That's all that's left in my account until next payday, which is NEXT Friday!!...unless I can collect on those translations...scary, but, nanny's paid, school is paid, the car has a full tank (well, semi: 3/4 full!) and I don't have to buy any groceries until the 25th- next Saturday- so I should be ok.

Of course, there's the matter of those overdue loan payments and the calls from the bank, but, since I know where the money is (eventually) going to come from (translations), I'm not panicking...

I printed a copy and am taking it to Ale so she can proof-read it for me!...I'm nervous!!...once that's done, I have to print out 3 copies and make a copy on a diskette, put everything in an envelope and sign it with a pseudonym. I must also include a sealed envelope with the pseudonym on the outside and all my "real" info inside it...it then has to be delivered to the Alliance Francese before Sept 30th.

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!!)

the annual book fair will take place 25-28 August...I have allotted $20 (as usual)...Ale is very excited about it...if I let her, she'll use the $20 on herself! (I want to buy 1 book for myself!)...
Sadly enough, the library is not an option for us...
1. location (it's very far away, and there's no parking!)
2. working hours (M-F, 9 to 4)
3. you cannot take the books home!

....so, it's buying or lending for us!

and never to fall in debt again!...
that was Ale's wish last weekend....it's my wish every day! LOL!...
she knows that debt is the reason so little of what I make actually makes it into the house!! LOL!

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??

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!)

Knitting has become expensive!...I have been surviving on my stash of yarns, but, yesterday I went to buy some white (acrylic) wool to knit a sweater for Ale (she needs a white sweater and, given our weather, it's almost impossible to find one!...unless you're going to the some European franchises, and, last time I went into one and dared ask, they said $60!!!!...SIXTY US DOLLARS!!!! for a sweater for my 7-year old???....not in 1,000,000 years!)...so, I went to buy the materials...I had expected it to be about $15, but turned out to be $18....and I only bought yarn!!! (I have everything else!)...I even saw some yarns that were $5.99 EACH!!!...eeek!...
On the positive side, Ale liked a yarn that was about $2.90...says she wants a tank top knitted out of that...I think I can make it with 2 skeins....of course THAT will be more expensive than buying one downtown....but I bet it'll last longer...plus, it WILL be very special!

well, now that Ale's school stuff is out of the house, I have 1 full cubby for myself!...already moved my hand lotions and contact lens solution in there!...I also took the carton where the eggs came and put it inside my drawer (cut to size), so now I have little "nests" for my jewelry, instead of having it roam the drawer, where I can never find a whole pair of earrings!)...Next, I need to find one of the huge photo albums (ex-hubby picked the pictures he liked and gave me back the rest, which I re-arranged into 2 albums instead of the original 3, so now I have an empty one) to place all our family photos which didn't make it into frames!
This will free up one drawer in my night-table, which I can then use to consolidate all important documents (passports, legal, income tax reports, etc), which are now scattered in 2 different drawers in 2 different parts of the house...this, of course, will free up those 2 smaller drawers....it's like a small chain!

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!

ok, I just went and paid $11 into my cc to bring it up to date!!!...that means I'm "only" overdue on personal loan ($400, due on the 19th) and with rent ($160)...now, this may sound like little to you, but, to put it in perspective, I get $490-$515 per bi-weekly check!...so, no, I don't think I can get current in August...but, hey, let's look at the progress, shall we?

at the beginning ouf July I was overdue on 2 cc's (for a total of $275), rent ($315) and the personal loan ($400)...so, 4 accounts for a total of $990...now it's 2 accounts for a total of $560!!!....now, I did make a payment on the loan, it's just that it was all applied to interest and fees (being overdue for 2 months will cause that!)...but, still, I hope I can make an additional payment to the loan this month (although I doubt I can make it current before oct!)....

I'm stressed out and, for once, additionally to eating like crazy, I've gotten the de-cluttering bug!...

trying to look on the bright side, at least I'll have a nice orderly room (who knows, maybe even a nice orderly house!) once I find a way to cope with the current family crisis!...

