I was feeling okay this morning, but by the afternoon I was really starting to wear out. By the time 3:30 came, it was all I could do to walk to my car. One of my 6th grade students was walking my way and said hi. I said hi back to him and he was like "you don't sound too good Miss ..." Must be bad if a kid can tell ..

Ugh. Just have to make it through tomorrow and then have a 3 day weekend.

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Darn cat. I really thought Kari had finally gotten the message not to mess with my food when I'm eating. This morning I'm halfway through my oatmeal when out of nowhere her paw swipes my spoon. Without thinking I put the contaminated oatmeal/spoon back in the bowl. Ugh. I ended up eating a granola bar instead.

It feels really really cold here right now. My computer says its 23 degrees so that it is warmer than it has been at times - just feels colder for whatever reason.

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I could've gone to Baltimore, MD next month for an Americorp meeting -- all expenses paid. I do have a good friend in that area I've not seen in many, many years, so that would've been nice. However, next year I'll be the only 2nd year Americorps member here ... so I'd feel better about asking to go. Plus maybe it'll be in a warmer place!!

K, heading off to the showers and then to bed. Hope I can actually *get* to sleep and *stay* asleep till the alarm goes off.

--_

January No Spenders - +1

My two other blogs (Living Frugal and Children's Books) have a paid advertisement thing on them. I cashed out about a year ago for $10 in earnings, but then kind of fell off on the posting (and didn't keep a paid ad up ..) So I got an email telling me that they'd sent me $.30. I'm not sure if they are closing shop, or if they are dropping me since I haven't logged in to the site in forever and ever. Oh well, that's $.30 to my EF. Every bit counts!

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Last night as I was watching the yearbook stuff, I realized that I had totally missed a deadline!! It was the one for choosing the yearbook cover art. Somehow I had the idea that the only deadline I had was in March. Oops! I called our account manager this morning and he walked me through finding the covers on the website (I hadn't received the hardbound catalog I was supposed to.) He also told me to not worry about having missed the deadline, since we weren't doing an original cover.

The journalism kids took the entire 40 minutes of class to pick the cover out today - but at least it is done now. It was funny to me how the ones they disliked, they were all in total and quick agreement on. The two (of 35 choices) that they semi-liked they were also in agreement on.

AL, our tech coordinator, twisted her knee today. She ended up walking out on crutches. She's seeing a doctor in big town tomorrow morning (her brother is driving her) -- really hope it isn't anything a few days of rest won't take care of.

It just goes to show how fast someone can get hurt -- she was just on her way to answer her phone.

---

The temperature here must have dropped 20 degrees today. At noon I was comfortable enough to go to lunch without my jacket. By 2:30 when the 5th grade girls came in, the wind had picked up and it was bone chilling chilly. Then by 3:30 when the busses were leaving, I was freezing *with* my jacket on.

So far there is no snow in the forecast for the next ten days ... which I'm quite happy about. I leave for my seminar on Tuesday after school and come back Wednesday after my Costco run. I'd really hate to have to fight snow on either route.

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January No spenders: 6

Today I ended up not eating lunch at the cafeteria an so only had some trail mix. By the time 3:30 rolled around, I was *hungry*. I was *sorely* tempted to stop at Blimpies and get a cheese sandwich. But I reminded myself that I had plenty to eat at home, and that most of it wouldn't take too long. So, I persevered and headed home.

When I arrived home I had my dishwasher staring me in the face. It's been here a week now and I hadn't attempted to set it up yet for a variety of reasons. Tonight I decided that I would set it up - so I ate a granola bar to give me a little energy and set to work.

Problem ... there is supposed to be a faucet adapter included inside the dishwasher. It is nowhere to be found. So ... I got everything else set up, but am unable to hook it up. I *briefly* thought about running into big town (30+ miles one way) but decided that since I'd waited this long, I could wait a few more days. Sigh....

I know I have another box of plasticware around here somewhere ...

Tonight I had a can of Amy's Lentil soup + a pkg of macaroni. I should have cooked it one minute longer so the macaroni would've been soft. Otherwise it was really good and filling on a cold evening.

Tomorrow I have my journalism kids and must really watch the yearbook set up videos tonight ... ugh. What I really want to do is go to bed early. (I already took a bit of a nap this afternoon.)

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Question --

How long can eggs stay good in the refrigerator? I have some eggs that are over 6 weeks old ... (can you say procrastination???)

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January No spenders - 5

I personally hate watches. Until this past September, I hadn't worn a watch since June 2005. That was when I quit teaching. Unfortunately, using my phone for time doesn't work that well when you don't generally have "normal" pockets. So, a watch it is.

Saturday night I bought my third watch this year. The first one got washed. I thought I had lost the second one ( I hid it before I left for vacation so Karii wouldn't mess with it. I forgot where I hid it.)

Last night before going to bed I decided to cut my nails. Guess what else was in my bag with my clippers?

So now I can take the third watch back and put $4.88 back into my budget.

--___--_-------
Oh! The maintenance guys from the mobile park came by the library today. I guess I'd squeaky wheeled enough - finally. My shower is fixed (replaced knobs) so I can use my nice shower head again!! The problem with the washer was just that whoever fixed my water heater never turned the hot water back on for the washer!! Only took 4 months to get this done. :roll eyes:

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No spenders Jan - 4

It's funny what you find when you start going through papers and trying to organize a bit. I found a check from July for tutoring which somehow did not get cashed! It was for $35. I texted the person who wrote the check to make sure it was okay to cash. She texted me back and said it was fine. (I wanted to make sure because ... well, she'd asked me several times to hold checks before. That's probably what happened with this one - I was holding it, and forgot about it!)

So, that's another $35 to my EF! Yahoo!

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I had a really late start today. Didn't get out of bed til nearly ten. Then lollygagged around til one. Finally got off my duff and finished grading the tests and headed over to the school. Altogether I put in about 8 hours of school related work today. (mostly at home though)

I've enjoyed my S days, but I think I'll do just fine with 5 days of no sweets coming up. I still haven't set up my dishwasher or made my casseroles. Oops.

I need to see if I can find the name/email of the one lady at church that I kind of talk to. Then I can see if she would come with me to visit the organist after church next week. I'm not sure how I'd keep a casserole cold though (corn, sour cream, cheese, cornmeal, eggs - baked) would that be okay to get room temperature?

Today was a NSD. Hope to have 6 of them this week.

Ok, need to read the blogs and then head to bed. Can't laze in bed tomorrow!

Tonight when I got home and was in the process of putting my purchases away, I went to scratch the back of my head. OUCH!! I put down what I had in my other hand and went to the bathroom to try to see what it was ... no luck (I have a hand mirror somewhere ...). It is either a tick, spider bite, or some other kind of bug bite. I didn't notice it this morning when I was washing my hair, so it must have happened today sometime. Weird.

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I've just about given up going to Sabbath School (like Sunday School, only on Saturday i.e. Sabbath.) I don't get anything out of it, and the main teacher frustrates me - he is SO opinionated and legalistic. Today we were discussing the lesson about the Trinity. He asked if anyone had any questions still ... one man raised his hand and asked, "What do they exist on?" Meaning, what do they eat, do they breathe air, etc. I'm not sure whether the question was a serious one or not, but R's reaction to it totally blew it out of proportion and wasted almost ten minutes of class time! If it had been me, I would have simply said, "You know, that is an interesting question and I really don't know the answer. Lets all take a look this week to see if we can find it and share next week what we find." R's response was essentially to call the guy stupid. No, he didn't use that word, but his 6 - 8 minute diatribe could be boiled down to it. His wife even at one point told him to just let it go and move on. (btw - R is a high-school history and shop teacher ...)

I did stay for potluck today and had a chance to talk with someone who's been pretty friendly to me, but we haven't had much time to talk. It was nice, though kind of stilted.

We found out today that the man who plays the organ was in a bad car accident last night. His car was totaled and he cracked one of his vertebrae. I seriously thought about going over to visit him ... but ... he is single (maybe late 40's??) ... so I was afraid it would look strange or something. He is a nice man, and we have talked some, but otherwise I have no interest -- but me going over to see him ... I also thought about asking if I could go with someone else who was going to see him .. but again, perceptions ... I don't know, maybe I overthink this. But as a single woman who still appears fairly young (and even though I am quite heavyset), I have quite often gotten the feeling from women married to men within a 5 - 15 year range of me, that they'd rather I stay 100 feet away from their husbands. So ... I try to be very, very, very careful. My friendliness/smile sometimes I think (in fact, I know for a fact it has at least twice) is misconstrued as flirting -- when in truth, all I'm doing is being myself and trying to make friends/have a conversation/be polite. (His injuries aren't serious enough to cause paralysis, etc. I'm not sure if he is at home or in the hospital.)

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In other events today...

I went to the library and got a card. I found a couple Lori Wick books I hadn't read, and a book on Psalms 23 which looks interesting. Then I went over to the children's library and found two books on a subject one of my 6th grade boys whispered in my ear on Friday. Our catalog said we had one on the subject, but when we went to the shelf to look, it was nowhere to be found. He's pretty good about getting books back, so I think I can trust him with a book on my card (I'm going to have him choose one of the books.) I just felt so honored that he trusted me enough to ask me for help finding it, that I felt I *had* to come through for him. He's one of those kids who is a 40 year old in a 12 year old's body, and doesn't get along well with the other kids at all.

After the library, I talked to my dad for a while, and then went to Walmart. I bought some of the generic brand 3 in one dishwashing tablets as well as Lemon Shine (highly recommended by my dad as well as one of the teachers here.) I plan on getting my dishwasher set up tonight and run my first load. Yay!

I also picked up a pair of sunglasses for $5 (my last pair were over ten years old and had finally fallen apart a few months ago), as well as yet another watch (somehow lost the last one) for $4.88 - le sigh. I also picked up some moisturizer with sunblock -- something else I did over Christmas was get my first facial ever (gift from an aunt). The technician told me I needed to use moisturizer with sunblock because my skin was really dry in spots and getting the beginnings of sun spots. The moisturizer she recommended cost $59 for 2 oz. The one I bought tonight cost $10.48 for 4 oz.

In all, I spent $51.xx at Wal-mart ... but I forgot to deposit my cash and checks at the ATM. I can do it next Saturday though - not in a rush.

When I got back to my town, I stopped at Family Dollar and picked up 8 cans of 9 Lives for $.33/can (regularly $.40/can), as well as flavored carbonated water (better than soda ... sorta), and a few other things. In all, I spent $6.50.

