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A Day in the Life of an Errand Girl………… Court Ordered

Posted on March 4, 2013 by in Clients

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A Day in the Life of an Errand Girl………… Court Ordered

I’ve written about Ms. Z before. See this to get some background: http://wp.me/p22j3r-2v. The divorce took a year to finally get agreed upon. In the divorce decree it was stated that “Sue Blumenfeld, The Errand Girl will act as Mr. Z’s shipping agent”. This meant I had to go to the house they once shared and gather together the items listed on 3 pages in the court order, pack and ship them to Mr. Z. I know why they did this. It was much easier on both of them to not have to see each other much less be in the same house trying to pick up belongings. Mr. Z. was a military man so many of the items were military related along with a lot of large works of art.

I had been inside the house many times so I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find the things listed. Two of us set out early one Saturday morning on one of those 100+ degree days. Ms. Z. had told me that she had ‘all of the stuff gathered together’. I really had no idea how much stuff we were going to be dealing with. Yes, we had a 3 page list but without seeing any of it ahead of time I had no idea how many boxes were needed or if all of the stuff would fit into one van load, etc. The first thing Ms. Z. says to us when we arrived was, “I’m sorry I don’t have any fans for you to use in the garage”. It just seemed a bit strange that it was the first thing that she said when we hadn’t even asked about a fan. She walked us to the garage and showed us the ‘stuff’ she had gotten together. We started by going through this stuff and checking it off the 3 page list. It sounds much simpler than it was. He listed some books he wanted but they weren’t by title, just by subject. I found 8 books on ‘fighter planes’. I didn’t know which book he was referring to or wanted. I didn’t think he wanted to pay for shipping on all 8 books (because this was only 1 item on the 3 page list of things to ship!). We only got a few things checked off that list from the ‘stuff’ she had gathered. I think she was hoping we would just pack it up and not inventory it and we would be satisfied. Now, the real search begins…. We started in the attic.

Because Ms. Z. had been my client for the previous year, I had been in her home many times and was fairly well acquainted with the entire house and its contents. It was quite obvious that she had ‘cleaned house’! Drawer after drawer were empty. We were supposed to be looking for the ‘guest pass’ to get into the military cemetery where Mr. Z’s son (from a previous marriage) had been buried. The filing cabinets were empty. Drawers that had once been overflowing with papers were empty. Ahh, Ms. Z was going to make this as difficult as possible. Another item on the list was the American Flag placed over his son’s casket at burial. Ms. Z said she had no recollection of ever seeing that flag in their house. It went on like this for hours. Most everything we tried to find she said she had never seen before. We dug through more stuff in the garage looking. Granted this was another 100+ degree day in Arkansas, so the garage was much hotter by now!

I called Mr. Z often throughout this process. I emailed pictures to him so he could see exactly what we were talking about. Technology made this much easier, especially when it came to artwork. He mentioned the paintings by name but the names weren’t written on the paintings so it was sometimes hard to determine which was which. We did end up finding all of the artwork except for one large one. Mr. Z is afraid she just threw some things in the trash just to spite him.

When Mr. Z left a year ago he had no intention of not coming back. He was just going to his daughter’s house to recover from a hospitalization. He took a suitcase with him but not much more. Clothing was included on the list. Not much. He just wanted me to pick out 5 long-sleeved shirts, all of his black socks but none of his white ones, and a few pairs of slacks. Ms. Z had put ‘all’ of his clothes in a box in the garage. Amazingly he had no black socks or even underwear! She included a few pairs of blue jeans but he didn’t want those. It seemed as if all the clothes he wanted were nowhere to be found, but the clothes that were available were the ones that he did not want.

It is sad to see people in their 80’s to be so bitter and vindictive towards one another.

At the end of the day we were satisfied that we had found everything that we were going to find. Mr. Z. agreed and told us to go ahead and ship what we had. I had gone to FedEx Kinko’s the day before to let them know that I would be coming late the next day with a large shipment. After taking a full van load to the Goodwill, we filled the van again with everything that needed to be shipped. FedEx Kinko’s was absolutely wonderful! It took 3 hours to get it all packed and boxed but they did it as quickly and safely as they could. 20 boxes were shipped in all.

Boxes, boxes and more boxes!

And more boxes!

Mr. Z. said all 20 boxes arrived over a period of a few days time in perfect condition. He was pleased with our work.

A week later, Ms. Z. calls me and says she ‘found’ some more of Mr. Z’s things that he ‘might’ want. Somehow his navy dress hat turned up, the flag from his son’s funeral, and a bunch more of Mr. Z’s personal clothing. I am not sure where this stuff had been hiding as we did a complete search of the house but I am just glad she ‘found’ it. Mr. Z. was thrilled too.

Our Michigan Adventure

Posted on September 3, 2012 by in Sue

A new adventure for Brian and Sue

We are on the road pulling our camper heading to Michigan.  I have been so giddy with excitement the last few days that it has been hard for me to sit still.  There are a couple of reasons for this excitement.  First, it seems like it has been a LONG time since we have taken more than 2-3 days off to go anywhere.  I am SO READY for a vacation!  Secondly, we are going to Michigan.  I have such fond memories of the entire state of Michigan.

I was born in Battle Creek, Michigan.  I only lived there as a baby so I don’t recall it at all.  My first real love, Terry, was from Kalamazoo, Michigan.  After I finished high school I moved to Maple City, Michigan(outside of Traverse City) to start my ‘career as a chef’.  But, my most fondest of childhood memories are from the summer camp I went to every summer from age 5-17.  YMCA Camp Pinewood.  I loved that place!  I went there every summer starting with a week at a time then eventually staying the whole summer.  My parents would put me on a bus at the local YMCA and then I would ride the 4 hours to 4230 Obenauf Rd. Twin Lakes, Michigan.  I still remember the address after 35 years!  I think Camp Pinewood was my saving grace.  I am sure that is where I learned to be independent, self-confident, responsible, compassionate, a leader and a whole lot of other things.  I know Camp Pinewood was where I learned to swim – in Lake Echo.  I also learned to canoe, sail a boat, row a boat, ride a horse, build a fire and shoot a bow and arrow there.

It was just the other day that it finally dawned on me why I am so excited to see my old camp.  My memory of past things has always been horrible.  I do not remember much at all from my past (people, places, things, events, etc.)  I had some events in my childhood that you would not want to remember, therefore I guess I have just blocked out all memories.  My brother, on the other hand remembers EVERYTHING!  He can’t understand why I don’t remember the highways, stores, people, places, etc. in our hometown of Arlington Heights, Illinois– a northwest suburb of Chicago.  I don’t even remember my high school years or the building or friends.  I’ve connected to some old high school people (who have requested my friendship) on Facebook, but I don’t remember them at all.  They mention things I don’t recall.

Day 2: We spent the night in Decatur, Illinois with Brian’s dad.  Now we are back on the road headed to Camp Pinewood – ‘My Piney Wood Hills’-  about 5 hours before we will be there.  I have spent the ride looking through my old Camp Pinewood scrapbook.  I am such a minimalist that I haven’t held on to much that someone would consider sentimental, but I do have my camp scrapbook and all of the old Polaroid pictures!  I wrote the names of the people on the backs of the pictures, but it is amazing to me how many of the people’s names I remembered without even looking.  It wasn’t  just the camping experience there is really something about Camp Pinewood.  I went to all kinds of camps as a kid (Girl Scout camp, day camp, church camp, etc.) but I don’t have memories from any of those camps.  I recently connected with my friend Jimmy from Camp Pinewood (through Facebook).  We were the only 2 CIT’s (Counselor in Training) in 1977.  We had so much fun!  When I told him I was going back to visit my Piney wood Hills he told me that was the BEST summer he ever had in his life.

