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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Phhff!

Gotta go pick up nurse. Off to ABQ.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ack! I'm just so happy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Six days.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OMW!!!!!

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

(lost entry )

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was really sweet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So today I received my $25 AGC from SBs and put it into my gift card balance on Amazon. While I was there, I noticed that the sign up bonus for the Amazon credit card was $60! That is the most I've ever seen it at. So ... I succumbed and applied. I was approved (although I had to give my physical address - need to figure out how to let them know my mailing address - don't get mail at my house.)

Guess how long it took me to spend the $60 credit? I'll have some cool new books for the kids on Monday.

I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday and told them about my tooth pain from Baltimore (February trip.) The DA and dentist looked at it, and took an xray. It looks like I will be needing a root canal. The only place to have that done is in ABQ, so I will be trying to get an appointment for the last week of May (after school is out.) Good thing I didn't spend my tax refund yet I guess (might mean my car doesn't get paid off by June, but it still will be paid off no later than December!!)

I also had a doctors appointment this week. I had her do the thyroid bloodwork, but also asked her to check my Vitamin D levels. She also added in checking magnesium levels (I think because of the leg tingles?) I got a call today asking me to come in for a follow up appointment - so she must have seen something in my bloodwork. I *think* the follow up appointment is included in the office visit fee from Monday - at least I hope it is!

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I received my payment from Second Spin for Person of Interest - $11.00. (They didn't reimburse shipping - I thought they did that??) Of course I promptly turned around and gave in to the temptation to purchase the first ten episodes of Warehouse 13 S4 on Amazon... (have 3 episodes left to watch now)

I have not gotten much accomplished at all over Spring Break. Not really all that surprised ... am good at making plans and having ideas of what all I want to accomplish, and then end up not getting ten percent of it done. I still have 3 days though, right?

My cough is much, much better. Not gone completely, but so much better. I'm still using generic Vicks at night, and taking generic Allegra D. Between the two, it seems to be helping.

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I called Vangaurd today to check on the status of my rolling over the IRA from the bank CD. They processed the paperwork today, and it should be taken care of within a week to ten days. Yay! Now maybe that money will actually earn its keep.

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I have done very poorly in March (and now April) at keeping track of my spending. I am thinking of doing a fresh start in YNAB (budgeting program.) I will have to say though, that this has been one of the longer consistent stints of tracking my finances - nearly 8 months. So, I guess I should pat myself on the back for that. Maybe this next stint will last longer. One can always hope.

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After my doctors appt tomorrow, I plan on going into the school for a few hours. I *have* to do this because I *have* to finish putting together my information for certification in NM!!! Sometimes I am such a bad procrastinator ... I'm pretty sure I have everything I need to send in for it, and have had it for a couple of weeks!! Mailing anything though nowadays is just not something that sticks out in my mind as a to do ...

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A friend of mine was talking/emailing me about some of their experiences on a dating site. It made me wonder how long it had been since I'd put my profile on hold on that site ... checked into it, and it was 2007!! Um... a few years. I decided to unhold it and put together an updated profile. Not surprisingly, no interest yet. (I was honest about my weight - a question they ask for the profile - so ...) It probably doesn't help either that my life isn't all that terribly interesting (unless you get into family drama stuff, then maybe it's a little *too* interesting, as in run off screaming fast as possible interesting....)

So anyway ... instead of cleaning like I should be doing, I'm going to go finish watching the last 3 episodes of Warehouse 13. Maybe I'll get to cleaning after that....

Ahhhh..... On day two of ten. I can feel the stress of the last few months slowly draining away.

On Thursday night I got a call asking me if I would babysit the two students I've babysat for before a few times this year. Although that wasn't quite how I envisioned spending my first day of break, I gladly agreed. The three of us had a good bit of fun. We played "baseball," kicked around a soccer ball, tossed a nerf ball back and forth over the gate, and watched a little tv. (Plus both girls spent a good amount of time playing games on my phone.) The dad got back an hour later than he was supposed to (and still only gave me $30) but I didn't really care enough to fuss about it. It wasn't like I had anything else I really *had* to do.

I went to church this morning, and only was mildly disruptive with my coughing. Enough so so that everyone realized why I hadn't been there the last two weeks though.