Oh, while I was at Family Dollar I ran into three of my students. They were so cute --- Hi!!! Miss N!!!!!
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Tonight I was able to cash out for another Swagbucks AGC! only 445 to go to the next one.

I'm almost to 4900 points in Beezag. Only 3100 to go to cash out!
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I have the feeling tomorrow is going to be a LONG work day. I need to finish grading the tests, grade the projects, get the grades recorded, and then most likely add all the electives to the grading program (and then of course enter grades for journalisim class) ... and then I have about 20 books that need to be cataloged .. then I need to do lesson plans ... and hopefully if I have time, I can work on getting the shelves straightened. Oh wait, I also need to find time somewhere in there to watch the intro video on the yearbook (how to use their program) and open the box which has been sitting unopened for a month or more from Lifetouch (yearbook company) ...then I need to figure out how to set up each of my journalism students with their own accounts so they can work on the yearbook. Oy!

I'm really glad next weekend is a long weekend. I'm gonna need the break!

This afternoon I received an email from the account where my scholarship money was kept. I get one from them monthly reminding me to "check in" on my account. I've ignored them for quite awhile because I thought I had spent all the money in that account. Today though the email was different. It said that I was about to be charged an account abandonment fee ... so I decided to check.

I'm glad I did!!! There was $96.xx in it! Straight away I went to one of my credit cards (the only way to get money out of that account without using an ATM) and made a payment for that exact amount.

So that means now that I have $96 that I didn't previously know I had. Where should that money go? Well, that's easy. My Emergency Fund of course!!

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Today went pretty well for not having anything really pre-planned. I introduced the new books to the 5th grade boys and the 6th graders - by the time the 3rd section was done checking out, 60% of the new books were gone.

I resorted back to my Nyquil equivalent last night ... I just *had* to get some sleep. I slept almost right up to my alarm ... so it worked. I just really don't want to make a habit of it. Not good.

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Today was another no spend day.

Tomorrow after church I plan on staying for potluck and then going over to the "local" library and getting a card. I may use them to rent movies from (they charge $1 for movies and $.50 for audiobooks - I guess they have a high rate of theft???) Then once it is sunset, I'm going to get some dishwashing soap so I can use my dishwasher!!! Then when I get back here, I'll stop at Family Dollar where they have 9 Lives on sale for $.33/can (normally is $.40).

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I found a neat website to help you memorize bible verses - free. memverse.com

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I'm getting *really* annoyed. Over a year ago I requested some auto insurance quotes. About 8 or so people called me, and I decided to stay with Geico. For the next six months every month near the beginning of the month I'd get multiple calls from about 10 or so different numbers. I asked multiple times to have my name and number removed. Finally it seemed to die off. On Tuesday it started back up in full force. Only this time one company is taking it even further -- they're texting me!!!! Each text has the message that if I want them to stop, then text STOP. I have now done that 4 times. It has used up 12 of my 200 text messages for the month. (They text me, I text them STOP, they text back to let me know they got my message.) If this makes me go over my limit, I will be *TICKED*!!!

I probably need to call and see if I can get the number blocked.

Today made two non spend days in a row. I picked up the last of the book packages from the PO. It was kind of funny - the guy remarked, "You order a lot of stuff." I told him that I'm the librarian at SB and that most of the books I order for the library I have sent there.

Today also made two days in a row that I kept to NoS (mainly in the realm of not eating chocolate.)

Now if I could just get myself to actually do the exercise I said I was going to do ....

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Today I got a call from Scholastic to confirm the dates of our book-fair (Mar 16 - 23 - books arrive on the 16th, so I have the weekend to set up. Oh joy.) While talking with the representative, I was ecstatic to find out that we have $475 in Scholastic dollars left from last year's book-fair. We made a total of over $2k, so I'm not sure where that went (maybe to pay for Destiny??? our cataloging system?) In looking at Scholastic's site, I'm not sure how I'm going to use the money.

*warning - librarian ramblings ahead -- financially related though *
I really think before I spend any more large sums, that I need to finish going through *all* the donated books and catalog them. Then I can upload our library catalog into this free program which will tell me what my weak areas are (I have a strong feeling it will be in non-fiction, but I'm not exactly sure in which areas.) Probably 75% of the books I have been getting this year are fiction. I'm not totally thrilled about Scholastic's selection of non-fiction titles -- I did some extensive searching via the Dewey numbers on topics which I thought *might* be weak in our library.

Maybe what I should do is give the students and teachers a survey of what types of books they'd most like to see added (as in topic areas.) I also think I may keep the money to use next year, and then divide up what we make at this years book fair +475 between the school year and the grade levels -- perhaps minus $200 to be used the next year ...

I'm also kind of leery about getting too many more books in the library this year. The kids are almost coming to expect hearing about new books. There's no way I'll be continuing the same volume of purchases next year ... I need to see if there is a way I can catalog all the donated books, but keep them unsearchable by the kids ... then just put them out a few at a time once a month ... stretch it out. Although I don't know if I could stand it.

I also need to find out who decided how the book fair proceeds would be spent/divided. If I can put half of it into cash and *not* have it absorbed into the general school funds, then I could possibly participate in the Junior Library Guild selections .. which I would seriously love. (They send out several selections each month - you can send them back for an exchange or no charge as long as they have not been processed -- you can also change out the selection they'll send you before they send it ... plus if you buy a certain amount of books, you then get a certain number free ... highly recommended by librarians on the listserve I participate on.)

*end librarian ramblings*

I forgot to tell you all about an interesting experience I had over Christmas. My dad, grandma and I were invited to eat at the Loma Linda mayor's house! (before you get too impressed - my dad was his minister when he was a young teenager ... they found each other again at the tree lighting ceremony this year) It was a really nice meal and a very friendly family. They are vegetarian, so the whole meal was vegetarian. Yum

I learned about a tradition I hadn't known about previously -- English Crackers. They are not something to eat. I think I may have seen them before in stores, but not known what they were for. Basically, they are rolled up papers tied on each end -- inside is a paper with a joke, a small toy and a paper crown. When you pull it apart it makes a cracking sound. Hence it's name.

When we were at the farmer's market in LA, we found a set of 8 crackers for $9 (50% sale) so we got them and then used 3 of them for New Year's Eve. Perhaps a new tradition for us.

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I'm seriously considering telling my parents that I will make one visit of 8 days to each of them once a year. I also am thinking that I am going to hold off on my Spring Break trip until 2013.

I have the feeling that I will be dealing with some intense pressure and hurt feelings from both of them. The reasons I think this is the way to go is because:

1. I don't know of very many mid-30-year-olds (single or married) that see their parents *every* year, let alone several times a year.

2. It seems to me that it is not very financially smart for someone on my income level to be taking 4 or more vacations a year -- whether or not part of the expenses are paid for by someone else. 2 vacations a year probably is excessive -- especially before getting my EF and car funds in place.

3. I'd like to take a vacation (a real one) sans family (or even with ....) to someplace other than CA or TX.

4. I'd really really like to go on a cruise for my 40th birthday (or at least sometime that year...) and in order to do that, I need to get my basic savings funded so I can work on that long term dream (less than 4 years now!!) Before I was laid off, I had just begun working on this dream fund ... (only it was supposed to be for my 35th birthday ...) I'd really like to do a European cruise ...

5. (won't mention this one to them) I appreciate being treated and everything ... however, if I had fewer vacations, then I'd have more time to save for them so that *I* could do more of the treating (I treated to a cheap $20 meal at a pizza restaurant.) I hate to think how much money my dad and grandma spent while I was there ... especially when I would have been just as happy with home cooked meals and not *going* somewhere everyday ... Really, just going for a visit is enough for me -- I don't need to be entertained. My brother put it really well - it's draining to be "entertained." *and yes, I have tried to tell my dad something along these lines, but he always comes back with "I want to treat you, etc..."

I don't know ... would it be totally selfish and cruel of me to say -- Mom/Dad, you can choose to have me for 8 days in the summer or 8 days during the Christmas break. Then the next year I'll switch - that way each of you will get me every other Christmas and every other summer. If you want to come visit me at my home in the meantime, I'm more than happy to have you -- just don't expect to be entertained constantly.

--- you see, this is one of the areas where it would be so much easier (for me at least) if I was married, or at least in a serious relationship .. then I could use that as a reason --i.e. we're starting our own traditions, or, this year we'll visit his family, then next year we'll visit you ... Whereas with me being single, they somehow have this idea that I'd be terribly bereft if I spent a holiday NOT around family. (for my mom right now I think its more a case of *her* being totally bereft ... )

*and yes, I do know that married people can have just as much problems wrt vacations and family ...***

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I have no idea what I'm doing with my classes tomorrow. Our internet was non-functioning until late this afternoon. We found out that one of the snow plows had somehow managed to break a cable ... Which is why we had no internet at the school the first 4 days of the week (Sun - today.)

I've been sleeping really poorly the last few weeks. I think maybe I got kind of used to using the Nyquil equivalent to sleep ... and so without it, I can barely get 4 hours (if that.) Makes for one tired librarian.

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I'm less than 50 points away from my next Swagbucks AGC. It sure helps when you are consistent about visiting the site for the easy daily points. Plus their adding the Beezag type videos has helped.

Ok, I think I better sign off here to try to get some sleep, plus this is *way* long ... sorry about that.

My dishwasher arrived today! RW our mobile home park manager met me at the thrift store to pick it up and take it to my house. While I was there waiting for him, I found a bread machine (I don't know how much it was, didn't want to ask in case it was a really good deal - not sure if I'd actually use one...) and this really neat trio of stuffed snowmen sitting on top of each other for the library (free! since it was for the school.)

Anyway, RW brought the box into my kitchen and asked me where I wanted it. Thinking he meant the dishwasher, I told him on the counter. He placed the box on the counter ... and then left!! I managed to get the box off the counter with the help of a chair, but then discovered it was upside down. So ... carefully I got it onto the floor in an upright position. Then using the weight lifters stance, I managed to pull the 60 pound dishwasher OUT of the box and place it on the counter!

Whew!!

I haven't tried to hook it up yet because when I was shopping on Sunday I forgot to get dishwashing detergent. Ooops! My dad is sending me a box of things I couldn't fit in my carryon and is including a baggie of detergent to last until I get to the store again. Sweet guy, huh?

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I received about half of the books I ordered before leaving for break today. Already have them all cataloged. One of the boxes I'm anxiously waiting for (and really wish had come!!) is full of graphic novels that my 2nd graders will go for. Hope it gets here tomorrow - I have 2nd grade on Thursday. Although I think the boys will be quite happy with the 10! Star Wars books I got.

