Keeping It Frugal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ugh. Did it again. Posted without saving.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Phhff!

Gotta go pick up nurse. Off to ABQ.

This week has been busy with end of the year activities and trying to recover all the checked out books (with one day left, still have 43 out!!)

I am still sad about my coworker leaving and my other coworker finding out about cancer, not to mention a third coworker who has decided to look for another job as well. Both of my walking partners may be gone next year. However, a 3 hr Skype convo with NE and a sweet ecard the next morning, did a lot to lift my spirits.

NE ... I knew he was a gem before, but he's showing himself to be a diamond. I had no idea what to expect with rekindling our relationship, but I am SO glad I jumped off the ledge and helped it along.

Today was field day. I got a bit of a sunburn supervising the Great Wall of China station (two kids stand in the middle of the playing field and try to catch all the other kids as they run back and forth.) It went pretty well from what I could see, and the kids had fun. TG our principal had told the kids yesterday that if they had books still out that they would miss one event for every book. At that time there were 30 kids with books still out! Today 22 kids had to sit out. I hated to do something so negative like that, but come on! It isn't like the kids aren't aware that the books belong to the library. I have a plan for next year which will hopefully alleviate this problem.

After work today I helped 3rd coworker scan a bunch of documents to apply for a different position. Then I went into big G and stopped at Walgreen's to pick up a thank you gift for my assistant. I ended up getting a few other things as well (of course.) About $24.xx or so altogether.

I had to get gas as well (both because I was running on fumes by the time I got to big G and because I'm taking the school nurse to the airport tomorrow.) I was truly on fumes - 10.458 gallons it took (at $3.49/gallon.) I had to switch pumps though because the first pump I was at wouldn't start fueling, even after I had one of the cashiers come out and look at it.

Well the past two nights the trailer has been very warm, almost uncomfortably. That's better though than last year where it became this way by the first week of May. I'm hopeful they'll set up the swamp coolers soon so I won't have to swelter too much. (I do have a fan, it just doesn't work that great.)

I am planning on taking it pretty easy until Tuesday. Then I'll have to go into uber prep mode for summer school. I'm totally refusing to spend any money on it this year. Just cannot do that again.

This morning I found out that my good friend and co-worker's lung cancer has returned. She'll be having surgery the last week of June. Curses and multiple bad words.

Then after our last staff meeting for the year, I found out that one of my favorite people here and one of my regular walking partners has decided to not return next year.

Dealing with both of those today hit me like a ton of bricks. I barely made it home after the staff meeting before bursting hysterically into sobs. When I'd calmed down a little bit, I called NE. He was so sweet, just listening and asking a few questions here and there. Then when he saw I was calmer, he started doing his best to make me laugh. He is such a good man.

I briefly saw what happened in OK today, but after getting the hint of multiple dead children, decided to not look into it too far. Had enough to handle already. I will probably read about it later tonight though.

Some of us got our contracts today, and the rest will tomorrow. That includes me. Days like today ... I wish I was in NE and not here, or NE was here ... Why do adult friends have such a hard time giving each other a hug? Or even a light touch on the shoulder?

This place is going to be so dreary for me next year without my teacher friend. She is truly one of those one of a kind type of people who *really* know God on a personal level.

I forgot to put this in my post yesterday. I called the local mechanic to find out how much he'd charge to add cruise control or possibly a combo cruise control/remote starter to my car. He told me I really should call the dealer. So .. I called the dealer in the G town. Long and short of it- they don't make anything like that for my model of car (2010 Toyota Yaris) and this particular dealership doesn't have the right equipment to even install after market parts. Huh?? Maybe the dealership in ABQ would though ...

I plan on contacting the local mechanic again to see what he thinks. I hope I don't have to go all the way to ABQ to get it done, but if I do, then I guess I do. Having cruise control will be very helpful in avoiding speeding tickets on the 16 hour drive .. (plus help with gas mileage too.) Oh yeah - speaking of gas mileage. My car averaged around 36 - 37 mpg on the trip - even with going up steep inclines.

I'm possibly taking the school nurse to the airport on Friday, so if the only place to get it done is at the ABQ dealer, then I could drop my car off on Friday. (maybe they'll have a loaner car or drop me off at the mall or something while I wait)

Not feeling 100% today, so kind of taking a lazy day. Though I really need to do some laundry and dishes..

