Keeping It Frugal

I just wanted to give a quick update on my problems with getting paid from GymPact this month. I received an email from their CS (Jen) telling me that their records showed a payment sent on March 5. I was sorely tempted to throw my phone across the room .... Instead, I wrote back and said that I was pretty sure that I had cashed out on the 12th, and that was the missing payment. Then I checked my blog here and saw that indeed, I had cashed out on the 12th! I added a link to my blog post to the email.

Less than an hour later I not only had payment for the most recent cashout, but also for the March 12 cashout! Thanks Jen!!

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I heard back from the job I applied for on flex jobs last week (I think?) a few days ago asking me to fill out a form. I had some problems filling out the form in FF, so finally had to use IE to complete it. Yesterday I got an email telling me that I'd be getting another email within the next week with instructions on where to login, and what my tasks will be. So ... it looks like I've got at least one job. Not sure exactly what I'll be doing, or how it pays, but it's something!!

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Two days til Spring Break!!!!!!

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I cashed out for 4 $5 AGCs from Swagbucks yesterday and today. A couple weeks ago I cashed out for a $25 Paypal ... I don't have enough SBs for my 5th AGC yet .. but will tomorrow. I decided to cash out for 500 SBs from Bing, even though it won't help me with my daily goal, it also won't hurt it (i.e. raise it) - and I can cash out for Paypal cash once I have my 5 $5 AGCs each month.

I sent in my final payment of $423 on March 25 for my car loan. I wasn't sure if there'd be any interest charges from the date of my last statement to when they received my check, so I was waiting anxiously for my next statement.

Today, instead of a statement, I received a congratulations/thank you letter and ... my title! Woo hoo!!! It sounds as though I have to take it to the DMV to get it ratified or something - so will probably do that Monday or Friday next week (Spring Break, yeah baby!)

(*In November, 2012 I bought a 2010 Toyota Yaris for about $11k. I paid up front $6k of it, and financed $5k at 1.9% My base payment was $156/mo for 36 month. Obviously I didn't stick with the base payment. )

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GymPact (nka Pact) is really annoying me. I sent another note to Customer Service stating that I was still waiting for my payment for my cashout from over 3 weeks ago. Today I got a reply stating that their records indicate that I cashed out last week, and that it could take up to 7 business days. Ooof! I replied back that I am waiting for TWO payments - one from last week, and one from 3 weeks ago. I didn't write in about the one from last week since it hadn't been 7 business days yet (close, but not quite.)

I'm going to be really sad if this keeps up, because then I'm probably going to delete/cancel this app. It's been a great source of extra money for over a year now for me, and all for doing what I would do anyway for the most part.

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As far as my bad day yesterday, so far no response from either boys parents. So maybe nothing will come of it and I can breathe a sigh of relief. Their teacher also told me that today the two boys were playing and laughing with each other like nothing had happened.

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The computers at work are going to drive me bonkers. In the lab we are down to 7 or 8 barely functioning computers (out of 23.) We have 30 *brand new* computers sitting in boxes in the lab ... They were going to be set up over Spring Break, but I was told recently that has been postponed to summer. Great. Maybe I should just stop having the kids do anything on the computers at all .. less than 4 weeks of classes left anyway (I stop classes 2 weeks before the end of the year.)

Prime example. Only one computer has a microphone connection that works. I've used it several times to record students doing a narration. Of course you can't save anything to this computer. So my 3rd graders were going to work on a fotobabble project (check out fotobabble, cool site!) In order to do this, I had to save their photo (endangered animal) to their folder, then upload it to the fotobabble site and save it. Then go to the microphone computer and have them record their research paragraph.

Would be a pain, but would work right? Yeah ... if the record button on the fotobabble site would work correctly on the recording computer!!! It worked great on the computer I used to upload the photo - but of course no sound was recorded. I threw my hands up and told the kids just to do dance mat typing (another great site!

This afternoon with my last class of the day, something happened that I'd been concerned about since starting working here. Two boys got into a fight over a computer, and the first inkling I had of it was when one of them screamed in pain.

The layout of the library is NOT conducive to being able to have eyes on everyone at all times to say the least. If I'm helping a kid at the catalog computers, I pretty much only have a view of the E fiction section, and nothing else. If I'm back in the older kids section helping a kid find something (like today), I have extremely limited vision (as in only the aisle I'm in, unless I'm standing on the side of the shelving.) If I'm in either of the E sections, then I can see into the computer area and the E sections, but have no to little knowledge of what's happening in the stacks (older kids section.)

This particular group of students have given me NO problems whatsoever this year, and so I am not as vigilant with them as say the ... 7th or 8th grade groups. The two boys in particular have NEVER shown aggression towards each other either (I spoke to their teacher, and he agreed.)

Essentially, both boys wanted to use the same computer to look up books. One pushed the other out of the chair, and the other preceded to pinch, twist, and pull the other's ear. The other one then retaliated by *biting* the other boys hand. (which resulted in the scream of pain)

So... for the second time in my 3 years here, I had to bring students to the principal. They both were very forthright in describing what had happened. As we headed to the nurses office to have their wounds checked out, I asked them what they could have done differently. They both had good answers.

Neither of their wounds were serious thankfully, although both will have bruises from it. I just hope their parents don't go ballistic and blame me for not supervising. Beyond not allowing either of them to use the computers for looking up books the remainder of the year, I really do not know what I could do differently. My principal suggested maybe we need 4 parent volunteers to stand in each blind spot area - that could work ...

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I had my first soda since sometime in September tonight. This incident was so upsetting to me, I'm not sure I can even explain why. I hate having kids in my care hurt, and I kind of feel like it's a failure on my part to not have been more on top of the situation ... even though I know there really was nothing I could do.

(The teacher assistant was at the circulation computer checking in books - which also is not in line sight of the catalog computers, but much closer in proximity than where I was. She didn't notice/hear anything either!)

I had 4 items end today on eBay - only 1 item sold (Person of Interest season 2 - $16.88 - almost $4 more than I paid for it. ) So I got to watch my show, and make a little money from it too. Sweet.

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I was bored last night and decided to try using my Bing reward code for Hulu + for a month of service. I couldn't find anyplace to put the code, and clicked on a link that said restart (or something like that), not realizing it'd automatically charge my payment card. I sent customer service an email asking how to redeem my gift code. It probably won't work for this month, but hopefully it will for next month!

I was looking in my queue and saw that Journeyman was about to expire on Monday. I loved that show and was so sad when it was canceled - so I did a Journeyman gorgefest last night and today (13 episodes.)

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I went through my closet and drawers today and filled up two large trash bags with clothing. Most will be usable as clothing for others, some items might be thrown in the rag piles. I probably still could let go of some more, but I felt like progress had been made.

This started when I took my corduroy pants out of the wash and hung them to dry and noticed that the seat had a big hole. These pants have gotten a lot of wear - especially the past two years. It was one of two pairs I bought off the clearance rack from Lane Bryant six? years ago. Both pairs are now defunct. I really hope I can find something similar to them - really, really liked them.

--I have two pairs of black pants that are usable left - although one only works with a belt. So, I think that a pants shopping excursion will be necessary before getting too far with any office job ...

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For lunches this week, I'm planning on eating through one of my cans of Big Franks (vege hot dogs), two cans of sweet peas, and a can of mandarin oranges. Weird combo I know, but it works. Supper is gonna be a lot of soup... I have like 12 cans of soup, as well as 2 boxes of soup, and 4 cans of veggie broth ...

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ETA - Just after publishing this, I got a response from Hulu+ CS -- They told me to email them the gift code and they'd take care of it, and also the website address to apply future gift codes! Cool!

I cashed out for $5 AGC from irazoo yesterday (takes forever to get - 3000 points!) Then today I made the 50k points on acheivemint . com to cash out for a $50 Visa card - but decided to go for the next level of 100k with a 2k bonus. I think I should be able to get there by late October. That'd be a good time of year to have a $100 coming my way.

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I am a bit frustrated with GymPact right now. In the month of March I have cashed out twice for my $10 rewards. Usually, the cash payment is in my paypal account within two days or less. It's now been three weeks for the first one, and four days for the second one. They do now have a message saying that it could take up to 7 business days ... but for the first one it's been WAY more than 7 business days.

I've cashed out in the last 15 months or so with them multiple times with no problem. Until now. I really am hoping that this doesn't become par for course, because this is a great way to make a little extra money with just a little bit of effort beyond what I'd do anyway (taking pictures of fruit/veggies I eat for my veggie pact.)

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I started on the way to big G yesterday after school, and had just gotten on the highway, when I realized I didn't have any money with me. Ooops. So I turned around and went home. I decided to just not go grocery shopping.

I thought I would go today after church, but ended up not going to church (overslept!) Instead, I started cleaning out my cupboard - something I've needed to do badly for a long time, as well as something that will be good before I move.

I put pretty much everything on my kitchen table (and some on my chairs in boxes.) So, now my goal is to eat from the table/boxes. The only groceries I'll buy are perishables such as bananas. I'd like to get my pantry items down to one box worth before I move.