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It looks like today is actually going to be a no spend day! Yahoo ! I hope to have lots of those this year.

I was reading on another frugal forum and one of the message threads was the goal of being a "miser" in 2012. I don't know if I want to go quite that far ... but I am rethinking some of my spending lines. I want to make sure that I have a *little* something for fun, while at the same time am socking away as much as possible. My car is not getting *any* younger, so the need for a replacement fund is quite urgent. I have very little room between me and being in debt again if any big expense were to happen -- so the need to get my EF loaded is also urgent.

However, I don't see any way around traveling for Thanksgiving and for Christmas ... and I can't count on generous people paying for my airfare (like my mom's guy friend paid my Thanksgiving tickets 2011) so I must prepare for those expenses. I also feel that it would be really remiss of me to not enjoy some of the wonders of this area ... so I plan on taking a trip during Spring Break to a place about 5 hours from here - where I'll do either a one or two day camping/horseback trip into a place which will help me learn more about the Navajo.

As for the summer travel ... I know both of my parents want me to come see them. However the cost of doing that would just about kill my other financial goals. So ... I'm going to tell my mom that she saw me last summer (the whole summer really), so this summer I'll spend time in CA. Then next summer I'll spend it in TX with her.

And of course, the iPhone 5. I plan to wait til at least next January to actually purchase it (so most of the kinks will be figured out). My current phone by then will be nearly 4 years old -- way older than ANY of my previous cell phones.

I think I'll start off telling about my awesome gift!!

Those of you who've read my blog the past few months may have noticed how often I mention how my dishes stack up ... and how I *really* need to get them washed. Well, on another frugal forum I visit I'd mentioned how the only thing my home really lacks is a dishwasher. Someone saw that and suggested that I get a portable dishwasher from Craigslist, etc.

I don't know how the idea had never crossed my mind before, but as soon as I saw it, I knew that was the answer I've been looking for.

My dad and grandma and I were going to go out to the local outlet mall and do clothes shopping - my dad and aunt's gift to me. Instead though I told them about the portable dishwasher, and how I really couldn't think of any clothes I *really* needed (other than some new bras ...) ... They thought it was a terrific idea.

Dad and I went to Home Depot and Lowes to see if we could see any in person - but they only had ones that you could special order. So I ended up looking on Amazon, and found this:

SPT.

I paid an extra $4 to get one-day shipping, and it should be delivered to the mission office tomorrow. RW our mobile park manager said that he'd get someone to bring it to my place and help me lift it on the counter.

Seriously ... if this was the *only* gift I got in all of 2011 and 2012, I would be an extremely happy camperette!!

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I had a pretty enjoyable time overall with my dad and grandma in CA. We went up to Oak Glen the first Saturday I was there - where we saw this person who has three llamas in his yard. We also went to Santa Monica where we walked along the boardwalk and the pier, and dad and I took our first rollercoaster ride in about six+ years!! Then of course we hit Farmer's Market in LA where we ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Our waitress was really good - one of the few people who can keep up with my dad -- later found out that she'd graduated from college a few years earlier and had moved cross country to LA *after* paying off all her student loans, to pursue a career as a comedian. We all were pretty impressed.

On another night we all went out to eat at a nice hotel/fancy restaurant called Mission Inn. It was a gift from my aunt to the three of us. The food was ok, but definitely not worth the cost. If any of us had been meat eaters, it probably would have been more cost worthy. (We all got the buffet.)

Something else I did which made me quite happy ... I closed my Compass Bank account! I then opened an account with BofA - it is one with NO fees and NO stipulations, other than you have to do any and all transaction online or via an ATM. There is a BofA ATM right next to the Walmart I shop at here ... so that works perfectly. For some reason I thought BofA was the bank you could do the phone scan of checks, but that is actually Chase. Oh well, as long as I can put cash/checks into the ATM, that is all I really need. I'll still use ING as my main bank.

Oh something else that made me happy ... dad and I checked at Costco about whether or not someone without a Costco membership could use a gift card to purchase things. We found out that it was true! So my dad bought me a $100 gift card (I was going to pay him back for it, but he later told me he wanted to cover it for me. Sweet.) I didn't get a chance to use it when I got back Sunday night, but I plan on stopping there after my seminar on the 18th. My trunk will be filled with cat litter.

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Something kind of cool that happened on my trip back here on Sunday. I was at the gate in Phoenix waiting for my flight (which later turned out to be wrong because they changed gates on us ...) and the airline person who checks you in announced that the flight to Austin was way overbooked. They were offering to put people up in a hotel and a $325 voucher *no restrictions* to anyone who volunteered to be bumped. The lady sitting next to me (we both were using the electric plug) got up and volunteered. It turned out that the seat she gave up went to a young military man. Later as he got on the plane he came over to her and personally thanked her.

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Well, I was going to put in five hours at school today. However, when I went over there today I found out that the phone lines and internet were both down. So that put a big crimp on doing most of what I'd planned on doing. There were other things I *could* have done, but once I realized I couldn't do most of the other stuff ... I wimped out and went home.

Tomorrow I'll be picking up a bunch of deliveries from the post office (hopefully!!!) -- books I ordered thanks to the $200 donation to the library. Since our system will still probably be down tomorrow, I'll go ahead and catalog the books at home. I should've taken home barcode/spine labels today to print -- will pick those up tomorrow.

I talked to our principal today. We're going to have our Christmas parties on Friday afternoon, but will not be rescheduling the Christmas program. I also found out that *this* is my week for morning prayer/cafe duty. A three-day week? I'll take it!! Now just have to find three prayers.

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I was checking FB earlier this morning and saw that one of my coworkers had gotten food poisoning from an order of onion rings at BK. I also learned something disturbing (for a 20+ year vegetarian who loves onion rings from BK) and that is that BK makes their onion rings in grease that has meat particles. Intelligently, I think I probably already knew this ... but ignored it because of how much I love their onion rings. But now can no longer ignore the info. Sigh. Onion rings aren't all that good for me anyway.

I bought my coworker some baby wipes and went over and walked a dog that she's dog sitting (the dog only knows to go #2 on a walk ...). My coworker and I were discussing how many times we've gotten food poisoning here, as well as two restaurants in the area shut down due to health violations recently ... and both agreed that maybe just staying home and eating in was a better idea. (considering that that is my plan anyway ... good to have some extra reasoning power behind it, right?)

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I had both of my Swagbucks AGC's come in during December. So right now I have a $10 credit on Amazon .... Also my dad had enough Swagbucks by Thursday for him to redeem his first card (which he's going to give to me.)

I have almost 4500 Beezag points, so more than halfway to my next cash out.

I think it is funny how Beezag videos are infiltrating all the different rewards websites. Both Swagbucks and Mypoints now have them. So it is possible to watch the same video for a reward 3 x in one day on the three different sites. Just mute the volume and keep your eyes out for the numbers, and you're good to go!!

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Almost forgot -- New Year's Eve dad, grandma and I went to Pasadena and drove up and down Colorado Blvd. Unfortunately due to Sunday Blue laws, the parade wasn't til today -- so nobody was there. We now have two bags of marshmallows prepared and ready for next year though!! The trip wasn't a total bust - we went through Sierra Madre and checked out all the Christmas lights. Most of the neighborhoods in that area were decked out in different themes. Very nice - especially considering that *very* few people in my dad and grandmas town did any decorating with lights.

I went to the doctor today and got my blood work done - it was a $25 copay. Not too bad I guess.

I also got my mom's Christmas gift mailed off (late I know!!) - only $5 postage - should get there by Tuesday. Oops.

Yesterday afternoon one of my coworkers came by and asked if I wanted to go into town with her and another teacher for dinner. I couldn't resist. Dinner - $8.65, and then we went to Walmart. I needed to pickup a bat of cat food because I was nearly out, but ended up buying a couple of CDs from the $5 bin. One of them will make a good addition to my dad's Christmas gift ... but I really should've skipped the others -- $23.36 (I also got a Terry's Chocolate Orange).

Guess what started again while I was at the doctors? Snow!! We've had probably another inch fall this morning. I plan on taking it slow on the way in to ABQ because around here the roads were getting kind of slick.

I stopped over at the school library and picked up a few books to read. Although I have plenty of books on my phone, there are times where you can't use electronic devices on the planes, so I like to have a hard copy book -- the last few times I ended up buying a book in the airport -- highway robbery. So this time I am prepared!! Plus I'll be able to book talk these books when I get back.

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After I got back from dinner last night, I preceded to spend the $200 donation. I bought about $70 worth of graphic novels, $60 worth of mid-school specific books, and the rest were more primary level books. I actually ended up spending an extra $15. In all, I got 47 books - from Ebay and Amazon. Only 6 of them were full price (the newer, more popular ones.)

I used my Beezag money that was in Paypal for the books from Ebay.

They should mostly be here by Jan 7. The kids are going to be so excited.

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I'm 15 points away from redeeming my next AGC from Swagbucks. Yay!

I could redeem points for a $25 AGC from Mypoints right now, but I'm only 3,000 away from a $50 AGC. I'll wait - it'll save 400 points that way.

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Ok, I better go pack. It's gonna be hard getting up though cuz Kari is sound asleep on my lap.

This morning I received my 7th payment from Beezag. That makes $56 now for 2011. I was looking at my payment history from them and realized I'd really slacked off July - November. That doesn't surprise me, because I know how busy/exhausted,e tc. I was then.

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I updated both my Frugal Living blog and my Children's Books blog. It had been quite a while for both of them. One goal I'm adding for 2012 is to update at least the book blog 2x a month. It really should be easy to do considering how many books I read to my students each week.

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A few weeks ago I went to the local clinic here for a sinus infection, and I was hoping to get a new prescription for my thyroid medicine. However, I found out that I had to have my medical records before they'd do anything more than treat my sinus infection.

So today I called to find out whether they'd gotten them or not. They hadn't gotten all of them yet, but apparently enough to feel comfortable making an appointment for me to get blood work done. Unfortunately the time they wanted me to come in (so I could get on with the new doctor) was Friday, January 6. I told the person that Fridays were the worst possible day for me as a librarian - we have so many Fridays off that the kids already get shortchanged. She was just like ... well the teachers will understand if you give them enough notice.

In my head I'm thinking, yeah right lady.

So about 30 minutes later she calls me back. I now have an appointment for tomorrow morning with the current doctor! Starting in March I'll have to use the new doc and go on Fridays, but hopefully I can schedule those appointments for when we're off anyway.