Hi everyone. It's been a busy week here in the desert. NE and I have spent hours and hours talking on Skype (no thanks to my two year old computer that freezes up, or the Internet that drops the connection...) spent a few hours on FaceTime with my brother too (talking about who else but NE and also *the* electric car stock..)

8th grade graduation was Thursday night, and Preschool on Friday morning. More drama of course. It really makes me sad/sick to my stomach. It should *only* be about the kids - not about protesting not getting paid for doing things off the clock (like attending graduation!) Contracts are supposed to start being handed out on Monday ... will be interesting to see how much more drama this will create. (As in those who've been doing the stupid silent protests may not be getting the raises they think they deserve...)

One of the teachers took a personal day on Friday, but hadn't mentioned that they were going to be gone to their students. So Friday afternoon I had 4 of that teacher's students come in to the lab visibly upset asking to print out cards/brochures for their teacher. The teacher asst. for whatever reason decided to share a text from the teacher stating that the teacher was past ABQ and on the way home ... This made the kids who are already pretty fragile about the whole teachers not staying for long thing, assume that this teacher had left for good without saying goodbye. Ugh. I tried to reassure them that their teacher would be back Monday, but I don't think they believed me.

Stock ... wow! I decided to sell enough shares to recoup my initial investment from 3 or so years ago (plus a bit more.) I paid $28.xx/share then, and sold for $95/share! At my income level (as far as I can figure) I won't owe any capital gains taxes. This money will eventually be used to pay off my car. For now though, I'm going to enjoy seeing a nice fat bank account. (Looking at my net worth increase in the last two weeks makes me have heart palpitations - an increase of nearly $30k!!)

NE .. I just can't say how happy I am. I'll be going to stay with him in NE for most of July. I found someone who will take Kari into their home while I'm gone. Will be driving out, and probably stopping in Colorado Springs again for the night. I know myself - no way could I drive 16 hours straight.

Any of you connected with me on FB can see a picture of NE and I. I don't want to post it here for a variety of reasons though.

Only one week of school left!! This coming week I won't have any media classes. I'll have my work cut out for me working on cleaning, sorting and a variety of projects. Not to mention preparing for summer school!

Ack! I'm just so happy.

(PS - I decided to not take the babysitting job I was emailed about. The thought of leaving here no later than 6:30 a.m. for two weeks plus all the driving ... made me exhausted just thinking about it. Plus it would have ended up maybe being $5/hr after taking out gas costs. Not worth it.)

I got back last night from my weekend adventure. Boy am I ever tired!!

The way to Colo Sprgs is pretty much a straight shot - 25 to 40. Unfortunately I ended up taking a "shortcut" which led me through the mountains of Taos, etc. on the way there. I was able to cut 30+ minutes off the drive by sticking to 25 to 40 on the way back. I am going to need to get cruise control installed in my car sooner than later though, otherwise that route is probably going to cause me to receive some speeding tickets sooner than later ...

(filled up w/gas a total of 3 times at a bit under $100 total)

Yes, I will be making the trip again, although this next time all the way to where NE lives. We talked a lot about a lot of things and cleared the air about other things. Friday night a few hours after I arrived, we officially agreed that we were back together. We are both determined to be more open and forthcoming with any concerns or issues - this is especially on my part. So far, so good.

We visited Pike's Peak, although we weren't able to get all the way to the top due to a recent snowstorm. It was quite beautiful, and even snowed for a short while. (It was outrageously expensive though - $12 per person just to drive the road!!) We also went through the Cave of the Winds. It was good, but I don't know if it was quite worth $18 pp for a 45 minute excursion. We also saw Iron Man 3 -- It was his first 3D movie in a theater. ($12 pp!) I took care of the meals and outings, and he took care of the hotel. It was pretty even.

He's asked me to come spend a few weeks this summer with him in NE. It really makes a lot of sense. If he came here, he'd have to stay in a hotel, and would only be able to here for a few days at most. While if I go out there I can stay at his place and stay for a few weeks. The longest we'd ever had together in person previously was about a week, so it'd be good to have some length of time in the same zipcode!!

