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I don't really know where I should talk about this... but I really, I mean REALLY, need to vent.

During the summer my city has a "free" night in the uptown district. They close off one or two side streets for a live band, farmer's market and other random activities. It's become a fairly well attended event each week as it is free to listen to the music that starts at 7pm and everything is packed up and done by 10, so a fun night for families to get out and be social. The bands don't get paid, and they have no problem getting quality bands to play for free (being friends with several of the regular bands that play they view it as free advertising, a chance to try out some new songs, and just enjoy performing). This has always been organized by a building owner on the corner of the two side streets, and they did an amazing job. However, in April, the building owner closed its doors and no one has taken over anything. Some of the uptown businesses went to the city chamber of commerce to take over Thursday Night Live to keep the extra business in the uptown area. The chamber took it over... and it has been chaos.

First, you have to have a license to be part of the farmer's market. Seems ok, the license is free, you just apply and get approved. Well, the license application requires insurance and tax id. That's ok too, I already have both so no biggie. Then they said it would be $100 for the summer. I didn't think that was too bad, if I go every week it only cost me $10 per week. Definitely cheaper than 99% of the shows I do and a regular customer base. Worst case scenario, I don't sell anything and just paid $10 to listen to music and drink beer. I'm ok with that. Chamber said I could pay at the first night and be ok. Great! I'm excited, can't wait.

Then... yesterday... I got caught in a group chat. Now, this is my first year doing this event, and the event is going on its third summer, so vendors from previous years are feeling a kind of ownership. They're upset about the fee - which is varying wildly between vendors from $25 per show, $20 per month, $100 for the summer, or $250 for the summer. I don't know if the variation is based on what you are bringing to the market - the guy who quoted $250 makes calzones and pizzas on his grill, the lady who quoted $20 per month does crochet blankets... you get the drift.

Then, they're upset because they have to have a tax id.

Then, they're upset because they have to have insurance. (Sorry, I don't care if you selling produce, baked goods, crochet blankets... just protect yourself and your customers. One mistake could cost you a whole bunch of money. Someone steals your stuff out of your car, you're out a whole bunch of money. yadayadayada)

So... being me... I made myself a target. I told them I was ok with the fee, this is a well advertised event, and like any business owner I should pay rent. I'm ok with the tax id because if I sell something I should be a responsible person and pay taxes. I'm ok with insurance because I like having my backend covered. These are all things that business people do, this is the cost of running a business. Oh boy, did they let me have it. Told me all about how this is not a business for them, so they shouldn't pay taxes, and don't need insurance, and why should they pay rent for something that has always been free [well, they might have me on that point]... then the cherry on the top... they just want to come and sell their stuff to make money.

I had to leave the group chat. I can't deal with that kind of stupidity.

That’s just insane. Don’t they know if they are selling they have a business. Can’t fix dumb. I got into it with a gal trying to sell bath bombs in a neighborhood group who claimed her bath bombs were dermatologist approved, great for anxiety, depression. Psoriasis, acne, etc.... I called her out on it and got ganged up on. Asked what dermatologist recommended it. Told her she was in FDA violation territory. Within 5 minutes she removed the dermatologist crap.

You still need to do it and hold your head up high for having all your ducks in a row.
 
@amd WOW, JUST WOW !
And this is exactly why I started this, a gripe is a gripe no matter what or how long the post is ;)

Gripe, people who think it is ok to just walk up to the side of someone's house.. because they don't have a fence? It AIN'T your yard, get out !
 
@amd WOW, JUST WOW !
And this is exactly why I started this, a gripe is a gripe no matter what or how long the post is ;)

Gripe, people who think it is ok to just walk up to the side of someone's house.. because they don't have a fence? It AIN'T your yard, get out !

Oh, we know what you mean. You have my sympathy. Thankfully, the neighbours that were great at invading out space have move out.
 
