Mackenzie came home from school Wednesday of last week, excited and dropped a bomb on me.
Mackenzie: “Mom, the JV squad has to make the spirit stick for the pep rally’s this year.”
Me: “Oh neat, what are you all going to do?”
Mackenzie: “Well Ms. Malosky (their cheer coach) said she wanted one they could use for every rally instead of the ones you make out of paper towel rolls that always fall apart and have to be made over and over.”
Me: “Ok. Makes sense. What are the JV girl’s going to do then?” (Can you sense I was trying to not offer my help?)
Mackenzie: “I told Ms. Malosky you were crafty.”
By now I could see where this was going and though I was happy that Mackenzie thinks of me crafty enough to mention it to her teacher I wasn’t so happy with the thought that I might have been volunteered to make a spirit stick.
Me: “I am kinda crafty. Do the JV girls want my help or something? Want me to see if I can come up with some ideas maybe?”
Mackenzie: “I told them (meaning the JV girls) you could make one for us.”
KABOOOOMMMM!!!!!!! Just like that I was screwed.
Me: “Oh….that’s…..great!!!!! When do you need the spirit stick by?”
Mackenzie: “This Friday.”
Keep in mind this was Wednesday at about 5 o’clock. And that I had Isaac’s football practice tomorrow night. And right after that we had to go straight to the football game Mackenzie was cheering at. And that I wouldn’t be getting home until almost 10 o’clock.
So here’s what I came up with, on the fly, on the cheap but at a cost of about 5 hours Thursday night.
PVC pipe, cut about 18’’ long. PVC end caps, with a hole drilled into the middle of them all the way through (about the width of a pencil). There’s special spray pain that’s made to stick to plastic so I used that to spray the PVC pipe black. I didn’t spray the end cap for fear the black beads wouldn’t show up as well. I left them white.
I super glued all the beads to the end caps after my dad drilled the holes in the end for me. After the super glue dried I took Mod Podge and added a thick, thick layer over top of the beads and in between them as best I could to try and seal them in. After all that dried I cut black and orange ribbons and stuck them through the hole in the end cap, tied them in a knot and then used PVC cement to glue the end caps on.
After the end caps dried on I printed and cut out some mascot pictures and football pictures I found on the school website and then Mod Podge them onto the PVC pipe it’s self. Here’s the RRHS Indian!!!!!!
Last summer someone in RR had an Indian carved out of a live standing tree. Chief Whispering Pine I think is his name. I thought it only fitting he was on the spirit stick as the school was involved in the naming process.
Then some odd and ends pictures of football, cheer spirit stuff.
Oh and then to top it all off I found some neat initial patches that I was able to stick onto the ribbons on each end of the stick. One end says RR the other HS. I think it was a nice touch to kinda bring the spirit stick all together.
It was spur of the moment and I’m glad I was able to pull it off. I’m just wondering how well it’s going to hold up with all the school spirit and crazy going on at the pep rally’s.
I never, ever want to have to make another one anytime soon!!!!
~Jess
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