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

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

Just what I need. Not.


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

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

Ugh and ugh.

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

My 45 minute drive took an extra 30 minutes.

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

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

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

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

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

groupon. If you're not a member of MyPoints ... my link for that is on the sidebar.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Most schools are closed again tomorrow.

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

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

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

This is my monthly update on what extra money I make via websites, selling things, etc. My goal is to earn $800 by Nov 11 and use that for a new computer (at least part of it).

Swagbucks -
$25 in Amazon Gift cards
Cashed in for a $50 about a week ago, and have enough Swagbucks for my February $25.

Beezag -
Received $8 cash.
Have almost 3,000 points towards next cashout.

Mypoints -
Received $50 Amazon Gift card. Have nearly 3000 points towards next goal.

Inbox Dollars - at $10.29 Need another $15 for cashout.

Sidetick - At $20. Need $5 for cashout

Irazoo - cashed out for $5 Amazon Gift Card. Need 1500 more points for next card.

Zoombucks - SLOW going. Have 619 points of 2000 needed for first cashout ($20 Amazon Gift card)

Half -
Sold two textbooks
Profit of about $77

Hmm ... I think that's it. I decided to drop several sites I was doing.

-----------
This weekend was my certification test. I don't think I did very well. There were several areas that had not been covered in classes or any practice materials. Oh well, if I have to take it again I now know what areas to study.

I stayed at a hotel that was five minutes away. That was awesome. What was not awesome though was leaving my iPhone headphones there.

I replaced them today for $33.
---
It sounds like the bad weather has started. I wonder how much snow we'll get?

Note - my Internet does not seem to be working right now, so I'm typing on my phone. Once I get past a few lines, I'll be typing blind. So, there may be typos.

---
In thinking about my life and how I do best, I realized that I tend to rise to the occasion of challenges. Short challenges are good, but the changes don't seem to last. So in thinking about that, I decided on a term of 100 days. It's long enough to hopefully set in stone new good habits, but also short enough to see a deadline ahead.

I plan on beginning tracking as of tomorrow, and then posting a weekly update on Mondays. If anyone would like to join in, please feel free to do so.

Choose one - two goals. Each day the goal is met is worth .5 or 1 pt. At the end (around May 9) 90 and above is Gold, 80 and above is Silver, and 70+ is Bronze.

Okay, so here are my two goals.

Goal 1: buy no sweets or junk food except brown sugar (for oatmeal.)
Reason: this is both a financial and a health goal. Way too much of my grocery money goes towards sweets. If I limit myself to eating only sweets that are given to me, that will greatly reduce the amount of empty calories I consume.

Goal 2:
I was going to make this related to exercise, but my post yesterday on what changes I'd like to make, and the comments I received, has led me in a different direction.

So my goal is to write down every daysomething positive about myself. So if I feel stinkin thinking coming on, I will divert it by changing it to a positive This is kind of like what Thrifty Ray has been doing. It seems to be working well for her.
What goal or goals would you like to work on?

--------
On an unrelated note ...
I was at walmart on Friday waiting for a tutoring session. In the bike section I noticed a wide variety of bike seats ranging from 10 - 26 dollars. If I'm going to ride my bike, I need a very comfortable seat, but have no clue about how to choose one. Any ideas or suggestions?

Overall I have really tried to be content with my life the way it is right now. It is when I think about the things that I wish were different - especially the things I have no control over - that I can get really depressed.

So ... that said ..

Home:

I have a wonderful family. I feel very blessed to have the mom I have, even when she drives me to utter frustration sometimes. My dad, who is actually my adoptive dad, is a major blessing to me. We had a hard time getting along while I was growing up - butted heads constantly - but he has ALWAYS been my #1 supporter. My brother - words can;t express just how awesome he is. Growing up we fought like cats and dogs - actually coming to blows more than onces - but now if I see I'm getting a phone call from him, there are very few places that I *won't* answer it! He's helped me survive some of the toughest times in my life, and I've done the same for him. We may not talk very often, but we text each other fairly frequently just to let each other know we're thinking about each other.

I also have my ex stepdad. He is really a pretty good guy. We get along well. Most guys would throw out their ex stepdaughter as soon as they realized that there was no chance of the marriage working. It's a little awkward with him now dating someone seriously, but we still get along quite well.

So, that above is the good stuff. What I am blessed with. What would I like different? I could write pages on this one subject. To sum it up -- A home of my own with a husband and children - either children of my flesh, or of my heart. A home where I can feel comfortable truly putting down roots because I'd know that I'd actually BE there long enough for them to stick and grow.

I'd like animals of my own. Cats and dogs and maybe some fish too.

---

Work:

Well ... I currently bring in a little less than $1k a month on average with my tutoring. My mom tells me that I could and should charge more. My fees range between $20 and $25/hr. A large part of the reason I don't charge more is because I don't really feel confident about my tutoring ability. I feel guilty as all get out when asking parents/older students for the money they agreed to give me.

That lack of confidence I think is also playing into my job search for a librarian position -- or should I say the complete lack of real job searching as of yet. I may have aced all of my classes, but I poo poo myself and the knowledge I've gained by telling myself that the classes weren't all that hard - the professors probably gave everyone who even half-@ssed it an A. I have such little confidence in my ability to do a good job as a librarian, or to do well in interviews. Very afraid of falling on my face.

At 35 I still think I haven't completely come to terms with the fact that a career as a mom and homemaker is probably not going to happen. That I have to get over it and figure out a way to make myself into a "career" person.

I would also like to change my procrastination. This affects me adversely both in work and school. There's a million other things I'd rather be doing (reading a book, surfing the net, sleeping, playing with the dog) than preparing for tutoring sessions or getting my schoolwork done. I somehow seem to have managed to get by - though there have been a couple of really close scrapes.

I think my ideal job would be in a private Christian school focused on grades K - 3 as a librarian where I could do lots of storytime and teach the basics of research. Have as little politics and infighting as possible to deal with. Just have a happy and comfortable place for kids to learn to love the joys of reading and learning. A place where I don't have to provide books with themes I heartily disagree. Oh yeah, good benefits too.

---
Personal:

I try to convince myself that I am happy and content as a single person. I know that being in a relationship does not mean instant happiness or contentedness. I know that being single can be better than being in a bad relationship. I know all that, but then at the end of the day when I have something I'm worried about, or excited about, or sad about ... I have no one to share it with.

Sure, I can make my own decisions, and my finances are my own - good or bad. But I also have no reason to go out of the house other than for tutoring or church or shopping. So ... I tend to do a lot of nothing and get tired and sad and ... eat or sleep.

