No Regrets...Well, Just One.

I try to be the kind of person that lives without regret.  I wouldn't take back anything that I've done or said or experienced, as that has made me who I am today.  Except for one thing.  If I could go back in time, there is one event that I experienced that I would drastically change.

Circa 2000:

I am at the orthodontist.  My braces are finally off after 3 years of torture, however I now have to wear a "mouth guard."  Like the plastic mouth guard athletes wear, this contraption has been molded to my teeth, except slightly adjusted so as to train my teeth to get just a wee bit straighter.  So, when I bite into it (as I am told that I will have to do every second that I am awake (and not during school) for the next few months) my teeth slide into the new positions in the mouth guard and are straightened.

Anyway, this mouth guard is clear, yet huge and bulky and I can barely close my lips over the damned thing.  As I am sitting in the orthodontists chair, being told how often I have to wear this hideous thing, I am asked if I wouldn't mind showing it to another patient.  You see, this other patient would have to be wearing the same mouth guard thing in a few weeks, so my orthodontist wanted to prepare her.   Upon being asked this, I reply that I don't mind, and the girl is brought over.  I stick the plastic mouth guard in my mouth, as instructed by my orthodontist, and then smile so this girl can see what's going on in my mouth.

Then, this c*nty girl busts into a laughing fit.  Being a self conscience, gawky, 13-year-old girl, I am mortified and start to cry.  Seeing how upset I am, this douchey blonde, cheerleader-type girl quickly comes up with some stupid excuse about how the mouth guard reminds her of her stupid friends and that it really isn't that bad.

I leave the room to compose myself.  This is the moment.  This is the moment that I will regret for the rest of my life.  If I could relive the next five minutes and have a "do-over" I would pick that opportunity over winning a million dollars.

I should never of left the room.  Here's how it should have gone down:

::Girl laughs at me::

After slapping the shit out of that terrible girl, I call her horrible names and tell her what a worthless human being she is.  Upon departing the office, I locate her guardian and tell them what a worthless human being she is.  I probably spit on the girl, too, at some point...

That. Would. Have. Been. Awesome.

But alas, that didn't happen. I left the office dejected and shamed.

So there you have it, the one thing in my life that I wish I would have done differently. I know it isn't much, but every once in a while, I relive that moment, and it haunts me.

Blah.

Bitches, man.

Hoping The Ghosts Take Pity On Me

This past week my husband was out of town.  I was left all alone in the new house for 8 days.  I didn't really think this would be a problem.  I could get some alone time, I could work on orders, I could continue painting the walls in the house. I had stuff to occupy me.

What I didn't think of when agreeing to this arrangement (Husband Guy did check to make sure it was ok to abandon me for over a week), was how I'd feel about sleeping alone.  I can be a semi-paranoid person when I am left alone.  My nighttime imaginations can scare the crap out of me.  When I was little, I'd wake up from a nightmare and sit up in the bed.  I couldn't go back to sleep because I'd scare myself into seeing a line of shadowy ants walking above the baseboard, going around my room.  They were everywhere. [And no where.] My point is, that I can work myself into quite a fright.

Since Husband Guy is working out of town, I'm alone in the bed, with the cat joining me periodically throughout the night.  He likes to venture into the attic, so I leave the door open so he can roam up there as he pleases.  What bothers me most, is that when he is under the covers with me at 3 o'clock in the morning, I hear noises up in the attic.

A room in our super creepy attic.

I get that we now live in an old house, and old homes inherently have creaks. (RIGHT?!)  However, it still scurrs me.  When I am laying in bed, I can hear noises from all over the house, not just the attic. Eeek.

I hope that 1.) The noises are, at the worst, friendly ghosts (and NOT EFFING PEOPLE HIDING IN MY HOUSE THAT ARE WAITING UNTIL I GO TO SLEEP TO CREEP NEXT TO MY SLEEPING FACE AND KILL ME), and 2.) The ghosts think upon me in a kindly fashion. ie. They see that I want to make the house nice and that I appreciate it and I am all alone and I'm not snooty and I brush my teeth twice a day and I try to be a good person while I'm in the house, etc.  Surely, if I have such qualities the ghosts will have to be nice?

