Aids

Well, today is March 30th, which means tomorrow is March 31st. Which means not only is tomorrow the last day of March (where the heck did March go, anyway?), but it's also the last day to file for financial aid.

Ahh, good times.

We're in a special sort of predicament when it comes to financial aid, I'm afraid. See, they, whoever they are, go off of last years tax information. Turns out, we had a pretty good thing going last year. Yeah, a job, a house, a nice 401(k), all things they consider when doling out the funds to poor college students.

Do I think there's any chance in Hell we're getting financial aid? Nope. Do I think there is a way Sean can work the system to prove hardship currently and score us some fundage for next semester? Absolutely.

So hopefully by April 1st, also Hesters wedding date, I believe, all things will be done and submitted and on their way to the proper funding authorities. I just never really thought I'd want aids, but now I need it! ;)

Ring Ring

I caught the end of Radio From Hell the other day, and they were talking about whether or not a man should go into debt for an engagement ring. This one particular man had a girlfriend who came from a wealthy family, and she wanted a ring that was $30,000. She said her boyfriend could put as much as he could down on it, and her dad would pick up the difference.

This got me thinking. What would you expect?

When we got engaged, we were young and broke, and clueless. Sean picked out my ring, and paid for it with some extra cash he had laying around. It isn't spectacular, and since then I've been treated to several nicer fancier versions of wedding rings that I wear more often.

But I have a lot of friends who demanded fancy schmancy huge diamonds for their engagement rings, and I've often wondered what exactly their thoughts are on that.

Does the size of the diamond or the cost of the ring determine the amount of love your sigoth has for you?

Doesn't the act of giving you a token of love of any size or cost signify enough love?

What is your ring story? Do you still love it? Hate it? Wear it? Upgraded it? Or have you ever even had one?

As for me, I keep my original in my jewelry box because A) it doesn't fit anymore, and B) It's not really my style. I wear a wedding set Sean bought me for our 5 year anniversary occasionally, a big 4 carat beauty I got for our 10 year anniversary once in a while, but lately I wear a simple Stainless Steel plain band every day that was my moms. All of them have a lot of meaning to me, but the plain band is my favorite, for obvious reasons.

I've never really asked Sean how he feels about me not wanting to wear my original ring, or if it bothers him that I prefer the plain band over the honker diamond. I don't know if he even notices, or cares.

Do most men?

What's your ring story?

Fun For Friday

There is some construction going on near my brothers house. Apparently when fire hydrants are not working, such as during construction projects, they need to be covered. Makes sense, I think.

I guess one of the neighbors has a pretty good sense of humor, because check out how they decided to cover their fire hydrant.




Sand people from Star Wars, if I'm not mistaken. I probably am, but I know it's from one of the Star Wars movies.

Happy Friday!

A Letter To Myself

I have such good friends and family. I don't think I could have made it through yesterday without all of you.

A few days ago, I got really honest with myself about a lot of things. You know, the kind of honesty that is scary to let out. I have a private blog (okay, a few of them, I'm a freak like that), and I wrote a great big honest letter to myself.

My brain responds particularly well to seeing words on paper, and when I can write them down in a semi-coherent manner, I can literally feel the stress departing with each written word.

This letter made me become aware of a lot of issues I had been keeping inside. Unfortunately, it came out in a way that was destructive not only to me, but to several other people, too. Sometimes hard decisions are what we have to make in order to see the correct perspective.

None of this will make much sense to most of you (who am I kidding, like this blog ever makes sense!), but it makes sense to me. I know in my heart that I am a better person for facing the demons that I had repressed for so many years. I know that without my friends and family, my life would be so empty.

There is no better feeling than facing a hard choice, faltering, and finally reveling in the triumph of doing the right thing. I know for me, I have to take the long way to the triumph part, but it's usually worth it.

And to cap it all off, last night I was able to lay in bed, cuddled up with hubby, and watch Blindside, until I fell asleep in his arms. That made the whole day worth it.

Going Green And Beyond

Saturday brought some much needed highlights to Meg, which I was glad to do, since she's my favorite baby sister and all. And in return, she taught my kids how to plant peas. I think it's a fair trade.

Please excuse the awesome quality of my cell phone camera. It's apparently been dropped a few too many times, and, well, I don't really have an excuse.


Getting the ground ready for the peas. The older kids were all about the worms, Gretta, not so much. She thinks they're snakes. If we were still in Illinois, she would be close, since we saw worms there reach nearly a foot in length. Gross.



Mags getting all up in it. She was quite intent on making sure the holes were deep enough. They were. This is a big step for Maggie. She hated nature and nature related things until, well, Saturday. Go Mags!



And the best shot of them all. Sorry Meg, I couldn't resist. But really, if my butt looked that cute from behind, I'd plaster it all over my blog, too, so you're welcome.

On a side note, all day Saturday Gretta would call Meg Nunny. That's what the kids called my mom. She knows Meg, she's always called her Meg, or Mimi, but this particular day she was intent on calling her Nunny. Maybe my mom was haunting us while we were highlighting hair.

Mom, if you were, keep it up.

Fun For Friday

I have to preface this by apologizing for my sporadic posting as of late. I have really lost my groove. But trust me, today's FFF will make up for it. Or at least I think so.


I had to practically stop traffic and brave the rain to capture these images, so you better laugh.



Here you go:

You know, Mike Rowe? From Dirty Jobs?


And Adam Lambert must have really pissed off Simon Cowell if he ended up here.


Just in case the fickle "fame" thing doesn't work out, you can always join the stable world of Utah real estate.

Happy Friday!

Disappointed

I was really sort of hoping to post a video of my Maggie screaming at the top of her lungs while the doctor attempted to cut off her cast. I had the vision in my head of snot running down her face, people at the other end of the building wondering who was slaughtering a poor sick animal, and Sean and I laughing as this all went down.

I was sorely disappointed.

We had really primed Mags for the saw situation. We told her it would be loud, and that it would press on her arm. We told her she'd have to show the doctor she can move her arm afterward, even if it hurt.

Apparently we did a great job.

She didn't even blink an eye at that saw. When the cast was finally off, she smiled and moved her arm joyfully. Even during the follow up X-Rays, she gladly provided the needed positioning with nary a grimace.

Man, now what am I supposed to post?

I'm proud of my little Mags. She is brave and strong, and now she is healed! Yay for disappointments.