Selling a kidney

Sounds like a more appealing option every day. I got my book list and it's looking like I'll be using 1K of books this semester. That's right. Those are the books I'll need for ONE semester. FML. I have also struck out looking for daycare for the nerd. All the ones here in town are full up and the one on campus only take kids while there parents are in class. I need care full time M-Th so I have time to get shit done without her underfoot.

I completely rearranged both the living room and dining room this weekend. I blame it entirely on the boredom. I also read more slash than is probably healthy. There are some really good novels out there and just as many that make me want to punch babies (I in no way condone hitting a child, it's just a saying). The Apple Tree by Philo is one of the better ones I've read lately. Fate is a Four Letter Word by Philo is an awesome WIP with fairly regular updates, as is Princes in Exile by LiteraryBeauty. There are a ton more, but those are the ones that spring to mind.

On the needles: A Heartstrings scarf in Orange Sherbet. I also just finished a stripey shrug I made with some scrap brown sheep I had left over from the holidays.

Whoa!

Some how I managed to forget that I even had a blog in the first place. I suppose that I should probably update a bit since it has been an entire year since I did any real blogging. Beatrice came and went, I finished my associate's degree and got accepted to Peru State College. This fall I'll be taking 18 semester hours and hopefully working a part time job. Realistically, I'll probably be lucky to have the time and energy for school and the nerd. Oh well, isn't that kind of the point of financial aid? To cover the things you have to have to survive, like rent and daycare?

The nerd is doing amazingly well. She finished her first year of Pre-K and the differences in her speech patterns are stunning. Hubs got himself promoted and will be going up for another promotion in a few months.

I've been busily unpacking and settling in to the new house. It's twice as big as our last place (which was a ridiculously tiny 513 Sq Ft) and yet I still can't figure out where to put all of our stuff. Admittedly, there are several boxes that should have been "lost" in the move but ended up coming with us anyway. Sigh. Really, who needs three boxes of china tea cups? We don't even drink tea out of tea cups. But god forbid we get rid of the silly things since they were "heirlooms" that sat on his grandmothers china cabinet shelves and were never used in the fifty years she owned them. So now I have the dubious pleasure of trying to find a place for them. Maybe the nerd can help me with that? Hmm. Too devious?

Blerg. Alternately, I still need to get my book list and buy my text books. I'm thinking Chegg.com. When I'm done with that, I need to find a daycare too. And that is, as they say, that.

Oh the times, they are a changing

So much has happened since my last entry. Hubs got the job and we are now living in the beautiful town of Beatrice. That's right folks, we live in Nebraska! It's awesome. The town is super cute and the people here are unbelievably friendly. There is a local farmers market, and we go get fresh locally grown veggies every week. That is usually where we get our bread too. I don't know what I'm going to do when the market closes in the fall. I'm all set up at the local college and have decided to take on campus classes this quarter. So, I've signed up for four: Botany, Comparative Religions, Speech, and Beginning Acting. Only three and a half more weeks until school starts. Woo! I can't wait.

The Nerd is going to be entering daycare for the first time, and while I really think it will be good for her to socialize with kids her own age, I'm ridiculously nervous about it. She also has an appointment to have a few tests run since her speech is nowhere near what it should be. I hope they can help her, because as her vocabulary is growing, I see more and more how much she struggles to be understood. It sucks because I don't know how to help her. But, it will all work out for the best.

Hubs is getting into the swing of his new job, but they have him working graveyard for a while and he isn't enjoying that as much. Hopefully he'll be able to switch in a few months.

On the crafty side, Christmas knitting has commenced and i already feel behind. On the needles right now, a pair of socks for my grammy, since she inspired me to try sock knitting, and a cowl for my sister.

