We had a pretty small group for Sabbath School this weekend, just six kids. Of course, church itself was pretty empty. I guess a lot of people out traveling.

Yesterday I got an email from Amazon telling me that they had money for me, but didn't know how to get it to me. (I'm an Amazon Associate on both of my blogs.) So I went to the site to find out what they were talking about. I had to search all the way back to August to find ... one person had bought two items (quinoa and something else)through one of my links! My advertising profit? $2.87. Of course, the minimum payout is $10, so I'm not sure why they were stressing about me setting up a payment method. I think its so funny that I made my first "sale" through my frugal blog on which I have *very* few Amazon links, rather than on my book blog in which I have links everywhere!

This weekend has been incredible with the wins on Swagbucks TV. From Thursday through today, I have had an average of ten wins per day. That's nearly half of a $5 Amazon gift card! (The normal average is two-three a day.)

Today my stepdad and I went over to my moms new apartment and helped her get more settled in. We brought Buddy with us - he was so happy to see mom. He followed her everywhere she went. On the way back home I asked SD to stop at a gas station because I wanted a Cherry Coke (challenge is over! thank you very much) Buddy went nutso in the car with SD while I was in the store. I think the little guy is getting a really bad complex.

Friday I went out grocery shopping pretty late. If I hadn't needed to fill up with gas for the weekend, I would have just skipped it.

I had about 15 items in my cart - all the lanes were packed (that were open.) So I chose the one with only one person who had two FULL carts. I figured that the one person had a better chance of getting through quickly than a line of 5 people with 15 - 20+ items (more chance of um... problem customers.) So anyway, while I was waiting, a cashier opened up the register just behind me. When I noticed it, she was about to start ringing a guy up behind me. He saw me notice it, then looked at my cart, and told me to go ahead. Really cute guy too. (Probably early to mid-twenties though. Too bad.)

I forgot to make an actual list, so didn't pick up spinach. SD picked that up today for me though.

So groceries -- $27.40 (fruit, cheese, Rice Dream, Orange Juice, hot chocolate, marshmallows, etc.)

Gas - $2.49/gallon $22.86

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November Spending:

Gas -- $74.78
Groceries -- $77.99
Auto Insurance -- 206.62
Subscriptions & Dues - $60 (
Prescriptions, etc. - $45.30
Gifts - $57.04
iTunes - $11.xx
Auto Repairs/Maintain - $127.65
Phone - $80.62

I did really well with my grocery spending this month. I think doing the challenge with my mom had a large part in it. Also, making crockpot beans and freezing them, as well as lentil soup, and eating lots of homemade burritos, cut down expenses.

Gas was okay. It would have been less if I hadn't gone down and volunteered at the local church school (I could have waited till December to fill up.) But .. I did get $20 in gas money from the principal/teacher (which I did try to refuse, but she insisted.) That isn't figured into the gas amount.

Auto Insurance - I chose to stay with Geico. The amount reflects the Defensive Driver's Discount, and adding back Roadside Assistance. I called AT&T on Friday and dropped their RA, which cost $3/month versus $1.xx/mo for Geico.

Subscriptions/Dues - After much thought I decided to renew my membership in the two professional organizations. Hopefully next year I'll be working in a library that will provide those dues for me, but for now, it will be good to have on my resume.

Prescriptions, etc. - My monthly scrip, plus a renewal of Walgreen's Prescription Club Discount card.

Gifts - Most come from an order with Lakeside Collection. VERY slow shipping. The order also earned some points through Mypoints. A few of the others are from two different photo deals I did through Swagbucks. My Christmas shopping is done. Oh yes, almost forgot - one gift was for Mother's Day (also a Swagbucks deal.)

iTunes - Got a bit carried away finding apps for my new tutoring student (pre-schooler)

Auto Repairs - Replaced three outside belts when the squealing got really bad in my car.

Phone - This should go down a little bit next month, now that I've canceled Roadside Assistance

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I did have some unexpected new sources of income this month, such as the two new tutoring students, and the reimbursed gas money. I also redeemed $25 worth of Amazon gift cards (through Swagbucks) which are currently sitting in my Amazon account. Not to mention the scholarship I found out about!

So, I definitely could do better next month. After the 21st, I doubt I'll be spending much of my own money (being out in CA.) I will offer - but will more than likely be turned down. (I am hoping one of those $3 Restaurant.com codes come out so I can get a gift certificate for this one restaurant out there and "treat" for at least one meal!)

Thursday morning around 10 a.m. my stepdad left to go have Thanksgiving with his daughters and their families. Mom and I divided our time between making cottage cheese roast, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, and turkey and packing her things.

We sat down to eat around 1 p.m. We'd talked about maybe going to a 4 p.m movie. Then that got nixed. So we talked about going to a 7 p.m movie. That got nixed.

What were we doing till nearly midnight Thursday night? Packing, packing, packing.

This morning we got up at 7 a.m. and continued to pack. The movers arrived at 9 a.m., and left with her stuff a little after 11:30 a.m.

She took 6 full wardrobe boxes of clothes with her, plus numerous boxes of clothes. There were a lot left in the closet. I'm curious to find out how she's going to fit all those clothes into her one-closet 900 square foot apartment.

I really had to bite my tongue a couple of times. She was talking about how stupid she'd been to have "let" my dad walk away with his full retirement (husband before stepdad.) What she forgets, is that she cleaned out all of their savings accounts, and maxed out most of their credit cards (included in that money was funds from a second refi of the house -- set aside to pay taxes for the next three years.) Ooops. There were other things too, but it'll just be beating a dead horse (or snake ...).

Buddy of course was not getting what was going on with the movers, and so was barking up a storm. Before leaving, mom fixed him up a plate of his wet food -- fine. Then she added three large pieces of turkey!! When I said something about it, she about bit my head off. When I answered back that it would be MY bed he'd be throwing up on - she was like, "Well, I could just take him with me!" So I responded by saying -- "Well, he's your dog. So whatever!"

Ugh! I hate to say it, but I'm actually glad this *finally* seems to have come to a close. She has a signed apartment lease for six-months (Seriously?? Is she really planning on moving in six-months???) She's leaving Buddy with us for now since she'll be gone a lot, while here there is usually someone around most of the day.

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There's a sale on giftcards at Swagbucks. I have enough to get 3 $5 Paypal cards, but I think I'm going to wait and see if the Amazon cards go on sale. All day yesterday I just let Swagbucks TV run, and checked on it once in a while. I accumulated 10 wins. Today so far I have 6 or 7 (5 SB's per win.)

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Later today I might go out grocery shopping. Right now though, I think I'm going to go take a nap.

Both of my blogs are updated - Living Frugal and Children's Books.

I've been keeping busy the past few days doing just about anything but schoolwork .... but I did finally put a half-hearted attempt at the TWO assignments due this week.

Tonight I had the two new boys who I started working with last week. I was way over prepared.

Tomorrow is the end of the challenge between my mom and I. Up until Monday I was doing pretty well with it. Today I was back on track though. My mom ... I think I still beat her.

Okay, for those of you who don't like snake stories or pictures of snakes, now would be a good time to do a swift scroll to the comments section (if you want to leave a comment, of course!)


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Okay .... I warned you!




