It's Been a Week!

So much going on!

I was robbed in November. A lady I'd hired to do some cleaning took some jewelery. I didn't discover the theft until December, and then only partially. It was January before I realized how many pieces had been taken. I hemmed and hawed about it for about a week then called the police to report the theft.

A month goes by, and I finally got the police report from them to give to my insurance company. I called my agent, and he intimidated me so bad I nearly didn't file the claim. But I had to file the claim!

Another week went by and I finally called them. They were fast, efficient, and downgraded my loss by about $2375, so I have to absorb that much of it. To be honest, that includes my deductible, so the amount of actual loss not covered is about $1375.

So that was story number one. Story number two...

I ordered some cat furniture from a reputable supplier. It was almost $400 for the order, and included two cat trees and one scratching post. One of the trees was 80 inches tall, almost to the ceiling, which I figured would give the cats a wonderful view of the bird feeders and space away from each other.

The items were all shipped separately, from different points of origin. The first never arrived, but the second arrived on Feb 10. I got another e-mail, for the third shipment, and looked into the three shipments.

It turns out that the wonderful, tall cat tree was delivered to someone other than me, left by a front door, with no signature confirmation. The delivery company says they delivered it to me. I'm sure it doesn't help that I had several deliveries that week, and continue to receive items I've ordered - specialty cat products, books, online-only office supplies, and so on. So, they closed the inquiry, and are offended that I would even hint at a mis-delivery.

Too bad. Now, I have to do a chargeback against my vendor. I hate to do that, but the item was the most expensive of the three that I ordered. In fact, the one cat tree that I received was a purchase afterthought because the large cat tree was $100 less on sale!

So, I went to my bank and did the chargeback yesterday. I really hate to do that. I really do. It's a black mark against any merchant when that happens. And it wasn't her fault, but the shipper's. The only mistake she made was allowing the shipment to be made without requiring a signature confirmation.

So much for story number two. On to story number three...

My doctor wanted me to take some allergy medicine because of the drainage I experience every night. She prescribed Zyrtec. It's known to make folks drowsy, so I took a pill at night with my other meds on Wednesday.

I had a very fitful night's sleep, came stark raving awake at several points, and my body seemed to slow down. The next day, I was in a fog all day, and had to slap myself awake during my last class. The drive home was a nightmare!

When I got home, I slept. Nothing but. The phone was ringing off the hook, and I just couldn't talk to anyone. I couldn't get the phone to my ear fast enough. I ended up with six messages on the machine. Two were the insurance company, one from the shipper, and three from friends.

I ended up sleeping till about 8:30. I got up and called two friends back, and it was too late to call the third. I ended up staying awake till about 4:30am and then went to bed. I slept like a log till 10:30 when the alarm went off.

It was now Friday, and I had a lot to do. I went to the bank to do the chargeback, went to the court and did my little research job there, and then went to get tires on the car before the next rain hits. I've not had time for that since I had the money, and it was becoming desparate. I almost hydro-planed during the last rain on Thursday, when I was groggy.

I got home, and forget the diet, I wanted a hamburger! So, I got one of those when it was time to have supper.

Story number four...

During all this, as if my week wasn't full enough, I printed the last of the research I'd done for my book. I organized what had been printed and started printing at home, and finished the job at school. I'm now looking for space to work.

I think I'll clear off the perfectly-good work space I have that's an accumulation of stuff that doesn't belong to me and wasted money. There is a furnace filter that's the wrong size, an older laptop computer, and a collection of stuff that belongs to a friend that moved to CA over a year ago. He want's it shipped to him if he ever sends money. Meanwhile, it's taking up space in my house. If I can get the table cleared off, I'll have a great work space for school work, sewing and other purposes.

Story number five...

Well, there's this mess that's been accumulating around my chair. Things fall and I'm not paying attention, so the mess gets bigger and bigger. Last night, I'd had enough. The reason for the mass purge was that my cat Fluffy, who never pukes up hairballs or anything, got sick. All over the place, repeatedly, and nastily. I had to clean up after her.

She started on a pair of shoes that got tossed yesterday afternoon. She has diabetes, so this is kind of a serious turn for her. She continued into several rooms, and hit the paid bills, computer programs (boxed), office supplies, clothes, and of course, all the stuff sitting around my chair. It was bad enough that the pile was growing, but her getting sick on it was more than I could stand.

So, it's been a very full week. Lots of ins and outs, lots of stuff happening. So much for not getting anything done!

Those pills from the doctor? - not taking them anymore. Once was enough.

