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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It seems as though I'm mostly having a chance to do an actual blog post on Saturdays. I've gotten into so many other things/forums, etc. that am just keeping up.

So anyway ..

I'm at about 2 1/2% lost of my starting weight for the 6 month diet bet. Round 1 weigh in is on Thursday, December 5, so unless I really mess up the week NE is here, I think I'm going to make it. That means I'll get back at least 12.50 (bet is $25/month - half put towards rounds 1 - 5, and half put towards round 6.)

I have been spending a lot of money on food ... but the vast majority of it has been healthy food. I've bought from Amazon chia seeds, ground flaxseed, pea protein powder and am thinking about buying green tea too (I keep forgetting to get it at the store.)

This past week I actually had two and half days where I was feeling almost 80% .. so close to normal! I don't know if it is because of the increase in fruits//veggies and reduction of junky/processed foods, or is a placebo effect. But it was good while it lasted. (Thursday morning I woke up with a sore throat and was exhausted all day Th/Fri.) -- I don't know if the sore throat has any connection with the 45 minute walk I took Wed afternoon in the cold wind or not.

I plan to start a new exercise routine tomorrow - 3 days of ~30 minutes of interval cardio training, and 3 days of bodyweight strength training. (I apologize if some of my words are missing letters - I think I need to replace the batteries in my keyboard.) For the strength training I'm looking at a couple of resources - nerdfitness, Al Kavadlo, and another one I can't remember. I also took a look at You Are Your Own Gym and Convict Conditioning - both of them require a pullup bar, which I don't have, nor do I feel safe putting one up on any of my doors in here. Maybe when NE is here I can get his opinion.

Anyway, all these people advocate strongly that it isn't necessary to workout for umpteen hours a week to lose weight/ get fit - 3 hours a week is good enough as long as it includes 90 minutes of strength training AND a healthy diet (defined slightly differently by different people - but mostly either "clean" or "paleo.") Being vegetarian, neither clean or paleo quite work for me, but what I'm taking away from both ideas is the idea of limiting processed foods as much as I can, and reducing intake of foods with added sugars. (Also, of course increasing fruits/veggies.) That I can do (mostly.)

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After church today I stopped by Walmart. I was halfway there (parking lot) when I remembered the toaster oven in my trunk. So I found a cart and went back to my car and put it in. I was a bit worried at first from the reaction of the guy at customer service that they weren't going to take it back for a refund/store credit -- but they did! $34.93

I bought: bananas, apples, spinach, Welch's sparkling grape juice (for Thanksgiving dinner), frozen veggies, frozen berry medley (large pkg), sweet potatoes, Kellog's Nourish Oatmeal (surprisingly not that bad for a processed food!), Sunbelt Granola bars (box), lightbulbs, vitamin B complex, vitamin d3, a measuring tape, a set of measuring utensils, a jump rope and ... junk alert ... Terry's Chocolate Orange and SnapPea Crisps. (I might be missing a few things) All this for $70.94 - a $.60 coupon and the $34 gift card. (I need to wean myself off the Sunbelt bars ... they are so good though, and it's a way to get in a little chocolate every day along with fiber/protein .. am thinking of maybe getting chocolate covered almonds - have one serving of those when I need a pick me up right after work ..) (Haven't been able to find my measuring tape, and I want to have a measure other than the scale and a few items of clothing to mark my progress.)

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I had our first Technology Club for this year on Tuesday. I'd planned on having the kids work on the Tynker computer programming lessons. Of course, our computer filters did not like that the lessons were downloads. Ugh. I'd asked about how much the premium program (with 16 guided lessons instead of the 5 free ones) would cost - $25/student. Yeah .... no.

So I'm looking at another option - getting a couple copies of the beginner's book for Google Sketch UP and have students work through it. I haven't checked to see if they are available on amazon yet or not (so I could use my gift card money.) I don't have another Tech Club until after Thanksgiving, so have a little time to figure it out.

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I'm excited/little bit nervous about this coming Wednesday. We are having an author visit - my first ever that I planned (and my second ever in my life - first time I met a real published author was my Sophomore year in college - Kay Rizzo - that was TOO cool! (I loved her books.) The author sounds like a really nice, down to earth person (he'd have to be to be willing to change the date of his visit!) I think the kids are starting to get excited as well, although none of them have actually read any of his books (mainly because only one of his books is available on Amazon in a non ebook format - and the one that is available is only available used - so I bought one copy.) I'm buying two sets of his children's series (Wind*claw*chronicles) for the library (and for him to sign!)

Only 5 more school days til Vacation break, and only 9 more days til NE arrives!!! (Can you tell I'm just a little bit excited? )

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My lightbulbs in my office burned out Friday afternoon which is why I bought some today. I didn't know what size/style to get, and ended up getting ones that are too big for the light fixture. They fit in the sockets and work - but I can't put the light fixture back on over them. Oops. At least I can see in here again.

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Last night I was talking to NE about how much I miss the Dallas Summer Musicals (got into my head because of a post by a friend talking about how Ghosts (patrick swayze) is being made into a DSM production.) Then I segwayed into how much fun it was to see Kenny G and Jim Brickman in concert, etc. I haven't been to a DSM or any other concert since I was laid off at my oil and gas job five? years ago. He made the comment that I'm not *that* far from a good sized city (about 90 minutes depending on traffic and where you go.) That made me remember that when my family lived there when I was in elementary school that we went to a playhouse that did a production of Oklahoma! and I think that's where we saw a production of Steel Magnolias too.

So this morning I opened my Groupon app just to clear the big red number, and scrolled down a little bit. Guess what I saw????!!! Jim Brickman will be in concert here on Dec 18!!!!!!! Tickets are $17. I am SO tempted. I really would not want to drive there and back by myself (honestly, wouldn't want to go by myself anyway), so if I do this, I need to figure out someone here to ask if they'd go with me. I'd probably offer to cover their ticket if they'd be willing to drive on the way back (am NOT great driving late at night.) The only caveat is that it is on a Wednesday, which is one of my 3 weekly Skype dates with NE. I'd really hate to miss one of those .. but then again we'd be seeing each other in person a week later .. If I did go, it would be something like my 4th Jim Brickman concert, so if I didn't go, it wouldn't be like I was missing out on a new experience. I am conflicted, and need to make a decision by Monday (when the deal runs out.) The total cost of this would be about $30 in gas, and $34 in tickets (if paying for guest.)(plus I'd be really tired Th/Fri .. but this is worth that cost to me)

What do y'all think?

Well for the most part I've been doing pretty well with the 6 month diet**bet. It's mostly kept me away from junky foods and got me out exercising more. I'll be doing my first official mid-bet weigh in on Tuesday morning - that will qualify me to be in a drawing for what they call "consistency" prizes.

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I received $20 in AGC from Swagbucks, and am now just waiting for the last $5 card.

I also got my credit for the last bill cycle - only two days after the payment posted. I guess they heard enough complaints about how long the last one took to credit? Either way, I'll take it. I now have more than enough SBs for my December $25 AGCs and am now working on extras.

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After work on Friday I stopped at the public library to pick up a book for one of my 6th graders - she asked me if we had The Great Gatsby. We (being an elementary library) of course didn't have it. I didn't tell her it wasn't really a book most 6th graders would want to read/be able to understand -- remembering that when I was 13 I read both War and Peace and Ana Karenina - and did book reports on them! It was a lot smaller than I remembered.

I also picked up groceries - somehow I managed to spend $80!! All but $5 of it was for healthy foods. And here I was planning on trying to eat down my pantry and freezer before buying more stuff ... Ooops. Next week I'll definitely just stick to bananas and maybe orange juice.

I did buy a strawberry/bannana smoothie from McDonald's that is in Walmart. I was pretty hungry and thirsty, and figure that a smoothie was better than a soda!

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So .. about the sigh... I had my doctor appointment Friday morning. I had already eliminated the possibility I was *really* hoping for before going. So after explaining to her how I've been feeling and my other health concerns, she told me that it could just be chronic fatigue syndrome and/or peri-menopause. Ugh. I'm 37. Not the words I wanted to hear coming out of my doctor's mouth, even though my Internet research told me that was one possibility. She's testing various hormones to see if this might be the direction I'm headed. I wanted to go home and curl up in a ball for the rest of the day, but I had to get to work. Work was a good distraction.