I wonder at what age I will be when I am able to not freak myself out.

Frustration.

I recently moved into a new house with mah husband.  Luckily, there isn't too much work that needs to be done.  Mainly just painting.  Our bedroom was the room that needed paint the worst.  It had a lot of cracks and blemishes on the wall that I needed to spackel, sand, and then paint.

The awesome thing was that I loved the paint color that was already on the walls, AND there was a full gallon of this paint color in the basement. Free paint = Happy Brandy.

When we were moving in, I had all of our bedroom furniture deposited in the spare room, leaving this bedroom empty so I could get to work immediately. I tried to repair the walls as best I could (though I fear the wall above will need to be replaced in the future), taped plastic over the floor, and then taped around the trim. I was ready to start painting with the free, awesome paint that I had in stock!

I retrieved the paint can from the basement, and upon attempting to open it, I ran into a few problems.  Problem #1: Since I didn't just buy the paint, I didn't have any paint can openers (or paint stirrers, but I remedied that by using an old ruler). How the hell was I suppose to open this paint can?  I first tried using our can opener from the kitchen (It has a metal piece on it that I could wedge in the top of the paint can). That didn't help too much. I then grabbed a butter knife and started hammering it into any cracks I could find in the lid.

Problem #2: Pain. This method eventually got the lid off, but it hurt like a bitch.  I repeatedly hit my knuckle, and well, it hurt.  But I needed to get this freaking lid off!  I didn't want to go buy new paint when I had paint on hand. After 20 minutes of hammering the butter knife around the lid (and numerous hard strikes with the hammer on my knuckle), the lid was off. Well, it didn't come off completely.  I was able to pull it mostly off with some pliers, and then the lid stayed attached to the can like a hinge.

 Ew, son.

Problem #3: I've finished painting the walls, but I now can't close the lid and store the rest of the paint.  I had a little empty container and put a small bit of paint in that to keep for touchups.  I guess I'll have to find a way to dispose of the rest of the paint and the can...

This is the knuckle that I often wound when stamping tags, so this type of injury isn't new to me.  Poor hand. :(

This is a different wall in the room post-painting.  I think it'll do until we decide to change the color.  It should help hide the plaster blemishes once we add in furniture, things on the wall, and some nice, fluffy curtains.


Next, to tackle the pink dining room!

Unplanned, Brief Hiatus

I try to be responsible when it comes to running my b'ness.  When I am running low on a supply that is required for me to make my tags and keychains, I reorder with, what I think, is plenty of time to spare. Though, sometimes things are just outside my control, and this does not sit well with a control freak like me!

Case in point: I ordered some supplies 2 months ago.  They were backordered.  Fine, I'll wait. It's ok, because I left a buffer to allow for things like this (judging by past orders I had made that were back ordered). However, it is 2 months later, and the supplies are still on backorder, and I have run out of reserve supplies. Well, frick. :(

So! I am forced to "take a break" until I can get these necessary supplies in my possession.  Needless to say, this break was not planned, and has me kind of...well, upset.  My vendor has informed me that these items will not be available to be shipped to me for a few more weeks, totally screwing up my "I take orders at the beginning of every month"-plan.

The ONLY positive thing I can see in this situation, is that Husband Guy and I will likely be moving during this "break," so I guess now I have time to pack up our crap and move without stressing about work.  [Before this incident occurred, I had just planned on packing/moving during my "off hours."]

I've been pretty bummed with this news, and I feel terrible with not being able to take orders.  I guess it is as good a time as any to catch up on chores and assignments my husband has given me - like photographing all the recent origami he's folded...

 Grizzly Bear

 Lyrebird

Moose

 Lion

 Lion vs. Lion

Lion

....and getting rid of all the empty booze bottles we've accumulated over the past 3 years...

