Some of you who have followed this blog for a long time may recall that I was a teacher. In fact, when I started this blog, I had just started the last semester of my 8th year.

Well, this morning after my running in the 5k race, I went home and got ready for church. I managed to actually arrive about 10 minutes before the second service was to start.

In the lobby was the person who accounts for 70% of the reason I left teaching. I had taught both of his children, in two successive years. His oldest, I had tutored after school 3x a week for free. His youngest - well, I had NO energy left after dealing with her all day.

My third year at this school (8th year teaching) I had the privilege of having his youngest daughter in my classroom for a second year, thanks to the school combining grades. The first day of school did not go well. I had a little boy "M" in first grade and then his daughter who were like two peas in a pod - feeding off of each other.

Long story short, the second day of school the father came into my classroom before school started and told me he was taking his daughter out of school. That she'd told him I'd left her in the hallway by herself crying. He would not listen to me when I tried to explain to him what had actually happened.

Later, he went to the school board and told them I was a horrible teacher, and didn't have any classroom management skills.

After being told about this, I ended up going before the board and giving my side of the story. (I didn't want to do it. I hate public speaking - especially when I know I'm going to get emotional. But I realized that I had to do if for myself. )But my decision had already been made - that would be my last year.

I spent a lot of time that year trying to come to a place where I could forgive him. I even remember near the end of the year at a school concert, him passing by me in the gymnasium, and my stomach just twisting up in knots. Then, I attended Pathways, and amongst a lot of other things, I was finally able to let go my hurt and anger towards him. I realized that my feelings towards him were only hurting me, and having no affect on him.

So, that brings us to today.

He approached me and told me that he would like to apologize for what happened so long ago. That he'd been wrong.

After pulling his daughter out and putting her in another school, she had just as many problems with her new teachers, if not more. He'd realized that the common denominator was his daughter.

I told him that I accepted his apology, and that he would have no idea how much it meant to me. That 4 years ago I would not have been able to accept it. He seemed to get that.

We then kept on talking and he told me of the struggles he and his wife had had with their daughter. (Adopted from Russia, as was their son.) In a way, I felt vindicated that he admitted that it hadn't been me that caused the problems, but mostly I felt sad that his daughter still was having those same difficulties.

I had given her my all the year I had her, and felt like we'd made a lot of progress. She had a good heart and was so intelligent, but just could not manage her behavior. Whenever she sees me at church she comes up and gives me a hug. So I always knew that she at least knew that I had truly cared about her and tried to help her. To know that her dad has also realized this ... I can't even begin to express how happy this makes me.

Enough to go back in the classroom? Nope. I may have been able to let go of this, but I don't see myself ever being able to take the chance of putting that much time and effort into a child/ren to have the "perfect child" syndrome strike again.

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In other news .. I ran a 5k race this morning. There were over 820 racers, and I ended up being about 2/3rds of the way back from the starting line.

At race time, the temp was already over 80 degrees. I was sweating and hadn't even walked.

In the end, I finished with a time of just over 47 minutes, but I think my actual time was closer to 44. The first two miles went well, but the third one I was really having to push myself to keep going.

I'll be writing up a more detailed race report for my blog (Run Laura Run) soon - but maybe not today. I need a nap, and I'm going over to my mom's soon for fireworks.

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Happy 4th everyone!

Well folks, I do believe I have seen the Writing On the Wall.

This morning when I got to work, E was there. We were chit chatting about this and that, when he mentioned that paychecks would be available tomorrow. *Then* he mentioned that they had opened a new check writing account at a different bank which only has branches in a town about 20 miles North.

So, what this means is that there will not be the opportunity to take the paycheck directly to their bank and cash it. (Unless I want to drive 20+ miles on my day off hoping that the money will be there.) So, the only way to get the money is to deposit the check.

We know how well that goes. Not.

E assured me there'd be enough money for all our checks. I just kind of gave him a look, and told him that I certainly hoped so, because I did NOT want to have to deal with NSF or Returned Check fees.

So, feeling really upset about this all day. I came to the decision that the first time a check bounces, I will be putting in my notice.

I simply refuse to deal with this anymore. It was annoying enough to have to go back to their bank multiple times to be able to cash my checks, but at least the embarrassment factor was solely in their court. Bouncing checks that I deposit in MY checking account puts the embarrassment factor on me as well.

Next question is how am I going to pay for school and living expenses without this job?

Well... I think I'll probably have to take my grandma up on her offer of financial help. I'm thinking of asking her to pay my tuition as I go, and then while I'm still in school, I'll pay 5% interest on whatever the total amount is each month. Then, once I'm out of school and have a librarian job, we can work out the repayment terms.

I also am working on applying for a number of scholarships I've found - but none of them would work until 2010.

With tuition covered, then all I would need to worry about is living expenses.

If I didn't make another dime, I could live on my savings for 13 months - supposing no emergencies or car repairs.

So, obviously I'll need to reduce my expenses + find odd jobs or maybe a part-time job.

To meet my goal of finishing within 18 months, I need at least 30 - 40 hours a week of study/homework time. The gym job is so perfect for that. Ugh.

I haven't heard from my brother yet about him moving here, so that *might* be a possibility. But I kind of doubt it.

I think it may be getting close enough to September for me to talk to my Pastor about any families he knows of that may be willing to exchange childcare/tutoring for partial rent.

I will know probably by a week from tomorrow whether or not this check has cleared. I really hope it does, so it'll give me another two weeks before saying sayonara. But, I think the smart thing to do is to start planning as though it WILL bounce.

I sure will miss working out with the lady who works out in the mornings -- and easy access to treadmills.

Le Sigh.

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Well, when my prescription is ready to be refilled, I have a coupon for CVS to get a $25 gift card. I need to see if I can find my Walgreen's one and check its expiration date. If it's in August, then I'll have my next two refills basically paid for.

Woo Hoo! My first class starts in less than 4 weeks!

It's a class about youth graphic novels and comics. It looks like it is going to be quite a doozy - one assignment is to read a graphic novel such as Spiderman 3 and then watch the movie.

But really, it does look like a lot of reading. The graphic novels won't be a problem for me, but the comic books will sure be a different form of reading than I'm used to!

I'm going to have to buy MS Office. To get the discount, I'll have to go on campus and get a student id made. I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to do that.

My Fall semester classes will start Aug 22. Two of them are what they call Web Institutes where you go on campus for a few days and attend class from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. then have some social events. Then for the remainder of the semester, you do your coursework online.

I'll also be taking a 3rd class, which is the first one in the School Librarian certification lineup.

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I am going to need to come up with a way to access the internet at the gym, sooner rather than later.

I checked the cost of the At&T usb plan, and it costs $60/month for 5 gb. (It works wherever there is cell phone service.)

I'm not sure if 5gb would be enough for a month, especially if I eliminate my home internet (to save $20/mo.)

I'm hoping to be able to find a less expensive alternative.

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Today my mom and I did some major spring cleaning. She left with more than she came with. I gave her the Macy's gift card to thank her for her help, along with a couple other things. We only managed to finish the kitchen and the bathroom. (Of course, we took a few "breaks".)

She's going to come again next week to help me with my bedroom (i.e. clothes!! and boxes of stuff she unloaded on me when she married stepdad that I still haven't unpacked.)

