Nook Book vs. Paperback

I was just shopping on Barnes and Noble's website. A book in one of the series that I read faithfully just came out and I wanted to download it. Then I noticed that the price for the Nook Book version was practically double the price of the paperback copy. That seems a little ridiculous given the cost to produce the eBook vs the cost produce the paperback book has got to be significantly less. 

Now admittedly, I don't have the exact numbers. It just stands to reason that a book being delivered electronically should be less than the same book printed on paper, bound and shipped from where it's produced to where it's actually distributed from. 

I didn't buy the book. 

Not yet anyways. I recently picked up a hardcover in another series I love at Costco, so maybe when I finish Sue Grafton's "X" I'll check back on the price of Laurel K. Hamilton's "Dead Ice". 

Good Cook Bakeware

Admittedly, I bake pretty often. I'm a stress baker, so over the last year I've made my fair share of muffins and cupcakes. Because of this, over the course of this past year I've purchased some new bakeware, including some new muffin tins. 

Yesterday, I made some banana bread muffins for a friend who was going out of town for a job. When I was washing the tin afterwards I noticed that one of the cups had come out of its slot. At first I thought maybe I could just pop it back into place... I was wrong. 

Now don't get me wrong, this isn't a huge deal. I have other muffin tins and this one is still useable in a pinch. I just think that something like this should remain intact more than a year. Bakeware and cookware used to be made to last. My grandma had the same stuff for decades. 

I'm definitely not impressed with the quality of Good Cook. 

Never Say Divorce Memes

I see memes like this on Facebook all the time. Maybe I'm being over sensitive, but every time one of my friends posts one I want to throat punch them. (Or your know, unfriend them). 

I admit, before I was married, I felt this way too. I couldn't foresee a future where the man I decided to marry would do something so horrendous that I couldn't get past it. 

As it turns out I married a man who cheated. A lot. He was an habitual cheater. A serial adulterer. In fact I don't think the man was ever faithful, but I think he and I had different definitions of faithful. To me, you can be unfaithful and not be currently cheating. There's a big difference. Cheating is the actual physical act of adultry. Being unfaithful is everything else that goes along with it. So to me, my ex was maybe not always cheating but he was never faithful. At one point he had a girlfriend, was also sleeping with her sister AND was sleeping with prostitutes he found on Craigslist. As it turns out, the prostitute thing was something he did on a regular basis all along. 

I'm writing this all rather nonchalantly now, I've had plenty of time to process it. At the time that all of this came to light? I was horrified. We seperated for some time.... and then I took him back. Looking back it was attitudes like this meme that allowed me to think that staying in a bad marriage was a good idea. Now my ex wasn't just a cheater he was a rotten husband in other ways that I'm not quite ready to delve into here, so when things were bad they were REALLY bad. However on the flip side, when things were good, they seemed really good.

 I grew up with a single mother. I wanted my daughter to grow up with both of her parents. I assumed that as my husband aged, he would somehow grow out of the bad behavior and that eventually things would be fine. He swore up and down that he wasn't cheating anymore. He even had an app on his phone that allowed me to track him. Then I went on vacation with the kids and my family. My ex stayed behind. I spoke to him every evening that we were gone. As it turns out, he was sleeping with Craigslist hookers at 3 in the afternoon. When I returned home, I found a paper with the name of a cheap motel and room number written on it. That's when all his lies really started to unravel. I realized that he had never stopped cheating. He had just learned to hide it better. One way that he would get money for the prostitutes without me knowing was to prepay for gas. See he would take a $100 bill and walk into the gas station and use it to prepay for gas. The attendant would give him a receipt for the gas, showing that he had spent the $100. Then he was free to pump whatever amount he wanted and come back for his change. Now he has a receipt accounting for the money to show me and cash in his pocket to spend on girls. Pretty ingenious, right? 

It was finally to the point where I had to take a serious look at our situation. This is real life, not Pretty Woman. These aren't nice girls hooking their way through med school. These are likely drug users who were banging his money in their arm the minute he'd leave. His sex addiction was going to kill us both and he refused to get any help. Hell, maybe I'm wrong here and there was no sex addiction. Maybe he was just a horny douchbag. Either way? I couldn't remain married to him. 