The yearbook was submitted on Thursday morning - still with one student's photo missing. Oh well. Hopefully it being nearly two weeks late isn't going to affect the return time too much. I'm just glad to be done with it for another year.

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I ordered a $25 AGC from SBs today, and will have enough for the 5 $5 AGCs by the 3rd of April. I also got an email from Nielsen mobile telling me I'd been awarded more points -- so I traded in my points for a $50 AGC. (I just use my phone normally and earn points each month.)

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I finally managed to mail in the paperwork for moving my IRA from the bank CD to Vanguard on Thursday. I'd had the statement I needed for a couple weeks, but just kept procrastinating on getting an envelope. Hopefully it will arrive in time to get it changed over - otherwise it will be two more years before I can do anything with it. Ugh.

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A number of the teachers/staff that have stayed here for break are getting together tomorrow for an Easter brunch. It should be interesting.

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I had something interesting come up this week. On Tuesday I think it was, I got an email from Citi telling me that I had an overdue balance on my card. Since the only thing I use that for is my Netflix subscription (which should be free after the *bonus* each month) I was wondering what was the problem. I checked the website/statements and figured out that for some reason I hadn't gotten a January statement, but that the January and February Netflix charges were both on the February statement. Thus the balance. I called and they ended up giving me a $10 credit "for your inconvenience" but their reasoning for why it happened was stupid. Something to do with February only having 28 days and the billing cycles .. At any rate, it was resolved with no interest hit to me nor a credit report hit. No more short months before the end of the free year of Netflix, so I don't need to worry about a repeat.

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I talked to my mom for a short bit this afternoon. She told me that the lady she's taking piano lessons from has been giving her "mad minutes" to help her learn the note names. So I asked her to send me copies of those mad minutes.

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Not much else interesting that I can think of right now. Just so happy to have this break. So needed it.

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Happy Easter everyone!

Several times today I had to bite my tongue to not say, "If you think you can do a better job, then go for it!"

Today was our extended yearbook deadline. We had the first extension because of my getting sick last weekend. Guess what? It's still not done.

I got as much done as I could over the weekend without actually being at the school. I figured there was maybe another hour or two's worth to finish - just needed to upload some pictures and then double check everything one more time.

Guess what? Our servers were down today. The servers where all the pictures I needed are located.

Then to make it even more fun, I had teachers coming by to do a final check of their homeroom pages. They luckily caught mistakes which I had thought were already fixed ... but a few of them also complained about the photos that had been chosen for their page. One in particular did a lot of complaining. That was the one who I wanted to bite their head off.

Of course, even if I could've gotten to the pictures on the server today, I still wouldn't have made the deadline. Because I was told by my principal that I couldn't have any slot on a homeroom page with a "No Photo" filler. I have to get photos of ALL of them. Is it just me, or isn't the way yearbooks handle photos of kids that aren't there for the school photos with a No Photo filler?! Argh!

We'll be lucky to have the copies back before school is over at this rate.

I am just so OVER with this. Teachers, if you want better pictures, then you better TAKE pictures and GIVE them to me, or let me know when to have someone come take them!!

So yeah. My day stunketh pretty much. At least the kids behaved pretty well in all my classes. One bright spot.

Three days. Three days. Three days.

Tuesday night I slept well, still from the after effects of the cough syrup with coedine. Wednesday night ... not so well. Partly I think due to the Mucinex I took around 6 p.m.

So Thursday I decided to stop at the dollar store and pick up something someone had suggested to me. Vicks vapor rub - although I picked up the two dollar generic version. Guess what? I got nearly a full six hours of sleep uninterrupted by coughing! Yay! Of course, as soon as I woke up and started moving a bit, my chest/lungs felt full/heavy and the coughing fits began again in earnest. But ... I got a good nights sleep!

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I'm still waiting for the reimbursement check for my book seminar that I went on the first week of March. My statement with the hotel charge on it is due in two weeks ... Of course I can pay it no problem, just would rather have the reimbursement money first to pay it with. Oh well.

