This morning I was walking out my door to head to work and found three wild horses roaming around my front yard and my neighbors yard. I took pictures, but will have to share them tomorrow (need to get to bed!)

Then I talked to my principal this afternoon to let her know about some of the drama (no names) and find out the real story. That went well. At the staff meeting today we were told that contracts should be coming out next week - yay!

Then after the meeting two of my coworkers, myself, and three dogs (two of them one of my coworkers, and one is a loose neighborhood dog who's attached itself to us) were out walking our short route when a dog which is usually penned up tight (sounding quite vicious) came out of nowhere and started attacking my coworkers Newfie! Thankfully the owners were in the yard and were able to call it off ... but holy cow!

At lunch today I ate at home, and just before leaving I finally got the courage up to send an email to old bf asking him if he'd be available to talk. Gulp. He responded saying anytime ...

So tonight after about an hour and a half of finding every reason in the world to delay the call, I finally called him. 2 1/2 hours later we hung up.

Big Eyes -- we're going to be getting together in a week and a half in CO at a half-way point!!!! I'm scared to death (but I think he is too ...) but also way excited. He's going to do some research about where might be the best spot to land, and we'll talk again Wednesday night.

I wish I'd had the courage to do this years ago. Don't cry over spilled milk though, right? I don't know what the outcome of it will be, but at least I won't have to wonder anymore.

When I first said maybe we should see each other in person, he immediately said, "When and where?" Then when I suggested May 24, he was like, I'm not getting any younger, that's an eternity. So I'm going to use one of my personal days (which I'll need to put in for tomorrow - so it's at least a week in advance.) Then I'll have to see if one of my coworkers will look in on Kari.

OMW!!!!!

I've gotta figure out how to get a haircut, manicure and pedicure before going!! Maybe this Sunday before I am supposed to be volunteering at our church event (taking professional photos of community members - not me taking the photos, I'm going to be a walking greeter person) I will have to ask my coworker where she had her hair done. (my hair badly needs a cut, it hasn't been cut since last summer before my dad's memorial service.)

(lost entry )

Babysitting today went fairly well. They were a bit harder to keep entertained than the last few times, even with the addition of my iPad. Got paid $35, so a little better than a Saturday night job.
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SBS - with today's earnings have enough for May's 5 $5 cards. Am now working on the extra cards for May.
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Drama, drama, school drama. More of it. (Yes, even on the weekend.) Related to our contracts. Supposedly one teacher has already had her contract given to her, and the rest of us have to wait til May 10's In-service mtg. Am planning on casually asking principal tomorrow about contracts w/o letting on about one teacher who supposedly already has hers. Oy vey.
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Thinking about the ten item grocery list CCF posted about. I couldn't do a static list, but a flexible one could work I think. It may help with my escalating grocery budget too.

Things like oatmeal, brown sugar, raisins, peanut butter, and jelly are only purchased a few times a year. Bread, Rice Dream, Cottage cheese 1 - 2 x a month. So that leaves a lot of open spaces for fresh fruits and veggies (and frozen berries for smoothies.)

Wow, lost my post and it wasn't even a long one (which is why I didn't do the ctrl-a/save .. doh!)

Anyway .. lots of drama at school. Mostly due I think to end of year tiredness. Found out that the person at school that irks me is retiring, and the person that irks the IT person the most is leaving also.

Car has Maintenance needed light on - only broached 50k miles and just had oil changed. Not sure why the light is on - running fine.

Cashed out for a $15 AGC on SBs today. Need about 300 more for my May 5 $5 AGCs.

Phone is working well again ... think it heard me contemplating replacing it.

Have decided to not go to TX this summer, just CA. Esp. considering I'll go to TX 2014 summer for TCs son's 8th grade graduation. Mom will just have to live with it.

Tiring weekend - children's story at church tomorrow (telling story of Hannah); then babysitting on Sunday.

Ok, that was the jist of my post ...

Less than 5 weeks actually til the school year is over. May 24 is our last day, but the last 3 days are half days, and we have an in-service day coming up soon. This year has just gone by so quickly!

I am so thankful for my friend and co-worker who does the IT at our school. The servers were playing hide and seek with me Thursday and Friday, and so many lesson plans got scrapped. Today I was very anxious because the 8th graders needed to finish their graduation announcements, and I won't have class with them next week due to a field trip. So she manually updated the 3rd, 4th and 8th grade folders for me and then copied them to a flash drive after the class was over. She also helped me out with the 4th grade boys this afternoon when I had 12 of them trying to figure out how to do a screen shot and at least half of them were desperate for help ... (they had explicitly written instructions, plus I'd shown them how to do it before sending them to the computers.)

After school today we had a meeting with the summer school teachers. I basically have about 25 hours of academic instruction time within the two weeks, and then roughly 18 hours of art/music/creative time. I'll have 3 fantastic teacher assistants, and as of now have 19 kids (3rd, 4th, 5th). The theme is the environment. I plan on having the kids read The Lorax, Wartville Wizzard, Just a Dream, Miss. Rumphius, Wump World, The Great Kapok Tree, several books on Reduce/Reuse/Recycle, etc. Then have them do some kind of writing/art projects based on the books. For math we'll be focusing entirely on problem solving and basic facts (add/sub/multi/div). Science shouldn't be too difficult to tie in and find some fun hands-on projects.

I'm planning on heading out to San Jose after summer school is over (my part at least.) I was looking at taking the train again, but the cost differential between a train ticket and a Southwest flight doesn't make any sense. If I don't get a room on the train either direction, flying will still cost $100 less. If I got a room, then flying would cost $600!! less. Not to mention that flying would take about six hours (adding in travel time to ABQ), whereas the train trip would take 23hrs.

I think I'll probably just stay a week. Both my Aunt and my brother work, so I really hate to go out there and have them feel like they have to take time off work to entertain me. It was different when I'd go visit my dad, since his main job was taking care of grandma.

I might go to TX too, although that visit I'll keep to less than a week ... and be over a weekend so one of my days at least can be taken with church/visiting friends .. I think I need the revitalization of my TX church family. I need to check and see when TC will be in town, so I can see her and "my" kids. TCs son who I held when he was barely a week old will be graduating from 8th grade next school year! I need to be planning for that trip! I haven't missed one of his graduations yet (nor his younger sisters.)

Thanks to the wind last week, my hot water heater went out. I found that out on Wednesday night when I took a shower and the warmish water ran out in less than ten minutes. I called the maintenance guy on Friday (couldn't find a working number for him til then) but it was too late in the day. Thankfully they came and got it relit this morning! I did a load of dishes tonight, and am about to hit the shower.

One good thing about the delay is that it motivated me this weekend to do some deeper cleaning than I have been doing. Kari wasn't quite sure what to make of it, me sweeping and scrubbing .. I think she was worried I was about to take off on a trip.

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I got an email today asking if I'd babysit for the same girls I've babysat for a number of times on Sunday. It's for 5 hours, so I hope they're planning on more than $30 .. but I'm not sure how to say that without sounding greedy. We'd never said a set hourly rate, just set $30 as the rate for a Saturday evening job.

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My phone seems to be losing its charge much faster - especially the last few days. Its life may be coming to an end. (Or maybe I'm looking for a good reason to upgrade so that the GymPact home workout feature can work? It doesn't work on a 3gs phone....) If I got the 4s, it'd be around $100, or I could see if my brother was ready to upgrade and get his phone for free (a 4.) I hate though to get locked into another contract because who knows when Ting will get the iPhone - once that happens, I'll be a Ting customer faster than you can say Howdy Doodie!

If my phone keeps this up, I'll need to charge it during the school day so that it has enough charge for when I do my walks. That usually uses around 35% or so charge (GPS tracking.)

I've been talking about replacing my phone for a couple years, maybe it's finally time to actually do it.

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Well better go get my shower and attempt to get some shut eye. I wish I was going with the mid-school tomorrow - they're getting to see a Triple A baseball team game in ABQ. For a lot of them it'll be their first time seeing an organized sport team game.

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Got my newest car loan balance - $3,687.xx. I paid $6.29 in interest since my last payment. $300 payment, $293 went to the balance, and 6.29 went to interest.

This week is National Library Week .. nothing happened during it last year, and I wasn't expecting anything this year either. But I think the first grade teacher came up with the idea to do something for it .. the Kinder and First classes made a poster where they chose their favorite book and drew a picture from it. So cute! Then yesterday (National Librarian's Day) the K and 1 classes all came to the library and said thank you to me and gave me a "hip, hip, hooray." Then we had cookies that the first grade teacher had made. (This is the same teacher who'd complained to the principal about how many classes her kids had missed.)

It was really sweet.

I've been watching Heroes on Netflix the last couple weeks, plus been busy with other stuff .. so kind of been neglecting to blog here.

I'm really liking the balance in my savings account after the tax refunds ... so I've decided that I'm just going to keep paying $300/mo on my car. Then when November hits, I'll pay off whatever the balance is. Doing that might cost me an extra $20 in finance charges (rather than getting it paid off by July), but having a healthy balance in my accounts gives me peace of mind worth a lot more than $20.

