We've had quite a bit of rain here in the desert the past few weeks, but especially the past few days. On Saturday we even had pebble-sized hail - two bouts of about ten minutes of it. The recent deluge caused concern about a dam above a town about 30 miles from here (and a valley away) where about 20% of our student population is bused in from. So, the decision was made to close school today.

Friday we had our yearly Diocesan in-service. The best part of it was meeting the librarian from one of the other schools. She's been here for 2 years (on her 3rd) - wish we could have met the first year. Oh well, better late than never, right?

I've bought tickets for my next plane trip .. heading out on Oct. 11 and getting back on the 13th. Short trip, lotta money, but well worth it. NE

NE and I were talking about possibly spending part of Thanksgiving in CO .. unfortunately I think that area isn't going to be in any shape for tourists by then. (We weren't looking at CO Springs, but more the area that's closer to Littleton I think. NE bought some car stereo mags from a guy in that area and fell absolutely in love with the scenery - wanted to fish in some of the streams.)

I got an email from Ting today telling me someone used my referral link .. Thanks to whoever that was. Someday when I go back to Ting, I'll start out with a credit! (I loved the service, just couldn't stand the Android phone I had to use. They get the iPhone .. I'm in!)

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I've decided to not stress about paying my car loan off by December. I had planned on making one lump sum payment to finish it off (probably around $900) but I've realized it's either travel expenses or paying the car off by December. It can't really be both. It'll still be paid off early - probably by March, or April at the latest.

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This past week I received about $70 in SB AGCs - and spent it all. Books for the library of course. They should be here by Wednesday (all but 1.)

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I'm seriously addicted to this farm game on the iOS system. HD. I need to find iTunes cards at a discount to feed my addiction a little more cheaply. (Or figure out how to shut off the ability to buy virtual currency ... and have it locked to where I can't unlock it intentionally or not ..) For now, I've set a limit to what I can spend. One purchase a month only. (The small "little" purchases were adding up ...)

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I'm starting to think about what I'm going to do for Christmas gifts. NE and I have already agreed that our travel expenses we're incurring this year seeing each other is more than enough and no need for anything else. The rest of my family (other than my brother, who I've already exchanged gifts with this summer) I'll need to do something for.

I will be going to San Jose again this year for Christmas (NE can't come, so I'll stay in SJ for a while and then go to NE.)

Any ideas? My aunt is very health conscious and very classy/high end. My uncle has everything under the sun and is becoming more health conscious. My grandma is 92 (as of yesterday!) and really doesn't need anything. I was thinking maybe treating the three of us to a mani/pedi - but then not sure of my uncle. Or maybe treat everyone to a meal out ... though that could get pretty expensive with some of the places they eat at there ... Hmmm... If my other aunt/uncle are there too, then I'll need to figure out something for them as well.

My aunt's friend who's always there always gives homemade fudge (Yum!!) If I could figure out something like that, which would travel well and not be too difficult to make/do ... (One year I gave them all reusable tote bags that I'd personalized with their names using fabric paint and a silicone microwave liner. Not sure how well that went over ...)

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Well, am going to catch up on the blogs a bit if I can pull myself away from HD long enough ...

Ahh... what can I say. The kids were pretty well behaved on the three days I was at school, and NE ... sweet, sweet, sweet.

NE got in *early* Tuesday morning (about 2 a.m.) I stayed up long enough to show him around and then headed to bed. Tuesday evening we went into big G and ate at a place called Grandpa's. NE was quite impressed by their cheese steak. Wednesday I took off of work. We went to a local park/lake that I hadn't realized how just how nice it was .. and went lizard hunting. We probably hiked around for a good two miles in this one really rocky/hilly area. In all, we found four lizards - NE got some really good pictures of them. Then we were off to ABQ where I showed him the elementary school I attended from 3rd - 8th grade, and we found two of the three places I'd lived. Thursday after I got off work we ate at a fairly famous sports bar - I love their sweet potato fries, and I thought he might like the sports memorabilia. He wasn't too impressed with their food. He headed back to NE early this morning - probably will be getting there in a few hours from now.

All in all, it was a truly great week.

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One downer though...my friend/co-worker who's had lung cancer twice in the past year .. She told me on Thursday that she'd been coughing up blood. She went into ABQ this morning for some more testing. I just have a bad feeling. The school nurse thinks that her knee issues (my friends) may be cancer related - as in metastasized.

I hope my friend doesn't get mad at me ... she hadn't told anyone other than me about the coughing up blood. This morning when I got into the cafeteria though, the nurse asked me point blank if I knew anything about AL's health. I tried to avoid really answering, but she figured it out mostly. She then told our principal (AL had called our principal at 6 this morning to let her know she'd be out today.) All of us are just worried about her - I just hope she understands that I didn't just go blabbing what she told me, but it got pulled out of me under duress.

Sigh.

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In other news . .. I got my 1,000 Swagbuck bonus yesterday, as well as another 328 SBs for spending. Today I cashed out for a $25 AGC. Within the next week or so, I should have around $65 in AGC from SBs coming.

I also got another Pinecone check in the mail, as well as completing another survey.

OH! I also got a $5 AGC from a mobile survey thing I put on my iPad. (similar to Nielson, which I have on my iPhone - they collect data, anonymously.)

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I'm going to go catch up on the blogs now. Haven't had much Internet time this week.

It's been a busy and tiring couple of weeks. For the most part, all of my classes are going pretty well. I have one section of 5th graders comprised of 9 boys and 3 girls ... I feel sorry for the girls.... The first week we started with ten boys and 3 girls, then decided to move one of the boys to see if it would help. Sort of helped.

Anyone know of a place where a private school could get a grant or some kind of funding to purchase 40+ new computers??? We desperately need new computers in the lab, and 4th grade up classrooms need new computers as well. It's getting pretty ridiculous - especially knowing that the Common Core testing ... on computers .. will be starting this year.

I'm down to maybe 14 or 15 somewhat usable computers out of 23 in the computer lab ... 9 of which are fairly consistently working. Makes for fun times when you have a group of 17 who are trying to use the lab at the same time.

Anyway...enough of my computer woes..

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I've pretty much spent all of my library budget I was given for this year. But I'm pretty darn happy with what I was able to get for it. I bought ten back jack chairs (chairs you can use on the floor), lots of shelving organizational materials, and some books too. We have five of the chairs already here and in use (a sixth one is here, but was defective - the company is sending a replacement, the other four are on order now.)

I wish I could post pictures of the kids - on Thursday I had 11 first graders. I showed them the chairs and explained how they worked. Excitedly they all came to get one - but of course there wasn't enough for all of them. Instead of fussing and arguing, they came up with a priceless solution - one child sat on the side with the cushion, and another child sat on the side w/o the cushion. The 11th child sat on my rocking chair. All were very happy and read quietly with their stuffed animal/object for a good 15 minutes. It was just too precious.

One other note from the library, then I'll move on.
I gave the 5th and 6th graders their list of possible book projects for the Reading Bingo game I'm doing. (They get a Bingo i.e. read 5 books in 5 different categories - they get a choice of a poster from the book fair or a $5 gift cert for the book fair.) One of the projects is for the poetry category - to complete that category, they must choose 3 substantial poems to memorize from their chosen book. I had at least three students choose and memorize a poem before class was even over. At one point, there were six different students with a book of poetry reading and working on memorizing - including someone reading from Emily Dickinson.

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I am looking forward to Monday night with great anticipation. NE will be arriving! He'll be here through Friday morning. I'm taking Wednesday off so we can do things in the area - maybe go to ABQ and I can show him my elementary school and some of the houses we lived in.

It looks like he has a sixth cat ... About a month ago he picked up two stray cats that from their behavior did not seem like they had any street smarts (in other words, not cats used to being outside.) He posted found ads on Craigslist. The girl cat's owners responded within a few days, but the male cat has had no response. NE took the male cat to the vet on Wednesday to get him scanned (microchip) and tested. Negative and negative. He's going to give the Craigslist ad another two weeks before calling it official ... that he has a sixth cat.