What really frustrated me though was that she told me that about the only thing I could do that would help my energy/health would be to do 20 minutes a day of activity/exercise. When I told her that I'd been pretty consistent for over 4 months of 5+ days a week of 40+ minutes of exercise (summer)and it had done NOTHING for how I was feeling, all she said was "it takes time." Arghh!

This is when I really wished I lived in a bigger city and had more choices of doctors - or wish I could be back in Dallas and back with my doctor there. I really liked that doctor - she was my doctor for ten years!

Oh yeah, on Monday night I had a sweet potato and asparagus about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday morning when I woke up and rolled to my back, I had my very first experience with acid reflux. When I told my doctor about this, all she said was "make sure you eat 3 hours before you go to bed." Ummmm....thanks.

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My mom keeps asking me if I'm depressed, and I keep telling her that no, I'm not. I'm just so frustrated with my health. 10 months ago I did not feel like I do now. I felt good/healthy much more often than I didn't. Now I feel lucky on days where most of the day I feel half-way decent.

My former principal as we were walking out of Mass on Thursday said to me, "You've been sick a lot this year." I was a bit taken aback, and told her, "Well, I *have* been sick a lot this year, but I have only taken two sick days." She seemed kind of surprised to hear that and later on said something about me being too young to have health issues. I wish.

Her statement to me does make me wonder about what is being said about me around the school. If most of them knew what a struggle it is for me some mornings to NOT call in sick ... and how I spend most of my weekends trying to make sure I rest enough in order to make it through the work week ...

On Friday I printed off 5 coupons from Swagbucks - 2 for $2 off Lindt chocolate, 2 for $1 off Rice Dream and a $.50 Crest coupon. I didn't get into town until Saturday.

So after church I stopped by the library to pick up some additional books on spiders (2nd and 3rd are doing spider research.) Then I stopped at Albertson's (usually shop at Walmart, but Albertson's is right next to Walgreen's, which was my final stop.) Albertson's had Rice Dream on sale 2 for $5, and Lindt bars 2 for $5. Crest was also on sale. Sweet! Going in I had no idea of the sales - I just lucked out. The $1 (after coupons) isn't really saved money, because I didn't *need* Lindt ... but it sure was nice. The other coupons though were for things I needed/use, so are a definite savings.

Oh, I did stop at Taco Bell, so broke my streak of no fast food. I think it's my last time stopping there though. So frustrating. First, they raised the price of the 7 layer burrito to $2.99. Second, what happens too many times happened again -- I asked for NO guacomole or tomatoes. Guess what my burrito had? Ugh.

I spent $16 at the grocery store, $6.37 at Taco Bell, and $24.xx at Walgreen's (prescription.)

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I was down to my last bar of gas on Friday, so I filled up in T for $3.23. ($32.47). I was really annoyed when I got into G on Saturday because I saw gas as low as $2.94!! I really should have just gotten a gallon in T - enough to get me into G and around. Will do that if it happens again.

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So if you remember, I started a diet **bet about a month ago - betting that I'd lose 4% of my starting weight. Well, that didn't happen, but I did lose about 3%. I also saved a bunch of money on not buying as much junk as I had been starting to do, AND am almost ready to cashout again on GymPact, and am *really* close to cashing out on Achievemint. So, even though I'm out the $20 of the bet, I think I more than made up for it in other savings.

Well, I'm about to start another diet***bet - this one though lasts for six months. The goal is to lose 10% of your starting weight by month five, and then maintain it for a month. You can either do $25/month * 6, or pay $125 up front and get one month free. I went ahead and did the $125 up front, plus paid $20 for "weigh-in tokens" which makes it so you can compete for weekly/monthly prizes. I think I'm much more likely to be successful at a more long-term bet than trying to lose 4% in one month.

As of now, I'm back on NOT eating at fast food places, and limiting junk food purchases to one item a week. This will both save me money, and save me calories. I downloaded two apps which I think will also be helpful - My Fitness Pal (free), and a Couch to 5k program ($.99.) I'm probably going to repeat each week of the the 5k program 3 times to really take it slowly.

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We are supposed to get a snowstorm here on Tuesday - no idea if it's going to be enough to cause a snow day. That would be nice if it did though. Then we'd have two 4 day weeks in a row. (Veteran's Day)

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I signed up for Bing Rewards - mainly because I wanted to earn free months of Hulu+ so I could watch Once Upon a Time. But then I've since figured out that you can already watch OUAT for free on Hulu. Then today I discovered that you can redeem your Bing points for Amazon cards! If you're not already a Bing Rewards member and would like to do it, please consider letting using my referral link (check sidebar links) - I get 50 credits once you reach Silver level. I use the AGCs to buy books and other supplies for the school library I work at. (In fact, I am probably going to need to purchase some headphones for the computer lab very soon - ours are breaking rapidly or going missing - am thinking of getting the kind like you have for iPhones so they'll have a built in microphone.)

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Ugh. I was going to cancel Amazon Prime and Netflix. Unfortunately I didn't set reminders to do that, and just remembered I was going to do that ... Checked - and they both already renewed. $79 for Amazon and $8.53 for Netflix. I haven't really been using Netflix much lately, so thought I'd cancel it for awhile. Amazon Prime is nice, but too much at $79 (I had a Student Prime account the past 4 years, but since I'm not taking classes this year ...)

Despite my despair over having at least 30% less product than the previous two years, we still managed to make a similar amount to last year's profits! Of course, Schl is I guess trying to cut corners - which I found out when filling out the financial forms. The past two years I received Schl dollars for Principal Involvement, having a Middle School Crew, attending a Webinar, and having a Parent Event. This totaled around $150. This year I didn't read through the promotional materials because I thought I knew what I was doing (and was kind of distracted ...) so assumed I'd be able to earn for those things again. Nope. I only got $25 for attending a Webinar.

Since I used $35 Schl$ to pay my student crew (7 kids who helped me out on Tuesday - P/T Conference day), as well as spending $200 Schl$ on books from the fair ... this meant that I had to take some of our profits as Schl$. Thankfully it only reduced our cash profit by about $100. One of our teachers has said that he plans on using the Online link to purchase some items as well, so if that really happens, then we'll see a little bit more from that too.

It was an exhausting and stressful week (and Friday morning was the busiest four hours of the whole week for the third year in a row,) but in the end it was a successful run. One of my 8th graders who helped me with the clean up commented, "I miss the book fair already."

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A few weeks ago NE told me about this website he stumbled across called go*fund*me * org. I didn't really have a chance to look into it until today. I had been thinking about maybe setting up a page to get donations to fund 20 new computers for our lab, but thought that might be overly ambitious. So what I did do today was set up a donation page to fund the purchase of 5 new digital cameras/cards. I found out yesterday that instead of my usual 5 or 6 Journalism kids, I'm going to have 8. We have 5 digital cameras right now (actually 4 ... one seems to have gone missing, but I just purchased one mostly using funds earned through Swagbucks, to replace it,) however, it can get kind of tricky when I need the cameras for my students to use AND teachers are asking to borrow a camera for taking pictures of various activities. If we had ten cameras, then there'd be enough for all 8 students, as well as two extra for teacher/staff use.

(I'd post a link to my page here, but it required me to use my real name/location and link to my FB account. It also seems to post the full name/location of donors - although I don't know if there is an anonymous option.) Tonight I might post a link to it on my FB page.

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I don't know why, but I seem to really enjoy time travel stories set in medevil(sp?) times. I remember this one book I read maybe 12 years ago that was like that, then a few years later when my car was broken into and I needed a distraction - lo and behold there was a movie based on that book in the dollar theater! (wish I could remember the name of it!!)

So anyway, a few weeks ago I came across a free ebook with the same idea - time travel/medevil(sp?) time period. It's called "Daughter of Time." I really, really enjoyed. So much so, that I spent $7 to buy the next two books in the series. (ebooks) That's the first time I've spent money on books for myself in I don't know how long.

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The dog I'm watching seems to have finally settled down. I've been letting her roam free both at night and during the day, and for the most part that has been without problems. (although yesterday I found out she'd had a #2 accident in my living room - yuck!) Her owners should be picking her up either Thursday or Friday. This has shown me that maybe it would be possible to have a dog - even with my schedule. I'd just have to get it in the summertime when I could make sure it was well trained before my school schedule started. Something to ponder for two summers from now (this coming summer will be too crazy with moving and job hunting to even think about adding dog training!)