This afternoon I took Buddy out in the backyard for his pit stop. I had barely put him down, when in the corner of my eye I spotted something moving. When I looked fully at what had moved ... not 3 seconds passed before I had screamed, picked Buddy up, and ran inside the house yelling for my stepdad. What did I see? Well ... here's a picture of what I saw *after* SD (SuperD...!) had finished with it.




I am not sure what kind it was. I really hope it wasn't a pet snake or something. SD had to chop at it with the shovel multiple times - it's exoskeleton was very hard. Even after all that, it wasn't still fully dead.

No more letting Buddy out in the yard without a leash! (We've been letting him slowly have a little bit more freedom, as he's earned it.)

Anyone have any idea what kind it is? It was over 3 feet long.

ETA: Picture of its head:

I have truly been enjoying this weekend. I have next week to look forward to with only one tutoring session, and the end of the challenge with my mom (me = limited sugar; mom - limited soda).

Yesterday at church we again had 14 kids! I just can't say how much I loved it, even though it was quite crowded. Most of the reason we had so many was because the school was putting on a Thanksgiving program. So, in the middle of our lesson story, half of our class left to go practice. Hopefully those who don't normally come will be interested in coming again. Of course ... we don't really have space for more ... God will take care of that.

Other than church yesterday, I didn't really do much of anything.

Today I slept in a little bit. Oh luxury! (Can't sleep in too much, otherwise an anxious puppy will let me know how badly he needs to go!) I goofed on the net for awhile, checked out the coupons and advertisements for this weekend, and then goofed some more on the net.

This afternoon I was getting ravenous. So I decided to make a burrito. I used a tortilla which had been bought at Sam's club two years ago (frozen and moved several times - recently dethawed.) A 1/2 cup portion of the beans I made a few weeks ago (from the freezer), spinach, shredded cheese, and rice. It was so yummy and SO filling!

After I was done eating, I made my

Grandma's Corn Pudding Casserole. I was going to make it on Friday, but by the time I finished with an assignment that was due, it was after 5 p.m. I was tired, and just didn't feel like doing it. *The link goes to my Living Frugal blog with the recipe and pictures. (I'm freezing it for Thanksgiving.) I entered the recipe into the Swagbucks recipe contest. Crossing my fingers!

I have my first Swagbucks referral! Woo Hoo! Well ... it actually is my dad. I talked him through the process step by step over the phone.

The bananas I got on Thursday are already going bad. SD got some more today - they're much greener than the ones I'd found.

Tomorrow I'll be going to the church school and helping out the principal/teacher for the day. I can't donate much in the way of money, but I can donate time once in awhile. I do have two assignments I'll have to do this week, plus I may try to complete two of next week's assignments to get ahead a little bit.

I hope my mom decides quickly about whether or not she's moving out on Friday or not. If she isn't, then I'll make an appointment with the University Health center for my TSH (thyroid) test. (Discount days start on Friday.)Hopefully the traffic wouldn't be too crazy around the university.

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Spending:
iTunes - App store: 4 different apps for pre-schoolers. ~$6.00 (prepping for tutoring)

York Photo - $7.xx - two photo magnets (Christmas presents)

Tomorrow anticipated spending:

Either Acrylic Paint or Fabric Paint, Masking tape (Christmas presents), Spinach (my bag is going bad already)


**Any ideas on how to keep a bag of spinach from going slimy so fast? I eat it as fast as I can, but ...

Last night I worked with two new tutoring students, a 2nd grader and a 5th grader. They're both great kids and I think it is going to be lots of fun finding things for them. Their mom insists on them having homework between sessions. My mom had been working with the fifth-grade boy, as well as his two older brothers. But she wasn't able to work with the second grade boy.

Today as I was waiting for my high-school boy, I ran into the mom of two of my mom's former students. (She'd exchanged hair styling for tutoring.) She asked me if I'd be willing to work with her 4 year old daughter and help her get ready for kindergarten. One or two times a week for an hour each. Right up my alley! We'll possibly start in January.

Then near the end of my tutoring session with the high-school boy, his host mom came home. She's the same person who has essentially helped me get most of my students. She asked me if I thought I could tutor someone in Algebra 1. I gulped, and said that I thought I could. I'd have to get some books and such from the library to review, but I think I could do it. As long as I stayed ahead of the student.

Wow! if both of these new students pan out, I'm going to be quite busy! Yay!!

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Grocery Spending:

11/17 -- $8.01 supper, chocolate oranges (2)

I needed something to eat before tutoring my two new students. CVS had the chocolate oranges on sale 2 for $5. I *love* those oranges, and that is a good price. So ... they are put away until Thanksgiving when the challenge is over.

11/18 -- $7.06 bananas, shredded cheese, green onions, frozen veggies, cream corn,

I decided to make the corn pudding for potluck on Sabbath, so needed a few more ingredients.

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Wow! Yesterday I completed a special offer on Swagbucks for comparing insurance offers. (It gave me enough to get my 5th Amazon card, and have 300+ left.) This morning I was inundated with phone calls and emails. On Tuesday I had written a blog post on

how I've managed to stump car insurance agents. This morning to my utter shock, someone actually managed to beat my rate by $3 (per six-months.) I told them I didn't want to make a decision right away, but would need to think about it. Or, in other words, research the company.

Good thing I did! It has absolutely terrible ratings for customer service and claims handling. As I was talking to the five different people (the ones I actually answered the phone for) a reoccurring statement made was that I had only been insured for one-year. I thought that was really strange since I was pretty sure I'd been with Geico since at least 2001. I also found out that Texas passed a law raising the amount of the mandated minimums.

So I finally went ahead and gave Geico a call. I found out that most agents when making a quote will just automatically put one-year, and that I had been with Geico nearly 12 years. I also found out that I won't need to worry about the increased coverage rate until my May renewal. Then I asked the agent to add roadside service back to my plan. I couldn't remember why I had taken it off my plan in the first place ($6/term). He reminded me that it usually is only available for people with comprehensive, but that since I've been with them for so long, he'd make an exception. It just so happened that he was a supervisor!

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As I was typing this I got a call from the mom of the 4 year old. She and her husband have decided to have me work with their daughter twice a week! Yes! Apparently she has to pass a test to be admitted into the particular Kindergarten. The mom is going to talk to the pre-school teacher to find out what skills need to be worked on. I'm really running the gambit here - working with 4-year olds all the way through college!

Last night around 10:30 I was typing away on an entry here, when Poof! the power went out. It stayed out for over 90 minutes. We'd had a little bit of thunder and lightning, but nothing major. So ... that was weird.

I cashed in for my 4th Amazon $5 gift card yesterday, and deposited the second one in Amazon. I love free money.

Last night my mom asked me to help her with two of her tutoring students on Wednesday nights. This particular family has 4 children. I'll work with the two youngest, and she'll work with the two oldest. That adds an extra $200/month for me! Woo Hoo!

Today I spent quite a bit of money (well, for me anyway.) I decided to renew my memberships in American Library Association and the Texas Library Association. A total of $60 for both of them (student rates!) I'd been debating on it ever since I got the renewal notices. I finally concluded that if I want to have any chance of getting a job, it probably is a good idea to have a professional membership.

I did something else really unusual for me today. I opened up a credit card offer! It was for a Citi Visa for students. Even more highly unusual for me is that I applied! What got me? Two things: 1 - You can earn up to 4,000 points per semester based on your GPA; and 2 - Every month you pay on time you get 25 points. Boo Ya! Easy free points! I was approved for $4,000.00. I'm hoping that I can send them my grades for Spring semester and get the first 4,000 points. It'll motivate me to work even harder to make sure that one class this semester that's making me nuts becomes an A, for another 4,000 points.