If I'm going to catch up/beat my debt, I need at least $100/month worth of translations...I need to get moving and get more contacts!
(at least, now I have 2 new contacts, so that should help...although I know they won't be sending work my way every month, I know that once in a while I will get something from them... plus, the second contact was a referral! )

since the other admin at the place where I used to work is going to the US (her papers came through!) with her two daughters, she's leaving all their toys for Ale...she knows we cannot possibly "digest" them all and knows some will be given away and others will be sold...still, it's very nice of her and, I know Ale will be thrilled when she finds out (I still haven't told her!), just like I know my niece is going to have a heart attack! (she thinks there's too much junk as it is...she doesn't understand that, if a toy is in perfect condition, it's generally because it hasn't been played with much, whereas the toys that look like they belong in the garbage are the ones that are truly loved! -- like that Barbi e on the final scene of Toy Story 2, which had half the hair cut off and a rainbow painted on her face!)...oh, well, I guess we'll all have to deal with it!...I'll encourage Ale to give some away to nanny's grand-daughter and, see what she can sell at the next flea market!...this might be the perfect opportunity to earn $$$$ for her account!

LOL!...a local fabric store is having a "super sale", 30-70% off...
generally, the ugly fabrics get put on sale, and the nicer ones get overpriced!...soooo, the "good" news is I don't have the money to buy the fabric for my curtain, because that means I won't even go browsing (which means I cannot fall in love with ANY fabric at this time!) LOL!...

Reality check before I go on vacation:

NEEDS: ($150-$200 for ALL)
Uniforms for Ale (including shoes, socks)
Oil change for the car
New windshield wipers (rainy season!!)
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)
New curtain for my bedroom (been using an old sheet and, frankly, it does nothing for the room!...and, since we have been decluttering-reorganizing, I’ve started to feel that it would look SOOOO much better with something nicer, in a different color…)

New clothes for me – just because my older clothes have started disintegrating!!...I still have enough to make do for a while, though, so not really a need!

New shoes…after all, we HAVE been going to all those shoe stores! LOL!...don’t worry, I won’t give in so easily! (although if I find a bargain like last year, Hush Puppies at $10, I will probably get them!)

1 day of relaxation at the beach during these holiday period (4 days…) not likely to happen…

I think it’s good to list them (first of all, it helps to see “wants” as WANTS!...and, to assign a $ figure, that way I know how realistic it is to grant myself some of those Wants… (no way I’m going to pour $100 in Wants when I have $200 worth of Needs!)

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!)

Ok, I admit it, I'm a hopeless sentimental and good-byes are really (REALLY) hard for me...this past weekend I went to my former boss' farewell party (VP)...needless to say, my eyes started watering the moment I said Hello and, once they showed a video the guys from the office made for him, there was no stopping me from crying....it was like Niagara falls!...awful, awful...to the point where people were asking if I was ok...and this was BEFORE I had to officially say good-bye to him!...and, on top of that, my other former boss (the director)is also relocating in about a week, so I had to say good-bye to him and his wife (the ones that have helped me with Ale's school)...so, I've been in "cry mode" the whole weekend...literally, you can make me cry just by looking at me right now...
(I KNEW there was a reason I NEVER went to ANY of the other farewell parties!!)...but, after all he did for me, how could I NOT go to this one??...there I go, crying again!!!...ok, I'll log off and go home now! ugh!

...I´ve been asking for extra money and, yesterday I got an email from my previous job inquiring about a translation for this weekend (they haven´t sent the document yet, though) and, today I got a call to go do a job for a documentary producer (just voice over)...those are fun and generally well paid!...so, tomorrow I´m supposed to go there at 9am...I´ll probably be home in time to cook lunch and, they generally pay within 15 days! woo-hoo!!

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...

soooo....since the price of corn has almost doubled, prices at the marketplace are already rising:

onions used to be $0.15 each, now= $0.25
lb of beans was $0.56, now= $0.64
platains were 6 X $1.00, now you get 5
tomatos remain at $0.25 by some miracle...

and, potatoes have gone down...they were 5lbs/1$ and this weekend they were 7lb/$1...

