Keeping It Frugal

I don't remember the last time I posted on here, so hopefully I won't repeat myself too badly.

I got a full time job working at the local bus company. I got word today that I am good to go - so I start on August 4. (We had to wait for background checks.) It pays slightly better than New Mexico, has health insurance, retirement, etc. I will be part of a union, so I guess I'll have union dues.

One really awesome thing though is that there is an exercise room in the building that I can use! Plus, if I use it so many times per week, it'll earn me dress down days.

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Once I had my offer letter, I started looking for my own apartment. What a nightmare. Almost every place I went was already full, or I would schedule a showing to find out a deposit had just been put down on it.

On Wednesday I saw a place - 440 sq ft wanting 450/mo. It was designed really poorly. I passed on it.

Today though I saw something that I think will work. Around 7oo sq ft, designed well, and 430/month. No stairs either. I put in an application and put down a deposit in case I'm accepted. Now it is a waiting game to see if they take me.

It isn't a sure fire thing due to not having any real rental history for five years. (2 years of grad school, 3 years living rent free at the mission school and 8 weeks living at boyfriend's place.)

If not, I am lined up to see another place Friday morning. Guess only time will tell.

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I quit my call center job on Sunday. That was so nice at the end of my shift to say to the supervisor that I wouldn't be back. Such a relief.

Part of the reason I did that was to give me more time to ride the bus routes here and learn them. I haven't done as much riding as I'd planned on due to apartment hunting. However, with NEs help, I am feeling more confident that I can at least begin to help people figure out a good route.

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On Wednesday I went to the local mall for the purpose of going to Lane Bryant for some underthings. I got waylaid by Sear's clearance instead. I bought 7 tops and a skirt for $60. One of those tops was something I'd been looking for - a kind of shrug to replace the one I left in New Mexico. The other things were just kind of refreshing my dressy tops for work.

I still need to go back for LB - NE called while I was there wanting to do a trip to Omaha, so I cut my mall time short.

Remember how stressed I was a few days ago? Well on Wednesday I had yet another job interview. I thought it had gone well, but I got the usual song and dance of them letting me know in the next two weeks or so.

When I got to the apartment I got to deal with a flooded sink and kitchen. Fun. (Plumber took care of it with 90ft of snake ... I was only two hours late for work.)

On Thursday as I was driving to my call center job I got a phone call. It was from the place I interviewed at on Wednesday! They wanted to know if I'd still be interested in the job even if I'd have to wait until August 4 for the background check to be finished.

Oh yeah!

I have no idea how much it pays, or for sure what the benefits are. I also am not positive on the days/hours. I've looked and looked for where I found the job listing, but haven't been able to locate it anywhere.

So ... how would y'all suggest I go about finding out this information without looking bad before even starting my job? Btw, it is for an admin asst job at the local bus transit company. (City government job, so I'm pretty sure I have at least health benefits.)

I'm so happy to have a full time job finally, and to have the ability to get my own apartment in the very near future!!

I am really starting to feel the stress of not having found a full time job. I know I've only been here in Nebraska since late May, but I started my searching in January. I'm not worried about my money running out, because I do have enough reserves if I had to use them to last a good while, but like I said, I really don't want to use them that way.

To add to my stress, I am in danger of losing my part time call center job. I had been doing really well. However last night I got back some evaluations that are foreboding. In fact one of them could have had me instantly fired, but they gave me another chance.

What had I done that was so terrible? I had miscoded an answer to a question, which caused several subsequent follow up questions to be skipped. The bizarre thing is that I had even clarified the answers with the person. Skipping questions is cause for termination. I signed a note last night saying that I know if it happens again, I will be fired.

This job is already stressful enough for what it pays, and now my stress level had tripled. I made this mistake on a survey that took 7:30 minutes. So I'm guessing this was one where the person had made it clear they weren't interested in taking much time, so I was trying to go really fast. I went too fast apparently.

The really sad thing is that on Sunday and last night I finally managed to complete enough surveys to earn more than the base amount.

I was already fearful of skipping questions before, but now I'm triply fearful. It isn't just about the money now - now I've been at this job long enough I'm going to have to put it down on applications. I *really* don't want to put down that I was fired. Especially because they call skipping questions a form of cheating the surveys - which is not what I'm trying to do at all. It's gonna make me look really bad just when I need to look really good.

All I want to do right now is eat junkfood.

If anyone here lives in the three cities I put in the title and might be interested in completing a secret shopping project in your area, you'd really help me out by leaving a comment here with your first name - and if you use a different email for SA, then the email you'd use for work related stuff. You do need a smartphone so you can download the secret shopper app. This project pays between $100 and $140.

Thanks for helping me out if you're interested.

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I had my second interview today for the admin asst job, and then also had a personality assessment. I asked when they plan to make a decision .... AUGUST!!! This position has been advertised for at least a month! Seriously, if people need a job, they aren't looking for one to maybe start two months later.

I gave the staffing agency another call today to keep my name fresh. Something has to give here soon.

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Last night at the call center I was asked to work the next two Sundays - I jumped at the chance. That just means 28 hours for the next two weeks instead of 24. I'll take it though, especially considering that a full time job seems to be taking it's sweet ol' time coming along!!

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I'm almost halfway to my next redemption on Bubblews. It's going much much faster this round.

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I'm having trouble depositing my final paycheck from the school and the first check from the call center. I tried using my phone apps for both Cap One and Bofa, but neither one would accept them. They are way too long for a good picture. I checked to see if there are any ATMs here for either bank ... Nope. I'm really not sure how else to deposit the checks, other than opening yet another bank account. I really don't want to do that. Would love ideas! (This is going to be an ongoing problem with the call center checks. Previously I had my school checks direct deposited, but for whatever reason they give a paper one for the last one.)

I'm now partway into my second week at my call center job. What can I say ... it's a job and it's money coming in.

Yesterday I had two job interviews! One was for a child services trainee position (good money and benefits) and the other is for an admin asst position to the president of a company that produces Christian materials for blind people (supported on donations only.)

