well, Nanny asked me yesterday if it was ok for her to use the iron, as the cable had started smoking while she was ironing in the morning!...er, NO!...I will probably take the old iron to have it fixed and use it as a "spare" for emergencies...I bought a new iron yesterday (luckily, they were on sale!..it cost me $29)...a steam iron, HEAVY, teflon coated... (don't ask ME, I don't know how to iron, but Dad had learned while in the military and always said a heavy iron works best...of course, he was in the army around WWII, so....the new technologies might make that unnecessary!)...

she's been begging for me to knit her something...I found this nice pattern on the web today...looks great, and the instructions are fairly easy....I think I might give this a try! (I can knit it in my lunch time here at work - if there are no translations! LOL!- and she'll never know about it!)

I was actually looking for instructions to knit one for Ale, as she has said she wants one and, we saw one at the store the other day....$20....NO WAY!.... the pattern I found also gives instructions on how to adapt it!...hmmmm, might even do a third one for is...wouldn't THAT be neat??....I could probably do all 3 for $20 (or less!)...it's an idea...

took Fiona to the vet for her anti-parasyte shot and a bath (I don't usually spend money on baths for her, but prefer to bathe her myself, but, thought we could "spoil" her as an advanced Xmas gift...and the bath includes nail clipping, which she needed anyway!...they put neon green bows in her ears...she looks sooooo cute!...)....anyway, I thought I was going to spend about $30 ($29 to be exact, as I had called ahead to know what each service cost)....the Dr. didn't charge for the visit, only for the shot and, since the nail clipping was included with the bath, I ended up spending only $12...yipee!

Left Fi at the vet's and went to a place that sells baker's supplies to get two bottles of vanilla for a friend who lives in the US (we agreed to "trade" the vanilla for crayons for Ale!)...I bought some cookie cutters and found some swirly candles, too (sis' birthday is Dec 15)...spent a total of $8...originally, I thought each vanilla bottle was $3, but it turns out they are actually $1....no savings here, though, because I spent the $$$ on the cutters and the candles....I saw sooooo many things that would be so nice to have....but, that's it: "nice to have"...plus, I SHOULD have a lot of that stuff someplace (but sis boxed up everything that was in my parents' house when they died, so I don't know where she put it!)...and I refuse to buy it if I KNOW I have it...

I then went to a clothing store to buy some clothes for Ale for Xmas...a pair of pants and 2 shirts...$21 ...OUCH!...I did find that expensive... but I'm now "done" with her Xmas presents!!...

Now I need to find a present for sis, one for niece, and one for cousin....I'm sorry, it really is "not in me" to give either of my nephews presents this year!...a present for my best friend's son (we agreed two Xmases ago that we would give the children presents and a hug would be enough present for us!)

...I also have to start thinking about Nanny's Xmas basket...and her Xmas bonus...

I already bought my gift: the Lord of the Rings books!!
I also bought 2 begginer's books (in English) for Ale: Charlotte's Web and a story about Igor (Dr. Frankenstein's assistant) wanting a new brain!
And one additional book in Spanish for her...

the bookstore was having a special sale and the books were 20% off!

...powdered milk has gotten so expensive (we are now paying $2.98 for a 400g bag!)...and, today I found an ad offering it at $2.16!...I'm stocking up!

there was a discrepancy between HER numbers and the balance at the bank (she discovered this when a toy wholesaler tried to reserve a cheque she had given and got rejected for insufficient funds)...well, someone has spent $685 from her account!...living the good life at expensive restaurants and bars in the two most expensive malls here in ES (coincidentally near the place where we live!)....I would have blamed it on her son (who, at least apparently, continues to behave and will start to work next month!- or so he says)...well, I would have blamed him if it weren't for 2 things: 1. he was with her at the times when the transactions took place and 2. there's a $150 purchase at a store called Ilusion. Cousin didn't know what it was, but I do...it's a very expensive home-decor store (definetily not your average teenage-hangout!)...nothing but crystal, silver,pewter and the likes there...definetely not a place where a teenage boy would spend $$$$....she is disputing the charges (obviously) and has closed her account with the bank...

