Guess my first corporate sponsor!

In all of the letters I've been sending out, I've gotten several "no, thank you" letters or - in the case of McDonalds - a recommendation to check with the local McDonalds for sponsorship.  Either he clearly didn't understand what I was requesting, or he wants me to go to each McDonald's and ask for free food when I needed it.  I'm hoping that wasn't the case! LOL

So, today, I received my first YES!

I had written to Poo-Pourri.  I'm sure you've seen their commercials with the twee English girl sitting in a public bathroom dressed for a tea party and suggesting that stinking up the place just isn't done.  Their commercials make me laugh, so I wrote to them in the same vein, suggesting that in visiting 120 different people stinking up the place would make me quite unpopular  and that I really didn't want to offend that many people.  So I asked if they would send me a couple of bottles that I could take with me.

Today I got this email:

Thank you for your interest in Poo~Pourri! After reviewing your request, I would be more than happy to get some samples in your hand.  Please let me know where I should have the package delivered to. Thanks again, and I look forward to hearing back from you soon! 

With all good wishes, 

Robyn 

WooHoo!  While it's not the most important part of my trip, it might be an essential item I don't wish to do without! :)  I even asked if they wanted me to return them should the trip not end up happening and they said no, that I could keep them. Yay!

Thanks Poo-Pourri!

Disappointment and Sadness are a part of this, too.

This afternoon I told Tommy that I would probably have to take my iPad with me when I went on my trip.  He replied, "Where are you going?"  I thought he was kidding since we've been talking about it now for three weeks, so I said, "Ummm.... go look at the map on the Seminary room wall!"

He still wasn't getting it, so I told him that each of those little tags was someplace that I was stopping and that I would be leaving June 10th, right about when school got out and getting back on Oct 10th.  Then I heard a horrible sound: an 8 year old sobbing his heart out when he realized that Grandma was going to be gone ALL SUMMER!!

Oh dear.  I called him to me and held him on my lap for about 10 minutes while he cried about me being gone for so long.  I kept trying to explain: "I'll be leaving a while after Papa's birthday, then I'll miss my birthday, Mommy's birthday, Nick's birthday, then Daddy's and Maddison's birthdays, then I'll be back."  That just made it worse.  Then I tried, "Well, I'll leave when you get done with 2nd grade and I'll be back right after you start 3rd grade."  Nope, that was a dumb choice, too.  I even tried to joke with him that he was just going to miss my iPad and not me, but he wasn't having it.  It just brought a fresh wave of anguish.

I explained that I would send postcards home and that I would be able to Skype with him while I was gone and that appeased him a bit, but oh my goodness.... I broke his heart.  Finally we just sat with him on my lap in silence, enjoying the sweet time we have together now.  My sweet, tender-hearted grandson.

In other news, I received a reply from Cracker Barrel and they regretfully cannot support me for my trip.  I guess I'll just need to work a little harder and do without Lemon Pepper Trout for awhile.  No replies yet from Ford; Enterprise Rent-a-Car; Pepsi; McDonalds or PooPourri yet.  I'll let you know!