I figure I can bring my desktop and some planning books and work on the website/activities, lessons and Swagbucks while he's at work. That way I'll still get stuff done. Maybe I can also check out the local university library for book ideas, etc. I'm thinking of taking Kari .. it'll be a test to see if she can get along with other cats. He has 5 (two of whom he had when were together before.)(Will need to get some kind of sleep aid/relaxing agent for Kari. She can barely tolerate a 30 minute drive - can't imagine how overly stressed she'd be with a 16 hr one!!)

He was so sweet. The first time he asked me to be his gf back in 2005, he met me with a rose. I'd mentioned to him in an email that I still had that rose (dried.) He gave me a new rose this weekend. Roses aren't my favorite flowers (snapdragons are) but they are still a special flower.

My car ran with no problem (other than not having a lot of horsepower on some of the mountain highways.) I listened to my music off my phone via the mp3 plugin on my radio most of the way there and back. It was SO nice.

When I got back here, there had been some drama due to a decision made by the mission office/principal. Of 50 staff members who said they were coming to a barbeque (staff appreciation) only 20 came. This was some lame protest. Ugh. I'm actually kind of glad now that I wasn't here, it would have just made me sad.

Oh! I also got a cool email from the lady who's asked me to babysit her girls a number of times this year. She is needing someone to take the girls to and from summer school because her mother in law is doing poorly and her husband is going to be going out to be with her for a few weeks. She told me that she'd prefer to have me do it over any other babysitter in the area. That made me feel pretty darn good.

The yearbooks are selling pretty well - nearly 40 sold out of 76. So maybe we'll be rid of most of them ... (Somehow some of the staff/teachers got the idea that they get a yearbook for free. I have NO idea how they got that idea - didn't last year!! NE got to hear me be annoyed at the idea when I got the texts from my asst. about the whole thing. He was impressed at how seriously I took my job. )

I forgot to take a camera with me to take pictures. Luckily NE took his. He's going to email me the pics we took. It was funny thinking back to 2005 - he'd taken pics back then too (and he had kept them! He brought them along to show me.) Only back then he sent me copies of the photos after having them developed, and now they can just be emailed.

I am so tired - haven't got much sleep this past week or so. Either too excited/anxious, too much to talk about, or overtired. I need to give my brother a call, as well as my aunt - they both want updates. Probably will hit the hay as soon as I'm done with those calls. (Am going to attempt to catch up on blogs here too.)

Sorry I've been a bit MIA recently. Been busy with school, getting ready for my trip, and doing a lot of talking on the phone.

Wednesday after work I went to the hair salon that a co-worker recommended to me. I hadn't thought to ask about the price beforehand ... So when I found the place and saw it, I worried that it was going to be one of those $50 haircut places. Thankfully I was completely wrong. The lady did a great and quick job, and only charged $15!! The lady who did my manicure also did a nice job, and also charged $15 (fairly reasonable, although I've had better ones for less.)

Tuesday afternoon we had our annual Faculty vs. Mid-School Volleyball game. I played ... made three out of 7? serves actually over the net. Also provided some good chuckles for everyone when the ball sailed onto the roof (and came back down) as well as when it sailed way to the left of the net (twice!) Anyway, we won. Better yet, we had fun.

The yearbooks finally arrived this afternoon!! I didn't get a chance to look at the whole yearbook, but the first few pages looked good. My assistant and the journalism kids will be presenting it on Monday. I hate to not be there, but ... well .. plans already in place take precedence. I'm just so relieved it arrived before the 8th graders leave. (Monday is their last official day of school, then they graduate on Wednesday night.)

I'm all packed for my trip except for a few toiletries, etc. Kind of been driving AL crazy this week at school. Glad she's willing to put up with me.

Ooo boy! Have I been liking the electric car stock news this week. I teased my brother that I was going to sell so many shares and pay off my car. He of course came back with, "be patient! It's only the start!!"

Not really looking forward to the 8+ hour drive tomorrow after I'm released from the in-service day(may be less or more w/traffic.) So glad for a working radio w/CD player (must remember to bring CDs!) Am really looking forward to the end result. NE observed that it kind of feels like we're meeting each other again in person for the first time, just with a lot of history/knowledge to go with the meeting. He's right, it does feel like that.

Within just the first 9 days of May, I already am within 300 SBs of my June 5 $5 AGCs. Made goal all 9 days, so will get at least the 7 day bonus, and perhaps the 14 day bonus when I get back.

