At the fair on Wednesday, I found only 1 store that had the kind of bed that I want for Ale (with drawers underneath)...they quoted it at $385! (more expensive than the dept store!...because, this was $385 just for the bed...at least the $399 that the dept store quotes includes more pieces...and, yes, I don't really NEED the extra pieces, but, I thought that NOT getting them would mean I was going to be charged less!)

and, yesterday we were supposed to go to Nahuizalco (a town famous for its furniture), but, we didn't leave Juayua on time to get there...so, we'll go some other day...

Anyway, it's not like I have the money, I'm just looking around checking prices!

One of my managers just wrote me an email...
"I somehow lost the documents for the car, you know, the insurance car and the technical document...can you please get me replacements? Thanks!"

wha....eh??...WHA...??

The "technical" document is THE CAR REGISTRATION CARD!!!!...I have to go to the Legal Dept and get the company's legal representative to go to the police station to file a report before I can start procedures to "get a replacement"...and, if I don't do that, we are minus one car, because noone can drive that car right now...if stopped by the police, the car would get impounded and the driver would be sent to jail pending the proper investigation as to the ownership of the car!...

You'd think that, with all their studies and privileged brains, these kids would KNOW better and take care of the things entrusted to them!!...

In the meantime, all I can think of is What would be the most painful way to kill him?? ...because, I will get the heat for this! (shoot the messenger! seems to be the company motto regarding this sort of mishap...which, unfortunately, happens most often in my unit than in others!)

I might just make it at budget this month (previous months tallied have both been grossly over-budget, so I can tell already that this month has been an improvement)...there's no way I can survive unless I get much tougher on myself/my family, though, but, little by little...

Rising gas prices are not helping, of course, and, neither are electricity rates (which just went up by 14%, according to the Superintendency of Energy and Communications!)...with these 2 rising, groceries will soon follow ((sigh))...sometimes I feel like this is all wasted effort, but then, all these past efforts mean that the impact will at least be minimized! (trying to look at the bright side here!)

The answer, of course, is because I'm disorganized!!...the landlady just called...according to her, we are 1 month behind in rent...we just went over all my payments with my bank account vs her bank account and, sure enough, there's one month missing!...(this happens because my sis gets paid on the 25th and I get paid on the 15th and the 30th, so, rather than try to consolidate, I pay my half on the 15th and my sister's whenever she gives me her cheque - anywhere from the 29th to the 7th!)...now, we looked at Jan through July...but, I discovered an additional payment (3 payments) in Dec, so I need to call her again and, I guess we need to make an appointment to sit down and look at it very carefully --because, until Dec, I WAS behind...so I really cannot remember if that 3rd payment is to bring things up to date or, since it was for Dec 29th, if it was already for half of Jan 2006...
My sister, of course, relies on me to keep track!...
shucks, I guess I'll talk to her so she can take a look at HER account and see when she gave me her money and when I deposited it!...it's $157.50 vs $315!! (in my book, I just paid her for the beginning of the month of July, with only my sister's part remaining...but, in her book, this past payment covered the end of June!!)...AAAARRRGHHH!...we need to agree on where we are, and then start keeping accounts all over again!

This is what went through my head today when my cousin called to tell me that her car needs a new tire, because it's starting to vibrate funny and she took it to her friend that is a mechanic and he told her there is a "bump" in one of her front tires....
Now, I DO believe it, but, I also knows that means paying for the phone bill just dropped a few more rungs in priority for her! ((sigh))

This month had to be only slightly above minimum
Have not received my payment for some services yet...have to consider the phone bill ... and payment was due tomorrow...If cousin comes through and pays me for the phone bill -- even if little by little -- I'll put that $$ towards the card...If the bank approves my loan, that will go towards the CC, too...I'll deal with the phone bill separately... ((sigh))

I can't find one!!!...the "normal" school year here is Jan- Nov....so, most companies don't bother with the few bilingual schools and don't stock up for the middle of the year...
And the school is requesting a school planner ... :0
What is there to do??...I'll keep calling the stores to see what I can find...

And I had other --more URGENT things to do -- so I couldn't go get mine! ...and they don't have a fax, so they cannot fax it to me...(and, once they told me they don't have a fax, I didn't dare ask if they could e-mail it!)...
That's ok, they are open from 8am through 4pm tomorrow...I'll go at noon, during my lunch hour (it's about 5 minutes away!)...But, I would have LOVED to start working on it today...