It's my turn to do grocery shopping this weekend...we'll see how far I can stretch my $$$

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!

ok, a list of $$$ that is "pending" coming in:

$172 - income tax return (STILL!)
$74 - translations
$261 - translations

I DO hope I get this before the 16th!...it's all allocated to debt already!!

a friend of our family gave her $25...she decided she did NOT want to save any of it!!!...she spent $4.50 at the little store at the country club...then he bought 2 pairs of shoes (she asked me to take her to a store where she had seen a 2X1 special) for $10...then she said she wanted toys, and asked me to take her somplace where she could buy them...I took her to the toy section of the dept store, as they were having "an additional 35% off sale prices" if purchase was made with store card...she wandered the aisles looking at what she could buy for $10....she then found the "additional 35%" aisle and asked the saleslady to check on final prices for several things...she finally decided on a "potty training Kelly" for $9.49....
I charged it on my card and she gave me $9.49 to pay it off right then and there!...she then spent $0.25 on gum from a gum ball machine...so she still has $0.80 left...perhaps I could persuade her to save THAT???
All in all, she didn't do too bad for a 7-year old...at least she looked for bargains!

1. Control expenses and make sure total is at or below budgeted amounts for category/month, any “leftovers” in categories will go towards debt!...tsk, tsk...haven't really been taking good care of this, but, I KNOW I've been putting money towards debt like crazy!...I also know I've been spending on silly unnecessary stuff...like pizza on the weekends at least once a month!

2. Continue to lower my overall debt - I started Jan 05 with ~$17K and Jan 06 with $~11K (with ~$8K for a loan and ~$3K in cc debt)... Jan '07 started with $16.5K …. Expect to pay about $5K this year- not counting interest! doable as per my projections!...

3. Start my own business– formally: E-Spiral is the name, translation is our business (G-d and Ale are my partners!)… and contact at least 4 new potential customers per month, so as to find 50 pages of translations per month in 1Q07, getting to 150 in 4Q07…. From Jan – July: 40% of each job will go towards debt, 40% back into the business, 10% into savings (to fund my Freedom Fund!) and 10% to the Padre Vito Guarato Home. From Aug-Dec 07 percentages to be 30,40,20,10 ….hopefully, I’ll be able to quit my current job by mid 2008!! hmmm, I actually stopped this when I got the new job...re-starting now that I feel more "settled in"...I actually have new contacts!
4. Help Ale earn/save $25 for her savings account by 071231! still at $5...have 6 months to help her come up with $20!....

Ale is forever asking me to make up stories for her at bedtime....a few months ago I saw an ad for a children's stories writing contest (Charles Perrault children's literature contest), and I thought: I should write a story...then, just 2 days ago, I finally tried to put one of my stories in writing...it's basically the story of Kitty coming home...just using some of our "home names" for the characters...Ale is my Princea Pelipreciosa (a non-existent compound word that means she has beautiful hair!), and my niece is the Pink Princess...I'm still working on proper Queen names for sis and myself...although really, the story is mostly about Kitty and our Fiona (also called Fi, Fiffi, Firi and Fifirififi!)...so...now I'm letting it "sit" for a few days so I can look at it objectively and make changes...the deadline for submitting an entry to the contest is Sept 30, so I have time...the question is: will I dare enter the contest??

