Back to School Memories Contest

[SunshineGirl]

Super simple rules on this one. You MUST be a Sunshine Rewards member when you post. You can only post one memory to be your official entry. Type "official entry" at the beginning of your post so that we know it is your entry. You must post in THIS thread.

Entry: Post your favorite "Back to School" memory. It can be your own schooling, your children's, etc. Just your own memory. It can be sassy or sweet.

Prizes: The Sunshine Staff will be choosing winners in the following categories:

Funniest Story
Most Touching Story
Strangest Story

Entries are due by midnight Eastern on Wednesday, August 13. Each winner will receive a $10 Amazon.com Gift Certificate.

[pbhall13]

OKay I will start:

Official Entry

It was 1979 and it was my first year of junior high school. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. Lets just say I was going thru that akward stage when some young girls are hitting puberty and they develop in some area but don't seem to grow............I was a very well endowed 11 year old but short. So I wanted to start off the school year with really cool shoes and my mom wouldn't let me get the tom mccaan earth shoes I wanted so i was on a mission.

Well I found a pair of brown leather clogs(faux of couse) with a almost stilheto heel. For any of you from Massachusetts I found them at Stuarts (equivalent to when KMart was first around) My mom told me NO, but some how I talked her into letting me spend my own money (I think she was sick of hearing me whine for 3 weeks straight in the dead heat of summer) So mission accomplished on getting the coolest new shoes for Me (or so I thought).

Now I need the perfect outfit! Colored chinos were in so I figure those would look great with my new high healed clogs and of course I had to get a new sweater (why did we feel the need to buy new sweaters for back to school in September........it is still HOT!) But I found a sweater that I loved with purple hearts that formed a band around the bustline. (and the chinos were purple too...okay let's call them eggplant)

So first day of school arrives and I am excited because it is the first time I was going to junior high AND take a bus to school AND where high heeled clogs! I was livin large. (Now my mom did not put up much of a fight that morning and I should have known that that was the kiss of death)

I put on my outfit, I feather my hair, I put my comb in my back pocket and I slip my feet into those sweet clogs. As I am getting ready to go over to my cousins house, en route to the bus stop, I realize that these shoes are pretty high......but I will not admit this to my mom.

I make it to the bus stop and then to school.......meet my new classmates and then instead of anyone commenting on my cool clogs the boys start to snap my bra!!! Hey look at my clogs....not my chest! I spent 9.99 for these shoes.......my boobs were free!

Well the weather that day also decides to soar up to mid 80's and I am in the chinos, sweater and clogs..........oh don't forget that I mentioned that I was going thru that pudgy pre pubescence body phase.......by the time I got off the bus to go home I was hobbling and sweating like a fool.

I remember walking in the door and my mom asking me how school was (and i swear she was smirking with that I told you those were not good shoes smirk)...I tell her GREAT........go upstairs and put those damn high heeled faux leather shoes back in their box never to see the light of day again.

Lesson learned: No matter how cool you think your shoes are junior high boys are hormonely challenged and they don't give a flying fig about what you are walking around in......just what is highlighted by the purple hearts going across your chest!!!

[jnorth1007]

Official Entry:

It was January of 2003 and I was going back to college after being out of school for over 10 years. I was not only starting back to school but I was 4 months pregnant and due in July. So I would be really pregnant throughout my first semester of school. I also had and child at home who was 11 months old. I was a pretty big 4 months pregnant so I was noticeably pregnant. I decided to take only 2 classes that semester and my first class was a Speech class. We had to get up the first night and tell everyone about ourselves and they got to ask questions. Everyone in the class was much younger than I was. One of them asked what made me decide to go back to school while pregnant and before I could catch myself I responded by saying "Well I wasn't pregnant when I applied and registered but I am here to say that sometimes the Nuvaring doesn't work" :eek: I was horrified at what came out of my own mouth. The class laughed it off and my professor followed up by saying that he hoped that one of my ending speeches that was to be a "How to" speech would not end up being a "How to give birth in class" speech. I relaxed a little and it ended up being a wonderful semester and class. I loved it.

[linanglab]

Official Entry:

Okay...don't have alot of 1st day of school memories, so this one, about my oldest son's 1st day, will have to do.