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I played around with TurboTax last night attempting to figure out what 2009 taxes are going to be like. Umm... I think I might have to figure out how to do estimated taxes/quarterly payments.

My tax bill - even with Lifetime Learning Credit and making about $900/mo from April - Dec, is going to be close to $900!!!! 2010 will be even worse, and that will be with making less than $12k the whole year + the LLCredit - that tax bill will be closer to $1600!!

I guess EIC doesn't work for self-employed/independent contractor income.

The sooner I can cut my housing costs the better!

Woo Hoo!!

I checked my email this afternoon, and what did I find at the top??

"Welcome to the Graduate Program for Library Sciences"

I'm gonna be a librarian, I'm gonna be a librarian!!!!

Yahoo!

So this morning around 4 am, after an already fitful night of little sleep, I was thoroughly and soundly woken by the start of a wicked lightning show. I laid in bed listening to it cracking away, and wondering just how long it would last. It just seemed to keep going and going.

I really don't recall ever experiencing quite a lightning show like this one. It *finally* started to calm down a little after 7, although it still was pouring down rain.

Oh, and the best part? Yesterday I had slightly cracked my car windows while at the dollar theater. A fact I totally forgot about -- until this morning when I got out to my car. Talk about WET! Even better, I had a bunch of library books on the front seat that were ready to be returned. Luckily they seemed to dry out fairly well today, but the car sure is one Musty ol' car.

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Now, why did I have such a fitful sleep before the storm hit last night?

I was reading some different threads on sparkpeople, and saw someone mention a cool youtube exercise video. So, I checked the video out. While there, I saw another video in the related section - demonstrating a move with resistance bands.

Eventually that led me to visiting the Bodyelastics.com website. Even though I kept telling myself to go to bed, I was just so interested I kept on going.

Bodyelastics are resistance bands. But they're not you're normal run of the mill bands. Two of the really neat features (that I was impressed with at least) was how you add the weighted bands to the handles - you just clip them on! I also like how they have each band clearly labeled for how many pounds.

A set runs $45+. Yes, I know I probably could get an adequate set for $20 or so. These just captured my imagination.

What if I could get E to purchase 5 sets of them? Then, what if I could get people to sign up to use them in classes? Maybe do 3 classes a day 4 times a week? I could go over to G3 location where we have the mirrored cardio room. Maybe charge a $25 equipment fee and then $3/class. do a 50/50 split with the gym on class fees.

Eh.. I doubt it would work. Liability issues with my not being a certified trainer probably would prohibit it in the first place. But it was kind of fun to dream and scheme - although it wasn't so fun to not get much if any shut-eye.

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Ooohh! I just got a call from a job posting I responded to on Sitter City. It's two days a week for a total of about 16 hours taking care of a 1 and 3 year old - $11 - 13/hr! If I got this, then I'd reduce my gym time to 20 - 25 hours a week, and still end up making more than I'm making now - plus have fun with kidlets!

Unfortunately I think I sounded kind of like an idiot on the phone. I've always babysat for people who already knew me. I had to admit that I thought I could do pretty well keeping the 3 year old busy, but would probably need to do some research to figure out how to keep the 1 year old busy.

Then she asked me what I was looking for in a family. Ack! I started rambling about how I was looking for something that would last through next August or so because I'm going to be getting my Masters in Library Science.

Ugh! I don't do well with unexpected phone interviews.

But, she did set up a time to meet me -- next Friday afternoon. Hopefully I can make a better impression in person.

Any ideas on how to keep both a 1 yr old and 3 yr old busy at the same time?????

When I first decided to go ahead and go full time working at the gym, I *thought* I had it figured out that I would be able to make enough on 36 hours of min wage per week to cover expenses, with the exception of Cobra. However, I must have miscalculated something somewhere, because even without Cobra, I am still coming out at least $80 behind.

I chose to not pay for Cobra, because in September the discounted rate would end, and I'd be out $1500 and still be without insurance (when it went to the 100% rate of $425/month.) So, really, what would be the point?

So I have been watching the gym losing more members than they are gaining. I've seen the last two income reports. It doesn't look good. I'm seriously wondering how much longer E's mom will be willing to throw away $2-3K+/month on gym payroll when it's mostly coming from her inheritance - even if they do consider the gyms to be a "mission."

Yesterday when I got to the gym, E was interviewing a new person. He's also hired on someone just for the summer. Personally, if I was E, I'd be scared to death to hire anyone new. How does he know that these new people would be willing to put up with bouncing paychecks, or having to hold on to a check for two - four weeks before it finally cashes? Stuff like that is liable to tick someone off in a not good way.

So, even before going to the bank three times this week, after being assured the money was there to cash my check, and still coming out with no money, I started to seriously consider what other options may be available.

The pros of this job: Lots of free time for studying once I start classes, one weekday off each week - so only work 4 days a week, ability to exercise a lot.

The cons of this job - overwhelming stifling boredom, minimum wage, never knowing if check is going to cash or not, inability to just deposit check due to knowing it may bounce, Boredom, gym closes for any and every holiday which equals loss of any pay for those days

Like I've said before, I like E. He is a good person, and he really tries to make everybody happy. This fact has made it somewhat easier to deal with the paycheck problem. Today though, after stopping by the bank once again, hoping to come out with money in my hands, only to come out empty handed, I was very very aggravated.

So, I'm really not sure what to do. Should I just stay until my lease is up on my apartment and hope the business is still around until then? That way very little will be going out of savings each month. Then I can quit there, and move into a room wherever I find the least expensive option and live off of savings + whatever odd jobs/temp jobs I can come up with?

Or should I try to find something else entirely?But if I somehow manage to find something else, then what would happen with school????

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. This job is just such a perfect thing for when I start school - it would allow me to go full-steam ahead because I could fill my working hours with studying. But is the aggravation over the money worth it?

I wonder if I switched my day off from Wednesday to Friday, and then signed up with temp agencies. Mondays and Friday's seemed to be the two most assigned days. That way I'd at least have one check I could count on, and could have it direct deposited. Of course,that's assuming that there are any temp day jobs even available right now - unemployment hitting 9.4% I heard today.

Before today, I had been trying to think of what I could do to just bring in an extra $100/month - to fill the gap between the gym income and my outgo. I have some things I could sell via Ebay or Craigslist, but not more than maybe a few hundred dollars worth (if that.)

This is my budget for June:

Rent: 665 (lease ends in Sept.)
Cell: 48
Internet: 20
Gas: 40+
Tolls: 25
Food: 60
Roth: 50 (Can't stop because its under 3k)
Meds: 25

Total: 933
Income: 854

I can't cancel my cell phone because its under contract and its my only phone.

I do manage to make *some* money via the internet (blogs, youdata, surveys, etc) plus its my main means of communication with other people.

Gas and Food ... I'm trying to keep them in those ranges, but with the way gas is going up, I don't know if it is a reasonable amount. Food .. as long as I leave my cards at home except for planned grocery days, I can do that amount.

My July budget looks even grimmer. My first paycheck (once cashed) is minus a normal 12 hours pay due to Memorial Day. Then I have to get my registration renewed for my car. Oh yeah, starting this coming Monday, I will have one hour less a week due to ending my Mondays at the South gym which closes earlier than the #2 gym.

My mom asked me if I was having money troubles. Technically, the answer is no, because I have plenty of savings to fall back on. But realistically, I am living way above my means - with really nowhere to cut.