....and trying to pay attention to the cat, which actually has not gone so well. I started off this hiatus by locking him in the bathroom for a hour (with his litter box) so I wouldn't have to listen to him whine at me and bat at my face. Yes, I know I am an unfit mother.

I am still available via email if anyone has any questions regarding custom luggage tags, keychains, etc.  I hope to have the shop reopened by mid-August, but that is completely dependent on when I get my much needed supplies.  You can email me at brandy[at]of-the-fountain.com with any inquiries.

The Saddest Cake Balls

One of my favorite treats is a birthday-cake cake pop from Starbucks.  They are so effing good.  However, when one is searching for a sweet snack, who wants only 1 freaking cake pop? No one.  You need at least 5 or 6 for it to be a completely satisfying experience.

Unfortunately for me, buying 5 or 6 cakes pops in one sitting just to satisfy my sweet tooth is not a justifiable expense.  So, for about a year or so, I have been making my own cake pops.  Well, initially they were pops (I stick cake balls on the end of a stick), but I have since grown lazy (and cheap), so I now just make cake balls.

Cake Balls Recipe, my simple version

Cook a cake from a box mix. I like funfetti.
While still scalding hot*, crumble cake into a bowl.
Plop in a dollop of tub icing. I like vanilla.
Mix together and form lil' balls.
Dip balls in melted chocolate. I like white chocolate.
Stick in fridge to create an impenetrable, tooth cracking, chocolate shell around the cakey middle.

*My method, but not required if you like your skin to not hurt.


For some reason, my last batch turned out pretty ugly.  They tasted fine, but I was having some major issues getting the chocolate to evenly and smoothly cover the cake balls.  Also, I used my fingers to dip the cake balls into the chocolate, which probably doesn't help things. Now I see the point of the stick! :)

Towards the end, when I knew the cake balls weren't going to be getting any prettier, I just made some log shaped cake things and drizzled chocolate over it.  I needed to end things - and fast.

This is the second batch, so that's why there isn't that many.  One box of cake mix yields about 30 little cake balls. For $10 for 30 cake ugly cake pops, it's still a better deal than Starbucks.  Plus, you can stick them in a bag and munch on them for a week. :)



I found some photos of some cake pops I made about 7 months ago, when I semi-cared about their appearance.

 I think I just used long kebab skewers I had on hand and cut them into smaller pieces.  I used icing to secure the stick into the cake ball (though I doubt the icing helped at all).

While not super smooth, I think these cake pops turned out a lot better than those of the recent Cake Ball Debacle.  Please note, chocolate cake balls are NOT better than funfetti cake balls.

All Night Long, All Night.

All of my work is conducted at home. I am alone all day. Well, alone enough.  Because I am alone all day, I have developed some odd coping methods to deal with this solitary working environment.  The most recent tick I've developed is singing songs about the tags that I am working on at the moment.  The lyrics of these songs usually consist only of the names going on the tags, and are almost always sung to the tune of Ruby Rhod's deejay jingle from The Fifth Element (at 1:30), where he sings, "All night long, all niiiight."

A sampling of today's songs:

"Matt and Kass, MattandkaAhaaass"
"A W S, A W Ssss"

I also do something similar when I am printing out shipping labels.  However, by the time I get to this point in my day (late in the evening), my husband guy is home, sitting near me on his computer.  Surprisingly, whenever I randomly bust into song singing a guy's name as I am working on packing up said guy's order, my husband doesn't even comment/care.  I guess he's used to it.

The Hobbit --> Depression

For so long I was spoiled.  I had so much to look forward to. Years and years of enjoyment were laid out before me - perfectly planned.  Sadly, it appears that this precious way of life will soon come to an end.  After The Hobbit (Part 1 & 2) have come and gone in theatres, I will have no other beacons of potential happiness to light the way of my life. 

Err...my "movie watching" life.

