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

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

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

Okay, now to tell you about Thursday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ugh.

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

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

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

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

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I hope everyone in the path of Suzy stays safe!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

UPDATE:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nowhere. Gone. Vanished.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

I'd love any ideas.

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hard to believe September is nearly 3/4 over.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today we had our dioceasan (sp?) teacher inservice. It started with a Bishop's Mass, and then we had 5 hours of whole group lectures and lunch. Ugh. I liked it much better the way they did it last year - gave everyone the chance to choose from 5 different topics.

One of the presenters was in dire need of someone to teach him how to create a PP presentation ... It started out really good with humor, etc., but the quality of the slides lost most of the audience (at least the crowd from our school!)

---
After the in-service the two teachers I rode up with dropped me off at Walmart while they went to get a manicure and pedicure. Walmart was out of bananas!!! Arghh! I got all my shopping done and then preceded to stand in line for 15 minutes. While in line I was greeted (from another line) by one of my students (pre-k I think) and saw another family that I think I recognized from the school. Then a boy behind me pointed out that there was a live grasshopper on my bag of frozen blueberries!! I tried to get it off with my CC, but only succeeded in putting it on the conveyer belt. The boy who'd pointed it out saved the day by picking it up with his hands.

After I was done ($55!! I bought more frozen goods than normal - will have to watch my next two grocery trips!!) I sat down on a bench in the lobby to wait.
While waiting, 7 of our staff at different times either exited or entered. During that time I happened to glance up and meet the eyes of an African American man. He apparently took this as some kind of invitation to come talk ... He said to me, "Girl! Your legs are so white they're bright! You must not get outside at all." I at first just kind of sat there with my mouth hanging open, then told him that I do get outside plenty, thanks. Thankfully he left right after that.

---

I talked to my brother tonight. He's planning on doing a half-ironman on July 5. That is/was dad's birthday, so I think that's pretty cool he can do it on that same day. I think I'll try to plan my time out in CA at that same time - maybe see if there is a *much* less intense race I could participate in that same day.

---

I've decided that I'm going to upgrade to the 4S instead of the 5. This way I'll have a major upgrade to my current phone, but only be out $100. The 4S will be able to utilize all the most interesting new features of ios6. Then I can use the remainder of the money for accessories for the new phone and my iPad (when I get it.) Whatever is left can be put toward whatever the next technology item is I want later.
(This way I also won't have to buy a new car charger to accommodate the iPhone5 charge port.)

One way or the other, I'll probably wait til October to do the upgrade.

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I finally heard back from the AmCorp lady at the 6 month program. She gave me the info I needed - I'll probably work on it on Sunday. So it looks like this may be a go after all.

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One of the things I bought today were these frozen stuffed shells. By the time I got them home, they were not even close to frozen anymore (15 minutes in line to pay, 40 minutes waiting for my ride, 45 minutes before we finally got back ...) So I decided to go ahead and cook them. You had to cook them in sauce of course ... they didn't mention that sauce *wasn't included.* So the package was already open. I remembered I had a can of diced tomatoes in my cupboard - got out my fantastic wonderful loveable Ninja blender (can you tell how much I *love* this??) and poured the can of tomatoes and a little milk and garlic salt in. Blended and poured on top of the shells. Microwaved for 15 minutes at half power, and Va-voom! Supper. MMMMMM!!!

These shells weren't very expensive, and were quite good. I'm thinking that the next time I have to take something to a potluck meal, that this might be a darn easy and fairly inexpensive way to go.

--
I received the AGC I cashed out for less than a week ago today. SBs is getting pretty good turnaround time with the gift cards!

---

Almost forgot --- my latest obsession on Netflix --- Ocean Girl. I'm a bit more than half-way through Season 3 (of 4 seasons.) It's good, very family friendly, light Sci-Fi. (With Aussie accents )

Well... at least the history books at our school.

Our principal flew out to CA last night on standby to attend to her daughter who is giving birth to twins. So the de facto teacher/vice principal was in charge today.

We had a visiting Sister of Notre Dame who was to lead a meeting with Am Corp members this afternoon.

The buses were late today due to rain. (It rained ALL night last night, and 90% of the day today.)

About 11 am while I was helping a couple of 4th grade girls pick out new books, and preparing for my 5th grade First Read Group, an announcement came over the phone/intercom system (which can only be heard if it is fairly quiet in the room) stating that we were to evacuate and everyone head to the gym.

This was not a scheduled evacuation drill.

I had enough presence of mind to grab the green emergency folder, but didn't bring anything else. Remember, it was raining.

I got my assistant (who being in the other room/section of the library had not heard the announcement.) Told the two girls to leave their books and come with me. As we reached the gym I heard several staff talking and found out that the evacuation was not a drill - it was real. There was a major gas leak near the public elementary school -- which is right next door to us.

