Addictive!

I started playing this game and I couldn't stop!  Try it.

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Where's the Bus Schedule?

School starts Tuesday and I just realized we don't have a bus schedule. I looked through both packets from registration and didn't find it. Either we'll get one in the mail in the next couple of days, or we'll have to assume the bus will come at the same time as in previous years. But then you never know about that. The schedule is never exactly right anyway, because the bus always comes earlier than the schedule says. Beth missed it her first day of 7th grade, poor girl. Luckily she was rescued by the mom of one of her friends, who drove her to the next stop so she could catch the bus there.

The important thing here is - school starts Tuesday!

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Milk for $1.00

Milk for $1.00
Originally uploaded by bcmom.

Beth worked at the Wisconsin State Fair this year, selling milk and t-shirts in the Golden Guernsey booth. She had to work the last day of the fair (Sunday, 8/13/06) - so we all went and spent the entire day at the fair. That girl in the Golden Guernsey booth just wouldn't look at the camera!

She got her check in the mail and wanted to spend it all on new clothes for school. So we went shopping on Sunday. It's amazing how quickly the money goes when you want to shop at the mall! We did go to Goodwill first, and she spent about $20 on some tops and some really nice boots. Mostly she thinks it's not cool to shop at Goodwill anymore. I think it's the greatest store in the world! We all ended up getting a few new things - shirts for Jeffrey, shorts and shirts for Cory, and some tops for me. After Goodwill we headed to the mall. It just hurts me to see how much things cost there! But Beth bought several things. It was her money so she was pretty careful about what she bought and didn't buy anything that she didn't really love. The biggest expense was the bras at Victoria's Secret.

We both got measured to see what bra size we were supposed to be wearing and then tried on lots and lots of bras in that size. She found a couple that she really, really liked so she bought those. I didn't find any that fit me right - even though I was trying on the size I should be wearing according to measurements. Oh well, not like I was willing to spend that much on a bra, anyway. It is kind of irritating that certain sizes can't be found anywhere besides Victoria's Secret! It's like all the regular stores assume that if you have a big cup size you have to be big around. What about if you are a normal size and just need a bigger cup size? I did find some bras in my size at Walmart recently - so I bought some for now and some for later. I should be set for a while now. I guess Beth is too.

Now that she's spent most of her paycheck, she will have to slow down. We started giving her money every month to take care of her own expenses. I averaged costs for her clothes and toiletries for the past 3 years to figure out how much she should get a month. Of course, that average was for shopping at Goodwill and Walmart so she may have some problems if she wants to continue shopping at the mall. This should be good for her. She really needs to have some kind of understanding about what things cost, etc. Maybe then she'll be more likely to wear the stuff she buys - or won't buy stuff just for the sake of getting something. She has done that too many times in the past. When we're at the store, she really likes it and just has to have it - then she never wears it!

I think being responsible for her own expenses ought to help. She's got to learn sometime!

Let's try this rain thing again

Of course, it was raining really hard before I called the audioblogger number, and then it started raining hard all over again when I hung up. What can you do?

Raining!

Beloit College Mindset List

The annual Beloit College Mindset List is out. Each year, the Wisconsin school takes a look at the world through the eyes of college freshmen. 

Each August since 1998, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. A creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it looks at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today’s first-year students.

Some items from the list:

• The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.
• Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines.
• "Google" has always been a verb.
• Bar codes have always been on everything, from library cards and snail mail to retail items.
• more

You can also take a look at previous year's lists.  Very interesting.

Audioblog test

testing after updating

test test test

I have been having problems using performancing with this blog.  I finally got that fixed, and then I updated - so I'm just checking to see if it still works.

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testing before updating

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School Registration

Well, I got the kids all registered for school.  It wasn't all that bad this year because I was smart enough to go during the day instead of in the evening.  I don't know what I was thinking last year!  Actually, I just read about last year, and I see what I was thinking - but luckily I learned something from the whole thing.

Cory and I went after Band Camp on Tuesday.  We got all his forms filled out, signed, and turned in, but had to bring Beth's home so she could sign them. (We stopped and dropped them off today when we went to pick Cory up - real quick in and out)  Then I got in line to pay the fees.  Two in high school this year so there would be no dilemma over what line to get into.  Not that it mattered.  There were maybe three other parents there registering their kids, so I ended up waiting maybe 5 minutes.  It's just the shock when everything is added up, and the total comes to just under $200 for registering 2 kids for high school!  And, of course, that's not the end of it.  They will constantly be needing money for this or that throughout the entire school year.  Better start saving now! 

Cory got to check out his locker and make sure he could open it.  He's happy because it's in the hallway outside the band room.  The kids get assigned a locker their freshman year and then keep that same locker throughout their high school career.  That's different than when I was in school.  I remember having a different locker each year - different halls belonged to different classes, etc.  This is probably actually a good idea.  The kids in all grade levels are mixed throughout the school so you don't have some "Senior Hallway" or some such where underclassmen aren't welcome.  Cory is already friends with quite a few of the high school kids through band, and he has two senior girls calling him "my freshman."  I think he'll do ok.

We did have to get his class schedule corrected slightly.  He meant to sign up for Jazz Band, but somehow didn't get it on his schedule.  So we got that added.  Of course that means that someone will have to get him to school by 7:15am on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Hopefully we can find someone to share rides - since there's no bus that early!

School starts the day after Labor Day.