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Archive for May, 2009

Mending

May 30th, 2009 at 02:45 am

I have a pair of black knit jersey pants. They were given to be by a co-worker amongst a bunch of other items she was parting with as she lost weight. Of all the items she gave me, these pants have proven to be the most useful.

Unfortunately, there was a small hole in the pants. Fortunately, the hole was in an area where no one was likely to see it unless I sat cross legged, or in other unladylike positions. Big Grin

I wore them a lot. The hole grew and grew. Finally a couple months ago it was getting big enough to where I wondered if it might be noticeable soon. So, I bought a small sewing kit for $1.

I mentioned it to my mom, and she told me to just throw them out.

I don't think she realized how difficult it is for me to find pants that *work* for me - plus, I really just like these pants.

So, like I mentioned yesterday, I can sometimes, err..., procrastinate. Remember the sewing kit I bought two MONTHS ago?

I opened it today - this morning. I sewed up the hole - which luckily was along the seam line. I turned the pants inside out first -- and it turned out beautifully. Smile

So now I can sit in unladylike positions with these pants on and not worry about giving views of things that are not fit for public viewing. Big Grin

I was pretty proud of myself - I hadn't ever mended something before, and the last sewing class I had was in 1990.

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Hey, if you ever need a little motivation to do your workout, check out this video:

Text is Dog Doing Squats and Link is http://holy-cuteness.blogspot.com/2009/05/japanese-border-collie-doing-squats.html
Dog Doing Squats . (Yes, it is again from one of my favorite blogs to get a laugh.)

Defrosting & First Step Grad School

May 29th, 2009 at 02:15 am

Wednesday was my day off from the gym. I had lots of ideas of things I'd get done ... but then I opened up my freezer and realized that it really had gotten bad.

My freezer is a hand me down from my parents. It is well over 20 years old and is HUGE. It also has a bum leg which has to be propped up in order to keep the freezer stable and the door sealed tightly.

Last week apartment management came by and did their "inspect electrical plugs" tour. I had unplugged everything I reasonably could - with the exception of the freezer. There was no way I was going to try to move that behemoth and unplug it - especially with not knowing when ..or if .. they'd actually come.

I arrived home one day last week to find a note letting me know they'd been through. They had obviously unplugged both my fridge and my freezer, because both were noticeably out of place.

I noticed that the freezer wasn't totally frozen, but just checked the door. After a few days I realized that when they pulled it out to unplug it, they had pulled the unstable leg off the deck of notecards used to stabilize it.

I procrastinated about doing anything about it.

Then yesterday morning I opened it up and saw that nearly the entire first shelf was full of ice. Ooops.

So I spent the next 7 hours defrosting the monster. It never did get totally defrosted - the roof and first shelf still had bits of ice on it - and that was after taking cups of hot water and a blowdryer to it. But it was close to my bedtime, and I decided it was good enough.

Unfortunately, I did end up having to throw out a good bit of food. Some of it was food in packages that tore while I force freed them from their icy tombs, and other packages were frozen fruit which had um... melted and refroze and melted again.

Somehow everything that was left just barely fit into my upper freezer on my fridge.

It's a good thing I don't have to pay for electricity, because I'd really hate to find out how much kilowatts the freezer is using.

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I *finally* submitted my application for grad school last week and got busy with having all my transcripts sent. Today I received an email telling me that the first glance through my application was complete, and that I met the basic requirements for the main grad school. It now is being sent on to the Library Sciences department.

Now I just have to print out my essay and mail it in along with my Library Sciences application. Then wait and see. Smile

It Pays To Wait & Make Way For Ducklings

May 20th, 2009 at 02:15 am

Last month when I transferred my prescription to Tom Thumb to get the $30 gift card, I received a $25 check from Walgreens which would be good if I transferred a prescription to them. So this past weekend I transferred the same prescription back to them and had the check validated.