I may post a list of everything I have in my pantry to see if y'all can help me come up with the best ways to use the stuff up quickly.

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I had to get up on a chair to reach to the back of my top cupboard. As I was doing that, you'll never guess what I found! The scanner that I turned house and car over looking for the past few months! It was in the little groove on the top of the cupboards (where I have several empty appliance boxes stored.) So I can now send it back to them. (I just knew that I wouldn't have missed it being in the throw out pile when my mom was here!)

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A little over a week and NE will be here!!!

About 7 1/2 weeks til I move to NE!!!! :big eyes:

Time is flying!

I cashed out for a $15 AGC from Swagbucks a few days ago. Also cashed out Bing points for a free month of Hulu+ (more on that later.) Yesterday I got another book to read and review - should have the $25 for it tomorrow (did reviews tonight.) I sold 3 items on eBay this weekend and 1 today.

*Bing and Swagbucks - UGH! So my plan to have a full month bonus in April is vamooshed. I was all set to have 3 SB codes by the time NE arrived, so all I'd have to do is redeem the codes. Thanks to SBs deciding not to have codes count towards the daily goal, that's not going to happen. So now my plan is to redeem Bing points for Hulu+ once a month, and then for AGCs otherwise. Seriously annoyed, although I do kind of understand SBs reasoning.

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I found out about a new jobsite - flexjob . com. You do have to pay to access the site, but if you google for coupon codes you should find one. I found one that made my first month $5. Flexjobs has lots of flexible schedule/telecommute type jobs. I've already applied for one that I could easily do in the evenings even now, and later could do more. There are a bunch more that I'm looking at applying to closer to May.

I also applied at Leapforce at Home. It's essentially surfing the net and evaluating websites.

Neither job will pay much, but it'd be something for sure!

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I had an email yesterday about a librarian job in NE. Unfortunately 421 miles from where I want to be. The amazing thing about it was that this particular school district pays an annual bonus of $11k (divided by 12 months.) So ... with a Masters and 11 years experience (in classroom) I'd make around $54k!! It's hard for me to even fathom making that much - the most I've ever made before was around $41k - my last year of teaching.

I didn't apply for it, because it would defeat the whole purpose for me moving. I'd be 600 miles closer, but still too far away to really be in good proximity for NEs and I's relationship to grow. If I could only find something like that within 60 miles of NE!

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My final car payment was mailed off today. I know I said I'd pay it in April, but I'd already gotten the paycheck that the money would've come out of anyway. So, I decided, why wait? So, as of March 25, 2014 I am officially debt free once again. I can hardly wait to get my title.

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The yearbook was submitted yesterday. Here's hoping that that is the LAST yearbook I ever have the *pleasure* of putting together.

Today I helped out with the annual spelling bee for 4th - 8th grade. A 6th grader won first place, a 4th grader won second place and a fifth grader won third place. It was pretty interesting.

So today was the first day back after learning of the murder of our co-worker. It was ... hard and sad and different and yet in a way a normal Monday. Our principal dismissed the preschool kids after morning prayer, and then made an announcement about what happened (though she didn't say "murdered" just that he'd died - which was a prudent choice given that she was talking to K-8th kids.)

A couple of my journalism students were supposed to go over to the preschool today to take pictures for the yearbook.I talked to Sr. (preschool director) and asked if she'd rather just me come over, or to wait til Wednesday. She asked if I'd just come over, because preschool was canceled for the rest of the week. I did go over and got some really cute pictures of the kids, but the vibe I got from the teachers was just total shock and heartbrokenenss. They;d worked as a team for at least 9 or more years.

After school we had a staff meeting where we found out that the funeral will probably be on Thursday, and if it is, school will be canceled so anyone who wants to go can. We also found out that a suspect(s?) have been apprehended, and that it might be a federal case due to possibly having occurred on the rez (although his body was found off rez in big G - so not sure what that means.) The Nav Nation president (who has a daughter in our pre-school) came and spoke to us at length about the whole situation.

As we were all leaving, the PE teacher expressed that he just doesn't feel safe here anymore. I thought that was interesting because I kind of have that same feeling.

Just a sad, sad situation.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers. This is especially difficult for our NA staff - most of whom have been here for many, many years.

When I got home from church today and had just pulled into the driveway, I got a call from my principal. She had news about our missing teacher. His body had been found in big G - he had been murdered. The family has asked that we don't speculate on the details, so that is probably all we're going to know.

All I know is that we have lost a wonderful man, wonderful teacher, and little bit of our sense of safety. He'd been in big G on a Wednesday night - not exactly a night you'd think would be dangerous in big G. (Friday and Saturday nights, avoid like the plague - or nights right after the government checks come out...)

I'm wondering if my principal will let me dedicate the yearbook now. (would have to get permission from his family - but I think it would be so appropriate)

I cashed out my GymPact for the second time this month - $10 (total of $20 for March.)

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3 items sold on eBay - total of $16.xx - net maybe 0.50 (after fees and shipping) At least I'm getting rid of the items.

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Will cash out on bing tomorrow for another 500 SBs code.

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I kind of feel like I'm hitting a brick wall when it comes to job hunting in a locale 1000+ miles away. I have found some opportunities which I've applied for, but most of what I've found are not ones that are going to be willing to wait til June.

I'm wondering if there is a point for me to go out there over Spring Break, since it'd still be 7 weeks out before I move there. Until I know what kind of job I have, I'm not sure if I should secure a place to live. I'd hate to put down a deposit and everything, and then find a job 30 minutes or more away!

What I'm thinking of doing is putting in my application at whatever local employment agencies there are in the city (with a June start date) and then once I'm out there I'll take whatever they find for me, and continue to job hunt. I have a paycheck through the end of June, as well as savings if I have to use them. That way I'll also have a chance to find a church home and then pick the brains of people there for job opportunities.

I'll need to put most of my stuff in storage until I find a place (and a job.) So that means renting a moving vehicle twice (at least the second time will be easier loading - no stairs to contend with!)

I have put in applications to two school districts (one in the city I actually want to go to, and one in a district 70 miles away - not ideal, but if it's where the jobs are...) I've also done tons of searches on various job sites - craigslist, indeed, hotjob, career builder, etc. I put in an application for a city clerk/typist job (actually pays more than what I get here!)

My brother suggested finding a recruiter or headhunter. I've done some searching trying to see if I come up with anything like that for the area. All I came up with were employment agencies that didn't have any offices in the state, let alone the city!

NE is on a long distance trip buying speakers right now (he was actually in NYC this a.m.! Thankfully nowhere near where the buildings collapsed.) When he gets back on Friday I really need to see if we can lay out some more firm ideas (see if I should go out there for Spring Break, or him come here, home hunting, etc.) May 25 is coming really, really quickly! (this is good, however it is also anxiety inducing not knowing what's going to happen)

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I stayed home sick today (really nauseous, etc.) One thing I did (besides sleep!) was watch the Klondike (Discovery Channel) mini-series. I'd watched 3 of the episodes before, and today finished it. I was glad I decided to purchase the season - really enjoyed it.

I still have my Person of Interest Season 2 to watch, and in a few days I think I'll be able to watch the newest episode of OUAT on Hulu for free.

I sold another item on ebay (well, it has a bid on it - won't actually sell til Wednesday.) I also have a number of watchers on my other items - now if they'll just bid (or bin!)

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I received $25 for the review I did on Friday of a cookbook. I let them know that I'd be happy to do more as they came available.

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I signed up for a Virtual Assistant job type thing. You have to take three types of typing tests, and then every few weeks they let in anyone who meets a certain percentile (varies.) I ranked 73rd percentile. You can take the tests every day if you're not happy -- I'll be taking them again!

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We've had some possibly really big/bad news at our school. One of our pre-school teachers (a man) has not been heard from since Wednesday night by his family or us. An APB has been put out for him, as well as many flyers and FB posts. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts/prayers. He's a really neat person and not one that I'd think would do a dissapearing act willingly.

I guess my Feb 28th entry was a victim of the sites problems ... will try to recap some of what I said.

I've now cashed out for $50 so far this year with the GymPact app. Not too shabby for just recording what I would do anyway. (exercise, food logging, and eating fruits/veggies)
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I've cashed out for 6 rewards from Bing since starting it in mid-January - 5 of them were 500 SB codes which have definitely come in handy!
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I found a small money making opportunity on Craigslist a few days ago. Essentially it is writing reviews of non-fiction ebooks (I am to give my honest opinion.) I did my first book on Friday. If I remember correctly, I'll get paid $25. (I already received the money for the ebook itself.) It only took me about an hour to read/skim the ebook and write 3 reviews (it was a cookbook.) I'm hoping that I can do a lot of these!
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I've made 4 eBay sales this past week. Only one of them is making me any profit. I'd bought a supply of an item from a wholesaler for an okay price, but then once postage is added and eBay/PP fees ... I'm losing money on most of them. Live and learn. My main goal is to get all those items sold before I move - then make my next purchases from the wholesaler much more wisely! (If anyone is interested in seeing what I'm selling - my ebay name is the same as my email address - if you know that. )
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Only 10 weeks left of the school year! Most of my classes I'll see another 6 - 7 times. Crazy!

