Last I checked...

The last time I checked it was about 28 days into winter.....and today at Target, I saw that the bathing suit collection is on display and ready for purchase. wow.

Is EVERYONE "lawsuit happy"?

As I opened my personal email yesterday I found a notice from Bed Bath & Beyond. As I read through it, I thought - you have GOT to be kidding me? Apparently there is a lawsuit against Bed Bath & Beyond for misrepresenting the thread count on certain products that were sold between 2000 and 2007. I will post below so you can read this and see how ridiculous it seems.

I cannot believe that someone is taking the time, energy, and money to legally pursue this issue. Does it really matter if the thread count in your sheets is off a little or if there was a miscommunication regarding it? I just think of all of the time, money, and energy that is being used towards this lawsuit and settlement, and I think about what good things could have been done with that money. That money could have been put towards any number of charities or it could have been used to buy things like sheets and pillows for kids in third world countries who have never had such a comfort. It is sad to know that there are people in this world who will never know what it is to get a good nights sleep - people who would be thrilled with a 100-thread-count set of sheets, yet here we are with a lawsuit over something so ridiculous.

Here are some excerpts from the notice below:
Attention Bed Bath & Beyond Customers
If you purchased multi-ply bed products from Bed Bath & Beyond between August 1, 2000 and November 9, 2007, this Notice is to inform you of a proposed class action settlement that could affect your legal rights.

A lawsuit is pending in the Federal District Court for the District of New Jersey that may affect your rights. This lawsuit alleges that Bed Bath & Beyond, as well as Synergy, Inc., misrepresented the thread count in its two-ply bedding products sold in stores and on its website by stating the number of threads in the warp and filling directions in one square inch of fabric, rather than the number of yarns. Bed Bath & Beyond and Synergy deny any wrongdoing and believe the signage, labeling and product samples available to their customers at the time of purchase provided their customers with complete and accurate information. The parties have reached a proposed settlement of the lawsuit. The settlement and this Notice have been preliminarily approved by the Court. The purpose of this Notice is to explain the settlement and advise you of your legal rights.

Am I a Member of the Class?
The class is identified as “All purchasers between August 1, 2000 and November 9, 2007 of multi-ply sheet sets, pillowcases, down comforters, bedskirts, shams, duvets and down pillows from Bed Bath & Beyond that were labeled as ‘plied,’ ‘two-ply’ or ‘2-ply’ (the ‘Covered Products’). The following persons are excluded from the settlement class: all persons who are officers, agents or directors of Bed Bath & Beyond or its subsidiaries and corporations related to Bed Bath & Beyond by shareholdings or other means of control, as well as the Judges of the Court in which the action is pending.” To obtain complete information regarding the class definition or other details of the settlement, including a list of the specific items that are the subject of the suit, please visit www.BBBThreadCountSettlement.com or call 1-888-271-6719.

What Does the Proposed Settlement Provide?
Subject to final court approval, the parties have agreed to a settlement under which you may be entitled to receive: (a) a refund of the purchase price of the bed products; or (b) a $10.00 gift card from Bed Bath & Beyond; or (c) a 20% discount certificate off any Bed Bath & Beyond purchase up to $250.00 (maximum discount of $50.00). Your eligibility depends upon whether you have a proof of purchase, and whether you wish to keep the bed products that you purchased.Further, as part of this settlement, Bed Bath & Beyond has agreed that for a period of five years, to the extent it knowingly sells multi-ply bed products containing a specific reference to a numerical thread count, those products will be labeled in accordance with the ASTM Standard for determining thread count in multi-ply bed products.

The notice goes on to talk about things such as "What benefits could I receive?", "What are my rights?", "What other lawsuits are involved?" etc. etc. etc.

Hardworking Hubby

It's 8:30pm right now and my husband is taking a nap....that is because at 10pm he is going in to work. Does he work the night shift? No, not usually, but lately he has been picking up all the overtime he can. I have to admit he has been putting in a lot of effort these past couple of months. Last week he worked late almost every night - one day working a 20 hour shift, getting 3 hours of sleep and going back in at 7am the next morning. This weekend he worked full shifts on Saturday and Sunday. Luckily this next weekend we have planned some time for fun and relaxation. I know I am working hard at home trying to get my business up and running, but I do feel bad that he has had to takeover virtually all of the breadwinning around here. Hopefully I can catch up and relieve him in a couple of months!

