Kids

CALDWELL GRADUATES NAVY BASIC TRAINING

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

08/23/2013



Zachary Aaron Caldwell, son of Russ & Sherri Caldwell of Midtown Atlanta, and a 2013 graduate of Henry W. Grady High School, recently completed Navy Boot Camp at the U.S. Navy Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois.

Seaman Caldwell successfully completed the eight-week program of intensive training, which culminated in the twelve-hour, overnight exam, Battle Stations 21, aboard the USS Trayer, the Navy’s high-tech disaster simulator (as featured on CNN).

Because of his previous JROTC leadership experience at Grady High School, Caldwell served as his Division #313 AROC – Asst Recruit Chief Petty Officer, 2nd in command, during Boot Camp.

He was promoted in the last week of Basic Training and led his Division #313 as RPOC – Recruit Chief Petty Officer, 1st in Command, in the formal Pass In Review Graduation Ceremony on 23 August 2013. There were 871 graduating Sailors in 11 divisions on that date.

Seaman Caldwell reported to the Center for Information Dominance – Corry Station, Pensacola, Florida, on 24 August 2013 to begin 22 weeks “A School” Training as an Information Systems Technician (IT).




Where Is Your Kid Going To College?

“Where Is Your Kid Going To College?”

The #1 most-often-asked question, as your child approaches his/her senior year of high school. Here it is, people, Part 1 of a new series in our continuing adventure on RebelHousewife.com: NAVY MOM.

Proud Navy Mom image

My son is going into the Navy. He graduated from high school in May, and left for Basic Training, at Great Lakes Naval Recruit Training Center, outside of Chicago, just 30 days later. I am so proud of him, so excited for him, and I experienced such surprising devastation as the time came, and we handed our 18-year-old son over to the U.S. Military.

This is a kid who has never loved the academic aspects of school, although he is very bright and highly technical. If he could have earned his high school diploma in Mythbuster’s Science, MAKE Magazine, technology, video games, and taking things apart, he would have been a 4.0 student. Upon graduation, with decent grades, he just wanted to GO — get out of Georgia! — BE and DO. He is ready for adventure, and after the 13-year slog through public education…GO, Zac, GO!

His interest in the military was a surprise to us. He enrolled in the high school JROTC program after a presentation about elective choices in 8th grade. At the time, he was stumbling and grumbling through the dark tunnel of puberty — a good kid, but for a year or two there, between 13 and 15, he lived furtively in his room or out in the wild, with not much to say to the parents. (It was such a relief when he turned 16 and emerged from the tunnel into a much more pleasant and interactive young man. What finally brought him out? He wanted to get his driver’s license and drive our car.)

During that angsty time, I think the structure and discipline of the military, the community and brotherhood, attracted him in a way that 15 years of attempted structure and discipline at home, obviously, had not.

We didn’t hear too much about JROTC in 9th grade. Granted, he still wasn’t talking much, at that point. In 10th grade, things started to get serious. He kept his hair cut short and got up earlier than he even knew the day existed to run and work out. He was careful to arrange his schedule to show up for events and activities. He participated in all the extra-curriculars: Raiders, Drill Team, Rifle Team, parades, charity drives, academic competitions, community service. He asked us to help out, and by the end of 10th grade, we had become the JROTC Mom & Dad for 180 cadets: driving to meets and practices, cheering them on, providing field support (FOOD) at weekend competitions, and organizing Honors & Award Ceremony receptions (FOOD).

During that sophomore year, his high school JROTC program had strong student leadership, with two of the leaders earning full-ride scholarships to West Point Military Academy. Under that impressive example, Zac started taking JROTC even more seriously.

By 11th grade, he earned his commendation in the Saber Day Ceremony and became a cadet staff officer. His best friend, a fellow JROTC cadet leader, graduated that year and Zac was very interested and impressed with his friend’s direction: Having earned a full four-year scholarship with the Georgia National Guard, he went to Army Basic & Advanced Training that summer/fall, and then started college full-time in January. He will get paid, actually, on top of tuition and expenses, all through college for his Weekend Warrior service, and graduate as an officer.

In Zac’s Senior year, he was Cadet LT COL Caldwell, Battalion Commander in charge of the Grady High School unit. Under his leadership, they earned high honors throughout the year and were awarded #1 Army JROTC in Atlanta Public Schools. He was really good at this military stuff!