I don't remember if I mentioned this or not, but I have had it confirmed that I am teaching summer school - I'll have grades 2nd - 4th. It'll go for two weeks, and I'll make approximately $1300. Practically what I make in a regular month..... I'm going to be very careful about what I spend of my own money for this (especially considering how much I spent last year and then ended up not teaching, so no money ...) Our theme is the environment, and I've found some good resources that are free and cheap. Art materials can pretty much be free too - just have kids bring in recyclables. I had planned on doing an Earth Day unit/activities in the library, but won't be now (the K teacher who's doing Kinder/First for summer school told me she's doing the same thing! )

We've had snow in the middle of the week now two weeks a row with temps in the high 60s surrounding snow days... The wind the past few days has been really bad - so bad on Monday and Tuesday that there was NO way we were going to walk in it - the dust made it impossible (unless we had face masks and goggles ...)

Fan girl .... looking forward to Ironman 3. Just sayin'

I was going to take the afternoon off today to do some household chores since I didn't have any classes this afternoon (special surprise assembly for 4th+ nixed my afternoon class.) But then the lady from the Americ@rps division we're associated with decided to hold our meeting during church music. So I decided it wasn't worth it to take a 1/2 personal day for 2 hours!! So I cataloged books and worked on finding resources for summer school instead.

In April I had a total of $160 in AGCs! $60 from signing up for the Amazon cc, $50 from the Nielsen thing I have on my phone, and the other $50 from Swagubucks. All but about $5 of it is spent - got the last package of books today. I think I'll have some very happy 4th and 5th graders on Friday, and a happy 8th grader on Monday. I have enough SBs now for May's $25, so am going to work towards maybe a $15 one by the end of this month.

Today's preschool storytime on Earth Day reminded me that I needed to beef up our selection of appropriate books for 3 and 4 year olds! I really wonder what the previous librarians did for the storytimes because we have so few books that really are good for that age level (at least on the topics their teachers are working on.)

I can't remember if I mentioned this either or not. During Spring Break I went to the doctor and had my TSH levels (thyroid) checked, along with a few other things. My levels were out of whack, so the doctor upped my medication level. She told me she thought that my thyroid might be why I was getting the leg tingles. I've been taking the new dosage for nearly two weeks now, and the tingles are happening MORE than they were before! (Well, at least that was true for the first week or so, this week they have seemed to die down finally.) I also have been having a good bit of trouble both getting to sleep and staying asleep, which has been very frustrating. I don't know if the new dosage is to blame or not though, because around the same time I started taking it, I also started taking the generic of Allegra D 24 hr.

I need to call my Aunt for her birthday, so I better be going. (Wasn't planning to be so verbose!) I will try to check in a bit more frequently so my posts aren't so long.

So today I received my $25 AGC from SBs and put it into my gift card balance on Amazon. While I was there, I noticed that the sign up bonus for the Amazon credit card was $60! That is the most I've ever seen it at. So ... I succumbed and applied. I was approved (although I had to give my physical address - need to figure out how to let them know my mailing address - don't get mail at my house.)

Guess how long it took me to spend the $60 credit? I'll have some cool new books for the kids on Monday.

I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday and told them about my tooth pain from Baltimore (February trip.) The DA and dentist looked at it, and took an xray. It looks like I will be needing a root canal. The only place to have that done is in ABQ, so I will be trying to get an appointment for the last week of May (after school is out.) Good thing I didn't spend my tax refund yet I guess (might mean my car doesn't get paid off by June, but it still will be paid off no later than December!!)

I also had a doctors appointment this week. I had her do the thyroid bloodwork, but also asked her to check my Vitamin D levels. She also added in checking magnesium levels (I think because of the leg tingles?) I got a call today asking me to come in for a follow up appointment - so she must have seen something in my bloodwork. I *think* the follow up appointment is included in the office visit fee from Monday - at least I hope it is!

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I received my payment from Second Spin for Person of Interest - $11.00. (They didn't reimburse shipping - I thought they did that??) Of course I promptly turned around and gave in to the temptation to purchase the first ten episodes of Warehouse 13 S4 on Amazon... (have 3 episodes left to watch now)

I have not gotten much accomplished at all over Spring Break. Not really all that surprised ... am good at making plans and having ideas of what all I want to accomplish, and then end up not getting ten percent of it done. I still have 3 days though, right?

My cough is much, much better. Not gone completely, but so much better. I'm still using generic Vicks at night, and taking generic Allegra D. Between the two, it seems to be helping.

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I called Vangaurd today to check on the status of my rolling over the IRA from the bank CD. They processed the paperwork today, and it should be taken care of within a week to ten days. Yay! Now maybe that money will actually earn its keep.

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I have done very poorly in March (and now April) at keeping track of my spending. I am thinking of doing a fresh start in YNAB (budgeting program.) I will have to say though, that this has been one of the longer consistent stints of tracking my finances - nearly 8 months. So, I guess I should pat myself on the back for that. Maybe this next stint will last longer. One can always hope.

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After my doctors appt tomorrow, I plan on going into the school for a few hours. I *have* to do this because I *have* to finish putting together my information for certification in NM!!! Sometimes I am such a bad procrastinator ... I'm pretty sure I have everything I need to send in for it, and have had it for a couple of weeks!! Mailing anything though nowadays is just not something that sticks out in my mind as a to do ...

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A friend of mine was talking/emailing me about some of their experiences on a dating site. It made me wonder how long it had been since I'd put my profile on hold on that site ... checked into it, and it was 2007!! Um... a few years. I decided to unhold it and put together an updated profile. Not surprisingly, no interest yet. (I was honest about my weight - a question they ask for the profile - so ...) It probably doesn't help either that my life isn't all that terribly interesting (unless you get into family drama stuff, then maybe it's a little *too* interesting, as in run off screaming fast as possible interesting....)

So anyway ... instead of cleaning like I should be doing, I'm going to go finish watching the last 3 episodes of Warehouse 13. Maybe I'll get to cleaning after that....

I was telling my brother this morning that I wished our dad had been here to see today -- the stock that most of our family has invested in which opened at around $17 (and which is what my dad invested in it at - I started in it at around $23) shot up to over $47 this morning! So practically tripled from when it first was put out on the market. (Don't you love how I use such precise terminology?)

Who knew it would really shoot up like this? Although I put a little bit of my own money in it, I didn't put too much, and was admittedly worried about how gung ho most of my dad's side of the family was in investing in this stock. But it looks like it may have actually really paid off. (The stock shot up nearly $9 in one day due to the company announcing it is profitable. So .. I don't think this is a one-off deal. The price will probably not stay so high, but still I think it is a pretty darn cool thing.)

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Anyone see the daily goal for Swagbucks today?

Ahhhh..... On day two of ten. I can feel the stress of the last few months slowly draining away.

On Thursday night I got a call asking me if I would babysit the two students I've babysat for before a few times this year. Although that wasn't quite how I envisioned spending my first day of break, I gladly agreed. The three of us had a good bit of fun. We played "baseball," kicked around a soccer ball, tossed a nerf ball back and forth over the gate, and watched a little tv. (Plus both girls spent a good amount of time playing games on my phone.) The dad got back an hour later than he was supposed to (and still only gave me $30) but I didn't really care enough to fuss about it. It wasn't like I had anything else I really *had* to do.

I went to church this morning, and only was mildly disruptive with my coughing. Enough so so that everyone realized why I hadn't been there the last two weeks though.

The yearbook was submitted on Thursday morning - still with one student's photo missing. Oh well. Hopefully it being nearly two weeks late isn't going to affect the return time too much. I'm just glad to be done with it for another year.

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I ordered a $25 AGC from SBs today, and will have enough for the 5 $5 AGCs by the 3rd of April. I also got an email from Nielsen mobile telling me I'd been awarded more points -- so I traded in my points for a $50 AGC. (I just use my phone normally and earn points each month.)

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I finally managed to mail in the paperwork for moving my IRA from the bank CD to Vanguard on Thursday. I'd had the statement I needed for a couple weeks, but just kept procrastinating on getting an envelope. Hopefully it will arrive in time to get it changed over - otherwise it will be two more years before I can do anything with it. Ugh.

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A number of the teachers/staff that have stayed here for break are getting together tomorrow for an Easter brunch. It should be interesting.

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I had something interesting come up this week. On Tuesday I think it was, I got an email from Citi telling me that I had an overdue balance on my card. Since the only thing I use that for is my Netflix subscription (which should be free after the *bonus* each month) I was wondering what was the problem. I checked the website/statements and figured out that for some reason I hadn't gotten a January statement, but that the January and February Netflix charges were both on the February statement. Thus the balance. I called and they ended up giving me a $10 credit "for your inconvenience" but their reasoning for why it happened was stupid. Something to do with February only having 28 days and the billing cycles .. At any rate, it was resolved with no interest hit to me nor a credit report hit. No more short months before the end of the free year of Netflix, so I don't need to worry about a repeat.

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I talked to my mom for a short bit this afternoon. She told me that the lady she's taking piano lessons from has been giving her "mad minutes" to help her learn the note names. So I asked her to send me copies of those mad minutes.

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Not much else interesting that I can think of right now. Just so happy to have this break. So needed it.

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Happy Easter everyone!

Tuesday night I slept well, still from the after effects of the cough syrup with coedine. Wednesday night ... not so well. Partly I think due to the Mucinex I took around 6 p.m.

So Thursday I decided to stop at the dollar store and pick up something someone had suggested to me. Vicks vapor rub - although I picked up the two dollar generic version. Guess what? I got nearly a full six hours of sleep uninterrupted by coughing! Yay! Of course, as soon as I woke up and started moving a bit, my chest/lungs felt full/heavy and the coughing fits began again in earnest. But ... I got a good nights sleep!

