Keeping It Frugal

My big bad spending categories - groceries and "Fun Money" i.e. eating out. Can't believe I spent this much on food this month. Maybe $30 of it was for the book fair treats, cupcakes for Halloween Festival, and candy for trick or treating .. the rest .. no justification. It's like I see that I'm trying to keep under $100 in groceries and my inner self goes NO WAY.

I have about $60 in cash right now, and will be getting another $30 or so tonight from a babysitting job. I'm going to use that money this month for cash. 2% back on my card isn't worth spending 2x my budget. Maybe I can actually keep in budget this month. (I will say that most of the groceries from my last shopping trip will keep me for a good week or more from now. Still though~!)

(Professional spending was also up there - that included books I bought at the bookfair, the iPad cover, and some books I bought on Amazon for the library.)

The bright side is that even with the overspending in some categories, I was still able to send $286 to my car savings account (about 22% of my net income.)

I would have made it with just one fill up if I hadn't had to run into big G on Tuesday to return some videos to the G-M District Library. They HAD to have them back to send out Wednesday morning. When I got to big G, I was running on fumes, so had to get gas and decided to just fill up ($3.45/gall) because it was a pretty good price comparatively.



In November I will get 3 paychecks. I budgeted the one I got on Thursday for November, and the other two will be for December. I was thinking about making a trip to ABQ during Thanksgiving break, but I think I won't do that. I will probably do a movie and go out to eat during that week though, but I do have fun money available for it.

I need to buy textbooks for my 3 electives, so I will have to take that out of the $1000 I have budgeted towards my car replacement category. Hopefully they won't cost too much, and hopefully I'll eventually be able to sell them again for close to the amount I pay. Then those funds would go back into the car category.

**I know I said I didn't want to talk about October's spending ... but I decided I needed to post it publicly. Otherwise I haven't really acknowledged the problem.

*I can't remember if I mentioned it or not. But I decided to cancel Ting for now. I just could not deal with the Android after having an iPhone for over 3 years. If they ever support the iPhone, then I'll be more than happy to switch over. Until then, I guess I'll pay the premium to keep my same plan. (I have looked and looked to see if there is anything else out there that would be cheaper AND assure me of not getting cut off if one month I use more data than usual. I've not seen anything in my area which gives me enough assurance to quit my grandfathered unlimited plan.)

First of all, I'm not going to even attempt to figure out my October spending figures. Let's just say I overspent in several categories. Sometime this weekend I'll work on catching up my October data, and decide my November budget.

Halloween was fun. I dressed up as a black-eyed P, and only had two mid-school boys be able to figure it out without me doing a lot of prompting. I saw a post on FB for another costume idea - plain white tshirt with the 404 Error Not Found message written on it.

Halloween night I went to the annual faculty get together. We all pool our candy together and take turns handing it out. Our trick or treater turnout was lower than usual - only about 450 this year compared to 540 last year. We were thinking it might have been due to it being a Wednesday night - church night for many.

Okay, now to tell you about Thursday.

Thursday was my first technology club meetings with the 5th/6th and 7th/8th groups after school. My 5th/6th group had 13 kids, and my other group had 6 kids. I introduced Scratch to them - a simple computer programming language. I had planned on showing them four different projects made by other people to help them see the possibilities - but the site just would not come up. I was getting very frustrated, because not an hour earlier, the site had worked perfectly fine.

So, I finish with the second group (both groups really took to the program and came up with some cool programs in just 25 minutes or so of fiddling) and go over to the gym. When I get there I find out that the phone service (including cell) is out - which explained why the site wouldn't pull up. At first we thought it was just our area, but then several parents coming from big G to pick up their kids let us know that it was more widespread. Cell, internet, and cable all were completely out.

I got home and was at a loss as what to do. My usual routine involves the internet, and sometimes texting. Neither of which I could do. I also had received an email earlier that day telling me that a new module had been opened on our class site. I couldn't do anything like that.

So ... I played around in Scratch for an hour or so. Then I decided to try and see if the Smartboard software I'd downloaded on Sunday would let me do anything with it. It would - so I explored it, and created a lesson with 4 different activities.

It was only a bit after 9 at this point. So .. I turned on the radio to one of the only stations here - Navajo nation country radio - and scared poor Kari to death with my umm.... dancing...

I waited to see if there'd be any news reports telling what had happened, and didn't hear any (unless they said it in Navajo...) Finally, around 9:30 I noticed that I had bars on my phone, and about ten minutes later, internet was back. Whoooh!

I can be very thankful that I at least had electricity and water!

-- Today I found out that some punks decided to dig up the fiber optic cable coming out of ABQ towards the AZ border to see if there was any copper in it to steal. There wasn't any of course, but thanks to their efforts, two entire counties in NM were without cell/internet/cable service for nearly 7 hours!

(I do realize that going without these service for just 7 hours is *nothing* compared to what people have been dealing with after Sandy. It's just that this brought home to me just HOW reliant I/we are on these technologies - and how easily they can be thrown off.)

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I was going to go into town today and do some grocery shopping, but then I realized that it wasn't really necessary after my last shopping run + I was thinking that it might be a bit crazy with it being the beginning of the month AND no shopping possible yesterday afternoon.

Well the school site finally started working again late this afternoon. I was thankful to see that the one assignment I thought was due this coming Tuesday is actually not due til NEXT Tuesday. I may actually be able to go to the faculty Halloween get together on Wednesday after all.

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I didn't get too much really accomplished today - between trying to download Smartboard software to my computer, playing with Scratch, and trying to work on school stuff ...

I did get a load of dishes done though. That's good.

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I got an email this evening from ING. It's subject line was "Earn $350 when you Rollover your Old 401K" When I saw that, I went, "Woo Hoo!" This is a good reason as ever to roll over that 403(b) from my previous life as a parochial teacher. ( But then I opened the email and saw it was only for 401's or other IRA's of $50k or more. I wish!!

Maybe they'll have some kind of deal for a 403(b) of less than half that value? I should check and see.

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I really don't feel ready for tomorrow. I hope it goes well ... (And I hope that everyone in the path of Sandy fares well .. no matter how tomorrow goes, my day will probably be better than some in her path -- all a matter of perspective, right?)

The final total for our bookfair was just under $2700. I spent about $100 of my own money (a 1/3rd of what I spent last year ...)plus another $112 in Schl Dollars. I am glad to have it done for another year.

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Yesterday I stayed for potluck after church. I also stayed for the women's ministry meeting - both mainly to make it so I was out of T town while the Halloween Festival was going on at the school. I had the opportunity to babysit the 1+ yr old daughter of one of our members while she did the tithes/offerings. What fun.

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After I was done at church, I stopped by Walgreen's to pick up my prescription. They had it ready, but of course it was the generic!! Even though I've had them double check numerous times that it it is written in bold letters NO GENERIC for this prescription (Synthroid.) So I had to wait for them to fill it with the non-generic. Oy.

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After sunset I started working on my video. I decided to make a PP show detailing how to multiply 2 digit by 3 digit numbers, and then record a video with me talking through the steps. I *thought* I knew of a site where you could put a video side by side a PP presentation and make it as one. However, for the life of me, I couldn't remember the name. Googling didn't help any. So, I ended up having to put my video into my class blog in two parts. Ugh.

To make matters more interesting, I had two other assignments I was supposed to finish last night. My reflective blog and my article response blog. Well, I could not do my article response blog because I could NOT sign into the site. Every time I tried, a blank screen would pop up with the message, "It works!" I tried clearing out all my cache, etc., and that didn't help.

It is still doing that this morning. I emailed the teacher with links to the two assignments I was able to complete. We're supposed to talk and troubleshoot this afternoon.

Ugh.

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While doing some reading on another frugal forum yesterday afternoon, I came across this link: http://shialabeowulf.tumblr.com/post/33670447154/99-life-hacks-to-make-your-life-easier

I was very impressed by it because I haven't seen/heard of most of the ideas before. That doesn't happen very often. I like how many uses they came up for empty toilet paper rolls.

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Well today I am going to try and get started on my Interactive Whiteboard assignment, as much as I can at least. I think it is due Tuesday?? I really hate having due dates fall in the weekdays, but I guess I have to just deal with it.

I also *must* get over to the library today and make sure I'm ready for classes tomorrow. Plus need to do some dishes, and maybe a load or two of laundry.

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I hope everyone in the path of Suzy stays safe!

Today was my long day with the book fair - open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:10 p.m. (had someone come in at 4:50.) We're at about $1900 now, so I don't think we are going to make our $3k goal - just so we hit the 2k mark (otherwise have to take all profit as Schol Dollars. ugh.)

I had my journalism class again today. We went over the digital camera agreement and picked out the yearbook cover. I liked all the 4 designs which were picked after the first vote, and the one which was ultimately agreed upon is different (and definitely shows that the majority of my class is male ...)