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Had some strange weather here this afternoon. Phone weather app said it was in the mid-50's when my colleague and I went for our walk. It was really windy, and the wind got colder and colder as we walked. As we were nearing back home, both of us saw little white pellets bouncing off her dogs body. It was sleeting! For all of maybe a minute .. then it turned to rain, and then it was gone .. all about three minutes or so. No mention of rain or precipitation in the forecast.

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I finally got my Person of Interest season 1 DVD set mailed off to Second Spin yesterday. I bought it from Amazon for about $24, and sold it to SS for $11. I'd missed 8 episodes of the first season thanks to CBS stopping showing full episodes after episode 13 (I think.)

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Yesterday was payday. I haven't updated my budget files in awhile. I'd been doing so well at keeping up with that, but I may have to do another fresh start. Oh well.

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Wednesday night when I was having trouble sleeping, I watched a newish B-flick disaster movie on Netflix -- SuperCyclone. Hoo boy! This is one I'd love to have the Mystery Science Theater crowd "view". I've seen some poorly acted films with bad writing, but this one .. takes the cake! It was fun though.

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Only 4 more school days til Spring Break - all ten days of it! We ALL are so ready for it! Most of the kids this week have been really sweet though I have to say.

Yesterday afternoon I had my second graders and was showing them some new books. One of them said, "Miss N why does your voice sound so strange?" I told them that I'd been really sick and coughing a lot. One of them then piped up, "Oh yeah, that was you coughing during Mass. It was really loud." Hah!

My 4 year olds really surprised me. Every time we start with the song "Hello Everybody" and then sing a variety of mostly action verses. They usually sing with me pretty well, but Thursday I didn't have much of a voice to sing too loudly .. so they picked up the volume quite well.

Wow. So last night before heading to bed I took the doctor prescribed cough syrup with codeine. It's purpose was to suppress my cough and help me sleep.

Guess what I got 10 hours of and counting? Not sleep that's for sure! Extra harsh hacking and my brain buzzing unable to shut off, but definitely no sleep.

I finally got up a bit after 8 and fed my cat and ate some breakfast. Finally after sitting down at the computer and starting to work on a few things, sleepiness hit. Seriously. it took over 9 hours to start working???

The one upside to being wide awake at 4 in the morning on a Monday was that I had a chance to talk to a friend of mine who's normal awake time is 5 pm - 8 am or so, and has Monday nights off. We usually keep in contact via email. It was really nice catching up over the phone - it's weird how there is a different type of communication that happens over the phone rather than through email. I think that's why I like having a combination - so you have the more lighthearted give and take of a phone conversation, as well as the more thought out/planned out/hear me out of an email.

I think I kept poor Kari awake most of the night too - she's zonked out on my lap right now.

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Wish I could take the medicine back and get a refund - but since it is a controlled substance, I doubt they'd go for that . . not to mention that it's opened. Oh well.

I am glad I'm not going into work today ... that would not go well with the state I'm in at the moment (loopy and on the sleepy verge.) Also am glad I wrote today's lesson plans yesterday, because I'm not sure how much sense they'd make if I tried to make them this morning!

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Tomorrow I think I better check in with my principal about how many sick days I've used this year. I have been sick a lot more than usual this year, and *really* was not wanting to use any more sick days this year - personal days, yes, but not sick days. (We get 7 sick days and 3 personal days.)

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Wow. I don't know how many of you watch the SBTV mobile health channel, but they sure have some freaky videos on there ... pole dancing, other um... dancing (fully clothed! just ... um... interesting) etc. It used to be the health channel was the shortest vids, now most of them are 2 minutes plus. Yawn.

Went to the doctor this morning, and she confirmed that I do have bronchitis. She gave me a prescription for antibiotics and a cough syrup w/codeine. Also a note for two days off work (mostly need it for Gym Pact since I missed a day of my pact last week. But I also had to have our yearbook deadline extended a week ... so figured it would be a good idea to have proof of *really* being sick.)

Between OTC stuff and copay and new meds, I really don't care to think how much I spent the past few days. Thankfully the medical category was fairly flush, so should be able to handle it.

It's funny. I knew my body was majorly wearing down and I needed to take some time off. I had scheduled Wednesday as a personal day ... guess my body decided I needed to take time off sooner than that.