I'd be happy with either one, because they both would fulfill my desire to do something that actually *means* something in the bigger picture. I'm not sure about pay/benefits on the admin job - one big benefit of it though would be a 4 day workweek.

I had one of my references call me today and let me know that she'd gotten a call!! That to me is really good news, because that's the first time in this round of job hunting a reference has actually gotten contacted. So ... maybe a real full time (or close to it) job is in the cards in the real near future!!

I haven't had much Internet time lately, and most of what I have had has been spent on Bubblews. I'm already almost back up to $10 after cashing out a few days ago. I'm going to try to catch up on all of ya'lls blogs now.

On Monday I started a part-time job where I call people to survey them about their opinions on the healthcare in their area. Monday and Tuesday nights were training and orientation, and then Wednesday, Thursday and tonight I spent calling people using the training study. About two hours in to my shift tonight I got the message that my session had been ended by my supervisor.

The reason it was ended was because I'd received high enough evaluations on the completed surveys to move on to an actual client survey! I didn't make any phone calls yet on this new project, but I will start making them on Monday.

This job definitely does not pay much - but it does at least guarantee a minimum amount per hour as long as you are following their policies, and the possibility of making more in bonuses if you complete so many surveys in an hour, or later on for positive attitude, etc.

The way I'm looking at it right now is, it's a job. It's something. Not what I'd want to do full time or for very long, but it will bring some income in.

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In other news, I just redeemed for $54.44 on the bubblews site. It took awhile, but I think the next one will come much faster. (If you want to read some of my latest postings, click on the link on the left hand side of my profile. That'll take you to a list of my postings there.)

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I recently got the bill for my new ISP. I was quite incensed by some of the charges and called to complain. About $45 worth of charges were removed after I spoke with the CS agent. I'm still not happy with the ISP, but I unfortunately don't have much choice.

So on Sunday I get to where I'm supposed to start training at 9:30 a.m. I wait and wait and wait ... no one is there at 9:50 a.m. I call the lady and find out "sorry, there was an out of town emergency, can you train on Tuesday?" I told her yes, but after talking with NE I decided to just not do this job at all. This was at least the third time I've been blown off. Also, there'd only be 8 days total left that I could work before the campaign is over.

I'm not that desperate for money to work for someone who will jerk me around like that. (I have at least one more paycheck coming from my librarian job, plus plenty of savings.)

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I called the staffing agency to let them know I'd be available for any job openings ASAP. I will probably need to give them another call today to make sure they got my message (and keep me in their minds.)

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I heard that the governor of NE declared a state of emergencies due to storms - I haven't watched the local news here so am not sure what storms he was talking about. (am going to do a search) It was really humid and overcast here yesterday, but I don't think we got any rain (although we did have somewhat heavy winds - nothing compared to spring winds in NM though.)

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NE and I went to CiCi's last night. He likes to eat late, so we ended up being there right before closing time. I had no idea that they offered whatever was left on the warmers to customers at closing. I took most of a veggie pizza home - meals for a couple days.

Tomorrow I start my job collecting signatures. I have to go in earlier than usual for some training, so I'll be there from 9:30 a.m to 7:00 p.m. I'm not sure what meal breaks are like, so I'm going to make a PBJ sandwich to take, and probably take a granola bar or two as well. It also all of a sudden got warm here today ... so I'll make sure to have my water bottle with me as well.

I'm going to have to go to bed much earlier than I have been the last few weeks so I have energy to go the whole day. It's funny how out of a routine you can get in just a few short weeks.

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Those of you interested in what I did for my dad for Father's Day - I ended up going to feed the ducks/waterfowl today instead of tomorrow. Doing it today worked much better than tomorrow (would be extremely stressful to fit in - plus I wouldn't have had NE there to video me!) I couldn't get the video to upload from my phone to youtube so there is a short version I could email and then upload.

I wrote a short article about it on bubblews if you want to see it:

http://www.bubblews.com/news/3802313-honoring-my-dad-this-fa...

Or, if you'd prefer to just see the youtube video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJlsdIzq5Wo

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I called my grandma this afternoon for our usual Sabbath afternoon chitchat. She laid it on me that they are converting the shed in her backyard into an extra bedroom for my niece. This means that all of dads stuff that my brother and I stored in the shed needs to have something done with it.

I called my brother to see what he thought, but he only had a few minutes. He said he'd call our aunt to get the full scoop.

There's no way I can get to CA this summer to go through the shed. I have to remain focused on getting a permanent job. We'll figure something out.

So Friday morning I had an interview at a staffing agency. It went okay I think, although I think she thought I wanted too much for salary. I asked about how I did on the assessment tests I had to take prior to the interview - I scored an 87 on Word and Excel, a 91 on Office Skills, a 60 WPM on typing, 7200kph on the ten-key, and can't remember on the alpha-numeric. All the numbers were well above what they look for.

So, I guess only time will tell. She did have me fill out an I-9 and W-4 form, so maybe that is a good sign that she thinks there will be something available for me at some point.

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On Sunday I start the collecting signatures job. Not really excited about it, other than earning some money and having something to do.

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I'm also planning on finding a pond with some ducks to feed on Sunday - as a way of honoring my dad. My 3rd Father's Day without him. This was my brother's idea (I'd suggested all of us going to Schlotsky's (sp?) but was voted down. Like my brother's idea better.)

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I talked with a former co-worker tonight for a long time. She initially had called to try to get me interested in an MLM business. As soon as she told me the name, I let her know I had absolutely no interest - that I had gone to one of their presentations when I lived in the DFW area. After a few minutes of reassuring her that I meant it, we spent a lot of time just chit chatting. It was good to talk with her, and I hope she has success with her MLM venture.

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I have received two cash back rewards recently. One for my BofA Cash Rewards card - $100, and one for my Cap One QuickSilver card - $100. I used the CapOne card to pay for my rental truck and tow dolly and rent my PO box - $649 total. I'll be cancelling the CapOne card as soon as I have it paid off - I wish I could keep it because of the cute cat logo, but it doesn't offer enough rewards to warrant keeping it.

