Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Wednesday surprise and ramblings

DH surprised me this morning. He says: You know all that extra wood we bought, that I told you was for the back porch cover? Well, it's really for another arbor! I wanted to surprise you and put one in the front of the house at the start of the sidewalk to our house.  BUT, then I got nervous you wouldn't want one there, so I decided I'd better tell you first!

I said that I had actually just been thinking one would look great there (but hadn't said anything, because well...I figured I used up my requests on that arbor!). I was just at my hairdresser's house on Friday and she has one at the beginning of her walkway and  it looks so neat.  The back porch cover project will still happen, but I think he enjoyed building the arbor and was so happy with his work, that he wanted to build another one :-)  So far the anchor posts are in (what a job pounding those into soil with so many rocks in it) and he's getting the bolt holes drilled for the 4 corner posts.  This won't be near as "fancy" of an arbor.  Just 4 posts, so pretty basic. I'm just happy he's enjoying this and getting use out of his new tools.

DD got back yesterday afternoon from her 2 days orientation at the university. She got signed up for her classes and is really excited.  Psychology, Intro to Finance and Macro Economics. Two of the classes are Tues and Thurs for 2 hours each She starts at 8am and will be done with classes at noon and one class is Mon Wed Fri but doesn't start until 1pm. She was happy to realize that if she came home for a weekend every now and then, she could be home by late Friday afternoon and not have to head back until later Monday morning, so that will make for a nice long weekend time at home.

My mom is having some ongoing health issues that her doctor just did some blood work and a chest xray for. Whenever she gets a little active - like working out in her yard or vacuuming, she sweats like crazy.  I thought when I was with her at her last dr. visit that he had thought it was due to her anti-depressant med she is on. She tried to go off of it last December (because she didn't like all the sweating) but going off the medicine messed her up and she was very "off kilter" with her emotions (so much that she had to cancel our family Christmas party that she was to host), so she went back on it.  Her blood work was fine, but she hasn't heard back on her chest xray yet.  She also said for the past 6 months or more she has started snoring.  I have a feeling this all might be related to all the weight she has gained the past couple/few years?  I know when my DH puts on some weight he starts snoring all the time and when he looses the 10-15 pounds he stops snoring. I am terrible at guessing peoples weight...I just know that for most all her adult life she weighed in the 130-135 range and the past 4-5 years she has really put on the weight. When I went to her last dr appt I was there when they weighed her and she was 175, which is a lot for a small 5'4" petite boned woman.

DH has an old grade school/jr high school friend coming to town for business and it sounds like we will be taking him and his wife out to dinner either on Sunday or Monday. He's not sure which day yet.  Fortunately, my groceries have been coming in quite a bit under budget (DD's been gone quite a bit and I'm back to shopping at cheaper Walmart) so I don't need to juggle any money from any other areas of the budget to cover the dining out. 

I ordered on ebay the cutest tiny little 2.5" x 3.5" watercolor prints of hummingbirds and they came yesterday. I'm going to mat and frame them so they are either in 4x6 or 5x7 frames and hang them in my master bath on the wall next to the door.  I had originally found the artist on etsy, and wanted 3 different prints, but she didn't have that many of hummingbirds in her etsy store. Then I found her on ebay and she had quite a bit more prints to offer of hummingbirds. I ordered 3 and she sent 4! Totally adorable and I will take a picture of them once I get them matted and hung up. I wish I could afford the real watercolor paintings, but those just weren't in my budget.

Let's see......what else?......oh, I have become a Pinterest addict now that I have my ipad mini. I just sit with it in the evenings while I am watching TV and scroll though all the stuff.  Gardens and home decor are my favorites, but I have found some recipes I have pinned.  I also spent a week and a half watching every episode of Hell on Wheels on Netflix. DH was all excited that the new season was starting last Saturday, so I decided to watch it all, so we could start watching it together on Saturday nights. Good show! ........and Mr. Bohannon isn't hard on the eyes, either :-)  I didn't get done watching all the seasons before the new one was on Saturday, but I finished up Monday night and then we watched the first episode of the new season on demand.  Most of the shows he watches I can't stand (I mean how many years can you watch crab pots being thrown over and pulled back in?? or dumb ass street drag racers challenging each other??)  and vice versa. 




5 comments:

  1. Is DD taking a full course load, or is she starting off slow? I am guessing her classes are 9 credits? Does that impact any financial aid/scholarships?

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    1. That is a full load - 15 credits. This university is on the quarterly basis and each class is 5 credits. At this university (state) 12 credits per quarter is considered full time for any financial aid eligibility. She received a $2000 scholarship and apparently I make too much for any financial aid. Fortunately Grandpa (my dad) invested very well over the years and set aside enough money to fund her college. She said yesterday, while she was listening to other students talk about loans, etc, that she realized how blessed and fortunate she is to not have to worry about that.

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    2. She has 90 credits going in (from her AA degree at the community college) and will need 180 credits to graduate with a Bachelor's degree. 15 credits per quarter, for 6 quarters (2 years) will get her to the 180 credits needed.

      Oh, my comments reply is finally working again! I haven't been replying much to comments because the link hasn't been working!

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  2. Gotcha. I always went to a school where standard courses for a semester were 3 credits. And 12 was full course load....I usually was in the 15 range.

    One thing for her to think about.....she is going to be young when she finishes. I was 20 when I was done with my course work (and just a few days over 21 when my diploma was conferred, as there was only one graduation ceremony a year). Being 20 and done with school has some disadvantages when applying for jobs. They can't ask your age, but they ask enough to figure it out. Also, it is easy to fast track your life and all of a sudden you realize that your "youth" is gone.

    I was 17 when I finished HS, 20 for college. Married at 22 (a few month shy of 23). Homeowner at 26. Master's Degree at 27 (I took a 4 year break between degrees). Mom at 27.

    Tell her to travel, have fun....she can't get this time back.

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    1. I have thought of that too. She is kind of thinking about double majoring or getting a minor in something else, so I have a feeling she'll probably be there 3 years instead of 2. She said she doesn't plan to rush it. I just have a feeling she is going to start school this quarter and get bored! She has always had full days of school, plus working at a job and now she won't be working. I have a feeling she'll end up deciding to find a job while there. She's also mentioned she'd like to have a quarter to study abroad.

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