My English Castle's Personal Finance Blog

Lots of school work to be done. I was going to whine a bit about it, but just read Save More's news and feel I nothing to whine about. Thinking about all of us out here as we face such perilous waters.
Hang in there, folks. We've got such a helpful community, and you've all been so supportive. I appreciate you all.

What a nice day. We had a special musical production at church of Schubert's Mass in G--which was spectacular. DD and I spent several hours outside cleaning up the yard and potting the pansies we bought on Friday. It was great to be outside--plus we planted radishes, our first seeds of the season.
I finished up some household tasks, we had an easy dinner, and I indulged my Anglophilia with the new "Upstairs Downstairs."

I need to spend an hour or so on prep for the week, but hope to get some extra sleep in. I've been feeling poor. Isn't that strange? I think I wish we had a bit more discretionary income, especially with plenty of things that need to be done around the house. And I'm still in shock about the cost of our summer airfares to the UK. I can't find anything for our dates less than $1200 each. But it'll work out; I'll just pinch the pennies elsewhere and look for a summer editing job. Lots of my colleagues are thinking about waitressing over the summer. Ugh. it probably depends on when the state budget "repair" bill hits my paycheck.

For today, I'll just enjoy today.

I was antsy and anxious all morning yesterday before the big meeting, but everything went fine, and my promotion--and that of my colleague-- went through. We celebrated with a glass of wine and a pizza.

It's not that much money, but the job stability that tenure offers is pretty darn valuable in an economy like this. I'm relieved. I wish there was a little time to celebrate, but I've got lots of papers waiting to be graded!

Leftover pizza for lunch today!

My students have started counting down the class days until the semester ends. I heard them talking amongst themselves before my first class started, and they've come up with 11 more of our classes. That seems so doable!

We had a jam-packed day today, and tomorrow is my big promotion meeting. Cross your fingers!

Cheap day here because I'm so darn busy at school. The last six weeks of the semester are always frantic. The only money spent today was for DD's piano lessons. Her teacher didn't want to charge us because she canceled last time for illness. She's a SAHM and her husband is the church music director. Of course, I paid her!

There may be big news brewing at the university--I'll keep y'all posted.

Hope to return to sanity by the end of the week!

No big deal today, but DD's school bus was late, which meant I had to park nearby the U and pay for parking or be late to class. And I ate a little too much, schlepped around a little too much, and didn't feel very productive today. Guess I need a long bath and a good night's sleep.

We started our taxes on Saturday but I'm short a 1099 from the publisher I did some editing for this summer. I've e-mailed them, but have heard nothing.

I did manage to fill a big bag of stuff for the women's shelter, give one of DD's outgrown jackets to the dept secretary, and haul the plates to my office for another colleague.

Bigger better things tomorrow. One of my co-workers said she was having the "hamster caught in the wheel" sort of month, and I know the feeling. But I'm caught up on my evening class grading, have tomorrow planned, so here's to a more satisfying tomorrow.

We're having a quiet day--which is lovely. Fire in the fireplace and lots of reading.

Yesterday I finally got rid of my great aunt's dishes. I'm going to start a sort of freecycle/classified service in my university department, and yesterday was a way of testing the waters. I couldn't sell these darn dishes for love or money, yet seven folks all wanted them for free. I'll be glad to declutter them.

I'm teaching the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tomorrow in my Bestsellers class. I really enjoyed the book, so it should be fun to teach.

We've had the oddest weather. When DD and I were leaving church, it started to rain, hail, sleet in huge bucketfuls. We were soaked, and my new shoes leaked badly. Glad to be inside!

No, this isn't a political opinion, I just can't seem to find a home for my great aunt's china. I took it to two consignment stores today, and while they'd take it, they weren't hopeful it would sell. Indeed there were HUGE sets of china for sale very cheaply at each place. It didn't sell on ebay, it doesn't look promising at the consignment store, I guess I'm just giving it away. I don't really care, but I'd like it out of my house!

After multiple meetings at school and the consignment visits, I picked up at few things at Al Green's including free toothpaste and shaving cream. Homemade pizza for dinner, and now though I'd like to stay up and watch some Netflix, I'm going to bed.

Not a successful day on the diet; I suspect tiredness from the vestiges of this cold have taken away all my zippity-doo-da.

Not one, not two, but three! Purple Heart came to pick up a big box this morning, followed by a freecycler needing kid's clothes. I took a pair of DD's outgrown rainboots to school for colleague's daughter.

More to come, I hope!

Only 10,762,511 items to go! (Rough approximation only)

Though I was running on fumes, I made it through all three classes today. I had visiting grad students in each, so they got me at not my best.