Like with work, my lack of confidence has a profound affect on my personal life. I feel like there is no point in getting out there because who would want to give a fat lady like myself a real second look. And I tell myself that even if they *did* give me that second look, there must be some reason that they think I must be desperate for attention because obviously no one would want to be seen with me.

Then lets talk about me in a roomful of people - even people I know. Sure, I can smile and acknowledge others and maybe even engage in a little small talk. But I never ever seem to be part of any of the "groups" or the people that get invited other places. I end up eventually by myself in a corner of the room.

Today at church I was waiting for the lady who was going to help me count money. I was sitting at the back of the sanctuary -all by myself. One of my Primary students came over. We'd talked about Jesus and the Lost Sheep today in class. When I asked her what was up, she told me she'd seen me sitting by myself with no one to talk to. I hugged her and told her she was a sweet girl. She truly is a precious child - 10 years old and has truly given her heart to Jesus. It is so evident in so many ways. I hope life doesn't beat that out of her.

My eating habits are something else I'd like to change. I'm not bulimic nor anorexic, but I think I have definite tendencies of the overeater. I can be very dishonest with myself about what I've actually eaten. Not in the so called "normal" food, but in the junky sweet type food. I'd like to be able to handle not eating junk food for awhile, and then having it as a real treat without it evolving back into bad habits. I've managed the going without for a long while, but then when I let myself start having the little treats, it ALWAYS manages to ratchet back up to the extreme.

Sometimes I think I'm okay with the way my body looks - weight, etc., but then I catch a glance at my back side in the mirror getting out of the shower, and am disgusted. But until I can get my eating habits somewhat consistently under control AND exercise consistently, that image isn't going to change much - except to get worse. And of course this image I see once in awhile makes me even more sure that there's no point in getting out there.

Something that kind of goes along with the procrastination is the laziness. I can be very, very lazy. My room is almost constantly a mess. When I worked at the oil and gas company and had a desk in full view of everyone, I worked very hard to make sure that all visible areas were neat and organized. Just so they didn't check the drawers ... My room is picked up once in awhile, but never really neat. I tell myself that I'm going to get this or that done ...but then let other things push it off and push it off, and it doesn't get done.

Something else that I would like to change is how alone I feel.I used to have friends that I would call or they'd call, at least once a month. I also had one friend in the area who I'd get together with once in a while. Now ... most of that has been relegated to short messages once in a blue moon on Facebook -- and that area friend, I haven;t heard from since .. September???

----

Great. I've been put on notice. Ex stepdad just came home and basically told me that his new flame is NOT happy about me and Buddy and some of mom's stuff still being here. So, I basically have a move out date of May 15, or earlier. I'm not going to panic right now. That still gives me four months to find a job. It just means that if I DO find a job, that I'll have much more expensive housing costs between graduation and moving to wherever the job is. Which most likely ensures me having to borrow from the bank of dad till a paycheck starts coming. Something I'd like to avoid at ALL costs.

This afternoon I got a lovely email letting me know that my $8 from Beezag had been deposited in my account. I checked it out, and wala, there it was!

--
Right now I'm still waiting on my $50 Amazon card from Mypoints and Swagbucks, and a $5 Amazon card from irazoo.

I'll do a summary post probably on Monday for all my extra money earnings for January.

---

Remember the hassle I went through with getting my Driver's License renewed in December? Well, as of yesterday (Day #46) it had still not shown up. My temporary was to expire on the 29th. I had started to get quite worried, because I didn't really relish the idea of driving around with an expired license! Thankfully it showed up in today's mail. Whew!

--

I told my mom about my 100 day challenge idea last night. She decided to run with it ... her goal is going to be doing 15 minutes or more of some form of exercise everyday. She already started on it today - go Mom!

As of now it is just three days until I take my certification test to be a school librarian. The closer it gets the more nervous I become. All I have to get is an 80 - but judging from some of the questions on the practice tests, some of the questions will come from out of the left field.

All I can do is prepare as much as I can, get a good nights sleep, and then do my best!

-----

Today I took a deep breath and redeemed 5900 Swagbucks for a $50 Amazon gift code. That leaves me with 1800+ SB's. I'll need to earn another 450 SBs to have enough for my February 5 $5 cards.

I bought a deal off of Living Social - $50 for a haircut and highlights at a nice salon here in the DFW area. It's good till the end of July. Considering the fact that my haircut/highlights in CA (Christmas gift) cost $110+ tip at a Fantastic Sams .... My stepdad forgave me January's rent for my birthday/Christmas gift, and wants me to use it for interviewing expenses. That's what this will be for - keeping my hairstyle/highlights looking professional. I'll probably use it near the end of March, or perhaps a little earlier depending on when I have interviews/state of my hair.

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I'm thinking about starting a 100 day challenge beginning on Sunday, January 31 and ending on Sunday May 8. The challenge will involve one - two goals you want to set, along with any exceptions (up to 3 total. ) For example, one goal might be not buying any sweets. An exception might be that you can buy brown sugar to use in your oatmeal. Points would be counted as 1 per day where the challenge is met. If you do two goals, then it would be .5 point per day per goal. Maybe have anyone participating report in by Monday 8 a.m each week. We could have three places - Gold (90 - 100 points); Silver (80-89) and Bronze (70 - 79.)

So ... does this sound like something anyone might like to participate in? Any suggestions?

This weekend

Beezag is doing a special where every video is worth 500 points! I just needed 2000 more points to do my first cash out, and cashed out a few minutes ago. I had it sent to my paypal account - it says it should take about a week. $8 here I come!

*Full disclosure: The Beezag link is my referral link. If you'd prefer to check it out and sign up some other way, just go to beezag . com. Beezag is a site where your view short videos and input two numbers that are flashed during the video. 8000 points equals $8.00.

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This morning I went to a baby shower. I wasn't really all that thrilled about going because 1. it meant I had to buy a gift; 2. I had been planning on doing an intensive day of school work and preparing for my certification test, and 3. it meant I had to drive to the church a second day in a row (45 minutes one way.)

I bought a box of wipes, a 4-pk of baby washcloths, and a 6-9 mo onesie for a total of $10. This is actually this particular mom's second baby girl, but she tragically lost the first one to SIDS about 18 months ago at about 3 months old.

I'm glad I went, even though it turned out that it was part Women's Ministry meeting and part baby shower. I left after the opening of gifts and the first two games - I'd been there two-hours already.

--
I'm currently reading "Don't Blink" a murder mystery by James Patterson. It's due at the library tomorrow ... so far I think it is one of Patterson's better ones. Although I usually enjoy his books.

While I was waiting for my Junior tutoring student today, I got two email messages letting me know I had sold both of the textbooks I'd put up on half . com! That'll be roughly $80 towards my extra funds goal when the money is transferred. Nice!