While I really want to blame the Lord of the Rings trilogy for this problem, I cannot. No, this terrible situation that will soon be upon me can only be blamed on Harry F*cking Potter.  Harry Potter was always there...for years and years and years I always had a new Harry Potter movie to look forward to.  Yeah, it may not have always been the awesomely perfect magical movie that I was hoping for, but that didn't matter, for there would be another! And another! And another!

And then it stopped.  After Lord of the Rings was finished, Harry Potter soon followed.  Now all that's left is The Hobbit.  I know, I should be grateful that I at least have that, but I can't help but be depressed whenever I think of how I'll feel after The Hobbit: Pt. 2 comes out.  I'll have absolutely no other movie to be excited about.

It's so dark here.  There are no windows. I hope for the sake of my emotionally struggling 'movie life' that some lightbringer emerges and it is bright once again.

Wow! Keep the sharp knives away from me!



My husband's response to all of this drama? "First world problems."


**UPDATE!  The Hobbit has now been turned into a trilogy, so I can stave off mind numbing depression until after July 2014!  This is good news. Good news indeed.

On The Road Again...

Today the Getting Married Trip begins!  We are departing Boston to drive south to Atlanta for the wedding on April 23rd.  In tow (or in the back seat) is my wedding dress, future husband guy's suit, and about 50 pounds of blankets covering the two.  Why the hell is that necessary??

This beast. He abhors being in a cage (he howls, scratches the door and breaks off his nails - even when drugged), so we find it easier for everyone to just let him roam around the car when we drive.  90% of the 20 hour drive to Georgia he sits in the lap of whoever is sitting in the passenger seat.  The real problem occurs when we stop for gas or food.  Whenever the car is stopped Rasputin finds it necessary to crawl to the back of the car, and meow/look like a creepy ghoul at whoever passes by the car.  We know that he is going to be roaming all over the car during this trip, so it is easier to just protect our wedding clothes with a mound of blankets, then trying to get him to stay up front with us the whole time.

I guess it bears mentioning that he isn't declawed.  I've never had a declawed cat and I think it a terrible thing to do to a cat.  My better half wants to declaw him.  However, since Pooper doesn't have fur, I'd have to look at the nubby scars on his declawed feet, and I just can't do it - it would break my heart!  No declawing my Demon Baby!  More to the point, even with his claws trimmed, our wedding clothes will be in danger unless there is some type of buffer between the clothes and his claws, so a pile of blankets it is!

Rasputin will be staying with my Dad and stepmom for the entire time we are away for the wedding.  They have a white, slow minded Pomeranian.  Rasputin loves to terrorize him, so I do feel sorry for the simple fluff ball. :(  However, leaving the cat at my dad's means I'll be able to sleep through the night on the honeymoon. (The cat wakes me up at least 5 times a night meowing in my face or clawing to get under the covers.)  I am SO looking forward to being free of that for a few days. =)

Off we go! To the land of Krystals, Waffle House, and The Varsity (my favorite places!!).  When we returned to Boston I'll be a Smi Wife and have a Smi Husband!

Catty Castle

A month or two ago I fashioned this beast out of an empty box and some suede lace. This Catty Castle is complete with drawbridge-esque balcony, V.I.P. entrance (see entrance being used in photo above), a formal ground level entrance with fancy doors, and a window for peeping.

As of now, it is sitting upside down in a heap, waiting to be broken down and thrown out.  But in it's hay day, the glory of this castle rivaled such establishments as Rasputin's Holiday Emporium and the Evil Cat Asylum!

 Keeping a lookout from inside his fortified complex.

 Using the formal entrance.

Neutralizing intruders.

Acting as head of the rooftop guard.

Perhaps unjustly neutralizing intruders...

Preparing Face Skin for Weddin' Day

So, my wedding is less than a month away.  The biggest thing that I have feared since getting engaged is having skin issues on my wedding day.   I've spent the past 6 months doing everything I can to get my skin blemish-free.  I've made a habit of eating as healthy a possible.  I drink mainly water and green tea.  I've spent a small fortune on a new skin regimen.  I try and destress as much as possible (stress seems to be my biggest acne trigger and is the main reason that I made sure I'd have a few weeks off from work before the wedding to destress and focus only on finishing up wedding thangs).  I've also been doing shots of apple cider vinegar (which I find to be easier than adding it to tea and having to suffer through the entire drink).

