A Most Unsuitable Match by Stephanie Grace Whitson (a Bethany House Publishing Blogger Review)

**Bethany House Publishers provided me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for posting a review with my honest (positive or negative) opinion of it.**

This was a wonderful book.  Kind of a “coming of age” story.  Actually, when I think of the phrase “coming of age” I usually think of a younger person.  Perhaps the appropriate phrase for this book should be, “a rich 20-year-old getting a reality check.”  However, Miss Fannie Rousseau is such a likeable character that it’s more amusing to find she doesn’t even know how to use a broom than utterly contemptible.

The story clearly demonstrates that, in life, it doesn’t matter our social standing, our financial situation, our race, or whether or not we’re sighted, we’re all challenged in a number of ways throughout our lives.  Our response when facing these challenges determines our path, and we shouldn’t judge the way someone else faces (or has faced) his/her challenges in the road of life.

Except for Emma’s Mr./Major/Lieutenant/Whatever Johnny Chadwick, pretty much all of the characters were likeable in this book—even the son of a wallyhoo steamboat captain and sweet Mrs. Tatum.

Definitely worth the read, and I’ll be looking for other Stephanie Grace Whitson books!

Pattern of Wounds by J. Mark Bertrand (a Bethany House Publishing Blogger Review)

 

**Bethany House Publishers provided me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for posting a review with my honest (positive or negative) opinion of it.**

I hadn’t heard of J. Mark Bertrand and Roland March until receiving Pattern of Wounds for review. Thus, I haven’t read the first in this series.  There was a lot of underlying tension and agitation written into the March character, that I couldn’t understand the basis for, and perhaps had I read the first book in this series I would have understood.

I love a who-done-it, and was actually a little disappointed because I figured out who-done-it as soon as the do-er crossed the page (but than I got the satisfaction of “told ya so” at the end).

I know some people won’t look twice at this book just because it’s “Christian” fiction.  However, the Christian twist of the plot isn’t overbearing or preachy, and Roland March has some pretty good arguments against an all-loving God (the muscle-builder next door scenario, for example).

This was a good book, and I’m happy to recommend it to Christians and non-Christians alike, who like a good mystery mix of a serial killer, a couple of bloody mutilated bodies, and a partridge in a pear tree.

The Whole Bible Story by William H. Marty (a Bethany House Publishing Blogger Review)

**Bethany House Publishers provided me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for posting a review with my honest (positive or negative) opinion of it.**

This is the whole title of the book:  The Whole Bible Story:  Everything that happens in the Bible in plain English.

I scanned other reviewer’s “takes” on this book, and I have to say, I agree with most of the comments—however, most of what people wrote as being negative about the book, I actually consider a positive.

Perhaps people would lump me into their impression of a “new believer” because I haven’t read all of the Bible.  I’ve only read chunks of it; some entire books and only a few verses in other books.  But there’s nothing “new” about my faith.

I get stymied and bored with all the begats.  I don’t understand the crazy laws.  I get frustrated with how stupidly many of the people behave so I can’t imagine how God feels/felt about them!

So, yes, I, too, think Dr. Marty’s book is a kind of  “Cliff Notes” for the Bible. I really don’t know what other people were expecting out of a 300 page book?

So, no, within 300 pages, Dr. Marty didn’t include every single event found in the Bible; he shared the highlights he felt were most important.  If I knew the Bible as well as Dr. Marty, and I was able to write a book such as this, mine (as well as anyone else’s) would be very different because life experiences influence the importance of events and our interpretation of them. 

And, yes, a lot of what Dr. Marty wrote is totally random and disjointed—just like the stories he wrote about that are in the Bible.  Be honest, does everything in the Bible make sense to us?  No.  At least not to me.

As a matter of fact, I kind of compare some of the stuff that goes on in the Bible as being much like one of the odd-ball dreams I try to explain when I wake up where all kinds of weird things happened, and I have no idea how all of it fits together or why.