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When I got home tonight I had an email from Amer Corp telling me my Award payment status had changed. Once I finally managed to login (forgot password) I found out that my payment request had been denied by the university. Reason? I am not enrolled as a student there. I really hope this doesn't mess up my enrollment in the course I'm in. Seriously annoyed.

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Tonight I helped a coworker set up and activate her new iPhone (4S.) Her son had bought it for her so they could FaceTime each other.

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Tomorrow is the 2% cash back for Discover. I'm probably going to buy some stuff from the bookfair (beyond the Schl Dollars) - but not *too* much!!!! Groceries are already 2% on my Mypoints card ..

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I have to make a video for my class by Saturday night. It has to be teaching some concept or another. I've been drawing a blank as to what to do. It needs to be something I could easily do in 3 to 4 minutes or less - and be interesting. It has to somehow incorporate learning theories ..(multiple intelligence, behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism) I asked some of the teachers here if they had any concepts they were working on next week - not much in the way of ideas, although one did mention they were teaching 3 by 2 multiplication - not sure how to do an interesting video on that though. I keep hoping the perfect idea will hit me.

I wonder .. Inexpensive Halloween outfits - a How-To .. would that work? I could show how I made my static cling outfit, and then maybe show black-eyed P, and the one using binoculars (can't remember right now what one that was.) Not really sure if that fits the criteria though.

Today was day 3 of our bookfair. Monday was preview day, Tuesday was our p/t conferences and first day of sales, and then today. So far we've sold almost $1500, which is half of our $3000 goal. I had great student helpers yesterday - one in particular amazed me with how on the ball he was.

Today I had my first journalism class - I wasn't really planning on having them ... but since there is no study hall yet, they were sent to me. So ... I winged it. Luckily I had already thought through most of what I wanted to say to them for the first class, but still wasn't totally prepared. Oh well. They all do seem excited and ready to go. I emphasized to them that it really was up to them how many newspaper issues we put out (i.e. how well they do at getting articles done on time for the paper!)

I had some time on my hands today waiting for people to come by and buy things, so I decided to list some books on ebay. I made 3 listings, and ... 1 item already sold!! It's a book for $2.50 + shipping. So I need to find a good envelope to ship it in, and then get it in the mail on Friday (or I might be able to do it tomorrow.) The other two items are actually multiple copies of two books I'd bought for summer school which never got used.

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Funny - tonight I finally got my webcam to work with my computer and was all set ready to go for my weekly online class session ... and there was no class tonight! Oy vey.

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I spent some money the last few days. Food, small items to make change for the bookfair, books (only $25 worth so far .. controlling myself sort of ...), and today ordered a protective cover for my iPad. I still need to order my textbooks for my electives - just haven't had the stomach to price them out yet.

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I need to get my # rolled over to my Ting phone soon, or else I'll be into a new billing period. That would be annoying. (I meant ported .. the word just was escaping me.)

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Hard to believe it is almost the end of October already. This year is just flying by.

This afternoon I had the 8th graders, the 7th grade teacher and her assistant, and my assistant all help me get the book fair set up. I was a bit on the frazzled side (at one point I was told to take a breath by the 7th grade teacher ), but it all worked out nicely. In fact, it is completely ready for Monday morning. Last year I had to still come back and spend a couple hours finishing up. Maybe every year it'll get just that much better.

There are some really good books, and some repeats from last year. I know quite a few of my younger kids are excited about Doom, and I had a few snickers from my older girls about Between Shades of Gray (Omw that they even know about that *other* book ..yikes!)

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I found out the kids in my journalism class. 3 of them picked me as their first choice, and the other two picked me as their third choice. One of the ones who picked me as a first choice ... I was totally shocked on. This kid gives me such attitude in class. I plan on making it clear to the entire group that giving me attitude AND being part of the journalism group WILL NOT mix!! Two strikes and they are out. At least 4 of the 5 I think are good to very good writers, so I think our newspaper will do better this year. 1 of the kids came up to me with an idea for a comic strip - Yay! I told him to work on it and bring it with him to our first meeting. I was hoping last year to include a comic strip, but none of the kids took me up on it.

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Payday was yesterday. My total amount is finally starting to look like a nice number - consistently getting higher in ING. Now if only my stocks would do the same ... ugh.

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I got my $5 AGC from Swagbucks last night, and then promptly spent it plus some. I really want to do this fiction/non-fiction lesson based on the naked mole rat (this year I'll do it with 1-3, then will have to figure something else out for 2nd/3rd next year.) After the gift card, the *two* books I bought were $25!! OUCH! I rarely ever spend that much on two books - but the one non-fiction book alone was $19 something and there was nothing else less. I justified it by reminding myself that I'll use it for a total of 6 lessons (3 grades times 2 class periods ..) plus of course I can use it in later years for other first grade classes... Plus, I didn't buy the stuffed naked mole rat for $9 which I *really, really* wanted to get to go along with the lesson ... so I wasn't *totally* bad.

I really need to figure out how to use purchase orders with Amazon so I can get stuff for the library with library money!! (I kind of know how to do this, but am not totally sure. So for the last order my principal paid with the school credit card, which is linked to her name/account. She does not like this fact, so does not want to use the card anymore. So I'm kind of in between a rock and a hard place ...)

My allergies have really been kicking my behind the last few days. Today especially - took generic Nyquil last night and then this morning took a 24 hr generic Allegra .. but still was *miserable* all day.

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Yesterday I had something come in the mail which made me smile really, really big. My iPad!! (I am getting it as part of my tuition cost for the 6 month/18 credit course I'm taking.) I had some fun setting it up and downloading all my education related apps (plus Netflix - had to watch some tv on it of course!!)

I haven't had a chance to try out Face Time on it yet - maybe this weekend with my grandma or my brother.

I wasn't expecting it so soon due to some comments made by our instructor last week, so now I need to get moving on buying a protective case for it.

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Speaking of my class .. yesterday I was *really* getting frustrated. I seriously was wondering if I should see if there was any way to back out of the course. I had a flurry of an email conversation with one of the instructors, and while she didn't exactly answer all my questions, the big ones were answered.

After delving more into some of the online documents + the clarifications, I think I may be able to handle it all after all.

We had our weekly synchronous meeting tonight - I actually talked at one point! Shockers! What I do for a grade ...

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This whole week I have been showing our book fair video. Yesterday afternoon I had the 3rd graders. When I told them that we were going to watch a movie, the girls asked me if we were going to have any popcorn, candy or drinks. I told them that there wouldn't be any.

So I started the movie. As soon as it began, almost in unison all four girls started pretending like they were eating popcorn, taking a drink, or eating candy. This lasted for a good six minutes or more. I was just barely not laughing out loud, and managed to get the attention of our IT person - she thought it was pretty funny too. Even more funnily - the boys didn't even notice what was going on!!

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I think I will be keeping Kari's 3 tier cat castle. She actually has found a way to use it. I will have to take a picture and post it here so you all can see how I have it "strapped" to the door. It's a sight to see.

Monday at school went relatively well for a Monday. Even the group I have to pump myself up about (PMA PMA PMA!) was pretty manageable.

Then I got home and found out that the new module for my online course had opened up. Oy vey! There are probably a good 5 hours worth of articles we have to read and respond/reflect on, plus the ever so dreaded group project. The group project requires FOUR members - there is a total of SIX students. Yeah, um... how's that gonna work??

Not to mention that the completed project is due by Saturday night, and we are just now forming groups... This IS NOT how I like to work. Not at all.

Give me all my assignments for the class and the due dates. Then I can work on them at my own pace when I have the most junkets of time. Not like this!

Yesterday I had tons of time in which I could've completed all the readings and the reflections. But since I had no access to them nor any idea what they were, I instead spent a lot of time watching "Make It or Break It" on Hulu (free version.)

The really "good" news is that from what I can tell, there are a lot of group projects throughout the course. Oh joy.

I have all the articles open in another window, but just getting through the "interactive text" put my brain to mush after a long day. So, I'll read the articles tomorrow. I really hope this isn't going to be as bad as I think it is....

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I stopped and got a sub tonight. My first one since August. The lady there remembered me and my sandwich. $5.33 (footlong - two meals)

Saturday night I managed to snag another AGC from Swagbucks - by using my Android phone to "watch" videos while reading MMM blogs.

Thanks to someone mentioning Google's Navigation app for the Android phone, I looked into it. It does have the voiced turn by turn directions - which is a big plus for this directionally challenged human.

Also, something which didn't occur to me until tonight - the Android OS allows me to view Swagbucks TV on my phone. I'd only do it over a WiFi connection because it would be pointless to do so over a data connection (since I pay for the data!)

Now I just need to figure out how to get Google Voice set up on my phone, and Groove IP, and my phone bill starting in November will be extremely less.

Even less if I can convince 1 person a month to convert over ...

