Updated news release

Writer Seeks Companies with Heart… (and parking) so she can write book about creative generosity 

Have you seen this van around Erie?

[Erie PA] Would you invite a woman to park her “kindness-mobile” in your company parking lot for a week or a month so she can write a book about generosity of spirit? Would you, if you received favorable promotion on her blog, website, book, and keynote speeches? What if she also kept an eye on your premises? (As an investigative journalist she is a keen observer and was the first to spot two house fires and also identify a serial burglar so police could bring him to justice.)

A shady spot is imperative. In direct sun the internal temperature of the van

can quickly become 100 degrees which could kill Casper the cat.

Andrea Reynolds is an unconventional 60 year old, former public relations consultant and freelance broadcaster who is starting again with no income or savings after multiple years of personal and business crises… some resulting from heartless company officials. She knows there are companies with a generous spirit everywhere, she just has to find them…so she can write about them. (She’s already met plenty of the other kind.) She returned to Erie to be her elderly father's patient advocate.

Reynolds is accepting invitations to park from: Auto Dealers, Chiropractors, Churches, Colleges, Dentists, Grocery Stores, Health and Fitness Clubs, Hospitals, Inns and Hotels, Law firms, Libraries, Physicians, Radio and TV stations, Realtors, Restaurants, Veterinarians, etc.

A place to park with an outside electrical outlet would be heaven.

With no mortgage or rent Reynolds will live on less than $500 a month (including food, gas and storage unit)…so she can write, publish and promote her next book, The Generosity Experiment. Equipped with nearly everything she needs – except for water and electricity – her 2002 Econoline van will be home for up to two years for her and her cat Casper.

"I'm not home-less; I'm home-free," Reynolds insists. "This is my choice. I want to work, but until people are willing to pay me for my professional consulting, writing and speaking skills and books again, driveway surfing is how I live within my means. I prefer it to couch surfing."

Reynolds is offering to share the profits from sales of this book with up to 2400 early buyers. Until April 30, any individual can claim a book for $24, have his/her name listed as a patron and share a portion of the profits. If she can sell 10,000 additional books through her online and offline promotion, each “patron” will double her/his investment. Her mailing address is: Andrea Reynolds, Suite 647, 2501 West 12^th Street, Erie PA 16505.

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For interviews and appearances, please contact Andrea Reynolds, crisiswriter@gmail.com (814) 431-9278 (cellular) or (412) 440-3704 (voicemail) or www.Twitter.com/ReynoldsIntl  More info: her website, www.AndreaReynolds.com  and her blog, http://DrivewaySurfing.blogspot.com.

Andrea Reynolds, Suite 647, 2501 West 12th Street, Erie PA 16505 

Earning my keep

I'm so grateful to Delly and Jason for giving me a place to stay out of the cold while I wait to receive invitations to park or house-sit. I'm doing multiple things to be a good house guest... after all, I wrote a booklet on Bed and Breakfast Guest Etiquette.

1. I'm trying to take up as little space as possible with my things in the kitchen, living room and bathroom.
2. I'm trying to be as quiet as possible by keeping the volume down on the TV, my laptop (TV shows and podcasts) and have ver few phone calls a week.
3. I'm eating up their leftovers to make more room in the crowded fridge.
4. In lieu of payment for electricity, I'm contributing a few items to the household.
5. I'm making myself useful by providing HandyAnde services I normally charge $30-$60 an hour for. By providing at least an hour of my services a day ($30 x 30 = $900/month) as a home economist I feel as though I'm giving value for my presence. Some of my tasks:

• scooping out the 5 cat litter boxes
• picking up milk, cat litter, cat box refills as needed
• sweeping the laminated and linoleum floors
• unclogging the shower drain
• washing dishes by hand throughout the day
• cooking parts of dinners
• refilling pet water bowl
• organizing some cupboards  
• keeping pets company when "mom and dad" are out of the house
• adjusting the window blinds in the morning and late afternoon (for the pets and plants)
• investigating unfamiliar noises 
• breaking up cat fights
• combing cats to reduce the possibility of hairballs.

This is what I do when I'm house and pet sitting. So hire me already... it costs you nothing!