So, how has my skin reacted to these seemingly positive changes? Eh. As of today I have some "issues" going on. But, I have also reached a happy mentality regarding my skin that I am happy to share: I no longer give a shit.

 About a week ago.  Things have since gotten a little...not awesome.

Yup.  In worrying so much about this stupid little "problem" of mine, I now realize how fucking seriously vain I can be. Having skin issues is such an insignificant matter when looking at the bigger picture.  I am getting married to someone I love dearly and get to be with forever.  We both have our health.  We are planning a wedding day that is exactly how we want it be. There are many people in this world that are not so lucky.  In some countries it is commonplace for young girls to be forced to marry much older men.  There are people that literally will never see the person they are marrying because they are blind. Some people are too ill to even contemplate having a wedding. Millions of people simply can't get married as they currently are denied the right.  And yet, here I am, getting married to someone I myself chose, in exactly the way I want - and still complaining and fearing about having acne on my face when I get married.  I feel like such an asshole.  So, hence the new rationale/life motto on this situation mentioned earlier.  Well, actually, I am just going to add it to my repertoire of existing life mottos.  The first being Fuck it.*

Sorry about the language.  It seems that admitting/discovering that I am being a self-absorbed brat really bothers me. It also appears that my life mottos require foul language to motivate me. ><

I, of course, will hope to have fabulous, movie-star quality skin on The Big Day, but I am done worrying about it.  Even if I have crap on my face, I'll still be married to my dream guy. At the end of the day, that will always be more important than looking pretty. :)



*This motto was brought about during a time in my life where a major change occurred and I suddenly felt completely free to do whatever the hell I wanted to - and did - and still do.  I want to go to NYC *now* to clear my head. Fuck it, flight booked.  I want to join a dating website for geeks because where the hell are you suppose to meet hot, smart, geeky guys? Fuck it, profile created. (Husband acquired!) You get the gist...

Justifiable Clutter

We leave in less than month to head South for our wedding.  My goal is to have our apartment in *pristine* condition before we leave, so when we come back after a few weeks of getting married and honeymoonin' we have a nice, clean place to start everything off fresh..

The problem is that I have seriously dropped the ball on maintaining a "reasonably clean" home as of late.  While I suppose yes, I have been busy with work, sheer laziness probably plays a huge role.  The biggest issue with housekeeping at the moment is keeping crap off the floor.  One might think, if you drop something, pick it up.  Or, if you make a mess, clean it up.  Or, if you disrobe in your living room, make sure you help your clothes find the hamper as soon as you are able.  Regardless, keeping crap off the floor that doesn't belong on the floor, really doesn't sound like too difficult a chore.

Sadly, for me, right now, it is. In the middle of my living/dining room, in the way of foot traffic (we have to step over this stuff to move about) is the following:

-a few cardboard boxes in various states of disrepair (including one Catty castle - a later post)
-Christmas lights
-numerous DVD boxes (including Game of Thrones!!)
-random bits of napkin, copy paper, and torn up tissue paper
-yards and yards of suede lace (I blame Catty)
-batteries
-cat toys
-wedding program samples (currently strewn under the dining table...)
-a rogue handkerchief
-3 separate sock "graveyards"
-kitchen/hall smoke detector
-general garbage


The above just describes what's covering the floor. The middle of the floor - not even neatly piled in a corner (though I like how you think!). I haven't even gotten to the tables and other flat surfaces. :(

I could go on, but you get the point.  Our apartment is in a pretty bad state.  However, I like to blame most of the floor issues on the cat.  You see, he neeeeds this stuff to stimulate his brain.  He is a very social cat, but sadly he doesn't get a lot of attention from me during the day because I don't have time with work and all.  Once I see Pooper start playing with some trash on the floor, and see how entertained he is, I wouldn't dare take that enjoyment away from him!  Then he moves onto some different pile of trash or clothes.  But what if he wants to return to the old pile of trash later.  I have to keep/save it for him - just in case. ;)

 Catty as scapegoat - he is not amused.

