Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Study Hard Kids

My children will simply have to study hard and get scholarships...end of story. We are about to experience a cash cow windfall. (I am in complete denial that this is of course not new money we will be receiving this week, it is only tax credit money for less than 1/2 of what we spent on ye ole' most recent adoption. See photo of ye ole' most recent adoption below, melt your heart cute, yes?

The muffin man and I in our infinite wisdom have decided that instead of responsibly feeding two little kids' 529 plans we would instead throw caution to the wind, bet the trifecta and hope the little geniuses don't academically burn out by 3rd grade and obtain some money from Harvard. Seems like a great gamble since no one is even riding the bus to Kindergarten yet. With Ava, I 'm still hedging my bets the kid can squeeze some cash from the State U at the very least. She is a certifiable future MENSA member. Unfortunately she most often chooses to use her powers for evil and cutting the hair off barbie dolls. It is simply a channeling of energy issue...I have years to tame the beast and I am not worried.

Now the little one? Hmmm...the votes still out. We are furiously working on the fact that American Sign Language does indeed include more than one sign and all the the world's problems can't be solved with the more sign. But she is so damn cute she will be able to use her feminine wiles to charm the heck out of some admissions clerk, I am sure of it.

It is crass to speak of monetary indulgences in the same breath as your loving children but as luck would have it when you adopt...the big pink elephant in the room is often greenbacks.

Like it or not.

So, with the smell of previously spent money in the air I present shiny glory and her sidekick princess fingerprint.
















Aren't they shiny? Aren't they pretty? Isn't Momma a complete fool for purchasing stainless steel with 2 small children running amok?

Don't answer that. Secretly, you know you'd be caught up in the show room with all that shiny"ness" too. The back corner of Best Buy is big kid toy heaven, and we had our $.50 worth of candy money in our pockets. For the record they show every last finger print. I have already conditioned and cleaned the fronts of these two appliances 4 times in the last 24 hours. Magnets do not stick, and therefore my kitchen will be preschool artless. It is probably therapy in the making.

So, enough about kitchen appliances want to see another reason why my children better start practicing calculus?

Draperies. Now before you get all "My God woman why don't you just fly off to Vegas and leave the kids with Brittney" on me they are semi-homemade. Yes, that is my defense statement, "They are semi-homemade." Double lined panels from Bed Bath and Beyond and then I sewed the accent material on top with matching fun fringe. It was 8 hours of pure stress as I sewed each panel and held my breath as I hoped the hem line would gracefully skim the floor and window seat. The Muffin Man toiled away for hours with a beer in one hand and a drill in the other hanging drapery rods, now that is good family fun. I was hoping for that Architectural Digest look. But then I ran out of trim on the last panel and of course Joann's has no more. Can you say special order with no 60% discount? I'm sure the man at the cutting table shorted me 1 yard of trim. I'm sure my 8th grade mathematical abilities have had no impact whatsoever on this project.

(Sorry about the bad lighting, I'm in an official snit over the fact that my over priced Minolta will not auto adjust for natural lighting. )

The rest of the tax credit, where art thou going? Oh, yeah precious playroom home equity loan. Sometimes being a grownup stinks and sometimes is doesn't. Like when you are happily caressing 6 feet of studly stainless steel.

I leave you with a picture of the hairdresser to Barbie and the Stars. May she never be a beauty school dropout. May her 529 carry her all the way to the book store at the State U, and beyond.















Editing Note: In proofreading it was discovered that this child had a piggy bank on her pjs. God, I love irony.

11 comments:

OziMum said...

Amen sista! Surely the kids will be little geniuses?

Johnny said...

Nice stainless!

Space Mom said...

Nice! I worry about the stainless and scratching it. Especially after seeing Johnny's lens case scratch the counter!

I am sure you kids will do great! And you have PLENTY of time...to file for loans!

Nikki said...

I love the new purchases!
Beauty school drop-outs? Not those 2 little sweeties!

anonymous said...

I love the purchases and to hell with tuition. We will have two in college next year. As a matter of fact, we had an interview at Ohio Wesleyan this week where our daughter was awarded a scholarship (thank God). Gracyn went with us and marched up and down the staunch halls of higher learning in her squeaky shoes - pigtails a' flappin' along behind her. Talk about an ad for 529s!!!

Thumbelina's Mom said...

Very nice! And your draperies are fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Perrin,
I completely understand the sign language comment. after much trying Emma has only learned "More" as well. It doesn't work for everything. :)
Beth S.

Anonymous said...

Hi Perrin,

As I've told you Jaden does sign quite a bit but that doesn't stop her from thinking that the "please" sign should work EVERY SINGLE TIME she uses it. When we say no, she'll keep doing the sign over and over, as in, "I said Please! You told me to just say PLEASE!!"

We have been relentless in teaching the signs because Jade is so darn loud. It is even starting to get to Valerie & Kevin. The other day Valerie said, "Mom, what were my first words?" I said, "You started whispering very softly, sank you and pease, at 23 months." Valerie rolled her eyes and said, "I doubt Jade will ever whisper ANYTHING!!" Too cute!

Love your new stuff! I want a new stove. I'll have to send this post to Scott and write something about keeping up with the "S*****s".

Big hugs to your babes! (Ava is looking so grown up!)

Traci

B-squared said...

Lovely new appliances...and those girls aren't bad either! ;-)
We have a ss fridge and you hardly notice the fingerprints at all, especially when all covered with photos and kiddo artwork!
Now if only a nice little refund would float our way soon....

Robin said...

Love the new purchases! You deserve them. Besides, you have to be able to good food in the new fridge for those kiddos. And, you really need to keep those dishes sparkling clean.. Right!!!

You can think about college funds another day. Believe me, even if you have them, it never seems to be enough. (my youngest is a sophomore at OSU.. it's EXPENSIVE) Thank goodness for Home equity :-)

atomic mama said...

I'm drooling here... love the new appliances!