Sorry, I just can't think of a title.

Yesterday I put in another full day at the library. I stopped at 5 p.m., went home and grabbed a bite, then headed up to big G to attend a small group meeting (my pastor/his wife, another couple and myself were the only ones in attendance.)

I spoke with the newbie teachers during lunch. I really should've made an outline of what I wanted to cover - I felt like I was all over the place. But today one of the other teachers who also was intro'ing herself told me that she thought I'd done really well. So, who knows.

My principal did something really thoughtful for me. At the lunch she had bought Blimpie subs for everyone, and she bought a veggie sub especially with me in mind. At the oil and gas company where I was for 3 years, we had free lunches many, many times, and very very rarely did they ever do anything to acknowledge that my eating preferences were different.

After my small group meeting, I went grocery shopping. I was nearly 9 p.m. when I started and I was already SO sleepy.

I made it out for $24.99:
bananas, oranges, diced butternut squash, carrot shreds, Kashi ceral, Kashi frozen spinach/pasta meal, etc.

I also filled up with gas ($32.xx). My tank of gas lasted for 2 1/2 trips to big G, at an average of 30.2 mpg.

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Today I had my assistant work with me for the first time!! She got a lot accomplished.

I also had the chance to talk with the person who took over lead mid-school teacher for summer school. He told me that the kids really had a blast, and that there were way more ideas than there was time to do them in. He also told me that one of the books I'd bought for them to read had some questionable language/scene description about two chapters into it - so they scrapped that book and went with the two others. He showed me the section ... oops. The reviews I read didn't mention anything about this - and it was recommended by middle school librarians and the school library journal!! It doesn't sound like there was any backlash from parents about it, so that is good. All the books still look brand new, so I hope that I can sell them for most of what I paid.

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This morning after I finished my 45 minute run I went into the office and saw the maintenance man. When I'd come in I'd found the lights and swamp cooler already on, so I wanted to tell him about that. When I said, "Good Morning!", he nearly jumped out of his skin. I apologized profusely. I really thought that he knew I was in the building since he'd seen my car parked out there before and found me in the gym ... Later I found out from AL that our maintenance guys had supposedly been "seeing" someone/something in the gym/chapel, so that may have contributed to his edginess.

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I am so glad that I can take the next 24 hours off without any guilt. My throat was feeling scratchy today and I really just wanted to go home, but had so much to do. Tomorrow I'll be sleeping in, going to church, staying for potluck, and then probably go sing at the nursing home. Then I will probably come home and take a good long nap!

Sunday I plan to do a 90 minute run/walk. I think I can do it. Next Sunday my brother is doing his tri-athalon and I want to do a 2-hr run/walk around the same time he's doing his event - so to kind of be in tandem.

I've been watching an episode of EH: Weight Loss edition most nights this week. Today I watched an episode where a man that weighed 493lbs got down to 313lbs in 6 months and completed a tri-athalon in 4:20. Seriously, if these people can do some of the things they show, then I sure can push my body to do more as well! Chris (the trainer on the show) constantly talks about how it is all about mind over body. If your mind believes you can do something, your body will comply no matter how difficult.

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August NSDs: 5/10

Cashed in for $5 AGC from SBs.

Yesterday I mentioned that some of the neighborhood/school kids had set up a sno-cone/fry bread stand. I had bought a sno-cone for $.25 (but gave them $1.) Today when I was coming home from school, I noticed that they are now selling the sno-cones for $.50! I guess they realized that they were majorly undercharging.

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As I was going through donated books today, I cam across this one book that looked interesting to me, but I wasn't sure if it'd be appropriate or not for our library. It is called, "The Kidnapping of Christina Latimar." I took it home to read and decide. Wow! It was really good -very suspenseful and some good twists and turns. I'm definitely going to put it in my Teen Fiction section and promote it too to my 7th/8th graders.

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I ran again this morning - 45 minutes. I got there a few minutes earlier, but still got caught at the tail end by the maintenance guy. I plan on sleeping in tomorrow though - my principal asked me to speak to the newbies at lunch tomorrow, so I want to be sure to be well rested.

I spent a good bit of time today getting desk space cleared off for my assistant. I may have use of her starting tomorrow - I can hardly wait!

I have a ton of boxes of books that I've weeded - either from the stacks or from donations. I'm really not sure what to do with them. Most of them are in good shape (I'm weeding duplicates, some triplicates as well as old and outdated or in poor shape books.)
If I was in Texas I'd haul them all to the nearest Half-Price bookstore, but I think the only used bookstore here went out of business this summer (besides, I don't know if they even purchased used books or not.) Some of the books are like new and fairly recent, so I may try selling them on half.com or something.

The little boy who let air out of my car tires last year drove by on his bike today. He called out to me, and told me that he wasn't coming back this year but was going to the public school. He lives diagonally across the street from me. I told him I was sorry to hear that, and truly I am, because despite the car tire incident(s??), I really did like him.

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August NSD's - 4/8

Last night I went on Hulu's website for whatever reason and ended up watching the most recent EM:Weight Loss Edition. For some reason watching that really kicked my behind. Since coming back from CA I've been kind of slacking off in the exercise department. I've been exercising... just not as much as I'd really committed to do.

So ... last night I made sure to set out all the things I would need to go running. I slept in my exercise leggings and socks. I made sure my water bottle was filled up, and my alarm set.

I got to the gym about 6:22 a.m. - about 7 minutes later than I was hoping for (most of that was the time it took me to convince myself to actually get up out of bed!) Then I preceded to run for most of the next 45 minutes!! My best guess is that I did roughly 3 miles (based on previous runs where GPS worked.)

One of our maintenance guys came about 5 minutes before I was finished. He started turning the lights on all over the building. (I'd not turned any on because I didn't want to make it obvious that someone was in the gym from the outside.)

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I'd mentioned to my principal that I had started back with my running program this summer. She apparently mentioned that to the K teacher ... The K teacher told me today that I might be asked to help out with the cross country/track elective! I didn't even know we had one ... just thought we had basketball. I'm not sure if this is something I want to do or not ... but I'll wait to make any decisions until I know what exactly it would mean as far as a time commitment.

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I spent about 9 hours at the library today. The last 2 of them unfortunately were not productive hours due to people talking to me .. but at least I had the first 7, right?!

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Today wasn't a no spend day. When I was coming home from school I noticed that some of our school kids/neighborhood kids had set up a sno-cone/fry bread stand at the entrance. After parking at home, I walked back over to the stand and asked about the sno-cones. $.25! So I ordered one - gave them $1 and left the change. When I got home I dumped it. I considered eating it, but decided not to for several reasons (one being empty calories.)

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I still haven't finished off that spinach (from last week) or opened up the new one, or cooked the asparagus. I must do that tomorrow, or else that food is going to be wasted. Plus it would be good for me to have the green leafy veggies.

This afternoon I took Kari to the different vet. She was so anxious and upset about being in the car/carrier that she not only did not stop yowling the whole way there, but she also got stomach sick.

When the vet tech took her back, I told him that she was very difficult to handle in regards to her nails. He went and got a second person and a towel. The towel worked (with two vet techs doing it!) Kari yowled a couple times, but overall didn't struggle too much. She was *very* happy to get back in her carrier when they were done.

Most of the way home she was quiet, although she was still doing some hyperventilating (not sure if it was hyperventilating, but she was breathing really heavily with her tongue out - the a/c was on so she wasn't hot.)

I gave her some wet food as a treat when we got home.
I think I have found my vet for the remainder of the time I live here (or have a pet.)

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Thanks to the hailstorm yesterday, the internet at school was down today. So I wrote down the barcodes of the books I was weeding in Excel and then printed them out and entered them at home. I also printed out some of the signs I'll be using for the fiction section and weeded more books.

I found out that the new (free) books had been picked up last week. They were in the art room for whatever reason. ?? H was going to take them over to the library for me. From my short perusal of them, there didn't seem to be many non-fiction books, and one box looked to be all of the same book??? I'll have to take a closer look tomorrow. I was really hoping for mostly non-fiction ... oh well.

Before taking Kari to the vet, I stopped by the mission office. I found out that the structure that runs our sewer system here was flooded yesterday under 6 inches of water. This is not good. Our sewer system was already barely holding on ... So I'm guessing we are going to have a few days without water here sometime soon while they work on it. Not fun.

The reason I went there was to ask if they could do one of their appeals for money for non-fiction books. They said they didn't think that would work, but I did find out that this year the library has an actual budget!!!! $1k!! I would never have known this if I hadn't asked. I almost wonder if I had one last year, and the principal didn't know ... so when I asked her about it, she told me I didn't have one. Hmmm...

I need to do some extensive weeding in our non-fiction, and then start figuring out how to best build it up. This'll be fun!!
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Spending:

$10.79 --- Kari's Nails

I took my car in today to the shop - even skipped my workout to get it there as early as possible. One of their people dropped me off at school.

About 3 pm (6+ hrs later) I got a call telling me that they couldn't change my timing belt today because they didn't have some valve thing. Ergh! So they came and picked me up. Will take it in tomorrow to actually get it done.

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Got a good bit done at school. Cataloged and lexiled 52 books (hi/lo books), and then deleted at least 300 books I'd previously weeded. Now I just have to figure out where to go with them. Too bad there isn't a half-price bookstore in NM.

There was a set of library lesson books with no markings or labels (duplicates) so I'm thinking of putting them on ebay or perhaps half.com. Whatever I get from them will go into the book fund.

All but two of our new teachers have arrived now. One of the newbies suggested doing a teacher book club once a month -- good idea (esp since I'd tried suggesting the same thing last year...)

There is so much I really need to do in the library that it's hard to know what TO DO. I probably need to focus on putting together my keyboarding curriculum (3rd - 5th will come 2x/wk for 20 minutes of focused keyboarding - Common Core requires a student to comfortably type 2 pages in one session...) I'd also really like to get my signs made - though I still need to finalize what they are and check to see if the laminator is working. I have a ton more books to catalog and relabel and lexile. I also have a tall stack of books to read and make tests for (the high/lo books - I want them all to have a test ready.)
I also would like to create a media center newsletter - but really need to figure out my lesson plans for Aug/Sept first...

