It’s My Imagination

MIA

Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I last posted! What the heck?!

I can’t even say I’ve been overly busy, although, I have been busy! I just really seem to have been out of the blogging mood lately. This is my secondary blog, and I haven’t felt much like blogging on my primary blog, so this one has definitely been in hiatus and I’m sorry about that!

Right now we’re getting a record snow fall here in Dallas, the largest snowfall in 30 years. That’s ironic since the reason my husband wanted to move here from Chicago was to get away from the snow. Oh well!

I’ll try to post photos later. The dog sure loves it. We’ve got about 6 inches on the ground and she likes to run around biting it. She’s pretty funny to watch.

I’ll try to stay more current here, I promise!

Holiday Airfare Deals from my Friend in Paradise!

This is a sponsored guest post written by Ali Kendall on behalf of Airfare Secrets. Post powered by Sponzai.

Just wanted to send a quick “shout-out” across the Pacific to my friend Ali in sunny Honolulu, Hawaii!

Ali runs the airfare-now.com website with all kinds of tips, coupons, strategies, etc. for findng holiday airfare deals. Now airfare comparison travel sites have come a long way in the past few years but there are still literally thousands of them to choose from. So here’s a big aloha and mahalo to Ali for keeping it simple on a pretty nifty little travel website!

Good Sunday Morning!

I was scheduled to work this morning and I logged in to the phone at 8:00 am. In a period of 25 minutes I only received 1 call and thankfully, received Extended Break until 10. So, I will sit, enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee, and then log back in at 10 and see how it goes. I’m only scheduled until 12, so it will be a short day no matter what!
Hope everyone is having a good Sunday morning!

Tofurkey on Your Menu?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Jones Soda. All opinions are 100% mine.

Last week I received a lovely green box delivered on my front stoop with big white letters on the outside, IZEA! I was so excited! Who doesn’t love getting packages in the mail?

I took my shiny new green box inside where my daughter and I quickly opened it up and found a fantastic turkey hat and a soda bottle filled with….TOFURKY soda? What the heck is Tofurky and how did it get in this soda bottle?

According to the Jones Soda website, Tofurky and Gravy Jones Soda is a meatless alternative to eating turkey and gravy! They also suggest serving it along with mashed potatoes and gravy and a good side of humor!

Now, I have to admit, I love the hat (so does my daughter)! The Tofurky and Gravy Jones Soda I’m not so sure about! It does certainly make a great gag gift though and can even be ordered in gift packs. I do like the sound of the other flavors that Jones Soda has to offer, Black Cherry, Pom and Vanilla Bean. Now those sound like tasty flavors! If you order the Tofurky gift pack, you get all of these flavors AND a Tofurky metal lunch box which is very cool in my opinion!

Black Friday

So, did you take advantage of any of the Black Friday shopping deals?

I had to work Friday morning so couldn’t take advantage of the early morning doorbusters, but I probably wouldn’t have gone out to fight the crowds anyway.  My daughter and I headed out to shop about 10 in the morning and I only had one item on my shopping list, a printer for my mom’s Christmas gift.

So, with my printed email ad in hand, we headed off to Staples.  I figured since they had opened at 6 a.m. and we didn’t even leave the house until 10, it was a bit unlikely that I would still get the doorbuster deal, but I thought I would check anyway.  I also figured that Staples is not exactly a “destination” shopping store, even on Black Friday, so there might still be a chance.  Imagine how happy I was to walk in and still find the wireless printer I had seen in the ad still available!  Not only that, but it was at the doorbuster price of $59.98, $60 off the original price!  What a deal and I really think my mom is going to like it, especially since her printer that she keeps in her winter home in Arizona was recently stolen.

After making my one purchase, my daughter & I headed off to a few other stores just to check out their deals, including ToyRUs and Best Buy, but we wound up not making any more purchases.  It was such a beautiful day, 70 and no wind, we decided to head home and put up our outside Christmas decorations.  We got lights on the trees and my daughter even managed to get up on the roof to put wreaths up on the dormer windows.  Today I’m going to work on decorating the tree in the family room.

