These are the shoes...

...that my husband ALMOST got!  

We do a few races each year (Breast Cancer, MS) and John happens to love New Balance shoes.  While I was perusing the daily deals I ran across one for Blair.com where these shoes would be $29...with free shipping.



yes please.



I'm all excited, planning how I would buy two pairs so he'd have one when the first wore out.  Once I placed the order, I see a pop up screen: Congratulations!  Because this is your first order, you qualify for $10 off of your next order!  This is AMAZING!  See, I only ordered one pair at first.  I was going to have one sent here and one sent to my parents' house so my husband didn't know about them.  So, I thought I would end up with two pairs of New Balance for less than $50...awwwwwesome!!!!
When I clicked on the link, it took me to a page that says, "SCREW the $10...you're getting FIFTEEN!"  Well, I'm ready to start jumping up and down!  FINE PRINT: JUST JOIN OUR REWARDS CLUB WHICH AUTHORIZES US TO DEBIT THE SAME CREDIT CARD YOU JUST PAID WITH THE LOW LOW PRICE OF $15 MONTHLY!

WHA....?????

Nah, I'm straight...just give me the $10...click.  SIKE!  I then get the "thank you for your order which is processing" message.  I try going back...nope.  Oh well...I'll just call customer service.  And here's where the devil stole my husband's shoes right outta the box!

The customer service representative was an older lady...aww she's like my grandmother...LIES.  I was all like, "Good day, kind lady...might I bother you for a replacement code for the one the website swindled me out of?"  She was like, "No".  HUHN????  "Ma'am, I don't have access to the code so there's no way I can give it to you."




SILENCE.






SOOOOO, I just don't get a code?  "Nope".  Ok, my nerves are bad now.  "Well, can I speak to a supervisor?"  "She doesn't have the code either."  NOW I'm praying for God to slow my breathing down.  I KNOW God doesn't want you to hurt babies and the elderly but THIS....this LADY is not my favorite person right now!  I asked, "Can I speak to a supervisor?"  {{{SIGH}}}  I'll SEE if one is available to speak to you."  WT....????  So, she puts me on hold and after she (obviously) played "This Little Piggie"...TWICE...she comes back to the line, "Ma'am the supervisor said she doesn't have the code."  NO, I asked you if I could SPEAK TO a supervisor.  "I'm telling you what she said and she cannot come to the phone."  This right HERE...this is RIDICULOUS!  "OK, can you just cancel my order?"  "Ma'am I can't cancel..."


I LOST IT.


I didn't curse her.  I didn't raise my voice.  I just repeated, "Cancel the order" over and over.  It may have been about 320 times...I'm not sure.  But then this...this LADY HANGS UP ON ME.


OH.NO.SHE.DIDN'T

Yeah...she didn't.  Well, my breathing slowed down to a STOP.  I was like a stealth Ninja at this point.  I called back and when another representative came on the line, I was SYRUP PACKED IN SUGAR.  "HIIIIIII...I'd like to cancel an order please kind lady."  Because she really was.  I regret that she didn't answer the phone THE FIRST TIME I CALLED.  While she was "processing my request" I kindly asked for their mailing address which she kindly provided to me.  You see, while I was smiling sweetly and talking to her, I had the Better Business Bureau open in another window.  You'll be pleased to know that they HAVE been reported.  Because play with me about MY MONEY????  NO THANX!  Oh, and if any of you are looking for New Balance at a decent price check out joesnewbalanceoutlet.com .  They have a better selection and I've ordered from them before.  The customer service was MUCH better than what I experienced today.

You're welcome!. 

 

I've been letting ...

...my eyebrows grow.

I normally have EXTREMELY thick eyebrows and I like 'em that way!  I mean, I like them LUSH...not Al B. Sure-ish!  (For my R&B-challenged peeps...PLEEEEASE Google "Al B. Sure"...you're in for a treat 'cause I REALLY look like that if I let my 'brows go untamed!)  But because I'm not a professional, I have times when I cut one too thinly and then have to cut the other to match.  So, I've been letting them grow for the last month so I'll look cute in my sister's wedding pix!  Plus, my 40th is in November and I'm gearing up for a big celebration.  TODAY, I got to the point where I just COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!  Bushy brows bring me back to high school when the only taming I was allowed to do was a spit-and-slick!  Plus, I needed to take a picture for the aforementioned event.  So, I prayed real hard...used a SLOOOW and steady hand and got to cuttin'!  It's STILL not a professional job but I think it's decent

I think I'm still gonna go and try the threading (has anyone else tried that?) before the wedding.  I just saw on the Today show Friday that reapplying lip gloss is an addictive behavior...Kathie Lee said she wakes up from a DEEP SLEEP to reapply it!  She's a LIIITLE more obsessed than me but like my brother-in-law says...my lip gloss be POPPING!!!!

