Already asking for money

Seems like schools do a lot more fundraisers now than they did when I was a kid. I mean it's barely the 2nd full week of school and already I'm on the internet pimping chocolates, magazine subscriptions, and all manner of assorted knick knacks to the extended family.

I will say this though, at least these folks have decided to enter the 21st century and make the catalogs available online. You can also get free shipping of your junk, er, items, on orders over $79. How thoughtful of them.

Anyway, please click here to visit the online catalog. You will be supporting Avery's class' desire to have a pizza party, which as we all know is extremely important. Thanks!

First Day Of School!

After much anticipation, Lily finally started preschool today! Mandi got the morning off from work so we could both drop her off on her big day. How did she repay us, you ask? When the teacher came and opened her door for her, she promptly grabbed her lunchbox and hauled ass up the stairs. She briefly stopped at the top to wave to us, but that was all we got! We managed to throw a couple of "Bye honey we love yous!" out the windows after her, but without so much as a hug or a kiss, she was gone.


After 3 hours of piddling around and wasting time waiting for our little, excuse me, big girl to finish up her first day, we arrived first in line to pick Lily up at a little before noon. As she came down the stairs to meet us she was thrilled to show off the lollipop she got for being a good girl. The teacher that walked her out said she was really good, and even helped keep the other kids quiet at time (Jedi mind trick, I'm assuming).


Before you say anything smart, I know these pictures don't flow with the story. Just keep it to yourself. I'm irritated with the computer right now and don't have the energy to screw with it. Because of said computer issues, I'm going to save the "first day of school dance" video Lily did for you all for a later post. Hopefully it will be later tonight. If not, look for it tomorrow. Kid's definitely got a future as a cheerleader, if not a bona fide dancer.

Anyway, on the way home I was plugging Lily for information on her day, and she was generally not cooperating. She really didn't have a lot to offer for the first ten minutes or so, so I just kinda left it alone. Then, when I asked again about her day, she said "Daddy, my classroom is awesome!"

"What made it so awesome?", I asked.

"When we got to have snacks!"

That's my girl!

Dealing with rejection . .

Back before I resigned from my job, our local newspaper did an open call for freelance columnists that would write about news and events in their neighborhoods. Entrants were to submit three sample columns, and they would make their selection based on the originality and content of the pieces. I had always felt like my voice was one that people would enjoy hearing, so I sent in my thoughts and awaited their response. A few weeks later it came, a refreshingly professional rejection. They were looking, essentially, for a neighborhood gossip, and that just wasn't my state of mind at the time. I wanted to be a voice for my restaurant, as well as for parents and kids in a community that's growing like my neighbor's weeds.

Well, last Sunday they ran the intro piece for the woman who they chose to write the column, and I was overcome with a bevy of emotions, not the least of which was rejection. Not only does she live in my neighborhood, but her "life's story" about how she begrudgingly left Long Island after all those years and followed the flock of transplants to the Carolinas made me want to just dig a hole and crawl in. I mean really . . I know I'm originally from the Coal Belt, but the path that led me to Charlotte is far more interesting than her "I just got sick of the traffic" yawner.

Anyway, since the decision to stay at home I've started to take a bit more interest in the neighborhood gossip, some of which is actually a lot juicier than I ever imagined it could be. I just heard, from a very reliable source I might add, that a resident-run internet forum had spawned some very feisty exchanges between the teachers at the new elementary school and some parents. How very interesting . . that would make a great blog entry, I thought to myself, but an even better newspaper column. What better way to discourage adults from acting like selfish brats than to call them out in the Sunday paper, right?

Apparently somebody doesn't think so, because in this morning's column, the controversy was nowhere to be found. If it were my column, I'd want the first one to get the whole development talking. After all, isn't that what sells papers? Instead, we got the sunshine-up-the-dress treatment. It's all going swimmingly, all the parents love the principal, my kid thinks the school is pretty, yada yada yada. I almost fell asleep in my shredded wheat. So I suppose I'll keep scanning the Sunday paper for her column, hoping on some level that eventually she'll dig a little deeper and expose some of the bugs in the bed. On another level though, you can bet I'll be hoping that her writing stays boring and they do another open call.