I emailed Oprah and asked her to register at Upromise.com for me.

Think I'll get a personal response?

Free Rangin'

Well, I posted a plea for help on craigslist.com, and wouldn't you know it....someone resonded and signed me up at Upromise. Apparently it took her 9 years to finish her PhD, so she knows all about struggling with financial aid. Her daughter is only 2 months old, so she figured she'd start saving for me! How kind of her! How compassionate to help a complete stranger.
However...during this whole fiasco, I learned that if you mistakenly type in craiglist.com - without the "S", you get a hardcore porn site. So be careful of your spelling - especially if you're using a computer at the public library, or work, etc. Yick!

A Plea for Help
Remember how I worked my ass off to get my 3.85 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) so that I could get a scholarship? Well, I got a partial scholarship.
Then my 12 year old car took her last ride and I had to get a new one. In order to afford it, I had to scale back on my credits. But, when I went from full-time to part-time status, my good ol' alma mater took away my scholarship. (even after they told me that my fin. aid wouldn't change if I switched status) So....after I'm finished borrowing thousands of dollars at an outrageously high finance rate, I am still $7500.oo short. Unfortunately, there is just no freakin way I can make that plus make my car payments in a year here, in this economically depressed area. It's pathetic....Tell me again why I left booming Annapolis MD for THIS!?!!!?!!! Because right now, I don't remember.
Anyhow, if I have any US readers who would like to help AT NO COST TO YOU, here's how. You can register at Upromise.com. You register your grocery shopping club cards, like stop and shop, Wegman's, Giant, Grand Union, whatever the heck you have....and then those companies put a percentage of what you spend into a Upromise account. Then Upromise releases the money to the registered student's accredited college. This means I won't be able to use the money for things like....more eepers. It's a free service and takes about 5 minutes to register. (You're already online) You can register your credit cards and stuff, too, but I know that stuff sometimes makes people nervous. Your info is safe and secure, says Upromise. I did it, and, obviously, have already gotten the fam on board.
I'm feeling desperate, can you tell?
The thing is, I am already deep in the hole from the first three years of college...then I switched majors, transfered...and had to start from square one. $15,000 x 8.something% finance rate, compounded interest x 4 years x however many years it takes to pay it back + previous student loans = A WHOLE LOT!
If you have kids of your own....do this for them! There is a 529 at Upromise, too, which you can take advantage of....and a Upromise credit card that offers lots of % back...Don't let your kid feel like I do right now. (This is not a dis to my own parents. They did all they could and helped me out the first time around. I don't think Upromise was around when I was a wee one. At the very least my mother didn't know about it, or else she would have done it!)
So, anyway, if you happen to be a kid-free adult, or a kidded adult with lots o' extra bucks, I'd surely appreciate your help. In return, you'd get my utmost gratitude and the knowledge that, once I graduate and get myself financially together, I will turn right around and help out someone else who is struggling.
If you want to help, check out Upromise.com and then email me at luvinratties@yahoo.com.
Thanks.
If you want to help but can't help in this way, send many positive vibes over this way....
ps-all fuzzies doing well. A little hot, but doing well. Ratties go dunking for peas and blueberries every day. Elvis hangs out in his custom made mud hole (and stinks something fierce because of it) and Molly sleeps underneath the picnic table.
Happy weekend, all!

Little Mary is a bit lost without Brie. They were the best of buds, even sticking together at free range time. I still find her head-sleeping alone in the cage while Acorn and Olive snuggle together nearby.
I wish I could tell you all what happened to Brie, but even the vet doesn't know. I brought her in weeks ago for an apparent choking episode. But there was nothing obstructing her airways. The vet didn't think it was a respiratory issue because she still had good color, and yet her breathing became more and more labored as the weeks went by, despite different courses and combinations of antibiotics. Eventually she stopped eating her fav foods and even bit me. She spent an overnight at the vet's and got three nebulizations and lasicks (spelling?) and still no change for the better. She lost weight each week. Her eyes started to bulge and she began to do a bizarre stretching thing with her hind legs, and she kept her fists in tight balls and tried to bite the vet techs. The vet and I decided it was time to let her go. The two vets in the practice agreed that it was probably something neurological fueling the breathing problem and other physical ailments, and 3 weeks is a long time to struggle to breath.
This weekend Steve and I are going to split an avacado with the ladies, in honor of Brie. It was her very favorite.

Brie

12/11/05 - 7/06/06