Tuesday August 16, 2005
I have really been neglecting my blog lately. I have had a good week or so though. We got our financial aid money. We had a few hitches, but were able to get it. Same with the food stamps. I finally got some action when I started asking for his supervisor. Still waiting on my “proof of benefits” statement to be able to turn in with my paperwork for our YMCA membership, but hopefully it will find it’s way here soon.
Zach got back his teacher evaluations. His overall score was ‘very good’. WooHoo! Most of the “things he could do to improve” were things that weren’t possible. For instance: ”would like to see the instructor put in code and show the output in another window”, which isn’t possible on the system he uses for class. The other one was because he sits during some of the lecture. He can’t really stand and do it for portions of it because he is doing things on the computer, which is on a low desk and he is tall. He would spend the entire class with people staring at the balding spot on the top of his head instead of speaking to the class if he stood. Plus, his back would and neck would be insanely sore after lecturing and hour+ bending over, so that isn’t going to happen as long as he is assigned that particular lecture hall. Most of the comments were very positive. Great notes, interesting class, well organized, knows the subject very well…stuff every teacher wants to hear. I am really proud of him!
Last week, after the ultrasound, mom and I went out to eat (Italian Gardens…Yummy!) and then maternity clothes shopping. She got me 2 or 3 t-shirts, a pair of jeans, a track suit type thing, and a maternity belt. Sweet! It was a really neat “girl’s afternoon”. We don’t go out, just the two of us, very often. Later in the day, we went to Sam’s for her to get some shopping done and Zach and Zane met us. Zane went around with us while Zach went to CompUSA to look at monitors. (we have been borrowing a monitor from a friend for one of our computers and he needs it back…we told him we would return it when we got our FA in and could replace it). Zach managed to wheel and deal for one of the floor models and got a fantastic price. (it was the last in stock and they weren’t getting any more)
We also had a ball sitting at home, with the phone, and calling the utility companies and such and paying everything in full. That feels so good! We were able to call around to try and get a better car insurance rate too, and will be going in to get the paperwork for that tomorrow. (We are dropping Geico for American Family…about $450 less a year. The car insurance + renter’s insurance and it STILL is that much less.)
Within the last few days we also were able to order some books online. A computer book for Zach, a parenting/teaching book for me (teaching right-brain/visual spatial learners), and a few books for Zane the we have been wanting. I can’t wait! We did the super-saver shipping, which means it takes forever to get here, but at least it is a lot cheaper than going to the bookstore.
We also ended up having to order Zane’s bedding. I discovered, much to my dismay, that if you want ‘boy’ bedding and are not into sports, nascar, batman/superman, or surfing, you are not going to find anything in the stores. (I wanted somthing with a pattern to hide stains better so solid wasn’t a great option) I found a bed-in-a-bag from target that had road/car theme that I liked and was reasonable, so we just ordered it. After using a 10% off coupon we found online, it took enough off the price that the shipping only ended up being $4 over the original price. Once that gets here, we are going to have either my folks, Robert, or our neighbors help us go get the twin mattress & box spring. I found one for $99. I am sure they will try to upsell us, but I am sure that it will be fine. He falls asleep on tables, chairs, and over toys….I am pretty sure that he isn’t that picky. lol. Anything is better than the one that is currently in his room…I slept on that mattress when I was his age and it was probably used then. He is seeming to want to transition to his own room and the timing is good. I don’t want him to feel ‘kick-out’ when the new baby is here.
I am still waiting on picking up any yarn. I am not convinced enough that it is going to be a girl to invest in yarn quite yet. If I still don’t know in a month, I will probably go ahead and buy so I can get started, but might make at least one boy or gender neutral thing too, and then sell or trade which ever is the wrong gender for some diapers or something. I am digging out some of my patterns and designing some things in the intervening time though. I know I want to get some of the Debbie Bliss knock-offs (and maybe some others) from KnitPicks. (they are a direct-to-customer company so they don’t have nearly the mark-up of most yarns, and I have heard good things about them). I really do want to wait until I know the gender to make soakers though, since I get hand-dyed yarns for that. However, I probably won’t do soakers for the newborn period when they poop so much. lol. I am excited to get some baby things on the needles! I am wanting to make Zane a sweater for Christmas, and a hat and mittens that match his coat. If I can figure out how to do socks, that is what I want to make for Zach this year.
