HI - Nice to see you again. Have you sent any greeting cards recently?

The following is a sequence of events that have taken place over the past 3 weeks.

Feb. 6, 2010 – Had 150 gallons ($400) fuel oil delivered to Ferris Rd. house in Cato

Feb. 7, 2010 – 12:45 am arrived at Ferris Rd. house and moved in. Landlord told me he “thought” there was a dryer hookup, but there isn’t, however, he will have one installed ASAP.

Feb 7, 8 & 9, 2010 – Spent the entire day cleaning the kitchen, scrubbing cupboards inside and out and shop vacuuming flies off windows – Water stopped working – Notified landlord – He turned water back on at pressure switch.

Feb. 8, 2010 – Notified landlord that water in shower was just a trickle. Notified him that water in kitchen was also just a small stream. Plumber came w/in the next day or so and put air in tank and fixed pressure.

Feb. 10, 2010 – Notified landlord that shower was only lukewarm for about 5 min. and then turns cold. He said he knew what was wrong and would be over to fix it. (Feb. 27 2010 as of this writing – still taking cold showers). Even if landlord fixes water problem after this is written, it’s still a matter of how long he takes to get things done.

Some time around Feb. 11 or 12, 2010 I notified landlord that water pump in basement kicks on almost constantly with only 5 to 10 minutes in between when it kicks off and then back on. He is not concerned because he purposely left a drip so the pipes don’t freeze, however, it’s my electric that it’s using to kick on constantly. If the basement wasn’t so freezing cold (which permeates through the uninsulated floors) then the pipes wouldn’t freeze anyway.

Feb. 19 dryer hookup was still not there and landlord called to finally get my electrician friend’s name and number from me (I offered this to him the day we moved in) and asked if we are still taking cold showers. I said yes. Still cold showers. He asked that we let him look at it as he thinks it’s a piece of sediment stuck somewhere.

Feb. 22, 2010 (almost two weeks after initial notification of cold showers) – Landlord left voicemail to ask if pump was still running constantly and if we are still taking cold showers. Said to call him and let him know. Nothing has magically changed in the past two weeks. The shower fairy did not show up and fix it. If it is this hard to get him to fix anything in the winter, once spring hits and farming begins, he will never be around to fix anything.

Feb. 23, 2010 – Fuel oil is almost empty. The tank was reading empty on the 20th so we called in favors and borrowed electric heaters. We’ve put blankets and curtains and rugs over doors and the drafts still blow through. The basement has holes in the walls, which keeps the basement freezing, which comes up through the floors and keeps the heat ducts blowing cold air through them. The first half or more of every heat cycle is blowing freezing cold air up then the second half is heat. This makes the fuel oil go quickly

Feb. 26, 2010 – Had another $400 worth of fuel oil delivered. Hopefully this will last longer with the curtains, blankets and rugs over the doors and the electric heaters to supplement. I don’t even want to see my electric bill though. Called the landlord early in the day to let him know fuel oil was delivered and to ask him to come over and restart the furnace. He finally showed up around 9 pm and started the furnace. When I began to ask about the cold showers, he said he’s not feeling well and can’t discuss it right now. Claims he will be over when he’s feeling better.

Before we made the decision to move here, I asked for 3 things.

1. A house that will hold heat and A/C.

2. A washer AND dryer hookup

3. A garage where my husband could set up a woodshop.

The landlord told me that this is the house we are looking for and it has all of these three things.

We were a little over 2 weeks with no dryer because the landlord didn’t want someone he does not know doing the electric work until almost 2 weeks in.

Over 2 weeks with cold showers in a cold house makes for sick people. When I complained of the cold in here, I was told by landlord that he put 100 gallons of fuel oil in here and it lasted him 4 weeks. HOWEVER, this is a small town where everyone knows everyone and he has never lived in this house. He was here working for a few weeks, but that is not the same as living here. You do not need it even half as warm when you’re working. When you are constantly moving, it feels 10 or 15 degrees warmer than it really is. You can comfortably work in 50 to 60 degree weather. I can not comfortably LIVE in that. My work is on the computer so I am not moving constantly. Therefore, the temperature I need in here is around 68 degrees.

I won’t even address the garage with it’s crumbling walls and dirt floor or the constant shop vacuuming flies and lady bugs off the window sills in the middle of winter.

Needless to say, we are giving our 30 day notice and moving out April 1.

