A little update

I don't know who invented the adjustable waistline in pants, or who decided to put them in childrens' clothing....but they have my gratitude. I took the kids shopping today for school clothes. They attend a public school, but the school practices a uniform policy. I am all for the uniforms and wish that they had had them when I was in school. Anyway, the main requirements of the uniform are a specific group of colors. So, we went to two different stores and found just what we needed. However, if it was not for the wonderful expandable waistlines that are now in a lot of kids' clothes, I would have had to buy the size of pants and shorts that fit them precisely, and then had to return for new clothes in less than two months because they would have outgrown the length, the waist, or both. Thanks to the new waists, I can buy them a little long and a little big in the waist, cinch them smaller and not worry about it for a few months (they do still tend to wear them out). And that brings me to my next find...double-thick knees on the boys pants. Mister would wear out a pair of pant knees in less than 6 weeks. I am very interested in seeing how these new pants hold up against him. After only a couple of hours, I managed to stock them both with school clothes and backpacks. If they need shoes, that will be on another day.

What else has occupied my time lately? Well, tonight I babysat for a friend while they had a quiet evening at home for their anniversary. I was shocked to see this friend drop off the kids herself, considering she just gave birth four days ago. I remember not wanting to get off our couch for at least two weeks after Tiny was born. She's pretty amazing. Last week, I was busy cleaning house because I am trying to get rid of unwanted items and I was also having company over for dinner on Friday. The dinner went wonderfully. There was great conversation, a lot of laughter, and good food. Saturday morning, I helped a friend from church put a new roof on his temporary tool shed. He is preparing to build a new house and has been looking for some help. I figured that this would be my best opportunity to learn about home building and repairs, so I volunteered. It was a lot of very hard work, but I really enjoyed it and got to know him a lot better than I would have just seeing him at church. I'm hoping to learn a lot from him that I can use around our house.

So, we are pretty much just hanging out, cleaning house, and waiting for school to start. I am looking into grad programs more and am leaning toward going straight for my Masters of English. There is a competitive assistantship at my university. If you are accepted, you get to teach up to 3 or 4 classes in two semesters, you receive a nice stipend and a full tuition waiver. How sweet is that!? GPA-wise, I am at the lower end of the requirement, but that is no reason to not try. Also, the program requires 10 courses and a 6-hour comprehensive exam for the degree. When I am done, I can teach at community and branch colleges (most universities have large pools of Ph.Ds to choose from, so, usually, you need one to teach at that level). I get pretty excited when I look at the classes, so that's a pretty good sign of my interest.