Tomorrow, we are going to CPI’s in-coming student conference. It is a two day affair, but I can only attend one because of peak registration at the college I work for. So, I am going to the day we talk money. As in, how we am going to part with ours. Our goal is to keep CPI from having to take loans. This may not be possible, but I’m going to give it my best shot.~~TSG
Archive for the 'Family' Category
10
Jan
17
in-coming
07
Jan
17
first friday
Found another penny today in the same general place I found yesterday’s, the area where students line up who want to see an adviser. I’m guessing they get dropped when people go into their pockets or purses to get out their picture ids.
I also dropped by my Friday dumpsters. Looks like someone updated their computer systems; lots of routers, circuit boards, etc. CPI likes the ATI card I found. It is an older one from 2009, but looks to be still good. We’ll have to test it out. Most of the things will be parted-out for scrap. However, the new-in-the-box Bunn coffee maker just missing the carafe will be staying here if it works. Carafes are really easy to find at resale shops.~~TSG
03
Jan
17
a little bit closer
Went out today with FMP since it was his normal day off. Found $.10 in the parking lot of the mall. Not a lot, but every bit gets us closer to our goals. We were going to take some things to the scrap yard, but a recent thunderstorm has left things a bit muddy around here.~~TSG
02
Jan
17
happy 2017!!!
I have been a bit neglectful of my blogs. I will be trying to rectify this in the new year.
CPI has been accepted at Texas A&M University. This fills me with great pride and a little bit of panic. As you know, a university education is rather expensive. I am really glad that my new job will help pay for that. In addition, I will be directing “The Scheme” towards that end. Since I have not really kept up with it, I will just give you the end total as far as I can tell. I took in about $173.77 by finding money and scrapping metals I found.
For an anthropology class I was taking, I wrote an ethnography (study of a society or group in a society) about “side hustles”; things people do outside their regular jobs to bring in money or other items of value. I interviewed people who had various hustles. The only hustles I got enough information on to write about were dumpster diving and buying storage units. My experiences in looking for things to scrap or use became part of what is called “participant observation”, an anthropological technique. I got an A+ on the paper; a nice little bonus. I was taking the class to determine if I like anthropology enough to take a master’s degree in it. The answer is “yes”. Of course, I may have to delay this a bit as CPI needs a bachelor’s more than I need a master’s. On the other hand, The Scheme may eventually generate enough to let me do both at once. That would be really cool.
For the time being, however, my new plan is to put the boy through A&M on trash. Won’t that be fun?~~TSG
Saturday, my grandmother’s last remaining sibling died. Aunt Lucy had just turned 92. She was a pioneer in a male-dominated field and forced the men to respect her and pay her comparable wages by a combination of determination and extreme competence. She lived life on her own terms, not marrying until late in life even though marriage and family was the expectation of women in her era. And, we all loved Uncle Jack, the man she chose.
After Uncle Red’s death, Aunt Lucy began refusing her breathing treatments. Uncle Red had been a particular favorite of many of his aunts and uncles, especially after his own mother was killed in a train accident that also took the life of his first-born child. Aunt Lucy was old, but I think she died of sorrow. She told those who were with her that she just wanted to “go home to Jesus and my family”.
If it would not have meant I was also dead, I would have loved to have seen the reunion of the ten children, their parents and all of the others who had gone before. Maybe Jesus will put it on “replay” for me when I get there.~~TSG
16
Aug
16
today’s sadness and joy
Early this morning, a good man died. Although he was technically my mother’s cousin, he was as much an uncle to me as any of my actual uncles. Uncle Red was a fixture of my childhood and we often went to his house when we visited my great-grandparents in Mexia, Texas, or when we went to family reunions.
When I got ready to go to college, Uncle Red is part of the reason I chose Texas A&M. His name went on my application in the spot where it asked about family who had attended. To date, my sister, my brother and three nieces have also gone to this school for undergraduate studies. Another sister took a master’s there. Two days ago, my youngest child applied to A&M. In the essay portion, CPI spoke of our family’s tradition of attendance. Uncle Red’s name led the list. I like to think he would have been pleased had I had the chance to tell him.
As a Christian, I believe that I will see Uncle Red again. He is in heaven now, free of the infirmities that had come with advancing age. As a human, I grieve. Another piece of my childhood is gone from the earth. Rest in peace, Uncle Red, and save me a seat at the party! All my love!~~TSG
01
Aug
16
The “Scheme”
I have been thinking of several things that we need to have acquire or have done in our lives. Somewhere, I read a suggestion that I write down everything that I needed, wanted or thought would make my life easier; rate them on a 1-10 scale; and then choose three of the highest numbers and give them a time-line. After the three were chosen, I was to estimate their cost per month to the given time-line. These “end costs” were added together to give me how much I needed to bring in extra per quarter, month and day to make them a reality.
