Another way to help

If you missed the previous post, click here to read it. Here's another way to help with the Angel Tree Amanda's coordinating. This is from an email she sent out this morning:
"There are some tags left on the tree that had some items that I was hoping if we all pull together we can create a gift for these people. So I am asking for these items - gently used, if toys; new if hygiene items. Thank you!"

(These items can be unwrapped. Contact me or her and we can arrange for pickup. Also, don't forget, cash donations are welcome!)

School supplies

Walmart gift card

Bath and Body Works gift card

Books A Million Gift card

anything Tar Heels

soccer ball

football

an iron

board games

Nintendo DSi games (if you have games you would get rid of but you KNOW they still work!)

Wii games (same as above)

Easy Bake oven

Itunes gift card

Old Navy gift card

game of Trouble (board game)

baseball glove (right-handed)

Selena Gomez CDs

Ross gift card

game of Operation

Bop It

Lincoln Logs

Space heater

Scrabble

Pictionary

Toilet paper

Paper towels

Bath towels

Twin bed sheets

Full bed sheets

Pots and pans

Silverware

Jewelry

gas card

lotions

Amanda's Angel Tree

My sister, Amanda, whom some of you know, is coordinating an Angel Tree composed of children affiliated with the Candor Head Start, as well as some of the staff members. Many of the children have been "claimed" by members of Amanda's church, but as of yesterday there are still about 60 that have not. I'm trying to help her spread the word to anyone who might be interested in buying gifts for a child or two.

Here are the details from an email she sent out when it was first getting organized:

"Pick a child (or more than one) to adopt from the tree. Keep in mind that you will need to buy items for each child you adopt. Please do not take several tags and then realize at the last minute that you cannot fulfill the needs of those children. Also please realize that some tags contain an entire family; if you take that tag please do buy for all the children in the family. Most of the tags have suggestions on the tag for the child, such as socks or puzzles. Please feel free to also stray from these suggestions and get other things you think the child would enjoy or need. ... Please keep all these children in your prayers, for many of them this could be the only Christmas present they receive!"

Below are several of the still-available people. If you would like to claim one or more of them, please leave a comment or email me and tell me who you want. Presents should be wrapped and -- this is important -- make sure they are prominently tagged with the corresponding number so they get to the right person. Amanda needs them by December 12, and I can pick them up from you or if that won't work we'll figure out another mutually convenient way to get them to her.

**If the shopping itself sounds unappealing, or you live out of town, but you would be willing to make a donation toward the cause, I will get your money to Amanda and she'll do the shopping for you. Even $10 would be awesome. For those of you who don't know her, she can work magic with $10.**

Thanks so much for considering being involved in this! If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

(I will update this post as kids are claimed.)

#133 - Female staff member
Clothing: XL
Asking for: Socks, lotion, bath towels, Walmart gift card

#87 - Female staff member
Asking for any gift card

Sandhills Farm to Table Co-op

No, we still don't have a Target, but the Sandhills is becoming more my kind of place all the time! If you live around here and you love fresh produce, check out the new Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative.

Every year I eagerly await the opening of the farmers markets, so when I heard about this new venture I was curious. Basically, every week or every other week for 17 weeks, co-op members who subscribe will receive a box of fresh produce. You can choose the standard size (for two people), family size (four people), or sign up for a box buddy if you want to split the standard box with another co-op member.

From the website:

"Spring boxes will contain five to seven items of such delicious Sandhills produce as fresh Priest Farm asparagus, ripe strawberries, butterhead lettuce, sugar snap peas, heads of broccoli, spinach, greenhouse tomatoes, nutritious greens, radishes, Irish potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc.

"Summer boxes will have the usual complement of vine-ripened garden tomatoes, sweet corn, yellow squash, basil, green beans, herbs, cukes, zucchini, eggplant, okra, cherry tomatoes, etc. Fruits that follow spring strawberries include peaches, blackberries, melons, pears, plums and grapes. Thanks to Green Haven Farms, we'll have lettuce throughout much of the summer for cool salads."