This book is a wonderful peek into the Bible.  I have lots of questions and notes scribbled throughout—lot’s of “HUH?  Why???”s.  So, guess what?  Call me the Nancy Drew of the Bible, because now instead of feeling like reading the Bible is a chore, I want to know more details!  (And, I don’t mind sifting through the boring stuff to find them out!).

The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen (a Bethany House Publishing Blogger Review)

**Bethany House Publishers provided me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for posting a review with my honest (good or bad) opinion of it.**

I have my own classification system for books: 

1.  suitable to pass on to my mother to read
2.  NOT suitable for my mother

This one definitely falls into category #1.  I loved it, and I know mom will, too.

I haven’t read other Julie Klassen books so I can’t compare this book with any of her others. 

The characters make up a many-layered plot with a bit of mystery, a bit of romance, and a peek into the social structure of the early 1800s.  

I don’t need to write another editorial review or spoiler about the book since there’s plenty of that already written. 

But I would like to offer this commentary:

Others have reviewed (both favorably and unfavorably) of the Christian theme running through the book.  I’m not seeing it.  Morals and proper etiquette and social appearances, definitely, but nothing so strongly Christian that I would have realized Ms. Klassen is known as a Christian author.

And, that’s not a complaint.  I enjoyed this book from start to finish. I’m a reader with a personal library filled with an eclectic mix of authors and genres.  I’m a Christian, but I’m not as easily offended as my mother.  A lot of the best sellers I have stacked by my bedside I would NEVER consider passing on for her to read.  They’re well beyond her PG-13 comfort level simply because they are littered with unnecessary vulgar language (not even to mention the way-too-explicitly detailed romance interactions).  (And, no, I don’t go searching for R-rated (or worse) books—I look for 4-star and higher Amazon reviews, and usually the first ones that pop up are from various best seller lists).

Anyway…  I’ve already recommended this book to several friends, and I’m happy to recommend it here to the rest of the world.  Ms. Klassen, you did good!

Promises to Keep by Ann Tatlock (a Bethany House Publishing Blogger Review)

**Bethany House Publishers provided me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for posting a review with my honest (good or bad) opinion of it.**

Promises to Keep is a cute-on-the-surface story.  It’s a fast read.  Another reviewer thought the book was sad and depressing. I actually found the idea of Tillie quite amusing. (she's much like the girlfriend George Kastanza (from "Sienfield") had at one point who refused to let him break up with her).

Unfortunately, for mystery seekers, the plot is completely predictable from start to finish. And, I found Ms. Patchett's naive impression of 1960s race relations a joke. She tried a bit to hard to make Roz a likeable character by making her colorblind about a decade and a half too early for the effort to be anywhere close to believable. The culture was entirely too broken at that time for a single incidence of the "n word" to show up in the story. Further, in the early 1960s my black grandparents certainly would not have encouraged a friendship with a white child or allowed me to spend the night with a white family (no matter how well-meaning).

Actually, I was going to write I don't even know why Roz's friend Mara had to be black, but I really don't know what other fathers-and-daughters-with-secrets plot would really work for Roz to have a companion with whom to keep her promises.

A few spoilers:

Roz's secret is that she knows her father is stalking her mother, and she even “innocently” helps him as he plans to destroy her mother, all the while pretending ignorance as she overlooks the evilness that oozes from his character. (I guess that makes her crazy-obsessive-alcoholic-father-blind as well as colorblind). Hmmm... I'm not sure how believable that whole interaction is…

Mara's secret is that she has a white father she dreams of having a relationship with. She listens to his radio shows, which he signs off every time with "Good night, Bernice." (Mara's first name is Bernice). Interestingly, her white father's white family doesn't have a clue about is previous relationship with her black mother or that Mara even exists. Hmmm... Seriously???  If my husband ended his radio shows with "Good night, Bernice" and MY name wasn't Bernice, there'd definitely be a problem...

Meanwhile, it's no surprise that Tillie's gonna die in the house she and her husband built.

