Weekend Warriors!

Head on over to Living on Trees, grab the link from Joy, and let the world know how you're a Weekend Warrior!

This weekend is a sad one.  It's my last weekend before school starts, so I'm hoping to get all out of it that I can.

• This morning will be a finger-painting session for my little girl.  I can't say baby anymore.  She turned into a little girl this week.  She's finding her own sense of style, exclaiming that "Daddy's still sleeping," and yelling at the cat.  We're going to throw on an old t-shirt, head out into the driveway with our finger paints and paper and do a little artwork.  I'm hoping to get some great pictures of her first "studio" time.
• Tonight is dinner at the in-laws.  More than anything, I'm pretty excited to not have to cook tonight!  And, of course, Katie will have a blast over at YaYa's.
• Tomorrow, I need to work.  BUT this means a Katie-Daddy day!  Then it's perhaps off to church.
• Finally, Sunday is all ours.  We have no obligations, nothing we absolutely need to do.  We can do whatever we want.  Maybe we'll head to the zoo or find a nice, big park.

What are you up to this weekend?

Funkadelic!!!

I've always said that I want my children to be comfortable wearing whatever clothes they want.  I want them to find their own sense of style, whether it be wearing head-to-toe leather (as long as I don't have to buy it firsthand, leather is expensive!) or funky colors and mismatched leggings or a knit hat in the middle of summer.

I think I may have gotten my wish.  For the last two days, my darling 19-month-old has insisted on wearing "a haht mama!"

She wore it all day yesterday and, after waking up at 6:25am (oy, baby, mommy's tired!), she ran out to the living room, found her "haht" and immediately threw it on.  She's been wearing it inside out, flopped into her face, backwards, with the frilly brim flipped upward.  You name it, she's worn it that way.

It is 100% adorable.  It makes me excited to what she's going to choose to wear when she's 5. :)

My Katie

With the last week of summer break upon me, I'm becoming increasingly aware of how much my baby girl has grown this summer.  She is now 19 months and I swear she's going on 19 years.

She terrorizes the cat, laughs when you smack her hand, screeches when she doesn't get her way, yells for her blankie, and cries when we leave YaYa's house.  In all those ways, and more, she's clearly hitting her terrible twos.

But along with those, wonderful traits have developed.  Actual phrases are now being used.  Possessions are being noted.

Yesterday, Starbuck (the new kitty) started batting around some food that Katie dropped on the floor.  Miss Mae looked right at her, shook her finger and said "BuckBuck!  NO!"  It was SO cute, I couldn't help but smile.

But my absolute favorite is her addition of "my" to everything.  My kitty.  My dinner.  My milk.  And, of course, my favorite: my mommy.  She's not doing it in a bratty kind of way - it's more of a sweetness, a sprinkling of Katie Mae sugar over everything.  She's letting everyone know that these things belong to her and are loved by her.

How absolutely amazing is this face?!

Eating her newly acquired taste - cold grilled cheese.  Would you look at those curls?!

I realize that these sweet possessives won't remain sweet forever.  In just a few weeks or months, it will turn into a bratty "MINE!", but until that time, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy every moment of being her mommy.

School of Dreams

This morning started out lovely.  And it has progressively gotten worse.

I really don't like to complain in my blog - I prefer it to be a happy place, full of nice thoughts and whimsy.

Unfortunately, today is not a "whimsy" kind of day.  And at the top of my list to complain about?  School. Not school in general, mind you.  I love school.  I love going to school, learning, helping other students to grasp the subject matter.  I love pushing myself to my limits.

Apparently, so does my school.  For those of you who don't know, I go to community college.  "School of dreams" as my husband likes to call it.  Normally, I have no problems with this school.

However, all that is changing with this semester.  First, they tried to force me to take a class that I took in 8th grade.  That's right, folks, 8th freaking grade.  Luckily, I tested out of it and proved them all wrong.  Things were looking up!  This semester was going to be difficult, but worth it.  A heavy workload this semester means a much, MUCH lighter workload next semester, which is also my last at this school.

I noticed a few days ago that my financial aid award letter still had not come.  So I checked my student portal.  "Your financial aid package cannot be completed.  Please contact your financial aid advisor for further instructions."  Awesome.

Let me break this down for you:

• I submitted my FAFSA in February.  Immediately after completing my taxes.
• I submitted the household verification worksheet that is required by my school in March.
• I submitted in my (requested) proof of Illinois residence in May.
• I re-submitted the household verification worksheet along with the (requested) "Untaxed Income Worksheet" in July.

There should be no reason why my financial aid package cannot be completed.  Oh, but wait - THERE'S MORE!  I called my financial aid advisor today.  She informed me that I needed to bring in my W-2 from 2010, along with Mike's.  That's all well and good, but why?  I didn't need that last year!  "You've been selected for verification.  We need additional proof of you income from last year."  Well, thanks for letting me know!  I am currently registered for 5 classes that comes to $1900, PLUS I have books that are totalling at least $400, if I get them USED!  Oh, and all this is due in less than two weeks.

Props to you, Triton, for looking out for your students.  It looks like I may be paying out of pocket for my tuition and praying for reimbursement.

I am NOT a happy camper.