Yes. I am aware that this is probably unhealthy, prehoarding rationalizing.  But for now, he gets to keep his fun floor entertainment.  Cleaning begins...sometime in the "near" future.

Catty VS Bag

My cat loves getting into things.  He's quite terrible in fact.  Anything that I leave unattended will be inspected and molested by Catty.  This poor plastic bag was one of Rasputin's most recent conquests....or was it?

 Everything started off great.  Catty found a new nesting spot inside the bag, the bag was getting used - all was just swell.

 Then the cat got stuck.  He ran around for while with bag flailing behind him like a cape.

Things were rough for a while, but after adequately licking the bag.....

 ...Rasputin was free!

Catty VS Chair

My cat sucks at using his claws.  Well, he's good at having them extended, he just doesn't know how to properly retract them.  Often times he gets his "thumb" claw stuck on/in something, and his solution is just to pull until it comes loose.  Instead, if he simply pushed his arm forward this claw would be freed and he could be spared some struggling.  But, this doesn't happen and I am relegated to rescuing him before he rips off his claw (or I fear that he will).

Below is a heartbreaking event that I was witness to the other day.  My catty, Rasputin, got one of his "thumb" claws stuck in my computer chair.  This happens a lot.  He flopped around for a while before I freed him. (Does it make me a bad person that I let him squirm around, and took pictures of it, before unhooking him from the chair?)

I wonder how he used to survive on his own all day when I didn't work from home...

Ok, so I only let him suffer just long enough to take pictures.  Then, I helped him unhook his little claw (which took a few minutes as he had twisted his paw in such a way that I couldn't tell which way I should be manipulating his paw to free him from the grasp of the chair.)

My work station can get a little messy.  You probably can't tell, but I am using two dining room chairs placed on either side of my desk as additional "work surface."  Totally chic, modern, and classy - I know.

Aw, my poor little demon baby!  (Luckily, he's my mom's problem while we are in Peru. ::evil laugh::)

Bad Mom

How often is too often to blog about your cat?   I try not to overload the blog with my freakishly ugly/cute cat, but sometimes I need something to talk about...ya know, blog fodder?

So my sphynx cat, Rasputin, is currently my only child.  [Totally off subject, I am really digging the name "Khaleesi" for a girl's name.  Too much Game of Thrones? I think not!) Anyway, my Lil' Pooper, Rasputin is a terrible, terrible child.  Due to his ill-natured temperament, I am often finding myself doing things that may make me a bad "cat mom".

For example, his breed requires that he be thoroughly bathed once a week.  Well, my catty HATES baths.  He screams and claws and whines, like you would expect a cat to do.  So I only give him a bath when I am expecting company or once a month.

The place where traumatizing cat baths occur.

Due to him not having any fur to protect his skin, my cat is more susceptible to skin irritation caused by the sun, AKA sunburn.  Aww!  Rasputin loves to look outside at the buses and people roaming through our backyard, and in doing this he is often sitting in direct sunlight for an hour or two at a time.  The top of his little head and ears get red.  When I remember, I put some SPF 80 on these places, but I don't always remember.  I hope this doesn't spur medical problems in his future. :(

I think the worse thing that I do is let him get away with things he should not be doing.  I should be guiding him in the proper ways that a nice catty should act, and I am so not doing this.  At first, I didn't want him on the kitchen counters, because ew.  I would yell at him, spank him, look at him all mean-like, etc. whenever he did this.  I don't think he feels pain like a normal cat, because he didn't respond to my spankings.  He did however, loudly (and heart-breakingly) respond to my boyfriend gnawing on his tail.  Unfortunately, my boyfriend isn't around during the day, so I have to be the disciplinarian most of the time and I just can't will myself to gnaw on my kitty.  (Haha. See how I did that??).  My point is that I've given up on teaching him that climbing on the kitchen counters and cabinets is wrong.  I'm just going to let him be bad because it's easier than raising him to be a good cat.