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Got some laundry and dishes done this weekend. Both were badly needed. Thankfully there really isn't much to doing either - just timing when doing it so I don't use too much water at the same time. (It probably doesn't matter, but I'd rather not use a lot of water at the same time, or close together. Our septic system is pretty ancient.)

ok, need to write lesson plans for tomorrow (I asked if I'd still be contagious tomorrow due to being concerned about my co-worker going through Chemo - her surgery is scheduled for a week from Monday I think. Doctor said it probably would be good to stay home.)

Well it seems like my allergies have done the thing I dread most when they've gone on and on without end ... settled into my chest. Yesterday during the book sale I was starting to feel crummy, but could do nothing about it. 10 hour day. (Made $107! Selling books that were duplicates or just not wanted for our library.)

I might need to figure out if there are any places I can go on the weekend besides the ER here. Hoping it's not bronchitis, but my cough has gotten deeper and deeper today, and am hearing wheezing when I breathe ... not good signs.

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Today at work (yes, I went to work - still need to make those emergency lesson plans, not to mention needed to take pictures of drama club's play -very cute!) I typed up instructions for the different groups of kids and told them they *must* read the instructions *first* before asking me for help. Most of them did a pretty good job of it, and it cut down on a lot of the questions. That was good, because I really was NOT feeling it today.

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I went into town this afternoon (after taking care of the pastor's pets) and stopped at Walgreens. I debated on whether to go inside, or to go in the car lane. I decided to go in the car lane because my feet were hurting and I wanted to avoid temptations inside. 20+ minutes later with ONE car ahead of me, I finally had my turn! Yikes! A lady behind me about ten minutes into the wait yelled out her window "What's with the holdup!?" I just kind of rolled my eyes - as if an answer to that question would speed anything along.

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I'll probably go to bed as soon as I hit the daily goal for SBs - of course it would have to be 100 and NO surveys I qualify for (tried a dozen+). At least I had one search win (27).

Ok, off now to catch up on the blogs.

Well I knew better than posting without copying first ... Ugh!

At any rate today was a long, busy day. I had three extra periods of having kids - 4th grade girls came in to check in/out books; journalism kids came in to work on yearbook (per my begging their teachers...), and 5th grade came in and did the photo study presentations (which greatly impressed our principal as well as the parents of a new potential student who was visiting.)

I didn't get much sleep last night thanks to my tooth/teeth/sinuses/whatever it is acting up again. Hoping to have a few minutes to call and get doctor/dentist appointments tomorrow.

Am seriously considering quitting 6 month cohort program. I already have earned 6 credits and one certificate, and the electives I can finish this summer for another 9 credits. By quitting now I'd lose out on 3 credits and one certificate. But I'd also lose a lot of stress and gain back my evenings.

Yearbook deadline is on the 18th, and there is still a LONG ways to go. This Thursday we're having a library discard book sale (same day as p/t conferences.) I just have no energy to try to catch up with last weeks assignments, or deal with this weeks 2 1/2 hr webinar and whatever assignments will go along with that ... then of course doing the final project (which I don't have much done on at all.)

Ugh.

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Last night I did something I'd been thinking about for a long, long time. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing to do or not, but it seems to have opened up a new, more open line of communication. We'll see I guess.

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On Sunday I went to town and spent my $15 in coupons, plus another $20 at Safeway. Looking at the receipt later I realized that I was supposed to have spent at least $75 to use the $10 coupon ... oops!

On the way back I spent some time with my pastor's pets - they're out of town for a week. Thankfully they only asked me to check on them Sunday and Friday, otherwise I might have freaked out. (not really, but I do think I would have had to tell them no.)

Ok, trying to post again.

It's been a long busy week. Some of it quite stressful and frustrating, and some not.

I went to ABQ Wednesday evening so I could attend the Judy Freeman seminar the next day. I had to rush all the way there so I could get on the computer at the hotel by 6 p.m. when the 2 1/2 webinar started for my class. It had been changed to Google Hangouts on Tuesday. Guess what? The hotel computer did not have the plugin for Google Hangouts, and it wouldn't let me install it. My iPad's Google Hangout app also would not let me join the current session - it had an old invite and would not update.

