Received acceptance letter from UNT

Well, today I got the letter that said I was accepted into the University of North Texas. It said it was waiting on my Final Transcript from DCCCD, and I'm sure that's to make sure that's because I said I would have "x" amount of hours taken from them by the time of transfer. I have an appointment to speak with an advisor next Tuesday to find out more information about the degree, so I'll take it with me then. I currently have 58 hours transferring (54 from DCCCD colleges, and 4 from CTC). I'm currently enrolled in 9 hours this semester and will finish my Associates in December before transferring to UNT. I'm excited about starting!!

A productive weekend

I had a very productive weekend so far. It started Thursday night when I went into Roland’s room to clean it and get it ready to vacuum really good. I got ambitious on Friday morning and went ahead and moved his bed to the other wall (he had wanted to do that earlier this summer) and started getting ideas of what he needed and did not need in regards to furniture and old toys. This morning, Jeff and I went to Target and bought a 5 shelf book case to replace his 3 shelf book case. He really needed the extra storage, and the 3 shelf book case is going to Jakob’s room on Sunday. I started finding stuff to put into Jakob’s room and also things for another garage sell and also trash. Before we had the last garage sell, I ran out of time to really go through Roland’s room, so I already have a decent pile. For instance, we had Monopoly and Monopoly Deluxe; and obviously we do not need both versions of the game!

Jeff helped me move up the dresser that we got from my neighbors for free. They bought new furniture for Mathew (6) and they put a few things out to the curb. They told us they were cleaning house and had earlier asked if we wanted a computer desk, but it is a pretty big desk, and we didn’t have room for it. But later, I peeked out after they had put that out and I went to look at it, and it looks really good. It’s missing a handle for the top drawer and the bottom drawer had to have the track re-screwed on, but other than that it looks really nice. Jeff and I didn’t buy fancy furniture, because long run, he could end up drawing on it anyhow!!

I also cleaned out the garage somewhat. Moving the dresser inside the house cleared some space in the garage, and on Sunday, I want to go to Walmart/Home Depot to find a good waterproof lock for the shed. I want to put the lawn mower and a few other items in the shed.

As I was cleaning and moving things around after I got the shelf put together this afternoon, I was moving Legos that are put together. The big Legos are nice to keep together, but they just need a place to go. I moved his shark and dinosaur, and then felt like playing. His dinosaur Lego, Mom bought him for Christmas, did not stand properly by itself, but you could make other style dinosaurs if the t-rex style wasn’t the one put together. Well, Roland likes playing with the big Legos like that, but has a hard time actually completing them because they take so long. So, I thought I would surprise him and took apart the big t-rex (that took me all of Christmas Day to put together!) and built a few different dinosaurs. I put them on his new shelf and then decided to build the fish and squid from his shark set from the extra pieces. I think he’ll think it’s cool that they are put together, and has a better spot to put them after he’s done, and they are up high so other kids or baby brothers can’t get to them in the future!

I applied for the University of North Texas, this past Monday. I’m down to 3 classes left at the Dallas Community Colleges for the Fall. I have a History, Literature, and a How to Teach Math class this upcoming semester. The Literature and History class are both online like the two I took during the summer. The Literature class has already posted information on what to read and study for, so I started reading the first story. Officially, my classes start next Monday, 8/29. But the Math class is on Saturdays, so it starts on September 10th due to Labor Day. But the funny story, I accidentally initially sent my mom the Non-Resident prices of how much UNT was going to cost. At that moment, I was thinking I wasn’t staying on campus, so Non-resident. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized that it was for Resident of Texas. I had Mom already worried, but she was much happier to find out the price was much less. Still more than the Community of course, but the prices I gave her were close to a private college versus a state college.

UNT has a Transfer Scholarship for transfer students who transfer more than 45 hours with at least a 3.0 or higher of $1000. I currently meet both requirements and hope I’ll get the scholarship. It said somehow it’s renewable, but not sure how and it’s automatically done by the college based on how much money they have and 1st come 1st serve. So I’m hoping and keeping my fingers crossed being that I applied early for the Spring semester, that I might get it.