From high up in his kitchen cabinet command post, Rasputin stares at me while I work.  It's quite unsettling.

I think the worst thing that I do by him is not give him the amount of attention he desires.  His breed is very social, and he spends hours a day walking around our apartment, meowing his little hairless heart out, calling out to be socially stimulated.  I am ashamed to say that I am often too busy to provide him with an adequate play session a lot of the time.  However! We plan on getting him a little dog friend soon, and Pooper *loves* other animals, so I hope this will help with the incessant meowing.  Until then, we'll both suffer. Together. :)

Out of Stock

*pout*.  I had to close my shop. Again. :(  When I closed it a month ago, it was because my family was in town.  This time, I simply ran out of materials. A few weeks ago I ordered supplies as I was running low on things that are integral in making my custom luggage tags.  Sadly, my order was placed on back order and I have no idea when the materials will be in stock and shipped to me.

I am so sad about this that I heaped onto the grass.  (Lies! I took this picture in May. No idea why. I am still sad, though.)

I still have enough materials in stock to finish up orders that were placed before I closed my shop, but I am not comfortable with new customers ordering tags when I don't know if I will have the materials in stock by the time I got to processing their order. So, I decided to close up shop until I get a refill on my supplies.

I have my *fingers crossed* that the supplies arrive soon.

Paypal Sucks So Bad

Normally, Paypal and I have a pretty decent relationship.  They collect money on my behalf, I give them a little money in return, they let me print shipping labels, and then Paypal kindly contacts my US customers to notify them that their order has been shipped and even gives them a link to where they can track their order.

Not anymore.  They will gladly take their cut of my income, but Paypal is no longer allowing me to print shipping labels.  I am beyond pissed and annoyed.

On May 25, 2011, I attempted to print a USPS shipping label off of Paypal like I've [correct use of] literally done over 1,000 times.  I was greeted with this response:

PayPal Shipping is not available. We apologize for the inconvenience.


Huh.  So I try again. All day, every hour I attempted to print out shipping labels. No success.  I contact Paypal's support through email.  They suggested that I'm just an idiot and doing something wrong.  Needless to say, I told them in polite words, that I do this crap every GD day and I know how to print an effing shipping label.  After phoning the customer support, I got a somewhat more satisfying response.  I was informed that Paypal shipping was broken (for a handful of poor souls) and it will be fixed in 48-72 hours.

After getting off the phone I was shocked. 2-3 DAYS before I can print a label?! You have got to be sh*tting me! (I'd lost all sense of class by this point.)  For 3 days I still tried printing labels with no success, but knew that was going to be fixed soon, so I didn't stress too much.

I finally gave up hope that Paypal was going to be fixed, and had to lug accumulated orders to the Post Office so each could be given postage.  I was there for a while...

It is going on 3 weeks and I STILL cannot print my shipping labels through Paypal.  I am forced to go to the Post Office and have a human manually add postage to ALL of my outgoing orders. This wouldn't be too horrible if it didn't cost more - I have to pay an extra $.62 for Delivery Confirmation when I ship my domestic orders at the Post Office.  I've shipped about 50 orders since this crap started, so I'm out about $30 so far.  I don't want to raise the cost of shipping on my listings, because I don't want the Domestic shipping price to be higher than the International shipping price.  Also, it's not my customers' fault that Paypal is completely incompetent.