After teaching, I ran to two grocery stores and got all the week's deals, some of which were very good. One nearby store was closing out all their premium jams and jellies for 50% off. You know the ones--the St Dalfour (?), Bonne Maman, and those types. DH, my stereotypical English husband, adores jam. I bought 8 jars. The McCann Irish oatmeal was also half off, so I stocked up on that as well. One of them didn't ring up as half off, so the customer service worker checked, and then gave it to me for free! Free Fancy Jam! I think only I could get that excited about something sort of mundane. No, come to think of it, DH was also thrilled.

Picked up DD at play practice after school with a few minutes to spare, so I thought I'd have a root around in the lost and found bin where three (amazing!) of her winter hats and one hand-knit mitten turned up.

It has indeed been a day of small triumphs.
Now a good night's sleep, and I'll be well on the road to wellness!

Well, it's been a non-starter for the second half of the semester. I've been home sick with a yucky fevery flu for the past two days. I feel find 60% of the time, then start coughing and spike a fever. But my second half of the term is all planned out and I'm actually eager to go back!
DH is home from the UK, and his mother seems slightly better, He has his usual" I miss England" moroseness, but he'll perk up soon, I hope. The super-cold weather here hasn't helped either my cold or his homecoming joy.

I also canceled my evening class last night, but DH drove out there to drop off materials for the students. He picked up a "request for credit" portfolio for me to evaluate. They are fun to read and usually mean a quick $75. I'll spend some time with it today.

None of my mom's misc china sold on ebay,so I'm planning a consignment shop visit in a few days. I'd also like to start a freecycle program at work. Has anyone done anything like that? I've read a couple of web articles, but would like to talk with someone who has experience getting it set up and running.

And it sure does improve the mood. It was a day rife with disasters, but they all seemed to roll right off me. I suspect it was the sunshine. Two more days until DH comes home from England. My goal is to have the house spic and span, good food in the fridge, and lots of welcome for him.

Some spring break--I'm still not caught up with my grading or laundry, but while the sun shone, it doesn't seem to matter!

I sold another couple of books--including some gift books I've been given. I feel vaguely guilty, but my book shelves are overflowing.

We did get the projections for all the state budget hurt today. For folks like me on a nine-month paycheck, we'll pay four months of health insurance premiums at the new doubled rate on our June paychecks, I figure between that and the dental insurance, they might as well pay me in quarters, dimes, and nickels. There won't be much else there.

I continue to look for places to economize--and my big excitement besides cleaning and grading tomorrow is a church rummage sale. What bliss!

I planned to walk with some friends this morning, but it's 32 degrees and sleeting. We went inside the nature center instead and drank coffee.

DH is still away, and we're coping, but I haven't achieved as much on my break as I'd like. I guess I have five more days to go, so maybe now's the time to step up the office cleaning.

I've got tons of my mom's china stashed in my home office, and while I'll keep her "good" set, there are way too many misc cups and plates in assorted other patterns that I need to either try to sell or donate. I find myself having real emotional resistance to it; it's like losing part of her, I guess. But they're not doing anybody any good in my office!
I'm going to devote the next two hours to listing and sorting them. If they don't sell on ebay in a week, I'm taking them to the consignment store or Goodwill.

Wow, did we have a rainy first day of spring yesterday! Today's drier but not much brighter.

DD and I had a quiet weekend with DH gone to visit his ailing mother in England. Mt hat's off to all of you single parents out there--and folks like creditcardfree who raise kids with spouses on military service. I am not cut out for that life. I crave more alone time and end up staying up too late grading or watching TV and grading when DH is gone. I miss having DH around!

We did spend some time decluttering and straightening the basement yesterday. I hoped to put in some time on the taxes, but it was too gloomy not to get DD up and doing things.

Our very hopeful daffodils have started pushing through, but all the talk of rain/snow mixes for the next few days makes them seem foolish.

Anyone starting a garden plan yet? I'm thinking about it, but have gotten no further than thinking.

I got two bits of good news this week. First, I got named "Teacher of the Year" at the small school where I teach an evening class. They don't pay much, but they're very good about recognizing their employees. I like them, and I have to say, it made my day.

More importantly for my budget, my promotion was passed by my academic department at my university today. One more hurdle and some payoff for the weeks I spent putting the packet together.

The final bit of good news? Tomorrow begins my spring break--right after a morning meeting!

I plan to clean up, clear clutter, do the taxes, read some books, eat lovely fresh healthy food, and get some badly needed rest and exercise.

Today's various expenses included a very large cup of coffee to get me through the day, dog grooming (overdue!), and our newest expense, piano lessons for DD. I'm hoping she enjoys them. My DH has a good musical ear, but I hated piano lessons, though I love music. I topped off my gas tank at $3.42/gallon and made a big Tex-Mex casserole for dinner.

