Yep, I always give her a basket with food for Xmas and, this year, one of the supermarkets where we buy toys is having a special promotion...for purchases of $150, for $0.01 you get a basket with food-with about the same products I generally include!!! - our toy purchase will be ~$400, so we more than qualify!...
oh, of course, I WILL have to add the price of a chicken...(I always include a chicken for her Xmas dinner)...but, still, it's a GREAT deal!

well, they wanted to send her to the warehouse (which is downtown) and she called the ad agency that hired her and they said no-way...so, she didn't actually quit, but was pulled off the job! (she's supposed to be paid for looking pretty and charming people into buying stuff, not being holed up stocking shelves...)....so, she didn't go to work today...which was good, as she had a call from CyZone- she's among the 10 finalists for the CyZone Girl contest and had to go to a photo shoot today!...she starts tomorrow at a shopping center in the other side of town...but, they'll provide transport from the agency to there, so it's ok...she'll work less hours, and will get paid more than at the other place!...sweet!

it's only for 3 weeks, but, it's a start!...she had 3 offers and took this one, which seemed to be the "path of least effort"... (less time, less hours, more or less the same pay)...except, one of the other ones was a "sit down" job, and this one means she has to be on her feet most of the day!...Now, Niece owns more shoes than Imelda Marcos, but, wouldn't you know it? none of them are comfortable shoes! (except for her sneakers and crocks, which are unacceptable, since she's supposed to wear "dressy" clothes!)...so, on Saturday, which was her first day of work, she came home with blisters on her feet!...her best friend, who had also signed up, quit after the first day!...Niece is holding on (we're very proud of her, btw!)...in many ways, this is her first real brush with "The Real World"...we'll see how it ends!

is totally crazy!...she found a "special toy catalogue" insert in the newspaper and copied about 1/2 of the toys advertised!...averaging $20/toy!...er, um....NO...she's already getting too much stuff as it is!...she's getting a BIKE, and that should be enough!...she's getting a Jr Scrabble (which I bought before I knew I was going to be able to afford the bike), 2 books in English and 1 in Spanish, a plush Piglet (also bought before the bike became a reality)...my cousin is giving her 1 present, and she'll get 1 from my sis + family...oh, and she's finally getting the remote control car she's been asking for the past 3 Christmases (we have a left over sample that no customer has ordered!)...
AND, I wanted to give her a 64-piece box of crayons, and asked a friend to send it (they are not available locally!) ....she sent a 120 piece box, and a 24 piece of twistable crayons, and some glitter glue AND some drawing paper...
ok, now I feel guilty!

well, since the bus owners threatened to go on strike if the goverment didn´t give them a subsidy on diesel, now the Legislative Assembly has voted to have a new tax on gasoline: $0.10 per gallon....This will serve to give the bus owners $400/month per each bus...never mind that some of those buses are JUNK, over 25 years old and poorly (if ever!) maintained!....the only reason those buses are still on the road is that some assembly members ARE bus owners (talk about conflict of interests!...those people should be excluded from voting on those matters, imo)...so, the bus owners get their subsidy supposedly so as to favor the poorer segments of the population, who have to travel by bus....hmmmm...what is the Legislative Assembly going to do to protect them from rising prices due to this new increase in gasoline prices...because I doubt the guy driving his truck to haul fruits and vegetables is going to "eat" that...he`ll transfer it to the next person in the supply chaing, who´ll transfer it to the next one and so on, until it ends up GUESS WHERE??? ...that´s it, not only with ME, but also with the pooor segments of the population who cannot afford a car and have to travel by bus!

well, they will ch ange the oil, change the thermostat and the radiator cap, clean and adjust the brakes (they said that's all that's needed)...and they will charge me $105...

of course, they came up with a list of other gazillion things to fix, for a total of $532....I asked them if any of it was really URGENT and they said no, so I'll take the car out today and set aside ~$430 to fix the rest later...even if it means reducing the amount going towards debt!...

I was on my way to pick up Ale when the car started overheating...took it to the nearest gas station...the radiator was dry!...I just checked it about a week ago (when filling the tank)...they filled the radiator with water and I drove it all the way back to our neighborhood (there´s a good workshop one block from my house) Needless to say, the car has to stay overnight (it was already 4 pm when I finally got here!) ....I told them the car had overheated and, they´ll check it...they´ll also do the oil change and I asked them to check the brakes (I check them every 6 months) while they´re at it....

((sigh)) they´ll call me tomorrow to tell me what it is, how much it´s going to cost and how long it´s going to take!...wish me luck!

since I'm off due Thanksgiving, my work today consists on packing the invitations/food tickets for a customer's children's party!...the tickets are already cut and stapled together in sets, so all I need to do is:
1. look at the list
2. cut out the employee's name
3. paste it on the envelope
4. count the number of people on his/her family group
5. count ticket sets according to # of family members
6. stuff tickets in the proper envelop
7. add one invitation card
8. seal the envelope with tape
9.Once I have all envelops for a particular division/unit- place them in a manila envelope
10.label the manila envelope with the division/unit name
11. seal the manila envelop with tape

other than that, I need to work on my niece's bag, I made a date with a friend for lunch at my house (I'm supposed to pick her up. Nanny made a chicken yesterday that was very good and I asked her to make some rice- which smells wonderful) and a date with another friend to go watch Hairspray again!

No, no turkey here today....but, HAPPY THANKSGIVING to those of you who DO celebrate it today! (whether with or without turkey!)

the question came at breakfast yesterday...along with: "do you think Santa brings poor children toys, too?"...

My former colleagues are going to an orphanage the first weekend of December to have a piniata with the kids...they've asked me if Ale and I want to go...I'll definetily try to make it!...if not, we can always donate something to the many Toys for Tots boxes around the Embassy...but, it's not the same...I like Ale to SEE the impact of her actions...the "Power of One" as the ad says...I want her to appreciate what she has, and to know that it doesn't take a lot to make a big difference!

the freighters guild announced a 30% increase in their rates...guess what THAT'll do to food prices! (not that I can blame them, though, with gas at $3.68/gallon!....ok, most use diesel, which is cheaper, but, still, it HAS gone up in price!)

OUT:
well, groceries were $48....fruit and veggies at the market $18...bought some cloth to make some bedding for Ale $19.75 (still need to get the batting, but that's not expensive and, she'll have 2 new bedcovers/4 new looks for her bed!)....seafood $23...invited the whole family for lunch at our favorite restaurant: $55 (had thought it would be $50... still, not too expensive for 4 people!...and, sis had beer and niece and I had one glass of wine each!)

IN:
2 translations...$42 and $74.48...and a third one which I still haven't done, so I don't know how much I will get for it!

a well-known seafood store just opened a new branch in a new neighborhood near my area...to encourage people to go to their new location, they're having a 2X1 on ALL their products!!...
I was thinking about buying 1 lb of shrimp this weekend anyway (Ale DOES love them, and we so seldom have them...maybe 2 times this whole year?...)...so, this is great! ...I may even buy some fish (which was NOT on the list, but, would be worth it!)

I'll let you know how it goes!