Spring Flower Oddities!

I will admit Fall is my favorite season, However, I love Spring flowers!

If you go to my Pinterest page I have a few boards dedicated to nature and plants!  One thing I do love is how beautiful and different they can be! I have always had a fascination with odd looking flowers so I decided to do something fun and show you some of my favorites.

The Laughing Iris

The Parrot Flower

Ophrys apulica

Jeweled Car

Praying Monks

Flying Duck

Ghost Pipe

Monkey Orchid

Dracula Sauli

So what do you think? I personally think these flowers are beautiful!  Have you ever seen a plant that looks like something else? Share below if you have.

Blessings and Prayers,

Angie

Feeling Safe In Your Home!

But seriously, I need to vent! So in my home there is, my children, my pets and my kids dad live here as well.  Now I have NEVER been the type of lady to swoon and say protect me. I do not think it's in my DNA.  However, as a mom with children there are some things that a mother would expect from the father of her children.  Two nights ago I woke up to a crash coming from the dining room.  I look at my clock and it was just after eleven so here I am thinking my kids dad who sleeps in the living room would be up searching whatever made the noise. Nope, I peek out the door and he is snoring. I grabbed my sewing scissors for protection and leave my room and the first thing I do is check on my younger two and they are fast asleep. I head towards my oldest daughters room and find she was not home yet and then I find the reason for the bang that woke me.  

See I have a rescue Cat named Rambo. Rambo will find his travel carrier no matter where it is and loves to sleep in it so I had it sitting on a storage dresser in the dining room. Because he has been in it lately a lot.  His basket of toys, empty food dish and his travel carrier were in a pile on the ground. Basically, my cat had thrown a temper tantrum because he is on a diet and dumped everything off the top of the dresser.  Yeah, he does that. Am I mad? Of course not!

What upset me was I put the kitchen light on to pick up the mess and that's when the kids' dad wakes up.  Mind you he wakes up complaining because the light is on. I asked did you not hear the loud crash? He responded 'NO!' I got upset and asked what would have happened if someone was breaking into the house? He shrugged, said so what turned over and went back to sleep! I was seeing red at that point. That was not the reaction or the answer I would have expected from him.  My first thought was who are you? I would cut someone with my sewing scissors if you messed with my family. I honestly did not feel safe with the attitude and reaction he gave for a while that night.

So you're probably thinking Angie, what's the point of this rant!  Ladies and gents, if you live alone with your kids do not expect your partner to be a super hero and know how to defend yourself. At the end of the day you can only depend on you!

Blessings and Love,

Angie

Becoming Your Own Goddess!

I will admit that I have gone through a lot. In the past twelve months I can say I have definitely had a bunch of life challenges I needed to go through. I was also faced with a bunch of decisions that needed to be made.  To be honest. I feel like I have gone from scared little peasant to finally allowing my inner Goddess to start to shine. Sounds cliche right? Well, let me explain.

As most people know I have gone through some serious marriage problems in the last few years. These problems have led me to recognize some serious hard truths about my life and my marriage's future in it.  After a lot of self reflection, prayers and soul searching, I have discovered I am not in a good place and need to fix my future not only for myself but for my children. I have been beaten down to believe that everything and anything is my fault. Then not only that, but I am not worth anything.  It took a large eye opening journey to realize that I am worth not only worth it, but I have more value than I have been given credit for.

All this self realization brought me to see what I needed to see.  I started on a journey this past August to get back to myself and I have finally started seeing myself as the person I wanted to be.  I have started stepping up on my blog and working hard to actually get back into adding content that is not only relevant, but what also makes me happy to write about.  On top of all of that I have been actively been working on the Blogs Gift and Resale store! My confidence is finally returning! This has also helped me with my main job as well by having more confidence.

This self realization and confidence have taught me a lot about my personal life.  The biggest thing is I do not need to have the approval of my partner to be happy.  WHAT!!! That's right, I said it!  My partner decided he wanted to throw away our marriage because it was too much work.  Then I realized that was his problem, not mine.  All the people I know who have successful marriages say marriage is hard and trying, but you don't walk away or give up. A real Goddess will stick around and fight for what they want until you see the battle is over. 

So how does this all help you bring out your inner Goddess? Easy your inner Goddess comes out with your experiences in life.  Then you need self determination as well. I myself am working with a determination to bring my blog and store back like I had three years ago. Making sure my inventory is quality and my gift store has more items has been a great experience! I am also working hard with my freelancing so I can support my babies. But not only all of that I have started getting my confidence back and am working my main job with gusto.

