Nancy's Ramblings

Mystery Shopping

2009-04-23T08:20:00.003-05:00

I am convinced that if I did not have a family or anything else to do I still could not support myself on Mystery Shopping. Here is a picture of my paperwork for the last 2 months.

I have been to Ohio and New York with Pennsylvania in between.

Here are the type of shops I have done this month:

Calling for a home loan

Going to a specialty gift shop

Theater Check

Checking out available Movie titles

Evaluating sales and service for a Cellular company

Fast food Drive Thur and sit down

Sit down restaurant both dine in and sit down

Call about auto parts

Audits of two different stores

Truck stop food

Cable service

Grocery Store

Taking a test

Eating at the mall

Bank shop as a new customer

Coffee shop

Office Store

Next I want some pizza shops or a spa. I am grateful to be an independent contractor for all these companies. They give me the opportunity to evaluate service and hopefully reward those who deserved it. I can also point out those who need a little more training.

It gives me the opportunity also to do more shopping or eating out without the guilt since we don't have a regular income since Ryan's job was eliminated at GE.

I do have a brother

2009-03-24T09:23:00.003-05:00

Here is what my brother did to his kid ... thankfully I don't think he learned this from my mom.

Can you tell the next day is class pictures.

Guess what I was doing to get this face :)

2009-03-24T09:15:00.001-05:00

Next?

2009-02-11T10:44:00.003-06:00

So what do we do next now that Ryan only has 2 months left at GE?

Sell some extra furnature I just don't want to even lift again :)

Ebay books I haven't looked at in 2 moves

Hug Anna

Look for another job

Praise God we don't have to sell a house here

2009-01-15T17:55:00.000-06:00

1 minute, 3 seconds

I just did this exam :) Better than AP Chem!

2009-01-14T08:45:00.001-06:00

So is this picture good enough to be on Anna's wedding video in 20 years?

What do I do all day?

2008-11-07T07:08:00.004-06:00

This is what I did yesterday

I read Anna 9 books
I made home made apple sauce 3 liters - plan to can it today
Made a Spaghetti Squash - plan to turn it into ravioli today
Prepped for 4 mystery shops
Made Salmon for dinner
Made French and Honey Wheat bread from scratch
IM'ed my brother
Washed and put away 1 dishwasher full and 4 towels of cleaned stuff
3 loads of laundry

Plans for today - We will see what I get to today

Can the apple sauce
Hang curtains
Make the Ravioli
Use the french bread for Bruchetta
Do 4 mystery shops - 3 are call in shops
Play with Anna

Pictures from this week

2008-09-11T20:48:00.005-05:00

Here are a few pictures from our last week - a wild ride. Yes this is pictures from only 10 days of our lives.

We went to Heston Labor day weekend to watch trains with Ryan's brothers and kids.

Here is a sunset at Lions Beach in St. Joe Michigan.

We went up to Free soil to Ryan's parents Cabin, we did a lot of reading there.

Here is a picture of Anna and Beraket our friends new adopted daughter up in Travers City.

Here is a sunset on Lake Michigan in Manastee.

Grandma with her grand kids. Thankfully she is watching Anna while we look for a house here in Erie today.Here are some pictures from bathrooms of homes we have looked at, not all houses are this bad.

3rd floor bathroom.

Matching everything in the room and its the only bathroom in the house. Anna would love it.

This is a toilet in the hall closet, right next to the front door. Yes you can see it from the top to the stairs.These homes were built 70 years ago, people had a lot of time on their hands. I think we saw at least 2 shower heads in basement ... just shower heads.

So why do I have an mp3 player

2008-08-24T15:15:00.002-05:00

I got my 2 gig MP3 player the January before we moved to India. I had it in my head I would not find the Christan music I find here.

It also worked as a 2 gig thumb drive at work. Even when they outlawed the use of them I was still handing it around to everyone.