Two weeks til the yearbook deadline. Gulp. There is so much still left to do. I will say though, that this year's group of kids is getting more done. Hopefully there won't be much left for me to finish on my own. I've told them that whatever is left to do will be MY decisions as to how its done. Heh heh heh.
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Last Sunday I went to see Pompeii at the theater. I really enjoyed it. My dad had a wonderful children's story that he'd tell every place he was a pastor - at least once - about Pompeii. It made me have a great fascination with the story.
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The six-month dietbet ... well, I think I'll probably only end up winning the $18 from Round 1. I got down to 8% and then regained 4lbs, lost two and seem to be doing a great job of maintaining. To win Round 5 I'd need to lose ten pounds by April 5. Um ... yeah. *Maybe* by May 5 I can do it, but I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself.
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I'm almost to the 50k point mark with Achievemint (about 3k away.) Once I hit it, that'll mean a $50 Visa card. Again, points earned just for doing what I would do anyway (connecting various apps to the website - fitbit, GymPact, MyFitnessPal, etc.)
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I made my next to last car payment a few days ago. Just a bit over $400 in April, and I'll have my title! Woot woot!
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Friday, Feb 28 I went to a wonderful Judy Freeman seminar all about children's books in ABQ. I got to stay at a nice hotel, eat out dinner and lunch (free wonderful breakfast at hotel) and have a day off work -- all reimbursed! (Well, I just turned in the paperwork on Thursday. So it will be reimbursed in the next few weeks -- about $465!)

For lunch I ate at a place called Little Anita's which was right next to the hotel. I had the vegetarian enchilada. So yummy! Only $8.25 (included side of beans and a sopapilla - all vege friendly!)The dish I think will be pretty easy to replicated (other than the sopapilla!) All I need are 3 corn tortillas, steamed veggies (they used mushrooms, zucchini, onions and tomatoes), and some cheese to melt on top. Such a simple idea, but one I'd never considered.

Oh, I also earned 8x Swagbucks for my hotel stay. I booked it on the Crazy 8's day. That shop and earn came through on a high goal day - sweet!!

Speaking of SBs though - I am NOT happy about the SBmobile and Enow apps having a variable earning limit. Those two apps are how I make my daily goal most days! I guess I'll just have to give it time and see how much it affects me.
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I had a nice time in NE the weekend of the 21st. For my next visit though, I need to remember to reserve my spot on the car lot ahead of time on their website to save money on parking! I don't know why I never thought about looking for coupons/deals on parking!

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I have not sold any of my stock that I was thinking about. Every time I start thinking about selling it, it seems to go up in value (sometimes skyrocketing!) So I think anyway I've decided to hold on to it for now.

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I've applied to a few jobs in NE, but just haven't found much to apply for yet. Hopefully if I haven't found a job before I get there, I'll find one quickly once I'm actually in the area. (There's several office jobs that look very intriguing, but they're not going to want to wait til June 1!)

A few months ago I talked about how I really, really wanted to see Season two of Person of Interest, but I didn't want to spend the $40+ to buy it on DVD, and I was iffy about paying about the same for it on Amazon Instant. I thought maybe I'd use some fun money for it ... but I procrastinated and procrastinated.

So a few days ago I found out that another program I was really interested in was on AmInstant - Klondike (Discovery) -- All episode for $9! Sold! I looked up Person of Interest again just to see if it had gone down in price. It hadn't, but I got a big itch to get it. So, I checked Second Spin. They had it for $25 + $4 shipping + tax = ~$31. That was less than AmInstant, so I thought about it. Especially since I could sell it back for $7, so it would make the actual cost about $24.

Thankfully though before I hit the purchase button, I checked Ebay! I found it (a used copy) for $14 with free shipping! Score! So now after I watch it, I will first try selling it on eBay, and if that doesn't work, I'll sell it to Second Spin. The most the final cost will be is $7.

I'm thinking I may put my Netflix account on hold for March, and then just watch the PoI discs and the Klondike episodes instead. So, if you subtract the $8.23 of Netflix, then my total cost will be around $8. (For both PoI and Klondike.) I'll also have new episodes of Once Upon a Time towards the middle of March on Hulu free (next episode airs March 9!!) So I can add that to my viewing pleasure for March.

NE says I'm a tv addict... he should've seen me when I had cable AND Tivo!!

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I spent some money today getting my nails done. I can do everything myself for a manicure except the cuticles - I seem to have this phobia of cutting my own cuticles... If I could get over that, I'd save some money.

Why was I getting my nails done? Because tomorrow night I'll be heading to NE for the weekend.

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Tonight as I was doing my Bing searches, I was checking to see how many more I needed and all of a sudden noticed my number was over 600. I was befuddled because I knew I needed about 40 more to get to my next redemption (500 Swagbucks for 475.) So I checked my dashboard and saw that I'd just gotten a referral!! Woo hoo! Thanks to whoever used my link. I hope you got your 200 already as well.

I redeemed for my 5th (I think) Bing prize, and my 4th time getting the 500 Swagbucks award. That code sure came in handy when they were having a big code day not long ago - all I had to do was apply my 500 code, and didn't have to worry about it. Tomorrow I'll be applying another 500 code to be sure I get my 21 day award (for making the daily goal.)

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When I got home tonight I did a load of laundry, and am now doing a load of dishes. Once they're done I'm going to pack - that should give enough time for more hot water - for my shower.

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Wowsa! The stock I was talking about a few days ago? I thought 200 was sweet ... Today it went as high as 214! but settled at 209. Still pretty sweet.

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I got a pretty tempting email from GymPact today (cashed out for my third $10 payment so far in 2014 yesterday!) They'll give me $50 and some Pact swag (t-shirt? I think) if I upload my health info from my insurance site. They assure me that the info will be annonymously used once uploaded... And there's a Hippa document you have to sign electronically. I'm sorely tempted .. but not really sure I want to do it. They say it is for a study they're conducting with people who've used GymPact aka Pact for a year or more - to see if they can convince insurers that using a system like Pact will lower health care costs (thereby I guess giving Pact users insurance discounts??)

anyway - was curious what y'all would do?

I'd forgotten about my summer school money - got the form for that this last week. So I decided that today was the day I'd finish up my taxes. I started out in Turbo Tax, but when it got to where it said I'd need to upgrade to Premium to be able to get the form for capital gains (sold some stock) I was like forget it! So I went over to TaxAct - $17 for Federal and State. Somehow I assumed (erroneously of course)that this was the *total* cost to file.

I get through everything (end up owing NM $14, and getting a refund of $380 from Feds) and am on the next to last screen before filing. Then up comes the fees page. $17 for the state and federal, and then a $17.95 charge from Republic Bank!!! Say what? Where did that come from? The best I could tell is that the fee came from the fact that I was paying my NM fee electronically, or it could've been that I paid for the Taxact fees out of my refund. (Actually, now that I think about it, I think that is the case. Too late now to change that.)

At any rate, it still cost less than it would've with TurboTax. Ugh and double ugh!

So, less fees and tax owed to NM (first time I think I've ever actually OWED in a long time) I have approximately $325 coming my way. Not a lot, but considering that I upped my deductions this year (thereby receiving more in each paycheck) and actually made a little bit more than last year (summer school) - it's not too bad.

The refund money will be going directly to my NE-MOVE/TRAVEL fund.

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I own this one stock that I bought into at around $27-28, which this past week as at =/- $200. The majority of what I own in it was inherited - and I promised my brother that I wouldn't sell any of it for at least 5 years. I also have some of that stock that I purchased after rolling over a Roth 401k from my gas and oil company job into a Brokerage IRA. So, that also can't be touched. However, I have 27 shares that I purchased in a taxable account which is from my own personal money. (Actually, I sold enough shares in it earlier this year that recouped my initial investment, plus a bit more.) So anyway, I am looking at the future and worried/anxious about how long it'll take me to get a job when I get to NE. I see I have approximately $5500 that I could have access to right now, which would nearly double my reserves.

I'm tempted to sell it and have the assured amount in my pocket. I'd put it away in my no touch account (unless job isn't found by July.) So it wouldn't just be spent willy nilly. But my argument with myself on this is, what if I DO find a job and end up not needing this, and the stock continues to rise? Wouldn't I kick myself for selling it needlessly? Not to mention that if I get a teaching/librarian job that pays non mission school wages, then I'd be bumped into a category where I might have to pay cap gains taxes.

What would you do? Say you were moving to a new state without a job lined up. You have enough in reserves + June pay to last til maybe September or October without a job (if you're *very* careful.) You have approximately $5500 in stock which you could sell, which would give you another 3-4 months of leeway -- if you sell it now. Or, you could keep that stock and wait and see how the job situation works out - then if it's not good, you can sell some then. Of course you aren't assured of how much it might be worth at that point - more or less.

So in preparation for my move to NE, I have been searching all avenues for a possible job. One avenue I've been pursuing is creating some income from eBay. I have already started a little bit towards that end by purchasing some merchandise from a liquidator (need to get it listed still!) Another avenue that I was interested in was found in an ad in the local area's Craigslist.