YUM! Because of logistics, you can't hand-pick exactly what's in your box every week, but if there's something you know you won't eat, you can swap it out at pick-up. For example, one week I might trade someone my eggplant for extra squash.

I decided to sign up for the every-other-week package just to see how we like it the first year. I can always supplement with regular farmers market visits if we run short, as we surely will on the fruits.

There are other perks to being a member of the co-op, too -- cooking classes, canning classes, growing classes, potlucks -- at least some of which I hope to participate in. Plus, what a great way to support the community! If you're interested, don't procrastinate -- the deadline to sign up for a box subscription is Thursday, April 15.

May Day

If I lived alone, I think I'd be one of those people who forget to eat and stay up half the night. Don't get me wrong, eating and sleeping are two of my favorite things. But when it's time to do them, I'm usually otherwise occupied and postpone getting up.

I just spent all morning working on a story and for the last hour and a half my hunger's been building and now I'm starving but even after I'd turned in the story I checked Facebook before going in to make lunch. What is up with that?

It is the most perfect day to sit out on the porch -- warm and windy. Hypothetically, if your backyard neighbors moved out of their house and their flowery bushes were blooming like mad, would you consider taking a few blooms for yourself?

On the one hand, if I were to get caught I'd feel guilty (or maybe just stupid). On the other hand, the bushes are so overflowing that a few snips of my scissors would never be noticed. Thoughts? (I've already filled two Mason jars, but I'm curious what you think.)

Today is May Day, by the way (naturally, I forgot to make "rabbit" my first word of the month), and I read about a May Day tradition of leaving flowers on your neighbors' front stoops, ringing the doorbell and running off. I love that idea and keep thinking I'll do it this afternoon (possibly with aforementioned flowers and Mason jars, but without running off) but if I don't do it soon I won't get around to it.

May is my favorite month. I love that it ushers in summer, I love that we get to celebrate our anniversary, I love that Memorial Day always guarantees at least one long weekend off of work. Sadly, we're missing out on the annual May Outer Banks trip this year (it's only five or six weeks before Claire's due date, and Duck, while beautiful, is not somewhere I'd want to be should I go into pre-term labor). However, our fast-approaching Bald Head Island trip goes a long way toward making up for that!

Who can I persuade to join me for First Friday tonight?

Let's review

Another crazy week, filled with good reasons for not blogging.

Last Thursday I got to have a much-anticipated catch-up lunch with Lauren G. and later that afternoon Mom and I went to an "author event" (presentation and book signing) featuring none other than Kate, whose book is the No. 1 paperback nonfiction seller in the Sandhills right now! Congratulations, Kate! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but I stole these from Kate's Facebook.
That evening Matt and I got to have dinner with Granny and Granddaddy, finally, after it was delayed by snow the week before.

Friday and Saturday Mom and I went to Charlotte to see Lib and Jorge and baby Ruthie (again). If you can believe it, I didn't take a single picture. (I quit the daily photo blog for good this time -- it was way more work than fun.) Like the last visit, we spent the bulk of our time hanging out in the living room, passing around the sweet baby girl. Late, late Friday night we got into one of the long, introspective discussions that I love SO much about my and Lib's friendship. We also squeezed in some great eating, and on Saturday Mom, Lib and Ruthie trekked across town with me to the one mall with a GapMaternity so I could try on some pants. Thank you for being incredibly gracious hosts, Armentas! We love you so much.

Sunday I went on a great long run in the gorgeous weather and then Matt and I WON the chili cookoff that was part of Ron's Super Bowl party! Here's the recipe (it's really spicy but easily toned down):

Jenn and Matt's Spicy Deliciousity Chili

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 14.5-ounce can Italian-style diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 8-ounce can tomato paste
1/3 cup water
1 15-ounce can kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1.5 tablespoons chili powder
3/4 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Dash of cayenne powder

Directions:
Brown beef; drain. Add beef and all other ingredients to crockpot and cook until time to eat. We got a late start Sunday so it only cooked (on high) for about 3 hours but that seemed like plenty. This makes 4 servings.

