Well, I picked a small project, and I still couldn't finish it in 2 weeks! Socks! And plain stockinette socks at that! I finished one, and got through the toe of the second, but it's closing ceremonies, and there is no way in Hell I'm going to finish the second sock by the end of the night. Oh, well. Life gets in the way, sometimes.
Pics later.
Oh, and the new boiler is leaking. Have to call the plumbers back out. Joy.
On a bright note, I did better on the two tests I was so worried about than I had any right to expect. 94% on one, and 92% on the other. I was shocked, but happily so. I can work with that. Yay me.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The week from Hell and the Knitting Olympics
Well, this has been a rough week! I'm only now relaxed enough to come here and write about it. I had 3 tests last week - was supposed to be 2 on Tuesday, and 1 on Thursday (so, naturally, Wednesday was the designated study day for the Thursday test, right?). But, of course, the weather was bad on Tuesday, and my last class was cancelled by the professor, so the test was postponed until Thursday. So far not a problem, right? I should be prepared for it anyway, since I had studied for it over the weekend. Except that I wasn't really prepared for it, and was stressing out about it, so this just gave me two more days to stress about it.
Then, after a drive to my mother-in-law's to pick up my son (who spent the day with grandma because his school was closed so all the staff could attend the funeral of the 18-year-old son of one of the teachers, specifically my son's kindergarten teacher) and then home that took about 4 times as long as it normally does, I walk into my house to the smell of hot metal and a thermostat that reads about 58 degrees. I go into the basement to see what is wrong with the boiler (we have an oil-fired hot-water heating system), and find water all over the basement floor with the burner going full blast but no hot water being circulated throughout the house (because it was all over the basement floor!). I immediately turned off the system, because the burner was so hot I was surprised it hadn't already burned something down. Then I called my husband (who was out of town until Thursday night) to tell him the happy news. Then I put in an emergency call to the plumbing/heating contractor, who said they would send their "oil guy" out as soon as he was done with call he was currently on.
Dug the two electric space heaters out of the attic and went about getting my son ready for bed and tucked in, then went out to shovel the driveway (that part wasn't actually so bad - I enjoy shoveling snow in the dark. It's very soft and quiet and peaceful). Oil guy got there around 9 pm, when I was trying unsuccessfully to pump some of the water off the floor. Seems the only pump I had available to me was a submersible pump, and because 2" of water wasn't enough to submerge the motor, it kept overheating and cutting out, so I was reduced to using a mop, which was very slow and frustrating.
Anyway, it took him about 20 minutes of looking at various things and trying various things to determine that the reason I wasn't able to see where the water was coming from in the first place was because it was coming from the bottom of the boiler (which was under water, due to the constant flow of the system trying to repressurize itself), where it had cracked. We don't know why it cracked, since it was only 9 years old, and there was obviously water in it, but crack it did, and I needed a new one. Which wasn't going to happen at 9 o'clock at night in a snowstorm.
Thus began night one of no sleep, because I was afraid the electric space heaters were going to burn the house down. But at least we would be moderately warm before they did, and no pipes would freeze.
Fortunately for me, they were able to find an oil-fired boiler in stock with one of their local suppliers, and came out the next morning before 10 to install it (in fact, they began arriving just as I finished shoveling the driveway for the second time, since most of the snow we got - which was only about 10", not a horrible amount - fell overnight). And, of course, because of the snow, my son had no school, which made him extremely happy. So I spent my study day with workmen tromping through my house all day taking out and removing the old boiler and installing the new one, and trying to keep my son busy, and not getting much in the way of effective studying done whatsoever.
And then, to top off a perfect day, the burner controller on the new unit wouldn't fire, so I still didn't have a functioning boiler, and spent another night with the electric space heaters whispering that they were going to roast us in our beds as soon as we relaxed our guard.
Suffice to say that I didn't do as well as I would have liked on either test Thursday (I don't have the grades back yet, but I know - I didn't feel good about either one). My mother in law was able to come to my house to let in the workmen, when they were able to find a new burner unit locally, so as of Thursday night, I had heat again. But by then my week was pretty much a wash.