Getting your child ready for his first day of school is always a little emotional for a lot of us. Especially if it is your very first child on his very first day of kindergarten. The night before I laid out his outfit that he would wear to school the next day, you know, the one that made him look that much cuter, yet comfortable at the same time. I got up earlier than normal to make sure that I packed a very healthy lunch in his new Scooby Doo lunch box, with a special treat AND a note from Mom to say "I love you". Made sure his Scooby Doo book bag (you HAD to match the lunch box AND the book bag!) was packed with all of his school supplies that were marked with my baby's first and last name. (Even though I had already checked it the night before.) And then I made him a breakfast of champions! I mean he really needed a good breakfast! Eggs, bacon, toast, and orange juice.

We got him dressed, ate, brushed teeth, fixed his hair. I remember wanting to cry, but....no....not in front of him! Finally it was time. About 20 pictures later, out the door he went, bookbag swallowing him up. DH was taking him to school. I watched them get in the car and I waved. I watched them buckle in, and I waved. I watched them pull out of the driveway, and I followed behind, and waved. I watched the car go down the street, and out of site, while I was still waving. Then my tears began to uncontrollably fall. I was almost sobbing at the time. Did I mention that as I was waving, I was holding DD, born just 2 weeks prior? My emotions were going haywire!

That was the longest first day of school for me! He did well....me? Not so much!

[OhMari]

Officially entry form.

Mine is short and sweet. My biggest memory of school is the smell of "New Crayons". The smell alone just fills my head full of memories to my school days, my children's first day of school, etc. Just writing this, makes me cry. I am an official "empty nester" this year.

[piglet-for-me]

Official Entry:

My story isn't about me but my youngest and the first day he started preschool. I dropped him off and he was a little apprehensive about going into the classroom by himself and started clinging to my leg. The wonderful teachers coaxed him to take their hand and leave Mom's side. I walked away thinking I was glad that I had my sunglasses on the top of my head. I pulled them down over my eyes and left with tears streaming down my face.

Fast forward - 2 hours later, I'm anxious to pick up my son. Standing in line to sign him out, I see him sitting quietly on the rug. Then he spots me, and stands up, tosses himself on the floor and starts screaming and crying. I thought something terrible had happened while I was gone. The two teachers came over, looking at me with puzzled looks on their face. None of us have any idea what the problem is until my 3 year old looks at me and says "I don't want to go home". Apparently he loved the idea of being in school and enjoyed it so much that the sight of me pushed him over the edge.


Still today, going into 3rd grade, my son still enjoys his school days almost as much as that first day.

[PSL1013]

Official Entry:

Mine will be short and sweet! We had a beagle named Rocky while my son was going to school. On this particular school year, I think Rocky must have been about 6 months old and my son was starting middle school. Each day when my son would leave to catch the bus, Rocky would run over to our bow window at the front of the house, jump up and start this howling dog cry like I've never heard before. I can imagine what the neighbors were thinking? Rocky never howled at anything else, except when my son left for school each morning, it only lasted one school year but I will never, ever forget this....it was the saddest thing I ever witnessed....poor dog was so heart broken that his best friend was leaving him!

[disney_girl]

Official Entry

It was the first day of freshman year at a new school. At lunch, all of the girls gathered to talk about schedules, classes and of course guys! Since most of us had gone to the same middle school, we knew all of the guys from there. But apparently there was a "new guy" that everyone was talking about. It seemed that all of my friends as well as girls from other middle schools were all talking about the same guy. They were all on watch waiting to see if he had the same lunch period. One girl let out a little scream and everyone looked up as "the guy" walked onto the patio with some of our guy friends. I had to admit, he was very nice to look at! A good friend of mine brought him over and introduced him to me while everyone looked on (how embarrassing!). I found out that he really IS a great guy and worth the fuss. We've had our ups and downs, but just celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary and now have 2 kids!:love:

[wilsonfamily4]

OFFICIAL ENTRY

Well I guess this would fall under most touching?

