Organization is the Key

If you read my other blog, then you know that I am currently buried in my Mother's Estate.....and it is WORK people! I never knew how much work was involved with someone dying. MAN! DO yourself a favor, and talk to your loved ones about their final wishes, and your final wishes. make sure everything is in order in regards to finances, get a life insurance quote so the people you leave behind have something to work with! I have been sorting through mountains of unorganized paperwork, fidning things I don't need, and not finding things I do need....trying to make heads or tails of everything.....it has not been a fun time....and I am far from done.

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Green Stuff

You all know about my tree hugging hippie ways......I try to do what I can to help the environment and reduce my carbon footprint by recycling most of my garbage, and carrying my lunch to work in re-usable containers, and using my canvas grocery bags. I found a new source for green products on the web...as it seems they are hard to find in a brick and mortar store! This place, Greenandmore.com has an entire shopping section of eco friendly, recycled and energy saving products for your entire home, a Green News section, a green learning center where you can leanr how to go green, a blog where you can pick up all sorts of green tips, and even a gift registry for the tree hugger that is on your list! There is an entire section devoted to "greener office practices" that I need to show my co-workers...I am constantly hounding them about recycling our office paper waste, and using paper coffee cups and paper plates in the kitchen!

St Joseph - Sell This House!

So, I went to the Catholic Store today on my lunch hour, to get a St Joseph statue to bury in Mom's front yard.
Let me state, for the record, that while many members of my family are Catholic, I am not. I have nothing against them, I just choose to go to a Non-Denominational church that teaches directly from the Bible, I was raised Lutheran and have been known to go there occasionally as well. I don't put labels on people....matters not to me what religion you are, as far as I am concerned we all are brothers and sisters in Christ.
So, we are desperately needing to sell Mom's house...and I have heard stories of Faith, Prayer, and St Joseph helping one sell a house. I have Faith, I pray, all I needed was that Statue! Hey, maybe it's just a tall tale, but we'll take what we can get right now! So, woman #1 in the store directed me to the little plastic Statues of St Joseph, and the prayer card that goes with it.....and as I was browsing the other religious items, woman #2 started in on me.
Yeah. You heard me. She got into a religious discussion with me, which did not bother me in the least, I 'll banter about Jesus with anyone that's interested. What DID bother me was her statement that I was going to the WRONG church.....!?!
Huh?
I explained to her that I DID, in fact, go to church, read my bible, and believed that Jesus died for my sins - past, present, and future...and therefore believed in my heart that I have a spot reserved in Heaven.
Nope. Didn't matter. I was not CATHOLIC. I was going to the wrong church, and therefore....I was wrong in my beliefs.
I was kind of shocked.
Really shocked.
This woman had opportunity to share with me the wonderment of her church and their beliefs......but she did not do that - she proceeded to tell me how MY beliefs were wrong, and because I was attending the WRONG church...I was doomed.
Whatever. Give me my statue and I am out of here.
The Jesus I worship died for EVERYONE'S sins.

Cool Gifts

Spring is almost here, which means in my family we are coming up on what I like to call "Birthday Bonanza". There are 6 birthdays in my family over the next 3 months....seems like we all popped out this time of year! So, I will have to start budgeting for gift spending and looking for ideas, like these cool gifts at House of Cool! They have neat and unique gift ideas for everyone on my list!

No Paper

I know it is President's day today...but where is my newspaper? The newspaper does not go on holiday - I expect it on my doormat every morning, holidays included. And I HATE when it is not there - because you have to call and complain, and I end up having to walk over to the newspaper box to get one. BUT THE NEWSPAPER BOX WAS EMPTY AS WELL. So, where is the newspaper delivery person today? And why is there not backup? All I ask for on my day off is coffee and the newspaper when I get up in the morning. Is that too much?

Turbo Tax charges Refund PROCESSING Fee?

I did something for myself tonight. I did my taxes. I'm no commodity brokers, but I can do my taxes with a little help from the computer! I am happy to be done with them, and await my refund. Word of warning for anyone using Turbo Tax - they have this new handy dandy "have the Turbo Tax fee taken directly out of your refund" option. Sounds easy, right? Don't have to enter my credit card info, just check the box and they take it right out of the refund........yeah. So, what was that extra $29.95 charge I saw??
PROCESSING FEE?
WTH?
Yeah. They are charging an addtional TWENTY-NINE NINETY-FIVE to process that payment out of your refund folks. THAT's how much it costs for the convenience of not entering your credit card number to pay for using Turbo Tax.
I don't think so.
I hit the back button and put my debit card in there, I'll keep my $29.95, thankyouverymuch!

The Aftermath

I have gone to a few funerals in my day, and have always been the person who was "allowed to leave" when it was over. I never realized before how much work was involved when you lose a loved one. When it's your Mother, you cannot leave....even though you want to go really badly! You have to stay behind and try and figure out what to do next. Which is where I have been for the past 5 days. Making arrangements, setting up food, making nice with family and friends.....and then everyone leaves and you have to do the not so fun part. You have to sort through paperwork, and make heads or tails out of finances, and put the house up for sale in a recessed market, and look at all the "things" in the house and decide what you are going to do with 3 coffee makers. It's not fun, and it's going to take a long time.....and I am not turning down ANY offers of help!

Wandering Mind

I have a lot of things floating through my head to blog about, and if you read my other blog, you'll know why I haven't been around here to post any of them.

ALDI is coming! I'm excited! (Don't tell my Brother-in-law, as he works for the competition) I don't know too much about them, except they are a discount grocer from Germany, sell many of their own brands and a few name brands. I've been in one in my travels, and I am excited to see some grocery competition come to town. I'll be checking them out.

Survivor starts tonight!

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Car Stuff

So, I got that 30K maintenance done on my car earlier this week. And, yeah - you knew it couldn't happen without the service guy making "the call". You know the one, car is in to do the Manual Transaxle Fluid drain and refill, and of course, "when we drained the old out it was black and sludgy so we recommend you have it flushed"....another $75..YEAH, go ahead and sell me some led tail lights while you're at it dude! Nothing is easy, right?