Once everyone was in the gym, it was announced what had happened and that we were all getting on the buses (what we've practiced before.) So we all got on the buses. Just as the last few kids had been loaded and accounted for, we found out that the leak had been rendered safe. However, since we were already on the buses, we went ahead and finished the routine so it could count as a drill.

We arrived back at the school about 11:40. I quickly finished my prep for my first reads group, then helped the two 4th graders finish their selections, and headed to the cafe where I picked up my 5th graders. The group went really well -- ALL of the 5th graders had signed up for the group. I only took 5 though (will repeat throughout the year, so others will have a chance.)

About 20 minutes before my last class of the day (5th grade of course ) one of the maintenance men mentioned seeing some people with video cameras/news people by the office. We'd been warned that a particular news agency would be coming looking for dirt (we were told what they were looking for, and that it was unfounded, but to not make any comments because really it has NOTHING to do with us at the school. Which it really doesn't.) So, it wasn't unexpected, it was just that it happened on the same day as the evacuation ...

As I was finishing my prep for the 5th graders, I got a call from the teacher/vp. She asked me if I could figure out something to do with my group in their classroom instead of having them come to the library. (Attempting to minimize student exposure to the camera crew.) I didn't have to think very long before deciding to take "Because of Mr. Terupt" to read to them. I read about 40 pages of it before it was time for them to get ready to go home. I had an enthralled audience - several of who voiced great disappointment when I had to stop.

*The camera crew was gone by the time the kids went home. Hopefully they won't be back tomorrow.

Then of course we had the Am Corp meeting. And yes, it still was raining.

As our teacher/vp said as the buses headed out this afternoon, "I hope tomorrow is a really boring day!"

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In other news ... I am reading the reviews of the new iPhone. I am tempted, very tempted. My brother has already said that he'll be ordering it on Friday. I have the money set aside for it (for a long time now ...) Maybe I'll wait til January. The cost wouldn't go down, but there would be more choices/range$$ of accessories available for it. If I do go for it, it will probably be at least 3 years before I decide to upgrade again. 3 years ago I was more than happy with my bare bones flip phone. Now ... I just don't think I could ever go back.

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Today was also my first day with the 3 year olds. So adorable. So still definitely learning how to behave in school. I'm getting them two weeks earlier than I did last year, which is okay with me.
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I bought my ticket for Christmas. SW was $50 cheaper than any other deal I could find. Then if you add in the free baggage, it actually makes it $75 - $100 cheaper. If my soon to be new step-dad wasn't paying for it though, it still would've been completely out of my vacation budget. If I can find someone to drive me there, and to pick me up, that would be a good cost saver as well (even if I filled up their gas tank .. still cheaper than paying for parking AND my gas.)

My grandma's not too happy with my decision to be there for the wedding. She feels like by my being there, I am endorsing the marriage. I feel like my being there is showing my mom support - plus, how could I say that I'll come for a visit (pd by you) - but not til after the wedding? Arghh. Family drama - so can do without it!

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I still haven't heard from the registration person for the 6 month long program I want to do. I'd emailed her back and told her that I didn't receive an award certificate (am corp) but just would need to have their info to authorize a payment. I don't know how much longer I should wait to hear back - the program starts at the beginning of October.

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I got a call this evening from the person representing 403(b) accounts for the teachers/pastors, etc. from my church. He just asked me some questions and we talked a bit. He suggested that I roll over my 403(b) into an IRA. There would be a $13/yr admin fee that I don't currently have, but the IRA would be an annuity and offer me 40 more mutual fund options than I currently have. (My churches investment options are very conservative to put it mildly.) I was somewhat interested in the idea, but decided to leave it alone for now.

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No eating out -- 10/12 days (got an egg salad sandwich from local store tonight... too tired to even think about what to make...)

This past week went pretty well. Mainly I think because I decided to make all my lesson plans NOT internet focused. I am also finally starting to feel better - I think it was allergies that felled me, because they are still bothering me, just not so bad.

The past 4 nights I've gone on a walk with several+ teachers/staff from our school. My moderate walking pace is much faster than theirs ... Tonight I did a GPS of it to see how long it actually was - 2 miles. Not bad really.

I'm planning on starting back with my regular routine at the school gym on Monday. Although I'll probably limit it to very fast walking for the first week.

Oh ... I am less than 1 lb away from the 20's. I'm trying to decide what I'd like to do to reward myself for losing 20lbs .. at least after I get into the 20's and stay there for at least two weeks... I'd been thinking of doing a pedi/mani, but I have the feeling that sandal season is going to be over sooner than later here. So, maybe just a manicure. Or maybe go see a movie. I feel like I should do *something* nice, because the last time I saw the 20's was ... ummmm 2007??