I went to a private school for 1st and 2nd grade. When I hit third grade I went to public school as my mom was going back to school and money had ran out. Because my mom was going to school she needed to leave our house, in town, early. She would drive towards her community college and the last bus stop on that route is where I got on. (It always seemed strange to drive out of town to have the bus driver take me right back in, but it is what I did for YEARS. It was like free childcare as she couldn't leave me at my house waiting for the bus at that age.) So I was at the bus stop with another family that I did not know. Actually I did not know anyone at the school so I was scared. My mom talked to the bus driver and that driver introduced us. There was a little 2nd grade girl and her name was Jennifer. Over years we were GREAT friends. Most of my school memories have Jennifer in them. We even made up our own last name as we became "sisters" We took her name and mine and we were dee and jennifer Marproulx. :)

[bajam]

Official Entry:

Mine is a combo of my sons first days of Kindergarten. When my first DS went to K he was a little scared. I was of course emotional as well. I found a package of little foam hearts at Walmart and I picked out a green one(his favorite color) and wrote "MOM" on it. I gave it to him that morning and told him to put it in his pocket to remind him that I loved him and would be thinking about him. I told him he could secretly put his hand in his pocket and squeeze that heart if he started to miss me. When he got home from school he told me he kept his hand in his pocket almost the whole day. He asked if he could take it to school everyday.:love:

Two years later we were preparing our other son for his first day of K. This time I picked a blue heart(his favorite) and again wrote"MOM" on it. I explained everything the same as I had to my first DS two years earlier. When DS got off the bus that day he right away threw that heart at me and bluntly said, "Here you go, I didn't need this at all. I didn't even miss you one bit.":rotfl:

I should have seen it coming as that's how their personalities differ. It was a little embarassing in front of the other mothers, though.:blush:

[mollyeilis]

This might not qualify, as it's not my memory, nor is it about me. I absolutely despised school from 1st grade on, and wasn't the biggest fan of Montessori school the 2 years before that. So I don't have anything sassy or sweet from me, b/c school for me mainly involved my feeling that I was going to throw up Every Single Day, and coming home blotchy-face/neck/chest'ed b/c of the nervousness that overtook me all day long.


So here's my Official Entry, if the judges will allow the memory of my mom's about my brother's first day at school to count.

My brother learned to whistle very young, and whistled ALL the time. Well, too, not just random notes. He is very much like my grandma was, in that she would whistle elaborate tunes quite often.

My mom took us off to school, and for some reason that day she didn't have to go to work (she was a single mom from when I was 4 to when I was around 10, and she usually worked 2 jobs and sometimes 3), so she went back home.

A short while later, she heard my brother whistling outside! :eek: What had happened??? Why had he come home??? Why hadn't the school called, and how had he walked all the way home, which wasn't that far, but was down rural 45 mph roads!!!

She went outside and the whistling stopped, and my brother was nowhere to be seen. Went inside, it started back up. I don't know how long this went on, or if it went on long at all.

But she finally looked up, and saw a Mockingbird in the tree in our front yard. The bird was so used to my brother whistling all day long that it had adopted the whistle as its song!

[OhMari]

This might not qualify, as it's not my memory, nor is it about me. I absolutely despised school from 1st grade on, and wasn't the biggest fan of Montessori school the 2 years before that. So I don't have anything sassy or sweet from me, b/c school for me mainly involved my feeling that I was going to throw up Every Single Day, and coming home blotchy-face/neck/chest'ed b/c of the nervousness that overtook me all day long.


So here's my Official Entry, if the judges will allow the memory of my mom's about my brother's first day at school to count.

My brother learned to whistle very young, and whistled ALL the time. Well, too, not just random notes. He is very much like my grandma was, in that she would whistle elaborate tunes quite often.

My mom took us off to school, and for some reason that day she didn't have to go to work (she was a single mom from when I was 4 to when I was around 10, and she usually worked 2 jobs and sometimes 3), so she went back home.

A short while later, she heard my brother whistling outside! :eek: What had happened??? Why had he come home??? Why hadn't the school called, and how had he walked all the way home, which wasn't that far, but was down rural 45 mph roads!!!

She went outside and the whistling stopped, and my brother was nowhere to be seen. Went inside, it started back up. I don't know how long this went on, or if it went on long at all.

But she finally looked up, and saw a Mockingbird in the tree in our front yard. The bird was so used to my brother whistling all day long that it had adopted the whistle as its song!

Thank you for the laugh. But I am sorry school was so miserable for you. My mom had the same experience with being shy and hating school.

