Going Back to School...Probably...

Right after Justin's wedding I decided I wanted to go back to school.  I mean the car ride home from the reception I had this idea.  So I enrolled in the Sign Language Interpreting Associates program at OSU-OKC, applied for financial aid and got my classes all lined up.  A PELL grant was awarded in June, enough to cover books and tuition; awesome!  I went back up to the financial aid office to decline the loans they also approved me for and asked if everything else was taken care of and set for the semester.  They said yes and that I just needed to wait until August 5th to charge books to my account.

This last Wednesday I get an e-mail from the school saying there is a problem with some paperwork and my financial aid may be suspended.  WTF?!?  The next day I get an e-mail that says my grant was in fact suspended and that I have to pay $1,000 for the classes I'm signed up for.

I went to the school today to find out what the heck is going on.  The financial aid office said I have too many hours but I can appeal that.  Fine.  She asked if I already had a degree and I said that yes I have 2 associates degrees.  She said I can't appeal then.  She did say that if I go for a Bachelors Degree I can have the grant money, so I asked if there was a bachelors degree that related to Sign Language Interpreting; Of course not.  The only one they offer is in Emergency Responder Administration.  So I asked if they had scholarships available.  She said I'd have to talk to the Department about that.  Fine.

I drive across campus to the department...the guy literally left for lunch 1 minute before I walked in.  Wonderful.  So I wait for an hour.  While waiting I picked up the degree information for the Bachelors Degree and it actually looked interesting.  I figured with the 2 degrees I have I should be able to get into the program.

The Advisor gets back and I explained to him about the grant being suspended.  I also said that I was interested in the Bachelors degree (he is an advisor for that degree as well).  He looked at my information and said that I needed an AAS in Police Science to get into the program.  Well, shit.  So he continues saying that it was designed for students who had completed the COPS program.  Well I did!  So I told him.  Apparently since I graduated 13 years ago, the COPS program is now an AAS, when I went through in the first class it was an AS.  So he looks at my transcripts and since I'm a certified officer he figured I'd just have to take a couple of classes to satisfy the AAS part and I could start the Bachelors.  As he was going through my AA/AS degrees he realized I'm done with the AAS as well.

So now I will have a 3rd Associates, all three in Police Science, and AA, AS and AAS.  I graduate with the AAS officially in summer 2013, yes, it's already passed.  Then I will enroll in the Bachelors program and be able to use the PELL grant and should start as planned in mid August.

I still really want to take sign language and I will when I'm done with the Bachelors.

Financial Aid b.s.

Ok, so I decided to go back to school this Fall. I applied for financial aid.  I've talked with the financial aid people on several occasions.  All my paperwork was accurate.  I had graduated from this school with a 2 year degree 15ish years ago.  It was all there.  I was awarded enough PELL grant money to cover tuition and books for 2 semesters.  Now I get an e-mail that says that I don't qualify because it's been over X amount of time and I already have a degree.  Ok, but here's the thing...I'm going back to school for something completely different.  The government takes a crap load of money from us every pay day, I think they can spare a little for me to go to school.

Now I need to call the financial aid department again and see if this can go in my favor.  I'm so frustrated.

Need to Cook More!

While eating out is pretty convenient and all it costs a small fortune for 4 to eat out.  Kaleb thoroughly enjoyed his wings as you can see.  He'll kill a small forest of napkins for 4 wings but they are good!

I have gotten better with cooking or using left overs instead of running out to dinner.  When we do go out I usually have some sort of coupon so that helps but still $40 at Buffalo Wild Wings is just too much.  But really in the summer I just don't want to cook. But this is also sort of a last hurrah because I start a fitness bootcamp on Thursday morning at 5:30 a.m.  And if I'm going to get up at an ungodly hour to have someone yell at me to work out I'm gonna eat healthy to reap maximum benefits.

My assessment for this bootcamp is tomorrow evening...

May 2013 Tornado

This is May 19, 2013.  This tornado hit Carney, Oklahoma.  Carney is the town Jerry's parents and grandmother live in.  Grandma's house came out fine but mom and dad's house was destroyed.  Everyone was ok and the house is being rebuilt (ahead of schedule so far) so all is good.  This picture was taken by my mother in law before they decided to go to the town shelter, they barely made it.  Every house on their street was a loss, in fact right after the storm my brother in law was looking for them (no cell service) and couldn't get down the street leading to the only entrance to their street because a house was in the street.



On May 20, 2013 the F5 tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma.  Several children were killed at one school and another school down the street was destroyed as well.  Jerry worked day and night for days helping with search and rescue and recovery.  We didn't see him for 3 days. And then we saw very little of him for a couple of weeks.


This is the tornado on May 31, 2013.  I believe this one also got to F5 status and I know it is the widest on record.  This is standing in my drive way looking north.


And here is a panoramic view of the same thing.  This is the storm that killed the storm chasers from the discovery channel. All the people killed in this storm were in a car when they were killed (or sucked out of a car and killed).


We had a storm shelter installed in March 2013, best decision ever.  This pictured storm didn't hit us but another one did touch down about 1/2 a mile from us.  We spent 2 hours in/very near the storm shelter because of 2 hours of sustained 100+ MPH winds.  The tornado that touched down near us was much smaller but there was still a lot of damage.  Our only loss was the boys wooden swing set.  The anchors worked so well that it split the monkey bar supports as the wind was trying to lift it and the anchors was holding in down.

I'm Baaaaaaack! Let's Play Catch Up!

Look at how much they've grown!

Zac is now 8 and Kaleb is 6, I cannot believe it!

They both play on the same machine pitch baseball team, the Mustang Thunder.  Kaleb is a back up catcher and Zac plays outfield, usually 3rd or Left Field.  Kaleb has been playing machine pitch since he was 5 because he plays on Zac's team and there is an age exclusion they fit into so they can play together and make my life a little less hectic.  It amazes me that Kaleb is as good as he is, he only played t-ball for 1 season then moved up with the team so he didn't pick up the bad habits t-ball teaches them.  Technically he should be in t-ball for at least one more season.

Justin (22 year old stepson) is now married to his 22 year old wife he dated for over 6 years.  They are such a good couple!

I actually worked in the spring.  I worked for Scholastic Book Fairs for 4 hours a day while the boys were in school.  It worked out pretty well but I decided I wanted to go back to school for sign language interpreting and I'm so excited!  I actually started the degree when I was going for my Police Science degree but the program at the school I was attending sucked.  They've since revamped it and all new instructors are involved so 15 years after graduating with my 2nd Associated Degree I'm going back for my 3rd!

We finally moved into a new house, and by new I mean brand spanking new!  5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms!  Don't get too jealous, the rooms, well 4 of them are pretty small but the layout works great!  The cul-de-sac we're on has about 15 kids around the boys' ages so they are always outside playing which is such a contrast to the old house.  We love the new school!  I got roped into being Vice President of our neighborhood association, oy vey!

Never mind....

Now the forecast is for Tuesday to be 103 degrees....

It's Fixin To Get Down Right Balmy!

On Tuesday it's supposed to be only 98 degrees! We best break out the heavy jackets and long sleeve shirts because I don't think it's been below 100 degrees in the last 3 or 4 weeks at least. I know we've been over 110 at least once and near 110 quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I love summer, I love a nice hot day over the cold days of winter but we could do with a 20 degree drop so we could actually go out and enjoy the days of summer while we have some left.