But ... I've also been reading a lot of Mr. Money Mustache this weekend. His posts got me thinking ... Is it frivolous to spend $9 - 15 on a treat just for losing (and keeping off) 20 lbs? Would it be better to add that same amount to my Roth account or perhaps to my car replacement savings???

I'm also reconsidering getting the iPhone5 when it comes out. I have the money already saved and set aside for it (since last year!!) But... would I be just as well off going with the 4 which will likely be free (only 8gb, but if I only put the apps I *really* use on it ...) That way I'd still be upgrading to a newer phone (and maybe my brother would give me his phone's case with the stand, since he's planning on getting the 5) but not be out any money.

I'm also rethinking my position on wanting a brand new car to replace my Honda. I did some forecasting, and by December, 2013 I *might* have around $9k saved, not including EF or Dads money (and not counting whatever I get in tax refund for '12.) I'd really rather not use Dads money if I don't absolutely have to, and my other big goal is to get my EF up to snuff. (Especially considering the fact that if the sewer system here fails, I will not only be out of a job due to the school closing, but I will also be out of a home. This is thanks to the hail storm / flood we had here about a month ago. It is a *very* old and fragile lift/sewer system being kept together by Macguyveristic tactics.)

So.. I'm thinking of when it gets closer to the time I want to definitely replace my car, I'll start looking to see what I can find within 200 miles for $8k or less. Then pick the best of the lot (newest, least miles, most amenities.) That would leave me with money to add into the EF, and my insurance wouldn't go up so much as with a brand new car.

The car thing is still far away, so I may change my mind a dozen times between now and then.

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I wasn't planning on going anywhere until summer time - both to refund my vacation budget and because of the 6 month course I'm (hopefully) going to be taking. However, when I told my mom that she spoke to her bf, and he offered to pay for my ticket to TX. Mom also said she'd make sure I had a computer/time/space to do whatever school work I needed to while there. So ... I agreed and told her dates/times I could come. .... Then I got a text from her bf asking if he could call me. When he did, he told me he's planning on asking her the big question on her birthday (18th) and wants to do the deed on the afternoon of the day I planned to fly in. Could I please come earlier? So, I'll be getting in Friday night instead of Saturday afternoon.

All I'll say is I hope it lasts. One more thing... he wants to have the ceremony in my very favorite place in the DFW metroplex - the same place I had always had in mind for if I ever got married. Kind of bittersweet. (The Botanical Gardens - many, many good memories there.)

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My yard had gotten really, really, really, really bad. There were so many weeds you almost could not see any empty space - anywhere. I'd been trying to find someone to do something with it since last spring. Finally someone suggested to me that I ask one of our maintenance guys at the school -- I did. He and his children came over this afternoon and did a MAJOR cleanup job. I had told him $40 for the job, but when I realized that the job was much bigger than I'd figured, I decided to give him $60. (I would have done $50, but I only had 20s.) Now that I have someone I know can do a good job, I'll have it done more often (2 - 3x a year should suffice) and can pay less (since the job won't be so huge.) He's also fixing my screen door which has been broken (the screen part) since I moved in here.

I would do this myself (take care of the yard) but I have NO equipment and my allergies are atrocious (allergic to tumbleweeds, etc. big time - would probably be out sick for a week if I attempted it.)

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I went to the dentist on Thursday and had a filling done. $85 instead of the $98 first quoted me. It turned out that it wasn't a cavity, but a filling that had fallen out. So that made it a pretty fast drill and fill.

I'll be going back for the other tooth on the 20th. (Directly opposite the tooth I just had filled!)

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I've been watching Elephant Princess on Netflix this past week (partly why I haven't blogged this week ) The first season was really good, and I got addicted a little bit. The second season I don't like so much, but in my usual way, I have a hard time stopping once I'm into a show. I love the Aussie accents of the actors.

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I'm waiting to hear back from the person in charge of registration for the 6 month cohort on how to register and how to pay with my Education credit money. She had told me to send her my award certificate and the name of the person to contact ... but they didn't send me an award certificate - only a link to my account showing my Ed credit (and a link on that page to request funds payment.) I really hope this all works out. If the sewer goes bust, I may really need the extra certification this program offers (to secure a new job somewhere ...)

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I ordered a bunch of books for the library (using library budget money - not mine!!) on Friday. Most of them will arrive by Tuesday. I'm excited to catalog them and get them out to the kids. (greek mythology books, Lizzie McGuire (had a kid asking for those), gymnastics (many girls requested), several new graphic novels, etc.)

