Crafty Crafty

This is what I've been working on:  invitations to Andys graduation.

 

  

  

  

  

They aren't quite done yet.  I still need to print off the graduation info, cut it up, and stick it inside on the colored blocks.  It's been a fun project.

Also made a birthday card for my niece.  She turns 8 this Saturday.  She got her ears pierced last weekend so we got her a jewelry box to keep all her new earings in!

  

This weekend is looking like fun.  Three of the Equestrian Managers from Redcloud are coming to spend the night on Friday....one of whom just got ENGAGED!  Yay!  So I'm looking forward to seeing them and getting to catch up on their lives.  Then Sunday afternoon I'll be heading over to Lake City!

My visit to Lake City is for a bit of a different reason this time.  I'll be spending the week at Redcloud with a bunch of 8th graders from Tyler, Texas!  I get to take them through low rope initiatives and I'm very excited.  Time to play in the snow!

Snow and Sunshine

It snowed....in Montrose!  I knew there was something missing from winter in this place.  It's been so gloomy with gray skies and brown vegetation everywhere.  Now at least the brown is covered up for a few days; and did I mention that the sun is shining today?  It's so nice.  I'm tempted to just go sit outside and soak up some much needed Vitamin D.

Well, it's been a nice couple days.  Our weekend was a little louder than usual with a family (with 4 kids) from camp staying for two nights.  Monday morning Andy didn't have to be to school until 11am!  He got to sleep in on a weekday!  After Andy took off for school I was picked up by the Redcloud HeBrews manager and we spent the day in Grand Junction.

While in Junction we shopped to prepare the store for the start of the winter Outdoor Education season, had lunch, and got to meet the newest HeBrews staff member for summer 2010, who is a student at Mesa State College.  The drive to and from Grand Junction included some great conversation, one of the things I miss most being over here.  All-in-all it was a very fun day.

Today I'm working on handmaking invitations for Andys graduation in April.  I also stopped by the Division of Wildlife office to sign up for a Hunters Education course on March 20-21.  I'm going to hunt this year!  Just wrapped up having lunch with two friends in town from Lake City.  Later this afternoon I'll head over to City Market to do some grocery shopping.  Right now I'm enjoying the view of sunshine on the mountains from a coffee shop window.  What the rest of my week holds I do not know.

Andy is enjoying school more and more.  They are getting out of the classroom more often for some hands on training (definitely more up his alley).  Yesterday they spent the afternoon and evening practicing clearing buildings.  Thursday, Friday, and all of next week they'll be at the shooting range.....which is like going home for him.  I'm thankful, as is he, to be moving beyond 7 weeks straight of classroom work.

And so, even in the midst of trials there is joy.  It is on days like this that I remember how blessed we are.

Power Steering Pumps

Today was an interesting day....and did not go at all as planned.

I woke up with plans to go to breakfast with a friend followed by packing up and returning to Montrose.  Well, before I even got to breakfast my plans were changing.  I started Andys truck (with a freshly fixed power steering pump, it had been leaking), hopped in and put it in reverse.  This action was quickly followed by horrible noises, unencouraging smells and the engine dying.  At this point I was about 1/2 way backed out....so I'm sitting partly in the road.  Thankfully, I live in Lake City and this was ok.

After a few seconds I was able to get the truck started up again by giving it a little gas.  But when I attempted to continue on my merry way I found it incredibly difficult to steer.  Hmmm....this seems familiar.  Oh right, this same thing happened when Andys power steering pump pooped out on us earlier in 2009....and then again right after that.  Grrrrreat.

I carefully made it to breakfast (which was wonderful), getting my daily workout on the way.  Then wrestled the truck back to Redcloud to deliver it to the mechanic, who had just worked on it and fixed the leak yesterday.  Yep.  Power steering pump needs replacing again, making this pump replacement #3 in the last five or six months.  This news was followed by a decision to walk down the hill to go relax in HeBrews Coffee Shop for a few minutes....and I totally biffed it.  My butt is a little sore from the landing.

Thankfully I was loaned a camp vehicle for a few days so that I could make it back to Montrose.  Needless to say I'll be returning to LC sooner than originally anticipated to return said camp vehicle and pick up a (hopefully) fixed truck.  The drive back to Montrose was snowy and I went about 40mph or less the whole way.  Unfamiliar vehicle, snow packed roads, slush, and HUGE snow flakes did not make for a quick return trip.  But I made it.