Do you know we can still smell it?  Marsh fires my BEHIND...there's something much more sinister going on out there...DUN DUN DUHHHHHH!!!!!

I've had these two projects 

recently featured over at Platinum Scraps.  We don't do the whole trick or treating  thang but we do dress up and go to the Children's Museum.  Kea 1st wore the doggie costume right before he turned two and he was LIVID!  He didn't want that CRAP on his head...his hands...he wanted OUTTA THERE!!!  We took advantage of the fact that he could still fit into it last year so we recycled it.  Man, what a difference a year makes!  When I asked him to pose for pictures, he really hammed it up...he was HEElarryous!!! With the double page spread, I happened to be going through our family box of pictures and ran across several different photos of me and  my older boys.  We used to take pictures a few times a year.  I thought for sure that once my family was complete we would go like ONCE A MONTH for pictures but that hasn't happened...my littlest hasn't taken pictures since his christening a year ago;  BAD MOMMY!  I've been kinda holding out because I wanted to take some on location shots. But, since Sears sent us a coupon for a free photo session plus $50 in pictures, I broke down and made an appointment. Hopefully I'll still get my outdoor shots before my birthday!

Lastly, if you like scrappy stuff hop on over to Kreatorville for the opportunity to win a prize valued at over $200!!!!  Don't miss out!!!!

For dinner tonight...

...I made sandwiches.  I used a 100% wheat bun with sesame seeds and filled it with turkey cold cuts, raw spinach leaves, tomatoes and pickle slices.  The condiments I used were mustard and mayo.  Maybe 10 minutes after finishing my sandwich, the sides of my lips and tongue were tingling and slightly numb.  Plus, I had a bitter taste in my mouth.  My husband (who ate in another room) came into the bedroom and told me he had the same symptoms that I did! Both of our little boys had the same dinner...with NOOO problems!  This was about an hour ago so the numbness has pretty much worn off.  I've researched salmonella and E.coli and gratefully it doesn't seem to be either of those.  I'm just wondering: have any of you experienced these symptoms before?

Thanx to all of you...

...who were so concerned about our well-being due to the marsh fires!  Even though it's rained consistently for two days, we're still keeping a low profile because the smell is still pretty bad.  My husband said he heard it's actually remnants from the BP oil spill burning and it DOES kinda ring true; if you could SMELL this crap you'd understand what I mean!  The great thing was that we got to just laze around yesterday...talking, laughing, NAPPING!  John couldn't get the grill cranked up in the rain so he made an assortment of chicken wings for us in the oven.  Ahmad is a chicken FANATIC...remember the page I did as an ode to his seasoned fowl obsession???  Well, one of his favorite ways to eat it is swimming in hot sauce.  A lot of places call them Buffalo Wings...we just call 'em HOT WINGS!!!  We normally buy him a large bag from Wal-Mart for about $11.  In the last month, that price has risen to almost $15!  That, coupled with the fact that Wal-Mart had packs of chicken wings on sale last week prompted our experiment today.  I mean, the sauce is WAAAY too easy to make for us to keep throwing money at the millionaire Waltons when Mahd is craving them! And did I mention that the teenaged disposal dude can eat an entire bag in TWO sittings????  YEAAAAAAH!  So the hubbs did a large batch of wings (like close to forty) and left some unembellished (HOW YOU LIKE THAT, my scrappin' sisters???).  He put BBQ sauce on some and made hot wings with the others.  The guys had fries with their wings but I ate mine with a spinach leaf salad.  They were DEFINITELY yummy for my tummy!  Have you ever been in a situation where you KNOW one more bite will make your belly POP all over the furniture but your mouth is still watering from the yumminess you've just experienced????  YEAH...that's how I felt last night! I'm proud to say that I resisted...there's always today,right??? ;)


I still can't access my beloved Kreatorville (SIGH) but I'll survive!  I've been busy playing with the September kit.   I actually have three pages that I've finished...I just have to print the pictures to put on them and do the journaling.  Is that weird...sometimes I design the page first and THEN stick pix, a few more  embellishments and journaling on them.  There's some GORGEOUS Fake Bake Shimmerz Enamelz in the September kit!  I haven't used embossing powder in YEARS!  My issue is this: I love when an artist has used it and it's all thick and LUSCIOUS looking!  And I didn't know how to achieve that effect...so I moved on to the next technique.  Well, out of the blue my girl
sends me a package with one of her beautiful handmade cards with a HUGE jar of this

included!!  The card said that she noticed that I gushed about commented on her using this on one of her cards so she decided to send me some.  Yeah...that's the kind of heart she has!  So I HAD to up my embossing game then!  Through trial and error I've realized that, if I add more powder to the embellishment while it's still warm and reheat (and repeat...and repeat...and repeat!) I can achieve that thick look I love SOOO much!  I can't wait to share how I used the embossing powder on my September projects!