Yesterday E, the gym manager, asked me if I would open the #2 location, and then go over to the South location until closing. I agreed to do that (usually I stay at #2 until closing.)

My lunch was a couple of frozen items and I was going to be at #2 for a couple hours, so I brought them in and put them in the fridge. When my replacement got there we started talking and I got distracted.

20 minutes down the road I remembered that I had left my lunch at #2.

Normally I could just stop at Taco Bell or something like that and pick something else up. But in order to help myself fight the temptation to buy food I don't need when overtired, I have been leaving all money at home, except for days I know I'll need to get gas or will be going grocery shopping.

I had $1.60 in change which I was planning on using to pay to print some things out at the library. The library that is on my way home from the #2 location, but out of the way for the South location.

So, I decided that I could probably get two things from the vending machine. Not a great meal, nor very healthy, but better than nothing. I bought the first item (pop tarts) and then put the money in for the second item - it stuck!

So, all I had was the first item and no more money.

I called E to ask him if he knew who I should call to get my money back. It went to voicemail. A couple hours later he called me back. When I told him what had happened, he insisted on buying me lunch. At first I resisted, but finally I accepted - cuz, well, I was *hungry*. So he gave me his credit card number.

The pizza was SO good.

It's stuff like this that makes me not get too upset about paychecks taking forever to cash.

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Now I have a question. I feel like I should pay him back. Should I? Or should I just accept it as a nice thing he did for me and move on?

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I had such a fun afternoon today. I spent it at my best friend T's house with her and the kids. We made waffles and had a picnic lunch in their living room while watching "Beverly Hills Chihuahua."

Then the kids were sent outside to play, and T and I watched "Maid of Honor." What was so funny was the kids kept coming in and out, so we had to keep pausing the movie. It ended up taking almost twice as long to watch it.

Wednesday was my day off from the gym. I had lots of ideas of things I'd get done ... but then I opened up my freezer and realized that it really had gotten bad.

My freezer is a hand me down from my parents. It is well over 20 years old and is HUGE. It also has a bum leg which has to be propped up in order to keep the freezer stable and the door sealed tightly.

Last week apartment management came by and did their "inspect electrical plugs" tour. I had unplugged everything I reasonably could - with the exception of the freezer. There was no way I was going to try to move that behemoth and unplug it - especially with not knowing when ..or if .. they'd actually come.

I arrived home one day last week to find a note letting me know they'd been through. They had obviously unplugged both my fridge and my freezer, because both were noticeably out of place.

I noticed that the freezer wasn't totally frozen, but just checked the door. After a few days I realized that when they pulled it out to unplug it, they had pulled the unstable leg off the deck of notecards used to stabilize it.

I procrastinated about doing anything about it.

Then yesterday morning I opened it up and saw that nearly the entire first shelf was full of ice. Ooops.

So I spent the next 7 hours defrosting the monster. It never did get totally defrosted - the roof and first shelf still had bits of ice on it - and that was after taking cups of hot water and a blowdryer to it. But it was close to my bedtime, and I decided it was good enough.

Unfortunately, I did end up having to throw out a good bit of food. Some of it was food in packages that tore while I force freed them from their icy tombs, and other packages were frozen fruit which had um... melted and refroze and melted again.

Somehow everything that was left just barely fit into my upper freezer on my fridge.

It's a good thing I don't have to pay for electricity, because I'd really hate to find out how much kilowatts the freezer is using.

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I *finally* submitted my application for grad school last week and got busy with having all my transcripts sent. Today I received an email telling me that the first glance through my application was complete, and that I met the basic requirements for the main grad school. It now is being sent on to the Library Sciences department.

Now I just have to print out my essay and mail it in along with my Library Sciences application. Then wait and see.

Last month when I transferred my prescription to Tom Thumb to get the $30 gift card, I received a $25 check from Walgreens which would be good if I transferred a prescription to them. So this past weekend I transferred the same prescription back to them and had the check validated.

I debated about using it today or tomorrow, and came **very close to waiting. But, I didn't.

What did I find in my email box when I got home? An email from Walgreen's saying that on Wednesday or Thursday if you spend $25, you get $5 off (using the coupon included in the email.) Argh!!!

I couldn't have used it anyway, since my printer still isn't working. It's just the thought though - if I'd waited one more day and my printer was working, I could have saved another $5, so I'd have gotten $30 worth of merchandise for free.

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Ok, another video from one of my favorite pick me up blogs. And funnily enough, it relates to one of my favorite children's stories, Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McClouskey.

Enjoy!

The Banker and the Ducklings

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Thanks to my book blog, I have received a free children's book! It arrived in my mailbox this weekend, and I read it while I was waiting to go in to my friend's daughters ballet recital. Adorable!

(My friend's daughter is graduating from Kindergarten on Wednesday night. I remember feeding her with a bottle when she was just a few days old! Time flies!)

I'll be reviewing it on my Children's book blog - it should be posted in the next hour or so.

If you recall, when I came back from my California trip in January, my Toll Tag was missing. I'd looked and looked for it, but it was nowhere to be found. So, finally I gave up and got another Toll Tag, which I had to pay a $25 replacement fee for.

So on Monday I was to open up at the gym. The gym key wasn't in my purse where I normally put it. A search of my apartment and subsequently my car did not turn it up. In the end, I had to call security to let me in. (Subsequently, I found it in my makeup bag!)

While searching for the gym key, lo and behold I found the Toll Tag! It was in an area of my car that I was *sure* I'd checked carefully before.

So, today on my one weekday away from the gym, I trouped over to the Toll Tag place and turned it in. They in turn gave me a $25 credit on my account, which is roughly 4 weeks of tolls.

Yay!

----- *Warning - The following is a bit of a ramble, bit of whiny, bit of long.

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I think I mentioned a few weeks ago how one of the gym regulars gave me a job posting for an admin asst who also needed to be able to translate Spanish/English. I let him know of course, that that wasn't in my skill zone.

Well, yesterday he came by at least 4 times, as well as calling me a couple times -- with two new job postings. One was in the insurance part of his company (needing someone with math and analytical skills... cough...cough...) and the other was in the engineer part.

I'm torn. Should I attempt to go for either of these positons or not? The money, no question about it, would be significantly better - and I can only guess about the benefits. But.. both of these are full-time/permanent positions.

If, on the off chance I was offered either one, then I would have to do school one-class at a time. Which means it would take two or more years to complete my degree. And, at some point I would have to quit the job in order to do my practicum.

On the other hand, my job at the gym offers the sole benefit of plenty of time for studying, and if needed, I could just cut back on my hours a little, or rearrange my schedule when it's time for the practicum.

The other thing is, that it may be that I won't be able to start school until January. I *may* have missed the deadline for applying for the Fall semester, let alone the summer sessions. (The deadline, as far as I can tell, was March 1.)

So, what I'm trying to figure out is, should I tell him thanks for looking out for me on these job opps, but I'm ok with where I'm at for now. Or, should I go ahead and see what happens ... then if I get the job, it'd take me that much longer to finish school, or maybe I'd just not go back to school at all....

I think the main reason I'm having a conundrum about this is the fact that this person is personally recommending me.

As far at the gym job and payment issues .. E told me that as a result of his mom's inheritance (parents dying recently) his parents are infusing the business with enough to ensure payroll for a long, long time.