On Wednesday I had my first meeting of First Reads Group with 7th/8th. It was a bit of a circus. In the end, I had 1 7th and 1 8th grader attend. They both chose two books. (First Reads Group is where the kids meet with me at lunch time and get the chance to be the first person at school to read new library books. If they give the book(s) their seal of approval, then they will have a name label saying "First Read by.....") This coming Wednesday I'm going to have the 6th graders meet with me (up to 5 of them.)

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Last night I was on Swagbucks and got the popup for the 2 SB videos. I started on them around 9:30 p.m., and it kept going until 12:37 p.m.!! I caught up on the SA blogs while playing the videos ... Overall I think I earned around 120 SBs from them!!

I have enough to cash out for a $5 AGC.

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Eating Out Challenge:

7/8 days I did great. The day I went to the dentist, I did stop and get a milkshake at McDonald's because I was really hungry (hadn't had a great lunch) and my mouth was numb.

I'm going to plan better for my next appointment so I won't be so hungry.

This week wasn't that great of a one for me. The internet at school was still being persnickety and I got only maybe 40% of what I'd planned to do with the kids done. Then Wednesday I started feeling sick - scratchy throat and body aches - by Thursday morning I realized I had to take the day off. I'm still not feeling too great, but did manage to do school today. So thankful for the long weekend!

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I was frustrated that things didn't work out for me to start the Graduate Academic Certificate this semester that I wanted to do. However, it may turn out to be a good thing. I have found a 6-month online program through Fresno Pacific University where you are able to earn 18 credits for a total cost of about $3750. For one of the classes you are required to have either an iPad or and Android tablet (included in the cost.) I checked, and the costs would be covered by my Americ*orps money. This would leave me with approximately $7500 left (after this coming year's stipend) to pursue other continuing ed courses.

This 6 month program would start in October and finish in March - I'd have to work through all the holidays. But in the end, I'd have 18 credits and one or two technology certificates. These certificates *could* qualify me to teach online classes. If I did this, then I think I probably would need to forego any holiday traveling this year.

I think I still would go for the GAC I was looking at doing at my alma mater, but I would put it off til next school year. My AmCorps stipends wouldn't fully cover the GAC after paying for this 18 credit course, but it would cover enough that I could save up for the rest by the time I'd need it.

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I also looked into the possibility of getting a second Masters in technology. The program I looked at however told me the cost for an out of state person would be $11k for 9 semester credits. The MA is 31 credits. As helpful as I think that might be in the long run, I can't see putting that much money out for a second Master's - especially since my stipends would only pay for the first 9 credits!!

If I stay here, then no matter what kind of extra certificates I get or degrees, my pay will remain the same (+1% raise every year...) However, the technology 6 month course could give me the possibility of making extra income by teaching a course per semester online. I have my Master's, and if I had the extra certification, that might be enough to be noticed by one of those programs.

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So... what do y'all think? Should I do the 6 month consortium (and get the iPad?) Or, should I wait til next semester and see if my alma mater has it's act together on the GAC program I wanted to start? The out of pocket difference I think would be around $4k if I did *both* the 6 month/18 credit consortium and then did the GAC program.

One way or the other, I *do* need to get some continuing education credits soon. I have 4 years left on my certificate before needing to renew it.

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I'm looking forward to 3 days off. I hate to say it, but I'm not enjoying my job as much this year so far as I did last year. Mostly due to internet frustrations I think.

Question - If a kid complains that there aren't any books to check out, and then later complains that computer class is boring (6th grade girl), would it be a totally inappropriate response to say - "Ok, you don't have to check out any books or do the computer class activities - go back to your classroom and I'm sure your teacher can find work for you to do." --- I'm sure the child in question is mostly saying this to try to get under my skin .. I'd kind of like to call her on it (i.e. call her bluff, if that's what it is.) I'd check with her teacher first of course, and make sure that whatever she did when she went back to the classroom was as boring as all get out - to get the point across. I'm just not sure if I'm letting this comment get to me more so than usual because of how completely frustrated I am with the internet at school right now, or if this is something I should really call this child on. (Today I essentially pretended I didn't hear it.)

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Bought groceries, gas and stopped at Sonic today. Also stopped at Walgreens to get my prescription which I called in last night - only to be told that they were out of stock and had no record of me calling in!!!!! So they transferred my prescription to Walmart where I picked it up (and finally returned the car charger!)

This was a long week for me. Tuesday and Thursday night we had parent meetings starting at 6 and not finishing til 8. Then I also was driving 20 miles one way to take care of my pastor's dog/cat. It was also my first week back with a full load of classes. Other than Monday's classes, most of the rest of the week's groups were fine ... just kept me on my toes!

I *loved* seeing my baskets of new/newish books nearly completely decimated by Friday, although I kind of felt bad for the 4th graders who were my very last group Friday afternoon. There were slim pickings in the new book baskets. I also *loved* how excited my 5th graders were at being able to checkout 3 books. Both groups had their 3 books picked out and checked out in record breaking time.