*see blog post “Adventures at Summer Camp”  http://wp.me/p22j3r-9e

 

7 days later………. We are on our way home.  I am very sad to leave Michigan as I know I will probably never be back. There are other places we want to go and see and now Michigan is crossed off the list.  We had so much fun.  We went to forts, beaches, islands, museums, shops, boats, lighthouses and of course plenty of fudge shops!  My favorite part of the whole trip was the 8 mile bike ride around Mackinac Island.

Biking on Mackinac Island

Biking on Mackinac Island

We packed our bikes in the truck and drove to the ferry. Mackinac Island does not allow any motorized vehicles (no, Sharon, not even scooters!) so we knew our bikes would come in handy.  We got off the ferry, hopped on our bikes and turned right to explore the island.  At the time we didn’t realize it but we were on the road around the island.  It was such a beautiful ride looking out to the lake.  Even though I just recently got on a bike for the first time in 30 (yes, thirty!) years, I did not feel at all self-conscience.  There were people in their 80’s out there riding bikes.  I am REALLY glad we practiced riding our bikes at home this summer because it is not like people say: “It’s like riding a bike, you never forget”.  That is so NOT true.  Starting, stopping and balancing all have to be learned again when it had been so long.  I must say I did pretty well on this 8 mile journey.  I did not fall off the bike once, I did not run anybody down, I stayed on the road (even if I didn’t stay on my side as pointed out to me by an 80-year-old woman who yelled at me) and I only had one issue.  My chain came off.  Switching gears is still not easy for me.  At least in Michigan on this ride around the island it was very flat and I didn’t need to change gears often like we do in Fayetteville.  Brian turned my bike over and had my chain back on in no time.  We pulled off the road to get out-of-the-way.   One family actually slowed down and asked if we were okay.  At the one bathroom stop on the route I met a lady (15+ years older than me) who had not been on a bike in 20 years and did not practice ahead of time.  She concurred with me that it is not as easy as it once was.   Later on down the road I decided it was probably a nice time to get a picture of us and the lake with the Mackinac Bridge in the background.

Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island

We pulled over at a point where there were a few people so one could take our picture.  As I got closer I realized it was the woman who asked if we were okay when my chain fell off.  I pointed out to her that she was the only one that asked as the others whizzed by.  She said that earlier she and her young daughter who were on a bicycle built for two had a fall.  She said not even ONE person stopped to see if they were okay.  I know people from the north are not known for being as friendly as people from the south but I was still shocked.  I am from the north and I think I am pretty friendly.  Maybe I’ve just grown accustomed to living in Arkansas for so long.  We also toured Fort Mackinac while we were on the island which I am pretty sure was Brian’s highlight of the trip.

Fort Mackinac

Fort Mackinac

 

Something else we noted on this trip, but it is not just the difference between the north and south regions of the US.

We have often times felt as though we are invisible at restaurants.  It did happen 3 times on this trip alone, but it has happened in other states, including Arkansas before.   We usually don’t have any problem getting seated at a restaurant; it is the service after that is bothersome.   We have been seated and usually given menus and then left, for long periods of time.  I know minutes sometimes seem like hours when you are hungry but I try to pay attention to the actual time.  Brian thinks it might be because these are not “chain” restaurants where they are required to greet their guests in X amount of time.  I think it is just lack of customer service these days.  What do you think?  Has this ever happened to you?  After 15 minutes of not being acknowledged we usually just walk out.  Last night I asked the hostess if she had let the server know that she seated us.  She told me she probably “forgot”.  How does a server forget to look at their section?   A server did appear but she brought a ticket to the table next to us.  She never acknowledged us.  We were just beginning to get up from the table when the server appeared.  We weren’t in a hurry, but it was just irritating being ‘invisible’.  Are we just being too impatient?  Brian thinks we might expect more because he has managed many restaurants and I have waited tables in our past lives.

“The Macinaw – Icebreaker”

“The Macinaw – Icebreaker”

 

We also toured “The Macinaw – Icebreaker”.  It was the coast guard ship that spent the majority of its time breaking up the ice so that other ships could make it through.  I always love learning about things I never thought of before.  The ship was quite interesting but the strangest thing was that one of the men that was on tour of the ship while we were on it was a former US Coast Guard sailor who had sailed on that  exact ship years ago.  The ship was in operation until 2006 so it wasn’t that long ago, but how many times have you toured a place where one of the tourists was a former member from that era?

 

We parked our camper at Burt Lake State Park in Indian River, Michigan and just took day trips to play ‘tourists’ to different locations each day.  This wasn’t like our typical camping trips as we basically used the state park as our home base.   It was a nice state park, but a bit different from what we are used to.  In Arkansas this summer we have not had mosquitoes due to the lack of rain, but the flies have been horrible.   From my experiences as a kid in Michigan in the summers I remember LOTS of mosquitoes – big ones!  I brought extra fly swatters and extra bug repellent just in case.  Amazingly the BEST part of it was that there were NO BUGS in Michigan!!  No flies.  No mosquitoes.  Nothing.  That made the evenings so enjoyable.

 

 

Adventures at summer camp… 35 years later………

Posted on August 26, 2012 by in Sue

The local Michigan roads that we drove to reach YMCA Camp Pinewood did not look the least familiar to me.   As a child on my way to camp each summer I must have been far too talkative and social on the bus than to pay attention to where we were driving.  It all came back to me as we pulled in and saw the “Lodge”.  I had been a little concerned that I would be disappointed once I arrived.  I knew it would look much smaller to me but I was afraid it would have been too modernized over the last 35 years.  It looked virtually the same.  I was thrilled!!!  My memories came flooding back to me.  We were asked if we wanted a tour.  Of course I wanted a tour – I couldn’t wait!!!  We started in the dinning hall which is in the main lodge.   The only difference (besides looking much smaller) I saw was the tables were long oblong ones rather than the large round ones that we had.  Of course, I am partial to the round ones as a lot of time was spent there singing songs, having skits, making friends, in addition to just eating.  Now it looked more like tables in a school cafeteria. Christina, our tour guide, told us that an alumnus had donated enough money to be able to renovate the whole lodge this fall.  They are hoping that they will be able to find large round tables once again.  She pointed out the old canoe paddles hanging on the walls of the dining hall.  After a canoe trip, everyone on that trip would sign one canoe paddle with the date.  I reminisced as I saw lots of names I recognized.

 

Camp Pinewood Lodge 2012

Camp Pinewood Lodge 2012

Camp Pinewood Lodge circa 1970

Bill Roe & Myron Low
Camp Pinewood Lodge circa 1970

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then went down to the front of the lodge.  The building is still painted in “Pinewood brown”, the steps are still the same old metal steps and the campers still line up in rows by cabin before going in.  The area did appear much smaller and the flag pole did not seem as far away, but everything else was my old Camp Pinewood!  I couldn’t wait to visit the “camp store”.  That was always the highlight after dinner.  We were allowed to spend ‘up to’ .35 per day on candy!  That wouldn’t even buy you one candy bar now.  The ‘store’ had been relocated to a different area but still in the basement of the lodge.  My eyes lit up at the thought of being able to buy a Camp Pinewood sweatshirt.  Christina took us to the store.  Since it is close to the end of summer camp this year the stock is low.  An X-large sweatshirt was all they had left.  I didn’t care if it swallowed me I was going to have one.