I debated about using it today or tomorrow, and came **very close to waiting. But, I didn't.

What did I find in my email box when I got home? An email from Walgreen's saying that on Wednesday or Thursday if you spend $25, you get $5 off (using the coupon included in the email.) Argh!!!

I couldn't have used it anyway, since my printer still isn't working. It's just the thought though - if I'd waited one more day and my printer was working, I could have saved another $5, so I'd have gotten $30 worth of merchandise for free.

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Ok, another video from one of my favorite pick me up blogs. Big Grin And funnily enough, it relates to one of my favorite children's stories, Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McClouskey.

Enjoy!

Text is The Banker and the Ducklings and Link is http://holy-cuteness.blogspot.com/2009/05/banker-rescues-ducklings.html
The Banker and the Ducklings

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Thanks to my book blog, I have received a free children's book! It arrived in my mailbox this weekend, and I read it while I was waiting to go in to my friend's daughters ballet recital. Adorable!

(My friend's daughter is graduating from Kindergarten on Wednesday night. I remember feeding her with a bottle when she was just a few days old! Time flies!)

I'll be reviewing it on my
Text is Children's book and Link is http://www.childrensbooksforstorytime.com
Children's book blog - it should be posted in the next hour or so.

I Reformatted My Computer - On Accident

May 17th, 2009 at 04:17 am

Yay me! Uh... maybe not. So my computer's been giving me problems. Been running slower and slower, and freezing up for no apparent reason. Last night it froze up on me once again. So, I turned it off (the hard turn off - couldn't get the soft turn off to work) and turned it back on. Got the blue screen.

Great.

So, I turned it off again, and then tried to turn it back on into the safe mode. Unfortunately, instead of entering safe mode, I must have hit the key to enter into recovery.

Once in that mode, there was no way to get out of it. I had two choices, a complete reformatting where I'd lose everything, or just a recovery of messed up files.

I chose the second option. Three hours later I found out that it hadn't mattered that I chose the second option -- everything was wiped out anyway.

In a way, this could have been a good thing -- if I had done it by choice. There were a number of text documents I would have liked to have not lost - could have emailed them to myself. Then there were also a bunch of photos I hadn't uploaded to Snapfish yet, which I could have uploaded.

All gone now.

But, the good thing is that my computer seems to be running quite fast again. I just now have to try to find all the links I'd had in my favorites again.

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I got my final payout from today . com this past Tuesday. And then spent it. Smile I used it to hire someone named LadyJava to make my two blogs look more professional/spiffy. She did a fantastic job, and I felt it was worth every penny to not have to spend more hours trying to figure out how to make them look better on my own.

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I found a neat way to make a few extra dollars which doesn't take much time at all. is a website that pays you to look at advertisements. So far I have received two payments via PayPal - the first one for $2.51, and the second one for $.97. They pay every Friday.

To get the most amount of paid ads, enter the least personal info possible. They do have a referral program. If you sign up for the service using my link (above) then I will get up to $1 ($.01 per ad click through the first 100 ads.)

In the past two and half weeks since I signed up with YouData, I have maybe spent 15 minutes on their website (including signing up) and earned $3.62.
No, not a lot of money, but the little bits add up. Smile

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Okay, here is yet another link to one of my favorite pick me up blogs -- This one will appeal to cat lovers and do it yourself'ers alike. Big Grin

Text is Kitty Whack A Mole and Link is http://holy-cuteness.blogspot.com/2009/05/kitty-whack-mouse.html
Kitty Whack A Mole

Happy Mother's Day!

May 11th, 2009 at 12:29 am

To all the mother's on Saving Advice ..
Happy Mother's Day!

Here is a cute video dedicated to Mom:

Text is To Mom and Link is http://holy-cuteness.blogspot.com/2009/05/happy-mothers-day.html
To Mom

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I just got back from spending time with my mom. Got my laundry done there too. Big Grin

We played Monopoly on my stepdad's PS3 -- he won! (By a landslide.)

