I’m currently trying my hand at the good old-fashioned gingerbread house! I haven’t made one of these in years, so I thought I would reward my end-of-the-school-year efforts with the chance to express my creative side for a bit. Of course, I’m not attempting to build it from scratch–that’s a BIG undertaking for a beginning Gingerbread-House-builder 🙂 Instead I grabbed a kit at Sam’s, and I’ve been playing around with it all night.
I’m happy to report that after a couple of hours, an entire tube of icing, four “OH NO’S!!,” and finally a cry for extra holding hands from my mom, my house has four standing walls and a roof. Admittedly, one wall is pushed in and I had to overlap the roof edges a bit, but its on! Woohoo! After one final catastrophe of the whole thing collapsing inward, I’ve decided to give it the night to cement. It’s currently being held up with chili and icing cans 🙂
You know when your eyes are bloodshot, your draining the Visine bottle like nobody’s business, your hair is greasy from a whole night of stress, your heart is racing, and your skin is all dry and itchy that you’ve been spending way too much time on research papers and living off caffeine. If I don’t get some water and sleep (not necessarily in that order); I’m going to crash.
I’m always surprised at the number of people who didn’t play the Alphabet game as children. We always started at least one round while on long trips in the car.
Tell the kids to watch out for billboards, signs, anything with letters on it – if it has letters, it’s fair game. Then the whole family watches out for the letters of the alphabet, one after another. No two letters from the same sign, and it doesn’t count if you find a letter out of order! So if that Q came while you were looking for C, you’re just out of luck. 😛
Great game that teaches kids the alphabet in order, helps them practice their letters, and brings awareness to beginning readers of the importance that letters and words play in our lives. Doesn’t hurt that it occupies their time and results in fewer “Are we there yets” too. 🙂
Memories from my childhood; my mother and I used to do this over and over and over. I loved it! Still do 🙂
Life Magazine
Person 1: That’s Life!
Person 2: What’s Life?
Person 1: A Magazine.
Person 2: Well, how much does it cost?
Person 1: 10 Cents.
Person 2: But I only have a nickel!
Person 1: That’s Life!
Person 2: What’s Life? . . . . .
It appears that the University of Iowa Board of Regents has just bypassed the Law School’s tuition recommendation. One step forward for the rights of law students anywhere!
They Thought We Were Stupid (We Weren’t)
Way back in October, the University of Iowa College of Law came forward with a tuition proposition that had the students in an uproar. They may not have been in the streets striking, but social media accounts lit up. None of us understood how the Law School thought we would be okay with the proposal – did we look that stupid?
After attending UIowa Law, I will owe nearly $200,000 in tuition. I owed less than $27,000 after undergrad.
According to reports, the Law School wanted to cut non-resident tuition by almost $8000 (with the cost dropping from $47,252 to $39,500 per year). In order to prop up this cut in non-resident tuition, the College was going to raise resident tuition by approx. $500 (up to about $26,750 per year). It sounded really good, especially when you consider the fact that resident applications have dropped drastically in recent years (actually all applications have dropped; law schools are just slow at admitting it). Since 2010, applications from Iowa Residents have fallen by nearly 50% (from 287 to 173). So with more non-residents coming in, it sounds like a good idea to drop tuition for them right?
The Students however saw the following problems –
So now, the resident tuition hike is hitting both the resident students and the non-residents who have R.A. positions.
Suffice to say, students were unhappy.
The Board of Regents Responds
Thank God for the wonderful UIowa Board of Regents who acknowledged the problems with the plan. As Regent Katie Mulholland said,“If it is fair to lower nonresident tuition, then our resident students ought to have the same opportunity in terms of cost.” (2) The Board went on to state that they were “‘disappointed’ a tuition cut wasn’t proposed by the law school.” (2). Instead, the Board has proposed that, while the non-resident tuition drop will stand, there will also be a $4,464 drop in resident tuition (to $22,284 per year). If the Board approves of the proposal, it will begin taking effect in 2014. Too late to help me, but hopefully it will be beneficial to those student in the future. At least it’s a step in the right direction.
MPRE scores are posted if you took the test Nov. 2013! Meaning I just spent 45 minutes trying to figure out where they were going to show up. Now that I have located it, I thought I’d share the directions in case anyone else was having the same problem. 🙂 CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
Looks like this. You need the “Scaled Score.” Now go check out the State MPRE Requirements to see where your score is sufficient to meet their laws. You need at least a 75, usually higher, for all but Puerto Rico, Maryland, and Wisconsin.
It’s getting to be that time of the year when students start looking at FAFSA’s and considering co-signors. While a lot of people (parents included) frequently co-sign loans for students without reading the fine print, that can actually be very dangerous. Unfortunately may are unaware of the potential problems that loom. With that in mind, Bank of America has posted a great video that explains what the process of cosigning is and what your responsibilities will be. It’s worth checking out!.
“She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city” ~ Roman Payne
Language Translation
Deceptively Blonde 