Another reviewer referenced this as a Christian book. Tillie vaguely mentions "the Father" a handful of times, and Roz has a bit of an ah-ha at the end. But otherwise, I don't consider this book Christian fiction in the least.

Book Reviews for Bethany House Publishing

I asked to be a part of the Bethany House Publishing Blog Reviewers Program.  They e-mail the titles of books they’d like bloggers to review.  After reading I’m to give an honest opinion of the book, and post my review on my blog and on another reviewer source (i.e. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.).

These are the books I’ve requested to review:

Promises to Keep by Ann Tatlock
Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen
The Whole Bible Story by William H. Marty
The Sweetest Thing by Elizabeth Musser

I’m quite a bit late in posting my review of these books for a couple of reasons. 

The first is totally lame:  I’ve been enjoying the warm weather and simply haven’t taken the time to write the reviews.

The second:  I’m not sure I know how to write an review! 

One hundred copies of each book were released through this blogger review program.  I checked out what other Bethany House blogger readers were writing (it’s easy to tell because each review has to provide a statement something to the effect of “Bethany House Publishing provided me a free copy of this book in exchange for a review with my honest opinion of it (good or bad).”

At least 99 reviews are out there, and most of them regurgitate the synopsis on the cover of the book (often in the same words)!  That’s more of a book report, and doesn’t necessarily give potential readers an opinion of the book—right???

Anyway…  my reviews are above.

My Book List

I have been reading like a mad woman for the last month or so. I made it through all of the books that Brian bought me for Christmas and had to buy another $100+ worth from Amazon. I only have four of those left so I’ll be ordering more soon. What I do is try to pick out 4-1/2 or 5 star books on Amazon or I read the reviews for Pulitzer Prize winners (or other kinds of prize winners). I’ve bought a few of Oprah’s books (but typically find them too depressing). And, a couple of years ago, I bought most of the Today Show book suggestions.

I still have a bunch of “mini reviews” I want to write, but here are several books I’ve read over the last couple of years:

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards: a good read with an interesting plot though it’s sad.

The Kite Runner by Kahlid Hussein: I put off reading this for two years because it takes place in Afghanistan, and I thought that would be too depressing. I finally picked it up, and (I hate to admit this, but…) it’s a really good book. It’s also very sad (WHY are they all sad?), violent, very disturbing, but worth checking out.

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett: this is another one I put off reading simply for the sheer volume of the stupid thing. It’s almost 1000 pages long! GREAT book! It’s a real page turner. I couldn’t wait to find out how that monster (Richard, I think–I forget his name) would meet his end! This has almost 1400 customer reviews on Amazon.com!

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Ugh. That’s all I can say about this AWFUL book. I managed to trudge through it, but I was NOT impressed. It’s a piece of garbage.

Foul Play by Janet Evonovich. Anything by this author is a fun, light read!

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz: 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner. This is another sad one. It is laden with Spanish phrases. I sat in front of the computer with a translator website for some of it, but for most of it I was left in the dark. That said, though, it is a really good book.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. Wonderful book. It takes place in 19-century China and is an interesting peek into the culture of China–the excrutiating practice of foot binding (“golden lillies”) where a 3″ foot was desired; nu shu; laotong; arranged marriages… great read!

The Road by Cormack McCarthy: OMG! What a very, very sad and freaky book. Really makes you think. Odd for sure. 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo: 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner. Enjoyable read! I’m surprised it won a Pulitzer, though, since it’s just a regular ol’ fiction book.

Cane River by Lalita Tademy. This is a really good book about four generations of black French-speaking slaves in 1800s Lousiana. It is a piece of fiction based on the author’s family. I liked that it has pictures of the real life characters. Slavery is very difficult for me to read about, but this is an excellent book.

The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living by Martin Clark. This is touted as being the “drinking man’s John Grisham” and got lots of rave reviews on Amazon.com and from book critics all over the place. After reading so many sad books, I wanted something funny! Well this is a piece of crap. There is NOTHING funny about it. The plot is stupid (what is up with the “white tears” part???) and the characters drink and drive. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Total waste of money.

