Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Trying out products

Tuesday night (yesterday) I was gone all day. When I arrived home, the package from Melaleuca arrived. I did not open the package.

This morning, I opened the box. In addition to the products I had ordered were a number of sales materials and a "membership kit" box (which I still haven't opened). I got out the products I had ordered:
  • Laundry detergent
  • Laundry oxygen bleach
  • Dishwasher detergent
  • Dish detergent
  • Window cleaner
  • Sports drink mix (like Gatorade, but a powder for mixing with bottled water)

I tried the window cleaner first. My glasses were dirty, so I poured the concentrated cleaner up to the line in the spray bottle, and added water to fill the bottle. I spritzed each lens on both sides and wiped them with a cloth. I was immediately amazed at the crystal clear view. I clean my glasses frequently, and they usually develop lots of light scratches that cause glare and interfere with vision. This glass cleaner seemed to reduce the glare from those scratches. I usually use commercial pre-moistened wipes designed for cleaning glasses. At home sometimes I use dishwater or Windex. None of those products have ever given me the level of clarity I experience using the Melaleuca product.

Encouraged by the success with the experience with  my glasses, I decided to try the dishwasher detergent next. Someone had already loaded the dishwasher with pre-rinsed dishes. Following the instructions on the bottle, I filled one of the dispenser cups half-full of the liquid gel detergent, set the washer on "normal," and ran the washer. All of the pre-rinsed dishes were clean (as expected) but I had used 1/4 the usual amount of detergent, and to my delight, all of the glass and stainless steel dishes had a glassy-clean appearance like new dishes. We have very hard water, and I have grown accustomed to the fact that dishes always have a "used" look after they have been washed, as a thin film of calcium begins coating the dishes. Occasionally I use a mixture of vinegar and salt with a nylon scrubber to remove the calcium film, but even that treatment never removes the film completely. As I unloaded the dishwasher, one of my kids asked me if I had purchased new dishes when he saw the "like new" appearance of one of the dishes.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Melaleuca

Last Friday, a friend told me about a new multi-level marketing plan. Having experienced another multi-level marketing plan in the past, I was skeptical, but trust in my friend's judgement and integrity kept me listening. He claimed this company was different because the products are actually less expensive than comparable name-brand products, and because this company does not require members to sell anything. All sales are handled through the corporate website.

As I listened, I thought about how my friend is a natural salesman, while I am more of a geek who tends to get carried away talking about details until my listeners find a polite way to escape the boredom. My friend must have picked up on my concern, because he promised to help me to sign up new members. I would just need to try the products and refer people to him, and he would sign those people up under me.

The risk seemed small. I would try new products, and either I would believe in them and naturally talk them up to others, or I would quickly know that I had misgivings about the product, and I would discontinue my membership. I signed up, and I ordered a one month supply of products I would have purchased anyway.

When I arrived home, my daughter arrived home about the same time with a grocery bag full of cleaning products she had just purchased, asking me to reimburse her. I immediately began experiencing "buyer's remorse," since my daughter was requesting reimbursement of about 10% of what I had just spent.

Saturday, November 5, 2011


Journal:
Watched Sands of Time, Sorcerer's Apprentice


Prayer list:
Barb Riley Pancreatic stent
Jane Wolfe Son turning 18 wants to move out
Cindy Neisler Canova's Dad
Brenda Veach cancer & chemo

Work list:
City of Plymouth
Start school work
Life insurance cancelled
New Life insurance started
Audra's school pictures
Sears product service agreement
EazyPaper / Office / Adobe Web Design Premium / Remote Control
Answer birthday cards

Reading
Project
Uplink

Sources:


Wednesday, October 26, 2011


Prayer list:
Barb Riley Pancreatic stent
Jane Wolfe Son turning 18 wants to move out
Cindy Neisler Canova's Dad
Brenda Veach cancer & chemo

Work list:
Reading
Project
Uplink
Wallet inventory & report missing
   Driver's license
   MDWise Healthy Indiana Plan Card
   Library card
   PNC Visa card (requires daily monitoring)
   Indiana Benefits Card (zero balance)
   Various membership cards
   Marshall County Rx Discount card
   Calendar events on daytimer notebook

Sources:
http://www.4nannytaxes.com/faq/NannyTaxIllegalImmigrant.cfm
http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/M-618.pdf

Journal:
Took Audra to see Dr. Stillson

Monday, October 24, 2011


Prayer list:
Barb Riley Pancreatic stent
Jane Wolfe Son turning 18 wants to move out
Cindy Neisler Canova's Dad
Brenda Veach cancer & chemo

Work list:
Reading
Project
Uplink
Wallet inventory & report missing
   Driver's license
   MDWise Healthy Indiana Plan Card
   Library card
   PNC Visa card (requires daily monitoring)
   Indiana Benefits Card (zero balance)
   Various membership cards
   Marshall County Rx Discount card
   Calendar events on daytimer notebook

Journal:
Wallet I&R:
   Reported wallet lost to Plymouth Police today.
   Transferred balance from Indiana Card to PNC
   Checked PNC transactions for unexpected transactions
   Registered fraud alert to prevent using my ID to open credit accounts
   Registered MDwise health card with TrustedID so they can monitor use of my health card.
   Recreated three lost calendar events and posted them to my calendar

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Prayer list:
Barb Riley Pancreatic stent
Jane Wolfe Son turning 18 wants to move out
Cindy Neisler Canova's Dad
Chris Miller combined youth event tomorrow night;
back to be completely healed (pain is pretty bad today, making it very difficult to get anything done) thanks friends

Missing Wallet
Bronchitis

Work list:
Reading
Call Re: Uplink

Wallet Inventory & report missing
  Last used Aldi's 10/19 
  Driver's License (have copy)
  Visa Card and all automated visa transactions
  Indiana Card money transferred
Restore missing schedule
Unknown: Appt. w/ Dr. Macellari 574-254-9200
Mon
Tue
Wed
11:40 Dr. Stillson
Thur
1:00 Family meeting
Fri
Sag

Journal:

Tuesday, September 27, 2011


Prayer list:
Barb Riley Pancreatic stent
Jane Wolfe Son turning 18 wants to move out
Cindy Neisler Canova's Dad
Chris Miller combined youth event tomorrow night;
back to be completely healed (pain is pretty bad today, making it very difficult to get anything done) thanks friends

Work list:
Reading
Project
Uplink

Journal: