A good day

Lightning McQueen
Let 'er rip!

Yesterday was an exciting day for my boy. First, after an early 2nd round defeat, John and his car, Lightning McQueen, managed to come back for a stunning 2nd-place finish in the Kernersville Pack #943 Pinewood Derby. He's now eligible to compete in the finals this Tuesday night and the Salem district derby on March 10th. Wow!

Second, John received Honorable Mention in the Crisis Control Ministry's Wee Care art contest, drawing a picture of his family eating breakfast. 12 kids from his school, Sedge Garden Elementary, were finalists in the contest.

Congratulations, John! Mom & Dad are proud of you!

It could happen to you!

Cha-ching! So it may not be enough to quit my job, but I won $6 in the N.C. lottery last night! The odds on those scratch-offs are about 1 in 4, so I bought four tickets and what do you know-- one of them hit and I actually made two dollars on the whole deal. Yep, life is good.

Oo-ooh that smell

I don't want to get anybody's hopes up, but I swear when I went out the door at 5:00 this morning I smelled SPRING!!! You know, that fresh, not-20-degrees smell that doesn't burn your nostrils when you inhale? That's the best smell in the world.

Whizzing thru Wal-Mart

My BFFL Jodie e-mailed me the other day and yelled at me for not posting in a week. She lives outside New York City and I explained to her that not as much happens around here as in the Big Apple. But, boy, all you need to do to find some action is take a trip to Wal-Mart. Yesterday I found another curious phenomenon, these shoes called Heelies. Apparently they're all the rage with kids, but the thing that gets me is the parents who actually allow their kids to whiz around a busy big-box store on these things. I nearly got run over between the frozen foods and bread aisle when a pre-teen boy wearing Heelies rounded the corner at top speed, towing his mom's grocery cart behind. I try to always look for something positive, however, and I would like to point out that the kid did say "excuse me" when he realized he'd almost clocked me.

OK, so it's not New York!

Are you hep to the jive?

This really has nothing to do with anything, but it's guaranteed to make you smile. One of the most amazing performances you will ever see anywhere.

Mr. Vanderbilt's summer home

Need a quick getaway to recharge your batteries? I had forgotten what a nice town Asheville is and how truly awesome a visit to Biltmore Estate can be! Less than two and a-half hours west of Winston-Salem on I-40, this cosmopolitan mountain city is experiencing a huge renaissance, with funky little boutiques and restaurants all over its once-dilapidated downtown. We decided to go since John's class is reading a book called "The Mystery of Biltmore Estate" and he kept trying to impress us with his wealth of knowledge on the subject. This 8-year-old, who thinks that just about everything his parents like to do is "lame," was captivated by George W. Vanderbilt's late 19th-century home. (The kids' treasure map we picked up at the front desk didn't hurt!) Enjoy the photos.

The truth is out there

They're heeeerre! UFO sightings have been reported in the Kernersville area. Don't know why this isn't being more widely reported.