Speaking of Credit Cards. Today I checked my Chase Visa account, and I had enough to redeem for $100 cash. Before it changed over to Chase Freedom, I could just apply that as a credit on my statement. But now they have a feature where you can apply a credit to your statement for *specific* purchases and purchase amounts. This is good and bad. I'll probably use it more often, since there is no incentive to save for a better deal on statement credit. However, it is very rare that an item is exactly within a certain range. Like today, I didn't have anything that was in the 70 - 75 range, but I did have a number of items in the 23 - 25 range. So, I ended up using 8900 points for an $89.00 credit. Next statement I'll have enough for a $20 credit (the minimum.)

I was supposed to buy bananas tonight, but totally forgot. By the time I was finished with my high-school boy (we worked 80 extra minutes) and made it through the construction traffic, my brain was fried. So, no banana for breakfast tomorrow.

I watched last night's Dancing with the Stars tonight. Wow! I just so love Jennifer Grey. She is so fantastic. I haven't heard the results yet from tonights vote off, but if a certain person on there stays, and Jennifer goes ... ARGHH!

This has been a pretty relaxing and cool weekend. On Saturday my Primary class that I teach which up until this weekend had only had a high of 10 kids, had 14 show up! It was pretty crazy, since both my assistant and I were only prepared for 10. It all worked out though.

After church I got some free food. They're starting a childrens choir. Since J and I were still around counting the money (offering, tithes, etc.) we were offered some food. Yum!

I spent a lot of time goofing around on my other blogs today. Added a few design elements and deleted a few. I also signed up with a new blog advertisement tool (free.) I also wrote up a post (first of a series) on Swagbucks which will post in the morning.

My stepdad is sad. His huge big screen tv seems to be broken. He's going to try replacing the bulb. It's over 6 years old (the tv) so I don't know if that is just a normal life span for those behemoths.

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Well it's just about time for me to chat with my class partner on our project. We'll be using gmail messenger. I've never used that before, so it'll be interesting. I also have never worked collaboratively via Google docs. Good to have new experiences.

Today was an interesting day weather wise. This morning it was rainy and windy, then by noon it was very warm and humid. Coming home from my tutoring student I had to put my a/c on high. Then by about 5 p.m. it was cold and windy again -- so much so I had to put a jacket on when I took Buddy out.

What can I say ... that's Texas for you!

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I did a bit of grocery shopping today. I had a total of $37.xx left ($17 from last week, plus this weeks $20.) I did a bit of a stockup, and got one little extra.

4 cans mushrooms, 2 cans refried beans, 1 bag shredded cheese, 2 half-gallons orange juice, 1 loaf of bread, 1/2 dozen eggs, bag of spinach, bag of cornbread mix, Rice Dream (milk), generic Ziploc quart bags, 1 pkg wet dog food, and 1 box of small dog treats.

I unfortunately did not have any coupons for any of the items.

The total came to $24.11. The only thing I can think of that I'll need to buy in the next two weeks are bananas. I didn't get them today because we have a few left, and I'm hoping SD will get more on Sunday. We go through bananas quickly in this house.

That leaves me with about $13 to go towards next weeks spending budget.
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I was thinking about making my cornbread casserole and entering the recipe and a picture of it in the Swagbucks recipe contest. That's why I got the cornbread mix at first. I wavered on doing it this week though. I may do it next week (deadline is next Friday) and make it for our Thanksgiving church potluck. Two birds with one stone. There's a few other ingredients I'd have to get, so I'll have to see where my grocery budget is at.

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Speaking of Swagbucks. I redeemed SBs today for my third $5 giftcard. Then I did a few easy peasy special offer deals, and am back up to 230. I just need 220 more for my next giftcard. I decided to link it to my Facebook account. It will only post 3 - 4 times a day, when I get search wins and when I get SBs for finding a code. So hopefully that won't be too annoying to others, and maybe I'll get a few referrals.

Today I had another happy news email. My first $5 Amazon gift card had arrived from Swagbucks. I went to my account and copied the code, then went to Amazon. So I now have $5 waiting for me to spend at Amazon.

I'm roughly 25 points away from my third gift card.

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I didn't spend any money today. So that's always a good thing.

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My next big project for one of my classes is writing a grant application. It should be interesting, especially since it has to be done with a partner. Doing things with a partner - especially when the other persons last name is before yours (which means their responsible for submitting different documents) - makes my hackles rise. Depending on other people when my grade is at stake, really is unappealing. Collaboration is great otherwise.

I finally completed one of the two assignments I'd been procrastinating on doing this week. It wasn't really that difficult, just time consuming. I think I'm at the point where I'm really, really tired of school. Good thing I only have one more class left! (Except it is a research methods class ... meaning lots of research papers.)

I just checked my email and found out that I was awarded a scholarship for the Spring semester! Yahoo! It didn't say how much it will be for, but I'm hoping it'll be at least $400 like for this semester. That'll definitely help put a little extra breathing room in my budget.

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Last night I was really, really bored and not feeling like doing school work. So I made the first video for my Living Frugal blog, and then I also made a second video for my Children's Books blog. It's a book review in an interview format.

Book Talk with Dan and Laura.

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Spending Report:

Filled up with gas: $23.57

Bought bananas: $1.43

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I'm about 70 Swagbucks away from redeeming my 3rd Amazon gift card -- and I haven't even been doing it for two full weeks yet! Of course, the proof will be when I am able to actually redeem the gift cards.

I did some Mypoints emails today, and looked at the rewards page. Recently, it had looked like 60% of their gift cards were gone. But it must have just been a glitch, or maybe they restocked. I have about 5600 points right now, so I could get a $25 gift card, or wait a few months more and get a $50. I'm debating on getting a Walmart card and use it for new clothes, or get an Amazon card to add to my SB winnings for something larger. I'll probably end up waiting to have enough for a $50 card.

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I feel really badly for my sixth grade tutoring student. Last week he had his finger slammed between 50lbs of weights when he was in weightlifting class. He actually broke the tip of it! So today I had him do his vocab quiz orally, and then I was his scribe for our essay writing work. (It was his writing hand.)

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My mom may have found the house she's going to move into. She's going to leave Buddy here for the most part so that he's not alone for 8 or 9 hours a day. He's going to be one confused little puppy.

I am signed up with a couple of listserves serving librarians. This past week or so, a number of posts have had links to videos made by this one site. My professor in one of my classes this semester has also created several of her lectures using it. So tonight I was feeling a little bored (even though I have plenty of schoolwork I should be doing!) and decided to play around with it.

I posted the end result on my living frugal blog. Here is the link

Cooking Lentils.

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Today was a NSD.

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I worked with Korean Boy this afternoon. A week or so ago he'd made a 31 slide PowerPoint on WWII without my help. Today I was helping him write notes for presenting it to his class on Friday. Oh boy. He essentially went to a Korean Wikipedia site and copied the translated information, and pasted it into the slides. A few of them make sense, but most make very little sense at all. He's already turned the slideshow in, so there wasn't anything I could do about that. But I did help him at least make his notes for the presentation sound halfway decent.

