Random Ramblings

Well, we are now moving into the new year. What can I tell you about it so far? Did I tell you about New Year's Day? My daughter went off to spend time with her high school friends and left me home alone. What a bummer. I read a book and did laundry and just "hung out" at home. When my husband came in for lunch we even watched some of the Rose Bowl parade. I did the traditional thing and made ham and bean soup and cornbread for supper and chicken noodle soup for the rest of the family who did not grow up on ham and beans.

January 2nd, we went to town for massages. See my family gave me a gift certificate for an hour massage for my birthday back in April and it has taken me this long to get up nerve enough to go try it out. I'd never had a massage before and was quite apprehensive. So I took my daughter along for moral support and split it with her; each of us got a half hour massage. It was wonderful! I highly recommend it. I will definitely go for another one sometime. Then we met my husband for lunch (the service was horrible! and the food was "ok"). We went to our local department store and spent almost $100 on new lights and a potted pine tree and all kinds of other goodies that were all on markdown sales. (I saved over $60, the receipt said!) Then my daughter and I headed off to the community college where she will be attending this next semester. We had gone over on Tuesday and got her registered for her classes. But we couldn't get her books until we had arranged the financing. Everyone was very nice to us on Tuesday; the adviser, the lady in the bookstore and even the dean we met on the sidewalk. So we were not anticipating the experience we had with financial aid. My daughter called and asked if they were there and if we could make an appt. to come talk to them. The woman told her she didn't need to come to the college, but should just register for her loans online. My daughter said no, we needed to discuss her scholarships and grants with them as well. The lady wasn't very welcoming but did say she'd be there all day. On our way there, my daughter told me she had qualms about me going with her, as she was afraid I'd get upset about the cost of her going there and tell her again she should go back to the private college. See, we had gotten a letter from the community college that indicated she should borrow $4000 for one semester there and she had only borrowed that much for the whole year at the private college. So I was definitely upset about that. But I wanted to know why the letter from the community college showed only one grant for $740 when she had received $28,000 in scholarships and grants at the private college. Anyway, when we got there, the financial aid woman asked if she had applied online for these loans yet. We said no, but we needed to find out about her grants before we knew how much we needed to borrow. The woman just kept telling us to apply for the loans. She told us to go down the hall and use their computer to apply for loans since we hadn't done it at home. We tried to tell her that there was money borrowed already for the other college that hadn't all been used and we didn't want to borrow that much again if we didn't need to. She wouldn't listen, just kept telling us to go apply for loans. Finally I said, we don't even have a bill or know how much it will cost for tuition here, so we don't know how much money we need to come up with. So she looked at her little chart and said tuition was $1755 plus books. She added up the cost of books and it was about $315. So that made $2,070 total. Take away the $740 grant they had her getting and she still only owed about $1330. So again I asked why she needed to borrow $4000. I asked how we could get her books and the woman just insisted we couldn't get the books until after we had applied for and gotten the loans. Finally, the woman did refer us on to her supervisor. YEAH! He was nice and efficient and knowledgeable. Again, we explained the whole thing to him. He told us that two of her grants were not accepted at that college or had already been disbursed for this year. However, he got right on his phone and called Des Moines and talked to the guy there about her state grants and when he got off the phone, he told us the good news. Her one state grant will pay all of her tuition totally. The other grants and scholarships will pay for her books and supplies. And there will be money leftover to buy gas or other living expenses or to apply towards a summer term if she wants. Then he made her out a voucher for more than her books cost and sent us directly across the hall to the bookstore where she bought $315 of books. When we walked out of there, she said she was so very glad I had come along with her. She wouldn't have known what all to ask about the different grants and she would not have been as persistent about getting answers as I was. I was glad too and so relieved to know it is paid for. See, that had been one of the things sticking in my "craw". She was throwing away a $32,000 per year private college where board and room and books and etc. were all covered except for the $4000 in loans. And in exchange she was going to pay $4000 plus travel costs and live with us for board and room and etc. to go to a community college for one semester! So at least it is paid for and I can relax about that. I told her that if she never learns another thing from me, to remember this: to always be proactive and to be persistent about getting answers. No matter if it is with a doctor or a college or a car dealership or whatever, do your homework and know what to ask and persist until someone gives you answers.

Then we went to the next town and spent more money on stuff we mostly needed. When we got home, our son had gotten home with his two new yellow lab puppies so we had to play with them awhile of course. This morning they were forecasting an ice storm. So we stayed home all day and did laundry and dishes and baked cookies and paid bills and all that kind of stuff. Oh, we also took down the tree and put the Christmas stuff away and threw out a bunch of sweets nobody was eating. Cleaned out the old stack of newspapers and so on. See, my vacation is coming to a rapid end. Well, I think it is. I am to go back to work on Monday. But I heard tonight there was a multiple water main break in town and the rumor was it could be 3 or 4 days until it is fixed. I don't know what the hospitals and nursing homes in town are doing about it, but my principal says there can't be 1200 kids in school without water available. So we have to wait and see. Oh, and the rain is falling and our son says even our yard is terribly slick since it is 29 degrees out. So we'll see what tomorrow brings. The new year could be as interesting as the old one was. I hope you are enjoying your year so far and that it isn't slick wherever you are.