The Book Theif by Markus Zusak. LOVED IT!!! Okay… this book takes place in Nazi-occupied Germany (which is also hard for me to read about), but is such a wonderful book I couldn’t put it down. The publisher is Knopf Books for Young Readers, and is recommended for grades 9 and up. Hmmm…??? I really don’t think of this is a book for high schoolers. It’s narrated by Death which is very interesting.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows: this book takes place on the channel island of Guernsey after World War II. Guernsey was a strategic location for the Germans to overtake Europe, and the island was occupied for five years with no contact with the outside world. The islanders formed a book club during that time, and the main character of the book (Juliett Ashton) travels to Geurnsey to write a book about the occupation. This is a really good book.

The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring. Great book! Hmmm… I think of the 1950s as a bunch of prudes for some reason. Maybe because my mother always tells me that the 1950s were the “perfect” times which makes me think of innocence and, well…, PRUDES! Not the case in this book; Freeda’s got the mouth of a sailor and they don’t go to church on Sunday! Loved it!

Some Things that Stay by Sarah Willis: five star book with 51 reviewers on Amazon.com. Another great read, but (again) it has an air of sadness: the dad is an idiot, the mom has TB, the cow gets killed, and the family is moved to every year (because the dad is an idiot). It is a really, really good book, though.

What Comes After Crazy by Sandy Kahn Shelton: Okay… this one has a quote on the cover by People that says “Plenty of laughs here.” Again, after reading some many “heavy” books, I wanted a light read. I liked it, but I didn’t think it was funny at all. I thought the Madame Lucille character was flat out TRAGIC (why is everything SAD, SAD, SAD???) and Maz (the main character) is totally spineless. If somebody stole my kid, I would at least make SOME effort to get her back (call the police, you big idiot!!!).

Cold Rock River by J.L. Miles: This is just a great book. It’s a story-within-a-story; half about slavery, half about 1960s Georgia.

Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen: it’s about that bitch (!), Troo (funny I could think that about a 9-year-old, but I did!), and her sister, Sally (the narrator). Another good book. (P.S. I figured it out as soon as the bad guy was introduced!).

The Ballard of Frankie Silver by Sharon McCrumb: I got this book in the library on Johnston Island before I left. It’s a good book, but (once again) SAD! It’s about the first woman to be hanged in North Carolina.

The Old Fox Deceiv’d by Martha Grimes: Another one I got on JI, but didn’t get around to readying for 8 years! Okay, for once, NOT SAD! It’s a good little “who-done-it?” mystery.

A Traitor to Memory by Elizabeth George: Funny thing is: I read this once before, but I must have only made it partially through because I totally didn’t remember the ending. It’s not bad.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde: LOVED IT! LOVED IT! LOVED IT! How very, very original. The burbing, farting bookworms are just too clever. And best of all: NOT SAD!!!

The Dogs of Babel by Carlyn Parkhurst: Hmm… I read it… I’m not sure I liked it. The guy tries to teach his dog to talk–but “ruff” isn’t good enough; he wants human language. I know I’m supposed to use my imgination, but I just wasn’t that inspired. And, I thought the wife was a total nut-case. She made love to the husband while wearing a papier-mâché mask she made from a dead girl’s face. Too damn creepy!

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende: I really enjoyed this book. It takes place during the California Gold Rush of 1849 of which I know nothing. It’s a great story of an unlikely friendship. What I really want to know is how people could write letters back and forth across the country to each other, and the letters actually made it to intended recipient…??? NOT SAD!

That Quail, Robert by Margaret A. Stanger: Okay… out of all of the sad books I’ve read this year, this one absolutely takes the cake. Despite being a WONDERFUL book, this one made tears stream down my face.

A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz: I guess if you like laughing at schizophrenics then you’d think this is funny, but otherwise, IT’S SAD! There were some really good philosphical-make-you-think parts, but as a whole, I had to trudge through this book because it didn’t really hold my attention.