Yesterday Granny, Amanda and I accompanied Mom to a routine doctor's appointment in Chapel Hill. After the appointment we had a great lunch, introduced Granny to Trader Joe's and hit up a few good thrift stores. I didn't find anything earth-shattering but I did buy a Jonathan Kozol book I didn't have and an old book by Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of "Nickel and Dimed," for a quarter each.

Today I've been trying to catch up on the work I've neglected with all this fun stuff. In two hours I have to get my third and final (for now) cavity filled and I'm going to try to talk to the dentist about sealants again. Not only are the fillings painful but they're expensive -- I just got the bill for last week's.

Here to stay?

For a really long time I've been meaning to write this post in response to Ally's comment on another post: "You seem pretty involved in your community. Are you guys there to stay or could a move be in the future?"

Our plan, and I use that term loosely, is to stay here until all of our kids are in college, by which time maybe we'll be able to retire and either move somewhere else (if we want to) or do some traveling (if we can afford to).

We do love being here. I spent the first 17 years of my life itching to leave, but after living in a half-dozen other cities, and visiting many more, we returned with a renewed appreciation for the Pinehurst-Southern Pines area. More and more old friends are trickling back here, too.

We moved back about four years ago for Matt and Jacob to start our company. Knowing people is key in a real estate career, and here, in a county overflowing with people who are related to us and people we played high school sports with and people Dad taught 20 years ago and church members who knew us before we could talk, a lot of groundwork was already laid. The company's still primarily what keeps us here. If Matt had to find another job, we'd look around town but we'd also be open to moving wherever.

Having so much family around is a GREAT benefit of being here. (Every time the holidays roll around I am so thankful we no longer have to travel to see most of the people we love. The first couple of years we were married it was stressful rushing into town for just a few days and trying to make sure everyone got equal time.) I know exactly how lucky I am to have had lunch with Amanda today and to be meeting Mom for coffee tomorrow and to be only five minutes away every time Granny calls with a surplus of vegetable soup.

It thrills me that our baby will have such easy access to his or her first cousins, starting with Riley and Brianna. I eagerly anticipate all the free babysitting headed our way -- and am just as excited to return the favor.

So, short answer, who knows. We expect to be here not forever, but for a long time -- but I could find plenty to like about raising our family almost anywhere, should the opportunity arise.

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Riley picture of the day

Monday, Monday

I have a lingering cold that's driving me crazy! It started rolling in on Thursday and was in full force by Friday. I seriously never get sick -- and I know a cold doesn't count as sick -- but I'm ready for this to go away. My throat hurts, my nose is raw, my head feels like it's floating somewhere way above my body. Matt's being really sympathetic considering that the way I feel is essentially the way he felt (because of allergies) every day of his life until he started taking five medicines a day last year.

Matt's birthday was Saturday and we just kept it low-key with dinners Friday and Saturday. Jacob was pushing hard for a surprise party but I would have been sleeping on the couch for a month. Every year I love Matt's birthday because it makes me feel young for the next nine months.

Besides that, we had a really relaxing weekend -- movies, football, final Christmas decorating, church, books borrowed from the community college with our shiny new free library cards. Qualifying was as simple as showing our driver's licenses. The college library's hours are better than the Southern Pines library's, as is the selection -- we have free access to 47 other community colleges' collections. We got an enthusiastic tour from the librarian and free oranges from the library director. There's free wi-fi, a reading room and an art gallery. Plus, it's only about 10 minutes from our house.