Have I mentioned that I HATE MOVING??? A few people have told me I should take him to small claims court and get my rent back. What do you think?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
What will you do with it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

$400 worth of fuel oil GONE in 2 weeks keeping the thermostat at 65!!!!! I asked the landlord for 3 things when I moved here – a house that holds heat and A/C, a garage for my husband to set up his woodshop in and a washer/dryer hookup. This house does NOT hold heat, we’ve been 2 weeks with no dryer hookup and the garage has a dirt floor and the block walls are falling in. I HATE MOVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From the March 2010 issue of Woman’s Day Magazine:

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” ~Beverly Sills

“God made man, and then said ‘I can do better than that’ and made woman.” ~Adela Rogers St. Johns

“If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.” ~Bill Gates

“They may become harder to achieve, but your dreams can’t stop because you’ve hit a certain age…” ~Dara Torres

“In our society, the women who break down barriers are those who ignore limits.” ~Arnold Schwarzenegger

“The trouble with talking nicely is that, unfortunately, some people don’t hear you until you scream.” ~Stephanie Powers

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” ~Muhammad Ali

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
What will you do with it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have come across a system that any business owner should be using. It doesn’t matter if you have a home based business or a business as large as Microsoft. This system is what will set you apart from your competition. It will make your customers/prospects/potential business partners love you more than they already do.

Here’s a short story to show the power of this system:

A friend of mine has a weekend home in a resort community. He goes there about once a month to rejuvenate and relax. A few months ago when he went there, things appeared out of place. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but you know when you walk into someplace familiar if things aren’t “just right”. He brushed it off as his imagination.

The next time he went there, the sliding door going out to the pool was ajar. Again he brushed it off thinking that he must not have closed it tightly the last time he was there. When he left this time, he double checked to make sure everything was closed tightly and locked up.

Generally, he went to the house the third weekend every month. He decided to go a week early the next month. When he arrived, he found what looked like someone cleared out of there in an awful hurry. There were a couple empty beer bottles and an pizza box with a few slices left in it on the coffee table in the living room. SOMEONE HAD BEEN PICKING THE LOCKS AND USING HIS WEEKEND HOME WHEN HE WAS NOT THERE!!! This particular month, they did not have time to clean up after themselves because my friend arrived there sooner than expected.

His mind immediately flashed to a greeting card he had received in the mail about 6 months ago. The greeting card was from a local alarm company introducing themselves to area residents. He went to the den, grabbed the card and called them to get an alarm hooked up ASAP.

Now, if that alarm company had not sent the greeting card to him, he would have turned to the phone book and picked the first alarm company he found because he was that desperate to get an alarm installed. If your name isn’t A1 alarm company, chances are you are not the first alarm company in the phone book. Why try to compete based on the alphabet?

Here is where the system comes in. I’ve found a system where I can go to the internet, click a few buttons, type a message (in my own handwriting) and send a card to whomever, whenever I want. Once I’ve created the card, the company prints it on real, glossy card paper, stuffs it in an envelope, seals it, stamps it and mails it all for about a DOLLAR!! Yes…it’s just $1.06 for each card with the postage included. I can personalize the cards with the recipients name. I can even save the card to send to someone else later with their name personalized in it.

Think about it.  I can send 100 cards for $106.  If I were to go out and buy 100 cards, it would cost more than $106.  But…for argument’s sake…let’s say I go to the dollar store and get the cards for 50 cents each.  There’s $50 for 100 cards.  Postage at the time of writing this blog post is 44 cents for a regular card, so there’s another $44 for 100 cards.  We’re already at 94 cents and we haven’t written a personalized message yet or stuffed them in envelopes, hand addressed the envelopes and stuck the stamp on them yet.  Then you have to take them to the post office because chances are you are not going to have room for 100 cards to go out in your mailbox.  What is all of that time worth?  No matter which way you go, it’s cheaper AND more convenient to use the system I’ve found.

How many times have you gotten greeting cards in the mail? When you get them, you save them. You don’t just open them and toss them away. Especially if they are handwritten to you. You get a business card or business post card and toss it immediately into the trash. Not a greeting card. This is what will help you stand apart from your competition and get noticed the next time they need your services, products or business opportunity.

Make sure YOU are the one who comes to mind when they need your services. See what will make you so special here. (This is my personal affiliate link so the only one who will see your information if you choose to fill out the form is me.)   Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  I’ll be happy to help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
What will you do with it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wrote a post yesterday about Net10’s horrible customer service and switching to Boost mobile. Today, I received an email from Net10 trying to (STILL) sell me minutes for my phone. I attempted to unsubscribe and was presented with an error. I waited a while and decided to record my next attempt at unsubscribing from their emails. Here are my results:

AMAZING!!! If I get one more email from them I may have to forward their non-working opt out linked email to the US Government as SPAM. By not providing a working opt out link, they are violating the CAN SPAM law.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
What will you do with it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~