Changes, changes - Everywhere!

Well, today was busy & hectic - actually, my entire "weekend" was. Yesterday my mom determined that I'd procrastinated long enough - it was time to find a dress to wear to my cousin's wedding next weekend. I hate shopping, at least for clothes. We went to the first shop I usually have good luck in and found a dress mis-marked for $50 off instead of 50% off - so the $69.99 dress ended up being $19.99 instead of $34.99. Oops - next time pay attention to what you're doing. It's a cute little black number that is going to take some serious undergarments to even out my lumpy figure. I bought a large scarf to use as a wrap... when I told dh I got it he blew a gasket ... "YOU BOUGHT A SHAWL???? ARE YOU NUTS???" Well, it was $9.90 and doesn't require any all-nighter's to finish... I'm not even sure I'll use it - if I don't, I'll return it - no biggie. Then we proceeded to run around the rest of the mall and had lunch at a chinese buffet restaurant - my kids actually stuffed themselves like pigs, which is really unusual - Jo is on an every-other-meal diet lately. I picked up some body wash to use my coupon at Bath & Body (for free air freshner - take my advise... unless you want your house to smell like an apple farm, stay away from the apple scent - it was a big mistake). My mom picked up a picture frame at Michaels and a clearance table cloth at BB&B (all with coupons - my mom is the coupon queen). By the time we got home, I was ready for bed, but it was only 4:30 - luckily, the girls had a nice long nap, so I got a little break.

Today was Jo's first day at school. The bus was 15 mins late, which had dh all in a twit. We hopped in the truck and drove around the corner to watch her get off the bus at the school and took a picture but didn't let her see us because we didn't want her to be expecting that. She was happy as a clam - an aide that spent a lot of time with her at the open house got her off the bus and brought her into the school. She was excited to get off the bus and say goodbye to everyone when she got home in the late morning. She's the last pick-up and the first drop-off, so she's not on the bus very long - the school is only about a 1/2 mile away. We're hoping for a vast improvement in her behavior now that she'll be thriving on a schedule and having that outing every day, whereas she's been home all the time since my mom can't take 3 kids out by herself. We went to the developmental evaluation on Tuesday and they determined that she is not showing signs of autism spectrum disorders at this point, which was a huge relief. Now we're just playing catch up and hopefully she'll be back on track before kindergarten, which is still 2 years away.

I'm also investigating going back to school. I got a call from UOP this morning and started the process of returning to school there later this month. I really didn't want to start this soon, but it might be better to just jump in. I'm still not entirely sure how I'm going to fit it all in. #1 on my agenda is to figure out a way to buy a laptop that I can set up with a wireless router. UOP uses Outlook Express as it's basis for the "classroom" - everything is done thru a newsgroup type setting, with projects & homework being emailed. My laptop can be plugged into my router, but that doesn't get me any closer to the area where I can watch my kids. Maybe I can sync & then bring it upstairs to work, then bring it back down to sync again... very frustrating. Ideally, I could get wireless broadband if I had a computer that could take an aircard, but that would be an additional monthly expense. Maybe by Christmas I can get a really nice laptop - I just need to find a way to cope for the next 3 months.

I've gotten a really sore right side lately, I think from using my trackball with my arm unsupported so much lately, so I haven't been knitting. I did go back to reading A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber. It's got me thinking about getting back into sock knitting. I still haven't gotten my knitting machine project fixed yet - still need to rip out all that knitting after the running stitches. I'm seriously going to have to start using my Franklin Covey planner to keep myself organized. Knitting, School for me, dh & Jo, work, doctors and dentist appointments, bills... My Dr approved my online medicine order, now the trick is to remember to keep taking it daily so I can keep my head on straight. You know you're poor and mentally unbalanced when you get excited that a 3 month mail-order supply of your medicine is cheaper than 2 months at the drugstore.

I haven't had a chance to sit down with Jo to work on her knitting again. The Encore yarn I got her had to be cut up and thrown out - she kept wrapping it all around the furniture and we couldn't keep spending 45 mins a night untying everything. Then I had gotten her a ball of Kuryeon, thinking that the multi colors would be more interesting - I'm about 1/2 way thru and finally got to green after brown, black, gray and other boring colors. So, I was at Joann's with my coupons last weekend and got her a skein of pastel baby homespun yarn, which I realize is not the easiest yarn to learn on because of the texture, but it's soft and pretty, so I'm hoping she'll like it. I ordered from Crafter's Choice a book of 200 knitted yarn blocks - another attempt to make some squares into a blankie. I figure that I can take a little block with me to work or wherever. I also got a puzzle mat - the kind that you roll up with all the pieces of the puzzle on it and can keep the completed parts together. I've been wanting to work on a big puzzle and Jo loves puzzles, so I thought that we might be able to do a family puzzle project. I'm going to start with maybe a 1000 piece one and work my way up. Assuming I ever finish one!