Well, while a lot of the big things didn’t get done today, I finally managed to get something little done. I finally figured out, courtesy of Netscape’s search function, how to contact the Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation.
Both girls have RESPs with them, but my ex had the new plan information and I only had the old plan documentation. It didn’t have a phone number on it, that I could find. I found the number by typing in “Canadian+Scholarship+Trust+Fund”, which is what it was called when we originally signed up on it. I found an 877 number to call, called it and found out that Memere has a good start on her university funds for next year. All she needs to get the funds is an acceptance letter from the UofR.
It’s just a little thing, that phone call, but given that Memere has finally applied for a SIN card, I figured that I could do something about finding her some university funds. The worst that could happen, I thought, was that they couldn’t find the information and I’d have to get Memere to hound her father for the information. It was much easier than I thought, and now I have good news to pass on to Memere when she comes home. It’s not a huge amount of money, but it will help lower the amount of student loan money she had to acquire. It’s something.
I still have finished my baking yet, and I only have a few days left before everything has to be handed out, what with school ending for the holidays and people going off to family. It’s going to be a tight squeeze, I think, making both cookies and muffins. If I don’t get both done, it’ll be something that the girls and I can do after Christmas and before they head off to MJ.
I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but we’re going to have a real tree. For a change, the presents are wrapped and ready to go under the tree before we picked up the darn thing. I’m thinking that Friday or Saturday would be a good day to pick up the tree. The price will have come down somewhat and the tree will still be in good condition. It also means that there won’t be quite as much opportunity for the cats to play in the tree – or try to. The main problem is going to be keeping them out of the ornaments, I think. Followed by reminding them that this tree isn’t the same as the one outside across the street. They can’t spray it, climb it, claw it or do any other fancy things with it.
Tree-training cats is going to be an adventure in itself, I think. Maybe I should make sure I have enough film for the camera.
Now that I think about it, though, maybe we won’t throw the tree out come January. I can lop off the branches and the cats will have a nice scratching post. We’ll see how it goes, I think. With the snow we have both front and back, finding a sturdy place to do the ‘tree trimming’ will be hard. Maybe I’ll just get the landlord to do it for me. He can use the branches and the top of the tree as compost/wood chips.