He seriously contemplated his future, worked really hard in JROTC and in school, still managing to have enough fun, and get into enough trouble, to fully enjoy his senior year. He started on college applications and the ROTC scholarship process. He scored very highly on the ASVAB, the military entrance test, and felt he did much better on the ASVAB than the SATs.

Ultimately, he decided to enlist. He wanted to GO, BE, and DO — and figured, realistically, college could wait.

After four years in the ARMY JROTC program, immersed in the brotherhood of the ARMY; three summers at ARMY JROTC summer camp at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia; and with the best friend going ARMY — we were worried. Although neither my husband nor I served in the military, we are both from Navy families — his Dad was career Navy and my Dad was a Marine. We both grew up on and near Navy bases around the world. We are WATER people.

We attended a Visitor’s Day during one of Zac’s summer camps at Fort Benning — in June. It was a hot, dusty, dirty level of hell (with apologies to the Army people). While we were exuberant in our support of the military, we tried to be subtle about our preferences. After Visitor’s Day, I pointed out to him, subtly, of course, that every Navy base I had ever been on had been so clean, so well-run, so modern — ON THE WATER, beautiful beaches!!! Subtle.

He gave it a lot of thought and talked to a lot of people: his JROTC instructors, family, mentors, friends. He asked us to come along when he talked to both the Army and the Navy recruiters. He really did his research…

He chose NAVY!!! (Thank You, Sweet Little Baby Jesus!) With his ASVAB score, he was able to choose, and contract for, an IT career path, with a top security clearance and a six-year commitment (because of the extra schooling required for the rating).

Funny thing is, after 8 weeks’ Basic Training at Great Lakes, he goes to Pensacola, Florida for 22 weeks — in school! (Hopefully, IT school will be more Mythbusters & MAKE Magazine than academics?) He will have his great adventure on the sea, but he’ll begin working toward his college degree — and getting paid! — at the same time. After his first year or two of active duty, he will have the opportunity to apply for college programs. The Navy will take him off active duty to finish his degree, he can go through Officer Training and finish his career as a “Mustang” (enlisted-turned-officer).

All in good time. This kid needs a year or two…or four, even, if that’s what he wants. There is plenty of time for college and serious girlfriends, a wife, babies and everything else. Better to have his adventure now, before all of that.

OF COURSE I worry about my son in the military — how could I not? But in my Mom’s heart, I know this is the perfect plan for my GO, BE, DO, active son…

And I could not be more proud of him.

Perfect Moments

Facebook post – 9/18/2010:
“Grady High School won last night: 61 – 0. Which is kind of hard to even brag about. Perfect football night in our renovated stadium. Ohmygosh, though, the dancers, drill team & flag girls?! Straight out of the movie Baseketball — not our kids’ mothers’ high school marching band!!”

We attended our first high school football game, as high school parents, Friday night. It was a perfect night in our newly-renovated football stadium: temperature just right, slight breeze, clear and beautiful. The stands were filled, but not too full, with adults and kids of all ages.

We found friends in the crowd, and 10yo Boy Phenom was ecstatic to find a group of 5th grade boys that he knew from school last year, to hang out with, visit the concession stand en masse and migrate around the home grandstand, freed for a bit from ever-watchful parents and direct scrutiny. While they roamed, 13yo Drama Queen enjoyed the game and watching the marching bands, Home and Visitor, in the stands and during the half-time show.

For this article, I have to refer to 15yo Puberty Angst Boy in some way more fitting, since our 10th grader, a member of the school’s Army JROTC program, was selected for Color Guard duty, the presentation of the flags at the beginning of the game. We were so proud of him, as the formation of five cadets carried the colors out onto the field in procession. He carried the rifle and marched on the right of the small group, his weapon at proper Shoulder Arms. It is almost more than I can write about to see my son, so tall and handsome, dressed in his full Army JROTC uniform, serving his school, our community, our country. I wouldn’t have thought it was such a big deal, such a proud moment, but it really was. It was a glimpse of the future — however he chooses to fulfill his personal destiny — almost overwhelming.

Of course, then he immediately ditched us for the entire game, hiding up in the grandstand with his friends. We never even saw him after he marched off the field. He barely deigned to answer our text messages when we were leaving — wouldn’t even walk home with us. He is 15, after all.

And, oh, what a half-time show! The girls…wow…glitter, sequins, spandex, body parts and hairography (do you watch GLEE?!) we never even imagined possible or appropriate when I was in the flag corps…yes, 25 years ago, but still!

