Exciting updates

Or not.

Since I don't have much else to talk about right now, I'm going to talk about the dirty skivvies and the mattress. Wow, this is going to be a really strange post. Best if you have a hard drink.

Anyways, after about 2 days of the white adult male skivvies getting run over by cars in the road, they crept closer and closer to the neighbor's house across the street. Well, on Tuesday my dad, Ryan and I went to play golf. They were there. When we came back, they were gone.

It dawned on me though... our garbage cans are sitting at the end of our driveway...... yep. Someone had put the soiled underwear into our garbage can. Which is fine, we didn't have to handle it then... but what did they use to pick them up and where did they put it afterwards?!?

They've gone now. Abolished. Finito. Adios. Au Revoir and hopefully not A Bientot.

Moving on. The Mattress Update. Well, here's the dealie-o. Sometime back in October or November I bought this 3 inch mattress topper. It was memory foam.

From the first night it wasn't so comfortable, but I wanted to give it a chance. And we've slept with it for a good 6 or 7 months. The other day, while we were trying to figure out what to do, I decided it's high time to take that stuff off. I guess since I bought it, I just wanted it to work. However, it was really making my back and left knee ache. (because I typically sleep on my left side.)

So we took it off and now things are much better. So hopefully our mattress will be good for awhile longer now. (That's a great sentence, doncha think?) One side is still broken though, but Ryan doesn't mind sleeping on it.

However, I did want to say we went to our local ARC (a sort of Goodwill-like thrift store) and they sell new mattresses there. The full plush was $215 and the full pillowtop was $240. So at least now we know where we should go if we ever do decide to get a new bed when we can't afford much.

Your back is a mattress

That is a super weird, yet almost on target, kind of subject for this post.

It is Memorial Day weekend. Hence, lots of places are having sales. Our mattress is just going to complete crap. It is a Denver Mattress and I'm a little disappointed in its performance. We bought it in 2002. Now it is getting older, but really, by 2004 it wasn't comfortable anymore.

We do not have the money for a new mattress. Not to mention, I hate filling up landfills. :-( But my back is really aching every morning. Very much. And so much now that my left hip hurts continuously throughout the day as well. (because I tend to sleep on my left side.)

I do not know what to do. We could buy another mattress, just the mattress part, but really the boxspring to this bed has had it too.

We did look at these once before... one small problem is, how comfy could they really be?
However, it may not be a bad idea to get one for us to use during the last 2 years that we're living with my parents. Then we could buy a new bed once we move out and this bed could work as a sofa for awhile.

Hmmmmm. Still kills me about landfill waste, but there's not a lot I can do. This bed has really had it. And I'm tired of waking up feeling like a 60 year old.

If you have a pretty face it costs only $1

This is nothing new to me, I've encountered this situation before and I know all about it. However, just recently it happened again and now I'm compelled to whine about it.

So we buy Ryan's special super duper triple anti-biotic nose spray. His healing after the surgery is kinda slow going, but it's getting somewhere. Oy. Anyways, hence the need for this anti-biotic nose spray.

It has to be mixed specially for him and then the cost came to $69.95. We said "But he has insurance!" After the pharmacist called to check it out, turns out this medicine needs a pre-authorization. We get that straightened out eventually and we return days later to pick up the medicine.

Now our co-pay was $5. That's fabulous. But the insurance adjusted the price of the medicine down to $39. It is way beyond aggravating that if you don't have the clout of insurance, you get charged this obscene amount. I noticed that at a Dr's visit long ago. I noticed the charge on the insurance was only $50 and one time when I had to go without insurance, I figured I could handle that paying on my own. But the office charged me $95.

So ridiculous and infuriating.

In other small news... the tornado that hit Greeley CO yesterday also hit a big regional office for State Farm Insurance. The pictures are kinda funny because the cars are completely thrown about the parking lot. (and nobody was harmed in that instance.) I can't help but think... will State Farm pay for the damages? If the people had insurance of course.

ETA: Well, shoot. I tried to find the exact State Farm pictures, but I found most of the other pictures I saw yesterday here.
(Hope this link works.) The train pictures are mind boggling, as it usually is when a tornado strikes. I'm surprised it didn't hit the college; I was considering going there. (University of Northern Colorado.)

ETAA: Forgive all the editing I'm doing here. Usually I let mistakes slide, but today they're bothering me so I'm going back and fixing them.

Bad Birdies

In the interest of at least attempting to be entertaining, I think I will share another Bus Barn story. Tales from the Bus Barn: it was written and so it shall be.

Anywho, I started my rookie route on a shaky foot. I have stories from that experience, but for now we'll skip it. After shuffling me around a bit they finally found a place for me in SPED driving - special needs.