It probably is a moot issue anyway. The one position wants someone with math skills, and the other wants someone with *advanced* powerpoint skills. I don't fit well into either needed skill set. Yes, I could learn powerpoint, but with the economy and how many are out there looking, they probably will have 100 people who already have everything they're looking for already - no learning curve needed.

But then my next thought is, what if I do all the schooling to be a librarian, and can't get a job as one? ARggh!

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Like BA posted the other day, about feeling blah. I think that's kind of what I'm feeling too. It's so hard to get myself motivated to do anything. And the few things I manage to make myself do, seem pretty futile.

Prime example -- The last three weeks I've ran on the treadmill 2 x a week. But, I have also now gone slightly past my highest weight ever.

It's really, really hard for me to find enough motivation to post to my new blogs. I was in the middle of a series on my frugalton blog when the whole she-bang with today .. com went down which caused me to essentially stop posting on the today blogs. But now on my new ones, I'm finding it really hard to pick up the rhythm again - especially on the frugal blog. I'd like to pick back up on my series, but feel like I need to backtrack a bit. But most of the people who'd follow me there will have already read what I said previously, so even with a good bit of rewriting, it'll be a rehash.

Part of me just wants to quit on both of those blogs. Maybe if I had a good internet connection at the gym, so had more internet connected time to work on them... because the past few weeks, the only time I have to work on them is Wednesdays, the evenings, and the weekends - and its taking a lot of that time.


I think part of it may be that I'm feeling really, really alone. And I'm really, really missing an ex. Have even thought about emailing him just to say hi.

Recently a different ex contacted me and made me an offer ("friends") - which I refused at the time -- but I sometimes sort of wonder if it wouldn't be such a horrible thing after all.

The one really good thing about maybe getting an office job would be being around people most of the day again. But, then again, it isn't necessarily a good thing.
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Anyway, if you've managed to sludge through the above ... I interviewed the author of Sate of Wilderness and State of Quarries (two books I reviewed recently) and that interview is up on Children's books for storytime.

On the frugal blog I posted on some ideas for mother's day.

Last night I talked to my dad for awhile. He told me I really should check my mail. Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs with a good bit of lightning thrown in for good measure. So, I didn't get to the mailbox till this morning.

In the mail was a letter from my dad, and an envelope from my grandma. In the letter from my dad was a check for $100 -- for FUN not Savings -- was clearly specified on it. Heh, he knows me so well. It was totally unexpected and so sweet of him.

In the envelope from my grandma was a dvd of Les Meserables (the one with Liam Neeson.) Nice! She and I saw the traveling broadway production of it in San Antonio in 1996??

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I spent a good portion of my evening yesterday trying to figure out how to get comment luv off my other blog. Comment luv is this add on that is supposed to make it so that when a person leaves a comment along with the url to their own blog, then a link to their latest post shows up. Well, not only have I not been able to get it to function like that, I also can't figure out what feed the comments are on --- this is a problem because my recent comments widget and my top posts/most popular posts widget can't work either!

Never did figure out how to get it off, but did end up switching to a totally new template/design. I also made my own header for it. Not completely sure I like it just yet. I may need to do a bit more tweaking of the header.

I posted about my

Tom Thumb shopping trip on Living Frugal and Simple.

And on Children's Books for Storytime I posted a review of Mandie and the Secret Tunnel. A great children's mystery book (Christian fiction.)

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I feel bad for E, the gym manager. Three weeks ago his grandfather died. Then on Friday his grandmother died. He asked me to call all the gym workers and let them know that the paychecks wouldn't be ready until Wednesday. One person I called and told this to was so callous - saying 'it's always something.'

While that may be true, the poor guy has lost both of his grandparents in less than a months time!

This same person told me that he refuses to do anything other than sit and watch the gym, do towels, etc. If E wanted him to make phone calls to people regarding invoices due, or call other gym workers on various issues, or update the waiver file, he'd have to pay him extra.

Me on the other hand, sees how much E has to do and how overloaded he is. I see how much free time I have while at the gym, and for two reasons: 1. To help E out; and 2. Hope to help E be more ...errr.. organized -- have volunteered to do anything I can to help lighten his load. (which he has taken me up on -- and I still have plenty of time on my hands!)

I checked my unemployment account last night, and was VERY happy. It shows that I've been sent a payment for each of the weeks that I made a claim, and that I should receive my debit card by April 23.

Woo Hoo!

I'll be even happier once I have the debit card and transfer the funds to my checking account - because then NO MoRE dealings with UI!
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I'm torn. The company where I have my two blogs at has demoted a majority of the bloggers from pay per post to just pay per unique visit (me included.) A lot of people posted on the forum expressing their disappointment. A good number expressed that they may not post as often on their blog. From what I have gathered so far, everyone who expressed even a hint of taking a bit of a break from posting, or cutting back on how often they'll post, has been locked out from their accounts.

This means that they no longer are able to use their blogs nor earn money from visitors.

I feel strongly that this was very very very wrong, and don't know that I wish to continue with my blogs there. But ... I've put a lot of time and energy into both the frugal and storytime blogs and really don't relish the idea of starting over somewhere else.

The other thing is, is that I have two referrals - people who clicked on a 'paid to blog' ad from my site. If I leave before they become qualified referrals (30 posts) then I lose the one-time referral fees.

I'm just not sure what to do.

Leave and start over somewhere else - which means losing at least $10 plus having to figure out a new system.

or

Stay and keep my mouth shut about what I think about how they treated their loyal bloggers, and maybe get the $5-10 eventually, and not have to learn a new system.

Well, it seems as though the lady I spoke with on Friday actually did send an expedite email. Today I got a call from a different lady, who I assume is an investigator, and she asked me some questions to verify information. From what she said, it sounds as though she's going to be approving my claim. Now I just have to wait 7 - 10 business days to get my debit card, and I'll finally have my money!!

Just in time for me to stop making any claims. (Technically, as long as I'm working less than 40 hours at min wage, I can still make claims - but it really isn't worth the hassle IMO.)

---
I think one of the perks of working at the gym may have gone away -- having internet available. On Monday when I got back from my interview, I couldn't log on, then again yesterday, and yet again today. There are a good number of the locked networks, but the unlocked ones are having a really small signal strength or none at all.

E mentioned that there is some kind of singal booster thing I can buy for around $30. If this keeps up, I may have to look into that, because as much as I love to read, I do like to keep informed of what's going on in the world during the day. (i.e. check email and surf net.)

---
Had a real funny today when I was driving home from the gym. I passed through two different "tea party" groups. As I was passing through the first one, I had to do a double take --- one of the participants was my old manager! (He is pretty um... distinctive/hard to miss even in a crowd.) I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, because his income is well above the level where the taxes are supposed to increase.

It was just really weird to actually recognize someone in a protest. I wonder if he participated in the protest marches of the 60's too? Too bad I can't ask him, that could've been a fun conversation.

--
I cut out a few coupons that are useful - mostly for convenience items, but with the coupons they should be cheap enough to get. I was planning on planning out my Tom Thumb shopping trip today ($30 gift card; $5/$50 coupon) but didn't have the updated sales flier, and of course didn't have access to the internet.

I did get a flier today though -- it said "get a $10 coupon off your next order for every $30 you spend on participating products." Hmm.... So, if I finagle it right, I'll be able to pay $15 for $50+ of groceries, plus get a $10 coupon for my next visit. Now I just need to get a list of the participating products to see if it is worthwhile for me to try.

