4pm.
I told a bunch of people in person and on Twitter. We weren't positive the carpets would be in on time but now that they are, we decided to go ahead with the party.
It's going to be a bunch of people. Now, help me wish the tentative rain/thunderstorms in the forecast away. It sure is hard to grill in the rain. Plus, with all of the work Steve did on the deck, it'd be nice to have people out there!
I got a text message from Kim.
"I don't like my mom."
I figure her mom did something totally stupid, which is the status quo for time over there. Tonight's was different.
"Well, H (her sister) wanted a necklace and a shirt. Mommy wouldn't buy it for her so I did and I got one, too. It was $64 and so I had to use my ATM card and now I have no money to buy my Sims book or a cd on Amazon."
A little back story on this is that Kim had $82 in her bank account. $60 of it was going to be donated to the ASPCA because SOMEONE had taken $60 from her mother. Part of her punishment was that she had to give the money back and donate $60 of her own money to a charity.
So now she has about $18 in her bank account, and she needs $60 in there again.
And, somehow, this is her mother's fault.
Heh.
I reminded her that these are decisions she made and now she has to deal with the consequences. She wants me to take her to the mall next week so she can return some of it.
I'm just wondering when this became a task on my to do list. Being a parent is Not Fair. Wah.
- Location:living room
- Mood:
tired
We have grout!
Originally uploaded by The Shockley/Hiscox Family
This is our downstairs. Before, we only had a little bit of tile near the garage/closet, by the back door and in the powder room. It was green tile linoleum or something like that. It wasn't that great and it was coming up in the bathroom, where it happened to be put on top of other tile.
We were planning to put in new carpet. Then we decided to replace the tile, too. Steve had the idea of running the tile from the stairs, past the garage to the back door. We also got it replaced in the powder room, too. Oh and two feet out from the fireplace.
The tile came first and they just finished the grout today. Kim took a pic on her cell phone and sent it to me.
I'm very excited. I can't wait for the carpet to come in in a week or so.
Kindergarten
Originally uploaded by The Shockley/Hiscox Family
Kim found three photos at her mom's house from her childhood, one of which was 9th grade. Her mom said she never purchased 9th or 10th grade school photos. Obviously she did.
Anyway, here's her kindergarten photo. Poor kid. No one ever taught her how to smile! Heh.
Kim's last two finals were today and the grades are already in. She got mostly Bs and Cs on the finals, but since they're only 10%, they were just enough.
So, for final grades for the year, As in Graduation Project, PE, Geometry, Computer Apps, Intro to Theater, Chorus and English. The Bs were in Chemisty and Photography. All were 1/2 credit courses except Geometry, English and Chemistry.
Perfect attendance for the school year, too, thanks to Steve for getting Kim out the door every morning and Kim's amazing immune system in which she hasn't gotten sick (other than headaches) for well over a year now.
Already looking towards next year, she'll be at Middle Bucks Institue of Technology for 1/2 of her school day learning multimedia technology. The only other courses she has are English and two histories. That's it.
Tomorrow is Kim's last day of this school year. Then I can sleep again.
- Location:my office
Recently, she has started the trick of getting up with the alarm clock, going over and closing her bedroom door, which is open at night for the cat, and then going back to sleep. Today, Steve let her sleep and she missed the bus.
He then drove her to school, came home and took away her door.
Steve's dedication to this cause has resulted in Kim having perfect attendance for the school year.
Three more mornings of this and it will be over until September.
Hallelujah.
- Location:my office
DSCN1345
Originally uploaded by The Shockley/Hiscox Family
And this is from our Radio City Music Hall tour, after which we went to see Mama Mia.
Prom #3 ~ Rancocas Valley HS
Originally uploaded by The Shockley/Hiscox Family
This is from Prom #3 at RVRHS.
Prom #2 ~ 20090515
Originally uploaded by The Shockley/Hiscox Family
This was from Prom #2 at her old high school, Senecca. This is the one with Kim's bf.
