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Niece and the car...

September 3rd, 2008 at 11:41 pm

or, should I say, Niece and MY car??
...for clarification, I mean...
back when she finished highschool, I was paying transportation from school to home for Ale... since Niece was going to start going to the university and this posed a logistical difficulty for her and my sis (classes at Uni NOT being built around parents' workschedules!), I decided (nobody asked) that it was a great win-win-win-win (me, sis, niece, and even Ale) if I left the car at home after dropping Ale off at school, so that Niece could go to her classes, provided she choose her schedules in such a way that she could always (or at least 98% of the time!) go pick up Ale between 2:45 and 3:15pm...Also, I was to be given a copy of the schedule so I knew which days she had classes after 5pm, so I would know the car wouldn't be available on those days, and so I could plan my needs around it...Well, Niece has since stopped going to the university (no, she didn't finish, but sis had warned her she would only pay for 1 year uni, and sis' sleazy ex-hub had promised to take care of it all, and now, of course, he's not paying...that's a whole separate entry!)...

Guess what? while most days I DON'T use the car anyway, it's already happened 3 times that when I need the car after work, it's not there...and Niece just "forgot" to tell me...well, #1 she's not going to classes, #2 she's not working - or REALLY looking for a job, #3 If it's a matter where she needs the car and I have it, she DOES find a way to call and let me know....how come she cannot call and ASK if she can use the car past 5?...#4 since she's not studying or working, why can't she plan her activities for, say between 9am and 2pm? Oh, that's right, that would interfere with her sleep schedule...

I was sooo mad yesterday, I just asked her for the keys and told her to forget about the car....I'm asking for permission at work to go pick up Ale for the next 2 weeks. After that, I'll see whether it isn't more financially sound to actually re-hire transportation (sis does give her some gas money, but let's remember there's more to keeping a car "drivable" than just gas!...and those bills are "all mine"!...)

Yes, there's more to it than just the car issue...but, no, I don't see why I have to make sacrifices to accomodate her way of life or her schedule...

School books being held "hostage"

August 16th, 2008 at 12:13 am

The books the school ordered from the US back in May have to pay about $2K in taxes, something that has never happened before (1. they are books. Books are now tax exempt. Or were, at least until the beginning of this year. 2. They are for a school, again, that should make them tax exempt, or at least tax deferred- don't aske me to describe the way our VAT operates, it's really strange, or so I'm told!)...Anyway, the school is trying to solve the problem and, in the meantime, children should bring their old textbooks....oops, I don't know if Ale still has them in one piece (she refuses to throw them away, but she likes to cut out pictures and stuff!)

Uniforms for Ale...

August 13th, 2008 at 04:18 pm

Yep. She needs new ones...she outgrew most of the stuff...
she is down to 1 skort, 1 shirt, 1 t-shirt and 1 pair of pants...

I already bought the material to have 1 skort made...and I gave her $25 today, which I hope will cover 1 shirt, 1 t-shirt and 1 pair of paints...if not, I told her to get the shirts and I'll give her the money for the pants later on (PE classes on Fridays and Tuesdays, only, so...)

Ale's school shoes

August 8th, 2008 at 05:08 pm

In February, Ale needed new shoes for school. I bought her a size 2 pair, which were a bit large for her at the time, and, since they were having a 2X1, I bought a size 3 pair for the new school year (starting next week)...sis said I was exagerating and that I would probably have to save the size 3 shoes for the FOLLOWING year (Aug 09)...turns out, I was right! Those size 3 shoes are the perfect size right now (which means I will probably hit the 2X1 sale in Sept/Oct for a size 4 and size 5! LOL!)...oh, yes, those size 3 shoes also fit my sis! LOL!

Almost ready for school again!

July 25th, 2008 at 05:12 pm

Remember I was buying notebooks and school supplies waaaay in advance? ...I'm now almost finished with all the purchases (need 6 pencils and 1 English-English Dictionary....Ale's "got lost from her back pack"...)...I also finished labeling most of her stuff (need to label 24 pencils- yuech!) and I bound all her notebooks in plastic cover last night (now I "only" need to bind the books, which we have not received yet...Oh, and she needs a couple new containers for her lunch box...

so, my shopping list is>

6 pencils
1 English/ English dictionary
2 small food containers

YAY!...I still haven't added the last things I bought, so I still don't know how much I really spent...

Oooops, forgot the uniforms!...some pieces are in bad shape, and others have been outgrown...but, I'll get these during the first week of school!

