Well, I already had two stamps on it and I asked the clerk to check to see if I had enough postage on it. He said no even before he weighed it. He said it was a parcel. I said apparently you didn't get the memo. He said I go by what my book tells me and proceeded to read me the same old stuff they always tried to go by. I said I know all that stuff already and this memo says that it is wrong. He said that he would have to talk to his supervisor and then continued to try and tell me that if it varied in thickness by more than 1/4" it was a parcel. I read him the requirements from the memo and told him that he needed to get the supervisor for me. Finally he got the supervisor and the supervisor read the post that you put on here and said, "Yes, that's right." He told the clerk that it should be a large envelope and the clerk was still babbling on about the 1/4" difference in size. The supervisor said that from now on cushion mailers under 3/4" in thickness would go as a large envelope. I asked him if he would like to keep the post and he said no that he would print out the memo and make sure that everyone understood it. I don't think that they were any to happy. I had to pay an extra penny in addition to the stamps that I already had on it but that's better than $1.13. Hopefully that battle is won but I'm keeping the post with me when I go back.

Sylvia, I have posted this on other forums, so you may have read it before. It isn't exactly a ghost story, just something strange. When we bought this place, we waited a year before moving here, waiting on my daughter to graduate from high school. But we moved the horses here, so every evening, I would drive down here to feed the horses. We had built a work shop and there was a refrigerator in it, and we came down and worked on the place sometimes and had cook outs. One afternoon I came down a little early to mow the grass. I brought two Dr. Peppers. I was drinking one, and went to put the 2nd one in the fridge, but noticed it needed cleaning out. So, I cleaned out the refrigerator, leaving only some salad dressing, ketchup...a few condiments. I put my 2nd Dr. Pepper front and center in the fridge. After mowing the grass, and feeding the horses, I came back inside to get my soda for the drive home. It wasn't there. I was thinking maybe I had already taken it out, so I went outside and looked on the picnic table. Not there. I came back in and again, looked in the fridge. Not there. I was really thirsty and it was getting late. One more time...outside, looked all around. Not there. Once more looked in the fridge...nothing there but the few bottles of salad dressing, etc. In other words, practically empty. Finally, gave up. I locked the building, locked the gate and drove home without it. The next day I came down to finish mowing. Again, I brought two Dr. Peppers. I took one in the shop to put it in the fridge. Opened the door....front and center, the Dr. Pepper from the night before! Now, why wasn't it there the day before? Where did it go? I was the only person there...I have no neighbors and I was far out in the country. My husband and daughter laughed at me. Like I had just over looked it. A few years passed and my daughter was going to college in Houston, and living in an old apartment building across from the college. She got ready for a date one night, and went to put her compact in her purse. She had left it on the edge of the sink in her very tiny bathroom. Wasn't there. She looked everywhere for it. Came back later that night, went in the bathroom, and there it was on the edge of the sink. So...now she believes me about the Dr. Pepper, but where do things like that go???

I'm going to repeat my post from two years ago, because nothing has changed, and my solution is still working. If you find spots only on the front of your solid-color t-shirts after washing them, this will take care of them. It's a pain, but pre-treating them faithfully with Stain Stick--I now have to order it from Amazon, as WalMart and Kroger stores have quit carrying it--but it relieves the frustration of finding spots on freshly washed clothes. Spots only occur on the fronts of our t-shirts, never the backs or sides, so I think it has to do with getting grease on the front either from cooking or eating. Have you ever seen the spot a tiny crumb of potato or corn chip leaves on a brown paper sack overnight? My solution: pre-treat all visible spots with Stain Stick. Works most of the time, and seems to always work the second time around if there is a spot or two after the first wash. It's a pain, but compared to the trouble of making my own detergent, I'll continue doing it. I tried using spray pre-treatments, but once you spray you can't tell what spots are from the spray and which need to be treated. I have a top-loader and use Costco Free and Clear, but have tried Tide and other detergents, as well. Makes no difference. I use a dryer and fabric softener sheets. I tried no sheets and different brands--no difference. I typically pour the detergent down into the bottom of the tub so it goes into the area below the tub with the holes it, but don't wait to put clothes in until the bottom is covered with water, so it's possible some of the unmixed detergent is getting on the clothes. But as I started off with, if the spots were being caused by the detergent, they wouldn't be just on the fronts of the shirts.

I'm hoping for another book by Julia R. Fleming about the helicopter pilot turned Episcopal minister, with 'feelings' for her small town's chief of police. Dramatic, very human characters, *funny*, unpredictable. I liked Anne Perry's books set in England between the wars, but she began to repeat herself -- writing too much, too fast? DH and I ejoyed Silva's books featuring Gabriel Allon, but...eventually the character is running out of steam. Great plots! Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko is another great character. ("Gorky Park", etc.) Love Sandford, Robert Crais, the late Donald Westlake. (So sad there will be no more from him.) S. J. Rozan! Her Chinese-American detective Lydia Chin and her 'friend'. ("The Coldest Place") Who is the author who writes about books and book sellers? Lives Minneapolis, I think. May I mention my modern favorite book, "City of Thieves"? A 'fairy tale', a mystery, reads like Dostoevski might have written it if he'd lived through WWII. Alan Furst -- "The Polish Officer", etc. Philip Kerr's character Bernie Gunther in the "Berlin Noir Trilogy" and more. (Another character who must eventually wind down...so sad.) Oh-oh, I've really stayed from the OP's request. Sorry, Susan.