Grading on a curve

I kept my 4.0 this semester which shocked the heck out of me since two of the four classes I took were mistakes. Never take a computer course online. A) it's kind of redundant, and B) if you get stuck, you're kind of SOL because the only way to get any help is on the... computer. Yeah. So that's done with now, and I feel kind of guilty saying it, but I totally mopped the floor with MFL. She's been such a beyotch about the whole "my uterus is better than your uterus" thing, that being able to totally decimate her at school was a vicious little thrill. Not that I would ever admit it out loud, but when she told me her grades all I could think was "my brain is better than your brain, so THERE!"

Aside from that, I got my color swap package shipped out and it made it to Canada in record time. It was a huge sucess and I have the comfort of knowing that I have concluded my end of the swap sucessfully.

We're still waiting to hear about the job, and at this point, I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever get all the roadblocks out of the way. First, we drove 700 miles to interview and test, only to be told that hubs liscence was suspended, so no interview for us. We get that straightened out (unpaid fines anyone?) and then they tell us that they can't find the aplication, so we resubmit a new one, then today, they call because they need a current number for one of hubs former supervisors. I call the company, since hubs is working til after they close, and they don't know where he is, so when he got home, he had to call some friends and track this guy down, only to find out that the former supervisor is back in prison. Yay him! So tomorrow, I will have to call them back and let them know that he is currently unavailable and refer them to payroll at the company for verification. It's starting to piss me off. If it weren't for the fact that we want out of here so badly, I'd say fuckit, but anything is better than here, even if it means jumping through a hoop or ten.

Plus, to top all that off, next month my baby turns three and I recently found out that my 9 year old niece has entered puberty. She is growing boobies. It freaks me out a little bit. All these kids around me are getting so big so fast, and I don't know that I'm ready for it. I guess I don't really have a choice, but still... it's all happening too fast.

The End

Of the semester is upon us. Now I'm off to finish finals. please disperse and I'll give details at a later date.

I wanna live

in Nebraska. I hate this town. Nothing ever happens. Understand that it is partially my fault. There IS stuff to do, but somehow it pales after the first hundred times or so. The zoo is depressing because the enclosures are so tiny and the animals seem so miserable, the mall is, well, the mall, and the parks are only good on non windy, non 110+ degree days. Which happen so rarely I never manage to catch them. As for night life, there really aren't many places a couple of teetotalers can go to have adult interactions. It's all bars. Gah. I want to be in Beatrice. It's a tiny little hole in the wall town, but the people are awesome, the weather is lovely, and they actually have things to do that don't involve drinking. Plus, Lincoln and Omaha are fairly close and my grandparents are only a few hours away. At this point, we're just waiting for them to give us the word on the job and we'll be there before ya know it, but for now it's hard core waiting patterns and the end of school doldrums.

Aw, poo

So, another cripplingly boring month has gone by and been replaced with a ridiculously hectic chock a block panic fest. The month started off with a trip to Nebraska that was amazing and awful all at once. The trip was fine, but for some reason, no one in my family knows how to act in a restaurant, which is probably why we eat at home a lot. The nerd is nearing her third birthday, and thank goodness for that because she's making me absolutely crazy. Right now she's pouting and hitting things because I won't give her *another* lunchable. Yeah, worst mom ever right? Then, after we returned home (which was a shame. If I had my way, I'd be posting from a new address and not the black hole of Texas) my friend from Seattle came in to town and I got to hang out with her for a while, which is good, since I haven't seen her or her DD in 2 1/2 years. Years people! It is awesome having her around again. To top it all off, school is ridiculous as we sprint our way down the home stretch. Only three more weeks, and the instructors have been laying the work on uber-thick. Ridiculous. If I have any more work piled onto my desk, I may just have to get drunk and *then* write my paper. Sleep deprivation does about the same thing, so somehow I doubt my grades would end up too bad. Freaking out over finals (Gah, finals- should be a dirty word!) I haven't gotten too much done on the knitting front, but I have been slowly adding to my stash and have managed to finish a felted bag and a few washcloths. Once my knitpicks order arrives, I'll stat on a soaker for a friend's baby, and a fish hat (dead or alive). That's all for now, more to come (hopefully sooner than a month).