This morning I worked with Korean Boy for 2 1/2 hours. We managed to get a very rough rough draft completed.

I was thinking about stopping and picking up some spinach, but the traffic on the way home was such a boor that I had only enough patience left to go straight home. So ... today was a no spend day.

I finished up the final draft of my second big paper. I think I did a pretty good job on it. I hope my professor agrees.

I spent way too much time today on Swagbucks. I did a couple of surveys, and completed one "task" on an offer wall. The task is not something I'd do again - spent 90 minutes on it for 15 SB's. Not worth it. But stubborn me would not quit till I finished. I am up to 522 SB's right now, so I could go ahead and redeem for my second gift card. But I read somewhere that they sometimes discount the gift cards closer to Christmas. So ... I'm going to wait.

While aimlessly watching Swagbucks tv, I started reading Janet Evanovich's latest book "Wicked Appetite." It features Diesel. Yum. I'm about 60 pages into it right now.

Last night I watched "The Baxter." I'd never heard of it before, but looking through my choices, it was the one that appealed to me most. I'm so glad I watched it! Such a sweet,quirky, romantic, funny and unexpected movie. One of the cleanest romantic movies I've seen in a long time. Safe to watch with your parents - no squirming around "love" scenes.

My church is going to be holding a weight seminar soon. The date hasn't been set just yet. The leader of it is looking for group leaders. I offered to lead a group depending on what day of the week it was on, and if there were not any requirements for the group leader to already be at a healthy weight. If it's on a weekend night, I'll definitely do it. I'm not going to go overboard though like I did the last time I was part of something like this. I did lose 30 pounds, and came in 3rd place ... but it didn't take long for those pounds to find me again.

Sabbath School and Church went relatively smoothly today. We had one girl who is deaf, but wears a hearing aid. I really hope I didn't make her feel like I was condescending to her - was just trying to make sure she understood what was going on. My sign language skills are *very* rusty.

Came home and goofed around on the net a little. Signed up for a couple of special offers on Swagbucks, none of which have credited yet. Ugh. I'm up to 300 without those offers, but if they go through, I'll have enough for another gift card.

Took a nice nap, which I really needed. Then I looked on my school website and saw I'd received my grade for two assignments. One was 100, the other was an 89. Boo. Oh well, I have 100's for everything else in that class. Overall, all three classes seem to be winding down on the amount of work for each week. So if I do get the new tutoring student, it won't be too difficult to work school around him.

I'm thinking about watching a last movie from Netflix (my current month didn't end until the 10th, so will cancel tomorrow.) Yesterday I checked into what it would take to take money out of my ROTH. T Rowe has excellent customer service! The person who responded calculated how much of my account was my contributions, and told me I could "redeem" any amount of that to my bank account. It would take two to three business days. The sad/funny thing is, with all the ups and downs of the markets the past few years, my balance is almost exactly equal to the amount in my account. Knowing I have this fairly easy option to access more money helps me to breathe a bit easier. Of course, I won't do it unless I am out of other options (other than asking family for a loan.)

I tried reading Jan Karon's book "In The Company of Others" today, but was just too sleepy. (It's the second book in the Father Tim series. Father Tim was the main character in the Mitford series.

Tomorrow I'm working with Korean Boy at 10 a.m. in an attempt to write a rough draft of an essay due Monday. We've already spent the majority of two sessions working on it, and are not very far. Then I need to put the final touches on the second major assignment for one of my classes.

I don't know why I have such a difficult time trusting that God is truly watching out for me. I think it's a case of "easier said than done."

This morning 3 things happened which reminded me that I truly am not alone.

1. If you remember, one of the upcoming expenses I was stressing over is my 6-month doctor visit and blood work. Last time it cost me approximately $200. This morning I managed to get in touch with a real live person at my university's health clinic. I found out three things: a) TSH test cost $41 on Nov. 29 and 30; b) Physicians visit (for prescription) is free, and c) I would need to pay a $15 service fee since I am not a campus student. So, for less than $60 I will be able to get my prescription renewed!

2. I received a call from the person hosting Korean Boy and College Korean Boy. She had a 4th tutoring student possibility for me, the son of a friend of hers. It would be a possible $400 - 500 month extra if it works out.

3. The biggest of all three! I took my car to the place I get my oil changed at. The mechanic who met me at the bay just so happened to be a former Honda dealer mechanic. I explained to him about the squealing noise and that I thought it might be the timing belt. He looked at me and was like, "It's not the timing belt. The timing belt wouldn't squeal, it would just break." He asked me when I'd had it changed last, and I told him it was about 60k miles ago. He said it didn't need to be changed for at least another 20k. Then he said that what probably was causing the squealing noise are the outside belts (can't remember their names.) AND he said that to change them out with parts and labor would run about $120! I told him to go for it!

An hour and half later my car was finished. I'd also asked him to look over it and see if there was anything else I needed to be aware of. He told me that overall it looked pretty good, but that one of the three engine mounts was bad. I asked him what kind of time frame I was looking at to get that fixed -- he said it could be 6 months, 1 year, or even 3 years. So ... I'm not going to worry about that right now.

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I did a couple of surveys on Swagbucks today (finally qualified!) and completed a few of the profiles. So am now up to 175 SB's.

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Spending log:

Decided I didn't need any groceries this week. So I spent of my $20 for the week: $1.50 - stamps; $1.39 bananas. That leaves $17.61 to add to next week.

Not buying junk food really cuts back on the expenditures!

Mechanic:

$127.65

For the past few months my car has been emitting a squealing noise from time to time. At the time of my mom's neck surgery, a tutoring student of my mom's was riding in my car with me and mentioned it. The Korean Boy student also has mentioned it (although he thinks my windshield wipers going on when we go over a bump is hilarious.)

I've been worried about it, but have pretty much ignored it. Hoping for nothing to happen. The last week or so, it has gotten progressively worse. To the point that today it was almost constantly squealing.

The people I've mentioned it to think it is probably my timing belt. I think that is very probable. It's probably been about 60,000 miles+ since it was last changed, and 7 or 8? years.

Tomorrow I'm taking it to a place across the street from the school I tutor at. I'm hoping that the guys there will look at it and confirm for me if the timing belt is the problem, or if it might be something else. If they think it is the belt, then I'll have to check and see if the *trusted* person our family has used many, many times is available. It is a 40 mile trip to him.

I've already called my Sabbath School assistant and told her that I probably won't be able to come on Sabbath. I'm scared to drive my car right now more than I *absolutely* have to.

If you recall, my funds are *very* *very* low. Replacing the timing belt will just about wipe them out.

So, I am back to considering the option of taking money out of my ROTH. I need to make sure I can do that without tax consequences or other penalties. There isn't much in there, but it would at least help relieve some of the pressure.

I feel so conflicted with all of this. I want to trust that God will work it all out in the end, but then I know that we're also supposed to do our part.

SD was suggesting that maybe I should check and see if my dad's side of the family's offer to help me buy a new car was still valid. With having no guarantee that I'll even find a job which pays enough to live on *and* repay a loan, I just can't stomach the thought.

Ugh!
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On a lighter note. I redeemed 449 Swagbucks last night for my first $5 Amazon gift card. It says that it'll take between 10 and 14 days to arrive. As of right now, I have 60 SB's towards the next one.

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Spending Log:

$1.39 - Bananas

Korean Boy finally paid me today. I'll be making a deposit tomorrow.