I'll be back in LC Tuesday or Wednesday next week.  Then again the following Sunday.  As much as I love being there....the drive is not something I look forward to.  It's a long 2 hours....especially if it's snowing.  It snows a lot here.

Momentary Sigh of Relief

Good news came yesterday as I was in Lake City chatting with my brother-in-law (also a sheriffs deputy here).  Andy called and passed along the news that the college had run his driving record again and all came back good to go!  Yippee!  We are officially in the clear in terms of keeping Andy in school.

More good news:  I recently sent an e-mail to the sheriff Andy will be working for, to find out how much we owed the department for the firearm Andy had purchsed through them for school/work.  The reply I received was unexpected.  The Sheriffs Office has decided to cover the cost since it is an agency firearm.  Wow, what a blessing!

Thought I would share the good news.  It's encouraging when things fall into place.

Impossible Websites and Inaccurate Phone Numbers

This is once again turning out to be incredibly frustrating.  I want to run around screaming....then I realize that won't do me any good.

I spoke with my Aunt Lysa today.  She has been working with Experian for about 20 years.  Since she used to work in the department which dealt with disputes she has abundant knowledge and helpful connections.  I'm thankful for being able to talk with someone who cares.  Unfortunately, there is little she can do, but she did give me some good advice on what I should be doing.

I got on Experians website, pulled up Andys credit report, and started clicking the "dispute" buttons.  It feels good to do that.  I got as far as disputing one item only to receive a message while trying to dispute another:

"We are unable to process this dispute online.  Please call us at 800-493-1058 for assistance."

So I called the number.  It rang and rang and rang and rang and after a minute of ringing I got cut off.  Tried again.  Same thing.  Again.  Same.  Am I missing something here?  I don't even know what to do about that.  Maybe most people would give up and chalk it up as a loss....maybe that's what they want....that, however, is not an option.  Bogus phone number?  I guess I'll keep trying.

I have put Experian on hold for a moment.  Onward to try TransUnion.

TransUnion:  I want to dispute inaccurate information on a credit report.  I cannot do this without ordering a credit report.  I don't want to order a credit report because I already have one; but I can't dispute without ordering.  Around and around in circles I go!  I give up.  Fine, I'll order one.  Now they can't verify my identity....because off the top of my head I don't know the exact credit limit on an account I started in 2001.  Verify my current home phone number instead; ok that seems easy enough.

"Someone will call you within the next 15 minutes."

Wait...no!  I'm not there!  I wonder what will happen when they call and no one answers.  I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I roll into town.  Oops.

I understand that if they made this too easy it would open doors for criminals to mess with the credit reports of others, but it is so challenging that an honest human being can't access their own information.  It's a joke....and not a funny one.  I'm giving up for the day.  I feel like I'm jumping through hoops, rubbing my tummy and patting my head while singing a song I don't know the words to!  Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Credit Bureaus

These are the bane of my existence right now.  I hate to say that because both my Aunt Lysa and sister, Lisa, work for one of them.  If only they worked for the right one.  They both work for Experian, while most of the issues show up with Equifax.

I continue to spend time trying to get through to someone at Equifax.  Unfortunately they continue to be rather uncooperative.  They have Power of Attorney in hand, yet brushed me off once again yesterday afternoon.  Is this normal business practice?  Well, I hope they're ready to hear from me once, twice, ten times daily until someone actualy listens.

I will soldier on!  Phone calls, e-mails, and faxes to unhelpful agencies have become my life.  I'm beginning to see the reason that I have been left unemployed during our time here in Montrose.  This has become my job.....if only I could get paid for it.  :)

Yesterday did come with some good news.  I spoke with a wonderful friend (also the new HeBrews Manager at Redcloud) on the phone yesterday, and I will be joining the ministry at Redcloud once again this summer....and for a little bit of the spring.  I'm thankful for a little bit of good news and something to look forward to.

In addition to Redcloud I have hopes of picking up another job in Lake City starting this spring.  I have plans to stop by one of the local lodges to see if they might hire me for a housekeeping job through the busy season.  This would be exceptionally helpful since we are uncertain how much work Andy will be returning to.  A little income on the side would be nice.

Onward, to another day full of phone calls.

A New Week

I'm looking forward to this week.  Things are looking up.

Andy and I were able to visit the bank on Saturday morning and got our Power of Attorney paperwork finalized.  While there, the banker we spoke with made a statement which resonated with us:

"I don't know why all married couples don't give Power of Attorney to one another."

