MISSING OUTGOING MAIL - BORROWERS?

We had a busy day today and while out and about I was composing my post for you for tonight's post.  Now it is all gone.  I know that the theme of it was things that are missing, but aren't, so I will go from there.  

I try to be careful not misplace or lose things.  As an accountant (since I was 12 and started helping my dad) I have learned to be extremely careful and organized with work items.  I strive for the same care and organization with personal items also.  I have written previously about “borrowers” - as in the series of children's books about same.  The “borrowers” are tiny people in who live in people's houses and borrow things  - they do not take or steal, they only borrow and then return the items.  

Husband and I say that they have taken things when items are not where one or both of us knows the items were put, and then they reappear exactly where they should have been, but were not.  Okay, we probably missed the items sitting where they should the 10 or so times we – taking turns – looked there for them and they did not disappear and reappear, but it does make us feel that it was not our fault we could not find items which were they belong and where we looked multiple times.  

Our latest occurrence was this past Monday.  Before the pandemic we went to the post office daily as we have a box there and would go to check what was in it.  Mid March 2020 we decided that we did not want to go out or go into the Post Office.  After a long period of time we managed to change the mailing address for any mail that went there to our home address and did not really have a reason to go the Post Office on any sort of regular  (or almost any) basis. We went late night on the last two Sunday nights of that March and were not inside the Post Office again until about two months ago and have been there once since – both times after receiving an email from the Post Office that there was something in our box.  (A wonderful service of the Post Office.)  

We had not been in the Post office while it was open during the day since mid March 2020 until this past Monday.  Husband sold one of craft tools that he no longer was using and we had to go there during open hours to ship it out (would not fit in an outgoing mail box, especially since there is now a slot instead of the pull down opening.  

As long as we had to go into the Post Office anyway, we had been about to renew our passports when everything shut down.  We don't plan to travel out of the country nor have we done so in decades, but it is good to have alternate ID to our driver's licenses, just in case.  In addition to go into IRS if needed for clients I need to either have a special driver's license or a passport – the passport is easier to renew then get the special license (for which I would have to go to into the DMV office and bring alternate ID with me – such as my passport….).   So I filled in the forms to renew our passports, wrote the checks,  and we each signed our renewal form.  I had each set of passport renewal papers in a different envelope  - one for me and one for him – and was mailing them separately.  I also had 3 regular pieces of mail which in a regular week we would have posted late Sunday night either at a local USPS collection box a couple of blocks away or in same outside the Post Office, so instead of making an extra trip Sunday night, we were posting them at the same time as the rest of the items on Monday afternoon.

I have been putting our outgoing mail in a gallon size zip bag to keep it all together.  Sunday night I put the two passport mailings and the three pieces of mail in the bag, counted the number of items in the bag – 2 larger envelopes (the passports) and 3 regular #10 envelopes – just what should be in the bag.  I then went downstairs and put the bag next to the item husband was shipping.  I opened the bag and counted again – 2 +3 is 5.  

Monday afternoon we took the bag (which I did not open and check again) and husband's item and set off the Post Office.  We parked as we normally did every day in the lot of an adjacent park and walked through the park with the bag and husband's box to the Post Office.  Dropped the three regular items to be mailed in one of the boxes in front of the Post Office.  No customers inside and we felt good that the normal huge waiting line was not there.  We handed the clerk husband's item – found out that one no longer fills in the little form for insurance – done through the computer.  No problem.  I went to take out the two passport envelopes and ----- THERE WAS ONLY ONE!!!!  It was husband's.  We paid for it at the clerk (found out that Passport does not sign and return Certified Mail and had to mail by Priority Mail – a lot more expensive – to be able to track it.  

We then started back home – looking carefully as we walked along.  No sign of the envelope with my passport renewal anyway along the way to the car or in the car.  Drove home.  Checked all the way to the house.  Checked in the house to the table in the living room everything had been on.  Checked the floor – nothing (well,  a lot of dust of course, but not what we were looking for).  I went up to our office looking at the floor as I went.  Where would it be in the office?  Not in the outgoing mail basket, not on my desk or under my desk or in the sorter trays on my desk.  Not by my computer or calculator.  Husband has been following me and double checking every place I look and look for alternative places.  If I lost this envelope I cannot renew my passport (at least not easily and by mail) and will be worried about what happened to it and WHO HAS IT?