Camp Pinewood XL Sweatshirt

Camp Pinewood XL Sweatshirt

 

 

Next, we headed down to the water front.  The first thing I noticed was a paved path from the lodge to the water front.  Pavement??  We didn’t have any pavement, just dirt paths.  For the most part the waterfront looked similar.  Once again, it looked SO MUCH smaller.  I learned to swim in this lake when I was 5 years old.  The swimming area was huge back then.  It is funny how perspective changes when you get older.

Camp Pinewood waterfront 2012

Camp Pinewood waterfront 2012

The majority of the cabins have been ‘redone’.  They are the same wood log type structures painted “Pinewood brown” on the outside.  The insides have just been updated a bit.  Instead of the old rickety metal bunk beds, there are now really nice built-in wooden bunks.  The inside storage areas are much more logical but still primitive.  They left ample room under the wooden bunks for suitcases, foot lockers, duffel bags, etc.  There are little cubby shelves to store a tiny bit of stuff for each camper.   The big difference is that they put balconies on the front of each cabin.  They are really nice and seem like a great place for campers to hang out.

 

Omaha Cabin 2012

Omaha Cabin 2012

Omaha Cabin circa 1970

Omaha Cabin circa 1970

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next was what was called “Niles”.  It was a horseshoe-shaped building where we did arts and crafts.  I spent many many hours here.  Graffiti was accepted on the interior walls and ceilings.  Jimmy (my old friend from camp that I recently reconnected with) had told me ahead of time to look to see if “Jimmy loves Sue” was still on the wall.  We spent the most time here reminiscing.  Christina and Brian were awfully patient with me while I read the walls and remembered people from the past.  I did not find Jimmy’s message but I was impressed with all of the graffiti that was still in tact from the 60’s & 70’s.  Today’s campers do have some respect and have not just written over the ‘old’ stuff.   Niles is not used for arts and crafts any more, it has been turned into cabins to allow more sleeping space.

 

The bathrooms have been redone completely.  When I went there was a square open room with about 8 shower heads coming out of the wall and facing the center.  Everyone just showered in this big open room.  There was one for boys and one for girls.  Now they have even put a bathroom in one of the cabins for the youngest kids.   The new bathrooms look like typical bathrooms at a state park.  6 divided toilets with doors, 4 divided showers with doors, and a row of 4 sinks.  Christina said it had only been recently since the bathrooms were redone.

 

Camp Pinewood chapel 2012

Camp Pinewood chapel 2012

The most noticeable change was to the “Chapel”.  We had rows of seats made of trees buried on their sides to make a bench.  Now they had real benches.  I think there used to be a cross made out of logs which is now a metal structure that sits on a platform (stage like area).  The big shocker was they put ELECTRICITY into the stage area.  Chapel used to be a very quiet place overlooking the lake.  It was quiet the day we went there but I am sure it gets pretty loud sometimes now.  The split rail fence made out of natural trees that used to line the paths around camp are now treated lumber.

 

So, things have changed a bit but it sure looked very much the same to me.  What great memories!!!

A Day in the Life of An Errand Girl….. A Love Story: 50 Years Later

Posted on July 15, 2012 by in Clients

A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call from a woman needing a notary. She was from California but was in Arkansas with her fiancé and they needed some document notarized ASAP. I told her I could be there in an hour and a half. “Oh, no, I’m not ready for you now. I don’t even have the paperwork”. I told her to call me when she had the paperwork and was ready to sign. A week and a half later and she calls me, “This is Mary, I’ve got the papers and I am ready to sign them now”. Maybe I am supposed to remember everyone, but my brain just doesn’t believe that. I did not have a clue who she was. She reminded me that she was the one from California who was with her fiancé in Arkansas and needed something notarized. Oh, yes, that did ring a bell. She then wanted to schedule me to come out to their house the following week. I guess, ASAP does not mean the same thing to everyone!

The day to see “Mary” was finally here. I approached the front door of the address she gave me and a much older man walking with a cane answered the door. I asked if this was Mary’s house. He looked at me a bit strange and said, “Yes, it is Johnny and Mary’s house”. Just then, “Mary” pokes around the corner and I realize my mistake. I assumed that ASAP meant it was an emergency and needed to be done as soon as possible. I also assumed that I was speaking to a young woman on the phone talking about her fiancé – a young man. WRONG! This was a very delightful older couple.

Mary proceeded to tell me their story…….

Johnny and Mary had been college sweethearts 50 years ago! His parents really liked Mary and wanted their son to marry her. He was only in his 20’s and didn’t want to get married just then. Mary went on to marry someone else. Mary and Johnny’s parents maintained their friendship with yearly Christmas cards and such. His parents never spoke of Johnny and she never inquired about him. Mary had a 40 year marriage that ended in October 2011, with the sudden death of her husband. At Christmas that year, Mary sent her usual card to Johnny’s parents letting them know that her husband had passed away unexpectedly a few months earlier. Mary never received a card from Johnny’s parents that year.

Johnny’s mother had not been in good health for a long time and she passed away earlier that year. His father was left broken-hearted and died a short 5 weeks later. Johnny had lived his whole life in California. His parents decided to ‘retire’ to Arkansas about 20 years prior. Johnny, an only child, came to Arkansas to help his dad after his mom had passed. Luckily he was still here when his father slipped away also. He had stayed on in their house in Arkansas to try and get things settled. In December of 2011 Mary’s Christmas card arrived at the house in Arkansas. Johnny then realized that Mary had lost her spouse. It took a few months, but Johnny finally called Mary to let her know that his folks had both passed away and that is why she had not received a Christmas card from them that year. He also gave his condolences to her in regards to loosing her husband. They chatted briefly and said goodbye. Neither of them could stop thinking about the other. Johnny called her back and they picked up right where they had left off. Johnny had a number of relationships over the years but never married anyone. He asked Mary over the phone to marry him. She said YES! He knew both of his parents would be pleased with this information.

Mary flew to Arkansas on a Saturday to help him get his parents house in order and ready to sell before they went back to California to get married three months later in October of 2012. On Monday of that next week, Mary found herself sitting in the waiting room of the hospital. Johnny had passed out and was rushed to the hospital. He had to have emergency by-pass surgery!

I met them a week later when he was recovering at his parents house and Mary was working like crazy to clean out the house. Mary told me that after the first conversation with him on the phone she went and dug out the box from the attic that had all of the love letters that Johnny had ever written her and she read them one by one. She told me he was just as sweet now as he was back then.

It was REALLY nice to hear such a nice story with what will hopefully be a happy ending for them.

Making something good out of a bad situation – A Day in the Life of an Errand Girl

Posted on May 21, 2012 by in Sue

Our grand travel adventures………………

We had been planning a trip for a few months and I was so looking forward to getting away, even if it was to go ‘work’ at my father-in-law’s house.   I really love that man and always love to help him with things that he can’t do for himself anymore.  We figure if it can help him stay in his home by himself a bit longer than we will do whatever it takes to make it happen.  We started off on our adventure early in the morning because we had a 10 hour drive ahead of us.  Brian does all of the driving so I was all set with my laptop, newspaper, nail polish, smart phone, etc. to keep me entertained.  Brian had already taken care of the music via Rhapsody and I packed the snacks, so we were set.   By Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, we were ready to stop for a lunch break.  We decided that for future reference this would not be a good place to stop when we are towing our camper – too many narrow turns and crazy side streets.  We will be taking this route later in the summer along with our camper when we stop again to see Brian’s dad and to head on north to Michigan to do some camping.  This trip we chose to take the Errand Girl van because it is easier for Brian’s dad to get in and out of and it is just more comfortable than the truck.