The sandwiches

June 18th, 2008 at 06:07 pm

Well, the chicken pate probably cost about $3.15 to make...but I didn't even use up half of it!...so, let's say $1.50 ...and $1.35 for the bread...the 12 sandwiches cost us $1.85...or about $0.15 each!...
When we made them for sale, they were even cheaper, because I would buy the bread at the factory on sale for $0.60...yesterday I opted for buying it in the little corner store (which is always more expensive than supermarkets, even! that same bread would have cost me $1.25 at the supermarket) ...but I saved the cost of gas- going to the factory or even to the supermarket for 1 loaf of bread would have been crazy!

Ale was so very happy!...even happier because there was leftover chicken pate...which means we get to have sandwiches for dinner! ...since this is the pate Mom would make for our "pinata" sandwiches, they are extra special for us!

"they won't cost much, we'll make them at home"

June 17th, 2008 at 09:55 pm

this is what my daughter told the teacher after she (my daughter) offered to be in charge of bringing 12 chicken sandwiches to their "last day of school" party...
the teacher had originally asked her to bring in paper plates and chips...and when Ale offered to bring the sandwiches as well, the teacher worried it would be too much of an expense...
oh, well, they WILL be home-made, so obviously not as expensive as buying chicken sandwiches...or even buying the chicken pate to make sandwiches, since we cook from scratch!...(Ale has a good idea how much they cost, because she knows we used to sell them at 3 for $1...and this left us a profit, so...)

payments today!

June 7th, 2008 at 12:07 am

I went to pay Ale's school tuition for June ($137, due June 10th) and also a cc so I can FINALLY close it! ($10...but i have to wait until tomorrow to close it)..then went to get my balance in the cc I used to pay for the car - just to cross check...then I went and printed our photos...we already put Ale's autograph/photo book together...it looks awesome!...I also had to buy some juice boxes and milk boxes for Ale's snacks and lunch at school...it has been a "spendy" day of sorts...but I'm hoping to have a NSD tomorrow!...

oh, and i also had to pay Nanny, because although it was sis' turn to pay her (we alternate every 2 weeks), but she didn't, and Nanny asked me if she could borrow $20 from me...I opted for giving her her full $83, as I know sis will give it to me later...I just don't like the thought of Nanny, who has to get by on so little, being paid late!)

I am still translating...these ones will bring about $100 each, so about $400...that will be enough to cover the additional money we spent and to pay $100 more towards debt ...

I also learned that I "lost" a translation job because they tried to drop it off on Wednesday, but they needed it for Thursday night, and, needless to say, with me ARRIVING Thursday night, they opted to take it to someone else!...oh, well, I really needed my rest yesterday!

Happy International Women's Day!

March 9th, 2008 at 04:44 am

March 8th is International Women's Day...
congratulations to all!

we did have a nice celebration...I convinced sis of going to lunch using a special promo from our grocery store club card...you could get a special plate to share among 3 people for just $18 ...and we bought a plate from the children's menu for Ale for $5...this was at a very good restaurant (it's not fancy, but the food is GREAT!)...we even had leftovers to bring home for tomorrow's lunch! yum!...(LOL! you should have seen niece's face when I pulled out my flyer detailing the special promo and saying: we will have THIS one!)...she did enjoy the food and declared herself "stuffed" in the end...but, for a moment there I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head!

Also, since our freezer was full, my grocery shopping at the supemarket was ~$50!...woo-hoo!...tomorrow I have to go to the market to get the veggies, fruit and cheese...so that'll add ~$15-$20...still, last time I spent $85 just at the supermarket, so...

oh, and the supermarket had a 20% all "special store" items (hardware, clothing, SCHOOL SUPPLIES), so we finished buying Ale's notebooks (at least, I think we did...since I don't have a list yet, I bought the same amount of notebooks that we bought for THIS school year... I don't imagine them using LESS notebooks for the coming school year...MAYBE they'll ask for MORE, but, then, I'll just have to buy those extra ones...

Funny as it may sound, school supplies are cheaper now that they are "off season" than they were while "on sale" in January....

Oh, and I showed Ale that there was a $0.20 - $0.40 difference between notebook A, with a generic cover (say: picture of 2 cute cats and 1 puppy) and notebook B (with licensed character on the cover)...both notebooks were the same size, had the same amount of pages/sheets, same format (lined, in this case), binding was sewn, rather than stapled for both notebooks, same quality of paper...