And the Knitting Olympics? Well, I had thought about joining in the knitting madness, but never signed on for official sanction, either with the Yarn Harlot's crew or on Ravelry for the Ravelympics. It would probably have been setting myself up for failure anyway (that's just my attitude right now, sorry), but I thought I might give it a go. So, I did cast on a project, nothing monumental, but enough of a challenge I think, given that I don't have a lot of time to work on anything lately. I am making myself a pair of "Skew" socks from Knitty.com. Yes, they're just socks, but they're really cool socks, and I have some lovely Fibranatura "Yummy" sock yarn I got at a now closed LYS, and I don't really think I'd have time for anything much more ambitious if I'm not going to tank this entire semester. So I cast on Friday night, and I hope to have them done before the closing ceremonies, in the spirit of the season. I'll post pics when I have more progress (I hope).
Thanks for listening - I needed to rant!
Then, after a drive to my mother-in-law's to pick up my son (who spent the day with grandma because his school was closed so all the staff could attend the funeral of the 18-year-old son of one of the teachers, specifically my son's kindergarten teacher) and then home that took about 4 times as long as it normally does, I walk into my house to the smell of hot metal and a thermostat that reads about 58 degrees. I go into the basement to see what is wrong with the boiler (we have an oil-fired hot-water heating system), and find water all over the basement floor with the burner going full blast but no hot water being circulated throughout the house (because it was all over the basement floor!). I immediately turned off the system, because the burner was so hot I was surprised it hadn't already burned something down. Then I called my husband (who was out of town until Thursday night) to tell him the happy news. Then I put in an emergency call to the plumbing/heating contractor, who said they would send their "oil guy" out as soon as he was done with call he was currently on.
Dug the two electric space heaters out of the attic and went about getting my son ready for bed and tucked in, then went out to shovel the driveway (that part wasn't actually so bad - I enjoy shoveling snow in the dark. It's very soft and quiet and peaceful). Oil guy got there around 9 pm, when I was trying unsuccessfully to pump some of the water off the floor. Seems the only pump I had available to me was a submersible pump, and because 2" of water wasn't enough to submerge the motor, it kept overheating and cutting out, so I was reduced to using a mop, which was very slow and frustrating.
Anyway, it took him about 20 minutes of looking at various things and trying various things to determine that the reason I wasn't able to see where the water was coming from in the first place was because it was coming from the bottom of the boiler (which was under water, due to the constant flow of the system trying to repressurize itself), where it had cracked. We don't know why it cracked, since it was only 9 years old, and there was obviously water in it, but crack it did, and I needed a new one. Which wasn't going to happen at 9 o'clock at night in a snowstorm.
Thus began night one of no sleep, because I was afraid the electric space heaters were going to burn the house down. But at least we would be moderately warm before they did, and no pipes would freeze.
Fortunately for me, they were able to find an oil-fired boiler in stock with one of their local suppliers, and came out the next morning before 10 to install it (in fact, they began arriving just as I finished shoveling the driveway for the second time, since most of the snow we got - which was only about 10", not a horrible amount - fell overnight). And, of course, because of the snow, my son had no school, which made him extremely happy. So I spent my study day with workmen tromping through my house all day taking out and removing the old boiler and installing the new one, and trying to keep my son busy, and not getting much in the way of effective studying done whatsoever.
And then, to top off a perfect day, the burner controller on the new unit wouldn't fire, so I still didn't have a functioning boiler, and spent another night with the electric space heaters whispering that they were going to roast us in our beds as soon as we relaxed our guard.
Suffice to say that I didn't do as well as I would have liked on either test Thursday (I don't have the grades back yet, but I know - I didn't feel good about either one). My mother in law was able to come to my house to let in the workmen, when they were able to find a new burner unit locally, so as of Thursday night, I had heat again. But by then my week was pretty much a wash.
And the Knitting Olympics? Well, I had thought about joining in the knitting madness, but never signed on for official sanction, either with the Yarn Harlot's crew or on Ravelry for the Ravelympics. It would probably have been setting myself up for failure anyway (that's just my attitude right now, sorry), but I thought I might give it a go. So, I did cast on a project, nothing monumental, but enough of a challenge I think, given that I don't have a lot of time to work on anything lately. I am making myself a pair of "Skew" socks from Knitty.com. Yes, they're just socks, but they're really cool socks, and I have some lovely Fibranatura "Yummy" sock yarn I got at a now closed LYS, and I don't really think I'd have time for anything much more ambitious if I'm not going to tank this entire semester. So I cast on Friday night, and I hope to have them done before the closing ceremonies, in the spirit of the season. I'll post pics when I have more progress (I hope).
Thanks for listening - I needed to rant!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
My How Time Flies!