After lunch I decided it was time to kick back and do my nails.  I’ve become quite proficient at doing them in the van while on trips.  I finished my nails just as we were heading into St. Louis, MO (about 6 hours into our trip).  Traffic had slowed down because we were in a construction zone that turned the 3 lane highway into two lanes.  Then all of a sudden things seem to happen in ‘fast paced slow motion’.  Anyone that has ever been in an accident knows what I mean.  I felt Brian slam on the breaks, I looked up and saw that there was no way we were NOT going to miss the car in front of us.  Of course, I screamed STOP, but that was rather silly when I look back.  Brian had already had the breaks to the floor, there just wasn’t anywhere for us to go.  Luckily Brian is a very contentious and observant driver and he saw the crane on the side of the road hit the power line and saw it drop two cars in front of us!  All I saw was the car in front of us come to a complete stop because the car in front of him had swerved off the road into the construction zone (1/2 on the road and ½ in the construction lane).  BOOM!  One hit and it was over.  Brian looked at me and began apologizing profusely – “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry”.  I guess he thought I was going to be mad or something.  It was obvious there was nothing more we could have done.   I knew the impact was not enough for anyone to get hurt so I wasn’t concerned about that.  I got out of the van and went to see the damage.  The guy whose car we hit had a very long trailer hitch attached to his SUV.  It didn’t look so bad to me.  The trailer hitch had gone through the front of the grill on the van.  There wasn’t a scratch on the SUV!  I was relieved at that.  The first car didn’t get hit at all, he had pulled over enough to avoid the power line and the guy we hit from hitting him.    Then Brian got over the shock and came out to asses the damage.  I told him happily that it didn’t look too bad.  He quickly burst that bubble as he pointed to the liquid pouring out of the car onto the pavement!  It appeared that the trailer hitch had punctured our radiator!

By this time two of the construction crew guys wandered up and asked if anyone was hurt.  “No, no one was hurt”.  They quickly left the scene and went about their business.  At this point I still wasn’t aware of the power line coming down.  Because no one was hurt it didn’t dawn on me to call 911.  I guess I wasn’t really thinking.  I decided the most important thing to do was to call my insurance agent!  Steve Smith, my Farmers Insurance agent, didn’t answer so I left a message and then sent him a text message.  Then I could hear the guy that we hit ask Brian if we had called 911.  OH, I guess I should do that!  Brian told him that was what I was doing (which is probably what Brian thought I was doing seeing that I am usually pretty level-headed).  I quickly called 911.  Of course they wanted to know where we were!  I wasn’t driving nor was I paying much attention.  I told the dispatcher we were on a major highway close to St. Louis.  She didn’t like that response.  I told her I could see a lumber company on the other side of the highway – not what she wanted to hear either.  She wanted to know what mile marker we were at.  Well, if you aren’t right in front of a mile marker it is hard to determine where exactly you are.  I took the phone with me and started walking towards the construction guys.  I figured they would know where they were working.  Well, since we were on a highway and there was lots of commotion at this point, the dispatcher couldn’t hear anything I was saying.  She really wasn’t happy with me.  I was doing the best that I could to find out where we were.  The construction guys said they didn’t know what mile marker we were at either.  GREAT!  I could see an exit ahead of us but because my vision has gone down hill in the last few years I couldn’t read what it said from where I was.  Finally, the guy in the first car knew exactly where we were.  Glad someone knew!

The fire trucks got there before the police.  I guess we were right on the border of two towns.  The fire department was from one town and the police that showed up were from another town.  After interviewing everyone the whole story was finally coming out.  That was the first I heard of the power line coming down and causing all of this mess.  I guess it was a ‘live wire’ and it was very dangerous.  I also found out that it was a major line that came down and knocked out the power all over the town. No streetlights anywhere so we were the first of MANY accidents that day.

Everyone was extremely nice to us and compassionate to  the whole situation EXCEPT the guy whose car we hit.  He said he was ‘feeling a lot of pain in his neck” and claimed he hit his head on the windshield.  Brian pointed out to me that we weren’t even going fast enough for our air bags to deploy.  Neither one of us hit anything.  The guy told the police he had his seat belt on so I am not sure how he hit his head.  His SUV was pretty old and absolutely trashed on the inside.  He said he was concerned about damage to the car that ‘wasn’t visible’.  Whatever……..

A tow truck driver appeared on the scene.  Since our van was the only one that was disabled, we assumed he was there to pick us up.  The “un nice” man that we hit convinced the tow truck driver that his car needed to be towed via a flat-bed because he was sure there must be some damage that couldn’t be seen and he didn’t want to take the risk of driving it until it had been checked out.  That was fine.  I wasn’t really in a hurry because I knew this was a snag in our trip and we were going to be delayed.  Now, I am VERY thankful that we didn’t go with that tow truck driver.  One of the cops called a tow for us.  Joe, was his name.  He was SO NICE and so helpful!  Joe, called a body shop to explain our situation and what we needed.  There had been a horrible hail storm in St. Louis the week before so most body shops were overbooked and very busy.  They told him they would look at the van and determine what they needed to do to just get us back on the road and get the rest fixed when we got home.  By this time, I had already spoken to my Farmers agent, Stephen and he got the ball rolling.  It rolled FAST!  The body shop was less than 5 miles from the scene of the accident but it took us over 45 minutes to get there because all of the traffic lights were out and things were a mess!  Police were everywhere trying to direct traffic . On the tow truck ride to the body shop I spoke with the person handling my claim and she gave me a claim number and everything else I needed.  Joe, the tow truck driver called the body shop to tell them we were on our way and that we would need a rental car – a van.  The body shop called and had the rental van there 5 minutes after we arrived!!!  The body shop said they could do a ‘temporary fix” to get us safely home.  We could pick up the van on our way back home on Friday.  Whoo hoo!  Everyone was just so helpful and nice it was almost ‘too good to be true’.  Maybe the cop and the tow truck driver had some kind of ‘deal’.  Surely the tow truck driver had something going with the body shop????  And the body shop with the car rental place.  We were from out-of-town just passing through.  We didn’t have much choice except to believe what everyone told us and hope for the best.

We were back on the road headed to Decatur,Illinois.  This little adventure only set us back 4 hours so it wasn’t too bad.  It could have been a LOT worse.  We were most thankful that nobody was hurt.  We were exhausted by the time we got to Decatur so we only visited with Brian’s dad for about an hour before calling it a night.

The next two days were spent up early and outside working in the yard.  Our evenings were inside doing other things around the house that needed to be done.  The only breaks we took were spent on the phone answering more questions for cops, insurance companies and the body shop and meals of course.  I wouldn’t miss a meal!  Brian’s dad is always so grateful for all that we do that I just love doing things that are appreciated.    I must say his yard looked much nicer by the time we left!  We even set it up with a neighbor’s grandson to mow his yard every time he mows his grandparents yard.  It is so hard for older folks to admit that they just can’t do the simple things they used to like mowing the yard.  His neighbors had been offering to mow it but he kept telling them that he was going to do it, but then he never would.  I figured out a long time ago, I don’t ask Chuck if he wants me to do something for him, I just do it.  I know he will always say no and tell me that he will do it, but I see how much he appreciates it being done.  Brian’s sister who lives nearby said that every time she asks him he tells her no.  I asked Brian why his sister didn’t just go ahead and do it without asking.  Ahh……  The difference in how we were raised.  Their dad approved everything before it was done in their house.  They would never think to do something without asking permission first.

