Rant - Wrong number

Within the past week we have gotten 3 phone calls at various times of the day. The latest one was tonight while we were out. Before listening to the message I checked the Caller ID and noticed it was 'them' again. The messages says it is a text to land line and then proceeds to forward the message in a computer voice. The messages are not fit for repeating here. Let me just say

Jessica Semore
405-501-0283

quit calling us!

Rave - Reindeer sightings

Dasher and Blitzen are visiting Swansons Nursery now till Dec 23rd when they need to get home to help Santa load his sleigh.




Technorati Profile

Rant - Unions

My husband belongs to a Union, not because he wants to but because he HAS to. At the end of 2008 the Union will be negotiating new contracts with the company. In the mail on Friday my husband received his latest newsletter from the Union with the headline 'Help Shape Your Contract'. There is a lovely photo of members who will be part of the negotiation committee and they are posing with a burn barrel. For those of you who do not know what a burn barrel is, it's a 55 gallon drum that holds firewood to keep people warm while they are striking.

So what kind of message is this sending the Union members and the Company.

Rant - Sony Imagestation is closing

Last year a cousin contacted me saying she wanted to put together a photobook for one of our Uncles who had recently lost his wife in a house fire. She wanted to gather photos from all of the relatives which is no small feat considering the size of our family. I immediately jumped on board to help her. We wanted the book to have photos off all of us, we also wanted to be able to work on it together. But the most important things were the number of photos and being able to have captions on all the photos. With 8 Uncles and wives, 4 Aunts and husbands, 29 Cousins & spouses and 40 1 Cousins once removed (Cousins kids) and the fact that many of us left New Jersey in the 70's so there are quite a few of us who have not seen each other since then. Not to mention 30 some odd years can change people we REALLY needed the ability to caption the photos.

So while my cousin put the call out for photos I started researching places to have our book made.

Snapfish was first. My cousin had set up a Group Room where we could all submit photos to use in the book. But when we went to create our book we found the layouts restricting and no capability of adding caption/text where ever we wanted. Plus you could not zoom in on a photo within the book making process.

Shutterfly while it has a number of layouts it again was restricting in allowing text where ever we wanted it. And you could not zoom in on the photos.

Since I am a Mac user I checked out the book making option in iLife but it too only had pre determined layouts with little or no captions.

Picaboo was next. While we were able to work on the book and send it to each other to review and comment, the pre determined layouts were very restricting and we could not put text where we wanted. After getting all the photos in that we wanted our book was priced at 117.00. Obviously this was too expensive.

My Publisher - You can zoom, flip, rotate and move the photo within the photo well but again you are limited to the layouts the company provides.

Sony Imagestation was a god send! Not only could we put photos where we wanted and what size we wanted but we could also put text where ever we wanted! We were actually able to get all the same photos we had in the Picaboo book PLUS many many others. Our book actually has 310 photos and 7 document images on 48 pages and cost us aprox 54.00 for the linen book. That is quite a difference in price compared to the one we did in Picaboo.

We had 1 to 2 pages for each Aunt or Uncle's family and pages for Communion, Wedding, Christmas, Halloween & Birthday photos.

Where the other companies are more concerned with layouts and background pages, Imagestation was more about the user having TOTAL control over the look and feel of their book.


sample of one of our Birthday photo pages


sample of a Wedding page


sample of a Family page



samples showing photos, images and text where WE wanted them

Since doing this book we lost a cousin to cancer so it is just that much more special to us. One of our other cousins was inspired by what we did that he has started scanning all his families photos.

We were hoping to do another book next year with updated photos of all of us, as some photos we had were very out of date. But with Imagestation closing we will have to wait longer till some other company offers the 'freestyle' format of putting things where you want them. If anyone knows if such a company exists please let me know.

Rant - Tying up 2 registers

Today I was at Aaron Brothers in Shoreline buying a photo album for my mother-in-law. Daddy was at work so I had baby girl with me. After deciding on the Kolo Catalina in mango, Baby Girl and I headed to the checkout. There was only 1 cashier and she was busy with a customer who had a number of things going on. Behind this woman was a man with a frame then me and someone behind me. After standing in line for a little while a second cashier came over to help out. She looked at me and said she could help me. I started to get in her line when the woman tying up the first register made a motion and said something about the guy standing behind her. I said to the man, "oh you are not together?" and gestured to him to go ahead. Now here I am with one album in my hand and my little girl in a stroller trying to keep her from making too much noise. So the man goes to the cashier and ties up that one along with the woman STILL at the first cashier.