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On Thursday I had a visit from a representative of a book donation organization I found out about a few years ago. I was able to show him where many of the books they've donated to us have been put, and let him know how much use they've gotten. (lots!) He told me that there should be another shipment coming for us in a few weeks. Cool! Hopefully there'll be lots of non-fiction titles!!

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I have gone almost three weeks now without soda or fast food visits! Yesterday I was in big G doing my grocery shopping and almost stopped at TB, but resisted. As NE says - I could live for several months off of what I have in my cupboards ...

Last night NE actually brought up how much he could save if he cooked more at home. He spends a lot at fast food places, and a considerable amount at restaurants. I've never said anything to him about it, but it certainly was something I'd thought. So I'm glad he's thinking about it at least. -- I mentioned that cooking at home could also be more healthy - that kind of got NE off on a tangent though about healthy food not being less expensive .. which wasn't really what I was talking about. If he and I end up getting married eventually, it'll be really interesting figuring out how to merge our two eating lifestyles. I'm a hoarder when it comes to food (grew up with a dad who believed that having a full pantry/fridge/freezer was of upmost importance) and NE is someone who only buys enough for one days meals (if he's going to eat at home..) For him though, it isn't because he doesn't believe in having food supplies, its more that he has a bit of a food addiction - if it's there, he'll eat it. I have that problem with chocolate, but not really anything else. His is more encompassing.

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Question -- About five weeks ago I impulse purchased a toaster oven from Walmart. I have since misplaced the receipt. Is there any chance they'd take it back and refund my money? I've not even taken it in from the car ...

So yesterday was our preview day. Overall it went pretty well, especially considering how tired and yucky I was feeling - and the first part of the morning, very hungry as well. (explain later)

The kids all seemed to be pretty excited about what we had - although they kept asking me about books they'd seen in the flyer or in the video ... which we did not have.

About mid-morning I had 20 minutes between groups, so I called my representative and expressed to her my frustration and disapointment. She listened, and figured out that I had been sent a "Standard" book fair instead of a "Premium" book fair. This is based on sales - I told her that I didn't understand, since for the past two years we'd made close to $3k and that was way more than the previous librarian. She wasn't totally sure of the reason, but told me to call the restock number right away for any of the books that I knew the kids would want. She also told me that she'd let the branch director know of the missing items (sales bags/signage).

Next I called the restock number with a large list of books the kids had been asking about (or exclaiming about.) They should all (except for one book which I guess is totally out of stock) be here by Tuesday.

In talking with various teachers/staff and a parent, I heavily promoted the online bookfair. Most of them acted like it was news to them - one even said "Why didn't you tell us about this?" Ugh. But .. it does sound like some of them might actually use that option. So, if that happens, then we might just have a chance of making the $2k mark.

I did make my first sale yesterday - one of our students is going to be out all next week. So he got his dad to come by and buy a book for him before leaving. Luckily I'd gotten my change money earlier that day from our principal.

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This dog I'm dogsitting for is ... interesting. She certainly has added an element to my life. Such as yesterday morning ... I hadn't had a good nights sleep at all, so when my alarm went off I snoozed it a couple times. Until ... I remembered I had to take the dog for a morning "walk" before heading to school. So I rushed around throwing clothes on and took her out. When I got back in I put my breakfast together and sat down at the table - then looked at the time. 7:43!! Yikes! So, I threw my cereal back in the fridge, ate a piece of string cheese and drank my orange juice - brushed my teeth and threw my hair in a ponytail and rushed to school. 8 minutes late and hungry.

Last night after my Skype date with NE, I took her out for a walk. She seemed to be pretty full of energy, so we ended up being out there for a good 20 minutes - there were a few times where she was going fast enough I had to jog a bit to keep up. Thursday night she slept in her kennel all night with no problem. Last night though about 1:30 a.m. she started whining and whimpering and sounding like she was having a panic attack. Ugh.
This morning I took her on a walk, and she was slower than molasses the whole time.

I need to find out what/if any commands she actually knows.

Kari isn't hissing at her anymore, so that is some progress.

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Thursday night I woke up around 1:30 a.m. with one side of my nose/sinus totally plugged up which caused one of my teeth to throb in pain. So I eventually got up and took an Oregano capsule AND a mucus relief pill. Yikes was that bad thinking ... not 5 minutes later my stomach felt like it was on fire. Once that calmed down, then I spent the next 40 minutes feeling like I was going to lose my supper. Finally by about 3 a.m. I was able to go back to sleep. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

So, at any rate I'm pretty much taking this weekend off to get as much rest as I can before the crazy week that will be coming.

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Oh, I got a call last night from the head elder of my church. Apparently the nominating committee wants me to be a deaconess and the asst. communication director. I told him I couldn't be a deaconess (thankfully!!) due to my membership still being in TX! I did however accept the assistant position with the caveat that I'll be moving by June! All I can say is they must be feeling pretty hard up for deaconesses to ask me ... considering how sporadic my church attendance has been. Or maybe they were doing it to get me to come more often?

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I took a survey for a bank - part of it was where you download a study on your iPhone and complete tasks. It was super easy and I'll be getting a $20 Amazon gift card for it in about a month. Sweet.

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I did grocery shopping yesterday afternoon. I spent $63 on groceries/clothing/household items, and another $23 on snack food for my helpers on Tuesday. I'm going to see if I can get the $23 reimbursed from the library fund though.

So today was the day to set up the bookfair. I did as much as I could beforehand that wouldn't interfere with the few classes I had, and then the 8th graders came about 2:30. They all worked pretty hard for the most part (a few I had to encourage.) That's not the frustration/dissapointment -- it is the amount of merchandise which was sent to our school. We have NO merchandise bags, there were not merchandise signs for all the different sections, there were at least two less bookcases, and that means also about ten boxes less of books as well. Everything is set up and put out ... and it looks bare. The past two years I begged and borrowed tables from everywhere, and they were all full to overflowing. Walking room around the library was negilble. This year ... I actually have two tables that are not being used at all ... and the table that ARE being used have stuff spread out to make them look fuller.

This is partly my fault because I didn't confirm the dates for our book fair early enough (although I had said the general idea of when we'd want our next bookfair LAST year - I just didn't know for sure when our PT conferences would be.) But even with limited books (due to many schools having their fair at the same time) there is NO excuse for not sending the bags or all the signs - and to have at least two (maybe three) less bookcases???

The main problem I forsee this causing is that we won't make the $2k mark - which is what you have to do in order to take your earnings in cash rather than Schl Dollars. I do NOT want to have to take ANY of my profits in Sch$.

I guess I'm just going to have to try to promote the online fair option harder this year ... though there aren't a lot of families with computers/internet access. Sigh.

I'm not really sure why, but this has really upset me. Intellectually I know there really is nothing to be done about it at this point in time, but emotionally/librariny it is a deep dissapointing feeling. I really liked how full we were the last two years and how people exclaimed over how much stuff we had available. I really liked there being so many options for the kids to choose from. I also really liked being *very* close to the $3k mark two years in a row.

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This morning my church friend dropped off her dog. Her name is Joplin (as in Janice J) and is 16 years old. Kari doesn't quite know what to make of her yet, and Joplin is still quite confused I think as to what is going on. Hopefully she'll settle down soon.

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Okay, now for my Halloween costume. For some background info -- two years ago my costume was static cling (black pants/shirt, safety pinned on bits of cloth); one year ago my costume was black eyed pea (printed out a large picture of an eye which I safety pinned on, and then cut out a large P out of black construction paper, which I also safety pinned on.) So I think the kids are expecting me to have something a bit weird/eccentric. I found the perfect costume idea tonight in this link:
http://familycrafts.about.com/od/costumeideas/Costume_Ideas.htm

I will be going as ..... Smarty Pants! (Safety pin or sew on packages of Smarties.) I'll be safety pinning them of course and then be able to reuse them later that night for the Halloween party.

I stayed home today from work - just haven't been feeling all that well and today was the best day of any to stay home (least classes.)

I had a great time in NE, although I did end up staying at a hotel Thursday night due to the weather here. It was really wet and cold here in T, and I was worried about it being icy at 4 a.m. Turns out it was a good thing I did that - because it was very icy here even at 7a.m.

So other than my airfare, I spent $67 on the hotel, $33 on a mani/pedi (in ABQ), $16 on snack foods at Walmart, and $7 at the airport. On the way back home I stopped at Walmart again and spent $49 on groceries ($6 of it was candy for the Halloween party.)