Dust devils. They are pretty common in my neck of the woods. They are like mini/baby tornadoes, but very short-lived and for the most part pretty harmless, but once in a while you can get an ornery one like the one that swooped over our house the other day and peeled a chunk of our roof shingles off and threw them at my son's new truck parked in our driveway. :mad: It appeared and left in a matter of ten seconds. Son is now giving himself a crash course in priming and painting....and we are getting our house re-shingled. :eek:


IrishLass :)
 
Gripe.
I have my period and I am a bit crampy :mad:

I put up my security cameras outside yesterday only to find out this morning that HEAT and the 'heavy duty' double sided tape comes off :mad: Now I got to figure out something else. I rent so I can't screw it into the Siding ! 2 I can screw into the AC unit on the top of it. not sure what I can do about the other 4. I will have to rinky dink around to make it work.
If it wasn't for the Sh*tty kids here I wouldn't HAVE to have them ! grrr
 
I love my DH but sometimes his attempts at supporting me make me wanna scream! I was watching some of my favorite YouTube soapers earlier and commented how I'd like for us to one day have a successful soap biz like Katie and Caleb of Royalty Soaps. I'm not currently selling but I do have a few extra bars laying around that I will give away if asked. I don't have labels readily available either because I'm always switching recipes. I guess I should be mad at myself for saying anything because any time I mention selling, DH goes out without warning & finds someone for me to sell soap to (or cologne oil which I only make for him & I haven't done that in 3 years!). Then calls & says something like "Sally Sue wants to buy your soap. How many bars do you have?" So what I end up giving away looks like pic #1. That is in NO WAY professional looking! Whether I'm giving or selling I'd like to have the time to wrap stuff like pic #2. I like being prepared. He's spontaneous. I should be prepared for that lol!
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I love my DH but sometimes his attempts at supporting me make me wanna scream! I was watching some of my favorite YouTube soapers earlier and commented how I'd like for us to one day have a successful soap biz like Katie and Caleb of Royalty Soaps. I'm not currently selling but I do have a few extra bars laying around that I will give away if asked. I don't have labels readily available either because I'm always switching recipes. I guess I should be mad at myself for saying anything because any time I mention selling, DH goes out without warning & finds someone for me to sell soap to (or cologne oil which I only make for him & I haven't done that in 3 years!). Then calls & says something like "Sally Sue wants to buy your soap. How many bars do you have?" So what I end up giving away looks like pic #1. That is in NO WAY professional looking! Whether I'm giving or selling I'd like to have the time to wrap stuff like pic #2. I like being prepared. He's spontaneous. I should be prepared for that lol!View attachment 30536View attachment 30537

At least you know he's supportive, if premature.
 
Gripe day ..... I changed out the water for the Hens and WHERE do you think they are drinking right now ?
A small puddle of mud......... you would think they didn't have any water at all ! :beatinghead:
 
i've been reading all about chelation and since i have wicked hard water i decide i'm going to get with the program and get some EDTA and make some less-scummy soap

friday night- amazon package arrives, yay EDTA!
disodium EDTA
not tetrasodium EDTA
ahhhh bummer
so i didnt make anything this weekend. instead i napped when the kids did
i need to get some TETRASODIUM edta, ugh.
 
Talking with my hubby about the show coming up on Saturday... mentioned that it was in a parking lot so we would need to weight the tent. He gave me a blank look and then says "My mom borrowed the tent last summer after you were done with your shows." Get the tent back from his mom and it is all bent to heck and ripped, and she knew it after she used in September. Hoping that Amazon will get the new tent here or that I can find one to borrow before Saturday! Grrr... if she had told me in September when it happened I wouldn't have been upset (it was kind of a cheapy tent that I found on FB rummage and I wanted to replace at the end of this summer anyways), but now... I am livid.
 
My gripe? It's been festering since May 23, when the small apartment complex I manage got a "visit" from the USDA. What it turned out to be was a full inspection... visits can be unannounced, while inspections must have an appointment, because they interview tenants, they want access to my management and tenant files, and all our bookkeeping and insurance files. I got the letter of her findings yesterday. Normally, none of these things are an issue...unless there's no notice, and 8 out of 12 tenants are not home because they work, and the bookkeeper and our books aren't available because she also works during the day....sigh. So basically, the complex failed the inspection because of these things. The inspection report was over 25 pages long. There were other small things, such as a hole in the laundry room wall behind the door where someone slammed it open, broke the stopper and the handle went into the wall. A railing to 2 vacant apartments has been removed for repair, and it wasn't reinstalled in 2 days. Our parking lot doesn't have parking lines- fine, but the parking lot is gravel... stuff like that. I get she has to do her job, but really? It seems she's expecting more than I can possibly deliver.
 
