Mom's buying a house, well a condo

We finally found Mom a condo we could all live with and made an offer which has been accepted. Of course, we still have to do the home inspection and all that other crap, but assuming all that goes well, we should close on the house September 8th.

We're all VERY EXCITED!

I'm bored

Bored, bored, bored, bored. The thing I hate worst about my job is the fact that I'm always waiting on my clients to bring in their stuff so I can do my thing with it. This month I'm waiting on every one of my clients - even the ones that normally bring their stuff in by the 5th of the month. So here I am at work, with nothing constructive to do, but I have to be here, and I don't want to get caught playing on the computer.....Bored!

School starts next week. Did I mention that I got a scholarship from the school? Not a whole lot, but it's paid for my classes this semester, and enough next semester for the same. There's enough left over this semester that I get to use some towards my school books, so I've got to go after work, pick up a voucher and go by the bookstore and pick up my book. They'd better have kept my reserve copy, since it's a little too late to order one now.

I wonder if I can find a quiet corner to take a nap in?

A really long post...

I finally got my A.C.A.T. test results back. Actually, I ended up calling them because they never sent them to me. The day I called, they told me my scores (95 on part 1 and 83 on part 2 – top 15 people nationwide!) and told me that they were mailing grades and some letters that day. I never got those, but I did get my certificate over the weekend, so I am now officially Sherri R., A.B.A. I have initials after my name!!! Now, to keep the designation, I have to complete 120 hours of CPE (continuing professional education) in 3 years and pay a renewal fee. My only question at this point is: Does this actually mean anything? Hell if I know.

Oh, the A.B.A. stands for Accredited Business Accountant. Sounds pretty official, huh?

I’m going thru a bout of boredom. I want to do something different. I’m tired of working (who’s not?) and would really like to be able to go to school full time. And I could, if I wanted to take on $40,000 of student loan debt to be paid off for the rest of my life. At least that’s the amount I keep getting offered. So I think (wistfully) about it, and decide that no, that just doesn’t make much sense. Especially if we’re serious about having kids anytime soon.

Lesley and James are having issues with one of his ex’s and the whole visitation thing. Lesley really can’t talk about it because a comment she made on her blog has already caused some issues, so I have advised her (cuz what else is a big sister for but to tell you what to do?) to not say anything on her blog about this person or the situation, and as I go to find the post she got in trouble for, it looks like she’s removed it. Good girl.

(Yes, I think you should be able to blog about anything you want to, but this is real life here, and when you are fighting for rights to your children you have to be very careful.)

Anyway, while the kids were visiting, they mentioned some things that were happening that were against the parenting plan that was established at the time of the divorce and so Lesley and James asked them if they would like to come and stay with them. A couple of the kids said yes, the rest are happy where they are. Now that the kids are back with their mother, and kids being kids, they told about the discussion. So now, mother is saying that Lesley and James did nothing but talk bad about her the whole time the kids were visiting, trying to turn them against her and all this other crap. You know Lesley, she can’t talk bad about anyone at all.

So now they are talking to an attorney, and who knows what all is going to happen next.

No boredom at Lesley’s house – well, except for Taylor!

We missed the watermelon festival. It was just too much effort to get out and drive an hour for free watermelon when we could drive a mile down the street to the grocery store and buy one. We didn’t do that either!

We lost Curby a year ago, and Chris just couldn’t face getting another dog. He would talk about it sometimes, and say that he wants a hunting dog next time, but every time I would suggest getting one, he wanted to wait just a little longer. When we went to Eufaula a couple weeks ago, one of the guys has a heeler named Brainy. Curby was a Heeler/Spitz mix, and after being around Brainy for a couple days, we decided it finally time and it just so happens that Brainy’s Mom is pregnant now! So we’ve put in our order and will go pick one out once they are born. Chris still wants a hunting dog, he really wants a Brittany Spaniel, so the heeler will be mine and he can have the spaniel.

I can hear Sandie now: I have a dog you can have! Actually, they just got Pepper spayed hoping that would calm her down a little, I haven’t heard how that went yet. Pepper is a pretty dog, and very friendly, and VERY hairy. And I can’t afford to pay for a dog, and I know that they are hoping to get their money back on her. And she’s going to be HUGE, and I want a dog that can go places with me. And having already had a heeler, knowing how intelligent they are and how active – we still do a lot of outdoors stuff, at least when it’s not 100 million degrees outside. A heeler's the dog for me.

