College Costs

By now, both the husband and I are actively saving for baby’s college. I have used one of those online college savings calculators. The tragedy is that at 6 months, we are already behind. According to the savings calculator, the cost of university in 2028, when baby goes to college (InshAllah), four years of school will cost just a little under $400,000! For us to achieve that in 18 years, the husband and I have to put in $662 per month. Sadly, we do not have that kind of money. Maybe in a few years, when hopefully my earning potential will be more, we can put that kind of money away. Right now baby has a 529 plan, which is something; though like a 401k, the 529 plan fluctuates with the market and in the last quarter we lost money, ugh.

All of this is to preface what I am actually writing about; college athletes. I recently heard how there is some talk of giving top college athletes money, paying them. The reason behind this is because these students, i.e. the football or basketball players, are bringing in millions and millions of dollars for the college. Grant you, that statement is true, but to me these college athletes are already making money in that they are getting a free education! That is an average of a $100,000 savings. They will graduate with no student loans – a clean slate! As someone who has a student loan, I must say not having a loan would be amazing! Most of these kids, these college sports kids, will not make it to the big professional leagues, so they should consider it a great gift to get a free education. The school is setting them up to make money, to go right into the plus column upon graduation. That is a great pay-off as far as I’m concerned, better than money that most of these kids would squander anyway.

Books are dead?

I heard the saddest news this week - Borders has filed for bankruptcy. Wow. I'll be honest, of the two big book chains, I did and do like Barnes and Noble better but the reason behind Borders' death frightens me. It seems those electronic readers are taking over. Some pundits are saying that hard physical books are going the way of records.

I hate the thought that physical books might become obsolete. I love actual books. I love flipping the page, I love seeing stacks and stacks of books; browsing these books. My ideal house will be filled with reams of built in bookshelves (naturally with books inside). Do you know, that one time my sister and I spent a Friday night in London, LONDON, hanging out at a bookstore?! This is how much I love books!

My resistance to e-books comes down to one issue, and one serious to me. You can't read an e-book both during take off and landing in a plane. Silly, I know. But we all know, they make you turn all electronic devices off like 20 minutes before the plane actually touches the ground. That is a precious 20 minutes I could have been reading, heck I could be in the middle of a good part and now have to sit around and twiddle my thumbs. Blah.

What makes me sad about Borders' demise is gone are the browsing opportunities. I love browsing through book stores, finding new authors, new stories. You can't really do that on an e-book.

I will say the one and only thing that I see as an advantage for an e-book, less paper, going green.

Hope that the demise of the physical book is not well until the year 3000 when I'm long gone.

And a Good time was had by all

I am finally back from Virginia - actually have been back for a week but adjusting to this new work schedule has me falling asleep early (as well as the fact that the baby wakes up early).

She seems to be getting a bit better at the daycare, though momma still hates to leave her there; because lets face it, nothing can be better than momma care.

I have to say, traveling with a baby, people are amazingly nice! Returning from Washington DC, on the first leg, the gentleman standing behind me on the jet way, saw me struggling with holding baby, diaper bag and roller board carry-on and took the roller board all the way into the plane for me and than placed it over head. Than baby had a bit of a melt down as we were descending into Chicago (our connecting city) and both of the ladies on either side of me, sang and played with baby, very much distracting baby from her screaming. So nice!

On top of all of this, I was able to get a ride on one of those mini-cars inside Phoenix airport, again because I was struggling with all of the things in my arms. oh and I remembered, when I landed in DC, at the baggage claim belt, a woman saw me with the baby and could see I was trying to figure out how to get the suitcase off the belt and she did it for me - and she was a tiny lady like me! So kind! oh and another thing, on the out-bound flight, these teenage boy (BOY) who was sitting behind our row continued to smile, laugh and make faces at baby, who just found that super fun; he was so good to entertain her and not be bothered by her. See, I can come up with more and more examples of the kindness of strangers to a new mommy flying on an airplane by herself, just goes to show you, there is still goodness out there.

Happy Belated 4th of July!

Happy Belated Fourth of July!!!

So sorry I have been awol of late - I'm in Virginia for the week. My parents had the baby's big Christening party over the holiday, the whole extended family came out. It has been so much fun! I think its times like these that help me to get through other difficult times; like if I know I have something to look forward too, than the dull days pass quicker. Does that make sense??

I promise to update upon my return to Arizona next week!