[Hedy]

Is there a Thank God She's not My Kid category?
We missed the preschool registration deadline, but my parents put me on the waiting list just in case. I was a preemie, my half-siblings are all much older than I am, and there were few kids my age in my neighborhood, so my parents were worried about my social development, blah blah blah. Anyway, about 1 month into preschool, Mom gets a call that it's not working out for some kid in the class, could I start Monday. Oh, and it's picture day. So, Mom and Dad dress me up, and we head off to nursery school. The teachers, meanwhile, are all wound up worrying about the new girl. So we get there. I race in, with my parents so far behind me the teachers asked if I brought them. :rotfl::rotfl:

[speechteachri]

My entry (Sorry so long):

I spent most of August, 1985 preparing for my senior year of high school. Over Labor Day weekend we travelled to CT to visit with my cousins before school started, and while we were there I got really sick and started having bad pains in my side. Well it subsided somewhat and we went home on that Sunday. On Monday (Labor Day) we had a scheduled band practice, and I rode my bike there, carrying my flute with me. While at practice I started to feel bad again, and one of the guys in the band ended up having to drive me home. That night I ended up in the emergency room with a huge ovarian cyst. I ended up having significant surgery to remove my right ovary and fallopian tube, and also my appendix. I also got a staff infection and ended up in the hospital for 9 days.

OK, so at the time, I had this great friend who had graduated the year before. He came to visit me in the hospital and brought me lots of Contemporary Christian cassettes to listen to. He also visited me at my grandmother's while I was recuperating, and continued to bring me tapes. One day he handed me a tape when he was leaving, and told me to listen to the song he had cued up after he left. That night when I got in bed I put on the tape, and the song was "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon. I started to cry, as I had really liked him for a long time.

So my senior year of high school I missed not only my first day, but the first 6 weeks of school after having major surgery, but I gained the guy who I have been married to now for 18 years!:heart:

[funcouple6]

Official Entry

Ok here goes. I remember going in the 2nd grade in the 70's time era and being a Brownie member in the Girl Scouts. They were to have a day called woman and Careers. It was really big as woman going into the workforce as equals was a big political movement in the 70's probably before the 70's but for some reason this political agenda was at the forefrontof things that were being pushed. So each girl was to dress up in a career or workfield that is typically held by male counterparts and was now open to females. So we did not have much money and we did not have resources to buy a costume nor were we able to find one that someone would let us borrow. So My mom decided that a welder was a good job. I thought why not a Doctor or postman or something so being horrified I was dressed in overalls and had a welders mask, and a welding rod. I just was so livid. I would never be a welder no matter how many woman were allowed to do so at that time. Well we get to the event at the high School which was a huge gymnasium to me a 2nd grader and over 500 girls were there from all schools and districts. We all were arranged in a big circle around a big globe like the one at Disney in the water show at Epcot. Its a small World was sang and playedwhile each girl was dressed i ntheir costume. The amazing thing was no one ever thought a thing about my welder costume and I actually got a lot of compliments. So many girls and so true it was such a small world when you looked at what was opened to us. Needless to say. This was my most memorable first day of school type activity.

[Blessing and Miracle]

Official Entry:

I wasn't going to enter this contest because I knew expressing my feelings in writing would bring out more tears, but what the heck. I can't stop them from falling anyway!

As a mother of six, I've never felt so torn. I've sent all of my older children to Pre-K, eagerly and with much anticipation. It wasn't because I wanted to be rid of them, but because it was such a milestone and it brought on so much excitement. I always arrived on the first day with camera in tow.

Never missed a first day of school photo for any of my children!

Now I have one college graduate, two college students, an 11th grader and two 4 year old twin daughters that should be starting Pre-K. Emphasis on SHOULD, as mommy hasn't decided if they will attend yet. So undecided that I haven't even enrolled them yet and it's two weeks before the beginning of the new school year.

My heart aches every time I think about sending my babies to school. My miracle babies! I'm so attached to them for many, many reasons and right now, I know I'm not ready to let go. I've never been more torned! :cry::cry:

How will this first day of the new school year turn out!

[arob414]

Official Entry:

First, you all are making me cry, especially Lisa, mine are entering last year of elementary and last year of Middle School. :cry:Next year, will firsts for both, middle and high school...oh, here I go, again. :cry:They are my miracles.

Okay, for my memories I am torn between my first day of HS in TN when I met Kathy, a girl who felt sorry for me, the new girl in a small town, standing there hugging my notebook for all it was worth. She took me under her wing and 39 yrs (my, I am OLD) later she is still one of my best friends, now we NEVER see one another but keep in touch with email..

