Only 247 Things Left To Do Before Tomorrow

Just when you think you're done with the Christmas get ready. Sniggly little loose ends are cropping up left and right and in my email; and not all at once. I forgot the preschool teachers. There are 4 of them. I forgot Mrs. Sixth Grade. I remembered Mrs. Second Grade due to a highly organized room mom who was all over that shit weeks ago. You know what? I'm not going to list it all because it would bore you to death. To DEATH!

But I did have to pick up a book for Boy-Child#1's class gift exchange. Simple enough. Enter Barnes and Noble and be back in the car in ten minutes depending on the crowd inside. Easy. The book had to be 6th grade reading level or higher. And due to the fact that my oldest son is at that age where he is highly sensitive to what his peers think about him; his taste in literature cannot appear too feminine, too flaming, or worse, too young. It couldn't be girly. It couldn't have chicks on it (no, not the feathery or downy kind -hey, you know what? It couldn't have those on it either), no pink, nothing girl-themed. No horseys, no ponies. No cuteness and on the other end of the spectrum; no morbidity. It also couldn't be Harry Potter anything because that has been done to death. It couldn't be Star Wars related either because apparently that is passe.
[and I just died a little bit inside relaying that info -Han Solo was my first true love]
I had to either already know the story myself or be able to decipher from the jacket its contents because if there turned out to be any kind of sex or anything inappropriate in this book, I didn't want some mom stalking me with all her questions pertaining to "WTF"?! Which is also why, when I picked up a book that caught my eye and I thought would do until I saw etched in the bottom right corner "From the Author of The Golden Compass"; the controversy surrounding the mere mention of the title started to burn the flesh from my hands, I threw it as far away from my person as possible. In other words. I totally over thought this thing. Forty-five minutes later I walk out with: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief. I was pleased with my choice.

This morning, after dropping the boys off at school; the book nicely wrapped for the gift exchange and tucked in Boy-Child#1's backpack, it occurs to me that in the picture depicted on the cover of said book: is a boy standing in the ocean armed with a sword and appears to be heading to Manhattan. I scold myself: "Have you just completely lost all sense? Did you really just send your own son to school with that book and here we are in a post 9-11 world?! A sword wielding child on his way to ground zero? What the hell is wrong with you, you loopy bitch?" (sometimes I'm extremely harsh with myself) Then I told myself to sit by the phone and wait for a call from the principal. Or the FBI. Because as you can see; I'm over thinking this again.