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Just as I was in the middle of writing this post, I got a knock at my door. Fed Ex!!! It was a donation check from the same man my mom dated who pd for my Thanksgiving tickets and gave me $100 towards books. A donation of $200!!! His daughter asked that instead of him giving her her usual Christmas gift, that he donate it to my school's library. Isn't that just the most unselfish and sweetest thing you've heard??

Above and beyond the gift itself, I am most surprised that FedEx will deliver straight to my door. I know UPS won't, because I have to get all my packages at the post office. But this morning I got a call from a woman at FedEx asking me where a particular address was located. I told her that I think the address she was looking for was xxxxx instead, but that there'd be no one there. So she asked me for my home address -- I was very surprised and didn't believe it till the guy knocked on my door!

This is good to know - very good to know.

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What do you think would be a good way for me (or the students) to show appreciation for the gift?

MM - he wrote the check to me, but included a letter to the school stating what it was for. Will he be able to write that off on his taxes? Or should I have him rewrite the check to the school/mission???

I'm not sure that he is doing it for a write off, but included the letter to give me a little extra "props" with the mission (that I have people donating money to the school, hence keep me around.)

Now I'm going to have to figure out the best way to use this money. Believe me, I could spend it 4 or 5 x over quite easily. Maybe allocate $100 towards mid-school level books and $100 towards primary level books??

Last night I made new posts to both of my blogger blogs. One I hadn't made a new post to since ... March? and the other since September. I think that is going to be one of my goals for this coming year -- to post to at least the Children's books blog at least 2 x a month. I should've held off a bit longer on my frugal blog post --- this morning I got my December payment from Beezag. So that makes 7 payments this year (or $56.)

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This morning I called the local clinic to find out if they had received my medical records yet. They refused to see me for anything more than a cold until they had my records.

They must have gotten some of them in at least, because the person I spoke with was willing to make an appointment for me to meet with the new doc on Friday, January 6. I expressed to her that Fridays were the *worst* day for me to have an appointment (we get so many Fridays off that the kids I have on Friday don't have many classes.)

She called me back about half an hour later and told me that she could set me up with an appointment for tomorrow morning with the current doctor, but in March I'd have to switch over to the new doc. No problem with me!!

So tomorrow I'll be getting my bloodwork done and get set up probably for the other medical checkup stuff I need to take care of (seeing as though it's been 3 years since I've had anything more than a thyroid bloodwork done ...and I am now 36 ...)

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I was sitting here debating about whether or not to go into school when I got a phone call from someone in Fedex. They were trying to deliver a package to me from my mom's man friend (the one who paid for my Thanksgiving tickets and gave me $100 towards books.) He'd gotten the name of the street the school is on mixed up with the name of the tribe. I told the lady who called me that there probably wasn't anyone there to sign for it. So she asked me what my home address was. I asked her if she was sure they could deliver to the mobile home park, and she said that I'd be surprised at the places they deliver.

So ... two hours later I'm still waiting with great anticipation to see if Fedex will actually deliver here!!! I'm also really curious to see what is in the box ... J had asked me how many students we had and what the tribe was a few weeks ago .... Hmmm...

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Oh! I actually got on my elliptical today for ...drum roll please ... one minute! Kari ran out of the room like a bat out of he**. LOL! I'm going to have to work myself back up to doing the elliptical, and hopefully Kari will continue to stay out of its way.

This morning when I looked out my window, I saw that we'd gotten another two-three inches of snow overnight. But ... it has stopped snowing (for now at least - predicted to get more tomorrow/Thursday!)

I was still able to remove the snow off my car with my scraper, and pull out with no problems. There was a light wind blowing snow across the road which made visibility a bit limited, but otherwise the roads were fine.

I ended up driving a little bit past the mechanics due to the visibility, and so turned in to the drive next to his. In order to get to the mechanic, I had to drive through this open passageway.

I got stuck.

Thankfully I knew enough to stop revving my engine once I realized I was stuck. But apart from that, I wasn't sure what to do. Just as I was about to get out of my car to go get help, an older white woman came over. (I found out later that she is a speech pathologist at a school about 50 miles from here.) She told me to straighten my wheels out and gun it. So, I did that - and after a little help from her pushing down on my front end, I was able to get out.
Yay!

Once I got out I headed back to the mechanic. 20 minutes or so later the verdict was back --- only cosmetic damage!! I was practically jumping up and down in relief. The guy who looked at my car didn't charge me anything for his time either (which he really could have done quite fairly.)

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So .... if the freeway isn't closed on Thursday due to more snow ... I'll be able to drive to ABQ with no worries of my car breaking down.

I also don't have to raid my miniscule emergency fund to make car repairs!

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While I was out, I did pick up a $10 shovel at the local mini-grocer. That way I don't have to depend on others to shovel me out if I need it. (I probably ought to get a better quality one sometime - but this one will do in a pinch.)

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I was really bored last night, so did a preliminary look at my 2011 taxes. I didn't have all the confirmed numbers, so some were just guestimates. Even so ... it looks like I'll be getting back at least $7 or 800 (maybe more.) Whatever I do get back, 10% will go for fun/wants and the rest will go to my EF.

I also was playing with YNAB and doing some forecasting. If I'm really careful (and especially now that I don't have to take out money for car repairs!) by next December I *should* be able to meet all my financial goals -- and that is without counting any money from possibly working summer school!

Wow! What an interesting day. It started for me around 4 a.m. I woke up and just *could not* go back to sleep. So finally around 4:30 I got up and looked outside -- and took a picture. At that time I was still able to open my door all the way.

About 5:15 I got the call letting me know school was canceled. I went back to bed and managed to sleep off and on til about 7 when I just couldn't stay any longer.

Then I got up and started haunting the Swagbucks facebook page for the code extravaganza. That is pretty much all I did today. Between the codes, search wins, videos, sbtv, etc., I earned about 150 SBs - about what it would normally take me a few weeks to earn. I also read a couple of books.

It didn't stop snowing ALL DAY long. By about 1 pm this is what my front porch looked like --- I couldn't open it any wider!



I took a handful of snow and put it under Kari's nose -- she sniffed at it a bit, then turned and walked away. She didn't want anything to do with it!

Around 4, one of my co-workers came by with a shovel and shoveled off my front porch and around my car!! I thought that was so sweet -- since I don't have a shovel!! (or boots - both things I guess I'm going to need to rectify if I'm going to stay here very long.)

Around 6 I saw one of my coworkers post that school had been canceled for tomorrow too -- so I guess today started our Christmas vacation! I feel bad for the kids missing out on their parties/gifts (and I was looking forward to revealing myself to my giftee and finding out who my Secret Santa was ... oh well.)

We also missed out on the Christmas program tonight - the kids had worked so hard on it. I was told we'll probably do it when we get back in January - but it won't be quite the same.

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I haven't seen this much snow since I was a young teenager living in Minnesota! Even then, I don't remember getting this *much* snow all at once.

We had at least 5 instances of short power outages. I'm hoping and praying that that is all we'll have -- short bursts of power outage. I do have a gas stove I could *gasp* heat stuff on the old fashioned way if I absolutely *had* to. Just in case, I'm keeping my phone plugged in so it is charged 100% all the time. (not the smartest to do long term, but in the short term I don't think it will hurt it too much.)

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I was going over my posted goals in my head last night and realized that they (financially) are probably unrealistic. So I'm thinking I'll do them in steps... Step 1: Travel Funds and EF; Step 2: Car fund; Step 3: Extra ROTH money and then if I manage all those ... go back to Step 1 and add to EF money.

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I don't know how much my car repairs are going to cost. I was going to go to the mechanic today .. but well obviously that didn't work out. My dad is insisting that I get it looking new again - i.e. take care of the cosmetics even if it doesn't affect the function. I didn't bother wasting my breath trying to explain that on my income, cosmetics take a *really* low spot on the priority list. Esp. on an almost 15 year old car. If it was 5 years old or less ... than that might be different. I personally only care that my car can get me from A to B, and hopefully keep me warm or cool while doing it. Other than that ... phooey.

I got quite a bit done today which I'd been putting off for a long time due to tiredness and laziness. I swept my whole place, took out two loads of garbage, put things away, did all my laundry, and did most of my dishes. Kari wasn't quite sure what to make of my cleaning frenzy.

SrN called today and told me that they'd talked about me yesterday at the Christmas dinner (rear ending). She told me that since I don't have much in the way of classes tomorrow (due to dress rehearsals for Christmas program) that if I could make an appointment for my car at the mechanic, to do so.

I thought that was pretty sweet.

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Preliminary 2012 goals:

Physical Health:

* 2 x a week lift weights (10+ minutes)
* 2 x a week do 15 min+ elliptical
* Restart NoS program
* Eliminate soda
* Bought frozen foods used only on S days
* Meals on non-S days must be cooked by self - not bought frozen foods (i.e. use rice cooker, food steamer, etc.)

Spiritual Health:

* Daily 20 minutes focused prayer time
* Daily Bible w/Brian Hardin podcast
* Stay for potluck after church - try to connect with someone, anyone
* No more than 3 missed Sabbaths (unless out of town)
* Plan a focused Bible study/prayer time for Friday nights -- make Friday nights special - candles, special meal ... not just vegged out on net
* Contribute tithe/offerings consistently 2x a month (after payday)

Emotional Health:

* Call and/or write to a non-family member/non-coworker 1x a week
* Play piano 60 minutes per month
* Work on cross stitch project 60 minutes per month
* Read 1 book *not* for students per week
* Read minimum 1 book for students per week

Financial Health:

* Grocery budget
----Create a priority list. When shopping, buy from top down and keep running total. Stop when budget is reached.
-----Grocery shop no more than 2 x a month. (Exception - buying bananas at local small grocer in between big town grocery shops.)
--- Grocery budget --- $120/month -- including Kari's food/litter. So ... $50 per trip to allow for incidentals.

* ROTH - Send $1500 (Currently $100/mo)

* Emergency Fund - Save $5,000

* Car Repairs/Replace - Save to $5,000

* Vacation/Travel --- Save $1000 (Spring Break trip, plus summer travel)

* Moving Fund --- Save $1000

* Library spending -- limit to $30/month non-gift card funded spending

* Increase extra funds:

---- Check into being part of summer school program

---- Do Swagbucks daily points *daily*, at least once a week check for extra videos/offers
----- Do Beezag *daily*
----- Check Mypoints email at least once a week

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Edited -- My savings goals are roughly 60% of my gross yearly income ... But considering that my only expenses are food, gas and internet/phone ... I really *should* be able to do this. It's just keeping the food/gas, miscellaneous expenses in check.