My turn finally came and I bought my album while the man who was in front of me was standing off to the front of the registers. It turns out he WAS with the woman at the first register. How annoying!

Rave - The Pumpkin Gutter

A few days ago I told you about what great customer service I had when I ordered The Pumpkin Gutter. Well now I have to tell you I LOVE THE PUMPKIN GUTTER!! It worked wonderfully. Cleaning and scraping down the pumpkins took only a few minutes and saved our hands and time for carving our pumpkins. You NEVER have to touch the pumpkin guts, unless you want to save your seeds for roasting which we did. If you carve pumpkins for Halloween or Thanksgiving get one of these, you will not be disappointed!

Rave - Where are the pumpkins??

I wish I would have found this website earlier.
Pumpkin Patches and More
Not only do they list the States but they also have listings for
United Kingdom
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa

Rave - Great Customer Service Still Exists

On the pumpkin forum there was a post raving about The Pumpkin Gutter. Other members said it is the only way to clean out your pumpkins if you are carving more than two. Well with our annual Pumpkin Carving Party coming up this Saturday we thought this tool would be a great addition. But we didn't know if it would arrive on time. I called the phone number on the website and not only did an actual person answer the phone but it also was the inventors wife. She assured me that my Pumpkin Gutter would arrive in time for our party. And to top it off she stayed on the phone with me while I went through the paying process to make sure my order showed up on her end.

Well it arrived today and I can't wait to try it out. Friday we are carving our pumpkins so I'll be sure to let you all know how it works.

Rave - Halloween Stores

So this post is actually a week late. Last Friday the family had dinner at Taco Del Mar in Greenwood and after we decided to check out Spirit Halloween over by Northgate Mall. Usually by the time we make it to one of these stores it is completely picked over. Well how surprised were we when the store was packed with merchandise. We asked if it was busy and the employee said no, that it is really slow. He thought maybe people didn't know where they were. So if anyone is looking for Halloween costumes or decorations check them out.

Spirit Olympic Plaza
10722 5th Avenue Ne
Seattle, WA 98125

Rave - Pumpkins everywhere

I see Pumpkins! Pumpkins are everywhere! I have already collected 2 Jack-o-Lantern types, 3 sugar pie, 5 Wee-B-Little and 3 artificial pumpkins! Last year only my husband carved a pumpkin, with the baby being only 2 months I was too tired to do any. But this year I will be pulling out my patterns and pumpkin carving tools and making my own Jack-o-Lantern.

For a number of years I have been collecting Pumpkin Masters templates and have quite a few now, which comes in handy since we have a Pumpkin Carving Party for our friends with kids. Growing up with the mother I have we were not allowed to carve our pumpkins. My mother was and is a complete worry wart. You know don't play with knives, don't walk and eat at the same time, stay away from the stove it's hot. To this day I have a hard time cooking anything in the oven. Back to the pumpkins. Since my mom wouldn't let us carve them we painted our pumpkins instead.


Here I am with my sister and our masterpieces. Yes nothing says Halloween like a painted pumpkin!

I think that may be why I'm such a collector of pumpkin carving patterns now. You know depriving someone of something makes them want it more. Some may think it is a sickness but I've met many like me.

Here is a list of some favorite Halloween sites.

Jammin Pumpkins-Free & members only cut-out pumpkin pattern site
Zombie Pumpkins-Free & members only cut-out pumpkin patterns and forum
The Pumpkin Wizard-Free & members only shaded patterns and forum (if you are looking for a specific pattern the members on this forum will know if one exists. Many members create their own and share with other members)
Masterpiece Pumpkins-Sell their own patterns
SpookMaster Pumpkins-Free & members only patterns
Stoneykins-Free & members shaded patterns
Fantasy Pumpkins-Great ideas

Be sure to get yourself a pumpkin or two or three!

Rave - Fall has arrived

While I've been away from the blog Fall has arrived here in Seattle! This is my favorite time of the year. The leaves, colors, crispness of the air and days getting shorter!

