Spring Fever-Part 2

OK, I promised you more dirt about Spring Fever, so...after we got our Chance and Community Chest cards, Mark and I walked by the Free Parking Raffle. For $5, you bought a car and at the end of the night, one winner would receive $50 and one would receive $25. We got a 1980 El Camino-red-for Ethan. Then we walked through the silent auction. There were many wonderful things to bid on-gift certificates, baskets, and much, much more. The first time we walked through, we bid only on a few things. However, on our second time through, after noticing that many things were still very low or not even bid on at all, we took it upon ourselves to bid like crazy!

After our bidding time on the silent auction, we went and got food. All of the food was themed to fit the properties in the game. So Board Walk=ice cream cones, Pennsylvania Ave.=philly steak sandwiches, etc. It was fantastic!

Next, we decided to take a seat in the gym to get ready for the live auction. We sat by Iliana (our Spanish teacher), her husband, Scott, Barb A. (1st grade teacher), her husband Mert, and Cheryl (1st grade teacher) and her husband Rich. Rich used to be our custodian-had worked at our school for 21 years, but was recently "let go" at the hands of our business administrator, Susan. That gave me an idea...why not use our send a "friend" to jail card on her. I went and talked to the warden, who told me that I could remain anonymous. I pointed her out to him and watched the saga unfold. Rob went over to her, told her to come to jail, and she pulled out a...you guessed it..."Get out of jail free" card. Darn! And you could only get sent to jail once, so technically I couldn't pay to send her again! Double darn!

Oh well, the most exciting part of the evening for me-the live auction-was about to start! For those of you who don't know, my class helps decorate a handcrafted cedar chest, which is then auctioned off during the live auction. It usually grosses about $1000-$1500. The other Kindergarten class helps make a quilt, which usually goes higher-$2000-$3000. The auction started. The first few items (orthodontic care, granite countertops) didn't go for full value. In fact, they barely reached half. Uh-oh! I was keeping my fingers crossed that my cedar chest would be spared from peoples stinginess. The auctioneer announced my class' donation and bidding started at $500. Right away, Jackson's parents bid on it (they had told me earlier in the week that they wanted it). Awesome! The auctioneer kept going. "Can I get six hundred? Six, anybody?" AHHHHHHH! Why isn't anyone else bidding? What happened to JB's parents? Joshua's parents? Anybody? I was not about to let my class' hard work go for mere hundreds. "Mark, we are bidding on it, okay?" I said. Mark looked at me and after some split-second consideration, he said "Go for it." I held up our card. The auctioneer said, "OK, new bidder in at $600. Anybody? $700?" Matt and Heather held up their card. "$700. $800?" Matt and Heather pointed at us. We went again. "OK, $800. How about $900?" They bid again. "$900. $1000? $1000?" Matt looked at me and mouthed, "One more time." I hesitated, but Mark quickly held up our card. "$1000. How about 11? $1100? OK...$1000, going once..." My heart started racing. Why aren't they bidding? Are we going to end up buying this chest? After what seemed like an eternity, they FINALLY held up their paddle. "$1100...going once, going twice...sold!" Thank goodness!

After my near-coronary, the auctioning of the quilt was next. As I said before, it usually grossed a few thousand, but one year, it reached upwards of $6000 or more. It was crazy! The bidding began and also seemed to move very slowly. It reached $1000 before it was sold to our principal who has a child in the class. So for the first time EVER, my cedar chest grossed more than the quilt. I was so proud!

The rest of the live auction was more of the same. A lot of great items went for way lower than their value. I told Mark that if we had more money, I would have been inclined to bid on a few of those items (LCD TV, granite countertops, specially made Twins quilt signed by Bert Blyleven and Kirby Puckett). After the live auction, Mark and I decided it was about time for us to head out...but not before we were stopped by Jackson's parents (our fellow cedar chest bidders). Both had had plenty to drink, but so had a lot of other people. Matt told me how glad he was that we bid on the chest because he said he was totally willing to shell out the dough. He also made sure to ask me if his son was one of my favorites. I don't "play" favorites, I said, but I do have students that are more special to me than others (ML, GP, and yes, probably Jackson). Heather made sure to give me a hard time about increasing their bid, but gave both Mark and I a hug, telling us how much she loved us (she had never even met Mark until earlier in the night). There was a dance after the live auction, but we aren't really dancing people and wanted to get home to Ethan, especially me (I wanted to be the one to put him to bed, not Mary).

We went to check out and found out that we had acquired 3 things at the silent auction-a Wii Fit (which Mark was certain we would get outbid on), a gift certificate for a 60 minute massage, and a gift certificate to Brooks Family Restaurant-our damage-$225. We paid for our items, went to the car, and eagerly drove home to see Ethan. After a little rundown of our evening and Mary's evening with Ethan, she left and we got ready for bed. I was certain that I would sleep like a rock, and I did.

If you can go next year, Spring Fever is usually the 2nd or 3rd Saturday in April. It is seriously a great time! Please come-you can help me control my bidding!




The inside of the now-infamous cedar chest.



Each class was in charge of decorating a house or hotel.
Here is our Gingerbread House (actually Hotel), done by
the Kindergarteners and their 3rd grade buddies.



Mark and I in costume-we are patrons from
Oriental Avenue-a ninja and a geisha. OK, kind of
a stretch, but tons of fun!