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Archive for October, 2008

The car

October 28th, 2008 at 03:48 pm

well, besides the work that I KNEW had to be done... it was having trouble starting in the mornings, and the brakes had a raspy sound... so I asked the workshop to check on that, too... turns out one sensor in the engine needed changing, and they had to replace a brake pump, which was leaking brake fluid (lovely!)... total was $850... (the work I KNEW about was $490)... well, there goes the emergency fund! ... oh, well, that's what it's there for... but, honestly, if I get another bill like this before the end of 2009, I will start thinking about buying a new (to me) car! I seriously hope not!
Boom-boom has been a really good car so far... it's only that he's being driven a lot more lately! (I know cars are "she's" in English, but, to me, it's "el carro", so it's a "he"!)

Busted!

October 23rd, 2008 at 08:03 pm

Ale found my knitting bag (I use a grocery store bag whenever I'm knitting "in secret")... she didn't look into it, but she saw the needles sticking out!!!...she asked me, point blank: are you knitting something for me? Is it a blanket?

(

Sis totalled the (company) car!!

October 22nd, 2008 at 10:28 pm

Sis had an accident 2 weeks ago...thought I had written about it, but not. She ran a stop sign and another car hit her in the back. Luckily, she was not going too fast, and the other car did not hit her hard (the other car just had a dent in his front bumper!), but my sister's car spun around and hit a lightpost (again, God was with her and the pole did not fall on top of the car or anything like that...) The car was destroyed, but sis walked away with only a few bruises...
Today, it is official: the insurance company declared the car a "total loss"...
While sis is feeling better physically, now she's worried about losing her job (she DID run the stop sign... she says she didn't see it... it was a dark corner)...
The only things that MIGHT work for her are>
1. she IS the best sales exec the company has in the region
2. they WERE going to give her a new car anyway, and whatever the insurance company gives them just might be more than what the dealership was going to give them!

It's not much, I know...

As a dark joke I told her she might finally get an answer regarding her raise... like: yeah, we gave you a $50 raise, but we're going to dock it to pay for the car!

(we make this sort of sick jokes when things are going bad!)

Rain, rain, go away....

October 20th, 2008 at 11:57 pm

I've had it with rain...
yes, we are still in rainy season, but, even in rainy season, we see the sun EVERY day... unless there's what we call a "temporal" (generally, we get temporales when the US and the Caribbean get big hurricanes)... we've had 4 full days of rain... I don't own a clothes dryer... I hang my clothes out to dry and, half an hour later, they're wetter than they were when I got them out of the washer... I swear!... and everything is musty... and all of my clothes are wet... honest... I'm down to 2 shirts and 1 pair of pants (office clothes)...
and yet, I shouldn't be whining, because there are people who have lost their LIVES because of the heavy rains...some were luckier and just lost their houses and their posessions, but at least the families are ok... and I'm complaining about musty clothes!!! ... oh, and we have a leak in our roof... first one in 9 years... not bad!...
still... I'm praying for this incessant rain to STOP!!

Ale is sick

October 17th, 2008 at 05:31 pm

and, I must say, what a difference it makes to HAVE the money for the doctor and the medicines....all I had to worry about was helping my little girl get better... I spent $51 for the Doctor's visit ($21 were medicines) and then spent about $60 at the pharmacy... She needs to go for a follow up on Nov 6th, so that'll be another $30 (and, hopefully, the end of this) and then I can submit it to the insurance company.
I already know they will not cover the whole fee (their "top" is $20, and anything that is considered "excess" - meaning your prefered doctor is too expensive in their eyes...well, unless they are starting, doctors here really DO charge $25-$35)... most of the medicines should be covered, though, so I should still get a good amount back.