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I'm still waiting for the reimbursement check for my book seminar that I went on the first week of March. My statement with the hotel charge on it is due in two weeks ... Of course I can pay it no problem, just would rather have the reimbursement money first to pay it with. Oh well.

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Had some strange weather here this afternoon. Phone weather app said it was in the mid-50's when my colleague and I went for our walk. It was really windy, and the wind got colder and colder as we walked. As we were nearing back home, both of us saw little white pellets bouncing off her dogs body. It was sleeting! For all of maybe a minute .. then it turned to rain, and then it was gone .. all about three minutes or so. No mention of rain or precipitation in the forecast.

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I finally got my Person of Interest season 1 DVD set mailed off to Second Spin yesterday. I bought it from Amazon for about $24, and sold it to SS for $11. I'd missed 8 episodes of the first season thanks to CBS stopping showing full episodes after episode 13 (I think.)

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Yesterday was payday. I haven't updated my budget files in awhile. I'd been doing so well at keeping up with that, but I may have to do another fresh start. Oh well.

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Wednesday night when I was having trouble sleeping, I watched a newish B-flick disaster movie on Netflix -- SuperCyclone. Hoo boy! This is one I'd love to have the Mystery Science Theater crowd "view". I've seen some poorly acted films with bad writing, but this one .. takes the cake! It was fun though.

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Only 4 more school days til Spring Break - all ten days of it! We ALL are so ready for it! Most of the kids this week have been really sweet though I have to say.

Yesterday afternoon I had my second graders and was showing them some new books. One of them said, "Miss N why does your voice sound so strange?" I told them that I'd been really sick and coughing a lot. One of them then piped up, "Oh yeah, that was you coughing during Mass. It was really loud." Hah!

My 4 year olds really surprised me. Every time we start with the song "Hello Everybody" and then sing a variety of mostly action verses. They usually sing with me pretty well, but Thursday I didn't have much of a voice to sing too loudly .. so they picked up the volume quite well.

Went to the doctor this morning, and she confirmed that I do have bronchitis. She gave me a prescription for antibiotics and a cough syrup w/codeine. Also a note for two days off work (mostly need it for Gym Pact since I missed a day of my pact last week. But I also had to have our yearbook deadline extended a week ... so figured it would be a good idea to have proof of *really* being sick.)

Between OTC stuff and copay and new meds, I really don't care to think how much I spent the past few days. Thankfully the medical category was fairly flush, so should be able to handle it.

It's funny. I knew my body was majorly wearing down and I needed to take some time off. I had scheduled Wednesday as a personal day ... guess my body decided I needed to take time off sooner than that.

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Got some laundry and dishes done this weekend. Both were badly needed. Thankfully there really isn't much to doing either - just timing when doing it so I don't use too much water at the same time. (It probably doesn't matter, but I'd rather not use a lot of water at the same time, or close together. Our septic system is pretty ancient.)

ok, need to write lesson plans for tomorrow (I asked if I'd still be contagious tomorrow due to being concerned about my co-worker going through Chemo - her surgery is scheduled for a week from Monday I think. Doctor said it probably would be good to stay home.)

Well I knew better than posting without copying first ... Ugh!

At any rate today was a long, busy day. I had three extra periods of having kids - 4th grade girls came in to check in/out books; journalism kids came in to work on yearbook (per my begging their teachers...), and 5th grade came in and did the photo study presentations (which greatly impressed our principal as well as the parents of a new potential student who was visiting.)

I didn't get much sleep last night thanks to my tooth/teeth/sinuses/whatever it is acting up again. Hoping to have a few minutes to call and get doctor/dentist appointments tomorrow.

Am seriously considering quitting 6 month cohort program. I already have earned 6 credits and one certificate, and the electives I can finish this summer for another 9 credits. By quitting now I'd lose out on 3 credits and one certificate. But I'd also lose a lot of stress and gain back my evenings.

Yearbook deadline is on the 18th, and there is still a LONG ways to go. This Thursday we're having a library discard book sale (same day as p/t conferences.) I just have no energy to try to catch up with last weeks assignments, or deal with this weeks 2 1/2 hr webinar and whatever assignments will go along with that ... then of course doing the final project (which I don't have much done on at all.)

Ugh.

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Last night I did something I'd been thinking about for a long, long time. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing to do or not, but it seems to have opened up a new, more open line of communication. We'll see I guess.

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On Sunday I went to town and spent my $15 in coupons, plus another $20 at Safeway. Looking at the receipt later I realized that I was supposed to have spent at least $75 to use the $10 coupon ... oops!

On the way back I spent some time with my pastor's pets - they're out of town for a week. Thankfully they only asked me to check on them Sunday and Friday, otherwise I might have freaked out. (not really, but I do think I would have had to tell them no.)

Ok, trying to post again.

I don't know if there is a version for Android phones/tablets, but I discovered a new app which allows you to earn giftcards/paypal cash. It is called App Trailers. I downloaded it last night and already redeemed and received a $1 AGC! All you have to do is watch short videos advertising various phone apps, or tv show trailers, etc.

Nice I haven't seen a way to use / get a referral code, but I thought some of you might be interested.

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I have cashed in for my first 4 AGC's from Swagbucks. Tomorrow I'll get my 5th one, and probably a $25 one as well. That will give me $50 in AGC money just from SB this month. I'll have around 800 leftover towards April's giftcards.

I'd like to see if I can earn enough to get $40 of gift cards in April. (This month I was able to do a large deal, but I can't count on that happening too often.)

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Yesterday I went into town and spent $80 at Safeway. $23 of that was spent on Morningstar products. There was a deal - spend $20 on certain freezer aisle products, and get $5.00 coupon towards your next order. So, I got that, plus another $10 off coupon and a $.50 coupon for Stouffer's (I love their spinach souffle.) It wasn't all groceries, I also got asprin, cat food, and a birthday card.

I'm thinking of going back on Friday and if the same deal is still on, buying another $20 worth of Morningstar products (they have the corn dogs!!) which would only really cost me $5... Hmm... Will have to make sure I have enough freezer space.

The only reason I went to Safeway instead of Walmart is because I realized that the 5% grocery deal with Chase probably doesn't include Walmart... oops. I used 3 coupons I printed from SBs - asprin, cat food, and some snack food. I probably would have done better on some of these deals at Walmart, but I also wouldn't have gotten the corn dogs or the $15.50 in coupons!!

I also filled up my car - $3.39/gallon. According to my gas buddy app, my last tank gave me 32.9 miles/gallon. Not bad at all.

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I am so glad it is the weekend! It was a long week. I was kind of sad on Thursday afternoon because I had my last technology club session (I'll be in ABQ next Thursday, and then the following Thursday is PT Conferences .. and then no more after school activities.)

I'm mostly looking forward to the book seminar I'll be going to on Thursday. The seminar itself I'm majorly looking forward to, it's just all the lesson plans I'm going to have to leave for the assistants and wondering if they'll actually even do them!!

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I'm debating the wisdom of sending the $2000 from my refunds straight to my car loan. I'm thinking about holding it out as an emergency fund, which I could then use to send to the car loan in June or July if I see that everything appears to be stable here. I've just been hearing some unsettling rumors about the finances here ... I'm still going to do at least a double payment, but I think I'll be holding off on sending anymore huge extra payments. I'll still have the money to send if everything still looks good, but I think it would help me sleep a little better knowing I have a good stash in cash .. just in case.

Today after entering all the expenses from my recent Baltimore trip, I decided that for the remainder of February I will be under a spending freeze.

The only spending allowed will be submitting tithe/offering checks and possibly paying the registration fee for my NM license (if I have all the necessary paperwork together.)

Yikes! There were two just under $20 purchases that I could have easily done something different for much, much less. Being out of town should NOT have given me the excuse to make those purchases. What's done is done, and now I need to recoup and move on.

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Today we did have a snow day! YAY! I slept in and out most of the morning. It was wonderful.

When I finally got moving, I made a phone call to Vanguard to do something I'd procrastinated about for nearly 8 years.

In 1999 I had $2k left of a bit of a windfall. I was afraid that it would slip through my fingers (because at that time I was rather ... unfrugal to put it mildly.) So I socked it away in a traditional IRA. Sounds good so far, right? Not really ... I didn't put much time or thought into it - just went to my local bank I had an account with and opened an IRA. An IRA in the form of a 2-year CD. A CD that rolls over every other April 15 unless I tell them I want to do something else with it.

Since April 1999, the balance has grown by a whopping $657. I don't want to even do the depressing math on what kind of "growth" that is.

One way or the other though, I now have an IRA account open at Vangaurd and just need to print the paperwork and mail it to them. Then when the current IRA CD matures, it will be invested into the STAR fund. I plan on adding an additional $400 to it in order to be able to invest in the next level of fund.

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I checked my bank account today (the former ING) and saw that I'd received my tax refund already from NM. I also had a weird deposit that just said "Wire Deposit" and nothing else. It was for an amount that looked similar to my bi-weekly paycheck, so I'm guessing that is what it is. (Especially since today is payday.)

I put $500 of the NM refund to my car loan payment category for March, and $25 of it into my Vacation category. (That's the category I raided to pay for my stupid fee of $75 after missing my flight.)

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I have another out of town trip coming up soon (and I think the payment for the registration on that seminar is part of what is making my heart panic at my cc balance ... it will be reimbursed, but not til the end of March probably.) All my meals for that will be reimbursed, so I don't have to worry too much on that front.