If we do eventually end up getting married someday ... we sure will have a houseful of cats!

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Financially ... I've been doing okay I guess. I have managed to almost cut out my fast food spending the last two weeks (helps not going into town!) Yesterday I did go into town for groceries, as well as to get a mani/pedi.

I made the daily goal every day for the month of August for Swagbucks. Just yesterday I cashed in for a $15 AGC, and I have more than enough for the 5 $5 AGCs for September. I know I won't make the daily goal for the month of September, but I'm not going to worry about it.

It's hard to believe what my networth is right now ... that electric car stock ... wow. I keep seeing reports saying that it's going to tank - that it's overvalued. But then it just keeps going higher and higher - even when the general stock market is going down. I was telling NE last night that I wish I'd bought 100 more of the stock back when it was only $22/28. I just didn't want to put too much money into something my uncle was raving about .. too many eggs in one basket. In hindsight, this would've been one of those times where it would have worked out well (I've already sold enough stock to recoup my initial investment - back when it was at around $100. It's now nearly $170.)

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Oh, almost forgot one piece of library news. We might be having an author visit!! If so, it'll be the first one I've personally arranged - or at least set into motion. It is a native american author who lives in AZ and wrote a series (3) of books based on Navajo culture for middle school kids. Please cross your fingers and toes that funding will come through for this - he's giving us a big discount on his usual fees, but it'll still cost some. It would be SO exciting - especially if we can arrange for him to be here the week of the book fair.

I know it is still Saturday, but I'm just so not ready for my library classes to begin on Monday. I'm still feeling so run down and on Thursday started feeling like I was coming down with something. So today I stayed home from church and am trying to rest. Ugh.

Talking to NE last night was good. Started out feeling like carp warmed over, but felt better as the conversation went. He's good for me like that.

This last week /summer my spending/eating has really gotten out of hand. I'm not quite in the territory of spending 100% of what I make, but after the $500/mo that goes towards IRA/car payment, I think most of it is going towards paying my credit cards in full. At least I'm not hitting my savings - other than not adding any to it...

I'm now back up to my highest weight ever. I'm so sick of this cycle - losing weight, gaining, losing, gaining ..

I started my new higher dose of synthroid today. Maybe that'll help eventually. What would probably help even more is if I cut out fast food entirely from my spending and cut way back on buying junk food. (Between Plink points for spending a certain amount at certain restaurants and BK adding sweet potato fries to their menu ... ugh.)

A few months ago when I was walking with my former walking partner, I told her that I wondered if the only thing helping me not gain weight back faster was all the walking I was doing. I got my answer this week - an emphatic yes. Didn't walk once this week and have ate horribly ... four pounds up. It probably would've been even worse if I hadn't at least been semi-active each day at work.

I really must get myself back on track financially and food wise. It's just so hard to do when you feel so utterly exhausted. I have to do it though because I just can't keep this up like this.

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Tomorrow I must go in to the school and put up the posters in the computer lab, put together the orientation presentations and figure out how I'm going to keep ten Kinders occupied for 45 minutes without putting them on the computers (per teacher request.) At least I have another week to figure out what I'm doing lesson wise for the quarter.

Tomorrow is the first day of classes (not for me, but for the regular classes.) I'm so not ready for school to be starting again, but it is what it is.

We did the scheduling today, and I did end up getting a little bit of what I wanted - extra time for both kinder and first and a little bit of a time buffer between my Kinder and third classes on Mondays. I also worked out with the new 4th grade teacher a 25 minute time period for keyboarding for the entire year! First semester will be all about learning the keys and increasing accuracy, and then second semester will be more practical uses of keyboarding (along with continuing to focus on speed/accuracy.) The really cool thing about the 4th grade teacher is that he is a Navajo man who two years ago had no interest in teaching, but started volunteering at our cafeteria and was pulled in to the 6th grade teacher assistant position. He loved it so much that he went back to school and got his teaching certificate! (He's the coworker I went with to Baltimore last year.)

I kind of let my principal know that this is my last year today ... didn't mean to let it slip out, but it did. I'm not sure if she totally caught it or not. Oh well, would have told her sooner than later anyway.

I've had at least two people tell me about people who would hire me this year (one was a lady at my church who told me their librarian had resigned on Friday and I should apply.) Hopefully stuff like this will pop up next year.

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My mom was here this past week. I picked her up on Thursday. That night she helped me get my back bedroom cleaned out and reorganized. I put a lot of stuff out by my trashcan which was gone by mid-morning on Friday. I can now actually USE the back bedroom (need to ask about a mattress - have a frame and boxspring, but no mattress.) Then on Friday we worked in the library and got started on the huge job of sorting out the fiction books by genre (which my wonderful assistant and I finished up today.)

Saturday we went to church .. the head elder preached. Usually he does pretty good sermons, but this one had about a five minute diatribe about how terrible it is for us to associate with those who don't believe the same ... Um... Why is our church not growing? ....(he ensconced it in the idea of someone choosing to go to a neighborhood party instead of a church social .. my mom called it spiritual bigotry and I have to say that I agreed with her.)

Anyway, we went to ABQ Saturday afternoon and spent the night at a nice hotel mom paid for with points. We ate at an Asian restaraunt and then saw the movie "The Way Way Back." Um ... Steve Carrel played someone really out of his norm - a real a**hole of a guy. Great movie though.

Sunday we slept in, then I read while my mom worked on her speech for toastmasters (she got first place!) Then she wanted to get her hair done, so she paid for me to get my hair cut. Then we shopped at Dillards -- I was really needing a new pair of black dress pants. I ended up finding one pair of black pants (~$26) and my mom bought me two tops for about the same amount. I offered to pay for meals and for the movie, etc. but she wouldn't let me.

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Today and yesterday were work days. Most of my morning was spent helping the homeroom teachers work out their schedules and fixing computer/printer problems. Good thing my classes don't start til Monday.

I got my Swagbucks CC in the mail today and made my first purchase. (I was really craving some ice cream...)

I've received all $25 of my AGCs from Swagbucks for August now, and have enough for the first two September ones. So far I've hit the Daily Goal 13/13 days.

I'm going to work on getting the items I have charged to my Discover card switched over to the SBs card and then probably close the Discover card.

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Almost forgot. A week ago Monday I went to the doctor about how fatiqued, etc. I've been feeling since about March. She ended up doing an Epstein Bar Virus test along with a TSH test. On Monday she called me with the results - apparently sometime in the past I have had mono. So she's thinking that possibly I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Looking at the symptoms ... I wouldn't be surprised. She also is upping my synthroid dose. Nothing to do really about the CFS if that is what this is - except live with it I guess.

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Well I better start getting ready for bed. The alarm will be going off at an unwanted hour tomorrow ... (and the next two days...)

I managed to catch up on all the blogs I've missed the last week or so.

g'nite

This morning I was about 14 minutes into my walk when I started to pass by my principal's backyard. I usually say hi to her two dogs as I go by, but this time her Maltese came out and greeted me! I found the hole it had dug under the fencing, and then called my principal to let her know. In all, I spent about ten minutes making sure the dog didn't get hit by a car or go to far away. I was glad I was there to help!

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The SD card I ordered came with some books I'd ordered - seriously fast! If I remember when I ordered the card, I'd say this was almost one-day delivery! As soon as I put the card in my phone, the Entertain app started working. So far, about 30SBs.

Between the paltry monthly bonus I earned for July, generous Jun videos and a few other small offers - I managed to get enough to cash out for my last $5 AGC for August today.

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I got over to the library today for a few hours. I didn't really accomplish much ... although I did manage to get the entrance / class table area cleared out (of course most of the stuff was just transferred to the work room table. That is an ongoing area that needs to be cleared .. it gets close to being cleared off once in a while ...)

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Tomorrow I'm taking Kari in to get her nails trimmed and pick up my prescription (synthroid.)