So ... I sat there at the computer for 2 1/2 hours staring at the chat box (aka backchannel) trying to follow what was going on.

...Can you say that I am SO ready for this class to be over???

The seminar was awesome, as expected. I came away with a long list of books that I'd like to order ... however I don't think that's going to happen.

Today was our inservice day. I got a phone call from the person who writes the checks at the mission telling me she'd gotten an invoice from Sch)lastic. Ooops. I'd forgotten to hand in that purchase order ... from December. In the process of hunting for it I found another purchase order that for whatever reason also had not been handed in (both were already approved.) I have NO IDEA why I hadn't turned it in - and neither did my assistant.

So, yeah. I have the feeling whatever books I purchase the rest of the year will be from Amazon Gift Cards.

I'm still having trouble with the pains in my legs - kind of like electric impulses or stings. Not as bad as that one night where I couldn't sleep at all, but they're still definitely happening. I'd planned on making a doctor and dentist appointment today for Spring Break, but I barely got to even 10% of the things I needed to do - thanks to multiple people asking for help on various things. Totally don't mind it - because I do want to be a help to the teachers/staff ... but it just makes me remember ... "All you do is re-shelve books, right?" If only.

Maybe I'll have time on Tuesday to call and make the appointments ...

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Something funny. Yesterday was payday. We are supposed to pick up our check stubs and sign that we got them by the end of the day Thursday. This afternoon the 8th grade teacher/LA teacher was in the library (I'd called her to tell her that we'd had a cassette tape donated of Poe's writings being read - she was excited.) Both of us had completely forgotten that the day before was payday - the art teacher was in the computer lab finishing her grades. She was so surprised that we'd both forgotten. As the 8th grade teacher and I walked to the office to get our stubs, we both talked about why we really didn't get all that excited about payday. It was kind of nice .. I think she'd be a good contributor here .. although I think she just doesn't think about money that much at all - other than knowing how to not spend above her means.

I don't know if there is a version for Android phones/tablets, but I discovered a new app which allows you to earn giftcards/paypal cash. It is called App Trailers. I downloaded it last night and already redeemed and received a $1 AGC! All you have to do is watch short videos advertising various phone apps, or tv show trailers, etc.

Nice I haven't seen a way to use / get a referral code, but I thought some of you might be interested.

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I have cashed in for my first 4 AGC's from Swagbucks. Tomorrow I'll get my 5th one, and probably a $25 one as well. That will give me $50 in AGC money just from SB this month. I'll have around 800 leftover towards April's giftcards.

I'd like to see if I can earn enough to get $40 of gift cards in April. (This month I was able to do a large deal, but I can't count on that happening too often.)

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Yesterday I went into town and spent $80 at Safeway. $23 of that was spent on Morningstar products. There was a deal - spend $20 on certain freezer aisle products, and get $5.00 coupon towards your next order. So, I got that, plus another $10 off coupon and a $.50 coupon for Stouffer's (I love their spinach souffle.) It wasn't all groceries, I also got asprin, cat food, and a birthday card.

I'm thinking of going back on Friday and if the same deal is still on, buying another $20 worth of Morningstar products (they have the corn dogs!!) which would only really cost me $5... Hmm... Will have to make sure I have enough freezer space.

The only reason I went to Safeway instead of Walmart is because I realized that the 5% grocery deal with Chase probably doesn't include Walmart... oops. I used 3 coupons I printed from SBs - asprin, cat food, and some snack food. I probably would have done better on some of these deals at Walmart, but I also wouldn't have gotten the corn dogs or the $15.50 in coupons!!

I also filled up my car - $3.39/gallon. According to my gas buddy app, my last tank gave me 32.9 miles/gallon. Not bad at all.

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I am so glad it is the weekend! It was a long week. I was kind of sad on Thursday afternoon because I had my last technology club session (I'll be in ABQ next Thursday, and then the following Thursday is PT Conferences .. and then no more after school activities.)

I'm mostly looking forward to the book seminar I'll be going to on Thursday. The seminar itself I'm majorly looking forward to, it's just all the lesson plans I'm going to have to leave for the assistants and wondering if they'll actually even do them!!

