Mishmash Musings

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote how one of my old employers contacted me about working again. After thinking about the implications and talking the matter over with my husband, I’ve decided to accept the offer. I’ll be a manager/consultant and will be able to set my own hours. This was a very important factor in my decision. If I had to show up at the office every single day, I would have declined. But with the way things are set up now, I will have a great deal of control over what I do.

Anyway, this should keep me busy while my son is in school and will definitely help pad our bank account. We need to save up for a new car for my husband, so this is actually pretty good timing for us. I hope it works out!

I’ve been having some problems with my mail delivery lately. I’m not getting some of the letters that people and businesses are sending me. This is important stuff, too. For instance, someone insisted he sent me a personal check for $400 for work I did for him, but I never got it. The check was never cashed, nor was the envelope ever returned to the sender, so we haven’t figured out what happened to it yet. Several other pieces of mail have gone missing as well.

Anyway, I’ve brought this to the attention of the post office, but they insist that the carrier isn’t doing anything wrong. They suggested that it could be a case of a neighbor stealing my mail. While I doubt that’s the answer, I think what I need to do is buy one of those locking mailboxes to settle the question once and for all. If I have a locking mailbox and the letters are still going missing, then the problem lies with the post office. If I suddenly start getting all the mail I’m expecting, then maybe the theft explanation is the right one.

Several readers have complained that it’s hard for them to identify outgoing links in the current theme I’m using. I took a look and had to agree: the link colors were hard to distinguish from the regular text.

So in an effort to make things easier for everyone, I’ve changed things up a bit and have made all clickable links a dark maroon. Now there should be no trouble locating these links…. go ahead and click away!!

I just got word that a friend of mine will be going to Europe for two weeks. At first I was extremely jealous to hear that she’ll be able to get away while I’m stuck at home, but then I heard that she’s traveling with her husband and their one-year-old child. I thought for sure they would have wanted to make arrangements for the baby to stay with grandparents or something, but apparently not. I can’t imagine trying to trek around Europe with a toddler in tow!

Anyway, I asked about their proposed itinerary and have to say that I’m pretty impressed by what they want to do. They’re going to fly into Belgium, then work their way south through Luxembourg, France, and Switzerland before ending up in Italy. That sounds like a tough enough schedule as it is, but to make things even more difficult, they’re hitting the first four countries in just 6 days and will spend the bulk of their time in Florence and Rome. I didn’t think to ask at the time, but I wonder if they’re going to stay at one of those traditional villas in Italy instead of at a hotel. I know that’s what I’d want to do if I were spending more than a week in one place!

Well, I hope they have fun, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing a bunch of pictures from their travels.

Today was my son’s first full day of preschool. He started at this school last week, and for the first 8 days or so, the kids just attended from 8:30am-11:30am. This gradual introduction is designed to help them ease into the routine of going to school, being away from mom, etc. and I actually like that idea. From today, the kids will be at school from 8:30am-2:30pm, which is considerably longer.

My son did pretty well. I was able to talk to his homeroom teacher for a bit when I went to pick him up. He cried a little in the morning, but after that he was fine. He had no trouble eating his lunch and he participated in all the activities, talked to other kids, and generally behaved very well.

I was obviously happy to get this good report and hope he can keep it up. As for me, I had six hours to myself and still didn’t get a heck of a lot done while he was gone!! That definitely has to change soon.

I shop online for just about everything. I really like the convenience of being able to browse and order with a couple clicks of my mouse. Then a few days later, the stuff gets delivered right to my door, which eliminates the hassle of having to lug heavy packages to and from my car.

Until now, I’ve never ordered pet supplies online, but I think that will change in the near future. I’m getting sick of having to deal with 20lb. bags of food, and my local pet store doesn’t seem to have as big a selection of other products as I can find online. I’ll probably give it a try when this current bag of food runs out!

I’ve pretty much taken care of all the big projects that I had pending for the longest time, so today is going to be dedicated to wrapping up a bunch of minor things. I have to finish several writing assignments, send out emails that I’ve been putting off for a week or more, and do some light houseword. I also need to write a letter of recommendation for a former employee and make business-related phone calls. I should definitely be able to get everything done today!

Like most people, I still remember the first car I ever got. It was a 1986 Ford Taurus that was already seven years old when it came into my hands. I was 19 at the time and needed to get a job in order to help pay for college, so my mom bought me this beater of a car so I could travel to and from work and school. The car wasn’t anything special, but I was still thankful for it because it allowed me to find a decent-paying job that I wouldn’t have been able to get to on public transportation.

I was lucky to have a parent who could front me the money for a car. But what about those with no credit, bad credit, or history of bankruptcy? How do they manage to purchase vehicles so they can get better jobs and improve their financial situation?

Probably through places like Stonebridge Auto Lending. Stonebridge Auto Lending specializes in providing bad credit auto loans for new and used cars. In fact, they work exclusively with customers who suffer from these credit problems and strive to get them the best deals possible on their auto loans. This is obviously good news for you if other financial institutions have repeatedly turned you down for auto loans in the past.

The Stonebridge application can be completed online, and the entire process is fast, secure, convenient, and private, so go fill one out today if you’re in need of a new vehicle!