Yep. I had an interview yesterday afternoon. All I had was an address for the company - no phone number. I looked it up on mapquest and it looked fairly simple to get to ... What mapquest didn't tell me, was that the road this place was located on was one of those business park roads -- the kind with very little signage if you're coming from the opposite direction.

So .. I finally found it, 30 minutes late. I figured since I'd found it, may as well see what happens. I had to wait another 30 minutes because the interviewer(s) were with someone else. The ladies (3) were all very nice and understanding -- but it was pretty obvious they were just talking to me as a courtesy.

Oh well. I'm not sure I would've liked that job anyway.

--
Still waiting to hear if there's been any movement on the unemployment since I finally heard from someone there on Friday. Supposedly the lady was going to mark an "urgent" email to whomever was in charge. We'll see.

---
Go me! I actually ran a mile on the treadmill yesterday! The first real exercise I've done since .... er... February?

---
I posted a recipe on the frugal blog about

Danish Aebleskiver's If you're looking for a fun family treat, you might want to check it out.

(Sunday's post was on Aebleskiver's, but there's been more posts since then.)

=---
Not much else to report really.

Well, the third time must have been the charm, because I got a phone call today from the UI people!! The lady I spoke with said it was *still* stuck in the investigation mode, and she wasn't sure why. She told me she'd put a bee in their bonnet to get it taken care of ASAP. So . . we'll see where it goes from here.

---

I got another phone call today! From a Craigslist job posting I responded to several weeks ago for a data entry job. It'd be full-time w/benefits and about $2.50/hr less than my former job. But . . it is closer driving distance -- and, well, it's a job! with medical paid! I just might be able to put a little in savings again!

So, I have an interview with them on Monday - it's a group interview. Not sure if that means they'll be interviewing several people at once, or if there'll be more than one interviewer in the room.

I wish I still had the job posting description for it.

---
Today I wrote a post about

More Ways To Reduce Your Debt

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Yesterday the lady who is leaving the gym asked me if I'd come in a couple hours earlier than I was supposed to, so she could take off early on her last day. I told her no problem. So, I showed up a bit before 1p.m. and found the gym locked up and dark. What?! I opened it up and went inside, and found everything like I'd left it last night.

So, I called E and asked him if we were closed for Good Friday - the only thing I could think of. He said that we were, and he was sorry he hadn't let me know. To make up for my time and gas, he told me to put $25 on my time card. Pretty fair I thought.

I also asked him if there was anything I could do to help ease his hectic schedule (which is part of the reason he's so confounded forgetful about so many things!) He told me that he has a binder of over 600 waivers that need to be gone through and checked - to see if any of those people are still around and if there's anyway to talk them in to coming back for a membership. If the job on Monday doesn't work out, then I'll start calling those people from the waivers - if any of them join back up, then I'll get a referral fee from them.

---
I bought some groceries at Walmart today -- I didn't go to Tom Thumb yet because I want to plan that trip out carefully. While at Walmart I picked up last Sunday's paper with the bunches of coupon inserts. I'm hoping there'll be a few that'll be useful.

The Sunday paper is now up to $3!!! I was quite taken aback - it used to be you could get a double edition (early edition + normal edition) for $2. I really hope there's at least $3 worth of coupons I can use in the paper.

In the mail today I got a coupon for $5 off my next $50 purchase at Tom Thumb. So, with the $30 gift card I got the other day, I could get $50 worth of groceries for $15 -- and that's assuming I don't use any coupons. Hmmm... Of course Tom Thumb is more expensive than Walmart, but even so, I think I should be able to get a comprable amount of groceries for $15.

---

I logged into my UI account last night, and guess what? It shows the last six weeks of payments as having been processed. Yay, right? Not so quickly. They ALL show as "Benefit paid: $0.00" WHAT!!!!

I checked it again this afternoon, just in case it needed processing time or something. But nope, it said the same thing.

So, I sent my third email to them asking what the hockey sticks is going on! Supposedly they are supposed to get back to you within two business days. Considering the fact I sent my first email about a month ago, and the second one a week ago, and yet to have heard back . .. yeah, we'll see where that goes.

I wish I knew what else I could do to get some answers.

----

Today I posted the first of a new Thursday Thirteen series on using Baking Soda called

Thirteen Ways To Use Baking Soda In Cooking.

Then I suggested a fantastic children's book about a boy named Walter called Just A Dream.

----
I stopped in at Walgreen's tonight to pick up a couple things. There was this lady in front of me who was buying a whole bunch of things on sale or clearance. I think the cashier was getting kind of frazzeled, but he remained polite. He'd finally finished ringing her up and announced the total price . .. then was like "Oh! I forgot your coupons!" Saved her nearly $10.

Although I was halfway annoyed at how long I was in line, I enjoyed watching the whole little show more - especially when the lady saved a nice bit of money.

Oh and a funny. You know how I moan and groan about how math and I just don't agree? Well this lady was asking what 50% of $1.70 was. Someone nearby with a puzzled look on their face piped up ???$.90? A second later I said $.85.

Now why couldn't the GRE ask questions like that??

Last week I responded to an ad on Craigslist for a Market Research study. They called me on Friday, but needed me to come in on Monday morning. I couldn't do that because I was at the gym then.

So today I was just finishing my second children's book post when I got a call asking if I could come in today at 2pm. I of course said yes!

It was a very different study, using electrode nodes attached to your head and a video they measured your responses to. But, it made me a cool $75 for less than an hour of my time.

If I could only do a couple of these a month ...

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Today my Single Frugal and Loving Life blog (yes, I changed the title - better words for search engines) continues my series on living within your means by exploring

Ways to reduce debt and begin to live below your means

On Storytime For Children I added two new books:
Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin Jr. and The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry.

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I think I mentioned before that my desktop computer was giving me some trouble. Well, it is working fine again now - not sure exactly what happened.

But now my wireless keyboard is giving me fits and caboodles -just stops communicating, then will start up again. That makes it very difficult to write anything.

So, again, I am very thankful for my little netbook. However, I am going to need to figure out how to get my keyboard working right, because for my blogs I have to do a lot of pictures, and this little baby can't handle too much pictures saved on the disk without majorly compromising performance.

---
I did not spend any money today - even though my market research place was very near a dairy queen. Speaking of dairy queen, if you go to their website and join their 'team" you get a coupon for a buy one blizzard get one free. Just saying.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but lightbulbs in my apartment tend to have a very short lifespan. In fact, right now the only lights that work in my apartment are the one above my desk (actually installed within the desk,) the kitchen light and one light in the bathroom.

My dad thinks this is because the wiring in the apartments is old. Maybe he's right.

Today they turned off the electricity for the whole complex for a bit over 8 hours while several electric company trucks worked on the electric boxes. I had received notice about this a few days ago, and really had meant to make up a couple sandwiches that didn't need to be refrigerated to prepare - but um... procrastinated and didn't get it done.

So, when I got up today, I realized there really wasn't anything I could eat without opening the fridge or the freezer. And of course anything in the freezer wouldn't do me much good because the microwave wouldn't work.

So I twiddled my thumbs as long as I could stand it, then went off to do some errands. One of them was stopping at Taco Bell and getting some FOOD!

So, my procrastination and lack of preperation caused me to spend nearly $5 (for brunch and supper.)

