Good Morning from Fargo!
Already 45 degrees and supposed to hit low 60s today--cloudy. Light rain last night, I guess. Notice the "I guess"--ahhh! Been soooo nice to be sleeping better and at night the last few days!! Feeling more human every darn day--hehe! Happy, happy me!
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Yesterday we had sun and I saw online that it was 67 degrees in the afternoon. Might have gotten a little warmer. I didn't watch the news. It was a beautiful day to clean! TaDa!!
I'm sure things will get shifted around in the bookcases as we find the best places for things, but wow! It felt so good to see it all cleaned up after--what?--a month or so? Ahhhh!
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I got done before Caroline came at 3pm. And she did vacuum the flies off the porch for me. :)
Another reason to have the table cleared off--I could crack the living room windows open.
It's generally so windy up here that you don't want a table full of papers right there next to the window that can fly away all over the floor like confetti. Don't ask me how I know--hehe!
Karma was thrilled! Smell-O-Vision Cat TV...watching the Kid Channel yesterday. The yard is partially dry now, so the new "season" has begun. I think it is basically reruns, tho--ROFL!
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Speaking of the news...terrible flooding out east--especially Rhode Island. We can certainly sympathize over here. I pray for warm dry weather for them soon. It is so awful when the sewers fail, electricity fails, and houses/buildings/roads/bridges overflow with water. They are in my prayers. All this crazy, unusual weather all over the world--always sending prayers, it seems.
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Well, the bad news. I got a letter yesterday that I am being handed over to a collection agency for the $2,324.00 I owe from my oral surgery. (I'm not sure why the total keeps fluctuating. either?) Despite the fact that I have been faithfully paying a small amount every month and have talked to billing several times and they were okay with the arrangement. Suddenly--the deal is off, I guess. There are two numbers I can call, so that is on my list for today. *sigh* Our mail has started coming a lot later in the day after they switched up the mail carriers, so it was too late to call yesterday. :(
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The good news! Serena had a (match the feet) game on her blog and not one person got it right--hehe! So she put everyone in a drawing and I won! Scroll down on the following blog entry and you will see the contest, etc. :):)
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http://artbyserena.blogspot.com/2010/03/photo-monday-my-favourite-colour.html
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Serena is an amazing artist, as you can see when you snoop around on her blog. She's making a little surprise for the winner...ME!! :):) I know I will love anything she makes. Thanks, Serena!! I should probably thank Aaron for having big feet, eh? ROFL!!
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I absolutely, positively cannot say "I never win anything" ever again, can I? Wow!! Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket!? hehe! And win enough so I can pay off my oral surgery debt and my school loans! That would be the best! :) :)
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I can't imagine my life anymore without being hounded for large amounts of money. I know that contributes to my now or never mentality when it comes to money. Pretty much every spare penny has been going to craft and art supplies since I moved to Fargo--that's pretty obvious--hehe! But there are months I do need clothing, gasoline, something breaks, the printer needs ink...
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I'm not complaining. I've been poorer than this before. There were times when Dagan was little that we only had $10-12 a month left over after bills. And what did I do with it? Dagan and I walked over to the nearby ma-and-pa pizza place--once a month--our big treat. We ordered a small pizza. I let Dagan decide if he wanted a pop (also a big treat) or more quarters for PacMan. He usually picked having water with me so he could have his $2-3.00 in quarters. :)
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We were in such high spirits after waiting for a month--laughing and sometimes singing on the walk to the pizza place. We spent that little extra money on joy. Lifting the spirits...food for the soul joy. :):)
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So, it's my fault for instilling any bad habits Dagan may have with extra money--hehe! But he also learned to always pay his bills first and foremost. And I haven't changed much, have I? If things changed tomorrow, I will never regret buying my supplies and goodies. (A few items I have are from 40 years ago!) Food for my soul. Just like PacMan and pizza was food for Dagan's young soul. No regrets.
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Speaking of--Dagan and Leah are coming by after work tonight. I cleared off the table so that Leah and I can sit with our laptops and work on Etsy postings! I have some computer questions for Dagan. Leah is going to clean my VCRs, cut my hair, and look at the Holtkotter floor lamp before we get going on Etsy--so we might not get a lot done tonight, but Leah and I plan to use our Craft Wednesdays to work on our sadly neglected Etsy shop for a while.
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And this afternoon Angie comes over to talk about Caroline--my 6 month review. Another really nice lady. So--going to be a busy day. The sun is peeking out from behind the clouds. Keep smiling, right?!! Life is good! :):)
8 comments:
WOW! That's clean! :D Just wanted to let you know that we have also been sent to a collection agency, got two of them, one last week and one just the other day from Dagan's surgery, and yes, I don't know why the amounts are always changing...One bill we owe this much, and another we owe this much, they are always fluctuating...
