Happiness

Jefferson Barracks Park

Today was one of those days that I felt truly alive!

These types of days have been surfacing less and less each year.  I want every day to be like today!

First, I needed to drop something off at a friend's house this morning, so I set my alarm for 3:30 a.m.  Shockingly, I hopped right out of bed and got the errand done.  I then drove to South St. Louis County to my favorite park, Jefferson Barracks Park, to walk the trail.  The weather was beautiful, and I even jogged some of the trail.  During my entire walking time, I prayed the Rosary with the Sorrowful Mysteries and then the Divine Mercy Chaplet.  I think this is such a better choice for me than simply listening to music while I walk.  I want to go back and do this again in the morning tomorrow, but I really need to find a good walking park closer to home.

On my walk I saw a bunch of deer (and no bobcats or bears, thank goodness!).

I was feeling good when my walk ended at 8am.  I didn't feel like driving home in morning rush hour, so I took back roads and took a nice drive.  Windows open, music blasting.  It was amazing!  I stopped to get some breakfast and then drove some more.  This time, I had my roof and all the windows open, my car stereo on max (it's a miracle I didn't blow a speaker), and I even took my shirt off (oh yes I did!).  Well, I was wearing a sports bra, but I had never done that before!  I thought, why the hell not?!  I wanted to get a little sun on my skin, and taking the shirt off would do it.

When I got home from driving for 3 hours, (!), I took a 3 hour nap before going into work.  A coworker commented that I looked like I was glowing.  Yes.  Yes, I was.

A glorious day in the midst of some crazy this week.  What an absolute blessing!  I hope tomorrow provides at least a moment that is like today.

Thank you, God, for today!

Calm, Cool, & Collected

This weekend I was thrown into a conflict that I wasn't expecting, and it took all of my strength to stay level-headed and not scream.

You may know that I create one of a kind rosaries and religious jewelry.  You may also know I sell these items at local craft shows and on Etsy.

Well, I had my first customer complaint this week on Etsy.  It was bound to happen sooner or later.  I'm not afraid of negative feedback...things happen.  The situation was a bit weird to begin with, so it shouldn't have surprised me that it quickly escalated.   

First, my storefront clearly states my business hours are Saturday only.  Yes, inconvenient for some, but I have to limit it for my own sanity due to other responsibilities.  It is my business, after all.  So, after a conversation last Saturday via messaging with my customer, I was shocked to find she had sent me about 20 messages during the week, virtually screaming at me about not responding to her emails.  She often sent me hourly messages.  Not normal.

Then, the package I sent was returned to me saying the address was undeliverable.  Okay, weird, but maybe I wrote the address incorrectly.  Nope, it was correct.

At this point, I feel like something fishy is going on.  The customer is basically harassing me via Etsy messaging, actually it was more like cyber bullying, and accusing me of lying - saying I never mailed the package.  Okay.........

I get all these messages yesterday (Saturday, during business hours) and try to respond to her requests.  I had the merchandise returned, so I said I would gladly refund her money.  I did that within an hour of receiving her emails.  Problem solved, right?  Nope.

Up to this point, I've been annoyed and felt a little harassed, but I kept it professional, just stating the facts and being polite...with a lot of prayer.

THEN, the customer continues to send me emails (in all caps, which is one of my pet peeves!!!) stating she is going to report me to the better business bureau and attorney general's office in EVERY state in the country and report me for internet fraud.  What?

Her emails on Saturday were coming every 10 minutes or so with repetitive, threatening language.  She noticed that I left her negative feedback on the etsy site (duh), and threatened me again.  I stated the truth, that is all I could do.

I remained professional and stated the facts, even though there were definite times that I wanted to type "psycho" in the subject line of my next message to her.  I have stopped correspondence, as there is nothing else I can do for this person.  There is just something "not right" with this situation.