So yeah, when I see my friends post memes like this, I take it personal. After everything, I still believe in love. I still believe in the institution of marriage. I don't know if either will come my way again, but I'm hopeful. I also know that not every marriage is fixable. Not every problem can be worked out. It takes two people to make a marriage but it only takes one to destroy it. My marriage was not something I could fix myself, no matter how hard I tried. 

I know that with him gone, my life is simpler. I'm happier. My kids are happier. I'm a better parent without all the stress brought on by being married to a cheating jerk. Now, if he would just pay a little child support....

I Hate DirectTV

A couple years back I decided to switch from cable to satellite. The initial offer was pretty good and I was told that since there were a lot of trees in my neighborhood, if the signal wasn't great after trying to reposition the dish a couple times that I would be released from my contract without penalty. 

Yeah, that didn't happen. Well, the problems getting a decent signal happened. They just refused to honor their promise to let me out of the contract. Yes, I suppose could have just stopped paying the bill, however it would be a black mark on my credit, which after some of the shady things my ex pulled, I really want to avoid. Also, in the fine print they explain that once you pay with a credit card or bank account, if you fail to complete your contract they will simply charge your card or account with the amount they feel you owe. 

So I was stuck with awful service that went out each time it rained, snowed or the sky got a little cloudy. Basically, the times when you really want to kick back and watch some TV it was impossible. Now I could use my DVR and watch shows I had already recorded when the weather was bad, but if there was something scheduled to record when the conditions outside weren't perfect? Forget about it. 

Now today I woke up to find th main receiver in th living room won't turn on. I tried turning it off and turning it back on. I tried hitting the reset button. I keep getting the same error. I'm not certain how the receiver broke while it was shut off and we were all sleeping, it was working last night before I went to bed, but I'm taking this as a sign. My contract is finally up and I've been putting off changing providers because, well I don't know why, it just seemed like a hassle and any changes give me a little anxiety. 

So now I just have to decide between XFinity with Comcast or UVerse with AT&T. Decisions, decisions...

Lawyer Fees

Received a bill from my attorney yesterday...
Not only have they run through the $6,500.00 I've put down already but I need to "Please Remit" another $3,000.00! Literally, nothing has happened. We are in the exact some place we were months ago. Apparently, the judge who heard our first settlement conference checked the wrong box somewhere and our court dates were canceled and it's cost thousands of dollars to rectify this mistake? Awesome. Awesome.
So not only did my deadbeat ex leave us with thousands in unpaid bills, and now refused to pay any child support, but it's going to cost upwards of $10,000.00 to get the cheating bastard out of my life. Absolutely fantastic.
I'm trying very hard to stay positive and just look on the bright side, but all the sides are looking fairly bleak at the moment. Especially when he shows up for his visitation with his new girlfriend in tow... Ugh.

USPS

I know I just posted about the United States Postal Service recently, but my annoyance with them is just never ending. I often ship packages from home. I sell my kids' clothing on eBay, so after a string of auctions end I have packages that need to go out. Usually I schedule a pickup on the USPS website. Yesterday however I was getting out one package to a straggling payer, and just stuck it in the box with the flag up. Now this was a small yellow envelope, very light weighing just over 2oz. Realistically, no heavier than a thick letter.
Do you think the mail man took my envelope?
No. No he did not. Now I know I probably should have scheduled a pick up. I will take partial blame. However, until recently I didn't even know you could schedule a pickup, and would just stuff outgoing packages in my mailbox. Our former mailman took them every time. No complaints. No excuses. Today, my mail was delivered, including an incoming package, but my envelope was left behind. I did also have one instance where I did schedule a pick up and it was still left behind, so perhaps it doesn't really matter if it's scheduled, it just depends on the mood of the postal employee.
I am so fed up with USPS. I literally just paid $10 more for UPS shipping on a recent online order, just so I wouldn't have to deal with waiting on USPS.
Gone are the days of "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds".

