just chewing gum.... soooo... the good thing is, no pain, since this had undergone root canal treatment back in 1994 (it´s a miracle that filling lasted THAT long, really!)... my options were extraction or a temporary filling. went with the temporary filling, it was not a convenient day for an extraction (it was 3:30, I had to pick Ale after school, I was driving myself, and, let´s not forget that I take a lot of Aspirin for my migraines, not to mention that I need to precertify this sort of thing for the insurance to cover it...)...so $70 (which is expensive for me, but, I know will sound like super-cheap for some of you!) this covered the X -ray, removing what was left of the old filling, application of a topic antibiotic and the new filling)....AND, I only had $25 on me, so I paid that, and signed for the rest (I have been going to these same dentists since they were students, so they let me do that)... Oh, and Ale says one of her wisdom teeth is coming out, so I need to take her next payday to have it evaluated!

Only in El Salvador!
Believe it or not one ex-president was charged with embezzling $301M.. he has been in jail for 2 years now, and the DA´s office has not been able to find the money trail... So, they offered him a deal: he returns $25M, serves 10 years in prison (of which there 2 will be discounted) and walks free... (it seems that, because of the time that has passed, if they didn´t cut this deal, there was a possiblity of him just walking away with the full $301M, don´t ask me, I´m not a lawyer) So, he keeps $276M of taxpayer´s money.
On the other hand, ANOTHER ex-president made off with $351M. He fled to Nicaragua crying that the investigation into his finances was poitical prosecution, and, Wouldn´t you know it? His buddy Ortega granted him asylum. Put him up in a veritable mansion in Nicaragua (paid by Nicaraguan taxpayers, of course)...Rumor has it the house is now deserted (what with the political unrest, and with him being found guilty), and that he has fled to Albania (apparently, there´s no extradition, and the INTERPOL has no jurisdiction there)
I really... I just hope they rot in hell, I know they definitely have no shame and feel no guilt about this, they probably just laugh at us suckers who paid for all their luxuries. UGH!

THE main pipe supplying San Salvador with water broke, and, over half the city has been without water for 6 days now. (More than 1 million people are without water).Some people have cisterns, others, like me, grew up during the war years and we keep water in barrels or containers at home, but, usually, these are enough for 3 days, so, needless to say, we are running VERY low. Classes have been suspended at 300 public schools and many private schools (those without cisterns, or whose cisterns have already run out). Repair work is supposed to be finished by Friday. I really hope there are no more delays.
***
The cherry on top? the political parties are accusing each other of sabotage. There is a Water Law submitted for review at the national Assembly, and, the left says this is calling for privatization of water, the right denies it. So, the left says the right had someone break the pipe to swing public opinion in their favor. The right says the left did it so it could say the right did it. ...both sides are very capable of something like this, to tell you the truth... the police say they called in engineers to investigate, and that it wasn't sabotage, that the pipe just broke because of the vibrations (there have been numerous tremors this past year), lack of maintenance and water pressure.
***
ack! just heard someone say the repairs may take until Sunday...we might end up setting those containers in the garden to catch rain (except, of course, there is the typical 15 day dry spell of the middle of the rainy season!)

Well, as of tomorrow, gas stations in El Salvador will no longer accept credit or debit cards. They claim that their profit margin is to slim and that credit card companies and bank fees reduce it even further.

I have been purchasing gas with my debit card, so the adjustment won´t be that much, but...

Oh, and regular gas is now $4.49/gallon.... premium is $4.64... Took $47 to fill my gas tank...YIKES! Back in December, when I made my budget for this year, I could fill it with $30, so I budgeted $45, to account for climbing prices, etc... guess I have to start budgeting $50! ... wow, everything is on the rise, except for my salary, of course...but that´s a whole other entry!

I used to buy Ale new clothes every six months, in June and December of each year, but, she already outgrew all her clothes. So, if she continues to grow at this pace, I will have to do it every 4 months! OUCH!