My gripe? It's been festering since May 23, when the small apartment complex I manage got a "visit" from the USDA. What it turned out to be was a full inspection... visits can be unannounced, while inspections must have an appointment, because they interview tenants, they want access to my management and tenant files, and all our bookkeeping and insurance files. I got the letter of her findings yesterday. Normally, none of these things are an issue...unless there's no notice, and 8 out of 12 tenants are not home because they work, and the bookkeeper and our books aren't available because she also works during the day....sigh. So basically, the complex failed the inspection because of these things. The inspection report was over 25 pages long. There were other small things, such as a hole in the laundry room wall behind the door where someone slammed it open, broke the stopper and the handle went into the wall. A railing to 2 vacant apartments has been removed for repair, and it wasn't reinstalled in 2 days. Our parking lot doesn't have parking lines- fine, but the parking lot is gravel... stuff like that. I get she has to do her job, but really? It seems she's expecting more than I can possibly deliver.
No lines on a gravel parking lot? I don't think I've ever seen lines in a gravel lot because the gravel shifts. I think she was having a bad day and being overly picky.
 
No lines on a gravel parking lot? I don't think I've ever seen lines in a gravel lot because the gravel shifts. I think she was having a bad day and being overly picky.

Back in the '80's I worked for my family's business for a time striping parking lots (it was my job to help measure and lay out where the stripes would go and also paint the handicap stencils and the curbs and the number stencils on bumpers). Anyway, technically, you can paint stripes on gravel, but it is a royal pain in the patootie to do so, it doesn't look pretty, and it takes a lot of coats of paint that in the end don't last very long..... unless the gravel is super impacted and/or glued down well with tar, but even then, it never stands out well enough and is a pain to maintain. Painting lines on gravel is just crazy talk if you ask me.

We found that^^^ out one year when we won a government bid to paint one of our air force bases. It took us most if not all of one long, hot summer to get it all done (painted the runways, tie-down areas, and everything else in between). The constant wind out there didn't make it easy for us (lots of corrective hand-painting to tidy up the overspray from the striping machine), but things progressed along at a fairly good pace, considering, until we reached the barrack area where every single blasted lot was gravel.....and most had not been as well impacted as we would have liked (that was another company's job to do). That was our first ever experience painting stripes on gravel, and if I remember rightly, also our last (thankfully!).

Anyway, the gravel lots took up the most of our time to do because we kept having to add more and more layers of paint because the first 2 or 3 layers would just sink down and disappear into the gravel. The only saving grace for all our trouble doing that particular job was the amount of money the government paid us to do it- three times the normal going rate as that of a civilian job.

IrishLass :)
 
Grrrrrrrr! I'm so mad right now. DH thinks I'm a pack rat because I'm not as neat as he is. Part of the reason why my areas (my bedside table, my half of the dresser, etc) are so cluttered at times is because he keeps putting stuff there! Yesterday I got an order of fragrances in from Wellington. I like that I can order 1/2 oz bottles of scents for small batches and they're local so I get my order in 2-3 days. I could pick it up the next day they close at the same time my shift ends. DH and I left to run an errand before I finished digging thru the packing peanuts for my items. When we came back, I made dinner and forgot about my box. Sometime between my going to bed last night & coming home from work today, he threw my box out! I'm missing 2, 1/2 oz scents! I went out to the dumpsters but I couldn't find our garage. It looks like they were dumped and maintenance filled them with counters & whatnot from a renovation. Because I place small orders, there's a $5 handling fee on top of the $9.30 I had to pay for shipping on a $12 order and he threw part of my order away! [emoji36][emoji21][emoji37]
 
Frickin' Windows 10 did an update and there is no place to disable it.
PLUS it did it when I was in the other room watching TV. I had Windows open on here that I was coming back to !

I swear I hate Windows
 
I had a win 10 update last fall that screwed up my computer for several months! Took 3 different computer repair people to finally find the problem (it corrupted video card). The experts were stumped - some of them wouldn't even try to fix it! No matter what I did, that update would start all by itself and it was not removeable. Essentially, my computer was hijacked by MS. They sure won't going to pay the hundreds of dollars it took to finally get the computer fixed. AND...that update is still there...there's no choice.

If I weren't taking a college class this fall that relies heavily on MS stuff, I'd be using Linux right now.
 
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