However, the biggest thing about letting out your inner Goddess is being yourself and do not tolerate anything. For example, when the kid's father is home, I am normally shut away in my room/office.  This normally causes me to do nothing in the house and being absolutely miserable. Not today! Today I made a point to actually be out in other rooms in my house and actually had a fantastic day! I was productive and active, I felt happy and relaxed with everything I had completed today!

My best advice as someone who is figuring everything out still is you need to start making yourself happy in order to bring out your inner Goddess!

-Blessings and Love

Angie

Heritage Propane, AmeriGas and Rinnai Oh My!

Hey all! For those who know me well know it takes a lot for me to post positive reviews. Well, guess what this is a not so positive review because I am completely irritated. So sit back and be ready to hear about my experience with the three listed above.

So back in 2012 my gas bill with Heritage Propane was horribly high and we had discovered that the hot water tank we had in our home was part of the problem. The tank ran however, it was running on borrowed time. At the time my home had increased in size with my sister and father living with us and having five kids living at home as well I needed to come up with a solution and soon. I started looking at different hot water tanks. I was looking at tankless or tank, size of tanks, warranties, all the bells and whistles. When I go to buy an appliance I will do my research.  Finally, with all the pro's and con's weighed out I decided to go with the Rinnai Tankless Water Heater Model RV53i. The reason I decided to go with this particular model was because of the warranty that I was told it would have between Rinnai and Heritage Propane and the discounts that was supposed to be  with the unit as well from a government rebate program at the time.  I was told that it had a twelve year parts and labor warranty plus a large amounts of rebates. During the installation I was reading through the manual and questioned the "warranty" because it said something different in the Rinnai manual. I was told it was through Heritage Propane and that it would be covered through Heritage Propane.  I asked about special maintenance! Again, I was told no and was reassured if there were to be any problems I just had to call the office and they would get someone to come out and take care of the problem. 

A week later I had realized that I never received the itemized bill for the purchase and what rebates that were applied as there was supposed to a few rebates we were eligible to receive with the installation of the Tankless hot water heater. I kept getting the line, we will have to get back to you on it.  A few weeks later AmeriGas took over Heritage Propane.  Now the thing is nothing changed in the office that was Heritage Propane except the store location was the name of the company. A week after it changed over to Amerigas I went in to pay my gas bill and again questioned about the itemized bill.  Same people, same office and was told sorry we do not have access to that anymore.  I asked for the corporate phone number as I was mad about the run around.  Was told they would get me the information.  Joking I remember saying what no statement I guess I don't have to pay the bill. I was told flat out rather rudely they would charge me a late charge and shut off my service. That was another thing the hot water tank was supposed to be a completely separate account in my name and they combined it in with my ex's account. One month last year we stopped getting the monthly charge for it and when I called into question a final bill and statement they said sorry you're not on the account so we are not speaking with you.  I paid for the tank but since they didn't add my name on it, they would not speak with me about the hot water tank.

Fast forward to February 8, 2019, I woke up to start my organization experiment that morning and go to start a load of laundry and there is water leaking out of the hot water tank and I had a layer of water all over my laundry room..  I call the Amerigas 1-800 phone number for the emergency service and get a woman on the line and explain what was going on.  I told her I just needed to find out how to shut the water going into the tank off because the Rinnai instructions do not give any indication on  how to do that. The lady was rude, disrespectful and apparently does not listen to a word someone says because when a local tech called me to talk me through how to shut the water off I apparently had a flood through my basement. I do not have a basement. The repair technician was great and he told me how to shut off the water and laughed because of my mysterious basement flood. He also was nice and said he would have the company contact me with the information I would need when he gets to the office.

Then I waited as it was only 6:30 in the morning and nothing opens until 8am.  A little after 9am I get a call from the AmeriGas office and they confirm when the item was installed. They said I will have to call a plumber to fix it. I said this is under warranty through the gas company do they reimburse whatever the charges are or does the water company bill Amerigas? She told us to call Charlie's Plumbing here in Spring Hill. I call Charlie's Plumbing and the first person I spoke with stated did you call Rinnai? I asked why would I do that as it's all supposed to be covered through Amerigas. He suggested I call Rinnai because if the part he thought it was, it would need authorization and then call them back and they will do a free consultation to see what is wrong with the unit. Here starts the downfall.

I called Rinnai and spoke to a very nice young lady and she said that the part would be covered if and only if the maintenance was done regularly.  I asked her what maintenance? She stated that you had to do a vinegar rinse every six months. WHAT!!! I explained I called Rinnai when we first got the unit to make sure it was registered and was told when I originally called that I had to do nothing special to the unit by both Rinnai and Heritage Propane. She explained the part that was more than likely the problem is very expensive and that it would be cheaper to replace the unit. She even went as far as to tell me a replacement unit's model number to consider because the repair is very time consuming.  She did state though that she added notes to the account and to call back if there is any problems. She also stated that Amerigas is an authorized repair service provider for the unit itself.