My goal for today (before I go to bed) is to finish putting away my clothes from my closet reorganization project (I ran out of proper hangers and had to go buy some more .. by the time I got back I'd kind of lost the zeal ...) I also want to sweep the house - esp. Kari's bathroom.

Tomorrow I need to do a trash run (and break down the pile of boxes in the corner); scrub counters and mirrors; and wash the sheets so they'll be clean for my mom.

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Last night NE told me he thinks he'll come here Labor Day weekend. (yay!) So today I double checked with my principal about where he can stay. I found out that I had had a miscommunication with her previously - he can stay with me in my house, as long as it is for a short visit (less than 7 days.) Woo hoo! That'll make life so much easier (than trying to find a guest trailer that's available or staying in a hotel 30+ miles away.) Now I just need to make sure my air mattress is in good working order (for both my mom's visit and NEs visit!)

Today I went to the doctor. I think I may have mentioned on here a few times how I have not felt completely recovered since the bout of bronchitis I had back in March. So anyway, my next appt was supposed to be at the end of August, but my level of fatigue/insominia/bouts of light-headedness/brain fuzziness/nausea, etc., etc., etc., was just getting too much so I decided to see her again sooner than later. I'd told her the same symptoms back in June, and she told me to try taking the new dose of syntrhoid for a few months and see if that improved anything. Obviously, it didn't.

So I saw her today, and she suggested that maybe it is either related to mono or chronic fatigue syndrome. I looked up the symptoms for both, and can relate to LOTS of the symptoms ... I had my blood tested for Epstein Bar virus and my thyroid rechecked. My blood pressure was high again too .. so of course I get the little paper telling me to not add salt to my food (never do!); eat more fruit (more than my normal 5+ servings?); and fill half my plate with veggies (ok, could do better on this one.)

So anyway, with the copay and the balance from my June visit (my share of the bloodwork after insurance paid) - I paid $49.xx

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After the doctor I headed over to the auto shop and got my oil changed. (it needed it badly - it was almost time before I headed to NE, but adding another 2500 miles definitely put it in the MUST DO category.) That was $38.xx

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I got pulled back into a farm game app on my phone that I had deleted because it was becoming a time s*ck. And ... I spent $12 within it to buy "diamonds" to make things a little easier. Gah, can't believe I did that. I really need to delete that app again.

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I still have the Android phone I bought for my Ting experiment. (I had no problem with Ting, I just couldn't stand the phone for real phone use.) So Swagbucks has an app that only works for Android right now. I finally found the charging cord for my phone, and installed the app. Of course when I tried to open it, it says "can't find SD card." Ugh. So I found a 8gb SD card for my phone --- $7.32 prime. I would've gone for a 2 gb card instead, but once you added shipping (no prime for it) it cost more than the 8gb card. It will take a lot of days using this app to equal out the cost of the card. But there is some kind of adapter thing that it comes with, so I'm guessing maybe I can use the card for other things too if I want - so it might be useful for more than one purpose (I hope.)

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My mom is coming on Thursday and my house is a mess. I've managed to pick up some, do laundry and dishes, do several trash runs, etc., but there's still so much more to do. But I also have tons I need to do at school. Guess how much I've gotten done there? Yeah. not much. So we'll have to see how much my mom will really be able to tolerate ... hopefully I can get the gumption to do a bit more cleaning before she gets here - at the very least make sure the sheets are fresh on the bed. (I'll sleep on the couch so she can have my bed - or maybe see if my air mattress still works.)

If it wouldn't be so embarrassing (and make me worry that others would think I make too much money or something) I would dearly love to hire some local person to clean my place every couple months or so ... I did that my last few years of teaching .. hired someone about once a month (generally right before I had planned on guests ...) that made life so much easier. (and only cost around $40!)

My former walking partner told me that her teacher assistant had "gossiped" to her about all the bits of paper I had around my computer in the library and how she wondered how I found anything. My former walking partner has been in my house ... so I asked her - what do you think I work harder at keeping organized and neat - my house or the media center? She said the media center! (very true) So pity the teacher assistant if she ever saw my house!

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Oh! I received my check from Pinecone today for $3. That was fast!

I also inexplicably received a refund from my health insurance company for premiums. I've heard about that (something about 80/20 or such thing) but what made it weird is that ... I don't pay for the premiums! I figured that if there was a refund due, it would go to my employer who pays it. It is only $9.xx but I guess I can ask my principal tomorrow what she thinks.

One of my friends on FB shared this link today. I thought it was pretty darn funny.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/08/02/207392165/tampon-marketing-gets-real-for-the-social-media-age

Hope you enjoy as well.

Some extra money that's come my way lately:

-- $3 from Pinecone

I was surprised to be accepted as a panelist, and even more surprised to get a survey right away. They sure do hide the cash option well!

-- $10 from GymPact

This is my third time cashing out from this app. (It is for iOS and Android systems. You say how many days you're going to exercise, and if you do it you get paid. If you don't do it, you pay them.)

--- Potential $21.xx from UPromise

After a recent post here, I checked my account and after a few rounds of emails, I found out that I had money that was sent to the state of Texas. I need to get in touch with them to get the money.

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Found out that my new library budget for this year is an 80% increase from last year's! Woo Hoo! I then promptly spent 60% of the budget getting things I'd really wanted last year, but didn't have the budget for both books and these items (floor chairs, book organization stuff, and best of all .. a reading/writing magnetic whiteboard for storytime!)

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Thank you everyone who commented on the now deleted section. You have given me some good food for thought.

Haven't really been up to much lately. Other than doing my daily walk with my walking partner (she's leaving on Wednesday morning ) I've been pretty lazy. That will have to stop tomorrow - must start getting ready for the school year.

One bit of cool news - thanks to the one stock I have, my networth - not including my checking/short term savings - is now just over $100k!!

My mom will be coming for a short visit - Aug 8 - 11. I'll have to go to the airport to pick her up and drop her off. Since she has a Costco card, I'll probably include a Costco trip so I can use my gift card I have (about time for more cat litter and a few other items.)

I've been watching a lot on Netflix (H2o Mako Adventures - new addition!) and on Hulu (Touch - season 2!) I also found out that you can find just about ANY workout DVD program on youtube - and I do mean the *entire* program! Since I don't have a tv or a dvd player, youtube is the only way I'd be able to see a workout program in my living room. So, once my walking partner is gone, I'll have my iPad and YouTube and a playlist of various workout programs.

I've managed to make the daily goal on SBs for six days now - just need one more to get a small bonus for this month.

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Yesterday I went to church for the first time since early June. It was our new pastor's second Sabbath - our outgoing pastor's wife had the idea he was single, but I don't think that is the case. Anyway, it was Communion Sabbath (which in our church happens about every 13 weeks, or once a quarter.) There was a lady sitting next to me who I discovered that it was her first time ever having her feet washed by someone else, and her first Communion like we do (we stay seated and the elders pass out the crackers and grape juice.) So I kind of talked her through it. It helped to make the day more interesting. (It was also her first visit to our church.)

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Anyway, can't really think of anything else terribly interesting to report right now.

Yesterday I had to go to Walmart to pick up some hangars which I'd meant to pick up on Monday, but forgot.

After getting the hangars, I was of course near the kitchen section. I've been thinking about getting a new toaster oven for awhile, and have been really annoyed with the lid on my blender not getting clean (after having been through the dishwashing cycle multiple times..) I toyed with the idea of buying a $15 one serving blender and a new toaster oven. The only thing wrong with my current toaster oven is that it desperately needs to be cleaned and has been in my back room for the last two years.... (It's okay, you can call me lazy.)

I did talk myself out of both of the purchases. The blender because well ... I have a perfectly wonderful blender (a Ninja!) and all the lid probably really needs is some actual elbow grease and it will be fine. I just have to get motivated enough to want to make my smoothies again to actually put the elbow grease in! As far as the toaster oven ... I haven't used the one I have in two years (more really ... I think the last time it was out and in use was five years ago???) So if I haven't seen fit to use it in two years++ AND the only thing wrong with it is needing to be cleaned??