(Unfortunately, most of the people closest to me are iPhone'rs and that would probably be a huge deal breaker for them. I totally understand, and wait with great anticipation for Ting to add the iPhone to their line up - especially a BYOD lineup!!)

About 7:30 this morning it was 30 degrees - outside. The temperature in the house I think was less - sure felt like it!

I found some double A batteries and took out the old ones from the temperature control doohicky. Unfortunately, the new batteries must not be so new or something, because nothing happened. Then when I put the original batteries back in, nothing still happened. So I have the feeling that I'm going to have to ask the maintenance guys to come figure out what is going on.

I am cold!! (And yes, I am very bundled up right now. Still WAY cold!) I am tempted to get my electric heater thing out and see if it still works - just not sure if Kari would leave it alone or not.

I just logged into my Citi Forward account and saw that I had been charged for Netflix for October, and on the same day received a refund. So, net total of $0.00. I did not make any other charges.

So, it looks like I'll be having Netflix for the next 12 months free and clear.

Today as I was leaving school, I stopped by the office and saw that I had a package in my box. The books I ordered last Friday from Capstone had already arrived!! (I used a $100 credit I had just for being a member of AASL, plus another $100 of library budget.) I think the kids will be excited for the books - D.C. Superheroes (6) and Scary Stories (4).

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After work I headed off to big G to do grocery shopping. I bought approximately $43 in groceries, plus got cat food (~$7) and a cat tower $40.) I debated on getting the hanging tower again, or trying for something a bit more stable/permanent, and obviously decided on the more stable/permanent. I will definitely keep track of the receipt this time so I can return it if I find it isn't what I really want for Kari.

I'm thinking that I may not be able to keep my groceries within $100 per month. I'm still going to try, but it may be difficult.

I have to buy cupcakes next week for the Halloween Festival, which will probably be at least $12. (Yes, I *could* make them for less ... but I really don't have time.)

My groceries should probably last through most of the month, so hopefully other than the cupcakes, I won't have to buy much more than fruit next time.

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I played the book fair video for my first class today - 4th grade girls. They were almost as fun to watch/listen to as the video. One book which looks really interesting to me is 9th Ward - a story about a girl from New Orleans during Katrina. Most of these kids were barely 3 or 4 when Katrina happened, so I'm not sure how much they were aware of at the time.

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I really need to find some batteries to put in my temperature control thing so I can turn the heat on. It is getting downright chilly in here. I'm wearing 3 pairs of socks, my dads insulated jogging pants, and a fleece lined hoodie .. and am cold!

UPDATE:

I put together the cat tower. UGH! It is SO not sturdy. Kari jumped up on it before I had it even close to stabilized. I used my jump rope and a long electrical cord of some kind or another to tie it to the door - but it still isn't very stable.

She got up on it for a bit, but then chose my lap as her sleeping place.

I have the feeling I will be taking this thing back on my next trip to town.

Despite my promising myself that I wouldn't start any new series on Netflix once my cohort class started, I clicked on the first episode of H20:Just Add Water. And ... I was hooked. Finally finished the last episode tonight. Whew.

This last weekend I was really not feeling great, and ended up taking the day off on Monday as well.

I stopped by Family Dollar Tuesday night and picked up some more generic Nyquil along with some other things I needed - $14 worth. The generic Nyquil was $.25 more than it was 6 months ago. Still better than the name brand stuff!

I haven't made a trip to big G in almost two weeks now. My gas tank is still half full from my last fill up in September. I really need to take Kari in to the vet to get her nails trimmed again - Ye-ouch!

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I've been playing with the Android phone that came with my Ting plan, and really trying to like it. It's okay, I guess. One thing which may end up to be a deal breaker is that the TeleNav app on the android phone costs $10/mo, whereas the one on my iPhone costs me $10/yr. For something that I only use once in awhile, I much prefer the $10/yr rate!!

So .. I am thinking that I may go with Straight Talk instead. That way I'm still on the same Network coverage AND I still get to use my iPhone - I just have to get a different sim card. It'd be $45/month for unlimited everything. That would still be a savings of about $30/month. Not as great of a savings as with Ting, but at least this way I can stay with a phone I like and know well. Maybe someday Ting will have the iPhone available, and then I'll switch to it. For now though, I just don't think the Android will be any good for me.

Anyone want a refurbished LG Optima S Android? I paid $54 for it after the discount - would have to use with Ting plan.

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Last week I sold 103 shares of my stock and opened up a new ROTH account. This morning the funds had completed their transfer, and so I rebought those same 103 shares - for about $.15 less per share than when I sold them. It leaves me with a bit of a cash balance that I'm not sure what to do with right now.

I'm really curious to see what my taxes are going to be like this year ...

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I like my cohort class pretty much so far. We're almost nearing the end of week 2. Some of the assignments seem like a lot of busywork so far, but I'm hoping it'll get better. I think once I start the electives I'll get a lot more out of it.

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Book fair is in about 10 days! I really hope it goes well. I haven't done as much advertising for it this year as I did last year - I'm not really sure why, it's just worked out like that.

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We had some donors visit today. One of them was a lady who said she'd spent some time and money at a number of Native American school libraries helping to spice them up, and that she wanted to do the same for ours. I told her that the one big area I'm focusing on this year is bringing our non-fiction average age from 1995 to much higher - 2000 would be good, 2005 would be better. She told me they had 7 boxes of books to donate ... erggghh Positive thinking says they'll actually be useful books and I'll find some gems worth looking through the boxes ... AFTER the book fair!!

To be fair, what she's doing is kind of like what I'd like to do if I ever came into real money. Only I'd approach it much differently -- i.e. I'd say to the librarian(s) - give me a wish list of books or other items that would most meet your collection's needs - prioritized. Then I'd go off of their list.

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Some exciting news! The mission office approved the purchase of digital cameras up to a $500 value!! I just have to submit what cameras I want, and they'll get them. (This way they'll be on the missions insurance policy.)

Sometimes you really do receive when you ask! (that was our homily today - talking about how you have to ask for what you need/want in order to receive it)

I thought PatientSAver's post about her work history was pretty interesting, so I thought I might have a go at it.

Junior High -

Babysitter - The little sister of my brother's best friend. I babysat her off and on for 3 years. I remember before we moved to our next state, she and her family took me with them to an amusement park as kind of a thank you. Years later I received a high-school graduation announcement from her.

Administrative Assistant - My mom started an adoption agency type service company when I was in 8th grade. I was allowed to leave school early two days a week to do a work/study program. I answered phones, did filing and did some typing also. (This only lasted about one semester, because my mom's business partner turned out to be a shyster and the business failed.)

High School -

Summer before freshman year - babysitting

1st sm. freshman year - Cafeteria worker - mainly washed the big dishes on the afternoon/evening shift. Hated it - probably why I have such a dislike for washing dishes now. (I was at a boarding school.)

2nd sm. freshman year - babysitting. 2nd semester I started a home-school program. Part of the day I would do my school work, and part of the day I would take care of a 2 and 4 year old boy. That lasted about two months, when the mother abruptly let me go. I never did find out the real reason. However, I think the reasons may have been; 1. Several times when I would arrive I found these sharp stick type things all over the place. I'd pick them up out of reach of the boys. I'm not sure if the mom thought I was getting them out or something??, and 2. While the boys would be taking their naps, I would read. There were a couple times where I left the book on the couch after the boys woke up. I can only guess the mom thought I was reading instead of paying attention to the boys (which ISN't what I was doing.)

Summer - More babysitting

1st Sm Sophmore Year - Daycare Asst. A church member who ran a home daycare had to have surgery which would make it hard for her to lift kids. So she hired me for a two-month time period. I loved working with her and with the kids - she was an angel of a person (and where I learned how to cross stitch!)

Later 1st Sm Sophmore Year and 2nd Sm - Teacher Assistant at elementary school. My parents didn't want me to stay at home all day, so they made arrangements for me to do my school work in an adjoining room to the school room (one room school with 6 grades.) To "pay" for my being there I would help the teacher by tutoring different students or grading papers for a few hours a day.

During the 2nd Semester I put together a physical education program for the entire school (12 kids) which ended in a Mini-Olympics. Some of the kids that were there at the time still remember that.

Summer - Some babysitting, but moved to yet another new state.

Junior Year - Attended boarding academy.
Worked as Music Teacher's assistant. Did grading, and created an inventory (on paper) of all sheet music. LOVED the music teacher.

Summer - Spent about a month putting the music inventory on the computer (Access I think.)

Also, worked for two weeks at the conference office filling in for the main secretary.

Also, worked in the cafeteria for two weeks during campmeeting (not washing dishes!!!)

Senior Year - Newspaper Editor (unpaid position, but did earn me a scholarship.)

Music Teacher Asst.

Girls Dorm RA - 5 days a week I was in charge of the front desk from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Then I'd rush to my first class. I wanted this job because my best friend the year before had had it - only she hadn't had to be there at 5 a.m.!! I also took as many weekend shift as I was allowed to take.