On the day her cheque was rejected, she tried to go to an ATM to get a balance and found out her card was blocked. When contacting the bank she was told the card had been reported as stolen, so they issued her a NEW card...and not she's lost ANOTHER $535 ....fishy, very fishy...

anyway, the bank is investigating, and she got whathever money she had out of there...

She's been told it generally takes 45 days to have something like this resolved...we'll see...wish us luck! (the $$$ in the account was the toy money!!!...obviously she thought it would be a lot wiser to keep it in the bank, where it would be "safe" rather than keep it home....after last year's "incident" with her son!)...I'm just glad I didn't give her MY share of the $$$, but chose to keep it myself, as we need to buy some toys TODAY to be able to benefit from a special sale price- which will allow us a $10 PROFIT/toy, instead of the $5 foreseen!!

Ale and her best friend want to open a store to sell "stuff"...they actually want to call it "Ale and Danny's stuff"...Ale says that Danny will be in charge of allocating the money, but that she (Ale) gets to be the boss and she gets a bigger share of the profit (her expression, not mine!) because it was HER idea...Ale will be in charge of ordering the stuff to sell, but, she says, she will have to order other stuff, too, as it would be nice to have restrooms in the store...she also thinks it would be nice to have a cafeteria, so people can eat there and save on food and gas...the food in the cafeteria would be free for customers, so if someone coming in for the first time notices the cafeteria, she'd tell them: oh, it's free for our customers...

AND, she says she would be very good at selling, because she's already been to the flea market on Sundays, and has also experience buying stuff from coming with cousin and me on our weekend expeditions downtown...

She knows she has to pay for the stuff she buys, plus the people that work at the store, and that from they cannot take all the profit because they need to replenish the store.... (I wish I had known all that when I was 7!! LOL!)

Ale came to my room today at 3am, crying because her head hurt so badly...I gave her some Tylenol and let her sleep with me...but it really frightened me because it is the second serious headache in less than 15 days!...needless to say I called the Dr's office at 8:01am!...The doctor saw us around 10:00am..."luckily", it's just a synus infection! (I'm $110 poorer after Dr and meds, but, believe me, from the things I was imagining....I thought she might be developing a tumor or something REALLY scary like that!...)...
I won't lie to you: the lady at the pharmacy left us alone for a few minutes to go get a medicine at another branch they have nearby -well, not REALLY alone, there was another saleslady, but she was tending other customers- and, for one nanosecond my mind went: oh, what if I just took these and ran??...LOL!...wouldn't do it though...I took a toy at a store once, when I was about 4, and I still remember when Mom made me go in and return it AND apologyze to the cashier!...
Anyway, I had to use the rent money that sis gave me, but, I do get paid on Friday, so the rent will get paid then (will have to re-work the numbers for the bonus $$$!)

not just bad...ugly!...
sis works for a multinational which offers very good working conditions in North America and Europe...so-so conditions in South America and has a total leadership vacuum in Central America...

The latest? Due to the performance of sales in the area, they decided to cancel incentives (a.k.a. commissions) for this quarter...so, the policy that stated that salesreps get sales commissions would be eliminated (the original policy was drawn up in such a way that no-one, at any one time, could get a commission higher than 7% of their monthly salary, and that provided that the whole region achieved the sales goals, which in reality meant that the commissions were closer to 5%).

Now, you'd think this is the type of change in policy that would be communicated to the employees, wouldn't you?....welll, NO. They didn't tell them beforehand. They just added a two-line note about it in this payperiod's deposit notification. ....not only that, but the regional manager actually dodged sis and co-worker's calls all day yesterday...THAT is lack of leadership!...

Now, I'm not saying they don't have a right to say: "sorry, folks, we are not making enough money so we cannot give you your comissions"...but, they should have said it back when they realized this was even a possibility!...