---

This morning I finally made it up to the student health center. After I got up there I found out that since I wasn't going during one of the "lab specials" time period, that I *had* to see the doctor first! Miracle of miracles, I was able to get an appointment right away. I told the doctor I'd been out for four days, so she just went ahead and wrote me a prescription for two months. That way I can come back and have the blood work done during a lab special. Even better, when I went to checkout, I didn't have to pay anything! I thought I was going to have to pay a $15 copay ... but there was no charge!

I'm glad to finally have this at least partially taken care of, so inexpensively.

---

Today in the mail I received my box of books from Barnes & Nobles. My brother gave me a $25 gift card for my birthday - I bought 5 books with it. Gotta love them sales!

I also received a package from my dad and grandma. They were walking around Macy's last week waiting for something, and found two tops that "had my name on them." I really like one of them, but am not too sure about the other one. Still, that was pretty sweet of them.

---

My new class started this morning. Whoo boy! It sure looks like it is going to be a doozie of a class for 3 credits.

---
My procrastination in getting gas yesterday cost me $.13/gallon. After finishing at the health center, I was completely out of gas. Gas cost $2.95/gallon. I could have gotten it at Walmart for $2.82/gallon.
Hopefully, lesson learned.

This afternoon I went to the dollar theater with the lady I help count money at church. We went to see Burlesque (excellent!). I was telling her about my adventures with my mom yesterday attempting to see Social Experiment ... when the movie stopped! It had just finished the previews and was doing the screen asking you to silence your phones. We sat there for at least five minutes and the screen didn't move. Finally, I got up and told one of the workers. As I was coming back in, a couple other people were getting up to do the same thing. A few minutes later our movie started - thankfully perfect sound quality!

---
I just realized that today is my Blogaversary! Six years! Wow!! When I met up with MonkeyMama in CA, we talked a little about some of the SA bloggers we've seen come and go, and those we'd so love to meet for different reasons. (It would be so great to have a whole SA bloggers get together some day!)

I don't think there's very many people still blogging here that were around when I started. Miclason was here ... Ima I think started a little after I did ... I'm not really sure who else! (Could be my Swiss Cheese Memory at work here.)

Of course, Jeffrey and Nate were around back then The blogs and the site have definitely evolved in the passing years.

I for one am very thankful that I stumbled across SA, where I have found such a wonderfully caring group of people.
---
I'm considering doing something that may or may not be fruitful or smart. I am considering joining Match . Com for one month as kind of an experiment. My profile headline would be something like "Busy Graduate Student Wants a Break from Studies." I'd be point blank blunt about what I want (friendship/fun) and what I don't want (fwb!). Since I very well may be moving in the next six months, I'm not interested in a relationship ... unless of course I met someone who was completely over the top right for me.

I'd also include my definition of respect: When I say that I don't drink, smoke, eat meat, etc., respect means that you accept that and don't try to "change my mind" or "trick" me into it. I'd also be blunt about the fact that I can't afford to pay for anything more expensive than Taco Bell and the dollar theater. So, if they want to do free or inexpensive activities (like hiking/picnics,playing board games, watching videos, or hey, come help me out at Sabbath School) - great! If they want to do things like musicals, first-run movies, plays, rollercoasters! etc., -- great! as long as they're treating me with the only expectation/reward being the pleasure of my company. And more along those lines.

I'm curious if I were to post a profile like that, how many responses would I get, and if I got any, how many of them would have actually read and comprehended AND understood what I'm saying ... and then still contact me?

Most likely would be a waste of time and breath ... Maybe if I was 140lbs one or two might bite (but then even less likely that they'd read the profile ... )

--- My mom has a profile on Match, and she told me that she has an income criterion of $150k/yr+. She has at least 6 guys she's corresponding with right now.

When I was in college, I met a wonderful man on Match who I ended up dating for about a year. My longest relationship. (Sad, I know for a 35 year old.) So I do know that there are possibly quality men on these sites. But my mom's ability as a multiple-divorcee to attract the interest of these supposedly well-off men, makes me wonder ...

I'm at the age where I realize I'm probably not going to have a flesh and blood child. I'm not totally okay with that idea yet, but the realization has also made me think ... why the hey not - put on a profile what you really think and want. If someone actually reads, comprehends and understands it AND contacts you ... he may be someone you actually want to get to know better. If not, oh well. Keep on living life like always.

Well, I'll probably not do it for real. Just some of the thought processes going through my head tonight stuck in traffic coming back from the movie. See, it's dangerous to have no radio in your car (especially if your phone is about dead, so you can't play music from it either!)

---
On a completely different note.

I downloaded two new aps last night on my phone - one for Ebay, and one for Half-com. I then preceded to list two of my textbooks on Half, using the nifty barcode scanner, and an unused gift card I'd redeemed from Mypoints a few years ago (I think I'd meant it to be a gift for my brother's then wife ...) was put up on Ebay.

---

The school health center wasn't open today. So I'm going to have to go in the morning. I really can't keep putting this off. I wish I could've done it today, because tomorrow is going to be hectic trying to get everything done.

---

I figured out how to use the scholarship money today. It had been sitting in my refund account since October because I couldn't figure out how to transfer it to ING. I didn't want to have to withdraw sums of money over several days from an ATM. So I figured out today that I could link the account on the Chase CC website to pay the CC! Perfect! So I went ahead and paid my balance three weeks early.

--
Tomorrow is the first day of the new semester. I'm curious and nervous about what all this one class I'm taking will entail. I'm just SO glad its the LAST class!

---
Something else I'm considering is getting a hotel room the night before my certification test near the test site. From where I live, it would be about a 40 minute drive - which is not bad, but it could be an extra 40 minutes of sleep ... The test is at 8:00 a.m., and I have to be there by 7:30. So I'd have to leave the house by 6:30 a.m. Whereas if I got a hotel 5 minutes away ... I've already posted to see if there's anyone who might be willing to split a hotel room.

this afternoon Buddy and I made the trek over to moms apartment. Buddy was estatic to see her. I showed her again how to do swagbucks - including some of the games - and also Beezag. Then we ate - she had this really good veggie quiche from Costco.
After that we went to the dollar theater to see Social Network. The sound quality was terrible, and we ended up leaving less th
an ten minutes into it after speaking with a manager. On the way back we stopped at a Redbox. They didn't have Social Network, but they did have Eat, Pray,Love.
Moms DVD player/tv was being very finicky. After pausing it once to take Buddy out it wouldn't unease. So we gave up onvthe movie ( wasn't really liking it all that much anyway.)

Then we tried to watch some tv. Five minutes of The Family Guy reminded me of why I pretty much don't watch tv anymore.

Next we tackled putting away her Christmas tree. That was an experience ...