So I guess I saved money by talking myself out of those purchases. Now just to get to the cleaning of the items I already own!!

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NE and I talked a long time last night, and I think we've worked through what we needed to. It is weird how sometimes things seem so much more serious in the written form than when talked about face to face.

I was doing some searching for online couples counseling and came across a couple interesting links. One is called power of two marriage - I did the free three day trial. It has some really good information/lessons on communication (along with a lot of other stuff too.) I worked my way through most of the communication videos/activities.

The other thing I found was a VH1 program called Couples Therapy where they take 5 celebrity couples who are having Issues (to say the least) and take them through counseling. I watched a few full episodes ... even though it is made for entertainment value mostly, it still seems to offer *some* valuable insights.

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Yesterday I just managed to make the daily goal on Swagbucks. I think I got 4 of the codes? I made it today too. Thanks to the hotel com offer, between my two hotel stays I'll have enough SBs for two AGCs, otherwise I'd really be behind the 8 ball for August (more so than I am already.)

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Today will be a no spend day. The first I think I've had in a lonnnnngggg time.

I plan on doing a refresh on my YNAB budget and attempt to get my spending back under control. I just have spent way too much this summer.

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Almost forgot. I messed up with my internet provider. I'd had them send me a new modem because my old one kept dropping my Skype calls. I kept forgetting to send the old one back... so they charged me for it. $119. Ugh. No way to send it back and get refunded after 30 days. It still was good I called though, because my 6 month promotional period had ended and my bill was going up to $45 + taxes. Got it back to $25 + taxes.

This is going to be short - I had written it actually yesterday and without thinking, hit Save and Publish. You guessed it ... off it went into the ether-sphere.

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Short background - before heading off to my NE adventures, I had two things happen involving my front door. One was that it was sticking and not shutting or opening very easily. When the guys were here turning on my swamp cooler, they "fixed" that issue. Then a day before leaving for NE I noticed that my door would open even if it was locked properly with a bit of pressure. I put in a work order before leaving.

My walking partner (for a few more days anyway...) called the maintenance man to make sure he had gotten around to looking at my door. He didn't seem to know about the work order, but said he'd get on it.

Fast forward to Saturday - my walking partner stopped by my house and checked my door. Said it seemed fine to her.

Now to Sunday around 4 p.m. I pull into my driveway and see ... my front door wide open!

I made a few phone calls, and Monday morning a couple guys came by and my door is now fixed. (Nothing was missing or messed with - but I have found a few erstwhile flies.)

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NE and I have hit a bit of a bump in the road. We're working through it, but at the moment it has kind of derailed some of my thought processes I was going to mention here. Ugh. Emotional eating stinks.

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About the only thing I've really accomplished since arriving back here is getting my front door fixed, getting completely unpacked, and doing a clothes purge (and taking to Goodwill.)

Tomorrow I really need to get by the school and see what shape the library is in, and how full my mailbox is.

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I received my summer school paycheck (finally.) I figured out that before taxes were taken out, it equaled to about $200 less than I make in a month. So .. 65 hours of summer school equals about 130 hours of regular school year pay. (And that was with the summer school rate being reduced $9/hr from last year.)

My one remaining walking partner has found a different job. She called me today to let me know that the place she's going to is looking for a librarian ... I thanked her, but told her I wasn't interested. In six months I will start looking seriously for the next school year, but I am committed to here for this year.

I am so thankful I upgraded my phone. The GymPact app is a great motivator, but now with it looking like I more than likely won't have a walking partner, I am going to have to rely more on my indoor exercise. Not as fun or as enjoyable .. but will get the job done.

What a summer it has been. Summer school, CA trip, and finally a long sojourn in NE. Now about three weeks til the first day to report back to work.

I have so much to catch up on, I'm not really even sure where to begin.

Finances - Oh boy. I really am not sure how much I spent between CA and NE, but to put it mildly ... it was way too much. Gas and lodging I have hard numbers for the NE trip -gas $237.xx; 2 hotel stays - $105.xx. I averaged 35.8 mpg (that's including around town driving in the average - otherwise it would probably be closer to 37mpg.)

I went a little nuts with the close proximity of fast food places and other shopping places. Seriously, a little nuts. NE treated for most of the meals we ate together - but that was just one meal a day. I bought groceries for myself to supplement, and ... the fast food ... Less than a block from his apartment - McDonald's (smoothie anyone???) and Pizza Hut (personal pan pizza???) Amazingly I seem to have only gained a pound (maybe it was due to all the walking I did as well?)

Then of course there was the Adventist Book Center (or ABC as Adventists know it.) I restrained myself on books (only 2! both on sale) but the veggie foods?? Total spent $71. I also checked out a Goodwill store and came away with 20+ books for the library (one, a brand new hardcover 2006 Guinness World Record book!!! Score!!) as well as a few other items (such as a pretty casserole dish, a pannini maker and a glass container for NEs change.) All for ... $28.xx!! (less than the cost of the WR book alone brand new!) I also went to the mall ... it was SO hot ... and I wanted to see if my gym pact anywhere function really worked ... It did. I also managed to spend money at JC Penny's (super clearance sale!) and then at Dress Barn (lace skirt/white blouse for $30.)

I messed up with one of my credit cards. I thought I had them all on auto pay full bill - but I left one out. Ooops. Thankfully when I got the notice that my payment was late, I was able to call them and get the finance charge and late payment fee dismissed. Thanks to my history of no late payments and always paying in full.
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As I mentioned, I did a lot of walking. NEs place is less than 3/4 of a mile from Wilderness Park. There are some really fantastic walking/biking trails there. Most nights when NE was working, I did 3 - 5 mile walks (usually 4 miles.) It was SO beautiful! (and HOT!)

Other things NE and I did together - spent a lot of time at various area lakes with him showing me some of his favorite fishing spots as he was growing up. We also went out to Tuttle Creek where he caught a lizard, took a picture of it, and then let it go. We saw Man of Steel - loved it! Went out to eat at a lot of fast food places - mostly that are only NE/Lincoln places (Runza, Gregs, Tastee's --- all for Cheese Frenchies! Yum!!) I ate more fried foods in the three weeks I was there than I usually do in a year! We did eat at a few sit-down restaurants - IHOP, Olive Garden and a local place Beacon Hill Bar and Grill. I treated for IHOP.

NEs aunt died while I was still out in CA, and the TN family held the memorial service for her without inviting NE or his sister ... so we didn't do any big road trips.

Kari and the five cats ... Kari eventually settled down enough to where she was comfortable being out and about in the apartment -but not without hissing and batting at the other cats. The five cats just kind of tolerated her I think... Kari knocked down a 5 gallon aquarium (empty thankfully!) which shattered all over the place. She also took a great liking to a pair of expensive speakers as a scratching post ... Ugh. I hope when NE comes here to visit, that he and Kari will be able to like each other without the other 5 cats running over every time .. NE just barely got to the point of being able to touch her without being hissed at.

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I attempted to hook my computer up to NEs modem, but could not get it to work. Until tonight I was slightly worried that I had jostled the modem or something in it during the trip to NE - but it is working perfectly. So, I was pretty much without a computer (although NE did let me use his laptop .. I didn't do too much on it because of its small size.) I really did not accomplish much at all - other than reading several books, watching stuff on Hulu and Netflix (and getting a warning notice from aTT that I'd gone over the 3 GB limit and my service will be slow next month ... ummmm thought I had unlimited data??) I forgot some books I needed to do stuff for my elective classes (from the six=month class.) Still, all in all, I kept pretty busy/occupied while NE was at work.

I am happy that I went. The time there definitely helped me see some things more clearly, and see some things that need to be addressed. He really tried to be thoughtful and do things he thought I would like. One thing that was clear is that I won't have to worry about him complaining about my housekeeping ... We did a lot of talking about different things - from current events, past events, views on issues, to possible future scenarios. It was definitely a good thing.