A man claimed to be a crew leader for a moving company and that he was looking for someone with a 100% feedback rating of at least 29 or more to work with him. He would provide photos of items that people left behind and descriptions. You would then post them on your eBay account, pay the eBay and PayPal fees, take an 11% cut, and send the remainder to him.

In the ad he mentions that he nets 10k a month selling stuff on Amazon, and the reason he's looking for someone is that the woman he'd worked with previously got a new job and didn't have time.

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This interested me at first. I had NE look it over to see if he thought it was legit, and he thought maybe it was. So, I sent the guy an email today. I told him I was interested, and I told him my ebay username so he could verify that I fit his qualifications. But then I told him that I needed him to give me some information as well, so that I could feel comfortable dealing with him and putting my ebay account at risk. I asked him for his Amazon username/company name, the name of his moving company, and the ebay username of the woman he'd previously worked with.

I really didn't think I was asking for too much. He sure did! He basically responded with a reprimand telling me that he has dozens of people lined up willing to make the sacrifices for the income. And that he couldn't believe I'd ask these kinds of questions of a potential employer.

I responded and told him that maybe I hadn't phrased my questions in the best way, but that trust is an earned commodity. And that I don't care to risk my ebay rep carelessly.

Anyway, we went back and forth a couple times. He kept going back to all the people who had no choice but to trust him and who were willing to make the sacrifices necessary.

I told him good luck with that.

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The more I thought about the whole thing, especially considering how defensive he got and how un forthcoming - I figured out what probably his game is.

He gets the person to list the item using their account. The item sells, the fees are charged to that persons account, the person takes their 11% cut, and sends the remainder off to the guy. Only there never was really any item. So the buyer files a complaint that they never received their item, and the person who listed the item is now responsible for refunding the purchase price. Out of their own pocket - because of course at this point MovingTruck guy is long gone.

I think I dodged a bullet here by asking questions. It would be nice to find a situation like this that was for real though.

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Almost forgot! I was wondering if anyone has heard of the Klondike:Gold Rush mini-series running on Discovery channel. I saw it advertised on Swagbucks a couple days ago, and found a similar program on Hulu (free) but was wondering if anyone knows where I could see these episodes? (legally of course!)

This past week I've been feeling pretty miserable. Sore throat, body aches, and the past two days or so, nausea. I actually took Wednesday off from work, but this afternoon I felt worse than I did on Wednesday. Ugh. At least I have a three-day weekend to sleep and hopefully get over this bug.

About a month ago or so, our IT person found an awesome deal on 30 computers/monitors/headphones for less than 10k! The school mission approved it, and they were ordered. They arrived today!! I was so excited to see the boxes and boxes come in. 21 of them will stay in the computer lab, and the other 9 will be given out to the classrooms. The computers from the computer lab (the ones that work decently - maybe 65% of them on good days ...) will also be put in the classrooms. (Some of the classrooms have WAY worse computers than the lab.)

The only downer though is that my principal vetoed us getting the computers put together right away. I understood her reasons (she wants to be there to keep track of packing slips, serial numbers, etc.) I still was bummed. Who knows when she, our IT person and I will have time to do that. She mentioned Spring Break. (If that is when it happens, I won't be there.)
I am SO tired of the computers we have. I SO look forward to the day I can assign computers to students - I haven't been able to do that, because all too often a student will sit down at a computer, and then have to move 3 or 4 times before finding one that is working right that day.

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I was talking with one of the teacher assistants today, and somehow the subject got brought up about my wanting to get rid of my computer desk and elliptical before I move. The TA jumped on wanting my computer desk, asking me how much I wanted for it. I told her that she could have it - all she needed to provide was people to haul it out of my place, and a truck to transport it! Not long after, I was walking to the cafeteria for lunch when the 7th grade teacher stopped me and asked if I really had an elliptical I was wanting to let go of. I told her that I'd planned on donating it to the school until I was told that the one we have never is used, so yes, I had one I wanted to let go of - all she needed was the muscle power to get it out of my place and to hers!

THEN after school, the 4th grade teacher came up to me and asked me about the desk/elliptical. I told him they were already spoken for. He asked me if there was anything else I was thinking about letting go of. I told him that I was thinking of letting go of my stereo system, but wasn't sure anyone would really want it. I bought it in 97 - it has a CD rack and a tape deck. Kari has done major cosmetic damage to the speakers. -- He said that he still might want it!

Wow! I'd been wondering how I'd get rid of these things before moving - how I'd even get them to the thrift store. Now it's all taken care of, and I won't even have to figure out manpower for the moving of them! (Maybe I can ask them to help me get my stuff loaded ... )

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About the Cloud 9 from the other day.... I'm still not sure if it is true yet or not. I promise to let y'all know if it is or not.

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I cashed in for another 500 swagbucks from Bing about a week ago. I used the one from the end of January today so I didn't have to mess with the big daily goal. I'm saving the other one for the 21st - which is when I'll be flying to NE for a short long weekend. (That way I'll at least get the 21 day bonus.)

This morning started with a possibility that put me on Cloud 9. A possibility of something having happened that I want *very* much to happen.

Then I went to work ... I'd called the maintenance guy yesterday because my hot water was out. He said he'd send someone over ... still hadn't sent anyone by the morning. So I told my principal, and she got on him. Someone came by and got my keys while I was in the middle of class. (Why they don't have their own set of keys for my place is beyond me - I even made an extra set for them when I first moved here. Ugh.)

So lunch time comes and I sign out to go home ... then realize that I don't have my keys. They'd never come back with them. So I call again, and he says he'll call the person who worked on my heater. 25 minutes later a guy walks in with my keys and says "I've been looking all over for you." Umm.... I was sitting in the front office the whole time. That's generally the first place to go when looking for a teacher.

So I run home and get something to eat and get my iPad which I needed for an afternoon lesson.

My afternoon class was absolutely miserable. All classes know that the rule is when you come into the library you stop at the end of the bookcase for instructions. This particular group (mostly boys) totally disregarded that rule today - even when I reminded the first one through the door.

When I called him back, he came back for a second - until he saw the iPad on the table. Then he made a beeline to it. I had to call him back again.

Finally the books were all taken care of, and the kids were seated at the table to start the digital photography lesson. This is the same unit I did with last year's 5th graders, which they all seemed to really enjoy. Not so much this particular section. The majority of them just were not listening, and when I asked them questions about what we had discussed last week, they just looked at me like I was from outerspace. It was just about unendurable. I felt bad for the three girls in the group because they were actually trying and listening.

I had one boy actually tell me that he didn't want to take pictures. So I told him that was fine, he could just sit down at the table and do nothing while the others took pictures (and he would get a 0 for the day.)!!
(**I only have 5 digital cameras. This means with a group of ten or eleven, they have to pair up and take turns using the cameras. This worked with no problems with last years group, and no problems with the Friday section -- Wed. section DOES NOT work well.)

There was more, but I was just so completely and utterly frustrated. I had to go do car line duty, so the teacher assistant (who did NOTHING to help me) took the bus kids out. I didn't even say goodbye to them - which is my normal operandi.

I had *serious* doubts about starting the photography unit with this particular section. The other section of 5th graders is seeming to enjoy and participate in it. I'm at the point where I'm going to have the two sections do completely different things. I need to figure out what that something different will be - I don't want it to be boring, but I also don't want it to be more interesting than the photography unit.

Maybe I'll have the boys who are being numbskulls work on writing reports on the history of photography, while the girls are able to take pictures and do the different activities I had planned. I came the closest I think I have ever come to yelling today. And I hate it, absolutely hate it, when I hear teachers yell at kids.

My patience with this group is just about not there anymore. I am really wondering if I should pursue another teaching job, or just find something where I don't have to deal with managing others.

I received an email from Ting today saying that they have lowered their prices on data! How often do you hear of a company that lowers their prices?? When I move to NE, I totally plan on switching to Ting. (I'm just not too sure of Sprint's network here. NE has Sprint, and when he calls me within NM I can always hear static.)

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I called my Internet service provider this afternoon. I had to agree to a 12 month contract to get the deal (but if where I move to doesn't have this provider, then I'm good to go.) The cost without the promotional deal would be nearly $60 - with the promotion it'll be approximately $30. I can deal with that.

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I had totally forgotten that I'd opened up a dream account with Barclay's and set up automatic transfers. So last night I received two emails telling me that my transfer was successful. Huh?! I was completely paniccing and it didn't help that their customer service isn't open on the weekend. After about ten minutes though of thinking it through, I recalled the dream account and calmed down. I did call them today though to be 100% sure.

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I got my resume/cover letter faxed off today. Now the wait begins.

Well I finally called the company that is not named today and ... was told that I need to keep looking for the box with the scanner for the next two weeks, and if I don't find it, call back on the 17th and they'll mark it as a "lost asset." I will not be held liable for it!Here I've been stressing about it for *months* and it was as simple as this. Ugh!

Thanks everyone for your advice/suggestions/commiseration.