In the end, between my two jobs, I made enough money to completely pay my tuition, plus had a surplus of several hundred dollars when I graduated.

Summer before college -

Probably did some more babysitting.

Freshman Year of College:
1st Semester - Teacher Assistant - I worked in the first grade classroom with my Aunt.

Campus Kitchen relief worker - Any Sunday where someone wanted the day off, I was called in. I did everything from dish washing, sandwich making, fries making, to waitressing. I loved it.

Sunday Church relief teacher - I don't remember how I came across this job, but someone got me it. On Sundays when I wasn't called in to the CK, I would go here and essentially babysit a group of kids during church service. That was fun, and I got paid for it too.

Summer before Sophomore --
One week at a daycare - that job ended quickly after I fell and dislocated my thumb.

Two weeks - selling jewelry door to door at businesses. That ended quickly because I somehow kept losing pieces, so by the end of the two weeks, I had just broken even. (Very funny job for me to have if you understood how *very* little I know about jewelry!)

I think I did more babysitting too.

Sophomore Year -
Teacher Asst. in the second grade classroom this time. I *adored* the teacher.

2nd Sm - Tutoring two boys 4 days a week after their school (2nd and 4th I think.)

Summer before Junior Year -
Worked at mom's elementary school the last few weeks of school plotting test data and filling in for receptionist. Also taught a unit study on "Where the Red Fern Grows" to 5th/6th grade class.

Daycare Asst - LOVED!!! This job started as soon as the regular school year was over, and ended a few days before we moved to yet our next state.

Junior Year -
Teacher Assistant - at a two-room school (K - 8.)

Computer Teacher - at same above school (6 - 8)

Summer -

I can't remember if I did anything during the summer or not. This was when my mom had a brain tumor, so I think that was the big part of the summer.

Senior Year -
First Semester - Girl's Dorm Resident Assistant

Teacher Asst - same school as above

Second Semester - Student Teaching (was paid as a teacher asst though!!)

Summer - Moved out to first job in CA

First and Second Grade Teacher (2 years)

Moved back to TX

Fifth Grade Teacher (5 months - long story)

Selling fire safety equipment - moved up from sales person to management in 4 months. Opened up my own office, and as suggested by parent company, hired my own receptionist. Was completely out of money within two months.

Temporary Work - 6 days at a garbage company doing filing, etc. Several days worth of other various clerical work.

Moved for:
First Grade Teacher - 2 years

Moved again:
First grade teacher - 2 years
First and Second grade teacher - 1 year

Family Emergency - quit teaching to help out. (This is about the time I started this blog .. so those of you around then may remember how hellacious the second semester was.)

Sold Rainbow Vacuums - lasted about three weeks. Sold 2. Yuck.

4 months of diligent job searching to be constantly told that I should go back to teaching.

Bus Survey Assistant supervisor - lasted one week
Bus Survey Supervisor - lasted 4 or 5 months? I was in charge of giving out bus route assignments to people using GPS Palm devices who tracked how many passengers got on and off at different stops. This was mostly enjoyable, but it also was frustrating in some ways since not everyone has my same work ethic.

Admin Asst. at Trucking Company - Lasted about 3 weeks. I learned a lot of new swear words. I was also trying to finish up the last bits of the bus survey job while here, which I think ended up annoying the trucking company.

Various one and two day clerical jobs.

Admin Asst at an oil and gas company - Started off as a receptionist (3 months) and then was pulled into the back to assist the Engineering Tech. I was there for a total of 3 years, when I was laid off.

Gym Customer Service - I started here about 6 months before being laid off from the oil and gas company - working 4 or 5 hours a week. When I was laid off, my hours went up to 25 - 30/week. I was here a total of about 16 months I think.

Tutoring - I started with a 5th grade boy and a Korean Jr in high-school. After developing a reputation, I ended up having students all the way from pre-school through seniors in high-school. This is how I supported myself through graduate school.

And now, present day.

School Librarian -

I guess you could say I've had a few jobs.

Today was pet day at our school. It went very well - two chickens, an iguana, a rabbit, and numerous fish, cats and dogs. A few little squabbles between dogs, but nothing major.

Why, you might be asking, am I sick to my stomach? Well, here's why! This morning after breakfast I decided to go get one of the good digital cameras that I'd personally purchased last summer. I wanted to take good pictures of the kids/pets to use in the yearbook. I'd taken quite a few in the morning at the cafeteria with my phone, but those aren't really yearbook quality photos.

Guess what I found when I went to where I had stored the 4 brand new and unopened digital cameras along with their storage cards? Nothing. I also realized that the one camera which I'd put into use at the beginning of the school year, and which had pictures on it from Johnny Appleseed Day, as well as the motivational speaker ... was also vanished.

These 5 digital cameras plus their cards cost approximately $350. 2 cameras were pretty good ones ($100 on sale) and the other 3 were $25 ones I'd gotten from Big Lots of so-so quality.

I looked everywhere I could think to look for them. My assistant also looked everywhere she could think to look.

Nowhere. Gone. Vanished.

These were the cameras I planned on using with my journalism kids, as well as using for a digital photography unit 2nd semester.

This whole day all I've wanted to do was to kick something or scream or cry or do what I'm doing now (venting and eating junkfood.)

I'm not really upset about the money aspect of it. Although, that IS upsetting. I'm more upset that I'd bought these cameras FOR the kids/for the school. Whomever stole them didn't just hurt me, they have hurt all the kids at our school.

I considered reporting the loss to my renter's insurance, but my deductible is around $1000 I think. It isn't reportable to the school insurance because I hadn't officially donated the items so they have no record of them.

So my otipns are to not replace them - which really isn't an option because I HAVE to have some cameras for the yearbook, and the point and shoot cameras cost as much to develop 5 rolls of film as a low-end good digital camera.

Or, I could spend more of my own money to replace them, which I think I'd probably feel resentful about doing.

Or, which is what I'll probably end up doing, I'll replace one of them with $100 of the library budget, and use my older digital camera I got five or six years ago (not a great camera, but I think it still would be good enough for yearbook photos.)I really hate this option though because it means that I'll have less money to work with on books and other library supplies.

The other thing that is so horrible about this is the speculation about who did it. There are only really three people who knew exactly where they were AND had easy access - me, my assistant, and the IT person. The janitors also both have easy access, but more than likely didn't even know they were there.

I *had* mentioned to several groups of students that we now had digital cameras available to be used for the yearbook and for a digital photography course ... so it could be that one of them told a friend/older brother/sister ....

I just can't let myself speculate about who it might have been.

One thing I am doing is making sure I have a locked cabinet to put things in from now on. I also am going to be fanatical about locking the whole building up *every* time I leave it.

I just don't get how anyone connected with the school could do something like this ... knowing that they weren't stealing from ME, but they were stealing from the kids!!

Today was an interesting day. It was school picture day - they guy taking pictures was really slowwww - someone said this was his first time on his own. Two of my classes were cut in half due to their class having pictures taken ..

Oh well.

Then a 3rd class was cut in half due to a welcome home gathering for the son of our art teacher - he'd just completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan. The whole school gathered outside along the fence to greet him, waving student made flags and red/white/blue streamers. That was pretty awesome. (There was a guy on a motorcycle who'd just happened to drive through town to gas up. He saw the banners and decoration along our fence, and stuck around taking pictures. He apparently is a photo journalist who is traveling around the states. It was interesting seeing the hackles go up on various teachers seeing him taking photos of the kids before being told that he'd been given permission.)

So .. my brother visited TX this past weekend for the funeral of a good friends mother. This mother/family were former church members of my dads. I strongly suggested to him that he should tell our mom that he was going to be there - because the likelihood of her finding out either by being at the funeral itself, or finding out some other way, was way too high.

I found out today that he ignored my advice. So of course mom found out when one of the people at the funeral tagged him in a photo with her - with location info. She understandably was quite upset.

I understand why my brother was so upset with mom, and looking for space, but at the same time, I feel he is just plain being stubborn.

I talked to my mom on the phone this afternoon. I pretty much told her that I couldn't tell her what might make this all better - because honestly, I'm not really sure my brother even really knows what needs to happen. She told me that the wedding planned has gone from a small ceremony to a church wedding including 50 people - and bridesmaids, etc. She wanted to know if I would prefer to just attend, or to participate. Arghh!

I also found out that the church corporation has given her surviving spouse benefits - health insurance and a small stipend. Supposedly the paperwork wasn't filled out quite right - in one spot it said one thing, and in another it said another thing. So, they gave her the benefit of the doubt. She told me that the way the church corp dealt with her on this issue has almost made her willing to go back into the church. I don't plan on telling my brother about this, because I have a pretty good feeling about what his reaction would be.