Prom #1 ~ WTHS
Originally uploaded by The Shockley/Hiscox Family
This was from Prom #1 in April, Kim's Junior Prom.
+ We closed on our mortgage refinancing. We went from 6.25% (when we got our home back in 2003) to 4.5% and will be cutting almost $600 off of our monthly payment, which is very cool.
+ Still working on my friend's bridal shower. It'll be 7/18 from 1-4pm. I'm thinking about just making that into an all-day festivitiy and inviting people over after 4pm.
+ TGIF. My favorite day of the week!
+ My company is now doing expenses online and we're getting a few day turnaround. I just got my March's expenses (because we were still on paper) and April's expenses all direct deposited at once. Direct deposit is nice. I likey.
+ The SAP Go Live was good. We probably had the most successful SAP Go Live, like, ever. It was so uneventful. It kicked my butt up until it but now it's business as usual.
- Steve's company has a big loan due today that has been postponed for a little bit. It's money owed to companies that own his company so it's a little weird and there are always worries about companies, especially commercial mortgage banks, closing. Here's hoping they come up with some kind of solution to this loan problem that doesn't require cutting staff or filing bankruptcy.
+ Major changes in senior IT management at our corporate offices. It's good news. We have serious turnover issues because of our leadership and I think it may get a little better. It'll take some time for change to happen but change is definitely on the way.
-/+ Two proms next weekend. Not looking forward to that. Kim has decided to wear this gold dress that I wore to a fraternity formal back in college to her bf's prom. Since he can't afford a tux, he is borrowing a gold suit from a musical he was in last year so she wanted to wear a gold dress. The dress is a little big on her around the arms but I think I can fix that. I can't do anything about the gold suit, though. Ugh. The thing that gets me about this is that he says he can't afford to rent a tux. Ok. That's fine. Then, though, he was trying to get a limo. I don't think anyone was going in with him on the limo so he can't afford to rent a tux but he can afford a limo? That makes no sense. For her friend's Saturday prom, she is wearing the blue dress she wore to her prom.
+ The dry cleaners did a good job of cleaning up Kim's blue prom dress. She is, indeed, a Messy Kimmy and she had stains all the way down it. I heard something about ketchup. At least if she's wearing two different dresses to the two consecutive proms, we won't have to worry about ketchup from one ruining the next.
Aren't you all glad I shared?
I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm an
Extroverted Self-Improving Money Manager
- So very exhausted. Work just kicked my butt this
weekmonth. Today was particularly bad. - Next week, I'm going to Virginia for a few days of Diver training (Diver, as in software).
- Refi is next Thursday night at 6pm. Woohoo! Then we'll have a whole month of no mortgage payment and our new payment is $590 less. Then, we'll get the balance on our escrow refunded to us from our old mortgage company. If we continue to make the same payment as we do now, including the extra principle we pay every month, we'd pay off the mortgage in 11 years. We've been in the house about 5.5 years and cut off about 10 from the current mortgage. I'm not sure if we'll do this right now considering we do want to move in a few years, but it's very tempting, indeed.
- I just ordered the Mother of all Slow Cookers. I got it cheaper at Sears due to coupons and sales and such. I am uber excited.
- OMFG TGIF.
- Um. There's SWINE Flu? Where the heck have I been?
- Tomorrow is the prom. I am stressed and have a monster cold sore on my lip to prove it. Wah.
- Can I go home, please?
- Location:my office
Kim asked her bf a couple of months ago to her prom and he excitedly accepted. He did the same for his prom and got the same answer. I kept asking her to call him and talk about it, but she kept putting it off. She told him the date and that was good enough for her.
Last night, she finally calls and now his parents are saying it's too far to bring him up here. WTF? They brought him up for Homecoming and we had to pick him up at a little airport in Doylestown because his dad wanted to fly him in on the little plane they own. Now it's suddenly too far? The week before the prom?
