Well, it's been so long I almost forgot how to login!! It's been busy and I've been lazy, and didn't want to trouble anyone as I went through my own panic over the false fibroid alarm sounded by my doctor, who told me that I had a uterus the size of a three month pregnancy. Is it funny or sad that I never once considered the possibility of actually *being* three months pregnant?
Anyway, the ultrasound did in fact show two fibroids but they are small and can be left unattended for now, so that was good news. In order to prolong some of my agony, I have scheduled both a mammogram and a dental cleaning for next week.
Otherwise, M's two college visits have not yielded a clear favorite. She didn't have the best vibe for the first, and she did love the second except for a few things: NO money, academic, need-based or athletic, will likely be offered, making this a $50K+ per year expenditure. I just don't know if the value provided is really worth that extra $10-25K! In fact, I suspect it may not be. (Not as if we have it, anyway!)
The other thing was that she had a cold when she left and while she was there there she attended a typical frat party! Not her cup of tea on the best of days, although she claims to have stuck it out like a trooper. Coincidentally, as I typed this, the coach called to check on her, which cannot be said for the coach of the first school she visited, which we found to be much less well-run anyway.
This weekend, she has her inter-squad meet at the Y and, next weekend, she wants to go to an open house at her 'back up' state school, which is TCNJ. She really liked it there when we visited a year and a half ago but we have never managed to make it back. The price tag is certainly attractive, and the quality of education is pretty high. I just don't know if she wants to stay in NJ, and I also don't know what major she would choose there if she still wants to end up in speech therapy or a related field.
Also to keep my life twisted, B's school went to an online grade reporting system, so I can log in now and see all of the grades up to the minute! (Subject to teacher reporting, of course.) The first day that I checked, he was failing three classes! I sent out a slew of emails. Thankfully, two days later, he was only failing one, and only by two points. We are working on this. M's prom date was here tonight tutoring B in chemistry, and refused to take payment! Hopefully, it was effective. He spent an hour and a half here, and all he would take was a bag of Skittles.
And in lieu of mock trial, this year B has signed up to work on the production team for the two plays that his school puts on each year. He also asked to go to Montana in November with the service club, but I said, let's see what happens with that GPA before we start signing you up for weeks away from school!
We also went to Back to School Night at M's school (her last one!) and saw some of the effects of the budget cuts: 29 kids in her section alone of AP English Literature, and a very unhappy teacher - then about the same number in her AP Spanish class, because it's mixed with Spanish 5. I was unable to see how this works in any way in favor of the AP students, but those in Spanish 5 are going to have one heck of a year.
And in other news, my cleaning people have got to go. Today they cleaned my stove with an SOS pad (which they took from under my sink, not something there for their use, actually), dragged a trash bag along the driveway, spilling clam sauce all over and then throwing the ripped bag into the garbage, which caused Kevin to have to rebag it and discover a thrown away dog license (reminiscent of the retainer debacle last month),knocked the cover off the baseboard heating and left it that way, left multiple pieces of furniture pulled away from the wall, unplugged my alarm clock which will cause me high anxiety in trying to resent the poor 27 year old thing, and left tufts of hair all over the floor. It does look like it's time to cut them loose.
Oh, and they left the scoop in the litter box again. IN the litter box!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
holy cow! where does the time go?
Slow down the world! It's moving too fast! I can't even believe it. M is driving, B is a sophomore, a gangly string bean, and tomorrow I will have been married for twenty years. Too much to process for my aging cell-depleted brain.
Anyway, nothing is exciting. Dogs are dogs, cats are cats, kids are kids. B passed his summer reading tests! Of course, the year that he decides to pass them, with 76s on three so far, the school decides to grade them with numbers and make them count. Up till now they were always pass/fail. So of course, last year, he, um...didn't pass (where were his 76's when they would have been Ps instead of Cs??) Now I don't even know if that will matter, does it even count? And he has one more to take tomorrow, and it's the one with no online study guides. I'm a little more than anxious, I have to admit. Whatever. Separate. Breathe. Drink wine.
As for M, she starts her recruiting trips this coming weekend. Two now, two next month. We found out we have no financial need. None. Tell that to our checking account. Oh, and tell it to Sleepy's, who rejected me for their 0% financing. Well, in the end that was a good thing because, while humiliating, it gave me time to rethink my impulse purchase.
I was actually prepared to spend $1099 on a set they had on 'sale,' but for some bizarre reason, when my credit was rejected, the price dropped further by close to $300. They wanted me to give a deposit to hold the mattress, after they told me my credit was no good! How pathetic is it to be told you have no need by a school whose tuition is $50,000+ per year, and then the next day be rejected for credit when trying to buy a $1000 bedding set?