My very informal and unscientific poll reveals a lot about the economy. Of my 100 day-class students, only about 6 or 7 are going anywhere on their breaks. Everyone else is broke, going home, or staying around to work extra hours. Used to be that more than 1/3 of them went somewhere. I suspect that their parents are all hurting a bit, and so are they. One told me she was very excited about getting her hair cut because she'd put it off until she got paid! It's not as fun to be 20 as it used to be...


Tomorrow is the first batch of midterms! Break, please hurry !

Not that I'm counting or anything.
I'm tired--just tired and need a break badly. I've been really busy with many things--people over on Friday and DD had day off, grading and writing exams and out to some friends' home for dinner on Saturday. We left there too late and remembered after we got home about the time change. DD had three hours of choir and practice on Sunday and then I went to a very sad funeral for a colleague. I'm worn out.
Break cannot come soon enough.

As the news from our state capitol gets worse and worse, I've decided rather pointedly not to look at it for another couple of days. I've got a lot to do at school and at home, and the anger and sadness about the direction the state is headed is slowing me down.

I'll come back to it perhaps over the weekend, but I need a mini-vacation from it.

I had to park on campus today to the tune of $7. We had four inches of wet slushy snow this morning and there wasn't a street spot anywhere.
No other spending except that. Spaghetti tonight for dinner.

Bah--but need to get to work....

I stayed at the office long past my regular office hours and thus arrived very hungry at the grocery store. I wasn't planning on buying lunch at the deli counter, but almost did. The reason I actually went there was to buy paczki, the Polish doughnuts so popular on Fat Tuesday. But the fancy grocer only had the prune ones left, and I knew DD wouldn't eat those. So I left without buying lunch either. I stopped at my regular store, bought raspberry paczkis and came home to eat last night's leftovers. They were fine and saved me $5--as well as cheaper paczkis.

The state's political problems still are bothering everyone--including me. I ducked a discussion with another mom at church's pancake supper. I just don't feel like talking about it--the rhetoric runs too high and I find it wearying. Especially since it's my pocketbook and retirement plan they're all complaining about. Bah.

We did get DD signed up for piano lessons so that was today's triumph!

The political battle lines around Cheeseland seem to be making everyone edgy. I'm in a ongoing battle to stay positive and think and act thoughtfully about all this.

Today a volunteer came around with a petition to recall one of our state senators. I tried to get a petition myself yesterday, but the lines were overwhelming. I've contacted this senator's office numerous times--letters, phone calls, e-mails, and received no answer. I'm frustrated with that senator and the unwillingness to listen to the other side of the debate.

Anyway, the very polite young-ish man who came around had his children in a stroller with him, and I told him how happy I was to see him and support his petition. I was ready to send him away with a signature and a box of Girl Scout cookies when he told me the women across the street actually yelled at him and told him to get the hell off her property.

I am shocked and dismayed. This is a professional couple--she an attorney, he an accountant. We don't have much to do with them, except an occasional hello and help with the snow shoveling, but imagine swearing at a well-meaning (at worst) man with his children with him?

My bad angel wants to send my dog over to poop on her lawn, but thankfully, so far, my good angel has won out.

I've spent the entire day grading--except for making some enchiladas. I feel like the most boring person in the world today, but at least I've been productive.
I spent nothing, shopped for nothing, indeed never left the house--just me and my student papers until DD came home from school.

Tomorrow! Taxes! Who can stand the thrill of it all?

My DH's mom is struggling with her health. She's in her 80s and not doing well. It's very hard on him that she's 3500 miles away, so tonight we used some airmiles and booked him a trip to the UK to visit.

I'm glad we had the miles. glad he can go.
DD and I may go to Harry Potter World while he's gone if we can find a cheap deal, and if there's some money in the tax refund. I remain very glum about the state situation, but I'm trying to focus on other things.

I'm trying hard to be hyperaware of spending with all the salary and benefits cuts coming. I made it to double-coupon day between teaching and taking DD to dance. I got some very good deals: free pasta sauce, toothpaste, mustard, and half price chocolate milk. All very well until I dropped the gallon of chocolate milk on the tile floor, causing a chocolate milk tsunami. Tonight while grading I've discovered a failing student submitted a late paper that was entirely copied from a website.

While yesterday seemed like I was living a bad MI-5 episode, today seems more like a lame sitcom.

I won't belabor the obvious for anyone who has been watching the news from Madison. Wisconsin.
Let's just say it sucks here right now.

I'm trying very hard to be positive about things, but please excuse me if I start getting snarky or glum.

On a more positive note, I guess, is the bagful of free toothpaste and vitamins and shampoo from Walgreen's today. I had a cheap and lovely lunch with an old friend. It's March 1. I collected a bunch of supplies for a homeless shelter's schoolroom. They're going to need all the help they can get in this environment. Tomorrow I'm taking Girl Scout cookies to my local firefighters who are supporting teachers and other state employees in this debacle.