Our book fair starts on Friday, and the first day of sales will be on Tuesday. I'll need to pick up some snack foods for my helpers (6th and 7th graders)

I have arranged my first ever author visit! It'll happen on November 20. We had at first set it for the 13th, but the group of teachers putting together the family literacy evening had to change to the 20th. That made me a bit annoyed because my church is having a cooking class with a semi-famous tv chef on the 20th that I was thinking about going to. Oh well.

I finally received my SBs for my credit card today. I promptly cashed out for $40 in AGCs - leaving me with enough for my November 5 $5 AGCs plus some. I also received the email from AASL (school librarian org.) with my code for $100 in books from Capstone. I need to figure out what I'm going to use that money for - last year I bought a set of super hero comics which have gotten pretty good use.

Tomorrow one of my church members is bringing over their family dog. I'm going to be dogsitting it through the end of October. She mentioned something about paying me for it, but I'm okay with not getting anything for it. I have people look in on Kari all the time when I'm gone, and they never ask for/accept any kind of payment. The dog is pretty old and apparently isn't one for walks and sleeps most of the time. Will be interesting to see how he and Kari get along.

So today I finally got around to doing yet another fresh start in YNAB. Ugh. While my networth has gone up thanks to a particular electric car, everything else is not going in the right direction. In fact, between all of my credit cards, the amount is more than my next 1 1/2 paychecks. (I get paid every 2 weeks.) I have the money to pay them in full, it's just some of that money is being pulled from other places.

Included on the CC statment is the cost of the tickets for my upcoming trip to NE. I have not yet purchased my Christmas tickets - going to CA and then to NE and then back here. October is a 3 paycheck month, so that will cover that with no problem. I do think I'm going to have to resign myself to the fact that I probably am not going to be able to make the trip to TX for my friend's sons graduation. Right around that time I'm going to need any extra money to pay for moving expenses .. not for a trip.

I decided to cancel hulu+ and only keep Netflix. I almost canceled Netflix too, but there are times I really want to watch a movie or watch a bunch of episodes in a row ... I'm also deleting the HayDay app from my phone/iPad so that I won't be tempted to buy more in-app stuff ... or waste numerous hours playing it. It just isn't worth it (using my fun money for this game.)

I think I've figured out what I'm going to do for Christmas gifts - make insect repellant soap! I can get the supplies to make quite a few of them for about $30. I just need to figure out a nice way to package them. (If you want a link to the recipe, let me know.) This is also something that I can kind of make my "signature gift" because everyone can use something like this, and it is always needed (during certain seasons at least.) It'll also travel well once I figure out good packaging for it.)

I'm not sure if that by itself is "enough" though... what might be something good/easy/cheap to pair with it??

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My goals for October:

1. Update YNAB every time I make a purchase.
2. Stay within grocery budget ($150)
3. No unnecessary spending outside of fun money
-- fun money will probably be spent on a mani/pedi and whatever I need while out in NE.
4. Have more non-spending days (not including bills) than spending days.
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I was debating on whether or not I should stay in a hotel the night before my trip, or just leave early enough from here to make it to the airport. My flight leaves at 7 a.m. and it takes approximately 90 minutes to get to the airport. I'd want to be there by no later than 5:45, so that would mean leaving here around 4 a.m. It would be so much more relaxing to be up there Thursday night ... but is it $60 worth of more relaxing? I can always sleep on the plane ... right?

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Oh, funny thing. As I was checking my various credit cards I found out that I had overpaid on my gas card (I had it set on auto pay, but prepaid some of it one month for some reason.) So it had a credit of $85.15. Guess what my gas budget is for October? This is what happens when you're not paying attention...

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I have about $2200 left on my car loan. At $300/month, that means it will be paid off by about April (I may make a $400 payment to get it finished.)

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Question ... if your networth has gone above the $100k mark (mainly due to one stock) - should you increase your car insurance coverage to the max? Before this stock, I didn't have anything really in the way of assets ... but now?? Should I think about an umbrella policy, or am I still low enough in assets to not worry about that? If I were in an accident (at-fault) can they go after retirement accounts, or are they protected from lawsuits? (If so, then my non-retirement assets are closer to $40k - mostly in the one stock. So if that goes south ... then my networth quickly goes south as well.)

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Upcoming expenses -
$20 - Tolls from summer NE trip
$65 - medical (after insurance from two visits)
$24 - refill prescription
$30 - soap making supplies for gifts
$30 - mani/pedi (fun money)
$11 - Kari's nails trimmed (Kari's budget line)
$12 - cupcakes for Halloween Festival cake walk
$6 - candy for Halloween (all staff put together candy to hand out to neighborhood kids - usually 200+ kids)
$10 - snacks for book fair volunteers (I AM NOT buying books from the book fair this year!!!!)
$150 - Renew ALA and AASL professional membership

$20? - treat for meal in NE (grocery budget or maybe vacation budget?)

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I need to check to see if the local library has season 2 of Person of Interest. If not .. then I'm going to have to start setting aside some money to buy it. It's $27 for the whole season on Amazon Instant, or $43 for the DVDs. If I get the DVDs I can sell them to Second Spin for $14.25. Hmm.. It would almost end up costing the same, so probably the Instant is the way to go - less hassle and can watch on my iPad in bed snuggled up and warm. That is .. if the library doesn't have it. Maybe I can set aside whatever I earn from Pinecone towards it, or ... one of every five AGCs I earn could be put towards it rather than books for the library... If only it was on Hulu+ or Netflix. This is the one downside to not owning a tv - certain stations that put the first six full episodes of a show up on their website for free and get you hooked, and then stop - and don't let any of the regular sites air them.
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I just got an email notification that my $15 AGC from Swagbucks had credited to my account. That was fast - I think I ordered it on Wednesday?!

Only 3 more weeks til I make my trip to NE. I can hardly wait (even though it will be only for 2 1/2 days - better than nothing!)

As soon as I get back from my trip, it will be time to start preparing for the book fair. This year since we have an in-service on the Monday of book fair week, we will be having our pre-view day on the Friday before (Oct 18 I think.) I feel bad for the kids in my Friday classes - 3 Fridays in a row with no real class. But what can I do?

This Monday we have an in-service day. The local Diocesan changed the policy that everyone has to do the 3 hour training on s*x predators *every* year, instead of just once every five years. Ugh. So looking forward to it. (would be okay if they have different videos, but I highly, highly, doubt that.)

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I'm feeling pretty dissapointed about something right now. I knew the likeliness of it was extremely minimal, but certain things led me to hope that just *maybe.* Sigh. Maybe another time. Probably never. If it had happened, it sure would have turned my world upside down financially/emotionally - but it would've been worth it. Completely worth it.

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My mom turned 62 this last week, and my grandma 92. I think it's kind of funny that they're almost exactly 30 years apart - but really do not like each other. (well, the not liking part is sad, not funny) My grandma is going to be going on a Panama Canal cruise with my aunt in a bit more than a week from now. She is getting pretty excited about it. I hope when I'm 92 I'm as active and with-it as she is.

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I need to get Kari in to get her nails trimmed this week. I would have done it this past Thursday but I ended up going into ABQ to meet up with a high-school friend and her family. I hadn't seen her in 20 years!! (Which is impossible right, since we both are 29 .. again and again and again. ) She has two boys - a 3rd and 6th grader. Polite and well-behaved. Her husband seemed like a nice guy. It was good to catch up. I really paid for the trip though - doing a 3 hour round trip after work, and then having a full, busy day at work the next day... Can you say exhausted?

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I heard from one of my walking buddies yesterday. She asked me if I was still doing GymPact ... Um.... I was embarrassed to have to tell her that I really haven't walked much since school started. Between the rainy afternoons and not having anyone to walk with... it's hard to get out there. It seems like the rain has become less frequent the past few days, so I really just need to get myself out there and do it. No excuses! My clothes sure tell the difference between walking and not walking ...

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I can't think of anything too much on the financial front right now. Bought some groceries and prizes for a trivia contest on Friday (prize drawing will be on the 30th - but Wal-mart had a ton of stuff on clearance.) ~$100

Payday was on Thursday.

Besides my trips with/to/for NE this year, I have at least two other trips I'd like to take. One is to TX for my best friends son's 8th grade graduation. I held him when he was a week old, saw him graduate from pre-school and kindergarten, and saw him baptized. If at all possible, I don't want to miss his 8th grade graduation. It will depend on several factors - one being when our 8th grade graduation is here and if I can do both. The other is to NC to visit my former walking buddy.

