*Today I am participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop by answering the prompt: 2.) Show us where you live; take a picture of the view out your front door, back door, or neighborhood.

Okay, ya’ll know that peace signs are my thing, so you might think that I fabricated this photo, but I didn’t! Girly and I took Chili Dawg on a walk and brought along a camera to capture the essence of our neighborhood. This is it:

In case you didn’t get it the first time:

And you thought Georgia was only full of good ‘ole boys and pick-up trucks.

Visit Mama Kat’s Losin It to write a prompt of your own.

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Help! My favorite boots are ruined! I was rearranging my closet for the fall (moving sandals in the back, putting boots in the front) when I noticed that my favorite boots had these stains:

Apparently the dye from the neighboring brown suede boots transferred onto these boots. I have googled. I have taken them to a cobbler. Sadly there doesn’t seem to be a remedy for removing stains from patent leather.

I first wrote about my unique connection to these boots April 2009:

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These Boots Were Made For Walking And Dancing And Looking Fly

Now that spring is here, I am packing away my favorite boots for the season. Why are they my favorite? I’m glad you asked….

When I was in kindergarten, there were two groups of kids: the morning class and the afternoon class. I was in the morning class. Both classes had the same teacher, we both said the pledge of allegiance every day and learned our ABC’s. But for me the afternoon class held a certain cache because of a little girl in that class who wore white patent leather go-go-like boots. I loved those boots and wanted them for my own! But that was not how my mother dressed me; I wore beautiful dresses, matching bows in my hair, tights and patent leather shoes. By the time I grew old enough to dress myself those boots were no longer in style and it remained a hidden (but not forgotten) desire.

Shopping in Nordstrom with some friends last fall I saw these boots on display and I swear it was like the light from heaven shining down illuminating them just for me. Like two long-lost lovers in a Lifetime movie, my friends, other shoppers and salespeople all faded away; all I could see were those boots.

Yes, I bought the boots; I wear them all the time. And I look good!

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Well, I used to look good. Curses! What shoes will I wear now to my fantasy B-52s concert? The one where the band sees me as a kindred spirit (because of the boots, naturally) and invite me on stage to sing Love Shack with them.

I am so distraught; I fear that I may never be able to wear my boots again. Or rock with The B-52s.

Please help! Do you know of some magical solution to rid my boots of these seemingly permanent stains?

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*Today I am participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop by answering the prompt: 1.) Create your own comic strip.

THE MANY FACES OF SHARKBOY!

Why? No reason. No reason at all.

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Towards the end the school year, my son’s high school classes shift from the normal biology and math requirements to more interesting electives like The Sociological History of Hair.

I saw this book on the table tonight and thought, “huh; how about that?”

I’m hoping that the classroom discussion spills over into our dinnertime table talk. Especially since my son’s hair resembles the cover of the book in dreadlocks and it’s certain that 99.9% of the class does not.

If they had classes like this when I was in high school, I might have paid attention.

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My kids’ school is very Green: they recycle, compost, organize environmental clean-ups and recently built a LEED addition to the school. There is a parent-run Green Team that is serious about making the school have as little impact on the earth as possible. I am always in awe when I hear that the school-wide Thanksgiving Feast produces a single tiny bag of trash. All the food scrap food is composted and the containers recycled. The dishes and forks used are made of corn. It’s amazing that they can feed over 900 kids at a traditionally glutenous meal and not have any trash!

So, practicing Green habits is a daily occurrence at the school, not just something that they do on Earth Day. But once a year they ask the parents and students to do something that they might not normally do: walk, carpool or ride bikes to school. There are meet-up points near and far for walkers and bike riders to travel to school together, so it’s fun. We don’t normally walk to school; it’s a 6 minute drive, but a 40 minute walk. The walk is not so long, but it would require getting up early (!) and moving quickly in the morning and we don’t do that very well. But today we got up at 6:30 and met the science teacher at the corner at 7:15 to walk as a group. It was chilly outside, but fun walking and talking together.

We were able to do it because we didn’t eat breakfast before leaving home. We knew that this would be waiting for us:

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

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