The internet was being all wonky this week, so when I had my first intensive keyboarding class on Wednesday with the 3rd graders, I had to use Word and dictation. That was ... interesting. On Thursday I did the same with my 4th graders, but the internet was working - so we used Typing Club. Unfortunately all the web browsing history on all the computers had been cleared over the summer, so the teacher assistant and I ran around the room helping 21 4th graders get to the media center website, and then to the TC site. About 15 of them managed to actually get logged on, and one completed the first lesson, before it was time to run to lunch. Chaos!

Today I spent a few hours at school, and managed to figure out a way to save a shortcut to both the media center website and the TC website in a way that it won't be lost as soon as a person logs off the computer. Hallelujah! I also figured out that I could download/save an internet safety game for my 7th/8th graders in that same server/folder, and not have to download it on 15 different computers.

When I got home from school/taking care of the animals, I made my breakfast and lunch for the whole school week. Go me! All I'll have to do for my breakfasts is to add the Rice Dream the night before - hopefully I can manage to remember to do that!

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I got a call from the pastor today telling me they'd be home tomorrow!!!! Yay!!! It's funny, I was talking to my grandma yesterday and mentioned about taking care of the animals. She asked me if they were paying me anything, and I told her that I didn't think so or expect anything. I also told her how far their place was from me ... she told me that I should take the extra gas money out of my tithe for next month!! What was so funny about that was that I'd been thinking along the same lines, and wishing that I could ask my dad for his opinion on it. I'm taking my grandma suggesting it out of the blue like that, as kind of a backwards nod from my dad. (maybe I'm rationalizing a bit here, but I like to think of it that way ...)

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I've overspent my grocery budget a bit this month. Once I manage to remember to take back the car charger to WM and get the money back, I can move that money into the grocery budget, and it will balance out fine. Actually, I have a few dollars left, but there is still one more grocery shopping day this month ... will just need spinach and bananas probably though.

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I had $35.xx in Discover rewards after this last statement posted. So ... I spent it on Amazon. :shrug: I bought the new Dork Diary 4, another book (can't remember right now) and pre-ordered DD5 and Wimpy Kid 7. I bought two of each. We have 2-3 each of the others, and they are currently ALL checked out.

I moved all the books that were similar to Wimpy Kid on a shelf under the Dear America journals. Two or three of the Dear America journals got checked out this week too!! (last year we had some Royal Diaries get checked out - but that was by a teacher.) I also had quite a few more of the Juvenile fiction books get checked out than normal - so I think moving all the Wimpy Kid like books where I did was a great move.

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I got a notice on Friday that my Hulu Plus subscription would be going off hold today (Sunday.) So since I hadn't included it in my August budget, and didn't have any Fun Money left for August, I went to go cancel it. Guess what? They offered me a free month!!! Seeeee-weeeet!! So I'll probably cancel it before they charge me at the end of September, then start it up again in October. (Anyone know when DWTS starts?? That's mainly what I'll use Hulu+ for.)

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Like I made my breakfast/lunches ahead of time for the week, I'd like to see if I could make the most time consuming portion of my dinners ahead of time ...
baked sweet potatoes! Prep time isn't long of course, but baking time is 2 hours!!

What I'd like to be able to do is bake 5 of them at one time, and then put 4 in the fridge. Then I would microwave them each day to warm up. Anyone know what the best way would be to do this? Should I take them out the foil wrap when in the fridge? i.e. What is the best way to avoid growing bacteria??

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My car is troubling me. I don't know if it is my imagination or not, but ever since I had the timing belt/driveshaft changed out, it doesn't seem to have as much get up and go. I especially notice this on hills ... I do most of my long distance driving on the freeway where the limit is 75 and the real speed is 80 - 85. There've been a number of times this week where I entered the freeway going 55 with my RPMs passing 4 ... and it took me a good two or more minutes to get up to speed (75+). I don't remember it doing this before .. it never has been great on hills, but I just don't remember having to rev it so hard to get up to speed.

Any ideas?

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I cashed out for a $5 AGC on SBs last night. I'm also getting pretty close to cashing out on irazoo.

Wow... I had my new K, 3rd, 8th and 4th grade Monday classes today. Wow. The good news is I remembered a lot more names of the non-K students than I thought I would. The not so good news is that other than the 4th graders, ALL the other classes were majorly squirrely. My 8th graders this year sure are not last years 8th graders .. that was such an awesome class. I don't think we'll get as much accomplished this year ... hopefully they'll prove me wrong.