No problem. Kim's mom and the BFF are coming over on Saturday to help get Kim ready. They could pick him up. Of course, now he doesn't have a tux and he says it's too late to get one.
UGH. WTF??
So Kim asked a friend of hers. Now her bf is posting on MySpace that he's sorry and is still trying to come. Um, too little, too late, buddy. The friend is going out to see if he can get a tux. If he can, then that means her bf could have and just gave up on it.
Oh, and why Kim's bf didn't call to tell her about this? When he sent her a txt last Tuesday (a sappy forward), he got a response back that Kim's phone was left in NJ. So, what about the house phone? Also, he's had no issues with mailing me on MySpace before when he had a question. He could have mailed or emailed her, too. She picked up her phone on Thursday and had no urgent messages from him on it, either, so he must not have tried very hard.
Kim doesn't seem bothered by this at all. She said she's annoyed at his parents but refuses to be annoying at her bf. I'm annoyed at all of them, including her for not calling him sooner. Nothing like a fire drill at the last minute!
- Location:my office
I walked out to the living room and Steve asks if any windows were open because he kept feeling a breeze. The only window open was the bedroom window but I thought it was a little odd that he was feeling that out in the living room.
Suddenly, I decided to go downstairs because Kim had used the back door to go outside and I just put it all together. The wind blew the back door open and that's why I couldn't find the cat!
I ran to the door and looked out, panicked because we would never see a black cat in the dark. I called her name and fortunately, I heard the bell on her collar as she came running back into the house.
Whew. Crisis averted! Shadow is now sitting happily on my leg, purring as she almost constantly does.
Looks like tomorrow we're breaking out the Frontline for the season just in case fleas are out and about.
I'm so happy to be able to go to bed right now instead of being outside with a flashlight trying to find a black cat.
- Location:living room
- Mood:
relieved
When I saw him this past Saturday at Connor's 2nd birthday party, he said that he wasn't going to go because his one eye was blurry and even after laser surgery, it's still blurry. He doesn't feel comfortable driving 3 hours down to West Virginia, a place he hasn't driven to probably since his mother passed away in 1982.
So, I kind of volunteered to go with him. Then I suggested that we invite my sister, Lisa. Lisa invited her husband so now I'm awaiting an answer as to whether Steve & Kim are coming.
Anyway, it looks like we have a weekend trip to West Virginia in the works!
My dad is going to be 78 in June and with his reluctance to travel, this could be the last family trip we all make together. Also, I doubt he'll want to make this trek again, even if he lives to 100.
So... now we plan for our trip to Wild, Wonderful West Virginia!
- Location:my office
- Mood: excited
The chimney place ran a camera down the chimney and saw that the tiles were missing mortar. From everything they said and we've read, yeah, that's something we may want to fix. They're recommending a chimney liner, which isn't cheap, gas logs or to just not use the fireplace.
I think we're going to get a second opinion just because this is kind of serious stuff. Running gas to the fireplace looks to be the cheaper of the two options, but I think it might be better to get the chimney fixed. Someday when we go to sell the house, I don't want this to be an issue.
Once all that is done, now that we don't have an insert with doors, we need to tile the floor near the fireplace since the carpet runs right up to it.
I am determined not to burn our house down, damnit! As I type that, I'm thinking we need to clean out the dryer vent, too. Heh. And here I thought when we moved in that buying a bunch of fire extinguishers was enough to keep me calm about this sort of thing.
- Location:my office
~ My BIL (Debbie's husband) has a gf who has 2 boys. They've been dating since December, maybe even before. Debbie & the BIL eloped after knowing each other a month so who knows how fast this relationship will move. Hopefully, it won't move that fast since there are 4 boys involved (10, 6, 3, and just about 2).
~ Connor is turning 2 next week!
~ Kim is doing well in school. As and Bs. Next year will be harder, but in the meantime, no casualties have resulted. She's been living with us almost a year now and things have only been getting worse with her relationship with her mom.
