Wednesday's bits and pieces AND the Saga

Have you ever wondered about beauracracy? My husband received a letter from an out of state bank demanding his social security number and signature as proof of our address. Seems that the bank had some funds of ours (loooooong story) and they tried to reach us by letter at our old address. We moved five years ago so the letter was returned to the bank. Some enterprising soul checked other official sources (the internet), came up with this address and sent off the letter demanding proof of who we are.

Since this is the day of identity theft, my husband called them to find out what was up. They explained that the funds were no longer in their hands as the funds are now considered "abandoned funds" so the money went to the state of New York. Yay!

A few more phone calls elicited the information that we now need to write a letter asking for our money back, but it isn't going to be that simple. Of course not. Now we have to produce proof that we used to live at the old address. What is this proof, you say? Oh, nothing much. They want an old envelope addressed to us.

So! How about it? Do you have old bill envelopes from five years ago stashed somewhere in your odds and ends? I don't. Guess what we spent the day doing? Going through old stacks of paper, hoping to find something with our old address printed on it. I'm not sure whether to be excited or embarrassed to admit that we found something. However, we can now write the letter, attach our proof of address and send it off to the state.

Initially we were excited, thinking that we might have a couple of extra bucks for Christmas. No such luck. It appears we might possibly have the small sum in time for Valentines Day. There you go. Ah, well. Maybe the househunk can take me out to dinner. Or put gas in the car.

Interesting world we live in. When we moved here, I had to produce a birth certificate in order to transfer my driver's license. Seems that it wasn't enough to show them my old license. Who knows, maybe there's someone else out there that looks like me. Now that's a scary thought. Two Zen Queens. Anyway, I had to pay extra dollars to have my birth certificate sent to me from Arizona. And I had to fax them a letter "proving my identity" with a copy of the old driver's license from New York. Something about that doesn't quite make sense. Does it?

I've been "cleaning" for the last two weeks. The thing about being childless is that soon your home reaches a state of not being child friendly. So the cleaning mostly consisted of me putting away all those things that a four year old would be delighted to explore. Beads, paints, inks, yarn, artists chalks, pens, scissors... you know, stuff.

Then I decided that my company might possibly like someplace to sit down so I put away all the books that were piled around. Yes, I have a lot of books. No, they weren't in the bookcase because I tend to take a big pile of them off the shelf and sort of devour them, one after the other like Tim-Tams.

My main storage solution is baskets. Trouble with baskets is that they don't close. So I've been stashing baskets on the tops of bookcases. Interesting decorating technique. I don't think it's very feng shui, but it works. Now I'm down to the last bits and pieces which I will finish later today.

Then one last run through with the vacuum cleaner and I'm done. For all of you that plan to be on the road today, safe journey. For those of you preparing the feast, happy cooking. Blessings on your day.

Anny

Amarinda takes delight in leaving me out in the middle of a cow pasture up to my rear in ... well, let's just say is doesn't smell sweet. I'll show you what I mean:

“I will save you.” The Red Ranger waved his hand once and the assailant disappeared in a puff of red smoke. “I am your destiny Matilda Smith.”

“Of course you are.” Freaking nutcase.

“Remember that vow you made last week?” The Red Ranger saw the surprise in her eyes. “I am here to make sure you keep it.”

Holy Crap! How did he know? How could she ever fulfil that vow?

“You mean I have to …”

Argh! What is that? Heh, well, I did what I had to, so Kelly, don't you squawk! Amarinda made me do it!

“Yep, you have to.”

“Now look here,” Matilda objected. “I made that vow in a weak moment. You can’t mean to hold me to that!”

“Yes, ma’am. A vow is a vow is a vow. It’s serious business.”

“Listen up, Red. I don’t have time for this now. I’m busy. Thanks for getting rid of butter knife boy, but I have to go.” Matilda opened the car and got in with a little flounce of irritation. Really, where do they dig them up from?

She turned her head to check behind the car as she backed out and lo, and behold there sat the Red Ranger in the back seat. She stomped on the brakes. “Get out!”

“No can do, Matilda Smith. I am your destiny!”

“What you are is crazy! No red caped crusader is going to force me to keep that vow!” She looked at him with a considering look in her eyes. “Maybe if it was black… with turquoise or emerald accents… no, not even then!”

“Right. I can see that I’m going to have to bring the big gun.” Red wriggled around in the back seat, messing around with something down below her level of vision.

“Stop right there. What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded with irritation. “I assure you that you have nothing I want to see, no matter what the size is.”

“Matilda! You will fulfill your vow. Your reputation and future depend on it!”

She sighed. “Give me the bloody hat. Next time the Zen Queen actually finishes the book on time she can eat the hat! Say, you have any vegemite?”

So, drop by Kelly's blog and meet a new author from Resplendance Publishing. Psst. Ask her about her daughter's basketball game! www.kkirch.blogspot.com And then trot your bod over to Amarinda's place at www.amarindajones.blogspot.com and find out if she tells you about the latest war over the wall of wankerdom.