miclason's Personal Finance Blog

Well, I don't know how well these will show... in my computer at home they look ok, but at work they look awful!(tried fixing them with Adobe and now they look better, although the colors are a bit off... the bright pink is actually not THAT bright!)

Here's the original idea:


And here's the real thing!


A detail of the tutu:

Detail of the slipers:

Detail of the hearts:


I must say I'm very proud of myself! It turned out really well...for someone with my sewing knowledge...(knitting, I know...sewing... VERY limited skills!)

Remember I said I would get less translations this month?

http://miclason.savingadvice.com/2008/11/05/less-translations-this-month-but-could-b_44822/

Not anymore! the other translator found a full time job and quit, so now her work got reassigned to me!!

Oh, well, I had a week "off"!
LOL!
back to the salt mines!!

Is coming along nicely... I tried taking some pictures, but they were too dark... bummer...I'll try againg tonight! (Did I mention I need to do this at night, so Ale won't discover me?)
I'm almost done... sadly enough, I don't think I can finish it on time to be a recital gift (the show is tomorrow!...I still have 2 good days' work to do on it!)There's one part of the directions that I really don't understand...eventhough it describes the procedure and even has a picture! (how dense can one be?) So it's not like I can rush it!...so it'll have to be an "additional" Christmas gift!

It was a HUGE success!!!... there weren't even crumbs left! (they picked at the pastry!)...

sis said: "You know I almost never compliment you on your cooking, but, this time, you outdid yourself! this is superb!"...

Yesterday we had 1 and today we had the other one (which turned out even better, because yesterday I left the pie in the oven for 45 minutes, but the pastry was not fully done... so we had to put it back...today, we left it in for 1 hour, and it was perfect!)

Princess Perky asked for the recipe...

Puff pastry
===========
2 1/2 cups cold flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup cold margarine, sliced
3/4 cup ice water

sift the cold flour and salt in a bowl. Add the margarine and mix with a wooden or plastic spoon. Little by little, add the ice water until forming a dough. (I did this with my hands...as quickly as possible, so as not to warm the dough!... they say this is part of the secret of the flakiness!) Place it on a floured work surface and roll out with a rolling pin. Fold in 3, turn over and roll out again. Fold again, turn over, and roll out again, fold again and chill for 30 minutes. (you'll roll out 3x)
Take out the dough, roll out 3 times as described above, chill again for another 30 minutes.
Take out, roll out... it's ready to use! (Mom used to say the secret for flakiness is in the folding and refolding!)

Filling
=======
Olive oil
3 garlic cloves- chopped
1 medium sized onion- chopped
1 medium sized cooking tomato- chopped
1 small sized green or red pepper- chopped
2 celery stalks, peeled and chopped
3 chicken breasts - boiled and diced/ make sure to save the broth!!!(used breasts just because that's what my family likes...)
1 medium sized carrot
canned peas - drained
canned mushrooms- sliced- drained
dry white wine (about 1/2 a cup?)
salt
pepper

Fry the garlic, onions, peppers, celery and tomatoes in the olive oil until tender, add the chicken. Then add the broth and the wine (sorry, I don't have exact measures, I just keep adding until it seems right!).
Let simmer for a while and add the carrots... again, let simmer for a while and add the peas and the mushrooms... let simmer until most of the liquid evaporates and the mix feels "mushy"... season with salt and pepper to taste.


Oh, we all agreed I need to make at least 3 pies for next time!!
Nanny told me she was always curious when Mom and Dora (she was mom's cook/maid) used to make pies, but was always hesitant to ask... so, with that, I let her watch the final stages... so I promised her next time I have a weekday off (she's off on weekends) we'll make one together, so she can learn!

Well, so far, so good...

the filling tastes good
...although, I think there's something missing, but I really couldn't figure what it was!... we'll see what the family thinks about it!

The dough turned out great... very good elasticity....
here are some pictures...

the pies DO look like mother's

...now let's see if they still do after coming out of the oven! (will try to take a picture before it's cut, and maybe one of a slice...to see how it turns out... (although mom never took a picture of anything she cooked, she insisted that food HAD to look good to be appetizing!)

was to die for... sis was always a much bigger fan than I was (I was always a VERY picky eater!... )... over the past 4 years (since Mom passed away) we've had a couple good chicken pies... all bought...since I have the day off tomorrow (it being Thanksgiving in the US), and since we don't really celebrate it, but DO have a lot to be thankful for, I decided I will try to re-create the dish (re-create is the right word...mom did not, to our knowledge, leave a written recipe!)... Our logic is: it's not REALLY a celebration for us, so if I mess up, it'll only be a bad dish, not a ruined celebration!!