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So ... in other news... my great Uncle (my grandma's sister's husband) died this past week. I wasn't close to him or anything, but I did like him from the times we'd interacted. Then in other big, but not really surprising news (sadly) ... my mom and the man she married in December are getting divorced - his idea. Basically he decided that he couldn't handle her health issues (more later), that she drove him nuts always wanting to go do things instead of sitting and meditating for eons of hours, etc. She is coming out of this pretty badly ... gave most of her furniture away when she moved in with him, gave up her tutoring students/business, gave up Buddy her dog, etc.

Her health issues --- about 15+ years ago she had a pituitary tumor which was removed by them going through her nasal cavity. It has returned, bigger than ever with the addition of lesions. She's going to need surgery to get rid of it, but due to the larger size and the legions, they are having to figure out the best course of action. She is staying at an extended stay place right now, and last week slipped and fell hard on her back/neck. She has had multiple back and neck surgeries ... So far it doesn't appear to have caused any more damages, but still not good.

Oh the REALLY big news?? My brother called my mom today!! (He had cut off contact with her in June after our dad died due to a number of reasons.) He told me he decided that it was time to let go and get past it. I was completely ecstatic!!

In mixed news ... I am now without any walking partners. Both of the co-workers I walked with this past year have gotten different jobs. One of the former teaching assts is taking one of the positions, another vacant position is being taken by someone who I don't think will be living here, and I don't know what's going to happen with the third one. The third one is my only hope for a new walking partner...

I have more I am thinking about, but this is already way too long. Tomorrow - what I found when I arrived home ... and lifestyle/diet thoughts/plans/thinking.

Hi everyone. I've tried posting a couple times but took too long, and lost my post. I'm in Lincoln right now but will be heading home probably on Saturday. Kari has not adjusted very well at all to having 5 cat mates ... This morning she knocked an empty acquarium down and it shattered ...ugh!

I brought my computer with me, but haven't been able to getting to connect to NEs Internet. So ... I haven't accomplished much while here. I still am glad I came. There's been ups and downs, but mostly good.

I'm trying to keep up with everyone's blogs, but signing in on my phone is a pain, so not too many comments. Will write more when I get home!

Ugh. Please remind me to not sign up for any "reward" from a credit card that is offered as "statement credits" over a period of time. Back in September (I think) I signed up for the Citi offer giving you up to $9.95 statement credit for Netflix up to a year. It worked great for the first few months, and then I got an email telling me that I had an overdue balance. Say what?? So, I check it out - two months of Netflix had been charged within one statement period. I called Citi and they gave me a credit which fixed it.

Fast forward to yesterday. I again get an email telling me I have an overdue balance. Same thing had happened - two monthly charges on one statement. Again, I called and hashed it out with them. It took a lot longer this time, but they wiped out the balance due. I also asked that they make a note on my account so that I don't have to go through this yet again in October. (The problem is when there is a month with less than 31 days. Such as February or April.)

I will very happily be canceling this card as soon as the free year of Netflix is over. (I came close to just going ahead and cancelling the card as it was ... even though I'd lose out on $40 of free Netflix.)

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I redeemed Chase points today for a $51 statement credit.

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I also booked my hotel for my trip to NE using hotels com through Swagbucks. I'll be getting 6 SBs per dollar ($53!) I was going to book at a somewhat cheaper place, but they only allow dogs in their rooms. When I asked why no cats, the front desk guy was pretty rude. Now I wouldn't book there even if I didn't have Kari with me!

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NE sent me a link to a house/property near him that is $12k - 1900 sq ft/5 acres. The kitchen reminds me a little of my mom's parent's kitchen. The bathroom made me laugh though - normal toilet and sink, but a miniature do it yourself type shower. Best of all though it's close enough to a city where you can get city Internet (instead of having to do Satellite.) He's not ready to buy anything yet, but this goes to show that there are some good options available. (He wants a country house with acreage to raise turtle/dig a pond, etc., with few neighbors nearby. Sounds good to me. )

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I got laundry and dishes done yesterday, and so far nothing really done today. Ooops. Tomorrow I have to pack for CA and NE trips and try to leave the house in somewhat presentable shape.

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My walking partner and I went to town yesterday. I bought some more clothes at Walmart. I need to reign in the clothing spending here ...

After stepping on the scale this a.m., I also decided to quit the soda. I hate to think what the scale would look like if I wasn't walking most days...

Although we've had a "chance of rain" in the forecast for several weeks, tonight was the first time we've had "actual" rain! It's still coming down now.

I talked to NE last night (and this afternoon too - bonus talk.. squee!! ) He doesn't want to go there (aunt's in TN) until after July 3rd for a variety of reasons. So what it boils down to is no change in my plans for my CA trip.

In our phone conversation this afternoon NE mentioned Ronnie Milsap and was surprised when I told him I wasn't familiar with the name. Tonight I listened to a bunch of youtube videos of RM. I recognized a couple of the songs (Any Day was one.) Nice voice.

Didn't accomplish much today other than sleeping in and getting a walk in. OH, did find my thing of pepper spray. Now just have to get it out of the package!

Tomorrow I plan to do laundry and dishes and sweep and scrub counters. Maybe take a load of stuff to the thrift store too. Will see if I actually get all that done.

I checked at the PO today to see if the transfer papers for moving my 403b to a different company had arrived yet. Still not arrived. I hope they come by Tuesday so I can get it taken care of before I leave. Then I'm going to have to figure out how to distribute the funds. It'll all go into one index fund to start with, but I have enough total that I could buy into several different index funds. (Van)
The money I moved into that particular fund from my bank CD IRA has already earned $50 in 3? months time - so incredibly better than what it was doing in the bank CD IRA (earned $600 in 14 years...)

This morning I got an email from NE telling me that he'd just found out that a favorite aunt is dying, and probably doesn't have too much longer. She's in TN. I emailed him back and told him that if he decides to go see her/go to funeral, to let me know if he'd like me to go with him. If that happens, then that may mean I won't get to CA this summer. My tickets are with Southwest, so I can always use them at another time. This is something I know he'd do for me, so I'm glad to be able to return the favor.

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Today was the last day of summer school for me. Yay! Overall, I'd say the last two weeks weren't too bad - almost enjoyable. But no, I will not be asking to do it again next year!

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I took Kari to the vet today - had her nails clipped and had her weighed (9.2 lbs) The vet gave me a prescription for xxxxphodrine (something like that - don't have it in front of me.) He didn't charge me for an office visit, just the nail trimming and the meds - $18.xx Not bad!

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On the way back from the vet, I came *really* close to getting into what could've potentially been a *very* bad car accident. I really had been paying attention, and thought the way was clear enough for me to pull out and go ... but as soon as I was half-way out in the lane I saw the vehicle not even 50 feet away (probably less.) I kicked on my accelerator, and they probably slammed their brakes ... and we avoided each other. Our angels were watching out for us for sure!

Tonight it was finally cool enough to consider going for a walk again with my walking partner. As I was heading over to where we meet, a short black boxer type dog runs across the street from where it lives and bumps against the back of my knees. That was startling enough, but I also felt a sharp stab as he did this. I immediately stopped and looked, and saw that he'd broken my skin.

I then just kept on walking ignoring the dog. It was following me, and the child of the owner kept calling him back (which he ignored.) Finally I got to my walking partner, and the other dog left. (probably after getting a whiff of my walking partners bull mastiff!)

This is a not great picture of it. In the grand scheme of things, not that big of a deal/bite. It's more the principle of it that really irks me. (Not to mention that if the dog had *really* wanted to be aggressive/attack, I'd probably be in the hospital now with major leg wounds at the least.)



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One bit of great news -- the maintenance guys came by today and hooked up my swamp cooler! Yes!! I'm glad I didn't go spend money on an a/c unit.

