Keeping It Frugal

This afternoon I was working with the Korean Boy. His sponsor came home and started talking to me about working with him in June to help him finish two classes via home study. At first I was saying, well it will depend on whether I've been hired on somewhere else or not. Then she mentioned, wouldn't my job start in August (if I got one!)? I realized that she was right - even if I did get hired somewhere, the earliest I probably could go and start putting the library together would be July. So, I told her that I would be willing to do it.

On my way home I was thinking about our conversation. It dawned on me that most public school employees don't get their first paycheck until the end of September.

So, when I got home I updated my budget, making sure that all my accounts matched, etc. Then I took the positive balance and subtracted my Spring tuition (roughly $900). I then subtracted my 6-month car insurance premium due in November ($216). Then I subtracted other expenses for November, other than the rent (which has already been paid). It left me with roughly $1000.00 total.

November is going to basically have 3 weeks of tutoring. December is going to have maybe 2 weeks of tutoring. So, that means that in January, I'll most likely have to use some of that buffer. Feb. should be a full month (wait no, it might not be - my big test week will probably be in Feb.) March will be 3 weeks (Spring Break). April and May should be full months. If Korean Boy stays, June will be an extra month. That leaves July, August, and September. *If* I get a library job, I will have moving expenses, setting up the library expenses, and of course, living expenses.

This is of course assuming nothing goes wrong with my car.

I am going to have to cut my costs wherever I possibly can. I've spent way way too much on stupid things.

The only places I can really cut are food and Netflix. I don't really use Netflix that much, so putting it on hold for a while won't kill me. Food ... I think I'm going to have to go to a beans and rice, rice and beans, and throw in some oatmeal diet.

If it weren't for the fact that I have two responsibilities at church which I've committed to, I might consider changing to a church that is closer by to save on gas. But overall, it wouldn't really save that much more. I will definitely have to not do any extra trips though.

I really can't do *any* extra spending. No more .99 apps. No more junkfood (will fit in with the challenge!). No more $1 movies. Nothing that I can't unequivocally post here and defend as a necessary expense.

I think I may ask my family to pay the renewal on my iPhone AT&T driving app for birthday/Christmas. For me, it has become an essential. It saves so much gas and time in my not getting lost.

If I don't do this, I may still be in the clear by June -- but come August ... (or July if Korean Boy doesn't happen in June).

I am going to attempt again to post all my expenditures. If you see something that you question, please feel free to question me.

Also, please feel free to offer any suggestions.

*Something I've thought of that might help when/if I do get a library job -- Take with me only what I can fit in my car, and leave everything else in storage. Then rent a room from someone short term. Once my paychecks begin, pay for movers to load the truck and have someone drive it to wherever I am. That would also give me time to really investigate the least inexpensive places to live in my new town.

If I don't get a job .... I really don't know what I'll do. I guess that would be about time to cash into my retirement money.

***I just had another realization hit me. All the above figures don't take into account travel expenses for interviewing for the supposed jobs. When I was a teacher in the SDA denomination, those expenses were taken care of. From what I've heard, that isn't the case in the public school system. Oy vey.

***Edited to add - My dad pays my phone bill. At first he was just going to pay the difference ($30) for the iPhone, but he's ended up actually sending more than enough each month for the entire bill. So cutting that wouldn't help.

So my mom had been making some annoying comments about my weight recently. While at the same time, she was acknowledging that her Diet Coke habit probably wasn't very good for her.

So, instead of getting fed up with her comments, I decided to do something proactive. Something which would help both of us.

I challenged my mom to drink only one 12oz soda per day, and I would limit my sugar intake to a spoonful of brown sugar in my oatmeal. Until the day before Thanksgiving.

So far, so good.

I'd done pretty well with No-S (no snack, sweets or seconds except on days that begin with S) over the last year or so. But lately I was finding myself following the guidelines ... every other week. My clothes were/are showing the effects of that, as was/is my grocery budget. Weekdays won't be so difficult for me, because I've proven to myself that I can go without my sweets for 5 days at a time, multiple times over. The real test will be Saturday and Sunday. (This isn't cutting out carbs. This is cutting out chocolate, ice cream, etc. Someone sent me a message on FB thinking I was cutting carbs. )

This challenge will benefit my pocketbook, and most likely my waistline. Plus it has the added benefit of maybe finally breaking my mom of the Diet Coke habit - which will be good, especially for her bone density.

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In other news, it looks like I might have a new tutoring student. Another Korean boy (actually, I think he's a freshman in college??). If it happens, I'd meet with him once a week on Fridays.

This works out very well, because I don't need to meet with my mentor librarian anymore. I'm finished with my Proficiency Checklist.

I registered on Monday for my very LAST class, and am just waiting for registration to open up for Capstone (one week, three essay questions - graded on a pass/fail basis.)

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This past Saturday was the church in the park. Sabbath School went pretty well. I had 10 kids by the end - only 4 of them were ones I'd had before. It really makes it hard to plan when you never know who is or isn't going to show up .. but oh well.

I ended up having to leave a little early from church. The weather was really rainy (everyone was seated under an overhang/gazebo thing.) I was getting a horrific headache and feeling nauseous. So, I get to my car, and for some reason didn't put it in reverse. Drove right up over the concrete stop block, that I did! Ugh! I managed to back my car off of it, and drive away. But all week I've just been waiting to see if I did any damage to my car which will significantly shorten its life.

Thankfully the headache went away not too long after I got home.

This week I booked my airplane tickets for Christmas vacation. Although I'm doing two one-way tickets, through a lot of searching and good timing, I managed to get them for about $20 more than what round trip would cost to one city.

I'll be starting out in San Jose again for Christmas Eve/Day, and spending some time in San Francisco and the Napa Valley area (where my brother lives.) Then dad, grandma and I will head on down to the LA area.

I'm looking forward to having some time away from Texas.

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At church this past weekend the principal/main teacher of our church school told me that she had this huge grading project she needed to get done before the first parent/teacher conferences. I told her that I thought I could get all my schoolwork finished for the week by Wednesday, and help her out on Thursday due to not having my normal tutoring students. Well, it turned out that one of my tutoring students miserably failed one test (one he insisted he didn't need my help on) and so I ended up having him Wed., today and tomorrow. I still did manage to get all my schoolwork finished early.

So today I arrived at the school a little after 9, and was kept quite busy until 3pm. She offered me gas money (it is a 40+minute one way drive) but I told her I didn't need it. I'm planning on asking her to write a letter of reference for me when I start library hunting. That, I think would be much more valuable than $20 gas money. I also got a free lunch from Panda Express - it was leftovers from what the school kids had ordered. Yum.