Double-Ouch...we now have to go to the Juniors section!!!....

I took her to a place that was supposed to be an outlet, but, t-shirts were $19!!!... I then took her to another place where we bought 3 shirts and pajamas for $21! the only bad thing was we couldn´t find any bottoms there...we went to at least 3 other places, but, I think she´s all set now!

Ale and I REALLY need to get out of this house. Things have gone from bad to worse (in my view)...Don´t get me wrong, I knew things wouldn´t be easy when I accepted my nephew in the house (recovering addict). While he is no longer doing drugs (that we know of....at least, there are no noticeable signs, nor paraphernalia or anything like that) He is just completely irresponsible.

I know that that is in part because nobody (except myself) seems to have any real expectations of him... All my sister expects from him is 1. that he stays alive 2. if possible, that he doesn´t do drugs...

Besides those 2 things, I expect him to be productive, to have a job, any job or, at least help around the house and, definetely, I expect him NOT to steal stuff from the house!!!

He keeps stringing my sister along, after all, we believe what we want to believe!... He looks for a job, finds a job, keeps it for about 2 weeks to 1 month, then loses the job and goes back to looking for a job (the cycle is 3 months/ 2-4 weeks/ 3 months)...so, when he´s "looking for a job" (no doubt praying not to find one), sis doesn´t want to kick him out of the house because "he's looking, he has nothing, he'll go back to the streets and back to doing drugs" and, once he lands a job it becomes "I just want him to have at least 2 months at work so he has enough money to pay rent somplace else so that he´s not back on the streets/doing drugs"... which, of course, never happens!!!

ENOUGH! On top of everything, he eats A LOT (sometimes, when he craves drugs, instead of doing drugs, he just eats like a ravenous wolf, ok, I understand that, but... does he have to be dirty, too? Sis doesn't see it, since Ale and I are the first ones to get up in the house... I refuse to eat in filth, otherwise, I´d just leave the dining room looking like a pigsty so she could see, but, eating next to crumbs, or even chunks of "midnight snacks" just turns my stomach!)...I think the last straw was that he´s been drinking Ale´s soy milk!! (I buy the individual boxes for her to take to school, as it is more convenient. I tried using reusable containers, but, she just makes an awful mess!)...what infuriates me is that I buy a six pack, I instruct Ale NOT to touch the individual packages, and, she actually obeys me...what kind of message am I sending when all that happens when HE drinks it is that my sister goes out and buys a replacement?? Oh, yes, everyone else can get away with it, but YOU must obey! I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE that! You have no idea how mad I get!!!

Oh, sure, sis yells at him and then he acts all offended (You never TALK to me, you just YELL at me!!!!!!!"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)...

Really, I cannot take it anymore. I know it won´t be easy, but, really, between the food bill and the power bill (both my nephew and my niece leave the computer and all the lights on at all times, no matter how many times I ask/tell them not to!) I know I can afford to live in a slightly more expensive house (it will even out). It might be good for sis, too, because she won´t be paying part of the nanny´s salary anymore. Plus, it would be good for her "children" (at 25 and 21!!!) to see that she REALLY cannot afford the lifestyle they live! (No, it´s not "luxurious", but, HE doesn´t work and, SHE works, but does not contribute to the house! I suspect she is saving that money in a cojoined account with her boyfriend)

As you can see, I´ve truly HAD IT!!!....
I have about $800 and, I need about $400 more to leave. I think I can get $200 cash, but, even if I have to borrow the other $200, I´m getting out of here!

I know my sis will have a cow, and I know she´ll cry and plead, but, right now, for me to consider living together, either my nephew and niece would have to PROVE that they are no longer leeches. How? Well, he would have to keep the same job for at least 1 year and, she would have to contribute at least $50/month for a whole year, too.

