In the Last 2 Weeks...

I have had a few adventures! Well, not really as exciting as all that. Last week I was going to write a nice post about waking up and seeing my hamster run across the kitchen, and the ensuing rescue. But I didn't for whatever reason. Now I'm just not up to relating the story again (especially since when I told Caelyn the story no less than 6 times, the last few with her acting the part of the hamster).

I've also been working on special Valentine's Day goodies for Caelyn's class. I got a little ambitious and am crocheting book worm bookmarks, then I went a step further and decided to do personalized felt hearts to attach to the bookmarks and so I had to get the felt, puff pain, glitter writer, and of course the googly eyes and tiny pompoms and tacky glue for the little book worms. I've got 7 days to make 21 bookworms. That's an even 3 a day. At least they're not hard and they don't take very long to make!

I skipped Insanity today. And for the past 3 days. Today was supposed to be the 3rd Fit Test and the first day of the "Max" workouts. I was looking forward to it last week, but today my fight with myself resulted in just getting dressed and coming down to the 'office' and checking email, perusing Facebook, and downloading a ringtones app on my phone. So far not too impressed.

I did get my default bank checks for my new bank account last week which means now I can order some fancy new designer checks. I'm thinking either Sushi or Ice Cream. I'm leaning toward ice cream, since it's a bit more universal than sushi. Though I do really love sushi.

That's it for now. I really need to do better at blogging more often. I find myself thinking about writing for this blog, then NOT doing it. Then when I DO blog, I forget half the stuff I wanted to write about, and not wanting to write about the other half I wanted to write about. This must change.

Merry Christmas and all that Jazz

Just a warning, this is going to be a long one. A lot has happened and I have a lot to catch up on. I probably won't even be able to touch on everything.

I'm blogging from MY ROOM in the big house! It's exciting! Kind of. It's strange being here. It doesn't feel like it's for real yet. I'm loathe to unpack my boxes and put my clothes in the closets and dresser drawers because it would feel too permanent. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. It still feels like I'm just up here for a vacation. Like next week I'll be back 'home.' But I known that this is 'home' now. Weird.

I can't wait to set my desk and computer up in the office and start working again. I need to make some moolah. I'm pretty much broke right now. I don't like being broke. I am also looking forward to doing my taxes ASAP this year so I can get my refund. One of the only upsides of not making a lot of money and having a kid and not having to file jointly with someone. Also paying tuition gets me some nice education credits. At least it did last year and I'm hoping for a repeat.

Tomorrow I'm driving back down to Jersey with my dad so we can do a last clean-out of the apartment, and pick up his car. After that, it will be completely done. Nowhere to go back to. I've already done my change-of-address through USPS, and changed my billing address on everything that matters. Including my college records so they mail my diploma to the right place.

In other news, I have to go to the high school on Monday when the schools reopen so I can register Caelyn. I was going to do it before they closed for the winter break, but it snowed, and we had no snow blower for a day, and we didn't shovel out til it was too late. I figured Caelyn wouldn't mind a couple extra days of no-school. And it would give her some more time to get acclimated to LIVING here, and not just act like it's a vacation. Well, it sort of is a vacation, since it's technically "Holiday Break," but eh, we gotta get back into a routine. At least time-wise. Going to sleep at midnight is not good for a 5 year old, especially if she is gonna have to get up early for school.

And I was thinking, I'm not sure if I like having moved up in winter. It does give us a good excuse to stay in and unpack and organize and rearrange stuff, but it also doesn't make it easy to get out and DO stuff. I'd like to explore town and get involved in things; make friends, get to know people and all that good stuff. It's way too easy to isolate up here, especially in the winter. Maybe I'll sign up to be a class mom, go to PTO meetings or whatnot. Idunno. I'm thinking cleaning out all our stuff as we 'move in' will create a need to have a garage sale in the spring, and boy do we have the perfect driveway to have a garage sale!

On another note, I need a night stand. My "desk" where my laptop is now is against the wall by the foot of my bed. What I really need is a taller table to put a lamp on, and also so I can put my glasses on it when I go to bed. Also, I think I want a nice comfy chair in here with a tall lamp behind it, to read. And a bookshelf. I must have a big shelf for all my books. I've got boxes and boxes of them. I'm sure I won't be able to put all of them out, but at least my favorites will be able to breathe again.

And to end on, before this gets any longer (I will try to blog more often, about interesting things!), Merry Christmas everyone! even though it's a few days late. I hope everyone also has a fantastic New Year's Eve. And don't think too hard about all those resolutions. Mid-way through February we'll all forget about them anyway. I've never stuck to one in my life and don't see it happening this year either.