I'm getting lessons in patience I think. The collecting signatures job I interviewed for on Thursday and was supposed to start on Sunday .... for whatever reason my background check didn't come through right away. I got a call from the lady on Sunday telling me she was still waiting on it. I didn't hear anything yesterday, and finally today around 2:00 p.m. I called her. She had gotten it finally, but was dealing with some issues right then.

At any rate, I'll be starting it on Sunday!

To add to the mix, the place I interviewed at on Friday, which I thought turned out to be a total waste of time ... I got a call from the lady this morning offering me a three week part time position at $8/hour starting on Friday. I had to tell her no thanks because of the collecting signatures job (better pay, more hours for one thing) but it does look like the interview may not have been a total waste if more things like that come along.

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I made an appointment with the dentist here finally - the hole in my tooth is getting very annoying, and my insurance runs out on the 30th. So, I need to get it taken care of. Wednesday at 9 I'll get a cleaning, x-rays and then an appt to do the filling.

I also made an appointment to get Kari's claws trimmed on Friday. It was $10 in big G, but here it is $16. As long as I'm living in NEs place, I *must* keep her claws trimmed short - it would not do our relationship much good if she destroyed one of his many speakers, etc.

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I've written quite a bit on bubblews, and have otherwise been keeping pretty busy doing different things. If you want to check out some of my recent posts, here is a link to my profile page:

http://www.bubblews.com/account/208258-ftlaura

Okay, I'm going to now attempt to catch up on the blogs. Looks like I've missed quite a bit of activity!

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Question. If someone told you they had keyed another persons car after that person had flipped them the bird, what would your reaction/response be? (The people with the keyed car did not see it happen.)

I interviewed today for a job that'll last 4 or 5 weeks - but is full time. It is essentially collecting signatures to put an issue onto the next ballot. The deadline is sometime in July. I could make anywhere between $380 and $500 a week depending on how many signatures I manage to get. It's an issue that I think most people will be in favor of, so I don't think it'd be too difficult.

The one problem is that it's hours conflict with the online tutoring shifts. So I wrote the person and asked them if it were possible for my shifts to begin in five weeks time. I'm waiting to hear back now, but if the answer is no, I'll be okay with it. I'm really not all that excited about the format after finishing the training on Wednesday. Plus, I'm seeing that it may not be all that difficult for me to find a job, so I don't need to worry too much.

I also have two interviews scheduled with staffing agencys - one for tomorrow at 9:45 and one for Thursday at 9:45.

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Kari seems to be getting along with the other cats and adjusting better. Now NE and I are still working on adjusting - will be good when I'm out of the apartment for 40 hours a week starting Monday.

Can't think of much else. I'm going to sign off so I can get my walk in before dark.

I think the move has caught up with me. Last night and today I have felt really run down and blah.

This morning I got the Internet hooked up here so I can start training for the online tutoring job tomorrow. It is so nice to be able to use my computer again.

The interview on Sunday I think went well overall. I won't know for sure until later this week.

I got some bad news from my former employer. They let go of the IT person - the one who I worked with a lot and had lung cancer multiple times last year. Apparently they are going to have the new librarian also be the IT person. Yeah, that's going to go well. Looking Forward, this is an example of loyalty from a boss huh. :roll eyes:

Been spending way too much money. Hopefully the job I'm about to start will help with that.

I'm writing on my phone so this will be short.

This has been a LONG week with many frustrations - mainly because I was SO tired. The upshot though is that we arrived into Ltown Thursday night. Friday we unloaded the truck into my storage unit, and today finished getting what I wanted into the apt (Saturday)

Saturday night I spent cleaning and organizing so my stuff would fit better. We also thrifted a ton of his clothes he doesn't wear anymore so I'd have some closet space (on Friday)

Sunday I have my second interview in person for the office job. Tuesday the Internet should be set up and Wednesday I start training for the tutoring job.

I easily met the $500 spending for the Quicksilver card by renting my truck and tow dolly. I spent over $450 on gas for my car and the truck. I think my total moving costs are roughly $1200. Of course I'll have another move once I've found an apartment, but that'll be an in town move so should be fairly cheap.

I'm going to look into the chase freedom card deal. I love when the deals offered are attainable for me.

So far everything is going well. Although sometimes I stop short and wonder if I've really made this major change or if I'm just dreaming. Kari I think wishes she was dreaming - she's having a really hard time adjusting going from a one cat house to an multi cat household. I will admit that it is a bit overwhelming sometimes. I did get him to put out two more litter boxes so we now have four with clumping litter. Helps a lot.

I had my Skype interview just a few minutes ago. Overall I think it went well, although we had a bit of a miscommunication about the time. I thought he meant 4 p.m. MST, and he thought 4 p.m.CST - but his email said 5 p.m. CST. So he texted me at 3:07 my time ... I told him I just needed five minutes.

I quickly brushed my hair and put on my interview top and a little makeup and ran to my computer.

It sounds really interesting. It pays around $13/hour, but no benefits. Well, there is one really great benefit. I wouldn't have to be there at 8 a.m. I could come in as late as noon if I wanted to, as long as the work got done.

He did seem concerned that I was overqualified. I told him that I was looking for something that would keep me busy, would have me helping people, but also wouldn't spill over into my outside of work time - like teaching would. I think that answered his concern.

He wants me to call him on Sunday to meet somewhere for ten or fifteen minutes in person.

So ... we'll see what happens! (I could possibly do this AND the tutoring job.)

I took my mom to the airport this afternoon. She was here helping me pack my place the last few days.

This morning before she left we did some shopping. I bought two skirts (one black, one white) one pair of dress black pants, 5 dressy tops, and a belt - $150 - all from Dillard's and Lane Bryant. This was after she and I had gone through all my clothes and gotten rid of anything that was worn or not a good color for me. We had specific things we were looking for, and for the most part we actually managed to find them.

I also paid for both my hair cut and her hair style. $86 with tip. Gulp. My hair looks so much better - it sorely needed a trim. (I did this before she realized what I was doing.)

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As I said, the last few days have been really busy with the packing and also the end of the year stuff. Friday was kind of a let down in a way. At mass they called the four of us who were leaving and gave us all a gift.

