My one remaining student still hasn't paid me for May. He'd asked me if I could wait until he found out for sure when his final was ... I agreed. Then the next day I pointed out to him that if he wanted me to help him with the English class, it didn't matter when the final was -- and that I needed him to pay me by Friday. He must have forgot, and I also forgot, because the entire session we were working on the (thankfully!!!) open book test.

I know for sure that I have A's in two of my classes. In my third class I am pretty much finished with the final test, but am just waiting for a reply from the instructor regarding a few questions I had.

I've been enjoying myself soaking up book after book -- ones I want to read, and can enjoy without having to worry about writing something about them later.

My mom and I have played 4 games of Words With Friends in the last week. She's won two, I've won one (and am probably going to win the current one).

I've not been doing very well with food or money lately. They kind of go hand in hand for me. The more my gut tightens about not having money, the easier it is for me to spend money --- not on good, healthy food -- but on junk food. I'd been doing so well on No-S, sticking to just the weekends for my sweet tooth -- but of the last two weeks especially ... not good. It's almost like I get this voice in my head that tells me --well the money's gonna run out sometime one way or the other, whether you're careful or not ... may as well enjoy some of it.

I'll get back on track, I always do. I just wish I was stronger and could tell that "voice" (for lack of better terminology) to shut the hey up!

---
In good money news ...

I got my tax refund --- $62! Yay! I'd been planning on using some of it for a hair cut, but with what I'm bringing in for May, and nothing lined up at all for June yet ... guess I won't be getting a hair cut any time soon.

Also, after a bit of a mess with half.com (they had an old checking account on file for me -- and I had to verify my identity in order to update) I finally am getting paid for the two textbooks I sold. (Actually, I sold three. But before I mailed out the third one, the buyer asked for a refund. Supposedly had dropped the class.) So ... that's $59.62.

----

I've been really considering what to do with my things in the storage building. That rent eats $79 a month. I'd say the unit is about half-full -- it was the smallest non-climate controlled one. The climate controlled ones start at $99/mo.

I have approximately another year before I could possibly get into a place of my own again. So, the 4 months it's already been in storage, plus 12 more would be a total of 16 x $79 = 1264.

What's in storage? 5 bookshelves of varying sizes, approximately 15 boxes of books, ~5 boxes of photos/games/DVD's/memorabilia, ~10 boxes of kitchen and bathroom stuff, 3 boxes of decorative items, elliptical, 2 dressers (1 is my childhood dresser the other is a normal dresser), 2 nightstands, futon/couch,computer desk/hutch,and some other miscellaneous items.

I could see selling the elliptical with no problem. The futon/couch I could sell, although I was thinking I could use that as my bed whenever I get into my new place. The childhood dresser ... mostly held on to for sentimental value, as well as the hope to use it for a child of my own someday -- very dim hope. It's not very big, but is sturdy. The books ... I suppose I could cull them down to only 5 boxes worth, if I absolutely had to.

The thing is, even if I did manage to cull the items down to even half of what I have right now ... the smaller units wouldn't be cheaper. Or, if I somehow found another place with cheaper smaller units, I'm not sure the savings would equal out the cost of renting a truck to move the items.

Ugh. I don't see a way to effectively cut this expense. Although, maybe I should go ahead and try to sell the elliptical. I probably couldn't get more than $50 for it though ... it would be more than nothing.

---
Is anyone else having a problem getting notified about responses to blog posts? I've gone back and checked a number of blogs where I commented, and found that there'd been subsequent comments - but I'd not gotten any notice of it.

---
Well, can't think of anything else halfway interesting right now. Hope everyone has a good weekend -- and Happy Mother's day to all the mom's!