Her opinion?....Mom, that's so dumb! you could buy the cheap one and, if you're really so crazy about the licensed character then use stickers or gift paper decorated with the licensed character and it would stil be much cheaper!...((had to brag, sorry!))

Oh, we also did some unbudgeted shopping....

1. we bought a bright orange fish...yes, we already have 32+, but ours are so pale...so...silvery...so we bought a bright orange one of the same kind... it cost $2...and hopefully it'll reproduce with the other ones and give me a chance to explain to Ale about genetics...who knows, there might come a day when I'll have to buy a silver fish to introduce some fresh genes into our all-orange tank!

2. I've been looking for flip-flops for Ale and myself (remember those neat "lemon" ones Santa brought for Xmas 2006?...well, after over a year of daily wear- we use them inside the house, and for the beach, too- they were pretty much useless ....AND we found ones on sale at $2.80 (adult sizes) and $2.40 (children sizes)...I bought a pair for myself, a pair for sis (hers were useless, too) and a pair for Ale...my total was $7.60 (sis still wears children size 4! LOL!)...I didn't get a pair for niece because she has about 10 pairs (of which she only wears 1!) courtesy of her dad ....(he won't pay for textbooks, but flip flops...oh, yes, a girl can't have too many flip flops!)....

Well, as you can see, it was a pretty full day!...and quite spendy, but, to make up for it, tomorrow we are going to a special theater show at the Museum...it's a special play for children....and it's FREE!

Ale found more coupons!

March 7th, 2008 at 06:58 pm

She was so proud yesterday...the newspaper once again had an insert with coupons for 10% off 1 article at the dept store...she showed me, and she told me we could go to another branch of the store to look for school supplies!

I was off by $0.55!

March 6th, 2008 at 03:04 pm

we had the parents assembly last night at Ale's school...as per the CURRENT law (a reform has already been submitted), the assemby was to INFORM us that the tuition will be increased... (I knew that, I had actually asked at the beginning of this school year)...tentatively, my budget shows $157/month for Ale's monthly school fees starting August...the new monthly fee for her grade has been set at $157.55 ...and I had actually allocated $400 for the enrollment fee, and that will be $349...

the reform to the law establishes that the parents assembly is to ASK the parents and there has to be a vote of X% in favor to pass it...

Ale's grades

March 1st, 2008 at 08:35 pm

The school's Open House was yesterday...Ale made the Honor Roll again (didn't the past period)...spoke to all her teachers and they all agree she's taking advantage of her intelligence and good retentive to try to use the "law of minimum effort"...meaning she's not working as hard as she should and not doing as much as she could...this is tough, because her grades are great...her lowest grade is 80....and that is penmanship...still, I talked to her and told her she cannot be fooling around instead of working (she HAS been bringing a lot of work home, as she has had to make up for all that she didn't do at school!...plus her regular homework...)...she's promised she'll work at school and try to finish THERE ...that way we can spend OUR time together at home having fun instead of doing work she should have done at school...we'll see how it goes...anyway, now I know what's going on and we agreed to work together on this problem with the teachers, too!...

Shoes!!!

February 29th, 2008 at 09:09 pm

went and found the perfect school shoes for Ale...Hush Puppies brand...marked at $22, but with a 25% discount!)...found the perfect Hush Puppies for me, too! ($15, and my old were already starting to be a point of embarrassment!)...and MY Hush Puppies were eligible for 2X1...so we found ANOTHER pair of school shoes for Ale marked at $8(not Hush Puppies, I know that brand won't last as long, but...)that were also 2X1 eligible- we bought 1 shoe size bigger than she currently wears...so, we left them at the cashiers and went to the cc booth at the same mall, and asked how many points we had ....we had enough for a $15 voucher!!...sooooo....
1 pair Hush Puppies for Ale (for this school year)
1 pair X brand school shoes for Ale (for NEXT school year)
1 pair Hush Puppies for me..

"real" total = 45
minus discounts and promo= $31
minus voucher = $16!!

so, I paid $16 (cash) for 3 pairs of shoes...2 of them Hush Puppies!!!

Aaaaah!...I feel so RICH!!!