Sometimes I email the Paypal support person that I've been dealing with, and send him my sob stories.  He entertains my complaints by actually responding to me.  If you are bored, here is a TINY smidgen of the correspondence between me and Paypal on this issue:

_______________________________________________________

05/28/2011 07:18 AM

I have been unable to print labels for 3 days now. Can you give me any kind of time frame?? When I called Paypal support days ago I was told that the problem would be fixed in 48-72 hours. 72 hours has now passed. This is ridiculous. Look at my account. See all the things that I need to ship. :( 

-Brandy

_______________________________________________________________________________

05/29/2011 11:05 AM

I know that probably only a handful of people are suffering from this "not being able to print shipping labels" issue, so it may not be that high of a priority for Paypal. However, it is seriously affecting my business. If I at least knew when it would be resolved, I could plan for alternative shipping methods. It has been 4 days since the problem arose. :( I've had a Paypal account for many years and have given Paypal a lot of money in transaction fees. I really wish this problem would be resolved. :( 

*waterfall tears*

-Brandy

_________________________________________________________________________

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND.  ALL EMPLOYEES OUT OF THE OFFICE AND NO ONE LEFT TO WORK ON MY SAD LITTLE ISSUE.

___________________________________________________________________________

05/31/2011 07:01 AM

Hi Brandy,

Engineering is still trying to determine the root cause for this bug. At this point in time, we do not have an ETA.

We are recommending to merchant to use the USPS or UPS web sites to print labels until it is fully resolved.

As soon as we find out anything, it will be passed along to you.

Thank you for your patience,

Frank

__________________________________________________________________________

06/07/2011 08:33 AM

Wow. So it's been 2 weeks that I have NOT BEEN ABLE TO PRINT SHIPPING LABELS OFF PAYPAL. It is not possible to print First Class labels off of USPS.com (which is the shipping option that my customers paid for). I have to physically go to a post office everyday and have an employee process all my packages. I then I have to return home and manually enter in all the tracking info that I over paid for (it is $.60 more expensive at the post office than online). This is now costing my business money. Am I going to be compensated for all the extra costs I've accrued as I am forced to ship my orders in this manner??? 

-Brandy 

__________________________________________________________________________

06/07/2011 08:48 AM

Hi Brandy,

I do apologize for the inconvenience, but this is in the hands of the engineering department. They are working to fix the problem. They are aware of problems this is causing .merchants.

Have you tried shipping through eBay? 

We will notify you when engineering has solved the problem.

Thank you for your patience,

Frank

________________________________________________________________________

AHHH!!!!  So.  I have no freaking clue when I will be able to print my labels off of Paypal again. I don't mean to be a whiner, but this sucks.  Hence, Paypal sucks so bad.

Supporting Hoarders

My newest guilty pleasure TV show is Hoarders.  The show focuses on people that fill their home - from floor to ceiling - with junk, trash, and animals (the animal hoarding episodes are the best).  In each episode a team is brought out to the property to help clean up and declutter.  Animal Control will visit if animals are involved to make sure the animals aren't suffering and are being properly cared for.  Often times Adult Protective Services enters the picture and deems the home "unlivable."  When this happens, if the property isn't cleaned to a certain standard, then the homeowners can be evicted. It is at this point that I get annoyed.

One guy hoarded 2,000 pet rats.

The condition that these people live is beyond nasty and ridiculous.  However.  If they own the property (and are not renting) then I feel how they live in their "home" is their own business.  If a tower of trash falls on them one day and kills them, then so be it.   If minors are involved, then of course, the home must be safe.  Animals should be cared for as well.  I don't condone the mistreatment of animals.  But if the home is only occupied by adults, then the condition of the residence should be of no concern of the city government.

It is a waste of tax payers' money to send officials out to nasty homes (that don't house children) and threaten the owners with eviction.  If someone loves living in trash and cat feces, then that's their choice and they should have that right.  I feel it's just not right to tell people how to live in their own homes.  If their filth and junk piles aren't hurting anyone else, then what's the problem?

I think this is a living room...

Some of the hoarders live in neighborhoods, so I can understand neighbors not wanting bugs from a nearby trash laden house to come next door and infest their own home.  But a lot of the people on this show live out in the country. They have no neighbors or neighborhood association.  Why does the condition in which they keep their home have to be regulated??  Whose business is it how these hoarders (or anyone for that matter!) choose to live their lives?

But, maybe I'm a weirdo for sticking up for the hoarders...