UPS Sure Post & USPS

Let me just start by saying that I love getting mail. I know, it's a little silly, but opening the mailbox every day makes me happy. I order lots of free samples and I do a lot of online shopping too, so getting packages is even more exciting. Now when I first moved into my house about 9 years ago my mail arrived at 3pm every day. It was so punctual you could almost set your watch to it. The mail man was friendly and he even carried dog biscuits instead of pepper spray. Since he retired we have had a string of mailmen and women, each more disappointing than the last. There was the guy who would scream cuss words into his blue tooth while talking to his friends during the entire route. We could hear him dropping F-bombs up and down the street. There was the guy who pepper sprayed my dog who was playing with us in the front yard and made no move to attack him. Those were just the most awful, now we seem to have a bunch of different people none of whom can read. I get the wrong mail at least 2-3 times each week. When ever I'm waiting on something important I'm on pins and needles until it gets here, because who knows where it could end up? There are days when I don't receive mail at all. This wouldn't be as big of a deal if the mail person didn't also fail to pick up my outgoing mail. Now the UPS man on the other hand has been on our route since my daughter was born. He remembers us, he remembers her. He's friendly and I like him. However, UPS has a service that many businesses seem to be subscribing to these days called UPS Sure Post. With Sure Post UPS gets your package to your general area and then it's transferred to the Post Office for delivery. Now if you read the first paragraph of this post, you know I have zero faith in the USPS to get my mail to me in a timely manner or in some cases at all. I ordered some makeup from Ulta last week. It was sent UPS Sure Post. Had it been shipped regular UPS it would have been here Monday. However with sure post it's now Wednesday and I don't know if it'll come yet. The last package I ordered from Ulta, when I checked the tracking online, the mailman had it marked delivered a good 8 hours before it was actually in my possession. When I called to inquire about the whereabouts of my package, the USPS customer service department told me that they often mark packages as delivered before their actual delivery to save time. What is the point of an online tracking system if it's not even accurate? Yeah, I thought it was pretty pointless too.

Direct TV- Worst Service EVER!

I hate my Direct TV. I don't use that word lightly. I seriously despise this company. The service is the absolute worst! Every time it rains my television goes out. When the weather is bad, that's when you want to be inside watching television. With Direct TV that's just not possible. I have called more times than I can count and they won't make good on the promise they made when I signed up. I was told that if the service would not work well, they would cancel the contract with no penalties. However when ever I call they dance around the subject and promise to get someone to fix the issue. Techs have come and gone, the problem remains. Sometimes they even tell me that it's normal for the satellite to go out when it rains or snows, like that's no big deal. Just now, my service went out and it's not even raining. It's just cloudy today. Awesome.

AT&T and the iPhone 5s

We recently upgraded our cell phones from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 5S. My old phone was just not working as well as it did when it was new. It seems that each iPhone I've owned has started acting up right around the time my AT&T contract is coming up for renewal. Coincidence? Maybe, but it's happened a few times now. Anyways, so my husband and I went to a local AT&T store and bought new phones. I'm loving the iPhone 5S! The camera is seriously fantastic! The pictures it takes come out so well! I couldn't believe how much better it was than my old phone's camera. I don't know about everyone else, but I almost never bring my big DSLR camera anywhere. It's just not convenient. My husband probably wants to throttle me for the money I wasted on it, but lesson learned. I like using my phone to take pics and my kiddos seem to always be doing something pic worthy. So the phone itself I'm very happy with.
AT&T on the other hand, I'm not really all that thrilled. Their advertisement for 4 lines with unlimited calling and text, and a shared data plan is not real. The girl who helped us said as much. She said the only way it works out to that price is if you're hooking up AT&T phones that you already own or you want to pay full retail price for each phone and not get the discount they offer for renewing your contract. That seems a little dishonest to me, but I went ahead with the 4 lines anyway. My last complaint is actually a mistake on the part of the sales girl. She totally sold me on the insurance plan, but I was just looking over my receipt and it says that I declined insurance.

