Happy birthday, Beth!
Today is my step-daughter's 21st birthday and the start of my broke time of the year. Beth today, Garrett on April 3rd, Trinity on April 10th, and Todd on April 16th! I thought it was bad before Garrett, but now I essentially have to plan two parties at once, which is going to get crazier as the years go by.
In my last post, I said I was going to try to steer Trin towards bowling or skating for her party. Well, I gave in to the home party. After thinking about it a bit more & realizing that the games the kids could play were all games that Trin & the rest of the family got for Christmas--meaning I don't have to plan the games--I decided I liked the idea after all. Trin decided on 8 guests, all on her own! And, she's already made her list. She's mostly inviting friends from school and then her 2 best friends from church--Nicole & Aliyah. I think we'll actually end up with about 10 kids, so I figure we'll get the invitations this week, & Trin can hand them out after spring break. I'm not sure what kind of theme she wants to do, but we'll figure that out this week as well...after she takes care of her bridge project for school.
Her big project for the year is researching one of the Portland bridges, building a model of that bridge (up to 24 inches long), and giving a speech about the model & the bridge. She chose the Hawthorne Bridge weeks before the assignment actually came home, so now the trick is teaching her to not wait until the last minute--we'll see how that goes this week, since the project is due the week after spring break. Wait, I just realized her 3rd grade teacher assigned homework over spring break--not cool! LOL!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
And moving right along....
So, Garrett's 1st birthday is 3 weeks away (yikes!), and I sent out the Evites already (cake and ice cream at the house--simple & sweet). Just about everyone has RSVP'd (which I really & truly appreciate!).
Now, Trinity. Trin's birthday is a week to the day following her little brother's.
* Sigh *
And, she's going to be 9. Definitely not as simple as a 1-year-old boy. She keeps changing her mind about what she wants to do. Bowling; no, wait, roller skating; or maybe swimming! Or, the newest idea is to have it at the house, with games and everything. Ummm....we'll see? Games and keeping things (semi)organized with a household of 8 & 9-year-old boys and girls are not my strong points, so, even though it'll likely cost more, I think I'll be pushing for bowling or skating....with maybe a friend or two over for a slumber party afterwards.
Garrett, by the way, has decided to test out his balance and see how long he can stand on his own. So far, the longest I've timed him at is about 7 or 8 seconds, but he's getting better!
Now, Trinity. Trin's birthday is a week to the day following her little brother's.
* Sigh *
And, she's going to be 9. Definitely not as simple as a 1-year-old boy. She keeps changing her mind about what she wants to do. Bowling; no, wait, roller skating; or maybe swimming! Or, the newest idea is to have it at the house, with games and everything. Ummm....we'll see? Games and keeping things (semi)organized with a household of 8 & 9-year-old boys and girls are not my strong points, so, even though it'll likely cost more, I think I'll be pushing for bowling or skating....with maybe a friend or two over for a slumber party afterwards.
Garrett, by the way, has decided to test out his balance and see how long he can stand on his own. So far, the longest I've timed him at is about 7 or 8 seconds, but he's getting better!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Aaaaarrrrrrrgh!
I have finally gotten myself calmed down after fighting with the FAFSA website all day long!
My step-daughter, Beth, is in Jobcorps, and she's transitioning into what could be considered the next level of Jobcorps--I think it's called ACT or On Course, or something...I can never remember. Anyway, it's set up to help students transition into regular college classes, and one of the requirements is to complete the FAFSA. No big deal, really.
Unless it's the very last day to be able to get the form completed to show Jobcorps that it's been done, accepted, and that the student will have financial aid for the upcoming semester, apparently.
That was today.
Last month, I filled out the application for 2010-2011, but apparently she needed to do the app for 2009-2010 as well, in order to start at MHCC for spring semester. She texted me today, stressing out over it, & I told her I'd get it done. I figured I hadn't had any problem with the app for 2010-2011, so the previous year wouldn't be any big deal either.
Wrong!
One of the features (a fairly new one, I think) of the online application, is that there's an option to link to your online tax record for the appropriate year & simply import the information. "Fabulous!" I thought. "Now, I don't have to try and figure out where in the world our 2008 tax forms disappeared to in the move this last summer!"
Ummmm....yeah....so, the "fabulous" part of this "simplification" is that the FAFSA then asks you how much income was yours and how much was your spouses. Okay, so, you offer me a way to get all of my income information added for me.....and then ask me for information that requires me to go find my tax forms anyway? What kind of sense does that make?!?!?
After literally hours of searching for tax forms and fighting with the application, I said, "screw it," entered $0 in a few choice boxes, and submitted the form anyway.
Screw it.
And breathe, 'Lissa, breathe....
My step-daughter, Beth, is in Jobcorps, and she's transitioning into what could be considered the next level of Jobcorps--I think it's called ACT or On Course, or something...I can never remember. Anyway, it's set up to help students transition into regular college classes, and one of the requirements is to complete the FAFSA. No big deal, really.
Unless it's the very last day to be able to get the form completed to show Jobcorps that it's been done, accepted, and that the student will have financial aid for the upcoming semester, apparently.
That was today.
Last month, I filled out the application for 2010-2011, but apparently she needed to do the app for 2009-2010 as well, in order to start at MHCC for spring semester. She texted me today, stressing out over it, & I told her I'd get it done. I figured I hadn't had any problem with the app for 2010-2011, so the previous year wouldn't be any big deal either.
Wrong!
One of the features (a fairly new one, I think) of the online application, is that there's an option to link to your online tax record for the appropriate year & simply import the information. "Fabulous!" I thought. "Now, I don't have to try and figure out where in the world our 2008 tax forms disappeared to in the move this last summer!"
Ummmm....yeah....so, the "fabulous" part of this "simplification" is that the FAFSA then asks you how much income was yours and how much was your spouses. Okay, so, you offer me a way to get all of my income information added for me.....and then ask me for information that requires me to go find my tax forms anyway? What kind of sense does that make?!?!?
After literally hours of searching for tax forms and fighting with the application, I said, "screw it," entered $0 in a few choice boxes, and submitted the form anyway.
Screw it.
And breathe, 'Lissa, breathe....
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