I spoke with the adjuster and the body shop often just to check on things.  In addition to the trailer hitch going through the radiator it also went through the air conditioner.  The body shop said it was not a problem to replace both of them and still have it ready for us to go home on Friday.  I called the body shop on Friday morning just to make sure.  It is so hard not having ‘control’ over everything and leaving it in someone else’s hands.  The woman who answered the phone checked with the guys in the shop and they assured her that they would have it ready for us by 4:30 that day.  GREAT!  I explained that we had a 4 hour drive to get to them so we wanted to be sure.

Now that we had the go ahead we decided to grab some lunch and then pack the rental van.  This may sound simple because we were there for such a short time.  Guess again!  Going to my father-in-laws always entails bringing back a car load of groceries!!  We had three ice chests packed full with meat and about 20 bags of dry groceries!    Just as the last cooler got put in the van, the phone rang.  It was the body shop…………………  My heart sunk!  There was a problem.  Upon replacing the radiator and the air conditioner they discovered that the alternator was also out!  Great!  I’m thinking it sounds like something simple to fix.  It would be if anyone had an alternator for a 2010 Honda Odyssey!  I couldn’t believe she told me they couldn’t find one in all of St. Louis.  I told her I would call her back.  Brian and his father both said that you can buy alternators at any local auto parts store.  We started calling around to no avail .  We called the Honda dealerships in the St. Louis area.  They all said they did not have one in stock but could get it there overnight.  We thought we might be able to bring one from Illinois with us.  No one we called had one today.  Everyone said they could get it tomorrow.  No, Wimpy, I don’t want a hamburger today that I can pay for tomorrow!!!  I want an alternator today!

Staying one more day in Illinois would not be bad, but we had just loaded the car.  The REAL problem was the body shop is not open on Saturdays!!!  That means they would not get the alternator delivered until sometime Monday and then it would be Tuesday before we could pick up the van!!  We weighed our options and opted for the one scenario we had dreaded the most.  Drive the rental van back to Fayetteville, Arkansas, (a 10 hour drive from where we were) and drive it until the van is done and we can get back to St. Louis (4 hour trip from Fayetteville) to pick it up.  YUCK!  This is really not what I was hoping for.  We knew we couldn’t stay in Illinois until Tuesday.  The car was already loaded with all the coolers and groceries so this was our best option.  I called the body shop and let them know our plan and to go ahead and do the complete fix rather than just the temporary one.  They said the van would be ready on Tuesday.  We knew we couldn’t come back until that weekend.  Oh, yea, they aren’t open on weekends!  So we will come and get it on Friday.  What a pain in the rear this has been!

On the trip home we didn’t talk much.  I worked on the computer and Brian drove.  Then I looked at my calendar and was trying to figure out how to rearrange my schedule again.  Ahh, what if we made this trip to St. Louis a nice weekend get-a-way!  That made the whole thing seem much better.  I discovered that the St. Louis Renaissance Festival was opening for the season on Saturday!  Brian loves Renaissance Festivals and is always talking about Scarborough Faire in Texas.  I have never been so I thought it would be a fun thing to do.

On Friday, we headed out on our not-so-dreaded trip.  We got to the body shop at 4:00 just like I told them we would.  The van was ready and looked as good as new!  They even did a super job of cleaning the inside of the van and scrubbing the floor mats.  It sure looked pretty.  Because of my Farmers Insurance being on top of everything I didn’t have to pay anything at the body shop except my deductible and nothing at the rental car place.  We may even get the deductible back because there is “an ongoing investigation” regarding the construction company and the fault of the accident.  One thing I forgot to mention is that we did NOT get a ticket for following too close, which is pretty much unheard of when you rear end someone.  We were very thankful because in addition to the ticket we would have also gotten fined extra for being in a construction zone.

I loved the Renaissance Faire!  We spent the entire day there and had a grand time.  I have never had the desire to get  a tattoo or anything of the sort.  When we first got there and I saw that they were doing henna tattoo’s I knew that was what I wanted to do.  I’ve never even had the desire to get a henna tattoo before, it just seemed like that was the one souvenir I wanted from the Faire.  I don’t like normal mementos because they usually just sit around and collect dust.  What a lovely weekend we had!  Thank you, Stephen Smith and Farmer’s Insurance for taking such good care of us!

Here is the finished product.

Temporary fun!

Feeding a family for $40 per week – it CAN be done!

Posted on May 2, 2012 by in Articles, Clients, Sue

I received a phone call this week from a TV news reporter who wanted to do a story on feeding a family for $40 a week.  She asked if I could help her out.  I explained that most of my clients were not very concerned with the amount of money that they spend at the store but that because I shop all of the time at lots of different stores I can feed my family on $40.  She said then I was the person she wanted to talk to.

OK, so now I need to come up with a plan because I KNOW I could spend $40 per week, I just don’t.  Granted, I am very thrifty and am always watching the price of food, I have never limited us to $40 per week.  I prefer to eat with very low carbohydrates and no sugar which is VERY hard to do on $40 per week.  If I wasn’t so concerned about health, I could easily do it.

Let’s see:

Breakfast: We both love oatmeal so that would be good for a couple of times per week.  Eggs and toast also fit the bill.  We don’t eat sugary cereal and I have found some bran types for $1.30 per box on sale at some stores.  Pancakes are also cheap, especially if you buy a large box of generic pancake mix.  Buying large quantities of some things pays off for us.  Pancake mix will keep a long time so that is another way to cut costs.  Grits is another low-cost breakfast staple.  Some people may not see grits as a main breakfast dish but a large bowl will satisfy us all morning.  I do think it is wise to also have fresh fruit first thing in the morning.  I have found bags of oranges (about 12 oranges) for $1.48 per bag!  With fruit, you just have to go with what is in season and which stores are having sales.  Fresh fruit is something you can’t stock up on so it will always be changing.  Recently I found a bag of apples (10 Gala apples) for $1.68 per bag.  It is hard to find fresh fruit any cheaper than this.  Remember, what is in season and what is on sale.

Some other breakfast items that are within the $40 per week range are: fruit and grain cereal bars (8 count for $1.49), eggs & toast (using homemade bread), cinnamon toast, homemade biscuits, flavored breads or muffins are always a nice change of pace.

Lunch: We are both pretty easy at lunch.  We like Mac & Cheese, hot dogs, soup, etc.  It is cheaper to make your own mac & cheese than to buy the pre-packaged boxes even though they are pretty cheap.  This just requires buying the cheese in bulk to make it cost-effective.  Hot dogs can often times be found on sale for $1.00 per pack.  When they are, we stock up on them and freeze them.  We do buy the turkey dogs so they are a little ‘less bad’.   We will take two hot dogs and wrap them up in one tortilla instead of a bun.  Besides being cheaper it is also less carbohydrates.  When it comes to soup, I prefer to make mine homemade.  A couple of times a year when we have a turkey I will get as many slices of turkey for sandwiches as I can.  The rest of the turkey is for soups and casseroles.  I make the soups up using the stock I make from the turkey and using whatever vegetables I have lying around.  Adding pasta or rice is a great filler and makes a healthy meal.  I usually freeze the larger bits of turkey to make casseroles at a later date.  Grilled cheese sandwiches are easy and relatively cheap.  For a hardier meal we will sometimes have grilled cheese sandwiches and soup.  If you aren’t prone to making your own soup, Bear Creek has soup mixes that are about $3.00 for 8 servings found in the grocery store.

