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Jan 24, 2012    |       18 comments

Excuse me, can I pay this bill?

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I enjoy paying bills. I know. Sick. But, I like reducing debt so much that I feel good watching numbers go down. It’s a great feeling.

Anyway, I’m old school. I write checks to pay bills.

Yes, I know you can pay bills online.

I’m a nerd who likes writing checks.

I wrote a check to our utility company for about $60 and it hasn’t been cashed yet. No biggie right? Except, I wrote the check just over SIX months ago. I called about three months ago to make sure the payment was applied to my balance and it was… but the check remains un-cashed.

The friendly customer service person said my account was in good standing but when I asked her when the check would be cashed, she said to keep waiting.

So here we are, inching toward month SEVEN, and I’m confused as to what to do. Do I call the utility company and offer another check? Or do I lean back, kick my feet up, and figure it’s their loss?

What would you do?

*On a side note, this isn’t the first time this has happened to me. I paid another bill and more than a year went by. They never cashed the check and would not accept another payment because their system would not handle ‘double’ payments.

Jan 20, 2012    |       6 comments

Passing Down Traits…

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After picking up my son, I arrived home tired from work last night. I schlepped off my formal work clothes and donned an oversized t-shirt, sweat pants, and fluffy pink slippers. Just thinking about making dinner was making me drag.

Baby boy started fussing a little, hungry for his dinner. I looked at him, smiled, and started asking him if he was hungry.

Asking him while singing in an opera voice.

I didn’t even realize I was doing it until about the fourth time singing, ‘AaaaaaAAAaaAAaaare you HuuuuUUUUuuuungry BoyyyyYYYYyyyYYY?’

I don’t sing opera. Um. Hubby would like to say I can’t sing at all. And before baby Cash was born, you wouldn’t catch me singing…ever. But here I was, standing in my living room, singing in an opera voice to my son.

And then I choked.

I have turned into my mother.

My whole life, my mother sang in an opera voice to children. I don’t think she’s capable of speaking to them, only singing. And I realized, I’ve picked up a lot of traits from my mother. That got me thinking, what traits will I pass to my children? I want them to be good, kind hearted, giving, etc. But what will they find themselves doing that says ‘I’ve turned into my mother!’? What stands out about me?

Will it be my goodness? My kindness? My giving?

Ha.

I have a feeling Cash will be standing in the snack aisle screaming ‘I WILL NOT buy you!!’ to the Lays potato chips when he’s thirty.

I’ve got to start being the person I want my son to become.

I may never shake the singing thing… but maybe that’s not a bad thing. It reminds me that tiny little eyes are watching.

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