So ... seeing how I have a lot in the way of trips that I want to do, I really need to pull the reigns in on my spending. I'm still paying my cards off every month in full, contributing to my ROTH, and doing double car payments ... but otherwise my savings is at a standstill.

Groceries/Walmart seems to be my biggest money drain. So .. I am seriously (again) considering going to a cash basis for groceries. Still considering how to best do that here.
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I have around $18 in checks from Pinecone that I need to deposit. Just need to do it - easy peasy taking a picture of it. That money will go to my travel budget.

We've had quite a bit of rain here in the desert the past few weeks, but especially the past few days. On Saturday we even had pebble-sized hail - two bouts of about ten minutes of it. The recent deluge caused concern about a dam above a town about 30 miles from here (and a valley away) where about 20% of our student population is bused in from. So, the decision was made to close school today.

Friday we had our yearly Diocesan in-service. The best part of it was meeting the librarian from one of the other schools. She's been here for 2 years (on her 3rd) - wish we could have met the first year. Oh well, better late than never, right?

I've bought tickets for my next plane trip .. heading out on Oct. 11 and getting back on the 13th. Short trip, lotta money, but well worth it. NE

NE and I were talking about possibly spending part of Thanksgiving in CO .. unfortunately I think that area isn't going to be in any shape for tourists by then. (We weren't looking at CO Springs, but more the area that's closer to Littleton I think. NE bought some car stereo mags from a guy in that area and fell absolutely in love with the scenery - wanted to fish in some of the streams.)

I got an email from Ting today telling me someone used my referral link .. Thanks to whoever that was. Someday when I go back to Ting, I'll start out with a credit! (I loved the service, just couldn't stand the Android phone I had to use. They get the iPhone .. I'm in!)

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I've decided to not stress about paying my car loan off by December. I had planned on making one lump sum payment to finish it off (probably around $900) but I've realized it's either travel expenses or paying the car off by December. It can't really be both. It'll still be paid off early - probably by March, or April at the latest.

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This past week I received about $70 in SB AGCs - and spent it all. Books for the library of course. They should be here by Wednesday (all but 1.)

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I'm seriously addicted to this farm game on the iOS system. HD. I need to find iTunes cards at a discount to feed my addiction a little more cheaply. (Or figure out how to shut off the ability to buy virtual currency ... and have it locked to where I can't unlock it intentionally or not ..) For now, I've set a limit to what I can spend. One purchase a month only. (The small "little" purchases were adding up ...)

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I'm starting to think about what I'm going to do for Christmas gifts. NE and I have already agreed that our travel expenses we're incurring this year seeing each other is more than enough and no need for anything else. The rest of my family (other than my brother, who I've already exchanged gifts with this summer) I'll need to do something for.

I will be going to San Jose again this year for Christmas (NE can't come, so I'll stay in SJ for a while and then go to NE.)

Any ideas? My aunt is very health conscious and very classy/high end. My uncle has everything under the sun and is becoming more health conscious. My grandma is 92 (as of yesterday!) and really doesn't need anything. I was thinking maybe treating the three of us to a mani/pedi - but then not sure of my uncle. Or maybe treat everyone to a meal out ... though that could get pretty expensive with some of the places they eat at there ... Hmmm... If my other aunt/uncle are there too, then I'll need to figure out something for them as well.

My aunt's friend who's always there always gives homemade fudge (Yum!!) If I could figure out something like that, which would travel well and not be too difficult to make/do ... (One year I gave them all reusable tote bags that I'd personalized with their names using fabric paint and a silicone microwave liner. Not sure how well that went over ...)

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Well, am going to catch up on the blogs a bit if I can pull myself away from HD long enough ...

Ahh... what can I say. The kids were pretty well behaved on the three days I was at school, and NE ... sweet, sweet, sweet.

NE got in *early* Tuesday morning (about 2 a.m.) I stayed up long enough to show him around and then headed to bed. Tuesday evening we went into big G and ate at a place called Grandpa's. NE was quite impressed by their cheese steak. Wednesday I took off of work. We went to a local park/lake that I hadn't realized how just how nice it was .. and went lizard hunting. We probably hiked around for a good two miles in this one really rocky/hilly area. In all, we found four lizards - NE got some really good pictures of them. Then we were off to ABQ where I showed him the elementary school I attended from 3rd - 8th grade, and we found two of the three places I'd lived. Thursday after I got off work we ate at a fairly famous sports bar - I love their sweet potato fries, and I thought he might like the sports memorabilia. He wasn't too impressed with their food. He headed back to NE early this morning - probably will be getting there in a few hours from now.

All in all, it was a truly great week.

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One downer though...my friend/co-worker who's had lung cancer twice in the past year .. She told me on Thursday that she'd been coughing up blood. She went into ABQ this morning for some more testing. I just have a bad feeling. The school nurse thinks that her knee issues (my friends) may be cancer related - as in metastasized.

I hope my friend doesn't get mad at me ... she hadn't told anyone other than me about the coughing up blood. This morning when I got into the cafeteria though, the nurse asked me point blank if I knew anything about AL's health. I tried to avoid really answering, but she figured it out mostly. She then told our principal (AL had called our principal at 6 this morning to let her know she'd be out today.) All of us are just worried about her - I just hope she understands that I didn't just go blabbing what she told me, but it got pulled out of me under duress.

Sigh.

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In other news . .. I got my 1,000 Swagbuck bonus yesterday, as well as another 328 SBs for spending. Today I cashed out for a $25 AGC. Within the next week or so, I should have around $65 in AGC from SBs coming.

I also got another Pinecone check in the mail, as well as completing another survey.

OH! I also got a $5 AGC from a mobile survey thing I put on my iPad. (similar to Nielson, which I have on my iPhone - they collect data, anonymously.)

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I'm going to go catch up on the blogs now. Haven't had much Internet time this week.

It's been a busy and tiring couple of weeks. For the most part, all of my classes are going pretty well. I have one section of 5th graders comprised of 9 boys and 3 girls ... I feel sorry for the girls.... The first week we started with ten boys and 3 girls, then decided to move one of the boys to see if it would help. Sort of helped.

Anyone know of a place where a private school could get a grant or some kind of funding to purchase 40+ new computers??? We desperately need new computers in the lab, and 4th grade up classrooms need new computers as well. It's getting pretty ridiculous - especially knowing that the Common Core testing ... on computers .. will be starting this year.

I'm down to maybe 14 or 15 somewhat usable computers out of 23 in the computer lab ... 9 of which are fairly consistently working. Makes for fun times when you have a group of 17 who are trying to use the lab at the same time.

Anyway...enough of my computer woes..

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I've pretty much spent all of my library budget I was given for this year. But I'm pretty darn happy with what I was able to get for it. I bought ten back jack chairs (chairs you can use on the floor), lots of shelving organizational materials, and some books too. We have five of the chairs already here and in use (a sixth one is here, but was defective - the company is sending a replacement, the other four are on order now.)

I wish I could post pictures of the kids - on Thursday I had 11 first graders. I showed them the chairs and explained how they worked. Excitedly they all came to get one - but of course there wasn't enough for all of them. Instead of fussing and arguing, they came up with a priceless solution - one child sat on the side with the cushion, and another child sat on the side w/o the cushion. The 11th child sat on my rocking chair. All were very happy and read quietly with their stuffed animal/object for a good 15 minutes. It was just too precious.

One other note from the library, then I'll move on.
I gave the 5th and 6th graders their list of possible book projects for the Reading Bingo game I'm doing. (They get a Bingo i.e. read 5 books in 5 different categories - they get a choice of a poster from the book fair or a $5 gift cert for the book fair.) One of the projects is for the poetry category - to complete that category, they must choose 3 substantial poems to memorize from their chosen book. I had at least three students choose and memorize a poem before class was even over. At one point, there were six different students with a book of poetry reading and working on memorizing - including someone reading from Emily Dickinson.

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I am looking forward to Monday night with great anticipation. NE will be arriving! He'll be here through Friday morning. I'm taking Wednesday off so we can do things in the area - maybe go to ABQ and I can show him my elementary school and some of the houses we lived in.