Oh, as an interesting piece of info: ES is the only country in the region that CONSISTENTLY achieves/surpasses the sales goals!-- so sis and co-workers feel insulted and aggravated, because it's not THEIR results that are affecting the overall sales in the region!

In any case, sis was counting on that money to go to the eye doctor and have a new CAT scan, as she's having strange migraines lately...now she doesn't have the $$$ (and, no, they don't provide medical insurance!)

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!

cousin is very happy because her son has decided he wants to help her with the toy business and went with her downtown yesterday....I don't know...knowing him, it's probably just a trick to:
1. get her to buy him something (which would be the least serious situation); or
2. get her to lower her guard to steal some money from her (after all, this would allow him to know WHEN she will be picking up the toys, which is to say he'd know when she has cash!)
Isn't it sad that I have these thoughts??

Better safe than sorry, though!

mine is totally useles today...I'm sneezing, and cannot breathe...oh, and I can't smell a thing, either!

After another one of his "here today, gone tomorrow" stints, my nephew came home last night. Says he wants to go to rehab (again!...he just left the last one 2 weeks ago!-in the middle of the treatment, I may add!) and wanted sis to give him shelter for the night...sis, of course, said No. She already told him 3 rehabs ago...he cannot enter the house if he's not IN a program...he left and said he'd be back later...he didn't come back last night...or today...sis is on the emotional rollercoaster again (aren't we all?)...

Sis told him we cannot afford to help him right now...not just financially, but emotionally...unless he REALLY gets his act together, we cannot help...

and I had the nightmare again, the one where he sneaks into the house, into my bedroom and takes my things (my laptop this time!)...I woke up screaming...in my dream, I was trying to wake sis up so she could come and stop him...

it was all just a dream...the most awful part, of course, is to have these feelings about a child that you love!

since we had to buy a toy to bring as a sample to one of our customers and, since it was $21.30, AND, since there's a "spend $19.99, get a free t-shirt" on Barbie products right now, we got a free t-shirt for Ale. If the customer likes it, we will buy 11 more, so we would end up with 12 t-shirts in all!...since there are 4 different ones, Ale would get one of each and, the others we would request in different sizes so we could give some to Nanny's grand-daughter and would have some to give away as presents to other little girls. ...and, no, the customer doesn't want them. Same thing happened last year and, because not ALL the toys have a "giveaway", it would seem like they're being partial to some kids (or groups) by giving them 2 "gifts" instead of just one!- it seems this happened to them with a previous supplier and it was a big mess!...so, whenever the toys have giveaways, they always ask us to keep them!

Oh, and, while we were at this store, I spotted a hot-pink bike that looked about the right size (it was! I made Ale try it!)...and it costs $73, as opposed to the one we had seen at the other store, which was $106 (I do get a 13% discount on the $106, but, that is still $95.40....)

yesterday I called my sister and asked her to remember to bring the money for the house expenses (Nanny's money and also her share of utilities and rent)...I swear she said: "I already have half of it, but couldn't get the rest because the OTHER credit card company was already closed"....does that mean she's making cash withdrawals from the cc's to pay for the household expenses?...I know she gets paid once a month, on the 25th, and I thought this is where the money came from...so, she's using ALL her cash to pay debt and then taking on MORE debt to pay for the household expenses??...Scary....VERY scary...
I really need to talk to her and sort this out...if necessary, we need to sit down with Niece and bring her out of Princess-land and face the fact that she HAS to work! (she says she really wants to, but, she arranged her university schedule in such a way that ANY form of employment is really impossible!...unless it's the occasional model jobs she likes so much -loves to see herself in print!- but that don't really pay much....and which she spends 100% on clothes, makeup and shoes she never wears!)

wish me luck! (because THIS could make me THE most unpopular person in the world to both of them, but,hey, we are all living together!)

well, I have the amazing amount of $2 in my account...to last until payday (which is this Friday), BUT...cousin owes me $11 and sis owes me $60 (I paid that money to Nanny, sis still hasn't given me her share of the expenses for this month!)...they're both supposed to pay me today ...but, that means I have $73????...I could faint!...oh, wait, no, that will cover the payment on 1 cc...(due on the 15th, though...)