Fun way to start the day!

Every now and then, I relive Susan Boyle's audition for "Britain's Got Talent." She makes me smile every time I watch it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

Also, my mom forwarded an e-mail to a blog that has the most amazing amateur video of a church choir! It was posted on this person's blog in May of 2007, and has over 5 million hits, but I'd never seen it before. Like, Susan's performance, you can't help, but to be touched by this performance.

http://www.mychurch.org/blog/30635

Enjoy!

Truman Seizure

Hmm…  Truman’s last seizure was November 04. 

I can’t believe he just had another one.  It was a short, fairly non-violent one.  He “told” me about ten minutes before he started having it that it was coming on.

Bless his little heart.

Here he is mid-seizure.

Error 0x80070052 (quick & easy fix—Feb. 2010)

Background:  I bought digital picture frames to give as Christmas gifts this year.  I was able to move several hundred photos to flash drives, but eventually got this same error message on three separate progressively larger capacity drives.

I researched the error message, and found numerous references to faulty registry files and a very sick computer.  That totally freaked me out (but that’s a whole other something to blog about).

Anyway…  how to fix that error message in two easy steps:

1. Create a new folder on the flash drive
2. Copy the files to the new folder

Yes.  It’s that easy.

The first couple of hundred were “allowed” just “loose” on the drive, but the rest of them couldn’t be moved until I created a new folder to put them in.

So…

Obviously, it’s been a l-o-n-g time since I blogged.  I used to enjoy throwing out my .02¢ for the world to read (or not).  It used to be FUN to blog.

But now, I’m like… 

 

WHO THE HELL CARES???

 

But, I can’t seem to help myself, and I’ve put together a short little list of crap to blah, blah, blah about over the next month or so. 

In no particular order:

• Hermitsville, here I come:  Why I hate Facebook with a passion.
• Clipart review:  Art Explosion 800,000
• Clipart review:  ClickArt 1.5 Million
• Clipart review:  IMAGE Revolution 500,000
• Clipart review:  ClipArt&More 3.5 Million
• Clipart review:  www.iclipart.com
• Error 0x80070052
• RegDefense Review (DON’T BUY THIS PIECE O’CRAP SOFTWARE!)
• My new $1 Studio G acrylic stamp storage
• www.6pm.com
• Make the Cut software review
• The Haan floor sanitizer
• The new crate liner/cover for Annie and Stuart
• My new Xyron Design Runner
• New shoes I’ve bought in the last couple of months!

 

OMG!!!!!!

OMG!!!!!! NO FRIGGIN' WAY!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!

For the VERY FIRST TIME IN MY ADULT LIFE, I have found a pair of blue jeans that fit!!!

BLUE CULT 28 X 33

#1. I'm 5'6", but I guess I'm out of proportion to other women my height since my legs are two inches too long for average length pants and two inches too short for talls. I have spent my ENTIRE LIFE fighting this; I hated back-to-school shopping because I had to try on a hundred pairs of pants, none of which ever fit, and mom or Mema ultimately had to hem for me.





#2. While I like jeans with a low-to-medium rise (I can't stand jeans/pants that come up to my belly button and squeeze me to death when I sit). Fortunately low-to-medium rises are "in" right now. However, I absolutely HATE the "in" styles of jeans that have been available for the last several years. I absolutely do not like flare-legged jeans and I don't even like bootcut jeans (which is the most commonly available style of jean which is stupid considering boots are NOT the most commonly worn women's shoes!).



#3. While I am thin enough to pull off the skinny/cigarette-legged jeans that are the rage this season, those are just not my style.



So... by complete fluke, I ordered size 28 and 30 Blue Cult jeans from Overstock.com (they were out of 29s). I had no idea what size was going to fit and I can return whichever (or both) doesn't fit.



I simply cannot believe the 28s fit--and actually, they have just enough give that a 27 would have fit without me having to hitch them up ever so often.