~ The Junior Prom is coming up. $50/couple for a dance in the cafeteria. Oh well, it has to be done, right? We have a dress, alterations will be done on it in about a month, we have dyed shoes, a purse and she has a date. Now jewelry, hair stuff and flowers to figure out and that's about it, I think.
~ Steve & I both still have jobs. Hallelujah.
~ We're planning to refi the mortgage over 30 years to get a lower payment. We're looking at $400-500 less a month and we plan to skip escrowing taxes and insurance.
~ We have to get rid of our fireplace insert because it isn't up to code and they don't grandfather things related to fire safety (Go figure!) We have a family of squirrels living in there, the chimney has no liner (required for an insert) and we need to ensure that nothing cracked due to using the insert without a liner.
~ Spring is coming. I can't wait.
~ SAP is coming to our office. I need a vacation. These two statements are directly related.
~ Girl Scout trip to DC was fun. We can't wait to do that again and hopefully get to more places while we're down there.
~ I'm supervising a Girl Scout meeting tonight since the leaders are in a training class. They're supposed to be collecting donations for their Baby Bundles project. The girls also decided to dress like they were pregnant and throw a mock baby shower. Ugh. Not real happy with that but, hey, I just get to supervise and make sure they don't burn the place down.
Ok. Back to work. Gotta love it!
- Location:my office
+ Prom dress has been achieved and now alterations are scheduled. Stupid me was kind of talked into alterations next week. Time to find the shoes, huh?
+ We had a company come out and look at our chimney... finally.
- Apparently, we are out of code. Our woodburning stove insert is out of code and we should get rid of it. We were supposed to have a chimney liner with our woodburning stove but, alas, everyone and their mother neglected to point this out with all of the numerous inspections we've had (e.g. two different home inspection companies, township for our Certificate of Occupancy and previous chimney cleaning company who no longer answers their phone.) I'm actually the most irritated with the township. They'd be the first to throw a fit over a crack in the sidewalk but they don't say anything about this? If we wanted the liner, it's not expensive, but since our insert is out of code, we want to get rid of it anyway.
- The chimney company also says there is a family of dead squirrels in our chimney.
-/+ Um. They're not dead. That's both good and bad.
+ The chimney company will be coming back out to film the inside of the chimney in case....
- ... using the chimney insert without the liner cracked the tiles.
+ Possibly refinancing the house. We've been here 5 years and by paying a little extra, we have an extra 4 years knocked off our original term. Still, though, with the economy as it is, we're thinking of refinancing over 30 years just to lower the payment in case we need that extra money in the future. If we lower the payment but keep paying the same amount as we are now, we'll make some good progress. If we just put the money away instead of towards the house, we can start saving for our next house. Things to consider.
+ Holy craziness, Batman! I've volunteered to host a bridal shower in our home this summer. Thinking a luau theme. I'm already buying stuff for the party just to get a head start. Anyway want to volunteer for spring/summer gardening??
+++ 1 more hour of this place to go. Must go home. K?
Over the weekend, I was asking her what she felt that she was good at. She didn't know. Ok. Well, I think she's good at putting clothes together, hair, makeup and she seems to enjoy editing photos and designing layouts for things on her computer. I also pointed out that there are a ton of fields that are involved with acting and stage and no production really goes anywhere without marketing and advertising. There's a lot to think about.
Somewhere between that discussion and home, Kim decided that she wants to see if she can get into MBIT (Middle Bucks Institute of Technology) for some sort of graphics or multimedia design. Her high school can do 1/2 days at MBIT for credit.
This is really a huge deal if we can direct all of that creative energy towards something that is more likely to result in a career. She's not a stupid kid. She just has no direction.
It's kind of hard to determine whether I should be encouraging the dream or encouraging the reality. I'm much more reality based, as is Steve. It can't hurt to persue other career options so we'll just see where they end up leading.
- Location:my office
- Mood:
sleepy
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