Once Again, I Apologize

I promise my intention has never been to let posting get sporadic, but it seems these days I have so much going on in my daily life, that I never feel I have enough free time to blog. Makes me a little sad though because I love the idea of a journal that I can look back at what's been happening in my life.

So, again, here are some highlights from the last 6 weeks.

School
As I mentioned in my last post, my teacher is not the greatest. I did manage to get a 90% (after the curve) on that first test. However, tests #2 & 3 were only 88 & 83%. Luckily after test 3, the prof decided he will drop our lowest test score, so if I get a 92% on my final (this Wednesday) I could still pull off an A. Otherwise, I'll be looking at my first B. I should be studying now. That's next on the list after this entry. Next quarter I'll be taking my first Organic Chemistry lab. That starts on T&Th starting September 20th. Good news, after Wednesday, I will have completed 7 of the 13 prerequisite classes for med-school. Over 1/2 way!

GWO's
The weekend of July 19-22 I had a GWO. This one was in Lafayette. I have been budgeting for these, but need to get better at sticking to the budget. This time everything I purchased was less than $10, but I guess multiple items, even if inexpensive add up. It was as always a needed good time. Next one is scheduled in October. It will be interesting. Samara gets to go this time and we're bringing all the kids! Jamie's son (Danialle's nephew) Coen is having his 1st birthday party and I think there will be costumes and a big Halloween themed party. Also, very exciting it will be held in Erica's new home (she closes end of September).

House Sale
Speaking of new living arrangements. We have decided on the apartment/townhome we will be living in when the time comes. We decided on the one with the attached garage and no basement. I just liked the living space better and the community and overall think it will be a better fit for our family. I had hoped we'd be there before the pool closes for the season, but seeing how it's now September, we may have to wait until next summer for that feature. I am still optimistic about the sale of our house. We have now been on the market for just over 11 weeks. In that time we have had 16 showings and 1 open house. Three of the 16 showings were 2nd showings. We have also had 1 offer. We made a couple of counters, but I don't think the buyers could really afford the house, so that didn't work out. The offer was 3 weeks ago (4 showings since then), so I'm hoping for another one soon.

Softball
Our softball season ended on 7/29 with us winning the tournament for the 2nd year in a row. We only lost one regular season game, so it was fun. It makes me feel active, so I really enjoy playing. Grace behaves herself too playing with her friend Evan.

Medical
On August 1st, I had my IUD removed. I got a little freaked out for a moment, because I had recently started tracking my cycles again to be sure I am ovulating now that I'm off Tamoxifen and with only one ovary. Eric and I had only considered using alternative protection after the IUD was out, so when I realized I was going to be getting the IUD out on day 14 of my cycle I wondered if our actions prior to that date could have resulted in a "whoops." I did discuss with the doctor though and she seemed pretty confident that the IUD also works as a spermicide, so while there was a slim chance, it was very slim indeed. And sure enough, a couple weeks later it was confirmed that no accidents happened.

Garage Sale
I organized a community garage sale for the weekend of August 10&11. We ended up with about 8 families on the culdesac participating. Traffic wasn't as high as I would have liked, but I did sell alot of stuff. I had a ton to sell. Once we move, I will have one less living room, no basement, and one less bedroom, so downsizing is key. I made just over $1,000 during those two days and sold a couple of big items (2 leather recliners, tall bookshelf, small entertainment center, 32" TV, barstools, living room tables, and lamps). However, I still had lots of big stuff left (couch, chair, loveseat, oak entertainment center, futon, desk, 2 short bookshelves, 2 media shelves, treadmill, weight bench). I put the big stuff on Craigslist and have since gotten rid of the futon, desk, and all shelves. I've had a couple of leads on the living room furiniture, but right now it looks like my mother-in-law may buy it from us. I also am hoping a lead at work might help me unload the treadmill. It feels good to watch stuff leave and watch the money go in the bank.

Financials
We didn't do a great job in August at sticking to the budget when it comes to food. We're going to try much harder in September. But because of the Garage Sale, I didn't have to dig into the emergency fund and kept paying extra on the snowball. I'm pleased to say that in October we will make the final payment on Eric's student loan and will have paid off the fifth credit card or installment loan since February. We've reduced the debt by just over $12,000 now, so I can't complain. If we can be in the new apartment by February, we could be completly debt free by December 2009.

Grace
Wow. I don't have a baby anymore. Grace is definately growing up and she's hilarious. We're starting to be a bit more lenient on her bedtime, now it's sometimes after 8 p.m. before we get her to bed, but she's just so fun, I don't want to quit playing either. Over the last week or so, we've tried to put a focus on potty training, but she's so stubborn. She never wants to sit on the potty for me. I started giving her M&M's for just sitting on the potty and a hershey's kiss or similar type candy if she goes on the potty. I put her in underwear for a weekend and she would cry if she had an accident, but she never asked to go (I had to beg her to sit and then she would only sit for as long as I made her before she could qualify for an M&M). Then as the day went on, even the promise of an M&M wasn't enough to get her to sit. She would just say no and cry if I tried to make her. Maybe she's not ready? They say don't force it, so I guess I won't. It would be nice to stop buying diapers though.

Also, on August 16th Grace started speech therapy. She goes for 30 minutes every Thursday. The first week was mostly playing, but the last week she really started making progress. One of the key things we are trying to do is get her to keep the air out of her nose when she talks. We've been practicing directing the air through her mouth by blowing on things. She's not very good yet, but if you hold her nose, she can do a good job. We try to blow kleenex across the table, we have a pinwheel, whistles/horns, and just last night found a toy harmonica you have to blow to play. Last week we also started trying to work on the "k" and "g" sounds. She uses her tounge on the front of mouth for these, not the back, so they more like "n" or "m" sounds. This one's harder for me to work on at home, but I feel like Alicia (the therapist) knows what she's doing.

COMING UP
We've still got alot going on in the next two weeks. This weekend we're enjoing the rest. Then our schedule goes a little something like this:

Tuesday
Work & Study for Final
Wednesday
Work
Final Exam
Laundry and Start Packing
Thursday
7:30 - 8:00 Grace's Speech Therapy
9:30 Breast MRI
11:15 Bilateral Mammogram
11:45 Chest X-Ray
(sometime at the hospital, I need to go get some bloodwork done too)
11:58 - Mom's flight arrives
Take Mom by the house
2:30 - 5? Client Meeting (45 minutes away from home)
Finish packing and go over all instructions with Mom
Friday
9:05 a.m. Depart for Hawaii!

I will be in Hawaii from the 7th to the 15th. Mom is staying at our house with Grace. I can't wait. Wednesday, September 19th, I have my 2 year appointment with Dr. L. Hopefully, after that, I can start filling my blog with TTC posts. Hopefully, the lab won't be as study intensive as regular class (yeah right!).

Later!