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A few years ago there was this great science fiction show played on Spike TV -- about the same time as Journeyman. My Tivo alerted me to it. In the last month or so, for some reason I got it in my head that I wanted to see it again. However, for the life of me, I couldn't remember its name. I searched through all of Netflix, and did some heavy duty Google -- to no avail. Yesterday evening I got the idea in my head to try imdb.com (internet movie database). In searching the site, I had no luck. However, I posted a message on their messageboard. Within 3 minutes I had my answer --- "Seven Days"! I also had a link to a Youtube channel where someone had posted most, if not all of the episodes. (not on DVD yet) Woo Hoo!

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Momcents -- I found the Mandie movie on Netflix - my library doesn't have it. As soon as I watch the one I have now, I'll get to see it. Yay!

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This Sabbath we are having outdoor church. Which, of course, means outdoor Sabbath School. I'm not really looking forward to it, but my mom found a book on nature activities which might help.

Anyone have ideas on how to keep a group of 6 - 9 years olds occupied for an hour outside, without them going wild?

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Almost forgot -- for those of you who are fans of the television series "Little House On the Prairie" there is a very funny and touching book by the actress who played Nellie Oleson. "Confessions of a Prairie B*tch" you might want to pick it up from your local library.

This morning a bit past 9 I was working on some classwork when suddenly a loud noise startled Buddy and I. At the same time as the noise, I felt like I'd moved - my equilibrium felt just a tiny bit off for a few seconds. I stepped out of my room and was like "What the Heck was that?!" My stepdad said he thought maybe it was a large flock of birds on the roof getting into a fight.

A few hours later I got a text from stepdad asking me about what time I'd heard/felt the noise. Turns out there was an earthquake in Oklahoma (possibly near OK City) at 9:06 a.m. People in Texas as far as San Antonio reported feeling something.

I know it may be kind of silly to be excited about having experienced my first earthquake ... but here's a couple reasons why:

1. I lived in CA for two years. Before moving there (for my first teaching job) I'd been petrified about living in CA and being in an earthquake. None happened (at least that I'm aware of).

2. Two different times in the past two years when I went to CA for a visit, two to three days later that area experienced an earthquake.

3. It's pretty far out that an earthquake could happen here/be felt here. It happened in an area with no mapped fault. They're speculating that its a result of the injection wells in OK.

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In contrast to my tutoring rant from yesterday, today's two students were awesome. Both moms had the money out and ready to go (one even paid me for the next two weeks.) The first boy with ADHD was in a good attitude, and was getting what we were doing. And the second boy who I work with on essay writing for timed tests as well as vocabulary, really seemed to enjoy our session today where we wrote a descriptive essay on his moms table centerpiece. He also told me that he used one of his vocab words at school - they were working on adjectives - he gave the example of "glum".

In today's mail I got a nice little surprise. An invitation to join Phi Kappa Phi. I was nominated by my university because of my grades. If I pay ... $70 initiation fee, then in December I get to attend an induction ceremony where I'll receive a certificate. I also can use their seal on my resume, they have some insurance discounts, as well as discounts at other places.

I was inducted in the Psychology honor society when I was in college (can't remember its name) but I don't think I had to pay anything for it ... I'm not really sure how I got in that one, since at that time my overall GPA was barely hanging on to a B- -- wait, that was the semester before my two C's (Statistics and Chemistry.)'

When I was in high school I was nominated for the Who's Who in High School. That one my parents actually paid the money for a book - my picture and a bio. That was definitely an ego booster only thing.

So... what do you all think? The invitation sounded really salesy. Like it was really trying to puff me up and consider it a great honor. If it's something that might actually be useful, as in getting a job, maybe I'll go for it. But if all it will be is something I can say about -- oh yeah, I'm a member of Phi Kappa Phi. Aren't I so smart? (Not!) Then I think I'll pass on the $70 initiation fee, and then the membership dues which increase each year up to the third year of $130.

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Korean Boy made me really mad today. I got a couple emails from his math teacher asking to get together with both of us. So, at the time we normally tutor, we met with his math teacher. She pretty much was saying that she doesn't think he's ready to do Pre-AP Pre-Cal due to a couple different homework assignments he'd completely failed, as well as the fact that he'd have to read and understand the extra material mostly on his own. He stubbornly did not listen and insisted that he could do it. I reiterated that Pre-Cal is Greek to me, seeing as though the highest math I had was Algebra 2 and Statistics.

So we get in my car. He doesn't have any homework to work on because he's taking the PSAT tomorrow. So I'm just going to drop him off at home. I tell him that we'll stop by the bank so he can pay me for the week. That's when he tries to tell me that I shouldn't be paid for today, since I'm not working with him.

Arghhh!! Really? I'm there at the school at 3:30. I met with you and your teacher about your classwork. I'm driving you home. Do you really think I'm doing all that out of the goodness of my heart???

So I said to him that although we may not be working on schoolwork together, I still have given him at least 30 minutes of my time. That is worth at least $15. So, $90 total for the week, since we won't be working on Wednesday (due to the PSAT). He agrees that's fair. We stop by the bank and he doesn't have enough money. Arghh!!!

Next week they're having a 2 1/2 day Fall break. So I'll be working with him only two days. as well as Korean Girl. Between the two, that means a loss of $100 for that week. 60% of my weekly income.

In some ways I really enjoy tutoring. In others though, I really, really, hate it!

Today when I got home from working with Korean Boy (we were reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) my mom told me that the local teacher store was having a garage sale - everything 40 - 70% off in their yard. So, off we went!

It turned out that the majority of the items in the garage sale were those of one teacher. It was really interesting going through all the boxes and piles. I felt as though I was getting to know this teacher a little bit. I could see that she'd been teaching for a long time - at least since teaching reading via Whole Language was popular, and then back to Phonics, and then on to my personal favorite, Four Blocks. I could see that she'd mostly taught Kindergarten and First Grade, and perhaps pre-school as well. Although there were quite a few reading books which covered older age levels (such as the "Christy" books which are based on the book "Christy" by Catherine Marshall, as well as the mini-series by the same name.) There were lots of materials on Navajo Indians, and various other tribes - as well as tribal legend books.

My mom had to leave before I had a chance to look through everything. I ended up taking a huge stack of books (mostly real reading books, the "Christy" books included) as well as a few teacher resource books. All of it cost me about $15. Some of the items I'll probably give to my Kindergarten teacher friend the next time I see her.

If I was still teaching right now, or if I knew for sure I was about to have my own library soon ... I would have taken a lot more!

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I found a great app for my iPhone recently. The sabbath school materials for both teachers and students. So now if I don't have my teacher's manual with me for some reason (like last Sabbath when we got locked out of the church after potluck!) I can just look it up on my phone! It uses a pdf format which makes the print a bit too tiny for regular usage. But in a pinch, it will definitely do!

