miclason's Personal Finance Blog

I'm hiding from the bank. No, I don't owe then anything, but, they are intent on giving me "an additional credit line" for being "such a good and loyal customer"...

That means they want me to sign a new loan for $5,700 with them... of course, this is attached to my cc, although "it does not affect your cc balance"....

The problem is, I've told them NO at least 5 times, but, they keep insisting...so, now, when I see their number on my screen, I just don't pick up!
LOL! Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Since she's worked really hard at improving her penmanship, she asked if she could have a special reward for bringing her grade up from a 60 to an 80... I said: depends on what you want...

what did she ask for??





A mechanical pencil!!

... total cost?? $1 (including refills)!

so, I said yes!...it is pink, of course!

LOL!
Ex hubby celebrated his bday with a luau at the beach... I saw the decorations and asked him if they were his or the party planner's, and asked if I could have them if they were his....
Well, he told the party planners and, they brought the decorations to his apt this week! Soooo... I got free decorations!!! woo-hoo!!

My niece saw them and thought I had bought them for Ale's birthday (in June!)...LOL!... Yes, we generally start buying waaaaaay before!

Oh, he also gave me 2 beach balls (they brought 3, but he kept one "because they were so much fun"...believe it or not, my daughter was NOT the only one playing with the beachballs at the pool!!...but, yes, she was the only one under 25!...and, I think the grown ups were having MORE fun than she did!)

Well, time to revisit the homebaked goodies again!

My sister asked if the people to whom I gave homebaked gifts really like the stuff I bake... I guess the answer is YES!...

I´ve received 2 requests to bake some more!

1. from a woman from the office. I gave a couple alfajores to the people I have lunch with and, one of them shared with this other co-worker and, she came to ask if I could bake her 40 alfajores for her church group (10 bags of 4).

2. from óne of Ale's teachers, who asked Ale where we had bought the "delicious brownies" we gifted her, as she wanted to buy some for her boyfriend's birthday!

I have agreed to do both, but, asked them to please not spread the word as, really, I wouldn't have time to do this continually (it distracts from my translating... the alfajores, especially, the brownies are quick to mix, then they go into the oven and I can translate for about 40 minutes before taking them out of the oven!) I really couldn't do this ADDITIONALLY to the translations. I am just doing it as a favor and, since they didn't want to accept them as gifts, I'll charge them at cost (don't worry, I include gas/electricity and labor, I just don't make a profit!).

I just finished the brownies, the alfajores are for Friday...

Did I mention Ale wants me to knit her a hat?? I need 2 more pais of hands! LOL!

Our little fish, Ojo Rojo, died this past Saturday... we found him belly up at 5pm... Ale loved that fish.

And, to make matters even worse, Tonio is missing. NO one has seen him since Saturday pm (dinner time)... we suspect the neighbor who threatened to poison him the other time, because it's not only Tonio, but a couple other cats that are missing, too! How can someone be so heartless?? ... Tonio wouldn't miss a meal, particularly not breakfast, when he gets his milk... it's also been awfully cold (for the tropics!) and, he wouldn't miss out on a warm comfy bed with a human blanket...er... human companion.



Ale want's to pass out some flyers, I don't think it'll do any good, but, I don't want her to feel like we didn't do everything we could...

Revisiting this concept because I gave my boss a gift for his newborn son: 3 pairs of hand-knitted baby booties.

He and his wife loved the booties and, his wife (they met here at the office) wrote to thank me for them and I said I was glad they liked them, to which she answered that they had loved them even more because they were hand-made. (My boss asked and I told him I had knitted them myself).

Sadly, not everyone recognizes how truly special a hand-made gift is. Lots of Ale's friends for example, hold the view that hand-made gifts are somewhat inferior gifts. Of course, they are 9 year olds, but, of course, too, mostly they have picked this attitude from the people around them.

I have tried to make Ale understand and, I think she finally got it. She "found" the baby blanket my mother crocheted for her and, asked if Oma had made it by hand. I told her yes, and she said: Mom, there are 106 squares in this blanket! That must have taken a LOT of time, she must have REALLY loved me!

A friend invited us to overnight at her beach house from Jan 1st to Jan 2nd. Needless to say, we accepted! We had lots of fun. I haven´t been so relaxed in ages! Sleeping there was a new experience for Ale, and, she loved it!

She told us not to worry about the food, as there would be plenty of leftovers from Christmas Eve, so we just brought some sodas, ice and, of course, per my friend{s request, pinapple bars!

I stopped by the supermarket (THE supermarket, there´s only one in the area!) to buy some sun block, as we were out and, found they have a nice selection of beach wear, including shorts! (Ale has outgrown all of hers, so she had been asking me to buy her some, but, for some strange reason even local chain stores seem to be following US seasons, so, all you can find right now are long sleeved shirts, pants, sweaters and, even hats and gloves, but, no bathing suits or shorts!!!)...so, we found and bought 2, woo-hoo! That saves me the trouble of trying to find them in San Salvador!

Sis hates sweets and desserts, cookies and chocolates, anything sweet, basically... so, when I bake for my friends, she just doesn't "get it" that I will go through all that work and that people actually enjoy the alfajores and the bars and the brownies....LOL!