Wow - hard to believe that it's been 6 weeks since I posted here! A lot has happened...let's see...oh, yeah! I finished last semester with 4.o's in all my classes (I guess I wasn't thinking about A being from 96%-100% - I just assumed that if I didn't have 100% I wouldn't get the A. Silly me!). Took the GRE and scored 720 on the verbal and 570 on the quantitative, with a 5.0 on the analytical writing. Not quite as good as I might have liked (yes, I have really unrealistically high expectations for myself!), but pretty darned good nonetheless. I've put in one application for grad school that was due on January 15th, and have another due on February 15th, for which I just received one of my recommendation letters.
The new semester started on January 12th, and so far it looks to be just as interesting as the last one. I think I'm really going to enjoy Phonetics! (Although I may be in the minority there among my classmates.) Also have Intro to Speech Science, Organic and Neurological Communication Disorders, and Language and Phonological Disorders. Should be a busy semester! Of course, I have group projects due in 3 of the 4 classes, but we're starting early on 2 of them, and for those two, we got to pick our own groups so that won't be so bad. I'll reserve judgement on the third until I see how the group works together.
On a family note, I flew to Colorado Springs for a couple of days over New Year for my little sister's wedding. It was really fun - she didn't want to make a big deal over it, so it was a small family affair with just me, her daughter, her son and his girlfriend, her fiance's parents and his brother. And her fiance, of course, and the officiant. They rented a room with a view at the Broadmoor, and got married on the balcony overlooking the Rocky Mountains at sunset. It was lovely, and we all wore our pajamas. Yup, that's right, she didn't want anyone to spend money or have to worry about dressing up, so she decided to be comfy rather than fancy and asked everyone to wear jammies. I bought new ones for the occasion. Then we all went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. It was very low-key and actually quite touching.
I suppose that's it for now. I should have more to say, but I've been in class all day, and I'm tired and my furnace isn't working properly so it's really cold in here!
The new semester started on January 12th, and so far it looks to be just as interesting as the last one. I think I'm really going to enjoy Phonetics! (Although I may be in the minority there among my classmates.) Also have Intro to Speech Science, Organic and Neurological Communication Disorders, and Language and Phonological Disorders. Should be a busy semester! Of course, I have group projects due in 3 of the 4 classes, but we're starting early on 2 of them, and for those two, we got to pick our own groups so that won't be so bad. I'll reserve judgement on the third until I see how the group works together.
On a family note, I flew to Colorado Springs for a couple of days over New Year for my little sister's wedding. It was really fun - she didn't want to make a big deal over it, so it was a small family affair with just me, her daughter, her son and his girlfriend, her fiance's parents and his brother. And her fiance, of course, and the officiant. They rented a room with a view at the Broadmoor, and got married on the balcony overlooking the Rocky Mountains at sunset. It was lovely, and we all wore our pajamas. Yup, that's right, she didn't want anyone to spend money or have to worry about dressing up, so she decided to be comfy rather than fancy and asked everyone to wear jammies. I bought new ones for the occasion. Then we all went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. It was very low-key and actually quite touching.
I suppose that's it for now. I should have more to say, but I've been in class all day, and I'm tired and my furnace isn't working properly so it's really cold in here!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Group Project - Bah!
I hate group projects! I hate relying on other people for my grade - it always seems like I end up doing the lion's share of the work anyway (if I want to make sure it's done right!), and there is always at least one slacker who is totally not reliable in the group and I feel like I have to babysit them, if I don't want them to pull everyone's grade down. Arrrgh!
Obviously, group project due tomorrow (Morphosyntax), and I've been e-mailing everyone in the group to make sure they all have their parts done (my parts have been done for a week and a half). The girl who is putting the summary together should have it to me later tonight, so I can go over it and print it out and put it in the folder with everything else. Then I can sleep. After I read some more A & P.
This week has been all about reviewing for finals, and working on my letter of intent, and asking my professors if they will write letters of recommendation for me. I always feel so pushy doing that, but I guess they expect it, so they don't seem to mind too much. At least I'm getting A's in all their classes so far - we'll see how I do on my finals! I think one class could slip if I'm not really diligent.
I've decided that I really like my Normal Language professor - he's very nice and straightforward and approachable. When (not if - I'm thinking positively here) I'm in grad school down there, I hope I have him for a few more classes at least. His class is the one I'm doing best in, as well - I missed 2 questions on one exam, and that is the only score I've gotten from him that hasn't been perfect. Kind of frustrating, actually - they were the kind of stupid mistakes you make when you are overconfident, and don't double-check your answers. I think I've learned my lesson there. But that means I won't be getting a 4.0 in any class this semester. Oh, well.