The last two years people leaving had received a storytelling doll. I was looking forward to that because I thought it looked really neat and would fit what I had done at the school.

I didn't have a chance to open my gift until I got home ( and after a run in with my mom being all drama queen ....) It wasn't a storytelling doll. It was some sort of vase with two openings. I had no idea what it stood for, and in my tiredness asked my mom if she'd like it.

She loved it, and said yes.

Tonight my mom texted me. Apparently her ex husband (whom she is now somewhat back together with .... long story) let her know what the vase was. Here is a link that looks similar to it:

http://www.kachinahouse.com/p-7263-native-american-acoma-han...

When I realized what it was, my heart sank. I realized just how special and meaningful the gift really was. I felt like such a dolt. I've asked my mom if she'd be okay with sending it back to me, now that I know the significance of it. She hasn't replied yet, but it is kind of late there.

Ugh.

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I've written a few more posts on bubblews if you're interested. Instead of linking to a particular post, I'm going to link to my profile and then you can click on ones that look interesting. (if any ) I'm almost to $16, or about 1/3 of the way to my first payout.

http://bit.ly/1oysoor

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I *think* I have one part time job. The online English tutoring job. I received an email asking me if I was still interested, and that if I was she'd set me up for training. I replied that I was interested, but I haven't heard back.

I also had another phone interview on Friday. This was for a conceirge service, but part of it was also sales. The person who interviewed me said she thought I would do great at the customer service aspect (friendly, intelligent, personable) but wasn't sure about the sales aspect.

I talked with a my mom and NE to see what they thought. They both said the same thing, that they didn't think the job was a a good idea. That was my gut feeling too. So I wrote her and told her I wasn't interested. She wrote me back a really nice email telling me she appreciated my getting back to her and that if I changed my mind to let her know.

Tomorrow I'm going to possibly have a Skype interview for an office position (on site.) I don't know anything about pay yet, but I have received a link to the company website. It looks interesting.

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So that's some updates on me and my life right now. I'm so ready for Tuesday and NE!

Someone on my FB feed posted this article, and as I read it I first thought of BA and then thought of the others here who are working on decluttering.

http://lifehacker.com/eight-things-you-can-discard-to-downsi...

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I've been doing a lot of writing, etc. on bubblews the last few days (procrastinating on what I really should be doing ... packing!) But anyway, here is my latest article if you're interested.

http://www.bubblews.com/news/3416468-cat-anxiety

I've made a bit over $11 in the last two weeks. This weekend it picked up a good bit since I spent more time reading/liking/commenting on posts. If you leave good comments, you will get noticed by the more quality posters - that helps a lot.

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Now I'm off to eat supper and hopefully get some more boxes packed. (and maybe fill some bags with stuff for the thrift store based on the above article!)

First off, I just have to say how much I love Bing's customer service. I had an ongoing issue with not being able to do my mobile searches. CS and I went back and forth for four or five emails. I think I kept getting sent to the next level, because I had a different person each time. Finally, I got an email telling me a workaround. At first I felt frustrated because I thought they'd misunderstood and thought I was talking about the computer searches. But then I actually tried the workaround.

Yesterday I cashed out for 500 SBs from Bing. I had them by the time I got home from work. So this afternoon I was doing my bing searches (didn't do them this morning because I was working on Bubblews) and suddenly noticed I had 567 points. Huh? Then I realized that I must have had a referral reach silver status! Woot Woot!

This is my second referral to reach Silver. The first one I think was Sicily. That makes me sad when I see her name on my referral list. Of course, I cashed out for another 500 SBs code. (These points will eventually become either Amazon cards or PayPal cash. I'm hoarding points right now to make sure I have enough SBs to get my 5 $5 AGCs for June and July in case I can't swag as much as usual.)

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I've been throwing lots of darts out there on the job front. Most of those darts have missed their target. But it looks like possibly two have landed, or at least have a liklihood of landing!

One is for tutoring English online to people in South Korea. It would be about 15 hours a week. I might be having a phone interview for it today. The recruiter emailed me this morning asking if I would be available, and I said after 3:30 CST (which is 4:30 my time.) I had a missed call today at 2:55. I think that might have been her. Oy.

The second one is for a virtual assistant type position. Full time with benefits. She's going to email me to set up a phone interview on Sunday.

With the second position I'll need to change my minutes plan to unlimited. I'll have to do some research to figure out the most economical way to do that (while keeping my phone!)

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I had a few frustrations this week. I wrote about one of them today in a bubble:

http://www.bubblews.com/news/3391581-inspection-frustrations

It does have a happy ending. The mobile home manager came by about 30 minutes ago and did the inspection. I'm only going to be charged the $250 pet deposit which I was supposed to have paid when I got Kari. This was a deposit I'd offered to pay back then, but was told to not say anything about it by the then mobile home park manager. $250 is very reasonable for the damages Kari inflicted here.

Yikes. So I got a notice yesterday about a possible job opportunity through flexjobs. I read through the info and thought maybe it might be interesting, so I applied. I got an email back quickly letting me know that there were several steps to do in the application process.

1. Call a number and give a 60 second message saying why you'd be good for the job.

2. Read their conduct code and do some kind of response on one of the sections (I wrote a multiple haiku poem ...)

3. (The step I'm on) Complete 3 tasks. I completed the first two tasks within about an hour. The last one though ... holy cow! I worked on that a good 8 or 9 hours. Finally about 1 a.m. this morning I called it a day and said I'd finish it today.

I seriously hope this is the last step!! (It sure didn't help that Kari turned my computer off for me at least three times, causing me to lose open tabs with useful links I'd found for completing the task!!)

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I didn't get anything else done yesterday due to the bloated application. I'd planned on watching a couple episodes of Suits season 3, but nope.

Today I've done laundry and a load of dishes. I need to sweep, scrub counters, do a trash run and maybe actually get a box or two packed .... (uh... yeah... moving in less than 2 1/2 weeks and have nothing packed ...))

