Picture Day 2012

Yesterday was picture day.

School started about 7 days ago. The kidlet had to have her syllabuses signed and returned by day 2. She had homework (3 hours) on day 3. A Geography quiz on day 4 and homework took about 2 hours. Day 6 she had a test over the book they read over the summer--Woods Runner. Day 7 she had a Latin test. Whew!

And to top it off, she had picture day. Of course, I thought we could wait to purchase a blazer. But no, after a slight freak-out, blazer purchased and sleeves were altered. And THEN they send out a note--the night BEFORE picture day--that blazers could be 'borrowed'.

Thanks for the advanced notice!  But one less chore is done--re: blazer bought and fitted . . . until the next growth spurt.

Erm, if I stood next to her, I'd be shorter. Just an FYI, yanno. Yes, I flat-ironed her hair.

Later, Peeps!

I discovered a few broken links on the Weighty Wednesday page and will try to fix them over the weekend. If you notice a broken link, please comment and let me know where it was. Thanks!

First day of School--2012

Today is the kidlet's first day of school.

The first day of middle school.

The first day at a new school.

The first day at a private school where she knows only one girl--who the kidlet met on testing day.

The first day in a school where her class size is 54 students. Last year at the local elementary school, her class size was 92 students.
If we had chosen to send her to 6th grade of the public school that her elementary school fed into, the class size would have been 900-1000 students.

I think she seems pretty happy, what do you think?

. . . I hope I remember that I have to drive the 15 miles to pick her up this afternoon!

*must set timer*

Later, Peeps!

Good news, Bad news

As y'all might remember, my kidlet applied, took a test and had an interview for admittance to Cascia Hall Prep School.

Well, the good news is she WAS ACCEPTED!

I knew she would be. She's smart, funny, kind-hearted and truly excited about going to the school. (See, brain-washing your kidlet for years does work!). It's her daddy's Alma mater and that had a lot to do with it.

Now for the bad news--sending her to to this school requires a HUGE chunk of change.

I had hoped that the sales of my books would put us in a better place, but that's not happening. Oh, I've seen a slight increase (really, really slight) in sales since I placed GNOME in the Amazon KDP Select program, but nowhere near the amount of money we have to come up with.

Shoot, I still haven't broken even yet!

So my writing isn't helping out defray the cost of private school.

Then I thought what about my candy making. I love making candy. Yes, it's back breaking, but could I turn this into an online business?

Naw . . . there are numerous factors that play against me in this scenario.

• Who wants to buy candy from an unknown entity? I can't seem to market my own books, how can I possibly market artisan candies?
• Too expensive--even buying the supplies in bulk is an expensive proposition, then add the 'cost' of the labor (mine), and shipping. Trust me, shipping is a KILLER. It would simply be too expensive for the consumer.
• dealing with the government. Yeah, I'm talking about the tax man and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Tax first, UGH! 'nuff said.  FDA--well, I think they might take issue with the fact that I have a large fuzzy dog roaming the house where I'm making candy. I can keep her out of the kitchen, but that doesn't stop hair from floating around. (Sorry, friends who have been the recipients of my Christmas goodwill, but thems the facts.)

These bullet points were only a few of the hurdles I would have had to jump, and can actually think of at 5:15 AM when I'm writing this blog. Yes, I love the idea of having a small place to do business and make candy, but let's get realistic here. It ain't gonna happen.

Which leaves two other ways to pay for the kidlet's school--

1. remove the excess expenses from the budget. That means no vacation(s) this year. No skiing, no Walt Disney World, no nothing until we can get a handle on the added expense. And/or limiting our eating out. We didn't spend that much money eating out, but it would help if we limited the # of times we eat out. I like cooking, but the problem is having something for the kidlet to eat at 5:00 PM so she's digested her food by 6:30 when she swims, and having it keep for when the hubby comes home at 6:00. And no, eating AFTER swim at 7:30 just isn't going to happen.   
2. or . . . I really, really hate to say this, but maybe I'll need to get a 'real' job. I could probably walk up to my old boss and ask for a job and get it. The problem with this scenario is I've worked at a hospital for a long, long time and the hours would NOT be ideal. AND I did run into an old co-worker a week or so ago, and let's just say, I don't want to walk back into the VIPER'S NEST (her term, not mine), even with my eyes open. Things are not going well with a Hitler wannabe as second-in-command.  Instead of trying to wipe out a religion, she's trying to wipe out the old med techs, of which I was one of them. Yes, I knew this person. And no, I'm so not surprised at this turn of events. But I have a news flash for you, sweetie, you're one of the old techs, too. Watch your back you might find your agenda biting you in the butt!

Any ideas and suggestions for making money will be more than welcome. You see we just put the down payment to hold her place, the chunk of change isn't due until mid-July. So I have a few more months to try to win PUBLISHER'S CLEARING HOUSE.

Later, peeps!

Proud Mama Bear

I'm so very proud of my daughter.

This year we applied for early admission to Cascia Hall, a private college preparatory school, where my hubby graduated. She would attend this school from the sixth grade upward until graduation. This is the school that P. C. Cast used as her inspiration for her House of Night series.

Sixth grade in our school district is where all the elementary schools converge. Just our elementary school alone has just under 100 kids in her class. Multiply that by 13 elementary schools. True, none of them has the class-size our school does, but you get the picture. No matter what, it will be a HUGE change for her.

In addition to the huge financial obligation, there were a series of steps to be finished in this process.

--we had to fill out an application form

--our daughter had to fill out an application form, writing an essay. It's HER essay, so all we did was a basic spelling check. How many parents would have re-written it? Probably more of them than not.

--two teachers had to submit a recommendation

--It's a Catholic school, so we gave one recommendation to our priest. This is the first year she hasn't attended Sunday school, because they moved it to Wednesday nights. She has swim practice on Wednesday nights. If it was still after church on Sundays, she would have attended.

--she had a shadow day. We chose a day that her regular school had teacher meetings to schedule this because she didn't want to miss regular school. She thoroughly enjoyed it.

--she had to take an entrance exam. WHICH SHE SMOKED!! She didn't know how well she did after it was over--we asked--but we just found out. She placed 1-2 grades higher than the 5th grade in both reading (6.7 grade) and math (7.4). This was good news.

--and we had an interview two days ago. The middle school principle mainly interviewed her, but we were asked a few questions. She did really, really well with this: good eye contact, coherent speaking, thoughtful answers.

Though-- I will admit-- I had my doubts about her attending. I knew enough about Cascia to know that these kids must learn to self-motivate themselves to do homework, study, plan and complete projects, etc. But this year, I saw a HUGE change in her motivation. At the end of last year, they had a program for the kids who made Honor roll--School honor roll and Principal's Honor roll-- she was on the Principal's Honor roll with straight A's.

--and liked the feeling.

I haven't had to nag her about doing her homework, working on projects, etc. She has taken the intuitive with her homework AND ACC Math. She plans ahead on her projects and even led her group on the most recent project.

Part of this could be due to having swim practice almost every night, and competitive swimming has become a real love for her.

But now comes the waiting period. We won't hear whether or not she gets into the school until mid-January or February. And no, not everyone who applies actually gets in--even if you do have money to throw around.

I just wanted to let everyone know how proud I am of my kidlet.

Later, Peeps