Oh, wow, this is a first!!

and, could you believe it? they didn't accept the payment because she didn't have her id card with her...this has never happened before...she will go again today...and bring her id with her, but, I already told her, next time she should ask to speak to a supervisor (because, she's made payments there before, both for me and sis, and they never required an id, plus, she says the cashier was rather pedantic)

True, it hasn't been easy. True, I really wish I hadn't put myself in this situation....but, you know, my financial problems helped me take a good look at my priorities and, I can now say, this (crisis) would have happened sooner or later (most probably later, when I wouldn't have had as much room to "maneuver" so to speak!)...

Also, the crisis hit while Ale was very young and, thus, still didn't have that sense of entitlement she might have had if we had continued to live "the good life" on credit! ...being aware of money from a young age will be benefitial for her...most of her classmates don't have a clue! (after all, they're only 7!)...but, Ale at least has an idea of the value of money and, she knows getting into debt is a bad idea....

I have learned that you CAN have fun without spending much...as a matter of fact, you can even have fun -GASP- for free!...

I also learned that your true friends won't leave you just because you can't "keep up", but will try to schedule more cheap/free activities into their lives so you can participate!...

So....eventhough some parts of THIS ride have been awful, at least it has been worthwhile!

And, no, I'm by no means "out of the hole" yet, but, I can look back and see the progress I make and, I can look forward and see the end of it all!...

And, who knows, maybe I'll have gained enough sense to NOT fall into the trap again!

Well, September is gone and October is here already!...

El Salvador celebrates Children's Day on Oct 1st...so, for all of us who are kids at heart: HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!

Yeah, it's tomorrow, but we are celebrating today!...I bought Ale 1 present (got a plush bear for free!) and yesterday I took her to the mall, because she's a member of the Club Prensita (this is a children's insert in our local newspaper, which is published 2 times a week)...by showing her card at the newspaper stand at the Children's carnival, we got free tickets to the Fairly Odd Parents show (next week)... each ticket costs $10, and, since her membership was free...of course, the idea was to lure you to the mall, but, we just enjoyed the freebies and then left....Not that the weekend wasn't spendy anyway...Nanny's daughter was hit by a car (luckily, she only had bruises, not even a broken bone!), but, still, I thought it was only fair to give Nanny the week off so she could take care of her daughter...she takes such good care of us when WE are home sick, that it just seemed the right thing to do...so, on Friday we had to buy fast food...$8..OUCH!...this wasn't planned, but niece was supposed to pick Ale up and take her home for lunch, then drop her off at the daycare...but sis and niece went to the eye doctor yesterday and they didn't make it on time, so I had to rush out of the office to go pick up Ale, feed her and then drop her off at the daycare...and I only have 1 hour for lunch!...I was still 15 minutes late!...Oh! and I got a call during lunch that an urgent document had arrived for processing at work!...nearly chocked on my hamburger!!...Oh, and we went to the children's theater festival...we saw The Sand Boy...it was really nice...that was another $6...AND we went to church for a musical...total for that was about $7 (that includes the pupusas which Ale ate, and I still cannot believe that she ate them only 2 hours after having dinner!...she's eating like a termite lately! -which is a nice change from her near-anorexic eating habits, where she will eat if you put the food in front of her, but will totally forget if you don't!...I guess we are in for a MAJOR growth spurt this time!)

Got paid $100 from one of the earlier translations yesterday...I will go make a payment to the cc tomorrow...

(or, at least, you SHOULD know) if, when speaking about replacing a phone burnt by a power surge, you say: I know I could get a cheap phone, but, I NEED one with caller ID because of my creditors...