Here it is! Ale's pink tree!


And, here WE are, in front of the tree.

We pay for all minor repairs on the house, first of all, because they are "normal wear and tear" repairs and, secondly, because, even with the increase, our rent is so low for this part of town (we pay $350, and houses in our neighborhood typically rent for $500)...but, the lightbulb in the kitchen is dripping (or,rather, water from the upstairs bathroom, which is right on top of the kitche, is collecting and dripping!...) Since the girls' bathroom had a leak, I assumed it was THAT. Eh...should have remembered I don't have good spatial sense, the girls' bathroom is actually over the dining room/living room area, the kitchen sits right underneath the shared bathroom!

So, anyway, since the guy had to come pick up his $$$, I asked him to look at it. He said they are closing today at noon for Xmas, so he couldn't start working on it, but, said this is a fairly common problem, explained what might be wrong and, said this typically costs between $100-$200, depending on how bad the problem is. Also, he said they will have to remove tile floors and maybe some of the pipes...this is a major repair. I will try to get the landlady to pay for it, but, if she refuses, then at least I need her authorization to change the floor tiles... (also, I would prefer that this be done by someone SHE trusts, it is her house, after all!)

Wish me luck!

This recipe was in an old book of my Mom's, under "resistant cookies", meaning they are long lasting and will travel well!

1 cup raisins
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoonful baking poweder
1 teaspoonful (ground) cinnamon
1/4 teaspoonful (ground) nutmet
1 teaspoonful vanilla
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (I used almonds, as Ale prefers them)

Boil the raisins for 5 minutes, then let cool.
Cream the margarine with the sugar, ad the eggs one by one, the raisins and the vanilla. Sift all dry ingredients together and add them together with the nuts.

Place in a mold, greased and sprinkled with flour. Bake at 176°C (~350°F) for 15 minutes.

Let cool completely before cutting in squares. Yields 3 dozen, approx.

See? My kind of recipe! Super easy, and fast! (not to mention delicious!)

Yes, I know, we haven't even had Xmas dinner yet!
But, today we went to a luncheon with the people that give us translations and, both sis and I each won a $15 gift certificate redeemable at the supermarket...so, there's our New Year's dinner! Yay!

(and, the year isn't over yet!)

Things like thise really anger/ sadden me!

Yay!
Ale passed her test today... not unharmed, unfortunately, she got a kick to the side of the face!

Later, she said: Mom, that kick DID hurt!but, it didn't put her off TKD, so it's ok, I guess...

She will get her new belt, diploma and a CD of the whole thing next week!

Of course, I'll bore you with it...er, share it with you!

I baked some cinammon bars, brownies and alfajores for Ale's teachers. Everyone at home looked at me as if I were losing my mind!!

I bought some (small) tin cans at the dollar store and, yesterday night (or, should I say this morning?) I was up until 1am finishing the alfajores and preparing the boxes (today is the last day of school!)... each tin had 2 cinnamon bars, 2 brownies and 4 alfajores ... once they looked at the cookies in the tins, the tone at home changed to> oooh, that looks fancy!

I also packed some in tin foil for the nannys and the guard at school, about the same amount of cookies, just no tin...
the store didn't have enough, and, I really didn't feel like looking for more!

Ale will have her "change of belt" test this friday, at the tae kwon do academy...cost: $20. The employee coop handed out our Xmas "bonus": $20

(Yay, unexpected money!!)

Ale wanted to go to a magic show, but, tickets were not for sale, one had to "earn" points to buy the tickets through (paid) text messages to one of the local cellphone companies... none of us at home has a phone with THAT company, so.... too bad, right? WRONG! This is the company that has the office cellphone plan,and, I mean the WHOLE office, not only MY office!!... so they brought lots of tickets to be distributed among employees on a first come/first served basis... guess who got tickets for tomorrow's show?? Yep, I did!!! ... the message stating they had the tickets came at 2:24pm, and at 2:36pm, they announced they were out of tickets!

I'm soooo happy!

Ale still doesn't know!! shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

She's going to be so happy!!

Well...I really can´t think of anything I want/need...well, yeah, I need to finish fixing my teeth, but....

I´m thinking about getting myself a book. I really do believe one can´t have enough books... I truly am a voracious reader!!...

The advantage of the translations is that they also help curve the book cravings! LOL!...

The problem is, sometimes I find so many books that I want, I end up getting none...

There´s a new bookstore in town... I´ll have to go check it out!!

We went to Ale's Xmas ballet recital...
They did an adaptation of the Little Match Girl.

Ale was a flame.... here's a picture



Oh, and, this time, she did dance in unison with the others...progress!! Yay!! (She ALMOST missed it, but, recoverd on time!)

I had "that feeling" today...the heaviness and "cloudiness" that come before the pain...I took my pill, just like the doctor said: BEFORE the pain... after about 30 minutes... I felt normal!!! Yay! No migraine...

((sigh)) if only the pills didn´t cost $13 each!