I'm getting close to checking off No. 3, "For all of 2008, send a snail-mail birthday card to everyone I love." When I was making my 101-things list I almost wrote that as "an on-time snail-mail birthday card" but thank goodness I didn't. If you have a November birthday and I didn't get to see you last month, your card is in the mail today. If your birthday was months ago and you haven't received a card, please let me know ASAP so I can send it out. And I'm sorry for any oversights. I've done my best this year but I bet some people have slipped through the cracks.

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Riley picture of the day

Last-ditch effort

This is kind of funny. I just found out that tomorrow morning I have to give a very brief talk to the Southern Pines library staff on behalf of the local United Way. I'm planning to stick around afterward and see if I can make any headway on the library-card issue in person ... which I doubt. They have that town ordinance to fall back on. Still, wish me luck!

Disappointing

Bad news today from the Southern Pines Public Library. They're rejecting our request and saying we had a library card in the first place only because a staff member made a mistake.

Their reasoning: According to a town ordinance, only individuals may have library cards, and the property we are "seeking to rely on ... is owned not by an individual, but by a limited liability company. A limited liability company is not an individual, and therefore does not qualify for a card, and the individuals who own an interest in the entity that owns the property are not themselves the owners of the property."

The letter had the definite tone of a dead-end road, so now I'm going to make my case to the town, starting with the town manager. I moved dirt with him back in September so maybe he'll at least give me a hearing. I don't know how easy it is to have a town ordinance changed, though.

Meanwhile we're using the county library system, which is OK, if that. None of the branches are that close to us and all of them are about the size of our living room, but it's better than nothing. It's free, anyway.

Say it ain't so

Dear Southern Pines Public Library:

When my husband and I moved to town four years ago, getting a library card was one of the first things on our to-do list. According to your website, "to obtain a card at no charge, you must show proof of ... residency or ownership of property within the town of Southern Pines." Although we don't reside in Southern Pines, we own property here -- an office building and a single-family home in downtown, and a lot in National Golf Club -- and were deemed eligible for a library card at that time.

But last week, when my husband was trying to check out a book, he was told we have to give up our library cards because our Southern Pines properties are in the name of our company rather than our personal names. Apparently the library has adopted, or recently has begun enforcing, a policy of not extending library privileges to companies.

I ask you to please, please make an exception in this case. My husband and I are the only people with Southern Pines library cards through our company, and free library access is an essential element of our budgeting and mental-health goals.

We pay Southern Pines property taxes. We cheerfully pay overdue fines. We buy books by the dozen at your library sales. We sing your praises to everyone we know. We support libraries in general, and the Southern Pines one in particular, in every way we can think of.

I hope you'll agree that we have a legitimate case, and will restore our free library privileges. Thanks for your time and consideration.

Shiny shoes, etc.

London and Dylan spent the night with us last night. Sweet Dylan always misses the photo ops because he sleeps so much.

She also borrowed my cell phone, stuffed it in a Ziploc bag and carried it around the house, referring to it as her purse. Lauren G., good luck with this one.

While we're on the subject of pictures, here's one I've been meaning to post for a while:

"Missing pet" signs are everywhere, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a "Found, thanks!" one. This was planted at our neighborhood's main entrance, and it made me smile.

At 7:30 this morning Matt found out he was leaving in two hours for the Turks and Caicos with Ron and Stephen. Sad, although he'll be back Saturday night. My temporarily husbandless state means I'm available for yard saling Saturday morning, if there are good ones and anyone is up for it ...

No brokers = blogging

There are a million things I have to get done before we leave for Maine tomorrow evening, and blogging is dead last on my priorities list, but I’m stuck at a broker open house for the next two hours so it’s pretty much all I can do.

If you haven’t heard, I’m thrilled to announce that Amanda is pregnant! She’s about nine weeks along and I have been dying for the news to go public so I could talk about it! She was blogging (but not posting) about it ever since she found out and she combined all of those entries into one deliciously long post two days ago (click here to read it). She followed that up yesterday with another stellar post (click here to read that one).