It was time for a change...

It was time for a change, in more ways than one. I hope you enjoy the new format of my Smithtacular, Smithsational, and Smithriffic blog (Look when your last name is "Smith" you have to be creative!) After nearly two years I was getting a little sick of the dark blue and all of the dots and thought I would switch things up a little.

Speaking of changes, I can now address the stress I was dealing with from last week. I resigned from my job at Canton Street last Monday (1/7/08) but it wasn't exactly "cut and dry." It was a hard decision for me to make. It was something I wanted to do for sure. I should say it was something WE wanted to do for sure, as my husband was very intimately involved in making this decision with me. I have always wanted to start my own business - for a lot of reasons.

I am supremely organized and detail oriented and good with managing my time and effort. I like doing my own thing and not having to conform to rules or schedules.
At the age of 27 (almost) I know I have a LOT to learn about the "real" world, but I have found that I have a lot of good ideas and I like to run with them without being shot down by a supervisor or boss.
I don't like conference calls, and I don't like wasting my time trying to motivate unmotivatable people.
In terms of a schedule I want to be able to get up in the morning and work out before I start my day.
As we look forward to starting our own family in the future I want to be there for my kids. I realize that I will need to take them to day care or to a babysitter while I do work but I want to know that I can be there for them with a moment's notice or take the day off without first notifying my employer.
I want to be able to pack up with my husband and hit the road for a long relaxing weekend without getting a guilt trip when I return or a million cell phone calls while I am gone.
I may work 10 hours one week and 80 the next and I want that to be OK.
I want to take on a new challenge - a new endeavor. I want to prove to myself that I am smart enough and disciplined enough to "take care of myself" and to make something happen through pure self motivation and hard work. I want to prove to everyone else that I can do this too.

Maybe those reasons sound selfish. I am sure that some of them do. And I would never ask nor expect any employer to be that lenient with an employee. So the only way to get what I want is to go out and do it for myself.

I am fortunate in that I have a wonderful husband who is willing to support me 100% in this endeavor. We have talked about the consequences, the start up expenses involved, the risk in it not working out, and he is willing to back me up 100%. He believes in me which really helps me to believe in myself. Besides his support I have received an overwhelming amount of support from my family and friends and for that I am extremely grateful.

Let me get back to the part about the decision being difficult and the week being stressful.

Working for Canton Street for the past 2 years (almost) I spent my time working from a home office but communicating daily with some wonderful people in the company's main office in GA. I've been to GA many times during this time and have really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know these guys. I care for them genuinely and sincerely and it was hard for me to let those relationships go. Working from home, I don't pass coworkers in the hall and the extent of personal face to face contact in my daily life involves my trip to the post office each day to pick up the mail and chat with people there. On occassion I see doctors, dentists, grocers, and retailers. Most people though have some sort of relationship with their coworkers. I feel lucky to have remained friends with my former coworkers from the Myers Group. But on a day to day basis, these guys at Canton Street were it for me. I knew that in leaving, there would likely be hurt feelings and in order to move on and start my own business I would have to give up these close friendships.

When I made the phone call on Monday to resign, it was difficult for me and I was left in tears. My boss seemed at first upset, then surprised/confused, and then unhappy. On Tuesday he called again to talk and attempted to keep me on board. As hard as it was I stood my ground letting him know again that it was not personal, just something I needed to do. The end of the conversation was much more difficult as I was threatened with potential lawsuits and the promise of making the next 6 months of my life miserable. On Wednesday I was again asked to give it a chance to stay or to at least give 6 months notice. On Thursday I spoke with another coworker who had been out of town and had to go through all of this again. Each night Dennis and I talked about it and tried to decide if we were really and truly doing the right thing. By Friday my resignation was finalized in a friendly conversation with one of my coworkers.

I feel like we did the right thing. While I care for the people I worked with there were things going on that I was uncomfortable with and other things that didn't seem fair. In addition my salary was eliminated and I was working on straight commission. It didn't financially make sense to continue to get only a percentage of my work when I had absolutely no other benefits through the company. And if there is one thing I have learned through being a recruiter, once you actually resign from somewhere, you don't want to accept a counteroffer and stay on board. Things will not be the same and it is likely that within a few months you will be in the same boat again.