It went just as I expected...he's acting as if he were the offended party!...at one point, he was slouching in his chair and my cousin said: sit up straight...his answer: I can't help it, I'm sleepy! ((said with an attitude,not in a nice way!))...
When I left she was in her car, and he was standing next to the passenger side of it, with his door open, but visibly arguing with her!...I imagine he was scolding her for putting him through all that!...I hope he says something stupid enough to make her mad enough to react!!...In the meantime, I have to cough up $300 today and $100/month for the next 7 months...at least they didn't include any interest on the money!
...OH, and I made it VERY clear that HE DOES owe me interest...same interest as the highest card and, until HE repays me, and even 3 years after the day he finally does, I have EVERY right to remind him 24 times a day --if I want to-- that he made those phone calls on MY line and damaged MY credit!

**********************
Latest update: what he did was get out of the car and get lost for a couple of hours...he just returned home...of course, my cousin was already worried...(which I imagine was his intended purpose!) ...some days I feel like punching him...but others I just feel like slapping her into her senses!

I also printed a spreadsheet with all my fixed and variable expenses -- including debt repayment-- for my nephew...I'm going to put this in front of him and let him "decide" what I should stop paying/cut to pay for HIS calls...then I'm going to ask him to explain to me WHY he thinks it's fair that I do that in order to pay for phone calls I didn't make! (obviously, the answer is going to be a great big "I'm the wounded party here" silence, but...)

I'm chocking with anger right now!

Ok, since the DETAILED results are just too embarrassing, I'll just confess to this:

the only categories where I was at or below budget were:
CAR
SCHOOL
CELL PHONE

That leaves me overbudget in
GROCERIES (ALMOST made it!)
ENTERTAINMENT (the trip killed me!!)
LUNCH (no excuse, I just didn't pack enough lunches this month!)
CLOTHES (again, no real excuse, just: the deals at Ross were too good to pass up!)
EVENTS (Ale's b-day distorted this one...my b-day is in July, so we'll see how this goes!)
OTHER (no excuses, just plain stupidity!)

so, for June, the result is 3/9

Hopefully, on 060801, the news to report will be better!

((remember this covers variable expenses only))

I swear, it is just TOO hot!...I was hoping to make this a no-spend day, because Ale and I have plans to go to the movies tomorrow morning --matinee is cheaper!(to see Cars, which just started last week, or Over the Hedge, which started on Friday), and then in the afternoon to the Children's Museum (gotta use up all those tickets!)...but, it's already 4:00pm and the sun is as fierce as if it were high noon!!...I might cave in and go get some ice cream with Ale...just to be in the air conditioning (few people can really afford it here, most of us have fans only...and, believe me, right now, the fan is NOT enough!...I wish I had a bathtub, so I could fill it with ice water and stay in there all afternoon! --of course, I'd have to fight sister for it, as she, too, is melting!-- the electricity bill is going to be horrible this month!...oh! and the government has announced an increase in the cost of electricity starting Jul 1st!)

::think cool thoughts:: ::snow:: :: penguins:: :: pool:: ::waterfalls:: ::ice cream::

I need to confront my cousin ref the phone bill...I mean, she knows, and she knows I'm mad...but, I want to tell her that I'm particularly upset about the way she has handled the whole thing...and, no, I'm not talking about her parenting (or lack thereof!)...I'm talking about HER... she told me the other day that she had gone and paid the internet/cable service so it would be reconnected (was disconnected for 1 day!) because "not because of D., but because of me, because cable is my only enterntainment and I don't feel it's fair to give even THAT up"...
well, I guess she hasn't figured that, so that SHE can have her enterntainment, MY DAUGHTER AND I are going to have to cut ours to be able to pay for her son's bill...at least, I'm hoping that this is because she's CLUELESS, because if she realizes this and still justifies reconnecting her cable, that means she's just as inconsiderate as her son...

I also want to tell her that I DO expect her to pay me, and, since this will have to come out of my cc payments (I'd have to make minimum payments only on the cc to be able to apply the rest towards this debt for 6-8 months), that I expect her to pay for the interest...at the same rate I have on the cc...

Also, I want to make it clear that, if she runs into any more financial trouble (and she will!), I am willing to offer moral support, but nothing more...

I'm really not confrontational, so I know this is going to be difficult...