----
Continuing my series on Living Within Your Means, today's post is

How Can I Live Within My Means?.

I didn't get a new post put up today on my storytime blog due to the lack of electricity at home, and then once at the gym, just wasn't feeling great.

However, I did get a large stack of books from the library yesterday which I'll be adding to my blog over the next week or so - plus have another good sized lot that's come in which I need to pick up. Most of which are well loved books, a few which I've not read before, but look interesting.

---
I've shared a post from this particular blog before, and today saw another one that I had to share with you.

Tom Thumb Miniature Dog

Enjoy!

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Oh! Almost forgot. Today I used one of those transfer prescription coupons at Tom Thumb. My scrip cost $24 (sans insurance) and I got a $30 Tom Thumb gift card! Woo hoo! I tend to get my groceries at Wal-Mart, so I'm going to see if there's any market on Ebay for it.

I found out today that one of the other gym workers had given notice. E told me that he'd prefer to not have to hire someone new, so he gave me first choice of hours. So, I now have 36 hours a week at min wage. If I ever get the UI, that should be around $2000 - $2400.

If you remember my bare bones budget from before, 36 hours at the gym gives me about $150 - 200/month deficit. With the UI money, that means I can hold off from touching savings (for living expenses at least) for a good 10 months.

I've decided to put the word out to my pastor that I'd like to find a room to rent starting in September/October. I plan to offer $200/mo + 10 hours babysitting/tutoring or $300/mo. All I need is a room, internet access, kitchen privs, and laundry room privs 2x/month.

If that's not possible, then I will try for the option of finding a roommate and do a two-bedroom - that would work out to roughly $400/mo.

With working nearly full time at the gym, I will be able to take a full load of classes, time-wise at least. It remains to be seen how much I should do financially wise.
---------
This is a really fantastic video with Julie Andrews singing a song from Sound of Music. It is just totally beautiful.

Dancing in Antwerp

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This week I'm doing continuing a series on Living Below Our Means. Today's post is Living Within Your Means Isn't Enough

And on my Storytime blog, my most recent post is about a beautiful story of how a little girl grew up and found a way to make the world a more beautiful place: Miss Rumphius.

I'd love any feedback on either.

---
I think I may be getting sick. Which is not good.I'm hoping its just my allergies bothering me - I can't afford to be sick.

After procrastinating and procrastinating, I finally got my taxes done today. Of course I owe - thanks to working at the gym and ChaCha. But at least I don't have to think about taxes again till next year.

I *still* have not heard anything regarding my unemployment money. I emailed them on Thursday to find out what was going on - if I still haven't heard from them by Tuesday morning, I'll email again (while also continuing the futile attempts to reach someone by phone.)

A piece of good news - I finally received the check from the Pennsylvania Court for the Wachovia settlement -- that's $35 more in my coffers. Yay! I'd begun to wonder what had happened to it.

If you'd like some suggestions of good books to read to your kids in getting ready for Earth Day, feel free to check out my Storytime For Children blog. I have two posts up so far, but have quite a few more coming in the next weeks. Earth Day probably is one of my favorite literature themes. So many great children's books.

This week I'm going to see if I can make it to one of those networking groups. If I could even find something for 10 - 15 hours a week on top of my gym job (that paid at least $9/hr) then I could do okay without the UI, and not dip into savings (other than paying for school.)

Hi all,

Just a quick note to let you know I'm still percolating.

I'm anxiously and nervously working on getting ready to take the GRE on Tuesday. I've taken two practice exams so far -- out of 800, I scored in the low 700's for Verbal, and high 400's for Math. Urch!

I'm not really sure at this point if there's any way for me to study enough to boost my math score. I'm going to keep reviewing the math parts that are giving me trouble - but mainly it is all the various formulas and knowing when to use them.

--
My friends got back from their cruise Friday night. I spent most of Saturday with them, church, potluck, and then watching videos they took/pictures.

--
I *stil* haven't heard anything about my Unemployment status. So, will have to attempt getting in touch with someone via phone yet again this coming week. Looks like tax day will have been an overly positive estimation of when I receive my first payment. Ugh!

--
Still haven't done my taxes. I know - time is running out.

--
I've decided to use my GRE test trip as a mini-vacation. My dad has generously provided funds for two-nights hotel stay where I'll be going. There are several free admission museums there - specifically one about Children's Literature which looks interesting. It'll be nice to have two nights of cable as well.

--
After I get back from this trip/test, I am going to have to seriously hunker down on the spending front, the eating/health front, and the finding a job front.

--
Ok, I need to get some posts put together for my two other blogs, and then work on getting packed. I'll be leaving right after working at the gym tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to a 3 hour drive, but I'll survive - as long as I can find good music stations on the radio.

I've been keeping pretty busy the past couple days doing various things. Nothing really exciting really.

Today I did my last pet-sitting visit before my friends get back (actually, I stayed there last night and watched some more cable!) Their cat Megan was hiding from me this morning, but as I was just about to leave, she came out and hissed at me. So I sat down and took my shoes off -- and she let me give her foot rubsies.

My dad sent me $100 for my hotel when taking my GRE. (Isn't my dad sweet?) That's enough for 2 nights - taxes. I'm thinking about maybe making this a little mini-vacation. Yeah, like my life isn't a vacation right now, right?

But really, Abilene does have some interesting things to see, and it's one town in TX I've not been before. If I stay one or two nights will depend on how my job search is going. If I've got an interview lined up for Wednesday -- it'll be one night!

---
I've kind of been disappointed with the traffic my children's book blog is getting. It went for nearly three days with NO visitors. I was beginning to wonder if it was worth it to keep going with it. Then . . . the visitors started coming back (mainly google searches) and then *yesterday* I had 8 unique views - but one of them had to have been one of those indexing robots, because I had a total of nearly 600 page views!!!!!

---
I am beginning to think that sending responses to job postings on Craigslist is good for one thing, and one thing only. Job search credits for UI. Every week I've sent at least 6 or more responses (sometimes closer to 12) and I've gotten 4 interviews out of it, plus two other responses - one of which was that spam site trying to get me to sign up for online degree programs.

Yech.

There has to be a better way.

When I get back from my GRE test on the 1st, I am going to seriously start trying to figure something else out. Also seriously work on revamping my resume. I've kind of been doing *just enough* in trying to prepare for the GRE. So once that's out of the way, I can get focused again. Even if I could just find a part time job to add to my gym job - that would be great.

----
A few days ago I wrote a post about the

Montana Plane Crash and how there were people on it who hit close to home for my family.

---
Ok, I'm going to catch up with some blogs here, then get back to prepping for the GRE.

Toot a loo!

Yesterday at my interview, one of the questions was if I prefer working by myself or in a group setting. I thought that was a funny question, because sometimes I have thought that I'd much prefer working out of my home and not having to mess with the whole office/coworker thing.

But the last five weeks or so, where I have had very little interaction with other people comparatively to when I worked in an office, I've realized that I actually miss it.

Even working at the gym doesn't offer that much in the way of interaction. For example I was there today for four hours, and only ONE person came in.

I feel kind of bad for people who stop and say more than hi to me, because sometimes that's enough to get my mouth going - just to have someone to talk to face to face.

Another thing I've realized is that when I was first laid off, I had so many people calling me to check on me, or emailing me, etc. But now, it's back to normal - where I get maybe two calls a week.