Target Problems

I love Target stores. It's one of my favorite places to shop, and definitely the store I frequent most often. They're located close to my house and have a little bit of everything. Plus, their prices are usually great, especially for groceries. I have to say though, lately I've had a few problems. First off, going over my receipts after getting home, I see that the cashiers are not very careful. I've been charged double for some items quite a lot lately. I'm trying to pay better attention when I'm in the check out line now, but as anyone shopping with kids knows, that's not always easy. Next, I've seen a lot of discrepancies when it comes to prices. For example, there are 2 refrigerator cases with store brand milk. One case had the gallons priced at $2.79 each and the other case had them priced at $2.89. OK, 10 cents, not a huge deal but still not great attention to detail. Next, I've had a few items lately that have a sale price on the shelf but when I get home and look at the receipt I see that I was charged full price. Again, it's not usually a ton of money but still annoying. Lastly, I'm posting a picture below of this example. I buy this Gillette Body Wash for my husband. The sign says that they're buy 1 get 1 free, at the top and on the side. However if you read the sign in it's entirety, the smaller print says that they're buy 2 get 1 free. There was only 1 bottle left on the shelf, so I didn't take advantage of either sale, but I still thought it was crazy that no one employed by Target had caught and fixed this obvious mistake. So be careful and next time you shop at Target, make sure to check out your receipt and make sure you're being charged correctly for your purchases. I know that I'm definitely trying to be more vigilant.

My Pet Peve With Little Girls' Clothing

I have to say, I'm a little disturbed by a trend I'm seeing in little girls' clothing. When they gather the material around the chest area, in adult clothing it's meant to make your chest look bigger. Why on earth would anyone be trying to accentuate a toddlers chest? This swim suit by Rugged Bear is a size 4. Why make this a feature on a little girl's bathing suit? This isn't the first time I've seen this kind of detailing on toddler and even baby clothing and it bugs me every time. Kids only have so long to just be kids. Why are designers trying to dress them like mini adults? I'm not trying to be a big prude here or anything, I like to dress my kids fashionably. I just think there's a classy way to do it and a trashy way. I was so bummed when I saw this feature because other than that gathering, I think this is a cute little suit. I love the braided straps and the laser cutouts on the skirt.

Go Create? More like No Create.

So the other day I was looking for something to occupy my daughter for a little while and I remembered that she had received a few craft sets for Christmas that we never opened. One of them was this Neon Ultimate Fuzzy Kit from Go Create. It looked really cute, with the pictures of the monsters on the front. I opened the box and started pulling things out only to find that you can't actually make the monsters on the front! It turns out that the kit doesn't actually include the pieces to make the heads, feet, tongues or teeth. Also, although it says it includes 250 poms, most of them are smaller than a pea. I mean they're seriously tiny. Yes, it does list what is included on the box, but it still irks me. My 3 year old can't read so all she could see was the pics on the box. She was totally bummed when we realized that it wasn't going to be possible to make monsters like the ones shown. We ended up still making some very cute crafts but I'm still not happy with the makers of this set. They shouldn't put anything on the box that someone can't make with what's inside the box.

Quick Target Rant

I'd like to start by saying that Target is my favorite mass merchandiser. I seriously shop there 3-4 times a week. It seems like I'm always forgetting something and have to run back over there. Luckily, there's a Target about a mile from my house. Lately however, I've had a lot of problems with Target while checking out. I have been over charged fairly often, once a week or more, which is kind of insane! The checkers are busy talking to other employees while they're ringing up my orders and have been making mistakes because of their lack of attention. I find that really annoying and unprofessional. The other day, while I was checking out, a manager came up to the girl who was ringing my order. She began to instruct her on "proper bagging". Apparently, this means not double bagging and cramming as many items in a bag as will fit, no matter how heavy it gets. She was told not to bag my milk or anything else that can be carried. I asked if Target was going green and the response I received was "No we don't care about the environment, we just need to save money on bags. You have no idea how much they cost." Um, OK. Really? Well, that's great. To add insult to injury, while they were having this conversation the checker rang up my 1 Dr. Pepper 8 pack twice!