Dinner: I have found quite a few items that would definitely work for the $40.00 per week meals, but I must say they are not the healthiest!  Fish sticks, corn dogs, canned vegetables are very cheap.  You can get 48 fish sticks for $4.29!  That is about .09 each!  Or 16 corn dogs for $5.49, or .34 each.  Canned veggies can usually be found on sale for .50.  Buy in quantity when you see these and stock up.

We like to eat meat with our dinner meals so I try to buy in bulk and when meat has been marked down.  Meat that has been marked down is still good it just needs to be used that day or put in the freezer.  Our freezer is often full of a variety of meat.  If you look closely as you shop you will find some affordable meats.  Wal-Mart has a selection of ribs of all different varieties.  Once when digging a little deeper in the meat case I found a rack of pork ribs for under $8.00.  I thought it was just a special or a mark down price but it wasn’t marked as special.  The next time I went I found the same ribs at the same cost.  I have since realized that it is the regular price for these ribs.  There are other much more expensive ribs right by them but for some reason these are priced low.   I usually buy a few at a time and put them in the freezer.  I have also found some pre marinated small pork roasts that are similarly priced.  I bought one to try, and we were very happy with the taste. I have since bought more and stuck them in the freezer.

As a child, my parents always purchased half a cow at a time.  We don’t have that kind of freezer space but if you do it would be a good idea to do this or at least split part of a cow with some friends as you can get a much better rate.

When it comes to chicken the price really varies depending on what you like.  If you like dark meat, like we do, then it is much more affordable to buy chicken legs and thighs than it is to by the breasts.  Boneless skinless breasts are nice for a lot of different meals but thighs work just as well if you like dark meat.  Buying a whole chicken is always much cheaper and then you have the benefit of using the ‘leftovers’ for soups.

Pasta, potatoes and rice are good ‘fillers’ that make meat go much farther.  Casseroles can be so much more than the ones your Great Aunt Mabel used to make.   You can use a pound of ground beef to make 8 very small hamburgers or you can use that same pound of beef to make a casserole with 10 servings.  No one will miss the amount of meat per serving if the casserole is filling!   Lately we have been trying to use ground turkey instead of ground beef.  Just keep an eye out at the grocery store as the prices are similar but sometimes one is on sale.

I like to have fresh veggies or salad with dinner each night.  Some tips on fresh produce to follow.  Making your own salad dressing is a lot cheaper than buying ready-made dressings.   We prefer just plain balsamic vinegar and oil which is quick and easy and we always have it on hand.  Just be aware of what vegetables are in season and buy accordingly.  Last summer I noticed a “new to me” vegetable.  Calabactias is a “Mexican Zucchini.  It looks very similar to zucchini and tastes the same to me.  Our garden had a very rough time last year like many gardens in Arkansas.  We got very few zucchini from our own garden so ended up having to purchase them.  Since produce was ridiculous last summer, zucchini, even though in season, was way above the normal price.  I found Calabactias to be half the price.  I had never heard of this veggie before but since it looked so much like zucchini I bought one and took it home and we cooked it just like we would zucchini.  Voila, it tasted just the same!

Desserts/Snacks: homemade brownies, homemade cookies, baked apples, cobbler, etc.  Popcorn made the old-fashioned way is fun for the family and very cheap per serving!   Homemade yogurt is relatively inexpensive.  Homemade popsicles are a fun summer treat.  Always be on the lookout at the grocery store for mark-downs.  Fresh bakery items are often marked down in a certain area of the store.  BEWARE of the name brand items that are 2 for $.  You often see 2 packs of name brand chocolate chip cookies for $4.00.  If you look you will find store brand chocolate chip cookies for much less than $2.00 per bag.   If you have a discount bakery (sometimes called day old) nearby that is always a good place to find some bargains.  You might even find good deals on hotdog/hamburger buns.

Fresh produce: The best/cheapest way to have fresh produce is to grow it yourself.  We have an ever-growing garden – it gets bigger each year!  We use raised beds and add additional beds each year.  Lettuce for salads can be grown almost year round in Arkansas.  There are many good books out there that will help you plan and figure it out.  The next best way to find great fresh produce is at your local farmer’s market.  It is wise to get there early to get the best pickings, but if you are looking for mark downs it is more likely you will find them right before closing time.  Fresh produce in the grocery stores varies widely.   We eat a lot of cauliflower.  Cauliflower has been $2.48 per head at our local grocery stores all winter and spring.  Aldi’s, which is a name brand store has had their cauliflower for $1.68 all winter and this spring it has been UNDER $1.00 per head.  That to me is a huge difference!  Aldi’s produce is always cheaper than the regular grocery stores.  Some people say the quality is not as good.  If it doesn’t look good I don’t buy it, otherwise I think it is comparable.

Coupons:  Personally, I am not a coupon clipper.  I find that often people buy items they would never buy just because they have a coupon and it is a ‘good deal’.  Other times you purchase the item because you have the coupon but don’t bother to look at the prices of the similar items.  I have one client who wants me to use her coupons.  I have noticed that the coupons are usually for ‘new’ products.  For example, I bought her some dishwashing liquid with a coupon.  I think it was for Joy.  It was a ‘new’ type of Joy soap that is supposed to clean better.  It was a smaller size than the usual bottles of Joy that I bought for her and it was more expensive even with the coupon!  That is not a bargain to me.

Pre-packaged foods:  This is where a lot of people waste a lot of money.  People think of it as ‘convenience’ food therefore they buy it.  If money is a concern which it should be to all and time is precious then try setting aside one weekend a month to make your own ‘fast food’.  Yes, it will take some time and a lot of planning but in the end you will be saving a lot of money and possibly your life since it is much healthier.  Yes, fast food is fast and convenient but it does not stay with you long so you are hungrier sooner and the nutritional value is gone.

Some suggestions for your monthly cook fest

*6 of your family’s favorite casseroles – make double batches and freeze singly.

*Make a huge pot of tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes and spices from your garden.  Freeze in containers for quick pull out meals in minutes.

*Make 4 batches of pancakes and freeze in bags of individual servings.  These are easy to pull out and heat up for a quick breakfast.

*Make as many loaves of bread that you might need for the month.  Pre-slice before you freeze for easy toasting.

*Make a couple of pizza crusts to put in the freezer.

*You can even cook up some brown rice or pasta and put it in individual serving containers in the freezer.

*Buy cheese in bulk and divide into portions that you like (shredded, sliced, block, etc.) and freeze them.

*You can even make up a huge pot of mashed potatoes and freeze in serving sizes appropriate for your family.

*Soup, soup, soup!  Make different varieties.  Chili, broccoli cheese, stew, ham & bean, etc.  So easy to freeze and pull out for a quick meal.

*Make some cornbread up and freeze it to go along with those soup meals.

*In the summer when you have those excess fresh veggies cook them up different ways and freeze them.  Or if you are into canning go for it.

Green bean casserole

Stewed zucchini & tomatoes

Sautéed squash

Whole tomatoes (cut out the core and freeze in bags with the skins on.  When ready to use just run under water and the skins peel right off)

Glazed carrots

Peas & carrots

Corn off the cob (conserves space)

 

*Be sure to utilize your crock pot during the weekend.

BBQ beef

Chicken & dumplings

Applesauce

Scalloped potatoes

You see the possibilities are endless!

Two hours before our scheduled ‘interview’ the reporter sent me an email letting me know that her “superiors decided to take the story in a different direction”.   I was ok with that because I got a nice blog post out of this!  I hope some of you will find a benefit from some of the information.