I think next week I am going to force myself to go to at least one of those networking get together things. Even just to get out and interact with other people. Although, when in a group of strangers, my shy/quiet will hardly say a word side strikes up. Worth a try though.

----
Yep, I received my check for Jury Duty today. So, since I had to pay $6 for parking (since the attendant gave me back $2) I am now even. Yay.

I'm really having a lot of fun with my children's story time blog. I hadn't realized that so many of my favorite children's poet poems were on you tube. Some of them aren't read exactly the way I'd do it - but they're still good.

While at the gym today I skipped the last section of chapter 5 - just was not getting it - and studied through the middle of Chapter 10 of the GRE math. There were a couple sections I didn't stay with very long, but might go back to later if I have time.

---
oops - time for ER - will finish later

Well, my interview this morning was interesting. I didn't speak with the person I'd been corresponding with, and he didn't seem to have seen any of my info until it was handed to him. He reiterated the fact that there were at least 600 cannidates for the positions.

Then he mentioned that sometime they had to work a little late to ensure projects were done. I told him I didn't have a problem with that. THEN he mentioned that sometime they had to work Saturdays. (Groan. Interview over.) I told him I couldn't do Saturdays, but I'd be more than happy to come in on Sundays if needed.

They're of course not open on Sundays.

Oh well - I don't know that I'd really want to work at a place where I'd be expected to put in that much overtime anyway - esp not for what they're paying per hour.

---
Long story short - I found out today why I haven't received my unemployment benefits yet. They were on hold. For more of the story check today's post on

The Single Frugalton.

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Here is a really cute video of a cat being aggressive with another cat - that is, a *picture* of a cat! LOL

Cat attacks Picture

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I went to take care of the Bunnies and Hissy Cat today. Hissy cat of course hissed at me as I opened the door and growled at me as I walked past her to get to where her food/toilet/water were all at. Before I left though, she let me give her a foot rub - only after I took my shoes off.

Poor bunnies! Their water bottle was completely empty! After I refilled it, they both practically attacked it.

I ended up goofing off for an hour or so, then before leaving, I refilled their water again.

I'm not supposed to go back again until Saturday - but I'm worried that they'll be dehydrated before then. The weather has been pretty warm.

I'm also thinking about getting a second water bottle for them - but I really don't want to spend very much, since well, they're not MY pets - and it won't probably even be necessary again once the family is back.

Any suggestions?

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I called about the Lab bill today. I was told to resubmit my insurance info to them and then see what happens. For now, I'll leave it at that.

The lady I spoke with confirmed that it should have been covered.

-----
Wednesday's Accomplishments:
Wednesday Plans
(x) Interview at 10:30
(x) Cancel savings account at Chase
(x) Call Aetna and holler
(x) Go feed hissy cat and bunnies
() Study Chapter 6 in GRE
(x) Update blogs
() Finish Driver's Ed renewal course!!!!

Thursday's Plans
() Watch Lost
() Update blogs
() Finish Driver's Ed renewal course!!!!!
() Study Chapter 6 in GRE
() Send in application to place mentioned by Chase bank lady

---
ETA - When I got home today from taking care of the fur babies, I found out that my freezer door hadn't properly shut. So, I don't know how long it had been like that, but there was starting to be some drippage.

None of the food is meat - it appears that all the frozen fruits have turned to mush. Do you think my frozen burritos (bean and cheese and rice) and my frozen veggie lasganas will be okay to eat still?

I can't believe I did that!

When I got home tonight and checked my mail, I had a bill from a lab. It said that the insurance company had denied the claim because I wasn't covered on the date of service.

WHAT?!!! I was told I'd be fully covered through Feb. 28, and after that I'd have to go with Cobra. The lab work was done on Feb 19.

I will have to call Aetna tomorrow and find out what the eck is going on!

The lab bill itself isn't horrible - $104 - but if that wasn't covered, then probably the doctor's visit wasn't, nor my medication refil -- that all would add up.

---
I hadn't realized how long and involved Chapter 5 of my math book was. I worked fairly steadily on it today for about two hours, and still haven't quite finished it. The last section is on Algebraic Fractions (+,-,x,/).

---
I applied to a number of postings on Craigslist today. It was weird though, one of the listings I'd found last night and had left up to apply to in the morning, had been removed. I guess they found someone between late yesterday afternoon and early this morning? It had every appearance of a legitimate ad. Oh well.

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Tomorrow I have an interview at a place that does loan modifications and credit repair. They sent me three websites with info on their company.

I looked over all three websites - the first one is just a list of products, but the other two are for the Loan Modifications and Credit Repair. The Credit Repair site shows they are licensed and bonded in the state of Texas, but the Loan Modification one doesn't say anything about that.

I read an article on MSN yesterday about the Loan Modification places basically not being worth anything because they take your money up front, and then have little if any results to show for it.

So . . I am wanting to ask enough questions about how they operate their business to reassure myself that it is a legitimate business that is actually helping people. I'm just not sure of the best way to phrase my questions so that I don't come across as accusing them of something in case they ARE legitimate.

For instance: How does the loan modification process work? Do you take the money upfront, or upon successfully helping someone? What is the success rate?
How long has this business been operating? Has it gone under any other names? etc. ..

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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Tuesday Accomplishments;
() Cancel Chase savings account
(x) Cash paycheck
() exercise
(x) Check Craigslist
(x) Update blogs
() Study Chp 6, 7 GRE Math
(x) Gym from 3 - 7

Wednesday Plans
() Interview at 10:30
() Cancel savings account at Chase
() Call Aetna and holler
() Go feed hissy cat and bunnies
() Study Chapter 6 in GRE
() Update blogs
() Finish Driver's Ed renewal course!!!!

Due to the shift changes prompted by one of our staff members being asked to leave, I now have the early morning shift on Mondays.

It's amazing to me how fast a body gets used to NOT having to be up at the crack of dawn and how difficult it is to force that same body to rest the night before.

I had to go by the South gym to pick up the paychecks for the other two locations, so I even got to sleep in a few minutes more than I would have otherwise.

Even so, I was totally dead off my feet at the gym. Luckily, between 7 and 11 only 1 person came to workout. The other problem was that I was *cold*!

I hope I'm not coming down with something. Ugh!

---
I stopped by my apartment management's office today and signed a 6-month lease. I also found out that I could rent the smallest two-bedroom for $750/mo including utilities. So, I think I will spend the next few months looking for a roommate that I can live with to split the rent. Even if it goes up a bit, it'll still be less than $400/mo which would save me at least $265/mo. The biggest issue I still have to wrestle with is if I can give up my privacy.

----
I did manage to get in a few hours of studying my GRE math. I'm working on Chapter 5 of 14. So, if I concentrate on two chapters a day, I should have throughly gone through all the chapters by Sunday. Then I can take the practice exams, and review what I missed. Then on to the rest of the test.

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I spent way too much time this afternoon working on my Storytime For Children blog. I think though that I like how it is coming along. If you'd like to check it out and let me know what you think -- especially about the header and color scheme -- check my side panel in a few minutes for a link to it.

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Tuesday Plans:

() Cancel Chase savings account
() Cash paycheck
() exercise
() Check Craigslist
() Update blogs
() Study Chp 6, 7 GRE Math
() Gym from 3 - 7

My friend T and her husband are going on a 12 day cruise tomorrow - her husband won it as a prize for being the top salesman for quarter 4 at my former company.