Ok, going to try to catch up on the blogs so I don't have a ton to read on Monday to catch up.

This morning I went to brunch at the 3rd grade teachers home, along with several other of my coworkers. While there I learned that on Saturday morning the 29 yo mom of one of our 4th grade girls was killed in a car accident. I had just helped this little girl on Friday create a Mother's Day card and can vividly remember what she wrote in her note - it showed such a special relationship.

You just never know.

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This afternoon I volunteered at the photos for smiles event at my church. It was pretty slow. We only had around 60 groups show up. Although I think if we'd had as many as we had been expecting, it would not have been good. We really didn't have enough waiting area space and two hairstylist/makeup people would not have been enough. People seemed to appreciate it though. I am glad I put in a few hours helping out.

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After I finished there, I went to Walmart and did some clothes shopping. I got several pairs of capris, a pair of sandals, a dress and a couple other items. I also replaced my two water bottles. It was over $100, but I so rarely spend money on clothes and I was needing some newer items for the summer .. If I could find items at Goodwill or the thrift shop in my size, I'd check there first, but it usually is like looking for a needle in haystack - especially if looking for something in good shape AND cute.

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Five days.

This coming weekend will be doing Pike's Peak and Cave of the Winds for sure, and perhaps something else.

NE found a hotel for $40/night which is within walking distance of Old Colorado Springs. When NE first mentioned CS as a location, I thought the name sounded familiar, but wasn't sure why. After reading some of the hotel reviews and seeing the name Old CS, I am thinking that it may be near where I attended a Pathfinder Camporee (similar to Boy/Girl Scouts) in 1985. My favorite memories from that camporee include seeing the "Huxtable" kids, the obstacle course, seeing an old friend from Iowa, and walking around in the downtown area of the nearby town - where I found an awesome fancy hat (but didn't buy). I also lost a camera there. If it is the same place, I wonder if the hat shop is still there?

(At first NE found one for $70/night and I thought I could find a cabin or something at a KOA campground or the like for less. But everything I was finding started in the $90 range. Neither of us have any camping gear, so that wasn't an option either.)

I got a pedicure on Friday afternoon. The lady doing it asked me if I wanted her to use the slougher (not sure of exact term, thing that takes off dead skin). I told her that was the main reason I was going for a pedicure!! With tip, it cost $33!!! I usually don't pay more than $30 for a mani & pedi combined. If I do this again, I'll have to do more research on other places (with hopefully better prices!)

I stopped at the grocery store afterwards and picked up 5 items - bananas, orange juice, treat, and two other things I can't remember. $15.xx (forgot my savings card for Safeway)

I also had to fill up with gas - $33.xx. According to my Gas Cubby app I got 34.2 mpg this last tank. Nice.

I was SO tired this afternoon when I got back from church that I took a 4 hour nap. I didn't really want to get up, but I knew I needed to if I was going to get a good nights sleep.

Funny When I was walking with my two co-workers this morning, one of them told me that the preschool director (who is a Sister) had asked her about how my Sabbath works - because she'd seen me out walking at 9am on the past 4 or 5 Saturdays. My coworker let her know that my church service doesn't start til 11:30, so I have plenty of time in the morning for a walk! (Just a taste of what it's like living in a neighborhood where 30+% of the residents are co-workers, and about 30% of the student population are also residents.)
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Tomorrow I'll be volunteering at the free portrait event at my church in the afternoon, and also need to put together 4 days worth of morning worship activities (my 3rd morning breakfast/worship duty this year.)

I also need to find a place that details cars in big G (and work on getting my car cleaned out ..)

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Six days.

Tomorrow's payday, the first of three for May. I am thinking about sending it all to the car loan, or maybe 70% of it and then let the other 30% be used for upcoming extra expenses. It still would be a good chunk gone.

Made appointments to get Kari's nails trimmed (tomorrow), pedicure (Friday), haircut and manicure (Wednesday.) 8 days and counting til Colorado Springs.

Old bf (NE) told me that he'd been thinking along my same lines, but just hadn't found a good opportunity to bring it up. He was glad I did it. Funny how after so long we both got the same feeling/idea.