That means I’m going to be an aunt four times over in the next year, thanks to Carrie and Jacob in November, Lib and Jorge in December, Melissa and Thomas in April and, only a week later, Amanda and Stephen. Technically, of course, I won’t really be an aunt to Lib and Mel’s babies, but by virtue of our LYLAS relationship, it counts. (Melissa and I have been friends long enough that we actually used to end our notes and letters with LYLAS. That’s a long time.)

Tonight from 5-8 is Rock the Plaza in downtown Southern Pines. Our company is sponsoring it this month, and I hope everyone local who reads this will come out for it! The weather’s supposed to be great, and there will be live music by a band called House Call (all the members are doctors) and plenty of food and drinks and all the Belvedere Plaza shops will be open late. If you get there early enough you could even walk away with a limited-edition Kirby koozie.

Thursday and Friday

I've been putting off posting because a lot of fun stuff has been happening and I wanted to give it the blog attention it deserves. But the more time that passes, the more likely I am to forget to write about it at all.

Thursday Lib came from Charlotte to spend the day with me -- an awesome birthday present! I had the best time hanging out with her with no particular schedule. Every time we're together I remember how much I wish we lived in the same town. Besides having great catch-up time at my house (and devouring gourmet candy from Matt) we visited Amanda at work, had lunch with Matt and got pedicures. So relaxing, so refreshing, so much fun. Lib, thank you for making the trip! I love you!

Friday morning was the annual United Way Day of Caring. Every year we kick off the fundraising campaign by having community volunteers work at the agencies United Way supports. This year was my favorite one yet, by far. I was assigned to work with Communities in Schools at Aberdeen Elementary School, where CIS has a thriving garden project and is establishing a fitness trail with 12 different activity stations.

The garden project is awesome. All of the students spend two 40-minute periods maintaining it every week. They grow vegetables, herbs and flowers (which they sell, with the money going back into the garden), have a compost pile, weed and keep the grass cut, collect and recycle water, etc. Not to mention, the teaching possibilities are endless. By all accounts, students, teachers and parents think the garden is a great project.

Since I have no kind of green thumb, I worked on the fitness trail, which circled behind the school and around the soccer/baseball field. For most of the morning we shoveled mulch into wheelbarrows and spread it around the activity stations. It was pleasantly mindless work but it took about eight of us four hours to finish. (Click here to see pictures.) After that was done we smoothed out some bumpy parts of the trail.

The CIS director who had the vision for the fitness trail and wrote the initial grant for it tried to describe for us the condition of that area before they started working on it. The kudzu had taken over so completely that when it was being cleared out, a set of long-forgotten bleachers and tennis courts were discovered (remnants from when the building was a high school, probably 30 years ago).

The tennis courts were in bad shape but it would have cost $30,000 to refinish the surface or $27,000 to tear them down, so the CIS group has recruited local artists to come in and help the students paint the surface. Also, a couple of the stations (such as a four-square court) are on the courts. As we were wrapping up, several classrooms came out to use the trail (thanks to another grant, they all have pedometers) and it made me so happy to see such good use made of a former wasteland.

All of this, naturally, reminded me of the nature trail Dad developed at Farm Life. I think he wrote the grant to establish it in the late '70s or early '80s, and all of his classes after that helped him maintain it. Ah, the nature trail ... so many good memories.

Out of the office

Today was the United Way's annual golf tournament. As much as I dislike golf I kind of enjoy this day every year. Usually my main responsibility is driving around in a golf cart, keeping the coolers full, taking players' pictures and generally making sure they're having a good time. It's a good day for networking and a great excuse to spend a day outside.

Mr. Hotness himself:



He, his dad, Stephen and Bill played on our company's team.

The day ended with an early dinner/silent auction/awards ceremony, and then Matt and I crashed. In the above picture we both had killer headaches. We got home at 4:30 p.m. and slept for three hours, which we're probably going to regret later tonight. I feel better but he doesn't.