But, I have been having migraines more frequently lately, so my sister will get me an appointment with her neurologist. He has his private practice, but is also Chief of Neurology at the Social Security Hospital, so, I can go see him at his private practice and pay $35 if I need emergency care (getting an appointment through the SS system would take at least 3 months), but, can make regular appointments at the SS hospital ("free")to have a full check up so that I have a file at the SS hospital and, if I ever need it, I could get the CAT Scans and other exams done there.

Sorry, I know this is not very clear, but, for one, you´d have to know how the SS works here (let´s just say one of my former bosses, an American, used to call it the Social Insecurity! AND, they have been known to remove healthy kidneys and legs-- Someone hung the X rays the wrong way!!! and other stuff like that...the stuff of horror movies!...) People opt to pay for healthcare, if possible, even if they are covered by SS...

On the other hand, is 12:43 and I{m too sleepy to make any sense!

good night, everyone!

Went to a newborn turtle release today! ... Ale and I each released 2 baby turtles...Now we have 4 additional reasons to love the sea!!
"sponsorship" costs $1 (meaning: watching the little ones get released is free... if you want to actually hold the little one in your hand and put it in the sand, it costs $1... SOOO totally worth it!!!) Here´s a picture of our first 2 little ones racing towards the waves! (I have to remember to check the batteries next time!)...


You have to place the little ones in the wet sand, not in the surf, otherwise, they won´t recognize the beach when they come back, in about 15 years (IF they make it!) ...
These are "golfinas" and, they grow up to 70 cms (2.3 ft) and can weigh up to 40 kilos (88 lbs).

Talk about advance planning! Her birthday is in JUNE!!!

She decided she wants a pool party (yep, it's about the right age for pool parties).

And, now, she wants a luau-themed pool party.... who knows what she may come up with in 6 months!!

Oh, well. That'll give us time to look around, get some ideas, find the most inexpensive ways to implement them... plus, with a pool, you really don't have to do much in the way of entertaining!

Ok. In light of the latest development with the car, I need to revise the list (not that there'll be much to cut, rather, it will grow longer, because I forgot to add Ale's teachers!)

1. Ale - new bike - No change, as this didn't include cash
2. Sis- I an aromatherapy massage!- again, no cash involved
3. Niece- no idea yet
4. Nephew- no idea yet
5. Nanny and family- pending
6. My best friend's son

7. Ale's teachers (about 7 gifts) No problem, a couple weeks ago I had decided to give them boxes of baked goodies and, had actually purchased some very nice Christmas tins at the Dollar Store ($1.25 each)... I don't really need to buy anything extraordinary to make some mini-brownies, almond bars and alfajores...

This is what the repair will cost... that, plus 5 days of cab fare to pick Ale up at school... I'll call the cab company and ask them to give me a special discount (it's quite a normal thing here, actually)... but, still....

Again, God anticipates my needs...there go the $700 from an additional translation at the beginning of the month, for which I'm still awaiting payment.

(hopefully, it'll get paid before Saturday, when the car will be ready, if not, I'll have to charge it then repay it... $300 of course, will be paid in cash from my EF)

((sigh))

... it figures, I started replenishing my EF (put $300 in it) and, now the car broke down again!...We'll see how hard the EF gets hit...I just hope it doesn't get wiped out completely!!!

Oh, well, at least I have $300 in cash, if needed.... ((sigh))

the dubbing company's got a new customer!!
That means more work!!

My sister has started doing translations for them, too... she got 2 scripts for this month... we'll see how it goes...

Well, gotta go, it's 11:57pm and, I'm sleepy!!

Just wanted to share!!

I managed to find some blouses and t-shirts to donate. I also found 4 pairs of shoes in good condition...not like new, but, good (they don´t fit anyone I know, so I just kept them in the back of my closet, but never got around to putting them in the car--as I could then have given them to one of the many poor people I encounter around the city). We generally give Ale´s old clothes to Nanny's granddaughter, so she didn´t have much she could donate, except some underwear.
We packed the whole lot and Ale took it to school. They will collect stuff and then take them to one of the aid centers in the city.

So many people were left destitute and, now we have a cold front (well, cold for us!) coming over the weekend...

Internationally, if you want to donate, you can do it through

It seems that international news still hasn´t picked this up:

1. Ale - new bike - I think I can get (at least most of) the $$$ via gift certificate from the hotel where our visitors stay.
2. Sis- I think I have enough points left over for an aromatherapy massage!
3. Niece- no idea yet
4. Nephew- no idea yet (am I a horrible human being for wanting to buy him something he can't possibly sell?)
5. Nanny and family- pending
6. My best friend's son

That's it, my list is very small!
Hmmmm. I think I should add myself to that!
7. a book (have a couple in mind)

El Salvador is one of lonely Planet's Top 10 best places to visit!!

I couldn't quite believe it when I saw it in the local newspaper, but, here it is!

Ale called this afternoon complaining of a headache and, I told her to take her temp. She was ok, but, called me later on to say she did have a high fever... I called the Dr.... he said to give her some acetaminophen, some ibuprofen and give her plenty of electrolites....He said to watch her closely for any other symptoms and we should know what it is in a couple of days.... I so hope this is just a "false alarm" or something like that...