This morning I got up at a decent hour (for a Sunday) and actually got going! I swept, picked up trash, dusted, put stuff away, cleaned mirrors, did laundry, and did most of my dishes!! My place is almost as clean as it was when my mom left back in August. Kari didn't quite know what to make of my cleaning frenzy - she's seen me do dishes before, and half-heartedly sweep ... but doing as much as I did today?? Never.

In the midst of my cleaning frenzy, SrN called me. Apparently I was being talked about yesterday at the Christmas dinner. (I'd called TC to let her know I wouldn't be coming, and why.) So SrN told me not to wait til Tuesday to get an appointment with the mechanic - that if I could get one tomorrow, to do it. The kids will basically be at dress rehearsal most of the day, so I won't really have any classes.

Sweet, isn't?

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We may have a snowstorm blowing in tonight (if the forecasts are accurate, we'll have "blizzard" conditions. Will believe it when I see it.)

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Preliminary 2012 Goals (will revise later ..)

Physical Health:

*Use weights 2x a week for 15 minutes
*Use elliptical 2x a week for 20 minutes

(Starting with small, manageable goals. If achieved with consistency, will increase later.)

*Eliminate soda

*Restart and DO the NoS plan (S's i.e. sweets/snacks/seconds only on S days)

* Cooked ahead meals - not prepared frozen meals - except on S days.

Emotional/Spiritual/Social Health:

* Revitalize prayer life - set aside 20 minutes a day to concentrate on praying for myself, family, friends, those around me, etc.

* Restart listening to Bible daily (daily Bible with Brian Harding podcast - an easy listen during breakfast!!)

* Call/write to one friend each week (non-family member!!)

* Play piano 60 minutes a week

* Sweep entire house 1x a week

* Do the dishes at least 1 x a week

* Read 1 book a week for *yourself*
* Read 1 book a week for *students* (minimum)

* Learn how to cut Kari's claws (or see if I can hire SE to do it for me cheaply ...)

Financial Health:

* Pay tithe and offering consistently (2 x a month)

* Limit non-gift card spending on Library to $30/month.

* Limit grocery spending to $100/month - go to Walmart only 2 x a month --- for any reason. Make a prioritized list and stick to it. Make do if you run out.

* Save $400 for Spring Break trip (have $160 saved so far.) (2 day camping/horseback trip into a canyon in AZ - a home of Navajo culture, etc.)

* Save $500 for summer travel expenses ($0 balance)

* Save $5,000 for car repairs/car replacement ($0 balance right now.)

* Save $4,000 towards EF ($500 bal right now, give or take (probably take depending on car repairs ...)

* Send $1500 to ROTH (Currently doing $100/month.)

* Save $1000 towards moving fund (good to be prepared)

* Increase Extra Funds by:
---- Visiting Swagbucks daily for the easy points, and at least weekly doing any videos/offers possible
------ Do Beezag daily
------ Check Mypoints email at least once a week

* Discuss doing summer school program

Overall/Big Goals:

* Declutter and organize home office
* Organize guest bedroom so if I actually *have* a guest, they have a place to stay!!
* Get main shower fixed so you can use it!!! (this will take lots of bugging of maintenance people)
*Get my yard weeded and cleaned ... maybe look into putting in a garden (would I really keep up with something like that though??? If I'm here long-term, a garden would really be a good thing... hmmm...)


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My monthly income will go down quite a bit in July - not because of a pay decrease, but because my yearly salary will be divided into 26 payments rather than 22 payments. (My pay year started in August, so that cut 4 payments.) I'm really hoping that I can do a summer computer program here as part of the summer school. It would both be a chance for me to teach the kids something I won't have time to do during the school year, and also give my income a bit of a boost.

First though I need to be asked back ...

I made it to church this morning, and was even planning on staying for potluck. Unfortunately the elder who preached didn't finish til nearly 2 p.m.!! I still needed to make the cottage cheese roast for the Christmas party at 5, so decided to not stay.

Before going on -- sad story. One of the ladies at church who has been very nice to me and is a teacher told me that the Title 1 funds to her school had been frozen, and that all the Title 1 teachers had been let go as of this coming Monday. Since her housing is provided by the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs or something like that) this means that she is going to have to move - most likely back with her parents. If this would have happened at the end of the year, I could possibly have gotten her on here - since most likely our mid-school science/social studies teacher will be leaving, and that position doesn't require you to be Catholic.

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So ... I made the decision to not stay for potluck. About 6 minutes into my drive, just before the entrance to the highway ... disaster struck. A yawn attacked me, and as I was coming out of the yawn attack and opened my eyes - I saw the back of a super sized pickup truck directly in front of me. I slammed on my brakes -- but it was too late. So I put my car in park and put on the hazzard lights. Got out to access the damage. The man (driver) and a woman both got out too. The man asked me if I was ok. The woman started yelling at me that I should pay more attention. The whole time I'm apologizing to both. The woman says "should we call the police?"

There was no damage to the truck, so I told the woman we could call them if she wanted to, but since the damage appeared to all be on my side ... there didn't seem to be any point. They both got back in and drove off, and I drove off.

My hood and front grill have a good sized hole in them now. Add to that my front windshield with the crack all along the bottom ... and my car looks like a royal mess.

My car drove home fine, no problems. So I am hoping and praying that the damage is all cosmetic. In other words, something that I can basically ignore.

Oh, and the Christmas dinner/party? I ended up not going to it because I was too upset by my accident. I wasn't really all that excited about going to it in the first place ... so not really a huge loss. But it would have been a good way to socialize outside of school. Oh well, my nap and watching POI here at home instead probably was better for me anyway.

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Tomorrow my goal is to clean my house, do dishes, and do laundry.

Also, my goal is to get the projects graded and the 6th graders tests graded (and entered in the gradebook.)

On Monday I most likely won't have many classes, so I'll use that time to do a lot of cataloging.

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I'll take my car to the mechanic on Tuesday after school is out (at 1 p.m.) to find out the damage assessment.

Thanks everyone for your birthday wishes. I had a good birthday yesterday - even with a bit of a getting lost episode.

I ate at a restaurant I'd eaten at before - mainly because I knew I could get cheesecake and a virgin daiquiri there - two things I like to have on my birthday. All in all, it was kind of disappointing. The cheesecake wasn't that great, the daiquiri wasn't iced (maybe I made a mistake and said margarita instead??) and the veggie burger ... wasn't anything to write home about. Overall a quite expensive meal for not much -- $20.38 plus tip. However, I did bring half of the meal home for tonight - so maybe it'll be better reheated.

---

Today was interesting. I didn't have any students until about 10:50 because my one class I usually have at 9:45 was practicing for the Christmas program. I did have them come in for about ten minutes so they could check out books.

During this time I had no students, I worked on getting the newspaper ready to distribute. Early in the morning, three of my journalisim students came and folded the 210 copies I'd made on Wednesday. As I was counting copies to the different classes, I realized we needed another 15 just for the students. So I made 25 more copies and folded them. As I was just about to head over to the main office to put them in the teachers boxes, I noticed a typo. The lead story had been changed from present tense to past tense, and I had missed an "is." So ... I debated on fixing it and reprinting 235 copies and then folding them myself ... or just taking a pen and making an "ink splot" on 235 copies ... I chose to do the ink splot. With 5 minutes to go before my 6th grade AM group arrived, AL (the computer tech) agreed to finish the last few copies and take them to the office for me. Phew!

After school today I received several compliments on the paper - especially on how it was free of spelling errors and bad grammar, as well as how it definitely sounded like "kid writing." That was my goal - to be as hands off as possible - while still making sure it was good writing. (I had the Language arts teacher proofread it for me as a double check -- I have a tendency to use way to many commas, etc.)

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Now on to the fiasco ....

The 6th graders finishing their computer mid-term (on plagiarism.) Of 17 students, at least two (maybe three) tests had completely vanished. Two, possibly three tests corrupted and the students had to start from scratch. Although I assured each student that was having technical difficulties that it would not be held against them, I had one student who was *really* upset at having to start over. So much so that she ended up visiting the school counselor. I just felt sick at having upset a student so.

I do not plan on basing any more tests on the computer. What I had done was I made the test in Word, and then posted the original in each grades folder. Then the students opened the test, and saved it under their own name. For the majority of students this worked just fine .. however 6 6th graders and 1 7th grader (who's test also vanished) ... it didn't work out so well. The 8th graders finish on Monday ... I fervently hope that we won't experience the same problems!!!

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I am so glad for the Sabbath and the needed rest/break. I really hope our regular pastor is speaking tomorrow, and not one of the elders.

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One week from now I'll be in California!! It more than likely will be much warmer than here!! (Highs in the mid-30's versus highs in the mid to high 60's... )

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I cashed out for $8 on Beezag (I think on Tuesday??) and am already up to 1000 points. There were 7! videos tonight. I also have enough Mypoints for a $25 AGC, but will wait til I have enough for a $50 because that saves 400 points. I also cashed out for a $5 AGC from Swagbucks on either Tuesday or Wednesday (can't remember now.)

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We have snow predicted for Sunday night ... SrN is worried about our Christmas program Monday night. It'd have to be pretty bad to cancel ... considering how much snow we had for the Community Christmas Dinner!!

Well here I am less than 4 years away from having to say 4- something. Oh well, I'm not bothered by it.

Looking at where I was ten years ago - my fifth year of teaching down in the valley of Texas, barely making it financially and not really happy with my life. Now I'm in the deserts of New Mexico in my first year as a librarian. Still not making much money (less than I did in 2001!!) but so much more knowledgable about how to handle my finances. The best thing though is that I'm really happy with my chosen profession. The only link in the chain is not really having any sit down in real life chit chat heart to heart friends. I should be used to that by now though. Phone calls and email doesn't keep a friendship alive for too long.

Sorry for going meloncholy here. I just watched the movie New Years Eve and it got me thinking. I'm glad I didn't listen to the negative reviews.

My food just arrived, so I better go. Tell more later.

Well, I did go to church yesterday, then I came home wrote an email back to a friend, talked to my dad ... and then took a nap. I pretty much didn't get up again til this morning around 8!!

I watched POI this morning after I got up, and then I spent about five hours working on library stuff that I could do from the comfort of my home. (cleaning up late fines from previous years, putting together late fine notices for this year ...) Then I spent a couple hours dreaming (about books of course!)

I did manage to get a couple loads of laundry done, and I'm going to try to motivate myself to do some dishes here soon ...

Tomorrow after I take Kari to the vet, I'm going to eat breakfast at Burger King. Not exactly healthy I know, but not something I get the chance to do very often. (the vet is within a few blocks of a BK, and I'll be dropping Kari off at 7:30 ... so ...)

