Ya know, both of my sisters recently enrolled in Masters programs (one for teaching, one for nursing). The nurse-sister is taking all her classes online through an OH university, and doing the clinical work through the CT hospital where she already works full time. The teacher-sister is taking evening-weekend-summer classes, nearly all of them off the campus of the University offering the program, which is 200 miles away. Higher Ed really is making great accommodations for its most serious --- and arguably most successful --- students: working adults. As for avoiding the institution that employs you for fear of rejection... with much love, I say to you "That's stupid." Really! I mean, what's the worst that can happen? They say no? Are you any worse off than you were before? No. But what if they say yes? Wouldn't the possibility of having a diploma from there be worth the risk? Seriously, folks in admissions are looking to fill the school with qualified, serious students who are likely to succeed. They often look the other way at test scores or previous course work for stable adults with ties to the community and stellar recommendations. Before you write it off, ask around... see if you can buy lunch for someone in admissions. Be frank. Talk about your strengths and weaknesses. Put aside fears of rejection and ask them for guidance or a way to make it work. You might just be surprised. Think of all the things in your life you would not have if you did not try because rejection or failure was a possibility. Focus instead on the possibility of success. in the pants> Kind of odd in a way, how your life revolves so completely around your Love of Ed... You've got Big Ed, Little Ed, Higher Ed, and who knows? Maybe someday, there'll be Continuing Ed! Enjoy the EdVenture!