Yearbooks still have not arrived. With less than 3 weeks of school left, I'm a little worried that we will not sell many. Today we sent home "pre-order" flyers so parents can at least start sending in money (best at beginning of month!) From what old principal told me last year though, this tactic isn't too successful. Most don't buy til they see the actual yearbook. Ugh. Next year I want to have the yearbook finished a week ahead of deadline .. and maybe I can find a second person to back me up in case I get sick again.

Cashed in for first two $5 AGCs from SBs today. Also got my $15 AGC put into Amazon account. I made the monthly goal everyday for April (SBs) but have the feeling that will be the last time it happens if things work out with NE. (Can't exactly say, um.. I know these are the only two days we'll see each other this month, but I really need two or three hours to make my daily goal on SBs...) Oh well, it'll be worth it.

That's about it for right now that I can think of anyway.

This morning I was walking out my door to head to work and found three wild horses roaming around my front yard and my neighbors yard. I took pictures, but will have to share them tomorrow (need to get to bed!)

Then I talked to my principal this afternoon to let her know about some of the drama (no names) and find out the real story. That went well. At the staff meeting today we were told that contracts should be coming out next week - yay!

Then after the meeting two of my coworkers, myself, and three dogs (two of them one of my coworkers, and one is a loose neighborhood dog who's attached itself to us) were out walking our short route when a dog which is usually penned up tight (sounding quite vicious) came out of nowhere and started attacking my coworkers Newfie! Thankfully the owners were in the yard and were able to call it off ... but holy cow!

At lunch today I ate at home, and just before leaving I finally got the courage up to send an email to old bf asking him if he'd be available to talk. Gulp. He responded saying anytime ...

So tonight after about an hour and a half of finding every reason in the world to delay the call, I finally called him. 2 1/2 hours later we hung up.

Big Eyes -- we're going to be getting together in a week and a half in CO at a half-way point!!!! I'm scared to death (but I think he is too ...) but also way excited. He's going to do some research about where might be the best spot to land, and we'll talk again Wednesday night.

I wish I'd had the courage to do this years ago. Don't cry over spilled milk though, right? I don't know what the outcome of it will be, but at least I won't have to wonder anymore.

When I first said maybe we should see each other in person, he immediately said, "When and where?" Then when I suggested May 24, he was like, I'm not getting any younger, that's an eternity. So I'm going to use one of my personal days (which I'll need to put in for tomorrow - so it's at least a week in advance.) Then I'll have to see if one of my coworkers will look in on Kari.

OMW!!!!!

I've gotta figure out how to get a haircut, manicure and pedicure before going!! Maybe this Sunday before I am supposed to be volunteering at our church event (taking professional photos of community members - not me taking the photos, I'm going to be a walking greeter person) I will have to ask my coworker where she had her hair done. (my hair badly needs a cut, it hasn't been cut since last summer before my dad's memorial service.)

(lost entry )

Babysitting today went fairly well. They were a bit harder to keep entertained than the last few times, even with the addition of my iPad. Got paid $35, so a little better than a Saturday night job.
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SBS - with today's earnings have enough for May's 5 $5 cards. Am now working on the extra cards for May.
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Drama, drama, school drama. More of it. (Yes, even on the weekend.) Related to our contracts. Supposedly one teacher has already had her contract given to her, and the rest of us have to wait til May 10's In-service mtg. Am planning on casually asking principal tomorrow about contracts w/o letting on about one teacher who supposedly already has hers. Oy vey.
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Thinking about the ten item grocery list CCF posted about. I couldn't do a static list, but a flexible one could work I think. It may help with my escalating grocery budget too.

Things like oatmeal, brown sugar, raisins, peanut butter, and jelly are only purchased a few times a year. Bread, Rice Dream, Cottage cheese 1 - 2 x a month. So that leaves a lot of open spaces for fresh fruits and veggies (and frozen berries for smoothies.)

Thanks everyone for you comments and insights. They have given me much food for thought.

Wow, lost my post and it wasn't even a long one (which is why I didn't do the ctrl-a/save .. doh!)

Anyway .. lots of drama at school. Mostly due I think to end of year tiredness. Found out that the person at school that irks me is retiring, and the person that irks the IT person the most is leaving also.

Car has Maintenance needed light on - only broached 50k miles and just had oil changed. Not sure why the light is on - running fine.

