Amy J. Bennett

I just signed up to do this with Wendi because, hello?  It’s like Oprah’s favorite things delivered personally to your mailbox.   You have until August 30 to sign up and September 22 to send things out.  I have no clue what to send yet but I’m in.  Are you?

OK, now I admit it. I can be vain at times. And I feel a bit like I did during senior superlatives in high school when I went around asking to be voted for Most Photogenic, but would you nominate me here? There’s a photo shoot and stuff and yeah, that’d be cool. Nominations end Sunday.

Scott stopped by to see it and snapped a few picture in our garage so they’re not great, but you get the picture.

Alrighty, folks, here it is.  (Initial pictures are on my twitter So far I’m really liking it.  Haven’t regretted it for a second yet.  My only concern is if I went short enough!

No, I’m not just being vain.  Ok, maybe a little.  But I had Scott take some pictures of me.  Know why?  I’m getting my hair CHOPPED OFF tomorrow.  Seriously.  My hairstylist is back in town and I haven’t had my hair cut since June at all.  But I think it’s time to chop it off.  At times I love it long but sometimes I see girls with those cute short cuts and really, really miss my spunky little cuts.  So these are officially my “before” pictures.

At 10am tomorrow I should have a whole new look.  Scott is not thrilled but he does think I look “cute” with short hair.  I told the girls and they are THRILLED.  I can’t wait to see what they think.  It’s been a good two years since it’s been really short so I know Lexi doesn’t remember.

I’ve had a few moments of cold feet but I think it’s in my mind to really do it.  Besides, it will grow back if I hate it.

OK, his name isn’t Mr. Rogers and he might be as friendly as Mr. Rogers, my neighbor is a bit more CRAZY than Mr. Rogers.  Anyway, he is still seeing people.  He told Scott in the yard yesterday he saw people in our neighbor’s garden wearing the same clothes as he had the night before.  In fact, the night before he said he went out and beat his cane on the table which had them running off really fast. Scott took a look and saw no one.  Of course Mr. Rogers said they must have run off.

We found out since his daughter took his gun, he won’t speak to any of them.  She is very upset about this as it’s obvious he probably won’t be with us for much longer.  She called Scott very upset last night saying she was going to give the gun back so he would talk to her.  She’s going to try to just give him the blanks but may be forced to return the bullets as well.  Obviously, this DID NOT sit well with me.  Scott is planning to call his deputy friends and have them come take his gun if she tells him she gave him the bullets.  She is very happy with this and does not want him to have the gun but prefers that someone else take it away so she can have a decent relationship for the remainder of his time.

Trust me, if no one else does, I’m marching over there and, well, I don’t know.  But doing something about it!  I’m not about to let some old man hurt me or my family over his imaginary friends (or enemies).  I love the man, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

OK, just FYI, I do not plan to document every morning of Kindergarten but I am again today.  Emma almost didn’t cry.  We had to wait in the hall again and I told her I’d stay until she went in class.  But as soon as she was let into the class, she turned around and was crying wanting me to hold her.  I gave her a few hugs and tried to tell her she could do it.  The teacher came to rescue us and I left her in her arms.  No, I didn’t cry.  At this point, I’m like, OK, you can do this, you know it, I know it, now go do it!  I hate when she’s crying when I leave so I’m ready for her to spread her wings and go!  I won’t be emailing the teacher today.  I’m confident she’ll be fine and will be all smiles when we pick her up today.

OK, THAT is a good Kindergarten picture.  I guess it counts since it’s just the second day.  You can see she came home happy today.  Not too many details today…she learned about germs in some book the teacher read, had some sort of “alphabet principle” test the teacher said she was enthusiastic about and did well, went to music class where they danced (she loved that), and she said she “screaming cried” this morning.  I guess it turned out ok since she was in a great mood this afternoon.

Well, Emma waited until we got to the class this time but once she saw the teacher wasn’t there yet and she had to wait out in the hall, she let loose.  This was full-on, hanging on to mommy crying.  I stayed a few minutes this time and let her hang on.  I was strong today, knowing she’d be ok.  I finally left though and told her to go see the assistant that had just gone in the room a minute before.  As we drove off I could see in the window that the kids had already gone into the classroom and she had probably calmed down.  Or at least latched onto the teacher.  I think tomorrow we will wait a little longer to go in.  I can’t wait for the day she wants to skip into the school without me.  Remind me of that when she’s a teenager and doesn’t even want to be seen with me.  Independence is a good thing.