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13 August 2013

More of This and That

Nothing more has been done on the sunroom.  We need to be doing our part (sealing the upstairs deck and insulating).  It has been nice and warm out there in the afternoon.

The garden is doing well.  After spending lots of money on it this year, i think we might harvest about $20 of produce.  I'm not too upset about this as it is an investment that we will continue to gain benefits for many years yet.  We also found that our most prolific crop has been sunflowers - sunflowers that the chipmunks planted all over the place and sprouted after our July rains!

The August chill that i feel every year has set in.  The nights for the last week have had lows in the 30s.  The spread is quite significant as the highs have been in the 70s, but the heat of the summer has passed.  Yesterday Duane said, "It will get warm again soon."  ???  I was quite surprised by that.  It is true that Orange County is likely to have plenty more heat yet, but i don't expect it up here.  "What universe do you live in that you expect more heat?" I asked him.  "We have two weeks of heat in July!"  We laughed about that.

This year we had more.  We had a warmer spring than normal, and a couple of really warm weeks in June.  Still, an autumn chill is here.

The kids have been back in school since 1 August.

The first dress has been resolved.  I found the entire thing a pain from start to finish.  I could say a lot about it, but i'll restrain myself.  Paypal required me to file a police report!  They required me to return the dress to China - with tracking (to prove the company received it).  The problem is our local sheriff didn't want to do a report on something like this, and the companies we checked (FedEx and US Postal Service) would not track to that address in China, and it was expensive - $65 from FedEx and $24 from USPS.  I got in an email debate "They won't track.  What do i do now?"  Response:  "We've not received your tracking number.  Tracking is very important." I received about 10 emails of this nature before requesting a Paypal representative contact me.

Someone finally did.  She asked me, "Did you read our emails?"  I said, "Did you read mine?" and made her talk to Duane because i knew i would not be able to be polite.  They did refund the money, but i spent hours and hours on this.  My advice?  Do NOT use Paypal to buy anything from outside the US, and probably don't use it at all unless you are 98% sure you are going to be happy with your purchase.

The second dress - the one i love and wanted - hasn't arrived yet.

The dress the maid of honor ordered this one:




She ordered it in burgundy.  She said she normally wears a 12, but to be safe she ordered a 14.  When it arrived, it is too small for her and of course would not fit me.  (I also think that i would look 6 months pregnant in this dress.)

This is the dress i prefer from the same website:



I don't care for the back very much, but i like the styling and i'm only going to wear it once, anyway.  I got permission to order this dress and was going to order it in burgundy.  They offer to make it to order for an extra $20.  However, when i got ready to order it, it wasn't giving me the choice of adding my measurements; that made me nervous.  I sent an email to the company - no response.  As this company is in the same city in China as the problem dress, the websites are almost identical, and after all the issues i've had, i decided i'm not comfortable ordering it.

I could make my own dress.  I know how to sew, etc.  Or my mother could, she is near professional in her seamstress ability.  But my mother isn't near and i don't want to.  I wondered how to find a dressmaker and how expensive it will be.  So i went to Etsy.

I found this dress:


She will make it to order (in burgundy).  She will add sleeves at no additional cost.  She is in Orange, CA (the middle of Orange County, so close by).  The cost of this dress is the same as the above from China.  She has 100% good ratings from 217 people.  I think that is great!  (Here is the link to the dress and her website.  If this one turns out as well as i hope, i might order a couple of her every day dresses.  lynamobley2012 )

I sent email to the bride to give me an okay.  No word, no word, no word.  Sigh.  I don't know why i end up related to so many people who have a problem with being timely.

But it is my intention to get this dress.  It certainly seems a much better choice than ordering from China again (who is batting 1.000 with sending things we can't use).

I got 2 new clients last week.  :)  Today both new clients are scheduled, along with 2 regulars and another who sees me infrequently.  I am so booked today there is no more room for any more (since i work half day on Tuesday).  And tomorrow - i have one 15 minute in the middle of the day!  "Life is so very badly arranged" - Agatha Christie (and unbalanced - Kathryn).

There is a lot more going on, but that is enough.



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