My principal asked me if I could use my asst's help on the 8th/9th. Hah! Could I ever!! Let's see .. finish covering the grade level labels on all the books (and retaping most of the ones in the early series section..) Go through non-fiction sections and make sure they are in as perfect order as possible. Work on finding lexiles for all the numerous books that don't have one in the computer. All of that should easily take every spare minute of time she can give me!

(BTW, the list above is just barely scratching the surface ... I at least have until the 20th to be completely ready ... so that gives me a little breathing room.)

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When I got back on Monday I realized I'd really left my place a mess. I think I had swept most of the house and taken the trash out before I left, but that's about it. Monday I was zonked. Yesterday I managed to motivate myself to unpack my suitcases and mostly put everything away. This morning I cleaned the bathroom sink and mirror before leaving ... then this afternoon I picked up all the trash, cleaned the litter box, and then swept the whole house! I also started a load of laundry.

Tomorrow I plan to do more laundry, and clean all the counters (bathroom/kitchen.) Then Friday I need to do dishes, and maybe start on decluttering my closet.

Baby steps ... baby steps.. (I'm not much for keeping up my home .. I like it when it's clean, just have a hard time motivating myself to keep it up.)

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I possibly have a babysitting job either Saturday or Sunday night. It's for two girls who go to our school (my principal already said this was okay - as long as it is at their home.) The mom has said she also would like me to do an overnight.

Can you say car fund baby?!!

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My brother saved me some money last night. I told him about getting the cig lighter fixed and that I hadn't found my car charger yet. I was thinking I'd get one this weekend and test it to make sure it worked - if not, I could take it back. He told me I should call grandma and ask her to send me the charger that is in the Rogue. I'd thought about taking it with me, but since I didn't think I'd actually be able to use it, I left it. Now though.. I might be able to use it.

The phone call to grandma trying to explain what I wanted was ...interesting... I hope she sends me the right thing.

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I've decided to see how many no spending days I can have each month. I'm not going to make a particular goal amount, but just see which month I can have the most NSDs in.

August -- 1 NSD

One thing I've noticed while out here in CA this summer is that most of my tops have a number of claw shaped holes in them, as well as some staining. I've seen Kari (my cat) in my closet before, but hadn't really realized how much damage she was inflicting on my clothing.

I decided that while I was in an area with an abundance of places to buy clothes, that I should try to replace a number of tops. So today my grandma and I went clothes shopping. I ended up buying 7 tops total - 3 from Walmart, 1 from Macy's, and 3 from Sears. The least expensive top was $5, and the most was $25. I'm very happy with all of them, and think they will help to upgrade my professional image. I was really hoping I could find a replica of this one particular top I bought at Lane Bryant 4 years ago which I absolutely love, but I didn't find anything close. (I've been looking ever since I realized how much I loved the top ...) It's at home (NM) so if I think about it I'll take a picture of it - maybe one of you have seen it somewhere ...

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***Please be advised, the following is a spewing of my thinking/thoughts arguing back and forth with myself ...

So in thinking about cars I took heed of the advice to look at certified cars. In my area (within 200 miles) there are 0 certified cars that are 2010 or newer AND less than $15k. There are 14 cars that are 2009 and newer AND less than $20k. So ... if I'm going to pay $14k+ for a car ... I'd rather get a brand new (last year model) with full warranty, etc., than a 2 - 4 year old car for the same $ or more.

When I get my next car, I want to be able to run it for a minimum of ten years. (My current car I've had since 1997 - bought new with 37 miles on it.) Since I live out in the boondocks (30+ miles to nearest town with more than two gas stations) I really cannot take many chances with the reliability of a vehcicle.

It would be great if I could find a car like my first one - a Hundayi Sonata that had sat in a grandma's garage and had 33k miles on it and was 4 years old .. in perfect condition. I paid $5k for it (in 1994) and drove it for 3 years, then sold it to my parents in 1997. My dad drove it for two more years (he put more miles on it in two years than it had on it when he bought it from me.)

I'm really looking at the Nissan Versa - mainly because it seems to get similar gas mileage to my Civic, it is a similar size/handling, and from my experiences riding in my co-workers Versa - seemed like a good car for the price range. I'd be open to other cars. Mostly what I'm lusting after is the ability to charge my phone via cig lighter and play my phone over the radio. Everything else I don't care about too much. (ok, I care a lot about gas mileage and size/handling - large part of why I ended up not taking on the Rogue.)

I could put $2 - 4k into my current car - change the timing belt, do whatever needs to be done to make sure the engine doesn't fall out, figure out how to get my cig lighter working again (was told $3-400), and install a radio (and just hope that it doesn't fry like my last radio fried ...), oh yeah, the shocks probably will need replacing soon and possibly the brakes within the next year or two .. Maybe I could get a new hood too ... My car might last another 4 years after all that, or .. the electrical system will go out or the a/c will fail and then my car'd be a goner or need a few thousand more dollars work ... Meanwhile my family would be getting more and more worked up about how unsafe my car is, and I'd be getting further and further behind on having the ability to get a new car with cash.

Or ... I could do all that and my car could keep going fine for another 4 or 5 years, and then I'd have more than enough time to save the funds needed to replace it.

Or .. I could buy a new car (last years model) for around $13-15k. Put down $4k in cash for it up front, and then use dealer financing for the other 8-11k. Depending on the dealer finance rate, either stick with it or borrow 10k from my grandma (5% finance rate) to pay it off. (I read in several places that you can work a better deal on the overall price if you go with dealer financing.) Then either way I went ... aggressively pay the car off within two years (any money left from dads estate after medical bills, using tax refunds and extra paychecks, plus whatever I can sell my Honda for.) Then have 7 - 8 years to save towards the next replacement car (while also having the ability to work on other financial goals.)

Whenever my family starts to chime in on how unsafe they think my car is, I tend to defend my car. But the reality is that every time I take a trip to ABQ (about a two-hour one-way) I do worry. I've kept up with the general maintenance and oil changes - but I've also had multiple minor accidents and mishaps over the years in it. The hood that is currently crumpled (due to me rear ending somoenone in Dec.) is actually the 4th hood my cars had (hail damage, running into a pipe sticking out the back of a truck and something else I can't remember ..) I was told before moving to NM that one of the things holding my engine in was completely corroded and that the other two were just a matter of time. My timing belt was last changed in 2003 or 4?? so it's probably on borrowed time. The computer in my car appears to be working fine right now - although it is the same one that was in my car when my radio fried... (it's the 4th computer in my car - 1st one died, replacement was stolen, 3rd one from junk yard was for a standard car and not automatic ..)

When I get back to NM in a week, I'm not really going to have time to do anything about this one way or the other. School starts on the 15th and I'm WAY behind in everything I feel like I need to have done. So ... maybe I'll wait till November when we have a week off for Thanksgiving. I'd have a lot more to put down by then, and my timing belt should *hopefully* hold out til then ...

(In doing further research about the best time to buy a car, it seems that there really is no consensus. So November might just be as good of a time as any other..)

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I finally made enough Swagbucks to redeem for a $5 AGC today. 1st one this summer!

One thing I've noticed while out here in CA this summer is that most of my tops have a number of claw shaped holes in them, as well as some staining. I've seen Kari (my cat) in my closet before, but hadn't really realized how much damage she was inflicting on my clothing.

I decided that while I was in an area with an abundance of places to buy clothes, that I should try to replace a number of tops. So today my grandma and I went clothes shopping. I ended up buying 7 tops total - 3 from Walmart, 1 from Macy's, and 3 from Sears. The least expensive top was $5, and the most was $25. I'm very happy with all of them, and think they will help to upgrade my professional image. I was really hoping I could find a replica of this one particular top I bought at Lane Bryant 4 years ago which I absolutely love, but I didn't find anything close. (I've been looking ever since I realized how much I loved the top ...) It's at home (NM) so if I think about it I'll take a picture of it - maybe one of you have seen it somewhere ...

---
***Please be advised, the following is a spewing of my thinking/thoughts arguing back and forth with myself ...

So in thinking about cars I took heed of the advice to look at certified cars. In my area (within 200 miles) there are 0 certified cars that are 2010 or newer AND less than $15k. There are 14 cars that are 2009 and newer AND less than $20k. So ... if I'm going to pay $14k+ for a car ... I'd rather get a brand new (last year model) with full warranty, etc., than a 2 - 4 year old car for the same $ or more.

When I get my next car, I want to be able to run it for a minimum of ten years. (My current car I've had since 1997 - bought new with 37 miles on it.) Since I live out in the boondocks (30+ miles to nearest town with more than two gas stations) I really cannot take many chances with the reliability of a vehcicle.

It would be great if I could find a car like my first one - a Hundayi Sonata that had sat in a grandma's garage and had 33k miles on it and was 4 years old .. in perfect condition. I paid $5k for it (in 1994) and drove it for 3 years, then sold it to my parents in 1997. My dad drove it for two more years (he put more miles on it in two years than it had on it when he bought it from me.)

I'm really looking at the Nissan Versa - mainly because it seems to get similar gas mileage to my Civic, it is a similar size/handling, and from my experiences riding in my co-workers Versa - seemed like a good car for the price range. I'd be open to other cars. Mostly what I'm lusting after is the ability to charge my phone via cig lighter and play my phone over the radio. Everything else I don't care about too much. (ok, I care a lot about gas mileage and size/handling - large part of why I ended up not taking on the Rogue.)

I could put $2 - 4k into my current car - change the timing belt, do whatever needs to be done to make sure the engine doesn't fall out, figure out how to get my cig lighter working again (was told $3-400), and install a radio (and just hope that it doesn't fry like my last radio fried ...), oh yeah, the shocks probably will need replacing soon and possibly the brakes within the next year or two .. Maybe I could get a new hood too ... My car might last another 4 years after all that, or .. the electrical system will go out or the a/c will fail and then my car'd be a goner or need a few thousand more dollars work ... Meanwhile my family would be getting more and more worked up about how unsafe my car is, and I'd be getting further and further behind on having the ability to get a new car with cash.

Or ... I could do all that and my car could keep going fine for another 4 or 5 years, and then I'd have more than enough time to save the funds needed to replace it.