On top of that, I haven't decided whether I should do this as part of a meeting that I want to have with her and her son (God, grant me the restraint to NOT kill him!) or as a separate meeting -- she really doesn't need anybody else making that child feel like SHE's not in control...but, then again, the situation between them is such, that...does it really matter? She has no control, he truly is Master in that house (yes, capital M)...

any ideas are welcome!

Well, I have to go to the lawyer's to try to keep them from docking my pay over the phone bill (which effectively means I will be paying MORE than if they were docking my pay, but, at least my record won't show that they had to resort to this! -- plus the people at payroll in the company don't have to see it!) AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHH
I just called my cousin and told her she IS coming with me and her son IS coming with us, as well....I know there won't be any consequences for him and I know he couldn't care less about my pay (in fact, I think he might even feel some sort of satisfaction that the B*tch is having trouble! -- I'm sure that's how his pampered mind perceives me!), but, I want him to at least have to FACE the lawyer and own up to what he did, and see that there ARE consequences...won't do much good because the consequences don't affect HIM, so he won't care, but...AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHH!

I've taken out goal #3, as it was achieved last month! 3 more to go!!!




1. keep better track of my spending- Ouch!...I’ve been good all this month, in that I HAVE tracked even the tiniest of expenses –YAY, me!...but, of course, this has uncovered a horror story…the result is that I have split all my expenses into several categories and have started tracking them separately …hope to be able to report improvement in actually meeting the budget! This is an on-going goal, so I will keep reporting on it!

4. continue to lower my overall debt - I started Jan 05 with ~$17K (out of which ~$4K were for a loan and the rest -~$13K!-pure cc debt) and, am starting Jan 06 with $~11K (with ~$8K for a loan and ~$3K in cc debt)... expect to be able to end Dec '06 with ~$7K, which I expect to be purely for the loan... to come partly from the English classes/$20 challenge. ...current situation is: $7.6K (refinanced) loan, $2.9K car loan, $1K personal loan, $1.4K cc's ...a work in progress...another one that won’t get taken off the list!Add the $1K of the phone call to the list! I just know my cousin won't pay for it!

5. Help Ale find a way to earn those $3 she's missing to open her account with HER OWN money...same as last month…!
...but now there is another loose tooth!

my nephew D (cousin's son) has, as you may already have guessed no regard whatsoever for other people's property/well-being... (this is the one that stole --my cousin says "took without permission"--his mom's car and crashed it, the one that racked up the $1,000 phone bill, the one that keeps hounding my cousin to pay the internet bill because he wants to go on line and chat --and my cousin makes this a 1st priority because at least it keeps him in the house!!)...well, since my OTHER nephew, R (sis' son, who is in rehab) has been home for 3 weeks, due he was recovering from surgery, I haven't worried about D. using the internet or the phone at my place (having "been there, done that", R. is now much more conscious of these things!)...well, R left yesterday to go back into the rehab center (the Doctor said his recovery period is over and can now resume his normal duties at the center)...so, I KNEW there would be trouble today... I gave our nanny specific orders that D. was NOT to use the computer or the phone, or drink our sodas while we are not home...sure enough, he came in today and, without even asking, just sat himself down to the computer...what happened next is a little murky, because there are 2 different versions: the nanny's (which strikes me as more trustworthy) and my cousin's (who claims she was here at the time... she DOES admit he didn't bother asking anybody if he could use the computer...I figure the nanny is too lowly a person to ask and, Ale being only 6 is inconsequential in his mind!)...the nanny says he DID use the computer despite her telling him not to...my cousin (his MOM) says he immediately stopped using it when the nanny told him to...In any case, I already talked to her and, I intend to talk to him, too, anyway...it is not the $$$, as the line is dedicated and so there are no additional charges...although we COULD talk about additional charges for the electricity...it's the PRINCIPLE of the matter...I, for one, believe my cousin should have STOPPED paying for the internet the minute the $1,000 phone bill arrived and started applying those $50/month towards repayment...her view of it is: 1.that would have angered him and he would have screamed at her (he's 16!)...2. the internet keeps him inside the house...3. she has to pay anyway because she has a contract, so not paying would only mean late fees for her!... hmmmmm...so, it is preferrable for her to let ME hanging than deal with her son!!...well, SHE may take that view, but I certainly do not, and I feel he needs a lesson in PRIVATE PROPERTY...the computer belongs to my niece, but, my sister and I pay for the internet service, so it's OUR service and I don't want HIM using it...how about THAT??... I also don't want him anywhere NEAR my phone!...which my cousin is now using to make her business calls (and supposed to give us her share of usage, but, since she hasn't had any income for the last 2 months, has only paid for 1 month...and then, not really for HER whole share!, just for part of it!!)...I get really mad, but, I try to be understanding (with her, I can be, but NOT with him!)...she does need help to get on her feet...she did help me a lot (both monetarily and emotionally) when I lost my job and, she's always willing to help (drive us around, accompany us to Dr's appointments or hospitals during crises, take care of Ale if I don't have a nanny) and, that is stuff that I really appreciate and don't put a price tag on...so, she can help with that sort of thing and we can help with $$$, despite all our difficulties, so I'm willing to do it and not be too picky about her phone bills (it's not like they're exhorbitant, either), but, I am NOT willing to let her son abuse the relationship between our families and, I have told her on several occasions just WHY I'm not in agreement with her approach to the problems with him...so, at least in MY house, he has to obey the rules!! I wish I could PUNCH HIM!!! ARRRRRGHHHHH!...I swear, if he ever disrespects my nanny again like that by disobeying her orders, I'm going to send a letter to the neighborhood administration requesting that security be notified that he is NOT to be allowed into the neighborhood....

