Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you and yours are having a happy and safe Thanksgiving.  And if you are thinking of going out into that mess tomorrow please be extra careful and safe.  Talk to you all again soon.  Be good until then.  Bye for now. 

Writing away,
M.

Happy Veteran’s Day

Thank you for your bravery and thank you for my freedom.

Writing away,
M.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween to all of your freaks and ghouls out there!    I hope you are all playing it safe and having a fun time tonight.  I’m doing my usual Halloween thing of spending the night in.  It’s raining something horrible out there so I don’t think there were any trick-or-treaters out tonight.  My friend even took her kids to the mall because we got hit with one of the coldest and wettest Halloweens in a long time. I remember Halloweens just a few years back where you had to wear short sleeve shirts because it was hot an muggy.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the cold, but the wind and rain make it extra brrrrrrr.  So I hope you are staying warm tonight if your neck of the woods is unseasonably cold too tonight.

Right now I am currently counting down the hours to the start of Nanorwrimo.  I am being a Nano Rebel this year by not writing a novel.  I’m going to be finishing up a script for the photostory I’ve been trying to finish for a long time now.  I think my time of Nanowrimo is coming to an end.  I don’t know if I’ll be doing it next year.  I do cherish the crazed writing during November, I just think I want to start making that an everyday thing than just a one month thing, so I don’t know about future Nanos.  But this year is my first as a Rebel and I’m kind of excited about it.  I don’t want to write a novel just to write a novel and waste time on something I’ll hate, so I will write the script which will hopefully help me write my story and get it done so I can start taking pictures in December and start putting it up next year.  Fingers crossed.

As for other things I am doing right now, I’m focusing on my health right now.  There are a lot of things I need to get done by the end of the year.  I have something I am dreading coming up in 28 days, and I don’t really want to talk about it right now because I’m that nervous about it.  It’s really silly to be nervous about it, but when I explain it…on the 28th or 29th of next month, then I’m sure it will be clearer why I dreaded it.  I’m working on inventory for my shop.  I finally found a place to put my shop.  I think that was another problem for me, where to put my shop, but I found a nice place for it to be that a lot of other doll sellers are on so it works.  And well, I guess that’s about it right now.  So the goals for the end of the month is to work on the immediate health issues at hand, get through that situation I’m dreading at the end of next month, and get the shop open.  I know I won’t make the Christmas rush with my shop, but that’s ok, as long as I get it open.  Oh, and yes I am still working on emails, comments, etc., etc. etc., you get the point.  I’m working on all that.  Now that some stress has been taken off of me with my parents health either doing better or being looked at, my mom still worries me some with her heart issues, I’m getting a little more calmer and I can focus better.  I’m hoping this next month will be busy and productive for me.  I’m ending this year on a good note, no matter what.  And NO Michelle, that isn’t jinxing it for you by saying it aloud.   

And on that crazy note, I will bring this post to a close.  I will talk to you lovelies soon.  Be good until then.  Bye for now. 

Writing away,
M.

12 Years Ago Today

January 5, 1997-October 12, 1999

And I still can’t believe you are gone forever.  You are always in our hearts and thoughts.  We love you.

Love always,
M.

Barnes & Noble: A surprise.

So today I got a surprise in the mail from Barnes & Noble.  A 5 dollar gift certificate.  I was confused on why I got it until I saw in small letters that it was from their refund department for the e-book that I mentioned about a few posts back.  I was in shock.  I didn’t think they would actually do anything to sort the situation out and I am completely shocked that they did.  I am allowed to use the card at an actual store and online as well as for e-books.  I am not sure which I will do.  My mom says I shouldn’t use it online, but I’m not scared off of using their online store just nervous that I will be paying the right price or getting the right book or what have you.  I see through this experience that online things can go wrong, but I’m willing to try again.

I think I will go to the store and get a book in person.  I haven’t bought a tangible book in a while, but I don’t know which book to get.  There isn’t really any out that I really want.  But I will head down there in the next few weeks to take a peek and see what they have.  Haven’t been in B&N in forever, but I love going in there.  Maybe I will get  Nook cover instead of a book.  I need one and 5 dollars off would be nice.  Hummm, I’ve got time to think about it.