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I'm debating the wisdom of sending the $2000 from my refunds straight to my car loan. I'm thinking about holding it out as an emergency fund, which I could then use to send to the car loan in June or July if I see that everything appears to be stable here. I've just been hearing some unsettling rumors about the finances here ... I'm still going to do at least a double payment, but I think I'll be holding off on sending anymore huge extra payments. I'll still have the money to send if everything still looks good, but I think it would help me sleep a little better knowing I have a good stash in cash .. just in case.

So today the art teacher and I got called onto the carpet by the principal. Apparently the first grade teacher complained to her that her kids had missed media 4 times and art 3 times just in the last 8 weeks. I'm not sure how she arrived at that number, but oh well. Our principal has asked us to schedule 2 make up sessions for her.

Does this mean I need to schedule make up sessions for the 4 year olds and for the second graders as well?? Because they missed the same days! I know of two days for sure - one I was home sick, and the other I was judging for the Science Fair. Other than that ... not sure how she came up with the number.

The thing that really gets me though is that instead of saying something to me or to NM about wanting to makeup for the lost classes, she went directly to the principal. I try my best to schedule makeup time for classes that are missed for whatever reason, but I don't have a lot of free time in my schedule - and if they don't ask ... well.

The long and short of it is that we have to have lesson plans for the assistants to do with the kids when we know we'll be gone. That's fine with me - did it last year, and no one used them. So didn't bother with it this year.

That just really frustrated me today.

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At lunch I found out that because one of the mission staff was laid off, we are losing one of my favorite 7th grade boys after next week. (end of 3rd qtr.)

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Today I had the 7th graders start their presentations. Only two boys presented. One of them is very socially awkward and has trouble with school ... but he surprised me with doing a bang up job. His slides had something to be desired as far as mechanics, but he knew his material inside and out! He outperformed ANY of the 8th graders from yesterdays presentations.

Technology decided to play games with me when the 7th grade girls were there .. so only 1 was able to present.

Sigh. This means this project drags out yet another week.

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After a day like today I wonder about my decision to stay here another year. Not to mention that hearing about layoffs at the mission office helps to increase anxiety about job security.

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The yearbook deadline is looming closer and closer. March 18. I really hope I have my journalism kids ALL 6 class periods between now and then. We need every minute we have. Whatever is left, I'll have to do myself. Ugh!

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It looks like I passed my latest module in the 6 month long class. We are now starting the mobile learning (iPad) module, and then a few weeks to finalize the final project. And ... then we're done! April 6 is the official last day. I'll be SO glad when it's over.

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It is really cold and very windy here today. The temperature might not be so bad if it wasn't for the wind. At least it isn't snow (right now at least ..)

Ahh.. today I received my federal refund - $1936. That plus the state refund plus what was already in there ... wish I could just leave it all in there and keep seeing those numbers. But, alas, I'd rather pay as little interest on my car loan as possible, so a payment of $2300 will be heading off to the CU as soon as it's March. (I'm holding part of it back to put into my Vanguard Traditional IRA to bring it up to $3k.)

Speaking of the CU and the car loan. I received a statement from them with my latest numbers. It said I have a balance of ~$4200 (don't have paper in front of me) and that I don't have a payment due until July. Wonder what they're going to think when they get my next check?

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I'm at close to 4,600 Swagbucks now. Today when I saw the daily goal, I almost said forget about it! But I'm glad I didn't. Somehow I've now managed to get 9 of the codes, even though I didn't start trying til after 4:30 p.m. MST. I think there is one or maybe two codes still left. I need 4,750 to be able to get my March 5 $5 AGCs AND a $25 AGC (or maybe Paypal cash). I'll more than likely be able to do that by Wednesday. Nice.

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Work was pretty busy today. I found out some sad news. Like Monkey Mama says, cancer s*cks!! My friend and co-worker who is the IT person at our school has stage 1 lung cancer. She's taking chemo pills right now, and is scheduled for surgery the last week of March. I asked her if she wanted others to know - so they wouldn't nag her/complain about how much work she's getting/not getting done - but she didn't want anyone's pity. I understood, I just hope that people don't go hard on her.