----------------

Tomorrow I hope to get to the university and have my thyroid test done so I can get my new prescription. I didn't get it done before vacation because of the whole fiasco with the drivers license and I didn't get up there since I was back due to catching up and extra tutoring. So, I'm completely out. Not good.


Tomorrow afternoon I'm meeting a friend from church to see Burlesque at the dollar theater. Hopefully the sound will be good.

----_---
I finally made it to 7400 redeemable Mypoints AND amazingly the $50 amazon reward was available (it's been disappearing off and on). I'm curious to see how long it'll take to arrive. This is the first redemption I've done in about a year. (Mypoints)

Okay I can't see what I'm typing because I'm on my iPhone and ran out of screen awhile ago. On my desktop I have Swagbucks tv running. So apologies for any typos

When I logged in to my MyPoints account today, there was a popup saying that I was preapproved for a MyPoints Visa card!! I had a MP Visa when Washington Mutual was still solvent, and earned many, many gift cards that way. (thanks mostly to being able to put my rent on my card each month - paid off in full each month of course!) So now, I don't have the opportunity to put a large amount on it each month, but it still will be much more lucrative than either Chase or Citi rewards points. This quarter Chase is doing the extra rewards for groceries and convenience stores - which is similar to Citi and MP - except Citi is also fast food. So for this quarter at least, Citi will be in my wallet all the time, and Chase for two weeks, then (once it gets here) MP for two weeks. Spread the love. --- I may end up canceling Citi actually. I'm having a difficult time figuring out how to get an acceptable copy of my grades - it'd be worth 2000 points for this past semester (and hopefully this coming semester as well ...) And the grade rewards points is one of the big reasons I went ahead with this card ... (plus the 25 rewards points for paying on time :roll eyes
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My 5th Amazon card came in from Swagbucks today. So I'm now up to $75 in my Amazon account. I also have enough Swagbucks for my 5 cards in February, and 3 in March (close to the 4th one.)

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This is a true 4-day holiday for me this weekend. I'm not even losing tutoring money! How does that work?? Well ... I worked with my one student this past Sunday, which will count towards tomorrow's normal session. Then today, I worked with him an extra two-hours which will count towards our normal Monday session. Extra work this past week, but makes for a nice PAID break.

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Tuesday night I got a phone call - blast from the past. Guy I dated for about five months or so back in 2008. I hadn't heard from him in about eight months, give or take. He wanted me to come over to his place and "hang out." He was of course "in-between" relationships and was lonely. I told him that I wasn't interested. He asked me if I'd been on any dates lately. I laughed and told him "where exactly would I meet anyone?? -- church? with maybe 300 members where I spend half my time there in a sabbath school classroom or in a back room counting money ... my various tutoring jobs??? maybe at the main school I tutor at, but not very likely ... grocery store/gas stations/library ... been "hit on" at those places, but not by people I'd even consider giving my number to ... so he asked me why didn't I try online dating sites ... LOL! sure, where can I have a free profile and respond to people for free, and have people who actually read the profile information to see if it matches them AND are honest in ALL their responses?
(and no, I didn't say all that to him)

This will be much shorter that it was - submitted the orginal post and was told *you are already registered as frugaltexan75* --- so post was gone. Ugrh!

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Received $20 in Amazon gift cards today from Swagbucks for January. Waiting on the 5th card.

Only 7 points away from my first Amazon card on irazoo!

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Took the practice test for librarian certification today for the third time. 1 - 79; 2 - 81; 3 - 81. 80 is passing. The real thing is on the 29ths. So, I need to hit those flashcards hard!

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Letter from my bank today telling me that they're going to start charging $8.95/month for checking starting in February. Two main ways to avoid it is direct deposit of $300/mo or maintain a balance of $1500. Can't do #1, so am considering #2 just so I don't have to go through the hassle of switching banks. However, at some point in the next four or five months I would not have that much to maintain - so would get the charge anyway.

Will have to think some more on this.

Today I received the codes for $20 of Amazon.com gift cards from Swagbucks. The 5th one should be coming very soon. (If it happens like last month, it'll probably be there by morning.) So right now I have $70 in my Amazon account.

I am 7 points away from being able to redeem for my first Amazon card with irazoo - thanks to a 33 point search win this evening.

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Today I took another practice test - the last one I can take before the real thing on the 29th. The legalese said to expect it to take 5 to 7 business days to find out how I did -- the score came back in less than two hours. I did *exactly* what I did on my last practice test. An 81%. Ugh! It's passing yes, but by a very slim margin. I really need to hit the flashcards hard the next two weeks.

Only one week till classes officially start for me. (Should I say ... class.)

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I got a letter from my local bank today. Essentially it said that starting in February, I will be charged $8.95 a month for my checking account with them. Unless: 1) Direct Deposit of $300+; 2) Maintain a balance of $1500+, or 3) Student under 25 years old.

I'm going to have to do some checking around to see if I can find anything less. Or, I may just put my scholarship money in that account - that would hold off the charges for 3 or 4 months maybe ... If it wasn't for the fact that I need a local bank to make cash deposits at, I'd go totally online. But I get paid mostly in cash ...

Chase at one time only charged $6.95/month. Before I look into changing banks though, I'm going to talk to the ladies at my branch and see if there are any other options there.

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I filled up today for $2.829/gallon at Walmart using the shopping card for the 3cent discount. $29.29

On Saturday I had to get gas at this little expensive station on my way home from church - was running on fumes. $2.99/gallon gulp! (3 gallons)

If I would have filled up on Friday at Walmart, it would have been $2.78/gallon. I thought I could hold out til Monday, and the price might be better ... oh well.

This morning I headed over to work with the Junior boy. He had a writing assignment where he had to watch a pre-70's sitcom and compare it to a current day sitcom. It was pouring rain and cold.

By the time we had watched an episode of Dick Van Dyke (via Netflix on the iPhone) and written about it, the rain had turned to snow! It was still snowing after we finsihed watching and writing about an episode of 30 Rock.

When I got home to let Buddy out, he got his very first experience in snow! I didn't let him run free in it though, because the backyard was too muddy. I also didn't get a picture ...

Two hours later I came back downstairs (again, to let Budster out ...) and the snow was already melted.

Oh well ... that's pretty normal for Texas snow. Here for a short while, and then but a memory.

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I may have my first referral for a number of my extra money sites. On another frugal forum I visit, someone asked about other money making sites. So I mentioned the ones I'm doing, and offered to send my referral links. They asked me for them ... and I sent them. This is someone who might actually DO something with them (unlike my mom and dad ...).

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My $400 scholarship went through sometime this weekend! Yay! The second part of the $2000 scholarship should go through in early February.