Also trying to work on Christmas/Hanukkah knitting, during study breaks. I'm on the second sock of a pair for one of my nieces, and I want to make a shrug for my mom, and a hat for my sister's fiance and a shawlette for my sister (although I won't be shipping that, so it doesn't really have to be done until New Year's Eve, when I fly out there for her wedding). And another small shawl/scarf/something like that for my sister-in-law's birthday, which is January 2. Not a lot of time, but most of them are small projects, so should be doable.
Also got two travelling scarves today, for the scarf group I'm in on Ravelry. Those shoudn't be too involved, once I find the right yarns and stitch patterns. One is a lengthwise scarf in fingering weight, so that might take a little bit longer - maybe 6 or 8 rows at 500 stitches per row! I don't think I'll be able to finish that in one sitting, like I did the last one I worked on.
Husband is in Cleveland for training and company holiday party, so I have some peace and quiet now that boy is asleep. I think I'll go study now.
Obviously, group project due tomorrow (Morphosyntax), and I've been e-mailing everyone in the group to make sure they all have their parts done (my parts have been done for a week and a half). The girl who is putting the summary together should have it to me later tonight, so I can go over it and print it out and put it in the folder with everything else. Then I can sleep. After I read some more A & P.
This week has been all about reviewing for finals, and working on my letter of intent, and asking my professors if they will write letters of recommendation for me. I always feel so pushy doing that, but I guess they expect it, so they don't seem to mind too much. At least I'm getting A's in all their classes so far - we'll see how I do on my finals! I think one class could slip if I'm not really diligent.
I've decided that I really like my Normal Language professor - he's very nice and straightforward and approachable. When (not if - I'm thinking positively here) I'm in grad school down there, I hope I have him for a few more classes at least. His class is the one I'm doing best in, as well - I missed 2 questions on one exam, and that is the only score I've gotten from him that hasn't been perfect. Kind of frustrating, actually - they were the kind of stupid mistakes you make when you are overconfident, and don't double-check your answers. I think I've learned my lesson there. But that means I won't be getting a 4.0 in any class this semester. Oh, well.
Also trying to work on Christmas/Hanukkah knitting, during study breaks. I'm on the second sock of a pair for one of my nieces, and I want to make a shrug for my mom, and a hat for my sister's fiance and a shawlette for my sister (although I won't be shipping that, so it doesn't really have to be done until New Year's Eve, when I fly out there for her wedding). And another small shawl/scarf/something like that for my sister-in-law's birthday, which is January 2. Not a lot of time, but most of them are small projects, so should be doable.
Also got two travelling scarves today, for the scarf group I'm in on Ravelry. Those shoudn't be too involved, once I find the right yarns and stitch patterns. One is a lengthwise scarf in fingering weight, so that might take a little bit longer - maybe 6 or 8 rows at 500 stitches per row! I don't think I'll be able to finish that in one sitting, like I did the last one I worked on.
Husband is in Cleveland for training and company holiday party, so I have some peace and quiet now that boy is asleep. I think I'll go study now.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
When it rains, it pours!
I got my new roof last week! It's very nice, and I've been celebrating the lack of buckets in my living room all week. But I still have water on my floor!
Tonight has been rough at my house - I was on the computer before dinner, working on my letter of intent (applying to grad school and all that - I have to have something to give my professors to induce them to write me a good recommendation!), when I heard a crash from my son's room. I jumped up and ran into his room, asking if he was okay, and what the crash was. He said he was swinging his bag of chess pieces and hit the side of the fishtank.
Now, this is a 10 gallon tank that has water in it, but no fish currently. The last fish jumped to its death a while ago, but I've kept the tank running until my son decides if he wants more fish. I guess the answer to that is no, now. When he hit the side of the tank, he cracked the glass and actually broke out several large chunks of glass. fortunately, the missing pieces were above the water line, and the crack was only oozing water slowly, so I was able to go to the basement and get a bucket, and start siphoning the water out in an orderly fashion.
Of course, while I was doing this, my husband was washing some dishes, and I heard him start cursing from the kitchen. Naturally, he didn't check the disposal before running it, and missed the metal measuring cup that had fallen into it. The handle put a 3" hole in the side of the disposal, and water poured all over the kitchen floor (as well as flooding the cabinet under the sink).