Cashed out for a $15 AGC on SBs today. Need about 300 more for my May 5 $5 AGCs.

Phone is working well again ... think it heard me contemplating replacing it.

Have decided to not go to TX this summer, just CA. Esp. considering I'll go to TX 2014 summer for TCs son's 8th grade graduation. Mom will just have to live with it.

Tiring weekend - children's story at church tomorrow (telling story of Hannah); then babysitting on Sunday.

Ok, that was the jist of my post ...

Less than 5 weeks actually til the school year is over. May 24 is our last day, but the last 3 days are half days, and we have an in-service day coming up soon. This year has just gone by so quickly!

I am so thankful for my friend and co-worker who does the IT at our school. The servers were playing hide and seek with me Thursday and Friday, and so many lesson plans got scrapped. Today I was very anxious because the 8th graders needed to finish their graduation announcements, and I won't have class with them next week due to a field trip. So she manually updated the 3rd, 4th and 8th grade folders for me and then copied them to a flash drive after the class was over. She also helped me out with the 4th grade boys this afternoon when I had 12 of them trying to figure out how to do a screen shot and at least half of them were desperate for help ... (they had explicitly written instructions, plus I'd shown them how to do it before sending them to the computers.)

After school today we had a meeting with the summer school teachers. I basically have about 25 hours of academic instruction time within the two weeks, and then roughly 18 hours of art/music/creative time. I'll have 3 fantastic teacher assistants, and as of now have 19 kids (3rd, 4th, 5th). The theme is the environment. I plan on having the kids read The Lorax, Wartville Wizzard, Just a Dream, Miss. Rumphius, Wump World, The Great Kapok Tree, several books on Reduce/Reuse/Recycle, etc. Then have them do some kind of writing/art projects based on the books. For math we'll be focusing entirely on problem solving and basic facts (add/sub/multi/div). Science shouldn't be too difficult to tie in and find some fun hands-on projects.

I'm planning on heading out to San Jose after summer school is over (my part at least.) I was looking at taking the train again, but the cost differential between a train ticket and a Southwest flight doesn't make any sense. If I don't get a room on the train either direction, flying will still cost $100 less. If I got a room, then flying would cost $600!! less. Not to mention that flying would take about six hours (adding in travel time to ABQ), whereas the train trip would take 23hrs.

I think I'll probably just stay a week. Both my Aunt and my brother work, so I really hate to go out there and have them feel like they have to take time off work to entertain me. It was different when I'd go visit my dad, since his main job was taking care of grandma.

I might go to TX too, although that visit I'll keep to less than a week ... and be over a weekend so one of my days at least can be taken with church/visiting friends .. I think I need the revitalization of my TX church family. I need to check and see when TC will be in town, so I can see her and "my" kids. TCs son who I held when he was barely a week old will be graduating from 8th grade next school year! I need to be planning for that trip! I haven't missed one of his graduations yet (nor his younger sisters.)

Thanks to the wind last week, my hot water heater went out. I found that out on Wednesday night when I took a shower and the warmish water ran out in less than ten minutes. I called the maintenance guy on Friday (couldn't find a working number for him til then) but it was too late in the day. Thankfully they came and got it relit this morning! I did a load of dishes tonight, and am about to hit the shower.

One good thing about the delay is that it motivated me this weekend to do some deeper cleaning than I have been doing. Kari wasn't quite sure what to make of it, me sweeping and scrubbing .. I think she was worried I was about to take off on a trip.

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I got an email today asking if I'd babysit for the same girls I've babysat for a number of times on Sunday. It's for 5 hours, so I hope they're planning on more than $30 .. but I'm not sure how to say that without sounding greedy. We'd never said a set hourly rate, just set $30 as the rate for a Saturday evening job.

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My phone seems to be losing its charge much faster - especially the last few days. Its life may be coming to an end. (Or maybe I'm looking for a good reason to upgrade so that the GymPact home workout feature can work? It doesn't work on a 3gs phone....) If I got the 4s, it'd be around $100, or I could see if my brother was ready to upgrade and get his phone for free (a 4.) I hate though to get locked into another contract because who knows when Ting will get the iPhone - once that happens, I'll be a Ting customer faster than you can say Howdy Doodie!