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I did spend some time on bubblews, and have posted a few more articles. The latest one is talking about the dogs here. In case you're interested ..

http://www.bubblews.com/news/3332719-neighborhood-dogs

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I went to church yesterday, but no one mentioned anything about a going away party. So I'm guessing it's not happening. That's okay with me - I really don't like going into big G more than twice in a day (or week really!)

Today at work while I was feverishly trying to make sure all the students had their Mother's Day cards/letters before going home, I had a parade of fifth grade students bringing me goodbye cards. The first few who brought me one were kids who I think might actually miss me, but by the fifth card I'd realized that their teacher had put them up to it. Nonetheless, there were some really cute, funny and sweet cards.

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In talking with the woman I had lunch with on Saturday after church, I found out that the pastor had asked her to find out when would be a good time for a farewell party. I honestly was kind of surprised. My first year here I was pretty regular (at least 2 or 3 x a month) and stayed for potluck fairly often. But the last two years I've been much, much more sporadic in my attendance, and have stayed for very few potlucks.

Her asking me about that made me think back to when I was leaving Texas to come here and the party that church threw for me -- it was so spot on. A board and card game party! That would be pretty hard to beat.

I'm not sure when / if it will actually happen here. The 17th there's some sort of district wide church service, and then the following Sabbath is my last one, and my mom and I will be heading into ABQ that night. But at any rate, it's nice that they thought about it.

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Tonight as I was making dinner (and ruining a sweet potato) I thought of something for a new post:

http://www.bubblews.com/news/3299805-the-secret-to-making-sw...

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We had the weirdest weather here the last few days. On Tuesday it was nice and warm, although a little windy. Yesterday it got pretty cold (high of 52.) Today though took the cake --- it snowed!! The snow didn't stick, but we all were looking at each other going -- today is May 8, right??

Tomorrow hopefully will be back on the warming trend!

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When I first moved here 3 years ago I bought a number of items at Costco. One was a package of paper towels, and another was a package of toilet paper. I used the last roll of toilet paper up yesterday! (I still have 4 or 5 paper towel rolls left. This is even after I gave a few rolls to another teacher who'd run out.) So I went to the store (Family Dollar) today to pick up some toilet paper. I bumped into so many people from school - even a couple of my 8th graders from my first year here who are now going to be Juniors!

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I'm still having issues with mobile search on Bing. I'm going to give their customer service a few more days before contacting them again about the problem.

On Good Friday I had gone into big G and gotten my car title and registration taken care of. The process took 3+ hours (waiting time) and in the meantime I got into a lively conversation with a Native American women. I never thought I would see her again, but it was a good conversation.

So this afternoon I was standing outside our gym waiting for the IT person (I give her a ride home most days - she has epilepsy and doesn't drive.) Suddenly there is this women standing next to me. I'm looking at her and thinking that she looks familiar, but I just couldn't place her. Then she reminds me of who she is -- the woman from the DMV! She was apparently dropping off some kind of election information. Small world!

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A few days ago while using Yahoo Mail, it stopped functioning and I restarted my browser (my whole browser froze.) When I logged back in, I realized that YM had "upgraded." I have to say I absolutely hate the "upgrade." One reason is that it is much more difficult to differentiate between new and old mail. I even played around with the color themes to try and find one that made it clearer. Ugh! But the other reason I *REALLY* don't like it, is because I can no longer right click!! I use the right click functionality a LOT -- at least I used to.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had their YM "upgraded" without being asked, and what you think?

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Only 1 more day of classes left for me! (then two weeks left of the school year!) I only had 3 classes today, and spent the majority of the day printing out the mother's day cards/posters the students have been making the past month. We don't have school on Friday (teacher inservice) so I need to get them to them by tomorrow afternoon. Most of them turned out to be really cute - it is so neat to see their creativity.

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I cashed out for GymPact this morning - and have already received my $10! yay!
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I wrote another bubble post - about a conversation I had this afternoon with a teacher assistant about finances and also a bit of my letting go of something.

http://www.bubblews.com/news/3286239-a-sad-conversation

Well, not too much really happening on the financial front. I sold another item on eBay on Monday just before leaving work. This gave me enough time to print out a shipping label and walk to the post office to mail it the same day (although it didn't go out until today.)

Bing is having a special deal where you earn double search points on Tuesdays in May. I was happy to see that as I have been spending a lot of points on the Hulu+ 300 point offer - in fact I have my Hulu+ account paid for through the end of August!

I just have to say here how much I love Bing's customer service. This morning I was doing my Bing searches when I noticed the double deal. I usually get 30 points in searches a day. On my page it had the correct wording saying that I could get up to 60 points, but it only gave me 30 credits. I wrote to customer service about the issue around 7:15 a.m. By 1:30 p.m. I had a human response, and this afternoon around 4 p.m. when I checked the Bing Dashboard, it was fixed!

I also mentioned that my mobile search wasn't working right. That hasn't been fixed yet, but I feel sure they will make it right.

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If you are a Swagbuckker make sure you check out the new offer on the Discover tab called Read. You can earn 60 SBs just signing up for newsletters - instant credit!

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I mentioned the bubble news website I signed up for a few days ago. I posted a new article that may interest you about my dad and thinking about the two-year mark coming up.

http://www.bubblews.com/news/3274570-my-father039s-watch

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I should be able to cash out GymPact tonight - another $10! Love making money doing what I'd do anyway!

So I found this website that pays you for views/comments/likes/shares, etc. You write about whatever you want to write about and then supposedly they pay you. Who knows how profitable this might be, but it is another possible avenue.

At any rate, I wrote my first "bubble." It's about a recent book donation to the library. If you'd like to read it (and give me a few views ) here is the link:

http://www.bubblews.com/news/3248639-frozen-and-the-school-l...

If you decide that you would like to try it out for yourself, I'd appreciate you using my referral link. I get a varying amount for anyone who signs up and writes a post. Here is the referral link: "http://www.bubblews.com/?referral=5366e5ace9afd2.04799990" *I made a clickable link on my sidebar. I make links here so rarely that I can never remember how to do them for this blog.