It looks like he has a sixth cat ... About a month ago he picked up two stray cats that from their behavior did not seem like they had any street smarts (in other words, not cats used to being outside.) He posted found ads on Craigslist. The girl cat's owners responded within a few days, but the male cat has had no response. NE took the male cat to the vet on Wednesday to get him scanned (microchip) and tested. Negative and negative. He's going to give the Craigslist ad another two weeks before calling it official ... that he has a sixth cat.

If we do eventually end up getting married someday ... we sure will have a houseful of cats!

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Financially ... I've been doing okay I guess. I have managed to almost cut out my fast food spending the last two weeks (helps not going into town!) Yesterday I did go into town for groceries, as well as to get a mani/pedi.

I made the daily goal every day for the month of August for Swagbucks. Just yesterday I cashed in for a $15 AGC, and I have more than enough for the 5 $5 AGCs for September. I know I won't make the daily goal for the month of September, but I'm not going to worry about it.

It's hard to believe what my networth is right now ... that electric car stock ... wow. I keep seeing reports saying that it's going to tank - that it's overvalued. But then it just keeps going higher and higher - even when the general stock market is going down. I was telling NE last night that I wish I'd bought 100 more of the stock back when it was only $22/28. I just didn't want to put too much money into something my uncle was raving about .. too many eggs in one basket. In hindsight, this would've been one of those times where it would have worked out well (I've already sold enough stock to recoup my initial investment - back when it was at around $100. It's now nearly $170.)

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Oh, almost forgot one piece of library news. We might be having an author visit!! If so, it'll be the first one I've personally arranged - or at least set into motion. It is a native american author who lives in AZ and wrote a series (3) of books based on Navajo culture for middle school kids. Please cross your fingers and toes that funding will come through for this - he's giving us a big discount on his usual fees, but it'll still cost some. It would be SO exciting - especially if we can arrange for him to be here the week of the book fair.

I know it is still Saturday, but I'm just so not ready for my library classes to begin on Monday. I'm still feeling so run down and on Thursday started feeling like I was coming down with something. So today I stayed home from church and am trying to rest. Ugh.

Talking to NE last night was good. Started out feeling like carp warmed over, but felt better as the conversation went. He's good for me like that.

This last week /summer my spending/eating has really gotten out of hand. I'm not quite in the territory of spending 100% of what I make, but after the $500/mo that goes towards IRA/car payment, I think most of it is going towards paying my credit cards in full. At least I'm not hitting my savings - other than not adding any to it...

I'm now back up to my highest weight ever. I'm so sick of this cycle - losing weight, gaining, losing, gaining ..

I started my new higher dose of synthroid today. Maybe that'll help eventually. What would probably help even more is if I cut out fast food entirely from my spending and cut way back on buying junk food. (Between Plink points for spending a certain amount at certain restaurants and BK adding sweet potato fries to their menu ... ugh.)

A few months ago when I was walking with my former walking partner, I told her that I wondered if the only thing helping me not gain weight back faster was all the walking I was doing. I got my answer this week - an emphatic yes. Didn't walk once this week and have ate horribly ... four pounds up. It probably would've been even worse if I hadn't at least been semi-active each day at work.

I really must get myself back on track financially and food wise. It's just so hard to do when you feel so utterly exhausted. I have to do it though because I just can't keep this up like this.

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Tomorrow I must go in to the school and put up the posters in the computer lab, put together the orientation presentations and figure out how I'm going to keep ten Kinders occupied for 45 minutes without putting them on the computers (per teacher request.) At least I have another week to figure out what I'm doing lesson wise for the quarter.

Tomorrow is the first day of classes (not for me, but for the regular classes.) I'm so not ready for school to be starting again, but it is what it is.

We did the scheduling today, and I did end up getting a little bit of what I wanted - extra time for both kinder and first and a little bit of a time buffer between my Kinder and third classes on Mondays. I also worked out with the new 4th grade teacher a 25 minute time period for keyboarding for the entire year! First semester will be all about learning the keys and increasing accuracy, and then second semester will be more practical uses of keyboarding (along with continuing to focus on speed/accuracy.) The really cool thing about the 4th grade teacher is that he is a Navajo man who two years ago had no interest in teaching, but started volunteering at our cafeteria and was pulled in to the 6th grade teacher assistant position. He loved it so much that he went back to school and got his teaching certificate! (He's the coworker I went with to Baltimore last year.)

I kind of let my principal know that this is my last year today ... didn't mean to let it slip out, but it did. I'm not sure if she totally caught it or not. Oh well, would have told her sooner than later anyway.

I've had at least two people tell me about people who would hire me this year (one was a lady at my church who told me their librarian had resigned on Friday and I should apply.) Hopefully stuff like this will pop up next year.

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My mom was here this past week. I picked her up on Thursday. That night she helped me get my back bedroom cleaned out and reorganized. I put a lot of stuff out by my trashcan which was gone by mid-morning on Friday. I can now actually USE the back bedroom (need to ask about a mattress - have a frame and boxspring, but no mattress.) Then on Friday we worked in the library and got started on the huge job of sorting out the fiction books by genre (which my wonderful assistant and I finished up today.)

Saturday we went to church .. the head elder preached. Usually he does pretty good sermons, but this one had about a five minute diatribe about how terrible it is for us to associate with those who don't believe the same ... Um... Why is our church not growing? ....(he ensconced it in the idea of someone choosing to go to a neighborhood party instead of a church social .. my mom called it spiritual bigotry and I have to say that I agreed with her.)

Anyway, we went to ABQ Saturday afternoon and spent the night at a nice hotel mom paid for with points. We ate at an Asian restaraunt and then saw the movie "The Way Way Back." Um ... Steve Carrel played someone really out of his norm - a real a**hole of a guy. Great movie though.

Sunday we slept in, then I read while my mom worked on her speech for toastmasters (she got first place!) Then she wanted to get her hair done, so she paid for me to get my hair cut. Then we shopped at Dillards -- I was really needing a new pair of black dress pants. I ended up finding one pair of black pants (~$26) and my mom bought me two tops for about the same amount. I offered to pay for meals and for the movie, etc. but she wouldn't let me.

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Today and yesterday were work days. Most of my morning was spent helping the homeroom teachers work out their schedules and fixing computer/printer problems. Good thing my classes don't start til Monday.

I got my Swagbucks CC in the mail today and made my first purchase. (I was really craving some ice cream...)

I've received all $25 of my AGCs from Swagbucks for August now, and have enough for the first two September ones. So far I've hit the Daily Goal 13/13 days.

I'm going to work on getting the items I have charged to my Discover card switched over to the SBs card and then probably close the Discover card.

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Almost forgot. A week ago Monday I went to the doctor about how fatiqued, etc. I've been feeling since about March. She ended up doing an Epstein Bar Virus test along with a TSH test. On Monday she called me with the results - apparently sometime in the past I have had mono. So she's thinking that possibly I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Looking at the symptoms ... I wouldn't be surprised. She also is upping my synthroid dose. Nothing to do really about the CFS if that is what this is - except live with it I guess.

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Well I better start getting ready for bed. The alarm will be going off at an unwanted hour tomorrow ... (and the next two days...)

I managed to catch up on all the blogs I've missed the last week or so.

g'nite

This morning I was about 14 minutes into my walk when I started to pass by my principal's backyard. I usually say hi to her two dogs as I go by, but this time her Maltese came out and greeted me! I found the hole it had dug under the fencing, and then called my principal to let her know. In all, I spent about ten minutes making sure the dog didn't get hit by a car or go to far away. I was glad I was there to help!

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The SD card I ordered came with some books I'd ordered - seriously fast! If I remember when I ordered the card, I'd say this was almost one-day delivery! As soon as I put the card in my phone, the Entertain app started working. So far, about 30SBs.

Between the paltry monthly bonus I earned for July, generous Jun videos and a few other small offers - I managed to get enough to cash out for my last $5 AGC for August today.

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I got over to the library today for a few hours. I didn't really accomplish much ... although I did manage to get the entrance / class table area cleared out (of course most of the stuff was just transferred to the work room table. That is an ongoing area that needs to be cleared .. it gets close to being cleared off once in a while ...)

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Tomorrow I'm taking Kari in to get her nails trimmed and pick up my prescription (synthroid.)

My goal for today (before I go to bed) is to finish putting away my clothes from my closet reorganization project (I ran out of proper hangers and had to go buy some more .. by the time I got back I'd kind of lost the zeal ...) I also want to sweep the house - esp. Kari's bathroom.