She's had lots of offers already of people willing to help her out, and stay with her when she has to do the regular intravenous chemo. Right now she thinks she wants to do it alone ...

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Friday is Dr. Suesss' birthday, so I'm celebrating it with my K - 3rd students this week. Today I read Green Eggs and Ham to both K and 3rd. My K's repeated every line after I read it, and my 3rd's read every line with me. Both groups loved the book. I also read part of Cat in the Hat to my K's - I hadn't read it in a long time, and didn't realize how LONG it really is. Wow.

Today after entering all the expenses from my recent Baltimore trip, I decided that for the remainder of February I will be under a spending freeze.

The only spending allowed will be submitting tithe/offering checks and possibly paying the registration fee for my NM license (if I have all the necessary paperwork together.)

Yikes! There were two just under $20 purchases that I could have easily done something different for much, much less. Being out of town should NOT have given me the excuse to make those purchases. What's done is done, and now I need to recoup and move on.

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Today we did have a snow day! YAY! I slept in and out most of the morning. It was wonderful.

When I finally got moving, I made a phone call to Vanguard to do something I'd procrastinated about for nearly 8 years.

In 1999 I had $2k left of a bit of a windfall. I was afraid that it would slip through my fingers (because at that time I was rather ... unfrugal to put it mildly.) So I socked it away in a traditional IRA. Sounds good so far, right? Not really ... I didn't put much time or thought into it - just went to my local bank I had an account with and opened an IRA. An IRA in the form of a 2-year CD. A CD that rolls over every other April 15 unless I tell them I want to do something else with it.

Since April 1999, the balance has grown by a whopping $657. I don't want to even do the depressing math on what kind of "growth" that is.

One way or the other though, I now have an IRA account open at Vangaurd and just need to print the paperwork and mail it to them. Then when the current IRA CD matures, it will be invested into the STAR fund. I plan on adding an additional $400 to it in order to be able to invest in the next level of fund.

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I checked my bank account today (the former ING) and saw that I'd received my tax refund already from NM. I also had a weird deposit that just said "Wire Deposit" and nothing else. It was for an amount that looked similar to my bi-weekly paycheck, so I'm guessing that is what it is. (Especially since today is payday.)

I put $500 of the NM refund to my car loan payment category for March, and $25 of it into my Vacation category. (That's the category I raided to pay for my stupid fee of $75 after missing my flight.)

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I have another out of town trip coming up soon (and I think the payment for the registration on that seminar is part of what is making my heart panic at my cc balance ... it will be reimbursed, but not til the end of March probably.) All my meals for that will be reimbursed, so I don't have to worry too much on that front.

I am looking at another conference though in November for school librarians. It's in Hartford, CT. Between registration, least expensive hotel and airfare it'll cost around $900. I am Uber excited about this conference and REALLY want to go. (If you remember, I was part of the group of people who got to evaluate the possible workshops for this conference.) I *really* hope that I can get this approved to be covered by the school, or at least mostly covered.... I can get the best price by registering by August - which means that I'd have to pay for it out of pocket, and then be reimbursed later... Maybe I can use part of my summer school money to pay for it, and then when I'm reimbursed, put the money into the various places I planned for the summer school money?? I *really* want to go to this thing!

Well, I'm back from Baltimore and the Americ@orps conference. Overall, I'm mostly glad I went, although I think maybe some of the younger, less experienced teachers here may have gotten more out of it.

We had three main speakers - Mark Shriver (brother to Maria Shriver, ex wife of Arnie "I'll be Back.") Sister Sissy (can't remember her real name, Sissy is her nickname) and Father Boyle (Homeboy Industries.) Of the three I got the most out of the second and third ones. Shriver was ... well, I felt at least, a bit pompous. Lots of name dropping, and during the Q&A he seemed really offended that some of the kids had Googled him to find out more about who he was .. some of the kids (most of the attendees were 27 or younger) didn't know who the Uncle Jack was that he kept referring to (JFK.)

In addition to the speakers, on Sunday and Monday we had our choice of 4 workshops to attend. I attended 3 because the fourth session the ones I wanted were already full by the time I had a chance to sign up. Two of the three I attended were okay, the third one I didn't really care for too much. Oh well.