We were having this conversation about a terrible thunderstorm we had a few days ago and,cousin mentions she needs a new phone because hers got "fried" during the storm... sis and I said we NEED a wireless phone (in addition to our "normal" phone downstairs) so that we do not have to rush downstairs whenever there's a call (one of this days, someone's going to fall down the stairs trying to get to the phone!...that'd definetely be more costly than the $20-$22 wireless phone!)...still, we have that as "a plan" at the moment....

then cousin says: Oh, I know I could buy a regular phone for $5-$7, but, I NEED one with caller ID, so I know not to pick up when it's creditors calling...

sis and I just looked at each other...

It's that time of the year!...the International Children's Theater Festival (FITI) opens this Friday...Woo-hoo!...
I've identified 5 shows we could attend...
the opening piece will be The Sand Boy...the story of a sand boy in love with a mermaid...
Ale's pretty excited, too!

well, one of our toy customers is having a special sale (open only to employees and suppliers!)...so, I bought spices...pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, basil, oregano, cinammon powder, vanilla extract, and other stuff... I really stocked up!...some of this stuff sells for $3.00 each, and I got it at $0.25-$0.50 each!...yay!...we are also stocking up on toilet paper, detergent and tooth paste today!...
they do this sort of thing about once or twice a year...we like to take advantage of it!

Notice that I've been saying my old wardrobe is in shambles and I will soon need to replace some items??...guess what! a colleague's wife said to me a while ago she had some clothes she no longer uses and would I be offended if she offered them to me...and, yesterday, she brought me a bagful of clothes...and they ALL fit!...so, now I have a new pair of jeans, a new skirt and 7 new shirts...both dressy and "weekend" ...
and all the items were "so me" ...and free!...

Some time ago, ex-hubby called and said we "needed to revisit some long-buried converstations"...uh??
Turns out he wanted to talk to me about:
1. A promise he never fulfilled (and, in my mind, I just thought: which one of them all??-- lucky I decided not to say it!)
2. His airline employee ticket benefits will end next year and, he will save 2 (space available) tickets for Ale and myself to go to Disney if we want to. Now, mind you, he isn't Ale's dad (warning, because if he were, this next thing would be petty!)...I have to pay for the tickets...about $300/each (taxes and fees INCLUDED)...which is a lot less than the regular fares from ES to Miami, which generally fluctuate between $599 and $649 (tax and fees NOT included! which means they come up to $750-$875!)..

so, it's a good deal...the problem, of course, is: it takes more than plane tickets to get there!!!...I've been doing numbers and, I estimate I'd need at least $1,300 (including plane tickets!) to even consider it a go...Ale, of course, thinks we can make it...I'm not so sure...

Mainly, I'm still having trouble paying down debt...I expect to "catch up" in November, and, be up to date with everything + pay a cc in full...but, that will leave only about $45/month (which is my current minimum payment on that cc, and which I'll allocate to other payments starting Dec 2007)...

I've investigated and, the best dates for us (based on school schedule and potential flight availability) would be:

Between March 13-19
May 1-5
Between June 21-28

June would be my preferred option:
1. Ale is on vacation
2. Her birthday is June 26. It would be cool if this were our last day at the parks!
3. It's further away= more time to save
4. I receive a small bonus in June

The problem? ex-hubby said ticket benefits end June 2008...so I don't know if that means:
1.tickets must be purchased before June 1st
2. tickets must be purchased before June 30th
3. tickets must be used (travel finished) by June 1st
4. tickets must be used (travel finished) by June 30th.

I've already asked about this and also about the exact price (since we are space available, price isn't subject to seasonal changes!)

So far, we have $121 in our Disney account (which I set up back in 2004, and should be nearing the $1K mark, but I had to take out the money to pay down debt about a year ago!) and the ~$12/pay period from my salary increase ....and I have decided that the package of translations to be paid at $0.03 go towards this, too...I estimate all these would get me to the $600 mark (once collected)...so, I'd have the plane tickets...Have to find a way to earn the rest!