Tonight has been rough at my house - I was on the computer before dinner, working on my letter of intent (applying to grad school and all that - I have to have something to give my professors to induce them to write me a good recommendation!), when I heard a crash from my son's room. I jumped up and ran into his room, asking if he was okay, and what the crash was. He said he was swinging his bag of chess pieces and hit the side of the fishtank.
Now, this is a 10 gallon tank that has water in it, but no fish currently. The last fish jumped to its death a while ago, but I've kept the tank running until my son decides if he wants more fish. I guess the answer to that is no, now. When he hit the side of the tank, he cracked the glass and actually broke out several large chunks of glass. fortunately, the missing pieces were above the water line, and the crack was only oozing water slowly, so I was able to go to the basement and get a bucket, and start siphoning the water out in an orderly fashion.
Of course, while I was doing this, my husband was washing some dishes, and I heard him start cursing from the kitchen. Naturally, he didn't check the disposal before running it, and missed the metal measuring cup that had fallen into it. The handle put a 3" hole in the side of the disposal, and water poured all over the kitchen floor (as well as flooding the cabinet under the sink).
Here is a photo of the hole - lovely, isn't it? Son and I went rushing into the kitchen with towels to mop up the water, and husband gets to spend a few hours tomorrow going to the home store and buying a new disposal and then installing it. Oh, joy!
Broken fishtank is now out at the street waiting for the garbagemen to take it away, and my dishwasher is waiting until tomorrow to run tonight's dishes. But at least my roof isn't leaking anymore! Now, if only we could as easily fix the leaky bathtub, I wouldn't have to listen to complaints every time my son has to shower instead of bathe!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
I Should be Studying Right Now...
I have an audiology midterm in two days, and it's 10 pm on a Sunday night, and I'm on the computer updating my stash on Rav and writing in my blog. What's wrong with me? Oh, well, I'm doing well in audiology anyway.
Last week didn't feel very productive at all, and I'm hoping that I can get back on track this week, before I actually fall behind. It shouldn't actually be too hard to do, since DH is in Chicago this week, so I don't have to turn the TV on all week, and I'll be able to study quietly every evening after I put the boy to bed. I'll still be up til midnight or 1 every night, but at least I'll be getting stuff done!
And, I'm getting some of my holiday knitting done on my study breaks - finished one of the socks I'm making for one of my nieces this morning. So that's going well, too.
AND, we should be getting our new roof within the next week or so - I'm really excited about that. No more buckets in the living room! Yeah! Of course, that just means that I have to have the next thing on the list fixed next, which at this point is the boiler - once the roof is sound, if the guy needs to go up on the roof to sweep the chimney (which will probably need doing, 'cuz it hasn't been done in forever), I won't worry about him falling through or sliding down on the crumbling shingles. Then I can worry about why my bathtub has started leaking into my basement (the last time boy bathed - it'll be showers for him for a while!). I'm not looking forward to having to fix that one (although I hate my bathtub with a burning passion, and would love to have a new one, I don't see that happening any time in the near future. Maybe after I get my master's and a good-paying job as a SLP. Then I can fix it. Or, I can buy a new house and just demolish this one, which is what it deserves).
Well, that's my stream of consciousness rant for today. I feel better now, even though no one will read this, for getting it off my chest. Thanks for listening.
I'm off to study now. Wish me luck on my midterm.
Last week didn't feel very productive at all, and I'm hoping that I can get back on track this week, before I actually fall behind. It shouldn't actually be too hard to do, since DH is in Chicago this week, so I don't have to turn the TV on all week, and I'll be able to study quietly every evening after I put the boy to bed. I'll still be up til midnight or 1 every night, but at least I'll be getting stuff done!
And, I'm getting some of my holiday knitting done on my study breaks - finished one of the socks I'm making for one of my nieces this morning. So that's going well, too.
AND, we should be getting our new roof within the next week or so - I'm really excited about that. No more buckets in the living room! Yeah! Of course, that just means that I have to have the next thing on the list fixed next, which at this point is the boiler - once the roof is sound, if the guy needs to go up on the roof to sweep the chimney (which will probably need doing, 'cuz it hasn't been done in forever), I won't worry about him falling through or sliding down on the crumbling shingles. Then I can worry about why my bathtub has started leaking into my basement (the last time boy bathed - it'll be showers for him for a while!). I'm not looking forward to having to fix that one (although I hate my bathtub with a burning passion, and would love to have a new one, I don't see that happening any time in the near future. Maybe after I get my master's and a good-paying job as a SLP. Then I can fix it. Or, I can buy a new house and just demolish this one, which is what it deserves).
