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Archive for February, 2011

Redbox and Groupon Deal

February 27th, 2011 at 09:17 pm

If you like getting movies from Redbox, right now there is a Groupon deal to get 3 one-night rentals for $1 (including tax). Make sure to go through Trialpay if you do Swagbucks! Smile

If you aren't a member of Groupon yet,

Text is this link and Link is http://gr.pn/hSXxNJ
this link will take you directly to the Redbox/Groupon deal. *disclaimer - it is my referral link

Hurry though, who knows how long before it sells out (there were over 50,000 sold when I bought mine)

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In other news ... just got back from a 5 hour long tutoring session. Attempting to get the Junior boy caught up with his English reading assignments! Fun, fun!

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Oh my!

I posted a profile on Christian Mingle last week because they actually had an option for my particular faith. I've been getting lots of matches sent my way that *don't* match the 4 or 5 areas I noted as the most important (i.e. faith, smoking/drinking, etc.) So today I decided to do a keyword search. I could NOT believe it, but on the first page of results was a guy I'd dated my Sophmore year of college!! He's divorced and has kids and lives in PA. I was 19, and he was 24 at the time.

I'm tempted to send him a message ... but not so tempted as to spend the $30 for a one-month subscription plan!

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Edit to add!

I forgot to mention this fantastic book I read this weekend - House Rules by Jodi Picoult. It is about an 18 year-old boy with Asperger's who is obscessed with forensics (think CSI). He and his family's world is rocked by a death in their town. Fascinating read - each chapter/section is the story told from one of the characters viewpoints.

I also just started "because of mr. terupt" written by Rob Buyea. So far I'm really enjoying it. It is about a first-year fifth-grade teacher told from the viewpoints of his students. Like the other book, each chapter/section is one person's viewpoint. Great book for fourth and up.

Capstone done!!!! Test news :)

February 21st, 2011 at 01:43 am

tonight at 6:40 pm I submitted my 3 essays for Capstone. I was SO nervous clicking the submit button.

After submitting, I went to my class board and saw a bunch of people had received their test scores for the school librarian certification exam -- and passing! So since I'd already turned in my essays I decided to check.

I passed!!!!! The min score is 240 and I got a 253 - so it was close. But all that matters is that I passed. Big Grin Big Grin

Now I just have to pass Capstone, and I'm pretty much home free towards my Masters.

Groupon :) taking a break from research

February 19th, 2011 at 03:53 am

i got an email on Tuesday telling me that someone had purchased a groupon through my referral link. So that meant I had a $10 credit. Big Grin. Then Wednesday morning I had an email for a groupon for a local movie/dinner theater - ticket + lg popcorn for $6. So I went through Swagbucks and bought two. Total cost - $2! Plus got 315 Swag. I was going to tell SD about it, but it sold out! So now I can go to a first run movie for less than the dollar theater!!

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I am only 2 1/2 parts done with my Capstone essays. I can't even begin to say how stressful this week has been. I am so thankful it is Friday night and I can take a guilt free break till Sat night. (my Sabbath is from Fri sundown to Sat sundown$.

Capstone - Ugh!

February 16th, 2011 at 03:53 am

Today is day 2 of He** Week, aka Capstone. During this week I have the utmost pleasure of researching and writing 3 1500 - 2500 word essays chosen from a list of ten possible questions.

Yesterday I started off with fire, chose the three questions which most interested me, and was off finding resources. I thought I'd amassed a good amount of sources for each of the questions by about 1 p.m., so decided to start on the first essay. It was the one I had the least amount of sources for, so I thought it would be the most difficult to write.

After pounding my head against the wall immeasurable times, and taking a few mental health breaks, by 9:30 p.m. I had pounded out 1438 words. Not quite 1500, but close enough for a first draft.

Today I broached the second essay. As I reread the question to refresh my memory, and started to really delve into the research articles - I realized there was a problem. The research, while on topic, did not fit the scope of the question. So ... I spent another four hours attempting to find research that DID fit. Nada. Feeling as though I was about ready to pull my hair out strand by strand, I took Buddy out for a potty break. While on my way there, my SD noticed my stress level was quite high and he made a suggestion - why not look at the list of questions and see if there is something else you could try?

After getting a bite to eat, I came back and took a fresh look at the list. I chose another question which I thought was a good possibility, and then checked to see how many sources I could find for it. Yes! A good amount of sources that were on target! So I started printing them out. Ran out of black ink, and am almost out of color ink. One of the sources has its entire background in color - ugh! - so I'm not printing that one. I've read through all of the source materials, and have a good idea of where I'll go with it.

Tomorrow I'll work on actually writing it. Tonight I'm plumb worn out.

