Only two weeks of school left til I fly out to CA to spend a few days with my brother, Grandma and Aunt/Uncle! Then fly off again to NE to spend the remainder of Christmas break. If the plane isn't delayed, then I'll actually get to spend Christmas Day with both my family AND my bf.

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This last week was a busy one. Thursday and Friday at school we worked on getting everything setup for the Community Christmas Dinner which we had on Saturday. It wasn't as much work as in the past two years (if you remember, I played Mrs. Clause the first year), but there also wasn't as much stuff donated to give away. It was a little sad on Friday afternoon around 1:30 ... everything was pretty much done and there were loads of people just standing around wondering what to do. That never was a problem the last two years!!

The dinner went pretty well overall, although we did have some people kind of complaining about the lack of stuff. They'd take the bag of food or the bucket of food and then come by the Santa's Workshop line and ask me, "Is this it?" With a big smile on my face I would respond, "Yes, it is! Merry Christmas!"

I really didn't think we'd have enough toys for all the kids - but amazingly we did! They were getting pretty scarce towards the end (especially the girl toys) but every kid got a stuffed animal and a toy!

There were a total of 1,063 people who came through and were served a turkey/ham dinner, received a bucket or bag of food, a blanket, a jacket and toys for the kids. (although towards the end we did run out of blankets and jackets - probably the last 70 or so people didn't get those)

All I can say is that I'm glad it's over!!

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In Round 1 of the 6 month long Dietbet I'm participating in, I won $18.10!

It's kind of a sad commentary on people's reading comprehension though .. on the db site there have been a lot of people complaining about how the winnings are stacking up. I really want to smack a few of them upside the head and ask .. did you read the rules and FAQ's before signing up?? It's explained pretty darn clearly. If you didn't like it, why did you sign up?!

I'd like to suggest to the db team before the next one they do like this that before you pay for your bet, that you have to pass a ten question quiz to ensure that you actually READ the material!!

Ugh!

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So on Friday I was at Walmart (what a zoo! NE tells me I should shop on Tuesday or Thursday instead to avoid the masses ... thinking about it.) I hadn't found a battery for my fitbit here in little T, so decided to get one at Walmart. What a racket! The same battery I could have gotten 5 of for $1.29 + free shipping from Ebay (which I did actually, but unfortunately my Paypal address is from three addresses ago ....) was $6.51!! I bit the bullet though because I really wanted to get started using my fitbit.

I think I like it so far. Yesterday with standing/bouncing (to try to keep warm) it only recorded 1,300 steps in 4 hours. But today with doing my weight routine and then a 35 minute walk (back and forth through my house) I managed a bit over 4k steps. Tomorrow will be very interesting to see how many steps I do on one of my 3 busiest work days.

I've linked the fitbit to My Fitness Pal, GymPact, Achievemint and to Walgreen's Balance Rewards.

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We had a two-hour delay on Thursday due to the snow/ice. One of our staff (title 1 teacher) rolled her car on the way in - she was unhurt thankfully. Saturday night another snowstorm rolled in. I wouldn't be shocked if we didn't have a two hour delay again tomorrow. (would love a snow day, but really doubt that'll happen)

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Groupon had a deal for a Journey concert in ABQ on May 20. I ran it by NE (he loves Journey too) but he didn't think it'd be a good idea since that'll be my last week here and it'll be busy finishing up packing, etc. Boo. He's right, just hate that he's right.

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I have all the stuff I need to make the soaps for Christmas ... just haven't gotten around to doing it yet. MUST get it done by a week from Monday!!

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My birthday is next Sunday. I usually take myself out to eat and sometimes to a movie as well. This year though I'm thinking that I'll just get a slice of cheesecake from Walmart on Friday and rent a newer movie I haven't seen yet (maybe Tiger Eyes) and stay at home. Be much cheaper monetarily and calorie wise than going out to eat/to a theater .. plus I'm going to have two weeks away from home where I won't have a lot of control over food ... so I need to be careful if I'm going to make the Round 2 weigh in on January 5/6!

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Just got the call - 2 hour delay tomorrow! Woo hoo! I can sleep in again.