My three things are the following (monthly cost):
1. perfecting my pottery skills and perhaps selling on Etsy–$120
2. a down payment on a newer car–at least $300
3. new clothes and shoes to replace my aging wardrobe–$100
This works out to about $20 a day. I intended to start working this program today, since the first of the month seemed like a good time for new beginnings. Instead, I woke up Friday with horrible pain in my left hip. I got through the weekend and went to the doctor this morning. I have sciatica. Wonderful! I spent $25 on the visit. The accompanying medicine was $59.50. So, today ends with me -84.50. This does not count the $20 I did not figure out how to make. Oh, well, there is always tomorrow.
~~TSG
11
Jan
15
…and then HE said…
As most of you know, I am a Christian. In addition to petitioning God for help, I also listen for what He would have me do. This is not to say I always like it, but I have to do it if I wish to be a true follower of Christ.
As I mentioned in my last post, I have given up my right to be angry about the cancer and its aftermath. Yesterday, the Still Small Voice whispered that I had something else to give up. Something that has gone on much longer. There was a person in my life who, over the course of many years, harmed our family in numerous ways. I have long nursed my anger at this person. God says I have to give that up, too. So, here I go again. I am giving up…MY RIGHT TO BE ANGRY AT THIS PERSON. I am done. I may have to do this every day, too. So, more prayers, please! Thanks!~~TSG
07
Jan
15
here comes 2015
For me, the new year officially starts the day we go back to work for the Spring semester. That would have been yesterday. I have, as is traditional, decided to make some changes this year. I am not calling them “resolutions” since I intend to keep them. When I do, they will lead to great improvement in my life.
I am currently reading “People are Idiots and I Can Prove It!” by Larry Winget. It is unlike any “self-help” book I have read before. Mr. Winget’s process calls for a lot of writing and serious contemplation of how I got to where I am and what I must do to get out.
The part that has really gotten my attention is the “Jerry Swaggart Moment”, that one thing that you have done that is totally stupid and absolutely MUST go. Mine is this: I have allowed 2.5 years of cancer and its aftermath to derail the last 12 years of my life. Yes, more than FIVE TIMES the actual span of the event. So, what I am willing to give up (another list I made at the suggestion of Mr. Winget) in order to achieve real change in my life is…MY RIGHT TO BE ANGRY ABOUT THE CANCER. Yes, you read that correctly. I have a right to be angry about the cancer, but I cannot afford to indulge that right. I am, therefore, giving it up. I may have to give it up daily for a bit, but that is just what I am going to do. Pray for me and for those who must deal with me. Thank you!~~TSG
…this morning’s events at the Gaudy house:
I woke at 6:30 to discover that one of us had tipped over my contact lens cleaning system during the night, leaving my contacts still in a soup of hydrogen peroxide. I had no idea how long they had been this way, but the process takes at least 2 hours. I set up the bottle, hoping it would finish before I had to leave. Meanwhile, I washed my hair. I can’t see anything and also can’t find my emergency glasses. I wake up CPI so he can begin getting ready. He puts my pants on the couch so I can find them easily. The dog decides that they will make a lovely bed in the front hall. I put on a skirt I wore earlier in the week instead. This means that I need to clean off the shoes I wore Monday when the parking lot was full of mud. CPI says he will clean off the mud (now caked dirt) while I fix my hair.
I put sticky stuff in my hair and begin blow-drying and styling it. This consists of blowing for a bit and then leaning as close to the mirror as possible to look at the results. This entire time, we are both trying to figure out where the bottle of plain saline solution that is usually in my purse is so I can rinse the contacts and wear them. It is inexplicably missing. Finally, we decide to buy some on the way to work. CPI begins to throw up (a combination of his seasonal allergies and whatever was in the mud, we think). New plan; CPI will drive me to the store, buy the saline solution and bring it out. I will rinse my contacts, put them in and take him back to the house. Partway to the store, I remember that the contact case in my purse may have solution in it. It does. I rinse the contacts, put them in and take CPI back to the house.
At work, I decide that I deserve a coke. I get this from the fancy machine in the cafeteria where you can mix your own. Returning to my office, I hang up my sweater (a new one) to discover that I have been wandering the campus with a tag attached to an extra button dangling from the back of my sleeve.
The worst/best part of the whole thing? I like my hair better today than I have in some time.
In the Ensuing Panic 
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