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I got my January Internet bill on Thursday. It was almost double the normal bill - so that means that whatever promotion I was under is over again. I was going to call them today, but they're only open M-F, so will have to call them on Monday. Hopefully I can get it lowered by quite a bit. (Especially considering how slow/spotty the service can be sometimes!!)

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NE was here visiting this past week. I used the third of my four personal days to be able to spend a whole day with him. I'll be using the last personal day near the end of this month to go out there to NE. Feb 10 will make 9 months! We went out to eat Thursday night, and I managed to forget to bring my purse! Luckily he had his wallet, so he paid (and luckily I didn't get pulled over - no driver's license!) We have the agreement that whoever is "hosting" the other generally drives and pays for meals/entertainment. (I paid him back when we got back home.) He drove home through the Denver area so he could purchase some stereo equipment (he resells on Ebay) - as he was walking out the guys door, he missed a step and fell. Luckily, his pride was the most damaged in the fall.

I can hardly wait til the end of May when we will no longer have to make a huge trip to see each other!!

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Speaking of the move .. NE accessed the stuff that I plan on moving with me (I'm planning on donating my elliptical and probably my computer desk/hutch .. and debating about my stereo system.) He thinks that I should be able to fit everything in to one of the larger rental trailers along with our two vehicles. I *think* that even with adding in gas costs for two vehicles, this would work out somewhat cheaper than renting the small truck and car dolly.

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I was going to fax my cover letter and resume on Friday for that tech job in NE - but got way busy during the day, and then after school I helped the 3rd grade teacher select photos for the Americ@orps conference she and the first grade teacher are going to in a few weeks (the same one I went to last year.) By the time we were finished, the office was locked up (where the fax machine is.) So .. will do it on Monday - have everything printed out and ready to go (including a cover sheet.)

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Getting gas on Friday evening in big G was a nightmare! My tank was on the last flashing button so I HAD to get some, otherwise I would've driven off and done it later. I pull up and there is a sign on all the pumps saying that they were out of regular fuel, but that the mid-level fuel was the same price. So just as I'm about to swipe my card, someone comes out and takes off the sign and says they have regular fuel again. Okay... I swipe my card and am about to remove the pump, when I get the message the transaction was cancelled. Huh? I hadn't even typed in my zipcode - and I knew the card was good - had just used it at Walmart. So, I tried it a second time. It was canceled again, and given the message to see cashier. I went inside, and there was a line of 20+ people! Finally I get up there and ask for $35 on my pump. Go pump, and it comes out to $32.01 - am told to go inside for refund. UGH! 20+ people again in line. Finally get my refund.

A transaction that should have taken maybe 5 minutes tops, ended up taking over 20 minutes -- all with frozen groceries in the car. At least I wont' have to fill up again for awhile.

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I recently downloaded a new app (new to me at least) called Receipt Hog. You take a picture of your receipt and earn coins which eventually you can redeem for gift cards or Paypal cash. So far it seems to work pretty well, and an added bonus is that you have a digital record of your receipts. You get bonuses for referrals, but I think the only way to get referrals is via FB/Twitter or email. Too bad they don't just have a link I could place on my sidebar.

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Another new app I *just* downloaded last night is Achievemint! I've been using the website for the past year, but they just recently came out with an app. I've earned almost $40 from it just from connecting GymPact, Fitbit, Monitor Your Weight and My Fitness Pal. Now with the app, I am able to set up "habits" which correspond with the apps I already have connected and earn even more points! I'll be cashing out when I get to $50 (which shouldn't be too much longer at the rate I'm earning points now!)

About GymPact - I can't remember if I mentioned it or not - but they have expanded the ways you can earn money. It's made it so I've been able to cash out for $10 TWICE since December. They added connectivity to My Fitness Pal - you can bet how many days you'll log your calories and then get paid for it (if you make your bet.) You also can bet how many servings of fruit/veggies you'll eat in the week (up to 35) - take a picture of what you eat, and the community votes on whether it's acceptable or not. (They have renamed themselves just Pact, but I think you still can find it searching gympact.) New users might still be able to get a $5 starting code (was MFP, but I'm not sure when that one expires.)

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I have three months left to be able to do ten regular pushups -- or pay NE $100. Um .... I still can't do one regular pushup. Part of the problem is that I haven't been terribly consistent doing my pushup workout routine .. really need to get on that.

As for diet@bet -- I have a *small* possibility that I may be able to win Round 3. I'm within 1 - 2 lbs of my round 3 goal weight - Feb 5 or 6 is weigh in day. I think I'll definitely make it for the Round 4 weigh in (March 5/6) and 100% sure I'll get the final weigh in (May 5/6.) I've had several people who did not know I was working on losing weight recently comment that I looked like I'd been losing weight. (About 23 lbs lost since September.) My Lane Bryant corduroys that I got on clearance for $5 years ago are getting to the point where I need a belt to hold them up (well, they stay up fine, just kind of ride down to where if I don't have a long top on and raise my arms .... belly button assault.)

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I cashed out about a week ago for 500 SBs from Bing - I'm going to use the code probably on Monday so I don't have to worry about making the goals that day. Although it might be better to save it for the birthday bash day, since the goal that day will probably be pretty high and be time consuming to reach. Hmmm..

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I think I've got most of the tax documents I need now. I plan on finishing my taxes this weekend. I'd forgotten about the money from summer school - so I'm not sure how that will affect my refund - I *think* I'll still be under the tax saver's credit limit (so I'll still get a credit for putting money in my ROTH.) I'll also be able to do my state taxes, so I can find out what kind of refund I'll get from that. Whatever refund I get will be going to the Moving/NE fund. If I get that tech job, it'll make the move SO much simpler - (i.e. renting an apartment with a contract in hand is much easier than trying to rent an apartment without a job already ... plus since it's a Catholic school, they hopefully would be on the same salary schedule - so I might only have to go for July without a paycheck. Oh, I also checked out the salary schedule in that town for Catholic school teachers ... the *starting* salary is a good $10k more than I make right now - assuming that's for people with only a degree and no experience.)

So ... I think I may have found a job for next school year in NE (at least one that I can apply for!) It is for a technology instructor K-8 at a Catholic school. My principal has already told me she'd write me a rec letter, as well as a couple other teachers.

I've written my cover letter, and updated my resume. My mom thinks my cover letter is fantastic, but that she questions my resume some.

My previous resume I used the summary of skills type format - mainly to lessen the impact of a very short lived job and the ensuing job gap. Now that that is well over ten years ago and I can leave it out, I decided to go with a chronological format. This of course means that there is the time between being laid off from my oil and gas job and starting my tutoring. During this time I worked at a fitness center for minimum wage - it was basically a stopgap job. I was there for a total of around 15 months (including time I was there on a very part-time basis before being laid off from my 40hr/wk job). It's a total of about 8 months between being laid off and starting the tutoring.

My mom thinks I should leave the job at the gym off my resume even though it gives me a gap of 8 months.
I think the reason she says this is because of the job being a minimum wage job and not a professional job. My thinking though is that I don't want such a huge gap, plus even if the job was a min wage non-professional job, it shows that I'm willing to do what it takes to bring in income.

Oh, also, I'm planning on buying paper tomorrow to print my resume on. Is it still good form to print it on special paper??

I'd like to hear what you all think. Would you leave it as is (include the gym job), or would you not include the gym job and maybe go back to a skills summary format? Something else?

So ... back in April or so I signed up to part of a certain unnamed company where you use a scanner to send info about stuff you buy. In June I found out that I'd been approved, and was sent a scanner - a few days before I left to go to CA. I never opened the box - once I got back from CA, I left to NE a few days later. During this time I got a couple emails asking me when I was going to do my first scan, and if I had any problems. I replied letting them know that I was away from home and wouldn't be back til early August.

When I did finally get home I was thrown into getting ready for the school year and forgot about the scanner. Then my mom came for a few days and helped me clean out my back bedroom. School started and I was really busy with all that.

Towards the beginning of October I got a notice that I had been deactivated in the program since I hadn't done any scans. They asked me to send it back.

I looked for the box with the scanner, and couldn't find it. So I called them and let them know that I'd gotten their message and was in the process of trying to figure out what had happened with the scanner.

I got a couple letters telling me if I didn't return it within ten days legal action would happen. Of course, I got those letters every time *after* the ten day period due to my not checking my mail that often or being gone for one reason or another.

I started getting phone calls from a place that supposedly was a law firm that left me voicemails. All this time they kept referring to the 'value" of the scanner, but never said how much it was worth. I didn't respond to any of them because I still hadn't found the scanner - so what more could I say other than I'm looking for it?!

So over Christmas they sent me another letter (again with the ten day deadline - which expired on Dec 30 when I was in NE) which finally stated that the scanner was worth $200.

Like I said, I never actually opened the box, so I have no idea if the scanner could even possibly be worth that much. My guess is that when my mom was here helping me clean out and reorganize my back bedroom, that the box somehow got thrown out. I've searched pretty much everywhere it could possibly be in the ensuing months - nada.