I don't know if I mentioned that during our trip to the northern zone our translator was a guy that used to be my best friend at school...(very long, painful story...the short-short-short version: he slept with my boyfriend!)...
back to the present...so, there we were and, all that hatred that I felt for him at one point? GONE!...all the bitterness? GONE!...you know what? forgiveness IS liberating! (I just don't think it's entirely a matter of will, you have to be emotionally ready to let go!)...well, the thing is he came to our house, we chatted for hours and hours and got up to date and, the next day he sent me an email apologising for what had happened over 12 years ago! (I didn't expect that, honestly, if I invited him into my home that meant everything was over)...so, anyway, I wrote him and explained that, from the moment I had invited him, it was because he was forgiven and, that we both knew we ALL had some sort of "fault" in all this, if only in not knowing how to handle all that was happening...so...we are friends again...I don't think we'll ever be "best" friends again (though, who knows? ) ...and, since he' s working on translations now, he sent me some work that he didn't have the time to finish...so, this week I get $74 for that work and, he already knows I'm available from 5pm onwards to do translations!!!...so, besides a renewed friendship (which is priceless) I already got an economic benefit out of the whole thing!

Or, as the song says: No estaba muerta, andaba de parranda!!...lol!..not exactly...

please be patient if you see a lot of typos, the "s" on my keyboard is not working properly!...

As most of you may (or may not) know, I started a new job in April of this year...some days I have little to do....others I have a regular workload and, only occasionally do I have lots to do!...it feels SOOOO weird!...really, it IS weird...most days I'm home by 5:30pm (if you can believe that!)...the monthly pay is only slightly better, but, there's a mid-year bonus and the end-of-year bonus is almost double what I got at the other place...plus, if you take into account quality of life, then it's definetely worth it! (also, if rumors are true, then this was definetely the right decision at the right time!...apparently the other place is going to let go 500 employees before August!)

So, I'm trying to enjoy my time here and not go crazy....my file is perfectly up to date..including the docs that arrived this morning, thank you!...my Outlook Inbox is practically free already (most things have already been taken care of) and I only keep "active" things there...and never for more than a week!...my desk is clean at the end of each day...((cue music from The Twilight Zone))...

Ale is a much happier child, we have time to play and read and watch TV together before bedtime...she just finished her Preparatoria and is ready for the 1st Grade!...since I didn't want her vegetating for 6 weeks, I enrolled her in summer camp at a local club and, she's taking swimming lessons, tennis, karate, ballet and arts and crafts on a rotating schedule from Mon-Fri, 8:30-12:30....her afternoons are blissfully free, so she can rest or play or generally enjoy the art of just 'being' for a change....she's chosen to teach Nanny to write in cursive!...

We have also acquired a new pet...a cat, who now has the un-original name of KITTY...HELLO Kitty is her full name! ...she's a total sweetie....if you are wondering what Fiona (our dog) thinks about this new creature in our house....well, Fiiona thinks Kitty is her puppy...she keeps "cleaning" her (eewwwww, the poor thing ends up covered in dog drool at least 3 times a day!) and steers her out of trouble...literally, the cat cannot take a step without Fiona directing where she should (or shouldn't!) go!...I predict the time is not far when Kitty will teach Fiona the meaning of "giving someone space!!" LOL!...but at least things are peaceful in the house!...
Well, guys, I'm sort of defying all those "no expectation of privacy" warnings that keep popping up on my computer...(no internet service at home...the bills caught up with us!...when you live paycheck to paycheck -- and at minus $200/month!, missing one salary payment has a HUGE impact!...Hoping to report progress soon!)

see? I knew that'd get your attention!!...actually, I DID go on a shopping spree...for stuff I NEED (new shoes for Ale AGAIN!...size 2 this time!!) and a pair of pants for me (to replace ones that nearly disintegrated in the last wash!)...I decided yesterday was a great day to do that, as a popular dept store was having a "yellow tag" sale...meaning for two days only you got 30% already discounted prices on select merchandise...I got Ale 2 pairs of shoes (1 "everyday", 1 tennis shoes) for $26 and, the pants I found were $25 original price, but ended up costing me $12.50....there was other stuff I would have wanted (3 other pairs of pants, all gorgeous, all similarly priced)...but, I really didn't NEED that...I can wait to get that later on, when things have stabilized more financially ...

WOW! I met my boss´ boss' boss this week (yep, three rungs higher than my boss!)...and, when introducing me, my boss mentioned that 60 people had applied for the job I got!...really, WOW!!