Basically we have 3 debts, so I don't know if the 3rd one is soon to come or not? There's Children's Heart Clinic, Children's Hospital, and Abbott Northwestern Hospital. We owe each of them at least $500, most more. We tried to work with them, called them, said that we wanted to set up a payment plan, before we've paid as little as $5/month for a few months, then $50/month until it was paid off with no issues, didn't even call them to let them know, just did it. Seemed as long as we sent them something each month they were fine, not anymore(stupid recession).
We will use our tax rebate to pay off as much as we can, but didn't get much back this year, so we may be able to pay off two of them if we're lucky and use what we were going to put in our emergency fund next month for them as well. Since we no longer have any credit cards and aren't going to get any, we have started an emergency fund for ourselves and are forcing ourselves to put the same amount in each month no matter what, though we may need to make an exception for this, we'll see.
Anyway, I wish we could help you Rita, but we're all in the same boat here... I guess these collection agencies will just have to be patient with us huh? :)
Anyway, on a lighter note, we'll see you tonight. :D
Thank you kinly,
Leah
That table and workspace is so clean its toooooo shiny!
:)
That pizza treat story is marvelous! Reminds me of my grandfather who caddied golfers when he was a boy, if he was lucky he'd get a 25 cent tip - and he would walk home instead of taking the street car (which was 5 cents) so he didn't "break" the quarter.
I will peek at the esty shop soon -
Sigh.. financial woes just suck the life out of one, don't they?
That table sure looks different than it did in the previous post. :) It feels good to have things picked up, doesn't it?
I loved seeing Karma enjoying herself looking out thru the window. Kid Channel, eh? LOL You have a very special companion there. :)
I don't know why companies have to turn accounts over to collection agencies when people are making an honest effort to pay them back. Makes no sense. We don't do that with our customers. As long as they pay some on their past due balance, we continue sending them feed and keep the business going. I hope things work out for you. Good luck.
The pizza story was nice. :)
I hope you have a good night with Leah and Dagan tonight
I'm so sorry that you (& Dagan and Leah) are being hounded by a collection agencies now, Rita. It seems so unfair when you have been paying a regular amount off the debt. I didn't think they could hound you if you were making an effort to pay. :( Times just seem to get more and more tough financially here too. I'm constantly juggling the money to pay rent, bills and food...and they are talking of rising rents and electricity yet again! It's seems so easy for bureaucrats to make decisions like this and not care how it affects struggling families and pensioners. We are basically told to suck it up. It's okay for them because they are getting the huge salaries and don't have to worry about keeping a roof over their heads. I always say the bureaucrats wouldn't last a week trying to make ends meet on my income and bills. They truly have lost touch with the 'real' people. Try and keep a positive frame of mind and I do hope it all works out for you. xo
Such a shame about the flooding in Rhode Island....crazy weather!
Btw, thanks for saying such nice things about me. Ditto for you!
Leah,
I do think it is not a coincidence that the health bill passes, panic set in, and suddenly they're going after people for payments. We all have always made payments, but do have bad credit. Suddenly we are considered delinquent? They cashed our checks last month. So weird. Like I told you last night--talk about mental block--I forgot to call yesterday--ROFL!
And--BTW--I do not ever expect you two to pay my bills for me!! Not unless you won the lottery and had millions of dollars...and if I won--you can consider your debts paid, too!! :) LY
Hi Iggs,
There's nothing new to peek at yet on the Etsy shop. We got busy doing other things all night. But next week...and every Wednesday till we get caught up. :):)
I wouldn't have wanted to break the quarter, either. ;)
Sad to think of how I walked and walked--didn't even learn to drive till I was 30. And now I can only do a limited amount of walking and feel like Jabba The Hut! Life changes on a person in big ways sometimes. But I am sure glad I did all that walking while I could. Nothing can ever take away what we have known in our lives...even if we wish something could with parts of it--ROFL!! :):)
Hi AliceKay,
Yes--I just look at the table and smile. Feels good to have it cleaned up for a while. Plan to do some smaller projects for a while. Things I can put away quickly so the table will be cleared off on Wednesdays when Leah and I start working on the Etsy shop...probably for weeks and weeks--hehe!
We had a good time and got quite a few things done. I have to go blog and fill you in--hehe!
Hi Serena,
I'm so glad we connected online! *blush*
We have the same problem with the government seeming to have lost touch with reality and having no clue about the non-rich other than to talk about for votes--hehe! I honestly can't help but think that all this collection agency decision making is in response to the health bill passing. Fear of change and the unknown.
Dagan and Leah have been able to make payments in the past and I have been making payments for a year now. It may be nothing more than a scare tactic to try to get larger payments? Who knows? I'm going to have to force myself to remember to call today. (Amazing how it slipped right out my ears yesterday--obviously don't want to even think about it--hehe!)
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