Over the past few years, I've done this a lot...attempt to recreate mother's dishes... I must say I've had a good rate of success (with dishes almost always being declared: "almost there"...and mom was such an amazing cook, you have no idea... she could go to a restaurant and try a new dish and then go back home and she could recreate the dish... such amazing tastebuds... her cousins HATED that... they didn't like sharing their recipes... and mom sooo loved to torture them, she'd invite them over and cook THEIR dishes, eventhough they hadn't given her the recipe!)
Anyway...wish me luck!

went to some thrift stores accompanying sis and nephew (he got a job, but it's business casual...don't think his rocker t-shirts and tennis shoes would be appropriate)... she bought him 2 pairs of pants, 3 shirts and a pair of shoes... which he'll reimburse with his first salary in 21 days (send prayers!)... she spent $50 in total...so it's not bad.
Browsing through the store while they argued over a pair of pants (sis said the chocolate brown ones were better, nephew hated them, and wanted to get blue ones... it was a weird kind of blue, though cannot even describe it...I, personally, found both pairs ugly... I would have gone with the pair of tan ones they got and a pair of grey ones none of them liked, but, hey, ultimately, HE's going to wear them and SHE was going to pay for them, so I said nothing and went away!)... well, I found 2 pairs of pants for myself...1 pair tan ones and 1 pair dark grey... total cost was $12.50! yay!... I did need the tan ones, as the ones I have are so old (bought in 2001) that they are already looking HORRIBLE...and worn so thin, you don't have to guess what I'm wearing underneath, because you can practically see it!!
I do need/want to lose some weight, but, let's face it, I haven't lost 1 oz in the past 6 months...I might as well get the pants and then, if I DO manage to lose enough weight that they don't fit anymore, I can have them fixed!

I bought an indigo-dye shirt for sis... and another one for me (couldn't resist it! I told you those fairs are dangerous for me!)... different styles!
I bought a present for a friend (a beautiful table runner). I bought a table runner for myself (bright red, beautiful!!! I know, another item NOT on the list)
I bought a ring for myself (beautiful 3 strings of colorful beads...cost me $1!)
I'm happy with my purchases... I'm missing niece's present, though... and nephew's I won't buy until the week before Xmas...just in case he decides to leave before then! (if he leaves, he's going back on the streets...no way I will buy him something he can sell!)
I saw a couple of paintings I'd like to buy (I also saw the most amazing hamper, wicker and fabric... BEAUTIFUL...I'd love to have one in pink for the girls' bedroom and one in blue for mine... but... well, NO. Not at the moment... )
I'm seriously thinking about the paintings, though...
Another plus, which I forgot to mention, is that all this stuff is bought directly from the crafters...
Ah, oh, and I saw the most amazing notecards made with a mixed technique of drawing + dried flowers... some were soooo beautiful, you'd rather frame them than give them away! LOL!... they will be selling at the Pottery Barn!!! you can take a peek here>

Ugh. I hate it. I have been buying lunch, mainly because there haven't been any leftovers lately (nephew is living with us, and I guess Nanny still hasn't learned to adjust portions properly... or maybe she hasn't at all, eventhough the last time I repackaged everything when I came from the grocery store-- 5 chicken breasts instead of 3, etc)
Not only is it expensive, it's also not that good (at least, not as good as home cooked!)... If I have to eat another sandwich this week, I'll cry! (sometimes the food doesn't look too appetizing and I end up buying a sandwich)

This year I have found a couple of things that I liked for my family, but, unfortunately, didn't have the $$$ at the time to be able to buy (to curb the temptation of spending the "extra" money, I pay it towards debt as soon as it comes in!)...
So far, I only have Ale's gift (it was expensive, but am sure she'll love it!)...
I have decided all others will get gifts from the craft fair that will be held next week at the office (that's where I saw the stuff I loved for them, at the last 2 or 3 they held, and it's always the same artisans, so I know I may not find THE things I liked, but I can find similar ones... This is so convenient...1. they come to the office, 2. I have a very wide selection in one place. 3. NO CROWDS!!!! 4. They don't take cc's!!!! (for some, this might be a setback, for me, it's an advantage: I cannot spend more than what I have allocated, and I cannot put a purchase on a cc!!!)
So.... I will only have to hit the stores if I DON'T find something for everyone...

but, in my family, it seems I can't please anybody!!!... they don't like the color scheme I picked for the living room!... well, it's done now, and if they don't like it, they can go out and buy more paint and repaint...2 coats, please! ugh!

