Letters From New England

It's finally here...

Wednesday

May 7, 2008

Hi,

After weeks of working evenings to plump up the inventory, I finally put my tools down and packed up my boxes.  My sale takes place tomorrow from 9-4.  Cross all crossable parts for us to have a good day!  I wrote out my "abundance check" on Monday, so I'm sure we'll do great.  We have had sale after sale after sale at work (and some of them were jewelry) for weeks now.  I hope people have money left in their paychecks! :)

When I got home tonight, I spent about an hour packing everything up and getting into the car so I don't have to deal with that in the morning. I'm really looking forward to the sale...it's always a good time.  We have a great volunteer and these sales give me the opportunity to see people I don't usually run into on the average day.

The woman who coordinates these sales for the Hospital Aid Association stopped down to remind me to pay close attention to my table when it gets busy.  Once again, people have been stealing from the vendors, mostly the jewelry sales because it's easy to slip things into pockets.  I called Deb to let her know and we will keep a watchful eye for each other when we're with customers.  I've had a few pieces "go missing" from my table in the past, and Deb and I have also had price tags switched (the balls on these people never fail to amaze me).  It's awful enough that some of them steal, but with us they are also stealing from a co-worker.  That really sets my hair on fire!

I'm going to Maine this weekend to spend Mother's Day with Tammy.  Not sure what we'll do, but I will be happy to spend time with her and the kids.  The weather, like last weekend, is supposed to be rainy.  It has been gorgeous all week so far, just like the week I was off with Emma.  2 rainy weekends in a row.  Makes it difficult for people who work all week to get yard cleanups done.

Well, it's been a long day and I'm yawing away here.  I think it's time to wash up and go to bed with a good book.  Speaking of... have been reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.  Enjoying it so far.  I've also been reading books on living green and have a great one from the library right now.  It's called Easy Green Living by Renee Loux.  I liked The Idiot's Guide to Green Living for it's easy reading ability, but love this one because it's filled with information, recipes (for cleaning products and stuff), and quick references on a variety of things.  I might have to buy a copy (this one is from the library).

Here's a recipe for glass cleaner:  yield 1 qt

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

1/2 tsp of liquid soap (castile)

1 3/4 cups water

8 drops of essential oil of choice

Mix all in a spray bottle, spray on windows and wipe clean with your recycled newspapers.  Wear gloves!  No, not because of toxins, because of newsprint ink. ;)

On a sadder note, I've been so upset over the tragedy in Myanmar this past week.  Today, I read that there may be over 100,000 people dead.  I can't even imagine...  My heart goes out to the people of Myanmar during this awful time. 

Peace,

Kay

Seriously?

Tuesday

April 29, 2008

Hi,

Dawn called me at 7:15 this morning, just as I was walking out the door. She wanted to ask me for my email address so she could share the email she'd written to her mother at 3:00 am.  So, I gave her my work one since that's where I was heading.

It was a long dramatization of the complete upset and bitterness she feels in regard to the sale of this house.  She offered solutions to the issues that might work instead of selling.  She included ME in her "this is what we can do since Bob is tired of maintaining both houses" sentences.  This email came on the heels of a huge blow up with her mother this weekend, after not talking to either of them for 3 weeks.  She has been crying for days.  I dunno...

To make a long story short, about 2 hours later I got an email from her mother (at work) telling me that they are taking the house off of the market for at least a year.  Her realtor, and the realtor who brought someone to look at the house yesterday, have told them that they are asking WAY too much for this house.  Their problem is that to sell for much less, they would do so at a loss.  I don't know how, but that's none of my business.  She apologized for what "she put us through" in regard to having to move, etc.  Whatever...  I was a little surprised and not the slightest bit excited about moving again so soon, but it was the push I need to get out of here.  Dawn reminded her mother that her other daughter (who's 10 or 11) and her niece (the same age) are coming for the summer and "what's she going to do if she has to move"?  AND, she'd like to get a dog.  Okay then... I'm outta here.  Oh...and they are raising our rents because Dawn thought that would be better than having to move. 