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I applied for a couple more actual jobs today. One for a social work type position (working for the city) and the other for a 6th - 12th grade librarian at a Lutheran school. I kind of figure that if I went out of my comfort zone and worked at a Catholic school for 3 years, I can deal with a Lutheran school. The librarian job is only part time ... if they're interested in me, it'll be interesting to see what exactly that means. It's difficult to imagine dealing with that many grades as a part time job.

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I sold 4 items on eBay this weekend. 3 movies and 1 book.

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Yesterday I was invited out to a church member's house for lunch. That was a nice afternoon - too bad it didn't happen til I was almost leaving. I really like the mom and the little boy. The little boy (a first grader homeschooled) was just so adorable in how excited he was to have me there. )

It sounds like the church here is going to have a going away party for me. I think it'll be combined with another couple who are also moving towards the end of May. I guess this means I'll have to actually go into big G on a Saturday night - not a prospect I'm excited about.

With the end of another week, it means that the countdown continues -- 3 weeks til school is over -- only 1 week of media classes left. Today I started telling kids in my Friday classes that I was leaving. Most of them seemed dissapointed, and a couple of them even made me a quick card during their choice time. (They had a typing final today, then the remainder of the period for choice time on the computer.)

We also had the talent show today. It was pretty awesome.

My back is not doing any better. In fact today it is worse than it has ever been. I had found the names of several chiropractors to call on Thursday, but my back didn't feel too bad on Thursday and I got super busy ... Ugh. I haven't gone for a real walk in nearly 3 weeks - due to weather (wind/cold) and my back. Today the weather was absolutely gorgeous and I was jonesing for some fresh air ... so I told myself I was going for a walk no matter what! Last period I was walking by the coat hooks and jarred my back as I was going by -- pain! Then just as I was about to head out the door on my walk, I knocked over my walking stick and nearly tripped on it - major jarring. In the end, a route that normally takes me 32-34 minutes took me 42 minutes - and that was with shortening it a bit!

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Yesterday I got my oil changed (third day in a row stopping at place for oil change ...) They also changed my air filter. $56! Ouch!

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I checked my BofA cash rewards balance and saw that I have my $100 bonus pending. Once it's there, I'll transfer it to my checking for the 10% bonus.

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I've made arrangements with our two maintenance guys at the school to pack my truck for me after school is over. $50 for both of them. I figure it'll take less than two hours. I think hiring them will be a good idea - both to save my back and to make sure NE isn't too tired for the drive the next day.

I'm also considering hiring one of the teacher assistants to do a final cleaning of my place for $50. I was told that this is a standard rate. It sure would save me a lot of headache on that last day.

I'll be having my place inspected sometime in the next two weeks - to see how much I owe in damages. Thanks to my darling cat, I'll be owing a good bit. Blinds broken (better for checking out what's going on outside of course!) - check. Edge of couch (mission owned) shredded - check. Edges of door frames shredded - check. Bulge in linoleum (two summers ago when the air hadn't been turned on yet and I was in CA) torn to pieces - check. Etc. At least there is no toilet accidents.

I told AL, who was Kari's original owner -- Thanks AL for giving me a cat that is going to cost me a pretty penny! (I was joking with her.)

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I started watching a new show on Amazon Prime yesterday - Suits. I am hooked! Best of all, in episode 3 (which I watched today) a Tesla was featured!! (Oh.. I did sell 13 of my Tsla stocks when it hit back to 216 last week. This was from my 27 shares I consider touchable - shares not from inheritance or rollover IRA.)

So as I'm getting closer and closer to my move to NE, I have been looking harder at housing. I'll be staying with NE until I find a place of my own, and I'm assuming that means that I'll need to find a job and probably have at least one paycheck before I'll be considered.

I let go of a lot of my furniture, etc. before starting grad school 5 years ago, and will be letting go of more furniture/stuff prior to moving. So that means I could go with something really small easily.

I haven't paid rent for 3 years and I haven't paid utilities (other than Internet) for 8? years. I'm planning on asking my principal and the mobile home park manager to write some kind of letter of reference/explanation for the 3 years of no rent, and then ask the woman I stayed with for 4 months and my mom who I rented a room from for 9 or so months to also write letters of reference.

As for the utilities ... I'm guessing that I'm going to have to pay security deposits since it has been so long since I've had a utility account. Anyone know if a near 800 credit score would allay that possibility??

In looking on Craigslist for the town I'm moving to, I found some places for $330 - 360 that are around 4 - 500 sqft. I asked NE about the addresses/location of these places, and he let me know that they are not in very safe/decent areas.

So I checked out the various apartment rental sites, and the cheapest place I could find (that allows pets) has a 1 bedroom for $430 and includes high-speed Internet (as well as water/garbage.) I'm guessing that electric/gas will add $100/month. So, I'm looking at $530/month for housing. (A 2 bedroom goes for $450/month at the same place. NE thinks it's silly to do the 1 bedroom when it's only a difference of $20. Maybe I could do the 2 bedroom and get a roommate?? If I had a roommate, then I'd probably have to have cable, right?)

The place I'm looking at is across the street from NEs apartment complex - he says he doesn't have a problem with me being so close by. That would mean I'd be within biking distance of a great park for walking/biking.

I have thought about trying to see if I could just rent a room in someones home (then get rid of a lot more of my stuff too ... ) but Kari (my cat) complicates that idea a lot. Plus I'm not sure it'd be that much less expensive.

One thing I'm going to really really really miss about my place here is having a washer/dryer/laundry room.

$530 would be about 38% of my current take home. So if the job I eventually find pays the same or less, AND doesn't have health insurance ... That'd be a huge bite.

Then there's the question of how long to take a lease for. I was figuring a year ... but NE and I were talking the other night and he was asking me about what I'd been finding. Then he mentioned that he thinks the management company for the complexes in his neighborhood offer 6 month leases.... I've made it clear that I'm not interested in living together without being married. I'm guessing a 6 month lease might be more expensive than a 1 year lease?

What do you all think? Risk living in a sketchy area (according to NE druggies hang out in this area, lots of car break ins, etc.) for $300-$350/month. Or rent a place in the complex across the street from NE -- 1 bedroom for $420/mo --- or a 2 bedroom for $450/mo ... then maybe have a roommate (add basic cable) and charge $250/month?