I'm telling them: the color will NOT look the same once the pictures are back up!!! (right now I have a peppery red wall and an oh-so-faint-mint green wall...which is the one they don't like! But it makes the red look even brighter!!!)...and, people, there are A LOT of element on that wall...big and small, so in the end, they will NOT be looking at a big splash of green... ugh! I give up! (I like it, and that's all I'll care about for now!)

Well, the company says it will not buy a new car. However, they are offering to give her a loan so she can buy one, and they will pay for her gas and give her X amount for depreciation (this gas + depreciation scheme is the same one they proposed 7 years ago... sis went ahead and bought a car... 6 months later they decided it was not convenient for them, cancelled it, bought her a company car, and she had to sell her car because she could no longer make payments!!)...
Now, she really has next to no option, because she can't work without a car...my worry is that history will repeat itself, but... what can we really do? (or, rather, what can she really do?)... she's debating brand new vs used car (for sales, and if she's going to use the depreciation money to pay for the car, it needs to be something that will give her next to no problems!)... Her coworker suggested looking at cars that people drove for 1 year and are now trading in for new ones... my suggestion is look for repossessed cars that people drove about 6 months then had taken away from them! (I once found one like that...only 5,000 Kilometers on it....almost half price of a "new" one!)... it's a good time to look, because the new 2009 models are coming in, which means the 2008 ones are on sale, and also a lot of people are buying the 2009 ones so there should be a good selection on used ones... not to mention that most car dealerships had one of their "6 month interest free" deals back in February.... so there might be a few ones from people that can't afford to pay "full" payments...
We'll see...
Ah, incidentally, the company said this has nothing to do with her salary increase (you know, the one she asked for when she accepted about 30% more accounts, and that they promised to give her an answer no later than July??... the one for which they STILL haven't made a decision?? (they said they'd have an answer on Tuesday of this week)

My house was starting to look like it could rival the Munster's, so I set aside some money to buy paint and hire painters (we've tried DIY in the past, and we are just TERRIBLE!...not to mention the fumes give us all headaches and then we end up painting only 1 coat!!)...Also, that is X amount of hours of my already overbooked day... did I mention on top of the 8-5 job and the translations (read 8-11pm) job, I am trying to make the ballet bag for Ale? Oh, and a fish blanket... Oh, and I also want to try and see if I can make a chicken pie like the ones Mom made?? (I'm good, whenever I try things like that they are ALMOST...almost, but not quite... as good as hers)...
Back to house painting: that type of work is not really awfully expensive here, so I just made sure to wait until they had the paint special they ALWAYS have at the end of the year (buy 5 gallons, get 1 free) and bought 12 gallons of paint (paid only for 10!)
That is just to paint the outside of the house, fron and back, and the living room... I will wait a couple of months before doing the bedrooms...although, they are having 'Shopping nights' this week and everything will be 35% off... I could get the paint and keep it stored for a month or two... If only I could be assured that mischievious hands will NOT attempt the DIY thing!!

I don't remember WHEN I bought them, but I DO know it was 2008, so they couldn't possibly be more than 11 months old, and one of them broke today... they are not unusable, I can walk in them, but they ripped and even if repaired, would probably look awful, so I can no longer wear them to work...

I will have to hit the outlet tomorrow to find a suitable replacement ("las 3 B: Bueno, Bonito, Barato!" - should be good quality, look nice and be cheap... or, at least, NOT expensive!)
Oh, well...

Our turtle won the pet costume contest!! Isn't he handsome??

Well... on December 6th Ale has her dance recital (still don't know at what time, though)...
Her school has a carnival, and there's the office's Xmas party...
I can deal with that, but....
Sis and I have been all excited about going to the Juan Luis Guerra concert (advertised since Sept, but they hadn't published the date until today: December 6!!!)... Now, I love his music, and he won all those grammies, but, if it interferes with Ale's recital....I'm going to have to pass... what bums me is that right now they have a special 50% off if you buy with your citi cc, so sis and I could actually buy slightly better seats (I have the cc... I also have the cash, so I would just pay it off right away...), but, not knowing wheter I can go or not, I really wouldn't want to buy the tickets... I guess I can try to find out tomorrow at the ballet studio if they've decided on a venue/time for the recital.... (or, if we buy the numbered seats, then it wouldn't matter if we arrived around 9pm, which is about the time HE would start....there's no way the recital would go on past 7, I think, seeing that there are some 4 and 5 year olds participating....)