I am looking at another conference though in November for school librarians. It's in Hartford, CT. Between registration, least expensive hotel and airfare it'll cost around $900. I am Uber excited about this conference and REALLY want to go. (If you remember, I was part of the group of people who got to evaluate the possible workshops for this conference.) I *really* hope that I can get this approved to be covered by the school, or at least mostly covered.... I can get the best price by registering by August - which means that I'd have to pay for it out of pocket, and then be reimbursed later... Maybe I can use part of my summer school money to pay for it, and then when I'm reimbursed, put the money into the various places I planned for the summer school money?? I *really* want to go to this thing!

Well, I'm back from Baltimore and the Americ@orps conference. Overall, I'm mostly glad I went, although I think maybe some of the younger, less experienced teachers here may have gotten more out of it.

We had three main speakers - Mark Shriver (brother to Maria Shriver, ex wife of Arnie "I'll be Back.") Sister Sissy (can't remember her real name, Sissy is her nickname) and Father Boyle (Homeboy Industries.) Of the three I got the most out of the second and third ones. Shriver was ... well, I felt at least, a bit pompous. Lots of name dropping, and during the Q&A he seemed really offended that some of the kids had Googled him to find out more about who he was .. some of the kids (most of the attendees were 27 or younger) didn't know who the Uncle Jack was that he kept referring to (JFK.)

In addition to the speakers, on Sunday and Monday we had our choice of 4 workshops to attend. I attended 3 because the fourth session the ones I wanted were already full by the time I had a chance to sign up. Two of the three I attended were okay, the third one I didn't really care for too much. Oh well.

The hotel tried to meet the needs of vegetarians, but like many non-vegetarians, they had the idea that vegetarians survive mostly on salads. Ugh. So ... I ate a lot of Subway, a few smoothies from the uber expensive Coffee shop in the hotel, and once at Jimmy Johns (my first time eating at one!)

On Wednesday last week I started to have really bad tooth pain. By Thursday when I went to ABQ to stay at the hotel before flying out, it had gotten much worse. So much worse that I left the hotel after dark to go to Walmart a few miles away. I decided to attack it from the angle of allergies, so I got some sinus meds OTC, but did not get any asprin. Which turned out to be a big mistake $$

The next day by the time we got to our layover in DFW, I had a headache that felt like it was going to split my head in half. So, I paid $7 for a soda and 3 2-capsule packets of aspirin. Those packets lasted til Saturday morning when I was again desperate ... so I paid $8 at the hotel coffee shop for ... a soda, and two packets of ONE-capsule aspirin!

Thankfully that afternoon my co-worker and I found a CVS a fw blocks away where I was able to get a 24 capsule bottle for $5.

I haven't totalled up how much I spent on food and medicine this trip, but I have a bad feeling about it. Much more than the amount I had generously allocated ...

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Of course it gets even better ...

Tuesday morning we arrive at the airport a few minutes before 8 a.m. thinking we were cutting it close for our 8:45 flight. Not even close. We had missed our 8:15!!! flight!!! Both of us for whatever reason had 8:45 stuck in our head, and had not bothered to double check the itinerary email. I've *never* missed a flight in my life, until now.

It cost $75 to book the next flight out ...at 1:45 p.m. My co-worker didn't have a credit card with him, nor did he have enough cash to cover the fee. So I paid for his fee. (He already paid me back this morning.) He was thoroughly embarrassed having me do this, although I really tried to be very non-nonchalant about it.

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By the time we got back to ABQ it was WAY past dark. I called the hotel I'd left my car at to come pick me up. The guy told me to take a taxi and they'd pay for it. Huh? Never been told that before ... so I went outside and found a taxi. The taxi driver knew what I was talking about, and took me to the hotel. I gave him my last $5 bill (the other $5 I'd left as a tip for the hotel maid in Baltimore.)

I needed to get a few groceries, but did NOT want to stop at little G on the way home after dark. So decided to go back to the same Walmart I'd been at on Thursday. Unfortunately, my GPS app had been updated with a HORRIBLE update, and it got me lost. Thankfully though I found a KMART. Well ... sort of thankfully.

While in KMART I ended up picking up a new purse (to replace the one whose strap broke this last summer in San Francisco), a set of full bed sheets, two HUGE stuffed animals on 75% discount, and a few groceries. No bananas though (which was one of the main things I wanted.) About $65 altogether.

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I finally made it into my town a bit before 10 p.m. Kari was SO glad to see me. I was actually glad to see her as well.

Today at work I felt a bit like a zombie. When my kinders were in class, I had to keep reminding myself they were babies and to keep my patience. Even my 3 year olds didn't help revitalize me like they tend to do.

Thankfully today wasn't one of my busier days, otherwise I don't know that I would've made it through. We might possibly have a snow day tomorrow - already have a minimum of a two-hour delay. I'd be so happy for a snow day right now ....

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I have nearly 4k Swagbucks now. I'm considering getting the $25 AGC, although I think I may wait til March, or at least until I have enough to get the $25 AND the March $25. Will see.

I would have made my 14 day streak for February, but the hotel in ABQ's WiFi was TERRIBLE - couldn't even do normal surfing using it. Oh well.

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So sleepy. Probably ought to hit the shower and then maybe watch an episode of Eureka (my latest Netflix addiction.) Speaking of tv ... I received my Person of Interest Season 1 DVDs. I might watch them tomorrow if we have a snow day.

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Oh, the co-worker who I barely tolerate .. this morning she sits across from me and says, "So, I hear you missed your flight. HA HA. I've NEVER (said in a haughty tone) missed a flight. I always get there at least two hours ahead of time." I felt like punching her in the face, but I thankfully restrained myself, and only said, "good for you."

We had a two-hour delay this morning, so I used my time wisely and called the IRS helpline. I explained about how Turbo Tax was insisting that I have to count my award money from Ameri C*rps as self-employment income even though on the 1099 it is listed as other income. I also told him (it was man) that the place my university deals with to send out 1098ts had told me that I won't get one since my tuition was paid for via the education award.

All in all, after spending nearly an hour on the phone with him, the end result was he assured me that I should not count it as self-employment income and that whether or not I receive a 1098 from my school, I can still count the tuition cost towards the Lifetime Learning Credit - I just need to be sure to have some kind of proof of bill showing there was tuition charged and paid. I haven't made the changes yet in TT, but I'm glad I was able to make the call today!

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I also called the place I worked at in TX as a teacher for my service record. The lady there emailed me a copy of my record. So that's now one less thing on my list towards reciprocrating my TX license to NM.

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Today I had the 4th grade boys. I showed them how to make a Voki and then cut and paste their paragraphs about their important person to make their Voki speak. They were pretty impressed - one of their better behaved class periods.

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No money spent yet today, although I may start downloading a couple iTune movies for my upcoming plane trips. A couple of LONG plane rides and one 3 hr layover ...

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My phone is working fine still - it was so sweet though - had two offers of replacement phones. My brother offered me his phone (and he'd just upgrade), and my mom offered me her old phone (she got a new one at Christmas from new dh.)

Of course, Mz. Klutz here had a glass of orange juice on the computer desk Sunday morning. Guess what she forgot to do? Drink the OJ. Guess what happened Sunday night as she was heading to bed? Yep, knocked the OJ over. Spilled on my wireless keyboard and all over the floor. Luckily it didn't get too much of the keyboard, but enough where some keys are really sticky (like the 1,2 and shift keys.) Ergh! I have my old wireless keyboard that just needs batteries I think, so if this gets too annoying, I'll just change them out. (The keyboard with the OJ was my dads.)

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Finally got my $5 AGC from Irazoo - ordered on Jan 13. Also got the 4th AGC from SBs for February. So just need one more then I can order Person of Interest.

While we didn't get the snowstorm like the Northeast did, we did get a couple inches overnight, with more to come over the next few days.

This afternoon I needed to go and do my 30 minute walk towards my weekly gympact, so met up with my coworker. When we started out it was clear and windy. Within a few minutes though, snow started coming down - softly at first, but then a lot more. At one point when we were walking straight into the wind, I turned around and walked backwards because my forehead was freezing!

When I got home I waited until I was inside my house to take my phone out to stop the time. My phone was wet, as was my hoodie. Just as my activity was saved on my phone, it went completely dead.

I tried drying it off and playing around with the controls, but nothing was happening. I was supposed to give my grandma her weekly call, so I texted my brother and asked him to call her and let her know that my phone may be dead. He sweetly offered to upgrade his phone and let me have his.

About 15 minutes after shutting off, I tried the controls again ... and it turned back on! Yay! I kind of was looking forward to having a good excuse to upgrade to the 4S, but am even more glad to not needing to spend the money for a new phone.

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I found out today that there is a second season of Touch - the show about the autistic boy who communicates with his dad through numbers (sci-fi'ish). Sweet! Of course it isn't on Netflix yet, but is on Hulu+. Will wait. Must wait.

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I completed a deal on SBs today that earned 470sbs. So I now have nearly 1700. 500 more and I'll have enough for my March AGCs, then I guess I'll start working on the April ones!

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I'm glad I went into town Friday and did my grocery shopping, because I don't think I'd be able to get into town today or tomorrow (and possibly Monday either!) I spent just under $50. Some of it was probably stuff I should have left at the store ... at least I'm still under budget for February right now.

