Gotta brag about my baby girl

I wish I could add about 5 more hours to the day. There is so much going on right now, that I just don’t have time to do it. Who knew 8^th grade could be so hectic. I’m trying to remember my 8^th grade year and I know mine wasn’t as crazy Becca’s year is turning out to be.

Did you know you could be invited to attend different High Schools? I didn’t! That high schools are seem to have the same mentality for scouting our scholars as colleges scout for sports? Well, maybe not like that but that’s a good analogy for it – to my below average brain.

In the past month Becca has received 4 invitations to attend different High Schools in the area and one invite to a private school in North Carolina. It blows my mind. I called my dad to see if we ever got invitations to attend different schools. Of course his response was that he had to BEG Terry Parker to take our dumb asses but…anyway, I just think it’s strange, but totally awesome. Right now her thoughts are on whether or not to go for the International Baccalaureate program or just stick with AP/Honor classes. After visiting Stanton Tuesday night she’s leaning towards the IB program though she’s afraid she’ll have “no life” with all the work they told her she’d have. Last night we visited Paxon’s IB program and the 1^st week of December we’ll be checking out Darnell Cookman’s medical program, though Becca is leaning more toward education than medicine.

First impressions: We walked up to Stanton with an open mind. Becca has been talking about going there for the AP program since she hit 5^th grade, it was in her mind that THIS was the school for her. When the IB invitation came, she just knew it was right for her! It was a rainy day but the auditorium was packed. The IB presenters were well dressed and though we started 10 minutes late (due to rain) it was an awesome presentation and after the tour Becca came back with a huge smile and said, “ I HAVE to get in this school.” She loved the tour, loved the demonstrations in each of the classes and loved her tour guides – they were professional but FUN! The Q & A session relieved a lot of our fears and we thought to ourselves, “yes, Becca would fit in nicely here.” BUT.. to keep an open mind, we had to visit Sandalwood… I mean Paxon (the arch rival) as a back up “just in case”.

Paxon: Becca really didn’t want to go, she’s got her mind and heart set on Stanton and says that she doesn’t like Paxon because all they do is “bash” Stanton. But, we need a back up plan IF she can’t get into Stanton so we went to the meeting. We walked up to Paxon last night – a beautiful clear night. As we walk up to the table, one girl was sitting behind the table and two were sitting on the table. They were dressed sloppily (which we later found out was due to Homecoming week and it was 80′s day), laughing and joking with each other and barely acknowledging the upcoming 9^th graders walking in the door. You walk into the auditorium and you see these freakily dressed boys wearing bright orange and blue shorts/off the shoulder shirts and headbands. Again, we were later told why but…. 1^st impressions here.. We sit down and this kid walks up and asks if we have any questions about the IB program. We tell him that right now, no, but we’ll see at the end of the program. His response? A roll of the eyes and then, “You already visited Stanton right?” When we nodded to him, he proceeded to “bash” Stanton. They’re too competitive, they sabotage each other, they aren’t family like us.. I immediately looked at Chris and said… “I’m done, let’s go” Becca then says, “See? See? THAT’S why I don’t want to go here.” Ugh, I now see what she means. Anyway, when she leaves for the tour, it’s with an open mind but… she comes back almost pissed off. Instead of touring all the classrooms like she did at Stanton, she toured the Spanish classroom where she learned a song (a song I teach my daycare kids). She wanted to see the labs, the TV production center, the Math rooms, NOT sing a freaking song-even if it was in another language! The whole time she was with the tour guides they talked smack about Stanton and their football team and how PERFECT the sports program was for Paxon. Talked about how lame Stanton was and how lame the people were that went there. Becca was pissed. Of course, later Chris told Becca she should have raised her hand and said something to the effect of, “We’re here for the IB program, do we LOOK like we’re concerned about the fucking sports program??” She says the guys goofed off the whole time. She was disgusted. So much for an open mind.

Anyway… it looks like Stanton is #1 on her list with Paxon as #2, we’ll check out the other schools to keep them as a back up, just in case. Of course, this is all depending on if we survive this year.

Business is going well. I’m still looking to find 2-3 more children to watch with the hopes that it will help our finances. We’re sinking fast and if January 31^st doesn’t get here soon we’ll be living on the darn street. Anybody need to rent a room?? The house is moody and tense because everyone wants/needs money and the dollar just doesn’t stretch that far. Becca’s got projects due, books to purchase, final payment to DC for her 8^th grade trip, yearbook and in need of some clothes. I’ve got 23 days to come up with $620 for her DC trip or else we break her heart and tell her she can’t go. How do we give her another disappointment? She’s worked her ass off in school and we can’t give her this trip? It’s so frustrating. Liz had it right – You’ve got the stereotypical rich kid who can have anything they want,goofs off in school and takes everything for granted. Then you have the poor kid who works her ass off in school, makes awesome grades, gets invited to the most excellent schools (yeah, I know my grammar sucks) and can’t have a special trip with her 8^th grade class or go to Europe with People to People because she’s too freaking poor to pay for the trip. Kind of makes you want to say, “What the hell am I working so hard for?” I really wish I could win the lottery. I swear I’d share it with all my friends and family!

Okay, got that anger off my chest… Now to a quick final “good” note.

I….DO….NOT….HAVE…. DIABETES! HA! I told them and told them and they FINALLY listened to me. I had the 3 hour glucose test and the results weren’t great but they weren’t bad. My sugar is under control (right now). Apparently, they assumed I had diabetes the past 10 years because I was on Metformin for 10 years… I repeatedly told them I was on metformin because of PCOS, NOT diabetes but they didn’t listen. I quit taking metformin for the tests and after taking the tests refused to go back on it. I FEEL AWESOME. Well, almost awesome. I’m still tired and lazy but… I feel a lot better. Turns out that the stupid medicine I was taking made my sugar too low! And to think I was supposed to be taking 2000mg a day, I only took 1000mg because I felt so crappy. MORON’S! Of course, now I have to be concerned about the PCOS again – and pray that doesn’t come back! My B/P is still bad and my cholesterol is horrible but… “if you lose weight” all that can be fixed. So, if we can ever afford anything but Kraft Mac & Cheese, I just may start cutting out my “whites” and eating a little more healthy. (yeah right) They did put me on B-12 because apparently that was way too low but other than that… I’m healthy YEAH… of course I got the standard, “You have a heart murmur! Were we aware of that?” Uh, Duh, for like 5 years now! Stupid Stupid!

Happy Friday the 13^th folks. Hope you have a wonderful day!!