It's over, for now

Last night, I stumbled in the door at 8:30 to find my daughter still awake with a poopy diaper, and the husband playing video games. For once, I didn't care. I had just finished my last final after waiting 2 hours for a computer to open up (with an appointment, mind you) and freezing my butt off in the 5 degree weather. I was thrilled to be done. If only I knew I don't have to go back eventually to finish school.

It seems like a never ending battle. I get time to take classes, only to find out that I have to take another semester off, perhaps two, because my husband will be gone, and we can't afford to pay for child care. The school offers child care, but not for children under 2. The base offers child care, but it's at least a year wait, and if you cannot put your child in day care the moment they get to your name on the list, you are never allowed to use them again. Stupid? I think yes.

But, regardless, even with my college and books being paid for (thanks to my grandparents), we just cannot shell out about $500/month, maybe more (that is half our mortgage, to put it in perspective) to put Tori and her new sister in daycare. And if I worked instead of going to school, I may be able to make that much money, but, it defeats the purpose of putting them in there in the first place since I would be working, not taking classes. So, it may be awhile. I'm thinking of waiting until the GI bill covers my school in 3 years, because then they give you a small housing allowance, money for books, as well as pay for your tuition. So, hopefully the housing allowance will be enough to afford day care. Otherwise, I guess we're in the same situation as before.

My only dilemma with waiting is that some of my classes I have worked hard in may expire. I don't know what the rules are on that, but I have heard math and english expire after so many years. This sounds a little ridiculous to me because unlike the sciences, math and English haven't changed much in the past couple hundred years. Sure, new words are added to the Webster Dictionary every year, but, is that really relevant to the essays we're required to write? No. It's all the same, just different teachers and methods. And math is the same way. Sure I don't really remember the quadratic equation or how to figure out the sin and cosin or a line (is it a line those are even used for?) but, I can use a calculator, and do basic math in my head and paper, and in life, that's all that is really applicable. Despite what you high school math teachers tried to convince you.

So, moral of the story is, I may have to start from scratch, but, it will be completely paid for, and I will have daycare available, if not kids starting school. I'm not looking forward to having to start over, so I'm pretending like it's not an option. Maybe I'll just cry when the advisor tells me that, and he'll help me out. It never works with speeding tickets though. Don't try it. They just get more mad.