It was also my saving grace in India. Its so loud there, the horns, the people the cars, buses and I would some times take it and listen to it on the way to work. Hearing Amazing Grace on the harp done by sister in law did me a lot of good. When your senses are overloaded having a peaceful experience can change your entire attitude. I could also listen to it at work, since of course you don't load up the work computer with your own music.

It was well worth the $40 at tigerdirect.com

What am I going to miss?

2008-06-26T04:50:00.002-05:00

My friends, those who speak English and the ones who only speak Tamil, we share life
Sambar, dosa, chapatti, appalum, drum stick, and so much more fresh food
Autos, I will have to drive myself again
Cramming into a bus and having 6 other people touching me. Some times you end up leaving with some one elses scarf
Living on a few coins a day
Seeing the ingenuity of a woman who makes $50 a month while doing 3 businesses, taking care of 2 kids and her parents in her home
The love of simplicity. You get by with what you have and that’s it.
Working all week with Ryan on projects, proving that when you get married two do become 1!
Being appreciated for our spreadsheets, forms and reports.
Knowing the names of the people I deal with daily, my ironers Samiam and Nagaraj, groceries from Latha, being driven by Andros or Selvum.
Playing Settlers of Cattan with other young moms and dads.

A Puppy

2008-06-01T11:11:00.002-05:00

I think Anna is getting into more rational thinking.

We were at the grocery store Saturday and she asks can we buy some puppy food.

I tell her that we need a puppy to buy puppy food.

She says when we get a puppy we may buy him the food :) When we get to America we may have a puppy, right now they are too big for the suitcase (That was our justification earlier this week).

She is only 3, I have my hands full.

Observations of the Day

2008-05-08T02:53:00.002-05:00

Here are some observations I have made on the way to Molikadi brank this week. I am traveling about 2 hours by public transport so I ahve some time on my hands :)

Even blind men fix their hair
At 8 am in Saidapet Market the only thing open is breakfast shops
People seem to be happier at 8 am, they even smile
If you smile at a baby, her mom will smile back

Bummer and Growth

2008-04-25T21:01:00.005-05:00

Ryan's camera was stolen yesterday as we rode the bus home from T. Nagar to Little Mount. We noticed it gone 2 stations before our stop and got off the bus. The bus guys told us to file a report and check back in 30 minutes. We did get to the police station and though the help of a guy also filing a stolen police report got our paperwork done. The police even cracked a joke that they were second to Scotland Yard. Yep, only God can get our camera back.

I am glad to see growth in Ryan. I think a year ago he would have cussed, screamed and not dealt as well with the police. They dictated what they wanted written in his own handwriting. He was patient, something that is cool to see growing in him. I don't know how to describe how proud I am of him.

Yeah he is sad and depressed, didn't sleep well - shoot he used his own train money on this camera but he is also ok. We talked with Anna that evening about the theft, how we feel and that we are grateful we are all safe. It will take some time for him to feel better from his theft of peace and trust in man.

We walked home from the bus stand.

Nothing can really make Ryan feel better but time and God's peace and of course getting the camera back.

Womens Day and Bags

2008-04-20T05:54:00.006-05:00

We have 15,000 clients at Growing Opportunity, its hard to remember them all. One of the great things is that at Women's Day in March we gave out thousands of bags that have the Growing Opportunity Logo. Since then we have seen 5 bags and got pictures of 3 of them.

First one is at the long Saidapet Bus Stand

My Vegetable Lady - You can read about her on my family site by clicking here

The Third one was in T. Nagar on South Usman on the way to the bus stand.

# 4 was at Mary Gloria's house. Her sister is a client :)

# 5 was walking out of Mary Gloria's slum to LDG Road I saw a guy carrying one. These bags sure get around.

Pictures of Life in Chennai

2008-04-02T08:03:00.005-05:00

Here are some pictures I have taken in the past 2 days.

Its Holi time and some kids have the pink powder.

Here is a cow in a very busy intersection, I don't know where he came from.

Here is how some services dry clothes.

Anna wants soy nuts and knows how to get them!

Anna still is sick, she is sleeping on daddy.