It's still only the 27th and, I'm already $30 ABOVE last month!!...if it weren't for the famous tickets for the Museum and the trip to Las Vegas, though, I'd be $112 BELOW last month....it would still be overbudget, though...but, I guess I'll give myself a blue star for a nice effort in June and, make an even bigger effort to keep tracking/controlling variable expenses in July!

well, we had the party at the Museu, and less than half the people showed up...(on a side note: the saddest part is to think, even on a Friday, we would have had a higher number of people show up if we had done this at Pizza Hut or any other fast food restaurant! -- seems people are afraid of Museums!)...anyway...remember they had said that I only had to pay for the people who had attended...well, at the end of the event, the person in charge of events --with whom I had had a meeting on Tuesday -- said that what they would give me was a 25% discount on the tickets for the people that hadn't shown up...WHAT??...I had discussed this with someone else, and they had said I'd only had to pay for the people that attended...she said that the person that I had spoken to about this didn't know about Events...ok, so, now it's getting late and Ale is starting to get desperate to go home and it is starting to rain and I can see there will be A STORM...so, I was pressured to leave as soon as possible....then, they gave me some used tickets as proof of purchase...NO, I will accept used ticket stubs for the tickets we DID use, but, at least got them to give me the tickets that I paid for that we had not used!..so, now I have a BUNCH (about 38!) of tickets to the Museum (which I intend to use/give away! I don't care, but, I WILL get my money's worth!)...we went there on Sunday already...
What I will do is add this to my enterntainemnt account as available fun money until they run out...
...I'm guessing this is just one more reason people DON'T have their parties there!>

No,no,no,no,no,no,no!...this isn't happening!...I gave a cheque for $432 for the funeral services - the money for this had been deposited CASH by ME in my account...there is a reserve for $432 in my account (which, in theory, was made by the funeral services company, right?) and, eventhough the money is reserved and there is STILL another $128 left on the account, the cheque has been rejected! (I'm looking at my own account on line, the funeral services company hasn't called yet or anything -- as a matter of fact, I just called THEM)
...this is just another mix up....(probably the cheque did not include the reservation code or else the reservation code they wrote on it was wrong, so the bank thought these were 2 separate charges...) UGH! I hate this sort of thing! It takes forever to solve!

****************
I called the bank....the error came from the funeral services company...when they reserved the funds, they input the cheque number as 126...and the actual cheque number is 726...so, of course, cheque 726 was rejected because there were insufficient funds to cover it!....that means I have to try to recover my $7.35 (bounced cheque fee from MY bank), from the funeral services company!!...wish me luck! -- but, I WILL fight this one to the end!

I just got a call from a lawyer's office ref: the famous phone line that my nephew (son of my cousin) abused!!...it makes me SOOOO mad!...

Mainly, the reason I haven't done anything about it is that the phone company WILL reconnect as soon as I make a payment and, unless I pay in full ($1003.20), they will NOT accept my request for any changes in the account (like restriction of international calls), which means, as soon as I make any payments, the line will be up and fully operational for him to make any phone calls he pleases! (she works all day long, so he'd have at least 6 hours a day of unrestricted access!)...

