Letters From New England

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

Earth Day 2008

Tuesday

April 22, 2008

Hi,

Happy Earth Day!  Emma and I headed to a farm in Keene today, but it turned out to be a big disappointment.  Wish I'd been able to find some Earth Day activities close by, but most took place over the weekend... and I didn't have her with me yet. 

Right now, she's sitting on the sofa reading a novel for school while I clean up from dinner, read email and send a short post off here.

I bought my first Physician's Formula Organic Wear makeup today.  Found it (finally) at Rite Aid.  It's all organic ... and the packaging is completely recyclable.  (Is that a word?)  Anyway, it was mucho expensive in comparison to the product I used to buy, but I feel better about putting it on my skin and that there are no plastic components that will be sitting in a landfill in 2099.  That was part of my "contribution" to Earth Day.  Next, I will be getting some more of my plastic bag stash ready for the recycle bin, newly erected at Wal-Mart.

Is it just me...because I'm trying to be more conscientious about it all, or are there more opportunities in a bazillion products these days, to be eco-friendly?  Seems like I'm seeing/hearing it everywhere all of a sudden! 

Here's a link for today: http://green.yahoo.com/earth-day

Oh...and one for the makeup I bought: www.organicwearmakeup.com  It's nicely done...

Peace,

Kay

The Universe Strikes Again...

Friday

April 18, 2008

Hi,

My little memoir group met Monday evening at Jumpin' Juice & Java, so I was out until a little after 8.  When I got home, I checked the caller ID box and saw that I had messages.  While logging in to pick them up, I scrolled the caller ID to see who'd called while I was out.

There was a call from Bob and Ann Marie...the owners of my house. They'd left a message to call, so I did.  When A.M. answered, she asked if she and Bob could stop over for a minute.  My heart sank to about my knees.

Since they live all of 10 yards away, it wasn't long before they were knocking on my door.  After the trivial chitchat, they got down to business.

A.M.'s job is grant funded and they don't think the state or federal government, whoever provides the $$$ is going to come through this year.  If that's the case, she will lose her job.  Since he's retired and she's of retirement age, they are thinking that she will just hang it up and they can begin the process of driving each other mad by being together 24/7.

The problem is that they are barely making ends meet on this house.  I didn't speculate aloud, but was thinking that if their lazy daughter got a job and paid rent for her apt, they might not find it quite so difficult, but what do I know?  If she wants to support her kid, who am I go judge?  Anyway, I was fully expecting to have them tell me that they were going to have to raise my rent when Bob said, "we're selling the house".

Fabulous!  I've been here all of 18 months (this weekend) and I'm probably going to have to move.  I still have stuff that's not unpacked, but that's a story for another time.  At least I won't have to repack it.  What I WILL have to do is find a whole new group of friends to help because my old ones are NOT going to move me again this soon!  Sigh...

Anyway, I'm not panicking.  The housing market sucks and they are asking too much for this house, so there is a possiblity that it won't sell for a good, long while.  I know people who have been trying to sell their houses/condos for 2 years now.  Of course, this is all due to the recession the Bushwacker says we're not in, but that's beside the point.  I'm not going to wait to have my fate handed to me with a 30 day notice to quit my apartment.

So...I've spent the last 3 evenings looking (and having others look for me) for someplace to live.

Now, here's where the Universe comes in (and not a minute too soon as Ashley seems to be knocking out a wall in her bedroom at the moment).

I have been whining and complaining about the noise and the smoke and the inconsiderate behavior of the upstairs tenants since I was all of 2 or 3 weeks into my stay here.  What, you might ask, have I done about it?

Well, there have been those few conversations that have netted me a couple of checkmarks on the plus side, but I'm still being woken up a couple of times a night by things that go bump in the night over my head.  I've decided that it can't possibly be Justin all of the time, so it must be her cats.  She can't close the door to his room (not sure there IS a door), so nothing to be done about that.

Then there is Ms. Thunderfoot herself, who slams her feet, heels first, into the floor with every step.  Justin takes after her there.  And, now she has some kind of machine running in her room during the evening the hums and vibrates on the floor for hours on end.  NO clue what that is, but it arrived soon after her 58 yr old boyfriend.  Maybe it's a CPAP machine or something, I dunno.   Oh, and then there is the washer that runs upwards of midnight sometimes (what the fuck does she DO all day???) and the occasional 11:00 vacuuming. 

