Another week of August

Definitely not my favorite time of year! I have many things to be thankful for in August, but the month itself never pans out to be much good... For one thing, it goes on for ages - I mean, next Monday, it will still be August! This year, the weather has been bad also - it has rained so much that I am beginning to feel water-logged. Where are the beautiful blue skies and sunshine?? I do live in a part of the world that is particularly beautiful most of the time. The weather is getting me down, I begin to mope about feeling that nothing is ever going to be bright and promising any more. The bank account doesn't help either - another 7 days before I even see the odd bit of change... and then another 5 days before some more!
I didn't manage to go sailing this month and I don't think I will be allowed close to the boat for another three weeks, if then!
I want to get on with solving my bureaucratic problems too - am no closer than I was at the beginning of July - I badly need to buy another car too - the car I have is beginning to stop me from doing a whole lot of things. I have to think twice about going further than 15 kilometers in it.
I hope this last week of August is better...

Teen angst -cellphone bills

I really don´t know what possessed us to give post paid cell phones to our kids! We have royal fights over how much they spend - so we resorted back to prepaid, but that didn´t work because being so cash strapped, we never had enough to shell out for three cards at the same time. Well, for the second time round we had a serious talk with them and told them that we would go back to the post paid system but they would only have 30 minutes to work with, whatever exceeded that would come out of pocket money. Our big mistake was not following up that threat, I know, I know... be consistent. After some time we had a problem with our eldest who managed to spend more than his father on one single month - he had all the excuses, he had a friend who had had a motorcycle accident and needed help and cheering up, we were out of town and he had to call us (more expensive), he thought that he still had minutes left... then we had a problem with the youngest, she overspent herself incredibly with texting (and I thought she would never learn to read and write when she was in preschool - a few years earlier!), we talked to her and she promised NEVER to text again - not our imposition, though. Because of this, she was without a cell phone while we paid off the bills.Lately we decided to go ahead and change cell phone operator in order to cut costs - this new plan would give my husband and the three kids a 1000 minutes plus fixed phone for free and internet broad band access via fixed phone line for about a third of what we pay nowadays. Yesterday was the day that the migration was complete - also the day that we received three bills - my husband's, the eldest son's and the youngest's cell phone bills with the former operator... to our complete dismay and shock! Our baby girl´s bill (she is 14) was 15 times my husband's! yes - fifteen times - I read on internet that last year the average cell phone bill in the USA was about 78 USD, I asked around my friends at the office today, what kind of bills did their teenagers run up - the answer was between 30 and 50 USD... She managed to spend 831 USD in 30 days - she spent 22 or 23 hours on the phone! interstate fees - her friend lives two states away from us. I mean - what the .....??????

I am still shell-shocked - I have taken the phone away from her - I am threatening to take internet access too - my husband is still at the silent stage...

She said that she needed to talk to her friend (another girl, the same age ) because at least SHE understood her - her acquaintances here apparently do not - they rib her because of her taste in music and because she reacts badly to this - I questioned her on the necessity to be on the phone for over three hours - she said that if she had something better to do she wouldn´t do it, but

because I don't pay for guitar lessons she has nothing to do except spend time on the computer and on the phone - but WHY the phone and not skype or something like that?? Oh, she didn't

have that on her computer and her friend didn't either... besides her friend wasn´t always on the computer (her friend has to SHARE a computer). I reminded her that I am always asking her to help me round the house, but seemingly that doesn't count as something to DO!!

Oh, my poor sweet little baby - brat!

What would you do? Does anyone have any bright idea out there?

August

August is here. For me, this is the beginning of the second half of the year - maybe reminiscing when it used to be the beginning of a school year (almost). I know that July should mark the beginning, but it seems that there is so much to finish up in July and this year we even took a holiday in July...

Back to reality, back to work in earnest - last week didn´t really count - I just finished off things that were pending.

I hope that I am able to tackle some of the more serious issues awaiting me, lik

e renewing my visa, work permit , driving

license, legalizing and

selling my present car, buying a new(er) one and then thinking about Christmas - New Year. Gosh! Christmas is not far off... under five months now (the hairs on the back of my neck are beginning to rise...). I must find a way to earn more money and save more, maybe change the internet provider for a free one, change the cell phone provider (ooops, I need a new phone = more expense). I want to begin a count down for retirement, get back to embroidering, sewing and woodworking. More than all, I need to re-prioritize my daily schedule, find time for quiet time, exercise and one on one time with each of the three kids. I guess there are no miracles out there, just grace.