This is an interesting piece about the current crisis here.
http://www.ppulse.com/Articles-c-2011-02-25-97101.114136-Locked-Into-The-W

Now I'm having a big glass of wine and going to bed.
Sigh.

Yes, it's been a difficult couple of days. I've had a couple of plagiarism problems in my evening class, and last night I had to talk to the students involved.

One problem was with a married couple who turned in identical homework responses. They know this isn't acceptable, and I e-mailed them to tell them they were getting zeroes for the assignment. Last night the woman of the couple completely snubbed me. She passed me in the hall before class and gave me her best insolent face, not responding at all to my greeting. After class the guy came up and apologized while she stood out in the hall steaming. It was very odd.

Another student copied his entire paper (these are working adults) from a website, then DENIED it. I showed him the website and the paper together,yet unbelievably he insisted it was a coincidence that his paper and the website were identical.

Tracking all this down, printing it out, and comparing the documents took me hours. I was tired, cranky, and left school to another snowstorm. My 20-minute ride home took over an hour. Teaching is such a rewarding profession.

My class today was better, but I'm still a little dejected.

As I'm sure many of you have seen, it's been a tumultuous week in Wisconsin. I hope it's offered some valuable lessons to my students who think everything is about money. Indeed as an SA devotee, I think about money a lot, but I hope I think about value more than just money. Indeed as I spend my day grading on-line papers, I want/need to think even more about it.

Although tumultuous, it's been a cheap week. I'm determined to eat a lot of what's been in our pantry and freezer. I've eaten all my (late) lunches at home or out of my work bag. Last night I made stuffed shells, bringing a pan of them to my colleague with the ill child. We enjoyed them too. I also managed to mix up a box of Williams Sonoma Cookies and Cream pound cake mix I got for a gift. It was fine--not all that spectacular, but DH enjoyed it.

DD is having "Hibernation Day" at her school. She's been looking forward to the nature talks and bringing her sleeping bag into her classroom.

Good weekends to you all!

I see all our protesters against our governor's budget have made the national news today. I teach all day on Wednesdays or I would've gone to Madison with them. But classes went well today, the snow is melting (though I know it will be back,) and (wowee) I made it to double coupon day during DD's dance class.
Usually I just sit and grade papers while she's dancing, but the store is close, and I had great coupons that needed to be used today.

That's part of my boring strategy for dealing with the loss in income that I feel is probably inevitable with this "budget repair bill." (I wish I could repair my budget like that.) I'm going to the grocers both double coupon days, splitting our weekly shopping into two. The big local chain demands a $25 minimum when they double the coupons twice a week. Today I hit $25.25 and saved $10 with the coupons.

So, I had a big glass of wine with my spaghetti tonight and am trying to pull myself out of this funk. Only one nasty issue today--two students who turned in exactly (down to the misspellings) the same question responses.

I hope to make some progress of decluttering and other home stuff in the next few days. But more paper grading tonight and an early night.

It's the end of a very long teaching day. The good news is that with have to cope with the decreasing salary, at least the only money I spent all day was on coffee from (ugh) the machine at my evening class.

It's also been much warmer and melting here, so that lifts the spirits. I'm a little overwhelmed with how much I need to do to be caught up with my grading and housework, but I'm turning in and will face it all tomorrow.

DH brought a lovely bouquet of flowers home, so although it's been a long day, it hasn't been so bad.
It helped that my evening class was all on board with out discussion tonight, and several of them nominated me for an outstanding teacher award. Curiously, it was the students I find the most difficult.
Who knew they were actually getting it?

That is to say--disgruntled. I love my job, I truly do, but the current situation in my state is making it hard to like it very much. As I've blogged before, the state cutbacks mean at least a 10--and more like a 15% paycut. That alone makes me uneasy, but worse than that is the rhetoric coming out of the governor's office that threatens protesters against the governor's attempt to eliminate various kinds of collective bargaining with the National Guard. Gee Guv, we teach your children. Is this a reasonable way to talk to us? There are all sorts of ads running about how overpaid state employees are fostering a climate of distrust and disrespect that I find tremendously unhealthy. I know what I make, I know how much I work, and if I'm indeed overpaid, it's news to me.

I'll likely be in a sulk for several days, but I'm spending Sunday afternoon as I usually do: working.

I've done a preliminary calculation of what the state budgets cuts to the university system are going to cost me. It's somewhere in the very bad neighborhood of $3000. I know we'll be fine, but I was kind of hoping to quit my extra class in the evenings. I'm wiped the next day and could use the break. But with $3000 less, I doubt it will happen. Now to try to brainstorm about not-so-painful ways to save $3000.

Not in the best of possible moods....