Honoring my agreement with Ale, I cut my hair yesterday...

We took a picture together, both of us with short hair (mine is shoulder length, in layers)...will post as soon as we have them developed!

The new status of my income tax return is:

El estado de su declaración número 111020358644 presentada el 08/03/2006 es:

PROCESO : La devolucion esta en proceso de autorizacion de fondos



It should be deposited in my account by next week! woo-hoo!! Aval Card, here I come!

Well...according to my (very) preliminary numbers, the difference in living expenses from April 06 to August 06 should be about $67....I can "make" that difference by twitching the payments...I hope....it will take longer to get out of debt, but...

was taken on the 21st...but, THEY CAN'T FIND IT!!!...she has her appointment to see the doctor tomorrow so he can see it, and the SSI has LOST her MRI!!!!...She'll make one last phone call tomorrow to see if they have found it... if not, she has to cancel and re-schedule the appointment...which will probably be set for mid-June...if she's lucky!!

Things are definetely looking better...My sister is in full recovery from the neurocysticercosis (sp?) and we are only pending the results from her last MRI (THAT deserves a separate entry!)...and, eventhough money is still my major source of worry, my situation is veeeery different than what it was last year...I got the cc issue under control, am not getting any creditor calls, and, despite the additional expenses from the new car loan, I think I can handle things so that I don't default on anything...I'm still overworked...still love my job...but, right now I don't feel like I hate my co-workers...none of them!...not even the annoying ones! LOL!...
((contented sigh)) I definetely don't hate my life (the way I did last year!)
Oh, and the "frugality" thing, while still a challenge, is not as hard anymore!

Thanks to all for your continued support!!

They called at the gate and were told there IS a prize: a farm full of ducks and potatos (patos y patatas), but only for visitor # 1,000,000!!!

(be patient, she only reads one page per night!)

This month, I will receive the last $250 from the sale of the farm...so, as of June 1st, 2006, I will have to make do without...I have managed to bring the cc's down to where I THINK I'll be able to handle at least minimum payments every month...I'm going to have to be a lot more careful... what might throw me off-balance is the combination of new loan for the car (paying about $30 more now than for the previous one, which I finished paying last month, and the new gas prices/new car fuel consumption (previous prices/car meant $36 a month...that's soooo NOT going to be the new quota!...gas prices were just below $3 then...they are about $3.49 now...and this car has a bigger engine!- las one was an 800cc)...AND Ale's school expenses (luckily, to start in August, so I will have some time to adjust to the two first ones!)...a variation of $60/mont...

so...let's say the new car spends about 30% more gas, and factor in the new prices...I could be spending about $60 - $70 in gas + $30 additional for the loan + $60 additional for Ale's school....this is $150-$160 MORE a month...ouch! ...not counting car insurance....hmmmmm...

Oops!...can you spot the mistake?? $70-$36 = $34...so $34 + $30 + $60, total ADDITIONAL per month ~$124, not $150!...

I have to work this number into my current estimated budget....(well, the $60 additional for Ale's school were already factored into my "adjusted" budget for August '06...)

Back to the excel file!!

...she scans through and reads one word here and one word there...today she read an ad for beds (ooohh, they're made of sheep! -- actually, the TV ad for this bed says the sheep are out of work because with this bed you don't need to count them off to fall asleep!)...so, she read that whole ad...including prices...now she has learned that if it has a dot "." in the middle, you read first the number that is before and then the number that is after the dot (so $3.99 is three/ ninety-nine)...she's also counting down in English...twenty-six, twenty-five, twenty-four...
She had a period when she really was having problems with number recognition at school (she could recognize 1-4, her classmates could recognize 1-30!!...not all children HAVE to be the same, but you'd expect them to be in more or less the same range if they are in the same class!- no matter their age)...there was also a slight problem with the dictation (still there, it still hasn't "clicked" 100% yet, but it's getting better)...but, she loves reading, and, she's really improving fast at that! - she's reading to me, a book called The Most Famous Egg in the City...so far, an Ant called Doña Barriga woke up one day and felt like laying an egg, but then she saw an ad that said if you went to the city you could win some nice prizes, so she decided to go to the city, but walked for an hour and got tired, met a snail, and the snail allowed her to ride in his shell, and after an hour he got tired, and they met a turtle, who allowed the snail to ride in her shell, but, after an hour she got tired, and they found a sheperd girl, who allowed the turtle to ride in her basket, and after an hour the sheperd girl got tired, and she found a farmer, who allowed her to travel in the back of his tractor, and after an hour they arrived in the city....
We are now at the gates of the city and, believe me, I cannot wait to hear what is going to happen! (I promised myself I will not "peek" or read ahead!)

Just bragging! This is my beautiful, beautiful daugther...before I had to cut her hair!!...Thanks to a friend, I was also able to buy the group picture, which she wanted so much...(but, I forgot that one at home today!)

Ever since I saw the first billboard go up a couple of years ago, I said: ooohhh, I'd love to live there!...today, we went to look at an apartment there...beautiful apartments, great location....it's a four tower complex, with tennis and basketball courts, a pool and even a 1km trail for walking!...the smallest apartments (~160 m2) are $180,000 ....they're all sold out...the last phase is being built...apts there are ~250-280 m2...and sell from $280,000 - $300,000 ....

Dreams are free, aren't they??

I dreamt that I had given my niece access to my bank account, and she had spent $1,500 that were for the car...she was very cool about it, like: don't worry, I have the money and I'll pay it back before the end of the month...I was so worried...
I think this one relates to her spending the balance in my cellphone...but, still....weird (and, no, I would never give ANYONE access to my account!)

It's raining in the mornings now (rainy season is officially here!)...I had to get up to work on the computer, but I would have prefered to stay in bed under the covers...(want to bet we will have a fierce sun on Saturday and Sunday morning??)

((sigh))

I had to recharge $5 in my cellphone...I had already charged $5, but, my niece made a call to a landline that lasted 11 minutes! (we need to talk about that when she gets back!--she's out of town!)