what would you do...

if you mailed a package on Friday, March 14, 2008, paid for Priority Shipping and a Delivery Confirmation and the package never arrived. This is the battle that I am currently waging with the US Postal Service. This is not the first package that has been lost, no, a shirt that a friend mailed to me last year, never arrived to me. I mailed a package to my cousin, in the package was a book that we were going to read together. Never arrived. And now, I have a package that has $30 worth of supplies, $8.90 in postage ($8.25 for the stamp and $.65 for the delivery confirmation) and a confirmation of the time and date is was delivered (March 17, 2008 at 3:22pm) and the package cannot be found. The nice lady at the post office was kind enough to let me speak to the driver, who has no idea where the package is but I will look for it. Are you sure it wasn't at your door? Absolutely, it was not at my door. The driver is going to continue to look for it for the next few days, but he's really not sure what happened to it. Can your client resend the package? Well, I suppose they can, but it has documents in it that I needed to have 10 days ago. Oh, I'm sorry. Well, if they can resend you those documents, I'll pay for the postage because I was the last one that had the package, or that is what it is showing anyway. I know that the postal service is bad in other countries (Italy is really bad) but I am beginning to lose faith in our Postal Service. I should not have to pay for the additonal services of Insurance which is an additional $1.65 and then if you want to send it registered or have a signature on arrival, that is an additional charge. Now granted, have I had second thoughts about sending it without insurance, at least then they will recoup me for my loss in the package. But I guess that's not the point, the point is the driver had it, it goes into a mail box (not by the side of the road, no it goes into a locked mail station on one street in the subdivision) and obviously had it because the article was scanned delivered and now it has disappeared. AHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Good thing I have a receipt, the person I shipped the box to probably wouldn't believe me when I told her that it had been delivered.

I have a new favorite....

author. I just finished Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. I picked this book up just after Christmas and just got around to reading it. It took me about a week to read. Once I started I could not put it down. The story is about a young Amish woman, an overworked big named defense attorney needing a break and the murder of an infant. The story shows what life is like in an Amish community and how family is very important. It also shows that appearances are not everything. I learned not only about the Amish and the law, but also more about myself, my doubts and my fears. I cannot describe the feelings that I went through. Anger, confusion, passion, love, sympathy, frustration, and so many more.

I will remember the acronym that Samuel explains while he is sitting in the witness stand talking about his "plain" life. JOY - J-Jesus, O-others, Y-yourself. The Amish live their lives by putting Jesus first, then others and finally yourself. In the spirit of Easter, this makes perfect sense to me!!

Farewell...

Hamm-Snow...
What a beautiful little fish you were. You had a spunk I have never seen in a fish before and a personality all of your own. You will be missed.

Not for long though. Here is the story. Hamm-Snow is my boys' Beta fish. He was acting funny all week last week and kept putting his nose up in the air into the corners of the tank. Not much spunk left in that little fish. I came home from Bunco on Friday night and thought he doesn't look so good and what is that white fuzzy looking stuff coming out of his gills? Hmm, I bet Hamm-Snow is dead by morning. I get up and don't think about him, the kids had turned his light on and even said (as they do every morning) "Good Morning Hamm Snow". I finally thought to look at him, can't find him. Hmm, how could a fish disappear. And there he laid under the plants, not moving. I wasn't sure how to tell Trevor, as he picked him out and named him. My plan, go to the store and buy a new one. Nope, not going to work. Hey Trevor, can you come in the kitchen. Okay, Mama. He found him and said very somberly, "Is he dead?", "yes, he's dead" "Well can you put him a bag for me so I can show my dad?" "Sure I'll put him a bag for you" He takes the fish upstairs and shows his dad, who proceeds to tell him he can't keep a dead fish in a plastic bag. Shannon, Trevor and Ethan held a short (dump the fish in the toilet) "BYE Hamm Snow" and flush. Trevor comes downstairs and says, we need to go to PetSmart and get me a new one.

Hamm Snow has been replaced with a new Hamm Snow, this one is blue with red and black. No pictures of him yet, because well, he's not as spunky and doesn't have the personality of the 1st Hamm Snow. We'll see how long this one lasts!!!

My poor negelected blog...

how I have mistreated you and neglected you over the last 3 weeks. I have many things that I could write about, but have just been neglecting doing so. I could say that life has gotten in the way and not allowed me to do so and that would not be true. I could say that I have not been doing anything that would be interesting enough to write about and that would not be true either. So here is what I have been doing and I will try to be kinder to you:

• Last week, I started my vegetable seeds. I used Nancy's idea and started my seeds in my egg crates that I normally recycle. I set up a table in the guest bedroom and opened the blinds and re-opened the vent to keep it warm. I am going to add today a jar of water to the vent to keep the air moist in there, as the crates are drying out very quickly. I started tomatoes (3 kinds - roma, big boy and I don't recall the third), peppers, basil, oregano and parsley. As soon as I have another egg crate I'm going to start my thyme and some more tomatoes and peppers (to make sure that I have some good starts).
• I spring cleaned my kitchen. However, I'm sad to say that all of my hard work has been quickly destroyed by my 3 little ones. You wouldn't even be able to tell that my floor was cleaned. But my counters look better and I'm trying to keep them up.
• I decluttered my bookcase and took the books the Ladies Auxillary at church could use for the book sale they are having in March. Half of the proceeds will go to the parish debt and the other half to a local shelter. I'm going to go through the kids' books and send some of those off as well.
• Yesterday, I finished a quilt top that is a gift. I will be quilting it later this week I hope.
• I am working on a shopping tote bag for this swap. The swap partners have been announced and I am looking forward to getting to know my swap partner.
• I'm preparing for the upcoming Easter holiday. For me I have not followed through with all of my Lenten promises, but I start over everyday and have really tried. The kids are excited about the Easter Bunny coming. I think this weekend I will take them to an Easter Egg Hunt being held. I have been preparing the menu and making my list of what needs to be purchased, what I can do in advace to make that day easier and of course the general cleaning. We will be having 8-12 people here, not many but still it's takes time.
• Work - my 2 afternoons at church and with the office job I do from home for a friend
• I've set up a plan to pay off our debt, we have too much and I have been trying the last few years unsuccessfully to get a lot of it paid off, but this year is different. I have a different approach almost like a game I play with the kids. It's funny how games make things more tolerable. I know if I make picking up toys a game the kids are more likely to get them picked up without complaining.
• And there are many other things that include baking, cleaning and everyday mom stuff, along with church activities, my moms group and the kids activities.

My little blog has not been the only thing neglected, but so have some of my friends, definitely the gym and time for me. That has become scarce. I do try to read every evening after the kids have gone to bed and each morning i have been drying to meditate and journal my thoughts. I am trying to let go of the past to live in the future more freely. I have been letting my past hold onto me for much to long. I have been it prisoner or it's slave, it's obvious to me after a phone conversation I had the other day that one of the person's I have been worrying about what they thought and how I could repair that relationship, well he really doesn't care about me and my family. It was very obvious from the phone conversation that I was more of a nuisance than a delight. No more, I will let that person go, it is time to free myself of the memories and live my life more freely.

A picture or two to come later in the day!!!