2009

Happy Happy New Year, people dear!
Happy days will come to you all year!
If I had one wish, then it would be...
A happy happy New Year to you from me!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Having worked the past few nights and flying out of here in the morning, I have a million things to do today. Only one itsy bitsy problem....I have no clean clothing!! So, after a few loads of laundry are done, I will be running to catch up.

In case I don't get to tell each of you personally, Have a Wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year! May all good things come to you and yours, not just this time of year, but always!!

4 More Days! (pause playlist to listen)

GRRR

So frustrated! Due to the holiday soon to be here, I have made multiple purchases online recently. So far, at least until yesterday, my deliveries have gone off without a hitch.

I purchased a rather pricey item from Amazon, who so kindly sent it via FedEx 2-day shipping. This package was due to arrive at my doorstep yesterday. I worked the night before and last night, so I slept soundly until early/mid-afternoon and when I woke, I debated the merits of trying to get more sleep and getting up so that when the package arrived, I'd be there to sign for it. I went with the getting up idea. Anxious and excited, I waited....and waited. Around 3 pm, I started peeking out, in case it had been delivered earlier. No sign of a package. When I left for work in the evening, no package had shown up yet.

During some free time in my shift last night, I pulled up the tracking on my package. Sure enough, it said it had been delivered to my door at 2:43 pm!!!! Where is it?! There was no note saying it had been left with a neighbor...nothing! I pulled up the FedEx website tracking and noted that this package, worth about $250, had been sent to me WITHOUT A SIGNATURE REQUIREMENT!!! That's a lot of money to waste just because it could be simply dropped off on my doorstep without anyone receiving it...and no liability to either FedEx or Amazon if I never happen to actually receive it!

After checking with my lovely little older lady neighbor...on the off chance that maybe she'd taken in the package for safe keeping ('cause she's sweet like that) and finding she'd never seen it either, I called FedEx today. 10 minutes on the phone just trying to access a live person, then 10 minutes trying to get them to track down the package and all I got was...."Well, our records show that the package was delivered to your front door. I'll put a note in to the carrier, but you will have to file a claim with Amazon, as they are the ones who sent the package not requiring a signature."

Several minutes were now spent on the web, scouting out the Amazon helpline number. I finally got connected to a representative (who, by the way, obviously did not speak English as a primary language!). I then spent 15 minutes on hold while this rep. went through the exact same tracking of the package I had already done. I had to repeat my account name and address no less than 3 times to verify I had really ordered the package to MY home!

The Amazon representative finally was able to authorize a replacement....complete with 1-day shipping (and a note requiring signature for the package this time!). It all could be worse, I guess. The biggest problem is that this whole issue has cheated me out of some much needed sleep in the middle of my 6 12-hour shifts in a row. I'll be a walking zombie at work.

So, to whomever out there is the recipient of my first package...Merry Christmas! I hope that you can enjoy this item, knowing that it isn't yours and someone else paid an arm and a leg for it. Enjoy the true spirit of the season...giving? or stealing?!

Free stuff

For those of you who asked:

http://www.shabbyprincess.com/ , http://www.scrapbookflair.com/ , http://www.scrapbook-bytes.com/ , http://www.rakscraps.com/ , http://www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com/

These are a few of the sites that I find FREE and cheap digital scrapbooking kits and bits and pieces. LOVE 'em!

Oh, and of course, thanks to the wonders of Photoshop Elements 7 .... which you can purchase right now at a quite reduced rate at Costco.

It's so much fun that I've just started working on the Cali. trip from this spring. I'm so glad to be able to finally put all my digital pictures to use.

Digital Scrapbooking

Ok, I just thought I'd share a little bit of the cuteness and funness (is that a word?) of this whole digital scrapbooking craze. I am making all the girls that came to my princess party a "Princess Party" storybook/scrapbook. It's so much fun. These are a few of the pages I have done so far:

How do they look?