So I call back Amerigas. I explain everything that I had in my notes from the original purchase and what I was told by Rinnai. I have the workers' names from the office and the installation who all confirmed that it was a twelve year parts and labor guarantee. I explained that Rinnai even stated that AmeriGas could do all the repairs.  I was told flat out NO.  I stated so, then Amerigas is not going to honor, the Heritage Propane warranty? I was given a big NO. I asked if there was someone above the office staff I could speak with and was told no and very bluntly -NOTHING WILL BE DONE.

I did have the free consultation from Charlie's Plumbing and they are great people. The tech that came to my house talked to me about the issue and could not even see a leak and he had stuff running for about a 30 minutes and nothing.  I asked him about flushing the system like Rinnai had said and was told the gas would have to be shut off to the unit in order to flush it and then relit later that day. The tech was honest with me telling me unless you have done plumbing you should NOT do it on your own you could actually mess up the unit. I later confirmed this with two other plumbing companies in the Tampa Bay Area that deal with Rinnai products.  The tech who came out suggested that if I am worried about the leak I could make sure the water was shut off during times of non use.  I am doing exactly that! Because the cost of the repair is $1100 with the part and the cost of a new tank or tankless hot water heater is around $1200.

During this whole mess I keep questioning is there a solution? Well, it would have been for AmeriGas to honor the warranty that Heritage stated multiple times I had. Or for Heritage to not promise something that they had no intention of delivering on. I would not have chosen to go with Heritage Propane if it had not been for the 12 year parts and labor warranty I was promised. So be careful and buyer beware!

Becoming Organized! A One Week Challenge!

The Problem!

So normally I am a pretty organized person. I can usually get everything I need to get finished, completed and have time to spare. However, recently I have been struggling badly!  I have had some people who are close to me saying you're taking on too much and you're putting too much  pressure on yourself.  The thing is I have to do everything I have taken on because if I don't who will handle it? I am a Mom, Teacher, Home Guru, Business Owner, Freelancer, Professional Crafter and Independent Contractor!  The last four are how I make money to help support my children and myself.  If I don't handle business I do not have anyone else who can do it!

I watched a video blog post on Facebook last night about a woman who tried the Navy Seal 4:30am wake up challenge for five days. Let's be honest though for everyone who really knows me, you know if I get stuck on a project late at night I will be going to bed at one or two in the morning.  So that is a huge not happening in my book.  So I am going to be a little more reasonable. I am going to shoot for a 5:30am-6am wake up call. 

What I Want To Accomplish!

Then I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish more along with my day job of being an independent contractor.  Now this list is in no particular order!

1. Focus on my daily crafting projects for my gift store.

2. Being able to freelance more to earn more money.

3. Not feeling like I am rushing when I am cleaning the house and doing chores.

4. Maintaining the blog and doing multiple articles and updates every week.

5. Working on the next book I have set for publication as well as getting some book plot lines published in the book section of the blog.

6. Getting my exercise on! Yes, I walk and do cardio as well as yoga and have been losing weight, however, I am stuck on a wall at 220 pounds. The problem is at 8pm when I was used to doing it, I am normally exhausted and all I want to do is sit and relax.

7. Not rushing to make meals during the day or deserts. I really miss having the time to cook and enjoy the food.

8. Being able to have more one on one time for Robbie's Homeschooling.

9. Having time to take care of myself. Seriously,  I want some me time to meditate or even just shave my legs.

10. Making time for things I enjoy.

So how am I going to accomplish all of these goals this week? That is easy I plan on organizing myself a bit more and getting a game plan underway.

Sunday Night 2-3-2019

Well, I did my walk this afternoon so I could be rested tonight and ready for my start in the morning. This early to bed idea hinged on getting Robbie to bed at a decent time.  However, his dad told him "Yeah, go play your video game you can stay up." Then he went out and left getting Robbie to bed my deal. I explained to Robbie that I want to go to bed so he has to go to bed and he is a smart kid so we are almost to bed.

The next thing I did was I decided was dinner for Monday!  I decided Vegetarian Taco Soup!  Super simple and I had everything in the cabinet since its an open and dump crock pot recipe.  Since I wasn't sure on how the kids would like the soup I am only making a small batch of it, so I cut the recipe down by half just so we can try it. I hate waste and throwing out food and my kids can either say yes, we like it or no we hate it so we will see. I know breakfast and lunch is handled with the food in the fridge so I feel good knowing that I organized myself in this small part of my life. 