Or .. I could buy a new car (last years model) for around $13-15k. Put down $4k in cash for it up front, and then use dealer financing for the other 8-11k. Depending on the dealer finance rate, either stick with it or borrow 10k from my grandma (5% finance rate) to pay it off. (I read in several places that you can work a better deal on the overall price if you go with dealer financing.) Then either way I went ... aggressively pay the car off within two years (any money left from dads estate after medical bills, using tax refunds and extra paychecks, plus whatever I can sell my Honda for.) Then have 7 - 8 years to save towards the next replacement car (while also having the ability to work on other financial goals.)

Whenever my family starts to chime in on how unsafe they think my car is, I tend to defend my car. But the reality is that every time I take a trip to ABQ (about a two-hour one-way) I do worry. I've kept up with the general maintenance and oil changes - but I've also had multiple minor accidents and mishaps over the years in it. The hood that is currently crumpled (due to me rear ending somoenone in Dec.) is actually the 4th hood my cars had (hail damage, running into a pipe sticking out the back of a truck and something else I can't remember ..) I was told before moving to NM that one of the things holding my engine in was completely corroded and that the other two were just a matter of time. My timing belt was last changed in 2003 or 4?? so it's probably on borrowed time. The computer in my car appears to be working fine right now - although it is the same one that was in my car when my radio fried... (it's the 4th computer in my car - 1st one died, replacement was stolen, 3rd one from junk yard was for a standard car and not automatic ..)

When I get back to NM in a week, I'm not really going to have time to do anything about this one way or the other. School starts on the 15th and I'm WAY behind in everything I feel like I need to have done. So ... maybe I'll wait till November when we have a week off for Thanksgiving. I'd have a lot more to put down by then, and my timing belt should *hopefully* hold out til then ...

(In doing further research about the best time to buy a car, it seems that there really is no consensus. So November might just be as good of a time as any other..)

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I finally made enough Swagbucks to redeem for a $5 AGC today. 1st one this summer!

So the cemetary kept adding on more and more expenses ... estimated cost was reaching upwards of $7k!!!! My aunt basically told them thanks, but no thanks - we'll come up with another plan. Oh boy, did they ever start back pedaling!

In the end it looks like what we're going to do is use my grandma's plot for both my dad's ashes and when grandma dies, her ashes. We'll get a headstone with both her name and dads name on it (hers minus a death date of course.) Basically we'll all arrive just like we're coming for a visit, grandma will sign the necessary paperwork, and the cemetary people will dig the hole. No other fan fare (canopy, chairs, funeral direcotor, car to drive ashes to site, etc.)

That brings the cost down to approximately $1900 + $750 - 1450 for the headstone. Still a lot of money, but considerably less than the first quote ($3300) and WAY less than the recent quotes.

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I think I want to have my body donated to science (organs donated), you get cremated for free, and then have my ashes spread out somewhere ... So basically no cost at all.

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A friend of mine works at Kohl's and she posted today that the newest Kohl's cares books/animals were out. I'm usually two hours away from the nearest Kohl's when they put out their stock, so I decided to see if I could take advantadge of it. I bought 4 hardcover Skippyjon Jones books, a plush SJ toy, and a plush monkey -- $31.xx. My friend had said her store had penquins also .. but to my dissapointment, the Kohl's here did not have penquins. I really wanted two penquins - one for my non-ficiton penquin books, and one to go with my Tacky the Penquin books. They did have a stuffed bumblebee ... I was wracking my brain for any books that would go well with a bumblebee, but really couldn't think of any. My grandma suggested it could go with the song/poem, "Flight of the Bumblebee," but I was looking for a bit more to go on than that.

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I talked to my principal today. She told me that Kari (my cat) is still doing well. That everyday when she goes in to feed and interact with her, that all Kari wants is some loving - doesn't seem too interested in playing at all.

My principal told me that she was worried that I wouldn't be back in time for school to start. I assured her that I would be heading back the last weekend of July. I *have* to have some time to get ready for the next year!

Summer school seems to be going well. The person who took over for me is pretty much using the plans and ideas I left with him. I really hope that they do video the closing program .. I so was looking forward to seeing the kids put it together. I'm just glad to know things are going well...

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I had a major missing my dad moment today. When my grandma and I were at Kohl's, I went to lock the car using the remote. No matter what I did it wouldn't lock. I went around the car and made sure all the doors were shut tight. Still didn't work. My first thought was, "I need to call dad, he'll know what to try/do!" Then .. sigh...

It worked fine on all of our later stops. My brother thinks it probably is the battery. Dad *loved* to do the "lock" function multiple times - especially when around other people - just to get a reaction of some sort. So, that probably wore the battery down. My brother thinks he can change the battery easy peasy - there is a screw on the back of the key fob thingy. I just need to find the right battery for it.

I'm glad I still have my brother to call on.

Argh! My dad's ashes are going to be interred in the same cemtary/gravesite where his father is buried. In fact, there are many relations in the same area of the cemetary. So, we thought it would simply be a matter of digging a hole in the same gravesite as his father's, and redoing the headstone. Ha! Not quite.

This cemetary says that it is *mandatory*since there will be more than three people there to have: a canopy, a car to drive the remains to the gravesite, a funeral director, and ten chairs set up and something else I don't remember right now. It doesn't matter whether we want any of those things or not - we have no choice. (Well, our choice would be to not do it there ... but then it wouldn't be the same ...)

Oh well, I guess I just have to chalk it up to being what it is, and not worry about it.

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I'm still waiting on the death certificates in order to start closing out accounts. I found out about something called "small estates" claim here in CA, so you can avoid probate if the estate is under $150k. You just have to wait 40 days from death to claim it. So for some things I may have to just wait til I can make that claim.

Just a note to everyone ... please, if you haven't done so recently, update your will and your list of accounts and anything else that might possibly be relevant to those you leave behind. It also would be a wonderful gesture to leave information behind about what kind of service you might like, whether or not you want to be cremated, and if you have any wishes as to where you'll be interred. All of that would just make things so much easier.

Once I'm back home in NM, I plan on starting on that process and checking into what it would cost to do a living trust - even though I have few assets, I think that still might be a good easy way to go. (I already told my brother I want to donate my body to science, be cremated, and don't care what happens to my ashes - whatevers least expensive. Also if I happen to have a lot of money in my estate it's to go to caring for whatever animals I have, then to a school library, and finally to a no-kill animal shelter.)

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Anyway, enough with the morbidity.

I was able to get a library card yesterday. This way I will be able to read through some of the children's books which my library and their library share in common. I didn't bring a list of books with me yesterday, so will have to wait til Sunday to go back and get some.

I also signed up for the local fitness center. I went to my first class on Wednesday. A 1 hr torture... er ... Pilates class. When it was finished, I seriously was worried whether or not I'd be able to walk out of the building without triping over my own two feet. I was going to do another class last night, but decided to wait til next week to do another one.

Today was day 10 of being back into jogging. I did 2 miles at a 15:43min pace. Not great, but still pretty good considering how long it's been since I've done any real exercise. If I keep this up, I might just run a few 5ks when I get back to NM (if I can find any.) My brother right now would be all over my backside for using the word "if." He wants us to do a half-marathon in honor of our dad. I told him maybe in another year or two ... (he runs an average 9:40 - 10 minute mile ... on *hills* - the fastest time I got to when running regularly was a little over 12min/mi - and that was only doing one mile!)

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I'm not spending hardly any money while I am here, which is good since I .ah hem.. spent a goodly sum on books, etc. before leaving NM (under the notion that I'd be getting summer school pay ...)

I have one more paycheck at what I had gotten used to this past year, and then the first paycheck in July will be the new amount (spread over 26 payperiods instead of 24 + a 1% raise.) So I'm not going to even think about my budget until I get back home in August. Then I'll figure it out again. Too many variables to think about right now.

Hi all,

I had written a long post last night with lots of updates, but in the middle of it we had company (who ended up helping me weed dads garden) and so when I got back to the blog and finished it, copying it before hand slipped my mind completely.

The memorial service went very well. I really think it was something my dad would have been very proud of and would have enjoyed if he'd been there. My brother and other relatives all left Sunday to their respective jobs/homes, so now it is just my grandma and I.

This last week my brother pushed me to get back into jogging ... which I did 5 days in a row with him (at a pace that was barely a warmup for him, but pushing it for me ... for a mile or so.) Today after I texted him my mileage and time, he emailed me and told me that he'd decided that he was going to give up smoking!! Yay!!!!!

Today grandma and I visited the bank where we had found a key for a safe deposit box in my dads things. It had both my dads name and my grandmas, so we were able to get into it without a death certificate. It turned out that everything in it was grandmas. Gold and silver coins, and a lot of $100 bills. I understood the gold and silver, but was perplexd aboute the $100 bills. She told me that it was so she'd have cash for when the banking system failed ... Um ... if the banks fail, somehow I doubt you could get to your safe deposit box ... but maybe I'm wrong. She's almost 91, so she can think whatever she wants to think.

We got a bit of a late start today because we had to wait for my dad's long time friend to come over and figure out what was going on with the sprinklers. Due to that, I ended up not going over to the local gym. I checked out the class offerings and cost on their website. It's $50 for one-month, but there are classes I'm interested in every day of the week. Plus, my grandma has a free membership (80+), so I can get her to come over with me and maybe walk the track (indoor) or relax in the jacuzi. When we were out on our evening walk tonight, she told me I was as bad as my dad (pushing her to be active.) I told her that I resemble that remark.

I got an email from my principal today telling me that Kari is doing fine. Maybe she'd be okay with someone just looking in on her a couple times a day til the end of July????

My poor brother. He got back up to San Jose and found out that our uncle had taken his car to a mechanic friend. They found out a load of problems which need to be fixed for the safety of the car. So he had to take another vacation day advance from his job. So far his boss has been very very understanding (she actually was here for the memorial!) but I'm not sure how far the understanding will go. Unfortunately, a business is a business.

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I got a phone call this evening letting me know that my dad will be cremated tomorrow morning. His death certificates won't be ready til Wednesday or maybe Thursday. The sooner the better to my mind, then I can get a lot of business completed (accounts closed out, etc.) I don't think I'll feel completely settled until all of that is done.

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My brother is contemplating moving here and staying with my grandma for a year. (Moving permenantly, but taking care of her for only a year.) If he does that, then I am contemplating moving here and taking care of her until our aunt is able to retire and move here as well (she has about two years to go.)