Oh, and Jeff might start back and work toward some type of Business Management degree from the college. I pointed out to him all the different online classes, etc etc. He has so many hours, and mainly had problems in the past with work and actually getting to the college on time. So I’m hoping he’ll speak to the counselor when we go to UNT in the beginning of September when I go to speak to the counselor to get a degree plan for me. He also took another certification test (forget which one) on Thursday and passed it.

Window seat completed!

I finished the window seat cushion this afternoon. I think the next thing I'll do is make a valance for the window, but I'll have to do that after I finish my next set of classes.

Growth and Development class - Made a "B"

Well, I finished my Growth and Development class a few weeks ago, but was waiting for the teacher to grade my final exam, resource file, a case study, and discussions. I made a B on the Final exam and that had a higher weight than the other grades that I made A's on. I think I was probably border line between the A and B mark, but I'm happy with the B.

My next three classes officially start on August 29th. I'm taking World Literature, World History, and How to Teach Math. The Math class doesn't start until September 10th, due to Saturday style class. The World Literature class has already posted the class information as of today, so I'm planning to start the class. I can easily read and figure out the stories!

First window seat cushion

Okay, well, I knew what I did wrong on my first attempt on making the window seat cushion. I have successfully made the first window seat cushion!

Storms, shopping, and sewing

I had a busy weekend as normal. This past Friday, we had a thunderstorm. The storm had some lightning and thundering and strong rain. However, it was a decent enough storm to knock out the power to our house and many others in our neighborhood starting at 4:00pm. Ben, normally stays at his house during the day during the summer and came over during the storm. The power flickered before getting knocked out completely, and he was a little nervous being home by himself. Well, I opened the windows during the storm to get some air in as the power did not come back on, and without a/c or fans, it was getting hot! At 5:00pm, the storm had passed, but we still did not have power. We headed outdoors to play. Imagine, kids playing on bicycles, parents riding bicycles with their kids, dogs being walked, and neighbors talking to each other because there was nothing to do indoors! My group of neighbors normally talk to each other on a normal bases, but across the street, they tend to stay indoors and not say a word. A neighbor slightly caddy corner across the street walks his dog Pumpkin every day, and as he passed, he asked if we had power, and I said nope. We played outside until about 7:00pm and we still had no power. The estimated time for power to be back on in our area was 9:00pm!! So Jeff, Jakob, and I went out and had chicken for dinner. We got home around 9:00pm and the power was back on. Interesting night!

Saturday, I went out to Hobby Lobby, Big Lots, JoAnn Fabrics, and Walmart for a variety of items. At Hobby Lobby I found matting material to frame a couple puzzles. I looked at Frames their but didn’t see anything in my price range and most looked liked for custom framing, and I didn’t want to spend that much money. But I spent about $10 on the mats to go around the puzzle and over the next month or so, I figured Wal-Mart would have nice enough frames to frame the puzzles for the wall. I recently put together 2-100 piece Thomas Kinkade puzzles and 2-300 Thomas Kinkade piece puzzles. I was on my way to JoAnn Fabrics when I decided to stop by Big Lots to see if they had any frames that looked decent. I went to the store in Lewisville, and it’s pretty small. I didn’t see anything I had to have and headed toward JoAnn Fabrics. At JoAnns, they had the foam for the window seat cushions that I have been wanting to do. I had my measurements of the window seat area because it was the other reason I headed out on Saturday. I bought the foam there, but didn’t see any fabric that looked good. Later on that evening when it was cooler outside, I braved Walmart and went to the craft section. I found a fabric I liked and bought it.