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I had a dentist appointment today for cleaning and x-rays. Overall it was a good report considering I hadn't been to one in over 18 months ... two cavaties, one of which wasn't a surprise. It'll cost $98 to fill one -- $50 deductibile plus 20% of the cost. Ouch. I'll have the money in my medical fund by the appointment though.

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My brother did fan freaking tastic with his triathalon yesterday!! 2hrs 28 minutes!!! His personal best in all 3 events.

I ended up not doing any exercise this weekend (other than running around in Walmart ..). I hope I can get back into my routine tomorrow.

This is going to be a week of long days. Tomorrow I start feeding/watering my pastor's family's dogs/cat. They live about 20 minutes from me, but I'm the closest person they felt comfortable asking.

Tomorrow night is also the mid-school parent meeting which I'm expected to be at. That means I need to leave school no later than 4:30 to take care of the Pastor's animals, get back by 5:45 to eat dinner, and then make it to the meeting.

Thursday is the elementary parent meeting. That starts at 6:00. So ... I'll need to be back here no later than 5:20.

The pastor and his family *should* be back by Sunday if they have enough gas money to get back. If they don't, then they won't be back til the 30th. It baffles me as to why they are taking a trip when they aren't sure they have enough money to return until the next payday ... but they must have their reasons.

I don't mind taking care of the animals ... but I do worry about how much this is going to cost me in gas mileage. 40 minutes roundtrip for 6 - 10 days ...Friday and Saturday I can make it part of my normal run to big G, but otherwise it's just a lot of extra miles.

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Today was a no spender. I need to go put my lunch and breakfast together for tomorrow and head to bed so I'll actually get UP when the alarm goes off. Here's to hoping that 3 days off running will result in increased running power...

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I found out tonight that the dad of a really good childhood friend of mine died last night. I don't remember him at all, though I know I knew him because I was over at her house as much as she was at mine. He died in his sleep.

Yesterday afternoon I noticed that my cat Kari's perch which hangs from the door and that she LOVES to sleep in the top section of, had started separating. There was one large hole, and another smaller one. I was worried that she might fall through the larger hole while sleeping, or the remainder would tear out.

I checked the weight limit, and it was 20lbs. Kari is roughly 9lbs. Someone on FB suggested that I could use fishing line to reinforce/fix it.

Today though I decided to take it with me to church, and stop by WM afterwards and see if the customer service could do anything for me - seeing as though I no longer had the receipt. That's what I did. The CS person told me that if I could find one in stock, that I could exchange my old one for a new one. There was one in stock! Yay!

Kari is sleeping right now in the top section. This one actually appears to better made than the other one. The top section seems to have some kind of reinforcement --- I wonder if they had the same problem I had with the other one, and so made this fix to newer versions?? Oh well, Kari is happy and safe, and I am happy, and no money was spent for either!

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Yesterday I was talking with the preschool director who is the person I share my assistants time with each week. (She is split - 20 hrs with me, 15 hours with the pre-school.) The ps director told me that my assistant had told her that "all she's doing is putting stickers on books," and that I'd been doing it too. Oh brother! I thought I'd explained to her WHY I was having her do that - putting spine labels on books and taping them. If she truly doesn't get it yet, she will be very happy for it once it's time to start re-shelving books!! I don't know if she thinks I'm just creating things for her to do, or what. But I hope she realizes eventually that these are all things that will help the library run more efficiently and having her do some of the more time consuming/tedious work, frees me to put together some more fun activities, etc. I warned her at the beginning that a lot of what I might ask her to do will be time consuming/tedious, but are things that *must* be done one way or the other - either by me or by someone else. Exactly why I desperately needed a second person!!

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I didn't get to do my grocery shopping Friday afternoon before the small group meeting like I'd wanted to do. (Speaking of which, I think I probably won't continue to go to the small group. Last night's was made up of 3 married couples and me... plus I didn't get home til nearly 11pm!)

So, I did my grocery shopping today. Normally I would *never* grocery shop on Sabbath, but I was out of a number of items and did not relish the thought of trying to fit in a two-hour trip on Sunday plus doing all the finishing touches to prepare for my first day of classes on Monday!

Of course, as luck would have it, I ran into 3 of my students there. :roll eyes: They were so happy to see me, it was cute. I just hope that my principal doesn't wonder why I was out shopping when everyone else was at the school taking a required CPR class. (I'm going to take it on my own, because I am required to recertify, but I'd begged out of it due to Saturday being my church day.)

I spent approximately $40 - a bag of apples (looked better than the loose apples!), spinach, baby carrots, bananas, Fiber One brownies, Kashi Cereal, Kashi frozen meal, Amy's frozen meal, Stouffer's Spinach souflee, a candybar (my one real treat for the week), sweet potatoes, a bag of frozen raspberries (for smoothies), etc.