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I'm half hoping that we'll have a snow day on Monday. That way I can have a chance to make some phone calls regarding my taxes and my certification. I talked to my principal on Friday about how she added the award money to her taxes, and she said she hadn't claimed it ... not sure she understood what I was talking about. I'd really like to get my taxes done so I can make a huge payment on my car.

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Also on Friday I reached the upper levels of frustration with our servers and documents being lost. When I had my 5th grade group in, I had one set of partners that tried 5 different computers to see if they could find the contents of their folder so they could do their blog. Then I had at least 6 mid-schoolers find out that their science fair documents which were 95% finished had vanished into thin air. One of them had their unfinished documents printed out - so I retyped it for him. It was too funny though - I had him and another student standing around the computer as I typed in total awe - "She's not even looking at the keyboard!" "Wow, how fast is she typing??" I told them - years of practice. (I don't type all that fast, maybe 60 - 65 wpm. My mom can do 100+wpm .. that is a sight to see.)

Ooops, forgot where I was going with this. My frustration level being breached, I finally talked to my principal about our school signing on with google apps for education. That way kids could save their documents/work in "the cloud" and the likelihood of things being lost or somehow deleted by accident or by malice would be virtually eliminated. It will mean a bit of a loss of functionality, as google docs aren't as functional or splashy as MS Office, but at this point I think it is well worth it. Thankfully she agreed.

So this coming week the IT person and I are going to work on getting our school started on GAFE. I hope it goes over well with everyone ...

I'd been wondering why I hadn't received a 1098 form for the course I am taking. So today I called the university's financial department and was directed to another company that handles their 1098's. When I called them (after being on hold for 28 minutes) I found out that I won't be getting a 1098. Even though the award money counts as income, I can't claim that I paid tuition! Simply put, that bites!!

The other really frustrating thing is that Turbo Tax is telling me that I have to claim the Award money as self-employment income*. If that is true, that seriously reduces my refund.

*When I claim it as "other" it then asks me if I expect to get money from this same source again in upcoming tax years. Which I do ... I could conceivably use this money spread out over 5 - 7 tax years (if it lasted that long.) But I just don't see how it can be counted as SE income. It is an award given up to two years in a row, and paid out as it is used for qualified expenses (or student loans if you have them.) I'm not exactly being paid for *work* -- I'm being awarded for being willing to work for low pay in an underprivileged area. (Like the priest said today during mass - we could probably earn 2 or 3x as much anywhere else.)

It seems to me like this award benefits those with student loans the most. They can at least take a deduction for the interest paid on the loans. (or maybe not... who knows.)

If both of the above hold true, then I have serious doubts about my using the remainder of the "award" money anytime soon!

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I talked with my principal about my evaluation from last week. It was very positive. Of course I had one of my best groups, so that didn't hurt any. We were a bit rushed so I didn't get a chance to ask her if she had anything she'd like to add to the single evaluation.

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I'm still working on gathering my documentation for my NM license. I called the school district I worked for in TX today to get a copy of my service record. (I was going to copy mine from my personnel folder here, but they didn't have it!! Oops.) When the lady first called back she told me she hadn't found anything for me ... um... but that she was going to keep looking. She called me back while I was out at the buses so I missed her call. Will have to try her again tomorrow.

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I cashed in for 5 $5 AGCs from Swagbucks, and now have 800+ towards March's cards.

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I'm leaving one week from today to go to Baltimore! I'm getting a little bit more excited - although I do wonder if they're in the path of this major blizzard that's predicted for this weekend. Will have to bring my warm clothes for sure. (speaking of which, am doing massive amounts of laundry right now due to not having done any for awhile and being down to the last of my clean work-worthy tops.)

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Today I got the approval for my one-day book seminar on March 7. So I went ahead and registered for it and booked the hotel. I have a 2 1/2 hour cohort (class) session the night of March 6 ... I was told I could use their business center computer. I'm looking forward to a made to order omelet (part of the hotel price is a HOT breakfast.) I think I'm more excited about this short 1 1/2 day trip than the Baltimore one.

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I finished Jericho a couple days ago. I really liked it - especially when I found out why the fans had inundated the studio that produced it with peanuts when it was canceled. I'd heard about it, but hadn't know why they chose that.

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We may be getting some snow this weekend, perhaps even a snow day on Monday. I would prefer not to have a snow day, but if it happens, I won't complain too much. Just I have so few Mondays and Fridays with those classes as it is ... Oh well.

Okay, trying yet again. It's what I get for not following my own advice of copying before submitting ...

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January spending:

Despite the stock ups in late December, I still managed to overspend the grocery category by nearly $50. This was due mainly to multiple trips to the mom and pop store for egg salad sandwiches or bananas +++. Bottom line -- I need to leave my wallet at home, and if I need bananas, take only enough cash for 5 (around $2.) Also, stop buying egg salad sandwiches.

Tithe, etc. --
I didn't have a pen with me the one time I actually made it to church in January. I now have two checks already filled out - one for Jan, and one for Feb. So, no excuses.

Overall, not too bad. Just need to reign in the groceries (namely, the junk food.)

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February Budget--

Fun Money-
I padded my fun money category due to the upcoming Baltimore trip. I'm hoping that I won't actually spend that much (I've been told the hotel we're staying at has vegie/vegan options) but I want to give myself the room/permission if something comes up.

Car Loan -
I will be making a large payment to my car loan this month, which should put it close to $4k left. Depending on when I get my final tax documents and file, March should have a large payment as well.

Car Insurance --
My 6 month premium is due on the 9th. So that will be a good chunk going out.

FIRE (Financially Independent Retire Early) -
This will be my first installment into this category. Until my car loan is paid off, it will remain a small amount. (Like MMM says ... debt emergency!)

Professional -
If I can get all the documentation together, I will be sending in a check for $125 to get my NM certification. Must get this done so I can be rehired for next year!!

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Other --

Swagbucks/Amazon/Discover/TV stuff =

I managed to meet goal 31/31 days for January. It enabled me to trade in for $25 of AGCs in January, and I have enough for my first 4 in February (and after the 5th when I get the 300+daily bonuses bonus, I'll have enough for the 5th card.)

I spent about $60 on books for the library this month - used my AGC credits and the remaining balance of rewards from Discover. (You can only cash out at the $50 mark. I had $26 in rewards and no big purchases I could think of ... so decided to use them.) I'm considering canceling it (Discover) to trim down my card collection.

Normally I spend all of my AGCs on books for the library. However, I have decided to use February's for something for myself. The first season of Person of Interest. It is around $25 on Amazon. Once I finish the last 12 or so episodes I missed thanks to ABC stopping putting the full episodes on their website after getting me hooked .. then I can sell it to Second Spin for a possible $12.

I found out that Hulu+ has the second season of Once Upon a Time. I was SORELY tempted to renew my account for a month so I could watch that second season. I resisted, and instead started watching Jericho on Netflix for free. Eventually (hopefully!) Netflix will have OUAT's second season and I can watch it for no extra cost.

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Health/Food stuff

So, as I mentioned in my grocery section, I've been buying junk food. Way more of it than I should. And, unfortunately, it shows - both in my weight (gained back nearly ten of the twenty pounds I'd lost), and in my general overall health. I was doing so good there for a while. I'm really not sure what derailed me. It'd be even worse if I wasn't doing my nearly daily walks (although they're not THAT much in the good exercise department .. they are at least getting out and moving.)

I am really frustrated with myself. I am trying to get back to where I was with my eating .. Yesterday I did a grocery shop (which I counted for February) and bought some apples along with the bananas. I think where I lost ground is I was eating more sandwiches and less fruit/fiber. Not to mention soda and junkfood. Yeah - the soda I was going to give up. :arghh!:

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School -

I had my first formal teacher evaluation since 2005 on Wednesday. I think it went well overall. The kids participated and behaved well, and I was a little hyperactive due mostly to nerves I think. I was supposed to meet with my principal today to go over her observations, but due to feeling like carp warmed over this morning (thanks to my oh so healthy eating), I stayed home sick.

In other interesting (to me at least) news .. I'm teaching the second graders keyboarding. The maintenance guys managed to find ten defunct keyboards for me, which I had my assistant cut the cords off of. I'm using those for the kids to practice on so that I can have them all within easy eyesight as they are learning. I'm using the whole keyboard method - as in they are learning all the letters for the pinky finger, then the ring finger, then the middle finger, etc. They also are learning about home row and posture. So far they seem to be having fun with it especially when I ask them to practice -- Dog Chews Queen, or Queen Eats Zebra ... etc. (The word/letter/finger association seems to work really well.) They've learned the pinky, middle and pointer fingers so far - next week I'm going to have them work in Word so they can see what they're typing.

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Baltimore trip -

I found out that I'm going to have a roommate. A young thing in her mid-20s. Hope she doesn't think I'm too old fogiesh. (and I hope she's not a partier who stays up all hours of the night being loud ...)

They're having some kind of 3 hour walking historical tour that I can sign up for. I have to decide if I want to do this by the 5th. On one hand, the exercise probably would be good for me. On the other hand, I think I'd rather get my exercise in the hotel's fitness room where it is WARM! and I can listen to music. Hmmm... I probably really should do the tour. Embrace the experience ... (It's free - part of the whole trip. So that's not a factor.)

Today at our staff meeting it was confirmed by our principal that we *will* have summer school, although only for two weeks and possibly only half-days. I'll take it!!