Rant - Woodland Park Zoo

Today Baby Girl and I went to Woodland Park Zoo to get some fresh air and see some animals. It was kind of an overcast day so I didn't think there would be many people there, boy was I wrong. Parking was almost full but we found a spot and made our way in. Oh and someone had a dog locked in their red Hummer in the parking lot.

Anyway, we were making our way around the exhibits but other moms/dads/nannys/caregivers with their strollers and wagons full of kids would get in the way. I'm not talking about going slow I'm talking about blocking the paths so you have to come to a complete halt. It actually started to get quite annoying.

Last time Hubby, Baby Girl and I went to the Zoo we didn't see the elephants. Elephants are my favorite animal and I have a hard time seeing them confined. But this time we made our way and it was sad. They were in their barn and it just looked too small. The zoo must have complaints cause I saw a number of signs showing just how much room the elephants have for their exhibit. The problem is it's not all that much room. I've already blogged about this, but I just had to mention it again.

We were there for about an hour and a half and I think Baby Girl enjoyed herself. I was a little depressed about the animals but I know zoos do good things, so I'll leave it at that.

Monkey

This post is neither a Rant or a Rave. Today I had to say goodbye to my cat of 17 years. It was the hardest decision I have had to make to date and as soon as it was over I was second guessing myself.


She was the best cat, never sick, never had any litter box accidents. She loved car rides and especially watching semi trucks. When we would rearrange the furniture she would get all frisky. She knew the sound of my husbands car and when she heard it she would wait for him to come through the door. She truly was unlike any cat I'd ever known.

Rave - Seattle Sewers Rejoice!!

Yesterday I was in Ballard for a Meetup at Golden Gardens. As I was heading home I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned the car around to see if what I saw was true. And it was! A new quilt store, with much excitement I parked the car and proceeded in with Baby Girl in tow.

The store is called The Quilting Loft and their fabrics and displays are yummy. They have fabrics from:
Alexander Henry
Amy Butler
Andover
Bali Batiks
Benartex
Clothworks
Free Spirit
Hoffman
In the Beginning
Kaffe
Michael Miller
Moda
Northcott
Red Rooster
Robert Kaufman
South Sea Imports
Timeless Treasures
Windham
Asian, floral, retro, geometric, flannel, batiks, novelty, Halloween & Christmas are just some of what I saw.

They also offer Long Arm Machine Quilting, Classes, Club, Kits, Books and Patterns. There were a number of Amy Butler patterns which is a favorite of mine. They opened in March of this year and are slowly growing with customer sales. Back in March I Ranted about our lack of Fabric Stores in Washington (mainly Seattle). I wished someone would open a Fabric Store because with the closing of In The Beginning all we had left was Pacific Fabrics, Undercover Quilts in Pike Place, which is not easy to get to, and JoAnn in Shoreline.

After going through the store twice I purchased some flannel to make a blanket to keep in the car for emergencies and as a picnic blanket. Baby Girl seemed to like my selection.

Please visit this store as good quality and unique Fabric Stores are slowly disappearing. Now if only someone would open a store with Swiss Batiste, Lawns, tatting, baby cord, smocking supplies.......

Rave & Rant - Woodland Park Zoo

My husband took today off so we could go on a family outing to Woodland Park Zoo. The weather was perfect, sunny but not too hot.

We loaded up the car with everything we thought we would need, change of clothes for the baby, food, sunscreen, hats, water and blanket. We decided to buy a Membership since we will probably be visiting the zoo frequently with a child now. So we made our way up to the booth and told the gal we wanted to join. She asked us to go to the Membership booth since there was a family behind us and it would take a while to complete the membership. We did as she asked and the woman at the membership booth was non too happy. How dare we interrupted while she was sitting in the MEMBERSHIP BOOTH. Upon leaving we realized she didn't even hand us a map. Oh well I'm guessing she woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Now my husband HATES zoos. He hates seeing animals stuck in cages. And I have to admit I don't like it either but I know zoos are trying to help survival of certain species. And most zoos are upgrading their animal exhibits with actual habitats unlike the concrete and bar cages I remember as a child. Like poor Ivan who lived at the B and I in Tacoma but now lives at Zoo Atlanta.