Tomorrow I need to do a trash run (and break down the pile of boxes in the corner); scrub counters and mirrors; and wash the sheets so they'll be clean for my mom.

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Last night NE told me he thinks he'll come here Labor Day weekend. (yay!) So today I double checked with my principal about where he can stay. I found out that I had had a miscommunication with her previously - he can stay with me in my house, as long as it is for a short visit (less than 7 days.) Woo hoo! That'll make life so much easier (than trying to find a guest trailer that's available or staying in a hotel 30+ miles away.) Now I just need to make sure my air mattress is in good working order (for both my mom's visit and NEs visit!)

Today I went to the doctor. I think I may have mentioned on here a few times how I have not felt completely recovered since the bout of bronchitis I had back in March. So anyway, my next appt was supposed to be at the end of August, but my level of fatigue/insominia/bouts of light-headedness/brain fuzziness/nausea, etc., etc., etc., was just getting too much so I decided to see her again sooner than later. I'd told her the same symptoms back in June, and she told me to try taking the new dose of syntrhoid for a few months and see if that improved anything. Obviously, it didn't.

So I saw her today, and she suggested that maybe it is either related to mono or chronic fatigue syndrome. I looked up the symptoms for both, and can relate to LOTS of the symptoms ... I had my blood tested for Epstein Bar virus and my thyroid rechecked. My blood pressure was high again too .. so of course I get the little paper telling me to not add salt to my food (never do!); eat more fruit (more than my normal 5+ servings?); and fill half my plate with veggies (ok, could do better on this one.)

So anyway, with the copay and the balance from my June visit (my share of the bloodwork after insurance paid) - I paid $49.xx

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After the doctor I headed over to the auto shop and got my oil changed. (it needed it badly - it was almost time before I headed to NE, but adding another 2500 miles definitely put it in the MUST DO category.) That was $38.xx

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I got pulled back into a farm game app on my phone that I had deleted because it was becoming a time s*ck. And ... I spent $12 within it to buy "diamonds" to make things a little easier. Gah, can't believe I did that. I really need to delete that app again.

---
I still have the Android phone I bought for my Ting experiment. (I had no problem with Ting, I just couldn't stand the phone for real phone use.) So Swagbucks has an app that only works for Android right now. I finally found the charging cord for my phone, and installed the app. Of course when I tried to open it, it says "can't find SD card." Ugh. So I found a 8gb SD card for my phone --- $7.32 prime. I would've gone for a 2 gb card instead, but once you added shipping (no prime for it) it cost more than the 8gb card. It will take a lot of days using this app to equal out the cost of the card. But there is some kind of adapter thing that it comes with, so I'm guessing maybe I can use the card for other things too if I want - so it might be useful for more than one purpose (I hope.)

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My mom is coming on Thursday and my house is a mess. I've managed to pick up some, do laundry and dishes, do several trash runs, etc., but there's still so much more to do. But I also have tons I need to do at school. Guess how much I've gotten done there? Yeah. not much. So we'll have to see how much my mom will really be able to tolerate ... hopefully I can get the gumption to do a bit more cleaning before she gets here - at the very least make sure the sheets are fresh on the bed. (I'll sleep on the couch so she can have my bed - or maybe see if my air mattress still works.)

If it wouldn't be so embarrassing (and make me worry that others would think I make too much money or something) I would dearly love to hire some local person to clean my place every couple months or so ... I did that my last few years of teaching .. hired someone about once a month (generally right before I had planned on guests ...) that made life so much easier. (and only cost around $40!)

My former walking partner told me that her teacher assistant had "gossiped" to her about all the bits of paper I had around my computer in the library and how she wondered how I found anything. My former walking partner has been in my house ... so I asked her - what do you think I work harder at keeping organized and neat - my house or the media center? She said the media center! (very true) So pity the teacher assistant if she ever saw my house!

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Oh! I received my check from Pinecone today for $3. That was fast!

I also inexplicably received a refund from my health insurance company for premiums. I've heard about that (something about 80/20 or such thing) but what made it weird is that ... I don't pay for the premiums! I figured that if there was a refund due, it would go to my employer who pays it. It is only $9.xx but I guess I can ask my principal tomorrow what she thinks.

Some extra money that's come my way lately:

-- $3 from Pinecone

I was surprised to be accepted as a panelist, and even more surprised to get a survey right away. They sure do hide the cash option well!

-- $10 from GymPact

This is my third time cashing out from this app. (It is for iOS and Android systems. You say how many days you're going to exercise, and if you do it you get paid. If you don't do it, you pay them.)

--- Potential $21.xx from UPromise

After a recent post here, I checked my account and after a few rounds of emails, I found out that I had money that was sent to the state of Texas. I need to get in touch with them to get the money.

-----------------

Found out that my new library budget for this year is an 80% increase from last year's! Woo Hoo! I then promptly spent 60% of the budget getting things I'd really wanted last year, but didn't have the budget for both books and these items (floor chairs, book organization stuff, and best of all .. a reading/writing magnetic whiteboard for storytime!)

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Thank you everyone who commented on the now deleted section. You have given me some good food for thought.

Haven't really been up to much lately. Other than doing my daily walk with my walking partner (she's leaving on Wednesday morning ) I've been pretty lazy. That will have to stop tomorrow - must start getting ready for the school year.

One bit of cool news - thanks to the one stock I have, my networth - not including my checking/short term savings - is now just over $100k!!

My mom will be coming for a short visit - Aug 8 - 11. I'll have to go to the airport to pick her up and drop her off. Since she has a Costco card, I'll probably include a Costco trip so I can use my gift card I have (about time for more cat litter and a few other items.)

I've been watching a lot on Netflix (H2o Mako Adventures - new addition!) and on Hulu (Touch - season 2!) I also found out that you can find just about ANY workout DVD program on youtube - and I do mean the *entire* program! Since I don't have a tv or a dvd player, youtube is the only way I'd be able to see a workout program in my living room. So, once my walking partner is gone, I'll have my iPad and YouTube and a playlist of various workout programs.

I've managed to make the daily goal on SBs for six days now - just need one more to get a small bonus for this month.

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Yesterday I went to church for the first time since early June. It was our new pastor's second Sabbath - our outgoing pastor's wife had the idea he was single, but I don't think that is the case. Anyway, it was Communion Sabbath (which in our church happens about every 13 weeks, or once a quarter.) There was a lady sitting next to me who I discovered that it was her first time ever having her feet washed by someone else, and her first Communion like we do (we stay seated and the elders pass out the crackers and grape juice.) So I kind of talked her through it. It helped to make the day more interesting. (It was also her first visit to our church.)

--
Anyway, can't really think of anything else terribly interesting to report right now.

This is going to be short - I had written it actually yesterday and without thinking, hit Save and Publish. You guessed it ... off it went into the ether-sphere.

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Short background - before heading off to my NE adventures, I had two things happen involving my front door. One was that it was sticking and not shutting or opening very easily. When the guys were here turning on my swamp cooler, they "fixed" that issue. Then a day before leaving for NE I noticed that my door would open even if it was locked properly with a bit of pressure. I put in a work order before leaving.

My walking partner (for a few more days anyway...) called the maintenance man to make sure he had gotten around to looking at my door. He didn't seem to know about the work order, but said he'd get on it.

Fast forward to Saturday - my walking partner stopped by my house and checked my door. Said it seemed fine to her.

Now to Sunday around 4 p.m. I pull into my driveway and see ... my front door wide open!

I made a few phone calls, and Monday morning a couple guys came by and my door is now fixed. (Nothing was missing or messed with - but I have found a few erstwhile flies.)

--

NE and I have hit a bit of a bump in the road. We're working through it, but at the moment it has kind of derailed some of my thought processes I was going to mention here. Ugh. Emotional eating stinks.

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About the only thing I've really accomplished since arriving back here is getting my front door fixed, getting completely unpacked, and doing a clothes purge (and taking to Goodwill.)

Tomorrow I really need to get by the school and see what shape the library is in, and how full my mailbox is.

--
I received my summer school paycheck (finally.) I figured out that before taxes were taken out, it equaled to about $200 less than I make in a month. So .. 65 hours of summer school equals about 130 hours of regular school year pay. (And that was with the summer school rate being reduced $9/hr from last year.)

My one remaining walking partner has found a different job. She called me today to let me know that the place she's going to is looking for a librarian ... I thanked her, but told her I wasn't interested. In six months I will start looking seriously for the next school year, but I am committed to here for this year.