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I updated both my book blog and my frugal blog. (Links in sidebar.) In fact, I added two new books to the book blog this last week. I'll probably be adding some of the books I got today to it as well in the near future.

School is keeping me uber busy, but sometimes I just have to take a breather and do something else!

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If you are a user of YNAB and have an iPhone, I hope you'll understand my absolute LOVE of the YNAB app. Seriously, love. The only receipts I keep anymore are the ones I need to turn in for reimbursement (for Sabbath School supplies.) With just a few swipes I can see a list of ALL the money I've made since January for tutoring (Income Available Next Month), or money I've gotten for other purposes (generally put in the Income Available This Month). Love!

So this evening I went to my storage unit with my stepdad to see how bad the damage was. The good news is that it wasn't as bad as I was imagining it could possibly be. The bad news is that there was damage, and I lost some dear treasures.

The biggest dollar value item that had to be discarded was my futon mattress. The least dollar value was a bunch of empty flat boxes. One box contained kitchen things wrapped up in sheets. The sheets will need to be washed, as well as the kitchen dishes, but it is fine.





One box that was on the floor contained four photo albums. Three of the four were fine - one I will need to transfer the photos into a new album. Everything else in the box was ok.

Then we get to the heartsick part.

One box was full of yearbooks from first grade through college. Many of them have a good number of signatures and messages. At least three of my elementary ones were a total loss, and most of the others may or may not be savable. I also had three scrapbooks - one of all my students I taught; one of my college years; and one of my senior year of high-school. Those *may* be savable, although transferred to a new album.

Then ... oh my heart breaks. Three boxes packed full of books. All the books that were on the bottom layer ... discarded. Most of the books on the second layer -- discarded. The books on the top layers, some were iffy, but most were okay.

I took pictures before we took everything to the dumpster (except for the yearbooks/scrapbooks).







As far as how this happened? We're not really sure. There is a crack in the foundation which looks like it goes along the general arc of the water line. But that could have already been there, and we just don't remember it.

The Storage place was very nice. They were willing to let me move my things into a new clean unit, but when I saw that the damage was less than I first thought, I decided not to do that.

Moral of today's story -- don't store anything you don't want damaged on the floor of a storage unit!

A few weeks ago we were having major rainstorms, and even a few tornadoes touched down. The rain was a pain to drive in, but otherwise didn't bother me too much. I felt bad for the people in Lewisville near the river who were flooded, but wasn't worried about that where I am.

So ... this afternoon Korean boy didn't have any homework, and we couldn't find his English teacher to get his list of vocab words to start on. I left early. I've decided to get back into strength training, so I needed my dumbbells from my storage unit. The last time I was inside it was maybe in May??

I opened it up, and the first thing I saw was that the floor was a mess. It looked like puppy turds and dead grasshoppers (and probably other bugs as well.) My dad and stepdad both think the puppy turds are mud. Hope so - would hate to find an animal inside my unit big enough to .... you get the point.

Next thing I noticed was that some of the empty flattened boxes which were upright, showed wet stains about half-way up. It also smelled kind of funky.

The only conclusion I can reach is that the units got flooded at some point. This had to have happened several weeks ago. Until this week, we've had HOT humid weather. Nobody called me. When my credit card was about to expire, they made sure to call me. When they noticed the lock was on wrong, they were able to call me. But to call me and let me know "Hey, the units flooded, you might want to check your stuff." They couldn't manage to do that! You know, at a time where school hadn't really gotten underway, and I'd have time to dig through everything.

UGH!!

I'm going to call and see if I can talk to management tomorrow to find out what happened. Then Wednesday night after I'm done tutoring, stepdad is going to go with me to see just how bad it is.

The really sickening part is that most of the boxes on the floor had books in them. Boxes of dishes and kitchen stuff can easily be cleaned up. Wet books that have sat for several weeks ...

This past week has been crazy busy. I put in a total of 12 extra hours tutoring one of my mom's students. Today I worked with her again for 3 hours. I also had my permanent crown on Tuesday. The kicker was this one huge assignment for one class that was giving me nightmares. It was due Friday, but by some miracle, the professor granted us two extra days!

I am SO tired right now. Not sleeping well at all. Had a few charley horses in early morning hours, which I hadn't had for a long time. Nearly fell going down the stairs *twice* this week. Last night Buddy slept in his ex pen instead of my bed - was hoping I'd sleep better. Didn't work very well.

Oh, last week I met with Korean boy and girl's academic dean regarding my concerns about their ability to do the English classwork. This Tuesday we have another meeting where the teacher will be included. Apparently she'd been told "No Modifications." Both Korean students are majorly stressed out - the girl is a senior and really worried about what's going to happen when she applies for colleges with an F in English. For me to really be able to help her, I'd need 4 or 5 more hours a week at least to help her read and understand the material. Ugh!

I read this fantastic book for one of my classes - I have to write a journal quality review of it. Once its graded, I'll post it on my website and link to it. It's a great book for boys in third or fourth grade.

Speaking of books ... I joined goodreads.com a while back. Recently I signed up for a bunch of different "First Reads" contests. I won a free book! It's a dog story. I can hardly wait for it to arrive.

Next weekend we are having a special potluck for the Primary students and their families (as well as a few special guests). I'm planning on making Danish Aebleskeber's, and the others are bringing more to fill the edges. Our class is moving into a new room next week as well. This actually is a good thing, because it is not a shared room. This means I'll be able to leave most of my materials there each week, and put up a few posters, etc. I'm planning on putting together a birthday poster, and probably a memory verse poster, and figuring out a way to display the kids sticker cards (cards they earn points on for attendance, etc.)

We watched a predictable, yet cute movie last night - "When In Rome." I wouldn't pay to see it, but if you have a chance to see it for free (on tv, via netflix, etc) I'd go for it.

Speaking of movies. Has anyone seen "Ramona and Beezus"? It's still at the dollar theater, and I was thinking that maybe I'd try to see it if I get a chance. Will probably wait till Netflix has it though, with my school and tutoring schedule.

As I've mentioned before, Buddy got some matts pretty soon after his first grooming appointment. I tried a number of tricks to get them out, but they were just getting worse instead of better. So Tuesday we got him shaved. What a difference fluffy hair makes! Without it, he looks so fragile and so much tinier.



Yesterday my mom went to the doctor for a follow up visit on her surgery. She got a good grade, but was told that she would need to take longer for full recovery. In other words, she shouldn't start back with her tutoring yet. So, one of her students has gotten really behind without her there to help her. I was asked if I'd be willing to work with her until Mom is able to again.

