Lily! My thoughts are with your family. I hope you and DH both have improved health soon.

Allison - I hated FAFSA. My parents made too much money for me to get much of anything too. I ended up getting the Stafford loans, something like $1500 per year (for my $40k/year tuition *cough*).

Well, as of about 10 minutes ago I believe we met our deadline at work today. I still have a whole lot to do though, and our final deadline is April 1. I'm headed out to CA this coming Wednesday night, and it looks like I'll probably get thursday and friday as vacation, but I have to work remotely the next week because my boss decided he can't spare me for a few days. All I can say is that my bonus and raise had better be good this year!

I haven't made too many plans for while I'm home in LA because of work, but I am planning on going out to the Channel Islands on next Saturday for hiking (my boss can't make me work on the weekend, at least), and DH and I want to visit some botanical gardens while we're there. Of course, we'll also be going to get dim sum and I'm sure I will come back three pounds heaver than I leave. Ugh!

The scale is not budging for me. At least, it's not budging in the right direction. I've been working out pretty religiously this month, and doing strength training and HIIT, I haven't gone over 1600 cals on a weekday (although I haven't been tracking weekends very well), and I gained a pound this month. Ugh! This is such a load of crap. Plus my doctor says my thryoid is perfect so I can't even blame it on that. I think I'm going to take a break from counting calories for a while. All it's doing right now is making me frustrated that even though they are in range I'm not losing. So my plan is to take a break from counting and focus on exercise and eating healthy. While I'm in LA I'm planning to do a lot of running, biking, and hiking. Even if I'm working, I'll be working an eastern time day -- 5am to 2pm, so I should have some time.

Happy Birthday, Gary!

Oh, Jessica! Ouch! I'm so glad Dana's tuition is only a little over $1800 per semester! That has to hurt!

Lily, I'm sorry to hear about your and DH's latest health issues. I'm glad Shane will be home soon!

Megan, sorry about the job. Good job on the interview.

Allison, where does your DD go?

Jessica, I know my DD is looking at some schools where tuition is $30,000+ a year and I have to wonder if it is worth it. Was it worth it for you? I don't want her to amass student loans and we can't swing that kind of price tag, so loans (and scholarships!) it would have to be. With this economy, I'm thinking full ride to a state school would be just fine.

Happy Birthday Gary!! You may have a beer today.

Lily. sorry to hear of your health issues. Your husband's rash is worrisome, too. Fortunately we live in a time where there have been great advances in medicine. Hope everything works out well for both of you. And good news Shane is coming home. That is probably the best medicine you could have.

Lily -- I''m sorry to hear about your health issues. I guess I can only wish for things to go as smoothly as possible for you regarding that.

Too much stuff going on this week and next month!

Lily so sorry about your and your DH's health issues. I hope the outcomes are as positive as possible for both of you.

Sheila Be very cautious with that dog. It sounds like she is trying to dominate you (getting on the couch) and I really don't like that bite! Dogs who sneak up behind and bite are usually mentally unstable. If you have kids and cats around I'd suggest taking the dog to a shelter, jsut to make sure she deosn't escalate her behaviour to the next level with someone smaller than her.

If you are experienced dog handlers then of course you can assess the dog much better than I and make your decisions accordingly.

Dagmar

Lily - Sending supportive thoughts to you and your DH for the health issues. I hope you find your path through this.

Happy birthday Gary!

Jessica - sorry the scale is making you crazy. It might help to take a little break from the calorie counting, focus on the other things.

Allison - my parents didn't qualify for FAFSA, and the first three years I was in school the student couldn't get the Stafford directly. We got Plus loans the first three years in my parent's names, the fourth year I got a Stafford loan myself. I remember it being an escalating amount each year, with a higher amount as I went farther in school. My tuition was something like $1300/quarter or so, but that was a good while back. (I missed the free ride scholarship they offered to every in state student by a minor amount on my SAT and didn't find out about it until it was too late to retest... )My brother went to a private school and his was much more expensive...

Midwife - on the tuition thing and speaking of my brother - he went to a private school that cost somewhere in the $30k per year range. My parents got three of the loans like they did for me, he got the other two it took to finish school. He just this year finished paying off the two loans he had and just turned 34. Me, I'm still paying off graduate school from 1998. He says now that he would go to a less expensive school if he could go back and do it again. He chose the school he did because it was local and he wanted to stay at home. Don't know what your daughter wants to study, but there area lot of great state schools out there now.

I'll put in a plug for community colleges. Small classes, low tuition, a great place to get those first two years out of the way. Yeah, it's not the "college experience," but for someone who doesn't have a lot of money or needs time to learn to handle the auditorium-sized classes, community colleges make a great transition.

Dagmar, thanks for the advice. I think tomorrow she'll go back to the person who had her for the last two weeks after the owners gave her up. I've become afraid of her, frankly, and worried that my cat will get hurt because she provokes the dog. My home was supposed to be the last stop for Heidi the dog because we have no kids (although my granddaughter visits, but she's not mobile), we're quiet, and our cat grew up with four dogs. But the darn cat is just too happy being the only animal for almost a year now. Heidi was so great at the dog wash, so patient when I trimmed her nails, so much better behaved than most of my other four dogs. But none of them ever bit me. And we definitely can't adopt her out because now she has a bite history where she broke the skin. *Sigh*

Lily,
I just heard of your recent health issues for you and DH. I'm thinking of you and hoping for the best. Good for you that Shane will be coming home soon!
Sending good vibes your way,
Rabbit

I just did everyone's taxes yesterday so I could do the FAFSA. Pain in the butt. There are spaces for "estimation" if you don't have your taxes done yet. Many colleges require the FAFSA be completed before they will award scholarships - even if they're not based on need. Our daughter has never gotten any real "aid", but she gets scholarships based on her grades.

On a bright note - we don't have to pay the IRS for a change! Turns out this year of much lower income has an upside! I'll still be glad to finish school in June and go back to work. Even if I have to pay the darn IRS!