The game itself was a blow-out: 61 – 0. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the other team, but our high school players were impressive. When their individual pictures flashed up on the new Jumbo-tron, they looked like grown men, and I am pretty sure there were college and professional scouts in the stands. We have a good team like that, which is pretty cool, even if this was our family’s first football game, our second year at the high school. (Last year, they were renovating the stadium and the games were all played at another high school.)

At the end of the 3rd quarter, it was already 61 – 0, and we were tired, sore (concrete benches), and slightly nauseous from over-sized bags of cotton candy on empty stomachs. We walked home, a quarter-mile across Piedmont Park.

13yo Drama Queen carried her umbrella, swinging and tossing it like the baton girls in the marching band.

10yo Boy Phenom…and these kids are the siblings who constantly fight and bicker, torment and annoy each other, brutally exclude and ignore (at best) — these kids hate each other, right?! You know how other parents always say, “Oh, but if anyone ever messed with one, the others would be the first to defend and protect!” No. Not my kids.

But…10yo Boy Phenom picked up a stick and walked all the way home — carrying that stick at Shoulder Arms, military-style — just like his big brother. That is something I want to remember for the rest of my life. Perfect Moments, indeed.

Camp Mommy: 2010

July 2010 – Forgot to mention there is a NEW Rebel Review up:
BOOK GROUP REVIEWS [new feature!]: The Lost City by Henry Shukman

The summer is ambling along at a fairly quick pace, for summer. The kids are all three active and busy in various activities and we are actually going on a REAL vacation this year (as opposed to tent camping in Talladega, Alabama and our other “value-conscious” family vacation misadventures over the past couple summers!): We have rented a condo in Cocoa Beach for the 4th of July holiday – woo hoo!

Now that the kids are older — 15yo Puberty Angst Boy, 13yo Drama Queen and 10yo ADHD Phenom — Camp Mommy is not as active or in demand. That’s a good thing, on the whole, but still…I kind of miss my cute little campers. The 15yo is either sleeping; on the couch watching TV; on the computer playing World of Warcraft (sometimes both at the same time!); off with his friends; or, last week, away at Army Camp at Fort Benning, Georgia, part of his JROTC program in school, which he loves. The 13yo has herself hooked up with a great job this summer, as a Summer Camp Counselor for a day-camp program in Piedmont Park, which is right across the street, so she, too, is fairly independent and over Camp Mommy. Fortunately, I still have the 10yo, my brilliant, quirky, very bright, very ACTIVE boy. He still loves and appreciates his Mom! (The others do, too, I know.)

The Young One and I have been spending most of the summer at the Georgia Tech CRC (Campus Recreation Center) which is, in a word, amazing! We are very fortunate to enjoy membership and use of the facility (hubby is hooked up like that, since his company is affiliated with the Georgia Tech ATDC – Advanced Technology Development Center). The 10yo doesn’t much care for summer camp programs or crowds, sensory overload in general. He *loves* the CRC, especially the indoor recreational pool, with a big ol’ waterslide (!!!) and, perhaps even more, the separate Olympic Competition Pool & Diving Well (built for the 1996 Summer Olympics hosted in Atlanta), where he can dive to his heart’s content from the low & high diving boards. He loves to dive, go figure. He’s also savvy enough to “join” (kind of) the summer camp program for kids at Georgia Tech — timing our visits to the recreational pool during swim time, so he can play in the pool with a huge group of kids — or not, if he’s not feeling it — and he can leave anytime, go over to the diving well and have the place to himself after the campers leave. Genius. So we spend hours at the CRC and it is wonderful. (There are adult-only hot tubs at both pools and comfortable lounge chairs and a sundeck at the recreational pool — excellent for reading!)

It’s a good summer, 2010, after a season or several of change. I guess that’s what Life is all about, after all.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…

…or is it?!

I’m trying, I really am — and this will not be one of those whining, complaining blog posts about how hard the Holidays are on Mom; how there’s never enough time or money or magic; how everybody’s either looking for donations, cash, checks, party contributions or time on your oh-so-limited calendar…

No, let’s not go there.