So today (Thursday) I worked with Korean Girl and Korean Boy from 2:30 - 5, then drove over to Mom's student and worked with her from 6 - 9. Before working with all of them, I was working on a big paper for one of my classes which I spent several hours floundering on, trying to figure out exactly what I was supposed to do! Long day.

Oh .. Korean boy dropped one on me today. He tells me "I have book journal due Tuesday and book proposal." I emailed his teacher and found out the book journal was actually due on the 14th! but she's giving him until the 22nd. If this was all he had to do, it would be bad enough. But he has an essay due on
Tuesday which is worth 50% of his first test grade. We have Friday and Monday to do all of this. (3 hrs)
Oh .. he hasn't read the book yet for the journal -- though maybe he'll have started it tonight if he can find it online. I would ordinarily say "let's work on Sunday afternoon" but I've already said I'd work with Mom's student on Sunday for a few hours - and I need to leave some of that time for my own school work!

Oh .. mom's student will be at least 6 hours, possibly up to 15 hours before all is said and done. At $25/hr. I don't tend to do much school work in the evenings, so for a week or two, this should work ok -- and give me a good boost of income!

The Long Day could have had a horrific ending. As I was driving home I got to this one spot where it is essentially a blind spot. Right before the road becomes divided with a median. I ended up on the wrong side. Only by the grace of God, and drivers who were paying attention, did I make it to a place where I could get back in the lane going the correct way.

Took about 5 years off my life.

Also made me decide to never take that way home again in the dark. My stepdad told me he's had that happen to him at that same spot - where cars all of a sudden are going the wrong way (with him the correct way).

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Tomorrow Buddy goes in for his snip snip. We're hoping it'll help with his barking. Tonight a friend of my stepdad's was visiting. He has a beard (not sure if that was the problem), but Buddy just plain *did not* like this guy. He wouldn't stop barking or settle down till mom took him in the bedroom and closed the door. He'll do that with us sometimes too -- just start barking his head off. Sometimes if he hears me/sees me coming down the stairs and he's on moms bed, he'll start in. Other times if I have him at the table with me while I'm eating, and stepdad comes down the stairs, he starts barking. And on and on.

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This coming Tuesday I'll be getting my permanent crown. I was just thinking about calling the dentist to find out what was going on with it, when they called me. Good timing.

Well, I'm back from delivering/picking up items from mom's "friend". Of course he couldn't leave it at just a simple pickup/delivery.

Mom's birthday is this coming Saturday. Her "friend" handed me an envelope with a ten dollar bill and specifications on a white rose/baby's breath that he wanted me to purchase and give to her for her birthday -- without attaching his name to it. I didn't know what to say, so I took it.

I asked my brother what he thought I should do. He added some expletives, but basically told me he didn't think that I should make the purchase.

I am thinking that maybe I could use it to purchase the perfume which she actually asked for, and never mention where part of the money came from. I don't think it would do her *any* good at all to know. Purchasing the flower without giving "friends" name would be a dead give away as to who it was from, because it wouldn't be something I normally would do.

After the late evening run to get her out of "friends" apartment a bit over a week ago, plus the two-hour round trip today to pick up items we'd missed the first time, I sincerely hope that she has no need to ever be in contact with him again.

So ... I guess this is my question. Should I purchase the flower like he asked? Should I use the money to purchase the perfume my mom wants? Should I mail the money back to him along with a note telling him I wasn't comfortable doing it? Something else?

I just SO hate being put in the middle like this!!!

This is a neat video of an experiment conducted in Chicago where 100 $1 bills were pinned to a tree with various messages on them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsN8FUV9nS4

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We had some interesting weather here the first few days of the week. Wednesday afternoon as I was driving home from tutoring, I heard that tornado actually touched down in Dallas -- near the Lovefield airport. I haven't heard what damage estimates were for it yet, but there also was a good bit of flooding in various parts of the metroplex (Dallas, Fort Worth, plus numerous small cities).

My dad called me yesterday afternoon and told me that he and grandma were sitting in the living room watching CNN and it looked like all of us in DFW were being blown away or flooded out. Funny how the media over blows things.

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Speaking of the media ... maybe I shouldn't say this, but, I really wish they would just not cover the so-called Pastor in Florida and all his lunacy. People like that come out of the woodwork for their 15 minutes of fame, because that's just what they get. Maybe if they didn't get it, they'd be less likely to do stupid *** stuff.

So ... anyway...

My mom came home from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon. She's still in bed recuperating and in some pain, but much prefers her bed to the hospital. Buddy absolutely *detests* spending any time at all away from her. I take him up to my room and he starts whining this really terrible pitiful whine. Then when he calms down, acts all depressed. I think a lot of his behavior is anxiety related.

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Wednesday I started with my fourth and final tutoring student (at least for this semester). He's a good kid and I enjoyed working with him. I especially liked that his mom paid me for two weeks at the same time.

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Thursday after tutoring Korean boy, I stopped at a place called Pro Cuts and got four inches chopped off the length of my hair, and my bangs stair stepped (chin length, then down). After a $3 tip, it cost $18. I'm happy with it.

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Sunday I'll be meeting mom's former "friend" to exchange items - mom had a few things of his, and there were a number of things she didn't get in our moving her out last Friday night. He wanted to eat lunch. Uh no. I politely told him that I'd only have time to drive there, get the stuff, and then get back home. Not particularly looking forward to a one-hour drive one-way, and right back again. But it's what one does for family. (Plus I'll be driving stepdads car, so no gas or miles on my car - makes it more appealing.)

This has been an interesting past few days ... to say the least.

On Thursday I get a text from my brother asking me if I'd heard how mom was doing. I hadn't, so asked him what he meant. He told me he thought she'd gone into the hospital for an evaluation of her heart. I panicked because I knew she'd been having a lot of shoulder/neck/arm pain, and so thought maybe she'd had a heart attack. Called her and found out that she had been in the hospital for an MRI to find out what was going on with her neck/shoulder - nothing to do with her heart.

Results of MRI showed that she had three bulging discs which were on the verge of causing paralysis. More visits with doctors, etc., and she has a surgery scheduled for Tuesday morning to replace three discs with artificial ones.

Stepdad told me that if there was any way I could talk her into coming back here where we could care for her, to please do it. She'd told him she wasn't happy with her new "friend" but felt trapped. New friend lives on third floor of an apartment building, and with her neck/shoulder issues, she could not move out herself -- and he wasn't willing to help her move out.

Mom texts me on Friday and when I call her tells me that if stepdad is willing to not talk/ask about his and mom's relationship status for the next two-three weeks (so focus be totally on recovery) that she was ready to end the "friendship". I told her to name the time and he and I would be there to get her out.