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Cancer s*cks. I found out today that one of my friends from Pathways (a life improvement program I went through in 2006) has stage 2 breast cancer. She's the mom of two young kids.

Despite the heat yesterday I did manage to get one task accomplished .. or at least the beginning of it. I have a 403b from when I was teaching that has just been sitting at a particular company. So finally yesterday I made the call to the company I want to move it to, and the financial guy walked me through the process of moving it over. Now I just have to wait for the forms and mail them in. Once this move is over, I'll have my taxable/tax-deferred accounts at 3 institutions rather than 6 (like back in January.) I don't know yet if I'll consolidate further or not yet.

Only 3 days of summer school left! As much as I'm eager for it to be over, I am actually enjoying myself. I still have no desire however to repeat it next summer! We'll be getting our paychecks for summer school on the 25th - I've asked for mine to be mailed to NE so I don't have to worry about making it in to big G before leaving town. Thanks to the smartphone app, I can easily deposit it.

I found a Bill Nye video on pollution which I'm going to play for the kids on Friday (thanks Youtube!)

This afternoon we had the grand opening of our neighborhood playground which was built this past weekend. It was quite fun seeing 70+ K - 8th grade students, plus 20+ neighborhood kids running around and enjoying the new equipment.

I stopped at Family Dollar today and bought a blackout panel which I've now nailed above my office window. I'm hoping that this will help both with privacy and with heat. I also bought two six packs of bubbles which I'm going to let the kids use tomorrow as a bit of a treat for good behavior during Mass the last two days. (We're having Mass everyday this week except Friday.) They also had a bunch of deodorants in the clearance bin - $.80 each.

I am *hoping* that the swamp coolers will be turned on tomorrow ... I just can't get motivated to do much of anything with it so hot. There is so much I should be doing too ...

Last night at 9 p.m. it was 82 outside, but inside my mobile home it was 95. One of my co-workers went and bought a window air conditioner unit because she just could not stand it. If I knew for sure how much longer it would be before the powers that be decide to hook up our swamp coolers, I might just do that myself ...

Seriously ridiculous. Take a 30+ minute COLD shower, step out, and am instantly sweltering again.

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Today was the first half-day of summer school for me. (kids still go full day - but volunteers take over for the afternoon.) That was nice - except that one of my students got sick during lunch, so I stayed with her until the dad came and picked her up.

I'd planned on getting stuff done today in my house, but with the heat, I just can't make myself. I did manage to get two loads of laundry done yesterday - which probably didn't help the heat inside (had to use the dryer for a few items.)

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Maybe good news! My friend/IT person who is battling lung cancer the second time around? Her latest report is saying that the tumor is shrinking with chemo -- so maybe she won't have to have surgery!!! She should know for sure in two weeks time.

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I got the last of my 5 $5 AGCs from SBs today. I have a healthy balance on Amazon right now.

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I have finalized my plans for my CA trip. Will be in San Jose 19/20,24 and Napa 21/22/23 - with a side trip to Lodi on the 23rd (where my dad is buried.) My brother is starting his new job (can't remember if I mentioned that or not - as of the 24th he's no longer working for the Wine Train) on Monday, the 24th. So I wanted to make sure to not interfere with his first day on the job!

I'll have about one day here in NM to recover, and then head out to NE! I still need to finalize my plans for what I'm going to do with Kari while I'm gone.

Is there something I can give her so she's not exactly sleeping, but is relaxed and not anxious? If I take her with me, she'll have a total of 4 8 hour car rides (2 each way.) Is there a valium for cats?

So ... in 5 weekdays my part of summer school will be over. In 11 days I head out to CA to see my brother, aunt and grandma. Then in 19 days I head out to NE to see my NE man. Can you tell I'm excited and ready? (especially for the last one!!)

Today was build day for the new playground sponsored by our school and our health insurance company. Hot, tired, sweaty just barely begin to describe how I felt when I got home. I took a 30 minute COLD shower, and still didn't feel that much cooler. At least I felt cleaner!

I spent part of the morning at the registration table, and then a few hours in the afternoon putting water in the wheelbarrows where people were mixing cement. I wouldn't have minded the job too much if it hadn't been for this one guy (who I guess was in charge) constantly telling me I was doing it wrong and then grabbing the hose out of my hand to start doing it himself ... Ugh. When we reached a breaking point where we had more cement ready for the mixer than could be easily/quickly mixed, I left and went back to the registration table.

The playground is very nice, although using mulch as the ground cover is pretty questionable here - especially considering how very windy it can get. I also heard that the flowers that the students/neighborhood kids had planted about 4 or 5 weeks ago and that had been left outside the science building at our school to grow, had been killed by someone pouring bleach on them. Twice. I hope whoever did that doesn't decide to mess with the new playground.

I'm thinking of renting Tiger Eyes from iTunes tonight. I doubt it'll come out in any theaters around here, plus seeing it on iTunes would be cheaper. I heart Judy Blume and am so happy that one of her books finally became a movie! (especially this one - one that I read at least a dozen times when I was in elementary school (7th/8th grade.)

Tomorrow I'll need to go into big G to pick up a memory card reader for our preschool director. She'd had our IT person buy her a brand new computer so that she could print pictures off her memory card ... but the computer doesn't have a memory card reader!! She asked me to look at it on Friday after school, and that's when I told her about the usb memory card reader. Oh, UGH UGH UGH - the computer has Windows 8 OS. It is HORRIBLE. For a smartphone, it'd be fine, but for a desktop? UGH UGH UGH! And this is coming from someone who feel way comfortable finding their way around a computer AND a smartphone. (She'll reimburse me for the purchase.)
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I recieved 3 of my 5 $5 AGCs from SBs yesterday. I'm just waiting for the last two now. I missed the daily goal on Thursday I think.

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I picked up my NON-generic Sythroid prescrip yesterday - along with sunscreen (from the clearance box!), sunglasses (to replace the ones I broke recently), and a few other items. Hopefully within a couple weeks this NON-generic will do the trick and I'll have my energy back. (I also read somewhere that sometimes you can get dizzy spells due to thryoid issues ... which might explain some of the dizzy spells I've had.)

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I also filled up my gas (had two bars left - so didn't wait for fumes!!) The first gas station I went to - tried two different pumps and they wouldn't work. After the first pump didn't work, I canceled the transaction. At the second pump it told me to "see attendant" - he tells me that I have to leave my card with him and he'll turn the pump on for me. UGH! I do this, and of course it doesn't work. I went back in and told him "nevermind, I'm going somewhere else." Next place I went to the first pump worked with no problem - and it was for the same price! ($3.29/gallon)

So ... in 5 weekdays my part of summer school will be over. In 11 days I head out to CA to see my brother, aunt and grandma. Then in 19 days I head out to NE to see my NE man. Can you tell I'm excited and ready? (especially for the last one!!)

Today was build day for the new playground sponsored by our school and our health insurance company. Hot, tired, sweaty just barely begin to describe how I felt when I got home. I took a 30 minute COLD shower, and still didn't feel that much cooler. At least I felt cleaner!

I spent part of the morning at the registration table, and then a few hours in the afternoon putting water in the wheelbarrows where people were mixing cement. I wouldn't have minded the job too much if it hadn't been for this one guy (who I guess was in charge) constantly telling me I was doing it wrong and then grabbing the hose out of my hand to start doing it himself ... Ugh. When we reached a breaking point where we had more cement ready for the mixer than could be easily/quickly mixed, I left and went back to the registration table.

The playground is very nice, although using mulch as the ground cover is pretty questionable here - especially considering how very windy it can get. I also heard that the flowers that the students/neighborhood kids had planted about 4 or 5 weeks ago and that had been left outside the science building at our school to grow, had been killed by someone pouring bleach on them. Twice. I hope whoever did that doesn't decide to mess with the new playground.