The Holidays can be, and usually are, stressful, but there’s also an awful lot of good stuff. I can come up with 10 Things to Be Excited About, I know I can:

  1. The Magic kids still believe in: My older kids, now almost-15 and 12, want to force a confession about Santa, in no small part to “educate” their younger 9-year-old brother. I keep the discussion limited: “If you don’t believe in the Magic, the Magic won’t believe in you…and THE MAGIC can’t leave you a really great gift under the tree or a stocking full of goodies!” (It works!)
  2. Christmas Lists! If my children do no other creative writing all year, I can count on them for something truly entertaining and wonderful on the “Come-on Santa, Bring It All and Make My Miserable Life Complete Request List.” Want to see an example? 9yo Boy’s Wish List
  3. The Giving: Not so much the shopping, but the thinking, the planning, the scheming to surprise and delight, the giving is wonderful, especially when you find Just The Right Thing, big or small, for someone special.
  4. Gingerbread Cookies! An annual tradition in the Rebel Household, we make armies and armies of decorated Gingerbread Men for holiday parties, school friends, teacher gifts and neighbors…
  5. Cold Weather & Snuggling
  6. Winter Break – sleeping in and NO HOMEWORK!
  7. Christmas Cards – love to receive, even the letters.
  8. Decorations & Light Displays – another annual tradition, the Christmas Drive-Around to see all the lights and displays. We drive far and wide, to professional displays (around Atlanta: Stone Mountain, Lake Lanier Islands, Calloway Gardens) and to see everything at homes & businesses in-between. With a Thermos of hot chocolate, a to go box of gingerbread men and holiday music on the car stereo (now XM Radio Channel #23 – Holly) and we are set for several evenings of family entertainment.
  9. Christmas Music – all of it, from classical to elevator renditions to The Chipmunks!
  10. Christmas Classics – TV Shows & Books

That’s it. It’s nice to keep it simple. Of course, there is Christmas Morning and the children’s delight (hopefully) over their holiday haul; visiting friends & family and oh, yes, the holiday eating…

It is beginning to look — and feel — a lot like Christmas…
I’m on it!

9-Year-Old’s Wish List (BOY)

[Note: This is a boy who LOVES technology and has an older brother and sister to expose him to the finer and more expensive things in life – note the absence of Legos or Star Wars or games & toys targeted and marketed to this age group…Still, it’s a fine example of a Christmas Wish List, verbatim!]

9yo BOY’s Wish List

  1. $$$!
  2. Premium Membership on Webs.com (Enhanced Premium)
  3. $50 iTunes Money
  4. My Own Macbook Air
  5. My Own Phone
  6. RC Helicopter
  7. RC Car
  8. Nerf Gun
  9. PIZZA!!!!!
  10. ROOT BEER!!!!!
  11. The Schools Getting Rid of Homework 4 Good.
  12. More Money!!!
  13. A Perfect Christmas Tree
  14. More Subscribers on My Website
  15. The Mind Flex
  16. Outrageous Builders Club on ROBLOX
  17. A bigger allowance
  18. A pet Golden Retriever
  19. A successful ROBLOX game
  20. My own DSi
  21. An awesome Christmas
  22. An iPod Touch 3G
  23. More Webs.com Credits
  24. Advertisements for My Website
  25. A Go-Kart
  26. Ideas for my next year’s Wish List
  27. XBOX 360
  28. My sister’s and my meter ideas for my own [iPhone] App.
    [See Mom & Dad’s Luv Meter FREE iPhone App at: www.LuvShaker.com]

Asperger’s Syndrome: I’ll be in my cabinet…

@RebelUpdate Tweet of the Day:
RT @JoanCelebi: New Post: 17 Tips for Calming Your Child with Special Needs http://twurl.nl/fu7y02 (via @aspergers2mom)
26 minutes ago from Twitterrific

It has been a rough week with 9yo ADHD/Aspergers Phenom, 4th grader. The poor kid has not been able to catch a break with homework: remembering to write assignments down in his agenda and bring home everything he needs, i.e. books, worksheets, etc. This, in essence, is the one thing he must do to earn his afternoon “Computer Pass” at home, which is his most-favorite activity and incentive.

He came home Tuesday with *nothing* in his backpack…Oh, Lord…

My #1 task is to STAY CALM, because it is only when I am calm that I can help him get through any meltdown. If I get uptight and upset, if I start yelling back at him, it only feeds the fire. This is one of those home base concepts I have had to learn — probably the exact reason this special child was given to me. So I go into CALM mode, breathe, breathe…

He goes APESHIT (the only way I can adequately describe it):
Full-out on the floor, kicking, screaming, crying, wailing, cursing life and the universe.
He had after-school plans on the computer (a full agenda, in fact — he scribes endless To Do Lists for himself for computer time, just not schoolwork), important stuff to do on his new website and on ROBLOX.com, which is where he currently spends most of his computer time and which is an amazing game and programming environment. But he didn’t have the required “Computer Pass.”

