What's Going on at Chez Sluggy Lately

I want to thank everyone who left birthday wishes on the blog for me!
Lots of old blogging buddies as well as new folks coming out of lurkdom and somewhere in between too.

It all warmed the cockles of my old, increasing grumpy heart....

Hubs took me out to Denny's at lunchtime on Monday so I could claim my free Grand Slam meal.  Then the family did the singing and cake thing Monday evening.
Daughter even got me a Whitman's Sampler box of dark chocolates.
And she put this on top of it.....

The chocies came with a $2 +Up Reward!   I think I was more excited by this than the candy.
That's my girl......lol

Evidently she's been giving Rite-Aid our phone number(which gives them my Wellness #)when she buys stuff there, because I am suddenly up to $62.89 for the $100 I need to get the 50th Anniversary Reward. lolol
I told her to go buy some more stuff there before Saturday to get me to $100 in spending.

Why didn't I think of this much cheaper way to get +Up Rewards years ago? lolol

Hubs didn't give me anything yet so maybe I'll give him a list of things that qualify for the 50th Anniv. Promo that I want for my birthday at Rite-Aid. Hmmmm......

My Gas Points at Weis expire on Saturday too.  My gas tank should be pretty low by then so I hope I remember to go get gas and use that .30¢ discount.

The Daughter has changed her educational plan yet again.....sigh
She's looking to attend a different community college in the Fall so she dropped 2 courses that won't transfer and that she doesn't need for the program there.  The program she was trying to get into here isn't working out(due to high demand and her placement test scores weren't so good), so she's going to move out of state and attend another program(once she places in).  I hope this one works out.

#2 Son got a job on Friday.  Well, he sort of had a job at a different restaurant, but they hardly ever called him in.  He was like the substitute's substitute dishwasher or something.
So he finally got an application together and went up on Friday and they gave him the job on the spot.
He's already worked 2 nights and seems happier and they haven't fired him. lol
Now I don't want to hear how the 18 year old nephew can't find a job and has been looking for a year now with no luck.  He just doesn't want to have to DO anything to get paid....except sit on his ass.

Now we have the Driver's road test next week for #2 Son.  If the parallel parking doesn't sink him, he'll do fine.

I've got to make reservations for #1 Son's graduation in May.  He'll be a college graduate in just over 4 months!  Goodbye FAFSA!!!lolol  This will be a 3 day saga since it's on the other side of the state.
I told him not to count on many of the family coming to it, since nobody lives out there.  They'd all have to travel and pay for lodging/food/gas to attend and most of them don't have the extra cash to do this.

Now I get to worry about him finding a job after college in his field.  I know he'll do whatever he has to to stay afloat economically but I worry anyway.  That's my mom job after all.....

As for me?  I still haven't figured out my 2013 Goals.  Heck, I'm doing well if I can figure out a meal plan a week ahead! lol
And it's too danged cold!!!  Our most recent electric bill was $340 and $216 of that was for heat. 

Gotta get up to the grocery store and then mail some textbooks back to Amazon.

What's going on in your world lately?

Sluggy

My Checkered Artistic Past

From time to time I've mentioned that I was a Costume Designer way back in my younger days.
Back before kids.
Back in the Prehistoric days of my youth, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

A few weeks ago, while I was cleaning some things out of the garage in preparation for one of the Stockpile/Garage Sales, I came across some sketches from my old portfolio from college.

Since I have nothing else worthwhile to blog about today and I have a feeling nobody actually believes half of what I say here, you get to see these stunning works of art *cough*.

Though it may appear to be a simple job, a costume designer has to wear many hats and have many skills.
First you have to create a vision or rather bring the artistic vision of the director of the play to life via clothing.  You must create a cohesive design for all the garments in the play.

Then you have to draw or otherwise put to paper this design.
Not only do you have to convey the design in a 2 dimensional medium, but you have to locate fabrics and trimmings appropriate to turn your design concept into an actual garment that can be worn.
A costume rendering not only is a work of art but it is first and foremost a working tool.
It gives voice to the vision and serves as a guide to the seamstresses as they set about bringing the design to life as an honest to goodness garment.