In the meantime, a neighbors cat has adopted us. She's at the front door every morning when I leave, demanding to be fed. Then last night it was pouring down rain when I got home, and she was mewing pitifully by the garage, so we opened it up and let her hang out until it quit raining. She actually came into the house for a little while, but wasn't really interested in staying - which is a good thing, since I can't have an inside cat while we have birds. Damn birds.

Not much else going on in my world. School starts the 22nd, so I'm enjoying what freedom I have while I have it.

Jitterbug

This song just came on the radio, and I can't ever hear it without thinking about Bridgie. When this first came out (more years ago than I care to think about), she and Bob were staying with us, and this song was guaranteed to get her bootie moving!

I guess it's actually called Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, but it'll always be Jitterbug to us.

Hey Bridge, long time no see.

In other news

I haven't been writing much lately, but there really hasn't been much going on. Chris has been working pretty steadily for the last month or so - he's working on a big install right now. We went to Lake Eufaula a couple weekends ago. I finally got to go swimming to my hearts content! I got a little sunburn, but it's actually turned into a kinda tan - for me anyway! It's a beautiful lake, and I can't wait to go back there. We were visiting the family of a friend, and they have a nice sandy beach, along with a gator and a mule so we didn't have to walk down to that nice sandy beach. They also had a couple of jet skis. Chris took one out, but I've never driven one before so I just watched him. I know, be adverturous and all that. I was enjoying being in the water too much. They set off some leftover fireworks that night and there were 3 that exploded in the tube. Much excitement.

Then last weekend we took Mom to the Riverwind casino in Norman. She came home with money, both Chris and I lost every dime of ours. I actually got more money out of the atm! I played slots, Chris played poker. It was fun for something different to do, but I'm just not a gambler. I keep thinking about what I could have spent that $50 on. Afterwards, Chris and I took Dad to have Chinese for dinner. Then I went home and slept for about 14.5 hours! Longest I've slept in a long time. Once I got up, I stayed up for 3 hours or so and took a 4 hour nap. Catching up I guess.

This weekend we're going to the Rush Springs Watermelon Festival. Free watermelon at 4:00 - some of the sweetest watermelon in the country!

I haven't taken any pictures, I'm now thinking I should have kept the free membership on Flickr it's been so long since I've uploaded anything.

I did finally see War of the Worlds, which I had avoided seeing because I'm not a Tom Cruise fan, but it was actaully a pretty good movie. I still haven't seen it all the way thru in one viewing yet, but I have managed to see all but the first 5 or 10 minutes.

Schools out until the 22nd, so I'm enjoying it while I can. It's going to be a busy year between work, school, and PTK.

Reading

I've been reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I'm actually reading it so that I can enter an essay contest to try to win some money for school and a new computer. Chris has read it, and it made an impression on him. He said that it would change me, how I look at the world.

Unfortunately, I'm familiar with the theory, and it's one I have a hard time with - especially since I can see it happening. But I just don't understand how people really buy into this.

The society in the book is one in which new ideas are forbidden and productive people - businessmen, entrepenuers - are evil and villanized. Everyone in society should have an equal chance, regardless of their abilities or willingness to work for and earn what they have. No one person can have interests in more than one field or own more than one business, because that's not fair to everyone else.

And they don't understand that the shortages, the closed businesses, the lack of new art music stories are a direct result of this villinazation. Why should anyone try to do anything new, when they can get something for nothing.

I've always believed in T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L. There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. The acronym is from Robert Heinlein, probably my favorite author of all time. Chris says there are only 2 rules in life:

1. You have to have a job

2. You have to live within the means of that job.

Same difference.

Another essay I'm working on is should illegal immigrants have access to free healthcare? Similar issue, different question. At least the illegal immigrants generally do work - pretty damn hard. But it's my tax dollars going to pay for that free health care that I don't get. Well okay, I get the Indian health care, but my husband doesn't get any.

I just can't comprehend a society that goes against everything my country was built on - the little man having the opportunity to work hard and earn that nice house and all the other stuff he wants. So I'm having a hard time getting thru the book, it's just too contrary to my own belief system. I've gotten about 250 pages into a 1000 page book that I've been reading for about a week now. I should have finished it by now.

I'm now debating how badly I want to win that essay contest, and whether I'm willing to work for it.