Critters in my house

2008-03-27T05:24:00.005-05:00

This is definitely not Michigan. Its like wild kingdom some days here.

I have a lizard living under my microwave.

We have had cats come into our kitchen though our window screen.

Puppies walk in our front door - especially when it is raining.

We had a 40 legged centipede in our sink - very icky, Gnana had to kill it for me.

The monkeys tried to break in my living room. Today I found out the baby ones where small enough to make it though my window bars and push my screens. One taunted me by licking my screen. We sat on the couch watching them for a bit and then Anna got to yell shoo at them.

It all looks cute until you are trapped in your house hoping that this isn't like a episode from Hitchcock's bird movie :)

2008-03-03T23:20:00.005-06:00

This is the required dress for Anna's Graduation.

So you know I am not lying here are more of her class mates. Pre-KG is Pink, LKG is Yellow and UKG is Blue.

2008-02-26T08:05:00.002-06:00

And this is how I feel.

Thank you For Better For worse for getting it RIGHT! Thank you Lynn Johnston!

Dilbert

2008-02-18T09:27:00.001-06:00

:) I need to know what life was like before India.

My light, how does it shine?

2007-12-26T11:08:00.000-06:00

How does your light shine?

Do you have a candle?

Is it broken?

Did some one take a bite out of it?

I heard a really good sermon from Mike Fisher on Christmas. The gist is that God come to Mary, Gideon and Jeremiah at times when they did not value themselves a lot. God valued them, that is what's important.

Shoot Gideon was hiding from life. Mary thought that she was unworthy. Jeremiah couldn't communicate.

God used all of them, he can use all of us broken candles. He can melt us and reshape us, give us a new wick to burn and light our passions in his will.

Rain and wanting to fix the world

2007-11-08T20:07:00.000-06:00

It is 80 F degrees here in Chennai at 7:30 am. It is Monsoon Season but we have not seen rain in a week. I am assured by others we will see more rain this and next month. Sometimes the rain is a blessing when it is so hot and will only get hotter in May, like up to 120 F.

Here are some pictures from our Auto ride to church 2 weeks ago and what happens to the slums when the rain hits. I hate to get wet but I feel a lot worse for those whose homes are on the water. You can't bail out if you house is in the river. We can find places inside to hang our laundry but these homes are 8 x 10 there isn't room to move much less find higher ground. Like my wise friend points out with my American mentality I want to fix everything and in some cases I have to let others do it themselves. They won't learn if they don't do it themselves.

(Make take a couple days to be some where with a strong internet conection to get the pictures uploaded :)

New Links

2007-06-21T21:21:00.000-05:00

I attached a list of links to Mystery Shopping sites I have trusted in the past. I am not responsible if you have a bad time. Those I did not like are not up there anyway. They pay by Paypal, Check or deposit in your bank account. Until you have seen the cash with a company don't give out your Social Security number. Just like the cartoon some companies disappear before you know it.

Mystery Shopping

2007-06-14T21:33:00.001-05:00

So what is Mystery Shopping? You get paid to go to a store, restaurant, gas station, bank or tire store and evaluate food, service, personnel, stock and content to find out if the company is doing its job. That and you get paid, not a whole lot but something to make it worth your while. Some you get reimbursed for what you buy including memberships, bowling games, clothes and food. Some you are authorized to reveal yourself and take pictures of what they need to improve on. In this case they needed to stock their shelves a bit more.

I have been doing this for 3 years now. I started because I was pregnant and too sick to have a job. To get a little cash I tried it out and now I have worked for maybe 15 companies. The jobs available depend on the company and where you are living. Some chains only shop certain districts so you move and you may not be able to do what you did before. I have earned between $1.75 and $35 in fees for a job. I am not getting rich but it does give me some spending money.

I think the hardest ones are the cell phone shops because I have done so many of them. I don't want to reveal that I know too much of they think you are a mystery shopper. I had one guess I was one and I had to play dumb. I think I failed that mission.