I responded to both of them, letting them know that I am going to continue my search for alternate housing.  I have Wendy, the realtor who has this house, looking for appropriate listings for me.  Tomorrow I will call the bank to see about pre-approval so I don't waste anyone's time looking at something the bank won't give me a mortgage on.  On Sunday, I hope to look at a couple of places spittin' distance down the highway.

But, there was GOOD news in all of this drama today!  I advertised a journal workshop at work and today it filled enough to run!  Yeehaw and thank you, Universe, for the additional income.  That's the second (the first was the beading class at the college) opportunity to fatten the checkbook to come along in less than a week.  Wait...the THIRD.  I got my Economy Stimulating deposit yesterday too. 

Peace,

Kay

Checks in the mail...

Monday

April 28, 2008

Hi,

A news brief alerted me to the fact that the Bushwacker's checks would hit the accounts of approx 800,000 people who did direct deposit for their tax refunds this year.  I just popped into my bank's website, and sure enough...a nice little $600 boost was sitting there.  Couldn't have come at a better time, since I might (most likely) have to move.  I'd love to blow it on something fun, but it's not practical to do that right now. In fact, I plan to transfer it from my checking account to my Christmas Club acct, which I generally leave alone. :)

I suppose I could also have responded to the email I got today from Joyce Kaka (yes, that was her name..Kaka) asking me for my bank account information so she could send me millions of dollars that her now dead husband left her and she has no way to get it out of Africa.  Sheesh...

Since we are talking about saving our pennies, Eco Geek tells us that it's a bad idea to have bottles and cans and jars of change lying around the house.  And this article tells why...which makes all kinds of sense.  I'm guilty and will gather it up and get it into a change counter sometime this week.  Then pop it into my savings account with my gift from Dubya.  Here's the link:

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/ecogeek/455/coinstar-saves-precious-metal-from-sofa-cushions.html

Also, I read an interesting article on bottled water today, which I will also share.  As you know, I recently gave up bottled water when I put a PUR water filter on my kitchen faucet.  The water tastes fine, since it's exactly like the FILTERED WATER Dasani and Aquafina sells, and not spring water at all.  Since the plastic bottle scare hit the news last week, I'm not sure I want to buy bottled water for that reason alone, much less the scam it sometimes is.  Anywho...here's the link:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/bottled-vs-tap-water.html

My dilemma is that I caught a brief blurb between shows last night that local (as in my whole state, not just my hometown) has tainted drinking water.  Guess I'd better find out what that's all about.

Well, my week with Emma was fun and over all too quickly!  My little granddaughter has her foot in two worlds...childhood and adolescence.  One minute she's running around in puddle jumpers, net in hand, scouring the pond for frogs.  Turn around and she's all dressed up for dinner and talking incessantly about a boy named Eric who's "so immature".  She thinks she'd like to dress Goth.  I think her chances of getting out of the house like that are nil.  She's fascinated with Mod Podge and mascara.  She has the attention span of a gnat when it comes to reading, but can watch the same movie 3 times in a row.  Pasta is her favorite food because she doesn't have to take the time to chew it.  She has a spattering of summer freckles across her nose and microbras in her duffle bag. 

We couldn't have had better weather if we'd ordered it directly from the Universe.  It was sunny, dry, light breeze, high 70's-low 80's all week.  Since she left yesterday, it's been raining and cold.  She is, apparently, the sunshine of my life.  It's too bad she is also on the brink of adolescence. :)

I spent some time working on jewelry.  I have a sale coming up on May 8th, so will have to make sure I write out my abundance check on the 5th.  A beading class, which I thought was cancelled, filled enough to run last week.  We had to push it up because I was unprepared to run it, but that will be another little wad of $$$ in the checking acct on May 22.  Little sums of moolah seem to be arriving from all kinds of places and for that, I'm grateful.

I plan to make a few pair of earrings tonight before I settle down in the living room to relax.  Once there, I will make more paper bead necklaces and bracelets because they are simple and can be done while watching t.v.

Well, I guess I've bored you enough for one day.  Ciao...

Peace,

Kay