*** FRIENDLY CONTEST REMINDER ***
This is your last chance to enter into Handbag Love - a chance to win a wonderful handbag by Rebecca Weis.

The deadline is less than four hours away. I will be closing the comments on the Handbag Love entry at that point, so that no one can submit after the deadline is met.

Good luck to all of you who have entered!

I managed to get about 5 hours of sleep last night and surprisingly enough, I slept through the entire night without waking up a single time. I must have been pretty exhausted when I decided to finally call it a night. I had planned on watching CSI and then Law and Order but my eyes began to flutter and I could feel myself drifting off to sleep. I decided to just turn the TV off and within seconds of my head hitting the pillow, I was off in la la land. I think Jo had a better night last night, well, better than he has been having anyway. He slept through most of the night without waking up. He did wake up pretty sore this morning though, which is probably from the physiotherapy, I’m sure.

We have been talking about my birthday, which is a week from tomorrow. And before you ask, I will be 29, which is the age I will remain. Kidding! It’s hard to believe that I am nearly 30. Time sure does fly with age, doesn’t it? Jo asked me earlier in the week what I would like for my “special day” (where he will undoubtedly pick on me for the entire day). Sadly, the only thing I could come up with at the time was “a handbag”, lol. How typical is that? We talked about it a little more this morning and instead of the handbag, since I have so many already, he’s going to contribute to my camera fund. I normally check dpreview.com once every week or so, just to see if there’s anything new on the market. I see that Nikon and Canon will be releasing new cameras in the near future (Nikon d300 and d3, Canon 40d). Financially speaking, these cameras are out of my league. Since Jo will not be getting his full income, I can’t very well feel comfortable spending much more than $800 on a camera right now and would prefer to spend that much to include not only the camera, but accessories too. I know I ask for a lot. So I started to browse through some of the recent reviews, where I stumble onto the Olympus E-410. I know a couple of people using Olympus cameras, all of which love them and have been pleased. This camera is “highly recommended” by dpreview.com, has a nice range of sample photos that are pretty impressive (both in the review’s sample photos and in the pbase.com galleries for this camera). Honestly, I don’t think I’ll be “settling” if I buy this camera. If I were going to settle, I’m sure I’d settle for something under $500 for sure and I refuse to “settle” this time.

That said, I’m hoping that within about 2 weeks I will be the owner of an Olympus E-410. Between birthday funds from my husband, mom, dad and various other relatives, along with the payout I received yesterday (and future ones in the next 2 weeks) I should be able to do just that. It will be so nice having a great camera again. One that I won’t have to fight with as often as I do my current one. Hopefully we will get a chance to visit Drumheller in early October - I have been anxious to photograph that area since our decision was made to move to Calgary.

I have a few things I need to hop on right now though and this post turned out longer than expected.

I would like to throw this out there though:

***Contest Reminder***
Don’t forget to submit to my contest - Handbag Love. Get your submissions in by midnight, August 31st for a chance to win a gorgeous bag by Rebecca Weis. The contest is open to anyone, anywhere and the requirements are easy as pie.

Cellulite - gasp, yes I said it. Let’s face it ladies, it’s something we will all eventually succumb to and we all love to hate it. For those of you in the dark - cellulite derived in European salons and spas, which was (and is) used to described those pesky deposits of fat on the thighs, hips and buttocks of women. It is a combination of fat, water and wastes that our bodies have failed to eliminate. Cellulite is not caused by being overweight, despite what some may have you believe. Look at the women in Hollywood for instance - no, I do not mean the airbrushed and photoshopped celebrities, I mean the makeup-less, natural selfs. Even the beautiful women in Hollywood can’t hide from cellulite, though their airbrushed photos would lead you to believe differently.

So now that I have your attention, you are probably wondering where you can find more information regarding cellulite, right? You are probably asking yourself things like: What causes cellulite and who gets it? Lucky for you, I have the perfect resource for you - Ihatecellulite.com. Here you will find answers to those questions, along with helpful information on products -the reduction of it through things like exercise and reviews of various products that are available to treat it - and other helpful tips related to cellulite.

We women may not be able to avoid that fearful cellulite, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways for us to treat it and / or reduce it!