Dramatic screaming and rolling on the kitchen floor (him, not me – staying calm). I *calmly* told him he would start losing time from his bedtime if he continued screaming at me, five minutes at a time. I thought I was going to lose my mind and my cool. He lost five minutes: “Bedtime at 8:25 tonight.” And he stopped. Laying in the middle of the kitchen floor, he just shut it off, which was…disconcerting (eye of the storm?).

He took a deep breath, sat up and, oddly enough, crawled into one of the lower (mostly empty) kitchen cabinets. He then announced, calmly: “Fine. I’m just going to stay in this cabinet the rest of the day, then.” Ummmmm…okay?

I took a deep breath, gave him a few minutes, and then I quietly gathered a few items and set them outside his cabinet door: a bagel, a flashlight and several books. I knocked on the door. He opened it. I removed a basket of plastic storage containers, really the only thing in that cabinet, and pointed to the things I had left for him. He took them inside, closed the cabinet door and said, “Thanks, Mom.”

He stayed in the cabinet, what he now calls his “pantry” (he put up a sign) for a good part of the afternoon and evening, coming out for fresh supplies and a couple of cushions — those kitchen cabinets aren’t really made for butt-comfort, you know.

I’m not really sure what the moral of this story is, except to say: Sometimes, a kid just needs his space — a small, dark, enclosed, peaceful, safe space of which he is in control. For thinking and reading. For calming down.

Asperger’s Resources – The Best – on Amazon.com

Mom, I Have a Boyfriend!

I got nothing done today. Nothing. Twitter will be the death of The Rebel Housewife, I’m telling you. Twitter or our Dear Daughter, 12yo Drama Queen, who announced yesterday, upon our return from a fabulous (and kid-less!) weekend getaway: “I have a boyfriend!”

Oh.My.God.

Let’s not even talk about Dear Son (The Older), 15yo Puberty Angst Boy, who somehow, over the course of the weekend (and yes, they were supervised — we did not leave them alone!) shaved.his.eyebrows. Why? I don’t know. His answer (and I was really trying to be cool about it, to not over-react and set off TTSD)(Total Teen Shut Down): “Because.”

Me: Oh.My.God. (on the inside)
To Him: “Well, honey, are you shaving anything else? Do you need a razor or shaving cream or anything?” Maybe an eyebrow pencil? (again – held that last one in)

So back to 12yo Drama Queen, our tomboy who has thus far spent more time kicking butt and taking names (especially on her two brothers) than noticing the opposite sex…Oh. Maybe this explains the Social Studies grade and how a straight-A 6th grader goes to barely-B average (after you throw that Social Studies grade in there) 7th grader. With a boyfriend.

Okay. Breathe. What does the handbook say?

Oh right. There is no handbook on raising a 12yo Drama Queen. I barely survived 12 the first time, 30 years ago. And here I go again…

Hubby sort of nonchalantly ambled (ran) out of the room at this point in the discussion, so I had to quickly re-group and, as calmly as possible — THINK before speaking — ask the pertinent Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? and “Does this involve kissing?” interrogatives…

Who? Okay, I kind of remember seeing this kid in the Orchestra last year. I think he was one of the ones I yelled at for messing around during practice before the teacher arrived. “He’s really tall and he has red hair…” (hear in the dreamy voice typically used by Cinderella when mooning over Prince (freaking) Charming)

What? (As in: “What does that mean, he’s your boyfriend?”)
Response: equivalent of “Duh, Mom” (blush, blush, giggle, giggle)
Me: “Do you two actually talk to each other?”
(Because my 7th grade “boyfriend” and I never said a word to each other — the whole crushing, three-day romance was managed by our handlers (friends), requiring us only to smile stupidly at each other across the classroom or playground as he played basketball with his buddies (he was tall, too), until he broke up with me (via his handler) for an Older Woman.)
Response: equivalent of “Duh, Mom”

Thirty years later: things are different.

Where? In the cafeteria.
When? At lunch on Friday.
Why? He’s really cute.
<< Extended conversation about the single most important thing in any relationship and what I hope for all of my children in their relationships: He's nice to her, really sweet. And funny. >>
How? He asked me.