And guess what? I found the same mattress online for another $150 less. My 'bad credit' saved our bank account. I don't even know why they rejected me, unless because my income is so low. So low, in fact, that the government won't even tax me :-)
I guess this is all good anyway because I'm also in the process of being taken for a ride by the website bookrags. I bought three lesson plans to help B prepare for the summer reading tests. Well, they knocked out my account so I can't access any of them anymore, they won't fix it, won't answer questions about refunds, and now PayPal won't reverse the charge because it wasn't a material good. Ridiculous! Buyer Beware takes on a whole new meaning. I'm going to try to get credit through my credit card instead, but this is ridiculous! How can they keep my money when I can't even access the site?!?
And in other news, everyone is back to school. M's classes now have 30+ kids in every one, and B's school is under construction and is only having back to school night for freshmen. M is back to swim practices now, and it's so delightful having her drive herself. I have afternoons and evenings uninterrupted by having to run out in the middle of cooking dinner to get her. And she is adjusting to having the Explorer as her car. It's about time for the Honda to go back. I plan on driving it on some of the college visits to run up the miles, since we have to pay for them anyway. But then it goes back. And we love the little Jettawagen. It's comfortable, fun to drive, and cute to look at!
Anyway, nothing is exciting. Dogs are dogs, cats are cats, kids are kids. B passed his summer reading tests! Of course, the year that he decides to pass them, with 76s on three so far, the school decides to grade them with numbers and make them count. Up till now they were always pass/fail. So of course, last year, he, um...didn't pass (where were his 76's when they would have been Ps instead of Cs??) Now I don't even know if that will matter, does it even count? And he has one more to take tomorrow, and it's the one with no online study guides. I'm a little more than anxious, I have to admit. Whatever. Separate. Breathe. Drink wine.
As for M, she starts her recruiting trips this coming weekend. Two now, two next month. We found out we have no financial need. None. Tell that to our checking account. Oh, and tell it to Sleepy's, who rejected me for their 0% financing. Well, in the end that was a good thing because, while humiliating, it gave me time to rethink my impulse purchase.
I was actually prepared to spend $1099 on a set they had on 'sale,' but for some bizarre reason, when my credit was rejected, the price dropped further by close to $300. They wanted me to give a deposit to hold the mattress, after they told me my credit was no good! How pathetic is it to be told you have no need by a school whose tuition is $50,000+ per year, and then the next day be rejected for credit when trying to buy a $1000 bedding set?
And guess what? I found the same mattress online for another $150 less. My 'bad credit' saved our bank account. I don't even know why they rejected me, unless because my income is so low. So low, in fact, that the government won't even tax me :-)
I guess this is all good anyway because I'm also in the process of being taken for a ride by the website bookrags. I bought three lesson plans to help B prepare for the summer reading tests. Well, they knocked out my account so I can't access any of them anymore, they won't fix it, won't answer questions about refunds, and now PayPal won't reverse the charge because it wasn't a material good. Ridiculous! Buyer Beware takes on a whole new meaning. I'm going to try to get credit through my credit card instead, but this is ridiculous! How can they keep my money when I can't even access the site?!?
And in other news, everyone is back to school. M's classes now have 30+ kids in every one, and B's school is under construction and is only having back to school night for freshmen. M is back to swim practices now, and it's so delightful having her drive herself. I have afternoons and evenings uninterrupted by having to run out in the middle of cooking dinner to get her. And she is adjusting to having the Explorer as her car. It's about time for the Honda to go back. I plan on driving it on some of the college visits to run up the miles, since we have to pay for them anyway. But then it goes back. And we love the little Jettawagen. It's comfortable, fun to drive, and cute to look at!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
labor day blues
What a beautiful weekend! The air is cool and crisp and the sky is blue. The surf is calm(ish) once again, after the hurricane that never really was for the Jersey shore. But summer is over. One more day!
Yesterday, we drove M down to work and took a walk along the boardwalk, then picked her up and had dinner at one of the beach hot spots. She was grumpy today about the escort service, and I was tired anyway, so she drove herself. She texted that she had made it, so we'll see what the car looks like. Since being her work transport, the car has had several injuries: something sharp dragged across the rear bumper, something white opened into the side, and some seagull target practice all over everywhere. And this is the car that's up for lease return in a few short months.
B is in crunch mode for his summer reading test. He went in Friday morning for pictures and book issuance, and after that we went to see the neurologist, for a clean bill of neurological health for the half-year. No MRI! I'm sure this won't be forever, and I'll probably sweat it out even worse than ever when it's been more time in between, but for now I am happy about the outcome. And he had a strange little black thing removed from his face (to the tune of a non-reimbursable $175!!!) which was also pronounced nothing to worry about.