Stepdad agreed to mom's conditions with no qualms. We got there a bit before 7 p.m. Mom texted me and told me that if stepdad came in, "friend" would call the police. So that meant that I got to carry everything out of the apartment, and then met stepdad on the second floor landing. I met my exercise quota for the day plus quite a bit. It took about 30 minutes of steady trips with oversized loads, but we got out of there with minimal drama.

Buddy is *estatic* to have mom back home. He follows her everywhere. Even though I've been the main one responsible for his care since he was brought home, he still somehow gets that she is his actual "owner".

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I was thinking that tomorrow I'd go get a haircut since I have some cashflow again. The last time I got one was in early December. I need to check and see what places are around here. I'm hoping to get away with spending $20 or preferably less.

Sabbath morning I woke up feeling yucko and my tooth really bugging me. All day Sunday it got progressively worse. Finally Monday morning came, and I called the dentist and changed my build-up/temp crown appt. from the 21st to today.

Dmontngrey - my tooth is/was cracked/cracking, so a crown should work well enough. If not, then in a couple years maybe I'll have dental insurance again and/or will be in a better financial position to afford a root canal and crown.

I started with a new Korean student today. A girl. She is really super sweet. So now I have Korean boy and Korean girl. They both are about the same age I think, although one is a Junior and the other is a Senior.

With the 3 students I now have, I can make up to $900 a month. A fourth student will probably start next week, and will give me another potential $100/ month.
Four students would be a total of about 12 1/2 hours a week actual tutoring, plus another 6+ hours commute. That is about perfect with my school load this semester.

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Any ideas on how to keep mats from forming in a Maltese's fur? Before Buddy was groomed, I brushed him 3 or 4 times a week and he never had a mat. Since he was professionally groomed, within three days he had at least two mats. I was able to work one out, but the other one was too set. He now has a total of four mats, one fairly good size. (I took care of him while mom was on her trip, and we're keeping him till after his vet appt. on Friday.)

I forgot to mention in my earlier post this week that I finally went to the dentist. I had X-rays, exam and cleaning done for $150. He (dentist) told me that I do need a crown on the one tooth, but he didn't see the need for any fillings. (previous dentist said I had two cavities ...). He also is not going to charge for the buildup - a savings of $150. I can pay for the crown in two installments. I was pretty impressed with him - previous dentist was a friend of family and was offering no breaks.

So today in the mail I got two checks from my dad. The one he sends every month for my phone bill, and another check to pay for the dentist. My brother, grandma and dad all agreed to go in together for the dentist.

If my income stays steady this year, I may have savings left over. I will then repay them. At least for the dentist - I doubt my dad will accept anything back for all the other help over the past year ++. Probably will need to set it aside to help mom out eventually.

Wow! I'm not complaining or anything, but why couldn't some of these people have showed up this summer when my income was completely dried up?

It looks as though I have a possibility of two more students. One would be directly before the 6th grade boy on Wednesdays, and the other would be directly before Korean boy on M, Tu, Th. Roughly an extra $90/ week.

If all of them come through, then I will just have to see if it is more than I can handle along with class work.

Classes started Thursday. Nothing is due until September 10, and the last assignment is December 9. One class looks like it will be a real doozie, but the other two look doable.

While my mom is on her trip, she's letting me drive her car. A 2010 Mazda 6. My car is a 1997 Honda Civic. I jokingly told her that she's going to have to fight me to get her car back. A working radio, windshield wipers that work at all speeds, cruise control, alerts when there's a car beside you when you want to change lanes .... luxury. The keyless entry and start up thing took me a while to get used to, but I'm really enjoying that aspect as well.

Too bad a Mazda 6 will probably never be in my budget category, even once I get a full-time job again. Too many other priorities.

Today I had my first tutoring session with Korean boy for the new year. We didn't really do any tutoring - just went around and met his teachers, exchanged email addresses, and then I followed Ms. G home (where we'll be doing our sessions.) By that time it was about 5 p.m. So ... $125.

Ms. G asked me if I'd be willing to work with her daughter a couple nights a week on Algebra 2 after finishing with Korean boy. (Korean boy, along with three other Korean students are staying with Ms. G.) After making sure she understood that I'd probably have to be refreshing my memory at the same time ... I said I'd charge just $15/hr instead of the $25, which she felt was fair. The library has a TON of Algebra learning books which I will be acquiring for myself shortly. An extra $30/week is worth it.

We had the one of the hottest days so far today -- 108 degrees. But we also just had a short thunderstorm - hopefully that cooled things down a bit.

Tomorrow I'll be depositing:

$125 - Korean tutoring money
$25 - Last week 6th grade boy tutoring
$20 - cash from mom for gas for her car
$89.89 - Primary SS reimbursement

My bank account is going to stroke out having that much money go in there at once.

Yesterday I met my mom's "friend". He's nice and all ...

I stayed with them, and then this morning took them to the airport. They're going to FL and then to Detroit. I get to drive my mom's car while they're gone -- soooo nice to listen to the radio again while I drive. Oh, not to mention ... cruise control! It's going to be hard going back to my car ....

On Friday I met with the Korean boy I tutored last year. At the end of the year I was under the impression that his parents wanted to cut back the number of sessions, and wanted a reduced price. So, I was going in there prepared to offer a lower price for 4 days a week. Thankfully they seem to have changed their mind!! 5 days a week at the same rate as last year.

However, his schedule doesn't offer an 1 1/2 hour block this semester. So, three days a week I'll be picking him up from school and going to his house. The other two days we'll be working through his lunch period and study hall. We had to do it this way due to my already having another student one afternoon a week, and not wanting to tutor on Friday afternoons.

He was diagnosed with Narcolepsy in Korea, and now takes a pill. He says that it has made a HUGE difference. I'm actually looking forward to working with him without the struggle to keep him awake and focused.

On Thursday this week I'll be meeting with two of my mom's tutoring students who may become mine.

So, I may possibly have 4 tutoring students on a regular basis this semester. Perhaps 5 -- if the student I meet with on Wednesday afternoons finds someone else who'd like me to work with them on the same afternoon (I offered a discount for both parents if they found someone for the same afternoon). That will make my schedule completely full. Due to taking 9 hours of graduate classes + completing the practicum requirements (and the classes all seem to have multiple research papers and other large projects) I don't think I could handle more and keep my grades to the level I expect of myself.

Classes start on Thursday, so I'll know more about what I have ahead of me over the next few months.

I mentioned previously that I upgraded to the lowest level of Netflix unlimited service. (Previously I was grandfathered in to the 1 disc/2x month plan.) Gotta say that I am loving it! I have been making much use of the streaming video (so has my stepdad - via the Wii). Anytime I think about maybe wanting to go see a movie in the theater - even at the $1 theater, I just remind myself that I already have an arsenal of movies at my service - and there are a TON that I haven't seen yet.