See, they have been sending me about 10-15 scripts per month, and, if you take into consideration it takes me anywhere between 2 and 4 days to translate each one... well... my month is full... and, remember, this translations actually pay very little (below local market prices), so that meant I wasn't even looking for new (more profitable) work, because I didn't have the time for it... Now they've hired another translator...this month, they'll give her 3 scripts, and I get 8... so, yes, I'll make less money, but I'll actually have more free time to prospect for customers (or just enjoy the Holidays and start looking in January, when I imagine the new translator will get half the scripts)...so, getting less work from them might actually be a good thing!

woo-hoo! finally, the car is really, truly, honestly MINE!!!...I finished the last payment on it!!!

well, besides the work that I KNEW had to be done... it was having trouble starting in the mornings, and the brakes had a raspy sound... so I asked the workshop to check on that, too... turns out one sensor in the engine needed changing, and they had to replace a brake pump, which was leaking brake fluid (lovely!)... total was $850... (the work I KNEW about was $490)... well, there goes the emergency fund! ... oh, well, that's what it's there for... but, honestly, if I get another bill like this before the end of 2009, I will start thinking about buying a new (to me) car! I seriously hope not!
Boom-boom has been a really good car so far... it's only that he's being driven a lot more lately! (I know cars are "she's" in English, but, to me, it's "el carro", so it's a "he"!)

Ale found my knitting bag (I use a grocery store bag whenever I'm knitting "in secret")... she didn't look into it, but she saw the needles sticking out!!!...she asked me, point blank: are you knitting something for me? Is it a blanket?

(

Sis had an accident 2 weeks ago...thought I had written about it, but not. She ran a stop sign and another car hit her in the back. Luckily, she was not going too fast, and the other car did not hit her hard (the other car just had a dent in his front bumper!), but my sister's car spun around and hit a lightpost (again, God was with her and the pole did not fall on top of the car or anything like that...) The car was destroyed, but sis walked away with only a few bruises...
Today, it is official: the insurance company declared the car a "total loss"...
While sis is feeling better physically, now she's worried about losing her job (she DID run the stop sign... she says she didn't see it... it was a dark corner)...
The only things that MIGHT work for her are>
1. she IS the best sales exec the company has in the region
2. they WERE going to give her a new car anyway, and whatever the insurance company gives them just might be more than what the dealership was going to give them!

It's not much, I know...

As a dark joke I told her she might finally get an answer regarding her raise... like: yeah, we gave you a $50 raise, but we're going to dock it to pay for the car!

(we make this sort of sick jokes when things are going bad!)

I've had it with rain...
yes, we are still in rainy season, but, even in rainy season, we see the sun EVERY day... unless there's what we call a "temporal" (generally, we get temporales when the US and the Caribbean get big hurricanes)... we've had 4 full days of rain... I don't own a clothes dryer... I hang my clothes out to dry and, half an hour later, they're wetter than they were when I got them out of the washer... I swear!... and everything is musty... and all of my clothes are wet... honest... I'm down to 2 shirts and 1 pair of pants (office clothes)...
and yet, I shouldn't be whining, because there are people who have lost their LIVES because of the heavy rains...some were luckier and just lost their houses and their posessions, but at least the families are ok... and I'm complaining about musty clothes!!! ... oh, and we have a leak in our roof... first one in 9 years... not bad!...
still... I'm praying for this incessant rain to STOP!!

and, I must say, what a difference it makes to HAVE the money for the doctor and the medicines....all I had to worry about was helping my little girl get better... I spent $51 for the Doctor's visit ($21 were medicines) and then spent about $60 at the pharmacy... She needs to go for a follow up on Nov 6th, so that'll be another $30 (and, hopefully, the end of this) and then I can submit it to the insurance company.
I already know they will not cover the whole fee (their "top" is $20, and anything that is considered "excess" - meaning your prefered doctor is too expensive in their eyes...well, unless they are starting, doctors here really DO charge $25-$35)... most of the medicines should be covered, though, so I should still get a good amount back.