Like mother, like daughter

October 7th, 2008 at 07:10 pm

I admit it, I'm a word junkie... I salivate over new dictionary releases... I find pleasure in those "technical glossaries"...
Ale inherited it... or else it rubbed off on her...
A couple of days ago she came to the house with a dictionary that wasn't hers... she told me that a friend who knows the owner said that the owner doesn't want it anymore... the whole class deliberated and decided Ale could keep it...
I told her otherwise. I made her turn it into the Lost and Found at school...I'm not even sure the kid who (says) knows the owner actually knows the owner!... there is no name printed on the dictionary (this is why, in addition to a nametag taped to the face of books, I generally write our surname around the borders of the pages!)... While it wasn't a particularly fancy dictionary (soft binding), it was better than the "first learner's" that she has, and she was disappointed that I hadn't let her keep it...
I promised I would buy her a new one in November, a better one... (she has to leave the other one at school, anyway, and they only let her bring it home if she has Language homework where they might use it)...
So, yes, my daughter is infected... Smile

The perfect gift

October 6th, 2008 at 05:05 pm

For me, the perfect gift is one that will make the receiver's eyes light up... and will come at a reasonable price to me!
Like the shoe-themed mini calendar I gave one of my best friends that is shoe-crazy....or the photo frame adorned with little bones for my friend who adores her dog...or the bottle of Diorissimo I got for sis when I went to Paris (for some strange reason, you cannot find it here...plus, I bought it at the airport, so it was duty free!...hardly frugal, though, so that was her b-day/Xmas present...it's a good thing her b-day is in December!- she nearly cried!)...butterscotch taffy for Mom...a good audiobook for Dad (when his eyesight got too bad and he couldn't enjoy his books anymore!)...a book on ballet for a friend who always wanted to be a ballerina...the "just perfect" handicraft for the friend who collects them...The perfect gift should fit the receiver, it should say: I love you enough to care about what YOU like...In this sense, the most difficult person to get a gift for is my niece...she either wants cash (which I find tacky!) or gift certificates (too impersonal) or REALLY expensive stuff (the kind of $$$ I wouldn't spend on Ale!)... I knitted her a small "night" handbag last year...haven't seen her use it ...not even once...last time I do THAT, let me tell you...

Cha-Ching! first cheque of October!

October 2nd, 2008 at 11:35 pm

Woo-hoo! I got paid for translations today, and tomorrow I get paid at the office...Now, I won't have the translation money until Wednesday, because I already picked up my check, but, unfortunately, arrived back at the office too late to deposit it today. I don't want to go to the (outside) bank and then deposit the cash into my account. Plus, all my payments are due starting on the 10th, so that'll give the check plenty of time to clear (3 working days, since it's from a bank different than mine)...Once the cheque goes through, I'll make the payments online...woo-hoo!

so much for my "free" weekend!

October 2nd, 2008 at 09:28 pm

LOL! I just got emailed that the materials to air in November just arrived! (they need to be translated in Oct)

((sigh))
Oh, well, at least they are here on time...the ones airing in Oct didn't arrive until Sept 7, which only gave me 3 weeks to work!

If I had some free time, I'd like to...

October 2nd, 2008 at 03:36 pm

finish a knitting project (a fish blanket for Ale, based on a story she wrote)...
Make a quilted ballet bag for Ale...(I already designed it and bought the fabric...I just need some ribbons and thread....oh, and, of course, TIME to actually sew it!) -- here's my "design"...

no, it's not really mine, it's based on a clipart, I just changed the color scheme and substituted roses for hearts!...the bodice and shoes will actually be the same fabric as the sides, but I didn't know how to do that in the computer! LOL! and I found a very nice "ribbon" that looks somewhat like tulle, it's kind of stiff, too, so I'll use that for the tutu, instead of applique...You know? it would have been a lot cheaper to buy her a ballet bag (so far, I've spent $13, and if I added the labor... ) Ah, but it wouldn't be so special then, would it?
I'm working "overtime" tonight and tomorrow to try to have the weekend "free" of translations so that I can either get started with the bag, or continue with the blanket -- I need about 80 fish, and I have only knitted 12 or so... EEK!