$20 lost ...and found

October 17th, 2007 at 05:04 pm

remember the sweat pants?..well, since they didn't have Ale's size that day, the school secretary called me and told me she had kept the $20 bill and would give it to Ale when she got picked up (so she wouldn't lose it during recess or lunch!)...since my niece couldn't go pick her up from school, she enlisted the help of one of her best friends (whom we've all known since they were in 4th grade!)...I called the school to let them know (they do NOT let the children go with anybody, not even a parent, unless you are either on a list of authorized people submitted by the parent enrolling the kid in school or, in cases of emergency, authorized via phone by the parent who enrolled the child!)...so, at the end of the school day, the secretary gives Ale my $20 bill...and since I had given her permission to spend $0.30 out of the change I should have gotten, she tries to buy a $0.30 candy from the store.... at which point her English teacher sees her and takes the money away from her, and gives it to the school counselor her- again for safekeeping-who gives it to the lady in charge of delivering the kids to your car, who gives it to my niece's friend...but, she doesn't give it back to Ale...Ale calls me crying because she feels awful that she lost my $20. I tell her I feel bad, too, but that it's not her fault and she did all the right things...I ask my niece to call her friend and she says she will (but, she doesn't! I know her, she was ashamed to call fearing her friend would think we were accusing her of stealing the money!)...so, today I go to the school and ask the school counselor who confirms Ale's story. I then ask my niece AGAIN to call her friend (they haven't seen each other since last week, as niece was NOT in the house when friend dropped Ale off!)...and, friend confirms she has the $20 and will give it to niece the next time they have classe together at the university!...

Needless to say, I feel VERY relieved that the $20 has turned up!....

On the bright side, while we still need the sweat pants and shirt, we didn't get to spend the change! LOL!

school sweat pants for Ale

August 31st, 2007 at 06:52 pm

They finally have the "official" uniform sweat pants....we were lucky, Ale has PE on Tuesdays and Fridays...that means I'm only buying her 1 pair, and not 2 (as I would have if the PE sessions had been closer to one another-- rainy season lasts 6 months, after all... and we don't own a dryer!)

Isn't this sad?

August 22nd, 2007 at 10:48 pm

I was thinking today how I'm spending about $60/month instead of $40-$50 on gas now that niece is taking Ale to school (sis puts in another $20/month), but that it's still positive because I'm not paying the $30 for the transport, so in reality I'm spending $60 vs $70-$80...and then I thought it's good that gas is cheaper now because it's "only" $3.14-$3.20

AND THEN I remembered that it wasn't so long ago when I felt that gas was "super-expensive" when it reached $3!!!

isn't that sad??

Need to start

August 14th, 2007 at 08:39 pm

knitting today....else the rainy season/cold weather will end before I finish Ale's sweater! LOL!...

Need to remember to do the sample to see if the gauge is correct....else I will knit something too small/too big (too small in this case, because the wool is not as thick as the one called for in the pattern...but it was the thickest one available!...) I'll probably need to make adjustments...or use the larger-size instructions...but that will depend on the gauge...

the good news is, I know enough to make the needed adjustments!!

I'll try to post pictures...(niece has a new digital camera, so that might make things easier...as opposed to waiting for me to develop the ones in my camera!!)

OK, I'll give them 'till the end of next week, then

August 14th, 2007 at 04:44 pm

I just logged onto the Ministry of Education's website, and it says the school principals will be getting a detail of the evaluations starting August 20th....that effectively means the school doesn't have it yet and, of course, cannot communicate about something they ignore!

Oh! thought it would be interesting to post the numbers:

119 schools ranked A
245 ranked B
572 ranked C
64 ranked D

This (obviously) has been in all newspapers lately...There are different opinions about it...some think it's ok to give D and C schools some time to improve, while other analysts consider these school should have been closed...

Wants vs needs- updated

August 13th, 2007 at 09:27 pm

let's see how I'm doing, shall we?

NEEDS: ($150-$200 for ALL)
Uniforms for Ale (including shoes, socks)-taken care of! just waiting for the skorts!
Oil change for the car - done!
New windshield wipers (rainy season!!)..they didn't have them, will have to go to another shop
New dictionary for translations….(not URGENT, but IMPORTANT!...if I’m to get serious about the translations, I need the right tools!)



WANTS: (about $100-$150 for ALL)proud to report I haven't indulged in any of these!
New curtain for my bedroom (I wonder if I could find a cheap sheet in the right color downtown...I've seen sets for $5...)
New clothes for me just because my older clothes have started disintegrating!!–...will move these from want to needs in about 3 months...should start budgeting for it!
New shoes… same as above
1 day of relaxation at the beach maybe in December??

