So I went by myself, and sat with a couple I had never met before tonight. They were friendly enough and we shared a few laughs, and actually the lady of the couple confided in my that she had recently suffered the loss of her mother, which brought tears to her eyes. I empathized with her and extended my condolences. By the time we finished eating I think I convinced her to come to the next Ruritan meeting where I hope to see them again.

The organization is loosely modeled after an organization called BNI, but there are several differences. One difference is the fact that there are no dues charged. Another is that the group welcomes more than one business of the same type. And the people who run the group frequently remind everyone that attends that there are “no rules.”

Normally at the meetings one of the members shares an educational moment with the group, someone stands up and explains the purpose of the group, and everyone takes a minute to introduce themselves to the entire group and give a very brief description of their business and state what they are looking for from the group that day. Also as part of the meeting one of the members has a ten minute presentation to talk about themselves and their product. Last week’s speaker was a really great presentation by a businessman who sells customized top of the line business apparel. Next week’s speaker is a person who owns an Advertising Agency. The week after that is a woman who works for the area’s Chamber of Commerce. I’ve learned a lot from these meetings!

So, we signed a one-year exclusive contract with her, and sat back and waited for the hundreds of buyers to come pouring through the door and waging a bidding war! Little did we know that the only thing that the real estate agent would do to sell our home was to give our papers to her secretary to have it posted on the MLS and their website.

In the year that the house was listed with her, the house was shown only three times. Having anticipated a quick sale, we bought another house, which we are currently living in now. Then my hubby was in a bad car accident last fall, which left him unable to work, and no money is coming in yet from the insurance settlement. Mainly because we haven’t gone into settlement yet, my hubby is still going through medical treatments and procedures.

So, long story short, we have run out of money to pay the mortgage on the house in New England. I sent a letter to the mortgage company for that house, requesting special hardship forbearance. I explained the circumstances that the house was for sale, my hubby was injured, that we could make up the payments when the house sold or my hubby went back to work.

The mortgage company denied our request, saying the reason for the denial was that we did not make enough money to pay the mortgage! Talk about a Catch-22! That’s why I sent them the hardship forbearance request!
What is even more upsetting about the denial is that this particular mortgage company is “the one” that has been in the news almost every week, in stories about how hard they are trying to help their customers avoid losing their houses!

So, we have stopped making payments on that house, and are hoping that an offer comes in from a buyer before the mortgage company forecloses on it. I was really hoping to avoid foreclosure because we have had excellent credit our whole lives, and the foreclosure will mark us with bad credit ratings for seven years, which will make our lives a lot more difficult.

I just got a new job and moved to Arizona. I am really excited about living here. I think it is going to be an adventure. I do not know anything about this state and I do not have any family or friend nearby. I am going to have to do a lot of exploring as I start my new life here. I was able to go ahead a buy a house that is very convenient to my work and all of the big restaurants and stores. Since I do not know anyone around and I am not familiar with the area, I think I am going to have a security system installed. I would just feel safer with a security system and I know that my family would feel better about me living by myself in another state if I had a security system in my house. I googled “glendale home security” and found a company that was affordable and they said they could install the system within a few days. Now that I have that taken care of, I can move on to more important things, such as finding the best restaurants in town and the nearest mall.

I thought I’d share with you one of my T2T projects in greater detail.  This is a picture of the supplies that I used to turn an empty chicken can into a pretty trinket box.  Not pictured are the Plaid Folk Art Outdoor Paints, and the glue that I used.

This is a picture of the chicken can, after I was finished with it.

This is a picture of the inside of the jewelry box.  It is lined with a velveteen fabric.  It came out very pretty!  I gave it as a gift to my sister-in-law, and she was thrilled with it!  I’ve had several requests from friends/relatives to make some for them!

Doing product fulfillment in this manner saves you on payroll expenses and the trials and tribulations of having to provide your own warehousing and shipping solutions. This type of service enables small businesses to keep their costs competitive and lowers the risk of inventory shrinkage. What a great idea!

I love to craft.  I especially love what I call “T2T” crafting.  T2T means “Trash to Treasure.”  This is a picture of a burnt out light bulb that I decorated with paint, beads, ribbons, stickers, and discarded bottle caps.  It was a lot of fun to do, turning a burnt out light bulb into a pretty ornament!

When we walk or drive by you can see how bad it is. The broken bottles, trash and other various litter issues are a huge issue, inside and out. Right inside the doorway you can see that they need a better type of apartment mailboxes. The current ones are all busted, doors missing or hanging off which leaves their mail totally unsecured and strewn all about the door yard and hallway. I know that a better set of  cbu mailboxes set out front of the buildings would be in order here and I’ve called and left numerous messages with the business office asking them to look into the purchasing of and installing some good quality  cluster mailboxes for their tenants. They deserve to have their US mail safe and secure just like anyone else does. Slumlords are the worse, I wish there was something else that I could do for these people.

Au contraire!  The Gray Ghost winery in Amissville VA has wonderful wine!  I had the opportunity to taste their 2006 Adieu wine at a wine tasting party that a friend held, and I fell in love with it.  I had to go to the winery myself and buy a couple of bottles of it to have for special occasions.

After I learned about The Gray Ghost winery, I went on the Internet to find their location, and found their website.  I was impressed to learn that they have won numerous awards for the wines.  I think that the Gray Ghost is giving the Napa Valley some competition!

What I wouldn’t give to be able to order one of these wonderful Companian Arbors with a Bridgehampton Swing. You would never see me inside the house at all if we had one of these babies out back. My grandparents had a swing simular to this that all of the grandchildren adored playing on every chance that they could when we went over for our visits with them. I wonder what happened to that wonderful swing.

Sometimes life gets hectic, and an unexpected gift giving occasion arrives and time doesn’t allow the luxury of making the gifts.  That’s when buying a gourmet gift basket comes to the rescue.  There are so many gourmet gift baskets on the market, it is pretty easy to find one that will suit almost any occasion and please any recipient.

The web page has a step-by-step explanation of the entire process, starting with the gp recruitment and including the gp application. The website even has the preparation for the written and simulation for the gpst stage 3 processing. Sounds to me as if Beverly has found a great resource to help her get her ducks in a row! Isn’t technology wonderful!

We have discussed this desire several times since then, and we have finally agreed that since we took in a few more people to live with us, we could use the extra storage space that a Future steel buildings garage would provide. I have applied for a home equity line of credit with our local bank and my husband has started to look around for the kit that we can afford that will meet our needs. He wants to have enough room in there for three vehicles and a commercial lift so when he works on his cars he doesn’t have to crawl underneath it. I hope my hubby realizes that our budget will only go so far!

I’m not quite sure she understood the point of my comment. If no one worked on the weekend, no stores, restaurants, gas stations, hospitals, libraries, nothing would be open! Can you even imagine how all of the people who work Monday thru Friday would be able to accomplish what they need to get done if nothing was open on the weekend? That would really mess up the economy, don’t you agree?

I’d love to buy a zumo 220 GPS for my hubby’s birthday for him to put on his Harley. He’s always getting lost on it, and having a GPS on his Harley would help him to stay on track. My biggest concern about buying anything for his Harley, though, is how safe from thieves will it be? I’d hate to spend a fortune on something like that just to have it stolen off his bike!