pennies from heaven (or, somewhere, hopefully)

Ever since the fall, I've been having panic attacks in my sleep. I wake up, heart racing, afraid I've missed some major deadline for Tide's high school applications.

I was so glad when we finally got them all sent in. I knew I just needed to fill out the paperwork for financial aid and scholarships, which I'm hoping will factor in heavily because Catholic high schools around here cost almost $20,000/year. (I know, right?) But those weren't due until February.

*insert ominous music here*

On Saturday morning, I woke up in a panic about the financial aid forms. So I decided to pull them out and start working on them right away, even though they weren't due for a few weeks.

*ominous music again*

Except one of the forms had been due 4 days before.

I MISSED THE DEADLINE.

Holy freak out! My stomach dropped, my pulse raced, my scalp went cold.

HOW DID I MISS THE FREAKING DEADLINE????

I did a quick review of the process and realized that you could do the form online (which gets processed immediately) or by mail (which takes 10-12 days), so I PRAYED that if I did it online, mine would actually get there BEFORE the people who did it by mail (IF they waited until the last day which is probably what I would have done HAD I KNOWN WHEN THE LAST DAY WAS.)

We spent a few hours filling out the form online. It actually made us look rather poor.

How many kids do you have in tuition paying institutions? 4
How much will the total tuition be for next year? MUCH more than I made in my first job.
How much are your cars worth? The minivan with all the bike and scooter scratches on the side and the dent from when I backed into that tree in the preschool parking lot? {WHO PLANTS A TREE IN A PARKING LOT?} Or the Suburu with the baseball-sized dents on the hood and roof from parking too close to baseball practice? Either way? NOT MUCH.
How much did you spend on vacation last year? ZERO
How much money in your savings account? What savings account?
How much did you have in un-reimbursed medical expenses last year? Enough to make me cry.
How much will your medical insurance premiums cost this year? TWICE what they cost last year. For even LESS coverage. {sob}

Come to think of it, those financial aid forms are downright depressing.

I submitted the form online and faxed a copy to the school immediately with a cover letter begging for mercy and offering up my children as indentured servants. Then I called on Tuesday (after the MLK holiday). No answer. Left a message. No call back. Called again the next day. Waited again.

Then, FINALLY, a call back.

"It's all fine. No worries. That date is arbitrary. We won't start looking at those for a few weeks."

I can't TELL you how relieved I was. I would have popped open some champagne, but it was only 3 in the afternoon. Also, next year, when I fill out the financial aid form, it might ask how much champagne I've drunk. I need to say zero.

Box wine only here.



Housekeeping note: I haven't used the Laundry for Six Facebook page for much besides linking to new posts. (Which, I know, have been few and far between.) But I'm going to start posting status updates over there, which will hopefully bridge the gap between posts over here, until I can get myself on some sort of regular schedule again. So if you haven't Liked me on Facebook, click on over there.