Someone is taking advantage of my monstrous recycling bin. I wouldn't mind so much, except that what they're putting in there on garbage day is not recyclable.

Our garbage and recycling weren't picked up two weeks ago. No big deal, because the garbage can gets picked up every week, and the recycling bin is absolutely humongous. However – and this isn't the first time – I discovered pizza boxes in there when I opened it to dump the small house recycling can. Three or four pizza boxes, and a smaller bread box, now take up about a quarter of my garbage can space. Not only that, but there were still crusts and detritus in the boxes. Gross.

One of the biggest rules of recycling cardboard and paper is that it is not recyclable if it has been contaminated by food. The only exception to this are milk cartons, because there is a high-quality paper between the outside and inside layers. Also, since everything is thrown together, I guess it's not a big deal if the paper is dripped on by the last drops of soda in a can (although it's best to rinse those, first).

I don't mind if someone wants to put a couple pieces of recyclable material in the can – I'm only paying about $6/month for the service. As long as they don't put so much that I can't fit my stuff in there, I really don't mind. But I have to draw the line at non-recyclables. It kind of goes without saying, right?

(I have an argument with my parents all the time about putting non-recyclable plastic in their bins. They insist that the plastic should be recyclable. I tell them it is not possible to recycle some forms of plastic, regardless of whether they think it should. I think you should be able to use dish soap in the dishwasher – it's all used to clean dishes! But we all know that is not recommended for the use of the dishwasher, and, in fact, will cause that load of dishes to be unusable, and will have wasted the water used to run the load. Same analogy goes for pizza boxes. Not. Recyclable.)

ANYway, I put a big note on the lid of the can, and I hope it will be respected. I really don't want to have to go out and check before the truck comes every other Monday morning. I've heard that sometimes recyclables won't be picked up if there are non-recyclables present, though I suspect pizza boxes have been put in there a lot when I haven't been looking. I just don't want a load of recyclables to be rendered useless because my neighbors can't respect my property, or pay for their own flippin' recycling bin.

I should probably go check on Pie. He's been asleep a long time . . .

On the flip side, here's something that WASN'T funny today: I received my power bill, finally, hoping it wouldn't be much more than $70.

I was WRONG.

I'm paying $119.25 for this month ALONE.

Looks like it's time to turn the heater down in the living room and spend the money I'll save on some heavy sweaters, long johns, and wool socks. Hopefully this winter won't be as cold as last week was, otherwise, I'll be paying through the nose for electricity. I'm already freezing to death in my bedroom, which I do not heat and I'm sure does not rise above a bone-chilling 55°.

Ironically, I can opt to donate to the "Warm Home Fund" in addition to my hefty bill. Funny, I thought I was already DOING that . . . :\

Ugh. Time to get creative . . .

Sometimes, technology is a pain in the asterisk.

For instance . . . I pay all my bills online. I didn't have a single one I had to pay for in person or by phone or by mail . . .

Till now. :\

I bought a sewing machine a couple months ago, and financed it through the store's 6-month program, unfortunately run by Wells Fargo. I'm not a huge fan of Wells Fargo, but in this case, I didn't really have a choice. Last month, I ran out of time and had to go to the financial center and pay the bill in person. Well, they've quit that option now, so I thought I would try to pay it online, like all my other bills. I have the website, my account number, and everything ready to go.

Only problem is, the Wells Fargo Financial website requires that your browser be certain versions of either Netscape, IE, or AOL (great choices, huh?), have 128-bit encryption, and some other super-duper security features before you're even allowed to enroll in their online bill pay.

Guess what I don't have?

"Oh!" you say. "Why don't you just download Firefox? It's based on Netscape! They have a new version out, even! That should solve your problems."

I so wish I could . . . I'm running Firefox right now, version 1.5. I went to Mozilla.com (yes, .com — it's new!) and downloaded the .dmg that I needed. When that was done, I opened it up, and tried to drag the new Firefox over to my Applications folder and replace the old version. It SHOULD have worked. *I* am the admin on this machine now.

Apparently, I still don't have permission to install certain things. It doesn't tell me which certain things, unfortunately. So, I go to the Disk Utility and verify the file permissions, then repair the file permissions. They're all fixed. I STILL cannot install the new version of Firefox!

AAAARRRRRGH!!!!!

*breathe*

I guess it's time I utilized my bank's online bill pay . . . because there is NO WAY I'm going to download some other browser or upgrade IE, not to mention I just used my last envelope and there's NO WAY I'm going to use my last "love" stamp (reserved for letters to my husband) on some financial institution I don't really care for in the first place. I will, however, be contacting someone about the whole file permissions thing, to make sure I'm not missing something. It's very frustrating.

Now I'm off to my bank to set up online bill pay . . .

Self defense class begins tomorrow! I also have to call a bunch of people to follow up about Mary Kay stuff and maybe get some bookings. I just got a new order in — brand-new Satin Hands! It's all peach-ified. :)

I'm all registered for both Mary Kay Seminar and Cookie Lee Convention. I talked to my mom tonight, who is my one Cookie Lee recruit, and she is thinking about driving down for Convention, which means I would save some money if I didn't have to pay for a flight from L.A./Anaheim, CA to Seattle. I'm already having to fly into Dallas for MK Seminar at the beginning of August, then fly to LAX a week later. There's no real point in booking two flights roundtrip so I can be home for a week in-between. I can just use the time to visit friends. :)

I'm getting back into the excitement of my businesses, which is good. I KNOW I can do this. But the phone gains about 800 pounds, subjectively, when I'm going to use it for calling current and potential customers. It's about time I got over my scaredy-cat tendencies, though, and grew a little confidence in myself.

In other news . . . I think Verizon has screwed up my bill again. I'm going to have to call them tomorrow to find out why, exactly, there is a $200+ charge for "access fees" when it was THEIR big mistake that screwed my plan up in the first place. I am NOT happy about having to pay for their mistake. I'm torn between waiting a few days for this last month's bill to come out and calling them tomorrow to throw a polite fit. I'm leaning heavily toward the latter. The payment is already overdue, so I think it would be in my better interests to get it taken care of sooner rather than later.

The bill just isn't that intuitive, though. I'm seeing credits that don't look like they're even being applied, then two very pricey "access fees" that have jacked up the total, and, finally, the charges are suspicious on my husband's number (which is obviously not being used). I shouldn't be charged for suspending that line. It just doesn't make sense!

Maybe I'll do it after the self defense class, when I'm feeling all strong and capable — and $99 poorer. ;) Motivation, you know. :)

All righty. I need to wash my face and go to bed. I'm also trying to commit to reading my Bible every day, but I need to find that perfect time, when I can concentrate on it. I'm going to try to do it at night for a little while, then switch to mornings to see if that's better. Hopefully when I have my office put together, I'll start doing it in there in the mornings, to get me started into my work day on the right foot, and confident. :)

Yet another spate of journal entries at once. I'd apologize, except that these would probably be posted in the days I intended them if I had regular internet service, so there's really no apology to be made, other than, "Sorry I talk so much." :)

( 2/12/06, 9:49pm )

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( 2/13/06, 8:35am )