This REALLY sucks!

OUCH!...with 1 1/2 weeks to go, I'm still "in the green", but, only by $0.63....I'd say it is safe to say that I'm NOT going to make it on budget this month! ...oh, well, the trick will be to keep it as close as possible then, and, keep the gap at or below the level of last month's!

The nanny's daughter called today...the nanny is not feeling well, and will not come to work today...maybe (MAYBE) tomorrow...

Today I have no problem, I just left Ale at school and she'll stay until 5:00pm (talked to the principal, they run a DAycare/homework club in the afternoon, so no problem), but, tomorrow is teacher's day, so they have the day off...and, if the nanny cannot come, I need to find a solution...one option is to let her tag along with my cousin...the pros: they love each other, I know I can trust my cousin...the cons? her schedule is not regular at all...sometimes she has lunch at 3:00pm...Ale cannot do that...so I'm a little aprehensive about that... The other option (not really!) is to let her stay home with my nephew and niece (nephew is recovering from his operation and, niece is 16...she, too will be off school, but, we anticipate she'll have her hands full with her brother, and don't want to overwhelm her!)...Third option is for me to request a day off work ....but, I've requested so many already -- what with taking my sister for medical appointments and other stuff!...what is there to do?? ((sigh))

Well, my online application did NOT get submitted...on top of that, I called and they told me the category of Entrepreneurial Women had closed at 9:05! (this was not specified in the website!)...the categories still open were tourism, ethnic products and Information and Communications Technology...I submitted it under the latter, maybe they'll accept it! ((sigh))

Will keep you updated!

******************
updated to say they accepted the application....and they warned that they are backlogged processing them, so it will probably be 2 weeks before they contact me with further information!

well, no, not really...but, I hate it that yesterday I stayed after work to fill out my application to the contest and, it took me 30 minutes to fill out (and it read great, if I may say so myself!) and, when I hit the SUBMITT button, I got a message that said: field "name" is mandatory....I went "huh?"...guess what!...my whole application had been deleted!! ...
so, now I don't know if 1. my application went through and it's just that the site doesn't have a confirm message or 2. my application really got lost and I have to resubmitt it!...

So, I guess I'll re-submitt it (just to be on the safe side!) UGH!

the people from the coop discounted $65 from my pay again, so now Ale's school fund stands now at $402.11 (they should be discounting $32.50 each pay period!)...well, again, will try to live without it and send them ANOTHER message to try to correct it!...worst-case scenario, I'll have to withdraw $32.50 from that account!...
best-case I won't have to and can pay 3 months in advance at the beginning of the year!!

Well, I still have my debit card (haven't lost it!) -- already a month! -- I've charged 14 purchases and made 7 cash withdrawals...paid fees on 2 of those for not using the bank's own ATM...but, one was done late at night (security-wise that ATM made sense!) or when the bank's ATM was out of order, so I'm not that concerned about it...still, I need to plan better if I want to make sure to avoid fees...

no school supply list yet...I have all that stuff in stock, so I don't have to worry, but, if I didn't have it, that would mean reduced time to look for good prices on the stuff...which is difficult anyway, as most schools in ES follow a Jan-Oct schedule, so the "good" time of the year to shop is actually Nov-Dec!!...
Maybe they figure if you have enough money to send your kid to a bilingual school you don't care about costs?? (WRONG! I know a lot of people in my same situation....trying to give our children an education that is as close as possible to the one we received on limited income!)

I guess I have to focus on getting those navy sweatpants in the meantime!

it just occurred to me today, as I was having breakfast, that, instead of buying clothes that Ale didn't really NEED, I might have bought 2 more pairs of shoes for school, only 1 size bigger than the ones I got...I'd be covered for school shoes for the whole year!! ...


OH, well, not much I can do about it NOW!

Our computer at home's got a virus...they're going to fix it today...it's going to cost (another) $15!!...luckily for me, I don't save anything on that computer...only on removable devices or at the one at the office (back up of certain stuff)...I'd die if they had to delete my excel files!!!

Ouch! the trip certainly took its toll!...I'm over budget in enterntainment and Others...and it's just mid-June!...I guess that means I have to do a lot of damage control in the next 17 days! (not too easy, with Ale's b-day on the 26th!)...

If I add up all the categories that made up the Others last month, I'm $22 below what I spent for May, but, still...

Oh, well, it's not like we have monthly off-sites!