What about This???

I want to put folks to work. Now that I'm unemployed, it's a good time to really get into this.

I have a great GREEN idea!

Take the throw away clothes that they can't sell at thrift stores and make them into rugs, bags, and seat cushions.

I was reading and article in the back-section of Mother Earth News online about frugal living, making do and living on less. One of the ideas was to use everything more than once.

Living on Less

I volunteered at the local Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store while I was doing my "Sweat Equity" for my home. I worked a lot in the clothing department. There was a lot of stuff we couldn't use - clothes that just ended up in the trash. Torn, dirty, stained, and so on. Not that it could be used by someone else, but it truly ended up in the landfill.

Why not use that material and make something useful out of it??? It would keep it out of the landfill, and keep our floors warm and decorate our homes.

Rag rugs sell for a mint! Have you noticed? Even the ones in big-box stores. And that stuff is all new material. It needs to be made: loomed, spending petro-fuel to make it. Why not use something that's already been made?

This whole idea would put 10+ people to work, keep stuff out of the landfill and recycle, and create a usable, beautiful object.

I talked to the head of the thrift store, and he sees no problem. They have to pay to take it to the dump, and this way they actually get to sell it - (a 50-gallon trash bag) to me to make into something.

It supports them, it keeps stuff out of the landfill, makes a beautiful object, gets people working....

About the people - they don't have to be hi-brain folks, but a couple need to be a bit specialized. I'll start by washing all the stuff, to remove any dryer sheets, softeners, cigarette smoke, and pet dander.

I can hire moms at home for a lot of it - making the clothing into strips and braiding it up. That can all be done by moms with little kids at home. They can do it while watching TV.

Sewing the strands together will be a little more specialized. I'll need a couple of heavy-duty sewing machines. Then, I'll need somebody to ship the finished items out to the buyers.

Sales can be handled on the internet or by catalogs. Colors will vary, but fabric content will be matched as closely as possible. That will take a little bit of training. Nothing about this is hard. It gives people jobs. It makes something nice.

Do you think we stand a chance???

I'm accepting rag clothing now, and I'll post a prototype photo as soon as I have a sample made up.

A Broken Economy or Corporate Greed?

I've been listening to the reports - that this or that industry is "too big" to fail. Well, I think that if 3 companies are the only players in that industry, then there is a wonderful opportunity to tear it apart.

We have "anti-trust" laws in this country. If something is too big to fail, then it needs to be broken down to smaller bits - so that if one part fails it doesn't take the entire industry with it. This means that the auto industries need to be broken down to smaller bits.

Parts, that can be used for autos, planes, trains, and your lawnmower, should all be made by the same companies - maybe 5 or 6 companies. These parts houses will NOT make body parts, design cars or engines or what not.

Body design and styling can be done by a fashion house. The same folks who design our clothing. The colors can be made by the same folks that make our housepaint instead of some specialized company division at the big-three.

Now, the design work. That can be farmed out to the same folks who mess with your e-mail skin. Those over-paid, under-worked programmers that are hired at Microsoft. They have nothing better to do than mess with the e-mail program, so give them a real job in an entirely new industry! I bet those propeller-heads can come up with some really green car engines, that spit out water or oxygen as a by-product instead of CO2.

How's that for a jobs project? Put folks to work in industries that are home-grown. NO export of jobs allowed. If a company employs the bulk of it's people outside the USA, it can't take advantage of our tax breaks, banking laws or own property.

Corporations are much too big in this country. The laws that were designed to protect people are instead protecting the corporation against the people. When corporations were given "individual" status, it broke our country.

Now as for Corporate Greed -
Corporations are constantly trying to get laws passed that favor their industry - whether it is for tax breaks, environmental issues, or protecting it's profits and patents. I have no problem with protecting patents - but unless a "corporation" developed it, the patent belongs to the human being who had the AHA moment. Not a business.

Intellectual property is all well and good, but people are what makes this country, not companies. If there were not people working at those companies, there would be NO companies.

CEOs and other officers should be paid commensurate with their experience and expertise. If the guy can't route the mail in the building, he shouldn't be paid more than the mailroom clerk until he can. Bonuses and stock options?? PuhLeez! NO and NO! A Christmas bonus if there is a profit, and if the profit is 20%, then only 20% of the guy's monthly salary. Hey - that's all they give us, so that's all they get!

This is not tearing down the good guys. This is not re-distributing the wealth from rich to poor. It's making the rich guy carry his weight, not just the checkbook.