Brrr...! I think I spoke to soon yesterday about wondering when winter would ever arrive. Cold rain and temperatures in the 50's are a complete turn around from yesterday. I really need to find my umbrella!

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I'm liking Swagbucks for the most part. So far I have 355, so am almost able to get my first Amazon gift card. There are a couple things about it that annoy me, but not enough to not take advantage of the opportunity for a little extra spending cash.

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Walgreen's

$25.30 -- Monthly prescription
$20.00 -- Renewed Prescription Discount Card

I called around again this year to check the prices on my monthly prescription. Even with the extra $20 for the PDC, Walgreen's price still was lower. I didn't refill my prescription in October (oops! missed a few days), so that budgeted overage amount covered the card.

In my previous calculations, I forgot one large (for me) expenditure coming up soon. My doctor is going to insist on seeing me again before renewing my prescription. Minimum of about $200. I know that I can get thyroid testing done at the university, but I need to find out if they'll write a prescription, or you have to go to a doctor to have the results read. I really can't let this go again. After leaving teaching, and before getting the oil and gas job, I went for about 8 months without taking it. My dosage when I got back on it was exponentially higher. (I take brand name Synthroid. Yes, the generic is cheaper ... in the short run, but can wreak havoc with your numbers in the long run.)

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ETA: I forgot to mention that due to the rain today, I fear that I might be receiving a red light ticket soon. I was going the speed limit when the light turned yellow and wasn't sure if I could make it through. So, I started slowing down. Of course I couldn't brake too hard because of the wet roads. I realized a split second before the light turned red that I wasn't going to be able to stop -- so went on through. Ugh! Just what I don't need!

Happy November everyone! Today sure didn't feel like it was winter around here. I don't know what the temperature was, but I was sure quite warm.

I just finished my first draft of the second big paper for one of my classes. We had to assign peer review partners within our groups. That was some interesting drama. One person proposed that we partner up by last name. Normally I would have no problem with that, however, in our group we have at least two people who consistently turn in assignments late. Luck would have it that she'd be my partner.

So, I proposed the option of pairing people up with the person who posted the previous assignment before or after them. A few others already had an idea of who they'd like as a partner. We ended up doing a combination of my idea, and choosing your own partner. 4 people chose their own, and 9 were paired up via posting time. Whooh!

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Spending Report:

$1.50 - Stamps for my brother's birthday cards. He's turning 30 on November 4! Yikes!

$24.26 - Filled up the gas tank.

Income:

Korean Girl paid me $75.

Korean Boy did not pay me today - says he'll have it tomorrow. This is a regular occurrence with him, but he does eventually pay. I didn't work with College Korean Boy today, but probably will tomorrow.

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Buddy's leg seems to be doing better today. But then he started having multiple sneezing fits. Hopefully he's just allergic to something, and it isn't anything else.

I am tired!

Today was a no spend day. Of course I'm almost out of gas, so will have to get that tomorrow.

Added $40 tutoring College Korean Boy. I helped him with writing a movie review of "Labyrinth." That was interesting, considering I haven't *seen* that movie! LOL!

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This morning when I should have been working on the big points assignment for one of my classes, I was instead distracted by our family's dog Buddy. I took him outside to do his business, then went back in to finish breakfast. SD was sitting at the table, and noticed that Buddy was licking one foot obsessively. Then we noticed that when he would sit or lay down, he was greatly favoring the leg - as well when he would walk. After awhile of watching (and trying to see if there was something wrong with his paw), we decided we needed to take him to a vet. The vet however didn't open until 1 p.m.

Mom was out at a tutoring job, and by the time she came home it was nearly 1. Buddy seemed to be doing much better at that point, and they (mom and sd) decided to not take him to the vet. The best we can figure is he got stung by something.

If he was my dog, and I had the money, I probably would have taken him to the vet today - even though he started looking like he was doing better. Oh well.

This afternoon I was working with the Korean Boy. His sponsor came home and started talking to me about working with him in June to help him finish two classes via home study. At first I was saying, well it will depend on whether I've been hired on somewhere else or not. Then she mentioned, wouldn't my job start in August (if I got one!)? I realized that she was right - even if I did get hired somewhere, the earliest I probably could go and start putting the library together would be July. So, I told her that I would be willing to do it.

On my way home I was thinking about our conversation. It dawned on me that most public school employees don't get their first paycheck until the end of September.

So, when I got home I updated my budget, making sure that all my accounts matched, etc. Then I took the positive balance and subtracted my Spring tuition (roughly $900). I then subtracted my 6-month car insurance premium due in November ($216). Then I subtracted other expenses for November, other than the rent (which has already been paid). It left me with roughly $1000.00 total.

November is going to basically have 3 weeks of tutoring. December is going to have maybe 2 weeks of tutoring. So, that means that in January, I'll most likely have to use some of that buffer. Feb. should be a full month (wait no, it might not be - my big test week will probably be in Feb.) March will be 3 weeks (Spring Break). April and May should be full months. If Korean Boy stays, June will be an extra month. That leaves July, August, and September. *If* I get a library job, I will have moving expenses, setting up the library expenses, and of course, living expenses.

This is of course assuming nothing goes wrong with my car.

I am going to have to cut my costs wherever I possibly can. I've spent way way too much on stupid things.

The only places I can really cut are food and Netflix. I don't really use Netflix that much, so putting it on hold for a while won't kill me. Food ... I think I'm going to have to go to a beans and rice, rice and beans, and throw in some oatmeal diet.

If it weren't for the fact that I have two responsibilities at church which I've committed to, I might consider changing to a church that is closer by to save on gas. But overall, it wouldn't really save that much more. I will definitely have to not do any extra trips though.

I really can't do *any* extra spending. No more .99 apps. No more junkfood (will fit in with the challenge!). No more $1 movies. Nothing that I can't unequivocally post here and defend as a necessary expense.

I think I may ask my family to pay the renewal on my iPhone AT&T driving app for birthday/Christmas. For me, it has become an essential. It saves so much gas and time in my not getting lost.

If I don't do this, I may still be in the clear by June -- but come August ... (or July if Korean Boy doesn't happen in June).

I am going to attempt again to post all my expenditures. If you see something that you question, please feel free to question me.

Also, please feel free to offer any suggestions.

*Something I've thought of that might help when/if I do get a library job -- Take with me only what I can fit in my car, and leave everything else in storage. Then rent a room from someone short term. Once my paychecks begin, pay for movers to load the truck and have someone drive it to wherever I am. That would also give me time to really investigate the least inexpensive places to live in my new town.

If I don't get a job .... I really don't know what I'll do. I guess that would be about time to cash into my retirement money.

***I just had another realization hit me. All the above figures don't take into account travel expenses for interviewing for the supposed jobs. When I was a teacher in the SDA denomination, those expenses were taken care of. From what I've heard, that isn't the case in the public school system. Oy vey.

***Edited to add - My dad pays my phone bill. At first he was just going to pay the difference ($30) for the iPhone, but he's ended up actually sending more than enough each month for the entire bill. So cutting that wouldn't help.

So my mom had been making some annoying comments about my weight recently. While at the same time, she was acknowledging that her Diet Coke habit probably wasn't very good for her.

So, instead of getting fed up with her comments, I decided to do something proactive. Something which would help both of us.