StuidoG $1 stamps!

Everytime I'm in Michael's or Joann's I like to dig through their bargin bins and see what kind of cute StudioG stamps they have. The other day, I started talking to a woman at Joann's while we were pawing through the box of of $1 stamps. She told me CraftWarehouse also has them. I wasn't going to go until that lady pounced on a set of spider stamps I HAD to have (and of course, that was the last one Joann's had).


So... WOW! CraftWarehouse has MORE stamps than Joann's and Michael's combined--not just in sheer number, but also in the number of designs!!! I picked up several of the Halloween acrylic and wood-black sets (including the spider set that lady at Joann's beat me to!).

I posted a comment on a forum about liking these stamps sets--because the designs are cute and the fact that they're cheap! OF COURSE... someone had to offer a negative opinion about the quality and what a waste of money they are and, get this, "they turn yellow after you use them." What the hell? Who cares what color the turn? Can you ink 'em up and stamp with 'em? You bet.

Oh, yeah... and this is my favorite: "Stampin' Up! stamps are made from the highest-quality rubber with deeply etched images. They are an investment that will last forever." Huh? Is that a joke? An INVESTMENT?????


Here's the deal: I have spent a small fortune on SU! stamps (I have two rolling carts FULL of them). I'm not sure what the average cost of a set of stamps is? $30? Anyway, the majority of what I've bought is still sitting, uncut, in their pretty little plastic boxes. And those that I HAVE cut apart and stamped with, I've only used a handful of times. So, when it comes down to it, I'd rather spend $1 on a set of stamps that, ewwwww... turn yellow after I use them a couple of times, and if I NEVER use them, then I'm only out a buck!


All that said, I found an online stamp store that's going out of business. I bought the entire "Bohemian" collection for $12! Pretty much the designs all look the same, but this is a collection that's been out since August, and nobody around here has them.

Northridge Media subscription complaint saga continues...

Okay... In a nutshell: my credit card was incorrectly charged THREE times by Northridge Media. (See my previous post for all of the details).

On 09/21/09, I called and asked to speak with a manager because I had a customer complaint. I was forwarded to Nik Bruce who listened to my problem, told me they had a computer "glitch" that caused the problem, and that he would credit my account on Thursday 09/24/09 for the $44.95 charge from May 11, and the $39.95 charge from September 12.

Well... on FRIDAY 09/25/09, the $39.95 charge was credited (NOT the day he said, but at least it got done). Still haven't heard a word about the $44.95 charge from May.

So... I called back again today, and asked for Nik Bruce... again... And once again... he didn't even apologize for what was going on.

You know, I've worked in retail, and I DON'T agree that the "customer is always right." However I DO believe in great customer service, and THEY (Northridge Media) TOTALLY SUCK! This is THEIR problem, and I have every right to be totally pissed off that they basically STOLE money from me, and I'm having to beg to get it back. In this case, the customer (me!) IS right. With that said, though, I very calmly told him I was pissed off, but I didn't yell and scream at him like I felt.

So... I tell this Nik Bruce guy that I'm STILL waiting for the $44.95 refund from May. And his response? "I didn't know we were supposed to credit your account for that charge." Which is a load of crap; he was fully aware of it when we spoke a couple of weeks ago.

He goes through this whole rigamarole of checking my account, and he lets me know the $44.95 charge in May was for a renewal charge for Simply Handmade. I'm not sure why he didn't tell me that when I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago, and that does explain why the charges are different. And I DID have a 6-month subscription for Simply Handmade, but it expired with the June/July issue (and I know that because that's the issue my baby bib was published in). So why would they charge me in May to renew a subscription that didn't end until July? And, if they charged me because of some oversight and have never bothered to credit my account as they should have then why haven't I been receiving "Simply Handmade" since they charged me for it???

Because. They. Are. Full. Of. Crap.