We started off with the Penguin Pool. The water was a bizarre shade of green but I think baby girl liked watching them. Then we made our way to the Tropical Rain Forest exhibit. The Colobus Monkey and Gorillas were of interest to baby girl also. There is a new female Jaguar who is there on a breeding program. She was pacing around and part of me was feeling very sad for her.

Next was the Temperate Forest with all the different birds and after that was the Family Farm with pigs, goats, sheep, bunnies, miniature donkey's, horses and cows. They even have a contact area where you can pet some of them. I took baby girl and she petted their bunny. I wish I knew what kind of bunny it was cause it was very soft.
Continuing on was the African Savannah, my favorite exhibit. They have zebras, ostriches, giraffes and gazelles all in one exhibit roaming just like they would in the wild. I think the hippos are in that exhibit also.

We noticed baby girl was getting fussy, her nap time is usually around 1:30 and it was now after 3. So we decided to call it a day and see the rest of the animals another day.

Rant - Mattel did it again

So here we go a third recall of Mattel toys. This time it is Barbie and accessories, It's a Big Big World and GeoTrax toys. The Chairman and CEO of Mattel even has a video on their site saying how they are stepping up testing of their products and that the safety of our children is important to them. I think it's more along the lines of them wanting to keep the money coming in and not the other toy companies who don't use China Manufactures and have not had any recalls of their toys do to safety issues. Which is one reason why they are in China right, money?
Now like I said before I know not all Chinese people are to blame here. There are a few within these companies who are making decisions behind Mattel's back. But I am so tired of American Companies going outside of the US to have products made.
I for one have completely changed how I buy items for my family, have you?

Rave & Rant - Vets and Cats

Today was a very sad day for me. I had to take my 17 year old cat, Monkey, to the vet because she wouldn't eat dinner and just didn't look like herself. Because of the holiday weekend the vet's office was booked but they told me to bring her in and they would look at her between patients.
After dropping her off I ran a few errands and was at home when the Vet called. He basically told me there wasn't anything he could do for her. He believes she has stomach cancer. My Vet is GREAT! He doesn't pull you along and suggest a string of procedures. We have one Veterinary Clinic in our area that always wants to do a multitude of tests that my Vet says is not necessary.
So now my days are spent giving my beloved cat as much petting and attention as I can with a 13 month old. And if anyone is looking for a GREAT Vet check out, Cat Clinic of Northeast Seattle.

Rave - Izilla Toys

So a few posts ago I blogged about this great toy store we found called Izilla Toys. While we were there I signed up my daughter for the Birthday Club, since it was after her birthday I was not expecting anything from them till next year. So I was totally surprised when Well in the mail today was a post card to my daughter saying Happy Birthday and that it is worth 5 dollars at Izilla Toys.

Rave - Cakes

I need to take a break from the whole China thing, it is exhausting trying to find things NOT made in China.
Sunday was my mothers birthday and we surprised her with a visit and a Birthday Cake. We have one of the best Bakery's here in Seattle, Borracchini's Bakery. And I have eaten many, many cakes and can tell you from experience they are FANTASTIC! There are 8 cake flavors, 15 cake fillings and 9 icings. I have tried a few different combinations but the favorite in our family is a white cake, with raspberry filling and the white Bavarian Creme frosting. The frosting is not sugary and it is so smooth. Why anyone would want one of those grocery store sugary cakes is beyond me. One of the best parts is being able to watch the decorators decorating the cakes.

Borracchini's also has a large variety of breads that are bakes fresh daily. Italians, Rye's, Foccacia's, Pumpernickel and many more. They also have a Deli section and Pastries. Go check them out!

Rave - Another great toy store

Today husband, baby girl and I visited another great Seattle Toy Store, Izilla Toys. We found these great vehicle toys from a line called Viking Toys. They are plastic with rubber wheels, if you have hardwood floors this is a MUST toy. It rolls like a dream. I don't remember where they were made exactly, Sweden maybe, but I know it was not China. Google them and buy them up!
Baby girl was having fun crawling around and looking at everything. I know future birthday and Christmas presents will be found there.

Dinner was at our favorite sushi restaurant Hana on Capitol Hill. Their California Rolls are the BEST!!! I ate 3 all by myself.

And we stopped at Top Ten so Hubby could see. Baby girl was again excited to see Rody Pony, she seems to love him. We picked up some wood blocks, made in USA and a toy boat made in Austria.