10 Blessings

1. At some point while we're sleeping tonight, Paul should be arriving home. YAY! We spoke to him a few times this evening during his lengthy layover in Detroit.

2. Some of the questions I had for HR were answered today. Our Blue Shield insurance is retroactive to May 23. The downside is we have to pay over $800 towards the premiums from the past 4 months. It could have been much worse as at first they said I'd be paying at a much higher rate (the part-time rate would have been about 3 times more). The upside is that this means I don't need to stress about any "unexpected" bills for the surgeries that took place in June and August. I actually will probably be able to get back most of that $800 by submitting bills we paid during that time frame for deductibles and prescriptions. The May 23 date won't help for Ian's first endoscopy. If CHOP bills me for that 8K the insurance said they won't pay, I will be fighting that tooth and nail with the insurance and CHOP.

3. HR also told me that I'll be paying the insurance at the full-time rate this semester because my leave is FMLA leave (about $200 a month). WAHOOO! This means it will be cheaper than PSU's insurance would have been, and of course it's MUCH better insurance! PTL! I have full benefits this semester even though I'm only teaching two classes. I am very grateful for FMLA!

4. I'm still communicating with HR about how much of my leave will be paid leave this semester. Thus far they've told me two weeks will be at full pay because I have 37.5 hours of sick family leave that I can definitely use. From the wording in the contract I think I'm also eligible to use personal leave and sick leave. We shall see about that.

5. We had a great visit with my mom this week. It was nice that she was able to experience a lot of our weekly routine. She met Nadia's ballet teacher, gymnastics teacher, and one of the librarians (we go to two libraries each week). She also picked Nadia up from AWANA on Wednesday night while I was at choir rehearsal. In addition to being able to spend time with her, her visit also enabled me to be able to mow the lawn on Wednesday afternoon and have two uninterrupted showers.

6. I also was able to buy myself a pair of jeans yesterday. My mom was impressed with how quick I was. It took me at the most 5 minutes to select which pairs to try on, try them on, and pay for the one I picked. I haven't bought a new pair of jeans in more than 10 years. Part of that time the jeans didn't fit, but you can tell that I don't buy jeans very often. I didn't need to get one because the old ones didn't fit but because they had a hole in them. It was a luxury to be able to try something on in a dressing room. I usually can't do that! I was also happy that although the original price was $44, I paid $17 at JCP.

7. Tomorrow is the BIG yard sale in our town. Thousands of people attend this yard sale. Some of the people having yard sales start the sale on Friday. We took advantage of that today. On Saturday the parking is far too limited to be able to drive from place to place. It's almost impossible to find just one spot anywhere in town. ALL the parking is very well used by the thousands who attend. Today I made use of the DVD in the car and drove from house to house and left the kids in the locked car. It helped that I was buying toys for them. At each house Nadia would ask what I got her. The books, cars, etc. I bought helped entertain them at my next stop. We spent about 2 hours visiting yard sales (some before the library and some afterward). I hope the weather cooperates so I can do a little more tomorrow morning (while Paul watches the kids). I got a LOT of great stuff. Many of the clothes I got for the kids still had the tags on them! I had a list of what I was looking for in particular. I got several of the things on the list - 18 month pants for Ian, size 6 dress shoes for Ian (25 cents), and a toy microphone for Nadia (10 cents). I got other clothing that wasn't on my list for both children - some for now and some to store away for future years. I also got some books and toys for the kids, the largest being a pretend vacuum that both kids enjoyed today. When we got home, Ian played with the cars I had bought him for about 2 hours straight. This boy loves cars!

8. I enjoyed having Ian nap on me today. He fell asleep in my arms at the library at 11:05am. I let him sleep because normally it's a challenge to keep him under control during story time. That nap ended when I put him in the carseat. Around 3pm he came over to me and put his head on my lap and fell asleep standing up! I picked him up and held him for another brief nap. Tomorrow I'll make sure we get back on track with him taking his nap in the crib, but it's nice every once in a while to hold a sleeping toddler.

9. Have I mentioned how much I like Kellogg's? Well I do. First they were giving the $10 gift cards if you mailed in 10 UPCs. Since I pay no more than $1.50 for a box of cereal, that means those boxes cost me only 50 cents each. Then they've been doing another promotion where you get a $5 gift card for 4 boxes of cereal, which means I've been paying only 25 cents per box (and that offer didn't even involve a postage stamp as you just entered a code from the box online). I am mentioning it right now because three $5 VISA cards came in the mail today from Kellogg's. I have quite a stockpile of Raisin Bran right now because of these deals. Nadia, Paul, and I all like Raisin Bran. It will be eaten!

10. We received a box in the mail on Wednesday, which was a surprise from Paul's mom. It contained some beautiful clothing for the kids such as the "Big Sis" outfit Nadia wore today. Thanks, Grandma!