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One of the procrastinating things I did tonight while searching some of the more reputable internet sites for info was to click on an interesting link. That link led me to the discovery of a new and very cool add on for Firefox and Chrome. I of course had to try it out, and then I wrote a blog post about it for my living frugal blog - complete with screen shots. Big Grin After that is when I was able to commence with reading my new sources. Big Grin Big Grin

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Now I think I'm going to spend some time catching up on the blogs here. Big Grin Good use of my limited time, don't you think? Smile

Extra Monies, Tutoring, Old Friends

February 12th, 2011 at 02:47 am

Yesterday I received the $5 in Paypal money I'd redeemed on Swagbucks, and tonight I received the $25 in Amazon Gift Cards I'd also redeemed on Swagbucks. So I've now earned $205 since late October through Swagbucks! Nice!

This morning I also finally reached the cash out amount of $25 for Sidetick. All I do on that site is open one email on their site every day and post a comment on the daily blog. That earns me $.50/day. The verification email says it will take up to 15 days to receive it. The clock is ticking!! Smile

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Yesterday I had a full day of tutoring! Yay! One of the two boys I normally tutor on Wednesday afternoons had a bunch of makeup work from being out with asthma, and then again with flu. So his mom asked me to come back again today. Normally I won't do Friday after 4 pm tutoring, but since the sun wasn't setting til after 6, I decided to go ahead and do it.

I also will be tutoring the Junior student on Sunday morning for a couple hours. He's decided that he wants to test out on a course he'd taken via correspondence but failed. So we'll be studying for the test over the next 4 or 5 Sundays.

My income for February will still be quite bleak, but not quite as bleak as I was fearing.

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Tonight I was on FB and the husband of one of my good friends whom I haven't been in contact with since mid-September messaged me. It wasn't really to say hi or to connect back with me, but to tell me about a business opportunity. I'm mighty skeptical, but I really don't think he'd take me down a bad path. I told him I can't really think too much about it right now, but after the 20th when I'm done with Capstone, I may have time to look into it. It's something about tax-free income and retirement ...

I told him that the first thing that comes to my mind when I see "tax-free" income is SCAM. So he then tells me that he did his due diligence on this whole thing and truly believes its legit. Will have to see it for myself I guess.

Netflix on Hold, Scholarship, etc.

February 9th, 2011 at 07:31 pm

I finally did the deed of putting Netflix on hold yesterday. It would have charged me for another month today. I felt really conflicted about it because I do get so much use out of it - not just personal use, but use as a tutoring tool as well. (At least twice I used it with one tutoring student to watch television programs for an assignment.)

But I got to looking at my money situation again - especially considering that in February I'm going to be WAY short on tutoring income thanks to illness of students and weather - and my heart started pounding faster. Not that $10/month is really going to make that much difference ... but it is something.

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One of the things that had me worried is that my scholarship money had not credited yet - and the uni site was not showing account information. Thankfully late yesterday evening I got an email telling me that my scholarship had credited, and my account was paid in full.

I was seriously contemplating taking money out of my ROTH. I may still have to end up doing that ... but I'm going to wait till I'm down to my last $500. Gulp.

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I'm thinking that from now on I'm going to be getting paypal credits for Swagbucks instead of the Amazon cards. If my computer starts really getting finicky, I probably can give it more life with a reformat. I had to do that a few years ago, and it perked it up.

I can't do paypal for all the sites I work on, but for those I do, I think cash probably would be better than Amazon credits right now. Although I can use the AGC for quinoa/lentils, etc.

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School was canceled once again today. Mom called me and told me the roads were fine and she doesn't understand why the schools were closed. She talked me into doing my tutoring with the family we do together - just a few hours earlier than normal on a Wednesday. I hope she's right. I really could use that $50.

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I'm doing awful on the 100 day challenge - to put it mildly. Sigh.

Not Going to Panic

February 6th, 2011 at 05:44 am

So the other day ex SD/landlord tells me I need to be sure I either have a job lined up by May when I graduate, or a new place to live. His new sweetheart is threatened by me and Buddy (he's been dating her since mid December. ) Fine, I understood that and heck, that's my goal!

Move to tonight. He gets home and tells me that he's putting the house on the market. So ... Depending on how fast/long it takes, I may be searching for new living quarters well before May.

Just what I need. Not.


I knew this situation was too good to last. I really don't know what I'm going to do. I have a possibility of a room near my church - but all my tutoring is over here.

This also means one to two changes of address this year. I was hoping to only move once - to wherever my new job is.

Ugh and ugh.

Road Hazzards

February 6th, 2011 at 12:16 am

Two days in a row I had clear indications that someone (God) is looking out for me.

Friday afternoon I spent about an hour shoveling the snow and ice off the driveway around my car and clearing my car off. I *really* wanted to get out and did need some groceries (after having been stuck in the house since Monday.) So ... off I went.

Getting out of the neighborhood wasn't too bad. 35 (highway) was pretty backed up, so I decided to take the access road. For the first bit, the access road wasn't too bad - it was made into one lane instead of three due to the snow and other ice/dirt/sand, etc. Then I started going up the hill to where I turn left at a stoplight. There were two cars already stopped at the light. I started slowing down immediately -- but it wasn't soon enough. I could feel that my car was not going to stop.

I started to pump on the brakes and tried to turn with the slide. I ended up stopped not even 1/2" from the rear bumper of the car in front of me, turned sideways into the other lane. Thankfully no one else was around.

