Stetson is Elliot's first choice

Each day we receive college information in the mail for Madison, and sometimes Darcy since she too took the PSAT this year.  The amount of money that is spent on these mailings makes me crazy most of the time, and in the beginning I tried to make an effort to peruse all of them.  That lasted about one month. Now I am more selective in what goes into the "keep" pile and what goes into the trash.  In other words, you better WOW me in some way because now the girls and I read aloud the mailings and determine which pile these mailings will fall.

One of the universities that has sent us information that I we find helpful is Stetson University.  So far everything they have mailed us has been full of interesting tidbits, helpful websites, and good information overall.  We are heading over to visit the campus later this month and so we recently received a nice packet of information pertaining to that visit.  Inside was a card that listed the Top 10 reasons to choose Stetson University.  A great piece to read aloud, which I did.  Number 10 was Starbucks and it said, "You read this one first, didn't you?  That's okay, our students love it, too.  Come visit the campus and we'll buy you a cup in our new coffee shop in the student union.  Visiting a college campus is your best opportunity to sense if it's the right one for you---we hope you'll stop by so we can get to know you better."  I was sold already.

Number 4 was Pet-friendly Residence Halls and said, "Yes, you read it right: bring your furry pal to live with you (as long as s/he is under 50 pounds and friendly)!  This is one reason why Stetson will feel like home in no time."  I looked down at Elliot, who was standing in front of me thinking I was looking at a food item since I was standing in the kitchen.  "Guess who is going to college with Madison?" I shouted.  "And then I can get my little dachshund!"  (Side note:  I follow several dachshunds on Vine and have fallen in love. I keep talking about my dachshund that I'm going to get whenever Elliot refuses to snuggle with me, whenever he annoys me, whenever the kids refuse to care for him...pretty much all the time.)  Elliot didn't seem concerned or excited in any way and so we finished up the top 10 list and added it to the "keep" pile and moved on with the rest of our after school life.

About an hour later while I was in the living room talking with Madison about things I heard the dog in the trash can.  When Elliot is bored, and when the girls forget to shut the trashcan in the kitchen, Elliot sticks his nose into the can and goes fishing.  He tries to be quiet, but I'm a mother and rarely does this get past me.  I shouted at him to get out of the trash, and Madison jumped up to handle the situation.  When she went into the kitchen she found that he had pulled from the trashcan one of the mailings from a school that had not made the cut.  He was happily using his paws and teeth to shred the mailing into tiny little pieces all over my kitchen floor.

"I think Elliot is telling us that Stetson is his choice," Madison shouted from the kitchen.  "He certainly isn't voting for (Insert whatever school it was) and he is obviously making sure we aren't considering it either."