Those Who Give Good Email…

2 Comments / Community Chest, Daily Dose /

I’m a bit of an inbox zero fanatic. I do not like an inbox full of unanswered, untended email. I don’t like a bunch of folders with untended, unanswered email either. I must answer my email ASAP or I cannot function. Which means I provide pretty darn good customer service, if I do say so myself. (I do say so — but others say it too, and I appreciate it when they do.)

I’m not super hard on people who aren’t as OCD about their inboxes but I do expect you to answer my doggone email in a reasonable amount of time. And when that happens, I’m very very very pleased. There’s nothing worse than asking someone a question via email and then NEVER. GETTING. AN. ANSWER. Or getting an answer three days too late. I hate that.

In the last few days I’ve had some pretty darn good luck with getting answers to my email from a variety of companies/individuals who I didn’t really expect to answer me quickly.

Alisa Burke — answered in a very timely manner and made my week.

ibotta — answered so quickly I barely had time to read a page in my book before I had the answer AND A SOLUTION to my problem.

SugarSNAP — I was a little afraid that it would take a long time to get an answer and it would be too late by the time it came. But nope, a great answer landed in my inbox within just an hour or so and that was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for more.

Thank you to all of the people who answer email quickly and efficiently. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Now I’m off to empty out my inbox for the evening.

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Thank You, Knitters

Daily Dose, Day to Day, Friends & Family /

I’m freezing and it’s not even Thanksgiving, yet.

I’m wearing a pair of socks that Sharon knit for me. And, a pair of socks my mom knit for me. Yes. Two pairs of knitted socks. At one time.

I’m wearing the fingerless gloves my mom made for me. (Well not right this second because Buster was trying to eat them so I took them off for a few minutes and left them in the office, where I’m not working – which is another post entirely. I need to get up and go get them because my hands are freezing, again.)

I hate socks and I hate gloves but I am very, very thankful that some people like me enough to gift me with both, (not to mention the hat and scarf TW knit for me that I’ve pulled out to start wearing in the mornings when we go to Starbucks). I’m pretty sure I would not survive in Chicagoland without the things people have knitted for me.

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Three Middle Grade Fiction

2013, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Fiction /

Still playing catch up on my Cybils blogging but the end is in sight!

Fourmile — I liked it a lot which is unusual since it’s a boy book and boy books don’t always work for me. Watt Key, the author, is excellent though so I shouldn’t be surprised to have liked it. It didn’t feel so much like middle grade but more like YA. The violence seemed awfully violent for middle graders.

Almost Home was very middle grade fiction sort of trouble book. Homeless kid finds herself with a community of awesome adults (and kids). And, she has a cute puppy who seems to not prevent her from landing in a shelter, a group home, or a foster home. (Which would never happen, sigh.) A very feel good book, even though there are places that made me almost cry.

The Adventures of Beanboy was so much fun. I loved it. The development of Beanboy as a character… fantastic.

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Curtain Convert

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day /

I’ve never really liked curtains. I didn’t understand their purpose.

You have windows to see out and to let the light in, why would you want to cover the windows so you can’t see out or let the light in?

Or you have sheers which make even less sense to me.

Curtains were just something that you had to wash or you had to keep kids and cats from climbing.

So, we really haven’t had any curtains in the house. Prince J has some curtains to cover the big sliding door in his room. I understood those… he’s a teenage boy, he doesn’t really want people watching him do whatever it is he does in his bed (which is right next to the door) and also teen boys like to sleep so he didn’t want sun blaring in on him early in the morning.

We got an almost sheer green curtain for our bedroom when TW did that Home Goods campaign for BlogHer. (I think it’s really a fancy shower curtain, something else I don’t understand.) The curtain covers the blinds. Whatever.

We have somewhat sheer curtains in our bathrooms, too. That mostly (maybe?) keeps our asshat neighbors from watching us shower since the windows are over the tub in both bathrooms.

And that’s it.

When TW’s mom moved in, she did not like it that we had no curtains in the living/dining room. Three sets of french doors and another window seemed like too much window for her.

We talked about getting some curtains to help block the cold air but I didn’t believe that would really help. (I’m pretty sure I’m right about that based on the fact that we covered a set of french doors with bookcases and that didn’t help.)

So why am I a sudden curtain convert? Because we have dogs who HATE squirrels and cats and cars and people and they bark constantly. It wasn’t such a big deal when it was just Skeeter. She was pretty happy to stay in the bedroom with us (mostly). But then Lola came along and Lola is so ant-squirrel that she will guard the house from them 24 hours a damn day and she barks and barks and barks and barks. (She’s also teaching Buster to be anti-squirrel, but that’s another topic entirely.)

When I saw some big sale on blackout curtains, I figured what the hell. I’ll buy some panels and we’ll see what happens. The colors were ugly. I had no idea how many to buy. Knowing the height/width of things is not my forte’. So, I ordered five panels which ended up being just enough for one set of french doors plus a couple of little windows next to them.

This has helped cut down on the barking more than I ever dreamed it would. If only I’d bought another five panels, we’d be in good shape. We’d be sitting here in the dark a lot, but we’d have a lot less barking going on.

