Showing posts with label supplies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label supplies. Show all posts

Monday, June 20, 2016

Mortgage Monday: The Small Things

Orkin may have gone overboard... 
Summer is now upon us and my wife and I have been busy picking up things here and there for the house and for the yard. So far the tractor has been running well and the other gas powered tools have been taking care of the rest of the property. Now it is time, at least for the outside items, to round out the things that we need to maintain our little piece of land. This includes all of the trimming items as well a ladder, saw, sledgehammer, and axe. You would be surprised by how useful the last two items are around the property.

Many of the other items that we have picked up or ordered lately have been more about the comfort and convenience around the house. Having a hammock in the back yard is not something that we need but with the deal that I found at one of my usual online stores it was well worth the nominal cost. Plus it completes the collection that we now have on the patio which includes a dining set and a couple of Adirondack chairs. Not something that we will use every day but relaxing when we get the chance.

In the house there have been a few upgrades lately including a new crock pot and coffee maker (nearly free when we combined the clearance price with an old gift card at Macy’s). Also added in the mix was a new microwave that fills the space that was designed into the kitchen layout. Our last one was struggling a bit and, again, a good sale price was found. Beyond those few things, everything else was pretty much purchased for our son as he is growing out of many of the products that we have been using for months (i.e. new sippy cups and utensils).

And with the first days of summer now heating up the landscape, we are also better protected now that we have had Orkin come out and do some preventative work and some mole remediation. While we haven’t had any insect problems beyond the few stragglers here and there, I would rather have the reassurance that it will not be an issue in the future especially with our son scurrying all over the house. Now, all the bugs and spiders know that this is not some place that they want to try and get into and the moles are digging their way away from the property (they were actually a real problem in the front and back yards).

So, let the summer begin. We have the tools and we have taken care of many of the things that we needed to in order to prepared for the weather. Now all that is left is to get all of the small projects completed followed by some larger tasks and we will be ready for years to come. That being the payoff, it is well worth making the investment now.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Last Minute Notice


Sometimes we all forget about things until the last minute and we have to rush to get them done. It happens to all of us at one point or another. This was the case when I was finishing up some work on my computer late on Friday night when I realized that we had not finalized the lodge notice for the month. With all of the end of the year things that we have been working on is simply slipped our minds and was in limbo for much of the holiday season.

Thankfully the stated meeting was postponed for a week due to the holiday so we still had a little bit of time to get it done. We had both dropped the ball on this one but, fortunately, there was still enough time to pick it up and make the play. By 8am the following morning, we had a rough draft in place and I was able to edit and update the content that I needed to add. This was with no help from my lodge email which decided not to allow attachments during the process. By noon, everything had been finalized and the notices were being printed.

Of course, now that we had gotten it done and had arranged for a time to meet at the lodge to get all the mailings put together, the next bumps in the road presented themselves. On my way to Ardmore I had to take a quick detour to Staples to pick up stamps and envelopes as I have been unable to find the time to get the stamped and addresses envelopes from the post office. I guess a couple more steps won’t hurt us.

We got to the lodge in the mid afternoon and shortly after arrival I pulled out the address labels and noticed another step that we would have to take this month. Normally I go through the list beforehand and cross off all the brothers that get the notice emailed to them… when I looked at the labels it was clear that this had not been done and so I had to go by memory crossing off names that I was certain would receive the electronic version.

Even with all the extra steps we came together and got all the mailing done in under an hour. Not too bad and still faster than when I have to do it myself. Not a great way to start the New Year but at least it got done and it will make the rest of the year seem that much smoother. At least that is the hope.