I'd forgotten that I'd signed my mom up to receive emails whenever I posted a new blog on my Living Frugal and Simple blog ... I made a new post a few days ago talking about my dad and changes. She read the part about how I'd decided I didn't want to work until I was 65 as me saying that I'm not happy with my job ...when just a few sentences earlier I stated that I loved my job. :roll eyes:

I'm not terribly looking forward to Christmas - especially because I highly doubt that my brother will come to the wedding. And if in the likely scenario that he doesn't, then I'll be the lucky one to answer the question of why. Ugh.

This morning I was able to sleep in a little bit for a Monday morning workday. When I got up, I called ST and the person there walked me through how to sell my stock (102 shares.) My brother had warned me that I'd be playing a dangerous game (selling stock, moving to IRA and rebuying,) but I hadn't realized exactly what he meant until today. I found out that my stock would sell "sometime" today, and not be final til Thursday. Depending on when my stock sold today, I could either have a small cap gain or loss. What the stock price will be by Thursday, who knows?

I headed up to big G for the meeting (I went in place of our school counselor who feels she is computer illiterate.) I arrived about 30 minutes early because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find it or not easily. The meeting took about an hour, and was kind of interesting. Of course, they used a bunch of terms and acronyms I was unfamiliar with since I don't deal with special ed.

After the meeting I headed to Walmart. I had taken Kari's cat castle with me to see if I could exchange it for a new one. They would NOT exchange it without a receipt (yes, I know... I really should have kept track of that receipt, esp. knowing that the last castle fell apart.) Then I quickly gathered a few groceries - $23.98 - and headed to Sonic for lunch.

It took ten minutes to make the left turn to Sonic, and about 3 minutes to get my food and leave. Oy!

I made it back in the middle of my least favorite class.

After school when I got home I was finally able to login to my cohort class website. While I was doing that, Kari jumped up on the music chair, and then the keyboard, and then was about to leap to the door ...when she realized her castle was no longer there. She gave me the most confused and disappointed look. It made me almost decide to drive back and buy another one ... almost. She did that two more times tonight.

**If anyone has any ideas of types of fabric that are really claw/weight/jumping resistant ... I'm thinking of trying to make a cat castle (only the top two layers which is all Kari ever used.) I figure there has to be a way to make something much more strong/quality that would last!

I got a notice today that my phone from Ting has shipped. I should have it by next Wednesday at the very latest. Yay.

My walking partner and I both agreed that we aren't going to do the Zumba class until the weather gets too bad for walking ..or perhaps just not do it at all. Even at $4.20/class, it is a lot of money.

I'm glad the blogs seem to be working right again. It was weird not being able to re-read and edit my post last night after submitting it. (Which from the numerous typos/mistakes in it, you can guess how much post-posting editing I do sometimes ...)

Overall I didn't do too badly in September. I did not curb the eating out too much, except for not getting any Blimpie subs - instead I only got egg salad sandwiches, which I can get a sandwich, chips and drink for the same cost as a foot long sub. So ...

I bought a plane ticket home for Christmas, which I was refunded by soon to be stepdad. I wish I could've waited til October to buy it, because then there'd be the 5% back deal on Chase ... but it may have cost more by then too. Who knows.

In the medical category I had two fillings and my regular subscription.

In technology I bought a phone to try out the Ting service here (using a $25 discount from Lucky Robin )

I earned two $5 AGCs from Swagbucks, as well as $30 doing a babysitting job.

I upped my ROTH contribution to $200 this month, and still was able to put 41% of my income into my car replacement fund. So those two combined equal approximately a 47% savings rate. Not bad, but I'd like it to be higher.

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Going into October .. I am going into it with the mindset of keeping my grocery budget to $100 or less, and also keeping my gas/fuel to less than $50. In September I did manage to lower my food/grocery spending slightly (a good bit actually, considering I included my egg salad stops in it and not in fun money ...) So, I think I may be able to do it.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to cancel my cell phone plan by the end of October - so it wouldn't be a savings this month, but it would be a definite savings by November!! (which of course will go towards the car fund!)

I'm really hoping to get on the ball and get some books listed on half.com or perhaps Amazon and see if I can get anything for them. (books I bought with my money for the library/summer school which ended up not being used, so in brand new condition - multiple copies...)

So anyway ... onwards to October!

I talked with AL yesterday and found out that there IS service from Sprint here. So I think what I'm going to do is buy a $79 phone from Ting and use whatever number they give me with it. Then I'll test it out for a couple weeks to see what reception is like in the places I'm at most often. If it seems to work well, then I'll find out if I can port my current phone number to my new phone, and be done with AT&T!!

I figure that my bill with Ting would be around $40/mo or less - especially if I'm careful to use FaceTime or Skype to talk to those who have that capability (once I get my iPad of course!)

This way I'll still be able to use GPS when I need it, but otherwise I'll pretty much only use the phone for calls and texting.

So ... I'd like to help out whoever is the first person to send/post their referral link for Ting. It'll help me out too.

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Last night I did my first babysitting gig in many years. It was a blast! The two little girls have a wonderland to play in (all nature!) and fantastic imaginations. I was there roughly 4 hours and was paid $30 - not great money, but still more than what I would've gotten sitting at home.

Before they went to bed we ended up playing with one of the apps on my phone called Puppet Pals. Oh boy, did they ever love that! I almost couldn't make them go to bed because they kept wanting to do another story video.

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Tomorrow I am going to a meeting in big G to learn how to access a computer program for the district. It has nothing to do with me, but our counselor feels computer illiterate and asked me to go and learn it and then teach her when I come back. I was more than happy to do it - especially since it means that I'll more than likely miss the majority of Monday (especially that one particular class!)

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I only need to do lesson plans for two days this week really (plus the late afternoon Monday class.) On Thursday we are having Pet Day (St. Francis) and a half-day, and then Friday we're having a teacher in-service day.

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Only three more weeks til our Book Fair! Having it in the fall sure makes it come quite a bit more quickly. It kind of snuck up on me. I was hoping to have it in the gym this year, but the last two days of it is when the gym will be going into "prepare for Halloween Festival" mode. So ... I guess I'll just have to figure out how to make better use of the space in the library.

I'd thought that doing it in the fall would be better timing, but I'm beginning to think that there really isn't a best/great time for it. It just has to be done when it is done!

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Almost forgot! On my way to the babysitting gig last night, I passed by a sign advertising a riding stable! So ... I may just know what my treat will be whenever I manage to get into the 220's and stay there for a month!!

Gulp... I'm actually considering changing my phone plan. Gulp.

As far as I've been able to tell, AT&T has the best cell phone coverage in this area. I already own an ATT enabled iPhone (3Gs). I'm trying to figure out if there is a way I can switch my current phone to a prepaid type plan ...

I generally average around 150 minutes a month and less than 1 gig of data, and around 100 texts. I have TONS of rollover minutes. On Vacation I average around 3-400 minutes, 100 texts, and 3 - 5 gigs of data.

My school supposedly may be getting Wi-Fi soon. If so, then my data usage would lessen even more.

I suppose I could switch to a Go Phone for actual talking away from home/school, and keep my iPhone/iPad for talking at home/school. Although I'd really miss the GPS ... but maybe I could buy a GPS device within a few months with the savings from not paying the monthly fee (currently pay $75/mo for 450 anytime minutes w/rollover, 200 texts/mo, unlimited data (grandfathered in.)

When I go on trips I can always just buy/download movies to watch. I'll have to see if Go Phones have texting capability - they probably do, just not as easy as on the iPhone (which is why I even text now...)

I wonder if there's a way to turn on data for the iPhone a month at a time? So then when I go on a trip (like during the summer) I can have the data plan for that month???

(The iPad I'm getting is WiFi only as far as I know.)

The two things that make me most reluctant to let go is 1. being grandfathered in to the $25/mo unlimited plan; and 2. Although a very rare texter before the iPhone invaded my life, I do now find it *very* convenient .... Ok... 3. I really do enjoy the GPS function - not just for maps/directions, but for when I go out exercising/walking - I can decide at a moment's whim to venture off the regular path, and still know exactly when I've reached a predetermined turn around point (judging by distance rather than place) ...

If I jump off the deep end and cancel my plan with ATT,there is no going back. (i.e. no return to unlimited data plan)

If I thought Sprint would work out here reasonably well, then even going with their cheapest unlimited data/voice/texting plan would bring me a savings (if I could somehow unlock my phone to work on their plan??)

Looking at this practically, my phone costs me approximately $900/yr. If I could even cut that in half, and somehow have close to the same functionality...

I received my new Citi card in the mail yesterday and so went online to register it. I'd had a different Citi card that I got when going to grad school for some sign on bonus or the other. I didn't remember it being a Citi Forward card, but that is what it's called on my account page. So ... I'm not sure if I count as a new card holder or not. I'm going to an experiment of one month of Netflix and see if they reimburse or not.