Since I've gotten back I've gotten 3 - 5 calls a day Mon - Sat from two different numbers, an 800# and one from CA - no voicemails. I've not answered them (mostly because they have come when I've been at work so I don't answer my phone there.)

I'm willing to pay for the scanner (if they can prove how much it is really worth) but I don't know who to contact about it. A part of me also wonders what they really could *do* - all they have is my name, phone# and PO address. Also, I wonder what would happen if I pay the value they say the scanner is, and then when it turns up when I move .. would I be able to get my money back?

Ugh. I feel pretty stupid for getting myself into this whole thing. I wish I had never signed up for it in the first place.

Any ideas of what I should/could do?

(Like I said, I know I was pretty stupid for letting this go on so long like this, and for getting into it at all. So ... )

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Just realized that my blogaversary passed on the 19th! 9 years! Yikes!

The first week back was hard to get back into the swing of things, but somehow I managed to get through it.

I did end up losing Round 2 of the diet*bet I'm participating in - a $40 loss! I'll get it for Round 3!! (need 5.2 lbs by Feb 5)
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After getting my final paycheck for 2013 I logged into Tax@ct and did my preliminary taxes. In 2013 I upped my allowances so I got more money in each paycheck. Before inputting info for American Ed credit and tax savers credit, that gave me a refund of $52. After inputting the info, it gave me a credit of about $400. The state info wasn't ready, so I don't know what that'll be like yet. Whatever money I get back from taxes will be going straight to the moving fund!

In doing my taxes I was glad to find out that I was correct in figuring out that I would not owe any capital gains on the stocks I sold earlier in 2013.

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I wrote to Bings customer service about my first reward email that I think I'd deleted (hadn't realized what it'd look like.) They resent me the info! So I had the $5 AGC from the first reward, and then 500 SBs from the second reward. That gave me enough SBs to redeem for a $15 AGC (with enough left over for my February 5 $5 AGC's.)

I also took a Pinecone survey yesterday, so that'll be another $3 soon.

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I've now added to my list of apps/websites that are paying me to exercise / eat right.

Previous list:
GymPact (now just Pact) - pays you to workout, to log calories through My Fitness Pal, and to eat fruits/veggies

Achievemint.com - pays you for steps, RunKeeper activities, MFP food logging, monitoring your weight, etc.

Walgreen's Balance Rewards - Pays for fitbit steps, and monitoring weight

NEW

earndit.com - earn points for steps and turn into prizes and/or giftcards

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Some excitement with my car this week ...

I'd noticed the low tire pressure light on for a couple weeks (before vacation) but figured it was just from the cold weather. Thursday after school I noticed that my tire was completely flat. My purse was at home (.7/10 mile) so I drove home to get it. I'd helped NE change his tire this Christmas so thought I'd try my hand at it on mine ... couldn't get the spare tire out of the trunk. Decided that if my tire was ruined, it was already ruined, and if it wasn't, that a mile or so wasn't going to make that much of a difference.

At the mechanics he took my tire off and showed me the nail in my tire. He also emptied out several cups worth of black dust, and showed me the side of the tire. Yep. Ruined. So I tell him I'll go ahead and get a new tire. It's $88 -gulp. This mechanic doesn't take plastic ... all I had on me was $10. So I went across the street to the local mom and pop store and got $100.

When I went to pay, the lady at first was like -- "It's $88." I told her, yes, I gave you $100. Oh (she recounts it.) Then she gives me a $10 bill. I'm puzzled and tell her that I think my change is closer to $12 - she says the mechanic told her not to worry about change. Huh?! She then gives me $2 and apologizes saying she wasn't feeling very well. Um ... okay.

So the tire was supposed to be there on Friday. I left work as soon as the last bus was gone and got over there. Apparently the tire delivery guy was sick, so no tire. The mechanic had fixed my old tire so I could drive on it - but had also warned me that with it being so thin on one side that there was danger of a blowout. My tire should be here by Tuesday. So that made for a staying at home kind of weekend.

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I looked on Craigslist for a few hours yesterday at housing options in NE. I know it's WAY early but still it's good to have some ideas. I found a studio apartment (404sf)for $300/month that allows cats! I hope that option is still available in June.

I also found this really cool option that is about 30 minutes from NEs place out in the country. It is a very rustic cabin - no running water, but has electricity - you have to park about 1500 feet away from the front door. It has a wood stove for backup heat. It's not really practical, but it sure was fun to think about.

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I found out that my car loan isn't quite at the $1000 mark yet. After my December payment it was at a balance of ~$1300. So after the January payment it is now at a balance of ~$1000. That means that my last $300 payment will be in April instead of March. That's a bit frustrating, but at least it will still be paid off before I move.

I opened my front door about 2:15 a.m. - about two hours later than I'd thought I'd be getting home. My first flight was delayed 90+ minutes due to the lack of a full flight crew (one of the crew members was on a plane that was delayed in another city.) Thankfully my connecting flight was also delayed - and it actually waited for us! A small miracle considering it was the last flight out for the night (to ABQ at least.)

Overall, I had a very good trip. There was some family drama in CA due to my diabetic uncle who wasn't managing his blood sugars very well ... but the NE part of my trip was quite lovely. I am really looking forward to when I can make NE my home state.

I'd been thinking about trying to get to a gym while I was there, but ended up not bothering. I went to Walmart and Target and just walked around in there, and then did my pushup routine in NEs apartment. Somehow I managed to only gain .02lbs! I'd call that maintaining really. My weigh in for my 6mo dietbet is tomorrow - I need 1.3 lbs loss to make it. Kind of doubt that'll happen, but miracles do happen.

My aunt gave me a $200 check to help out with my traveling expenses. I thought that was really nice of her - she'd said that she wanted to help me out, and I thought maybe $100 at the most. So it was really unexpected (and appreciated.) I'll be putting that money into my travel/moving category.

I'm going to be heading out to do some grocery shopping in a few minutes. I'm totally out of cat food, plus some other things.

I opened a Barclay's Dream Account today. I moved $1k out of my EF Barclay's savings into it, and set up an auto transfer of $50 for 6 months. It won't be new money going into it, but that'll earn a little more than what it was earning.

One goal I have for the upcoming five months or so ... pack one box of items or purge one box worth of items per week (until I'm at the point where what's left I *have* to keep out.) That way I'm not panicking in May trying to get everything done.

I've decided to donate my elliptical to the school - I don't really use it, and there are staff members who DO use the equipment in the gym. So that'll save space on the moving truck. I'm also considering letting go of my stereo (never use) and my pantry cupboard (falling apart.) Possibly letting go of my computer desk/hutch as well (replace when I get to NE with something smaller.)

I desperately need to go through my clothing and reduce it by 50%. I have SO many clothes! I need to reduce my kitchen stuff too. It would be good if I could fit all my clothes into my 3 suitcases (with the exception of my big winter coat) and all my kitchen supplies/dishes into 6 medium boxes. My office/books stuff also could be greatly reduced. I'd like to be able to get all of that stuff into ten medium boxes or less.

I'd like to be able to use the smallest Uhaul truck with car towing capacity when I make my move. So the more I can reduce, the better! (I plan on finding the smallest, most inexpensive - yet relatively safe - place to rent that allows cats. No matter what kind of job I find.)

First semester is over. Yay! We barely managed to get the first issue of the school newspaper out yesterday.

Had two nice surprises yesterday - the mission gave all of us $50 Walmart gift cards! This is the first bonus I've received since I started working here - I had just figured they didn't do bonuses. The second nice surprise was that my assistant gave me a gift - totally wasn't expecting one. She gave me a beautiful necklace with a tiny turtle charm, a cross necklace/earring set (which I can't wear because my ears aren't pierces, but I can give it to my mom), and a bunch of Hershey's miniatures. I rarely ever wear jewelry - mainly because I forget I have any ... so it's amusing whenever someone gives me a piece. (Amusing in the way of wondering if they'd noticed I 99.99% of the time don't wear any.)

My junior year of college I had a glamor shot photo done. NE saw it years ago when we first met, and the image stuck with him I guess. (probably because I look so different from normal everyday in it ... i.e. I was wearing a lot of makeup and my hair was gussied up.) This last summer we were talking about a lot of different things, and the picture / makeup thing came up. He told me that he'd really like to see me in makeup once in awhile.

So ... last night when I was at Walmart I decided to use some of the giftcard bonus to buy foundation, eye shadow and an eye liner. I already had lipstick and mascara. I was also thinking about buying blush, but just couldn't figure out a good color. Figuring out the color for the foundation was difficult enough - I ended up buying one of the more expensive brands that had one of those testing sheets that you put your hand under to see skin tone. I really don't remember the last time I bought foundation. I plan on putting it on before leaving to NE on Christmas Day - hopefully most of it will still be on by the time I get there. A small Christmas gift to NE. (I really probably need to go to somewhere like Macy's and get my colors figured out again - when I was in high-school a friend of mine who was really good with makeup helped me figure out colors - hence brownish eyeshadow/liner - but skin tone can change as you get older.)

I don't mind wearing makeup, especially on special occasions. I just don't usually think about it or want to take the time to do it. If I remember to put on lipstick and mascara that's a major miracle most of the time...