I am so thankful I upgraded my phone. The GymPact app is a great motivator, but now with it looking like I more than likely won't have a walking partner, I am going to have to rely more on my indoor exercise. Not as fun or as enjoyable .. but will get the job done.

What a summer it has been. Summer school, CA trip, and finally a long sojourn in NE. Now about three weeks til the first day to report back to work.

I have so much to catch up on, I'm not really even sure where to begin.

Finances - Oh boy. I really am not sure how much I spent between CA and NE, but to put it mildly ... it was way too much. Gas and lodging I have hard numbers for the NE trip -gas $237.xx; 2 hotel stays - $105.xx. I averaged 35.8 mpg (that's including around town driving in the average - otherwise it would probably be closer to 37mpg.)

I went a little nuts with the close proximity of fast food places and other shopping places. Seriously, a little nuts. NE treated for most of the meals we ate together - but that was just one meal a day. I bought groceries for myself to supplement, and ... the fast food ... Less than a block from his apartment - McDonald's (smoothie anyone???) and Pizza Hut (personal pan pizza???) Amazingly I seem to have only gained a pound (maybe it was due to all the walking I did as well?)

Then of course there was the Adventist Book Center (or ABC as Adventists know it.) I restrained myself on books (only 2! both on sale) but the veggie foods?? Total spent $71. I also checked out a Goodwill store and came away with 20+ books for the library (one, a brand new hardcover 2006 Guinness World Record book!!! Score!!) as well as a few other items (such as a pretty casserole dish, a pannini maker and a glass container for NEs change.) All for ... $28.xx!! (less than the cost of the WR book alone brand new!) I also went to the mall ... it was SO hot ... and I wanted to see if my gym pact anywhere function really worked ... It did. I also managed to spend money at JC Penny's (super clearance sale!) and then at Dress Barn (lace skirt/white blouse for $30.)

I messed up with one of my credit cards. I thought I had them all on auto pay full bill - but I left one out. Ooops. Thankfully when I got the notice that my payment was late, I was able to call them and get the finance charge and late payment fee dismissed. Thanks to my history of no late payments and always paying in full.
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As I mentioned, I did a lot of walking. NEs place is less than 3/4 of a mile from Wilderness Park. There are some really fantastic walking/biking trails there. Most nights when NE was working, I did 3 - 5 mile walks (usually 4 miles.) It was SO beautiful! (and HOT!)

Other things NE and I did together - spent a lot of time at various area lakes with him showing me some of his favorite fishing spots as he was growing up. We also went out to Tuttle Creek where he caught a lizard, took a picture of it, and then let it go. We saw Man of Steel - loved it! Went out to eat at a lot of fast food places - mostly that are only NE/Lincoln places (Runza, Gregs, Tastee's --- all for Cheese Frenchies! Yum!!) I ate more fried foods in the three weeks I was there than I usually do in a year! We did eat at a few sit-down restaurants - IHOP, Olive Garden and a local place Beacon Hill Bar and Grill. I treated for IHOP.

NEs aunt died while I was still out in CA, and the TN family held the memorial service for her without inviting NE or his sister ... so we didn't do any big road trips.

Kari and the five cats ... Kari eventually settled down enough to where she was comfortable being out and about in the apartment -but not without hissing and batting at the other cats. The five cats just kind of tolerated her I think... Kari knocked down a 5 gallon aquarium (empty thankfully!) which shattered all over the place. She also took a great liking to a pair of expensive speakers as a scratching post ... Ugh. I hope when NE comes here to visit, that he and Kari will be able to like each other without the other 5 cats running over every time .. NE just barely got to the point of being able to touch her without being hissed at.

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I attempted to hook my computer up to NEs modem, but could not get it to work. Until tonight I was slightly worried that I had jostled the modem or something in it during the trip to NE - but it is working perfectly. So, I was pretty much without a computer (although NE did let me use his laptop .. I didn't do too much on it because of its small size.) I really did not accomplish much at all - other than reading several books, watching stuff on Hulu and Netflix (and getting a warning notice from aTT that I'd gone over the 3 GB limit and my service will be slow next month ... ummmm thought I had unlimited data??) I forgot some books I needed to do stuff for my elective classes (from the six=month class.) Still, all in all, I kept pretty busy/occupied while NE was at work.

I am happy that I went. The time there definitely helped me see some things more clearly, and see some things that need to be addressed. He really tried to be thoughtful and do things he thought I would like. One thing that was clear is that I won't have to worry about him complaining about my housekeeping ... We did a lot of talking about different things - from current events, past events, views on issues, to possible future scenarios. It was definitely a good thing.

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So ... in other news... my great Uncle (my grandma's sister's husband) died this past week. I wasn't close to him or anything, but I did like him from the times we'd interacted. Then in other big, but not really surprising news (sadly) ... my mom and the man she married in December are getting divorced - his idea. Basically he decided that he couldn't handle her health issues (more later), that she drove him nuts always wanting to go do things instead of sitting and meditating for eons of hours, etc. She is coming out of this pretty badly ... gave most of her furniture away when she moved in with him, gave up her tutoring students/business, gave up Buddy her dog, etc.

Her health issues --- about 15+ years ago she had a pituitary tumor which was removed by them going through her nasal cavity. It has returned, bigger than ever with the addition of lesions. She's going to need surgery to get rid of it, but due to the larger size and the legions, they are having to figure out the best course of action. She is staying at an extended stay place right now, and last week slipped and fell hard on her back/neck. She has had multiple back and neck surgeries ... So far it doesn't appear to have caused any more damages, but still not good.

Oh the REALLY big news?? My brother called my mom today!! (He had cut off contact with her in June after our dad died due to a number of reasons.) He told me he decided that it was time to let go and get past it. I was completely ecstatic!!

In mixed news ... I am now without any walking partners. Both of the co-workers I walked with this past year have gotten different jobs. One of the former teaching assts is taking one of the positions, another vacant position is being taken by someone who I don't think will be living here, and I don't know what's going to happen with the third one. The third one is my only hope for a new walking partner...

I have more I am thinking about, but this is already way too long. Tomorrow - what I found when I arrived home ... and lifestyle/diet thoughts/plans/thinking.

Ugh. Please remind me to not sign up for any "reward" from a credit card that is offered as "statement credits" over a period of time. Back in September (I think) I signed up for the Citi offer giving you up to $9.95 statement credit for Netflix up to a year. It worked great for the first few months, and then I got an email telling me that I had an overdue balance. Say what?? So, I check it out - two months of Netflix had been charged within one statement period. I called Citi and they gave me a credit which fixed it.

Fast forward to yesterday. I again get an email telling me I have an overdue balance. Same thing had happened - two monthly charges on one statement. Again, I called and hashed it out with them. It took a lot longer this time, but they wiped out the balance due. I also asked that they make a note on my account so that I don't have to go through this yet again in October. (The problem is when there is a month with less than 31 days. Such as February or April.)

I will very happily be canceling this card as soon as the free year of Netflix is over. (I came close to just going ahead and cancelling the card as it was ... even though I'd lose out on $40 of free Netflix.)

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I redeemed Chase points today for a $51 statement credit.

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I also booked my hotel for my trip to NE using hotels com through Swagbucks. I'll be getting 6 SBs per dollar ($53!) I was going to book at a somewhat cheaper place, but they only allow dogs in their rooms. When I asked why no cats, the front desk guy was pretty rude. Now I wouldn't book there even if I didn't have Kari with me!

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NE sent me a link to a house/property near him that is $12k - 1900 sq ft/5 acres. The kitchen reminds me a little of my mom's parent's kitchen. The bathroom made me laugh though - normal toilet and sink, but a miniature do it yourself type shower. Best of all though it's close enough to a city where you can get city Internet (instead of having to do Satellite.) He's not ready to buy anything yet, but this goes to show that there are some good options available. (He wants a country house with acreage to raise turtle/dig a pond, etc., with few neighbors nearby. Sounds good to me. )

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I got laundry and dishes done yesterday, and so far nothing really done today. Ooops. Tomorrow I have to pack for CA and NE trips and try to leave the house in somewhat presentable shape.

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My walking partner and I went to town yesterday. I bought some more clothes at Walmart. I need to reign in the clothing spending here ...

After stepping on the scale this a.m., I also decided to quit the soda. I hate to think what the scale would look like if I wasn't walking most days...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ugh. Did it again. Posted without saving.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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