Of course it isn't guaranteed that I'll get a spot as one of the teachers (she wasn't sure how many teachers/assistants would be needed.) But I'm hoping I'll have a little better chance of it since I was supposed to do it last summer, but didn't get to (due to circumstances not under my control.)

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I'm on the BofA advisory panel and a while back they sent out a survey that said you'd get a $5 AGC as a thank you. Today I received the AGC, and put it in my account.

I also received my 5th AGC from Swagbucks today for January. I currently have over 1100 SBs, so will easily have enough for at least the first 3 in February. I've actually qualified for a couple surveys recently (shock!!) which has definitely helped.

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We might have a snow day tomorrow. That'd be nice in a way, but in another way I really hate to miss out on all my Tuesday classes. I have some new books I cataloged today with several specefic 7th graders in mind... Plus I have a set of 10 defunct keyboards for my second graders who are starting to learn keyboarding and am excited to see how well they do using the keyboards rather than the paper "computers." Oh well, it is what it is.

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ETA --

Thanks to the stock market in general, and specifically one particular stock I own 350 shares of .. my Net Worth is almost back to where it was in November before making my car purchase! If only it will continue!

After the first payday in January when I saw that the 2% increase in SS was going to take approximately $35/mo from my net income, I decided that it was finally time to go ahead and change my W-4 withholding. So I changed it to 2.

Today was the first payday since I changed it, and changing the withholding added $60, or $120/mo. Nice. For February I think I will probably just put it towards Vacation/eating out/Baltimore trip expenses. But after that, then I'll put it all towards my car repayment. Then once my car is paid off, it all will go towards my ROTH, except maybe $25 - 30 of it which I'll add to my Fun Money or Groceries category, or perhaps my Vacation category.

In reality, it is about $85 extra a month than what I was getting in 2012. Still, it is a nice little boost which I prefer to get monthly rather than having to wait to file taxes in 2014.

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I received a 1099R for my rollover IRA. The form didn't show any taxes withheld or anything, so I'm assuming that I did it correctly and it isn't going to bite me in the shorts. I might try to add it into my Turbo Tax file tonight and make sure about it.

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I have received 4 of the 5 AGCs from Swagbucks for January. So far, I have managed to meet the daily goal every day. So I'll probably start February off with enough SBs to buy my first 3 cards. It'll be nice to be ahead of the game for awhile at least.

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I've been watching Life on Mars on Netflix instead of doing my classwork like I should be .. It is *really* good. I don't know how I missed it before.

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Both of my walking partners this week agreed to start doing the 4 mile walk again! The 2 miler we were doing most of this winter so far was barely keeping me maintained (weight wise), so I'm hoping the longer distance will help to get me moving in the right direction again. Of course it probably would help if I actually cut out soda and cut down on junk food like I keep saying I'm going to do....

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Since that one night of terrible sleep, I have been sleeping better. The occasional stabs and tingles, but nothing like that one night. I'm hoping the increased level of exercise will keep any re occurrences at bay.

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I made some progress today on getting a reciprocal NM teaching license. I need to go by the district office and pick up my fingerprint/background check from last summer. Then once I have all the other documentation together, write a check for $125 and send it all in. Guess it's worth it to make sure I get rehired for next year!

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Today I worked with my second group of second graders introducing keyboarding. The first group on Tuesday I only used the file folder computers (which they get to take with them to practice on.) Today I had five old keyboards which I let them use, along with the file folder keyboards. That went much better! AL our IT person told me that I should be able to find 3 - 4 more defunct keyboards around campus to use (so nobody has to share.)

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I have my formal evaluation scheduled for next Wednesday with my 5th grade group. We'll be doing the blogs for the first time and learning a little bit more about composition (photography.) I told my principal that we'd be learning a totally new concept (the blogs) so I had no idea how it'll go. But that the kids are easy to work with - I'm not too worried. She told me that she feels like she already has a good idea of how I do my classes from dropping in time to time, so not to worry.

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I received a new statement from the credit union that has my car loan. So far I have paid $14 in interest and $386 in principal (two payments.) I have my next check set to go on Feb 11 ($850). I'd send it right now, but I want to make sure I only send one payment a month so there's no room for confusion on their part.

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In the annals of bizzarity .. last night while I was watching an episode of Life on Mars, I heard an ambulance siren outside my house, and then the sounds of a vehicle backing up and parking. I wondered where it was going, so opened my door and poked my head out. It had stopped right in front of my house!! The EMT on the passenger side got out and asked me if we'd called for an ambulance. I told her that noone at my house had called for one. She just kind of shook her head and got back in.

This morning at breakfast I had several co-workers ask me about the ambulance. When I told them what happened, one of them told me I should have asked the lady what address they were looking for. Oops. At the time I wasn't thinking like that. Oh well. I hope they did find the actual person who called for them.

**This goes along with when I had the local sheriff pull up in my driveway and tell me that there'd been a noise complaint filed on my address. ?? I'd been sitting inside at my computer for the past few hours working on the computer - no music or anything. I have the feeling that it was also the case of not having the right address.

I realized today that I missed mentioning my blogaversery! 8 years! Time sure does fly, one way or the other ...

Recently I was reminded of how blessed I have been to have found this site, and how much a part of my life it has become - when the site wasn't functioning for a few days. I feel like I've come to know many of you almost like next door neighbors, and having the opportunity to meet some of you in person has made it even better!

Here's looking to the next 8 years

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I cashed in for my 5th $5 SB AGC today. I also did some housework ...shock! Kari was getting anxious as I was sweeping, because that generally portends an extended absence. Not today though for a change.

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I think I've figured out what I'm going to do for my final project (it keeps changing ..) AND something I might be able to sell on teachers pay teachers! I had a difficult time coming up with good material to teach the digital photography / blogging unit I'm doing with my fifth graders. So I'm going to make a website with example photos, resource links, AND a link to lesson plans and student guide in the TPT store. My professor has already approved the idea, so now most of the work will be done anyway.

Speaking of the digital photo unit, I started it with the fifth graders last week. They were pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing, although somewhat disappointed that they couldn't take the cameras home with them. Looking through the books we have in our library on taking good photos, I noticed that they are badly in need of updating. Only one of them even mentioned digital cameras, and that was in bare passing.

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I also started the 6th graders on their research project on Friday - they picked an important event from the last 50 years. At first they weren't too sure about the whole thing, but once they got started, they were pretty into it. Several picked JFKs assassination, 5 picked 9/11, one picked Cheronoybl, and then there were a variety of other events chosen which I can't remember right now.

My 4th grade girls (on Friday) delved into the pile of biography books I selected and chose their famous person to study. Pocahontas, Christopher Columbus, Amelia Earhart and a few others were chosen. Much better variety than the boys ... who mostly chose Justin Bieber.

**I hadn't had media class on Friday for five weeks! Half-day before vacation, vacation, and then last week a snow day!

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I had a really bad nights sleep. I just could not get comfortable - I'd be in one position for awhile and then it'd become almost painful, so would switch. I also from time to time get tingly sensations or almost barb sensations in my legs - especially the front. That was happening a lot last night. I am thinking that I might need to make an appointment with the doctor and get a check up.

I've always had problems with my feet falling asleep on me, but the tingly/barb sensations have only started in the last 6 months or so - but never as bad as they were last night. I'm hoping it's just stress related, and not blood sugar or something else .. I do think I'm about ready to give up sugar, or at least to reduce it greatly. I ate a lot of junky food yesterday.

Today on the way into town for church, my gas indicator reached the final little cell and started blinking about 12 miles from the first exit with a good gas station. I got there, and filled up for $2.95/gallon (much better than the $3.09/gallon in my mini town, but NOT better than the $2.82/gallon I saw on the road to church later!!) ~$31.xx -- first fill up in January

After church I debated whether I should hold off on my grocery shopping til Sunday, or go ahead with it. I figured all I was going to pick up was some OJ and a few treats, so not worth making a second trip.

Umm.... $90 later .... Admittedly, $34 of that figure was replacement shoes for my good dress winter shoes which were falling apart .. but still ... that's a lot of OJ and treats. (OJ, bread, bananas, granola bars, junk food, sweet potatoes, etc...) This will of course be my only grocery trip for January, other than visiting the small mom and pop place in mini town for bananas (and egg salad sandwiches when they're in stock!)

Next up was Walgreen's to get my prescription. I contemplated going inside so I could pick up a jar of Nutella (something I wanted at Walmart, but the only small jar they had had a cracked lid - nope!) However, I decided I'd got enough junky food and did not need to spend any more money on food. So ... $24 for the prescription.

Then tonight I got an email from Choice Privileges which reminded me that I needed to decide whether I was going to stay in a hotel on the 14th before heading out to Baltimore, or hoof it out the morning of the 15th. Looking at the time of my morning flight -- 10:45, and thinking about leaving the house around 6 a.m. .... and then paying $24 to park my car.. I decided to see what I could come up with for a hotel.

I found a hotel with airport shuttle service, free Wi-Fi, a very good comp. breakfast, and Park & Fly service for a total of approximately $60. I think it's the same place I've stayed at before, but it has changed its name for whatever reason. This way I'll have a good nights sleep, a good breakfast, and not have to worry about parking in a tight space in one of those shuttle lots. (Parking was a nightmare last time - I had to have someone guide me into the space .. and I have a tiny car.)

If I leave right after my last class on Thursday, I can be in ABQ by 5 at the latest, and maybe enjoy a nice dinner somewhere (esp. somewhere that can't be found in big G!)