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Yesterday my teacher friend and I walked nearly 5 miles. It was great! Although I definitely was feeling it today.

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I stopped at the Family Dollar and picked up cat litter yesterday. If I could've held out another two days, it would've been cheaper. But it is what it is.

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While my friend and I were walking yesterday, we started talking about hogans and how they'd be a nice simple way to live. It got me thinking, that maybe I *could* afford to retire by the time I'm 50 if I bought a small piece of land and built a hogan or yurt type of dwelling on it (with electricity, water and internet of course!!) I really don't require a lot of space .. it'd almost be like a studio apartment, only be a single family dwelling. Well... I guess it depends a lot on what I'm able to save/invest in the next 13 years ...

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Like Mondays are my least favorite day (due to one class), I think Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 9 - 9:30 are my most favorite time of the week - when I have the 3 and 4 year olds. Today as the 4 year olds were leaving, nearly half of them spontaneously gave me a hug. So sweet.

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We got more details on the Zumba class that will be at the community center. The first class is Oct 1, and will cost $5 per class. I think I'm going to try one class, and then if I *really* like it, might go two times a month. I'll use part of my fun money for it. I just can't see spending for fitness when I can go walking or jogging for free. But I am interested in the Zumba class (as long as people with two left feet and little coordination can follow along ...)

Yes! I just got an email from the parent who'd I'd been in contact with since last June about watching her daughters for a weekend .. but with everything that happened this summer, it never happened. We'd also talked about maybe doing this right before school started, but again, it didn't work out.

So this weekend some friends are coming from out of town and they want to take them out on the town so to speak ... hence, 4 hours of babysitting needed. Sweet addition to Car fund! (Plus 4 hours of spending time with two of the sweetest girls on the planet. )

Last year I dressed up as static electricity (black pants/shirt, then safety pinned bits of cloth all over.) I think I got that idea from one of Amy D's books. So now it's getting to be a bit more than a month away from the next dress up occasion, and I'm at a loss as to what would be inexpensive, easy and adult/school appropriate.

I'd love any ideas.

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Can I just say that I think Monday's are going to be my least favorite day of the week this school year? All because of one class. Ugh.

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Still in the process of reading through M Mustache's blogs. I used it today as an example of what a blog was to my 7th graders - they were giving FB as an example of a blog.

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No money has been spent since Thursday. I will probably have to get more cat litter before the week is out though - the people taking care of Kari this summer were much more generous/liberal with the cat litter than I generally am. So what would have probably lasted me til December, is now completely gone (except for barely enough left in the box to last another day or two - tops.) Oh well, I can't complain.

I was planning on making an appointment for Kari's claws to be clipped next Thursday. But that is Pet Day - we have a half-day of school, but it is a more than full day for us staff. Some required OSHA meeting starting at 2 pm ... so very likely it will be a 4pm or later ending of the day. Ugh. So, I'll make the appointment for the following Thursday.

Other than the cat litter though, I don't forsee any spending for the remainder of September.

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My stock fell another $3 today, thanks to the whole market falling 100 pts. I guess I need to find my acct# and pw info for this account, and then figure out how to sell stocks. Then decide if I should move the money to an IRA at TROWE (where I have a ROTH and a Traditional), or open one at Scottrade where the stocks are right now. Can you buy and sell individual stocks in a ROTH? I need to research that I guess.

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My teacher friend and I went on our 4+ mile walk yesterday. Along the way we saw two different herds of wild horses. They are so beautiful. We also went by the local public high school where we'd been told we could walk on their track. We chickened out on trying to find it (still lots of kids, etc. around) but on our way out we ran into one of my 8th grade boys from last year with a group of his friends. (He was the *cool* kid in our 8th grade group. I got him hooked on reading, and he in turn infected the rest of the class. ) He actually acknowledged me, which impressed me quite a bit - considering he was with a group of high-school buddies and not by himself.

We skipped our walk today due to intermittent and sudden violent downpours throughout the day and evening. Tomorrow no rain in the forecast, so we should be walking again.

So ... I ended up not going anywhere at all yesterday and spent most of the day reading Mr. Money Mustache. I barely got through two months worth of blog entries/comments. Yikes.

I've mentioned previously that some of what I've read there has gotten me to do some hard thinking. My reading yesterday just increased the hard thinking triply.

I've been pondering the possibility of riding my bike to big G for grocery/errand trips. It's 35+ miles one-way, and the majority of that distance is a major freeway with very few exits and little population - but LOTS of semi-trucks. It is definitely not something I'm physically capable of doing right now - it is something I would need to work up to doing.

So ... what can I do in the meantime? Try to limit my car trips into town. I've already been trying to do that, but I think I may be able to do even better. I think I will start going to church purposefully only 3 x a month. That would eliminate 1 - 2 trips. Then I think I will also talk to the other staff here and see if any of them are interested in doing a rotating carpool to town for grocery shopping 2x a month. I would then limit my grocery shopping to those trips. Depending on how many people I can get to do this - it would mean that I might only drive my car 1x every other month for a shopping trip.

Also, I need to check into getting my monthly prescription through mail-order. That would eliminate my Wal-greens stop, and possibly save a few dollars on the prescription.

All of the above I think would make it possible for me to only fill up my gas 1x a month. Some months I'm already able to come pretty close to that - but if I reduce my driving, I definitely will.

Also, I think I'm going to ask the 8th grade homeroom teacher who is really into biking to teach me the basic maintenance/care of my bike and how to shift gears properly. Then I may start riding my bike to school and back each day. The school is less than a mile from my house, so I could technically walk it easily - but there are a lot of stray/loose dogs - I'd feel safer (somewhat) on a bike.

*I'm really debating on the above though - I don't have a raincoat or rain pants, so if it was raining I'd be a mess by the time I got to school. I could just do it on days when it is not raining or wet/muddy out. Of course that eliminates a lot of days ..

My grocery category .. although I have managed to reduce it from where it was most of last year, it is still way too high. Part of the problem is that I'm still buying convenience type items, as well as buying things that I think I should buy, but end up going to rot. By reducing my grocery budget to $100/mo (from it's current $160) as well as reducing my Fun Money budget to $20 (from $40), and then putting that money directly into my Car Replacement fund, it grows exponentially faster.

My first step towards reducing the grocery budget is that I'm going to eat ONLY what I already have in the house for the remainder of September. No stops for Blimpies or for egg salad sandwiches at the local grocers/gas station. No more soda. I have lots of food in my pantry and freezer - it's just not food that is easy peasy heat and eat - which is why it has sat in the freezer/pantry.

My second step will be getting my slow cooker cleaned up and making sure it is still in good working condition. (If you remember, it was on the floor of my storage unit in TX which got partially flooded.)
If I'm able to get that working, then I will be able to use it to cook up a big batch of pinto beans - and make up a bunch of burritos to freeze, and also make refried beans - which I could use on my salads/lunch.
If I can't get it to work, then I do have a pressure cooker you can use in the microwave - so I would need to figure out how to use that.

I think sticking with canned or frozen veggies for the most part is most cost effective for me. The salad bar at school has started to have spinach as well as lettuce - so as long as that holds true, I have no need to purchase my own salad greens.

I need to make sure I take a copy of the breakfast/lunch menu for each month home with me so I can see what free foods from there I can make work for me.
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I'm reducing my fun money to an amount where I can still go to a movie/out to eat once a month, if I really want to. Or I can use it for something else I might really want.
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By reducing my grocery, auto fuel, and fun money categories, I will have an approximate 55% net savings of my income. In the savings categories of course is Car Replacement, ROTH, Vacation, and EF. The largest percentage going to Car Replacement right now.

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Taxes

The stock fund which I have a sizable amount of in a non-tax sheltered account has again swung near the point it was on June 6. I am thinking that I would like to set a sell option if it reaches $.50 less than that price point - enough to get $3,000. Then I would put that money in my brokerage IRA account, and when the price point reached $.25 less than my selling point, I would purchase as much as I could. (With the way this stock has been going up and down within a few dollars, I think it is highly likely this could happen.)

If I understand how this all works correctly ...
a. I would be able to claim a capital gains loss of $.50/per stock from my initial sale.

b. Then, because I place $3,000 into a brokerage/traditional IRA account, I would get a portion of that back in taxes.

c. Plus, since my income is well below the level for receiving a tax savers credit for contributing to any IRA fund, I would get a portion of the money contributed to both my ROTH and Traditional back as a refund.

Or, would b and c be essentially the same thing? I'm just remembering what happened in 1998 when I put $2k in a Traditional IRA (a bank CD really, but I didn't know what I was doing back then ...) I got a refund of $500 *just* from that. My income that year was quite a bit higher as well.

I don't plan on *really* selling any of the stocks I own right now anytime soon, but I'm just thinking that I should take advantage of selling some at a small loss and moving them into a tax-sheltered vehicle - which will at the same time help me to actually have my IRA fully funded this year.

