The Art of Being Happy

First off, thank you SO much to everyone who gave me words of encouragement yesterday! I set up a meeting with the principal and Joe's teacher for today at 9:45am to discuss putting Joe back in Kindergarten. I really think it's the best option for him.

As I was looking for his report card from this school from last year (my kids were in this school from Mid April to end of school), this is what I discovered. On the front of the report card, it says that they want kids to be able to do Stages 1-4 of Math/Language in order to be ready for 1st grade. There are 31 "goals" in Stage 4. Joe passed 4 of them. 4 OF THEM. Why in the world would they promote a child that only had a 13% success rate. ( I didn't copy it, but he passed 4 of the 4 physical education ones, but they don't really count.)


The more I think about it, the more upset I get. I really hope that when we meet tomorrow, they tell me what I want to hear. I really hope so. Captain America is gonna be able to come with me, I think. He said that they'd let him out of his class for it. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

So, other than that, the day went well yesterday. I had Captain America call at 7:30am to the school to try and get the appointment set up, and we were told to wait for a call from the principal. I got the kids off to school, then worked on my shopping list and the bills. I needed to know how much money we still had left over from last month. Also, my ink was out, so I only got 1/2 of the shopping list, and had to write in the rest by hand. grrrr. I hate it when that happens.

I asked Jake if he wanted to come with me to go grocery shopping. He'd never been since we moved to Texas. He seemed pretty excited. On the way to the store, I told him all about how our "Dave Ramsey" plan worked. About getting the $1000 reserve, then paying off all the bills, then getting the 3 month reserve, then saving for college/missions. He seemed pretty interested.

Once at the store, he pushed Jimmy in the cart, and I pushed the food cart. He helped me bag up the fruit, and get certain things from the shelves. He decided to spend a few of his Birthday $$$ on a bag of Lays Chips. Nasty, I know. But apparently they're his favorites. Who knew? He said he liked them because they're salty. Whatever. To each his own. I myself love me some Doritos, some Sour Cream and Cheddar, and some Sour Cream and Onion. mmmmmm!!! Anyway, how did I get talking about food. ha!

So, we got all the food, and got in line. I also bought the kids a GIANT pixie stick. It was only 10 cents. Dang, can't beat that!

The next store was Wal-Mart. I had to buy Captain America some fake Zyrtex and Imitation Vanilla. I couldn't find the fake stuff at the commissary. So, off we went. Jake wanted to spend some of his Birthday/babysitting money on games, so we spent quite a bit of time in the game/computer section. He found 2 that he liked, and still had $30 left over.

After Wal-Mart, we stopped by Andreas house to grab an old TV of hers. She's giving my boys their old PlayStation 2. They didn't want it anymore, and my boys are SO excited to get it. It came with the old TV. Even better! So, we loaded up the TV, and I headed for home.

We unloaded all the groceries (I sure missed Tom, Eme, and Joe during the unloading process), ate lunch, I got Jake started on his lessons, and Jimmy and I headed back to Andreas house to hang out. It's been FOREVER since I've seen my friends. Their hubby's leave on Friday/Saturday for NTC (National Training Center) for 29 days, then come back for a month, then leave for a year. They'll be more available to play next week. And I'm counting on it!

Kim came over, and Andrea and her made an ADORABLE fall wreath to hang on her door. I'm SO jealous. I'm going to Hobby Lobby in the next few days to get me some wreath makin' supplies! I want one too! And Kim was FABULOUS with putting together the wreath. Her bows were DIVINE!!!

When it was time to get kids from school, I headed back home. I sorted out all the cash from my budget into piles/envelopes, and made sure that I still had the right amount of money - hehehe. I did. I cooked dinner, and started the kids on their chores.

Captain America was home at 6ish, and after he ate, he and I headed out to the Verizon store. His phone's screen was shattered (but still almost useable), and we have the insurance plan. So, we wanted to see what our options were. For $50, he could get a completely new phone. And it's pretty cool.

Sweet, eh? We tried to arrange it where I'd get a new phone too, because mine is weird, but I wasn't eligible. BUT, because my phone is psycho sometimes, they gave me a new one (of the same kind I had before) for free. Sometimes, when my hands are cold, it doesn't push the right buttons. Or sometimes, it just turns itself off for no reason. I know, not so good. Hopefully this new one isn't so buggy.

Also, we decided that on Sunday (our new billing cycle day), we're gonna call in and scale back our plan. 700 minutes a month (we're not even using 600 right now), with unlimited text on all the phones, for $99 a month, then one extra line for $9.99, then insurance on each phone. All told, it'll be about $130 a month. We're paying about $210 a month right now. We're dropping the internet off our phones, and scaling back to a smaller plan. I'd sure like to same a few dollars :)

It took FOREVER in the store. The store closed at 8pm, and we didn't even leave until after 9pm. I'm sure the guy helping us was MORE than ready to leave. Oh well. That's why he makes the big bucks, right - hehehe. Just kidding :) I'm sure retail jobs like that suck....

We got home, got the big kids ready for bed (Joe and Eme and Jim were already asleep), and I started designing/blogging. Wednesday is gonna be a busy morning. I have a doctors appointment for Emeline (physical) at 7:20am, then Homeschool with Jake, then the Principal meeting for Joe at 9:45am. If I survive the morning, the rest of the day should be a breeze. hehehe.

And, one more day of our SUMMER REWIND SALE. I've moved 25 of my WordArt packs released this summer into the SUMMER REWIND section of Scraporchard's Market. The sale is, spend $10.00 and get 33% off. AND, to sweeten the deal, I've put them all on sale for $2.00 a pack. Bear with me here, as my math skills suck, but if I did this right, it should be like this:

Buy 5 WordArt packs for $10.00
get 33% off

So your total price for 5 WordArt packs would be $6.70
SO, they would be $1.34 a pack. Dang, that's a good deal! Don't you think???

Here's a list of all the WordArt packs that are on sale:

Kiss WordArt Pack
New Love WordArt Pack
Friends 2 WordArt Pack
Fashion WordArt Pack
Walking WordArt Pack

Charles Dickens WordArt Pack
Courage WordArt Pack
Water Fun WordArt Pack
Summer Masks WordArt Pack
Looks Funny Decade WordArt Pack

Baby Attitude 2 WordArt Pack
Baby Attitude 3 WordArt Pack
Butterfly WordArt Pack
Masks Baby WordArt Pack
Sand Castle WordArt Pack

Bicycle WordArt Pack
Word Strip Summer WordArt Pack
BBQ WordArt Pack
First Day of School 2 WordArt Pack
Kid Attitude WordArt Pack

Scrapbook Attitude WordArt Pack
Linear Definition Family WordArt Pack
Acting WordArt Pack
Senior Attitude WordArt Pack
Scrapbook WordArt Pack

Click HERE to go to the SUMMER REWIND section :P


Well, it's WordArt Wednesday time again! Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download this weeks WAW, and remember, leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!