I'm thinking of renting Tiger Eyes from iTunes tonight. I doubt it'll come out in any theaters around here, plus seeing it on iTunes would be cheaper. I heart Judy Blume and am so happy that one of her books finally became a movie! (especially this one - one that I read at least a dozen times when I was in elementary school (7th/8th grade.)

Tomorrow I'll need to go into big G to pick up a memory card reader for our preschool director. She'd had our IT person buy her a brand new computer so that she could print pictures off her memory card ... but the computer doesn't have a memory card reader!! She asked me to look at it on Friday after school, and that's when I told her about the usb memory card reader. Oh, UGH UGH UGH - the computer has Windows 8 OS. It is HORRIBLE. For a smartphone, it'd be fine, but for a desktop? UGH UGH UGH! And this is coming from someone who feel way comfortable finding their way around a computer AND a smartphone. (She'll reimburse me for the purchase.)
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I recieved 3 of my 5 $5 AGCs from SBs yesterday. I'm just waiting for the last two now. I missed the daily goal on Thursday I think.

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I picked up my NON-generic Sythroid prescrip yesterday - along with sunscreen (from the clearance box!), sunglasses (to replace the ones I broke recently), and a few other items. Hopefully within a couple weeks this NON-generic will do the trick and I'll have my energy back. (I also read somewhere that sometimes you can get dizzy spells due to thryoid issues ... which might explain some of the dizzy spells I've had.)

Ugh. Did it again. Posted without saving.

Not feeling great at all today - in fact had a bad episode of light headedness around ten - think was partly due to not eating much for breakfast.

One of my students got miserably sick today. My assistants took care of the rest of the class while I waited with the student for someone to pick him up.

Tomorrow should be fairly easy - one of my assistants is taking care of math, and the afternoon is pretty much used up with The Lorax movie.

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Today is one year since my dad died. Been dreading it for awhile - not sure how I'd take it/react. NE has been truly amazing and special and supportive - especially the past few days. I think that has helped a lot. It probably also helped that I've been so busy/exhausted and haven't had a whole lot of time to think about it. So much I'd like to tell my dad about what's happened, so much I'm sad about that he might miss out on in the future.

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Speaking of exhaustion .. 6 nights in a row with 5 hours or less of sleep - no matter what time I go to bed. Tonight I'm thinking of taking some generic Nyquil and seeing if it will help me get at least more than 5 hours.

Will be going into town tomorrow to pick up the NON generic Synthroid. Hopefully this will help soon.

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My June car payment should be going out tomorrow I think. two payments closer to payoff

Didn't come even close to SBs goal today and am not going to bother trying (especially with one single search win of 6 ...gah!_)

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NE sent me a Firehouse song (one of the *many* super sweet things over the past few days) and that has gotten me on a long hair band kick - Firehouse, Journey, etc. Gotta love youtube right?

I slept maybe 5 hours last night. Got to the school shortly after 7 (unheard of for me!) Had two surprise student additions, but thankfully had 6 who didn't show up.

Overall, it went much, much better than I feared. The kids listened well, and other than math, everything ran pretty smoothly. They (kids) seemed to enjoy everything I had planned out for them - even overheard multiple students saying how much they'd liked summer school.

I had one student tell me that she was surprised that I (a teacher) hadn't melted standing out on the playground during recess. I guess most of the teachers don't tend to stay out for recess ... Oh well.

I broke my rule to not spend anything ... I bought 6 $1 decks of playing cards for math class - math war! (If you've never played it, you really should sometime. It's a blast!) That'll be enough to occupy a group of 6 students during a rotation. That'll help the congestion of kids needing their initial worksheets corrected/signed so they can go to the next activity/game.

I think I got a bit of a sunburn - need to see if I can find any sunscreen 0 don't remember the last time I had any though.

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My doctor called with my test results from Friday. No anemia, etc. My thyroid is still on the low side, so she thinks we may have to up it again. Once I can get my new prescription filled (insurance won't pay for it until June 5) if I'm not feeling more myself within a few weeks, she may up it. I really don't like that idea because I'm at .15 right now and am not sure how much further it goes up. Somewhere I have the idea that .2 is the upper limit, and then it means something like you have a non-functioning thyroid. Really don't want to research it and scare myself ...

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I got a 40 search win on SBs this morning before leaving for work. That definitely helped me make goal much more easily than it would've been otherwise.

Ugh. Today I spent about 9 hours at the school trying to get ready for tomorrow. That makes a total of about 25 hours (not including time before school got out when I was doing research for ideas.) I do NOT feel ready at all. I have three assistants, but they won't be getting there until the same time the kids do in the morning - so no way for me to prep them and make sure they know what all we're doing. I met with them on Friday for an hour, but that was barely enough time to sort out and group the kids ..

I had two classrooms to set up the desks and put down chairs. No decorations whatsoever in either room - just not energy, time or able to get to resources (free ones at least..) Couldn't find any math manipulatives, the toner on the copier was running low, and the computers need Adobe Flash updated to use the Math website I want the kids to use ... Ugh.

I really need to do dishes and laundry, but will only manage to get a shower in before I zonk out tonight I think.

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CCF - thanks for pointing me to the job possibility. I checked it out and even started an application. But the more I thought about it today, I really don't think I'd feel good about leaving after I'd already signed my contract here.

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Yesterday I finally took the plunge I've been thinking and debating about for a long time. I upgraded my phone to the 4S. With the new cover, it cost $121.xx for the 16 GB. One thing I hadn't realized is that ATT has 4G coverage in this area - I guess my 3GS phone couldn't pick that up. I'm very happy with it so far.

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So far in June I've redeemed $20 in AGC from SBs. Tomorrow I'll redeem another $5 one. I'm pretty close to my next $5 AGC with Irazoo. I'm really hoping tomorrow's daily goal on SBs isn't too ridiculous - otherwise I probably won't be able to make it.

I went to the doctor this morning. When the PA took my blood pressure, it was 150/106. Yikes! That is SO out of normal for me. The doctor told her to take it again in ten minutes - more normal this time - 120/80. I told the doctor how fatigued and icky I've been feeling, as well as a couple things I thought it might be. One of them possibly being a generic Syntrhoid. She emailed a scrip in stating NO GENERIC. So hopefully that will help! She also gave me a couple extra tests other than the thyroid - including a CBC count. Will have to wait to see the results.

She asked me if I was exercising, and I told her that yes I was - around 30 -50 minutes 4 or 5 times a week. She wants me to increase it to a min. of 45 minutes. I'd love to if I had a willing walking partner!!
I really think I am going to upgrade my phone. If I upgrade to the 4 or the 4S then I can use the GymPact Anywhere function - this way I could use my elliptical on days when walking partner decides to not walk, and still be motivated to exercise for the GymPact. Or I could walk/run in the gym and still have it count. With 3rd grade co-worker leaving, I have a lot less chance of having a willing walking partner - especially one who's willing to do more than the bare min. of 30 minutes. Ugh.

The visit cost me $69. $35 Co-pay plus a $34 balance from the last visit (blood tests.) I'm supposed to go back again in 3 months.

After the doctor I was on the SBs site and got nearly 200 points just from the McDonald's app. Cool. I had planned on going in to the school during the morning, but just did not feel good. I finally made myself go a bit after noon. I thought I was going to have the help of my summer school assistants for a couple hours, but only had them for an hour. That was barely enough time to divide the kids into groups and classify them loosely into ability levels. I spent a few more hours printing out games/worksheets - but will have to go in Sunday to make sure everything is really put together and ready for Monday.

I got an email today from restaurants . com telling me that a place I'd bought a certificate for a few years ago is no longer participating. Since I hadn't used the certificate, I could exchange it and redeem it for $25 credit. I'd bought the certificate so that I could take my dad and grandma out to a Chinese vegetarian place in Loma Linda, but we ended up not going. So I'm going to use the credit to buy certificates for IHOP and another place in NE. I've asked NE to look at the possible places and tell me what would be a good choice.

I think I'm going to skip church tomorrow and just try to sleep. I'm also going to try to get off the phone/Skype by 11 tonight (we have our date start at 8 my time, 9 his time.)