One time in May I forgot to close my driver's window. I boarded my bus with my mouth open as I surveyed the wreckage. Pigeons had entered my bus and had themselves a par-tay all night long. They pooped all over the place. ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE.

Then they brought in some straw and thought they were going to just move on in. Squatters. And the funniest (ha) thing they did was tear up my tissue box. They had shredded tissue all over the bus.

My goodness. What a mess. I couldn't believe it. And this had to have happened for only a few hours because my route ended at about 5 pm... and they roost at night. When I showed up at 6 am for my morning route, they were already gone.

Crazy birds. I had to bring Ryan in to help me scrub off all the poop-a-doop. I scrubbed it off where my kids were going to sit immediately, but some of the backseats were hard to clean off right away. (nobody was to sit there.)

spamby

Every time I see spam in my email boxes I think of my astronomy/geography professor. In geography he would talk about how we could get cheaper drugs in Canada. Then he would joke something about how if his wife didn't stop signing him up for Viagra Runs for the Border... He kept getting offers to do that in his email box.

My brain went on vacation. I'm starting to regain a little bit of my senses. Every since my last final about 10 days ago I've been brainless. Oh well. This is certainly the time to do it while I'm on vacation from school. Though I have been trying to take care of financial affairs and that's been interesting.
I have about 3 weeks left before I have to go back. Last year I barely had 2 weeks between semesters so this is nice.

My hubby ate some egg rolls this morning and now this house stinks.

frosted mini-jobs

Each semester is like a new mini-job. You have your 2 week "breaking in" period, you're wary of the boss/professor with evaluations/tests, then once you hit your stride the semester ends! And an aside - you often don't see some cool peers you met in that class anymore which is sad. It's also amusing that sometimes the last week or two of the semester is when you all may bond together.

Anywho. I am still working on my resume. I DESPISE THESE THINGS. And apparently, I suck at resume writing even though I thought I was doing a decent job. Well, one good thing is my dad was a project manager with hiring experience... I'm going to have him look it over and ask for help. I do NOT look forward to doing this once I graduate college. Eeeeeeeek.

Just call me Magna Shannon

Yay! I had a fantastic graduation yesterday. Things went 100% better than I expected them to. Except the wind... man, every special day I have it has to be windy. That drives me nuts.

Anywho... the news of the hour is that I did indeed make Magna Cum Laude! I was in line for registering and receiving honor cords and I'll admit, I was just about to cry thinking that I was going to get a single braided Cum Laude cord when I knew I really deserved the double blue and gold Magna Cum Laude cords. Imagine my delight when I was handed the double blue and gold cords!!

For once, something at my college was fair to me. :-) They did indeed ignore the classes that didn't pertain to my actual degree and my GPA wound up being 3.91.

I have a funny story. Because we weren't allowed to have purses or anything with us, I planned on stashing my lipstick (really Burt's Bees tinted lip balm) and my single car key in my bra. I didn't have any pockets in the dress I was wearing. I would've locked my car key in my car but just in case I needed to get back into it, I decided to take it with me. I made Ryan bring my main car keys with him just in case anything happens.

Well, something did happen. During our little "pee" break in the pre-ceremony, I discovered my key was missing. I retraced my steps the best I could but didn't find anything.
After the ceremony I battled the crowds trying to retrace my footsteps again and nobody had turned in my key either. (btw my left shoe was digging into my achilles tendon and I was limping around. It shows in the video Ryan took. The blister didn't turn out too be too ugly though.)

My parents and I went to Sooper Salad to eat and for some reason I looked down the front of my dress one more time... there the key was... in my, well, pantyhose and underwear bands. I swear I looked all over my body in the bathroom stall after I discovered it was missing. Oh well, everything worked out nicely.

I saw my old math teacher, the one I loved and she gave me a huge hug and told me how impressed she was about all my honors stuff. I saw a few old student friends from my geology classes, that was really nice. So sad to think I might see them again. They were really nice and cool people. And finally I saw my French teacher. :-) She gave me a hug and she voluntarily said I could use her for a reference while I look for a work study position this summer.

And now........ I will be really brave and post a picture of myself. It was taken after we got home and I was so damn happy about having those honors cords, the ones I earned and yet I didn't think I would receive, that yes, I do have them on in this photo. Oh and my PTK stole, beautiful gold satin stole, got lipstick all over it. The wind flipped it up onto my mouth, luckily after the ceremony. Still, now I have to get that stain out. Phooey.

Anyways. I took this in my bathroom just before I was going to take a shower. I was actually have a pretty decent hair day even after wearing those dreadful graduation caps and the wind affecting it.

straight up

I earned straight A's this semester! :-) I am so happy and pleased.

