Lemonade Stand

My daughters and their best buds next door set up a lemonade stand recently on a corner near our house. It was a blistering hot and humid day (after several cool rainy days), and the kids were relentless in their pursuit of potential sales. You could hear their mantra of "ICE COLD TEA AND LEMONADE!" five houses away. I was most impressed by the fact that the kids decided to donate all the proceeds to the American Red Cross to help with relief efforts associated with the devastating floods in the Midwest.

In the short span of two hours, the kids had raised $29.00--at $0.25 a glass! Granted, many people gave the kids $1.00 and did not ask for change. And all supplies were "donated" by my neighbor Wendy. But I was completely surprised by a few things:

1. The kids' perseverance in selling, even in 90 degree heat. I remember as a kid having a lemonade stand and hawking my wares for about five minutes, then deciding that watching "Creature Double Feature" seemed a better bet and hanging up my pitcher. The only reason our crew quit selling is that we made them come in and have lunch!


2. How many people driving or walking by completely ignored the kids, which was pretty hard to do since people walking by were almost assaulted by my 6-year-old. Not even so much as a nod or a smile by some passersby! How can you not smile at the first capitalistic venture of most small children in the United States?


3. Thankfully, though, the number of generous souls outweighed the misers. Like I said, many people didn't ask for change. A fair number even pulled over in their cars for a drink and were treated to curbside service.
   

So thanks to everyone who helped our kids learn a valuable lesson about giving. And to those who were Scrooges? Bah! Humbug!

A Passion for Prose

During my book club discussion tonight, a few people marveled at how I can sit and read a book for hours--even into the wee hours of the morning--and not get distracted, or even tired.

I've always been like that. I remember reading in bed as a kid, long after everyone else had gone to sleep. I just love to read--to get caught up in a complete other world that's so unlike life here in good ol' Central PA.

I go in fits and spurts, though. At the beach I can go through four books during the week with no problem. But then once I get back real life sets in again and reading gets put on the back burner for awhile.

I always come back to it, though, like an old friend. So many books, so little time.

Guilty Pleasures

I was just reading an article on MSNBC about their "guilty pleasures". I love reading about other peoples guilty pleasures, because then I don't feel so bad about my own freakish indulgences. So in an homage to MSNBC's staff, I thought I'd list some of my guilty pleasures:

• Josh Duhamel, of Las Vegas fame
• People magazine
• Cheese curls
• HGTV
• America's Next Top Model
• McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese
• High School Musical soundtrack

Tell me--what's your guilty pleasure?

Summer Camp

My 8-year-old is at summer camp this week. For one whole week! And she has no fears about it. None whatsoever. As a matter of fact, after I picked her up from mini-camp last year (a mere four days), the first thing out of her mouth was, "I'm going for a WEEK next year!" My 6-year-old wanted to go desperately this year, but was too young. "Next year," I reassured her, "you can go to mini-camp."

I never went to camp as a kid. When I recently asked my mom why I never went--assuming we didn't have the funds or the opportunity--she said that I had never wanted to go. That she'd asked me every year and that I'd flat out said no. I have no recollection of this, and can I can only imagine that I knew I'd be too homesick. I got homesick at the drop of a hat as a kid, which is too bad for me. I missed out on a lot of fun at camp, based on my daughter's report from last year. I'm just glad she missed the "homesick gene" from me and eagerly attends camp and sleepovers. As a parent, you always want your kids to do more than you did in life, and in this case, it looks like I've succeeded.

But I still wish I would've had the cojones to go to camp!