Safra-Knit

If you are a crafty person, and are looking for some amazing tutorials, take a look at whipup. One of their more recent guides is about crocheting flowers. They all look amazing!!!

On Thursday evening I received a fund-raising phone call. You know the kind…”Hi I’m calling from *blbkjskjd;akdj* (they mumble so you miss the name) and we are having a fundraising drive for Materna for poor women. She said something about 30 cans I think, but at that point I stopped listening.

I told the woman that I wasn’t willing to make a donation towards formula, that other things I would donate, but not for formula. She said why, and I said that I felt breastfeeding was very important, and that should be supported especially for people with financial difficulties, and not formula.

She went on to tell me that I was wrong, and that poor women needed formula, and not to breastfeed. She actually argued with me for a few minutes.

While I do acknowledge that there is a percentage of women who can’t breastfeed, I truly cannot support such an organization that focuses on formula. Especially when the woman doing the fundraising would rather argue with me about the necessity to give formula, rather than see if there is another need for their organization that I would be willing to fund.

No great loss, there are plenty of organizations to which I am willing to give my money.

I saw a link regarding this challenge to save $1000 in a month. I figured that since I just spent 1000 shekels on a new battery, it would be interesting to see if anything was applicable to people outside the US.

Here are the first five days, and my feeling about them based on being in Israel.

Tip #1: Pack lunches for the rest of the week

Good idea….I do that most days, so it isn’t going to save me any money, but it is a good valid international tip.

Tip #2: Turn your thermostat down 3 degrees

Personally not so relevant. We only use any form of climate control (heating or cooling) abour 20 days a year. We haven’t turned on the heat yet, and probably won’t until January-February. If I include turning on the hot water heater as opposed to using the solar hot water, we still rarely use that. We try to schedule things so that we are using solar hot water as much as possible.

Tip #3: Sell something on eBay today

Interesting…I’ll have to see what I could sell..I probably won’t use Ebay because of commissions. I can use Janglo instead.

Tip #4: Involve your friends in your savings challenge

I talked to hubby, he is cheap, so he doesn’t have a problem with that.

Tip #5: Optimize your cellphone bill

Honestly, what can you do when your monthly bill for two users is only 60 shekels a month? Anyway, the word on the street is that prices will be dropping in January, so we can’t do anything until then.

Well, we are on the sixth and he hasn’t posted a new tip for today. I’ll try to check in with the next five in a few days.

We’ve had the car for about two months, and it allowed us to have a great Succot vacation. Hopefully I’ll write more about that later, but first the car story…

The main reason we purchased the car is so that I don’t lose my mind picking up three girls in a period of one hour in the afternoon. Normally I leave work at 2:30 PM, get to big girl’s school by 3:00, pick her and a classmate up, get to the baby’s childcare and drop off the classmate by 3:30 and then get to sandwich girl’s** childcare by 3:50 (the younger two can both stay until 4:00).

Well, yesterday I completed the first two pickups, and got in the car (3:40) to go to sandwich girl’s kindergarten and the car wouldn’t start. Nothing, not even a little rev, just silence as I turned the key. I had no idea what to do. I don’t even know what I’d do in the US! First I called my not so empathetic spouse who said something about how he never wanted a car in the first place. This gave me the perfect opportunity to vent out my stress.

I attempted to find a Taxi, but Murphy’s law was in full force. Luckily I have the taxi company’s phone number memorized, so I called it and they said they would be there in two minutes. Unfortunately, I looked at the clock and it was already 4:00. I luckily had Sanwich girl’s Kindergarten phone number in my phone, so I called and said I was on my way. The taxi arrived, and we got to the childcare at about 4:08. They had let her go to the park across the street with another mom. Unfortunately, it was busy and I didn’t see her for a few minutes. (Big girl was waiting in the taxi, and the baby was attached to me by the sling.) She said no when I told her we had to go, so of course, I screamed. (I later called and apologized and thanked the mom who took her out.)

The taxi took us home, and I started my search trying to determine what to do. First step, call my boss. She previously owned a really bad car, so I know she had lots of experience with this. She said to call a towing company or the garage. I first called the garage, they hung up on me, so I called back and the guy said to call my insurance company to find out if I have towing coverage. Fair enough. That number was also located in my cell phone. My insurance company gave me the name of the towing company to call. I called them, it turns out that it is the Israeli equivalent to AAA. (Added their number immediately to my phone as well.)

The person there first told me I wasn’t registered with them, but after I told them my insurance company told me to call, she asked me how long it would take for me to get to the car. I would need to be there when they arrived. I said 15 minutes, and they said they would have someone call and let me know when they were on their way. It would be within three hours. I went upstairs to the neighbors and asked if someone could watch the girls if I needed to go before hubby arrived home. They agreed, and I went downstairs to start dinner.

Before the pasta water even boiled, I got a call from the tow company (about 5PM) saying that he would be there in five minutes! I turned off the water, tossed the kids upstairs and ran to the car. (It is about a 10 minute walk.)

It wasn’t a tow truck waiting for me, but “first aid.”++ This guy has a van packed with tools and equipment, and he asks me to start the car. I try, nothing happens. He says “זה המצבר” (zeh haMatzber) [the battery] which sounded to me like “זה מעצבן” (zeh me’atzben) [thats annoying/frustrating]. He might have laughed, but I think he was kinder than that, and I suddenly realized he was telling me what was wrong with the car. Of course, he has batteries with him, and can install it on the spot for a thousand shekels. I realized that not having a car for even half a day to find a cheaper price wasn’t worth it, so I agreed. Of course, he only took checks or cash, and I had neither with me, so he followed me back to the apartment, and I wrote him a check.

I was back home by 6PM! The whole story from start to finish was about 2 hours and 20 minutes!

Total phone calls: 8
Total cost: 1030 shekels (30 for taxi + 1000 for battery)

Thoughts 24 hours later: Hmmm…could there just have been corrosion on the battery contacts? Did I overpay for the battery? I really feel like a completely clueless immigrant for not knowing the word for battery….I have so much to learn.

And now on with the show….

**I don’t like calling her the middle one, and she is still the little one to me, so I’m settling on sandwich girl for now.

++First aid is a subcontractor of Memsi (the AAA type company). If he can’t solve the problem, then he calls the tow truck. I think it is a really good way of doing things, and probably helps solve lots of problems.