But I just wanted to update to let you know that B&N did make things better, and I have nothing but respect for companies that will admit they made a mistake want to make amends.  Like I said I am not one to make a big huff about things businesses do to me, I know I’m not the only one that is screwed by companies, but the last two issues I’ve had with companies just got my feathers all fluffed up.  But both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble have renewed my faith in them.  Now I’m not encouraging people to go out there an make a stink about every single thing a company does bad because not all things are worth the dust you’ll kick up, but if it’s something you feel strongly about then you should say something and if a company respects their customers then they will try to work things out for you, and if they don’t then you don’t need to deal with them any more, there is to much competition out there to let one company stress you out.  And that is all there is to say about that.  ;-)

Well I’m off, just wanted to update you about what happened.  Can’t wait to go shopping, I’m really thinking about getting a Nook cover, see B&N was smart.  They send me a 5 dollar gift card and I will end up spending more.  But I want to because the renewed my faith in them.  I know, I’m sad.  LOL!  Ok, talk to you all later.  Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Barnes and Noble: E-Buyer Beware!

Ok, so last Friday I was on the Barnes and Nobel website looking for some free e-books to download to my Nook. I got one a couple of months back and I am still trying it out. I hadn’t bought a book until recently because I was nervous on how the whole thing worked. The transaction on the site worked nicely and I had planned to purchase another book that was coming out this month to my Nook from the site. Now my funds are budgeted so I can’t go buying a ton of books. I have to pick and choose what I order or buy. So the event that happened on Friday got me ticked off.

I am a “fan” of Nook on Facebook and they mentioned free classical book downloads. So I went to check them out and downloaded them. Then I went to look at the other classical book downloads and saw some of them where free. I saw Sleepy Hollow was free so I clicked on the link for it. The page came up and it said to click for the free download. I clicked it, downloaded it, and then it went to the next page where it said I’d bought the book. I was confused on this. It said it was free everywhere, so why was I charged?

From the email I got from Barnes and Noble, there is a Sleepy Hollow sketch book that is free to download and not the Sleepy Hollow novel. Well the webmasters must have accidentally listed Sleepy Hollow as free and then caught it and fixed it after I downloaded and made my complaint to B&N. They sent me an email basically saying I was wrong and had the wrong book. Umm, no, I had the right book. I just feel like I was being called a liar in this situation. Usually I try not to make a stink about things and just assume it was my stupidity, but here lately I am just tired of companies getting one over on me. I sent B&N and email backing telling them that I was not in the wrong and I was furious at being called a liar by them and that I won’t be using their website again. I will use my local store still for tangible books since I can talk to actual people, but I won’t use the website for buying e-books. I learned of another place that I can get e-books for cheaper so I will use them. I wanted to use B&N to support the company because I saw them as a quality company. But I’m one to like things simple and I like good customer service. Even if they had given me an online gift card for 10% off a future purchase instead of a refund, it would have been “something” to let me know they understood me and were sorry for the situation. I hate companies that put the blame on the customer when the company is to blame. In all fairness I know they have tons of people trying to rip them off in similar situations and they ruin it for everyone else, but it doesn’t make me feel better when they are in the wrong and basically called me a liar.

I’m just lucky the money wasn’t much, but when you are on a budget every little bit counts, even what is considered pocket change to big corporations. I hope the book is good and worth the money and irritation it put me through. So word of the wise, if you purchase from the B&N website, make sure the item you are downloading is the right price or you may be seriously paying for it in the end. I am really let down by them, and I had plans to get some Nook accessories from them for my Nook since it needs a cover and some other things, but I will go to Amazon for that and call it day. I don’t know, I guess I’m just sad that I wanted to support the company even though they cost more than most places and in the end it feels like they don’t care about those who do want to support them. Meh, I’m just being a hormonal so and so today. I’ve had all weekend to calm down about the money and it’s gone now so I will deal. Just think their customer service sucks old musty book pages. Maybe that’s why they are so bitter. Oh well. I just wanted to tell you guys about my situation and what happened and how it turned out. I expect it to turn out this way too, but at least my piece was heard…kind of.

On a good note, I had a problem with Amazon sending me a book with a deeply cut cover and they are in the process of fixing the situation. I had posted this on craft blog I had, since it was a craft book, but since I closed it I will post about it here. I need to go double check to make sure it still going as it should. But the funny thing is the money I saved on that book I ended up spending a book that was suppose to be free. Irony, eh? *sigh* Oh well. Ok, I’m off. I need to relax my elbow, I believe I banged it in my sleep and now it’s in pain. I do have another post to make about my novel Jumper…I wonder what it would be called if it was published? But yeah, I have decided something big on it. But I want to work on it a little more before I make my final choice. More to come later on that.

Writing away,
M.