Big Change Completed (mostly)
Okay, so we now own and have moved into our new house. There are still some things at the old house, but we could probably get the rest out in one solid day's effort if we had to. I LOVE the new place, and all that remains is to get the old place sold before we go bankrupt making the payments (given our now-lower income). But once the old place is sold, our expenses go lower than my expenses have been since probably the beginning of my career.I also should mention that "Pixie" is back with us, and has been for a couple of months now. Apparently going home didn't work out as well as hoped, and they placed her back with us to re-try the going home thing. She has been WONDERFUL. She treats Panda so well and Panda and the Puppies love her so much, it's like she really IS part of the family. I can't really detect any sign of any of the usual disorders (ADHD, ODD, etc) and she truly does seem to be a very normal, very likable teen. That's wonderful for us...though it does make for boring writing.
I suppose she does lose points for being a Packer fan while having grown up in Minnesota...but then, nobody's perfect, right? On the other hand, she plays basketball for the school team, so I get to give her coaching advice. I'm currently trying to get her to understand that anything the ref doesn't see isn't a foul, but she seems to be a little slow that way. My philosophy is that if both you and the person guarding you don't walk away with some bruises and maybe a little blood on you, then you didn't leave it all out on the court.
When I start teaching, I'm guessing they probably don't want me to coach basketball. Ah, well.