I challenged my mom to drink only one 12oz soda per day, and I would limit my sugar intake to a spoonful of brown sugar in my oatmeal. Until the day before Thanksgiving.

So far, so good.

I'd done pretty well with No-S (no snack, sweets or seconds except on days that begin with S) over the last year or so. But lately I was finding myself following the guidelines ... every other week. My clothes were/are showing the effects of that, as was/is my grocery budget. Weekdays won't be so difficult for me, because I've proven to myself that I can go without my sweets for 5 days at a time, multiple times over. The real test will be Saturday and Sunday. (This isn't cutting out carbs. This is cutting out chocolate, ice cream, etc. Someone sent me a message on FB thinking I was cutting carbs. )

This challenge will benefit my pocketbook, and most likely my waistline. Plus it has the added benefit of maybe finally breaking my mom of the Diet Coke habit - which will be good, especially for her bone density.

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In other news, it looks like I might have a new tutoring student. Another Korean boy (actually, I think he's a freshman in college??). If it happens, I'd meet with him once a week on Fridays.

This works out very well, because I don't need to meet with my mentor librarian anymore. I'm finished with my Proficiency Checklist.

I registered on Monday for my very LAST class, and am just waiting for registration to open up for Capstone (one week, three essay questions - graded on a pass/fail basis.)

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This past Saturday was the church in the park. Sabbath School went pretty well. I had 10 kids by the end - only 4 of them were ones I'd had before. It really makes it hard to plan when you never know who is or isn't going to show up .. but oh well.

I ended up having to leave a little early from church. The weather was really rainy (everyone was seated under an overhang/gazebo thing.) I was getting a horrific headache and feeling nauseous. So, I get to my car, and for some reason didn't put it in reverse. Drove right up over the concrete stop block, that I did! Ugh! I managed to back my car off of it, and drive away. But all week I've just been waiting to see if I did any damage to my car which will significantly shorten its life.

Thankfully the headache went away not too long after I got home.

This week I booked my airplane tickets for Christmas vacation. Although I'm doing two one-way tickets, through a lot of searching and good timing, I managed to get them for about $20 more than what round trip would cost to one city.

I'll be starting out in San Jose again for Christmas Eve/Day, and spending some time in San Francisco and the Napa Valley area (where my brother lives.) Then dad, grandma and I will head on down to the LA area.

I'm looking forward to having some time away from Texas.

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At church this past weekend the principal/main teacher of our church school told me that she had this huge grading project she needed to get done before the first parent/teacher conferences. I told her that I thought I could get all my schoolwork finished for the week by Wednesday, and help her out on Thursday due to not having my normal tutoring students. Well, it turned out that one of my tutoring students miserably failed one test (one he insisted he didn't need my help on) and so I ended up having him Wed., today and tomorrow. I still did manage to get all my schoolwork finished early.

So today I arrived at the school a little after 9, and was kept quite busy until 3pm. She offered me gas money (it is a 40+minute one way drive) but I told her I didn't need it. I'm planning on asking her to write a letter of reference for me when I start library hunting. That, I think would be much more valuable than $20 gas money. I also got a free lunch from Panda Express - it was leftovers from what the school kids had ordered. Yum.

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A few years ago there was this great science fiction show played on Spike TV -- about the same time as Journeyman. My Tivo alerted me to it. In the last month or so, for some reason I got it in my head that I wanted to see it again. However, for the life of me, I couldn't remember its name. I searched through all of Netflix, and did some heavy duty Google -- to no avail. Yesterday evening I got the idea in my head to try imdb.com (internet movie database). In searching the site, I had no luck. However, I posted a message on their messageboard. Within 3 minutes I had my answer --- "Seven Days"! I also had a link to a Youtube channel where someone had posted most, if not all of the episodes. (not on DVD yet) Woo Hoo!

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Momcents -- I found the Mandie movie on Netflix - my library doesn't have it. As soon as I watch the one I have now, I'll get to see it. Yay!

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This Sabbath we are having outdoor church. Which, of course, means outdoor Sabbath School. I'm not really looking forward to it, but my mom found a book on nature activities which might help.

Anyone have ideas on how to keep a group of 6 - 9 years olds occupied for an hour outside, without them going wild?

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Almost forgot -- for those of you who are fans of the television series "Little House On the Prairie" there is a very funny and touching book by the actress who played Nellie Oleson. "Confessions of a Prairie B*tch" you might want to pick it up from your local library.

This morning a bit past 9 I was working on some classwork when suddenly a loud noise startled Buddy and I. At the same time as the noise, I felt like I'd moved - my equilibrium felt just a tiny bit off for a few seconds. I stepped out of my room and was like "What the Heck was that?!" My stepdad said he thought maybe it was a large flock of birds on the roof getting into a fight.

A few hours later I got a text from stepdad asking me about what time I'd heard/felt the noise. Turns out there was an earthquake in Oklahoma (possibly near OK City) at 9:06 a.m. People in Texas as far as San Antonio reported feeling something.

I know it may be kind of silly to be excited about having experienced my first earthquake ... but here's a couple reasons why:

1. I lived in CA for two years. Before moving there (for my first teaching job) I'd been petrified about living in CA and being in an earthquake. None happened (at least that I'm aware of).

2. Two different times in the past two years when I went to CA for a visit, two to three days later that area experienced an earthquake.

3. It's pretty far out that an earthquake could happen here/be felt here. It happened in an area with no mapped fault. They're speculating that its a result of the injection wells in OK.

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In contrast to my tutoring rant from yesterday, today's two students were awesome. Both moms had the money out and ready to go (one even paid me for the next two weeks.) The first boy with ADHD was in a good attitude, and was getting what we were doing. And the second boy who I work with on essay writing for timed tests as well as vocabulary, really seemed to enjoy our session today where we wrote a descriptive essay on his moms table centerpiece. He also told me that he used one of his vocab words at school - they were working on adjectives - he gave the example of "glum".

In today's mail I got a nice little surprise. An invitation to join Phi Kappa Phi. I was nominated by my university because of my grades. If I pay ... $70 initiation fee, then in December I get to attend an induction ceremony where I'll receive a certificate. I also can use their seal on my resume, they have some insurance discounts, as well as discounts at other places.

I was inducted in the Psychology honor society when I was in college (can't remember its name) but I don't think I had to pay anything for it ... I'm not really sure how I got in that one, since at that time my overall GPA was barely hanging on to a B- -- wait, that was the semester before my two C's (Statistics and Chemistry.)'

When I was in high school I was nominated for the Who's Who in High School. That one my parents actually paid the money for a book - my picture and a bio. That was definitely an ego booster only thing.

So... what do you all think? The invitation sounded really salesy. Like it was really trying to puff me up and consider it a great honor. If it's something that might actually be useful, as in getting a job, maybe I'll go for it. But if all it will be is something I can say about -- oh yeah, I'm a member of Phi Kappa Phi. Aren't I so smart? (Not!) Then I think I'll pass on the $70 initiation fee, and then the membership dues which increase each year up to the third year of $130.

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Korean Boy made me really mad today. I got a couple emails from his math teacher asking to get together with both of us. So, at the time we normally tutor, we met with his math teacher. She pretty much was saying that she doesn't think he's ready to do Pre-AP Pre-Cal due to a couple different homework assignments he'd completely failed, as well as the fact that he'd have to read and understand the extra material mostly on his own. He stubbornly did not listen and insisted that he could do it. I reiterated that Pre-Cal is Greek to me, seeing as though the highest math I had was Algebra 2 and Statistics.