Of course, I again forgot to get more cat treats. I also forgot to get Rice Dream - but I do have one more container of that left which should be enough for this week. I think seeing the students threw me off track a bit.

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I took today off from exercise - boy does it feel good! Tomorrow I plan to do an hour run, both in commiseration with my brother (who'll be doing his first tri-athalon) and because I'll be skipping my morning run on Monday due to a dentist appt.

I stepped on my scale this a.m. ... 236.8! Down 13.2 lbs since June. I know I have a tape measure around here somewhere. I really need to take some measurements soon so I can see the inches+ the lbs.

Speaking of my brother's tri-athalon tomorrow - I found out today that our Aunt is traveling from San Jose to the town where it's being held to cheer him on. I'm so glad he'll have family there to support him. If I had the newer iPhone, and the new operating system was out, then my brother and I could Face Time each other (the new operating system is supposed to let you do FT over 3g!!)

I hope the September 15 rumors are true ... even so, I probably won't get it (iPhone5) til January - give it a bit of time for all the kinks to work out.

Today was our first day back to school. It was really cool seeing how much some of the kids had grown over the summer. It was also strange having so many new teache3rs - when I got to the cafe, all the teachers had taken over the middle table. That's the table that the assistants always sat at last year, while the teachers mainly sat at the back table. Oh well, change is good right?

I didn't have any classes today, and won't until Monday due to it being half-days this whole week. I am LOVING having an assistant! She finished a project for me this am (and ran out of book tape), and then we worked together on a couple of big projects I'd been wanting to get done, but just had seemed like too much for one person. Between the two of us, we got them finished in about two and a half hours! Of course, a couple hours after I'd finished up a few odds and ends (mainly getting all the donated books and book sets looking neat and organized in the library classroom until I can get to them) I got a phone call telling me that they had FIVE boxes of donated books in the teachers lounge for me. I wanted to cry. I had just had nearly 20 boxes of books that I'd weeded from the library shelves and donated books taken to storage, and the remainder of donated books in somewhat of a neat and organized state ... I was just picturing more of what I'd gotten in a donated box the day before ... no book less than 20 years old, and a sticky messy erasable writing pad/abc practice thing. I looked through one of the boxes, and it looks like there are a few usable items, and a good number of duplicates. Sigh... I'll find room for them somewhere ... (until I can go through them and see what is really usable.)

In the afternoon I was by myself (my assistant went to help in the preschool like we'd arranged.) I did some more cleaning/organizing in the classroom and sent out an email with some CCSS Math links to all the teachers (I'd watched a prof. dev. webinar on Common Core Math and tech, so passed on some ideas.)

Tomorrow I'll only have the morning to get much done - thankfully I'll have my assistant for that. In the afternoon we have an in-service with the mission. Fun, fun.

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This morning I did 30 minutes on my elliptical - I wanted to change up my routine a bit. It was every bit as difficult to do 30 minutes on it, as it is to run 45 minutes in the gym. Weird.

Drum roll .... I think I'm solidly in the 230s ... in fact this a.m. I clocked in at 238.4! It's been a LONG time since I've seen that number. Last summer I hit 239 a couple of times (when I was having those bouts of nausea, etc.) but this is coming about from solid work and about 75% better eating habits.

I really need to add in strength training. I enjoy lifting weights, so I don't know why I haven't gotten the motivation to add it back in just yet. Just gotta do it, I guess.

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August NSD's = 7/15

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I almost forgot! I did an experiment last night with my oatmeal. Usually I put a bowl of oatmeal with water/milk and a little brown sugar in the fridge to soak overnight (so I don't have to microwave it.) Last night I decided to add in ground flaxseed, probably a couple tbsps (didn't measure.)

So ... this morning after my workout and shower I went to go eat and got my oatmeal and sat down at the table. Blech!! Double Blech!! The oatmeal looked and tasted like paste! I think it would've been ok if I'd added the flaxseed to it *after* it was soaked, and just a little bit of it sprinkled on or something. I ended up eating a tbsp of peanut butter so I would have something in my system besides just a banana.

I managed to get myself out of bed when my alarm went off this am at 5:40 .. just barely. Judging from what time I was ultimately ready though, it doesn't look like 5:40 is going to cut it. So ... tomorrow I'm going to do 5:40 again, but then Wednesday I'll try 5:25.

When I did my run today I interspersed with about 6 one-minute full out runs. I was zonkered and ended up ending early - only did 36 minutes instead of 45 total (although partly that was due to um... extra stops from nature ...) I'm going to set up my app to do a more balanced interval setup - with jogging, walking and a few full out runs.

I've gotta do something to get the scale moving. It's starting to go the wrong way again.

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After getting up so early this morning (and having very little sleep) staying at school today til 4 was almost torture. I needed to stay longer, but oh well, I guess.