Housesit Disappointment

I was confirmed to spend a month as a house sitter and pet sitter for a cat in Oakville Ontario starting March 11, and I was thrilled to be returning to a familiar location. I had postponed my trip to Ontario by a week to get a missing connector for my solar panel and power box, and had outfitted my van with all the equipment and supplies I would need for a month. Then the homeowner emailed me that she had changed her mind and hired someone else. I was stunned. Not only because my hopes were dashed of having a quiet month to write as I maintained her home and cared for her cat, but because I didn't want to impose on my friends longer than necessary, and now I had nowhere to go. I felt stranded.

While I like staying where I am, I always worry about being an unwanted guest. But I realized too, that this homeowner is not a kind person and she could have handled this differently. I don't think she realizes that I would be writing about how she treated me, in my blog and my book.

So I'm actively looking for housesitting situation of a week to several months in NW Pennsylvania, NE Ohio, NW New York, and southern Ontario. I'd love for them to be back-to back, but I'm happy to have an invitation to keep your home or business secure in your absence.

You can read about my background as a house and pet sitter on this page:  www.AndreaReynolds.com/housesit.html

Gradually recovering

I'm still in pain from all the moving and snow shoveling. (I've been so tired I've been spoonerizing my words, and saying show snoveling.) Everything hurts: my fingers, thumbs, shoulders, arms, back, legs, feet, toes. Even getting in and out of my van is difficult. I've hardly been changing clothes; hurts too much to move. I'm not sleeping well, so my body is not healing as fast as it should.

Delly and Jason have been wonderful and very accommodating. They parked their cars in the street so I can park in their driveway. I slept on the living room couch last night and Casper stayed awake near me, guarding me from all the cats. I thought there might be some cat fights, but nothing occurred but some growling and hissing. I was grateful he was not causing problems. The night before I heard Casper banging on the door to get out of his room so I went upstairs to keep him company so he wouldn't wake my friends. I slay down on the hardwood floor, but found a comforter in the open closet that I could lay on and cover myself with.

Tonight we are going to try to sleep in the van with the heater. It's cold and damp in there. The heater will dry it up a bit. There is an outlet on the porch we can use. I'll be making a big chef's salad for dinner, but before then I'll shower, get some clothes from the van and do some laundry.  But right now - it's 10:37 AM - I think I'll try to catch another hour of sleep. It might help.

Tomorrow I'll buy some groceries and see what else I need from storage. I'm gearing up to do two things over the next week or two:
1. Take a day trip to Niagara Region Ontario to get the part I need for my solar panel.
2. Confirm at least one housesitting assignment, and maybe a series of them.

Meanwhile I'll work on updating my web site, writing some letters to people who owe me money, promoting my Generosity Experiment book, and getting my 2009 taxes done. (Hoping for a refund.)

Staying warm in the van

I almost forgot to write about how we (Casper and I) will stay warm. If we have access to electricity with my 100 foot utility cord I can plug in my small box heater. With the Reflectix insulation - top, bottom and sides - and my wool and flannel curtains at the windows we may need the heater only intermittently.

With my Canadian Tire Eliminator power box - rechargeable  - I can plug in my heating pad for Casper to lie on. Knowing him, he won't lie on it. He doesn't like to have blankets over him either. I brought the box he likes to hide in, a long one, that I could slip into one of the unused sleeping bags I won. I could put the heating pad between the underside of the box and the sleeping bag "sleeve". The box sits on top of two small carpets...ones that Casper knows. If I can get him to go inside the box and stay there at night, he can be warm even when we don't have the box heater.

The downside is we need to recharge the power box each day. Without electricity, that's not possible. Once I get a proper plug from Canadian Tire in Canada, I  will be able to use my solar panel to recharge the power box. They were sold to me - $600 for both - as being compatible... but they weren't.

Erased my presence

... in the old apartment. That's what I/tenants are asked to do. Sad actually, that all traces of our existence in our once-homes must be eradicated. I think it's symbolic of how landlords think of tenants: we tenants are disposable and memories of us are unwanted.

I vacuumed, mopped, plastered holes, erased marks on the wall, cleaned fixtures and appliances, removed all trash - except for a paper bag on the kitchen counter. Got everything out by 9 PM and dropped off the keys in the management office's rent check box. My friend Jason loaded up his car because my van was stuck in his driveway. The last item to leave was Casper. We even grabbed my mailbox and the door mat.
We threw everything into my van, which, obviously was not ready for sleeping.

Delly and Jason were kind enough to invite me to sleep on the couch and gave Casper a room where he wouldn't be overwhelmed by their 5 cats and 2 dogs (and 1 guinea pig). More about my stay here next post.