Carol's random babble

School starts next Tuesday for the girls. Amanda will be going to the alternative high school, Cayla to regular high school. Cayla had mentioned in the past that she might like to join band as well as orchestra. Apparently she wants to learn oboe. She said she's willing to wait until I have the viola paid off. ;-) How kind. How about settling on one instrument and not keep adding more? So far we're up to a violin and viola ... and she still won't take piano, which I wish she would. It would give her a lot of opportunities in church. Anyway, the girls start school, but I won't be going. There was some sort of kerfluffle with my financial aid and the school won't let me have any until I pay for (and pass) some classes with my own money. The problem with that is I can't spare any for college, so it looks like I'm going to have to completely drop that aspiration. Thanks, financial aid appeals committee, for making my dreams go away. Sigh. Tomorrow is an orie...

Going to get ready for work now. Will have lunch with the father-in-law again - he visited last week and took us all to Chen Garden. But Thursdays are a hassle - split shift and deadlines, copy-editing, paginating (one page, but it's a fun one usually), processing obits ... we'll see how it goes. UPDATE: Lunch was simple, but there were gifts. I ended up with a new set of tires when all was said and done. (Had to use money from Amanda's gift, but now I've got four new tires and I'll pay her back on Friday.) I'm no longer worried that one of the bald tires will blow, especially considering I was using the spare. Now the spare is back in the trunk where it belongs.

Events lined up to cause me to have to sleep at Mom's last night - in her recliner. Not the most comfortable "bed." I stayed up late and woke up early - Mom opened her door and got the paper around 5:30 a.m. I didn't go back to sleep after that - just watched TV until about 7 and then left. The events that lined up were because of bad weather. We got rocked by a storm Tuesday night. Rain poured down and, as happens when it rains hard, certain roads were impassable. The railroad underpass on Highway 169 was flooded. There was water over the road on the main route I take to get home. I decided caution was best, so I didn't attempt to go home. I did get a nap in my own bed, but I'm still feeling the effects of not enough sleep. BTW, I'm not complaining about your hospitality, Mom. You were quite accommodating, especially when I showed up late at night without calling. It's just circumstances.

There's a Back-to-School Giveaway Bonanza on Facebook starting today. The first item being given away is a Dell laptop - there are 12 blogs involved, so 12 places to enter, with multiple chances on each blog. I'm currently going down the list. Last year I won a Samsumg camera on Twitter - it was a total surprise. It would be nice to have that luck return now. ;-)