I know I still have time to figure this all out, but it's going through my head now, so thought I'd ask and see what ya'll think.

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Other question. I'm not a math person, so am wondering if those of you who are can help me out with this.

I have a cc that pays me 5% cash back on gas/gas station spending.

I have another cc that pays 2% cash back on gas/gas station spending -- but if you have your rewards deposited into a checking/savings account at a particular bank, they give you a bonus 10% (I'm guessing on the total rewards earned that month or perhaps on the amount being transferred?)

Am I right in thinking that the second cc is the better cash back deal for gas?

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It snowed here today! It's been so nice the past week, and then it got super windy today (the dust was so bad in big G it made visibility really bad.) Then the wind quieted and I thought it had started to rain ... but looked out the window and saw it had snowed!! We sure need the moisture.

For the past two weeks my back has been giving me more and more problems. I'm constantly sitting in my office chair now with a heating pad behind me. I have to move it around too, in order to hit all the spots. At work it's been affecting me too - like yesterday when I was supposed to jump as part of a song with my 4 year olds, I did one jump and that was it - no way was I going to attempt a second jump. On Wednesday I was driving to the PO after work and turned slightly, and yelped in pain. Today I was thinking about trying to go for a walk - beautiful day - but my back was hurting off and on just walking across campus.

If my back keeps this up, then I am going to have to hire some people to load my truck and unload it. Which stinks. (The pain is right in the middle/side, and some in the tailbone too - wonder if some of it is coming back from when I landed hard on my tailbone a 4? years ago - remember on the stairs at my mom's ex husbands house?)

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The other thing is my tooth. About two weeks ago or so I either lost a filling or chipped it. It's getting to be more of a nuisance. Sometimes I forget about the hole, and chomp down on something on that side, and it goes straight up into that hole. I may not be able to wait til June to get this taken care of.

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4 weeks left of school now, and boy am I ready for it to be over. I really think that whatever job I get next it will be an office job. I'm just so tired of dealing with kids with attitude problems. Even making twice what I make here just would not be worth it.

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I got a survey from a bank I have a checking account with - only reason I got the checking account in the first place was because my dad had one there, and it was easier for him to transfer money to me that way (long story.) I kept it after he died mainly because I didn't feel like going through the hassle of closing it, and there were no fees. Recently I opened a cash rewards cc with this bank (not naming bank on purpose.) This cash rewards cc made it make sense to continue keeping the account open.

So the survey gave me a heads up that my type of checking account may be going away, and the only way I could keep it free would be direct deposit or a minimum balance. So I guess that means that I will have to go through the hassle of closing this account anyway. I have DD through the end of June (at ING) but after that, I have no idea what my pay situation will be. As for the minimum balance? No way am I going to keep more than $100 in an account that doesn't pay interest!!

Ugh and double ugh!

I found out today that the father of two of my students - 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 died on Friday. This man is partly responsible for my decision to leave teaching. I held a lot of hard feelings towards him for a long time - had put in a lot of time, effort and heart in working with his two children, and was not repaid kindly. It was only after going through a program called Pathways that I was able to let go of my hard feelings. I remember vividly the day in church I was sitting with my best friend T and her family, and this man and his family sat a few rows in front of us. T leaned over to make sure I was okay, and after checking myself, realized that I was just fine.

About two years later I'd arrived late for church one day and was waiting in the foyer to go in. This man approached me and apologized for his actions and behavior. I am so glad now that I was able to tell him that all had been forgiven.

His two children will be heading to college or to their last year of high-school this coming school year. My heart breaks for them losing their dad so young.

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I also am feeling sad because of a story that was shared by a friend of mine on FB today. She's not a friend in the traditional sense where we spent a lot of time together and knew each other well, but I did know her in real life when we both lived in Minnesota. Her mom was the local elementary school's teacher/principal.

She shared a story today of how in 2009 she'd moved to NY to be near a boyfriend, and the relationship hadn't lasted long. She stayed on, and a year or so later met someone else. This someone else turned out to be mentally and physically abusive. It was less than a year ago that she finally managed to leave the situation with only the clothes on her back and her wallet. She's now $20k in debt and trying to pick up the pieces.

It just goes to show that you never know what is going on in someone's life.

So I figured out that Real World is on Hulu+ and I knew that one of my fave guys in the world was on a recent episode. I tortured myself sitting through two episodes of ... well, I tortured myself .. until, finally, there he was!

This was before he moved to San Jose for a new job (and to be with his gf.) If you haven't guessed yet, the guy is my brother!



A few of you have met him, so you can just imagine his charisma in welcoming the RW cast.

It's been a little bit since I last posted. Five weeks left of the school year, and 5 1/2 weeks til moving day!

NE was here visiting a week ago during Spring Break. One of the days we visited Bluewater Lake and Canyon de Shelly (de shay.) We got ourselves royally lost within in Bluewater Lake park - lots of dirt roads that all looked alike. What took us five minutes to go from the gate to the lake, took us nearly 40 minutes to find the gate again! While there though we found a flock of 16 Pelicans. At one point they flew up out of the water and preceded to entertain us for at least 15 minutes flying different formations. So cool!

We only took in the South Rim at Canyon de Shelly - but that by itself took a good two hours, and was well worth it. NE was really tired out by the last lookover stop, so I did that one by myself ... and ended up getting royally lost on the way back to the car. Heading out to the overlook took me maybe 5 minutes, but heading back took me over 25 minutes. I was SO thankful to see NE and the car!!

Here's some photos NE and I took (NE is a lizard hunter - hunts them for photos only.)



This is the lizard NE caught - I think he said it was a side winder??



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I cashed out again on GymPact last week - $10 - and was paid within a day. It seems as though they've got their act together again. I'll be able to cash out again by Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week.

On Thursday I got another book review assignment - which I turned in Friday afternoon, and already received a $25 payment.