I love my job, and I love the people, and the people in my local church have been really supportive ... but I don't really feel at home there (at the church.) Here, in LL, there are at least 7 different churches within a 5 mile radius. Not to mention that the local grocery stores have a large variety of vegetarian foods - just about anything you could ever dream of finding.

My biggest concern is what I would do for a living. However, I have at least 8 to 9 months to figure that out and make a decision. (I'd have to say whether I'm coming back or not by January or perhaps February.) My grandma could end up moving to San Jose to live with her daughter, or something else could come up. Only God knows the future.

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Alright, I'm going to attempt to catch up on the blogs. I'm at least 8 days behind in my reading, so I don't know how many comments I'll be making.

So the news from my aunt wasn't too good. I was considering renting a car and heading there in the morning, but rental cars in G can't go one way out of state. So I debated going in my car. Thankfully someone remIndex me of Amtrak - so I'll be leaving tomorrow night and arriving Thursday morning. I just hope I'm in time. As of tonigh the doctors are giving a 50/50 chance. He had his stent fail and had to have it fixed.

I got the library situated today so it looks presentable again. I also went over all my ideas and info I'd gathered for summer school w the person who probably is going to take lead teacher.

I've been really out of it today. This morning I started to turn on red at a signal I know you can't do that. I caught myself before finishing the turn, but I don't know if I'll get a ticket eventually.

I went to Big Lots and bought 3 digital cameras for $25 each - 12 MP! They'll be used for a summer school project and also for journalism class. I also might do a digital photography class now that I have 5 cameras (bought two from amazon before finding out about this deal)

If I do end up missing summer school, I've been promised that they'll video the final program. I was so excited when I found that material ... I really hope the kids have fun with it. All of their projects will be uploaded to the wiki, so i can see them too.

TY, person taking over, owns a graphic design business. When he saw I made the space website on wix, he told me that his company has made many of the templates for it. Pretty cool.

Today I went into school and had pretty much finished up with the inventory when I decided to check my phone. When I did, I saw that I had two missed calls and voicemails from my grandma. I thought that was pretty strange because I'd just spoken with her and my dad on Saturday night.

So, I called her back. She told me that my dad had had a heart attack this morning while mowing the lawn, had been taken to the hospital, and had had heart surgery. She told me that she hadn't gone with him, but that he'd called her from ICU after getting out.

I of course was going into panic mode wondering how I was going to get out there and back here for summer school. After talking to her, I got in touch with my brother who told me that our Aunt was on her way to LL to check out what was really going on.(Grandma's almost 91 and not always 100% on the ball.) She had spoken to my dad while he was in the ER waiting to be seen, and confirmed that he was currently in ICU. My brother thinks that the surgery may have been an angioplasty procedure.

After hearing all this, I calmed down quite a bit - especially recalling previous incidences where he thought he was having a heart attack and it turned out to just be a panic attack or something similar. Of course, he was never put in ICU for observation those times ..

I may very well end up making a quick trip out there. I've already alerted my principals (outgoing and incoming) ... I don't have everything planned out for summer school just yet, so I may concentrate on getting plans pretty well laid out for that tomorrow just in case.

I was thinking of doing my mini-vacation trip this Thursday and Friday since my mom probably won't be coming til near the end of July ... but I think now I'll postpone it til August.

One thing I'm glad of is that I never have to worry if something happens to one of my family ... at the end of every phone call we *always* say I love you to each other - even if we got annoyed with each other in the course of the call. I don't remember exactly how it got started, but we've done that since I was in at least high-school if not earlier.

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In other news ... someone on the librarian list serve told me that Big Lots has a 12 MP digital camera in stock right now for $25. It isn't a great brand name, but for $25 ... I'm going into town in the morning to see how many I can pick up from there. (I called today and they told me they had 4, but couldn't hold any for me.)

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Update - I talked to my dad. He did have a full fledged heart attack. They put a stint in his heart and some kind of balloon pump because the rhythm was off. They also told him that there were more problems to be dealt with later.

He somehow kept his cell phone through this whole process which is how he's made calls, and received calls. My aunt should be there tonight sometime.

I offered to come, but for right now he's told me to wait. So .. I'm waiting.

When I got over to the school today I found out that someone (or some group) had broken in to the various buildings on our campus last night. The main thing we could see that they stole were the tools from the maintenance shed, and a backpack from AL's office (in the media center/computer lab) which they used to carry the tools. AL's desk had been gone through, but other than her bag, nothing else was missing in the library or computer lab that we could tell.

In the 5th grade room's bathroom they'd taken a fire extingquisher and sprayed it, tagged the walls, and left the water running.

One of our maintenance men was able to track the path of the vandals/theives to an abandoned building and actually recovered the tools and a few other items.

The doors which had been forced open (media center door, nurses office, guidance counselor, admin office) locks have all been fixed.

Now we are all a bit worried that the vandals/thieves may come back tonight to get back what they stole and maybe make a mess besides in retaliation.

Sigh ...

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I spent a good portion of this afternoon inventorying and weeding duplicate copies. I think I pulled roughly 150 duplicates, possibly more - just in the E Fiction/Picture book section. There were quite a few books I wasn't familiar with, so one of my goals this summer is to read all the books in that section (roughly 1100) and decide if they are keep worthy or not AND what subjects/topics they'd work well for. (I won't be reading ALL of them, just the ones I'm unfamiliar with - each book shouldn't take more than 8 - 10 minutes to read.)

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The 3rd grade teacher suggested making a transparency of a computer keyboard, and then using an overhead projector to shine it on the tablecloth. Then I could use permanent markers to trace/draw the keyboard. Eventually we'd add iron on appliques for the different letters/symbols to make it more long lasting - but the marker should work for this year to start.

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I spent a lot of time last night working on a wiki for the students to upload their technology projects from summer school to. I'm making it generic (no identifying info) so I can share it here with y'all when it's over and you can see some of their projects.

I'm going to make another wiki for them to put their school year projects up on later.

I also found out about a neat web app called fotobabble. Essentially you upload a photo and then you can say something about that photo. They have a new feature where you can link several photos together to create a presentation, or kind of a movie. I was thinking that it would've been great to have had this when I did my biology botany project back in high-school!

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Tomorrow I want to finish up inventory (38% to go!), get my house cleaned (trash, sweep, scrub counters) and then have company for supper! So ... this means I'll probably have to start my day at school before noon ...

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More grad school news ... I found out that part of the classes do involve on campus time. The person responding was a bit of nincompoop if I do say so! He told me that I could "learn more about what kind of campus time was involved once I start taking the classes." Really?? Maybe I need to have that information *ahead* of time so I can make an informed decision of whether or not I'm able to take the classes! I haven't responded yet because I'm waiting for me to come up with a pointed, yet polite reply. The pointed part I have no trouble with, it's keeping it polite that is more troublesome (i.e. probably saying "you numbskull" wouldn't be very beneficial.)

This afternoon I had a Bart Simpson moment. DOH! Remember how I was thinking about going for my Graduate Academic Certificate at my alma mater, and I was wondering how I was going to afford it AND a new car? Err... if my alma mater accepts Americorp scholarship money, then I already have enough money for the first two courses!!

Now the thing is that the Americorp scholarship money counts as income (I believe only once you use it) so if I want to keep the savers credit for my taxes this year, I will need to wait til Spring 2013 (i.e. January) to take my first class. (Although they usually have you pay ahead of time ... so not sure how I can make sure that it isn't counted in 2012 income.)

My summer school pay + the scholarship would put me over the limit for the savers credit, and that would be a loss of about $700 (not to mention the higher tax bracket.) But anyway, I need to check with my school tomorrow to see if they accept Americorp funds - if they do - then problem solved! Woo hoo!

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This morning I stopped by our thrift store in town. I picked up a green bedsheet which I plan to use as a green backdrop in videos the kids make. I also picked up a plastic tablecloth which I need to find someone to now draw an oversized computer keyboard on. (The younger students will learn the location of the letters on the keyboard by standing and jumping on the keyboard.)

Then I went into G to return library books (gulp! $13 late fine!!!) and stopped at Goodwill. Major score there - 7 different baskets good for books, and an adorable wooden giraffe /basket.

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I decided to not take my trip to ABQ this week since I still have a lot to do to get the library in order for the first summer hours checkout (next Wednesday.)
My mom may be coming in on the 14th, so I'm thinking I'll go up on the 13th and do my thing, then pick her up the next day. She'll be on her own most of the 15th since that is our official planning day for summer school, and then I'd take her back on Sunday the 17th. I'll just have to make sure that I have *everything* ready for that Monday before I leave.

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Today I did a big grocery shop - mainly to finish out the $300 deal on Discover for groceries. I went to Albertson's this time - they were overpriced in some things, but okay on others. I found my Amy's Brown Rice and Veggies ($5.99!!! Arghh!!) and veggie hot dogs ($4.99!!) I didn't have a lot of groceries to get (and my freezer was already pretty full) so I decided to get $50 in Amazon gift cards and 2 $15 gift cards (Starbucks and McDonalds) which I'll use as good behavior prizes for the students. (We'll have an "auction" the last day of the three weeks - I have the 25 posters from the book fair, plus these two cards for auction items. They "earn" Star"bucks" by good behavior, etc.) I was hoping to get 2 or 3 $5 gift cards, but they only had $15, 25, and 50.

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My $8 from Beezag posted today in my Paypal account. Yay!

My Alma Mater (for Master's) is now offering a Graduate Academic Certificate in Technology for School Librarians. It consists of 4 courses for a total of 12 credits.

Since I'm no longer a resident of TX, I'd have to pay out of state tuition. So, for one 3 hour course it would cost $2,300. I may or may not be able to get scholarships (if I can get the departmental one, that was around $200 if I remember correctly.)

The GAC would not do anything for me salary wise. The courses do sound interesting and applicable to my current job. I also need to earn so many CEUs to retain my librarian certification.

I'm not sure if I could count this on my taxes since it would not be coursework towards a degree ...

Maybe I could take one course per year?? That would give me 12 credits towards recertification, plus the certification. However, I'm not sure how I could afford this PLUS get a car.