I admit it, I'm a word junkie... I salivate over new dictionary releases... I find pleasure in those "technical glossaries"...
Ale inherited it... or else it rubbed off on her...
A couple of days ago she came to the house with a dictionary that wasn't hers... she told me that a friend who knows the owner said that the owner doesn't want it anymore... the whole class deliberated and decided Ale could keep it...
I told her otherwise. I made her turn it into the Lost and Found at school...I'm not even sure the kid who (says) knows the owner actually knows the owner!... there is no name printed on the dictionary (this is why, in addition to a nametag taped to the face of books, I generally write our surname around the borders of the pages!)... While it wasn't a particularly fancy dictionary (soft binding), it was better than the "first learner's" that she has, and she was disappointed that I hadn't let her keep it...
I promised I would buy her a new one in November, a better one... (she has to leave the other one at school, anyway, and they only let her bring it home if she has Language homework where they might use it)...
So, yes, my daughter is infected...

For me, the perfect gift is one that will make the receiver's eyes light up... and will come at a reasonable price to me!
Like the shoe-themed mini calendar I gave one of my best friends that is shoe-crazy....or the photo frame adorned with little bones for my friend who adores her dog...or the bottle of Diorissimo I got for sis when I went to Paris (for some strange reason, you cannot find it here...plus, I bought it at the airport, so it was duty free!...hardly frugal, though, so that was her b-day/Xmas present...it's a good thing her b-day is in December!- she nearly cried!)...butterscotch taffy for Mom...a good audiobook for Dad (when his eyesight got too bad and he couldn't enjoy his books anymore!)...a book on ballet for a friend who always wanted to be a ballerina...the "just perfect" handicraft for the friend who collects them...The perfect gift should fit the receiver, it should say: I love you enough to care about what YOU like...In this sense, the most difficult person to get a gift for is my niece...she either wants cash (which I find tacky!) or gift certificates (too impersonal) or REALLY expensive stuff (the kind of $$$ I wouldn't spend on Ale!)... I knitted her a small "night" handbag last year...haven't seen her use it ...not even once...last time I do THAT, let me tell you...

Woo-hoo! I got paid for translations today, and tomorrow I get paid at the office...Now, I won't have the translation money until Wednesday, because I already picked up my check, but, unfortunately, arrived back at the office too late to deposit it today. I don't want to go to the (outside) bank and then deposit the cash into my account. Plus, all my payments are due starting on the 10th, so that'll give the check plenty of time to clear (3 working days, since it's from a bank different than mine)...Once the cheque goes through, I'll make the payments online...woo-hoo!

LOL! I just got emailed that the materials to air in November just arrived! (they need to be translated in Oct)

((sigh))
Oh, well, at least they are here on time...the ones airing in Oct didn't arrive until Sept 7, which only gave me 3 weeks to work!

finish a knitting project (a fish blanket for Ale, based on a story she wrote)...
Make a quilted ballet bag for Ale...(I already designed it and bought the fabric...I just need some ribbons and thread....oh, and, of course, TIME to actually sew it!) -- here's my "design"...

no, it's not really mine, it's based on a clipart, I just changed the color scheme and substituted roses for hearts!...the bodice and shoes will actually be the same fabric as the sides, but I didn't know how to do that in the computer! LOL! and I found a very nice "ribbon" that looks somewhat like tulle, it's kind of stiff, too, so I'll use that for the tutu, instead of applique...You know? it would have been a lot cheaper to buy her a ballet bag (so far, I've spent $13, and if I added the labor... ) Ah, but it wouldn't be so special then, would it?
I'm working "overtime" tonight and tomorrow to try to have the weekend "free" of translations so that I can either get started with the bag, or continue with the blanket -- I need about 80 fish, and I have only knitted 12 or so... EEK!

It always is... we have the children's theater festival in October each year...and Ale and I like to go to as many plays as we can (usually, 2 per weekend), so that increases our "fun" spending...it's not that bad, $3/person this year...still, it's about $24...good thing they don't sell/allow food and beverages!)

Niece sent me a text message yesterday:

Auntie, would you consider giving me a 2nd chace with letting me use the boom boom? I realize now what an important tool it is. I promise I will not fail you again.

So, starting tomorrow, she'll be picking up Ale at school...we'll see how that goes. Whe knows me, so she knows I'm "hard" and wouldn't hesitate to rescind our deal if she fails again (all she has to do is go pick up Ale and make sure the car is there at 5:00pm in case I want to use it!)

She's also making arrangements to try to continue her studies (difficult, since she can't even get a certification of her grades at the university, because her dad, who was in charge of paying, because he said he didn't trust her to actually make the payments, stopped paying before the end of the semester, so now the university demands that she pay those delinquent accounts before releasing any documentation!)...