EEeek! A Mouse! Another Day in the Life of an Errand Girl……..

Posted on March 28, 2012 by in Clients

I’ve started taking care of another family.  I’m not talking just buying their groceries, but really taking care of them.  There is a husband, a wife, 3 children and an 80 pound English Bulldog.  I was originally contacted by the husband.  He said he needed some of my services on a regular basis.  He wanted to hire me for 6 hours one day each week.  I rearranged some things in my schedule to allow for a whole day to be devoted to this one family.

The Sock Monster!

On my way out to their house the first time, the wife sent me a text message asking if I could pick up some coffee from her favorite drive-thru which was right on the way.  She was so impressed that I would do that.  That’s what an Errand Girl does, isn’t it?  When I got to the house she greeted me and told me she had never even heard of me until the night before when her husband told her I would be coming!  We sat down at first to get acquainted and to explain to her how I could make her life easier.  She then gave me the grand tour of the house including the “Sock Monster”.  I know everyone probably has a sock monster living in their home but this one is different.  They have a huge overflowing laundry basket full of mis-matched socks.  No one wants to take the time to ‘mate’ them.  That is, until The Errand Girl came along!  I asked what they did for socks.  By this time the husband was in on the conversation and he replied that if they couldn’t find two that matched they would just go out and buy new ones.  Hence, the huge overflowing laundry basket full of socks.  They did admit to wearing mis-matched socks on occasion.

On my 2nd visit out to the house no one answered when I rang the bell or knocked.  They were expecting me so I just opened the door.  Her car was home, but his wasn’t so I figured one of them must be there.  I stood in the doorway and called out hoping someone would answer.  I had this 80 lb. Bulldog staring at me!  I’m not afraid of animals but I know that they are very protective of their homes and I had just intruded in his!  I had met him the week before but wasn’t sure he remembered me.  I called him by name and stuck out my hand trying to get him to come and smell me.  I kept trying for a while and eventually he came towards me.  Then he was FREE, out the door crack he went!  He had no interest in me, he wanted outside to the big world with no fences.  Since I didn’t know him I wasn’t sure how he would react outside.  I was a bit panicked, so I set my water bottle down on the front walk and walked closer to him.  I know not to chase animals because it just makes them go farther and faster.  I didn’t get him.  I had left the front door to the house wide open in my rush to catch him.  Luckily it wasn’t cold outside like it usually is in February.  Down the street the dog went.  Down the street I walked after him.  He stopped at some bushes to pee and I thought I would get him.  When my hand reached out for his collar he was gone!  Further and faster!  This time he headed for a neighbors back yard.  There were some dog toys in the yard so I tried to coax him with the toys.  He wanted to play but he knew better than to get close to me.  He was free and he wasn’t giving that up.  Just what I dreaded…………  He headed to the neighborhood golf course.  Great!  There were some older ladies out in their golf carts playing that day.  I was hoping one of the women would grab him by the collar, but I didn’t even ask seeing their age and his size.  Of course he went straight for the golf carts, they were moving.  One of the ladies asked if it was my dog.  I explained that it wasn’t my dog but I was trying to get him to go home.    Then she very rudely said to me that “Dogs are NOT ALLOWED on the golf course”.  Really???  It seemed quite obvious to me that I was trying my best to get him off of the course and get him home but maybe she didn’t see that.   I finally was able to coax him close enough to me with an empty bowl of dog food that was outside at some neighbors house.  I grabbed his collar and off we went.  Now, how do I get this 80 lb dog home 8 blocks away?  Have you ever tried to walk fast while stooping over and having 80 lbs of force pulling you?  My body was sore for 3 days after this bit of exercise!  We made it back to the house, the front door still wide open and no one in sight.  I got the dog and myself some water as we were both dry from panting so much.  Then the wife comes out of the master bedroom and says she didn’t even know I was there.  I’m glad it’s a good neighborhood and nothing happened while we were off on our little jaunt.

80 pound Bulldog

One week when I was there I was determined to tackle the pantry.  It is a large walk in area under the staircase.  It had kind of become a dumping ground for all things miscellaneous.  When I organize something I start by removing everything.  I was about halfway finished removing items when a little mouse poked his head out and stared directly at me!  EEeek…..  A Mouse!  I HATE mice.  I can take spiders and snakes but mice are a different story.  I KNOW they are small and are more afraid of me than I am of them (so people tell me).  It doesn’t matter, I can’t stand them.  I can’t even stand dead ones!!  I have never felt so terrified of anything in my life.  I just couldn’t go back into that pantry!  I shut the door (even though there is a 2 inch gap under the door) and pondered a bit.  I was there all by myself so there was no one I could tell.  I sent a text message to the husband that I had seen a mouse.  All he wanted to know was if it was dead or alive.  I wanted him to come and rescue me.  I didn’t know how I would get the pantry done at this point.  I had ½ of the contents sitting on the dining room floor!!  I really was not going to go into that pantry again.  I decided instead of wasting time, I would begin to tackle the “Sock Monster”.    I went and got the laundry basket and brought it out to the couches in the living room.  Boy, there were a  LOT of socks!  Most of them were the white athletic kind but I have never seen so many different kinds.  Some had red thread at the toes, some had green and others had gold.  Then there were the tops of the socks!  Man, there are a lot of patterns of socks.  I was able to match about 20 pairs before the husband came home.  I explained to him my fear of mice.  Luckily he completely understood because his wife is just the same.  He finished emptying the pantry for me!  I was able to go in and sweep up all of the mouse droppings without any problem.  Needless to say this pantry organizing took much longer than I anticipated – but they got some sock matches out of the deal too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camping in January OR Do you believe in GHOSTS?

Posted on February 7, 2012 by in Sue

Camping in January………………..

 

January sunset

Both Brian and I are self-employed and work most weekends so we plan well in advance to take some time off.  A month ago we decided to go camping at the end of January.  We had no idea then that the temperatures would be in the 60’s!  We just got very lucky.  We did remember one of the lessons we learned from past camping trips and that is to go during the week.  So, here we are at Whithrow Springs State Park and we have the WHOLE place to ourselves (Benefit #1 of camping in the winter)!!  We got here before lunch yesterday, it was about 60 degrees and sunny!  We set up camp quickly.  We opted not to put the screen house up because there are NO BUGS this time of year (Benefit #2 of winter camping).   We ate some lunch and off on the trails we went.   We hiked the War Eagle Creek Trail, it was a nice steep climb.  We weren’t ready to be done when we got to the end so we picked up the Dogwood Trail and hiked it back to camp.  (Benefit #3 of camping in winter – we did not see one other person on either trail!)

 

We had this all to ourselves!

It was about time for me to start the fire.  Have I mentioned before how much I like making fires???  I do it all.  I gather the wood, build the fire and keep it going the rest of the evening.  (Benefit #4 of camping in winter – wood is everywhere!)  While the fire was going and we were hanging out, I cut Brian’s hair.  It is so much nicer to cut hair outside and not have it get everywhere.  I like his hair shorter than he does but he is a good sport and lets me cut it the way I like it.  He really doesn’t have much say when I am the one holding the scissors!  Brian is in charge of the cooking and what a great meal we had.  He grilled some fish and served it over pasta and broccoli.  It was yummy.  I never would have paired fish and pasta together but after the first time Brian fixed it for me I was hooked.  Pasta, with a little butter and no sauce.   It was so nice out that we chose to eat dinner outside sitting in front of the fire.  We watched the moon rise and the stars come out as we were making our smore’s.  We can’t go camping without smore’s!