Need to buy

August 13th, 2007 at 09:21 pm

flour
sugar
honey
baking soda
powdered cocoa

...ah, yes, time to start baking cookies every weekend! (not that we didn't during Ale's vacation, we just didn't do it EVERY weekend!)

School census in ES

August 13th, 2007 at 07:15 pm

The Ministry of Education of ES conducted a school census to verify the quality of private schools...there are ~1400 private schools.... ~400 are going to be closed down...students can finish the current school year and that's it....
The remaining schools have been divided into categories: A, B, C and D...
A's get 10 year permits with yearly follow-up visits
B's get 5 year permits with yearly follow-up visits
C's get 28 months to improve or else they will be closed down
D's get 16 months to improve or else they will be closed down

the criteria included such things as infrastructure, teacher certification, student-teacher ratios, full-time vs part-time teacher ratio, among others...the list was released yesterday...

Ale's school has been classified as a C school, which wouldn't be too surprising, given that their facilities are two converted houses...but, other schools with similar infrastructure made the B list (some of the other schools I visited but couldn't afford).

Now, I like the school and, I'm hoping that the deficiencies found can be easy to address and that the school will do something about it (I also hope this doesn't include charging more or asking for additional $$, because I REALLY cannot afford that)....Today is the first day and, I expect to have a memo from the school before the end of the week (customary). I hope that the principal will include this important issue in the memo, but, if she doesn't, I think I'll write to her next week to try to find out: 1. what were the areas that received the lowest ranking, 2. what is their action plan and 3. as a parent, what can I do to help?...depending on her answers, I'll have to devise my own action plan (but, just in case, I need to start putting money aside for those pesky one-time enrollemnt fees at other schools, which can be anywhere from $1,500- $10,000 depending on the school!)

Back to school!

August 13th, 2007 at 06:54 pm

Today is Ale's first day....she's a first-grader now...she keeps reminding me she's one of the big kids now...she had to go to school wearing jeans today (not that she had anything against it!)...they are allowed jeans the first week if they don't have a full uniform yet...and this year they didn't have any skorts in her size....so I had to have them custom made...still waiting for them...although I did tell the seamstress I needed them for Tuesday (in case she gets delayed, I should have them before next week, when I REALLY need them!)..they were out of sweat pants, too, but should receive a new batch on Wednesday (already asked the secretary to save a size 8 for Ale!)...
we baked cookies yesterday, and today packed her two cookies and some yogurt for recess and, sausages and rice for lunch, with some strawberries as dessert...can't wait to hear how her day went!

woo-hoo!!-getting paid for translations!

August 1st, 2007 at 06:26 pm

The $$$ is starting to flow!!...$326.73....so, I'll take out the $55 I'm pendig of paying to Ale's school for her enrollment fee and the $53 for the uniforms/shoes...leaves $218.73...to be distributed as follows: $80 to catch up with 1 payment for bank loan...$100 to cc1 so it's up to date (yipee!! I had until Aug 18 for this payment!!)...$25 to cc2 (to remain up to date and pay a bit over the minimum for this month)...that leaves $13.73...$10 should go to the Children's Home...and, if I add $2.27 out of my own pocket, I have enough money for a trip to the Children's Museum, including the new Planetarium, for Ale and myself during the holidays!(they will be open!)...

It's a plan!

School expenses- uniforms

July 31st, 2007 at 05:30 pm

Polo-shirts are $6.86 (thank God Ale’s are still in very good shape and, I bought them on the large side, so they still fit!)…but, I DO have to get:

Pants ($7.00) – I didn’t get the “official” ones last year…they let it pass because they didn’t have them when I enrolled Ale and THEY told me they wouldn’t order more…so, they couldn’t really enforce the “full uniform” rule on us!
T-shirts ($5.14) – the ones from last year look awful!!!
Skorts (??) – the ones we have are too short and, the hem is too narrow to make a difference!!...

Shoes
Tennis shoes
(my lowest quote so far is $24 for both)

Hair accessories (~$3)
Socks ($2 for a six pack)

So…depending on how many pants/t-shirts/skorts I buy, I’m looking at anywhere between $53- $65….