Today I helped my mom set up her own blog on blogger. Last time I was at her house, I set her up on Facebook. Big Grin

I think Dave (my stepdad) probably wishes I wasn't introducing her to all these computer places (timewasters ....)

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I got transcript request forms printed out for all the colleges I attended, and will be faxing them tomorrow.

I have definitely passed the deadline for the Spring semester, but have until July 15 for the Fall semester. So, I will (if accepted) be able to start my Masters in January.

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Yesterday I posted about some of my beloved pets on the
Text is Living Frugal and Simple and Link is http://www.livingfrugalandsimple.com/2009/05/phot-hunt-in-memory.html
Living Frugal and Simple blog. Some of you may remember me talking about them from time to time.

The Lost is Found

May 7th, 2009 at 12:25 am

If you recall, when I came back from my California trip in January, my Toll Tag was missing. I'd looked and looked for it, but it was nowhere to be found. So, finally I gave up and got another Toll Tag, which I had to pay a $25 replacement fee for.

So on Monday I was to open up at the gym. The gym key wasn't in my purse where I normally put it. A search of my apartment and subsequently my car did not turn it up. In the end, I had to call security to let me in. (Subsequently, I found it in my makeup bag!)

While searching for the gym key, lo and behold I found the Toll Tag! It was in an area of my car that I was *sure* I'd checked carefully before.

So, today on my one weekday away from the gym, I trouped over to the Toll Tag place and turned it in. They in turn gave me a $25 credit on my account, which is roughly 4 weeks of tolls.

Yay!

----- *Warning - The following is a bit of a ramble, bit of whiny, bit of long.

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I think I mentioned a few weeks ago how one of the gym regulars gave me a job posting for an admin asst who also needed to be able to translate Spanish/English. I let him know of course, that that wasn't in my skill zone.

Well, yesterday he came by at least 4 times, as well as calling me a couple times -- with two new job postings. One was in the insurance part of his company (needing someone with math and analytical skills... cough...cough...) and the other was in the engineer part.

I'm torn. Should I attempt to go for either of these positons or not? The money, no question about it, would be significantly better - and I can only guess about the benefits. But.. both of these are full-time/permanent positions.

If, on the off chance I was offered either one, then I would have to do school one-class at a time. Which means it would take two or more years to complete my degree. And, at some point I would have to quit the job in order to do my practicum.

On the other hand, my job at the gym offers the sole benefit of plenty of time for studying, and if needed, I could just cut back on my hours a little, or rearrange my schedule when it's time for the practicum.

The other thing is, that it may be that I won't be able to start school until January. I *may* have missed the deadline for applying for the Fall semester, let alone the summer sessions. (The deadline, as far as I can tell, was March 1.)

So, what I'm trying to figure out is, should I tell him thanks for looking out for me on these job opps, but I'm ok with where I'm at for now. Or, should I go ahead and see what happens ... then if I get the job, it'd take me that much longer to finish school, or maybe I'd just not go back to school at all....

I think the main reason I'm having a conundrum about this is the fact that this person is personally recommending me.

As far at the gym job and payment issues .. E told me that as a result of his mom's inheritance (parents dying recently) his parents are infusing the business with enough to ensure payroll for a long, long time.

It probably is a moot issue anyway. The one position wants someone with math skills, and the other wants someone with *advanced* powerpoint skills. I don't fit well into either needed skill set. Yes, I could learn powerpoint, but with the economy and how many are out there looking, they probably will have 100 people who already have everything they're looking for already - no learning curve needed.

But then my next thought is, what if I do all the schooling to be a librarian, and can't get a job as one? ARggh!

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Like BA posted the other day, about feeling blah. I think that's kind of what I'm feeling too. It's so hard to get myself motivated to do anything. And the few things I manage to make myself do, seem pretty futile.

Prime example -- The last three weeks I've ran on the treadmill 2 x a week. But, I have also now gone slightly past my highest weight ever.

