The Daily Damage and other doo-dads

The Daily Damage of attending college, not counting tuition or books or overdue library fines, just attending is something I wish I didn't figure out. I shouldn't have done the math. But since I did, here's the breakdown: Jess, hold onto your hat, maybe you should sit down, this is more than you spend in a month to restock your entire house...

$35 for Gracie's child care
$35 for Libby's child care
$10 approximate cost of gas for the 45 mile trip to school and back
$10 for the second trip on Tuesdays because I go back and forth twice that day
$7 to park in an itty bitty space half a mile from my classroom
$5 for lunch. If I had time and another hand, I would pack my own. I try to.

This adds up to $90 - $100 just for me to show up at college! And I am getting a great deal on child care. My sitters are doing us huge favors by charging us so little!

And other tidbits, updates, and random thoughts:
College sucks. I have more classes than I have time for. The homework is impossible when I have a toddler who wants to color in my book too! And I can't write papers when I am constantly watching the kids with one eye and type a bit with only half (or less) on the laptop. Sure, I can type out random thoughts in my blog, but here I can also let my spelling and grammar slide and if it doesn't make sense, ah, that's fine too.

I won a Target gift card by commenting on Duck Duck Cow's blog. She was celebrating her blog's birthday. Thanks, Jessica! I think that's pretty nice that she remembers and celebrates her blog's birthday, shoot, I barely celebrated my oldest child's birthday! In fact all I did was say "Happy Birthday" and handed her some cash. Then she went to Disneyland with her best friend. I did bake some butterfly shaped cupcakes. I have a lot to learn about decorating though.



We're having problems with Monsters. Those darn ugly monsters are scaring Gracie at night! Daddy has been calling the Monsters on his phone and telling them they cannot come over. Then he talks to them for a bit asks them if they took a bath and combed their fur because they are so cute when they are clean and fluffy. Asks them if they like to play ball. He's so funny! But it is really helping with Gracie's fear on Monsters. She says "Sponsters" cuz she is cute like that!

My sister wrote in her blog about how she didn't have her camera when she needed it. Boy, I know how that goes! Libby has been toying with me. She learned how to roll over but every time I try to catch her act with my camera, she won't do it. As soon as I put it away, over she goes! Arg! Here she is teasing me:



It is sure a good thing you folks only visit with me online. Really! Days like today I am thankful that I'm a hermit and don't get out much socially. You see, yesterday I couldn't decide if I wanted chili or bean and ham soup. I had both. Today we went out for Mexican. Let's just leave it at that.

Katie's boyfriend is almost done with boot camp! She's flying to Illinois to see him graduate next week! According to her it was a long wait for the end of boot camp, but I think it feels like he just left not that long ago. Perspectives.... interesting. He is doing really well and he earned two phone calls so far, one he used to call his parents (only after failing to get ahold of Katie), and the other phone call he got to call Katie. They've been writing letters back and forth and his are full of news about how he's doing well. He did some strength training and running before he went and that really served him well.

Katie has been super busy lately and her creative juices are flowing like a raging river. In the last 15 days, she wrote and recorded 10 songs. She even got her dad going on this songwriting and recording stuff. You can listen to her songs here.

Speaking of the hubby, he survived another round of budget cuts. 20% of the teachers in his district got "pink slips" and we sure thought he would be one of them. But, he managed to stay clear of it this time. That's twice this year that we've feared job loss and he is under contract and has tenure. Plus he was the district Teacher of the Year a couple of years ago. Nobody has job security. If he does lose his job, I guess we'll have to move in with my mother. I wonder if she realizes that she is our backup plan. Hey Mom, got room for a family of 6 and a dog? It's ok, Mom, you're safe for now.

Things are good for the girls with their jobs. They both got promoted. Katie went full time at David's Bridle and got a raise and Lexie is now the shift leader in the game room at Shakey's Pizza. No raise for her, but a little more responsibility and a leadership role. Can never go wrong being declared a leader! Well, ok, that might not be true, Custer didn't do so well as a leader...

Whats a good update without mentioning the dog? She's always got something exciting going on! Last week she chased a bunny rabbit! This week she found that one section of our wooden plank fence is falling apart. She's been nosing her way through the fence and getting out. Freeeeeeedom! Roaming the neighborhood unleashed and free spirited! Till the neighbors catch her and go around knocking on doors dragging her along saying "Is this your dog?". I drug a pallet over and leaned it on the fence over the loose section. That didn't work. I came home from running errands and saw my dumb dog (is she really?) a block away from our house! So, I pulled over and hit the remote sliding door - by the way, my van is so cool! - and she hopped in. Gave her a ride the rest of the way home. I moved our other pallet over to hide another section of fence.

Oh, and when I got home with the two littles, diaper bags, purse, groceries, and the dog... there was the letter carrier. I took the opportunity to talk to her about my annoying neighbor lady who wants our mailboxes moved a block away. And I told the carrier that I'm fine with my mail service just the way it is, I don't want it moved a block away because as you can see, my hands are full and if I have to go a block away to get my mail, I'll be inconvenienced. Why should I just because that one lady wants me to? The carrier said they are so tired of that lady at the post office, she comes in to complain all the time! They have a plan for her mail delivery that won't involve any of the rest of the people in our mailbox cluster. Yippee!

I have a lot of homework to do this weekend, the house is a mess because I've been doing homework instead of vacuuming and dishes and that sort of thing. Keith has to fix our fence! And the girls are probably working or doing who knows what. I think that's all the updating I have for now.

One more picture just for fun: