couple more questions asked, then answered... hold on... Mommmmm... then it happened! There was humming... then.... silence!...

The power went out for 3000 customers in our small town. And of course, since I was on the phone, and didn't get the chance to tell Shianne the 'next step'.. Her 3 page story was gone... And on top of that, ALL the forms we needed to complete the kids record books are online, and so I never saw the need of printing them, because they were PDF w/fields, meaning the kids could type in their info, and print the forms out...completed. Very neat looking, and readable. (in Noah's case this is a Godsend!)

Once we realized what happened... the kids ran out of the living room... and straight for the trampoline. I let them 'escape' while I made some phone calls, to find out the time frame of our unexpected break from the modern world.

Then I reined them in, and we got busy on a few pages that HAD to be handwritten. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. As soon as we finished those forms, the power was back on!

Still with everything the kids wanted to do with their books, we got them turned in on Monday afternoon. Now we are crossing our fingers, that they get gold seals for their efforts, and possibly even sent on to count judging!