***Contest Reminder***
You have just over 24 hours to submit to my contest - Handbag Love. Get your submissions in by midnight, August 31st for a chance to win a gorgeous bag by Rebecca Weis. The contest is open to anyone, anywhere and the requirements are easy as pie.

Other news…

I spoke to my grandmother the other day. It was very hard for me not to cry when she couldn’t remember who I was. I choked back and asked her how she was doing and her reply was “I don’t know who that man is..”, as if I had asked her about someone in the room with her.

After I hung up the phone, my mind started racing around and I suddenly realized - When she passes away, I will no longer have a “grandmother”. That upset me pretty bad and still does as I type this. What upsets me even more about this is that I am truly worried I may not make it home in time to see her one last time. For those of you who didn’t know, we are unable to make our Georgia trip next month due to Jo’s back injury. Travel is completely out of the question for at least 2 months while he’s attending his physiotherapy sessions. If she worsens, I will have to find a way to overcome my fear of flying and fly home to visit and hope I’m not too late.

The last time I was in Calgary I lost my grandmother on my father’s side. You have no idea how afraid I am that the same thing may be happening with my grandmother on my mother’s side.

I have a few friends and relatives who really enjoy knitting, which is something I have no talent for - believe me, my grandmother tried desperately to teach me how. Since the holidays are just around the corner, I figured I should probably get a jump start on shopping for gifts. I hate being that crazy last minute shopper.

I recently found my way over to Cross Jewelers, where I found their lovely “Knitter’s Collection”. Talk about finding an appropriate gift for someone! The detail of each piece is incredible. Just take a look at the Knitter’s Ring, which got it’s name from one of the staff members of Cross Jewelers. I love that the weave has a Celtic look to it. They have two sets of earrings in this collection - Golden Fleece and Yarn Over. Both sets carry the same gorgeous detail as the ring mentioned above. The Yarn Over set features a beautiful woven effect. You can find pieces available in yellow and white gold, and some pieces are also available in platinum and palladium.

My favorite piece out of the collection is the Knitters Ball Necklace. Notice how the ball resembles a ball of yarn! This is something I think my grandmother would really love. She has been knitting for years and I know she will appreciate the detailed work put into this piece (as well as the others). One of the lockets would make a wonderful gift for one of my sisters who knits. It would be perfect for adding one of the photos of her and my grandmother sitting together while knitting.

I know many of you also knit, so be sure you check out Cross Jewelers’ Knitting Collection!

I normally try to avoid making posts like this because I loathe getting into big debates over things like politics, religion and the more controversial things like abortion and homosexuality. I am in no way afraid of my opinion or what others may think of it but there are some people that you could debate with for a year and what you are saying just will not sink in. I would rather save my energy, time and breath for other things.

That being said, I do have something I want to say in regards to an entry on a blog (which will be unlinked, I will not send the woman drama nor do I wish for people to bark at her for her opinion) and it really struck a nerve. She is basically saying that someone who is “gay” should not work in the mental health field because they “need help”…

Since when does someone’s sexuality make them more capable or incapable of providing mental health care? Because I am heterosexual, am I more competent than my homosexual relative or friend? That just sounds ridiculous to me.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions. I am certainly not saying that my opinion is the right opinion or their opinion is the wrong opinion, but to suggest that someone is incapable of providing “help” to those in need simply because they prefer to be with the same sex, verses the opposite sex seems wrong. These professionals are educated and trained to provide care and for many, caring for people comes naturally. Why should any of us say they are in no position to provide this help?

Like I said, this isn’t the normal for me… Posting about things like this but I really felt I should do this post, so I did.

Jo went for his second session of physiotherapy today. This session lasted twice as long as his first, so he is pretty sore right now. He kept me up all night last night (Monday night) tossing and turning. I know he couldn’t help it though, he was just in pain and couldn’t get comfortable. They said that his employer requests that he attends 3-5 sessions of physiotherapy each week for as long as he is under “Worker’s Compensation”. Hopefully this will get him all straightened out.

