It's that time again...

the seniors graduated last Sunday, the 8th graders are promoted tonight; tomorrow is 'play day' at the JH and then it's all majorly downhill from there. 6/3 is it! Anna was done yesterday and only has to pick up her report card tomorrow.

Plans for the summer: Anna's 4H camp in June; my two classes in June; mine and Jacob's trip to the Grand Canyon in June; Jacob's trip to New Orleans with the church in June; Our 1st wedding anniversary in July; Kelly turns 40 in July ; Jacob has madrigals and softball on Monday's, and piano lessons on Tues and Thursdays; Anna will have swimming lessons in July; "might" show Nora for 4H in June, but with me gone so much, unlikely (sadly).

Did I mention June is full?

Maybe riding with Anna in Missouri? Maybe Michigan with Don and the kids in August? We'll see...

 Latest news?

• Jacob has his license
• Jacob was a great "Chino" in West Side Story
• Anna got nothing below  a "C" this 9 weeks on her report card
• Jacob is a Madrigal next year
• Anna is as tall as Mom now

Gas is $4.05 today in Mahomet, down 4 cents.

 

Consumer Reports' current issue is all of the 2008 car ratings. Very cool!

However, it also rates the worst cars to buy used. Included in that list is the Chrysler Town and Country 2002 (my van) and the 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 (Don's truck).

 Figures!

Almost spring...

It's almost 4th quarter here at school....

Spring is only 8 days away.... altho, spring break isn't until 4/4...

Jacob is trying out for Madrigals in a week; he's in West Side Story as the Shark "Anxious". All A's at midterms.

Anna just finished a good basketball season, but we decided against track this year...instead studying to pass the infamous 6th grade science class at her school. Teacher from h***. She needs to retire, like, yesterday.

Anna's bday coming up, then Jacob's... he's driving after school with the driver's ed teacher now. Doubt he'll have 50 hours in by his bday though. Guess his date will have to drive them to prom. ;-)

Eight months of married life has been good so far. No major meltdowns.

SO ready for spring, horses, summer, swimming lessons, a vacation to wherever, late mornings, painting furniture, decorating, reading, planting flowers, organizing, napping, relaxing with my kids and husband....... woo hoo. can't wait!!

Getting married is supposed to be all fun and cozy, right? Unless you're 41 and your husband wants you to take his name after you've been using your first married name for nearly 20 years. Every account, insurance, retirement, loan, etc. The fun goes out of it pronto. So... 

Just for posterity, I'm keeping track. The man who won't even change what brand of jeans he wears wanted me to change my entire identity. So I'm blogging the journey.

What do you think he should do in return? I think that for every document that I have to change my name on, he has to try something new for me. Like my brand of toothpaste. Or different slippers. Or a movie.

 Suggestions from my readers???? Here's the journey:

 July 6, wedding. Very nice, BTW. kapalua bay beach at sunset. Highly recommend it.
August-ish, run out of checks with old name on them so wait to order. Only cash and credit cards for a while... Give paychecks to Don and he writes out the bills.
Sept 24, receive certified marriage license from Honolulu
Sept 25, drive to DMV in Monticello after work.

• Sign that says : no credit cards, no debit cards. Of course I have no checks (see above!)
• Lady says "it'll only be $5" Great. I have that in cash. Then she sees that I have an upcoming expiration date, so offers to renew. How much? I ask. $10. Great. I have $14.00 on me. Then she sees that I have motorcycle license, so it'll be $15. Nope, don't have that. So back to just replacing the name for $5 and I"ll have to pay $15 next April. She had to redo the form a 2nd time b/c she missed that I have 2 middle initials. Camera took picture, we waited, finally she says, nope, gotta take the picture again. So i sat down, took 2nd picture, got new license. Left. Finally.

Sept 26, go to credit union in Champaign to change my checking account name

• They ask for driver's license. OK. Got that. They run a photocopy of it, print out a new signature card for me to sign and I'm done. Piece of cake! That was nice.
• Drive to soc sec admin building. Their hours are 9 to 4 Mon to Fri. Guess I'll put THAT off.
• Call the 'check' company to order new checks with new name on them. Wants to charge me $10 a box, when some of the others online are only $6. After I balk, he drops it to $8.50/box. Plus handling. Plus $3.50 phone service charge. Comes to $30 for 2 boxes. Guess I'll be switching companies there too.

Sept 27, go to big chain bank in Mahomet to change name on savings account, joint with Jacob.