The hotel tried to meet the needs of vegetarians, but like many non-vegetarians, they had the idea that vegetarians survive mostly on salads. Ugh. So ... I ate a lot of Subway, a few smoothies from the uber expensive Coffee shop in the hotel, and once at Jimmy Johns (my first time eating at one!)

On Wednesday last week I started to have really bad tooth pain. By Thursday when I went to ABQ to stay at the hotel before flying out, it had gotten much worse. So much worse that I left the hotel after dark to go to Walmart a few miles away. I decided to attack it from the angle of allergies, so I got some sinus meds OTC, but did not get any asprin. Which turned out to be a big mistake $$

The next day by the time we got to our layover in DFW, I had a headache that felt like it was going to split my head in half. So, I paid $7 for a soda and 3 2-capsule packets of aspirin. Those packets lasted til Saturday morning when I was again desperate ... so I paid $8 at the hotel coffee shop for ... a soda, and two packets of ONE-capsule aspirin!

Thankfully that afternoon my co-worker and I found a CVS a fw blocks away where I was able to get a 24 capsule bottle for $5.

I haven't totalled up how much I spent on food and medicine this trip, but I have a bad feeling about it. Much more than the amount I had generously allocated ...

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Of course it gets even better ...

Tuesday morning we arrive at the airport a few minutes before 8 a.m. thinking we were cutting it close for our 8:45 flight. Not even close. We had missed our 8:15!!! flight!!! Both of us for whatever reason had 8:45 stuck in our head, and had not bothered to double check the itinerary email. I've *never* missed a flight in my life, until now.

It cost $75 to book the next flight out ...at 1:45 p.m. My co-worker didn't have a credit card with him, nor did he have enough cash to cover the fee. So I paid for his fee. (He already paid me back this morning.) He was thoroughly embarrassed having me do this, although I really tried to be very non-nonchalant about it.

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By the time we got back to ABQ it was WAY past dark. I called the hotel I'd left my car at to come pick me up. The guy told me to take a taxi and they'd pay for it. Huh? Never been told that before ... so I went outside and found a taxi. The taxi driver knew what I was talking about, and took me to the hotel. I gave him my last $5 bill (the other $5 I'd left as a tip for the hotel maid in Baltimore.)

I needed to get a few groceries, but did NOT want to stop at little G on the way home after dark. So decided to go back to the same Walmart I'd been at on Thursday. Unfortunately, my GPS app had been updated with a HORRIBLE update, and it got me lost. Thankfully though I found a KMART. Well ... sort of thankfully.

While in KMART I ended up picking up a new purse (to replace the one whose strap broke this last summer in San Francisco), a set of full bed sheets, two HUGE stuffed animals on 75% discount, and a few groceries. No bananas though (which was one of the main things I wanted.) About $65 altogether.

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I finally made it into my town a bit before 10 p.m. Kari was SO glad to see me. I was actually glad to see her as well.

Today at work I felt a bit like a zombie. When my kinders were in class, I had to keep reminding myself they were babies and to keep my patience. Even my 3 year olds didn't help revitalize me like they tend to do.

Thankfully today wasn't one of my busier days, otherwise I don't know that I would've made it through. We might possibly have a snow day tomorrow - already have a minimum of a two-hour delay. I'd be so happy for a snow day right now ....

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I have nearly 4k Swagbucks now. I'm considering getting the $25 AGC, although I think I may wait til March, or at least until I have enough to get the $25 AND the March $25. Will see.

I would have made my 14 day streak for February, but the hotel in ABQ's WiFi was TERRIBLE - couldn't even do normal surfing using it. Oh well.

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So sleepy. Probably ought to hit the shower and then maybe watch an episode of Eureka (my latest Netflix addiction.) Speaking of tv ... I received my Person of Interest Season 1 DVDs. I might watch them tomorrow if we have a snow day.

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Oh, the co-worker who I barely tolerate .. this morning she sits across from me and says, "So, I hear you missed your flight. HA HA. I've NEVER (said in a haughty tone) missed a flight. I always get there at least two hours ahead of time." I felt like punching her in the face, but I thankfully restrained myself, and only said, "good for you."