It's really, really hard for me to find enough motivation to post to my new blogs. I was in the middle of a series on my frugalton blog when the whole she-bang with today .. com went down which caused me to essentially stop posting on the today blogs. But now on my new ones, I'm finding it really hard to pick up the rhythm again - especially on the frugal blog. I'd like to pick back up on my series, but feel like I need to backtrack a bit. But most of the people who'd follow me there will have already read what I said previously, so even with a good bit of rewriting, it'll be a rehash.

Part of me just wants to quit on both of those blogs. Maybe if I had a good internet connection at the gym, so had more internet connected time to work on them... because the past few weeks, the only time I have to work on them is Wednesdays, the evenings, and the weekends - and its taking a lot of that time.


I think part of it may be that I'm feeling really, really alone. And I'm really, really missing an ex. Have even thought about emailing him just to say hi.

Recently a different ex contacted me and made me an offer ("friends") - which I refused at the time -- but I sometimes sort of wonder if it wouldn't be such a horrible thing after all.

The one really good thing about maybe getting an office job would be being around people most of the day again. But, then again, it isn't necessarily a good thing.
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Anyway, if you've managed to sludge through the above ... I interviewed the author of Sate of Wilderness and State of Quarries (two books I reviewed recently) and that interview is up on Children's books for storytime.

On the frugal blog I posted on some ideas for mother's day.

Nice surprise :)

May 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 pm

Last night I talked to my dad for awhile. He told me I really should check my mail. Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs with a good bit of lightning thrown in for good measure. So, I didn't get to the mailbox till this morning.

In the mail was a letter from my dad, and an envelope from my grandma. In the letter from my dad was a check for $100 -- for FUN not Savings -- was clearly specified on it. Heh, he knows me so well. Smile It was totally unexpected and so sweet of him. Big Grin

In the envelope from my grandma was a dvd of Les Meserables (the one with Liam Neeson.) Nice! She and I saw the traveling broadway production of it in San Antonio in 1996??

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I spent a good portion of my evening yesterday trying to figure out how to get comment luv off my other blog. Comment luv is this add on that is supposed to make it so that when a person leaves a comment along with the url to their own blog, then a link to their latest post shows up. Well, not only have I not been able to get it to function like that, I also can't figure out what feed the comments are on --- this is a problem because my recent comments widget and my top posts/most popular posts widget can't work either!

Never did figure out how to get it off, but did end up switching to a totally new template/design. I also made my own header for it. Not completely sure I like it just yet. I may need to do a bit more tweaking of the header.

I posted about my

Text is Tom Thumb shopping trip and Link is http://www.livingfrugalandsimple.com
Tom Thumb shopping trip on Living Frugal and Simple.

And on Children's Books for Storytime I posted a review of
Text is Mandie and the Secret Tunnel. and Link is http://www.childrensbooksforstorytime.com/2009/05/book-review-mandie-and-secret-tunnel-by.html
Mandie and the Secret Tunnel. A great children's mystery book (Christian fiction.)

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I feel bad for E, the gym manager. Three weeks ago his grandfather died. Then on Friday his grandmother died. He asked me to call all the gym workers and let them know that the paychecks wouldn't be ready until Wednesday. One person I called and told this to was so callous - saying 'it's always something.'

While that may be true, the poor guy has lost both of his grandparents in less than a months time!

This same person told me that he refuses to do anything other than sit and watch the gym, do towels, etc. If E wanted him to make phone calls to people regarding invoices due, or call other gym workers on various issues, or update the waiver file, he'd have to pay him extra.

Me on the other hand, sees how much E has to do and how overloaded he is. I see how much free time I have while at the gym, and for two reasons: 1. To help E out; and 2. Hope to help E be more ...errr.. organized -- have volunteered to do anything I can to help lighten his load. (which he has taken me up on -- and I still have plenty of time on my hands!)