Gold ! Gold ! Gold !

i’m testing out my mom’s investment plans , so far i made about 9000 bht , much much more than letting money sit in the bank … around 3 months back i invested in gold bullions … the resale price for gold bars doesn’t get a cut for workmanship … however you must save enough to buy the 5 bht weights … the 2.5 bht weight nuggets has a workmanship fee of 250bht… for necklaces and bracelets, you pay more cuz of the design and you sell for below the gold bullion price …. so,  not a very good investment option … personally, i find the designs very ‘ yew ‘ …( please note , in order for this to work , you have to use ‘ cold ‘ money <– money that is left over from morgages, daily expense, school tuition, emergency medical expenses, etc … cuz you’ll be playing a waiting game ) …

now, i’m testing stage two of the plan …. that is , i put all the money into a special savings account , like the ones offered in standard charter bank … i figure it’ll take some time for the gold price to stablize or drop … when it does , i ‘ll see if i can use this same amount of money to buy more than the initial amount … if so, i’ll double score …

you can check gold prices in thailand here …  ” Buy ” means , the price you’ll be getting  … ” Sell ” means the price you’ll be paying … confuse ?

(yet another ) mini-update …

• ah … not blogging as usual :p … just busy sewing bags , getting excited over how they’ll look when they are completed … the past week , my sewing area looks like a mini-factory … it’s faster doing things by the lot … sometimes i sew for 3 hrs straight , and i actually ENJOYED it …
• the teen is back in school … there wasn’t much convincing to do on her mom’s part … it’s one of those school where expelled students end up in … she went back as a heroine …  
• got a hair cut , love the (she)-man who did my hair …. he blew dried it himself and did it so gently … don’t you just hate hair dressers who work their issues out on your hair ? …. like they are trying to pull the scalps off your head ? …
• i found out why my dog has been steadily increasing weight … my kids were feeding her cereals … namely, coco pops , nestle stars , and good old sugared cornflakes …
• the K-1 now gets off the car without security guards being called to pry her off … we don’t cause traffic jams anymore … we are cool … 

the bomb

i dropped the bomb on my housekeeper’s 14 yr old daughter … was i mean ! … the husband played the good guy sharing his life experiences as a teen … i told her specifically what will happen if she drops out of school :

 ” you will be applying for jobs with a grade 6 certificate . do you wish to wash toilets and sweep the streets for the rest of your life ? your mom’s work has deteriorate ever since you ran away . if she’s not riding her bike all over town looking for you , she sits alone, crying for you.  so, don’t you think that your mom doesn’t love you.

* insert silence for dramatic effect *

i’ll tell you what, if you decide to drop out of school , i’ll FIRE your mom. i can see all the troubles that will arise after you drop out. i’ll rather have none of them.”

2 hours later, she changed her mind … what’s left is up to her mom to convince the school not to expel her … i did mean it on the firing part … her mom’s already got debt up to her ears , add a teen who thinks it’s okay to skip school to party at a friend’s house till the cops get called …

mini-update

• bought the janome 419s …. i checked out the industrial types … they were older than my mom and cost twice as much …. they look really cool though … big chunks of solid steel , very WWII …
• very pleased with TV Air Booking at central chidlom …. you see, i put down a 4,000 bht no-return reservation fee for my parent’s trip to hong kong after asking them if they were definitely, totally,  100, 100% sure of the date … of course, that very night , they found out it wasn’t … the lady cancelled the whole package and i got my money back ( less 200bht, guess that is called ‘ the nuisance fee ’ ) …
• my housekeeper’s daughter came back … now she won’t go to school … we’ll let her have a day or two breathing time before we drop the bomb on her … not going to school ? not welcome here .. go back upcountry … somebody’s got to give her an ultimatum…

run, run, as fast as you can ..

felt like a weirdo today at the gym … i’m training for speed , so i do a 3kms run at 8.5 km/hr , then another 30 mins interval … i don’t think that’s too harsh if you go to the gym regularly … i mean, harsh will be running top speed for an hour, then jump on the stair master for another hour , weightlifting for another …. today a bunch of newbies arrived and did they stare at me … even when i’ve stopped running and was doing weights , they were still watching me …

wha ? how much ?!!

went sewing machine shopping today … my dream of getting a computerized one bursted cuz they cost around 50,000bht – 70,000 bht !!! … if you’re getting one for quilting , i say , just buy the damn quilt ! … the cheapest one is from Janome , costs a little less than 5000 bht …. it look so tiny, like a toy … i wonder if it will survive all the layers i’ll be sewing together … my dead singer can do lots of stitches , but when it comes to real usage, i use only the straight stitch and the hemming stitch … already endless possibilities with these 2 stitches … there’s a mid-range one, selling for about 9000 bht , similiar to my singer … i’ll be checking out the industrial ones tomorrow ….

uh-oh

i think i’ve killed my sewing machine … the foot press doesn’t work anymore **cry-yyy**

that means i get to buy a new one ??? … one that can sew in a straight line ? * yea-hhh!*

she managed to finish this one, box-type litter bag, plus one in vinyl … i like the pattern on this …

and here’s my very triangular bag , the one with the pokey corners ….

how do one raise a teenager ?

i’ve always find this topic intriquing … 5 more years and my kid will turn teen … am i doing the right thing ? what should i do if this or that happens ? … you know , questions that keep one awake in the middle of the night …

my housekeeper’s daughter ran away from home … she skipped school, her mom found out and hit her … this time she found someone to run away with , so this makes it the fifth night in the wild ….

we actually found her on the second day on our way to the police station to get my residency extended … we talked to her and she promised that she’ll go back home … but she broke her promise … hmmm … so corporal punishment doesn’t work , civil conversation also doesn’t work …. we should have just grabbed her and chuck her in the car ?? … thinking back , we were quite stupid taking her word for it ….

out of curiosity, we asked the police detective at the station what could be done … he said since she left on her own will, her parents cannot charge the people she’s staying with, with criminal offense … however if she’s been harmed, she can file charges … the parents will have to find her themselves … gloomy , isn’t it ?

kid’s activity #2

the kid’s slow-stewing with a fever of 38 degree celcius … we let her stay home and entertain her with the below activity :

this is a felt toy where she can play sewing … the most important part of the activity is to let her do the designing … i gave her some advice , like the applique shouldn’t be too complicated since she will have to sew it on herself … she drew up her design , decide on the size ( she use a mini book as a pattern ), and the color … here are the steps :

1. sew the applique onto one of the felt square
2. machine sew the felt squares together ( with parental guidiance )
3. i pounded holes around the applique
4. tie a knot on one end of a piece of cord, put some glue on the other end to keep it from fraying
5. start playing !

notes : if you could pound bigger holes ( size for shoe laces ) , that would be easier for kids to play with … also , when i hammer, i wrap a piece of scrap on the iron thingy … and be careful with the hammer , you would want your knuckles in place after the project …

kid’s activity #1

 

the kid’s got saturdays free … to keep her occupied ( so that i can have some free time ) , i give her a topic to paint on … this one is ” The Buddha ” and it’s done on 40 x 60 (cm) canvas … it took her 3 saturdays to complete … according to her, the ‘ koala-dog ‘ is angry at the ‘ hamster-bear ‘ cuz she wouldn’t apologize and is making funny eyes instead … must be inspired by a fight with her sister …