I honestly and truly wish Canton Street all the best. I know it's going to be hard for me to start over again from square one - but hopefully this will be the LAST time I have to start over. It will likely take me a few months to really have things in order and ready to go, but we are prepared to invest that time for what we believe will be a significant payoff in both financial means as well as a better quality of life.

Wish us luck!

Never Argue with an Intelligent Woman

One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book.

Along comes a game warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, "Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?" "Reading a book," she replies (thinking, "Isn't that obvious?")

"You' re in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her. "I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading."

"Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up."

"If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault," says the woman. "But I haven't even touched you," says the game warden. "That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment." "Have a nice day ma'am," and he left.

MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think.

Thank Goodness for my In-Laws!

I live less than a quarter mile from my in-laws. We are definitely within walking distance. We didn't move here on purpose just to be close to them. We scoured every area from New Lenox, IL to Cedar Lake, IN and somehow we just ended up here - a few blocks away from my husbands parents, sister, and nephews.

I know it's stereotypical to whine about this kind of thing, but I am actually quite happy they are so close by. It's nice to know I have built in friends down the street who are ready to go to lunch with me at a moments notice on days when I just need to get out of the house. It's nice to know that they are there when I need to borrow a couple of eggs or if we need someone to run over and let our dogs out while we are away. It's nice to know that someone is always looking out for us and that they are just a minute away if we need help carrying the Christmas tree up from the basement or assembling new furniture.

Today my father-in-law came to the rescue twice! First, after a particularly painstaking and rough morning (more on that later - same issues as yesterday) I discovered that the cover of our pool had blown off and was sitting in our pool. I also discovered several of the railings around the top of the pool had popped off. Being that I don't own a wetsuit I didn't want to get in the pool. My father-in-law showed up and with his help, we got the cover back on and with the help of some zip-ties we got the railings back on. (People don't believe me when I tell them how windy it is here in Beecher, but last night's windstorm caused these problems for me and we have wind like this on a weekly basis.)

Later on at the end of my super stressful day, my father-in-law stopped over to borrow our carpet cleaner and invited me for dinner. With Den working late, it was nice to get out of the house, enjoy some company, and escape from the madness I have been dealing with at home. I accepted the invitation and enjoyed some great pork chops and mac and cheese. I also got big hugs from my nephews and had the chance to laugh and share jokes with my mother-in-law. It was just what the doctor ordered.

As much as "Ray and Debora" complain about living next door to "Frank and Marie" on "Everybody Loves Raymond" I have to say that I feel certainly lucky to have my in-laws so close by. I am truly blessed to have such great family and friendship with my husband's family and for that I am grateful.

A Great Insurance Policy

What's with the weather these past few days? For us midwesterners we sure have gotten a lucky break - hitting a high of 60 degrees on Sunday, D and I took the bikes our for a spin. I was afraid that I might have forgotten how to ride. I just learned this fall and with all the snow and cold weather it has been sitting in the garage since the beginning of November. It was nice to go out for a quick spin - even if it was a little wet out - we still had a good time. And luckily I didn't forget - it's just like "riding a bike" haha.

Today the rains came - and tornados and high winds! Being home alone while D clocked in a little O.T. I was sure the power would go out. Trying my best to be prepared I lit about 30 candles on the main floor of the house. And here, where the power goes out every time the winds clock more than 10 miles an hour, the power didn't go out. It figures - oh well I turned off the lights anyway and enjoyed the ambiance as I tried to relax from what was an incredibly stressful, sad, and difficult day for me. .....More on that later.....I'm just not ready to talk about it yet.

Happy New Year!

Still feeling under the weather, I was happy to have a low key new years this year. Den and I enjoyed a pretty good meal at Bogart's Charhouse....mmmmm steak & lobster. While there the snow began falling and it still hasn't stopped. After a long slow drive home, my sister came over to ring in the new year with us. While haning out in our pyjamas, we managed to polish off a bottle of rum, some lemoncello, wine, and champaigne while playing bowling, boxing, golf, pool, darts, and fishing on the Wii and switching back and forth to watch Dick Clark and the ball drop in NYC. Later we watched Collective Soul at the House of Blues as Chicago hit midnight. Maybe next year we will do something a little more exciting. For now I would just like to get rid of this nasty cold! Wishing you all a healthy, happy, prosperous, and peaceful 2008! Mr. & Mrs. Smith