Digging for Gold

Last night I got a text message from Eliza's horseback riding teacher that she was organizing an afternoon lesson for today (Tuesday) after school. Clubs ended last week, but Eliza is friends with the teacher's daughter and she wanted to go riding with Eliza and another friend. Sure! Anytime! Eliza loves riding and is really good at it. She's been taking regular lessons during the school year for the last 2 years. So, the text said that she would pick up Eliza at school, take them to the lesson and bring her home. Great! And the lesson is only 90 le ($16.28). No prob, bob. I go to my purse and I find 65 le. Not great. I'm home alone with a house full of sleeping kids and it's 10:30 pm. Oooo-kay, let's begin the scavenging. I find 4 one pound coins at the bottom of my purse. Tally: 69le. I dig through a side table in the living room. A crumpled one pound note, hey, every thing counts. I moved through the apartment, room by room, drawer by drawer and couch cushion after couch cushion. I found my camera bag and it had 12 50 pistre (half a pound) notes! That's 6 pounds! What's the total now? I gathered my assortment of change and crumpled, stinky bills (the money here really does stink after it's been in circulation for a while) and began counting. 20, 40, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 71, 72. That's it? Oh wonderful, this is just great.

Then I remembered that Eliza is a little packrat. She will save everything. She also has this plastic piggy bank and squirrels away any currency she finds. Usually she asks; like one time she came to me with 50le ($9) and asked me if she could have these 50 pistres (9 cents). Oh, um, honey, that's fifty pounds. Riiight. She's also saved all of her tooth fairy money and never spent any of it. What have I come to? I am borrowing from my daughter! Well, it IS for her lesson. I went to her red, plastic piggy and unscrewed the plug. I dump it upside down and out fall, 1,5, and 10le notes. Plus a menagerie of American, Egyptian, Greek, German and Jordanian coins. So that's what's knocking around inside of you little bank! I ended up borrowing 18le. I'll pay her back. Maybe. No, I'd better do it otherwise I'll be in even more of a pickle then next time I need money! ;-)