Husband is thinking and looking around.  “Did you scan the envelope before you dropped in the bag to take it?”  “Yes.”  He lifts the top of the scanner – there it is!!!  How could it be there when it was counted twice in the bag while downstairs?  We have no idea, but at least it was found.  A trip back to the Post Office and it was on it's way also and we were on our way to Wendys for lunch.  

Why would the borrower's want my passport envelope – just to see it?  No idea and it makes no sense at all as so many of these incidents don't.  

The passports have arrived at the government office - “whew” - per the USPS packing.  On the other hand, the package husband shipped still shows only that it was accepted at the Post Office – three days ago!  It is suppose to be delivered by Friday and we are hoping that  it is not sitting in the back of the Post Office and someone will scan it and let us know where it is!

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

No matter how many times one checks something – another check is not a bad idea – even better if one gets someone else to check it for them – just to be sure.

ITS THE LITTLE THINGS.... CONTINUED

 Here's another example - 

I had renewed our reenacting unit's insurance - did the paperwork, paid for it and paid dues to a group that unit has to belong to get the insurance.  I was done for the year!

Or was I?  

A couple of weeks ago I realized I had not received the "Certificate of Insurance" which proves we have coverage and what the coverage is.  So, I sent an email to the insurance agent and he emailed back the certificates to me.  We get a certificate for our unit to prove we have the insurance from them and 3 more certificates as 3 different venues require us to have them added to our policy (in case something happens due to us) and we have to send them their certificates (I keep a copy of each).  I mailed out two of these certificates to places where we are actually doing events.  The third place I do not mail their certificate until just before the event or they lose it, so I did not mail that one.  Done with mailing the certificates out until the fall.  Check it off my list - take a breath.

The certificates had the wrong expiration date on them!  The policy expired two months before it started according to the certificates!!   New ones emailed to me with the correct dates on them and a big apology and I received them over the weekend.  I printed out the two which have to go out right away with a cover letter explaining why they were getting a second certificate and I put the envelopes in my outgoing mail basket to go out next Sunday night when we again go out and post outgoing mail.

Well, there is an event this coming weekend and the venue contacted our president - did we get a new certificate for this year?  He contacted my husband.  I explained to husband that it had been mailed to them, but was wrong and corrected one being mailed out with the mail to go out Sunday.  He scanned it into the computer and emailed it to them and we went out late tonight and posted our outgoing mail to date so they would have it sooner (hopefully before the event) - extra trip out and time spent.

 AND - we mailed in the renewal of our van's registration over a month ago and have not received the registration yet - we realized this last weekend. I checked with our bank's computer and the check had not cleared the bank. So Monday I telephoned the DMV, the hold was not as long as I thought it would be.  Now what is strange is a month before we mailed this registration renewal in, we mailed in the renewal of the registration of our RV - which is basically also a van -that came in 2 weeks.  The automated message said that they could not help with registrations mailed in less than 4 weeks ago. Since it was more than 4 weeks I waited put through the computer system to find out what was going on.  Nice woman came on and told me that it had been "processed".  If it was process why hadn't the check cleared our bank?  She did not know.  It was processed on June 21, I should call back if I do not have it 14 days.  I pointed out to her that the registration would expire before then - what should I do if it is not here before the expiration date - can we drive the van - NO!!  So we are waiting to hopefully receive the registration - at least the check is finally clearing the bank as of today.  If we don't get the registration before it expires, hopefully our car will not have problems and we won't need to drive the van.

I then had to call our medical insurance as one of my prescriptions was turned down - as past  6 months, need to go to back to the doctor for new prescription?  Huh, never had this problem before for self or husband - and why did all of other prescriptions go through.  Found out doctor had written the prescription for too long a time and I have to call him to fix it - why did they give the first renewal?  Our state passed a terrible law some years ago.  In an effort to stop the theft of prescription pads, all prescriptions must go directly through a computer system.  In the old days we would get the prescription, make sure they were correct and take whichever ones we needed filled right away to the pharmacy.  Now we have no idea if they are correct and if we don't need a medication renewed as we have, still get it anyway - if it is one of the expensive ones, we tell them to put it back and we call when needed - more work for pharmacy staff and time wasted picking up prescriptions. 

We need to go food shopping and plan to do so tomorrow. So in addition to writing to all of you nice readers and doing our laundry I took inventory of what food we have and what we need.  How nice to do something normal - we may even go out lunch at Wendys first - our third time doing so since mid March 2020. 

 THOUGHT OF THE WEEK - Is it the pandemic which is making everything weird and resulting in all of these stupid small problems one after another after another after...?

Are any of you finding you are having this same problem of one stupidity after another?