Oh, wow. I need a minute.

Holding hands? Yes. [Breathe.]
What about kissing? “Ewww, Mom – no! That’s just gross!”
(Interpret: I just don’t know enough and I’m not ready to try that yet. Which is okay. Fine.)

Summary 42yo Brilliant Mom-advice to 12yo Drama Queen:
1) You know you can always talk to me about anything or ask any questions. You might have to give me a minute, you know, because…well, just because. [Breathe.]
2) 12yo “dating” in our family is group dates only to movies, activities or school events. We are happy to help organize and drive gangs of tweens around — no solo dating until you are older (some as-yet undetermined age).
3) As for the kissing, there is plenty of time, so take it slow. I had my first “boyfriend” in 7th grade, too, but I didn’t have my first kiss until I was…like…25…
No, okay, I was already married by 25…16?

And at that moment, I looked at my beautiful little girl…and I saw the amazing woman she is already becoming. 7th grade. Was I ever this young and innocent? Where did my chubby little ballerina baby go and how did it go so very quickly? The little girl in me looked at the soon-to-be grown-up woman in her and I told her the truth, honestly: My first kiss was in the 8th grade, at the end of 8th grade, and I was 14 years old, almost.

Oh, but honey, take your time.

High School

I am trying to not get all Twitter-distracted today — I have only 1 1/2 hours before the buses start rolling back home (1/2 day!), and then I’ve been finessed by 14yo Puberty Angst Boy (PAB) into driving the 9th grade gang to play paintball up in Roswell, which is OT(F)P – Outside The (Freaking) Perimeter – practically Tennessee, at this point. (We are deeply entrenched in Midtown Atlanta in our little live-work-play 1/2 mile radius with only one car!)

Anyway, I love the kid, and I even like him a lot lately (big distinction), so I will do it. Plus it will be at least 45 minutes, each way, to be a fly on the wall (so to speak) and catch up with what is going on in high school, since PAB hasn’t really talked to the old people much since school started 3 weeks ago…

Everybody asked me, starting early last year: “Is [PAB] excited about high school?”
Response: “He’s 14. He’s not excited about anything, and if he is, he’s certainly not telling us about it.”

Sad, but true. And it’s okay – he’s a great kid, and we are really proud of him. It’s just hard to let go…but not let go too much, too soon.

Back To School in Atlanta

Tuesday, August 11th:
The second day of school was better than the first! The morning bus eventually came, 45 minutes late, but 3/4 of our away-from-homers (including DH to work) were on time today! I am enjoying a fresh bagel and my second cup of coffee.

I am finishing SHADOW COUNTRY by Peter Matthiessen for Midtown Book Group @ Barnes & Noble/GA Tech tomorrow. Also working on Rebel Review/Contest for GIRLS LIKE US this week.

Okay, I lied…or maybe I was just too optimistic: I got nothing done today. Well, except the momx3 back-to-school thing, so there’s that.

Wednesday, August 12th:
On the third day back to school, all was relatively calm. The Mom finally relaxed a bit and looked forward to getting something done today…

Illegal Right on Red in Atlanta = $194.40 (the ticket is finally online). I get to go to Traffic Court in two weeks – yay! Any success/horror stories?
[Update Monday, August 17th: Grumpy start Monday, but I’m about to be over it – paid traffic ticket online rather than go to court: My $200 contribution to City of Atlanta.]

Friday, August 14th:
TGIF funny: 9yo *really* likes new camo-pattern undies. Discovered he’s been wearing same pair 3 days – others in pack of 4 “too boring”
Note to self: pick up another package of Hanes Boys Boxer Briefs M/M with the cool camoflage pattern so the child wears clean unders daily…

#NASCAR – Childcare offered & accepted (duh!) – Hubby & I are going to the Labor Day Weekend Sprint Cup Race at Atlanta Motor Speedway!!! Woo hoo!

Other than that, nothing going on today: cleaning for Paul McCartney (the concert at Piedmont Park, across the street!) – friends coming in.
The world is a-flutter with helicopters all around Piedmont Park. I think they are testing sound over at the *10-story high* stage setup!
It is noisy out here on my zen balcony garden today – trying to meditate, but this is urban living! They are definitely testing sound for concert: loud & clear! 😉

Friday, August 15th:
It is pouring with thunder & lightning on Paul McCartney concert at Piedmont Park…Sir Paul still singing. “Let it be, let it be…”