One other wrench in this ... the courses may require some on campus time. I'm not sure if it is like some of the core courses where you were on campus for two or three days, and the remainder of the time online only, or if it is more than that. If it is the latter, than there is no question of whether I can/should do this, if the former ... well ... maybe I could correspond my class time with my vacations to see my mom ...

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The last two days I've finished most of my laundry, and did one load of dishes. Otherwise I've been doing mega research on solar system/space learning activities for summer school. I have found a wealth of resources dealing with science/math/technology but very very few music/art/kinesthetic activities. (This is for mid-school - lower grades have plenty!) I've got to keep these kids *really* busy for 14 full days (4th of July is during the last week of summer school.) The busier they are, the less chance they will be trouble. I also want to make sure they have a lot of fun, while learning of course.

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I haven't called the horse place yet, because I forgot today was a holiday. Oops. The PO is closed as well, so I can't pick up the packages that are there. I ended up not going into school at all today or yesterday (though I spent the majority of these two days ON school stuff!)

OH! I did also spend some of my time yesterday and today practicing the piano. I really need to learn the notes in the bass clef again (without using mnemonics to figure them out!!) I ordered some note flashcards and am practicing saying the note name as I play it. Kari's not sure what to make of the noise coming from the piano - she'd never heard it on before yesterday.

Yesterday was the last day of school. Yay! Wah! I am happy for the break, and the chance to get a lot of projects done in the library on my relaxed schedule (i.e. not at crack of morning), but I am going to miss the teachers who have left for other pastures. They mostly are the ones I hung around with and did things with this past year.

One of the new hires seems like she might be someone I could get along with, so I am somewhat hopeful. (Although she won't be here til August.)

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Today at church we had a guest speaker. He was really good. One quote I especially liked was, "God does not push or pull people, he draws them in." I need to remember that when it comes to various people in my life.

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So ... I have decided to do my budget a little differently. I divided my categories into two sections - The MUSTS and The Fluctuators. Included in the MUSTS is a Car Payment category an EF category and a Roth category. I then created a "loan" of $10,000 for my car. Using my total savings, I "paid" off $2000 of the loan, then subtracted another $2000 (from summer school) and then finally divided the remaining $6000 into 14 payments. This way I will have my car (mostly) funded by September, 2013. (My goal is to purchase my next car in October - end of month/fiscal year - purchase last year's model.)

Then I changed my EF goal to $2500, subtracted the amount I have right now in my BOFA account, and divided the remainder by 6.

Next I figured out how much I'd need to send to my ROTH each month to have $1800 sent by December, and divided that by 6.

After allocating money to the other MUSTS, the remainder goes into an unbudgeted slush fund which will be used to fund the Fluctuators. At the end of each month (by the 2nd) half of anything left in the slush fund will go to the car payment category.

I am going to treat the car "loan" as a real loan (minus interest). If I *really* had a loan, I'd be throwing everything I had at it till it was paid off ... so I'm hoping that same strategy will work here.

Will see.

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I've bought two Groupons recently - one for a 2 hour horseback ride and one for a Trolley tour of ABQ. In total, they cost $26. My grandma when she learned of these purchases and that I was planning on doing it in one day, insisted on sending me money to make it an overnight stay and a relaxing trip.

So ... I need to call the horse ranch to make sure, but I am thinking of going out Thursday morning for the horseback ride, maybe take in a museum or see if I can find the ABC (Adventist Book Center which sells vege meat products), spend the night at a hotel, do the trolley ride Friday morning (late!) do a Costco run and come back home. My Grandma gave me enough money for a nice hotel AND a meal out, so I might do California Pizza Kitchen again. While there I'll also probably stop at the Apple store and pick up a second battery charger for my phone (I have one, but think I better get a second one for the train trip.)

I think it'll make for a nice short vacation.

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I saw Men in Black 3 on Friday with several of the outgoing teachers. It was awesome! Love me some Will Smith. I paid for one of the teachers tickets (we bought them online just in case of it being sold out like Hunger Games and Avengers were.) Discover is paying 5% on movies ... so I was more than happy to help her out. (She paid me back in cash later.)

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Tomorrow I am going to have a day of major house cleaning. Laundry, dishes, sweeping, scrubbing, etc. My house needs it badly, plus I invited a couple from church to dinner on Friday night!! (They had me over for lunch a couple Sabbaths ago.)

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Oh! I filled up on gas yesterday for only $3.52 gallon!! That was nearly $.20 cheaper than in T! Sweet!

What a busy week this has been so far, and the next two days will be equally busy, if not more so.

I had a lot of help in the library this week - a few 3rd graders on Monday, then 6th graders on Tuesday and today. While not all of my helpers were exactly helpful, the vast majority of them were - what would have taken me two - three weeks to do on my own, is now mostly done. (Namely, inventory - but also we are removing all the grade level labels from the books. I attempted using my label blade on a couple of books - ended up slicing my hand and tearing the spine of several books. So am using the circle sticky dots instead to cover the grade label.)

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Monday night we had a social for one of the interviewees. Before going to the social, I took Kari over to the Title 1 teachers home where we ate supper. The purpose was to see if her cat and Kari would get along. We left them alone together while we were at the social. Big mistake. When we got back we found Kari still in her kennel, having soiled herself (both.) Title 1 teacher gave me a wet rag to wipe her off with - Kari escaped from my arms and hid under the couch. Therein ensued 30 - 35 minutes of me trying every trick in the book to get her out - and Title 1 teacher getting badly scratched/bitten by her cat. (She got an tetnus shot and is on antibiotics.)

So ... needless to say, I won't be watching her cat this summer.

Tuesday night we had a farewell dinner at Applebee's for the teacher's who are leaving. :sob: We were quite a motley crew - only 2 of us had anything alcoholic to drink, but I imagine people around us thought we were all sipping toddy's.

This afternoon I had to sit through a training on child sex abuse. Ugh and double ugh. There was nothing new in the training - but at least I have it done now so I fulfilled that requirement for another two years. What I really was annoyed by was the evaluation form that asked "What did you find useful today?" My honest answer would be - Absolutely nothing. However my name was on it, so I made something up. Then another question asked about what we thought of our presenter ... the nicest thing I could think of to say was "he's friendly." Boring, repetitive, monotonous, etc., didn't seem like good things to put down!

Tomorrow we have our field day in the morning. I'm in charge of leading the Kinders around to the different stations. It's going to be fun, but HOT!

After school I'm going to ABQ with AL so I can take advantage of the book sale at the Sch olas tic ware house. We might make a couple other stops too, but I'm hoping to not make too long of a day of it.

Friday is essentially mass and goodbyes. Then I might try to finish the inventory. I essentially only have the older kids non-fiction left now.

Depending on how long that takes me, I may try to take in MIB3 (Mr. Smith!!) Although I'll probably wait til Sunday.

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I've gotten some interest in the summer library hours - not a whole lot, but some. So I'm hopeful that I won't end up sitting in the library for 4 hours with no one showing up.

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Ooo boy - we sure are having some wind here today! I hope my water heater doesn't blow out!

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I cashed in my Beezag points yesterday. Now I'm back to just over 100 points.

Thursday night was our 8th grade graduation. I had to sit up front on the side because as a specials teacher who works with the 8th graders, I had to give a medal. I didn't realize that I would not only be up front, but would be stepping up on a stage. Note to self: wear a long skirt or dress next year!

Today was my last day of media center classes for this school year. In a way it feels really weird/sad, but in another way it is kind of a relief. I'll have a break of a month (from teaching classes at least) before summer school starts.

I was showing the kids today the abcya site with the animation app (3rd) and one of my 4th grade boys made an Angry Birds animation! I've been showing the app to all my classes this week, as a kind of fun end of year tech project, and have been simply amazed at how quickly they figured it out and how creative their projects were.

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Today our new principal talked to me about next year and brought me my contract. I'm getting a raise of 1 %!! Totally unexpected. Apparently they give everyone a 1% raise every year - had no idea.

I'm definitely getting an aide next year, although probably only for 20 hours a week. Better than nothing.

I also talked to the principal about having summer library hours/checkout one evening a week. She liked that idea (after making sure I knew it would be volunteer hours.)

Some other points I raised with her:

Having a technology club/book club on after school activities days. (Again, was reminded that it would be volunteer hours.)

Having a library focus group - have students from several different grades to discuss new book purchases, make recommendations, etc. She suggested I do it at lunch time once a month. Sounds good to me!

Scrapping K - 12 power and replacing with online databases. She was good with this idea as long as K12Power hadn't already been renewed. (She agreed with my assesment that it was useless - said previous computer teacher wanted something to have the kids login and be kept busy for 30 minutes while she texted. --well, principal didn't quite say the texting part, but I know that from other sources ...--)

Having a keyboarding specific class 20 minutes 2-3x week for 3rd, 4th and 5th during the first quarter. (Common Core standards expect a 4th grader to be able to comfortably type a one page document in one sitting. Typing class once a week for 7 or 8 weeks isn't going to cut it.) Principal thought it was a good idea, but will need to check with teacher's schedules.

Making 1st and 2nd grade 1 hour classes, and extending 3rd - 8th to 1hr 15 min. Principal was okay with this, but again needed to check scheduling.

Discussed need for major overhaul of non-fiction. Principal suggested that we have the fundraising efforts for one month go towards the renovation of our non-fiction section. Woo hoo! (She hadn't realized there was no library budget and didn't seem too surprised when I casually mentioned my "pocket" budget.)

Discussed the many blind spots in the library. Principal had the idea of installing something like a video baby monitor in the worst area.

Discussed me taking teachers on a tour of library/website during pre-school week. I've tried to make teachers aware of the resources we have, but it's kind of like pulling teeth with some of them ...

Discussed computer lab arrangement. Told principal that I didn't like the way it was arranged either, but I'd been told that the configuration was the only possible way to fit 25 computers in that space. Then I also told her that my big dream was to get some kind of grant to totally renovate and redesign the entire media center (to make better use of the space and get rid of the blind spots!)

--Forgot to talk about playaways ... probably best I forgot, because I think I kind of overwhelmed her. I just had been saving up all of these ideas/thoughts ...

I also asked her how she felt I was doing. She told me that she thought I had a pretty good start and was going in the right direction. That made me feel pretty good.