Does this all make sense, or am I missing something really big? (The taxable stock account is an inherited account if that makes any difference. This is also why I want to repurchase the same stock with the funds - to keep the money invested the same way, but just moved into a place that is more tax advantaged.)

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I earned another $5 AGC from SBs yesterday. That makes 2 for September.

I've been here blogging since 2005, 7 1/2 years, and today I have finally reached my 1,000th post! Took me long enough.

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Today was a pretty good day. My favorite class of the day though I think was my 4th grade Fri PM section. There were only 4 still at school by the time class started. We got their books all checked out and then went to the computer lab where we began our lesson on cyberbullying. I learned from how I did the same lesson with the boys on Monday, and changed part of it. We truly had a fantastic discussion - they were SO much more willing to open up and discuss than the 4th boys, or ... the 8th graders when we had a similar discussion! I had to cut the lesson off before we were totally finished to get them out to the buses, which they all seemed disappointed about.

As we were walking out, one of the girls asked me if I had ever been cyberbullied. I told her that no, I hadn't ever really experienced that. I've experienced a few spelling/grammar fanatics, but neither time bothered me too much (although on the one board where I had a spelling fanatic go after me, I just pretty much stopped posting - not that I'd posted much before anyway.)

Then tonight, as I was walking to the thrift shop to meet the 3rd grade teacher to go on our 4 mile walk, the same girl walked with me part of the way and asked me what I was doing. I told her, and she said she wished she go with me, but knew she couldn't. Then she gave me a little side hug. It was so sweet and innocent. (This girls grandparents live in the trailer next to mine, so I often see her, as well as her sister and brother - who are also students at our school.)

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I got an email from Amazon today telling me that I needed to verify my student status - apparently I've had it for 4 years now! So I took out some information from the invoice which was sent to me for my program, and explained the program I'm part of. Less than an hour later I had an email saying that I'd been reinstated for 4 more years. I'd been debating on whether I was going to keep it or not, but overall, I really do think it is a good bargain - at $39 - not $70+.

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I am glad it is the weekend. It was a long week, and I am looking forward to sleeping in a bit the next two days.

Tomorrow afternoon from 1 - 4 there is an exhibition/opening of our students art in little G. I feel like I should try to make at least an appearance there, but I'll be in big G until at least 2, or longer if I stay for potluck. Then it would be a minimum of an hour's drive to get to the art gallery in little G. So ... more than likely I probably won't end up going.

Otherwise, no big plans for this weekend. Church on Sabbath, and working in the library on Sunday. Hopefully no spending money too (none planned for at least!)

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Oh, I almost forgot. Tonight I was looking at Kari in her cat castle, and thought it was hanging a bit funny. Sure enough, the top section is coming loose. This new one has been in use maybe 6 weeks. I guess I'll take it back to Wal-mart again and see if I can do an even exchange again. I hope they still carry them! Either way, I think I need to start setting aside money to purchase a proper cat castle for her - one that won't start tearing with normal usage. One that would be of similar height probably would cost in the low to mid hundreds ... What I loved about the one I have now is that it cost $20 and that it is completely collapsible - i.e. easily transported.
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So ... here's to the next 1,000.

This afternoon I went to the dentist for my second of two fillings. It went quickly, and when I went up front to pay, I got a nice surprise. I was fully expecting to pay upwards of $90. I was charged only $35! When I asked about it, I was told that I actually had a credit from my first filling. So .. I guess the new dental plan (which our school switched to this year) is pretty good for fillings.

I moved the extra money from my Medical category to groceries and to car repayment. After the dentist, I went grocery shopping - I spent $38.xx. Some of what I got was stocking up type things - such as 3 cartons of Rice Dream (Enriched), which my other Walmart in big G had been completely out of last week - and 2 boxes of my after school snack granola bars, which for whatever odd reason were $.25 cheaper in small G's Walmart. I forgot to get more hummus (which I've been using in my salads this week - makes salad SO much more palatable!) and orange juice. I'm going to try to make what I have just last til next Friday.

I also did my first fill-up today for September - $3.65/gallon - total of $32.88 (not a full tank's worth ~8 gallons.)

I signed up for the Citi Forward Netflix deal. I had planned on cancelling Netflix at the end of September because I didn't think I'd use it enough to justify the expense in the next 6 months. But if I am getting it essentially for free ... well then it sure will be nice to still have available for when I need a break from studying. Plus, once my course is finished, it will equal roughly $51 extra to my savings (6 months @ $8.53.) Every little bit helps. (I noticed that their 5% rewards are geared towards restaurants - since I don't eat out very often, that probably won't be much use for me.)

**I just have to make sure I don't start ANY tv series on Netflix until my course is over. Movies are a one-time thing, tv series I have this obsessive need to watch episode after episode to see *everything* in as short a time as possible ...)

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When I decided to *not* upgrade my iPhone 3GS, I moved the majority of the tech fund money to my car replacement fund. (I left enough to get a good case/cover for the iPad.) I also decided to up my ROTH savings to $200/mo, and reduce my Fun Money fund to $20/mo (for most months, except my birthday month. )

I also realized today that even though my ed award money (which is paying for my 6 month course/iPad) is taxable income, I *may* qualify for the Hope tax credit (I think that's the one.) So .. it may not be such a big bite after all.

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Ok, off to watch more episodes of Ocean Girl. (about 6 left I think)

Hard to believe September is nearly 3/4 over.

Our weather has been bi-polar - cold mornings and hot evenings. Maybe the snow is a bit further off than I thought.

The last few nights I've been going walking with the 3rd grade teacher. She was amenable to the idea of going further than the larger group had been going .. so we did 3.5 miles instead of 2. Tomorrow we're planning on doing a roughly 4 mile round trip trek. The best thing is, she and I walk at roughly the same pace, so I'm not walking way ahead of her.

My mom's birthday was yesterday. I called her and caught her just before she left for dinner (where her now fiance proposed.) Judging from what she posted on FB, I'm assuming she accepted.

We had a motivational speaker guy come today and talk with the kids. He was pretty good - had the kids excited. The only qualm I had was that he asked the kids to write a testimonial on his website - name, age, email, school name included. Something I've been drilling into them the past month is about information that you *don't* share on the internet - especially if there is a chance of it being posted on something like a testimonial page!!! I used it for a teachable moment today after he interrupted my 5th grade group (which was already running way behind) to show his website and where to put their info at.

I got a bill from my doctor's office today for $35 from when I went in to have my thyroid checked. I'd thought it was strange they didn't ask for a co-pay when I was there ... It'll have to wait til October though, because my medical fund is slated for the second filling I'll be getting tomorrow.

I made a smoothie tonight for supper. I just can not say how much I love my Ninja blender. I don't have to worry about it leaking like my old blender (or the brand new one which I never used thanks to the rubber ring not fitting properly!)

I finally heard from the lady in charge of financial stuff for the 6 month program. I figured out how to give her the documents/info she needed, and am now officially registered. I should be getting more info within a few days. Class starts the first week of October, so I have about 10 more days of leisurely evenings.

Today I had numerous requests for books in series and topics which we don't have. Some of the topics qualify as non-fiction, so I can easily justify getting some like that (my focus plan states that I'll spend 40% of library funds on non-fiction to make our collection closer to Common Core standards.) The books in the series though, are fiction. I *really* want to get those remaining books because the person asking for them is someone who generally is hard to please. I was sorely tempted to just jump on Amazon and buy them with my pocket budget so I wouldn't have to include them as coming out of the overall "real" library budget... but I restrained myself. Barely. (We have the first ten books in the series - which were actually a donation last year. The student saw that there are 8 more books in the series ... and salivated.)

We got a box of brand new donated books from a publisher on Monday. All but 3 of the books were ones we had a minimum of 1 copy already ... so I emailed the publisher to see if I could return those books for a credit or refund without the donor finding out .. They told me how I could do that, so I'm going to look in their catalog and see what other books might fit our student population better. This same person sent a box of books around 4 or 5 times last year - in all but one of them there were at least two books that were exactly the same. So I'm glad my principal gave me this idea (of contacting the publisher) - I was going to do it with the box that came the beginning of June .. but life intervened.

I have about ten episodes left of Ocean Girl on Netflix. Once I finish it, I plan on sticking with only movies. I don't want to get wrapped up in a tv series before canceling my service. (I plan to cancel it on Oct 1 before a new month is charged - this way I have few means of being too distracted from doing my school work.)

My asst has been out sick for the last three days. Although most of what I've had her doing is long term project type things, I have definitely felt her absence. Especially in preparing for Clifford's birthday (Kinder, first and second) and prepping for the pre-school storytimes. My book cart is getting pretty full of returned books ..

Next week we're doing a lot with Johnny Appleseed for the lower grades. So .. I'm really hoping she'll be back by Friday.

