Firstborn graduates, and other good stuff

Very proud of my firstborn child, who walked last night. She finished her coursework last August, but TCC has commencement only once a year. She is on track to finish her BA the same spring that Lark graduates from high school. And 1BDH is also taking classes.

And me? I am toying with the idea, too, but it won’t happen until several other important things happen first. I will have to be out of debt. I will have to decide on a major. I will have to not-be the RS president. My friend who just got her MSW? She was stake RS president for much of her coursework. She also did not have a commute like mine (70 miles round-trip: an hour and a half per leg if I take the train, half an hour to an hour and a half each way if I drive).

If/when I go back to school, I want to have the surname I have now, or one even closer to the beginning of the alphabet, so that when I am ostensibly returning to my seat after crossing the stage, I can veer off toward an exit and go jump in a vat of dark chocolate.

My friend Kristen linked to this article. I had noticed it on Meridian but had not made the time to read it. I have been guilty, in the dim dark past, of envying my sister the fact that her husband held one job his entire adult life. He came out of the Air Force, earned his degree, and worked until he retired. She corrected me once, gently and lovingly and firmly. They may not have had the financial challenges which the girls and I have endured, but they have had their own struggles and soul-stretching experiences. My sister truly is one of my heroes. I am amazed, and thankful, that Heaven saw fit to place me in this family, with parents of sterling character and a sibling not one whit behind them in terms of integrity.

Oh, how I wish my children felt about each other the way I feel about my sister.

Ahem. Pecan chicken. It’s not bad. Thus far, it’s my favorite Lean Cuisine. The meatloaf and whipped potatoes is better-than-OK, but naturally there are not enough taters for this Idaho girl.

Read the first Lord John book, perhaps the reading equivalent of that inferior Alfredo I ate the other day: simultaneously bland and spicy. I never got to a point where I cared about any of the characters. Some of the language was truly obnoxious. Quite forgettable, as far as I am concerned, and I took it and the other two volumes to the library on my way to the health club yesterday morning.

But there is good news in the financial department. I came home to an envelope from a financial company whose name was unfamiliar. Before just recycling the envelope and shredding the contents, I read the letter. It was from the company that manages my 401K from the movie theatre where I worked when I was getting my AAS in interpreting for the deaf. I have a 401K from the movie theatre? It has a balance? Really?

Really. And now I have online access to it. I may transfer the balance to another account when I hit 59.5, or I may just leave it where it is.

I also have access to my company credit union now, so I no longer need to wait for the quarterly statements to update my “get out of debt” spreadsheet. And I can barely keep my eyes open, so I am going to do my impersonation of a rational adult, shut down the computer, and go to bed.