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Only a few weeks till I take my certification test. I'm a little bit nervous about it. I'd hate to waste that $120 test fee! Not to mention having to wait till the next test date!

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I've become way addicted to Cityville on Facebook. The only reason I even looked at it was for the Swagbucks. Now I constantly find myself going to "check in." I think I could have left it if it hadn't been that people I know added me as a neighbor within less than an hour!

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Yesterday after church I was running on fumes, so had to stop and get some gas. I only got 3 gallons worth because it was $2.99/gallon!! Tomorrow I'll fill up at Walmart for $2.78/gallon - Ugh!

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The story of the shooting in AZ just makes me so sick. That little 9 year old girl, just barely starting out in life. And the other people killed too - none of them deserved to die. Sometimes I really wonder what this world is coming to. It just makes me long all the more for that day when I look up in the sky to see Jesus coming.

This Christmas while I was around my family, I had to keep my mouth shut about my own political views. To put it mildly, most of my family in CA have different viewpoints than I do. There was no point in getting into a heated discussion - neither party would change their minds. That's our right though - to think differently. It's not our right to act violently towards those we disagree with - no matter what we think of their position.

Hi everyone! I have my first tutoring appointment today at 1:15 p.m. so I don't have a lot of time right now, but I just wanted to stop by and say hi!

My stepdad and I arrived back home at 2:40 a.m. this morning! Boy, was it good to get back to my own room again.

I had a great trip and did a lot of fun stuff. I'll try to post a bit more about that soon.

Today though I worked on updating my sidebar with one of my financial goals for this year -- tracking my earnings with the various rewards sites. My goal is to earn $800 by November 11. I'm including the $50 I earned from Swagbucks in 2010 towards that goal.

I made a financial leap of trust (or stupidity, depending on what happens ...) today. I took out some money from my Roth IRA and used it to purchase shares of one particular stock. I read a lot about this particular company over vacation, and all of my California family members have put money into this particular stock. This could turn out to be a fantastic decision, or one where I lose most of what I put into it. Either way, in the grand scheme of things, it isn't a lot of money. (There won't be tax consequences as the money I took out came from my own contributions.)

I am starving right now, so I probably ought to go get something to eat, and then get ready for my first session with my new student.

Ugh! I was almost finished with this post when I decided to check something, and without thinking, hit "search." Goodbye post.

Anyway ...

I had a good day with my mom on Friday. We ate at Olive Garden, and then went shopping. She bought me a red coat from Costco, and an HP ePrinter from Wal-Mart. Then we watched Beezus & Ramona at her apartment. (Sweet!) Then I signed her up for Swagbucks. My second referral!

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Sabbath School class on Saturday was chaotic. My usual helper wasn't there (told me last week) and of course there was the Christmas program. So at 10:30 I had 15! kids, and then at 10:35 I had 6 kids. The program was fantastic! By the time we ate potluck after church and got the money counted, I got home around 5:00 p.m. It was a long day - but good.

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On Sunday I worked with my senior high-school tutoring student helping her fill out college applications. I'm really glad we went back through them, because on one she had flip flopped the GPA numbers (i.e. where it asked for her GPA, she put 4.0, and where it asked for the weighted score, she put her actual GPA.) She gave me a giftcard which turned out to be an Amway gift choice. After entering in your redemption code, you are given a selection of possible gift options. There wasn't anything which really stood out to me, but in the end I chose to get a fish aquarium thingy for beta fish. Might be a nice stress reliever.

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I now have enough Mypoints for a $50 Wal-mart gift card. Of course, there are none available right now, so I'll have to wait until January. I also have nearly enough Swagbucks for a $50 Amazon gift card (5108 - need 5900.) I'll probably just wait til January and get the $25 (5 $5's), and then keep on doing that till I have enough for *both* a $50 and a $25.

Swagbucks and Mypoints are my two main focuses, but I am also using a number of other sites. They include: irazoo, zoombucks, sidetick, beruby, and beezag. Of all of these, I think irazoo is probably the easiest to make money from - easy 100 points a day, which equals one $5 Amazon card per month. Beezag is interesting in that you watch these commercials and then enter numbers at the end to prove you watched it. Each commercial is worth a different number of points. Once you reach 8000 points, you can cash out for $8.00 PayPal. Most videos seem to be between 50 and 70 points, and you get two - three a day. Zoombucks I think I'll probably focus more on just entering zoom codes whenever I see them, and maybe go search once a day. Otherwise the site is kind of annoying. Sidetick ... it finally seems to be crediting me properly. Essentially you can earn $.50 a day by opening an email and posting a comment on the daily blog post. Payout is $25.00. BeRuby is something I just started using. All you do is click on websites (CNN, Yahoo, etc.) and get paid from half a cent to one cent each. Payout is $10.00 Paypal.

So ... I decided that my goal in doing all these different sites is to earn $650 by November 1, 2011. This money will be used to purchase a new computer (assuming my current one doesn't die on me by then.) I already have $50 towards this. So .. 600/10 .. that means I need to average about $60/month from these sites. Hmm... I may have to supplement this money from other sources ... I think $30/month is completely doable, and perhaps $35/month, but $60 is really pushing it.

... Maybe I can count the money I get back from statement credits using my credit card rewards points? Today I redeemed 3000 Chase Freedom points for a $30.00 statement credit. On my Citi card, I'll be getting 2000 Thank You points for my GPA this semester (if I can figure out how to get an acceptable grade statement for them.)

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Ok, I probably ought to be going. I need to make sure YNAB is up to date so I can update my YNAB app for the trip; plus there are still a few things I need to do packing wise. SD is taking me to the airport at 5:45 a.m. Gulp! That's the earliest I've had to wake up in a long time.

I don't know how often I'll be getting on here in the next few weeks ... So in case I miss it ...

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy New Years!

Yesterday was a *very* long day. But, like I said, it was a good one.

After I finished with my first tutoring student, I texted my stepdad to see if my birth certificate had come yet. The mail wasn't there yet.

So, I went across the street to get my car inspected. (Decided not to procrastinate on that!!) The mechanic suggested replacing the power steering fluid, which I agreed to (wheel had been squealing up a storm when turned sharply.) Got ready to pay, and he asks me if I have any coupons. I told him I didn't, but did they offer a birthday discount? He asked to see my i.d. I got a $10 discount, plus a full service car wash. (This place gives a car wash with oil change - so this was an upgraded car wash.) Nice!

While I was there, I received a text from my stepdad telling me I had mail from my dad! Yay! I ate some lunch, and headed out the door. Unfortunately, I did not look up a DMV address *before* leaving, but just searched it on my phone. I drove for 45 minutes in *bad* traffic to probably about the worst part of town possible.