I made the $500 spending requirement for the BofA Cash Card, and have reserved my rental truck/car dolly with the Cap One Quicksilver card - which also easily meets the $500 spending requirement. So within the next month or two, I'll be receiving $200 in cash awards from those two cards. I'll probably cancel the Quicksilver card because between my Pen Fed card (gas 5%), BofA card (2% groceries +10% bonus when direct deposit cash awards into BofA account) and my Swagbucks card (1.5 % on everything) - the Quicksilver would be superfluous. I also really need to cancel my Discover and Amazon cards. I need to keep my Chase one though, as it is my oldest. Can you say - FT you have too many credit cards for one person!!

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Yesterday I had Good Friday off, so I decided to get my title transfer taken care of. Yikes. I got to the MVD (DMV) around 12:30 p.m. and was finally called around 3:37 p.m. While I was waiting I did two things - read the book for my book review and talked with a Native American woman who had been waiting longer than I had to do the same thing! I had unfortunately let my registration lapse (it expired in December ... ooops) so I had to pay a fine for that to renew it, plus the cost of the title transfer -- so a total of $78. I put it on my BofA card, which finished up the $500 spending.

So now my car is totally in my name, and is totally legal to be on the road.

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I've sold a few more items on eBay, although that's kind of been slow going the last few weeks.

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I have Monday off as well, so plan to make Sunday and Monday packing and decluttering days. I am getting down to the wire!!

On Monday I also want to check with the PO about getting a PO box in NE - see if it's possible to do without being there in person. That way I can have my mail forwarded there starting the week I move.

Last Friday I had either a filling fall out, or a tooth chip - not sure which. I have insurance coverage through the end of June, so will probably wait to do anything about it til I'm in NE. It's a nuisance, but not painful.

Speaking of insurance, I need to look into how I can get onto Obamacare. I'm assuming that I'd qualify for the "life change" qualification to apply/start outside of the initial signup process. (going from having insurance w/job to not having insurance)

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I finished season 3 of Dowton Abbey yesterday. OMW!! I am SO tempted to pay for season 4 to find out what happens next. Poor Mary. I have another show my aunt recommended to me though - Mr. Selfridge. The first season is on Amazon Prime, so I'll watch that before I decide whether or not to give in to temptation.

I am now into my second month Netflix'less. I am more than getting by with Amazon Prime and my "free" Hulu Plus subscription (free through Bing rewards! -- in fact, right now they are running a promotion where you can get a free month of Hulu for only 300 points!!! I've already cashed in on one, and will be cashing in for another one probably Monday.)

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Not much else I can think of right now.

I'll have to post before and after pics later, but today after 2 1/2 hours of shredding documents, plus another 1 1/2 of cleaning and organizing, the office was pretty much as clean and organized as it will get. Now, let's see how long I can keep it like that.

I also cleaned the rest of my place. Only thing left to do is wash the sheets/pillowcases, and I'll be ready for NE's arrival in the morning.

In between all this cleaning and organizing, I discovered a new show ...well, new to me. I'd been told about it before, but had not seen an episode yet. Last night I saw the first episode - I was looking for something about an hour long, and Amazon Prime had .... Downton Abbey - fit the bill perfectly.

I am totally hooked!! I watched 4 more episodes today.

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I got my 3 eBay packages mailed out today. I also got a call from a staffing agency in NE who told me to give them a call once I'm actually there and available for an interview. So, that's promising.

I didn't make the Round 5 of the 6 month diet bet, so I was given my winnings from the one round I did manage to win -- $18.02. The money is already in my PayPal.

So far, I am really enjoying my spring break (and in a not too long, it'll be even better )

I started on my office today - probably the worst room in my house because I spend the most time in here. I took some before photos, but will save those until I've got some good after photos to share. I spent about 3 1/2 hours going through papers, drawers, bookshelves, etc.

As a result of my decluttering so far today, I have a huge pile of papers to shred, two full trashcans, a large box of items to donate, two Pinecone checks ($3) found and deposited, five educational books and a digital thermometer listed on eBay. There's still a lot more to do, but I do feel as though I made some good progress.

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Snowflakes - Two Pinecone checks - $6 ; 3 items on eBay sold ($4.99, $7.00 and $7.99) which I'll mail out on Monday ; two $5 AGCs from Swagbucks posted.

Oh - on Friday I sold another $7.99 item on eBay and mailed it out that afternoon. I'm down to my last two of that particular item and am really tempted to order 5 or 6 more ... but I really need to not be adding to what I have in my house right now.

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I found out a little bit more about the job I seem to have been hired on for - it's up to 25 hours a week. So, I'm thinking that perhaps I'll try to find some tutoring students in the afternoons 3 or 4 days a week, and do whatever I need to in the mornings. Then on Fridays I can do garage sales or book sales (looking for items to resell on eBay.)

I did find a full time job I also applied for - virtual assistant for a dog care company. M - F 8 hrs/day 14/hr. They wanted you to send them a letter introducing yourself and telling a funny animal story.

So, I told them the story of how one weekend I came home from college to find that my family had adopted a 1 year old Chocolate Lab, and named him Brutus. Barely 24 hours after meeting him, I found myself alone in the house with him. The doorbell rang, and when I answered it, Brutus ran out the door. I had no shoes on, but my only thought was that my brother would never forgive me if something happened to that dog! So, off I ran after him. 45 minutes of chasing him around the gated community and outside of it (where I even had two strangers give me a bit of a ride ...) we were back inside near our house. I felt completely defeated, so sat on a curb and put my head in my hands. Next thing I know, my hands are being licked by Brutus. One of my top two favorite dogs ever.

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Can I say how happy I am to be on Spring Break right now?

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Almost forgot! I came across a smartphone app called Field Agent where you assign yourself different jobs and get paid for it. (for example, take a picture of an item in a store to show how it's displayed) There aren't many opportunities in my neck of the woods right now, but in CA or some other more populated areas, I bet you'd get tons!

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Also, Friday night I spent at least 30 minutes doing a Live Chat with a Walgreen's representative because my fitbit steps weren't posting points (Balance Rewards.) She fixed that for me, and merged an old account with the current one. I'm close to the 20k point mark! When I get to 40k, I can redeem it for $50 in savings.