Notice his short hair!

For our anniversary I got Brian an iPhone dock with a CD player.  He had mentioned wanting to have some music while we are camping and we didn’t have an old fashioned ‘Boom Box’.  He loves his new toy and he says I did a great job of picking out one with really good speakers.

For Christmas we both found new camping gadgets in our stockings.  I got a new retractable clothes line and he got paper liners for the Dutch oven.  We are having stew for dinner tonight made in the Dutch oven so we will try out the liners and see.

 

Using the new Dutch oven liners

Being the huge history buff that Brian is we decided to drive into town (the big city of Huntsville, Arkansas, pop. 2300) to see some Orval Faubus history.  Orval Faubus is the former Governor of Arkansas.  We stopped at the local Chamber of Commerce hoping to find something that would lead us somewhere.  There was not one bit of information in there about a former governor!  Even if he wasn’t very well liked, you would still think they would have something.  We asked a couple of questions and the guy walked outside with us and pointed to the top of a hill.  There sits a home that Orval Faubus had Fay Jones build for him.   The man from the Chamber seemed to not want to be associated with the name Orval Faubus, which we found strange.  We drove up the big hill.  We saw the driveway that lead to the house.  A car was driving down the driveway as we were driving past.  I told Brian to drive back by, there was a gate, but it was open.  The guy at the chamber told us a Memphis attorney bought the place and lives there part time.  I figured since we just saw a car leaving either the guy who lives there just left or other people venture up to see the house.  I told Brian to go for it.  We drove up the driveway and saw a car in the porte-cochere and turned around and went back down.  It couldn’t have been more than 90 seconds total!  The gate that was open was now CLOSED with a chain!!!  This is not an electric gate;  it is an old fashioned chain link gate with a metal rod that goes in the middle through little holes to keep it closed.  We just looked at each other in amazement…………  What were we going to do?  You could see the chain wrapped around it.  There is NO WAY that someone could have come and closed that gate – we would have seen them or a vehicle or something!  The gate was out of our site for about 30 seconds total!!  I got out and thought I would try to do something.  The chain was wrapped around the gate but the lock was not locked!  I took off the lock and chain, opened the gate and Brian drove through.  I carefully closed the gate back and wrapped the chain around it and left it just as we had found it.  Very strange!  All of this excitement got us hungry so we decided to eat lunch in town.  We ate at “Granny’s”.  The food was good, but all we could talk about was that gate!  After we finished I asked Brian to drive back up to that driveway to see if the gate was still closed.  By now, 45-60 minutes have gone by.  The gate was wide open just like the way we saw it the first time we drove by!  Strange happenings……

A week later and we still are puzzled!

A Day in the Life of an Errand Girl – Party Hosting

Posted on January 23, 2012 by in Clients, Sue

This weekend was the benefit concert for the John Harrison Opera Foundation at The University of Arkansas. It was a homecoming of sorts for the main attraction, Sarah Mesko, a mezzo-soprano and University of Arkansas alumna. You’re probably wondering how this fits in to “A Day in the Life of an Errand Girl” – well, we got to do one of our favorite things – Party Hosting! Mrs. Harrison hired us to do the serving, man the bar and assist with clean-up at the reception. The event took place in the Harrison home which was probably built around the 1890′s. The home is both beautiful and unique. It has very skinny hallways and doors in strange places.

Part of the 'spread'

The narrow hallways made it difficult to maneuver through carrying food and drinks while the guests were hanging out there. Why does it seem that people always gather in the kitchen? Every room in the house was full, not just the kitchen.

Brian playing 'bar tender'

The event was a great success and Mrs. Harrison was happy once again. She had used us in the past so she knew that our work is top-notch!

Sue doing 'clean up'

A good time was had by all and the foundation raised a significant amount of money.

A Day in the Life of an Errand Girl – The Holidays 2011

Posted on January 23, 2012 by in Uncategorized

This month marks the 14th anniversary of me starting The Errand Girl. I just can’t believe it has been that long. I have had so many wonderful adventures and met some wonderful people along the way. I have also spent a lot of time with some great animals too! I just realized today that I have never spoken about any of my four legged friends. I will introduce you to some of them at the end of this post.

Ms. Irma turned 95! I got her this mini cake.

Happy 95th Birthday, Ms. Irma!

Ms. Irma’s electric stove from the 60′s finally bit the dust. Her son ordered a new one for her. I saw her on the 2nd day that she had it. It was a very nice, quite large (almost commercial size) stove. She told me she was ‘afraid’ of it. The next week when I saw her she told me she had used the stove for the first time the evening before. She said she thought the ‘thing’ was ‘ugly’. Then she pointed out the reason she was ‘afraid’ of it – I didn’t realize, but it was gas! In all of her 95 years she had only cooked with an electric stove! No wonder! Why would you buy a 95 year old a gas stove when they had never used one before?

I guess it is kind of like Brian’s sister, Sharon, buying their dad a Kindle for Christmas! He loves to read, but doesn’t have a computer and doesn’t really like technology. Just because something is ‘new’ and ‘better’ doesn’t always mean it is the best idea for everyone. Needless to say he returned it!

The grocery store was out of a dozen Grade A Large eggs today. Instead of buying Mrs. C. a carton of 18 eggs (which I’ve done in the past and she wasn’t happy) I bought her a dozen Grade A X-large eggs. I explained to her what had happened when I delivered the groceries. She seemed very concerned and asked me if they were “normal” eggs. I assured her they were and I took one out of the carton to show her. I pointed out to her that they didn’t really look that different in size. She did ask me if they had the 18 ct. carton with ‘regular’ large eggs. I reminded her that she wasn’t happy when I had done that before. “I would rather have 18 normal eggs”. She asked me if they came from extra large chickens. I told her I thought they came from the same chickens. As I left she said she just wasn’t sure about those extra large eggs!

Today (1/2/12) is a bank holiday. I received a phone call early this morning from a woman who asked me if I could come and notarize her prenuptial agreement. It wasn’t until I was there notarizing it that I found out they were getting married TODAY! They had planned their wedding for 1-2-1-2, but they forgot to plan ahead about the prenup and getting it signed on a holiday!

Here are some of the critters that we have taken care of recently.

Meet Jack & Lily…… They love their swimming pool! Yes, this was in December!

Jack & Lily take a dip after playing fetch

The youngest in our care….. Macy – full of spunk!

Macy was always waiting for us to come and play! This picture does not show how awfully cute Macy really is

Here’s another cutie! Cosy!

Cosy is just as soft and fluffy as she looks. She has a great "purrrr"

Ashlynn is one of the girls who works for us. She loves birds and does a great job with them.

Ashlynn and the birds

Meet Theo. He is sort of like the “King of his Kingdom”

Stoic Theo

Here’s Gump…… What a great dog!

Gump will wear me out playing fetch. He keeps going and going and going.....

This is Colette she is one of the dogs that we walk every day during the week while her mom is at work.

Sweet Colette whose sister, Vivian, would not pose for the camera!

Another cutie and one of my favorites is Elsa!

Elsa loves to hang out on top of the dryer. She watches the world from her post.

I can’t even begin to figure out how many animals we have cared for over these last 14 years. Lots of dogs and cats, but also bunnies, horses, sheep, a donkey, a chinchilla, birds, fish and chickens and ferrets.

The last 14 years have been an amazing journey for me. I couldn’t have done it without many of you. THANK YOU! I appreciate each and every one of you.

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