And, here's the real kicker. He asked me if I just wanted a credit to the same credit card I used to place the order. What an ass. He told me when I spoke with him in September that he was going to "personally make sure" that my credit card number was removed entirely from their database so that I would no longer be enrolled in their Platinum Subscriber Program. Obviously, that didn't happen, but the card expires at the end of the year so they can't use it anyway.

Shesh! Just had to get that off my chest, too!

Cards Magazine Complaint!

Sorry... This is a really long rant... Gotta get it off my chest!

Left me first say this: Except for the price, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my subscription to Cards magazine (or idea book or whatever you want to call it).

There was a subscription special when I first subscribed to it last year. If I subscribed to 12 months of Cards, I could get 6 months of another one of their publications for free. I think the name of the one I chose was called Paper Trends (I received four issues and then they changed the name to Simply Handmade).

About a month before my subscription ran out, I got a message from Nik Bruce that said my subscription was about to expire, but not to worry because I was enrolled in their Platinum Renewal Plan which means my credit card will automatically be charged for another year. I DID NOT agree to be enrolled in their Platinum Subscriber Program. They did NOT bury any information about it in fine print that I failed to read. I called and placed my order on the stinkin' phone, and the woman who took my subscription information (whom I now know is Janice) didn't say a word about their stupid Subscriber Program!!!

Anyway... I called Northridge Media and spoke with Nik Bruce (the guy who'd sent the renewal e-mail). I told him it was time to renew my subscription, but I saw online that they were offering the same deal as when I first subscribed--6 months free with a paid 12-month subscription, and I'd like to get that same deal with my renewal. He said that was definitely do-able. He told me about each of their other publications, and I chose Scrapbook Trends for my free subscription. Before we hung up, I specifically asked him if I still needed to respond to the e-mail he'd sent, and he told me no that it was all taken care of on his end.

So... My April credit card statement comes in, and guess what? There were TWO $84.95 charges for the Cards subscription (one on the 9th and one on the 10th).

So... I called them the next day. Like an idiot, I didn't write down the girl's name I spoke with. She told me that it "takes awhile" to get a refund, and could she offer me six additional months for free. I told her no, I really wasn't interested in that; that I'd really like my money back. So, she ups the ante: what about twelve extra months? Of course, I had to say yes. I also asked that my name be removed from their auto-renewal program because I didn't want something like this to happen again. The note on my credit card statement says "free 3rd year instead of refund--2012."

Then, imagine my surprise when my May credit card statement comes in and there is a charge on 05/11/09 for $44.95 for Scrapbook Trends! WHHHHAAAAATTT???

So... I called them again. This time, I spoke with Janice, and I told her that I'd been charged for a 6-month subscription that was supposed to be free. She took down all of my information and told me they would take care of it.

Fast foward a couple of months... On August 24, I was busily reconciling our credit card statements in QuickBooks when I suddenly realized I'd never seen the credit for Scrapbook Trends come through. I dug out my May statement and called them back. Spoke with Janice again this time. She said something about that being a gift subscription I'd purchased. Uh... NO IT WASN'T! Anyway, she dug around for awhile, and then found my name on some kind of refund list they have, but she assured me it would be taken care of.

Then... GET A LOAD OF THIS!!! August 28, I got an e-mail from Nik Bruce that my Scrapbook Trends subscription was expiring--but not to worry because I was enrolled in their Platinum Subscriber Program! Is this a JOKE???

This time, I thought "you know, last time I called, the wires got crossed somehow, and that's why they charged me twice; so this time, I'll respond to the e-mail and that will fix everything."

My immediate response (also on August 28): ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT RENEW!!!

Whew! That's taken care of. Right?

My September 13th American Express bill comes in... You have GOT to be kidding me!!! There was a $39.95 charge on 09/12/09 for Scrapbook Trends.

Anyway... I called again this morning and talked with Nik Bruce (renewals manager). I went through the big long spiel above. He found my account and told me there are "glitches" of some sort where cancelations to their automatic renewals program don't get flagged in their database (or something like that). Anyway, he said he would take care of the refunds, but they couldn't do it until Thursday because there were so many people in front of me they needed to take care of!!! What the crap? How long's the friggin' line??? I've been waiting on a refund since MAY!!!