I guess I will go for 1 pants/1 T-shirt, 2 skorts and see if that is enough….if not, then we’ll buy an additional set of pants/T-shirt and 1 more skort… I’ll plan on $53, then….and keep quoting shoes….I still have 2 weeks!! (hey, we’re having a “Consuma” fair this week…maybe I should look there!!!....yeah, I know, the name gives ME the chills, too!)

school-related expenses

July 12th, 2007 at 08:39 pm

well, not counting the stuff I took from our stock of school supplies, I spent $24...and I'm still missing a couple of things which might be about $5....
and that does not include 2 dictionaries (Spanish/Spanish and English/English) and a school planner for $13 total...
so far, Ale's first grade is costing:

$200 - English books
$330 - enrollment fee
$33- Spanish books
~$30- school supplies
$9 - school bag
$13- dictionaries and planner
=====
$615

and I haven't bought shoes and uniforms (I'm waiting to see if at least SOMETHING fits by the time she has to start school!)...the good news is, so far, only $115 have come out of my pocket, since I did get those $500 from J, as help for Ale...

Happy 4th of July!

July 4th, 2007 at 06:19 pm

I have the day off today!...I´m taking advantage of it NOT being a holiday in ES to do a lot of stuff I normally don´t have the time to (go to Ale´s school and pay for her Spanish books...school is open from 7:30-4:00pm), go to the eye doctor (I thought I could do it this morning, but he only comes in the afternoon on Wednesdays!)...take my niece job hunting!...make cc and other payments...oh, Joy of Joys!!..lol!
wish us luck!

income tax return = $173.00

March 12th, 2007 at 07:11 pm

well, my taxes have been filed and supposedly I should be getting $173.00 before May...which is fortunate because I have to pay for Ale's school books in May, and they cost $200...so, now I need a 3 page translation to cover the rest!...

Are you poor?

February 12th, 2007 at 09:24 pm

The question took me completely by surprise!...I was just paying Ale's school and, since it was already 3:00pm, I popped in to say "Hi!" to her...and one of her classmates just shot it: Ar you poor?...No, why?...Alejandra said you were....Oh? well, we may not have money for luxuries but we sure aren't poor...

I guess I need to have a talk with Ale about this....I mean, how did she get this distorted view? we live in a small house in the wealthiest municipality in the country (true, it's not ours, it's a rental, and we share a household, but, still!)...we have a car, we have a nanny...and, while we don't have money to splurge, Ale can't exactly complain of NOT having "stuff"...as a matter of fact, she's the one that gets the most "stuff" at home...

I don't know, maybe kids have been talking about trips and cable and ipods and Xboxes???....I know for a fact that there are 3 kids in her class that have cellphones (?!...why would one give a cell phone to a 6 year old??!!)...and I know most of them have cable...Ale has also been asking whether only parents are allowed to have TV's in their rooms or whether some children have TV's of their own...Again, even if I HAD the money, I doubt it I'd want Ale to have her own "dumb box" in her room...

Not from the piggy bank, right??

February 6th, 2007 at 09:22 pm

Ale is so funny!...she brought home the proofs for her school pictures...here's a collage I made:

She obviously wants the group picture, too--which I haven't seen...the package costs $15, and it includes 1- 8X10 individual, 1- 8X10 group, 2 wallet and 4 passport size pictures....we chose the picture we like best (we liked the same one!)...and I said to her: ok, right now I don't have the money, and I have to see where I'm going to get it from, but, don't worry, we'll find it...(meaning re-allocate it from somewhere else)...she looked at me very anxiously and said: but, not from my piggy bank, right??...LOL!...I love it!

Those $0.85 really hurt!!

January 31st, 2007 at 07:41 pm

soooo....since Ale couldn't find her colored pencils,the next case was to come out of her piggy bank...first she asked: can I take out just $1?....sure! we'll see which kind of colors you can buy with that...first she went straight to the nicer cases: $4... $3.60....ok, to the cheaper ones...$1.71.... $1.41.... $1.27 ....OK! a case for $0.99...How much will I have left? $0.01....hmmmm...just one cent??...can we find other ones??....ok, we found a case of 12/24 (12 pencils/24 colors) for $0.85 (on sale)...those ones, Mommy!....

and, yesterday morning she must have still been thinking about this because she asked: Mommy, who will buy the next case of colored pencils??...so I said to her: It depends. If these are all used up, then I have to buy them, because that is my responsibility as a parent, to provide you with the stuff you need to study, but, if you lose them, then YOU will be paying for them, because it's your responsibility to take care of the stuff that I give you....

so, I guess taking the $0.85 out of her piggy bank (she put back the change!) REALLY hurt!


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