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I bought some semi-healthy snack type foods at Walmart that I can take with me for my trip. NE and I have different eating schedules - I can't go more than 4 or 5 awake hours without something, whereas he can go much longer. So, it'll make life much easier to just have some foods I can snack on until he's ready to actually eat a meal.

(Dietbet) I have two pounds to lose by January 5. I was really hoping to be at Round 2 goal weight *before* leaving on my trip so all I'd have to do was maintain. I've decided to not stress out about it and focus on maintaining. I still can meet Round 3's goal (8% total of starting weight - which would be about 5 lbs from where I am right now) by February 5. I'm not going to go overboard on eating, but I'm also not going to obsess (too much) about calories, etc. I will however try to get in as much activity as possible. If I lose, great. If I maintain, fine. If I gain a little ... well, that's life.

I am looking into gyms in NEs town - especially hoping to find some kind of trial membership pass or something. Too bad there aren't any Planet Fitness in NE - then I could just pay $10 and use it while I was there and cancel.

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I've made a total of 14 soaps now (2 with the messed up bug oil drops.) I bought some more soap cases at Walmart last night, but forgot to get the washcloths or ribbon! Doh! When I get to ABQ this afternoon, I'll get those things to add. I'll take pictures of everything and will eventually do them in a blog post here. Just not sure when. I'm going to give one of the soap/soap case to my co-worker who is looking in on Kari for me while I'm gone. I may also send one to my mom (along with the earrings) and maybe give one to my IT friend/coworker (she's having lung cancer surgery on Tuesday - please keep her in your prayers. )

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Looking at 2013:

Financially speaking, this was not a banner year. I spent a lot of money and saved very little. I did not meet any of my financial goals - though I came close on two of them.

1. Pay off car loan - Nope. Have roughly $1000 left.
2. $5k in EF - Not even close. I didn't really even add anything to my EF this year. I have money in savings, but I haven't earmarked it for anything specific yet because I just don't know how much all my traveling and eventual move is going to cost. So, in effect, the money that might have gone to the EF is in my liquid savings.

I'm not really sure how much I added to that this year, because it keeps getting spent. Right now I have approximately $3k in liquid savings.

3. $3k to ROTH - I put $2400 in this year. When I do my taxes I'll see if squeezing another $600 will make that much of a difference in taxes or not. If not, then I'm not going to worry about it.

4. $1k to FIRE fund - Nope. Zilch.

Even though I didn't meet my financial goals, my networth did increase substantially. It actually broke the 6 figure mark.

Personally:
2013 was a banner year for me. I managed to get the courage/gumption/nerve whathaveyou up to jump in and see if a real relationship was possible with NE. It was.

This year I have also managed to actually stop my soda habit. Other than a few sips of NEs soda, I haven't had any since mid-September. Stopping my soda habit has been a yearly goal for a long time, but other than a few times, I've never managed to stick with it very long.

Also, in October a switch seemed to go off that has finally made it possible for me to lose weight. I still have slip-ups (like .. my birthday and yesterday with the Hershey's miniatures ...)but more often than not, I'm doing pretty well.

Health (other than weight):
This has not been a good health year for me at all. I really suspect that I had mono starting sometime in late February/early March and have pretty much been recovering since then. I am however starting to have more good energy level/ feeling level days than low energy/yuck feeling days, so hopefully I'm getting close to the end of it.

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2014 - Looking ahead

Financial:

Goals for first six-seven months - will have to re-access after moving at end of May.

1. Pay off car loan (by March)
2. Increase monthly ROTH contribution to $300 starting in April
3. In April and May - $200 to Moving Fund, as well as any tax return money
4. Move to NE at the end of May
5. Find a new job in NE (preferably one with benefits and better pay)
6. Find an inexpensive and relatively safe place to live in NE.

Personal:
1. Continue healthier lifestyle
2. Continue to grow in relationship with NE
3. After moving to NE, find a church family that fits me and get active in it

If you have a smartphone and have the Cap 360 app, be sure to log in today and every day through December 29
! 12 $1k prizes and one $10k prize are available.

To enter, all you have to do is login to your account through the app.

This was just the motivation I needed to get my Pinecone checks finally cashed. (One a day for a good while ... at least 7 of them that need to be deposited.)

Well tonight I made my first attempt at making soap. I used one of my big pots and my glass measuring cup to make a "double boiler." Once the ingredients had all melted, I poured them into the two soap molds. Of course it wasn't until *after* about five minutes that I remembered to add the bug off oil to the soap ... and then it was ten minutes later that I re-read the instructions and realized that I was supposed to *stir* the drops in. Umm... I'll probably keep these first two bars for myself.

I'm going to have to make more tomorrow, Thursday and Friday - maybe Friday I can make two batches. I kind of wish now that I'd gotten either bigger soap molds, or more of them. Making two at a time will take a lot of time.

My ingredients that gave me just a smidge more than I needed for two small square molds:

1/4 cup each:
beeswax balls; olive oil, shortening

Then added about ten drops of bug off oil after putting mixture in molds.

Supposed to let it cool in the mold for a few hours, and then keep it in an airtight container so it'll last. (I bought soap cases, which added $25 (for 5) to the cost of my gifts. Still need to buy washcloths and some kind of ribbon to tie it with.)

Now that I have the molds and the beeswax balls, I can probably do something similar for gifts later - at a smaller cost. Maybe just moisturizing soaps or lip balms. I do think though that I may have to relegate my glass measuring cup to soap making ... not sure if I'll ever get that film off of it.

This year overall has probably been one of the best year's in a long time for me. Mainly because of NE. My mom called me this morning and asked me what would make this coming year even better - I said there'd be 3 things - better health, a ring(or at least the question that usually goes with one!) and a positive test. I probably should've added - a good job with benefits in NEs town.

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On Thursday when I was in town I'd bought a more expensive than normal frozen dinner - spinach manicotti. Normally I take myself out to eat for my birthday - some years to Olive Garden, the past few to a local place here. Manicotti has always been one of my fave treats. I wish I'd read the ingredients list more carefully ... As I was waiting for it to cook this morning (decided to have my treat meal first thing so I could more easily stay within a reasonable amount of calories for the day) I read the ingredient list. About half-way down there were five different listings of CHICKEN! I felt so disappointed and disgusted. (I'm vegetarian.) The thought of having to drive 30 minutes one way to get something else just. did. NOT. appeal.

So .... I went into town and got a pizza from the local Family Dollar. I think my body's really gotten used to eating less .. cause the pizza did NOT agree with me very well at all. Ugh. Wasn't worth it.

I would have been better off calorie wise and money wise to have just gone out to a restaurant in the first place. That's life I guess.

--

Yesterday at church I had someone who I'd not seen in about six weeks notice that I'd lost weight. (14lbs as of yesterday.)

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I was feeling kind of sad this afternoon, thinking about my dad and missing him. Missing his call and off-key rendition of happy birthday. Then for whatever reason I started thinking about my dad's youngest brother who had a beef with my dad that he never let go of - not even after my dad had died. In fact, in the three years my dad lived with my grandma taking care of her, this uncle NEVER once called her. He didn't call her to give condolences when my dad died either. He called her about three weeks *after* the memorial service and not once said a word about not having called for 3+ years or anything about my dad. At the time I was sitting at the kitchen table with my grandma, and both of our mouths were just hanging open in shock. Today as I was thinking about it, I was coming up with some harsh reality words I wish I'd said to him at the time - especially with what his son recently did to my grandma (long story - but he essentially stole $8k from her while she was gone on her birthday cruise. He's not really being punished other than having to pay it back.)

Recently at a teacher in-service our principal played the song Lean On Me. She asked everyone to say something they could help another person with, and something they needed help with. I said I could help someone with technology (surprise surprise) but that I needed help with speaking my mind. That for some reason seemed to surprise more than a few people. If some of them knew what went on in my head .. what I'd LIKE to say sometimes ... but don't ... yeah, they'd be in for a shock.

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I'm thinking of getting the 2nd season of Person of Interest from Amazon Instant Video as a gift to myself. (paid for with AGC money.) It's something I've been wanting for a while, and isn't that much .. $24 I think.

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This coming week I have two normal days of classes, one class on Wednesday, and maybe two on Thursday. Then Friday is a half-day. So this will be one of the least busy weeks for me - at least class wise. I can hardly wait for Saturday to come and fly out to CA and see my brother!! Then on Wednesday on to NE!

I still need to make the soaps for gifts. I have all the ingredients, and two soap molds. Now it's just a matter of making them. I'll probably do some on Tuesday, some on Thursday and some on Friday. (I'm going to make 8 all together - the molds are kind of small - so two would fit into the soap container.

So I was going through my emails in my hotmail account where I have all my MyPoints mail sent. In amoungst the MP emails there were about 7 emails from various restaurants for free food - a number of years ago I'd joined a bunch of birthday clubs. Of course they were all places located in the DFW metroplex area, none of which are less than 90 miles from where I am now (the closest one is Schlotsky's (sp?) ) I really would love to go to Blue Mesa again, or to Cheesecake Factory or .... Oh well, that's the choice I made by coming here.