WOW!!! I can't believe I haven't written in such a long time!

Where did August go...???!!! Well... for that matter, where did OVER HALF OF THIS DING-DANG YEAR go???!!!

I'm still in the SewConnected quilting group on Flickr. I have been a good little girl and gotten all of my monthly required blocks finished and sent back to their homes within the first week or two of the month. Well... not August... Part of it is because I've felt time-challenged (though I don't really know what I've done???), part of it is because I've been lazy and the other part of it is because the fabrics didn't even arrive until August 8th.

The blocks for August are very, very simple blocks-in-blocks blocks, but I just couldn't get up the gumption to work on them until today. I drew out the squares in CorelDraw then had to sit down and calculate how wide each strip needed to be to make up the size squares I'd drawn out. I AM NOT good a calculating anything!!!

Anyway, I was going to do 12.5" squares, but she didn't send fabric long enough for me to work with that size. Instead, I'm doing 9.5" and 6.5" ones.

AND... I've already received my September fabric: a fat quarter of white Kona cotton. We're supposed to use our own scraps of fabric to make tiny houses in the center of a 15.5" block. The houses can't be smaller than 3x3.5" or larger than 4x4.5. Dangit! Another something I'm going to have to calculate!!!

Truman Update

Poor Truman continues to have seizures about every 7-10 days despite being on the highest therapeutic level of Phenobarbital he can be on without it being toxic to him. We'd delayed putting him on KBr because #1. twice we've screwed up and not given him his afternoon pills, and he's had a seizure the next day (we wanted to try for a month to see if he'd still have seizures if we didn't screw up) and #2. KBr is about $40/month and I'm sure potential adopters (the very few who are kind enough to overlook his age and the fact that he has seizures) will be turned off that they'll have to spend that much money to take care of him. Anyway, his seizures keep happening even though we've been giving him his pills consistently. So, yesterday, I asked the vet to go ahead and prescribe the KBr.

Anyway... Truman's teeth are truly rotten, and should have been taken care of when we first got him in May, but the vet didn't want to do the dental until we got his seizures more under control--which doesn't seem to be happening--but she decided his teeth were bad enough that he needed to go ahead and have them taken care of.

I took him yesterday. Turns out, he was missing eight teeth already, and she had to remove 9 more rotten ones. He does have a couple with stitches, but most of those teeth pretty much just fell out on their own; she doesn't know how they were hanging on.

While he was there, I asked her to check out his right eye. Twice, at the dog park, he's bumped into other dogs. We thought it was funny first, however, after I got to thinking about it, I started to wonder if he was having problems seeing. The vet his other foster mom took him to had noted "eye is clear and responsive, but right pupil is larger than left." Well, his right pupil no longer responds to light and after she got him to sleep so she could examine his eye better, she found out he doesn't even have a retina anymore.

Oh, Truman... you break my heart...

Oh Mema... I will always love you.

09/26/1913 to 07/31/2009

JacquieG's July SewConnected Block

I finally finished JacquieG's July SewConnected quilt block. This was BY FAR the most difficult block I've made for this group. And, it wasn't that it was THAT difficult, but it really, really made me stretch to figure out how to do it.

I wish I'd added more of the aqua color blocks.

IgPost.com

Hmmm...

You know what I ABSOLUTELY HATE!??? I HATE posting something on a message board and then feeling like I have to JUSTIFY what I've written or write "IMHO" to prevent being visciously ATTACKED by those who think they know better then I do about whatever it is I'm writing about.

I've always thought alot of the members on IgPost.com are entirely too opinionated and so I read the topics, but I usually don't post responses.

I had to laugh yesterday when I saw someone had written: "...before someone chews my butt off this is just my opinion..."

I think there needs to be a new acronym: DCMBO: Don't Chew My Butt Off!