So, what did you do for Black Friday and did you get any deals?

Are You Ready for Thanksgiving?

Every year I feel fairly relaxed about cooking Thanksgiving dinner, it’s usually just the 3 of us for dinner, but I do like to make a traditional holiday meal for us.  I don’t make anything fancy, I stick to the basics.  I find it enjoyable, my favorite meal of the year to cook.

This year I have decided to go out on a limb and make some new recipes for our Thanksgiving meal.  I’m not sure what possessed me to do this, I even had to purchase ingredients that I’ve never purchased before, ever!  The recipes appear to be easy though, they simply have different ingredients than what I normally use.  The one good thing I noticed right away was the fact that I can make these dishes ahead and the recipes even give directions for reheating them on Thanksgiving day.  Since I have to work Thursday morning until 1, I thought I’d spend tomorrow afternoon preparing the side dishes.  Then, I’ll just have to roast the turkey and make the mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving day.

Am I crazy for trying new recipes on my favorite cooking day of the year, especially since I have to work that day as well?

House Painting

We updated my daughter’s bedroom just before school started. These are not necessarily colors I would have chosen, but, she’s 13 and has her own ideas! She loves her new look and I’m happy because it all looks fresh and clean. It was the first time we painted her room since moving in 2 years ago and the walls were dirty and filled with holes. Here is the before and after.

Menopause Parking

This is so funny! I love the idea of menopause parking, and just had to share this!

CHASE – Losing Customer Loyalty

I have a credit card from CHASE bank, I’ve had this cc for many, many years.  I’ve been a loyal and good customer to them over the years.  I’ve carried a balance, but have always paid on time, usually more than the minimum required and several times have even taken advantage of their balance transfer offers.   The last time was to consolidate our other credit cards into one account, taking advantage of a 4.99% interest rate that was valid until the balance was paid off.    As I said, I’ve been faithfully sending in my monthly payments, always on time (sometimes even early) and almost always, more than the minimum due.

Well, CHASE decided to change the calculation for the minimum due and by doing so, more than doubled my minimum payment.  Now, I’m not sure about you, but I am not able to just change my budget in this way, I do have other monetary obligations including mortgage and utilities that I must pay every month.  Keep in mind, I’m not talking about an increase in minimum payment of $50-100, I’m talking close to $600 more per month than what I was paying before!  WHAT THE HELL?!

I called their customer service today and, after waiting on hold for over 10 minutes, I spoke to a lady who spoke very broken English and was told that yes, they could return the minimum payment to the original calculation, but, I would have to pay a higher interest rate and, the rate would convert to the standard cc rate effective 24 months from now.  I asked to speak to a supervisor and was informed that there was nothing more they could do.  I insisted.  I was transferred to someone I could actually understand and was given the same information.  I asked why, a loyal, trustworthy customer with an excellent credit history and customer of CHASE for many years would be treated this way and was not given an answer.  Instead, I was transferred to another woman who didn’t speak English well who informed me that if I would like to keep my current interest rate AND current minimum payment, I could be considered as a hardship case, would have 18 months to pay my account off and then my account would be closed!  WHAT THE HELL?!

I informed this woman that I was not wanting to close my account, I just wanted to be treated fairly and have my account treated the way it deserved, excellently.  I didn’t not feel this was being done, so, she transferred me (if you’re keeping count, this is transfer #4) and I was on hold for another 10 minutes.

I finally got to Will, an English speaking young man who I did not feel deserved my aggression that I was feeling by now and so, accepted the higher interest rate with the lower minimum payment calculation and asked for the address of where I could mail an official complaint regarding the change in terms on my account.  I feel defeated and extremely disappointed in CHASE.  And to think, I had recently been thinking about moving our bank accounts to one of their nearby branches!  NOT gonna happen!

Happy Birthday America!

Myspace 4th of July Comments & Graphics