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My fitbit was giving me fits yesterday - not counting correctly at all. So today I sent an email to customer service. They replied promptly and told me that my fitbit is defective and I could either return it to Walgreen's, or send them my receipt and they'd replace it. So I headed off to Walgreen's after work today and they exchanged it with no hassle! So I now have a beautifully working fitbit.

I currently have it connected to Walgreen's Balance Rewards, My Fitness Pal, GymPact, Achievemint and something else too I think.

I got in almost 5k steps today ... and that was *after* getting the new one.

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I got approved for the Judy Freeman seminar in February!! This will be my third year going. It makes for a nice little mini-vacation. I stay in this fancy hotel the night before, eat breakfast for free at their buffet with a made to order omlette, go to the seminar and eat lunch out (reimbursed) and then head on home again. I wish the per diem was a flat rate and you didn't have to prove you spent however much on food ... but still, it makes a great paid for mini-vacation. (plus getting to see all the great new books for kids!)

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I made $6 with Pinecone this week, and am within a few days of cashing out for a $5 AGC from irazoo again (thanks to their coupon deal - 60 pts a day!)

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I had to fill up with gas today - $30.59 for 10.xx gallons ($2.595/gallon)

I also spent $60 at Albertson's. Not all of it was food (I bought a bottle that will be good for shaking protein drinks in.) I found these individual vegetarian split pea soup bowls - 220 calories, 24gr protein!! $1.29 each. I bought all 5 they had on the shelf ... That's one thing I'm trying to up - my protein intake. So that is almost pure protein calories! (a vegetarian source of it too!)

Only two weeks of school left til I fly out to CA to spend a few days with my brother, Grandma and Aunt/Uncle! Then fly off again to NE to spend the remainder of Christmas break. If the plane isn't delayed, then I'll actually get to spend Christmas Day with both my family AND my bf.

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This last week was a busy one. Thursday and Friday at school we worked on getting everything setup for the Community Christmas Dinner which we had on Saturday. It wasn't as much work as in the past two years (if you remember, I played Mrs. Clause the first year), but there also wasn't as much stuff donated to give away. It was a little sad on Friday afternoon around 1:30 ... everything was pretty much done and there were loads of people just standing around wondering what to do. That never was a problem the last two years!!

The dinner went pretty well overall, although we did have some people kind of complaining about the lack of stuff. They'd take the bag of food or the bucket of food and then come by the Santa's Workshop line and ask me, "Is this it?" With a big smile on my face I would respond, "Yes, it is! Merry Christmas!"

I really didn't think we'd have enough toys for all the kids - but amazingly we did! They were getting pretty scarce towards the end (especially the girl toys) but every kid got a stuffed animal and a toy!

There were a total of 1,063 people who came through and were served a turkey/ham dinner, received a bucket or bag of food, a blanket, a jacket and toys for the kids. (although towards the end we did run out of blankets and jackets - probably the last 70 or so people didn't get those)

All I can say is that I'm glad it's over!!

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In Round 1 of the 6 month long Dietbet I'm participating in, I won $18.10!

It's kind of a sad commentary on people's reading comprehension though .. on the db site there have been a lot of people complaining about how the winnings are stacking up. I really want to smack a few of them upside the head and ask .. did you read the rules and FAQ's before signing up?? It's explained pretty darn clearly. If you didn't like it, why did you sign up?!

I'd like to suggest to the db team before the next one they do like this that before you pay for your bet, that you have to pass a ten question quiz to ensure that you actually READ the material!!

Ugh!

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So on Friday I was at Walmart (what a zoo! NE tells me I should shop on Tuesday or Thursday instead to avoid the masses ... thinking about it.) I hadn't found a battery for my fitbit here in little T, so decided to get one at Walmart. What a racket! The same battery I could have gotten 5 of for $1.29 + free shipping from Ebay (which I did actually, but unfortunately my Paypal address is from three addresses ago ....) was $6.51!! I bit the bullet though because I really wanted to get started using my fitbit.

I think I like it so far. Yesterday with standing/bouncing (to try to keep warm) it only recorded 1,300 steps in 4 hours. But today with doing my weight routine and then a 35 minute walk (back and forth through my house) I managed a bit over 4k steps. Tomorrow will be very interesting to see how many steps I do on one of my 3 busiest work days.

I've linked the fitbit to My Fitness Pal, GymPact, Achievemint and to Walgreen's Balance Rewards.

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We had a two-hour delay on Thursday due to the snow/ice. One of our staff (title 1 teacher) rolled her car on the way in - she was unhurt thankfully. Saturday night another snowstorm rolled in. I wouldn't be shocked if we didn't have a two hour delay again tomorrow. (would love a snow day, but really doubt that'll happen)

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Groupon had a deal for a Journey concert in ABQ on May 20. I ran it by NE (he loves Journey too) but he didn't think it'd be a good idea since that'll be my last week here and it'll be busy finishing up packing, etc. Boo. He's right, just hate that he's right.

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I have all the stuff I need to make the soaps for Christmas ... just haven't gotten around to doing it yet. MUST get it done by a week from Monday!!

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My birthday is next Sunday. I usually take myself out to eat and sometimes to a movie as well. This year though I'm thinking that I'll just get a slice of cheesecake from Walmart on Friday and rent a newer movie I haven't seen yet (maybe Tiger Eyes) and stay at home. Be much cheaper monetarily and calorie wise than going out to eat/to a theater .. plus I'm going to have two weeks away from home where I won't have a lot of control over food ... so I need to be careful if I'm going to make the Round 2 weigh in on January 5/6!

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Just got the call - 2 hour delay tomorrow! Woo hoo! I can sleep in again.

The past few days I cashed in for $25 of AGCs from Swagbucks. After the monthly bonuses, I should have enough for January's $25, and then I'll start working on earning a $15 card.

I also cashed out for a $5 AGC from Bing Rewards today. I set my next goal to be a 500 SB gift card. By the time I have enough for that, I'll have Gold status. So instead of it being worth $5, it'll be worth $5.25 (cashing in for a $5 AGC from Sbs, leaving 50 SBs.)

I also finally achieved the 25,000 point level on Acheivemint . com. Of course, when I went to cash out they offered me a deal that I didn't resist. If I upped my reward goal to 50,000 points, they'd give me a free 5,000 points. Considering that it's taken me a year to get to 25,000 points ... 5,000 free points is a big deal. I'm hoping to get the needed 20k points by July (increased means of earning points and being more consistent *should* make this happen.)

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Ok the other thing. I just had to brag on my bf a little bit. He called me tonight totally out of the blue and sang a Stevie Wonder song to me. That sure put a smile (read big grin) on my face.

It's hard to believe that just about seven months ago I was stressing out over whether or not to call him and ask him whether or not he wanted to give it a second go or not. How life changes.

So my week off is quickly coming to a close. Overall, it was a very good week. The only downside to it was that what started out as a head cold/bad allergies, became a sinus infection and deep chest cough.

--
While I was at the doctor yesterday to get antibiotics for my sinus infection, I was of course weighed in. It was a nice confirmation of the accuracy of the new scale I got a few months ago (my other one was getting really unreliable.) I did gain a lb over the week, but considering how some of the food I was eating was much higher sodium than usual, I'm not too surprised. I'm still well under where I need to be to win round 1.

The doctor visit was $25.31, and the antibiotics was $10. (Of course, while I was at Walgreen's I picked up some more Nyquil, a pair of leggings (something I'd been thinking about so I can wear a skirt/dress even when it's cold), and ... a Fitbit Zip ... again, something I'd been thinking about for awhile.) So the total cost of my Walgreen's trip was $90.xx.

I also dropped off a couple bags of stuff to Goodwill - things that a former teacher had given me before she moved last summer but I just had never gotten around to getting rid of (used a few items from it, but mostly not useful to me.)

--
Having NE here was really great. He is such a sweet, sweet man. He *really* does not like social situations much at all, but he willingly agreed to go to the faculty Thanksgiving meal so that my coworkers would know that he was real and not something I had imagined. At the dinner he went and got me a drink ... I know that might not be a big deal to some people, but other than my brother/dad, I've never had a boyfriend do something like that for me. It just made me feel really special.

The tater tot casserole NE made was scrumptious! He doesn't have a working oven in his apartment, so I'm going to attempt to make banana pudding while I'm there over Christmas break. (I made cornbread casserole for the Tdinner - lots of compliments, including NE who isn't shy about saying what he really thinks about food.)

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These next three weeks will be busy ones. Christmas dinner coming up this coming Saturday, preparing for the Christmas program, my birthday, and then the final push for the end of the semester. I will be SO ready to get on the plane on the 21st!!

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There were some financial things I'd planned on accomplishing on Friday, but between being sick and trying to get into the doctor at the last minute, they did not get accomplished. At some point though I really do need to get them done.

I did receive a $6 payment from PineCone in my paypal account - which I've already transferred. I have around $28 in PineCone checks that need to get deposited ... I wonder how many checks I can photo deposit at a time to CapOne? I guess I'll just have to experiment and find out.