I think most couples don't realize how little action they can take on behalf of the other without it.  At this point I encourage all couples to do it.  It's simple enough, so, why not?  All in all it cost us $10 and will save us countless hassles in the future.

Progress is being made.  Apart from our address "belonging" to some scum-bag and the inaccurate information on Andys credit report, all else seems to be on its way to being made right.  I'll be contacting the credit bureaus this week, now that I can actually do something, while our friendly, amazing, wonderful, local sheriff handles the address issue.

I'll be heading to Lake City on Wednesday afternoon.  It's time to pick up mail, pay bills, run some errands around town and see some friends!  I'll most likely be heading back to Montrose Thursday sometime...but maybe Friday.  I haven't decided just yet.

Andy is still doing well in school.  He came home Friday walking a bit funny.  He was SORE!  They spent the day learning and practicing techniques to restrain and handcuff suspects.  So as a "suspect" he was thrown down onto the floor over and over and over....and as the "arresting officer" he threw people down onto the floor over and over and over.  His knees were bruised, a number of pressure points were quite sore, and he was exhausted!  Thankfully he had the weekend to recover and was feeling pretty good by Sunday night.

It was Valentines Day this weekend.....Andy & I aren't really fans of the holiday.  He got me some roses anyway.  Yay.

The Waiting Game

All we can do right now is wait.

The Delta-Montrose Technical College is running Andys driving record again.  We're hoping and praying that it comes back good to go.  The last time they did this we found out about the suspended license (no one is required to inform you when your drivers lisence gets suspended...weird).  Obviously, the school can't legally let Andy participate in the driving section on a suspended license.  This time we hope that the results will be better and it will clear him to participate in driving.  What a headache!

Until the school clears everything we are hesitant to take any further action.  We find ourselves to be a little paranoid these days.  If we move forward will we just mess everything up again...or make it even worse?  Right now our main concern is keeping Andy in school.  Once we know that is taken care of we'll move on to the next thing.  Next week I will tackle the credit bureaus again, only this time with legal authority!

Tomorrow we're heading up to Grand Junction for the day.  Andy needs to find some brown boots for his Hinsdale County uniform (instead of the black his school uniform requires).  On the way we're planning a stop in Delta to finalize all the Power of Attorney stuff with a bank.  I've got the forms ready to go and I called the bank ahead of time, so it should be fairly simple; a little simplicity would be really nice right about now.

Today is supposed to be a longer day for Andy.  Every second Friday class is supposed to go until 8 at night!  Last time he was supposed to be late he ended up home around 5:30, so we'll see if they actually keep them late this time.

Looking forward to a day out around town with my husband!  I like him.  Is that weird?  :)

On a Lighter Note.....

Show and tell time!  Since Andy and I have been in Montrose some have wanted to see where we're staying.  So I thought I'd take some pictures.

We are staying with Carl and Lesley Woerner.  Carl is on the Redcloud Board of Directors and is responsible for the two new log homes at Redcloud.  Needless to say his own home is a beautiful log home as well.  We are amazingly blessed to have housing provided for us at no charge.  Here are some snap shots of 'our room' in the Woerners house.

From the doorway into the room.  We have a nice sitting area.  Yes there is a treadmill, and yes there is a foosball table.  The foosball table is lopsided so we don't play.  :)

To the left of the first photo.  This is our 'walk-in-closet.'  And look, a built in ironing board!  With Andys uniforms needing to be pressed and starched every day I can't even begin to tell you how convenient that is!

Continuing to the left is the bathroom.  It's very small, but it works.  The door to the room is to the left of that (you can just see it).

And this is where the sleeping happens.  I love this bed.  Maybe someday Andy will build one for me.  :)  The door to the left opens to a small deck.....but there is no handle on the door and I can't figure out how to open it.

Last, but not least:

This is the view, out the door that I can't open, looking to the southeast.  On a clear day (which we haven't had many of) we can see the mountains and it makes me think of home.  I really miss our cozy little Lake City valley.  Just 9 more weeks of school and we'll be home!

Come and visit if you're in Montrose.  This is only 1/3 of the upstairs.  There are 2 more bedrooms in which you can stay.  And we love to see our friends!

Oh yeah, and then there's this whole school thing.  Andy is doing really well!  We wrap up the 6th week of classes tomorrow.  It's been hard and exhausting with 12+ hour days and another 1-3 hours of homework and studying each evening, but so far Andy is maintaining a 96% overall score!  Wow!  That is definitely an answer to prayer.  I'm really, really proud of him.

