I had a nice time at my mom's for Thanksgiving. It was a little weird being around her and her current bf (especially after she told me she is trying to get the courage up to leave him ...)

I attended two different churches on Saturday - the one I attended the prior two years, and the one I attended when I taught at my last school. On Wednesday afternoon I'd called my friend T and found out that her daughter was being baptized -- there was NO WAY I could miss that with being in TX!! My mom went with me - she wasn't so sure she wanted to, but in the end she was really glad she did.

I talked to one of the mom's whose son I tutored right before moving to NM. I'd helped him on a big summer time essay about mythology/greek Gods based on the Percy Jackson books. A subject I knew about as much as you can fit on the tip of a pin head. He got a 95% on it. His teachers were really impressed, and now this year are expecting much more out of him -- and he's meeting their expectations. Good for the ol' ego.

Towards the end of the day my mom and I went to see her former bf who wanted to give me some money towards books for school. He also gave us both a red rose with one of those water things on the end of the stem. We couldn't take them home, so were discussing whether to throw them away or not. I suggested finding a couple of women in a parking lot or something, and giving them the roses. Pretty much that is what we did - we stopped at a gas station and gave one to the attendant and one to a customer. It seemed to brighten both their days.

I shopped at Half-Price Books on Friday afternoon -- $175!! Mom's friend gave me $100. So ... after taking the money given to me off, I came under budget. Umm... yeah.

I updated YNAB tonight. Absolutely NO more buying books - unless I have a gift card. (I got a $50 Amazon card in the mail today from Mypoints, and a $5 Amazon gc from Swagbucks yesterday.)

I added up how much I've spent *just* in October and November on books for the library ... roughly $1000!!! Seriously cannot continue this way - I need to keep in mind my numerous savings goals.

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I still had a Target gift card from graduation which I hadn't spent. While I was at mom's, I got to use her nifty blender/food chopper. The one I have has been leaking. So I stopped by Target (heh - was about 8 miles out of my way)on the way home Sunday. I picked up a Ninga blender/food chopper and a combination food steamer/rice cooker plus a bunch of groceries.

I'm really hoping that I can cut down on my food expenses as well. I've been spending *way* too much on food. Lots of junkfood - not good for belt or wallet.

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This Saturday we are having a community Christmas dinner. Anyone in the community can come for a free hot meal (turkey, stuffing, potatoes, etc), clothing, blankets, and toys. It starts at 10:30, but people usually start lining up around 8 a.m.

Snow is predicted for both Friday and Saturday - but one way or the other, the dinner will proceed.

I had signed up to be a server, but today was asked if I'd like to be Mrs. Clause instead. The person who asked me said they thought I'd make a good one because of how I smile all the time and am so friendly and good with the little ones. It was funny when he was asking me what size costume I would need - he sounded so uncomfortable asking.

I think this should be fun.