• Carry in driver's license. Have to go back out to car for marriage license. Sit down, she retypes in entire address, name, etc. Then sees that Jacob is on there. Needs 2 forms of ID for him. Why? He's been on the account since it opened in 2001...? B/c of 9-11 rules. So I give her student ID #. Need a 2nd one. Birth Certificate. So I have to take form home, look up official birth cert, and write down the last 4 digits. And Jacob needs to sign the other form in 2 places. JUST to CHANGE MY NAME on a savings account.
• Look online for SS admin for changing name. Print out about 10 pages of directions. Think I'll read that LATER.

More as it occurs...check back in.

Hard to believe in one week we'll be married. After 8 years of divorced/single life, I will again be the little misses. Will be nice to hear him say "this is my wife".....

Pictures of the wedding and Maui will follow...cya on the flip side.

Jacob leaves tomorrow for his mission trip with the church. He'll be helping scrape and paint house(s). I've been shopping for his shirts/socks/travel items and doing laundry so he can pack. He's got Kelly's cot for sleeping and I've got the stack of painting tools he needs. A whole busload is going and I pray they have a good time and feel closer to God afterwards. I'm really going to miss seeing the whole group at church Sunday morning, since I won't be home yet.

I was looking at the pictures of him from June of last year and you don't even know it's the same boy. He's gone from XL shirts to Mediums. Crazy! I've got the opposite problem now...I have to make sure he does eat something. He's a great kid. I'm blessed.

Ok, so I haven't been keeping this up much!

 Anna just got her final report card for 5th grade. A's, B's, C's, and one D, in reading, to be expected. She had NO ESL help at all this year, only special ed tutoring with other kids. She had solid A's in PE and band, so that made her quite happy. I really need to get on the horn and start raising heck for a tutor next fall a few days a week.

She loves fishing, she's grown a ton and is basically as tall as I am now. She looks like an 8th grader, not a 6th grader...look out for the boys, right??! She's showing one of our horses at 4H this summer and she's nowhere near ready yet. She loved Christmas this year b/c she knew what to expect, and decorated everything for Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. It was fun watching her enjoy the American culture this time around. Last year she was leery of everything b/c she didn't know what it was....this year was "let's go!"

Jacob just finished his freshman year and is just way too cool for anybody at my house. He seems fine at his dad's. Lucky me.

Don and I are counting the days to our wedding in July. If you know me personally, send me a note and I'll forward the email site to you. I can't wait for Maui!

Don't know if anyone is still reading these, but if you are--God Bless!

We took Jacob to Dos Reales for his 15th Birthday. He tried to act mad that we had them sing to him and made him wear the sombrero, but after a bit he was hamming it up!

 

It's been a long time...! Here's a quick scoop. Don, Jacob, Anna and I went to Yellowstone National Park for vacation in early June. We had a great time. Anna loved the buffalo. We saw a black bear and a grizzly cub and an eagle on its nest. The water was pretty, weather kind of cool/rainy, but ok. We were sad we couldn't go down the trail at Canyon b/c it washed out. Only 1 day at the geysers, which was too short to see many. All in all a nice time. Maybe the grand canyon next summer.

Anna took swimming lessons in June/July and passed both classes. She was diving off the 12 foot board and swimming in the deep end. Jacob spent the summer doing band camp and football practice. He had a great season; his team only lost 1 game. Anna started the trombone in band, using her aunt Kelly's relic from the 80s. LOL She started piano lessons in August and had her first recital in December. Now she's playing basketball. Jacob is in track now, doing discus and shotput.

Don and I finished out the screen porch over the summer, so now I have a bonus room, all enclosed, insulated, hard wood floors, of 200 sq ft. Nice extra space. Now I have to decide where to hand some pictures. Nice room for scrapbooking or reading a book.

I'll try to add some photos. Take care all!

Beth

It's that time again... the seniors graduated last Sunday, the 8th graders are promoted tonight; tomorrow is 'play day' at the JH and then it's all majorly downhill from there. 6/3 is it! Anna was done yesterday and only has to pick u

Consumer Reports' current issue is all of the 2008 car ratings. Very cool!However, it also rates the worst cars to buy used. Included in that list is the Chrysler Town and Country 2002 (my van) and the 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 (Don's truck). 

Almost spring...It's almost 4th quarter here at school....Spring is only 8 days away.... altho, spring break isn't until 4/4...Jacob is trying out for Madrigals in a week; he's in West Side Story as the Shark "Anxious". All

http://files.blog-city.com/files/J05/85549/p/f/weddingsunsetprofilessmall.jpg

Getting married is supposed to be all fun and cozy, right? Unless you're 41 and your husband wants you to take his name after you've been using your first married name for nearly 20 years. Every account, insurance, retirement,