August 21st Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning.

Yesterday was not a good day. I called up the school basically to see if we needed twin sized bedding or full sized bedding in the dorm, only to find out Lys didn’t even have a bed. We never received the email saying she needed to find alternate housing. So here it was, 48 hours before we were supposed to arrive on campus, and my daughter had nowhere to live.

After a bunch of tears, and a whole lot of scrambling, I was able to find her the last available apartment. The only problem was it is a handicap equipped apartment, and I feel bad taking it if someone else needs the handicap facilities.

The apartment is fully furnished, and all the utilities are paid by the university, which is good. However, it is a two bedroom unit which comes with a $853 a month price tag and a $10 a month renter’s insurance bill. According to the housing message board on the school’s website, there is no one still looking for a roommate, so that means the entire $863 a month bill is on us.

It also means, not only did Lys need new bedding, she needed kitchen supplies, bathroom supplies and cleaning supplies. One saving grace was my daughter does not have expensive tastes. The plates and glasses she wanted came to less than $1 apiece (less than $20 for everything), and her flatware was only $10. She got all her bathroom supplies for less than $50 (extra set of towels, a rug, a shower curtain, a wastebasket). We picked up a toaster and a coffee pot for $25. Since this is her own apartment, she also needed her own vacuum and cleaning supplies, so that was an extra $50. The kitchen needed stuff I didn’t have extras of at home, so that took up a big chunk of our budget. Thankfully I had extra pots and pans, and a blender to send with her, so there was no extra cost there. Even with frugal shopping, the bill was still $350.

If she had gotten into the dorm, the bill would have been $75 if she had a full bed and $0 if she had a twin. So basically, the money Lys will be getting from tips for being a camp counselor paid for the additional supplies she needed for school.

Now all we have to do is wait and see if she has been approved for the apartment. I have NO idea what we are going to do if she doesn’t get approved (not that I can fathom a reason why she wouldn’t be).

Luckily RV called yesterday and said I did not need to help her today because her husband was on vacation. I still have the car to clean out. I have to pack our own bags for the three day trip. I have to run to the doctors because Chaplain did not forward Lys’ immunization records. I have to run to the bank and pick up checks for Lys because now she needs to be writing rent checks every month from her account. I have to run back to BB&B to return the stuff we bought yesterday but then found cheaper at WallyWorld. I need to run to the library so I can fax all the notorized paperwork the need for the apartment. Then I need to rummage through the basement to see if there is anything else Lys might need now that she has her own apartment.

It is going to be a VERY long day. Oh, while I’m thinking about it, you may not be hearing from me for the next few days. The hotel choices in the area are sketchy at best, so I seriously doubt I will have an internet connection. Honestly, my main concern is not getting bedbugs or our car stolen while we’re there.

This is another reason for all the anxiety yesterday. I was okay with my daughter going to High Point University because the campus was so secure. You see, the area around the campus is not so great, a little scary even; and now Lys will be living off campus and relying on campus transportation to get to and from campus. The shuttle stops running at 6:45 pm – hmmm, I hope it’s not because they don’t want to be in the area after dark.

I really wished she would have just chosen Austen Peay, in Clarksville, TN, right from the get-go. Great campus, plenty of housing, excellent curriculum, and she could have gotten all four years for just slightly more than her one year at Champlain. Then we would not have to be dealing with all this drama.

Okay, I have TONS to do, none of which includes working on FTQ like I should be. I may or may not chat with you tomorrow. We’ll see. I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

How are we going to fit it all?

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

July 15th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

{{SNAP}} and just like that July is half over. Can you believe it? In moments like these, George Carlin’s toilet paper analogy comes to mind. After watching the Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture yesterday (it’s on Youtube, you can watch it for free), I started to think. For the most part, I am a Tigger, but there are times when Eeyore does sneak in. I’m not old by any means, but I am noticing the toilet paper roll of life spinning faster. Although Eeyore the Disney character is adorable, the sentiment he portrays is not, and I don’t want him crowding in on however many days I have left in this world; be it a week or fifty years.

So who are you going to choose to be?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OR 

 

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

 

Oh my God, what was I thinking when I said I wanted to do this on my own?

 

After my aunt passed away last month, I found out she left us some real estate in Florida. Turns out, she owned the top two floors in a warehouse which had been converted to luxury apartments. Correction, all the other floors are now luxury apartments. I on the other hand am staring at nothing but white walls. A clean slate, where I have cart blanche. The prospect is a little intimidating.

Thankfully, along with the apartment, she left enough money to convert the floors into livable space. The only decisions I had made so far were, other than erecting walls to section off the bedrooms, I was going to leave the floor plan open, and we were going to keep the top floor for ourselves and sell the floor below us after it was converted.

I wandered the space which was going to be our new home, sketchpad in hand. When I reached the middle of the cavernous space, I turned in a slow surveying circle, then closed my eyes. Images started to flitter through my brain. I opened my eyes and I could see the finished product. I plopped down, right there in the middle of the empty room and started to draw. My pencil flew across the pages.

 

Your Next Challenge is (K.M. Kinsley, another author, tweeted this question and I thought it would make a great writing challenge. I’ll tell you what the rest of her tweet reads tomorrow.):

 

If you could do anything without fear of failing, what would it be?

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.