I see that the September Page Maps newsletter has gone live!  'Member I was telling you that I'm one of the featured artists this month? I was TOO excited to see my double 8.5x11 layout on this page!

Didn't like that my name is misspelled at the top. I've been called "Kendra" soo many times in my life...don't like it, though!  It IS right further down

 

I laughed when I looked at the actually layouts next to the sketches. I think I had the ONLY project that isn't identifiable as having been inspired by the sketch!

I PROMISE you that I DID use the sketch to kreate it...even though you may not be able to see it!  OH WELL!!!  Becky told me to make the sketch my own...and ya KNOW I did! I'm obsessed with origami hearts right now so I thought the center of the life preserver we were photographed with was the perfect spot to stick one!

I've had this piece of Hambly transparency

for about FOUR years...glad I finally got to USE IT!!  Here you can see the cluster of STUFF I threw loving placed on the left side

along with my VERY SCIENTIFIC tear at the top of the page and the cluster of stuff on the right side

 

 

I don't know WHAT was on my mind when I put the collage of these two pages together because I actually cropped the ENTIRE right side OFF!  Here's the right page and a closeup

in case you want to read ALL of the journaling


OH!  I actually found the picture that was missing from THIS page...here's the revised version:

(To me, it's just 100% better with those beautiful eyes staring back at you!!!)

I HAVE to get some rest...I've gotten maybe 12 hours in the last three nights!  I have layouts to finish today and a little painting to do...IF my husband can stand it!  And of course...some chicken to eat!!!!

Just AWFUL.

It's bad enough that we're thinking about Katrina right now.  Yeah...I KNOW it's been SIX years and other places have experienced weather disasters since then.  BUT...when you don't have a hospital, WalMart, movie theater near your house...you can't HELP but think about the cause of these things not being around any more!  I THOUGHT my focus would be on praying for those affected by Irene this week.  But here we are...dealing with crap again.

When I awakened Monday morning, our house was filled with the smell of smoke.  I went around smelling all the outlets but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from.  This was about 7AM and I don't normally turn the TV on when it's just me and Kea (he watches TV in the back).   I was SOO scared that I called my husband at work to tell him he might have to come home because something was on fire.  That's when he told me about the marsh fires.  When the little and I went out Tuesday I realized that the ENTIRE city looks like this

There's no escaping it.  I could smell it in Wal-Mart; everyone in the Social Security office was coughing Tuesday because it was coming in through the vents.  To make matters worse, we live about a mile and a half from where the fires are actually burning.  Thank God John and Ahmad have awesome immune systems and haven't really been affected.  The littlest has been plagued by congestion, coughing, vomiting and fever all week.  There's no where that I can even take him to get him into clean air except almost 100 miles away!  I've been coughing and looking at so much vomit all week has my belly feeling wonky. John saw somewhere that a vinegar and lemon mixture helps to dissipate the smoke smell.  I placed a bowl of it in almost every room.  Don't get it twisted...THAT crap doesn't smell like roses either.  It helps though so I guess it's more like the lesser of two evils!!!  It did rain today and should rain for the next few days so prayerfully we can get back to normal next week!  The teen's second football game is tomorrow.  I doubt that the littlest and I will be able to go if the smoke is still thick...SUX!!!!

THEN I try to view Kreatorville's blog (kreativity.kreatorvillekraft.com) and I kept getting a "Server Not Found" error message...wha????  After several hours of back and forth I was told that the confusion should be cleared up in about five days...{{{SIGH}}}

On a positive note, I had a card

posted on the Platinum Scraps blog.  This is the card I made for Ahmad for his birthday.  His favorite color is red...a boy after my own heart!!!  And my last project as Guest Designer for Color Combos Galore

has been posted.  These are pix from my sister friend's 40th birthday celebration.  I really loved being challenged by the combos...I'm sure I'll play along again soon!!!


Well, gotta make the donuts!  NAH...but I DO need to sleep so I can get up early.  I have a list of 73 items to finish before next month!