The best one so far I've seen recently was "Up." It was just so adorable! I'm thinking of seeing "The Boy with the Striped Pajamas" ... but am wanting to make sure I see it when I'm feeling good....

For the most part I am really enjoying teaching Sabbath School (same thing as Sunday School, just on Saturday). The one most irksome thing is never knowing exactly how many are going to be there - and the second most irksome thing is kids arriving at all different times - some even with 20 minutes left. For example, last week we had 8 kids. The most so far, and two of our regulars were missing. So, this week I was prepared for ten, but had materials enough for 12. We had 5 show up.

Oh well. The kids that do come regularly seem to really enjoy class -- I've had a number of the parents tell me that their child loves it. The ones that come regularly are also starting to get more into the song service part. At first I think they weren't sure about it - because the people who taught a combined Primary/Juniors class didn't do song service ... Two of the girls love the song "When He Cometh" almost as much as I do. And yesterday one of the children observed that most of the songs in our handmade songbook (thanks to not being able to afford multiple copies of the real songbook) have some kind of motions to go with them. That was totally on purpose. (It currently has 16 songs in it -- but I'll be adding a few more this week. One that one of the students requested yesterday, but I wasn't sure on the words. I'm using book rings to hold them together so it's easy to add new songs.)

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Oh, almost forgot!

I posted three more textbooks on half.com last week, and two of them sold within an hour of my posting them!!

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On Tuesday I have a dentist appointment for a cleaning, exam and x-rays. I have the feeling that I'll be quickly making an appointment for a crown -- the one tooth has been really bothering me lately. I wish I didn't have to repay for the x-rays, but the dentist I went to previously only did half my mouth, and that was quite a while ago, so the situation may have changed/worsened since then.

This morning I told B that tomorrow would be my last day doing the Craigslist postings. What I told him was that with school starting up next week (for the high-school boy I tutor) I wanted to be sure to NOT be tired when working with him. (he's the one with narcolepsy - if he's falling asleep, and I'm nodding off ... not good!) But the really truly reason is that I just am not at all comfortable with what he was asking me to do. It wasn't anything illegal, just not very ethical. He really is a nice person, and I know that what he was having me do was just a way of trying to drum up business ... but money or no money, I couldn't keep doing it and feel right.

This afternoon I had my first appointment with a tutoring student who came about because of the flier's I left at the high-school last May. Really sweet kid. I'll be working with him mostly on writing process and some on grammar. Getting him better at doing timed essay writing's is really the main thing his mom wants me to focus on.

On arriving home, I checked my email and found out that I had made another sale at half.com. The last of the six textbooks I had posted on there in April. I was really somewhat surprised that it sold, because it was an older edition than the required textbook for the course. Nonetheless, I am quite pleased. Now the only textbooks I have are for my summer class and Fall classes. Which reminds me, I should list my summer class text.

I decided to bump up my Netflix subscription to the current basic plan. Previously, I had still been grandfathered in to the $4.99/mo plan 1 disc 2x month. What finally convinced me to go the few dollars extra a month, was the Starz Channel. Besides the normal streaming videos/tv programs, the Starz Channel has a number of fairly recent movies. Including "Letters to God" which I was number 89 on the wait list at the library for, and was not available as a DVD on Netflix itself. I could have purchased it for $15 at Mardel's ...

So, like I said, I upgraded to the very basic unlimited 1 at a time plan. That also meant I could get the Wii Disc to stream the movies onto the TV where the Wii is hooked up. I received that disc today (free) and have it set up. Very cool.

Last night I ate at Ci Ci's Pizza with my sign language class. Our instructor had invited two of the Deaf members. Wow! Was I ever rusty??!! I was trying to sign "My brother went skydiving this morning" and I couldn't remember the sign for brother! (And yes, my ever loving brother DID go skydiving on Tuesday ... in Las Vegas. He and a friend flew to Vegas Tuesday morning, skydived, then flew back to CA Wed. morning.)

Our instructor is having knee surgery on Monday, but is planning on starting an intermediate sign language class in late October or early November. That means I need to refresh my sign language knowledge quite a bit. I hope I'll have time to go by then ... will just have to make sure I do!

Buddy had his fourth set of shots on Tuesday. At first (before I left to go to the SL mtg) it wasn't affecting him too much. But then by the time I got home, he was a zombie. My mom had come by to sit with him while stepdad went to a meeting. She, and my stepdad, both tried to take him outside to do his business and he just sat there. Then he yipped when they tried to pick him up. When I got home I was able to pick him up (without yipping) and got him to do his business outside. Lovely little command word "Hurry Hurry!" He was pretty much zonked though till about 6 a.m. this morning. But when he woke up, he had all his usual vim and vigor back, plus a bit extra.

I ran through a full tank of gas in less than a week. The two extra trips to L**********e probably didn't help any. (One was helping the school's principal/teacher get ready for school, and the other was the sign language meeting.) I have another trip to L planned tomorrow to help the principal/teacher, and then hopefully my gas usage will go down to a more normal amount.

The Good:

Friday afternoon I got a call from a parent who wants a tutor for her sixth-grade son. He needs help with writing - sounds like he *can* write, just has trouble coming up with ideas to respond to random questions. I meet with her and her son on Wednesday! This phone call is a result of the flier I left with the registrar of the school where I tutor the Korean boy. Yay!! It may work out to one or two hours a week at $25 each -- so $25 - 50 a week.

This morning one of my Primary Sabbath School kids brought me this really sweet picture/creation she had made for me. It looked like she'd really spent some time on it. I was reminded of one of the better parts of teaching. The sweet unexpected gifts from the kids.

Friday afternoon I turned in the final assignment for my summer class. No more classwork until August 26! (Of course then I start 9 credit hours + needing to make sure my requirements list is completed by November. So will be muy muy busy!)

I'm liking my job for the most part (writing and posting Craigslist ads) and have gotten paid twice now. However, once school starts and I have the Korean boy again, as well as the new tutoree, I will be quitting. (It was billed as a temporary job - with possible longer term. It also only pays 7.55/hr. So, compare doing one hour of tutoring for $25, or 3 1/2 hours of writing posts for Craigslist ...)

Mixed Bag Good/Sad:

Mom left last night. But since Buddy has a vet appointment on the Tuesday we had discussed leaving him here till after that. Plus mom is going out of town the last week of August and wanted me to take care of Buddy then too. So in the end, she asked me to take care of him through the end of August when she gets back from her trip.

Picked up mom and stepdad from the airport today. They've been gone the past 12 days to Canada and Alaska.