So we get in my car. He doesn't have any homework to work on because he's taking the PSAT tomorrow. So I'm just going to drop him off at home. I tell him that we'll stop by the bank so he can pay me for the week. That's when he tries to tell me that I shouldn't be paid for today, since I'm not working with him.

Arghhh!! Really? I'm there at the school at 3:30. I met with you and your teacher about your classwork. I'm driving you home. Do you really think I'm doing all that out of the goodness of my heart???

So I said to him that although we may not be working on schoolwork together, I still have given him at least 30 minutes of my time. That is worth at least $15. So, $90 total for the week, since we won't be working on Wednesday (due to the PSAT). He agrees that's fair. We stop by the bank and he doesn't have enough money. Arghh!!!

Next week they're having a 2 1/2 day Fall break. So I'll be working with him only two days. as well as Korean Girl. Between the two, that means a loss of $100 for that week. 60% of my weekly income.

In some ways I really enjoy tutoring. In others though, I really, really, hate it!

Today when I got home from working with Korean Boy (we were reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) my mom told me that the local teacher store was having a garage sale - everything 40 - 70% off in their yard. So, off we went!

It turned out that the majority of the items in the garage sale were those of one teacher. It was really interesting going through all the boxes and piles. I felt as though I was getting to know this teacher a little bit. I could see that she'd been teaching for a long time - at least since teaching reading via Whole Language was popular, and then back to Phonics, and then on to my personal favorite, Four Blocks. I could see that she'd mostly taught Kindergarten and First Grade, and perhaps pre-school as well. Although there were quite a few reading books which covered older age levels (such as the "Christy" books which are based on the book "Christy" by Catherine Marshall, as well as the mini-series by the same name.) There were lots of materials on Navajo Indians, and various other tribes - as well as tribal legend books.

My mom had to leave before I had a chance to look through everything. I ended up taking a huge stack of books (mostly real reading books, the "Christy" books included) as well as a few teacher resource books. All of it cost me about $15. Some of the items I'll probably give to my Kindergarten teacher friend the next time I see her.

If I was still teaching right now, or if I knew for sure I was about to have my own library soon ... I would have taken a lot more!

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I found a great app for my iPhone recently. The sabbath school materials for both teachers and students. So now if I don't have my teacher's manual with me for some reason (like last Sabbath when we got locked out of the church after potluck!) I can just look it up on my phone! It uses a pdf format which makes the print a bit too tiny for regular usage. But in a pinch, it will definitely do!

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I updated both my book blog and my frugal blog. (Links in sidebar.) In fact, I added two new books to the book blog this last week. I'll probably be adding some of the books I got today to it as well in the near future.

School is keeping me uber busy, but sometimes I just have to take a breather and do something else!

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If you are a user of YNAB and have an iPhone, I hope you'll understand my absolute LOVE of the YNAB app. Seriously, love. The only receipts I keep anymore are the ones I need to turn in for reimbursement (for Sabbath School supplies.) With just a few swipes I can see a list of ALL the money I've made since January for tutoring (Income Available Next Month), or money I've gotten for other purposes (generally put in the Income Available This Month). Love!

So this evening I went to my storage unit with my stepdad to see how bad the damage was. The good news is that it wasn't as bad as I was imagining it could possibly be. The bad news is that there was damage, and I lost some dear treasures.

The biggest dollar value item that had to be discarded was my futon mattress. The least dollar value was a bunch of empty flat boxes. One box contained kitchen things wrapped up in sheets. The sheets will need to be washed, as well as the kitchen dishes, but it is fine.





One box that was on the floor contained four photo albums. Three of the four were fine - one I will need to transfer the photos into a new album. Everything else in the box was ok.

Then we get to the heartsick part.

One box was full of yearbooks from first grade through college. Many of them have a good number of signatures and messages. At least three of my elementary ones were a total loss, and most of the others may or may not be savable. I also had three scrapbooks - one of all my students I taught; one of my college years; and one of my senior year of high-school. Those *may* be savable, although transferred to a new album.

Then ... oh my heart breaks. Three boxes packed full of books. All the books that were on the bottom layer ... discarded. Most of the books on the second layer -- discarded. The books on the top layers, some were iffy, but most were okay.

I took pictures before we took everything to the dumpster (except for the yearbooks/scrapbooks).







As far as how this happened? We're not really sure. There is a crack in the foundation which looks like it goes along the general arc of the water line. But that could have already been there, and we just don't remember it.

The Storage place was very nice. They were willing to let me move my things into a new clean unit, but when I saw that the damage was less than I first thought, I decided not to do that.

Moral of today's story -- don't store anything you don't want damaged on the floor of a storage unit!

A few weeks ago we were having major rainstorms, and even a few tornadoes touched down. The rain was a pain to drive in, but otherwise didn't bother me too much. I felt bad for the people in Lewisville near the river who were flooded, but wasn't worried about that where I am.

So ... this afternoon Korean boy didn't have any homework, and we couldn't find his English teacher to get his list of vocab words to start on. I left early. I've decided to get back into strength training, so I needed my dumbbells from my storage unit. The last time I was inside it was maybe in May??

I opened it up, and the first thing I saw was that the floor was a mess. It looked like puppy turds and dead grasshoppers (and probably other bugs as well.) My dad and stepdad both think the puppy turds are mud. Hope so - would hate to find an animal inside my unit big enough to .... you get the point.

Next thing I noticed was that some of the empty flattened boxes which were upright, showed wet stains about half-way up. It also smelled kind of funky.

The only conclusion I can reach is that the units got flooded at some point. This had to have happened several weeks ago. Until this week, we've had HOT humid weather. Nobody called me. When my credit card was about to expire, they made sure to call me. When they noticed the lock was on wrong, they were able to call me. But to call me and let me know "Hey, the units flooded, you might want to check your stuff." They couldn't manage to do that! You know, at a time where school hadn't really gotten underway, and I'd have time to dig through everything.

UGH!!

I'm going to call and see if I can talk to management tomorrow to find out what happened. Then Wednesday night after I'm done tutoring, stepdad is going to go with me to see just how bad it is.

The really sickening part is that most of the boxes on the floor had books in them. Boxes of dishes and kitchen stuff can easily be cleaned up. Wet books that have sat for several weeks ...

This past week has been crazy busy. I put in a total of 12 extra hours tutoring one of my mom's students. Today I worked with her again for 3 hours. I also had my permanent crown on Tuesday. The kicker was this one huge assignment for one class that was giving me nightmares. It was due Friday, but by some miracle, the professor granted us two extra days!

I am SO tired right now. Not sleeping well at all. Had a few charley horses in early morning hours, which I hadn't had for a long time. Nearly fell going down the stairs *twice* this week. Last night Buddy slept in his ex pen instead of my bed - was hoping I'd sleep better. Didn't work very well.

Oh, last week I met with Korean boy and girl's academic dean regarding my concerns about their ability to do the English classwork. This Tuesday we have another meeting where the teacher will be included. Apparently she'd been told "No Modifications." Both Korean students are majorly stressed out - the girl is a senior and really worried about what's going to happen when she applies for colleges with an F in English. For me to really be able to help her, I'd need 4 or 5 more hours a week at least to help her read and understand the material. Ugh!