Summer Time

2007-06-10T17:29:00.000-05:00

Grandma has a little helper. Anna is not a carbon copy but herself and she really loves all her grandparents. Here she is feeding Grandma Diane some string cheese. I am grateful that Anna is willing to share with people who she loves. Now she needs to learn how to share with those who she may not know or many not even like.

We are on week 2 of potty training. Some times it just works to give her some reading material. Here it is the Dell catalog. She loves looking for the mice and the keyboard. We are only getting one accident a day from her. Only one accident from me too - I dropped my phone in the potty one day while putting her on. Oops, all my hubby said to me is I guess you are a Voit.

Anna loves her computer time with her grandpa too. I think Papa is playing Pogo here. Look at the smile on Grandpa :)

Food Bank

2007-06-09T17:12:00.000-05:00

Today we went with GCC church to the Elkart Food Bank. We got to sort school supplies. Here is the deal: one man who works with the youth had a vision.

At the end of the school year kids clean out their lockers and trash a bunch of usable stuff. He organised 10 schools to have those roll away bins and for the kids to put clothes, papers, books, pens and assorted stuff like that in it. After 64 bins and a bus of people we got it all sorted and it will be off to school kids in Benton Harbor, Chicago and Mexico. In Mexico you can't go to school without supplies and this will help them.

Anna had a ball with the other kids working. She helped in the sorting and taking things to such and such pile. I am proud of her. I think her favorite thing though was the ride there and back on a Real Bus! Check out how dirty I got, well at least my toes :)

Birthday Party

2007-04-27T15:31:00.000-05:00

Today is our friend Clair's Birthday Party. We plan to rejoice that she survived to being 16! Wow, I can't believe that in only 14 years my little one will be 16. No dating or driving for her. I am going to keep her in a bubble. She will only eat sugarless candy and love her vegetables. Her life will be perfect.

HA HA!

Like that will work with the little one as well as it worked with me. God can protect her so much more than I can.

Her uncle Q loves her too!

We moved

2007-04-26T22:06:00.000-05:00

Some day I would like to do a landscape quilt. Maybe one of these pictures of the veiw from where we lived. We are out of the chalet and I haven't touched my quilting items since then.

I am still alive

2007-04-09T21:10:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,

Since we are working on getting letters out to our friends and making contact with others right now my quilting is on the back burner.

I live vicariously though my friends. Here is a great quilt by Michelle. I never liked tans until I met this quilt. The points are amazing! She was in my Moving in after Moving On class which I would highly recommend everyone taking.

Good night,

Nancy

2007-03-24T20:24:00.000-05:00

We will be doing a lot of driving in the next few months visiting lots of friends and family. Friday and Saturday we hung out with Jeff and Barb. Anna got to play with their toys, have hamburgers and a root beer float. It was good to get away, I just forget that when you travel it takes time and when you are in the passenger seat there is NOTHING to do. I need work on that.

It is as exciting as a toddler asleep on you on a couch.

Nancy

OOPS

2007-03-17T19:56:00.000-05:00

Ryan took a bunch of our stuff and put it in storage. That is fine, took lots of trains, toys and by accident my sewing stuff. Scissors, thread, fabric, all notions so I can't work anything. Oops, I guess I will have to wait to fix my PJ's, pants and quilts. At least Anna can keep playing with her little people.

Have fun,

Nancy

Jewel Box Quilt

2007-03-02T14:32:00.000-06:00

This is one that's been in storage for a few years. Ryan bought the fabric and it took a while to find just the right pattern for it.

This is next in my pile to finish, hopefully before we go to India.

Opps, you can see my foot in the picture.

Nancy

Quilts

2007-02-20T12:47:00.000-06:00

Here are a few quilts I am working on. The green one was designed and colored by my loving husband Ryan. He has a much better eye that I do. As I write this I have the border edge done, all it needs is a lable and a little spot fixed.