It's great if a costume designer is a very good artist, but designing clothing that works well on actors is a designers most important skill.
It's a job that you learn from the ground up.  Nobody falls out of the sky and  becomes a costume designer without first learning how to sew, make and cut a pattern, fit a garment and all those non-designing skills.  It's a very hands on profession.  The nitty gritty skills you learn on your way up to being a designer makes you a better designer.

And because of a lack of time, a costume designer generally has little time to create renderings of the costumes.  Usually it's a very quick pencil drawing with some splashes of color thrown onto the paper.
Having the luxury of the time to create proper costume renderings is only a dream to all but the most successful and well paid designers.  And once you rise to that level a good portion of designers don't even do their own renderings.....that's what your paid flunky assistants are for. ;-)

Let me say that most struggling costume designers are also magicians sometimes, having to make expensive looking clothing on a shoestring budget.  Unless you are designing for top film or tv companies, you never have an adequate amount of cash for supplies.  College departments give you bare bones budgets, professional shops give you a pittance and if you work for a shop that uses Equity actors(unionized), then all their production budget goes to paying their salaries and the non-unionized production staff gets screwed.

But enough of that for now.
Onward to the sketch.....

This 1st rendering is for a character in a short play by Anton Chekov(very Russian and very turn of the century, Victorian era).
I used pastels on colored paper to render this sketch.
The blob on the left top are the swatches of the fabrics used to construct this costume, including an example of  'jewels' I handmade to embellish the front of the overlay of the skirt. Money for profession jewels made with Swarovski crystals?  Not in this budget!lol

Here is another costume sketch for a Molière play.  The clothing is apropos to French society of 1670's, the Baroque era.
I created this sketch in watercolors on watercolor paper.

Here is another rendering for another show I can't recall by whom at the moment.  The setting is Ancient Greece.
Again it is rendered in watercolors.

And here's another sketch for the same Molière play as before.....

This last sketch is dear to my heart because it is of ME.
Yes, not only did I design the costumes of this show and build a lot of them, I was also a major character in this production.

I apologize that my photos aren't so great and you can't see much of the detail that is in them.
I could talk for days about the techniques employed to give texture to both the drawings and the actual costumes, because, well, this is my first love.

Now I need to locate the photos of the actual costumes from these renderings, so I can show you how they looked on actual actors.lol

Sluggy

Congratulations.....And Welcome to the Poor House!

You may remember I ranted about Hubs letting Daughter apply to 5 colleges a week or so ago.
5 schools meant 5 application fees of between $30 and $55.
Ouch.

Five applications for a teen who may not even go to college now and enlist in the Air Force instead.
One day she can't wait to go away to school.
The next day she can't wait to go to boot camp.
The one common thread seems to be the "wanting to leave here" part.
Hmmm.....If I was the sensitive sort I'd take an affront to her wanting to leave us.

Quite the mercurial child, she is.
And no, it's not the alien teen life form hormones at play.
She came out of the womb not being able to make up her mind.

I can just see her now, after making her parents shell out $200+ to apply to schools, and getting into all 5 schools, and she ups and says forget it and joins the military.

After all, she took the Armed Forces Aptitude Test(the ASVAB)that indicates if you are smart enough to enlist and what jobs or career paths you qualify for.  The minimum score to join the AF is 36......a 36 won't be flying planes however. ;-)

And she scored a 93 out of 99 on it so she qualifies for about 98% of the jobs in that branch of the service.
So now she's trying to decide between dropping bombs from the plane she is piloting or performing neurosurgery at the US Air Force Academy Hospital for a living.
She still has the physical fitness test to take before she can sign up to be a Jr. Birdman, er....woman however.  The getting in-shape part is proving to be the harder side of things.


Unlike #1 son, who waited to apply to schools until Feb.(not one to jump right on a task, is he?), Daughter got motivated to apply to her choices by the end of September.  I think it was more of a "let's get this over with and fast" kind of deal with her rather than a 'get up and go' attitude.
And late last week, she heard back from the 1st of the 5 schools.....the University of Pittsburgh(PITT).

She was accepted into their Pre-Med program for 2011!

Not this Pitt....

This one....

