Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Germs of a plan

I need a plan. M's legal issues are still up in the air and if he has to go away then I need a way to pay the bills. Sure, I might be able to get a minimum wage job that pays my way but corrodes my soul (thank you, The Smiths, for the line). Or I could try to come up with the financial aid and take a one year (August to August) $5,000 program to become an LVN. That is what I am hoping I can make happen. The program is local with the community college I attended way back when I was just a kid, doing all my very important theater work. I loved it, but it wasn't exactly a practical major. So now I am considering, at 38 (though I'd be 39 when the classes began) going back to school. I just hope I can find the financing.

We had M's boys last weekend. We hadn't seen them since the beginning of December; while I don't really care if it's that long between visits, M does and he was thrilled to see his boys. I was glad that we got to finally have our Christmas with them and I was able to take down all the decorations after they left. Homeschooling still seems to be doing quite well by them. Their mom made a brave and very smart choice, I think. They are in Boy Scouts and 4H so they still get to be around other kids for the socialization aspect they would otherwise miss out on by not being in school. I don't think it would be right for all kids, but with these two it really seems to be working.

Things I love:
My new Stir Crazy popcorn popper. M had an air popper that we'd used for years, but he always had me add so much butter that the advantages of air popped were lost.
(Man, blogger makes it hard to switch out of bold... May have found new hosting site, but have to see how they handle pictures.)
Things I hate:
Neighbor kids who insist on playing in my yard all the damn time. What is wrong with their own yards? And why is all the screaming necessary?
Things I don't understand:
My cats. I would love to understand what goes on in their brains sometimes to make them act the way they do.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Netflix and me

Okay, so things are better. I charged my car battery overnight and it started just fine the following day. M fixed the plumbing issue. We again have no water, but that is a precautionary measure since it is bitterly cold here and not supposed to be above freezing until sometime Sunday. We turned the water off and drained the pipes so we can (hopefully) avoid any more plumbing related incidents. The house just isn't very good at keeping the cold at bay, so I advised M that maybe we should postpone the visit from his boys for a week. Last night he wouldn't even consider it, but when he called today he seemed amenable to the idea. Let's hope his ex wife won't have a problem with it.
So we signed up for netflix last week. I filled in my queue on Monday and on Wednesday there was the first disc of Dexter Season 3 in the mail. Today I sent it back and we'll see how soon the next disc gets here. (We have a new high def TV, nothing huge, just a 32", but it still makes a world of difference.) I've also watched a few of the "instant" shows. There's a documentary about Helvetica (the typeface/font) that I enjoyed quite a bit, but I'm a sucker for a good typography story.

New slippers have been made for both M and me. They aren't pretty, but they knit up quickly and they are warm. No pictures yet, but I used this pattern.

Speaking of pictures, here are the latest of my wee fuzzy ones:Messy kitchen from the holidays, but the rare chance to get a shot of all 3 cats together.


And Probie looks like she had too much of whatever was in that tipped over cup behind her.

After all the fuss and furor, the two little ones cuddled up together for some cuteness. Awww. I do love my girls.

All for now. Must go thaw hands... here kitty kitty. Cats are fantastic handwarmers. :) Stay warm!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Not an auspiscious beginning

M overslept today. I slept in, lazily, got up around 9:00, did nothing. Went into front of house to light heater and heard water running from the studio area... and it was gushing out of the cold water spout on the tub in there. The knob had popped off and the water was spraying in , covering the floor. *sigh* I turned the water off outside, but unsure what to do otherwise. Then I got a note from my LYS (local yarn store for those non-knitters who might be reading) saying that the yarn I had ordered was not actually available and they had credited my account. Great. Fan-freaking-tastic. I don't want my account credited, I want you to send me what you said you were going to send me, that I planned on making into a lovely lace shawl. I will not be shopping with them again as this sort of thing has happened to me before in the past. So I will take a deep breath and hope that I got the trash out on time. And that my car will start. Yesterday the battery was dead. But other than all of that, 2010 is going great. Except Amazon won't be sending the boys' Christmas presents (Christmas with them was supposed to be this weekend) until Jan. 22nd. Still, trying to let it all be okay. Trying REALLY hard. Wish me luck!