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I almost have enough SBs for my 5th $5 AGC this month. I have met the goal now 19/19 days. My plan is to hit the goal 31/31. This will give me ample SBs to go into Feb with, esp. since for 5 days the most I'll be able to get is with the mobile SBTV app and a few search wins.

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My $10 from GymPact hit my Paypal account. I've emailed them to ask for a way to add a referral link into blog posts rather than have to post it on a person's FB wall. So far, I haven't heard back.

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All of us teachers were given notice - get our NM certification transfers started or completed ... or no new contract. Gulp. I keep procrastinating on doing this .. but must stop! I doubt the NM ed dept. will be open on Monday. I've tried to figure out if I'll still have my TX licenses in addition, or if those will be gone? I don't see why I'd lose the TX licensees ... but stranger things do happen - esp. in education.

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I am GLAD for this 3 day weekend. I know we've only been back in school for two weeks (and not even that, with a snow day and two two-hour delays ...) but I am READY for the extra time off. (Of course, I *really* need to use that time wisely - i.e. working on my electives assignments and my final project ... time is moving fast!)

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Almost forgot!

I signed up with this presentation site a month or so ago thinking I might be able to use it as part of my final project. Tonight I got an email from them saying that if I create a presentation with certain details, that I will be given a $50 AGC!!!! It has to be made by 1/23rd. It is only for new users who receive the email, so I don't know if anyone else could get the same email, but if your interested in trying ... here's the website: presentation tube net

I really must be addicted to this site ... I kept checking ALL DAY LONG, cleared cookies, checked on my computer at work, at home, my iPhone, my iPad ... considered emailing Jeffrey ...


** Yesterday I managed to pull up the recent blogs, but was only able to make comments go through on two of them.

So glad it is back up!!

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My GymPact payment went through PayPal today! Also received the 2nd $5 AGC from Swagbucks, and am about 100 away from my next one. Redeemed for a $5 AGC from Irazoo yesterday.

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We had a two-hour delay today, and are having another one tomorrow -- both due to the temperature. It was something like -5 when I arrived at school today at ..9:30!! Tonight/early am is supposed to be as cold. Yikes!

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I just barely finished doing the evaluations of proposals for the next AASL convention (School librarians.) I had something like 25 of them. It was really pretty cool to get to see some of the possible programs. There was one I was especially excited about because the presenters are two bloggers that I've followed for a while.

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I showed my 7th and 8th graders a cool presentation site this week - meograph.com. It turns a boring presentation into something very fun and interesting. A number of them are trying it out for their final presentations.

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I've had some interesting conversations the past few days with our 5th grade teacher. He's wet under the ears (maybe 22 or 23??) He was first really upset about the idea that next school year his pay will be divided by 26 instead of 22. Then he was upset about the 2% "raise" in SS tax. Today we were talking in the cafeteria (before morning prayers) about good places to do your taxes yourself, and about how many deductions are good to take, and why you want to NOT get a lot of money back in a refund. I also made sure he knew about the educator credit - he was worried about taking it since he didn't have receipts ... somehow I don't think the IRS is NOT going to believe that a teacher spent $250 on classroom supplies within a year's time ... I spent more than twice that my last year in the classroom when I VOWED to NOT spend so much ... Isn't he lucky to be around all these ol' fogies who know a thing or two about handling money?

On Thursday along with our paycheck stubs we also got our W-2's! All of us were pretty impressed to get it so quickly.

Friday turned out to be a snow day, so I decided to get on Turbo Tax and do a test run of my taxes for this year. The only thing I couldn't figure out how to account for was the sale of stock (and resultant Capital loss of about $35) and my 401k rollover into a Traditional IRA. I'm assuming I'll get whatever documents I'll need for those in the next month or so - but neither one will have much affect on my taxes (I don't think at least ..)

So, in the end, it looks like I'll be getting a tax refund in the realm of $2,100! Sweet! About half of that is from W-2 overpayment, and the other half is a combination of Lifetime Learning Credit and my contribution to the Traditional IRA (not related to the Rollover.)

On Monday I do plan to get the form in to the main office to make my deductions to 2. This will amply cover the approximately $20/mo from the 2% SS tax and give me a little more to work with for other goals throughout the year. I thought about raising it to 3, but there is a possibility of some good income this summer, so I don't want to press my luck too much.

What is that good income possibility, you might ask? Well, it appears that we might be able to have summer school again this year!! (We had thought that it wasn't going to happen due to funding cuts, but it might just happen!) If it does, then that *could* mean an approximate $3k boost. Yes!

Now you may be wondering why I mentioned car pay off? Well, I was working the figures out and I realized that I could have the car paid off by:

August - by putting all tax refund and the next 2 3rd paychecks towards it...

OR

by June - by putting all tax refund, next 2 3rd paychecks AND using part of the Summer School money to finish it off.

Either way, from my calculations I *will* be able to meet ALL of my financial goals for 2013, and possibly exceed them! With the summer school money, I am thinking that after paying off the car loan, I would put 1/3 to my EF, 1/3 to my FIRE fund, and 1/3 to my Vacation fund.

It made me extremely happy to see that it is a STRONG possibility to have this car paid off in much less than a year.

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I have now met the SB daily goal for 12 days, and cashed in for my 2nd $5 AGC today for January. I figured out that if I meet the goal every day for January, and then get the 300 SB bonus, that it is worth 8 $5 AGC, which of course puts me into February. I can handle that.

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A thought just occurred to me. When I did the rollover of my 401k from my old company, I received a check. It was made out to the company I had opened an account with AND me. When I'd checked the balance a short time earlier, it was around $5500.00. When I received the check, it was for just over $5k. I chalked it up to maybe a big dip in what it was invested in, but now I'm wondering if it was a 10% penalty?? If it was somehow counted as an indirect rollover? At the time this happened, I was not in a good head space dealing with my dad's death, etc., but only had less than a week from the time I received the letter telling me I HAD to do something with it ... so I'm worried that I might be getting hit with a big tax hit. What I've read online is confusing - one place I read said that if you received a check at all, then it is considered an indirect rollover (if you don't add the withheld money to it.) Another place I read that for either indirect or direct you get a check - just have to get it deposited within 60 days.

Should I be worried???

Today I was credited for last weeks pact, which put me over the $10 mark. According to the app I should receive my money by tomorrow!

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My door was frozen shut AGAIN today! We need to figure out how to make that NOT happen, because I'd really like to be able to get in on the weekend when the computer lab isn't open...

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The cookbooks I bought about a month ago or so which we're such a big hit with the kids? Well today I had the fifth grade teacher and his assistant negotiating who was going to check out which one. Then when we went to the computer lab for the kids to work on their projects, they were going through one of them and I heard one say, "this is the one I checked out - you got your own!"

I also introduced the book Wonder by Palacios (sp?) today to the fifth graders. Lots of lit up eyes - especially after I mentioned that if they liked the book The One And Only Ivan, that they'd really like this one. I may need to get a few extra copies of this one judging from their interest level...

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My Kinders finished recording their book today. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I need to add some kind of picture to the title page, and then I'll share it here with you too. It is really cute.

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I couldn't sleep last night, so I watched a newly added b-disaster flick called Post Impact on Netflix. It was pretty good overall.

It got pretty warm here today - nearly in the 40's although its supposed to be really chilly this weekend with highs in the low 20's. Brrr!

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I talked to our payroll person today, and figured out why my YTD on the pay stub was so weird. Last year (first six months of 2012) I was still being paid at the higher first year rate ( pay divided by 22 instead of 26) I don't know why I didn't think of that! She also told me that I can just inter office memo her my updated w-4 deductions form - which is good because it is hard to get to the main office before they close.

I know I shouldn't let this get to me, but this particular person is annoying in general, and this just took the cake after an especially busy day.

Me, the 3rd grade teacher and the Title 1 teacher were all standing outside waiting for the busses to leave this afternoon. 3rd grade teacher asked me if I was planning to walk this p.m. I told her no, that I needed to get too much done tonight to make up for what I didn't get done last night (feeling really yucky again last night.) Title 1 teacher butts in and says, "Oh, you weren't feeling good?" I tell her that no, I wasn't - and that I hadn't all of last week, and still wasn't. But that I figured if I still wasn't feeling 100% after a week of laying pretty low, that taking one or two days off from work wasn't going to help.

She then says to me, "Well, that depends on what the work is. If all you're doing is shelving books ..Shelving books seems like it would be such a relaxing activity." Seriously?!!! The only reason the books get shelved most days is because of my awesome assistant! Last year I'd only get them shelved if I stayed after school - the kids were very used to looking on the book cart for books that hadn't been put away yet ..

Most days - but especially Monday, Tuesday and Friday, I am running from the time I arrive until the time I leave. No, I don't have classes scheduled throughout the entire day - with very good reason! I just need to remember *who* the comment came from (she's not very well regarded by most of the staff here ...) Still, it was very annoying.

End of vent.

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Today something kind of funny/cool happened. I had the 7th grade girls working on their research project (they got to choose their own topic.) After they'd worked hard for 30 minutes, I told them they could have the last ten minutes for free choice time. Of the 7 girls, only two of them stopped working on their project. I was duly impressed. One of the girls said as she was leaving later that her fingers sure were cramped up after doing so much typing (nearly 40 minutes of it!) I told her that was pretty normal and to shake her fingers out.