I was really questioning just *why* I wanted to go out.

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This morning I debated for quite awhile about the wisdom of going out to church. I have what is a 40 - 45 minute drive on a beautiful and clear day. Knowing that there would probably be kids coming for Primary (aged 2nd grade to ten years) and that J would be counting on me to help count money... I made the decision to go.

I decided to wear pants and flats. I don't remember the last time I wore pants or flats to church - if ever. Thankfully I wasn't the only one who did that. Smile

About 8 minutes into my drive as I was getting off 35 (highway) and on to 170 (a minor roadway) I started sliding again. Again, I attempted to control the slide by pumping my brakes and steering with it. Thankfully, there were no cars around me. Five minutes later, at least ten or more cars were heading down that same ramp.

I ended up sliding into the curb. After stopping, I backed up and went to a gas station that was right nearby to check damage. As far as I could tell, I had not damaged the tire or anything else. I didn't notice any pulling as I was driving either. Hopefully the only damage was to my nerves!

I took a snails pace all along 170 and then 114. Parts of the roads were clear, but parts were still clearly covered in ice - only with ruts from previous vehicles. I saw numerous vehicles in ditches or rammed into side rails. Several times I did a little slipping and sliding while managing to keep moving forward. I noticed a number of other vehicles doing the same. Finally I reached 121 where I had clear, dry roads.

My 45 minute drive took an extra 30 minutes.

Coming home, it was 47 degrees Celsius and everything was melting.
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Whooh!

Book Lovers and MyPoints Users - A great deal!

February 4th, 2011 at 04:47 pm

If you haven't already heard about this, there is a great deal right now going on with groupon and Barnes and Nobles. You can buy a gift certificate for $10 that will give you $20 worth of purchases.

If you use that gift certificate through MyPoints, you get 10 points per dollar (200 points.) If you got the email from MyPoints, you also get an additional 80 points. If you use your MyPoints Visa to purchase the groupon, you get an additional 20 points (2 points per dollar when shopping through MyPoints.)

* I almost forgot! This purchase counts towards your 3 purchases to qualify for a $10 gift card. Thanks to gift cards, this is my third purchase! So essentially I'm getting the books free. Big Grin

If you're not a member of groupon and didn't get the email, this is my link for

Text is groupon and Link is http://my.groupon.com/r/uu11907395
groupon. Smile If you're not a member of MyPoints ... my link for that is on the sidebar. Big Grin

I snagged 6 nookbooks for a little less than $20. Total actually spent was $10 - so that's about $1.63 per book! Sweet!

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Going on Day 4 of being snowed in. We got another 4 or 5 inches over night. Supposedly its going to warm up tomorrow. So I might just be able to get out to go to church!

Snow Day 2!

February 3rd, 2011 at 01:15 am

My Internet still wasn't working this morning. So finally SD plugged the direct connection in to my computer. Five minutes later the power went out. When it came back on fifteen minutes later, the Internet was working! I think the main router needed to be reset, and that's what the power going out did. Hopefully it'll continue to work!

I had a disturbing message today when I logged on to my university account. I wanted to see if the scholarship money had gone through yet. In place of where the money due usually is, it said "student account information not available until unenrollment process is complete. " Yikes! Of course the uni is closed today and tomorrow, so there is no one I can call.

My mom went out today to tutor. She was going to work with the s 4 boys we do together. But there front gate was frozen shut!! She said the roads were pretty bad, and I was smart to not go out.

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I have an Aunt and Uncle who are missionaries in Egypt. My Aunt is currently in the US staying with her mom who is terminally I'll. She's been sending out updates from my Uncle - they are in a town right by Cairo. As of this morning my uncle wasn't worried. But some of the CNN reports since then make it look like the situation is explosive. I hope we have another update tomorrow.

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I can't do very much schoolwork because the rolling power outages in Texas messed up the university li libraries servers - which means no online access to research databases.

So I'm doing what I can, and then enjoying time to read. I have several library books, plus 4 books from a birthday gift card.

Right now I'm reading "The Confession" by John Grisham- a legal murder mystery.

Snow Day!

February 2nd, 2011 at 03:41 am

All night the wind and icy rain fell, eventually becoming snow. The warmest it got today was 19 degrees. But with the wind ... much colder. It is supposed to go as low as 8 degrees by Wed morning - coldest temp in Texas since the late 1980's.

Buddy had his first accident since August. Frown I took him out in the am and he was frantic trying to figure out what was going on. Thankfully he got used to it and figured out a good spot to go in. This was his first real experience with snow.

Most schools are closed again tomorrow.

Between today and tomorrow I'm losing $170. But like my stepdad told me - it's less expensive than getting into a wreck!

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I wish I could figure out what is going on with my Internet. On Sunday all ATT customers in our neighborhood were without service. Monday it was back. Today mine went out around 4:30. It's done this before, but usually restarting the computer does the trick. Not so this time.

I guess this is part of what I have to live with relying on a wireless connection. I really hope it's working again tomorrow because I need to get schoolwork done - and the library won't be open.