Long and short of it is that my mom decided during the trip that it is 100% finale over. She had already made arrangements for an apartment before leaving "in case" that was her final decision.

So ... this time we now have Buddy. She left it up to me on whether he'd stay with me until I left, then go to her, or have her go ahead and take him with her. I opted to let her go ahead and take him now. I think it probably is best for him. A year from now would be even worse. She has a "friend" who is nearby the apartment who works from home and will keep Buddy while Mom out and about tutoring, unless she can take him with her.

Maybe its better this way. It would really have been much harder to say goodbye to him a year from now.

Starting with the good:

1. This morning before I had even finished my shift, one of the ads posted resulted in a phone call (possible sale!).

2. I got paid for yesterday and today. First income since May!

3. I sold another textbook on half.com!

4. I was watching one of the It's Me or the Dog episodes tonight where Victoria teaches the command "stop" to these 3 Maltese dogs when they start barking. I thought that was a great idea, because Buddy has taken to barking at phantoms since mom and stepdad have been gone. So I managed to teach him that cue. It's actually kind of cute -- he'll do a kind of quiet gruff, gruff, then turn his head towards me to see if I'm watching. I don't mind him doing the quiet gruff gruff, or even one or two short barks - it's just the constant barking I don't want him to get in the habit of.

Not so good:

Going down the stairs while holding Buddy (I do this when he seems desperate to go outside, otherwise there's a good chance of an accident happening on the stairs), I slipped *again*! Thankfully I didn't land squarely on my tailbone, but I sure got a good bounce and shake. Thankfully also I didn't lose my hold on Buddy and drop him.

Unfortunately it seems as though my back (and my left ankle) are saying "enough abuse already!" I was just about healed up from being knocked down by that dog last week. Now my back is NOT feeling good at all. And my ankle is not feeling all that great either.

UGH!!

On Monday I was perusing the Craigslist job listings in what I thought was more futile effort. But I'm stubborn like that. So there's this ad for someone to write advertisements for merchandise and clean it up for pictures.

I called the number and found out it was a resale business. He was wanting someone in the morning so the ads would have a better showing. I went over and applied, and even did a sample posting. I chose this binder full of football player cards from 93.

Well I guess he must have liked my write up, cuz this morning (while I was out walking Buddy) he called. He wants me to start tomorrow! Next week forward it'll be mon to Th from 8 - 10. I think it pays 15/hr!!!

It may only be temporary - he wants to see if this will pick up sales or not. However long it lasts, it'll be more money than I have now! And if it does last, I think I'll be able to fit my tutoring student in afterwards. This way I'll be able to offer him a lower charge per session.

God is so good!

This morning I set off on what was supposed to be my long barefoot run for the week around 7 am. I was in the middle of my first run interval getting into the groove, when all of a sudden I found myself knocked flat on my back!

In my neighborhood there are a lot of these little "arms" that branch off from the main streets. On this particular one there are three houses. Most of the arms don't have houses. One of the houses has two dogs - what I think is a Doberman and a collie. They have ran out to greet us many times before - every time though has been when I/we were walking.

Today though the Dobie saw me running past it's territory. I immagine that set off its prey instinct. I think it barreled into the middle of my back. The worst damage was a scraped elbow and broken hair clip (head hit the ground). Mostly I was a little dazed.

The owner ran out and apologized profusely and kept asking if I was ok. After I reassured him that I was, I continued my run. I did cut it in half though. A bandaid and a couple of asprin later, I am fine. I just hope the owner didn't punish it's dog - I'd much rather have the owner work on teaching the dog yard boundaries. It was after all just doing what comes naturally for a dog.

I do think I'll be skipping this particular section on my runs from now on though. It could have turned out a lot worse.

Update (6:45 p.m.): My stepdad talked to the homeowner who saw this happen this morning. The dog is a Boxer. According to the homeowner, the dog was running across the street and would have missed me, but I turned around and we hit. I don't remember turning around, and don't understand why I would have turned around, because at the end of that section is where I usually do my stretches after having had a bit of a warm up (and I hadn't reached the stretching area). The dog also was injured. Its leg was scraped and somehow it got a hole in its hindleg skin. I guess we kind of bounced off each other.

I don't have a bump on my head, so I don't think I had a concussion. I think my barette took the brunt of impact. My stepdad thinks I may have whiplash. I'm debating right now on whether or not to go to one of those emergency clinics and get xrays just to be sure. Their insurance will pay for it (reimburse). But especially if the dog wasn't actually running straight at me ... I'd hate to make their insurance go up - especially if it is something that'll go away with ice and rest.

What really bums me out is that I was just starting to make some good progress with my running. Now I'll probably need to take a week off. Ugh.

* I received another scholarship! This one is one that is possible to renew for the spring semester!

* We now have the Bitter Apple spray which seems to be helping Buddy stop chewing on his leash. Yay!

* Buddy has now learned: sit, down, shake, sit pretty, take it, drop it, and is getting there with spot (go to your spot) and leave it. I also think he hasn't had a potty accident since Friday (which was my fault for not taking him out in a timely manner).

* I have a number of clicker training books on hold at the library - two of them are already in transit. I also put all the DVDs of Patricia McConnell on Interlibrary Loan. No idea when they'll come in. (Of note - This is the first time I've ever actually used ILL for myself. Ever. I'd used it before for my boss at the oil and gas company, but not for me.)

* Saturday I had the wonderful pleasure of celebrating the baptism of my good friends son. I've known him since he was just a few days old. I cared for him during the first two "false labors" and the final real event of his little sister coming into the world. He is a quality young man who as of tomorrow will turn 10. His extremely high IQ was showing through the examples the pastor was using of analogies he (the 10 yo) had come up with regarding life as a Christian. For example, he likened the need for us to read the Bible, pray, etc. to practicing soccer. Both are ways to get ready for the "end" game. He had a couple other analogies too which were really spot on.

* I am finally getting faster at my barefoot running. For the longest time it was taking me 30 minutes+ to complete 1.5 miles -- although most of it was done walking. On Thursday I completed the 1.5 miles in 24 minutes! (Still not very fast, I know. But I'm regaining ground I lost from not running for a while.)

* Tuesday Buddy goes for his next round of shots. That'll have him protected enough for me to take him out on a "real" walk. I've been practicing loose leash walking in the house with him, but it will be a real test on Wednesday morning when we go out in the "world". I'll have the clicker and a bag of goodies with me.

* My mom and stepdad are leaving on Wednesday for ten days. They're going on an Alaskan cruise. A long held dream of my moms. I get the house to myself for ten whole days! Something that hasn't happened since I moved out of my apartment last August!