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OH! Before I forget! I had visitors today from a program called Reader to Reader. They donate publisher's seconds to needy schools. I was told about them by the reporter who was here a few weeks ago. They brought a suitcase full of books! I showed them around our library and we talked about what books we already had, and what books/topics were very popular, as well as our majorly outdated non-fiction. They said they'd be sending some more books our way sometime in July! Woo hoo! Later on I was talking to SrN (our current principal) and she told someone who was there that I was great at finding free book resources.

*related to the above --- We had this donor couple visiting our campus this week. The wife couldn't get over how much I smile (get really tired of hearing that, but sometimes it works in my favor.) She and her husband are avid readers. They both fell in love with the kids and our school - I let her do the final storytime with my K class :*(. She absolutely loved it (and I think they enjoyed it too.) Before she left she told me that she and her husband want to make a donation to the library, and then she handed me a $20 bill as a start. Seeeweet! I don't know how much they plan on donating, but if it is a goodly amount, then I'd like to use some of it to get a second magazine rack to put my small graphic novels in. I just haven't been able to bring myself to spend nearly $200 on one when that money could bring more books ... but if I don't have a good way to display the books, what good does it do, right?

Last night I was figuring out the dollar amount of books that I added to our library this year. Combining my contributions, the money gifts from mom's friend, and book fair proceeds (from 2 book fairs), it came out to around $4,000. In all, I think that totaled around 450 books + another 200 or so books that were donated last year and have been slowly added, and then another 40 books that were donated to us from a school in Chicago (they did a one for one promotion at their bookfair and used the money to buy us books off the wishlist I sent.)

This afternoon we had our annual volleyball game - teachers vs. mid-school girls. The last time I played volleyball ... at least 20+ years ago.

5 of the mid-school boys wore tutus and acted as cheerleaders (for us) - they also were allowed to play on our side if one of wanted a break.

I played for almost two full rotations. Which means I served the volleyball. Hence my title. On my very first serve, I not only hit it over the net (very close to the left edge), but it sailed out to where the busses were parked. My next two serves were much more accurate..

Oh yeah, the teachers won. 30 to 26.

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A few weeks ago I bought this climbing castle thing that hangs from a door. It was $20, and I thought it might be a good alternative to some of those cat climbers that start at $20 for maybe two levels. I hung it on the door to my office (since that is where I spend my most time.) Kari has taken to it more and more. Right now she is sound asleep in the top layer. This is a picture of her earlier this afternoon - she stayed like that for a good 20 minutes or more.


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No spending today (though I got the first book from my weekend spending.)

So ... as I look at my spending and at where I'm spending, I've come to the realization that I'm stressing myself out trying to make sure I don't overspend in any one particular category. Namely, groceries, but there are other places too. It may be going down a dangerous road here, but I've decided to change up my budget strategy. From this point forward I'm going to put into certain categories the amount that I'd like to shoot for (i.e. groceries), and then of course the fixed categories would have the exact amount. Most other categories will be left empty. Money not allocated to fixed categories or categories such as groceries will go into a general savings fund. I've decided to stop distinguishing my savings categories, and lump them all into one pile. So, that means all my rainy day savings as well as other savings will go into the same pot. At the end of the month if there's anything left in the categories that I put in a "target" amount of funds, that money will be swept into the general savings fund.

I'll still record what I actually spend in multiple categories, I just won't have a specific amount of funds allocated to all of them.

This weekend I spent nearly $500 on books for school/library. I bought 6 sets of 6 books for the summer school kids to use in novel studies, a bunch of space related books/activity guides, some professional resources to help with Common Core, and 36 Hi/Lo books. The Hi/Lo books probably could have (should have) waited, but the others I felt I needed to go ahead with ordering. The average cost of the books is about $8 (mainly thanks to one $26 book, otherwise the average would've been closer to $7 per book.) Oh, this was after the $25 in AGC's. The Hi/Lo books all were part of the 4-3 promotion, so I actually got 6 of them for free (I thought I was going to get 8 free ... not sure why I didn't.) So, generally speaking I got around $650 worth of books for less than $500 (after 4-3 promotion, AGC's, buying good condition used copies ..)

I sometimes wonder if my overarching need to buy books for the library is partly a backlash from the years and years and years where I bought only one or two books a year for myself. Now I have a good excuse to buy books - right?

Part of these thoughts stem from my dad asking me yesterday how much I had saved for my car - and I had to tell him "~$500" and he laughed at me. So I amended what I said to say that altogether in savings I have a good bit more - just not called car savings. Truth be told though, if I needed to replace my car next week, I'd be scraping money together from every piggy hole and couch cushion that wasn't allocated for mandatory expenses ...

So between how much I've been stressing out about my spending, and my realization that no matter what I may call my various savings categories, they all would be spent for one thing if necessary ... I came up with this idea. I figure I'll try it for a few months and see if it helps me to curb my spending better, or if it makes it worse. I can always go back to my other way of doing it if it makes it worse.

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Today I wasn't quite dressed for outside viewing when someone knocked on my door. It was my neighbors - they'd found a medium sized white dog wandering the neighborhood and thought they recognized it - they just weren't sure who's it was. I knew it immediately - our nurse's dog. So after identifying it (I was in bare feet and holey shorts) I went inside and put some jeans on and called our nurse. No answer. I tried a couple other numbers and couldn't get in touch with her. So finally I decided to chance taking the dog inside with Kari. At first Kari was all bushy tailed and hackles, but then she realized that the dog wasn't going to hurt her and became somewhat comfortable and curious. Finally our nurse saw she had missed calls from a TX number and figured it was me, then came and got her dog.

This gives me hope that Kari will do okay, and possibly even do well, with our Title 1 teachers cat this summer. We'll see I guess.

Today I got the sad news that the author of "Where the Wild Things Are" died. I hadn't planned on reading his book to the students today, but changed my plans in order to honor his memory. It was really interesting to me that as soon as I mentioned why we were reading his book, that the students became completely and totally silent. I don't know that I've heard any of the groups be quite that silent for any book I've read to them.

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It was also really interesting to me today working with my 7th graders. They are divided into a boys and a girls section. The boys section completed their assignment (editing a html website) with 10 - 15 minutes to spare - and did a good job. The girls section is going to have to keep working on it next week. None of them finished it. (This was our second week working on the assignment.) I'm not totally sure what this says, but I'm thinking it says something about the differences in the workings of the mind of a 7th grade boys/girls mind. Figuring out the code language and how to manipulate it just seemed to come more easily to the boys.

I hadn't noticed the same difference with the 8th graders.

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We are down to our last 7 or 8 yearbooks. (8 if I sell one of the 4 complementary ones.) I am SO ready for them to be completely sold.

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AL told me today that the father of one of our 7th graders who is currently in ISS for the remainder of the year asked her why the computer teacher (me) was teaching kids how to manipulate phones and get into the parents phone service websites. Whoa!! AL let him know that that was NOT being taught - that the kids weren't even allowed to have cell phones on campus and besides that - how'd we know how to get into the parent's phone websites??? Is it any wonder this kid is in ISS?? But seriously, any kid who gets their hands on a phone that can read relatively well (or even not) will figure out pretty much anything there is to figure out about it in a short time - no teaching required.

This morning while talking to AL, I became quite worried about her. She'd posted something on FB on Friday that had me wondering what was going on, and then speaking with her this morning I got a clearer picture of what it was. So ... I told her I had to go into G again this afternoon to drop off some paperwork I'd forgotten to complete, and was she interested in maybe going bowling and get something to eat? She told me she'd think about it...

So after school was out today I asked her if she wanted to go with me .. and she agreed! We dropped off my paperwork (for summer school) and then made it over to the bowling place in time to bowl one game before they closed. (I got a 74, she got a 56. Pro Bowlers we are not. ) Then we ate at a local eatery that has great veggie burgers.

We had a *long* talk. To put it simply, I am *still* very worried about her. What she is going through I have no real experience in. I felt all I could do was be there to listen. Those of you who praying folk, I would greatly appreciate it if you could keep AL in your prayers. Specifically she needs to know that she is worth the fight, and that not everyone is going to break her trust.

I spent around $9 at the bowling alley for her and I, and she treated me for supper. I'm really glad that I made the offer, and that she accepted it, even though it made me blow through the remainder of my entertainment budget for the month. However, I have a feeling that I'll be doing some more of that this month ... goodbye dinners for teachers leaving, etc. This is a time to say I think that people are worth more than financial goals.

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I've gotta share! Today I read "Press Here" to my K, 3rd and 4th grade classes. K and 4th both seemed to LOVE it. 3rd was a bit meh on it. I can hardly wait to see the reactions of my 1st and 2nd graders tomorrow. It truly is a FUN book.

I got an email today from the Title 1 teacher. She's going to be gone for 2 months this summer and has decided she doesn't want to take her cat with her. So she knows I'll be here most of the summer. She asked me if I'd let her cat live with me while she is gone, and in the meantime she'd let me have use of her car. Her car is maybe 4 years old??

Hmmm.... I *really* like the idea of having the use of a newer car for two months. It would give my car another two months of leeway/life. I'd have a working radio and cigarette lighter (for charging my phone). I wouldn't have to worry about breaking down on the road ...

The other side of course is liability issues ... If I got into a fender bender in my car (like in Dec.) I could let the non-safety issues go. However, if it happened in her car, I'd have to pay to get it fixed. I'm also not quite sure how the insurance issue would work. Would I need a certified letter from her stating I have permission to drive her car???

The other issue is the cats ... it might be a good test to see if Kari could get along with another cat. It also could show me if some of her behavior issues could be alleviated by another cat ... without me having taken on the lifetime responsibility of a second cat. One issue though is that Title 1 teacher's cat is an indoor/outdoor cat. I would not care for Kari to get that idea in her head .. at all. I also just don't like the idea of an indoor/outdoor cat ... dirt, bugs, etc.

What do y'all think?

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Today I went to see Avengers with RDJ. Love, love, love Mr. Downey. It was an ensemble movie, but he kicked butt the most. Several of the people with our group were not the most ... savvy movie goers. The husband of one of our teachers seems like he may have some hearing loss - no concept of a whisper. Then ... not one, not two, but THREE of our groups cell phones went off during the movie --- AND they were answered!!! ARGHH!!!

I saw this in 3D. Wow! I hated paying the extra $2 for it, but in the end, it was well worth it. I'll probably go the extra dollars for MIB 3 too. I have just enough left in my entertainment budget for one more 3D movie this month.