The co-worker who is leaving in the morning gave me back my dad's laptop today. She'd been using it to hook her wi-fi router into at her house. It's good to have it back, although I'd rather still have my friend staying here.

My barclay's account is funded and vetted now. A month from now I'll see how much difference that .15% makes.

Tonight my two walking buddies/co-workers went out to eat - two of us were treating the third who is leaving on Saturday. With tip, the meal for the three of us was $50. Gulp. Oh well, it isn't like someone leaves all the time that you want to take out. The food wasn't that great, but that doesn't matter that much.

I opened a Barclay's account and am now just waiting for the test amounts to be able to transfer money into it. I'll be putting about 70% of my savings there. I don't know how much difference an extra .15% interest will really make .. but every miniscule bit helps, right?

Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment for bloodwork and hope to also see the doctor to talk about my tiredness/icky feeling that doesn't seem to go away. I'm wondering if it has to do with upping my dosage of thyroid meds - or if it has something to do with taking a generic of Synthroid for the last three weeks or so (although the icky/fatigue started before I started taking the generic--- I picked it up on the 14th? on my way back from CO and it didn't dawn on me that it was the generic until I was in my car and I decided one month of it wouldn't kill me ..)

So ... NE and I are doing well. He'd said something on Monday night that confused me as to what he meant, and I asked him to clarify about it last night. Which he did. I found a couple of neat websites - one where you can send virtual flowers (name of site is just that - virtual flowers com.) And then this other one with funny/dirty/scandalous ecards for all sorts of occasions - some ecards (no spaces.) I sent NE one of the few that were funny without also being dirty - if you check it out, it's the one about pigs and bacon. He got a kick out of it.

Today was the 3rd payday for May. I had actually forgotten about it, but then I stopped by the office to ask the secretary something and saw the paystubs on the table (we have to sign a sheet to show we picked up the paystub.)

I'm kind of nervous about next week/summer school. Without a real curriculum to follow and needing to fill two weeks with "fun" educational activities ... (while also attempting to spend NO money) ,, It's been a few years since I've *really* been in a classroom like this. (Yes, I've been teaching in the library/computer lab for the past two years - but that is with multiple different groups for no more than an hour at a time. Lots of times I can just basically repeat the same lesson for different groups with a few tweaks ...)

So yesterday I had my babysitting job. It went well - about 5 hours for $40. It was worth more than the cash to me though - I really enjoy taking care of the girls. Of course, by the time I got home and got something to eat, it was just about time for my Monday phone date with NE. So I didn't get much done on Monday other than a walk with my co-workers, babysitting gig and a 5 hour phone date. Not that I'm complaining. At all.

After another walk with my co-workers this morning, I decided that instead of going into town and spending money (which I'd been contemplating) that I'd sit down with YNAB and do a fresh start and see where I'm at money wise.

In November after buying my car, my Net Worth was around $48k. Today, mostly thanks to one particular stock (hit $110 today!!) my NW is grasping at $95k!! That number is seriously hard for me to comprehend that I've actually got that kind of money available to me. (Of the individual stock I own, approximately 90% of them were inherited. So, unless they drop down to $30/share, I'm not messing with them.)

Tomorrow I need to start preparing for summer school in earnest. It starts on Monday.

Good friend/co-worker is leaving on Saturday. A couple of us are taking her out to eat Thursday night (3rd payday of the month - dinner out is being timed for the payday ... my 3rd payday will mostly be going into savings - such a different mindset.) She has a possible job offer in the area she'd like to relocate to, so that is good news. I'm still really sad to see her go though.

(I had a lot more to this post, but had to restart it due to a browser hiccup before I had a chance to save ...)

Haven't done much this weekend. Yesterday I went to church in the morning, but was so tired that I went straight home (didn't stay for potluck.) I slept pretty hard for a few hours, and then gave J a call (the lady I lived with for a few months two years ago.) She's a month out from her second knee surgery and is recovering pretty well from it. She was happy to hear about NE and I. Then it was time for my weekly call to grandma. Pretty much same conversation per usual.

I slept a bit more, then got up and caught up on about frugal forums (hadn't read in over a month!) Did some laundry too.

** Oh, I had to fill up before heading to church. I was on fumes again. Last tank was 34.4 mpg, even with the fast driving. $37.39 for 10.489 gallons

This morning I was supposed to go walking, but both people wimped out on me. I was going to make ableskebers for my two sometimes walking partners this morning, but shortly before heading over to Ns place to make them, I realized I didn't have buttermilk, good butter (all my tubs were dried out ...), salt or sugar!! So I had to go to the expensive mom and pop store and pick that stuff up (no buttermilk, but did get lemon juice --- didn't quite achieve the right results using rice milk ...)About $10. Ouch.

The first two batches didn't turn out great, but luckily by the third batch they were working out better. The ladies told me that it was my practice run for making them for NE. (I hadn't made them in practically 3 years .. so was a little rusty.)

I redeemed swagbucks for a $15 AGC yesterday. Now have enough for my June 5 $5's.

Tomorrow I have a babysitting gig. The mom wrote me to let me know that her dh won't be going on the trip he was thinking about doing, but they'd like to spend some quality time together tomorrow.

I can't seem to shake this tiredness, no matter how much I'm sleeping/lazing. I will be seeing my doctor again on Friday for retesting bloodwork (thyroid.) I'm hoping she can offer me some ideas on what is going on. Tired of being tired.

Almost forgot - got a call this pm from one of my walking partners about the loose neighborhood dog who always comes with us on our walks. She (the dog) has been accused of biting a child. Witnesses (all kids under ten ..) say that it was actually the child's dog that bit her after being sat on by the child ... but the child claims it was neighborhood dog. Only consequence right now is that nd is going to have to be tied up all the time (which her owners have tried to do, but she constantly gets off the tie out.) The owner asked if we'd write a note to animal control stating that nd is NOT aggressive. She isn't - so I will be doing that.

So today is the last day of school. Last week all the teachers and assistants were given evaluation forms to complete for all the special teachers. Today I asked the principal when we were going to get to see them - she handed them over to me.

The majority of them were 1's and 2's (Outstanding, High Satisfactory.) A few of them had names. Only one of them had a comment to explain one of the scores. I wish I could focus on those ones, but the ones that stood out to me were the ones with the 5's - Unsatisfactory. There were 3 of those for classroom management. No name and no explanation. I also had two 3s (low satisfactory) for collaboration/connection to curriculum/getting along with teachers. Again, no comments or names.

I'm totally befuddled. No teacher has come to me to say anything of the sort. I know there are some groups I have a more difficult time with than others, but for the most part I feel like I have a good handle. As for connecting curriculum ... I'd LOVE to do more of it if they would TELL me what they are studying!!! And yes, I do ask.

All this has done for me is to sucker punch me in the gut. It has done nothing constructive because I have nothing to base figuring out a fix or a solution. All it makes me do is want to say I have had enough. I have tried to do a good job. I have tried to reach out to the staff. I have tried to make the curriculum interesting and relevant. I really don't know what else to do.

I feel like a failure in some ways. I just can't seem to hack it in any job .. and I've scr@wed up most of my relationships too.

Sorry .. this is mostly a self-pity party of one. Part of me knows that it is impossible to make everyone happy. The low scores themselves aren't really the most upsetting part of this, it's the not knowing *why* they were given. The not having any way to figure out what the perception/mis-perception is - is it that the person thinks kids should be silent in the library? If that's the case, then it's a matter of differing opinions. Is it something else? With nothing to go off of, how is a low score at all helpful??

Oh yeah, I got a couple 3's also on making up classes/leaving lesson plans. Arghh!! All anyone has to do is ASK ME if they want to make up a missed class period! Anytime someone ASKS, I do everything I can to figure out how to do it. And for lesson plans .. I leave them, they just don't seem to get used!

Phhff!

Gotta go pick up nurse. Off to ABQ.