Thanks you guys. I didn't mean to sound like I was willing to concede on not getting paid. Suzy hit the nail on the head, explaining the bottom feeder pecking order of the small contractor. There's steps or a process that we take to up our chances of getting paid other than running to a courthouse. Surely, you all know that once one opens that can of worms, you can add months,costs and the risk of not collecting the full total amount. In addition, knowing your adversary and treating these situations on a case by case differential is to our advantage. Trust me, it's better to play detective, using your understanding of what is really happening, to get what you want rather than to threaten too early. As far as the guy who has empty promises, we are in the 'squeaky wheel gets the grease' step in the process. We're camping out in his front yard, so to speak. Jimmy and I both know how many aces we hold in our hand. We know when someone's ego and reputation is at stake. I am friends with two of his sisters, one of his brothers and his mama adores me. Jimmy knows the same 300 or so people this guy knows,lol. This alone ensures us that he won't stiff us and is more threatening than any call or letter from a lawyer. My Jimmy is very personable and charming. Yesterday, he exposed a few of his serious peacock feathers, so to speak, to this guy while discussing this debt and handing Jimmy some cash that amounts to not even a lousy tip to what he owes us. Although not being openly discussed, all the players know what's at stake here, where we all are on the time line and when push comes to shove. Jimmy and I know when to burn our bridges. I also know when the ball is in Jimmy's court,not mine. It's to my advantage to let these boys be boys, if you know what I mean. ;o) The good news is, that your kind words,prayers and sunflower thoughts made a big change yesterday. Half of what is owed to us came in the mail! But more importantly, another prayer involving money was answered yesterday. Even more needed, this little miracle made Jimmy and I feel a much missed breeze under our wings that really uplifted us. Oh good lord, you're all gonna get a kick out of this. But first let me tell you about what our day was like after I wrote this journal yesterday. Like I said, I knew writing out my feelings would throw me into some level of action so I started with the basics and cleaned the house while Jimmy was working. We both agreed that we would put 2 hours into chores/work and go to the beach. Heat index predictions were 110 degrees. We had no idea that a thrilling roller coaster ride of utter fear and joy would unfold the rest of our day. While I was cutting up watermelon and lopes for our cooler, Jimmy let me know that he put the cash with the checks we got in the mail in one of our dressers but had 2 twenties and some ones on his person. Boy, did we get lucky with parking. The closest spot to the beach on the street we picked. So rare, we had to high five each other. Virtually impossible when you consider it's the busiest week of the season with 300,000 people in one 13 mile long stretch of beach. We claimed our turf on the sardine packed beach and the oppressive heat got us to the surf sooner than usual. The temp of the water was a perfect 71 degrees. Chilly to the toes at first but easy to wade on in without hesitation. And the there was such a nice sandbar with waves strong enough to keep a good eye but spaced well enough to have a blast. Many of the beach goers were taking advantage of the wonderful surf. It was so nice for us to be exchanging those, "Gosh, this is so much fun" smiles between us. Whew, talk about good for the weary soul. My senses seemed to be in overdrive when leaving the water feeling a formidable under toe against my calves. My sinuses only smelling the sea and my taste buds salty, I was thrown back to a place in time feeling as if I was walking out of the water with Lindsey after a swim. Her presence was so strong I could taste and smell it. I'm feeling better by the minute. For the next few hours we snacked, did some word puzzles and swam about every 1/2 hour due to the heat and the fun surf. I couldn't help but overhear a man behind us, with a new york accent, conducting business on his cell phone. Then his son, about 11, his daughter, about 14 and his wife joined him drying off from their swim. The boy was very loud throwing a bona fide fit yelling at his mom and stomping his feet. Jimmy and I dipped our sunglasses down our noses a tad and exchange that "look" while the people in front of us picked up their sand chairs and reversed them facing us instead of the ocean. It got weirder by the nanosecond after that. The boy gets even louder, screaming at his mother for not bringing his chair to the beach while now the people in front of us that are now facing us are also moving their sunglasses exchanging that "look" to us. Seconds later, bad turned to worse as the father started screaming as loud as his son throwing empty threats of leaving the beach, packing up the car and cutting their vacation short. The teenage girl, who remained quiet through her embarrassment get the brunt of her father's scolding, not the boy. Then all eyes on the jammed packed beach grew large when the man announced to his children "I wished I never had kids". I grabbed the arms to my chair to rise up and Jimmy said: "Oh no you don't Diane." I tried to settle back in my chair. About 90 seconds later with more screaming out of all of them except the mother, the father called his daughter a b--ch then yelled to his two kids: "I wish you two were both dead and buried." I jumped out of my chair like a bat outta he11. "Take it off the beach, now," I said. I said some more stuff but because I was seeing red I can't recall exactly. I know I was brief and didn't curse. I sat back in my chair for only a minute telling Jimmy and the now audience on me that I was going in the ocean, "I needed to cool off in more ways than one." To my hopes, Jimmy soon joined me in the water and was met with, "Lindsey made me do it" with a big grin. "Oh, I know, he exclaimed, but she would of been 10 times worse than you!" When we got out of the water this sad excuse for a father and his family were no longer there. Four people approached me and thanked me. Jimmy dubbed me the "hero of the beach" for the remaining hour we were there before we headed home. After some down time, around 6pm we both decide to run up to the produce stand together to get some corn for dinner. Jimmy pulled into the food store because he wanted something and I went to the trunk to get some money out of our beach bag. Earlier on the beach, I noticed Jimmy threw his cell phone, car keys and what certainly looked like a 100 dollar bill to me in the side pocket of the beach bag. With all the excitement and the fact that Jimmy is ADD, I never asked him about this bill. When I went to the trunk, the beach bag wasn't there. I gasped as I realized I left it on the street next to the car when we left the beach. We set land speed record getting back to the beach where we parked. We're both scared as he11 because even though Jimmy said he put the cash in the dresser he knows himself all too well and might of not put it in the dresser. With me trying to convince him that I did in fact see a 100 dollar bill in the beach bag earlier, we both were so scared that Jimmy somehow put all the 500 in our beach bag earlier before we left the house. I'm convinced that is exactly what happened and I apologize to him for making such a mistake. He graciously offered up, "Welcome to my nightmare. We'll never survive if my ADD rubs off on you!" Meanwhile, it's the busiest week of the season and we are in deep dinner rush hour traffic. I keep closing my eyes and Jimmy weaves in and out of traffic. I prayed. Low and behold, we pull into the street we parked at earlier and there it sat on the sidewalk. He pulled up, I opened my door and yanked it into our car,lol. We gasped as we saw what we suspected and thanked God. So, here our beach bag with 500 dollars in it sat on a public street, in a very crowded resort and the only disturbance was tire tracks. There was no argument that we knew darn well that Lindsey protected it for us! Heck, we felt so good the rest of the night, I skipped watering my plants and excepted their "cooked-look" from the day's oppressive heat and only had ONE scoop of ice cream (with dark chocolate kisses and Heath bar pieces.) That snack choice alone should tell you that things are much better now. ~di, going back to the beach today wishing for more excitement but not as scary as yesterday. :o)

It's been a while, but I've met construction loans. Please put slide-out shelves in any cabinet that is waist-level or lower. I spent an hour this morning doing calesthenics trying to reach a bowl at the back of deep kitchen cabinet. It's been almost 20 years and I still can't believe I agreed to those cabinets! It's gonna be rough having mature hormones in the midst of the 19 y.o.'s, but I suspect you'll find a lot of quiet admiration from them. Miss 3 weeks and get grade lowered ONE letter?!!! That sort of attitude makes a mockery of all the grades he gives. I hope he's better at teaching than at grading. You gonna try to fry those 12-carat tresses with a serving of mitigating circumstances on the side? Let's see, trespassing, breaking & entering, theft, invasion of privacy... last time all that happened was when the cat opened the pantry, tore apart the TunaNibblies package, crunched a bunch and buried the rest under MY pillow. She pled not guilty; the jury agreed due to the mitigating circumstances of irresistably aromatic packaging inducing a catfit.

Looks like the ducks are in a row. Happy hunting...