My other precious (and, really embarrassing) memory is Grace's registration day for kindergarten. I was so excited, probably more than her. Anyway, for 6 months, after reading an article about this special kindergarten teacher, I had hoped she would get into his class. Well, she did. And, the first words out of my mouth, after being told, out in a busy hallway, were "Oh, that is great, she was conceived thru artificial insemination and doesn't have a dad, or granddad, and ...". And, thankfully, I shut up. :blush: The next yr, her first grade teacher, when I met her, was asking questions and one related to what if her dad came by to get her. I could tell by the look on her face, that she had already heard about us. :cool:

[LuvMyBoys]

Official Entry


Going back to school was always a time of mixed emotions for me. Some years I was excited to get back and see my friends, other years I wanted the stress free time of summer to last forever - especially the years when I had to start at a new school.:(

There was one tradition that my Mom did for us though that made starting school a bit easier. Every year just before Labor Day we would go on a big school shopping weekend. We would get all our supplies, new shoes, and new clothes for the upcoming year. Trust me with 7 kids this was no small feat for my parents! :)

The night we got back from the shopping, my mom would set up a "fashion show" for us where we would all take turns modelling our new outfits for our parents :) It was so fun to try on all the new outfits and see what everyone else had picked out too. It made going back to school a little easier.

I still do this for my boys and they love it too! :)

[mseg16222]

OFFICIAL ENTRY:

This is about my youngest sons first day of Kind.

My son was so excited to go to school but he was and still is very backwards. He would not talk to anyone that he wasn't comfortable around.

Well my husband happen to be off work the on this day and a little after lunch the phone rings and looking at the caller ID it had the elementary school name on it. My oldest was in 1st and would never act out and my youngest was in his first day of Kind. so what the heck. As I listen to the 1st grade teacher tell me that she had recess duty and that there was a problem with Garrett, My youngest. All i kept thinking is that kid doesn't talk and he plays by himself alot what could possible be wrong.

Well Garrett decided that he had to go to the bathroom and just decided to go there in front of all the kids which in turn started screaming. As she is telling me this she is trying not to laugh and I know that my face is turning 30 shades of red. She said that in the 30 some years that she had taught that this was the first time for a kid to pee on the playground. She said that she told Garrett that he had to pee inside the school in the bathroom and he actually said, "I'M DONE NOW".

I told my husband after I got off the phone what had happened and he was rolling on the floor laughing. He said that it was my fault because when he was outside when we were potty training I would tell him to pull his pants down and pee. (We live on 3 acres out in the middle of know where). Well we still laugh about it now (he is going into 3rd grade) because the boy will pull his pants down anywhere outside and pee.

[Sunni]

My Official Entry:

My first day of school memory is from when we were first living in Maine. My girls were really nervous and excited about starting a new school and making new friends. This was a new experience for them. My oldest was going into 5th and my youngest into 2nd grade. They had on their new school clothes, their backpacks were packed with needed essentials, new lunchboxes filled with their favorites and a note from me.

As I was walking with them to the bus stop at the end of our dirt road, my youngest stopped and asked if we had packed her bread and butter, cheese, and chicken leg. I had answered yes and I had doubled checked. She was looking for an excuse to go back was my thought. Well they bravely got on the family school bus as we called it because your whole family rode the same bus. It stopped at each different school in the two towns. I felt better because my oldest would be on the bus for my youngest.

It was a long day for me as I was not working yet. Finally, I walked down to the bus stop and waited. When the bus came, off they hopped all excited about their day. I grabbed my youngest's lunchbox and it felt full. Didn't you eat today?? My youngest yelled, "Yes! They have real food at school!" After talking to her I found out when she went up to get her chocolate milk, she noticed the food was homemade. She thought the bread looked yummy and they had real chicken and mashed potatoes. So she took it upon herself to get hot lunch. She thought the quarter in her pocket would pay for it but they never asked for money.

Come to find out the school lunches back then were delicious. They were cooked homemade everyday from breads/rolls....to the entries...to the desserts. After two years we moved back to our area and if you asked her what she missed...she would reply...the school lunches.

Thanks for making me think of this memory?:sunshine2:
I miss those days and her.:cry:

[SunshineGirl]

Keep them coming!!