It's no Harvard but the freshman acceptance rate is quite low so we are proud of her.
4 more schools to hear back from plus the Air Force keeps beckoning to her.
But if she decides to go to PITT, you can come visit me at my new address--

Sluggy
c/o The Poor House
13 Broke Lane
ArmPitt, PA

It could be worse.  Yes, Pitt is a public university but it's a lot pricier than the one #1 son attends.  Daughter will still need $$ after we kick in what we have set aside for her education.  Crossing the fingers she gets some academic scholarship monies or she'll have a substantial student loan debt when she graduates.

But Daughter has that all figured out too.  If she attends college first, she'll enlist after college and get the Air Force to repay her loans for her in exchange for her service in the armed forces.

That's my girl.....always thinking of a way to save money!
Now if I could just get her to fold her own laundry and put it away.....

Sluggy

Is it Just Me? and other Randomness

**Is it just me or is it strange that at Rite-Aid you can use your WELLNESS CARD to get a discount on Junk Food?  Every week in the sales flyer there is some candy or snack food on special sale when you use your Wellness Card.
Isn't that kind of like presenting a card to show your membership as a Quaker to buy bullets?

**Is it just me or is October 1st the start of the official Fall Season for you too?  And right on cue, the weather here went from rainy and warmish yesterday to windy and cool today....or as Hubs would call it, COLD!  I swear the man can't take a stiff breeze and temperatures in the 60's without breaking out a sweater or two.  I truly believe Hubs was a lizard in a previous life wanting nothing more than to sun himself on a hot rock.lol

**Is it just me or can you really believe that the year is 3 months away from being over??!  Here comes the triad of American Holidays....Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas(or Chanukah).  Of course, if you've been in one of the Temples devoted to American business(=a store) in the past month or 2, you already know that the Holidays are quickly pressing down on us.  I am so not ready for all the hype and the pressure to be too busy with activities and stuff.  Stop this merry-go-round and LET ME OFF!  Be careful this Holiday Season and don't take a nosedive off of your Financial Future into that deep hole called Debt!  Limit your Spending, Budget for the Holidays and STICK TO IT!!  You'll be so glad you did in April when you aren't getting Credit Card bills still from stuff you bought and the kids broke in December.

**Is it just me or is applying to FIVE colleges overkill?  I've always been told to apply to THREE--the school you want most to attend, a "stretch" school(one you probably wouldn't EVER get into with your grades/scores &/or that accepts a low percentage of freshmen each year), and a "safety" school(one with lower standards for grades/scores/etc. than you possess, that would consider you a great catch even on your worst day).
Unbeknownst to me, Hubs has allowed Daughter to submit applications to FIVE schools.  In retrospect, #1 son only wanted to apply to 2 schools...both of them on par with the other, nothing "stretchy" and we had to insist that he apply to a third.  (He got into all 3 by the way.)
This is not a case of "Daughter has to spread a wide net in hopes that SOMEBODY will want her".  The girl is gifted in many ways(not all of them evil either!lol), scored 1890 on her SATs, ranks around 24 in her class of 250 something, has a 4.2 cumulative average, was in the Carneige Mellon Talented Youth Program for PA in grade school(she outscored 8th graders in the state in math when she was in the 4th grade), etc. etc. etc.
I applied to 3 schools, though my criteria for applying was somewhat bizarre....but then again, my home life during my teen years were somewhat bizarre compared to most people's lives.lol

**Is it just me, or do teenagers do things out of left field sometimes?  This same child from above, also in the last 3 months, has decided she may not go to college directly.  Like her brother before her, she's been told she's receiving XX amount of dollars for school from us, so depending on where she decides to attend/where she gets in, she may need student loans if she doesn't save any money toward her own schooling while in high school.
This seems to be putting a crimp into her grand plans for life as she envisions herself going to medical school eventually and becoming a doctor.  That's great and all but the cost of getting a medical degree is way more than we can afford without liquidating our retirement funds and Daughter is somewhat of a miser-in-training and can't see herself going into that HUGE hole of debt for medical school.  Hey, let someone else take the financial hit is cool, but not her.

That is when she came up with the bright idea to join the military because they'll send her to college for free.  Envisioning my Daughter in the military in my head sounds much like replays of Judy Benjamin in that old classic movie, PRIVATE BENJAMIN.
"See, I did join the army, but I joined a *different* army. I joined the one with the condos and the private rooms.
To be truthful with you, I can't sleep in a room with 20 strangers.
And I mean look at this place.
The army couldn't afford drapes? I'll be up at the crack of dawn here!"