After posting in one of the retirement savings threads on the forum, it got me rethinking some things.

There aren't a lot of ways I can cut back on expenses, but I think there are some things I can do to cut back a little as well as help myself if for some reason I become unemployed again.

So .... I think I have decided to stick with my current phone and not upgrade. I had found a good case for the 4S on amazon for $6, so the total cost of upgrading would be $106. However, that would lock me in to a new two-year contract. That's not something that would bother me generally, but with the iffy situation here with the sewer system ... as much as I'd absolutely HATE to do it, I probably should keep the option open of downgrading from my current phone plan to a prepaid plan. (I'm not sure that a prepaid would really save me all that much, but even $20/mo if I have no income coming in would be better than nothing.)

If my current phone really starts acting up on me, then I might look into seeing about buying an unlocked phone from Ebay, etc., or ... see if my brother would sell me his phone (he has to wait til March to upgrade.) Either way, I'd still not have to get locked into a new contract, so if the worst happens, I could downgrade my plan.

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I've also decided that I'm NOT going to pay for Hulu +. I waste enough time as it is with Netflix streaming, and the one main show I'd like to watch on Hulu (DWTS) will be available for free at some point. I just will have to be patient. Also, once I start the 6 month program, I'll probably go ahead and cancel Netflix until the program is over at least. My free time will be focused on classes and stuff for school/work.

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I was thinking about selling enough of the stocks I have in the taxable account to finish out maxing my IRA (traditional, so I could rebuy the same stock, only in the non-taxable for now account) for this year, and then saving what I'd normally put in to add next year. This was of course when the particular stock was down nearly $3 below what it was June 6 (when my dad died.) So it would have been a capital loss (which would have netted me some extra tax refund money, which could have also been put back into Roth/Trad IRA's next year ...) But I waited too long to do more than think about doing this. If I sold now, it would be a small capital gain instead.
(If I even know what I'm talking about here ...)

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Today was very cold. When I finally got up around 10:30 a.m. it was 39 degrees out. It warmed up some by the afternoon, but not much. I have the feeling that I'll be putting my sandals away very soon, and we'll have our first frost, if not first snow shortly.

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Looking on Amazon for iPhone/iPad stuff is very very dangerous. I found a $40 case/stand which I think will be quite good for the iPad (which I'm getting with the 6 month course) especially since I'm planning on letting the students in the library use it (for educational purposes of course!) I also found an awesome portable projector unit which can be used with either iPhone or iPad ...droollllll.... ($200) It would be so nice to have a way to do presentations without *having* to be in the computer lab ... Like I said, dangerous surfing.

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Today is my grandma's 91st birthday. She and her daughter are in Hawaii (they got there on Thursday and will stay for two weeks - staying at a timeshare unit owned by one of her sons and his wife.) I talked with her today and she sounded like she was having a good time - lots of walking.

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I really need to work on cutting my grocery costs. That could be one area that I could use to add more to my savings (for new to me car.) Spending $55 on Friday was really ridiculous - unless I can make it two weeks (other than fruit ...) And of course if I actually *use* everything I bought *before* it goes bad. (I bought fresh asparagus, humus, spinach mix, bag of pre-cut butternut squash ... have a history of fresh asparagus rotting before being used --- quick easy ways to prepare would be great...) It of course didn't help that the store brand OJ was all out, so I had to go with the name brand (extra $1.25.)

Buying frozen fruit is also quite expensive ... but with only the freezer above my fridge, I don't know that I could freeze enough fruit in season to really offset the amount of frozen fruit I'd want for smoothies.... Maybe I should look into getting a smallish free standing freezer?

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I need to get pro-active about listing some books on Ebay (maybe half.com??) to see if I can get back any of the money I spent this past summer on books for summer school. Most of them were not even used ... Some of the teacher resource books might sell too .. eventually.

Tomorrow I need to make sure I have everything lined up for the coming week at school, and then maybe get myself to do some much needed housework - possibly even make a casserole or something.

Btw - I've asked this before (and googled it as well) but ... if I cook 4 or 5 sweet potatoes in foil in the oven, what/how can I do to keep them good over a period of 4 or 5 days?? I've heard that bacteria grows fast in wrapped cooked potatoes - but that there is a way to prevent it - just haven't been able to figure out what that is yet. Any suggestions??

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Since I rode with people yesterday, and ended up skipping church today, I am probably going to end up with excess gas budget money this month. I'll put the first $20 of it back to tithe (since I took it out of tithe to cover my extra gas from last month for taking care of pastor's dog/cat) and then whatever's left will need to go to the medical category (to help cover the second filling I'll be getting on Thursday.)

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Ok, enough rambling about .. better go hit some zzzz's.

After posting in one of the retirement savings threads on the forum, it got me rethinking some things.

There aren't a lot of ways I can cut back on expenses, but I think there are some things I can do to cut back a little as well as help myself if for some reason I become unemployed again.

So .... I think I have decided to stick with my current phone and not upgrade. I had found a good case for the 4S on amazon for $6, so the total cost of upgrading would be $106. However, that would lock me in to a new two-year contract. That's not something that would bother me generally, but with the iffy situation here with the sewer system ... as much as I'd absolutely HATE to do it, I probably should keep the option open of downgrading from my current phone plan to a prepaid plan. (I'm not sure that a prepaid would really save me all that much, but even $20/mo if I have no income coming in would be better than nothing.)

If my current phone really starts acting up on me, then I might look into seeing about buying an unlocked phone from Ebay, etc., or ... see if my brother would sell me his phone (he has to wait til March to upgrade.) Either way, I'd still not have to get locked into a new contract, so if the worst happens, I could downgrade my plan.

----
I've also decided that I'm NOT going to pay for Hulu +. I waste enough time as it is with Netflix streaming, and the one main show I'd like to watch on Hulu (DWTS) will be available for free at some point. I just will have to be patient. Also, once I start the 6 month program, I'll probably go ahead and cancel Netflix until the program is over at least. My free time will be focused on classes and stuff for school/work.

---

I was thinking about selling enough of the stocks I have in the taxable account to finish out maxing my IRA (traditional, so I could rebuy the same stock, only in the non-taxable for now account) for this year, and then saving what I'd normally put in to add next year. This was of course when the particular stock was down nearly $3 below what it was June 6 (when my dad died.) So it would have been a capital loss (which would have netted me some extra tax refund money, which could have also been put back into Roth/Trad IRA's next year ...) But I waited too long to do more than think about doing this. If I sold now, it would be a small capital gain instead.
(If I even know what I'm talking about here ...)

--
Today was very cold. When I finally got up around 10:30 a.m. it was 39 degrees out. It warmed up some by the afternoon, but not much. I have the feeling that I'll be putting my sandals away very soon, and we'll have our first frost, if not first snow shortly.

---
Looking on Amazon for iPhone/iPad stuff is very very dangerous. I found a $40 case/stand which I think will be quite good for the iPad (which I'm getting with the 6 month course) especially since I'm planning on letting the students in the library use it (for educational purposes of course!) I also found an awesome portable projector unit which can be used with either iPhone or iPad ...droollllll.... ($200) It would be so nice to have a way to do presentations without *having* to be in the computer lab ... Like I said, dangerous surfing.

---
Today is my grandma's 91st birthday. She and her daughter are in Hawaii (they got there on Thursday and will stay for two weeks - staying at a timeshare unit owned by one of her sons and his wife.) I talked with her today and she sounded like she was having a good time - lots of walking.

---
I really need to work on cutting my grocery costs. That could be one area that I could use to add more to my savings (for new to me car.) Spending $55 on Friday was really ridiculous - unless I can make it two weeks (other than fruit ...) And of course if I actually *use* everything I bought *before* it goes bad. (I bought fresh asparagus, humus, spinach mix, bag of pre-cut butternut squash ... have a history of fresh asparagus rotting before being used --- quick easy ways to prepare would be great...) It of course didn't help that the store brand OJ was all out, so I had to go with the name brand (extra $1.25.)

Buying frozen fruit is also quite expensive ... but with only the freezer above my fridge, I don't know that I could freeze enough fruit in season to really offset the amount of frozen fruit I'd want for smoothies.... Maybe I should look into getting a smallish free standing freezer?

--
I need to get pro-active about listing some books on Ebay (maybe half.com??) to see if I can get back any of the money I spent this past summer on books for summer school. Most of them were not even used ... Some of the teacher resource books might sell too .. eventually.

Tomorrow I need to make sure I have everything lined up for the coming week at school, and then maybe get myself to do some much needed housework - possibly even make a casserole or something.

Btw - I've asked this before (and googled it as well) but ... if I cook 4 or 5 sweet potatoes in foil in the oven, what/how can I do to keep them good over a period of 4 or 5 days?? I've heard that bacteria grows fast in wrapped cooked potatoes - but that there is a way to prevent it - just haven't been able to figure out what that is yet. Any suggestions??