This situation really upset me.  No one likes being called a liar, but threatening me over the internet is not something I've really dealt with before, thank goodness!  So, how did I get through this?  First, I used my perceptive therapy super powers to recognize this was not a normal response to online business correspondence.  I couldn't even imagine myself acting the way this customer was acting.  Next, I knew that if I added anything snarky or negative to my conversations with her, it would just be fuel for her fire.  I told myself to suck it up and lift it up.  I took a deep breath, said many small prayers, and just ate it.  Sometimes, you have to just let things go to keep yourself safe and sane.  Also, I don't know what this person is capable of!  I would prefer it if unstable people were not upset with me.

I suppose I could use the chaplet she attempted to purchase to pray for her.  Sigh.  St. Joan of Arc, pray for us!

Twenty-Four Hours to Go...

There is a reason I don't go on more trips with my sister, and I remembered the reason today.



My sister and I are complete opposites in just about every category known to man, except when it comes to shopping.  It's a miracle we don't show up wearing the same outfit more often.  We seem to get along fine for about 24 hours, then I just can't take it anymore and I turn into an evil, mean version of myself.  I think I lost it when, on our first night in the hotel, I started reading my bible and she gave me the "look."  Oh, you know the look.  The one that without saying a word it says "why are the world are you reading that crap" look.  So, I told her about the Bible in 90 days challenge I was doing this summer.  She said to me, "I thought you didn't like reading fiction."  I kept my cool and told her to believe what she wants, but it might be helpful to actually read something before she makes up her mind about it, because she has never read the bible.

Throughout the weekend, I let my sister choose what we did.  I gave into her wishes.  We shopped until I dropped, and I spent a lot more money than I anticipated or budgeted.  I let her choose where we ate, because it seemed like every suggestion I gave was met with a "I don't like that" reaction from her.  So, I gave up suggesting.  I let her listen to her music, which gave me a headache (apparently I'm old and don't like the youngins music anymore).  I wanted pictures of us at various places so I could add them to the blog or as a sisterly facebook profile picture, she refused and whined about it.  I only have one picture of me from the trip, and it's a bad picture of me with a bull outside a BBQ restaurant.  And, I didn't get mad when we walked in the hotel room and there was only 1 king sized bed because she, on purpose, didn't tell me we were sharing a bed.  I even let her use my razor because she forgot hers!

When it came time to drive home on Sunday, I was excited because I was ready to go home and I love a good road trip drive through mid-MO.  We split the driving to Kansas City, so I figured we would split the driving back to St. Louis.  I was apparently wrong.  When we stopped in Columbia, MO, for lunch, I stated I was excited about driving the second leg of the trip and my sister stated that there way no way she was going to allow me to drive.  That was IT.  I lost it.  The one thing I had been looking forward to all day and she was denying me that one small pleasure I asked for when I let her dictate our entire weekend.  I tried to tell her nicely that I really wanted to drive, I love driving, and I wanted to listen to my Christian music for the last leg.  She refused.  I started yelling, and she yelled back.  She threatened to leave me by the side of the road in Columbia because I was being such a beeeeeep.


So, I finally got in the car, on the passenger side, and engaged in some negative behavior that I am not proud of at all.  Every time she turned on the radio with the headache producing music, I turned it off.  She turned it on and yelled at me, and I turned it off.  Juvenile, I know.  Not my most amazing moment, but eventually she stopped turning it on and we drove from Columbia to St. Charles in silence.  It was wonderful once I calmed down!  No crap music on the radio that made me crazy.  I tried to not think about the fact I wasn't driving and she was just doing a power play.  I got out my iPhone and opened the iRosary app to silently pray to try and get balanced again after my angry episode and beg forgiveness for not being Christ to my sister in that moment.  I can't do it alone, and I'm not perfect.  But today, I absolutely lost it.

It's really unlike me to just lost it and yell and someone.  Something about my sister just drives me to the edge of sanity every time I spend extended time with her.  I feel like I need to limit my time in order to keep the peace.  It's too bad, because she's my only sister.