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After the movie I went to Walmart. I bought color ink (having 2nd - 6th grade make Mother's Day cards - need lots of color ink.) I also bought this hanging climbing tower for Kari - will see how that goes. I bought a second pair of the sandals I bought last time, as well as another pair of a different more fancier type sandal. Then I bought a few groceries too. (I was going to get more sweet potatoes, but the selection was abysmal.)

In all, I spent $99 (groceries, shoes, Kari, etc.) and $45 on ink. I *think* everything will count towards the $300 in May for Discover groceries (Walmart.) If it does, then I'm well on my way.

Today for SrN's mass the reporter from the local paper showed up. After everyone went outside and heard the announcement from SrN of who the new principal is, I got pulled from the crowd. The reporter asked me a few questions - I told her I'd only been there a year and there were several people who probably could give her a better perspective. So I introduced her to those people, then she asked me for a couple of students. I pulled over our 8th grade student of the year (who happens to be SrN's neighbor) and another 8th grader (who'd been at the school since she was 3.) They both handled themselves pretty well for being interviewed.

The story will come out on Monday - I can hardly wait to see what got used and what didn't. She told me that she had way more material than she could use, so I may or may not be quoted. If I am, then it'll be my first time quoted in a real paper. My brother beat me to it though by a few weeks. (He's quoted in an article on some media convention or something ... can't remember exactly what.)

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Exactly 15 days left of school. 3 of the days are half-days. Tomorrow I should be getting a bunch of new books in from Amazon - all of them will only have the opportunity to be checked out once at most this year - but at least they'll have that chance.

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The newspaper lady told me about this group that does book donations to needy organizations/schools. They donate publisher's seconds. I looked them up and was impressed to see that they actually check your library's catalog *before* sending books to make sure there is no duplication. Yes!!

I also found out that they do donations of e-readers!! So ... I wrote an email to them telling them a little about our school and that our non-fiction section is sorely outdated (especially in light of Common Core coming up here fast) and that I'd love to get e-readers into the kids hands that didn't require wi-fi. We'll see what happens ...

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I cashed out for my 5th AGC from Swagbucks today. I have enough left for the first 1 1/2 cards in June. I need to find some good high SB offers that are inexpensive/free.

I'm up to 6,300+ points in Beezag. So probably will be able to cash out in another few weeks.

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Several of us teachers are going to see the Avengers this weekend. I can hardly wait!!

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Today was payday. This is a month of 3 paychecks. The first two paychecks go to June, and the 3rd paycheck goes directly to my EF. After last month's piddly savings, that is something I can really cheer about!

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I read a really interesting article in the latest Smithsonian magazine (one of many subscriptions donors send our school ...) about how the education system works in Finland. It almost made me want to move to Finland ... but then I realized I'd have to learn and become fluent in both Finnish and Swedish .... so, nope, that's not going to happen.

Last night the school kids had their spring performance/tribute to SrN. SrN has been principal here for 19 years and is now retiring. It went really, really well. AL videoed it (she had to borrow a 4gb card from me to put in the video camera - the video camera was one that was donated to the Media center last semester.)

SrN is from the order of Sisters of Notre Dame - so each class performed a skit, song, dance from a country SND is located in. The gym was standing room only (and that was with the kids in areas outside the main seating area.)

Tomorrow we're having a special mass for SrN. We may even have a newspaper journalist there! There will definitely be a story in Monday's paper.

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Last night at the performance one of the mission staff talked to me and asked me what I wanted them to do with the book fair money. It was still sitting in the safe. Ooops. I thought when they paid the Sch invoice that they'd deposited it ...

So this afternoon I went over and helped count the money and got the receipt for it.

I've pretty much spent all of our profit. I bought 9 books from LBE (a company that sends you preview boxes of books, then you send back whatever you're not going to buy) and 15 books from PB (a high-interest/ low reading level series I was told was really popular and NOT obvious), and then today SrN used the school cc to purchase 53 books from Amazon. I've had that list ready to go for several weeks - it looks a good bit different than it did the first time I put it together.

I really wanted to get another magazine rack like we have for displaying the small graphic novels. But all the ones I've found are in the $150 - $200 range. I can buy way too many books for that amount ... I wish there was a Craigslist for our area ...

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I've seen the posts about 5 year plans/goals ... for me, it's easier to formulate financial/professional goals than personal goals. I seem to be able to achieve the first two much better than the last. Sigh.(Most of my personal goals I'd like to make I have no control over whatsoever ... and so see no point to putting them down.)

So ...

Financial:
1. Have a new completely paid off car. (2012 model+)
2. Have an EF of 15k+
3. Have 2k+ in car replacement fund (add 1k per year)
3. Have gone on, or be in the process of making plans for a fully paid for European cruise/land tour.
4. Max out ROTH contributions.

Professional:
1. Renew my librarian license
2. Have an article published in a librarian publication
3. Obtain a grant to completely renovate and redesign the media center

I haven't post too much lately, been pretty busy with work and had a couple days where I felt like I almost had what was a migraine ...

I haven't been spending very much recently .. which is good since I'd spent way too much earlier this month...

This past week I had 5 no spend days. Friday was a spend day ... I had to go get fingerprinted and drop off paperwork for teaching summer school. Fingerprinting/background check cost $44.00. But it'll be worth it in the end ... 3 weeks of Summer School pays ~$3k. (More than twice what I'd make in 3 weeks during the regular school year ...) The background check is good as long as I don't take a summer off ... and it counts for me transferring my TX license to NM (which I need to do soon!)

I also finally managed to stop at Walgreens and pick up my prescription - only was out of it for 2 1/2 weeks!! (last weekend I tried twice, and they were closed by the time I got there.)

I sent home overdue notices last week for students/teachers - letting them know the last day to return books was May 18. In short order I had about 40 overdue items returned ... still need 50 or so. 2 weeks left of regular library classes, then the 3rd week will be making sure all books are in/no check out. Then the final week where I'll start inventory (though maybe I'll actually start it the previous week ...) This school does it much differently than anywhere else I've worked. Our final day of school/classes is May 25, and our final on contract work day is May 25. Everywhere else I've been, there's been 4 contract work days past the final school day. Interesting way to do it - would hate to be a classroom teacher with that schedule though.

We only have 25 yearbooks left (started with 84.) I hadn't realized we sold quite so many til Thursday when I counted them to double check the money. I have the feeling most of the remaining ones will vanish this coming week. I've gotten lots and lots of compliments on the yearbook - although I made 3 big mistakes. 1. left out picture of school nurse (she'd asked me to use last year's pic, and in my attempt to do so, I unchecked the box "use this photo" ...) 2. added an extra kid to first grade class (sibling of student not in school yet who got picture taken at same time ...) and 3. misspelled art teachers name on specials page. Arghh! Next year my goal is to have no mistakes!!

Talked to my mom today since I hadn't heard back from her since she'd returned from cruise with friend JH. Surprise surprise - she's back with M with whom she's had a total of 7?? breakups and get backs in a year's time. Oy vey.

I'm wondering if I can make hummus in a Ninja blender?? I was thinking that'd make a good addition to my lunch salad instead of relying on trail mix constantly. But I figure it'd be cheaper for me to make it myself than to buy it pre-made. (plus I can control how spicy it is ... in other words very little spicy!)

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I figured out today that I still have full access to my Rocket Spanish account - something I purchased back in 2007. At that time it was only good for a year, so I thought it'd expired. But the upgrade/update has made it lifetime access, and I guess that was retroactive. They've made some cool improvements - including this feature where you can record yourself speaking and match it against the instructors voice. I'd gone through about half of the lessons previously, but am starting back from scratch.

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I was looking at the AASL site to see where the next conference is going to be - it's going to be in SC in October. I'm trying to decide if I want to petition to go to it or not ... it would be great to be around a bunch of practicing school librarians, but I was kind of hoping for a site in CA or TX or maybe TN ... someplace where I could meet up with people I knew. I missed that opportunity this year (ALA was in Dallas in January!) I've got a few months to think about it.

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There's 3 movies out (or out soon) that I want to see: The Raven (I love Poe, though this sounds like it might be on the gruesome side even for Poe ...); Men in Black 3, and The Avengers. Luckily I have plenty left in my entertainment fund to do all 3 movies. (Will Smith/Robert Downey Jr ... mmmm mmmm!)

So I was checking my Mypoints CC statement on Friday and I noticed something strange. There was a charge for $36.xx at a gas station, and then for that same day/time/station there was a credit for that same amount. I know I got the gas, and I don't remember anything weird about the transaction. I'm not sure who I'd ask about why I got the money credited back - someone at the gas station I guess ... though unless the manager is there I don't know who else would have a clue by 4. The gas station is about 20 miles from here, so not exactly a place I can just "stop by" til I find a person who knows what happened.

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I'm considering going 95% vegan. I'm not interested in being 100% vegan because that would be really difficult here, plus I don't want to have to think about every bite I put in my mouth that much or every article of clothing I purchase ...

So anyway ... one thing I'm trying to figure out is how to make a cottage cheese substitute without using tofu. With my hypothyroidism I need to limit my soy/tofu intake as much as possible (which is hard but not impossible as a vegetarian.) I found one recipe that used soy milk instead of tofu, and am wondering if I could use Rice Milk instead for the same effect??

Vegan Soy Milk CC Mostly I want to use this for making casserole dishes (such as my favorite Special K roast.)

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I was invited out to the home of one of our church members yesterday. It was a lot of fun. She'd made Asparagus soup - yum! As well as vegetarian tamales (again - yum!) As we were talking, I found out that she'd met her husband at Weimar while attending an 18-day Diabetes reversal seminar. Weimar is run by the Seventh-day Adventist church and has at it's foundation the idea of NEWSTART. (She was pretty impressed that I remembered most of what that stood for - from 7th grade science.) Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sunshine, Temperance (moderation), Air, Rest, Trust (in a higher power.) What you eat while there is essentially a vegan diet, and you learn how to cook numerous vegan dishes. You also get daily massages and hydrotherapy (hot/cold water treatments.)

