DAY 12

In my classic, mommy-overcommits-style, I told my child and her teacher, that I would speak to 80 thirds graders about Australia. This was part of a “virtual trip around the world.”

You may ask what my qualifications are for this engagement.  Well, over ten years ago, I spent a few months there.  Clearly those teachers were desperate, because that is a bit of a stretch.

Prior to The Simple Year, I would have been set for this. I have all kinds of fabulous photos, pamphlets, souvenirs and currency I could have used.  But, those things are in storage. And, I couldn’t just go out and buy 80 plastic boomerangs and a roll of kangaroo stickers from the supreme maker of cheap plastic toys, Oriental Trading Company.  If you don’t know Oriental Trading Company, it is a catalog company that has the distinction of selling ONLY useless junk, in LARGE quantities. It has been my go-to place for bouncy balls, glow necklaces and tiki party supplies for years.

Instead, I crafted a Power Point presentation, complete with rainfall stats in a chart.   I was actually pretty pleased with it until; my third grade test audience had a look.  She was not impressed.

It was clear to me; I needed visuals, and a food component.

I’m just going to sum up the food preparation by saying I declared a Vegemite emergency and paid three times the cost of the actual product to have it overnighted to my home. (And this is OK, because Vegemite is a consumable…I think)

Here is a photo of my kitchen at about 1 AM the night before.

Lamington are little sponge cakes dipped in icing and rolled in coconut, there are 83 of them, there would have been 85, but the dog sampled two while I had my back turned.

There they are, 83 lamington (an Australian baked goodie), an empty beer bottle (that was for the cook, not the recipe) and a huge mess.  Probably not Pinterest worthy, but a success in my opinion.

And then a miracle occurred.

 Just prior to the event, I was at a thrift store poking around and suddenly I spotted it, nearly buried on the bottom shelf- a BOOMERANG! I lunged for it and clasped it to my chest, as if there was suddenly going to be a rush on second hand boomerangs and I was going to have to fight the crowd.  At that moment, I felt like I had won an award.

Yesterday was the presentation.  I talked about cassowary poop, flying doctors, jellyfish nets and other important things to third graders.  I was rewarded on the way home by Kayla telling me I was the best “talker” they had.  It was a great moment.

Until I remembered I forgot to show them the boomerang…