....we already have our hands full as it is, and, yesterday, one of our suppliers told us that the 30% off promotion had expired...we actually had a large order on toys from them...so, cousin ran downtown to find another supplier (she found one, yay, cousin!), but, it took her all morning...AND, the office get-together was yesterday night...(no way I could get out of going...we are only 9 people!-counting the spouses and 2 consultants!)...and, today, one of the people coming to help pack presents is sick!... AND, I still haven't finished my translation!!! (the good thing is, I was given an extension, because the end customer is NOT going to arbitration just yet-they might not go at all, but they want to have the documents just in case anyway!)

::breath in, breath out::

So, the last translations from company 1 were paid...after taxes, $1,025...I used $425 today for the toy business (I should get all my money back, plus profit, by Dec 15th, as we have an agreement with all companies that we get paid when we deliver the toys!)...

Now I only have to survive this week! (I have an awful cold...Ale, too!)...

I'm overcommitted for this weekend!...
these are the events:
1. Ale's church meeting (yes)
2. Embassy's Xmas festival for children (don't think we'll be able to make it!)
3. gift-wrapping/order preparation fest with cousin (definitely YES!)
4. Xmas get-together with translation agency folks (VERY difficult)
5. 20-year anniversary class reunion (also VERY difficult)
6. 35 pages of translation....

HELP!!!....oh, and here I am, instead of trying to reduce those 35 pages..I'm blogging!

this is a Law they want translated...fortunately, this is one law I'm quite acquainted with (acquisitions by govmnt entities)...but, it may be quite extensive...most probably, I'll agree to do only a PART of it, as it is quite urgent and I wouldn't want to overcommit!

they want toys in our cheaper range (up to $3), but, they want 600!!...cousin had to rush to put together a "real life" sampler for them and is showing it tomorrow...and I haven't even been able to help her because I caught whatever it was that Ale had and have been sleeping all day today (could not sleep last night due to high fevers...stayed home today all day...except for taking Ale to school and picking her up...) I'm still a little dizzy, but hope to feel better tomorrow!..........

I'm wondering whether I should keep the translations as my $20 challenge next year or, if I should start considering that "recurrent income" and looking for something else to become the $20 challenge....

Truth is, with translations I've already covered most of my free time...and I honestly don't want to use the hours that I have actually left "blocked" as that is my "Time with Ale" ....

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!

well, I just got sent a file...it does not need to be translated, but it is a Powerpoint doc that got turned into a PDF and now they want to use some slides, so they asked me to re-create them...text slides, mostly....I don't think it'll take more than 1/2 hour...
I'm going home now (it's 5:15pm!) and I'll work on it after Ale goes to sleep... $$$$$ I'm SO glad:
1. that my former boss asked the managers to let me "help" with their presentations (hinder, mostly, would be the right word...at least at the beginning! I swear it took them twice as long to explain to me what they wanted than what it would have taken them to actually DO the slides themselves!)
2. that the managers had the patience to actually teach/correct me
3.that I was actually paying attention
4. That I got to re-type the manual/make the slides/screenshots for the new version (lots of practice!)

Yeah, Dad was right: anything you can learn can be useful some day, even if at the time you cannot imagine that it will!...and, even if you CAN imagine, sometimes things are useful in a DIFFERENT way than you imagined! (never saw this as a "side business" skill!)

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...

just finished another translation!....hopefully, this will cover the $$ I spent on Ale's medicines (MY share of it, after I get my reimbursement!) and the new battery for the car!

Remember I said that there was one translation job that I was separating to put towards the Disney fund? Well, I got paid yesterday!!...so, I updated my ticker....

I'm still waiting on $1,000 from one translation job, and about $300 more for other, smaller ones...I'm also pending the proceeds from the toy sales....this will all be put towards debt.

another short translation arrived just before lunch! woo-hoo!...$15.16 after tax!...slow but steady!!!

have a new translation, which I'll work on during my lunch hour...I estimate about $20 from it...pre-tax...hey, it helps!!

I'm learning about energy generation now! LOL!...

...could you believe my "average" additional income for this year (from translations only) is $500?...what's amazing to me is that the first semester is about $600...the rest is all August-Nov...but, I'm willing to go with the $500 average...if I can keep it up, I could even be debt-free by next December!!...("happy numbers")...that would be soooooo sweet!

well, $33 once you take out the taxes!!...woo-hoo! this was a ppt presentation....these are becoming my "specialty"!