So, you see where I'm going with this?  Outside of a couple (and I do mean only a couple) of calls to Dawn about the noise, I've mostly just sucked it up and hated living here.  I love the apartment itself...it's cute and has a lot of features that I like.  Unlike some of the cookie cutter homes/condos being built, it has it's quaintness.  It's an old house so, there ya go. 

Since I can't seem to get out of my own way to change my unhappiness, the Universe has taken my sorry ass into it's own hands and is forcing me to find someplace else to live.  But even though I'm not happy here, I don't want to deal with moving again...especially so soon.

This time, I will be more cautious because I really do feel I have some time to look.  I'll keep you posted.

Peace,

Kay

Back from Vacationland..,

Sunday

April 13, 2008

Hi,

Arrived home safely from spending the weekend in Maine.  Today is Tammy's birthday... Happy B-Day again, Tam!  She had a fundraiser to attend for Sam's school on Friday, so I went up to stay with the kids. 

On Saturday, she treated us all to a Sea Dogs game in Portland.  They lost...10-2 when we left, don't know what the final score was...to the farm team for the MN Twins.  I saw a couple of missed plays that had me thinking, "You won't get to Fenway playing like that".  The sun broke out toward the end of the game and I actually got a little burn on my nose.  Time to dig out the sunscreen, I guess.

We went to Portland Flatbread Co for dinner.  Cool pizza place that uses all organic stuff.  They also decorate really funky...it's fun there.  Instead of the typical box of 4 primary color crayons and a paper to color on, they brought the kids a place with a small piece of warm pizza dough to play with.  Kept them busy during the (rather long) wait.  What wasn't fun was my waitress who tried to impress us with her skills by not writing down our orders.  She ended up forgetting to put my pizza order in and had to get it moving asap when I asked her what the hold up was.  The manager delivered it with a sincere apology, and took it off our bill.  Then, she came around to see if it was okay just as I was scraping more mushrooms off.  Ooooo, lightbulb!  I asked for NO mushrooms on my pizza.  She went off and had another one made at no charge and delivered it as we were waiting for the bill.  Did she actually think I was going to eat more?  I didn't finish the first one.  So, I asked for a box and when she returned with it, she brought me a coupon for a free pizza the next time I visit.  I gave it to Tammy.  First time that's ever happened there, and they did their best to make up for it, so no harm done.

I got a cool book from the library just before I went to Maine.  It's called (haha), The Idiot's Guide to Green Living.  As with all Dummies and Idiot's books, it's straight-forward, well written with background info, what it all means and what we can do to help.  I have book marks all over the place.  But, I promised to share a website or two with each post for awhile, so if interested, check these out:

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/greenpicks/140/shoes-and-your-carbon-footprint.html

Some are extremely fugly, but I saw a few that I would be okay with.  Mostly of the sandal type, but there were some work/dress shoes at one site that weren't too bad.

Also, from The Idiot's Guide:

www.foodnews.org to find The Dirty Dozen and The Cleanest Twelve in foods that carry the most/least pesticides when you don't buy organic.

Down the road a piece from me, in Greenfield, MA, is The Organic Trade Association.  You can check them out at www.ota.com

Peace,

Kay

Update...

Tuesday

April 8, 2008

Hi,

It is with deep sorrow that I inform you of the loss of my friend Linda's grandson, Jacob.  He fought mighty hard for 6 weeks, but the damage his body sustained from complications with flu and pneumonia had taken it's toll and he didn't survive the surgery on Friday.  His family is devastated by his death, as are his many friends.  Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers as they work through their grief.  Give your loved ones an extra squeeze today.

Peace,

Kay

Under the weather...

Friday

April 4, 2008

Hi,

I have been wrestling with a cold for a week now.  It never got as bad as some colds I've had.  I think I caught it early.  But, I had a rotten night. Before bed, I was lightheaded and had "the chills".  Had a few coughing spells which woke me up over and over.  A 4:00 am spell convinced me that I would be staying home today.

When the wake up call sounded this morning (that would be Thunderfoot in the bedroom above me), and I saw SNOW on the ground, I called my manager and left a message, took more cough syrup and crawled back into bed.  Slept about 2 hours and am feeling okay right now.

