Monday – a gorgeous day.
I painted the old decking on the she shed with a dark gray, heavy duty paint. It looks way nicer now…the old pressure treated wood was yucky and needed a facelift. We also went to the barn and cleaned stalls. We hadn’t gone for over a week so it was pretty bad, but we had two buckets and had them running continuously. It was a good workout! We wanted to burn some of our brush but it was just too windy last night so we tabled that. Hopefully Tuesday night!
So here is where the rubber hits the road…I love my job. I LOVE helping people plan their dream vacations. I love seeing people make memories that will last them a lifetime. I work for free for every single client – they never pay me; the supplier pays me AFTER my clients travel. I serve my clients with the best prices anywhere; customized personal service and I am on-call 24/7 when they travel. When my clients don’t travel, I don’t get paid. For the past three months, only two out of the 22 planned vacations that I have been working on for almost a year, happened. My planned summer travelers are still waiting on bated breath to find out if their plans will be thwarted by COVID-19. I am still helping my clients AND people who booked their own travel navigate the rebooking and Future Travel Credit situation ensuing.
My state, Maine, just decided last Friday (May 1st) that they had figured out how to administer unemployment claims for self employed folks. I applied March 23rd and found out in April that they didn’t have a procedure for self employed folks. I got my denial and was told to wait. Friday, my window for refiling opened up at noon (since my last name starts with an “S”), but there was an issue, of course – and I was given three business days to call. The office closes there at 12:30pm.
Yesterday I called 47 times. They have no waiting queue for calls so you have to continuously call back. The offices opened at 8am and I have dialed in 34 times already today (Tuesday). This is hard for so many! Fingers crossed I eventually get through. I know there are so many people in this with me – self employed entrepreneurs that are trying to follow their dream and seeing that dream on hold. I think we are going to start renting out the She Shed! Who’s first? Socially Distant “glamping”!!
Day 50 and counting….
Mrs. Smith Travels 