The pack's in the Mail--a lesson if you are moving!

You know the saying, "The check's in the mail," right? Well, right now I have 2 packages I ordered that were sent and have never arrived. It was in no way the senders' fault. The first was an ebay item I won: a set of all 6 Josefina American Girl Books AND some more Josefina books. It was such a good deal, too. I was so excited since we'd planned to teach this series in the fall at our homeschool co-op. The other was some stamps that were on clearance, then another set with a discount. These were sets I'd been eyeing & waiting for the time that I had enough money to get them. To get them on clearance was above & beyond my hopes! Why, you may wonder, if the senders aren't at fault, have I not received my things?

Well, it happened like this. The first one was my first ebay purchase in quite some time. I was so happy to win and anxious to get them that I paid immediately (I try to do that all the time). The sender was so gracious and was sending them out the next day. It was only later on that "next day" that I realized a problem. I never changed my mailing address in ebay or paypal. Ouch. We did file a change of address and had a few items forwarded to us, so I wasn't really worried. I did contact the seller, though, and told her to be on the lookout in case it was returned.

The second package should have had my new address, for I'd gone into paypal and added the new address. I marked it as primary address. I changed my address with the stamp company, too. I placed my order and got an order confirmation. I never looked at it because this company is so reliable. I then ordered something from half.com and noticed my old address was still in paypal, so I deleted it. I ordered some other things online that were also on sale (I had sold some stamp sets to earn money to do this, as money is always tight and I only buy things like this if I've earned money to do it). Those items came really fast.

I waited & waited but neither the ebay nor the other package came. I THEN looked online and saw that my stamp order had been sent to my OLD ADDRESS! It was NOT the fault of the sender. They go by the address on paypal. It was paypal that had messed up. I contacted both the ebay seller and the stamp seller. I have not heard from the ebay seller, but the stamp seller (who is just the best person to do business with---it's Clear Dollar Stamps) told me then it had not been returned to them. I checked again today & no, no returned package.

I finally did what I should have done to start: I went to the Post Office. Thankfully the main PO hub in SA is near my house. A lady helped me right away. She contacted my branch and they checked in several places but had nothing for me. She checked with the actual drivers for our mailboxes and they did not have anything. I left a message yesterday asking if anyone had actually gone to the old mailbox and looked inside. It's one of those blocks of boxes & you need a key to get into it. I haven't heard back.

In the meantime I'm just frustrated that I didn't check on the ebay or paypal info sooner. If you are going to move, in addition to changing your mailing address with all your utilities and such, you need to check your paypal & ebay accounts. Maybe next week will be the week the packages show up. And, for right now, we aren't sure when or where we'll have co-op so maybe I have awhile more to plan!

Family Reunion Part 2: Old Ladies

Last year Ruth, my mother-in-law, and 2 of her sisters-in-law, Glenda and JoAnn, made an appearance as "The Old Ladies." They "won" the American Idol contest held at the Reunion and came back this year to share more of their charm and wit. Here is their prize winning song.

Family Reunion Part 1

My mother in law's family has a HUGE family reunion. That is, they have a very well-planned weekend long stay at the lake kind of reunion. There is a theme each year and typically some kind of game to go along with it. Last year was American Idol. This year was Let's Make a Deal. I'll fill in details later, but for now, enjoy a few pictures of this crazy bunch!

Weight

My scale says I gained 5 lbs. I hate my scale. I think I should toss it out the window. Except my clothes tell me I've gained 5 lbs., too. How can you eat lower fat food, climb up & down stairs all day when you are used to a one story house, and GAIN weight? I haven't done a serious diet or exercise, BUT I should have at least stayed the same or even lost a tiny bit just with more physical activity & less fat intake. As Miss Clavell says in the Madeline books, "Something is not right!" I suppose I should eat celery & walk a mile in the 102 weather, but I don't have the will power or physical energy for that right now. Maybe next week!

Happy 4th of July!

Silly question: Do you remember this question from your elementary school days: A friend would ask another, "Do they have the 4th of July in England?" Mind you, this was following on the heels of an American History lesson about good ol' George Washington and company fending off the Brits. Doubtless some poor soul would answer, "No, of course not, that's an American Holiday." The asker would then laugh and say, "Of course they DO have 4th of July in England. It's a date! They don't celebrate Independence Day on the 4th of July!"

So I shall rephrase my title and wish you a Happy Independence Day! If you are in England or anywhere else, I wish you a Happy 4th of July!

I could wax eloquent (and shouldn't that be wax eloquentLY?) about the virtues of the USA, but I'm tired & you've all heard it before. I shall just say how thankful I am to live here.

Hope you enjoy your day with family, friends, or perhaps just having time alone.

God Bless America!

Sneak Peek at our "New" Home

We are still up to our ears in boxes. Hmmm, maybe just up to our waists now. I took a few pictures of our upstairs recently. Since then I have almost finished painting the master bedroom, have half the craft room painted with shelves up on one wall, and have added details to the girls' room. I LOVE their room. It is the perfect all-girl room for their ages (10 1/2 & nearly 13). I'll add pics when I get finished painting & have things a tad more organized. The downstairs, well, it may take more time before it's blog-able!

This is where the royalty sleep: The Princess and the Queen (DRAMA Queen that is)

This is where the staff live, uh, I mean our bedroom/office. The room is 15 1/2 ft. x 15 1/2 ft. I love it!

This is the first part of our Energizer Bunny closet (to which everyone replies either "WOW" or "I'm so jealous!"). I didn't show the bathroom because it's so small if you blinked for a second you might miss it.

The closet that keeps going...

and going...


and going. It's 70 sq. ft. of closet. Our bedrooms weren't that big at our other house, I'm sure!

!The craft room in transition.

This concludes our tour for today. Be sure to join us again for another look at the Garrisons ever changing home. (hee-hee!)

What is up with kids' movies?

Paul Blart Mall Cop. Well, maybe not a KIDS' movie, but a PG movie with previews shown on kids' TV. We first saw the preview at the movies when we went to see HSM3 (High School Musical). It looked like a cute movie about a Mall Security guard who wants to be a police officer. Finally, there is some big theft at the mall & he comes face to face with real criminals. The ads made it look hilarious with lots of slapstick humor. Not so.

Within the first 15 minutes:

• Mockery of being overweight
• Grandmother setting up her son on an online dating sort & "beefing up" his resume (lying)
• Dad (the Mall Cop, Paul) fixating on a young blonde girl (he looks to be mid 40's, she about 20)
• words with a sexual insinuation
• Women in Victoria's secret fighting over a push-up bra
• large woman attacking Paul, showing her back with shirt lifted & just bra showing
• Paul flirting with the blonde girl when he is supposed to be working.
  
• Another mall employee mocking Paul's weight in front of blonde girl
• Paul taking girl on a ride on his Segway, a VERY small scooter where they were in VERY close contact.
• curse words
  

I left to go upstairs to see who the cute girl was playing the part. I assumed this part would end and it would move on to the funny stuff we saw in the ads. Moments later Natalie came up to tell me they'd stopped the movie b/c they guy went to a bar and got drunk.

Okay, so that may all be typical stuff for a Hollywood movie (though I personally don't enjoy watching it), but why promote it to kids?

This summer I'm in a Bible Study using a book called "The Five Conversations you must have with your Daughter." Maybe it's due to that, but maybe not, that I am picking up on more of Hollywood's balogna that they are tossing out to our kids. Let kids be kids! Don't force all this garbage on them.

Stepping off my soapbox, but not too far away. I'm sure I will find more to talk about soon. LOL!