Well, that's my stream of consciousness rant for today. I feel better now, even though no one will read this, for getting it off my chest. Thanks for listening.
I'm off to study now. Wish me luck on my midterm.
Oh, here's a picture of the yarn I was spinning last August - my friend never called me when he was in town, so I never got it to him and I still have it. Next time I talk to him, I'll ask if he wants me to send it. I made him a knitting needle roll for his birthday, too, which I didn't get a chance to give him. Oh, well. Here's the pic anyway. I made three skeins, totalling a little over 200 yards. I think he could make something nice with this. I call the color "Forest Pool".
Friday, September 25, 2009
The Flaw in My Thinking
I see now the flaw in deciding to start this blog when I did. I am so busy with classes and reading/studying, plus trying to keep up with laundry and dishes (never mind the vacuuming - that can wait until Thanksgiving break!) and helping my son with his homework, and meeting with his teacher, and all the other things that don't get done if I don't do them, that I don't have time to post! (I know, lots of people go to school full time, and work full time, and have families, and still manage to keep a clean house, but I'm apparently not one of them!)
On the plus side, I am rocking the A & P and Intro to Audiology! I was really intimidated by those classes when they started, because they both involve a lot more science-y stuff than I am usually comfortable with, but I got my first Anatomy & Physiology test back last Thursday, and I only missed 2 out of 64! 97%! The prof told us that scores ranged from 30% to the high 90's, so I did okay! And I felt really good about the Audiology quiz last week, too. Really good. I'm looking forward to getting that one back as well. Plus, my A & P book finally came from Amazon this week, so I actually have my own book to read from now, rather than relying on the copy in the library for 2 hour blocks or photocopying the chapters I need to read. I hate to spend money on that when I've already spent over $100 on the book.
Things are working well on other fronts as well. All the positive thinking I've been doing is starting to pay off - I really need to put the vision board back up and get serious about it. Boy chose his preferred band instrument today, and brought home the music folder with all the info about where we can go to rent instruments (most of the local music stores have rent-to-own programs, as I'm sure they do everywhere kids take band and orchestra). But, the instrument my kid fell in love with the from the first day of band (after 3 years of telling me he wanted to play the drums) is the Baritone horn (or, as Boy calls it, the "Bini Tuba", because it looks like a mini tuba and starts with a B). And, as luck would have it, the baritone horn is the only instrument that our school provides for the students - not only do I not have to rent one this year, but they have enough instruments that he can have one to keep at home to practice on, and one to leave at school to play there! The band instructor said something about the size, but I can't imagine it is bigger or harder to carry than a cello, so perhaps they do that with the larger string instruments as well (I don't know, as I didn't get the rental sheet on the string instruments).
The Universe is smiling on me this week.
On the plus side, I am rocking the A & P and Intro to Audiology! I was really intimidated by those classes when they started, because they both involve a lot more science-y stuff than I am usually comfortable with, but I got my first Anatomy & Physiology test back last Thursday, and I only missed 2 out of 64! 97%! The prof told us that scores ranged from 30% to the high 90's, so I did okay! And I felt really good about the Audiology quiz last week, too. Really good. I'm looking forward to getting that one back as well. Plus, my A & P book finally came from Amazon this week, so I actually have my own book to read from now, rather than relying on the copy in the library for 2 hour blocks or photocopying the chapters I need to read. I hate to spend money on that when I've already spent over $100 on the book.
Things are working well on other fronts as well. All the positive thinking I've been doing is starting to pay off - I really need to put the vision board back up and get serious about it. Boy chose his preferred band instrument today, and brought home the music folder with all the info about where we can go to rent instruments (most of the local music stores have rent-to-own programs, as I'm sure they do everywhere kids take band and orchestra). But, the instrument my kid fell in love with the from the first day of band (after 3 years of telling me he wanted to play the drums) is the Baritone horn (or, as Boy calls it, the "Bini Tuba", because it looks like a mini tuba and starts with a B). And, as luck would have it, the baritone horn is the only instrument that our school provides for the students - not only do I not have to rent one this year, but they have enough instruments that he can have one to keep at home to practice on, and one to leave at school to play there! The band instructor said something about the size, but I can't imagine it is bigger or harder to carry than a cello, so perhaps they do that with the larger string instruments as well (I don't know, as I didn't get the rental sheet on the string instruments).
The Universe is smiling on me this week.
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