The good news? There was absolutely no line! I was in and out in less than ten minutes. The lady asked me twice if I wore contacts (maybe she was surprised a 35 year old still had good vision??)

Traffic was pretty bad still going over to my next tutoring student. Thankfully I made it with 5 minutes to spare. He and his mom gave me a $15 Barnes and Nobles gift card. Ahh... sweet.

When I was finished with him, I headed over to CVS where I meet my mom for our evening tutoring students. I'd been there about 15 minutes when I got a phone call from her. She had locked her keys in her trunk!! Her apartment keys were in the car, along with her purse and all her tutoring books. I went over to where she was and picked her up. Then, after we were finished with our evening students, I took her back to her car to meet the AAA guy.

She was able to get into her car (with the alarm blaring at 9:30 p.m.) but the security system would not let her open the trunk. So ... I drove her to her apartment where she got her extra key, and then drove her back to her car. Finally, I was able to drive home.

I got lots of birthday greetings on FB (and here), birthday Swag from Swagbucks, three birthday phone calls, a couple of emails, and birthday greetings from my tutoring students. I forgot to mention - my stepdad gave me a tin of peppermint bark white chocolate + he told me that my birthday/Christmas/graduation gift from him is free rent in January! The purpose being for me to use it towards interviewing expenses.

Tomorrow I'm going over to my moms and we're eating at the Olive Garden, and watching a movie at her place (my choice.) She's giving me a gift certificate for a manicure/pedicure (birthday) and we're going shopping for a bike seat (Christmas.) When I get out to CA, my dad and grandma are taking me to Hearst Castle for a tour (birthday.)
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Five days till lift off!

I'll start with the Good News. I had to file an appeal for the second half of my scholarship. One of the requirements was that you are enrolled full-time - meaning 9 semester hours for graduate students. Since I only have 3 credits left, I had to file an appeal.

Well, you can guess where this is going. I got an email today telling me that my appeal had been approved. In early February I will get the second $1000 scholarship money! Woo Hoo!

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Not so good news. My birth certificate that dad mailed out to me on Thursday did not come today. So after I was done with my tutoring students, I stopped at my storage unit and opened a few more boxes that were possibilities. Nada. When I got home, I looked in the one and only possible place I could have it, and ... nada.

So, hopefully it will come tomorrow before I have to leave for my evening tutoring students. If it does, I will have the pleasure of spending part of my birthday in the DMV. If it doesn't, then I hope that they'll take an expired driver's license...

Tonight I went out to dinner with five other ladies from my church. 5 of us had birthdays in December, the sixth one was the daughter of one of the ladies. 4 of the ladies with birthdays brought gifts for everyone else. Guess who didn't bring anything? Guess who didn't *know* that was part of it?

If I would have known we were supposed to bring gifts, I would have said I was not able to come. This was arranged for late Sunday afternoon. Why did they feel like gifts had to be involved? Isn't just getting together for a meal enough?

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I played a bit more on one of the websites I mentioned yesterday. So far my verdict is that it is one to skip. I won't be wasting anymore time on it. (The one where you supposedly can earn $15/mo easily.)

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Last night I was up pretty late, and decided to get on Swagbucks at midnight when the clock changed over. I actually qualified and completed a 30 minute survey. Oy vey! My eyes were rolling out of their sockets. I hope my answers were halfway intelligible. Anyway, I finished it and got credited. Really paid for it though when Buddy started begging to go out at 7:30 this morning.

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On my way to the birthday dinner, I stopped as Walmart to get gas. (It was the cheapest I'd seen it, and I was getting low.) I went in to reload my card. When I swiped it at the gas pump, it said I had a $24.57 balance. That made me do a double take, since I'd only put $20 on it. Then I looked at the card. It was my $50 walmart card from Mypoints I'd gotten in 2009, but had never used up the remaining balance. I'd tried to use it up in the store, but it wouldn't take. I must have accidentally loaded that card! Good thing too, cuz my car took all of it! LOL!

I mentioned awhile ago that I had signed up to be a group leader in a weight loss program my church is holding in the new year. Well, yesterday we had our first volunteer meeting after church. I found out that the program coordinator had told a friend of mine (church assistant treasurer who I help with counting money each Sabbath) that she wasn't needed. Doh! I count it as the age of this person (she has to be in her early 20's.) But seriously, when are there ever *too many* volunteers for a church function??

Anyway, today I finally got around to reading the group leader handbook. By the time I finished it, I decided it wasn't for me. First of all, it was pretty offensive in how they discussed people with weight issues. Secondly, the time commitment required of a group leader was more than just the once a week meeting - it also involved calling 6 - 8 group members on a daily basis. Thirdly, I just plain did not agree with some of the ideas in the lessons.

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Has anyone else been having problems with Mypoints recently? I've been a member since 2005, and have earned nearly 90,000 points (redeemed 83,200) and until November, never had an offer or email not credit. In November, I had two offer sign-ups not credit (freebie things), and in December I had two sign-ups that have not credited yet, and one survey non-qualifier. I contacted customer service regarding the survey non-qualifier, and one of the November offers (waiting for the 30 day period to pass on the others.) I finally did receive credit on the one offer (Pet Centric, upload a picture of your pet to their site, then share it on Facebook - 165 points total!) And customer service gave me "goodwill Points" for the survey non-qualifier.

I'm afraid to complain too much about offers not crediting because I've heard too much about people being deactivated without warning. I have nearly enough points right now for a $50 Wal-Mart card (need about 120 more.)

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I got a good bit done today that I'd been slacking on. Cleaned out my closet, and found my two sweatshirts. (I'd put them in a suitcase a few months ago for a Sabbath School lesson, and forgot I'd done that!) Cleared my drawers/bookshelves, etc. of accumulated junkmail, etc. Did three loads of laundry. And still managed to spend a lot of time on the internet.

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I got comments from my professor today on the grant proposal my partner and I did. From her remarks, I think we may have gotten a good grade. She said that she thought our proposal was unique and a contender. So, I just may still have my 4.0 going into Spring semester.

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I was reading a blog focused on Swagbucks today, and indirectly was led to a freebie site on Facebook. Then as I was reading through *that* I found out about two new interesting money making sites. One is a social network where you supposedly can earn $15/month *just* by logging in every day, reading any email in your site inbox, and making a comment on the main blog post.

The other site I found out about, is one where you watch these advertisement videos. During the videos two numbers flash across the screen randomly. Then at the end of the video, you enter those numbers to earn credit. 800 points = $8.00 (cash out) I spent about 10 minutes checking the site out and watching videos, and earned 39 points.

I'm going to play around with both of these sites and see if they really pay out, then I'll post their names here. The first one (social site) you get $1 for every referral, and $.25 for every person your referrals refer -- but you do use your real name. So .. I probably would only give my referral link to people here who already know my real name.