I did get my refill of Synthroid yesterday, and I hope it will start kicking back in here within a few days.

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Oh get this! On my way back from church yesterday, I noticed a 2 inch+ crack on the lower left hand side of my windshield. I must have had a rock hit my windshield within the past few days, or the freezing and unfreezing of the windshield cracked it ... I just hope I can put off doing anything about it til January. I've had enough car stuff this month already.

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With payday this Thursday, I'll have my December budget flush. So then the next two paychecks will go straight to January -- which means I'll *finally* be back on the YNAB method -- i.e. living a month behind (with a one-month buffer.) With that accomplished, and if I can keep control of myself in spending (keep away from Amazon til you have giftcards to spend ... keep away ...)then I can start thinking about my 2012 goals. I've been thinking some on them, and will post soon with some of my thoughts -- maybe a little closer to 2012 though.

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I am close to earning my next $5 AGC from Swagbucks (will definitely have it after getting my birthday Swag on Thursday.) I am also within 400 points of cashing out again on Beezag ($8 cash.) I haven't been as consistent with either of them as I'd like -- probably will make that one of my goals. Free, easy money -- right?

You know how you should never text or call people when you're drunk? Well... I wasn't drunk yesterday ... but I was exhausted and overwhelmed and feeling a bit kicked about. *Not by anyone here at SA* ... probably most of what I *was* feeling was overreaction/way overemotional/overtired.

I ended up sleeping nearly 15 hours yesterday. I got home around 4 p.m., and slept off and on til my alarm got me up at 7 a.m. this morning. This morning I was still feeling a bit weepy even ... then the school nurse scolded me for not wearing a hat in 14 degree weather. I had to laugh at the absolute absurdity -- here I was feeling almost like there wasn't anything that would get me back to work, and I get scolded by the school nurse!! (It's her personality - I know this - and don't take it personally.)

So anyway, today went much, much better - and I feel much more like myself. Amazing what some good solid sleep will do for a person.

So in a few words .. I apologize for yesterday's post. It was in the realm of "drunk" posts.

Thank you everyone who commented.

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I didn't get Kari spayed today, but will on Monday (have appointment.)

I did however get my car into the shop and have the radiator flushed, etc. I dropped my car off about 8:30 a.m. and one of the mechanics took me back to school. He was supposed to pick me up at 4. I called at 4:05 and got the answering machine. Knowing how they don't seem to check their machine I decided to walk. It was a little bit further than I was thinking, but took only about 20 minutes. Then they took *forever* creating the invoice and taking the payment ($193.xx). But at least that is done now so I don't have to hear about it again!!!

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Today I had the 4th and 5th grade sections do roundtable booktalks. I first demonstrated by doing two booktalks - one on a book I knew well, and one on a book I just perused for a few minutes. (I did Holes, Kristi's Great Idea (babysitter club), It's Like This, Cat, and Charlie Bone at Midnight). Then I had each student choose one book, either from the table (new books) or a book which they had read previously. They then each gave a booktalk. It went really well with both groups, and they both asked to do it again. So I think I'm going to make the last week of each month "Book Club" Day for each section. It'll be a great way for them to share the books they're reading, or to preview new books we get.

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I've been having the teacher assistants and a volunteer who's been coming the past few days match up all the donated books so all the duplicates are together. That was finished today, and so now they are checking them against the catalog. We are going to have a lot of books to give to the kids as gifts, and for me to put in the prize box. I may also have the teachers come over and take any books they'd like.

It feels much less overwhelming now than it did on Wednesday when those books came in. There are quite a few gems in the boxes, and I'm really happy for the abundance of pre-school level books. That is an age group I have a hard time finding good books to read for storytime.

I think my reaction stemmed from knowing that I still have a lot of books to go through from the summer donation of books and this just added more to my already overfull plate. I've decided that putting the teacher assistants to work culling out the duplicates amongst all the donated books (both recent and summer) will help reduce my workload greatly, and offer many more books for gifts/prizes. I am putting off weeding (finding duplicates/out of date/bad looking) the collection until I am caught up with the donated books. It isn't my first choice, but it is necessary to prioritize.

If I continue to have this volunteer who started on Wednesday for a while, I can see a lot more getting done. She is good. (She's actually one of the cafeteria workers who hasn't been getting a full 40 hours. She's needing to pay off a bill, so asked for more hours. They put her with me. Very happy!!)

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I stopped by the PO on the way home tonight and had a card from my grandma, and a package/card from my dad. I knew I shouldn't open them, but there was no warning on either of them to not open yet. The card from my dad had a chorus of cats meowing Happy Birthday (my birthday is the 15th). Kari went NUTS when I opened it!! It was hilarious. I played it a couple more times and her tail fluffed out bigger and bigger. By the 4th time she got brave enough to come up to the card and investigate what was making that awful racket. Then she meowed at the card.

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I was debating on whether to go to church or not tomorrow, but I think I will go as long as I'm feeling this much better/refreshed. I probably won't stay for potluck, but come home and take a nap. Then be nice and rested for a few hours of *very* needed cleaning - dishes, laundry, sweeping, etc. Then I can take a break and watch the newest episode of Person of Interest. That will be my reward for getting the much neglected house chores done.

So I pretty much was wiped out most of Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Monday morning I tried to get going, but just couldn't. So, I called in for my second sick day this year.

On Sunday I had talked to one of the teachers to find out about where this clinic was I'd heard of that was nearby. I found out it was right across from the Post Office - a place I visit frequently. So I called and got a walk in appointment. I didn't have strep (thankfully) but the doctor did give me an antibiotics prescription for my sinuses. I realized it had been a long time since I changed doctors ... they require you to have your medical records before they'll do anything more than treat a cold/sinus infection.

So, hopefully my medical records will get here soon so I can get caught up with my thyroid bloodwork (and other medical stuff that I've neglected since 2009.)

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I had to drive to big town to get my prescription. First, I went to Walgreens because I thought that's where the doctor sent my prescription. They didn't have it. So I called the doctor and found out it had been sent to Walmart. So I got a little grocery shopping done as well as getting my prescription - so not too much of a wasted trip.

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I went back to work on Tuesday, although I think I could have really used another day. Today around noon I just about crashed .. but had three hours to go. 5th grade girls at the end of the day did not help .. at all.

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This morning was interesting. I had just finished with my 3 year old group (LOVE LOVE LOVE) when a man came in with a visitors badge. I asked him what I could do for him. Eventually he got around to his question - he wanted to know if I knew of a book which talked about what happened to the Jewish people after the curtain in the Holy of Holies split in two from top to bottom. Specifically, what happened to the priests? He was opining that if the people knew that the curtain was split (who told that that happened?? it wouldn't have been in the best interests of the priests??) that the sacrifices (priests livelihood) would be obliterated. He went on to mention that the Jewish people don't have sacrifices anymore ... so what happened to their religion.

This whole time he's talking I'm trying to switch my brain from dealing with 3 year olds to dealing with a complicated religious question I'd never even considered or heard of before and trying to not look stupid. So I finally told him that I had no idea, but that my dad might since he was a pastor. From that he figured out that I wasn't Catholic, and then started in on the whole body and blood thing ... thankfully my Kinders came in about that time!!

About this same time I also had our new maintenance guy bringing in two loads of boxes from Scholastic. He was asking me what I wanted to do with them. I had no clue what they were - so told him they probably belong to some of the classroom teachers. AL (our tech coordinator) told me that SrN said the books belong to the library, and she'd talk to me later.

So I had the K teacher assistant open all the boxes and figure out what they were while I worked with the K kids. They were book sets of "The best of Scholastic" for PK-K, 1st-2nd, 2nd-3rd, and 3rd - 5th. Three boxes were exact duplicates. Two boxes were a mixed bunch of duplicates and originals. I'd guess that 40-45% of the titles that weren't duplicates already, were duplicates of titles we already own.

These are all brand new books. Maybe 30% of the books will be usable / able to be added to the library. SrN told me that for Three Kings Day we can put out the duplicates and let kids take one or two each home - that way they won't be wasted.

I truly do appreciate the thought and generosity of the donor(s) who sent these. What I'd really like to know though, is do they realize we have a qualified librarian? A qualified librarian who just might be able to give you an idea of what books/topics the library really *needs*? So that the money (or bonus points) they spend/spent would be of the most benefit to our school?

I really hope I don't sound unappreciative. It's just that some of the things that donors send us ... really make me wonder. One donor sends us a subscription to Reader's Digest. I love it, but nobody else really gets any use for it. We also have a subscription to National Geographic ... What about, oh, I don't know ... Ranger Rick? Highlights? Weekly Reader subscriptions?? I think some of the subscriptions stem from when we were a high-school - some of the donated (new!!) books probably also stem from when we were a high-school.

Oy! I think I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed with how much I need to be doing, and am not getting done - both at home and at school. I just have so little energy ... I am so looking forward to Dec. 21. I will of course be coming in and working a couple days (at least) but at least I'll be able to do it at my pace and with few interruptions. I do need to spend some of that time actually doing stuff at home too ... I'd really hate to have a visitor anytime soon.

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I'm probably taking Kari to get spayed on Friday (along with her third set of shots.) I'll try to make the most of that trip by going to get a couple groceries before picking her up.

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Hah! Cool Our 6th grade homeroom teacher just called me from WA where she's attending a conference. She is in a Half-Price bookstore and wanted to check with me what books the library had. I was able to save her some money because we had some of the books she was looking at.

I'm looking forward to Dec 19 when Destiny (our library catalog system) upgrades - because part of the upgrade is having a mobile app to search the catalog.

Well it was predicted that we'd get snow all last night, and high winds. We sure got the winds, but no snow ... until 7:45 this morning!

It snowed off and on all day, but did not start sticking until around 2 p.m. I'd guess that we already have at least 2 inches, perhaps more by now. It is supposed to snow all night long, and tomorrow as well. Should make for an interesting Community Christmas Dinner.

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This morning I arrived late at school, and just as I walked in the cafe, SrD our school counselor was telling the group of gathered teachers and assistants that the pre-school had been broken into and lots of random destruction occurred.

I was *really* not feeling well, and almost called in ... so when I heard "the prek will be in the library" I didn't react as well as I would have on any other day.

It turned out to not be too big of a deal. The 3 and 4 year old classes hung their backpacks in the library, then the 4 yr olds went to the K classroom, and the 3 yr olds stayed in the library with their teachers. I wasn't able to do everything I normally do during that time, but I wasn't expected to entertain them - which I think was part of my reaction (fearful of being expected to entertain.)