The problem he's run into is that the practice tests and lesson plans I bought from an online site are now no longer accessible, which they should have been for a year, and the only recourse is to send an email to the site, and they don't even promise to respond for 24-48 hours! This at $17 per lesson plan! I'm not happy about this. I found another site that had one of the tests on it, and paid $5 for that and printed it out ASAP. It's not as comprehensive, but hopefully he's done the due diligence already.
M is plugging through her summer work, and she ended up staying in the European history AP class, which added another huge packet to her first-day-of-school work. She emailed the teacher for extra time, but I don't think she has heard back. Her only real option to switch into was Calculus BC and she was more worried to do that - they had also had a large summer packet which she has not done. And yesterday I took the Explorer up, got a spare key made for it (the old one got severed by the power seat) and had it washed, waxed, vacuumed, etc for her to take to school on Tuesday. She wanted to take the Honda, but since it has to go back anyway, might as well start with the sticker on the other car from Day One.
She also finally got connected with the coach from a fourth school, who invited her for yet another official visit. So she has the two coming up this month in PA, and then one in NY and one in Boston in October, missing a day of school for each. I hope one of these produces a good fit for her and for us by November so she can be done with this process and focus on her classes for the rest of the year! Two of the schools are in the same league, and someone we spoke to sang the praises of this league for putting academics ahead of athletics. The other two may be more intense, which might mean missing more school for meets and meet-related travel. Stay tuned.
In other news, Molly's blood tests were all the same, meaning her Cushing's hasn't returned and she still needs the prednisone supplements indefinitely. This is a cheaper alternative to the drug that controls the adrenal glands, but it's a little dismaying that that drug killed them off so completely. It would seem to me they are never coming back. But this way of being for her is so much better than before. She no longer has 24 hour insatiable thirst, almost never pees in the house, and her rear legs are a lot less shaky. She rarely falls down the stairs, although she does still randomly collapse on slippery surfaces. But that could just mean it's time for a paw trim :-).
Yesterday, we drove M down to work and took a walk along the boardwalk, then picked her up and had dinner at one of the beach hot spots. She was grumpy today about the escort service, and I was tired anyway, so she drove herself. She texted that she had made it, so we'll see what the car looks like. Since being her work transport, the car has had several injuries: something sharp dragged across the rear bumper, something white opened into the side, and some seagull target practice all over everywhere. And this is the car that's up for lease return in a few short months.
B is in crunch mode for his summer reading test. He went in Friday morning for pictures and book issuance, and after that we went to see the neurologist, for a clean bill of neurological health for the half-year. No MRI! I'm sure this won't be forever, and I'll probably sweat it out even worse than ever when it's been more time in between, but for now I am happy about the outcome. And he had a strange little black thing removed from his face (to the tune of a non-reimbursable $175!!!) which was also pronounced nothing to worry about.
The problem he's run into is that the practice tests and lesson plans I bought from an online site are now no longer accessible, which they should have been for a year, and the only recourse is to send an email to the site, and they don't even promise to respond for 24-48 hours! This at $17 per lesson plan! I'm not happy about this. I found another site that had one of the tests on it, and paid $5 for that and printed it out ASAP. It's not as comprehensive, but hopefully he's done the due diligence already.
M is plugging through her summer work, and she ended up staying in the European history AP class, which added another huge packet to her first-day-of-school work. She emailed the teacher for extra time, but I don't think she has heard back. Her only real option to switch into was Calculus BC and she was more worried to do that - they had also had a large summer packet which she has not done. And yesterday I took the Explorer up, got a spare key made for it (the old one got severed by the power seat) and had it washed, waxed, vacuumed, etc for her to take to school on Tuesday. She wanted to take the Honda, but since it has to go back anyway, might as well start with the sticker on the other car from Day One.
She also finally got connected with the coach from a fourth school, who invited her for yet another official visit. So she has the two coming up this month in PA, and then one in NY and one in Boston in October, missing a day of school for each. I hope one of these produces a good fit for her and for us by November so she can be done with this process and focus on her classes for the rest of the year! Two of the schools are in the same league, and someone we spoke to sang the praises of this league for putting academics ahead of athletics. The other two may be more intense, which might mean missing more school for meets and meet-related travel. Stay tuned.
In other news, Molly's blood tests were all the same, meaning her Cushing's hasn't returned and she still needs the prednisone supplements indefinitely. This is a cheaper alternative to the drug that controls the adrenal glands, but it's a little dismaying that that drug killed them off so completely. It would seem to me they are never coming back. But this way of being for her is so much better than before. She no longer has 24 hour insatiable thirst, almost never pees in the house, and her rear legs are a lot less shaky. She rarely falls down the stairs, although she does still randomly collapse on slippery surfaces. But that could just mean it's time for a paw trim :-).
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