Anyway, none of these sites really take that much time, and if they really do pay out, it's a nice bit of extra money each month.

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Did you hear about the roof collapsing on the

Metrodome in Minnesota where the Vikings play? If the other team hadn't been rerouted on their flight plan, and it had happened just a little bit later in the day ... Yikes!

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Tomorrow night I'm meeting 5 other ladies from my church for a December birthdays get together at Soup Or Salad. I think that sounds like fun. With my birthday being so close to Christmas, I usually get left out of any birthday rememberances at work or church, etc.

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My birth certificate didn't come yet, hopefully it will arrive tomorrow so I can get my license taken care of before Wednesday (when it expires.) If I have to, I'll go to the DMV on Wednesday, but that day is SO full already. Besides, do I really want to spend my birthday at the DMV????

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One last thing ... Restaurants.com is having their 80% sale right now. I think this code expires today?? But if you enter code: Joy at checkout, you get a $25 gift certificate for $2! I bought one for a vegetarian restaurant near where I'll be visiting my dad/grandma in CA. So, I'll be able to treat to a really nice meal for around $27 (after tip and required spending amount of $45.)

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This week I think I'll probably only have tutoring through Wednesday. I know my high-school Junior was trying to get out of Thursday, and definitely Friday. My Senior might still want to meet on Thursday - hopefully - we've been working a lot on college entrance essays, so that's not dependent on a school schedule.

This evening I got email confirmation of my 5 Amazon gift cards I'd ordered from Swagbucks for November. So now my Amazon.com account has $50 just sitting there waiting to be put to use. I already have enough Swagbucks for my January $25 -- I may just try to get a $50 one this month ... hmm...

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Monday and Tuesday afternoon I worked with the College Freshman on his research paper. It was on the Chosun Dynasty and the four hereditary classes (Korea.) I was mangling the pronunciations so much, that he finally said, "Just say Y" (for Yangin.) LOL! Between the two days I worked with him just under an hour. So, I only charged him $20.

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If the family of the two boys I work with on Wednesday nights can reschedule their boys math tutor, I will be having a second night with them. They want my mom to work with their two oldest boys at the same time as I am working with the two youngest. If it works out, that would be an extra $200 per month. The boys are quite pleasant and fun to work with.

Actually, I can't say that I have *any* tutoring student that I don't enjoy working with - ... well, maybe one who can sometimes be quite frustrating, although I know it isn't his fault ...

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On to the Driver's License Renewal Troubles:

Yesterday I was driving to my late evening tutoring session when it dawned on me that I needed to renew my license ASAP! Why? Well, if I want to get on the plane on the 21st to go to CA, it would be a good idea to have a current license!

So, this morning I get on the TX DL site and enter my information to renew online. DENIED! What??? After reading the eligibility criteria closely, I saw that you can only renew every other time online. That means that in order to renew, I must go in person. Ugh!

Well, I figured that all I would need would be my current DL, and my birth certificate. Nope! Not good enough. When I go in, I will need my birth certificate, plus two other forms of i.d. (I'll be taking my SS card, and a letter from my car insurance stating I've had continuous coverage for more than 2 years.)

As you may know, I have a lot of my things tucked away in my storage unit. Guess what one of those items are? Yep! My birth certificate. I was ready to order a new one from my birth state rather than dig around and through all my boxes ... but luckily I called my dad first. Guess what he had, and knew how to get to it in less than two minutes? My birth certificate should arrive by Saturday or Monday. I'm hoping my assumption is correct that they'll give me my new license right away - otherwise I won't have any current picture i.d. This would be very bad.

I know this whole ordeal is my fault due to procrastinating (and not having a central place where all my important documents are kept within easy finding.) Still, though, it irks me that I have to go to such lengths to prove who I am, and that I can't just renew online again. Oh well, guess that's life.

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Oh! I ordered the flashcards for my certification test. They came on Tuesday. I haven't done much with them yet, but from what I've seen, they look like they'll be helpful.

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Last night my mom and I were talking after finishing our tutoring session. She asked me if I wanted the Nook as a birthday/Christmas gift. I told her thanks for the thought, but my iPhone does the job just fine - and is only one device to carry. So she asked me what I'd like ... I told her a mani/pedi and a bike saddle seat. (She was looking for the $100 range.) I'm going to go over to her apartment next Friday and set her up on Swagbucks, as well as maybe watching a movie and dinner somewhere. (My birthday is Wednesday, but neither of our schedules work out to do anything that day.)

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I am curious to see what my January tutoring schedule is going to look like. If new students/hours keep at this rate, I am going to be one busy lady!

Thank you all again for your congratulations on receiving the huge scholarship. I'm still in a bit of shock over it.

On Monday I took a practice exam for the school librarianship certification. Previously I had taken it in the fall of 2009 near the beginning of my course. The first time I took it, I received a 79%. 80% is passing. Today I received my score for the second practice -- 81%. That is a passing score, but only a 2% improvement.

That worried me a good bit, so I started to do some research on study guides/programs. I came across this one

Flashcards. I looked up info on the company Mometrix Media LLC and saw that they've been in business since 2002, and have guides/flashcards for numerous tests. I also Googled them + complaints, and nothing came up.

So ... what I'm trying to decide is if it would be worth spending $43.00 to purchase their flashcard program. (I would then enter the data into a flashcard program for my iPhone, so I wouldn't have to lug around a bunch of cards.) There is a one-year money back guarantee -- and like I said, I didn't find any complaints about them.

They also have a study guide for the same price. So, I'm also wondering if it might be better to get the study guide and make my own flashcards from it. OR ... get both of them, and decide which one best meets my needs, and return the other one.

I can take another practice exam at the beginning of January. My test is scheduled for January 29. For obvious reasons, I want to pass it the first time. I wasn't really planning on worrying too much about it, since I generally do well enough on these types of things. However, passing the practice exam by such a slim margin makes me think that I might need to put a little more effort into it. (My mom still kids me about how I *studied* for the ExCet (Texas teacher's exam in 1997) -- during commercial breaks, a few days prior to taking the exams. Whereas she spent a month or more in deep study. We both passed, which is all that matters - although she did a little bit better than me.)

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I think I need to go back on that challenge with my mom. It really curbed my spending on food, and my junk food eating. I've already spent half my weekly budget this week on ... um ... junk. Good thing I don't need much in the way of groceries tomorrow.

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Today I ordered my 3rd and 4th Amazon gift cards for December from Swagbucks. Tomorrow I'll order the 5th (and last one.) Then I'll have enough left for the first one in January, plus a bit towards the second.

I really love Swagbucks, but I need to spend a little less time on it.