AL (computer tech person) told me that the pre-k had been broken into in previous years right around this same time of year. That is just so sad to me. AL also told me that the computer lab/library has been broken into before -- computers destroyed, and books ransacked. Ugh - don't even want to imagine that happening.

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Today we were given the opportunity to go "shopping" through the give-a-ways since we'll all be working the dinner/"store" tomorrow. I picked up some nice curtains for my kitchen windows, multiple tops/sweaters for mom, dad, grandma and maybe brother, a set of full size sheets for my bed (my current sheet with the elastic corners is *constantly* coming off - very annoying), some sweatpants and a warm nightgown top for me, a pair of nice wide width black shoes for me, and a bunch of miscellaneous items for the library. I would guestimate that what I picked up would go for close to $250 at most normal stores.

So I now have a second pair of shoes to wear to work, curtains for my kitchen window, and presents taken care of for at least my mom, dad and grandma - possibly my brother (I can't remember if I found something for him or not.) Plus I have a bunch of stuff to add to the library prize box.

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It was funny today at lunch ... we were having cheeseburgers. So when I went through line I asked for just a bun, cheese and lettuce. Then I added ketchup and mustard. When I sat down, the 6th grade teacher looked at my tray and said, "I'm looking at your cheese, lettuce, mustard and ketchup sandwich ..." While saying this she had the funniest look on her face (which is what made it funny.) (It really was funny - probably had to be there though ...)

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I hope I have the energy to play Mrs Clause tomorrow ... This has been a LONNNGGG week and I'm feeling not so hot.

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My mom called me last night and told me that she and current bf she's living with have broken up -- however she's still working out the details of where she's going to. I predict she's going to end up moving in with the man who bought the plane tickets for me for Thanksgiving ... he's a nice guy, so it wouldn't be a bad thing really - just I hope it lasts ...

I called my dad last night after reading about the terrible winds in the LA area. He told me that when he'd taken grandma to the Credit Union Thursday morning, that she had narrowly avoided being knocked to the ground by the door flying open. She did end up with an ugly bruise and some cuts.

He also hounded me about doing something about my coolant fluids ... I just haven't had time -- seriously! I've either been sick and just barely making it through school days, and/or running ragged from 7:30 to 5 and dropping like a rock the moment I walk in the door - plus I was gone for 5 days where I actually *would* have had time! I was going to call the guy today to see if the parts were in, but with all the commotion with Pre-k, etc., I plumb forgot/didn't have a chance.

I know I may regret not somehow finding the time .. especially with fore-casted lows of *3* degrees next week ... but I'm really not sure how I *could* have gotten something done about it! It sure isn't like I have been sitting around doing nothing (except for when I get home... laundry and dishes are *seriously* piled up ...)

Oh well ..

This Saturday I'm going to be playing Mrs. Clause at our community dinner. I'll be handing the gifts to the multitudes of community children who come. It's supposed to snow Friday and Saturday ... but irregardless, we will have crowds of people show up.

Today one of the mission staff brought me my costume. It really goes all out -- down to even the little glasses (which really are a bit too small for my head ... I hope I don't break them!)I look ... interesting in it. I need to figure out how to wear the wig properly - didn't look quite right.

I think I may want to wear long johns under it - but all I have are pink. I'm not sure if they'd show through the white nightgowny dress and petticoat or not. Will have to ruminate on it.

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A Catholic school in Chicago who have sent groups of volunteers here previously, made 205 blankets for our school. We've lost around 20 students from the beginning of the year, so we had enough blankets for all the teachers, staff and students. I chose a pink one with hula dancing monkey's in honor of my late cat Monkey. I'd have preferred blue, but pink is good.

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I sure got a good workout in this afternoon! Today was our second day (of 4) of getting ready for the community dinner. We had two truckloads of boxes arrive (after the two that came yesterday, and another should arrive tonight or tomorrow.)The men had unloaded all the boxes into the foyer of the chapel where we needed to set up a shoe "store". So all those boxes needed to be moved out into the gym. Guess who moved 90% of the boxes? Much preferred to sorting out what was in the boxes and taking it to the proper tables. I got some big accolades from the K teacher - she told me she thought I was a very hard worker. Gotta do what it takes to get the job done, right?

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Remember how I said I wouldn't spend any more money on books ... unless it was paid for by gift cards? Well ... I spent my giftcard today (from mypoints.) One of my 7th grade girls told me she'd really like some anime books and also Maus. Well ... I'd considered getting Maus (as well as Persopolis) for the library before, but wasn't sure if anyone would be interested in it. As for the Manga/Anime, I wasn't sure if there were any appropriate titles. The majority of them have more mature themes than what the American society generally deems acceptable for young teens. --- So I sent the question out to my librarian listserve - most people who responded asked for a HIT, but a couple gave me some good ideas.

I ended up buying Maus, Persopolis, and the first three Legend of Zelda books (and something else too I think - Ranger's Apprentice bk 1). I told the student I had ordered them, and she seemed quite happy. I imagine they will be popular with more than just her - at least I hope so.

I have a bit less than $5 left of giftcard money.

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I was approved for the Judy Freeman seminar in Albuquerque in January!! If anyone is in the area then, let me know. I'm getting to stay at a pretty nice hotel the night before. When I put the request in, I thought the hotel cost $100/night, but I found out today when I made my reservation that with the group discount, it is only $79/night. More than I would spend on a hotel, but I don't mind it if someone else is covering!! (The money that covers this is Title 1 money. If it doesn't get spent (specifically on seminars and conferences) it is lost.)

I'll have to stop at Target on my way back again -- the only place I've found here that carries Morningstar corn dogs.

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Today I had my fifth grade girls do a book scavenger hunt. The fifth grade class as a whole is probably the worst offenders in creating havoc on the shelves. So I made up four lists of ten books that they had to find within fifteen minutes. One each list, three of the books were misplaced in one way or another. (shelved on the wrong shelf, shelved with the spine facing the wrong way, haphazardly laid across some books several shelves away, etc.) When the girls came back to the table at the end of the time, I asked them what they thought the point of the game was. One of them piped up right away, "So that we know we need to put the books back properly!" Don't you just love it when they get it? We'll have to wait and see if it has any kind of a lasting effect on them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I think this should be fun.

This last week I stayed late at school 3 days - Mon, Tue and Th -- though Wednesday was also a bit of a late day. Why? Monday was our staff meeting, but both Tuesday and Thursday I stayed late to give the 7th and 8th graders the opportunity to finalize their projects during after school study hall. Quite a few took advantage of it - though some I think saw it more as an opportunity to listen to youtube while "working." We are very lucky to not have youtube, etc., blocked at our school -- I let the older students listen to videos ... as long as they are working AND with the caveat that I *will* check the lyrics at any time. None of them have abused the privilege .. yet.

A very disconcerting thing happened on Thursday. One student who is in a group of 3 opened their groups presentation to work on it. It was completely blank. She and I searched for 30 minutes to see if we could find another copy of it with no luck. I felt so bad for her ... she's a new student and on the quite large side ... kids this age don't need a reason to pick on other kids... I alerted our school counselor so she can keep an eye out for any repercussions. I also spoke to all 3 girls and let them know that I'd grade their project on what I'd already seen completed plus whatever they are able to reconstruct before Tuesday (when it is due.)

Computer gremlins ... or a mean student with some technical know how ...

I had some great happenings with kids and books this week. It is so addicting when you see a kids eyes light up when you put a book into their hands that they're excited about. It's why my savings aren't quite growing at the rate I'd hoped ....

This week while I'm in Dallas for Thanksgiving, my mom and I are going to Half Price Books. I'm giving myself a limit of $150 --- cash. I can get quite a lot for that amount ... and then I'll force myself not to buy *any* in December. (although ... while I'm in CA I may check out SA or Goodwill ....) Ugh! I'm hopeless.

I realized that it probably is a good thing I'm going away for Thanksgiving ... otherwise I'd probably spend most of the break working in the library. There sure is plenty to do!!! I won't be getting back til late Sunday night, so I'll need to be prepared for my classes before I leave. I envision a long Sunday in the library, as well as a long Monday ... We have a staff "stuffing party" where we stuff bags of goodies which have been donated for the kids/community members on Monday ... then I'll probably have to spend some time finishing up lesson plans. I want to leave right away after school on Tuesday.

Some of my coworkers were wanting to go see the new vampire movie tonight. I counter suggested seeing Happy Feet. There were no takers. Just as well ... I'm enjoying staying in .. watching the latest Person of Interest, maybe watching a Netflix movie, catching up on my reading, etc.

Tomorrow I hope to be at school by ten. I have a good number of new books to catalog (roughly 25) and then of course working on the week after Thanksgiving plans. I also need to create the video/project evaluation forms for the plagiarism project. The 8th graders present on Monday - their homeroom teacher will be coming to check them out. I think her coming has motivated them more than any grade I may give.

Oh! Something really cool for Jeff Kinney fans! On the library list serve I'm part of, there was a notice a few weeks ago that Jeff Kinney was doing an author talk at a school in New York City. The School Library Journal partnered with them to make a live streaming video, which then was archived. I of course registered for it but due to time differences (and SrN wanting me to watch the presentation first ...) we didn't see it live. The archived version went up on Friday, and I've already watched it. It was pretty interesting, and even included an appearance from two of the main movie characters. There is a 3rd Wimpy Kid movie coming out on August 22(? I think that's what he said.) And of course, the newest book came out on Tuesday. (My copies arrived on Thursday - I rushed over to the PO on after my last class and was back in plenty of time to wave the buses off. I offered the teachers first dibs at the copies, and quickly had two takers.)

-- On my way back from church today I was running on fumes. I found a gas station and filled up for ....



$2.95/gallon!!! It's been a long time since I've seen gas under $3!!!

Today we had the day off for Veteran's Day.

I couldn't sleep in, as much as I wanted to, due to both Kari and the sun streaming in my window. So I ended up getting to the car place by 9 a.m.

I had them change my oil and check my coolant. They also changed my license plate for me. (I'd only had it sitting in my car since August ...)

It cost a bit over $40 for the oil change!!! The guy was very apologetic about the cost. He said that the price of oil had gone up significantly in the past few weeks. That if I'd come in a month ago, it would've cost $25. Ugh - procrastination is a killer.

In other car news, I was told that I probably need to get my coolant flushed and new hoses. That my hoses look to be the original ones. And that I should get it done before it gets colder. I was like "colder than 14 degrees??" Yep, much colder than 14 degrees.