After I decided dinner and got that organized I sat down and made sure that Robbie's assignment list is ready to go in the morning so we can do all his assignments for the week.  I do this so he knows the bare minimum he has to do during the week  and there is less arguing.

Well. I finally am getting Robbie down to sleep at 10pm so I am off to get some sleep myself! See you all between 5:30a and 6am.

May the goddess and gods be merciful!

Monday, 2-4-2019

Had a super hard time getting up today, so I did not roll out of bed until 6am.  I feel okay, however, I went to get toilet paper to put in the bathroom and discovered that the tankless hot water heater had sprung a leak and my entire laundry room floor had water all over it.  Call the emergency line to see what the option could be since the manual didn't even tell you how to shut the water off to it.  When I talked to the national emergency line to find out how to shut the water off.  When he called he had stated that the call center rep told the local technician that my basement was flooded.... I have a basement? I explained I needed to find out how to shut the water off as it was leaking. He laughed about it and said not flooded? I explained I was in there at 11:45pm and had put hand towels in the basket and nothing was wet when I reached into the basket the basket was soaked as well as the floor, so this had to have happened over night! The technician is getting my information in so we can see if its under warranty still (it should be) and is going to call me back asap! Thankfully its not a huge drip and I have a bucket under it now.

 A perk of being up this early I am almost done with the cleanup from this water leaking.  The bad thing is that unless I was to call an emergency plumber nothing is open yet!

So how was your morning so far?

2:06 Pm- Today had been a very trying day and I almost scrapped the experiment. Almost! Still getting things done and moving, however, due to events beyond my control I am having a hard time dealing with things right now.

8:43 pm- Well, I made it and I am exhausted!  After the whole waking to a leaking hot water tank and the garbage that came along with that I did accomplish more than what I thought!  I hope that tomorrow is a bit better, but that will have to wait.

Tuesday, 2-5-2019

7:07am and I could not get up this morning. I slept through my alarm at 5:30 and could not drag myself out of bed until about 6:15am.  I did everything to get moving, but I was very tired.  It does not help that my stress level is through the roof and I feel like my body is fighting itself.  I am definitely going to go to bed earlier tonight.

7:50am Walk for the day out of the way!

9:50am Started laundry, Freelanced some, took buddy for a walk, did dishes and showered. To me this is a great accomplishment to get all of this done before I even start my work shift today! Now to start Robbie on his school work!

2:00pm Well, work shift is over and got calls I needed to get done finished! Now I have some time to do some freelancing and get some stuff done!

Without going into details for the rest of the day I had a medical issue that had to be dealt with so I was not as productive as I wanted to be.  After dealing with it, I was pretty much in bed at that point sick as can be. But as the true mom, boss, I am at least I got to get Robbie settled and Buddy walked.

Wednesday, 2-6-2019

Good Morning, Not really, I have been dealing with a medical issue since yesterday afternoon and am still feeling the aftermath of it now.  I was up at 5:15 this morning when my kids, dad's car alarm was set off.  I might have dozed on and off till 6:00am when my second alarm went off.  I did get up and take Buddy for a walk, but when I came home I lay in bed and answered emails because I feel like I have been hit by a bus.  I am hoping as its a long work day I can push through. 

After a wonderful visit to the hospital due to a medical issue I have been discharged.  I can not believe this experiment of mine has had so many issues. 

Thursday, 2-7-2019

Well, due to so many issues I have had some serious thought and am going to have to adjust my times and try to finish this experiment the best I can.  However, due to the fact I need rest I might just have to see what I am going to be able to do as I am actually pretty sick. I am hoping in the next day or so I might be able to get it back on track and give you a better understanding of what I have found.

Friday, 2-8-2019

Due to a mini health crisis the experiment had to be cancelled. My health was  unfortunately not cooperating and I ended up having to sleep between work shifts to get through what I was going through.  It was not a good thing for me.

However a silver lining to this whole attempt at this experiment is that it did work the way it was supposed to!  When I got up at an earlier hour I did get a bunch of things done and had a much more productive day!  It helped me get through what I needed to get through and I found some time to accomplish some of the goals I had originally strived to do at the beginning of this whole experiment. As my health issues kicked back in I am going to have to take it a bit slower. 

This experiment did prove if you apply yourself, you can indeed accomplish anything you put your mind to and being organized and on a schedule is possible. Since this experiment crashed and burned I have started to get myself in a routine so I can be more organized. The best thing about it is that it works. I hope, although my experiment went to the wayside that you can take something from this experiment.

-Blessings and Love

Angie

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