I am worried that I may be having to fight for my assistant's time ... she is supposed to be dividing her time between me and the pre-school. Today she was about to go to the library to keep working on a project, when the PK director told her that there were two "urgent" items waiting for her. This was at lunch (after having been in meetings all morning) and I didn't see her the rest of the afternoon. Ergh!!

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One good thing .. I actually ate some of my spinach for lunch today!! I took it plus almonds and carrot shreds and cut up oranges in a baggie. We had taco salads for lunch - so I just used the shell for a bowl (since they didn't have any bowls out.)

I also talked to the PE teacher about using the boxing dummy thing and gloves - he told me he has one pair that he borrowed from the guidance counselor ... so I need to check with her I guess to see if I can use them. How much would boxing gloves cost I wonder?? I just think boxing would be a great way to let out stress, not to mention something different than running.

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I did spend money today. On the library. We are just about completely out of book tape and have a ton more books to go (re doing labels, etc. which need to be covered with tape.) I used the $26.xx gift card credit I had on Amazon, plus $12.xx of my own real money to buy 6 rolls. (I checked at another site, and to get 4 rolls +shipping it would have been roughly the same amount.) I'm not sure what budget category I'm going to take that out of ..maybe the fun money to make it really hurt so I won't procrastinate on ordering stuff like this again...

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Tomorrow I'm supposed to show the other teachers my planbook. Last year I used a template I created in Excel, but this year I am using a website (plan book . com) I've got all my classes set up and the first week's lesson plans created.

Ok, I better go so I can get my stuff ready for tomorrow and hopefully get a somewhat decent nights sleep.

Yesterday I ended up not going into town/church, but spent the day resting and reading. Today I also slept in and didn't do the running I'd planned on doing, but I did get into school and worked for about 4 hours. I guess I was just feeling really, really lazy.

Tonight I'm going to make sure I have everything ready for the morning - because my alarm is going off at 5:40 a.m. and I *will* get up!! I need to be exercised, showered, and breakfasted and at the school by 8:30 a.m. Really though, I need to see if I can do all that by 7:30, or else that means I'll have to get up earlier than 5:40 a.m. from Wednesday forward ...ugh, ugh, ugh.

I spent some of my fun money today - got a footlong Blimpie, soda and candy bar. ~$9.xx The lady making my Blimpie said she'd never made just a veggie and cheese Blimpie - and it tasted like it too. Oh well, maybe remembering that it wasn't all that great will help me resist the urge to treat myself again next time. (I hadn't had a soda in nearly a month... not sure why I decided I wanted one today.)

I'm feeling frustrated by how excruciatingly slow my weight loss has been. But I have to be honest and admit that I haven't been anywhere close to perfect with my eating. I've been *a lot* better than in the past, AND have done a lot more exercise in the last 3 months than I did in the previous 12 months ... but there still is a lot of room for improvement.

I hope I'm not being pessimistic, but I don't think that any of the new teachers this year are going to be ones I connect with very much. They seem to have joined together due to the commonality of being new.

I'm thinking of asking the PE teacher if he'd be willing to show me how to set up the boxing equipment and how to use it. I need to have other workouts besides just running and elliptical, both to keep it interesting and to keep my body guessing.

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I got a check from my grandma on Friday reimbursing me for half of the headstone. She and my dad are going to be sharing the same grave-site. My aunt really feels that there will be no or very little medical expenses due to the plan dad was on. If that is true, then right now I have nearly half of what my goal is for replacing my car. I can't imagine using the money for anything else - I know it would be what would make dad happy - knowing he helped me to get a new car. Of course, the next car I get will be even harder to let go of when the time comes...

I had planned on doing a lot of organizing and decluttering once I got home. I did some cleaning, but have done nothing as far as organizing and decluttering - at home at least. Maybe once the school year is started and I feel like I have a good handle on how everything's going, I'll get remotivated to work on my house.

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I have two groupons I bought which expire at the end of October. One for a 2-hr horseback ride, and one for a trolley tour -- both in/near ABQ. I'm debating on going out there over Labor Day weekend so I can use them (although I don't know if the places would be open then??) I hate to spend the gas money just to not let them go to waste ... (they cost a total of $26.) I'd kind of rather wait til Thanksgiving break to use them, but I don't think I can do that. I guess I need to just ante up and call these places and find out!!

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It looks like I won't be starting back to my online classes this Fall. I'd been accepted into the wrong program - called to find out what was going on, and was told to go to this particular link to update my application. I did that -- now nearly two weeks ago, and have heard nothing. Ugh. Although it probably is better to wait til January to start a class - it will give me more time to figure out my eating and exercise while working full time - get those habits going strong, then I can add in doing outside classwork.

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August NSD's: 6/12