* Only a bit more than two weeks left of my summer class. Then only 4 classes to go! Hopefully I can hold on to my current GPA.

* Mom gained 3 new tutoring students, so she is completely full. If she gets any more, she's going to refer them on to me. She keeps telling me that the way to get them is to "get out there". But the way she "gets out there" is getting her hair done, or her nails done, or going clothes shopping ... all of which takes something I don't have any of -- $$$. So I keep perusing Craigslist and other places, and wait patiently for the new school year to start again.

How do you handle it when three adults who are related to each other do not agree on how to deal with a puppy? Especially when one person (me) is the one who spends the most time with it?

One family member in particular just doesn't seem to *get* that as much as they (person) hates it, it is *better* for the puppy to be on leash 99% of the time. When puppy is off-leash, and runs away or starts chewing on things such as expensive shoes, or digging in plants -- um.. who's fault is it??

Seriously! I heard Buddy yelping away in his expen tonight. So I went downstairs (without engaging with him - trying to not encourage the yelping/barking for attention). Family member orders me to not take him out of the expen - that he's in there for a good reason and knows it! I'm like, um, no. He has no clue why you put him in there and are ignoring him. Corrections and redirection only work *at that moment* not 30 minutes later! Family member didn't like what I said.

I feel like telling family member that they can take total charge of him. Coddle him, give him the run of the house, and then get mad at him when he "disobeys" (commands he hasn't learned yet!!!) Yep, then family member will end up with the dog that creates. I'd like to see said family member getting up at 4:30 a.m. when Buddy is desperate to go potty. HAH!! I hate it myself -- so not a morning person -- but today there was a glimmer of hope - he didn't wake me up till 6:45!!

As much as I love this puppy, I think it was a huge mistake to have gotten him. He's going to be one confused dog, and probably neurotic.

Today I got a pre-recorded call. Normally I would just hang up as soon as I knew it was pre-recorded, but for some reason I kept listening. Turns out it was a good thing I did!

The call was telling me that I needed to activate my debit card with my university because I had a refund due me. Since I've been waiting to hear about all the scholarships I applied for, I thought maybe that was the "refund" they were talking about. I hadn't received a card though ... so after a bit of research, I found a number to call.

Two phone calls later, I found out that I have one scholarship of $75, with possibly more later! $75 isn't a lot, but it is almost a month's grocery's or gas. They're sending me a replacement card, which should be here by Monday. It took me about 20 minutes to apply for the 8 scholarships - so even if all I get is $75, that still is pretty high value hourly work.

This morning I went out for a run. An integral part of barefoot running (and walking) is keeping an eye out for what's on the ground in front of you. Today I was very happy to run (ha ha) across a quarter! A nice shiny one, so must not have been on the road for very long.

Last Thursday I mailed off a birthday card to my dad (today was his birthday). I'd mailed a similar sized/type card for Father's Day for $1. On Thursday the person tried to charge me $2.17. I asked her to please double check that since I'd only been expecting $1. She did, and it was.

We had a nice holiday weekend. Saturday night we went out for a frozen yogurt at this neat place called YogurtLand. You get to put whatever flavors you want, however much you want, in a large cup, and then add whatever toppings you want. All my flavors were variations of chocolate, and then one of NY Cheesecake. Afterwards, we watched a nice 20 minute fireworks display.

Then Sunday night we ate out at Souper Salad, and then saw Toy Story 3! It was really good. (My mom was treating all of us for these things.)

I started click*r tr*ining Buddy (Maltese puppy) today. Mom says the sound is really annoying, so I'll have to do the training either outside or once she's out of bed. We had a bit of a sit down tonight hashing out about the puppy. Mom agreed to keep him on a leash *most* of the time. That will hopefully help cut down on her complaining about him getting into everything.

Ok, I may be biased, since it is a video of our puppy Buddy. I mentioned before I think about how much he loves his miniature tennis balls ... well, he's now added the stairs into the mix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6rnOl5NJkY

Earlier he was even funnier, but I didn't think to video it until he'd been playing for about 20 minutes already.

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The situation with the peer review paper was resolved nicely. My section instructor did the peer review on my paper, and gave me some very good feedback. The final draft 2 is due on Thursday, so I have a few days to make the needed changes. Yesterday I turned in my 1000 word "briefing" with an abstract. Never had written an abstract before, so that was interesting.

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I've been reading a lot of puppy training books. All of them suggest having puppy sleep at night in its crate. Ooops, not gonna happen here. I am trying to keep him on leash while going through the house - but neither mom or stepdad seem to think it necessary.

One of the books I read "Your Smart Puppy" came with an hour long DVD showing how to train for different things. I watched it last night, and am hoping to get them to watch as well. That way it won't be coming from me -- but from the video.

I'm also looking for some kind of puppy obedience class all four of us can attend. When I mentioned that to my stepdad, he said it didn't work for Millie (dog who was put to sleep last August at 15 yrs old). He admitted the problem was consistency, and not that the classes didn't work.

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Not much money related to relate. More of the same, basically.

Today we took Buddy for his first Vet visit (with us anyway) and he handled it with flair. He actually was wagging his tail in the waiting room! The vet and tech both commented on how well behaved he was and how cute. He was declared to be a healthy young pup. We'll be going back for his last round of shots on the 20th. Right now, he's pretty sleepy from the shots. It's weird to see him so calm for so long. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

School Vent

Yesterday we had to turn in our preliminary Draft 2 of the big project for the summer class for peer review. We were told that it wasn't necessary to have it 100% finished, but that a substantial portion needed to be at least attempted. I completed everything, except for part of one section which I need to do a bit more reading on. Maybe half a paragraph's worth of material.

So, I finally got the draft of a peer which I was to review. Ugh! The person didn't include the draft 1 (which is basically the set up/introduction for the project) and then only completed one of three Appendices, and only two of the 6 narratives. I hated doing it, but I emailed the TA's and told them what I'd received (they don't look at the drafts, just randomly send them to different people after checking off that you sent one in). I seriously feel cheated. Not only do I not have a good paper to compare mine with (and thus see things I could do better), I also have a partner who hasn't done the work, so will not be able to make any substantive or helpful comments. (especially considering the quality of the little she did)

I'm still waiting to hear back. But I really hope that they'll either have one of them "peer" review my paper, or set me up with someone else.

Suduko!

I've seen people playing Suduko over the years, and have attempted to play it as well. Even with people trying to explain to me how it works, it never seemed to click. But I saw how much people loved it ...

Today I found a free app that says it will teach you Suduko. I figured why not, I won't lose any money.

And ... I finally got it!! I learned two tricks -- full house and naked something?? I played 5 puzzles in a row ... only reason I stopped was because it was time to go to the vet.

What great free entertainment!