[mirandag819]

A little background to go with my first day of school:

My Parents bought our house in the spring before I would start kindergarden. Apparently when we had looked at the house the little girl next door noticed us. The weekend my parents were moving us into the house we stayed with our grandparents so they could move faster. Well the little girl next door saw we were moving in. She came over and rang the doorbell first thing Saturday morning and asked my parents if their little girls could come out and play. My parents explained to her that we wouldn't be home until Monday morning, but we could come play with her then.

About 15 mins later she came back, rang the door bell and asked if we could come out now. My parents again explained to her we wouldn't be there until Monday. Every 15-20 mins the entire weekend from Sun up to Sun down this little girl rang the door bell.

Monday morning when the door bell rang my mom just picked me up and put me out on the porch. I didn't have much choice, my mom was making me play with her to make the doorbell stop ringing. We quickly became best friends, we spent every day together that summer.

So when fall came and it was time for back to school we had matching purple backpacks and stood at the bus stop together that morning. Getting on the bus that first time wasn't so scary because my best friend was with me. My mom and my little sister got in the car and followed the bus all the way to school.

The reason they had to follow the bus all the way to school..... was to pick up my best friend Kara. You see my birthday was in August and I made the cut off date to start kindergarden that year, Kara's birthday was in April and she couldn't start until the next year. Apparently they didn't care back then who was on the bus, because she rode the whole way there with me with her backpack and everything. Her first day of school was actually a year before she started school. We stayed best friends all through school. I always hated the years when I moved up to a new school and she would still be at our old school for another year.

When I graduated from high school and my parents made a slide show of me. There were pictures of that first day of school of me and Kara and our matching backpacks, everyone got a real laugh out of that since they knew she was a year younger.

[kmmccart75]

Official Entry

First day of eighth grade, late 80's... I catch the bus, get to school, see a couple of friends, and we walk down a long hall towards the cafeteria, where we are required to stay until time for first period. As I approach the door to the cafeteria, I see one of my favorite teachers, Ms. Anderson, the choir director. She says, "Hi Kathy! Did you hurt your foot?"

I say "no..." and I'm wondering, was I limping? My foot is fine... Then I look down and to my horror I see that I am wearing one little white sock with a Keds sneaker, and one big dark brown leather loafer, colored sock. I had tried on one of each that morning, intending to look in the mirror and see which one would best complete my perfect back-to-school outfit.

I wanted to die! It seems trivial now, but in middle school - I thought it would mean the end of my social life! Luckily, one of my friends had some gym shoes in her locker, and Ms. Anderson took pity on me and let us go get them. My friend was tall - 5'10 - so needless to say her shoes were huge on me. They were also pretty dirty, and I had to wear them without socks (ewww) but still WAY better than wearing the Unmatchables.

So, I make it through the day in my friend's smelly (but matching!) clown shoes with no major catastrophe to my reputation. Then, I go home and tell my parents about the whole ordeal, and I notice that my dad has a strange smirk. When I finish, he says, "Well, I noticed that you were wearing two different shoes, but I just figured it was some new fad, so I didn't say anything." Thanks, DAD!

[Blessing and Miracle]

Bump!!

Winners???

[SunshineGirl]

Two thirds of the votes are in. :) As soon as I get the other third, I'll compile and hopefully announce our winner today!

[funcouple6]

Have we come up with a winner yet?

[SunshineGirl]

Okay...so I am slow but thorough. LOL!

And the winners are.....

Funniest
PbHall13

Most Touching
speecheachri

Strangest
funcouple6

Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories with us!! The start of school is looming all across the country right now. Can you imagine how many NEW stories are just starting? :)

(winners...please file a TT and cindy will send you your $10 amazon certificate)

[funcouple6]

thats ok.. Im strange.. But Ill take strange LOL any day :clap:

[Sunni]

Congrats Pam, Leslie and Funcouple6! :clap::clap::clap:
Those were great stories!

[jl8595]

Congrats on the win - great stories!

[pbhall13]

Yeah!!!!! I won! What a nice surprise to find out after coming home from a short vacation trip to the beach.

and congrats to the other winners!!

pamela

[speechteachri]

Wow!! I won and I didn't even know it until now!! I'm so honoered, because there were so many great entries!!!!:o

Thanks, and congratulations to all the other winners and the entrants. I had fun reading through everyone's posts!