I would also consider living together again if my sister kicked them out of the house and they STAYED AWAY for a whole year! (she´s kicked him out of the house at least on 3 separate occasion, he is always back within 15 days!... he comes back with crocodile tears "I can´t make it on my own, I need my family, I know I acted badly...boo-hooo...please, please take me back...I don´t want to do drugs again..." and, of course, she takes him back and we go back to that cycle described above....

SOOOO...since I can´t honestly expect my sister to kick her children out of the house just because I think that would be best (and, if she did, I know things would really be broken between us, she would never forgive me...even if she understood my reasoning, she would always resent me!)... then I need to leave...

((sigh)) Ok, rant over....
tomorrow I´ll contact a real estate agent and, I will start quoting the stuff that I might NEED (we have 2 fridges from when whe joined houses, but, we have only 1 stove and 1 washer, 1 dining room set and 1 living room set.... in very bad shape... both came from my house, originally, but, when we sold our parent´s stuff-- they lived with her-- that went towards paying things in the house, so I´ll leave her either the dining room set or the living room set...this, however, is NOT urgent...the stove or the washer are, though!)

May is a great month for quoting, because that´s the sort of thing on sale for mother's day and, the sales last the whole month...

The amount quoted above would cover 2 month´s rent at the new place, plus either the stove or the washer, as well as my part of repairs on the house we currently rent, so that, when we return it to the owner (sis cannot afford to keep this house!) it is in the same state in which we received it.

Sooooo...please wish me luck and/or send prayers and good vibes so that I find an affordable house/apartment in a safe area!

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 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...

Every new transaction I have signed up for, I've asked them to include in my netbanking profile...

the loan, the "house" programmed account, the "taxes" account...you see, this way, I could just pay the loan online and/or make transfers from my checking account into the house and tax account and, even, if the circumstances so merited, transfer money from my "taxes" account into the checking account...

Did they do it? No.

I then asked our acct exec here at work to do that for me. She took all the paperwork with her....nothing.

I called their call center (which they call "solution center")...the guy was very friendly, took all the info, I could hear him typing...then he said the accounts would appear in my profile in 24 hours...that was 2 weeks ago...still nothing...

I will call them again today, but, if that doesn't work, I'll have to GO to the bank on Saturday. (And I HATE going to the bank on Saturdays...they only work half a day, and because most people's schedules don't allow them to take care of banking matters during the week - normal business hours> 8-5, Banking hours> 9-4!!!...it's ALWAYS packed!)

It has been very rainy lately, and it was sooooo cloudy this morning, you could not see the volcano!...I just had to point that out to Ale...
I was translating a program on volcanos in El Salvador....I must say, I didn't quite like it, it made it seem like my country is so barren...LOL!..it probably is...we are one of the most deforested countries in Latin America...

They showed a waterfall and a piece of forest, but, since they were focusing mostly on the waterfall, it looked "rocky"...so....


Oh, well, it's part of the package for August (programs to be aired in Sept, and $$$ to be paid end of Sept/beginning of Oct)....I'm behind this time. I should have delivered the last script yesterday night, or, at the latest, today, but I still got 3 scripts to go!...

well, that is it for today...I have to take advantage of Labor Day (we are off at the Embassy, naturally, but, Ale is at school, niece is asleep and sis will soon be leaving for work, which means I have the whole morning to try to catch up with translations...but, since you know what they say about all work and no play, I called a friend and we will go to the movies around noon, so we are out just in time to go pick up Ale from school!)

While my finances are in much better condition, I still haven't gotten to the point where I can afford to live solely off my salary OR the translations...I need BOTH...(at least I'm not trying to decide WHICH debt gets paid and which one doesn't anymore!)...so, yeah, I need to pay the new loan ($209) and Ale's school ($155) and the rent ($175) and there's only $180 in my account right now...I NEED that translation $$$$...hopefully, it'll come before the end of the week (that would be SOOOO great!)...if not, I'll just have to move some money from my "taxes" saving account to the checking account to pay for the loan and the rent, and pay Ale's school (due on the 10th) with my next salary payment (9/5)...Everything else is covered...