I think I figured out how to fix what I didn't like about the chair I painted and decoupaged the other week: I stained the whole thing with Minwax Golden Oak (shout-out to Terry). I think this will mute all of the colors and make the painted/distressed parts less of a stark contrast to the seat, while still looking old and antiqued. It's too dark to take a picture now (it's on the porch) but tomorrow I'll post one.

Weekend update

I think I need to establish a new pattern in my life: work hard Tuesday through Friday, take Saturday and Sunday for "productive weekend" stuff, and reserve Monday for real bumming. I love squeezing lots of fun stuff into the weekends but inevitably Sunday night arrives too soon and I haven't caught up on sleep at all.

Saturday
Saturday morning I worked a couple of hours at a food drive for the local food bank. We stood in front of Wal-Mart and in the nicest way possible accosted customers as they walked in. I tried to catch everyone because I thought they could all afford to grab an extra jar of peanut butter. It was a fascinating study in human nature. For one thing, I was pleasantly surprised to see that many people did donate food -- I would even venture to say that most did. And a lot of the most generous ones weren't the ones you would have guessed from their appearance (and vice versa).

While most people donated a couple of items or maybe a bag of canned goods, a few people donated full grocery carts. Of course we thanked them profusely, and all of them responded with some variation on "Well, I've been there ... my husband was out of work for a year and we were forced to rely on the food bank to feed our children ... to give $50 worth of food to help someone else now is the least I can do."

There was also a really sweet older man who on his way out the door asked us if we also accepted cash, and then he fumbled through his wallet for a $100 bill. So generous! And there was another old man who donated a bag of food and told me, "I'm a male chauvinist and I am only doing this because you seem so sweet," which doesn't totally make sense, but the food drive was a good cause so I figured I could live with it.

Later that afternoon Mom and I went to Winston-Salem for Sally's baby shower. Sally is one of four sisters who, to our whole family's great delight, moved in next door to us when I was about 8. I was in the grade between Grace and Rachel; Amanda and Sally (who were widely known as Salamander) were the same age; and Jane was a couple of years younger. Also, my parents and their parents, Liz and Charlie, have been best friends ever since then.

Now, all of the girls are married and everyone's spread out -- Liz and Charlie in Kentucky, Grace in Charlotte, Rachel in Florida, Sally in Winston and Jane in Kentucky -- so it was a rare treat to see all of them at once. Unfortunately Amanda couldn't come because she had to chaperone her youth group at Carowinds, but all the Taylors (and Grace's and Rachel's kids) are planning to visit my parents and other friends in town later this week, so we'll get to spend some more time with them then.

We got home around dinnertime and Matt was playing golf with his dad for Father's Day so I went on a run/hunt for blackberries. I discovered a new patch, in a wet area along the neighborhood's main road. I ate all the ripe ones that I could reach. When Matt got home we ate and then went over to Lauren G. and Paul's with the usual peeps for just a little while -- I was ready to crash.

Sunday
Yesterday I was on nursery duty at church -- fun, but the kids were climbing the walls because the playground was too wet for us to take them outside -- and then we kept Dylan for an hour or so while Lauren and Paul took London to the pool. And then Mom and Dad, Granny and Granddaddy and Amanda and Stephen came over for a Father's Day cookout, which was really fun.

After dinner, Mom and Dad walked around our yard with me and told me which trees and plants are going to grow up to be something and which are just scrubs that will never amount to much. It turns out we have a ton of sassafrass, a few persimmon trees and two gardenia bushes, as well as a black widow near our propane tank. Thanks for the education, and happy Father's Day, Dad!

Food

Amanda and I had one of our lovely lunch dates at Chick-fil-A today, followed by a sisterly secret adventure. :) I will always be a CFA fan, but they've gone up on their prices and shrunk some of their portion sizes. (For example, the chicken-strips combo used to cost $4-something for four strips; now it costs $5-something for three strips.)