Well, that's about it, wishing you all every kind of holiday cheer from my new abode north of the Adirondacks.

PS, I knew I'd forget something... I registered for NYC Midnight's Tweet me a Story contest! Registration was free, so I figured, why not? I won't lose anything from entering and it should prove to be really fun! I'll probably post about this again as the event gets closer.

I'm DONE

With school, that is. Last final and paper were due on the 20th, but due to the whole moving thing, I spent yesterday doing my syntax final. Today I went to campus to hand it in (ie. slip it under the professor's office door), then went to the library to write up my phonetics lit review. It took about as long as I figured it would take due to the fact that though the title of the article made it sound very easy and cut-and-dry, unfortunately the content was very hard to understand. The actual writing of the summary didn't take very long; it was all the understanding and interpreting of the data that took a long time. And it was freezing in the library. I'm sure this affected my performance to some degree... Get it? Degree!?

Hah. That is the state I'm in right now. I'm done. Completely done. My syntax final is out of my hands and the lit review has been emailed to the professor. That's all I had left to do in both my classes. Then I went over to the parking office to get my refund for my parking pass. Apparently, my final audit for GRADUATION that states that my conferment is January 2011 was not enough for them to say that I'm GRADUATING in January and would not be attending Montclair State any longer. I had to go to the Registrar and get a separate document stating that I was expected to graduate January 2011. So I did that. No big deal, but really, my audit wasn't enough? Really!? Oh well. So I handed in my parking permit, filled out the form, and in 6-8 weeks I shall get a refund check. For some odd reason I was expecting to just get money back today, but alas, I obviously expected too much. But at least I'll get the money eventually.

And now I'm home, blogging. It kinda seems a bit surreal. My head hurts. I'm tired. And I can't believe I'm done with school. All I have left to do now is to wait for my diploma to arrive in mid-February and then it will be even more official. It's been a long road from beginning to end with a lot of stops on the way. But here I am, on the cusp of moving to boot, looking toward the future and a new beginning.

School

Well, my last semester has started. I had a couple of issues with how to pay for it, but thankfully things have worked out for the better. I won't say best, because the best got lost a long time ago, but better is better than working out for the worst, wouldn't you agree? I thought I was getting grant money, then I wasn't. Then I was again, then not as much as I had hoped I would get. In the end I took out a dreaded student loan (I REALLY did not want to resort to that, but it's not a lot) to cover the rest of what I owe for tuition, and the rest will be enough to finally pay off my car with some left over (I say finally like I've been at it forever, which isn't true. It hasn't even been a full 2 years on a 6-yr loan. Go me!). At any rate, I will feel a whole lot better not having to worry about a car note (with an astronomical interest rate because my credit is less-than-shiny), and to be able to work on paying back a student loan at a lower interest rate with lower monthly payments. And that's not to say that I will only pay the minimum, it's just a relief from having to pay quadruple that amount on my car.

Am I getting too personal into my finances? We all have our troubles, and I admit mine aren't all that bad. A few credit cards, and soon to be a student loan. Which I plan on paying off ASAP. Which may not be as ASAP as I hope. All speculative at this point, so I won't dwell.

On to more interesting things: my actual classes! I think I had my expectations reversed. I fully expected my syntax class to be the harder of the two. So far it seems pretty rudimentary, and there will be a LOT of discussion and reviewing of material so I'm not worried about maybe not understanding something. Slow and steady seems to be my professor's mantra on this one. Phonetics, on the other hand, while not as "slow and steady," still looks like it will be relatively easy, but not as easy as I had first thought. As long as I get to look at the charts, I'll be ok. I did look through the text book and saw a bunch of waves and confusing math-y looking equations and let's just say that it didn't make me smile.

I just have to keep in mind that THIS IS IT. No more school [for now]. I even went to the registrar to make sure I didn't have to do anything else to be able to graduate. Which I don't. Hooray! All I have to do now is pass these classes and I will be an official graduate with diploma in hand by mid-February!!

And now my daughter. She started Kindergarten last week! I can't believe she's going to real school now. And I already have the first fund raiser of the year, AND I'm volunteering to help out with the book fair next week. I guess I just think it's weird that it's the school that I attended, and her principal is my old middle school principal. It also seems that all the K-age kids' parents have been around the block before, have older kids so they already know each other, or have younger kids and already know each other.

I suppose it's mostly my fault for not being more active in my community. But really, I'm not the most sociable person. I'm actually not very sociable at all. Plus we're moving at the end of December, so right now I feel no need to create lasting bonds with anyone here. I guess as long as Caelyn behaves herself, I get her to do all her work, and get her to bed early enough to not be a cranky cry-baby in the mornings, we'll be OK.