After his appointment, I drove over to the UPS warehouse to pick up one of my handbags (from the seller I had an issue with, mentioned in a previous entry a couple of days ago). I forgot to bring the tracking number with me and at that time, had no idea the seller shipped to “Scribblescratch” though I clearly said “J— Jones”, so I was told to get the tracking number and return to the warehouse. Half an hour later I returned (stinking traffic). After they pull up the record, they head to the back and grab my package. Before handing my package over to me, they inform me that I owe $35.75. Now, I was already upset with this seller after what happened earlier in the week, so I know there had to be smoke billowing from my ears when they told me that. I asked what this was for and the woman behind the counter said “Shipping and handling”. My mouth dropped, “No, I paid $22.95 shipping and handling when I paid for the item. I have proof of this..” - I could feel my blood boiling. She suggested I speak to someone with Customer Service via their telephone, so I did and was basically told the same thing. The woman on the other end said that the “shipper” (seller) had shipped this as COD. I was shocked and angry. I asked them to hold the package and she understood, saying that was no problem at all. I came home and right away sent off an email to the seller, along with submitting a dispute resolution. I wanted a refund for both items I had purchased, even the item that had yet to be sent. After submitting those, I contacted PayPal - they reimbursed me $35 so that I could pick up the package. Their reasoning for the reimbursement was that the history on PayPal shows the extra for shipping/handling and insurance. OK, fair enough. The seller finally returns my emails (never my phone calls) and says that this is a PayPal error. She provided proof that PayPal had in fact deducted her account for shipping costs and for whatever reason, still stamped the package as COD. At this point, I apologize to the seller but explained that I was going on what I had been told by the UPS staff and because I couldn’t reach her at the time, had no other choice but take it to the next step (contacting Ebay and PayPal). She understood and per my request, refunded me for the second bag (the camel colored one which caused the first issue with this seller). We have mutually agreed that no negative feedback will be left regarding this item, that we will just go our merry ways after feedback is left for the black handbag I will pick up tomorrow.

I really wanted that handbag - you have no idea how badly but it’s OK. I will survive, this isn’t going to kill me!

Speaking of handbags..

*** CONTEST REMINDED ***
I will be taking submissions to “Handbag Love“, my new contest, through August 31st at midnight EST.

That said, I am going to call it a night. It has been a frustrating day, night and now earlier morning.

One of the things I love most about Fall is that t it means it’s time for new seasons of my favorite TV shows and new TV shows in general. One of the shows I recently saw advertised is The CW’s Gossip Girl. Gossip Girl is based on the best selling novel series by Cecil von Ziegesar, which stars Blake Lively (you may recognize her from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) and Kristen Bell (who narrates as “Gossip Girl”). The show revolves around the lives of young socialites who hail from New York’s “Upper East Side” as they deal with teenage issues like sex and drugs.

You should also check out the Gossip Girl MySpace Fan Page.

I confess, I love TV shows like this! I know I’ll be tuning in to the CW network on Wednesday, September 19th to catch the first episode of season one. Will you?

To save the day…

Stacey has finally gotten her new blog up and running. Why don’t you all head on over there and give her a little lovin’! You won’t regret it, promise!

I am in such a bad mood right now. I just logged into one of my email accounts (the one I use for Ebay) - instantly I take notice to the bold print staring back at me “Unpaid Item dispute“. Say what? I see it’s for the camel colored Guess handbag I recently did a Buy-it-now on (from a seller I’ve purchased other bags from before). So I logged into Ebay and my PayPal account (in separate windows obviously). I know good and dern well that $156.06 CAD was extracted from my account early last week and the seller was sent whatever that came out to in USD ($142 something). So I click account history in PayPal and while it’s loading, I’m filling in my information in regards to the dispute screen at Ebay. I click back over to the PayPal screen and wouldn’t you know it - I PAID the seller on August 17th. So I get my copy of the payment history and submit it (in pieces because it was so long) with my dispute reply.

This just really ticks me off. I have a perfect track record on Ebay and I absolutely will not have this seller tarnish it. I understand there’s a small chance that she’s overlooked something but that’s not my problem, that’s her responsibility. Before putting in that dispute, she should have looked over her Ebay account (I’m pretty sure it shows it’s been paid when you do it through the Ebay console, it shows it’s paid for me there), her PayPal account history and her email account. One of those would have provided her with the information showing the item has been paid for. Instead, she trots her happy rump over to Ebay and files the “Unpaid Item dispute” claim.

She surely better hope that if this is going to prevent her from shipping the item I have already paid for, that she’s going to reimburse me. I will gladly take my business elsewhere.

Man am I ever angry!