Lately I have been making a point not to throw away food at lunch. Instead, I eat as much as I want and then, as long as what's left is presentable, I wrap it up and give it away. Our town doesn't have a lot of obviously homeless people, and the first time I walked out of Jersey Mike's with half my sub, Matt and Stephen made fun of me for thinking I could find anyone who would want it. I was just worried I would offend people. But so far everyone to whom I've offered my leftovers has accepted without hesitation.

Today Amanda and I had leftover chicken nuggets and gave them to a man who actually walked up to us and asked if we had any food. That just does not happen around here -- it's never happened to me, anyway. Maybe we were looking particularly approachable or overfed today, I don't know.

This brings me to a point I've been meaning to make for a while: There are a lot of hungry people right now. Food banks are facing shortages, which is affecting the food pantries that rely on them, which is affecting a whole lot of people. A recent article in our local newspaper quoted a food-bank employee saying that every dollar donated multiplies to $8 worth of food for distribution.

Last week I was giddy about all we got for "only" a few hundred dollars at the outlets. There is no way I could honestly claim that we can't afford to give money and/or food so that fewer people in our community will be hungry at night.

This News & Observer editorial makes the case more eloquently than I do. Please read it and consider helping however you can.

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Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina

Coolio

People are always asking me whether I get responses to the letters I send. And the answer is, hardly ever. I know I'd have better luck if I wrote to corporate rather than the local entity, but I want to know the letters are reaching their intended audience. Yes, I love Chick-fil-A in general, but I wrote my love letter specifically to the Southern Pines one. Most Pizza Huts might have great buffets, but the Aberdeen one doesn't. Et cetera.

Therefore, a couple of weeks ago when I was really happy with the customer service at the Southern Pines Stein Mart, I sent my letter of thanks to that store -- but corporate found me anyway. Check out this exchange, from the blog-post comments:

Kathy Lussier said...
Hi Jennifer! Thanks so much for your kind words and for sharing them with the world! We're proud of the great customer service you received and would love to recognize the associates involved. Can you tell me what store you visited? Thanks! Kathy Lussier with Stein Mart.

jennifer said...
Hi, Kathy, The store is located at 10564 US 15/501 in Southern Pines, N.C. Please do recognize the associates if possible! Thanks for your comment! P.S. How in the world did you find this post?

Kathy Lussier said...
It came up on a google blog alert I had set up. I love your "list" idea, too. You've inspired me to start one...is "making a list" something I can put on my list! HA! :)

I hope the women who helped me that day do get recognition from the corporate office. Next time I'll be sure to catch their names.

Mr. Loyd's class reunion/singalong/retirement party

Here are the promised pictures from the retirement party. Be warned ... there are a bunch of them!

We mostly stuck to this schedule.



Dad's current class was a well-oiled machine setting up the displays.


Ready for party time.


The next eight pictures are just a small sampling of the nostalgia-inducing displays that were set up for browsing. This is not a well-rounded representation; I'm just posting the pictures that came out best. (I think I have pictures of every display; if anyone wants to see them all, post a comment with your email address and I'll send them to you.) There also was a slideshow set up onstage, and four or five televisions with videos of class plays and classics like "High Feather" were set up around the room.


Most or all of his classes have read "The Hobbit," "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH," "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "Charlotte's Web" and other classics.

Every year Dad's students compile a "Humor Magazine," and he's saved every one. (Third-grade humor = not that funny, yet quite entertaining.)

Being a good steward of the Earth has always been important to Dad, and one way he instills this in his students is the SFL nature trail, which he developed and his classes maintain.

Farm Life was a K-8 school until about 12 or 15 years ago, and Dad coached 7th- and 8th-grade basketball, tennis and volleyball for years.

Self-explanatory ...

Dad's famous -- some would say infamous -- for catching snakes on the nature trail (and elsewhere) and giving snake shows at school.

