What a great way to end the day!

Before I get to my day, let me tell you how it ended. I had an interview with a woman who used to work with our school through a research project she's doing at UIC. We've been trying to set up this interview for months, and we were finally able to set up things for today. All I kept thinking about all day was "Elisa is coming! Yay!" We really hit it off from the minute we met last year, and although she isn't working in our school anymore, we've stayed in touch. She's the sweetest woman you'll ever meet. The interview today was for research she's doing for a grant she's trying to get to study the effects of stress on teachers. (I think that's accurate, sorry Elisa!) I basically got to sit and blow off steam for over an hour, telling her all the things that piss me off and stress me out about my job. It was a bit therapeutic, actually!

Just being able to visit with her was enough for me. However, when it was time for her to get going, she handed me an envelope. Apparently, funding allowed for the teachers being interviewed to receive a $50 stipend. Sweet! What an unexpected bonus!

The funny thing is, I've been walking around without a cent in my purse for two days. Yesterday morning, I pulled into the Dunkin Donuts down the street from my son's school, like I do every morning, to order my coffee. As I was waiting to order, I realized I didn't have any cash. But, I didn't worry because I always have Dunkin Donut gift cards with me. (Everyone in my family gives them to me for every occassion!) Well, lo and behold, when I reached the window, I found out this DD doesn't take them! They don't have the machine to run them through! The man waiting on me is the same man that waits on my every morning (I think he may be the owner) and he was so sweet. He just said, "Don't worry about it, get it next time." What a doll! It would have been very difficult to get through the day at the Hell-Hole without my coffee!

I had intended to stop at the bank yesterday after work, but my son and I had appointments at the dentist. By the time we got out of there, the bank was closed. I ended up borrowing $5 from my son this morning just so I could be sure to stop at DD and pay for yesterday's coffee. Anyway, the point of this saga was, I was going to try and go to the bank today, but thanks to Elisa, I didn't have to. And, I was able to give my son his money back right away, which believe me, was a big deal. Now that he's older, he's very selfish about his money. He never minded when I had to "borrow" money from him before, but now, I almost had to leave him some collateral, for Pete's sake!!

Now besides the money I received for the interview, today, being Tuesday, was an afterschool day, so I was already getting paid to be there. It was a banner day for my pocketbook. Ooo, one more thing. Last week, the board screwed up my check, and only paid me 3/4 of my salary. The rest of what they owed me arrived today! Sheesh, I should have money coming at me like this everyday! Wouldn't that be nice....

On that note, I'm off to eat the onion, swiss and asparagus frittata that I made for dinner. Yum!

Pay me for my work but I don't do it for the money. ---Vanna Bonta

What a perfect quote!

Ooo, I forgot one!! This morning, my ex-husband called to tell me that his job has been screwing up my child support payments (which I told him about months ago!!) and that they were sending me a check for what they owed me. It'll be around $400!! Ok, now I'm getting a little nervous. That's money from too many places all on one day. Does that mean I'm gonna bounce a check soon?