He said that it would probably cost around $200, and that they could pick up my car from the school, and drop it off there as well. Nice. They have to order the parts, but probably the Monday before I take off for Thanksgiving, I'll have them do it. Won't even have to wait around at the car place.

(This place comes highly recommended by many people at the school.)

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After I was done at the car place, I headed into the big town. On my way there, I stopped at a Denny's and ate breakfast. I really wanted an IHOP, but the closest IHOP is nearly 200 miles away ... The usual happened when I ordered French Toast ... I told the waitress emphatically to *please* make sure it is smothered with powdered sugar. When it came, there was a light dusting. Ugh! She brought me more.

When I got to the big town, I stopped first at Big Lots. One of the main things I was looking for there was some kind of black out curtain for my bedroom (re: morning light streaming in + window blinds not exactly perfectly closing {[i.e. privacy!} ]. I found some maroon colored ones for $10 - it fit perfectly on my bedroom window. I put it up with a couple of nails. Susie homemaker I'm not.

I also found some great items for the library prize box - including a Diary of a Wimpy Kid puzzle. I'm curious if the kids will go for puzzles ...

Then I went to Family Dollar (ostensibly to look for tickets ...) and found more good stuff for the prize boxes.

Between the two I spent around $50 (but no tickets ...)

Then I went to Walmart. I found some great small posters for $1 each, as well as some cool inexpensive sticker sets. I also bought 3 Dork Diaries (we didn't have them ... and I am hoping they'll be popular at our school.) I also got groceries. In all, about $88. The lines were atrocious.

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While at Walmart I also decided to pick up some more Allegra D. I'd gotten a ten pack over two weeks ago (24 hour variety) and was out. So I asked at the pharmacy for as many packs as they could give me. I could only get one. I asked why I could only get one ten pack!!!! The pharmacist told me it had nothing to do with the quantity of the capsules, but with the amount of milligrams?? of whatever the regulated ingredient is (the one to make meth). It is SO aggravating! I have to drive 30+_ miles to get to a place that sells the only allergy medicinethat works for me ... and I can only get a ten day supply. Oh, and she wouldn't answer me when I asked what the limit was every 30 days ...

I really need to get a doctor's appointment so I can get a prescription for allergy meds again -- cheaper (in many ways) and SO much more convenient.

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I got home and put my purchases away, then watched the Monday episode of DWTS. I was going to watch the latest Peson of Interest also, but it wasn't up on cbs.com yet. Then I relaxed with a good book ... using the Kindle Cloud Reader. Oh yeah, before all that, I catalogued (except for barcode labels, etc) the books that came in on Thursday (Percy Jackson Series plus some others) and the Dork Diaries.

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It was funny this morning before I left to go to the car place, Kari got into the mood to do 'fetch' again. She hadn't done that for awhile. It was almost as though she was trying to keep me here. I played with her for about ten minutes before she got tired.

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I went out with some of my co-workers Thursday night and saw "Tower Heist." It was okay - not one of my favorites, but it did keep me entertained most of the time. I didn't like the ending.

However, during the previews I got to see my birthday present (i.e. Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 4 coming out in December) and I learned that in May I'll get to see yummy Robert Downy Jr on the screen again ( can't remember name of film, but he's playing Ironman in it. Yum!) I told my coworkers, "They're making us wait til May for this?" One of them thought I was talking about Taylor Long???? (from Twilight I guess). They guffawed when I asked who that was. Yeah, Twilight, etc. SO does not interest me.

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I rented Cars 2 from itunes, but will have to wait till tomorrow night to watch it due to watching DWTS this afternoon. (It was taking forever to download, so I decided to watch DWTS instead.) I decided to rent it because one of my coworkers was talking about getting Cars from Netflix and never having seen it ... so when I saw it for just $2.99 ... well ...

(some of the $1 posters I got today were of Speedy McQueen.)

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So today I did quite a bit of shopping, etc., but it was a good day.

*I read "After the Fire." It was very good - a little over the top romance novely in places, but it had a good story and plot that made up for the spots I skimmed over. It was a free Kindle download a month or so ago (Pixel of Ink for the World!!)

Today we had school, even though major snow flurries fell intermittently throughout the day (though not much was sticking ...)

So ... I had my 8th graders. In the first section there was a boy who had at least three different times this year mentioned to me a series of books that the library has the first one of, but not the rest. Last year's librarian had told him she'd get the rest with bookfair money ... didn't happen.

So today I got the pleasure of telling him that I had the third and fourth book in the series here and ready to be checked out, and the second one should be here by Wednesday ready to be checked out. He got the biggest smile on his face. He went ahead and checked out 3 and 4, and asked me again if he could come by on Wednesday and check out 2. I told him of course.

I'd gotten books 3 and 4 from book closeouts and they came in last week. Book 2 I'd gotten from Amazon, but the first time I ordered it I sent it to my old address and was unable to cancel it even though I realized my mistake 20 seconds later. Ugh! So I got that refunded (after it was sent back to Amazon) and reordered.

Then in my afternoon section I had the distinct pleasure of informing an 8th grade girl that the second book in a series had come in and was waiting with her name on it. We both got big grins on our faces == another girl that was nearby asked "what're ya'll so happy about?" I told her, "Books, of course."

I found the book on Amazon for $3, along with a 4th book I hadn't know existed in the series. We had books 1 and 3.

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I also gave very quick booktalks on about a dozen books to each of the 8th grade sections today. The books that flew out of my hands (after talking about them) were "The Graveyard Book", "Among the Hidden", "How They Croaked (Stories of Famous People's Death's)", "Charlie ??? Guide to NOT Reading" (I had two copies of this one which both were taken) , Trickster Tales (graphic novel format), and another graphic novel -- The Magic Pickle.

I also had an 8th grade girl ask me if I had another copy of the book "Smile" which I'd put out with the sixth grade class last Friday. (It's about a girl who loses her two front teeth in a freak accident and all the orthodontia nightmares and personal angst that follows - in graphic novel format.)

So ... today left me with a pretty darn good smile, if I do say so.

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Oh something else cool. I'm starting a program where every week that a kid brings back *all* their library books they'll get a "ticket." Then every other week I'll draw 5 names from 2 - 5, and 5 names from 6 - 8 for prizes. The prizes include posters, bookmarks, stickers, books, and Dibs tickets. Dibs tickets are where a student can tell me the name of a school appropriate book they think we need, and when it comes in, they get first "dibs" on it.

When I was explaining this to the 4th grade Mon section today, one of the kids came up with a free prize --- a ticket for an extra checkout!!! I almost hugged her.

I told the kids that if any of the I-Spy books come back (with our stamp) that they'd be worth 3 tickets. Our catalog says we should have 7 of them ... and there are 0 anywhere to be found. They are a frequently requested item too.

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So all of this made my 6 plus hours of cataloging yesterday WAY worth it.

Although I didn't get my lesson plans turned in today ... oops. (Of course I heard from various sources that the computer teacher last year *rarely* turned hers in .. if she ever did. Not that I'm going to follow suit, but a day or two late is probably not going to get me in too much trouble.)

I took Kari to the vet on Thursday for her second round of shots. This time there were no escape artist stories because I used her new carrier (plastic kennel). The vet had her file marked as "will bite." I was annoyed at that, because she'd only snapped at the person, not actually bitten!

I asked if they would weigh her when I got there, but apparently the vet or vet tech forgot. I mentioned it after they gave her her shots - and she said it wouldn't be a good time now ... Isn't weighing a cat supposed to be part of a visit?? They didn't weigh her last time either ... I'm not really sure how much I like this particular vet clinic ... it is so different from the vet I took Monkey to when he was a kitten, and even different from the place we took Buddy to when he was getting his puppy shots ... I don't know - just not very customer/pet oriented?? Trying to get me in and out as quick as possible - do bare minimum?

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I don't know if it was me putting Kari in her kennel 3 days in a row when she got near my food, or if something else is going on ... but the past 3 days I've been able to eat my meals in peace without having to put her in the kennel.

However, today I noticed she didn't eat all her breakfast - not even the canned stuff (which I picked up before I left so it wouldn't spoil.) Maybe the dry food is too stale?? I hope she isn't getting sick - her appetite today is probably 35% of normal ... Her appetite yesterday was normal though.

Will just have to watch her and see if this continues.

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Friday night I got to experience a bit of the blustery wind that happens here quite often. The window in my back bathroom doesn't shut tightly because the crank handle is broken -- it needs to be duct taped shut or something. (need a ladder to reach it) Anyway ... the wind was whistling and howling through it, and then making the window rattle and bang most of the night. Then along about 4 am or so the rain/snow started. We got maybe an inch or so.



It was pretty much gone by noon.

We are predicted to get 3 to 5 inches on Monday. I kind of half hope for a snow day, but in reality I really really don't want one -- I need the class time with the 8th graders!!

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Today I spent over 6 hours cataloging books at school. I managed to get nearly 60 books done, other than taping. I didn't get anything else done that I was planning to do there - such as complete lesson plans (my week to turn them in), check out/test the video camera which was donated to us (for the kids plagiarism projects), and figure out book talks to go with a selection of books ... plus make sure I'm ready for my other classes. Cataloging took much more time than I was planning on. It was after dark when I finally left -- in fact, the tech lady texted me and told me to go home. (she saw my car at the school when she drove by)

I bought some more books today from Amazon ... I know, I know ... I said a moratorium on buying books ... but, but, but ... I'd bought the wrong book (one we already had) to complete a series I got a student into, so I had to get the right book ... and of course a few other books wound their way into the book cart... I'm so good about not buying books for myself, but so weak when it comes to buying books that I think will put a smile on my student's faces ..

I've realized that I'm not going to stop doing this ... so I've given myself a budget of $100/month. ONLY after buying 3 shares of stock and putting $100 in my ROTH.

Of course when I go home for Thanksgiving, I'll probably visit Half Price Book Store ... will probably ship a large box of books back - cheaper than a $25 charge for a suitcase -- maybe.

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I watched a good movie on Netflix last night. "I'm Reed Fish" It was a different movie - with a bit of a twist about 20 minutes in ... really enjoyed it though. Very minimal language - which I'm always happy to find.

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I'm debating on whether to look up some booktalks or watch another movie on Netflix tonight ... or maybe read a Jodi Picoult book someone lent me ..

If we have a snow day tomorrow, I brought home the bag of 60 books that need to be taped ... and I have Netflix of course ... and I have the JP book to read. I wouldn't be able to use my phone much because I left my charging cord at school (oops!)

I'm going to go check the thermostat - it's getting cold in here!

RIP Andy Rooney