I'd gone to the store after work last night to buy more Zicam.  The lines were crazy full of people, so I kept wandering down the row of checkouts looking for a shorter line.  As the universe would have it, I landed right beside a large display of PUR water filters on the very same day I'd been researching the whole plastic water bottle disaster and looking for an inexpensive water filter!  So, I picked up one of those as well.  It came with a "free" polycarbonate sport bottle.  I looked that stuff up as well and came away feeling okay about it.  I have a stainless steel one though, that I got for coffee, which I'll probably use most often.

At the counter, I told the clerk that I didn't want a bag.  She repeated what I said to make sure she'd heard correctly... "You don't wanna bag?"  I said, "no, thanks.  I have enough plastic bags to recycle."  The look she gave me made me wonder  about my own conviction not to use plastic bags at the stores anymore! :)  At any rate, they are now selling inexpensive reusable bags at their cash registers, as well as putting recycling boxes for their plastic bags in the entryway.

I'm going to spend most of the rest of this day reading and watching Netflix movies, inbetween napping and sipping tea.  I have my fav wooly socks on, with flannel pj bottoms, a big t-shirt and a flannel shirt over that.  Yeah, I'm hot! :) 

Speaking of the term "hot", did you see that stupid Paris Hilton on My Name is Earl last night?  Her only line (4 times) was to say..."that's hot". Blech...

There is a great possibility that Jacob will be taken off of the heart/lung by-pass machine today.  If all goes well with a procedure they are performing this morning on a pocket on his right lung, they will remove the ECMO machine.  Please send positive thoughts and prayers toward Boston today!

As promised, here's a couple of links for green stuff.  Today, reusable bags.  My fav is www.reusablebags.com.  They have the most variety and are the least expensive.

www.bagsofchange.com

www.envirosax.com

Peace,

Kay

Happy Birthday, Al...

Tuesday

April 1, 2008

Hi,

It's Al Gore's birthday on Monday.  He'll be 60.  When I think back on the event(s) that stole the presidency from him, I vacillate between anger (at the current mess we have) and sadness (at what could have been).  But, if I concentrate on letting go of those feelings (it is what it is and no despair of mine will change that), I can almost believe that there was a higher purpose to that election.  Had Al Gore been busy running the country, he would not have had the opportunity to educate the world on global warming.  But then, we also wouldn't have ended up with Furious George.

It's April 1 (were you fooled?) and we have snow on the ground.  The never-ending winter is lingering still.  Some folks don't believe in global warming, but nature doesn't lie, eh?

As you know, because that's all I've been yammering about for 3 weeks, Earth Day is this month.  Although I don't write here everyday, when I DO post, I'll try to include a website link on eco-friendly living that you can peruse, if you are interested.  The one for today is at the bottom of the post. I especially like the link for getting off junk mail lists, including the ridiculous amount of catalogs that are mailed out daily.  If you saw the mountain of catalogs in the hospital in the hospital mailroom every day, you'd hyperventilate.  Also, getting off credit card application lists.  That's another tree killer...

Hey, remember when I got my last Honda and it got hit in a restaurant parking lot after only 6 weeks?  Well... my NEW Honda has already been dinged by some jackhole who whipped open their car door, slamming into my rear driver's side door, leaving a dent and a scratch!   I discovered it as I was walking toward it in the hospital parking lot last week.  I want to get it fixed, but don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it.  It just pisses me off...inconsiderate jerk!

First thing this morning, I walked through my department and Joanne said to me, "Jeez, Kay.  What's that red stuff all over your lab coat"?  I look down and don't see a thing, of course.  It was an April Fool's joke.  Then my son called around 4:30 and asked me if I was all set for the big storm.  What big storm?  "Mom, you're supposed to have a big snow storm tonight".  NO WAY!  Ah... April Fool(ed) again.  Sigh...

I went to the library after work and, because an old, abandoned factory is falling into the street, the normal road in and out of the library has been closed.  To leave, I have to go out of my normal route home, so I just go a back way.  Tonight, as I was heading down a steep hill, a BLACK CAT strolled right in front of my car...looked right at me and kept walking.  So, I had to sit there until it made it safely across the road.  What do you suppose that means? :)

Peace,

Kay

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/greenpicks/139/you-can-call-him-al.html