This rag quilt is for a few freinds in Detroit who had their first son. Featured is our friend Pocken, Anna's favoite buddy. Anna said bye to Pocken 5 times this morning and none to her dad. Some day ....

I will post another quilt from my stash soon.

2007-01-30T18:51:00.000-06:00

I can hear the wind howl right now outside.

This is lake effect and you can't get much closer than I am. I love looking at the trees plastered in snow and seeing how fluffy it is.

I wish I had my snow shoes here by the Michigan Lake Shore.

It is so beautiful it takes your breath away.

Take care,
Nancy

Snow

2007-01-19T21:29:00.000-06:00

Yep, we have snow, lots of it on the cars and the roads. About the time you think that you have the car clean it comes again. I am enjoying this beauty and thanking God for the blessings He has given us. I wonder how it will be to adjust to a low of 60.4 degrees F in India. No snow there.

I have the backing done on my current quilt, now I just need some one with a long arm quilting machine to help.

Good night,

Nancy

Quilts

2007-01-14T17:48:00.000-06:00

Well I am at the same place I go to when I am about to finish a quilt. I have the whole front done, will have some one quilt it and I am stuck with finishing the back. Now I want to start something else versus finishing what I have to do. I think I will make a rag quilt next for some friends from Detroit.

http://www.craftsofchaddsford.com/makeragquilt.htm

It should looking cute with baby flannel.

Great Book

2007-01-13T16:29:00.000-06:00

Recently at the pediatricians office I found a great book for teaching little ones that even if we are not with them we are there in their hearts and minds. The title is the Kissing Hand. Take a look at it the next time you are at Borders or Barns and Noble. Quick store is that the mom kisses the baby raccoons hand and when the baby is lonely it can look at its hand and know mom loves it.

http://www.amazon.com/Kissing-Hand-Audrey-Penn/dp/0878685855

Amazons description:

Chester Raccoon doesn't want to go to school--he wants to stay home with his mother. She assures him that he'll love school--with its promise of new friends, new toys, and new books. Even better, she has a special secret that's been in the family for years--the Kissing Hand. This secret, she tells him, will make school seem as cozy as home. She takes her son's hand, spreads his tiny fingers into a fan and kisses his palm--smack dab in the middle: "Chester felt his mother's kiss rush from his hand, up his arm, and into his heart." Whenever he feels lonely at school, all he has to do is press his hand to his cheek to feel the warmth of his mother's kiss. Chester is so pleased with his Kissing Hand that he--in a genuinely touching moment--gives his mom a Kissing Hand, too, to comfort her when he is away. Audrey Penn's The Kissing Hand, published by the Child Welfare League of America, is just the right book for any child taking that fledgling plunge into preschool--or for any youngster who is temporarily separated from home or loved ones. The rough but endearing raccoon illustrations are as satisfying and soothing for anxious children as the simple story. (Ages 5 and older) --Karin Snelson

My Little One

2007-01-12T19:30:00.000-06:00

As I sit here my husband is reading to Anna. She loves it so much and I am glad, she must take after me. I remember devouring books when I was in High School and at Michigan Tech. After having Anna it took over a year for me to read anything other than just short stories, readers digest or a Get Fuzzy book. Now I am being able to read adult books again and even do some bible studies. Right now I am in one called Moving on after Moving in. How to get into where you live and how to leave your past behind. More or less, get a life.

In half a hour if all goes well she will be sleeping snuggly in her bed with Mortimer, Pinky and Rocky. What a world I wish I lived in.

Shopping

2007-01-12T18:09:00.000-06:00

Today I got to go shopping for myself. Ryan gave me cash for Christmas and the mission to get some new clothing. Most of the time when I go shopping, I am looking for sale items for my daughter, she always needs socks or pants. Toys are great to shop for because you can play with most things before buying them. Then I looks for things my husband needs/wants/expects. Today I got to shop for me, how in the world do I do that?
I thought of what I would like and I got it :) That meant some good socks, some unmentionables and 2 sweaters and a blouse. Only the blouse survived the husband test. That just means some more shopping for another day.