The Kids

The next thrilling installment of "Goings On"...

Sis is in her second year at college. She has a tuition scholarship which is fantastic. Her first year she got a bunch of little one time scholarships and financial aid that enabled her to live on campus and we only had to pay for her books. This year we barely got any financial aid (go freakin figure) and had originally said she would have to commute to college (it's less than 45 minutes away). Of course she was not happy about this and wanted to take out loans to live there. We were against this debt as it wasn't really necessary. After getting the Big Guy's diagnosis and the details of his treatment we decided it might be better to just let her live on campus. It would be too distracting at home and let's face it, she was going to do it whether we wanted her to or not. She's doing really well in her classes and seems to be having a good time but not too good a time!

Ebaby is in second grade this year! Holy cow my baby is seven. In first grade she had some real gross and fine motor skill difficulties. She needed occupational therapy but the state insurance we had for the kids did not cover it. The school would not classify her and it was very frustrating. My brother wound up finding someone for us who gave us exercise and activities for her to do. She made great improvements and continues to work hard. She loves school. I wish we could put her in some activities but everything around here costs money that we don't have. Thankfully she is pretty creative and she loves to play with her little sister. She has been taking the drama around the house really well. Of course we don't tell her very many details but kids know.

Scoop is two. Two! She is very funny and laid back. She is Daddy's girl all the way. She tells him all the time "we're best buddies" and she means it. She eats anything you put in front of her but we recently discovered she has a chocolate allergy (poor thing and more for me!). She is very tall and people tend to think she is older than she is which leads to some stupid comments from people when I buy diapers. She discovered the Toys R Us Christmas catalog and wants to buy everything in it. We told her to get a job. She informed us she was too "yittle". She has been a bright light in all the bullshit of the last couple of years.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of "Goings On"....

Holy Cow!!!!

My kid got called for an interview for, wait for it....PRINCETON!!!

Even though Princeton is Ivy League, we could actually afford it. If you get accepted, they calculate your earning, savings, other kids, etc and tell you what you'll have to pay. They have an online calculator that you can plug all those things into to get an approximate figure. Based on our info we would have to pay $1035. Yep, that's it.

Lord, I hope she gets in.

Striking Fear Into High School Seniors

Two words: College applications.

That is what has been consuming my oldest (and my computer) for the last few days. What a pain in the ass.

My step-daughter may be the smartest person I know. I don't say that lightly, she really is extremely intelligent. Mind you, she doesn't have a lick of common sense and she readily admits it. How do you teach common sense? If you have an answer, please, please let me know!

She is ranked eighth in a class of more than four hundred. She got 1900 on her SATs. Her GPA is something like a 3.94. Honors classes, AP classes, clubs, youth group, part time job, this kid rocks. We have very few problems with her. Our major problem: college. We can't afford to pay for her college (even before we lost our jobs) and she has been aware of this for many years. New Jersey has a program called NJ Stars. Any student who graduates in the top twenty percent of their class can go to a community college for free. If they maintain a 'B' average they can transfer to a four year state school and go there for free. Did you get that? FREE. The problem, she does not want to do this. She has no idea what she wants to do as a career (and what 17 year old does?) so why wouldn't she want to take the free education?

We have tried explaining the whole student loan thing, how it's going to be like a mortgage payment, etc, to no avail. Part of the problem is a few of her teachers have told her she is too good for community college. I want to slap the crap out of them! Are they going to pay for her education? Are they going give her a job that pays enough to pay her loans back? Shut the hell up!


The babe is calling me so I'll have to make this a two parter.