3 Steps Forward....157 Steps Back

Progress has been made.  Though it's not really what we were hoping for.

Andy is no longer in the DHS system!  Unfortunately he's no longer in ANY system!  Whoops.  In the process of "undoing" their mistake, DHS erased Andys information altogether; his driving record, his address, and maybe other things.  They were even smart enough to award the "other guy" our address.  We're hoping they didn't give him Andys SSN too.

Moral of this story:  Never trust the government to do anything right!

Thankfully our wonderful friend and local sheriff has been spending countless hours on the phone fighting for us.  It seems he was able to at least temporarily rectify the situation.  Andy has a drivers license again; and a valid one at that!

Yesterday I was also able to put together some helpful information thanks to some friends.  I realized I do know a lawyer.  He even lives in Montrose and is a Christian, not to mention on the Redcloud Board of Directors (thanks Becki).  So we do have someone we can go to if needed.

Also learned that for Andy to give me power of attorney we don't need a lawyer (thank you Jennifer & Jennifers dad!!).  There is just one form to fill out, which I  can download off the internet.  Andy just needs to take it to a bank, fill it out, sign it and have them notarize it.  Pretty simple.  While we're at it, I'm going to give him power of attorney over my life as well.  Now we just need to get to a bank.....in all of Andys free time.

As you can probably imagine, it feels as though we're fighting against the entire world here.  It's been frustrating, annoying, a bit scary, and poorly timed.  Through all of this we do know that it is in Gods plan.  After all, nothing is outside of His plan.  We trust that He is walking with us through this, no matter how long it takes.  He is equipping us daily "for every good work" (2 Tim 3:17).  We appreciate your prayers as we walk during this time of struggle.

Power of Attorney

The adventure continues!

Today I tried to cancel Andys account with freecreditreport.com - the account that I set up - only to be told once again that I am not authorized to do so.  So, I can set up an account in his name, but I can't cancel it.  That seems a little sketch. 

I'm doing some research into being given power of attorney over my husbands accounts.  For that we need a lawyer.  I don't know any lawyers and I'd rather not just pull a name out of a phone book.  Plus the last thing we need is for this to cost us a fortune.  Any suggestions?

Mistaken Identity

I introduce myself to the blogging world in the midst of a nightmare.  It's one of those nightmares that you can't quite seem to wake from and continues to get worse.

Several months ago - or has it been years? - Andy started receiving statements in the mail from the Department of Human Services (a misnomer, if I ever heard one); statements for child support.  Now it may occur to most of you that Andy doesn't have any children.

So I place my first call to DHS.  I was told simply to mark the envelope "Return to Sender" with a note that it was incorrectly addressed.  Seemed simple enough.  Not two weeks later another statement appears.  Another call to DHS.  More complicated this time.  "You won't receive this mail any more" but "No we can't remove your husband from our system."  Really?  Your mistake and we have to just live with it?  Not likely.  The name on this account doesn't even belong to my husband.

June 2009 rolls around with warmer weather, green trees, sunshine, and another statement; this time from the Division of Wildlife informing that Andy's hunting license was suspended - or was it revoked? - because he has failed to pay his child support.  Uh, what?!  This time we are not going to fight this alone.  Andy informs local law enforcement.  After some fighting we are promised this will never happen again and the hunting license is back in the game, ready for fall.

Now we fight yet again.  This time we fight a war.  In January 2010, just a few weeks into Andy's education in the Criminal Justice Academy we were yet again informed of a problem.  This time Andy's drivers license is suspended....and has been since July 2009.  Since JULY?!

Back on the phone with DHS.

The agent in charge of our 'case' is no longer with them, so we get to start back at the beginning.  Here is the problem:  No drivers license means Andy cannot complete all the required classes to graduate from the academy.  We have about 30 days to get this fixed.  That was two weeks ago.

Now we compound the situation: I did the responsible thing - which everyone should do annually - and got copies of our 2010 credit reports.  Unfortunately, more information connecting Andy with this low-life, piece-of-scum appears on his credit report.  Inaccurate information includes a former address, in a state where Andy has never visited much less lived, and two Collections Agencies.

More phone calls; Experian, Equifax, TransUnion.  Oh, wait, I'm not allowed AS HIS WIFE to make any requests on his behalf with creditors or credit bureaus.  What?  Really?  Really.  Not without power of attorney.  Ridiculous!

And so here I am.  Fighting for the man I love.  Yet not being allowed to fight.