Another funny .. My second graders had started a PowerPoint project where they were making a slideshow telling about what they wanted for Christmas. Due to a variety of circumstances, we hadn't gotten very far on it. I figured after two weeks out that they'd forgotten about it .. and of course it wasn't really relevant anymore .. so had something else planned entirely. Their teacher (as she dropped them off) asked me if I could have them do a short research project next week. Then I saw that they had all brought their sticky note list (of what they wanted) with them ... So I improvised, and we worked on our project! (I was impressed with how much they'd retained from nearly 3 weeks ago - especially since this was their first introduction to PP.)

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Oh, remember those cut away books I got at Costco in TX? (dinosaur and shark) They were HUGE hits. I had to come up with some creative measures to decide who got to check them out first.

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I just cashed out for another $5 AGC from SB. (to make this a little bit financial related...)

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I am actually feeling a bit better tonight, so hopefully I'm on the mend. And hopefully I'll get more sleep tonight than I have the past two nights. It's not affecting me adversely yet, but if I don't get a better night's sleep soon, it probably will. I just have to get my mind to shut off ...

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Oh! I almost forgot another funny! This morning when I went to open the library door, I found that it was frozen shut! I was able to unlock it, but it wouldn't budge. I ended up going in through the computer lab, and then later the maintenance man came by and pulled it open with one nice big pull. When it warmed up later we figured out why it had frozen over like that -- had lots of water dripping off the roof right over the door.

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I got my last paystub for 2012 yesterday. When looking at it, the total YTD would be right for 27 payments, but not for 26. I was paid every other Thursday .. so that would only be 26 paydays, right?? I plan on calling our payroll person tomorrow to clarify - want to have that fixed before they submit my W-2!!

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My January car payment was mailed out yesterday. Another $200 down. It got sent out before I remembered to cancel it so I could add the additional $600. I'll probably just wait til the February payment to do the big payment.

Well today went pretty well overall. A good number of our staff was sick over the break. I'm still not feeling well, but if a week of pretty much laying low hasn't helped, then one more day won't do much.

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I had the Kinders record their sentences about snow today. After the Wednesday group records theirs as well, I'll post a link to it. So cute. their teacher told me that the group I had came back SO excited about getting to be recorded. Just wait till they get to hear themselves (I'm trying to slowly convince the kinder teacher that K can do tech too...)

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I felt really bad for our 5th grade teacher. He got back midnight on Thursday to find that his pilot light had gone out, thereby freezing his pipes - which caused his bathroom faucet to break and start spraying water. His bathroom was flooded, and his wall opposite with lots of kid notes/drawings was soaked, and the carpet in his bedroom too. What a mess to come home to.

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YNAB is looking for an online teacher. The hours could be anywhere from 2 - 12 week. I have the link on my other computer, but you probably could find it in the blog too.

(I'd go for it, but just don't have the time for it right now. If only it had opened up in April!)

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I've met the daily goal on SB now for 6 days in a row. I was really hoping today's goal would be a small one - but nope, 110. Ugh. So I'm doing SBTV On both my phone and my computer and doing my web surfing on the iPad. When what I'd really like to do right now is go to bed..

Tomorrow we have an at home game (basketball). I really try to go to them when they aren't on a Friday or Saturday. I don't know if I'm going to be able to make this one though - if I'm still feeling so sick to my stomach tomorrow. Ugh.

Does anyone know of a prescription allergy medicine with decongestant that is still available? Allegra-D is what worked for me for YEARS, but now that its over the counter only, I can only get 10 days at a time AND its way more expensive - ten days is more than I paid for 30 days of the generic version.

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The joke books I got at the Schol warehouse sale were a big hit, as I bet they'd be. I'd bought the next two books in a series we have that I thought one of my 8th grade girls really liked .... Glad I got them at a discount- because when I showed it to her today I got the " ugh, that series was so boring - I couldn't make it past the first few pages." Oops. Of course a different 8th grade girl was very happy about the new Bluford High book I got ... So you win some and you lose some.

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At our staff meeting today it was decided that we would have a Mardi Gras party instead of a Valentine's Day party due to Lent starting on Feb 13. The kids will still be allowed to exchange cards, just no party. I'm learning new nuances of Lent all the time. Before I came here I knew about it, and I knew about some of the stipulations of it, but had never seen anyone take part in it. Interesting..

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I changed my GymPact for this week to only 4. Right now I'm wishing I'd put it to two. Oh well, I'll manage. Once I have the ~$12 in my PayPal, ill probably be twice as motivated.

Ugh. I think my allergies have actually turned into a sinus infection. I could barely sleep last night even with dosing myself with generic Nyquil - kept coughing due to drainage. Erch. Thought about going to the doctor today .. but by the time I realized that it probably had become a sinus infection, it was really too late to try to get an appt. I think the doctor is only in on Fridays ... not sure though.
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Today I took Kari to the vet to get her nails clipped. $10.79

She's been chewing on the sides of my bedroom doors to get my attention in the morning ... I have the feeling I won't be getting any of my security deposit back when I move ... thanks Kari.

One of my co-workers suggested Bitter Apple Jelly (tried the spray and that didn't work.) Will see.

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Managed to snag another $5 AGC today. So far have hit the goal amount 4/4 days (mostly due to the SB mobile app - 50 SBs a day from that! As long as they don't put any ridiculous amounts like 120, I think I might be able to do the 7 day in a row bonus.

It was kind of funny tonight -- I had Drop 3 going on my main computer (SB game that you just basically start and forget til it finishes ... then start the next game), the SBTV app going on my phone, and was reading the SA blogs on my iPad. Multi-tasking at it's finest.

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I'm almost ready to cash out for another $5 AGC from Irazoo. That site takes *forever* to reach payout level, but still is another way to find snowflakes right?

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I received a gift from my Aunt and Uncle (Egypt) today (currently staying with Grandma in CA.) A beautiful blue embroidered Egyptian style top. I'm not sure when I'll wear it -- maybe for church??

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I'm now up to just shy of $10 with GymPact. A lot of people must not have made their pacts last week because I averaged $.56/day versus the more normal $.35 - .44/day. After this week I'll be over the $10 mark and can make my first withdrawal. I'm planning on only doing the first withdrawal so that I can have statement proof to put on my other blog .. then I'm going to just let it build until November or so. I guess you could call this a snowflake.

**Those of you who have an Android phone - their Android app is now live! If you're interested and would like to help me out, I'd be happy to give you my referral code. (We'd both get $5 after you complete your first pact.)

The other app I've been using AcheiveMint has changed the point value for the daily weigh in from 40 to 10. Oh well, it still is free money for doing something easy and fast - just will take longer to get to it. (I'd figured it would take 90 days with just weigh-in points to get the first $25 card, but now it will probably take closer to 150 days - unless I manage to get some longer walks in.)

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I actually made some progress on my electives today - completed three assignments. Just had to sit down and do it mostly. Still have a LONG way to go on them.

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It has been WAY cold here. The lowest temp I've seen (when awake) was -11 at around 7am - so you know it was lower than that previously!

Financial:

Goal #1:

Pay car off. As far as I can tell, I think this will be a completely doable goal. I can manage $250/mo while still putting money in other savings categories, and then I'll have 3 months with an extra paycheck AND whatever I get back from my tax refund. So, completely doable.

Goal #2:
Get to $5k in EF. This means saving and additional $3500. I *might* be able to do this. I'll get more aggressive on this once #1 is finished.

Goal #3:
Put $3k in my ROTH. It'll really depend on my tax refund - I may take $600 out of it to put in the ROTH, which would make this a doable goal.

Goal #4:
$1k in FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)
Maybe ... This also may become my Moving fund eventually if/when I relocate. I want to do some investing in Vanguard I think, and need at least $3k to do the lower level fund.

Goal #5:
Find a way to earn extra income this summer. I have about 8 weeks in the summer which I could conceivably do *something* with - I'm just not sure what would be the most feasible. During that time though I also need to do some major downsizing of belongings, so that if I *do* end up moving the following summer, I can get by with a small moving truck (thus reducing moving expenses and helping me with housing costs wherever I end up.)

Personal

Goal #1:
Give up soda. I've done it before, and I can do it again.

Goal #2:
Go back to the NO S philosophy (at least in regards to junkfood - only on the weekends.)

Goal #3:
Consistently do 30+ minutes of exercise 5 days a week.

Goal #4:
Let other people's drama be theirs and not let it affect me negatively.

Goal #5:
Finish the stupid class. (without being too negative about it.... )

So ... I spent a good bit of money in December. Some of it was reimbursed, some of it was money I received for birthday/Christmas which I distributed to various categories. My biggest expenses were in the grocery and fun money categories - groceries - I did a large stockup at Costco -- fun money ... some of it probably could've been categorized as vacation, but I generally use the vacation budget for actual travel expenses such as airplane/train tickets. So this was eating out, movies, a few items I've been wanting that I treated myself to which didn't fall into any particular other category ... etc.

I already allocated the $1k I received back from the dealer - but since it hasn't completely cleared yet, I haven't sent the check yet. That's why I have a sizeable balance in my car loan category.



January hopefully will be a much less spendy month. I doubt that I'll have all my tax info in yet for me to do my taxes, but I did add a little extra to my other category to cover tax fees. I'm really hoping that groceries will be significantly less than what I've budgeted, but in case it isn't ... I made the room. I doubt that I'll spend much in the fun money category in January - especially with as much eating out and movies as I've done the past few weeks. Hopefully that's mostly out of my system for awhile.
We'll see.