I read this fantastic book for one of my classes - I have to write a journal quality review of it. Once its graded, I'll post it on my website and link to it. It's a great book for boys in third or fourth grade.

Speaking of books ... I joined goodreads.com a while back. Recently I signed up for a bunch of different "First Reads" contests. I won a free book! It's a dog story. I can hardly wait for it to arrive.

Next weekend we are having a special potluck for the Primary students and their families (as well as a few special guests). I'm planning on making Danish Aebleskeber's, and the others are bringing more to fill the edges. Our class is moving into a new room next week as well. This actually is a good thing, because it is not a shared room. This means I'll be able to leave most of my materials there each week, and put up a few posters, etc. I'm planning on putting together a birthday poster, and probably a memory verse poster, and figuring out a way to display the kids sticker cards (cards they earn points on for attendance, etc.)

We watched a predictable, yet cute movie last night - "When In Rome." I wouldn't pay to see it, but if you have a chance to see it for free (on tv, via netflix, etc) I'd go for it.

Speaking of movies. Has anyone seen "Ramona and Beezus"? It's still at the dollar theater, and I was thinking that maybe I'd try to see it if I get a chance. Will probably wait till Netflix has it though, with my school and tutoring schedule.

As I've mentioned before, Buddy got some matts pretty soon after his first grooming appointment. I tried a number of tricks to get them out, but they were just getting worse instead of better. So Tuesday we got him shaved. What a difference fluffy hair makes! Without it, he looks so fragile and so much tinier.



Yesterday my mom went to the doctor for a follow up visit on her surgery. She got a good grade, but was told that she would need to take longer for full recovery. In other words, she shouldn't start back with her tutoring yet. So, one of her students has gotten really behind without her there to help her. I was asked if I'd be willing to work with her until Mom is able to again.

So today (Thursday) I worked with Korean Girl and Korean Boy from 2:30 - 5, then drove over to Mom's student and worked with her from 6 - 9. Before working with all of them, I was working on a big paper for one of my classes which I spent several hours floundering on, trying to figure out exactly what I was supposed to do! Long day.

Oh .. Korean boy dropped one on me today. He tells me "I have book journal due Tuesday and book proposal." I emailed his teacher and found out the book journal was actually due on the 14th! but she's giving him until the 22nd. If this was all he had to do, it would be bad enough. But he has an essay due on
Tuesday which is worth 50% of his first test grade. We have Friday and Monday to do all of this. (3 hrs)
Oh .. he hasn't read the book yet for the journal -- though maybe he'll have started it tonight if he can find it online. I would ordinarily say "let's work on Sunday afternoon" but I've already said I'd work with Mom's student on Sunday for a few hours - and I need to leave some of that time for my own school work!

Oh .. mom's student will be at least 6 hours, possibly up to 15 hours before all is said and done. At $25/hr. I don't tend to do much school work in the evenings, so for a week or two, this should work ok -- and give me a good boost of income!

The Long Day could have had a horrific ending. As I was driving home I got to this one spot where it is essentially a blind spot. Right before the road becomes divided with a median. I ended up on the wrong side. Only by the grace of God, and drivers who were paying attention, did I make it to a place where I could get back in the lane going the correct way.

Took about 5 years off my life.

Also made me decide to never take that way home again in the dark. My stepdad told me he's had that happen to him at that same spot - where cars all of a sudden are going the wrong way (with him the correct way).

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Tomorrow Buddy goes in for his snip snip. We're hoping it'll help with his barking. Tonight a friend of my stepdad's was visiting. He has a beard (not sure if that was the problem), but Buddy just plain *did not* like this guy. He wouldn't stop barking or settle down till mom took him in the bedroom and closed the door. He'll do that with us sometimes too -- just start barking his head off. Sometimes if he hears me/sees me coming down the stairs and he's on moms bed, he'll start in. Other times if I have him at the table with me while I'm eating, and stepdad comes down the stairs, he starts barking. And on and on.

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This coming Tuesday I'll be getting my permanent crown. I was just thinking about calling the dentist to find out what was going on with it, when they called me. Good timing.

Well, I'm back from delivering/picking up items from mom's "friend". Of course he couldn't leave it at just a simple pickup/delivery.

Mom's birthday is this coming Saturday. Her "friend" handed me an envelope with a ten dollar bill and specifications on a white rose/baby's breath that he wanted me to purchase and give to her for her birthday -- without attaching his name to it. I didn't know what to say, so I took it.

I asked my brother what he thought I should do. He added some expletives, but basically told me he didn't think that I should make the purchase.

I am thinking that maybe I could use it to purchase the perfume which she actually asked for, and never mention where part of the money came from. I don't think it would do her *any* good at all to know. Purchasing the flower without giving "friends" name would be a dead give away as to who it was from, because it wouldn't be something I normally would do.

After the late evening run to get her out of "friends" apartment a bit over a week ago, plus the two-hour round trip today to pick up items we'd missed the first time, I sincerely hope that she has no need to ever be in contact with him again.

So ... I guess this is my question. Should I purchase the flower like he asked? Should I use the money to purchase the perfume my mom wants? Should I mail the money back to him along with a note telling him I wasn't comfortable doing it? Something else?

I just SO hate being put in the middle like this!!!

This is a neat video of an experiment conducted in Chicago where 100 $1 bills were pinned to a tree with various messages on them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsN8FUV9nS4

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We had some interesting weather here the first few days of the week. Wednesday afternoon as I was driving home from tutoring, I heard that tornado actually touched down in Dallas -- near the Lovefield airport. I haven't heard what damage estimates were for it yet, but there also was a good bit of flooding in various parts of the metroplex (Dallas, Fort Worth, plus numerous small cities).

My dad called me yesterday afternoon and told me that he and grandma were sitting in the living room watching CNN and it looked like all of us in DFW were being blown away or flooded out. Funny how the media over blows things.

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Speaking of the media ... maybe I shouldn't say this, but, I really wish they would just not cover the so-called Pastor in Florida and all his lunacy. People like that come out of the woodwork for their 15 minutes of fame, because that's just what they get. Maybe if they didn't get it, they'd be less likely to do stupid *** stuff.

So ... anyway...

My mom came home from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon. She's still in bed recuperating and in some pain, but much prefers her bed to the hospital. Buddy absolutely *detests* spending any time at all away from her. I take him up to my room and he starts whining this really terrible pitiful whine. Then when he calms down, acts all depressed. I think a lot of his behavior is anxiety related.

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Wednesday I started with my fourth and final tutoring student (at least for this semester). He's a good kid and I enjoyed working with him. I especially liked that his mom paid me for two weeks at the same time.

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Thursday after tutoring Korean boy, I stopped at a place called Pro Cuts and got four inches chopped off the length of my hair, and my bangs stair stepped (chin length, then down). After a $3 tip, it cost $18. I'm happy with it.

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Sunday I'll be meeting mom's former "friend" to exchange items - mom had a few things of his, and there were a number of things she didn't get in our moving her out last Friday night. He wanted to eat lunch. Uh no. I politely told him that I'd only have time to drive there, get the stuff, and then get back home. Not particularly looking forward to a one-hour drive one-way, and right back again. But it's what one does for family. (Plus I'll be driving stepdads car, so no gas or miles on my car - makes it more appealing.)