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Bug’s Graduation
Bug graduated from kindergarten last week and I never got around to posting some photos. What a terrible blogging mom I am. Sheesh!
It was a pretty big deal. I didn’t think much of it going into it because I don’t remember ever graduating from kindergarten myself but I guess they make a big to-do about it nowadays. This is really cool but I secretly think it’s a way to remind us yet again (I may be a bit bitter) that perfect attendance is rewarded heavily.
I’m sorry I hate to rant up a perfectly good post about something fun but the school drives me crazy with the perfect attendance thing. I know why they do it. They need the tax dollars…it’s just that I think kids should be allowed mental health days if they are otherwise doing well in school. I have such fond memories of my parents taking me out of school a day early so that we could go on long road trips. I think you learn twice as much outside the classroom as you do in the classroom and if I want to take my kid out of school for a day or two, I think that should be allowed and I shouldn’t get pestered with pre-recorded phone calls about Saturday School every ding-dong day.
Sorry, I just had to get that out. Because of course they handed out big ol’ shiny gold trophies for perfect attendance and Bug did not understand why the kid who struggles to write his name got one and she didn’t.
ANYWAY!!! It was a really sweet procession and if we weren’t all sweltering in the hot Southern California sun, I could have sat there watching cute little kids filing up on stage for their pretend paper diplomas all day. Doesn’t Bug look sweet in her new ombre graduation sundress?
That missing tooth kills me.
We tried to patch up the lack of a trophy with some grocery store flowers. They seemed to do the trick and who knows, maybe next year she’ll want to go to school every day so she can get a trophy. Or maybe she’ll get one by being on an all-star soccer team. I’m kinda hoping for the latter.
I’m sorry I ranted so much. Really, I’m just super proud of my big girl. Man, she’s growing up fast.
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The Great Apartment Search of 2012, Chapter Three
I wrote this a few days ago and I wasn’t going to post it because it’s pretty much a whiney, woe-is-me complain-fest about how I hate the rental situation going on right now in this economy. However, now that I’ve found a place and signed a lease (wooo to the hoooo!) (and I’m not afraid of potential landlords reading my bitter rants) and I’m over-the-moon excited about my new place, I thought it would be good context for how great it is to have finally ended The Great Apartment Search of 2012.
The big thing that is getting me down right now is that there seems to be some kind of unspoken rule (or maybe it’s law, I wouldn’t know) on how many square feet a child requires in an apartment. Did you know that? I didn’t know that. I know that Bug and I can live in a very small space but apparently landlords in Southern California do not agree with me. I’ve been turned down for FOUR apartments now because the landlord didn’t feel comfortable having two people living in a one bedroom studio.
Honestly it irks me a bit. I can understand on the super small ones. Eeeking out an existence in an apartment the size of a dorm room would be sad for Bug but it wouldn’t be impossible. Especially since her Dad would live just around the block with a three spacious bedrooms AND we would have the beach within walking distance… We are out and about all the time having fun. It’s not like I would lock her in the closet while I worked. I just don’t know…I guess since there are so many applications they have to judge me based on something and that seems to be it.
The apartment I’m looking at now (which I didn’t get) has a full-size kitchen AND a very large bedroom. It doesn’t have a living room but that’s okay with me. I’ll just put my expedit bookcase crossways in the bedroom and BAM! Two rooms. One for a double bed, one for a chair and all of Bug’s toys. My office could be in the kitchen with plenty of room to spare for a dining room table. I’d call it perfect. Bug sleeps with me anyway by choice so it’s not like she needs a whole bed area to herself just so she can stack her stuffed animals on it.
I would love to tell those landlords that I don’t feel comfortable paying two thousand dollars for two rooms but I don’t think they care much about my opinion. They probably think I belong back in the ghetto anyway. Speaking of, it was particularly ghetto last night at 2am in my neighborhood. I just can’t stand it here much longer. Also: three cockroaches this morning in the living room.
