High School Graduation, proms, college stuff

Well here we are at the end of another semester. Seems like when you can't stand a class or a teacher anymore--along comes the end of the semester to save you! (I am not talking about Dr. E--she has been great). My two daughters have their prom this week-end, and neither one of them has a date, so they are going with their friends. To me it seems like a whole lot of money on dresses and shoes and dinner to not have a date-but oh well, I never even went to my prom. (It's just not my thing). Lauren will graduate on the 10th of June and that ends that chapter. We drove to Johnson and Wales to "tour" it two weeks ago- only to find out that they are completely closed on the week-ends. Long drive for nothing. Wish we had stopped at the Ikea store; now that I like! Gosh looking at college expenses is depressing as heck. How does anybody do it? I'm frustrated from trying to call the financial aid person and she NEVER answers the phone. I wrote her an e-mail and nothing yet!!! I am overwhelmed with this stuff. Well, to those of you who are graduating college CONGRATULATIONS!!! you lucky, lucky dogs.

The beach

Well, we made it to the beach! We drove down to Ft. Fisher and spent the day there. The kids got in the water even though it was pretty cold, and we collected sea shells. This was my grandkids first time to the beach--and because of how much they loved it, I have promised to take them every month for the whole summer. Of course there were a couple of hickups. The people next to us decided to feed the seagulls and we got "pooped" on -- Why do people feed them? You know what is going to happen :( Also...my little four year old (Amina) went right into the waves (too far) and got completely submerged...It scared her a little, but she went right back in; this time staying at the edge --you know--the "bubbly" stuff. We had a great time. Now Imani, the 11 year old, is going to the Fort Fisher Museum tomorrow for a school field trip. So, maybe next time we can rent a hotel and stay a couple of days.

How quickly your life changes

Here it is...end of March already. I can't wait to go to the beach, sit out..relax, read a little--oh wait--that life is over!!! My grandchildren, ages, 4, 11 and 12 have just moved in with me because their mother (my oldest daughter) is deploying to Afghanistan. Now I know it "sucks" for them, cuz they would rather be home with their mom, but for now they are stuck with me. This past week-end was a wake up call. I thought, boy that new movie is out with Gerard Butler :) and I think I'll go watch it-oh, can't forgot I had the kids. Then I got hungry and thought I would just go out to dinner, but again, oops, too expensive for all of us to go out (I have two older daughters in High School). So, for now it's the cartoon channel, daycare and after school care to contend with. I guess I will be really appreciative in a year when I get my freedom back. Don't get me wrong--I love them to death and we have great times when we go places--It's just an adjustment period, and loss of freedom. My house looks like a bomb blew it up, there's so much junk everywhere. (Not that it looked like better homes and gardens before)--but the clutter is making me think of the "hoarders" show. If you haven't watched that one it is really and eye-opener. So I now we have some young mothers in class that have this same thing...several young kids at home, no big deal--I have once again joined your ranks.

Comment on the Fafsa post

Lauren got accepted to Johnson & Wales College in Charlotte. She has always spoken of becoming a chef, and has taken culinary arts in school for 2-3 years now. She really is not an "academic" type..but I hope since she loves this subject that she will excel. I know one thing for sure--her mother LOVES to eat good food and boy would I like it if someone cooked for me in my "old age" :) LOL.

Fafsa and graduation gripes

Well, I completed the fafsa application this week-end--and it was not so bad. For those of you who don't know, it is the federal application to see if you can get student financial aid to go to college. They even have "fafsa help" meetings you can go to so as to get help filling this thing out. My daughter, Lauren, will be going to college in the fall. (I hope). Anyway, you fill out a bunch of personal info..All about her name, dob, address, when she got her license, when you got your license, are you a resident of NC, is she...What did you pay in taxes last year..what is your yearly pay, and what schools is she interested in going to. That's pretty much it. Oh, before doing any of that I had to get a "Pin" for me and her..which is just an easy way to sign the form (The pin form is right on the fafsa website). You fill our your ssn info on a form, make up a pin number, hit send and now you can use the pin. That way when you fill out the fafsa you can just put in that pin number instead of physically signing it..and you are done. Well, don't make the same mistake I did. The first time I started filling out the fafsa I didn't realize I was at a site [fafsa.com] that charges you to fill out the form. It is a commercial site and I didn't realize that I was not at the government website until I had already intered some info--so beware. So now that is done and I hope they approve a "buttload" of money (LOL) so she doesn't run me into the poor house!

The other "gripe" is how expensive a kid's senior year is. There are key chains and tassels and sweatpants and sweatshirts and invitations and senior portraits (they cost a pretty penny) and it seems everyone want to get ahold of your hard earned $. Oh let's not forget the "Prom".

It will soon be over--But wait--her sister, Madeline will graduate next year...YIKES!!! :)

Driver's License woes

It's an interesting observation that no matter how hectic things get--they seem to eventually resolve themselves and all ends well. So this past week my 16 year old daughter got a car. It is a used (2002) red PT Cruiser. We tried getting her driver's license on Friday--the state licensing system was down. Monday I took the afternoon off from work in order to take her to get her license--and the lady asked me for the inspection paper, which I could not find. Ended up getting the car inspected, and ran out of time for the driving test. So, finally this morning we went at 8:00 a.m. and were successful. Woohoo!! I had a clogged kitchen sink over the week-end. Took the "trap" apart, to no avail. Ended up calling a plumber today. There are dishes everywhere, as we haven't been able to wash dishes or really use the kitchen for several days. But at least the drain is fixed! It is raining as I write this. I am sooooo over the cold weather. Rain, frozen rain and snow--enough already. Let's think beaches, swim suits, sand and hotels with swimming pools.

Another hectic week-end

Hi there,
My name is Margie and I'm doing this blog (initially) for my Bite 5200 class at ECU. This is my first blog experience. So to tell you a little about myself-- I live in Fayetteville, NC and I work at the local military base, Ft. Bragg. I have lived here for 21 years now, but I am originally from the Canal Zone, Panama. I absolutely HATE winter and secretely hope every year that it won't return--. I have four children ranging in ages from 34 - 16 (three girls and one boy). Right now my two youngest children are 16 and 17 (girls) and they are driving me completely crazy- as those of you with teen-agers know that they are prone to do. There is constant drama and arguing going on, not only between myself and them, but also the rivalry that exists at all times with sibling sisters. I have two dogs; a pitbull and a pug.
So the drama this week-end was that my girls wanted to "catch the train" down to Charleston, SC to visit their aunt. I told them that I thought it was a terrible idea since we were to get a snow/ice storm at the same time. Well, they convinced me to let them go. Their train left at 2:00 a.m. and arrived at 6:00 a.m. in Charleston. It rained cats and dogs during their visit there, and here we had a huge ice storm. Then when they went to the train station to buy their return ticket, they were told that the train was full for Sunday and that they could return on Monday instead--oh--and it would cost more because of the short time-frame. So, I said I would drive down to Charleston and pick them up instead. That is what I did yesterday--driving on icy roads and trying to make it back before dark so that I would not have to deal with more ice, as roads were refreezing. So that was my exciting Sunday.