If my phone keeps this up, I'll need to charge it during the school day so that it has enough charge for when I do my walks. That usually uses around 35% or so charge (GPS tracking.)

I've been talking about replacing my phone for a couple years, maybe it's finally time to actually do it.

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Well better go get my shower and attempt to get some shut eye. I wish I was going with the mid-school tomorrow - they're getting to see a Triple A baseball team game in ABQ. For a lot of them it'll be their first time seeing an organized sport team game.

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Got my newest car loan balance - $3,687.xx. I paid $6.29 in interest since my last payment. $300 payment, $293 went to the balance, and 6.29 went to interest.

This week is National Library Week .. nothing happened during it last year, and I wasn't expecting anything this year either. But I think the first grade teacher came up with the idea to do something for it .. the Kinder and First classes made a poster where they chose their favorite book and drew a picture from it. So cute! Then yesterday (National Librarian's Day) the K and 1 classes all came to the library and said thank you to me and gave me a "hip, hip, hooray." Then we had cookies that the first grade teacher had made. (This is the same teacher who'd complained to the principal about how many classes her kids had missed.)

It was really sweet.

I've been watching Heroes on Netflix the last couple weeks, plus been busy with other stuff .. so kind of been neglecting to blog here.

I'm really liking the balance in my savings account after the tax refunds ... so I've decided that I'm just going to keep paying $300/mo on my car. Then when November hits, I'll pay off whatever the balance is. Doing that might cost me an extra $20 in finance charges (rather than getting it paid off by July), but having a healthy balance in my accounts gives me peace of mind worth a lot more than $20.

I don't remember if I mentioned this or not, but I have had it confirmed that I am teaching summer school - I'll have grades 2nd - 4th. It'll go for two weeks, and I'll make approximately $1300. Practically what I make in a regular month..... I'm going to be very careful about what I spend of my own money for this (especially considering how much I spent last year and then ended up not teaching, so no money ...) Our theme is the environment, and I've found some good resources that are free and cheap. Art materials can pretty much be free too - just have kids bring in recyclables. I had planned on doing an Earth Day unit/activities in the library, but won't be now (the K teacher who's doing Kinder/First for summer school told me she's doing the same thing! )

We've had snow in the middle of the week now two weeks a row with temps in the high 60s surrounding snow days... The wind the past few days has been really bad - so bad on Monday and Tuesday that there was NO way we were going to walk in it - the dust made it impossible (unless we had face masks and goggles ...)

Fan girl .... looking forward to Ironman 3. Just sayin'

I was going to take the afternoon off today to do some household chores since I didn't have any classes this afternoon (special surprise assembly for 4th+ nixed my afternoon class.) But then the lady from the Americ@rps division we're associated with decided to hold our meeting during church music. So I decided it wasn't worth it to take a 1/2 personal day for 2 hours!! So I cataloged books and worked on finding resources for summer school instead.

In April I had a total of $160 in AGCs! $60 from signing up for the Amazon cc, $50 from the Nielsen thing I have on my phone, and the other $50 from Swagubucks. All but about $5 of it is spent - got the last package of books today. I think I'll have some very happy 4th and 5th graders on Friday, and a happy 8th grader on Monday. I have enough SBs now for May's $25, so am going to work towards maybe a $15 one by the end of this month.

Today's preschool storytime on Earth Day reminded me that I needed to beef up our selection of appropriate books for 3 and 4 year olds! I really wonder what the previous librarians did for the storytimes because we have so few books that really are good for that age level (at least on the topics their teachers are working on.)

I can't remember if I mentioned this either or not. During Spring Break I went to the doctor and had my TSH levels (thyroid) checked, along with a few other things. My levels were out of whack, so the doctor upped my medication level. She told me she thought that my thyroid might be why I was getting the leg tingles. I've been taking the new dosage for nearly two weeks now, and the tingles are happening MORE than they were before! (Well, at least that was true for the first week or so, this week they have seemed to die down finally.) I also have been having a good bit of trouble both getting to sleep and staying asleep, which has been very frustrating. I don't know if the new dosage is to blame or not though, because around the same time I started taking it, I also started taking the generic of Allegra D 24 hr.

I need to call my Aunt for her birthday, so I better be going. (Wasn't planning to be so verbose!) I will try to check in a bit more frequently so my posts aren't so long.