And TW’s mom, who you would think would be happy to see some curtains enter the house… no. She loves the windows in here and wishes we did not have any curtains at all. (Eyerolling, I’ve done a lot of eyerolling about that.)

Thank god for curtains. Now I just need to order some more.

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Sunshine Day

Daily Dose, Day to Day /

I’m thankful for that tiny ray of sun shining through the tree in the backyard this morning.

That little ray of sunshine is pretty much the only thing that makes standing on the back steps waiting for the dogs to finish chasing squirrels, barking at the neighbor’s dog, digging holes, fighting over leaves bearable.

At least until one dog finishes chasing squirrels, barking at the neighbor’s dog, digging holes and fighting over leaves and pushes you out of the path of that one ray of sun shining through the trees.

Then, I’m reminded of just how horrid the weather in Chicagoland really is.

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Shopping with TW

Daily Dose, Foodie, Personality /

When I go grocery shopping, I go in with a list and tend to only get the things on my list — or almost only the things on my list. I don’t go up and down every row (except at the commissary and even then I skip rows if I can skip rows that are side by side and still be going the RIGHT direction down the aisles… which is probably a post in itself. Remind me later.)

So I’ll be heading toward the next item on my list only to find TW stopped somewhere else, looking at something that was definitely not on my list. (Not that she always knows what’s on my list but that’s probably another post, too. Remind me of that, later, too.)

Sometimes she’s off looking at the clearance stuff at the grocery store — especially at Dominicks. And we quite often end up buying something she’s found in the clearance area of Dominicks. Sometimes those are winners, sometimes they aren’t.

Tonight’s pesto, over the butternut squash ravioli from Costco, was a big winner and I was reminded to be thankful that I grocery shop with TW the grocery store wanderer. If she hadn’t wandered, we’d have never discovered the Dorot pesto.

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Three Middle Grade SciFi/Fantasy Books from the Cybils Shortlist

2013, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Beswitched — I didn’t love it. In fact, for most of the book I strongly disliked it. I did not like Flora Fox at all. Not one little bit. Even as she “grew up” I didn’t find myself liking her much better than on page one. I didn’t like her grandmother either. I’m much more interested in the other Flora — the one who took her place and whose place she took. I’d probably like her better, I think.

The Peculiar is another one I didn’t love. I just didn’t care about any of the characters. Bartholomew – sure, but only a little. I’d have probably liked Hetty more if I’d gotten to know her. It wasn’t a bad book — just not great.

Finally, one I enjoyed — Cabinet of Earths. Pretty cool story. Solid characters. I even liked the ending, which is oh so rare, sometimes. Those three grains of “earth”… I’d be freaked out about that, too, if I were Maya.

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I’m Hoping to Be Thankful… Does That Count?

1 Comment / Daily Dose, Foodie /

We bought a pineapple last week at Jewel and brought home fruit flies with it. When I finally cut the darn thing, the fruit fly colony exploded all over the kitchen. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many fruit flies at one time before.

The pineapple is good but it will be better if TW’s fruit fly trapping concoction works. Please tell me it’s going to work and tomorrow morning all of the fruit flies will be gone so that I can be thankful for the inexpensive fresh pineapple and my fruit fly free kitchen.

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Vessel

2013, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I wasn’t expecting to like Vessel as much as I did — it sounded a lot like another book I read recently… the one where the girl had a gem in her navel and that marked her as… whatever it marked her as.

This book was sort of like that — but better, I think. I do have a little bit of the love/hate with the fables. They were good but sometimes a little mixed up and not quite right in places. But, overall, excellent fantasy.

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Raise!

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Money Talks /

I thought about keeping this a secret because the fewer people who know about the great gift card deals the more likely I am to get a good gift card deal. But nah, I like Raise.com too much to keep it a secret.

Also, they seem to alert Facebook every time I make a purchase so it’s not much of a secret now is it?

Seriously, it’s a pretty good deal if you shop regularly at places where gift cards are available… I go to Starbucks three times a week so it makes sense for me to buy a $100 gift card for $87 since I am going to spend that $100 anyway, right?

Same for places like CVS, Petsmart, Walgreens, etc.

I spend money in those places regularly and consistently. And, there are some places that I only shop at right before Christmas, and I always shop at those places — Michaels, K-mart, Kohl’s — so it makes sense to buy a gift card for less than face value and use those for my holiday shopping.

I am very thankful to Raise for raising my savings a wee bit every month.

Pay attention to whether the card you’re interested in is an e-card or a physical gift card… it might make a difference to you, it might not. Just make sure you know what you’re buying before you buy it.

PS. Those links are referral links so if you click and join, I do get credit. I have no idea what kind of credit, I just know there’s some sort of credit. If you don’t want me to have credit for you joining, it’s ok — just strip the referral off before you join. You won’t hurt my feelings. If you do join, I hope you find great gift card deals, too.

Oh, you can sell gift cards there as well. I have no idea how that works but if you have giftcards that you won’t use, then maybe this is your chance to get something for them? Try it out and let me know how that part of the site works.

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