I am still quite frustrated... you see, I went to college in 1998 and I was studying for a Radio and TV Communications degree. During that time I earned a few B's and one C. Also last semester I earned one B and one C. (and one A.) That semester made my GPA tumble 10 points which royally sucked out loud. (from 3.77 to 3.67)

Anywho, since I returned to college in Fall 06 I have earned straight A's in every semester except Fall 07. But my GPA is only 3.71. :-( This is very frustrating because I'm working so hard and I can't graduate magna cum laude like I should be doing. It's because of those prior grades from 1998 and the crappy semester I had last fall that are making my GPA sink. :-(

Those grades from 1998 do nothing else except tank my GPA. I've worked so hard, earned straight A's and I still only wind up with 3.71.

Ok. Well, I just wanted to whine about that for a second. It's pretty frustrating and annoying. I know in the grand scheme of things GPA doesn't really matter... but there are two things about it - 1) It's nice to put on resumes and 2) I worked so hard in the classes that matter for my degree. These Radio and TV credits should not be counted.

Genuinely LOL

Today I had to perform my French skit... it went okay.
Then I had to sit through history class.
Then I had to study for my geography final.
Ensuite, I had to take the geography final.

Our teacher brought cookies and brownies to our class. She said "Please, enjoy these cookies and these brownies with marijuana."

Sweet! If only.

I just have my history final on Thursday. Maybe sometime after that I'll exhale or something.

Still alive anyway

Well, that's a cheery title, eh?

I hate stress. Who doesn't? But I have to put on a skit tomorrow in French class, which I am highly NOT looking forward to doing. Then I have a final in a geography class where the test is always oddly hard. I just did 6 hours of writing different papers that were due for that class tomorrow as well.
I have my history class final on Thursday. Then I can enjoy myself for one day before I graduate.
But now I have to start working on a resume. I haven't done a resume since 2003. I had my job from 2003-2006 then I went back to school. I did earn a work study at my current college as a math tutor, but I only had to fill out a basic application. It was fairly informal.

I'm not even sure I can find a work study position. My new college has all these crazy jobs listed such as being a Mommy's Helper. (Mother's Little Helper comes to mind from the Stones.) Anywho, there isn't much I'm interested in or possibly qualified for. :-(
I only get $1300 for work study and my tuition for the summer is $1700. It looks like I should take out a $4000 subsidized loan and just put the money away to use as needed during my school years.

I'm just freaking out. It's been such a long time since I've had to be "polished and professional." I'm so nervous and scared. I just want a decent admin job at the college, not some crazy job off campus. As I said, I don't even have an up-to-date resume. I can't even remember exactly what I was earning at certain positions. And I've got to figure out how to have 3 professional references. I don't know anybody! I don't know what to do. And I don't have the clothes for professional jobs either.

Ok. I'm going to cut myself off here. You get the idea of it all. Stress and freaking out. I could save a lot of space if I just put that.

Ryan is doing very well after his surgery. Let's hope he continues to heal wonderfully and that ultimately this surgery will change his life.

Harrowing week

I'm in the mood to keep this mostly short and sweet. Wow, better mark this day on the calendar.

First the very sad news. We lost Storm, our gerbil, on Saturday. He passed away. Probably from some kind of upper respiratory infection. We just didn't catch it in time. I don't know. I don't want to talk about it too much, I'm still very sad. We love you Storm and we miss you! You will forever be in our hearts.

Then Ryan had surgery yesterday. There are some tales to tell but I'm not really in the mood. So I'll just say that he's fine, thank goodness. He had to spend the night in the hospital because there was so much work to be done for his sinuses and nose, plus he's a medical basket case.

Anyway, maybe I'll rehash a few details from the past few days later at some point. Ryan is doing very well now, which I am thankful for.

OH. And I might get an A in French after all! My average is 89.2%. We have one final thing, we have to put on a skit in French. Yikes.

There is one sucky thing though. I was in college before and I went for this Applied Science degree in Radio and Television. I never finished for a few reasons, but I won't go into that right now. Anyways, the only thing those credits are good for is dragging down my GPA. I had a few B's and one C from those days. They don't count for anything except dragging down my GPA.

I sort of resigned myself to getting a B in French at best. But now with this A (hopefully) it's going to bring my GPA back up to 3.73. Which means........ I just missed graduating magna cum laude. I'm only going to graduate cum laude.

It just really stinks. All the "real" credit hours I have a GPA of 3.9. But those stupid Radio and Television grades are dragging me down. I really hate this. It's so completely unfair. >:-(