.: bistan.net :.

This weekend, we celebrated Tristan’s 6th birthday with a final trip to the Disney theme parks (for a long time).

I can’t believe I have a SIX year old!

Each Wednesday, Tristan brings home a folder from school.  It contains things like school work, behavior charts, PTA notices, notes from school, etc.  This past Wednesday, the folder included a request to “Help Light Someone’s Christmas”.  Basically, it’s the same concept as the Salvation Army’s angel tree: you sign up to purchase a gift for a specific amount and send the gift to the school.

Now we typically help various organizations, from giving in church to volunteering in various things, to sending canned goods to feed people who apparently only eat at Thanksgiving, to making donations, etc. Even with all of that, we have never received joy from giving.  In fact, we hate giving.  It’s like a chore.  We do it though for various reasons — whether political or religious or otherwise.  But because I love Heard Elementary School, I wanted to sign up immediately. 

Kimberlie tried to throttle me back.  We’re already room parents for Tristan’s class.  We donate classroom supplies and send paper money and sell wrapping paper and buy BBQ tickets and support the PTA, so I understood her concern. But being room parents, we’ve met all of Tristan’s classmates.  If there is someone in Tristan’s class, school, or our community who needs a token gift to improve their holiday season, I want to help.  I filled out the form and committed to purchasing a gift at the $15.00 level and returned the form. 

The next day, Kimberlie was picking up the kids from day care when Tristan handed her a paper light bulb.  It said “Jacket for a 6 year old girl, size 6/7″.  Her eyes teared up.  We don’t live in a wealthy community, but it is the suburbs and I never imagined that someone nearby might not even have a jacket.  We thought we were going to be purchasing a token gift for a child who might not have as many toys on Christmas morning as our kids, but instead, we were purchasing a necessity that in our household would never be considered a gift.  And so we were off — to find the perfect jacket!

Being the bargain-hunter than I am, we ended up with a $40.00 Old Navy jacket.  All of their outerwear was 50% off plus I used a 30% Stuff-n-Save discount to end up spending $14.00.  It could possibly end up being the nicest garment the unknown little girl owns.  Tristan’s birthday is coming up later this week and we actually enjoyed shopping for this unknown child more than we enjoyed shopping for our own child.  The jacket has already warmed our hearts — for the first time since I can remember, we feel good about giving.

Let’s hope the little girl can stay warm until Christmas!

Mackenzie got her first haircut this weekend, on her 3.333333 birthday.  That’s 3 and 1/3 for the non-mathematicians. 

She did a great job sitting still, which was surprising.  The shop gave us a card that says “Baby’s First Haircut” — as if we have a baby!

Last month, I uploaded this to YouTube and posted it to Facebook.  I just remembered that at least one of my readers probably hasn’t seen it.

We have a voluntary listserv at work called “Email shop”.  It’s basically an online yard sale.  You email the list to let them know what junk is in your trunk and what you want for it.  I’ve actually sold a doghouse, a camcorder, and a treadmill (before I started running — big mistake) on it.

Here are some samples of things that have come across today . . .

First:

“I bought my 2 ½ year old son a pair of cowboy boots at Circle M Western Store this past Saturday for his cowboy Halloween outfit, but later during the day found him a pair he liked better at another store. I went to take the boots back to Circle M but they would not refund my money, only give me a store credit that can only be used for 6 months. I have no need for these boots and they literally have never been worn and are still in the box/wrapping paper. All I am trying to do is get my money back, which is $45. Again, the boots are size 7/8 and they are really cute:  brown with stars on them and can be worn by a boy or a girl. Let me know if you are interested.

Thanks,

<name redacted>
Associate Director of Financial Planning
Mercer University”

Now there are several problems with this first message:

Her first mistake was spending $45 for a pair of boots for a Halloween outfit.  Her 2^nd mistake was letting a 2 1/2 year old son pick out another pair he liked better.  Mercer’s mistake was to let someone who spends $45 on a pair of boots for a Halloween outfit be the associate director of financial planning.  Tristan has never even had a pair of $45 shoes and would trick-or-treat barefoot before I would buy him a pair.  The shoes I’m wearing didn’t even cost that much.  Perhaps I could have made her some out of duct-tape.

Second post:

“Boy’s Chocolate Brown UGG boots Size 1 (excellent condition, paid $120 for them) – $50”

Size 1 – $120!  Do you know how fast a baby’s foot grows?  We have some really thrifty folks working at Mercer – they must make a lot more than I do!

In past years, we’ve done some elaborate pumpkin designs.  This year, due to a busy week, we kept things simple and happy.

Bibb County residents voted this morning on a continuation of the ESPLOST. I know that the ESPLOST will pass and in reality I could care less, but here is why I voted no:

• New facilities do not translate into better performing students.  This is a fact.
• In all of the propaganda, Heard Elementary was supposedly at the top of the list.  On the actual text of the ballot, Heard could not be found. Other schools were mentioned by name, but not my child’s.
• My local school board member visited Heard PTA last week to pitch the vote.  It was warm in the auditorium, and she mislead the audience by telling them that a new building would provide comfort.  The rednecks in the room may have bought that, but I know that classroom temperatures are strictly regulated by central office, regardless of the newness of the building.
• A significant portion of the money is going for technology upgrades. I believe that technology purchases should be included in a regular budgetary process. As a technology professional, I can’t imagine only getting new equipment when people feel like voting for it.
• For the past few weeks, proponents of the ESPLOST have continuously stated that 71% of sales tax in Bibb County is paid by non-residents.  I worked for several months as a statistical analyst and I can tell you that 95% of statistics are fabricated (including this one!).  Bibb County is no tourist mecca.  If you told me that 71% of sales tax revenue in Vegas or Orlando was paid by non-residents, I might believe you, but not Bibb County.