....I got 26 pages of transltion from the office...they scared me, because originally the guy that sent them said it was about 100 pages...I guess he was kidding, but, I HAVE seen translations that big, so I thought he was serious!...he really scared me!...as it is, since my boss said I COULD do it IF I had the time and IF I felt like it (because he said it is this guy's responsibility to have the doc translated if he needs it in English, not ours), I have been doing it in my "dead" time at the office and, have already sent along 15 pages....I expect to be finished by Thursday, at the latest... 1. it helps me get more acquainted with what we are doing and 2. it will help my reputation around the office! :P

One of the larger jobs was not paid yet. I spent: $1.30 for traditional candy at the mall (Ale begged and, since she can't eat the colored ones at the moment, I gave in!), I also went to the toy store and, I found a bike that was a bit more expensive, but had 18 rim tires, so it's bigger than the ones I had seen before and, will last her longer. She tried it and she can use it - it does have training wheels!...we can pay it with 25% downpayment and 3 installments without paying interest, so I paid ~$25 also bought the protective gear...I separated $6 for our vegetables tomorrow (change) and, put the remaining $$$ in a safe place, so I don't have it with me today and tomorrow (so I cannot spend it!)...on MOnday I'll deposit it and start working on the payments!...oh, and it seems my car may need a new battery (it refused to start after I dropped cousin off!...luckily her neighbor is a mechanic and he was just arriving at the same time, so he looked at it and, used the jump cables to start my car!)...that could cost me about $60-$75....I have to look on the bright side: while that means less money towards debt, at least I HAVE IT!...if this had happened last year, for example, I would have been in BIG trouble (and would have had to incurr new debt to get it!)...If this had happened before we went to the toy store, I might have backed down on the bike!, but, I'm already committed now (else I lose part of my $$$)...I also have to buy some more medicines for Ale, to finish her treatment...part of that is reimbursable, though, so...no big loss there...
Oh! and the guys from the translation agency warned me that there's "a TON of work coming really soon" and to check whether any of my friends were willing to do translations, as they might have more work than their current pool of translators can handle!..that is sweet news, indeed!!
it was a good day!!!
*****
minor detail I was forgetting! I owe $322 to my friend who helped me with one of the large translations! duh!...I'll go take that out of my stash RIGHT NOW!

I'm getting paid for A LOT of translations today!...woo-hoo!!!...about $2K!!!- that means I have to deposit this on Monday morning and review my payment plan, to see who gets what!! That ticker to the left is going to JUMP forward!!! muaaaaahhhhhaaaaahhhaaaahahahaha!

...other than the company I used to work for, that is...but, I don't consider them a "direct" customer because they gave me translations BECAUSE I worked with them!...
He's bringing the documents by tomorrow! ...great!

from a very good source (finance dept employee!)...our year-end bonus will be paid next pay period!!! (she was warning the bank teller to make sure she had enough cash!)...it's not confidential, or anything, everybody knows it's due on payperiod 22....but, since it's my first year here!....

the latest translation will bring in about $700 after taxes...this one will most likely be paid either by the end of November or early December!

...the translation money is starting to trickle in!...$189.90 this time...already spent $35 in paying the electricity for this month, and today I'm going to go to the bank at noon to pay $98 still outstanding from last month...and tomorrow I will go to pay the $160 due this month, which will make me officially current....why go today and not wait until tomorrow?
1. the longer I have the money, the greater the temptation to buy "just a little thing"....
2. One less day of interest!

40, really, as I've already spoken to my friend so we can split them!..

woo-hoo!!!

If you said MORE Translations....you're absolutely right!...3 PowerPoint presentations for the training tomorrow!...woo-hoo!...and it's only 9:30pm and I already sent them!!!...that levaes me 1 and a half hours to work on the 4th presentation (due on Friday)...the comments from today's training sessions will have to wait, but, of course, those are lower priority... I still haven't done my wordcount on those presentations, so I still don't know how much $$$ I'm getting for them! LOL!...

they've MOVED!!!...now, don't think that I only paid $254......that's the impact on the principal, no interest is included! so, my debt is no longer over $13K!!!
...but,hey, it's a difference of $254!!!!...and I still have to make more payments this month!!
Oh, and the $20 towards Disney is an automatic monthly deduction!

these are the "cheap" package ones, but, still....I already billed $23 for tonight's!! ...the ones last time (which will be paid in Nov) totalled $547 AFTER taxes, so...they're not to be despised!!...and, just think: the course goes from oct 8 through Nov 16...that's 30 working days!!!

I feel like doing the happy $$$ dance!

$360 this time! woo-hoo!...I'm going to the bank tomorrow and paying $78 towards the cc and $220 towards the loan...the remaining $62 will go towards the dept store card! ....woo-hoo! TAKE THAT!!

Wow!...I didn't even buy meat yesterday (only chicken) and, our "non regular" purchases were 1 comb, 1 brush, 1 toothbrush and 1 hair pin...my total was $62.50!!!!...

I was thinking about that "extra" money and, I KNOW what it is!...it's the $69.36 loan payment (which I finished paying in August, but didn't "see" last month because I was still trying to "catch up" on other payments!)...so, yes, as of this month, I should have $70 "more" to put towards other debt!...this is so exciting!

well, we have our first orders and, there are a couple of new customers, too...they still haven't placed their order, but they seem truly interested...we'll see if it works out!

We need to contact the school to see about the new supplies list, too, so we will be ready to start working on THAT as soon as the Xmas season for toys is over (which should be about Dec 5-10)

or thereabouts...English text tends to be shorter...

I'm getting there!

This is the total (after taxes) that I have pending from my translations...
Of this, $490.70 are from the "special package" which I had set aside as the would-be Disney money...so $1,783.59 would go towards debt...I'm tempted to make it $1,750 or even $1,700 and using the other money ($33 or $83) on some other stuff...I still don't know...I guess it will depend on the overall situation when I actually GET the money!