(Like right now, I really should be working on a school assignment so I have it done tonight - because tomorrow I'll have to put together the grant proposal information from my partner.) So .. I'm going to go stop procrastinating and get busy! Gotta keep that scholarship.

As my title indicates, the scholarship money I found in my account yesterday was NOT a mistake!!!!!!

I received an email back from the financial aid office telling me that it is actually a scholarship from my university, and that I'd be receiving another email with more information on it today. I just about fainted dead away.

$2,000.00!!!!

The email with more info was in my university email account (which I rarely check.) It looks like it was some kind of a competitive scholarship which I was entered into back in the fall when I filled out info for a dozen+ scholarships. One of the requirements is to be enrolled in at least 9 graduate hours per semester. This semester I am enrolled in 9, but next semester I only have one 3-hour class left. I've already emailed them to ask about that.

So, it may be just $1,000.00. But ... even so ... $1,000.00!!!!

My second semester is completely paid for now, AND I'll be getting money back. Somewhere between $500 and $1500.

It is just so amazing to me how God has provided for me throughout my life - but especially the past few years while I've been back in school. I'd been worried about how I was going to afford going on interview trips, let alone living expenses until I find a job ... and here drops a huge sum of money from out of nowhere!

Tonight I logged on to my university account to see if my scholarship money had been posted yet. Once it is posted, then I can pay the remainder and be finished with paying for school.

Well, I received the shock of my life. Underneath the listing for my $400 scholarship, there was *another* scholarship listed for $2000.00!!!! I clicked on the link to find out what it was for. It said that $1k had been awarded for the first semester, and $1k for the second semester. I then Googled the name : USC continuing students. From the information I found, it appears that it is a scholarship for students who are continuing students at the University of Southern California.

I've already emailed the financial aid office to let them know. Sigh ... it sure would be nice if that money really *was* mine. Maybe I should have gone to USC instead (though their tuition is probably that much higher too.)

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I'm up to 2,454 Swagbucks now. So tomorrow I'll be able to start buying my December Amazon cards.

Tonight when I got home from my tutoring sessions, I had an envelope from my university. Inside of it was the information on how much my scholarship is for next semester -- $400! Yay! I was really hoping that it would be the same as the one I got for this semester, but now I know for sure. So, my last semester/class will cost just under $500 (although I don't know what the graduation fees, etc., will be.)

I really had meant to cancel Netflix, but I kept procrastinating on doing it. Tonight I was *really* glad I hadn't done it yet. My high-school boy tutoring student was supposed to watch a television drama from the 1970's or earlier, and then write an essay about it. Then he was also to watch a current drama, and then compare the two.

Well ... he didn't do it over break. The assignment is due tomorrow. I searched about a dozen different dramas on my Netflix app on the iPhone before I finally found one with streaming episodes. Bonanza! We watched it over the 3g network - the first 20 minutes or so were perfect, then for about ten minutes or so it stuttered and froze a good bit. But we finally managed to finish both the program, and his essay. (He'd watched Season 8 of 24 recently.) Our session lasted over an hour longer than regularly scheduled, so it will probably replace our normal tutoring session on the 17th (when he probably won't have anything to do anyway!)

So ... I guess I can now consider my Netflix subscription tax deductible? (I'm joking, really.)

Man, there were a ton of videos on the Swagbucks offer walls today - plus one on the rotating slider (homepage top.) Those videos, plus 6 Swagbucks TV wins, 3 codes, and 2 search wins (so far) put me up to 2,262 SB's.

I found out about this really cool Firefox browser add on which helps scout out deals for you on other websites when you do online shopping. I made a post about it on my

Living Frugal blog.

No spending today, and I don't plan on spending anything tomorrow. So, I think this pretty much wraps up November.

Groceries - $77.89
Auto:Gas -- $74.32
Auto:Insurance -- $206
Auto:Repairs $127.50
Gifts - $57.36
iTunes -- $11.30
Prescriptions - $45.30
Subscriptions/Fees - $60

Groceries - Two main reasons I think this category was under budget this month. One is the challenge between my mom and I (me, limited sugar; mom - one 12oz coke/day.) Two, was I cooked and froze 2lbs of pinto beans, and 8 servings worth of lentil soup - plus ate quite a bit of homemade burritos. It could have still been less, but on the most recent shopping trip (after the challenge) I bought more sweets than I really should have.

Auto:Gas - This would have been less if I hadn't made an extra trip to L************ to help the local church school teacher. This extra expense was offset though by her giving me $20 in gas money - which I first refused, but then accepted.

Auto:Insurance - My six-month premium with Geico. Reflected is a 10% Defensive Driving discount, plus an additional $6.60 for Roadside Assistance. (I canceled my $3/month RA plan with AT&T as of Friday.)

Auto:Repairs -- Replacing three outside belts to stop my car from squealing constantly.

Gifts -- Mostly Christmas gifts, but also one Mother's Day gift. All bought via Mypoints or Swagbucks.

iTunes -- Got a bit carried away with purchasing tutoring apps for my new preschool student.

Prescriptions - Renewed Walgreen's Prescription Discount card, plus monthly prescription.

Subscriptions/Fees - $60 - Renewed professional memberships in American Library Association and Texas Library Association.

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"Passive Income"
In November I earned around 1200 points at Mypoints. I need another 1200 points to redeem for a $50 Wal-mart card. I may be able to do this by sometime in January. (Most of the points are from two sources: clicking on paid emails, and survey non-qualifiers. I did make one purchase this month (gift) which gave me 200 points, and I did upload a pet photo for a contest and shared it on Facebook - for another 225 points.)

I redeemed 2,250 Swagbucks for $25 in Amazon.com gift cards. Plus I have earned an additional 2,109 Swagbucks in November. I will most likely use those to get another $25 in Amazon.com gift cards in December. I have at least one family member who may sign up under me (mom), and am going to try for two others over the holidays.

I redeemed 8900 Chase CC points for $89.00 in statement credit.

I found out yesterday that I earned $2.86 in advertising income through my Frugal blog for Amazon.com. Of course, I can't get that money until it reaches $10. Which may be never (considering this was from a sale in August ... the only sale so far.)

Tutoring Income
Also in November I acquired two new tutoring students. This added an additional $150 income. Which almost made up for the week of Thanksgiving where all but my new students canceled.

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Future Spending/Income

In December I am pretty sure that both my gas and groceries categories will be a good bit less with my going on vacation from the 21st thru the 3rd. My family will pretty much not let me pay for anything. Although I will offer - and I am looking for the $3 deal for a $25 Restaurant.com gift card. I'd like to treat to this one particular vegetarian place.

Also, I should receive the scholarship money I was granted in November. However, I will also be paying my last semesters tuition (Due December 20?? I think.