So between what the recruiters are telling her and what her father & I have discovered, she is trying to wrap her head around the pseudo-reality of what enlisting & going to boot camp will REALLY be like.  She is not a morning person and she has a problem with living with 4 other people....oh, to be a fly in the barracks when/if she does join the service!

She had decided on the Air Force IF she enlists since they have a base somewhere with an actual college on it.....and she 'assumes' that is where she'll be stationed.haha  She took the aptitude test last month that they use to see what jobs you qualify for(Daughter wants to be in the medical field).  She scored 93 on a scale of 99 and will find out some time this month what opportunities await her in the military with that number.

**Is it just me or do you think Daughter has some interesting ideas about how the whole higher education crazy train runs?  Daughter "thinks" she's going to get all the options first--her career track offerings from the military and her acceptance letters from the schools WITH how much in scholarships they will give her(even though I've told her that that actual financial award letters come much later AFTER she accepts and her parents have divulged all their financial matters & they don't offer money to those who don't accept first so she'd have to accept admission to all who offer it to get all the aid letters!lol)--BEFORE she decides whom she will grace with her presence.
Yah......not only does the child has NO ego problem here, but she has only a teeny tiny clue.  It's a good thing we love her or someone around here would have met an early grave years ago....;-)

Sluggy

About College Stuff

So #1 son is a High School Senior. The local school district has an arrangement with the local community college, where, if you are among the top percentage of students in the senior class, you can take college courses during your senior year.


These classes are college level. They satisfy the seniors high school credit requirements for the diploma but they also possibly can be applied to your college record when you matriculate at a school. This means if your college will transfer these credits, you can possibly graduate in less than 4 yrs. When you are footing the college bill, getting through faster can be a good & frugal thing.


Anyway, #1 son has chosen to attend a public State School for College here in PA. The state school system here DOES accept these Dual Enrollment Credits if the grade is a B or over.




This is #1 son. He just got his grades from the Community College for the 2 courses he took this semester as part of the Dual Enrollment Program. He doesn't look very thrilled and it's not a very good picture anyway but he PASSED! Not only did he pass English 102 & Sociology but he got A's in both!

Add these to his grades for last Semester's English 101 & Philosophy grades and he has 3 As & 1 B for the year.

Maybe this is why the college he accepted entrance into surprised us last month with an Academic Excellence Scholarship! Since we have no debt(nothing since paying off the house in March of '07)the Federal Government considers us WEALTHY! Yes, the Federal Financial Aid Thingy said our family can afford to contribute almost $40 THOUSAND DOLLARS CASH toward #1 son's 1st year of College.

Yes, I said....

Forty.

Thousand.

Dollars.

So because we are 'wealthy', #1 son can't apply for any financial aid except for loans, which have to be paid back. We can't apply for any financial need scholarships. Since he isn't part of any minority group or have a strange last name(well, he DOES but no one wealthy with our last name has ever endowed a scholarship for people with this last name) or a standout athlete, #1 son is only eligible for widely popular scholarships that everyone can apply for (Coca-Cola, etc. which he has no chance getting because of the sheer numbers of applicants) or Merit Scholarships. Most Merit Scholarships(both widely available or particular to a school)also have other components(applicant also have to be in a certain group racially or gender or living in a certain place or attended a certain high school, or has some other qualifier that knocks him out). The PURE Merit Scholarships are very few and most aren't within his reach because he isn't a Valedictorian, in the top 1% of his class & he didn't score perfectly on his SAT.

So he applied to a State School that we CAN afford to pay for in CASH! because
we live WELL below our means, save money and have no debt. We aren't relying on anyone else to pay for his education. He'll have an on-campus job too as part of paying for his education. By working, he is also contributing to his education.

So we were overjoyed when the letter arrived from his College that because of his high school grades he was being awarded a Merit Scholarship. It's not much money, but it will help pay for his books, etc. And if he keeps his grades up, it renews for all 4 years, IF he takes 4 yrs. ;-)

And in 2 more years, I get to go through this Federal Financial Aid stuff again, with daughter. I wonder how 'wealthy' the government will think we are when we have TWO kids in college? I may be the only 'wealthy' person in line at the Food Bank by then.

Sluggy