Their two children are on their way to their grandparents, but they have a cat and rabbits at home. I've been asked to stop by and feed/care for them 3 times while they're gone - which I readily agreed to do.

I would have done it for free - but they insisted on paying me. So, I said, ok, let's say a tank of gas. Before I left today, they gave me enough money for at least FIVE tanks of gas! And they wouldn't hear otherwise.

I kind of feel guilty accepting that much money just for taking care of their furbabies 3 times. It is a 30 minute drive one-way with good traffic - but they've done so much for me over the years, it doesn't feel right accepting anything for it.

God has truly blessed me.

---

It looks like I have another interview this Wednesday. That outfit that had over 700 responses to their post responded to my followup response. It would be a full time position, M - F, paying 10 - 12/hr with benefits. It sounds like it is a place helping people modify their mortgages - so probably something pretty stable even in a bad economy.

I would however, have to limit myself to just one or maybe two classes per term, so that means it may take an extra year to finish. But again, if I want it badly enough, it's worth it.

----
I have 15 days until I take my GRE and I have not been focusing very well at all. I need to really hunker down for the next 9 days and focus on studying the Math, and then I'll spend 4 days on the writing, and the last few days focus on a general overview and taking practice tests.

I was talking to my dad last night, and he offered to pay for my hotel stay after the test is over. I probably need to make a reservation now rather than later. My test is at 1:00, so I may drive there in the morning, leaving around 7 a.m. in case I get lost.

OhhKkkaay... Just got a call from E. Looks like I won't be getting more hours - just had my shift changed all around and getting basically the same amount of hours as before. So . . the job hunt continues.

Speaking of the job hunt. I got an email from one of the job postings on Craigslist. They said they'd had over 700 responses for the 6 positions they're offering. This is so much fun.

Tomorrow I get to make another claim on unemployment. I wonder when I'll actually see any money from it - if ever?

So . .. I didn't sleep very well last night. (Let's just say that when you have a bottle of vegetable oil from 1997 and you're not sure if you should use it or not - no matter how much you want to make the brownies - DON"T DO IT!)

While I was tossing and turning, my mind was scheming as to what to do about my storytime blog. I'm thinking the likelihood of getting publishers to give me a carte blanche go ahead to read their books from cover to cover on videotape without having to pay royalties or something, is probably pretty slim. Especially without having anything established other than the one post.

So, I've decided to go ahead and do something similar to what I was thinking - except without the videos. I'm going to focus on different children's authors/poets and/or themes. I'll write short histories of the author's, give ideas on how to use the books or poems in a homeschool or classroom setting, and provide either links to already created activities or my own suggested ideas.

I also am going to see if my dad would be willing to record himself saying his children's stories. My dad was a pastor for 35 years, and I've never heard better children's stories. So, if he's willing, then I might put up two of those a month with a transcript.

Eventually, if it gets established enough, I might be able to add in my original idea. I still might make videos showing how to read a story to a group of children, or how to engage one child on your lap in a story. You would think most people would have those skills naturally, but from what I've seen, that's not so.

I need to get an amazon code from today for linking to the books, so it may still be a while before I get it really going.

I may be asking those of you with little ones 10 and under to give me suggestions of some of their favorite current authors. I know quite a bit myself, but there's so many out there that I may not have heard of them before.

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Can I live on $838/month?

The answer to that question is no. But I *can* live on $1000/month.

Why am I asking myself this question? Because that is what I'm probably going to be doing for the next couple years.

I think I'm going to give up on the job search for now. (Not that it's going so great anyway.)

If I work at the gym 32 hours a week - M, T, TH and F that will give me roughly $838/month income. The monthly difference will have to be made up through my savings.

What this will allow me to do is:
1. Have 4 days a week where I will have plenty of time to study and work on my blogs while getting paid.

2. Be in a place 4 days a week where I can work out.

3. Have my Wednesday's free to volunteer at my local library branch to start getting some real world experience.

3a. By getting my foot in the door at the library as a volunteer, I *may* be able to be in line for a paid position eventually if one opens up.

So, here is my budget:

Income: 838
Rent: 665 (Utilities are paid)
Phone: 50
Internet: 20
IRA: 50
Insurance: 200 (Health, Car, Renter's)
Gas: 40
Food: 50
Other: 10
Total Output: 1085
Difference: 246.60

246.60 *12 = 2959.44

So, at least $3,000 will be used from savings. I will have to use savings also for any taxes owed, medical costs, or car repairs. So I'm thinking roughly $4200 for one-year above my income.

I will pursue other avenues of income, such as from my blogs and babysitting, but that's not consistent enough to count.

My food budget will basically be this:
loaf of bread - $4
jar of peanut butter - $3
2lb bag of pinto beans $2
quinoa or lentils - $10
RiceMilk (2 lg containers) $7
Oatmeal $4
Fruit - $5
Frz Veggies - $6
Other -- $9

A day's meals would look like this:
Breakfast: Oatmeal w/milk banana
Lunch: Beans and veggies
Supper: Quinoa w veggies
Snack: peanut butter toast

I have some of these things on hand already, as well as a good number of other food items, so any grocery money not spent will be kept back for months when the gym is closed for a holiday.

I think I can make this work. It won't be easy - especially using up my savings. But if in the end I have my Master's and have library experience for my resume, I think it will be worth it.

What do you all think?

I found out today that I might be able to get some more hours at the gym starting next week - for a total of around 20 - 22 hrs/week. It'd still be a good bit less than my unemployment allowance, so I can do that and still claim payments. (not that I've been paid anything yet.)

I think it will be good for me to have more days at the gym - force me to get out into the world at least 4 days a week. E understands that I am still actively searching for something that pays more/give more hours, and that I may not be able to give much notice.

What I'm actually thinking would be good is if I could find something part time that pays 10-12 dollars/hr for 20 hrs, and then do the 15 hrs or so at the gym for min wage. That would give me enough to pay rent, gas, and bare min food. But it would also give me two days a week where I can study and work at the same time.

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It is so weird to wake up on a Friday morning and remember that I'm not going to have had an infusion of cash in my bank account. Today was the 4th Friday with no paycheck.

I will be getting a paycheck on Monday for the gym, but it will be 1/3 of what I was used to getting every Friday.

I am still living off of what I earned in February, so reality hasn't totally sunk in.

In a couple weeks though I will be living off much much less in order to avoid touching my savings as much as possible - unless of course I find another job. The rubber will really be hitting the road.

Monday morning I'm going to go by that place where they offered me a job several years ago. It probably is a real stretch that anyone there still remembers me, let alone would have a job open -- but it wouldn't hurt to try. Especially if it meant I could walk to work again.

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Friday's accomplishments
() close Chase savings
() Study GRE Math
(x) Gym from 11 - 7
() exercise

Saturday's plans
() study GRE math
() make flashcards
() update blog

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Oh I wanted to tell you all. My Single Frugalton blog came in 3rd place out of the 5 blogs. There were a total of 65 votes, and I got 12 votes. Caregivingdaughter.today.com, which is a fantastic blog about a woman taking care of her mom with alzheimers, won with 20 votes.

I was totally honored to know that 11 other people liked my blog enough to vote for it. (Hey, I had to vote for myself, right?)