Today, Jeff and I went to church this morning again to First United Methodist Church of The Colony. Today was their first contemporary service and it was good. The main difference is the band instead of traditional hymms and it is dressed down a bit. I really enjoy it, and some of the songs I already know from a previous church that I went to when I moved to Dallas. Anyhow, it’s a shorter service which is good for Jakob currently as he gets adjusted and used to the nursery while we are in the service. We met Greg, Lana, Gerry, Kennedy, and Daniel at Daniel’s apartment for lunch and went to On The Border. Afterwards, Jeff, Jakob, and I came home and relaxed. I started working on a seat cushion and finished. However, I realized as I was applying the top (and bottom) to the box frame of the material that I messed up on how I started the sewing. In the past I have only sewn two things together, hems, simple pillows, etc. This was meant to be square at the corners and I realized that I was supposed to leave about half and inch from the corner so it could get connected to the other side. I put it on a cushion, but it didn’t fit right because of a few rounded corners. I was really frustrated at first, but then thought about that the last time I probably sewed was when I was 10 or 12 ‘ish. So, later this evening, I made the next box frame for the cushion and tomorrow I will try again. Once I finish it, I will take a picture of it and post.

Roland starts school tomorrow and will be in the 3rd grade. We dropped off school supplies to his mom’s house last Thursday evening and also took him out for dinner and ice cream. Ben and Sarah (neighbors that I will be tutoring) start school on Thursday of this upcoming week.

Jakob at 5 months

This picture of Jakob was taken at 5 months by a company called Family Portraits. They were the same people who took his newborn picture at the hospital and they called to say we had already paid for a free 8x10 picture to be taken in our home. Well, Jakob took some really cute pictures and I chose this one as my free picture. I could have bought more, but it was overpriced for my budget. I might spend more for his 1st birthday to get some great backgrounds and props, but otherwise, I prefer Sears $10 price and lots of pictures for everyone!!

Garage sale and more

Friday night my mom came up to help me with the garage sale that was planned for this past Saturday. My mom brought her old tv with her and a few other odds and ends that she still had at her new house. Jeff and I had a small tv, fancy light fixture, and a few picture frames as our big items. They sold within the first 30 minutes of the garage sale. Overall, the garage sale went really good and we made a decent amount of money. Enough that made it worth sitting out there. In the past, I goodwilled the items, and kept it for our tax return, but they have raised a limit on something and we weren't really getting anything back against our taxes. I figured now that I'm not working, that I had the time to do the garage sale and I'm glad we did it. I am keeping all of Jakob's clothes and those items for the next kid. I figured with my luck if I keep all the boy clothes, I will have a girl! lol.

Mom and I went to the mall after we packed up the garage sale about 1pm. Jakob slept most of the whole visit at the mall, but woke up while we were in Foley's very cranky. I suppose he was not in the shopping mood! He has had a slight cold since Thursday, runny nose and cough, that he probably picked up at the nursery at church last weekend. My mom and I ended up getting StarBuck's and a cute shirt from The Children's Place from the clearance rack.

Sunday, Jeff and I didn't go to church due to Jakob being sick. Instead, around 11:30am, Jeff hollared at me from the living room and asked if I wanted to go get lunch. I said sure and went downstairs. At that time, he was folding the coupon for Olive Garden and I looked back at him with a big smile! After Olive Garden we went to Target for a few items and then had to swing over to the mall for my follow-up eye-exam. I now need to finish filling out claim paperwork and mailing that in for reimbursement from insurance. Anyhow, afterwards we met Josh and Jocelyn at David and Dezi's apartment to decarate!! We put streamers and balloons up in their apartment before they got home! It looked cute and David has already called and laughed about it.

I finished my other class, Growth and Development. The final exam was due this upcoming Thursday. I now have about a month off from school and I was definately ready for the break of studying. The Fall semester officially starts on August 29th. I have 2 classes starting on that day that are online, and the other class starts on September 10th. Now I can spend time doing fun stuff. Mom bought me a Thomas Kinkade puzzle that has a couple 100 piece, 300 piece, and 500 piece puzzles all in the same box. I think I'm going to start one of the 100 piece puzzles today after I get laundry and dishes going. I'd like to get a few more of these puzzles completed and framed and add to the living room to go with the current puzzle above the fire place.