I've thought about going and participating in a session before, but never had done any real research into it. After talking with her and hearing first hand about it, I was even more interested. I did some research last night on it (i.e. cost) and realized it is probably not something I'd ever be able to afford unless I develop health problems where my insurance would be willing to help with the cost to allay the health problems.

So ... I already know that eating ice cream doesn't agree with me very well anymore and I rarely if ever drink real milk ... so cheese, eggs and cottage cheese would be the main things I would need to figure out how to do without. Even with eggs though I generally use the egg substitute ...

My plan is to finish eating what I already have in my cupboards/fridge/freezer but then from now on, whatever I purchase will be non-dairy.

Two things I won't give up will be honey and chocolate. (Which is part of why I'm not going 100% vegan -- really, technically, I'll just essentially be a bit stricter of a vegetarian. Currently I'm considered a lacto-ovo vegetarian (dairy products.)

I was told we have a health food store in big G - so I may try looking that up and see what they have to offer.

I think by doing this, my grocery bill will actually eventually go down. I'm hoping that my cravings for sugar/junk food will be reduced the more healthily I eat, and I'll feel better overall so will have more energy (mental and physical) to actually *make* food rather than be a mainly microwave cook. (I still would do a lot of microwaving - just of food that I prepared ahead of time myself and froze.)

---Anyway, I probably won't get too serious about this til school is out and I have time to really figure everything out. All I know is that I need to do something to stop the direction of my scale and something to give myself the energy to not be a computer potato.

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This week we have a male candidate coming! I imagine he's interviewing for a mid-school position. I bet our PE teacher would LOVE to have another male teacher at the school so he wouldn't be so outnumbered.

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My hot water went out sometime in the last two days. I discovered it Saturday morning as I was about to take a shower before going to church. No one knows the number for the new maintenance person of course. One of my coworkers has already offered me the use of her guest shower, but it still leaves me with a sinkful of dirty dishes (which I'd planned on washing last night.)

I tried relighting it myself (like the person showed me how to do last time) but I couldn't get it to work. Arghh!

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When I was at Walmart Friday I saw a summer dress with beautiful beading on it's front. I tried it on and it fit perfectly. It'll be a great dress for SrN's special retirement assembly (has a very native american feel to it.) As I was heading to the fitting rooms, I came across a display of flat sandals (the kind with enclosed heels and criss cross open straps.) They had a pair in my size!! Normally it takes me months and months to find a shoe that I like and that is in my size - but here I found *exactly* what I'd been looking for last summer, before I'd even started to formally begin my latest search. (the sandals I wore last summer/early fall are pretty much shot - even with the $50 price tag!) The dress and shoes cost $26 together. I'm thinking of maybe going back and getting a second pair of the sandals - just because I know how hard it is to find them (and because I'm thinking of using one pair for church/dressy occasions, and one pair for every day wear.)

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I called the medical clinic on Monday about my prescription not being refilled. No apologies were offered, but they said they'd take care of it. I finally got a message from Walgreens on Thursday that my prescription was ready for me! I was going to stop by on Friday, but forgot until it was too late. Then it became too late yesterday as well. I'm going to call them today to make sure it isn't the generic, then I'll go in a 3rd time to town - maybe take in "Lucky One" while I'm in town so it's not a trip *just* for a prescription!!

On a whim tonight I decided to log in to all my credit card accounts. I made an interesting discovery (ha ha) when looking at my Discover account. Apparantally they pull surprise categories for the 5% cash back thing. Groceries had not been included previously for April - June, but has been added as a category for May - up to $300. So ... I guess I'll be buying $300 of Walmart gift cards in May - Or I'll see how much I spend in grocery categories in May, then get the remainder of the $300 in grocery gift cards. Seeing as though I was already thinking of doing it this way to try to help curb my grocery bill....

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The other night I dropped my wireless keyboard and the batteries fell out. They needed replacing anyway, so I replaced them. As I was working on replacing them I apparently was depressing the enter key -- and was on a SB search page. When I looked up from working on the batteries I found a Searching Too Fast warning. So I wrote to SB support immediately to explain what happened.

Tonight I get an email back from them all but accusing me of cheating - i.e. using a bot or auto refresher. To my knowledge I've never missed one of those stupid captchas, and I definitely know I don't have a bot or auto refresher. I would do nothing to jeopardize my best source of free books for the library!!

My inclination was to write back a bit of a nasty note ... but I resisted. I'm not sure that any kind of a response would be a good idea. Just roll my eyes at their idiocy and make sure that the enter key doesn't get depressed like that again on a search page. Argh!

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I'm just about through with S4 of Pretender - at least the episodes that Hulu + has available. That's part of why I haven't been too active here lately.

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We've interviewed three people here in the last few weeks. One of them has definitely been given a contract, one definitely not, and the last one I'm not sure of yet. Next year sure is going to be interesting ... To put it one way .. the teachers who are leaving are in their mid-20's/30's. All 3 who've interviewed so far are in their mid 50's to early 60's. The one that was hired - I didn't get a chance to really get a feel for her comfort level with technology - though she did state that she thought FB was a big waste of time and she doesn't have an account. While I agree that it can be a waste of time, here it has been a great way for those teachers who are connected on it to communicate outside of school hours.

Anyway ... I better head off to the haystacks ... tomorrow I have no classes (because my normal classes are all off to a Bishop's Mass in little G for the majority of the day) however, I have a lot to do in the library and computer lab.

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I received my AGC from Mypoints today. $50 in books will be ordered soon.

Today I went to ABQ with three of my coworkers - 5th, 6th and IT. The impetus for the trip was to go spend the available Sch $$ before they expired, but of course when you make a 90 minute one-way trip you want to include as much else as possible.

Our first stop was the book warehouse. I ended up spending $134, $91 of which was covered by Sch $$. The remainder I plan on being reimbursed from our book fair cash proceeds. The others with me also bought some books. We all had way too much fun.

6th had a haircut appt, so we headed towards the mall. But first we stopped at Pet Smart where 6th bought dog supplies and I bought cat supplies (including a felliway type collar that is supposed to help calm anxiety in cats ... we'll see ...) At the mall we all got something called Bubble tea - so called because they put these little chewable bubbles inside your drink which you get with most all of your sips. It's good, but different.

While waiting for 6th to finish her hair appointment, the rest of us went to various stores. One was Old Navy where I got a native style top for 60% off.

We were all ready for lunch by this point, so we stopped at Sweet Tomatoes - kind of similar to Souper Salad. It was very good.

IT had never been inside of a Krispy Kreme store, so of course we had to stop there and let her see it in action. We all left with donuts.

I was really wanting some more veggie corn dogs, and 6th grade wanted to go to Sunflower?? Market - so that's where we went next. I didn't find my corndogs, but I did find my very favorite Amy's dish - Brown Rice and Veggies! I got 3 of them at the sale price of $3.99 (Her meals can be up to $5.50 at some places.)

Next, we headed to Costco where I filled up with gas ($3.61/gall ~8 gallons) and also bought 8 veggie/rice burritos for $10.

Our final stop was Papa Murphy's. 5th grade's family has a Good Friday tradition of eating pizza for supper and she was really missing her family. IT and I also both got pizzas (additionally, I bought a $3 S'Mores dessert pizza - couldn't resist for the price/size!) Total for me there was $14 (I added two extra toppings to my pizza - spinach and pineapple.)

Overall I would say that it was a very good day! And I still have 3 days left of my weekend. **Best of all, everything I spent today fits into my budget.

So today the 5th and 6th grade teachers, our Tech person and I all went on an outing together to ABQ. Our first stop was the Sch Book Warehouse. What a blast we had there!

I got quite a few graphic novels, a few sports related books and various other books. I ended up spending $134, $91 of which was covered by Sch $$. Two of the others also ended up buying a few books each. When we were checking out the guy told us that in a few weeks there will be a 50% off sale through May 23rd. We have a half-day on the 23rd. If I can get the remaining Sch $$ (which will be given once Sch gets our book fair check) to NOT expire before then ... can you say Road Trip?!!

After the books we headed over to the mall where 6th grade teacher had a hair cut appointment. Before going in for that we stopped at Petsmart. 6thGRTea bought dog food, etc., and I bought a collar that is supposed to smooth away a cats anxiety (help with scratching, etc.) At the mall we all got Bubble Tea (very different drink - kind of like a smoothie except that most of the times when you sip you get this gel like bubble that you have to chew, and there is something like juice inside of it.)


While we were waiting for the haircut appt to be done, the rest of us walked around the mall. I actually bought a shirt at Old Navy - a very different shirt for me, but I think it'll be good for when we need to wear "traditional" clothing for special masses, etc. It was $12, so not a steal, but a good deal compared to the regular price of $29.

Once we were done at the mall we headed over to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. It is a place similar to Souper Salad.

Next we headed to Sunflower Market (similar to TJs and Whole Foods). Glory be! I found my very favorite Amy's meal - Brown Rice and Veggies. I got 3 of them (I probably would've gotten more if I had a bigger cooler - they were on sale for $3.99 each ...)

Now on to our real treat of the day ... Krispy Kreme! AL (our Tech) had never been to an actual store, so we made sure to watch the process of the doughnuts going through the baking process and got some hot off the press. Mmmm!

Costco was next on our agenda ... filled up with gas ($3.61/gal - 8.4 gallons) and I bought some veggie burritos (8 of them for $10.)

Our final stop was Papa Murphy's. 3 of us bought a pizza (I bought a pineapple/spinach/mushroom one + also a $3 S'mores dessert pizza. Yum!) We stopped there because 5thGrTeacher's family has a Good Friday tradition of eating pizza on Good Friday night.

All in all, this was a really good day. And it all fit into my budget. (The extra money I spent at the warehouse I will probably take out of the cash we earned from the book fair.) If I did this kind of thing very often, then I definitely would need to curb the amount of spending I did ... but it's very rare that this happens, plus it was good to spend time with others - not to mention that it was really good for AL (she texted me tonight asking if the 5th/6th went on outings fairly regularly - I told her that they do, and she asked me if I thought it'd be ok for her to ask to be included - I told her I thought it would be a great idea! I don't usually go with them because they go on Friday nights or Saturdays - but that isn't a problem for her.)

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Tomorrow I'll probably be in G all day. Church in the late morning/early afternoon, potluck, and then movie night at the pastor's house. I'm not sure what I'll do between potluck and movie night ...