Of course, the REAL challenge is to do THIS while keeping the same targets I had for paying my debts!! (which is why I added the other ticker ABOVE the Disney one!)

Keep tuned for updates!

It´s that time of the year again, and we are back at work trying to put together a new toy catalogue for the Xmas season.... I´m on PowerPoint duty and cousin is working on the price list in Excel....this also has a sheet to track our earnings and how the different accounts get split...

she has about 98 lines of data...I have already about 90 pictures (with code) on the presentation.... we estimate by the time we are finished taking pictures/getting prices at the places we buy from, we'll have about 300 items on our catalog...so we aren't even 1/3 through!!

gotta get back to work!!...will come back and blog some more during my next break! :P

I withdrew $40 from my account today and, nearly had a heart attack when I saw the balance: $91...I thought I was supposed to have ~$130 (DUH-H! yep, I HAD $131...minus the $40 withdrawal!!!) the thing is, in reality I still have $121...but, sis isn't giving me her share of the household expenses until the 30th (when she gets paid) and, rather than wait for that, I'm giving nanny her $40 for the week, so when sis gives me the money, I get my $40 back!
I feel so dumb!

you'll have to walk twice, my grandmother used to say (El haragan y el mezquino andan dos veces el camino)...well, I keep walking! LOL!...I was about 2/3 done with the first sleeve on Ale's sweater, and she wanted to see if it was long enough and...uh-oh, turned out it was too narrow!...since I had determined that knitting the size 10 instructions for the body would be enough to make a size 8 sweater (due to the yarn being thinner), I used that same logic for the sleeves...well, not really! when I saw that her hand would have trouble going through, I measured the sleeve (which I should have done as soon as I had knitted 2-4 rows, but was too lazy to do!) and saw that I needed 10 more stitches! ouch! I had to undo everything...I'm 1/2 way through again...to think I could have been working on the 2nd sleeve already!!! ((bumps head against the wall!))

Well, my eye looked like a cherry tomato on Thursday, so this Saturday I did go to (another) eye-doctor...he said I DO have a very nasty infection...total for saving my eye came up to $38 (I thought it was going to be $30, but, hey, my eye is DEFINETELY worth it!!)...so, to make $$ impact less serious, I took my $5 out of the allocated $20 for the book fair (left Ale her $15!)...
BUT, there was a 2X1 shoe sale and, I talked to cousin (I know she's been looking to buy shoes lately, and that she had a $20 max for it...we bought some really nice Hush Puppies at $35...so only $17.50 each!...Ale also wanted shoes, and, reviewing what she has...I gave in and bought her a pair of dressy sandals + Hush Puppies sandals for $10...so, this weekend cost about $80!!! --let's say $43, I will NOT count my eye appointment and medicine as a weekend expense!! ...oh, and the Doctor said it's time to change my prescription!...I think I WILL put this one on the dept store card, just so I can get the new glasses NOW, but make a point to pay it off in 2 payments...(t's either that or guide-dog lessons for Fiona, and, somehow, I don't think THAT would work!)

I'm so excited!...Ale and I had planned to go, now sis is joining, too!...
I already withdrew the $20 out of my account (it's payday today, and we've already received our $$$!)...
I will definetely leave the debit card behind for this! (I have no willpower when it comes to books!) $20 we have and $20 is the most we can spend!
In 2004, when we went to the US, Ale and I were let loose in B&N and, eventhough we didn't get everything we wanted, we spent almost $200! YIKES!...worth every penny, but, still...that was BEFORE, this is NOW, and NOW I'm actively trying to get out of debt and not shutting my eyes in denial!

I'm knitting a sweater for Ale. Yesterday I told her that I had finished the left front and was going to get started on the right front (I started with the back on Monday)...and, she tells me: oh, so the sweater will be ready tomorrow, then?

huh?...I'm still missing the sleeves, and the pocket, and the trim....I explained all this to her and, her answer:...that's what I mean, it won't be ready today, but you can finish it by tomorrow!...