Chipper, the class mascot, is named after Chipper Jones. Dad's students are encouraged to cheer for the Atlanta Braves and the Carolina Tar Heels.

One of my favorite parts of Dad's class was Eng Lang Pla (English Language Play).

Most of the party time was reserved for people to peruse the displays, reunite with former classmates and teachers and talk to Dad.

Kasey's mom was Dad's assistant for a staggering 18 years. Kasey and I went to school together from kindergarten through 12th grade, and in our early years we spent a lot of time playing together before and after school. Her mom and dad drove through the night from Massachusetts to be at the party.

Everyone who attended had a chance to write a note to Dad. Some were confidential; others Amanda and I read from the stage.

One girl simply wrote out this Ralph Waldo Emerson quote and concluded, "Mr. Loyd, consider yourself a success." I truly can't think of anyone who embodies this more fully than Dad.


At the end of every school year Dad's students write letters to the next year's students telling them what to expect in Mr. Loyd's class. Hundreds of these were strung across the windows.

I didn't get a good picture of it, but our family friend Debi surprised Dad by reading a poem she'd written in honor of his retirement.

Dad claimed the stage a couple of times during the party for part sing-along, part heartfelt speech, part comedy club, part memory lane. (I posted another video, of "Boom Boom Ain't It Great to Be Crazy," yesterday.) One of the neatest moments came when Dad presented his current assistant, Pam, with her own copy of "The Jack Tales," so that's one tradition that will be carried on next year.

When Dad wasn't onstage, he was surrounded by well-wishers.

When the party had started to die down, Dad led everyone in rounds of John Denver's "Friends, I Will Remember You."

At the very end, when only maybe 30 people were still there, the party concluded most appropriately -- with Dad giving a guided tour of the nature trail. This is Kaleigh and me in front of "Jack, Will and Tom."


All along the trail, Dad identified various plants for us. This cute girl is smelling a ginger leaf he gave her.


About to start cleanup. After we finished, Dad took the family out for dinner.

All in all, it was a wonderful celebration of an incredibly deserving man. We love you, Dad!

Hair be gone

Despite my better judgment, here's a "before" picture of my legs. This was taken today, in Krisztina Kozmetika's lobby, so it documents probably the very hairiest moment of my legs' life.


The lovely Krisztina, after returning my legs to a state of non-repulsiveness.

Krisztina is wonderful. She's from Hungary and is so interesting to talk to, plus she does a fantastic job. Lib introduced me to her when we were still at Carolina. I have been waxed by someone else just one time since then (in Wilmington) and that was all it took to convince me Krisztina's worth the drive. Now, Amanda and I go a few times a year and make a day of it with thrift shopping, Trader Joe's and a good lunch on Franklin Street. Today was extra-special because Mom went with us.

Dad's retirement party yesterday was a huge success! It was incredible to see hundreds of people fill the cafetorium to thank him for his impact on their lives and wish him a happy retirement. I have tons of pictures and will definitely be posting them in a separate post, but not today, because I want to do it justice and I am out of energy right now. Check back tomorrow!

Teaser:

Pleasantly surprised

Dear Stein Mart,

I’m writing to say thank you for the excellent customer service you extended to me this week.

I had bought some sunglasses at your store that broke just a couple of weeks later. On Monday I brought in the broken glasses with my receipt, hoping for store credit, but I had low expectations, especially since their breaking wasn’t your fault.

To my surprise, the two women at the customer-service desk offered me an exchange, which I declined (I’d already replaced them), so they refunded my money. There was no hassle, the employees were exceptionally pleasant, and the entire transaction took less than five minutes. It reflected really well on your store and its management, and I've been giving you free word-of-mouth advertising ever since.

I wish I had gotten the names of the two women who helped me, but I didn’t. If you can find out who was working the customer-service desk at 10 a.m. on May 5, I hope you’ll tell them how much I appreciate the way they treated me.