Nice piece

This would be the piece of art I designed for the Luxe Design Team search. I didn't make the team but I ended up with a pretty sweet piece of artwork. It's sitting at the front door for now while I figure out where I want to hang it. Which means I have been showered with compliments and a few discreet requests for one for themselves. Personally, I think it's pretty awesome...but that's just me.

Lipo would be easier

I swear I have no luck when it comes to Yoga. I think I should just give up now.

Two years ago when I joined the local gym I started going to the yoga classes. The first one I went to was ok but I was kind of on the fence. Decided to stick with it and went to the second one. Hated it. I ended up in a power yoga class and the downward dogs were killing me. To the point where I think my wrists were seriously considering divorcing my arms.

I again, decided to stick with it and the third class was awesome. I loved the teacher. She was a sub from a studio in town and was just fantastic. I loved the way she spoke to us, loved that she kept the talk to a minimum and also worked the room to make sure we were all in positions that challenged us but still didn't hurt.

I ended up in another power yoga class and then gave up. (I'm a quitter, what can I say?)

I decided to try it again after rekindling my desire to do yoga with a few at home videos. They were helpful and I liked doing it again. The class I'm in now is alright. I really don't like all the talk that the teacher does. She has to explain everything. To the point where she explains OTHER yoga moves that we aren't doing. It's making me crazy. Added to that, the moves she does in these classes kill my knees. We do it on a cement floor and the mats don't help at all.

Sigh...I'll stick it out though. We'll see how far I get. I might break down and join the Pilates Classes at that studio in town.

Waking when it's over

Last weekend my body must have known what was going to happen this week. It must have said to itself, this week is going to be tough, so lets get as much sleep as possible.

You see, I had big plans last weekend to get a whole lot of stuff done. I wanted to clean up my little "studio" area in the basement, I wanted to clean out my closet, I wanted to go shopping, I wanted to do a lot of stuff. Instead, I slept until about 10 each morning (well, I got up to let the dog out at 7 both mornings and then went to bed) and then went back to bed for a nap in the afternoon. I didn't get my stuff cleaned up. I didn't go shopping. I did get my closet cleaned out, but there wasn't much to do.

Then Monday came. We had a really big day at work on Thursday. Like national news kind of day. Well, actually, it was a national news day. So that meant I was at work until after midnight on Tuesday. At work until after nine on Wednesday and at work until after six on Thursday. And being at work that late doesn't mean I go home and sleep. Nope, it means I go home and lay awake thinking "did I change the font on that one fact sheet"? "Did I make sure I included all of the other edits?" "What if there are changes?" "Did the whole thing line up?" Or on Wednesday night I think about getting to the venue on time, what I should bring with me, what did I leave at the office, should I email my boss at 3 a.m., does she have her blackberry with her in her bedroom so it will wake her up when she's eight months pregnant?

The day went really well on Thursday and lots of really important people were quite pleased with us. And when I got home on Thursday, I was going to take a nap before Grey's and Lost but ended up not able to sleep AGAIN. After Lost, I knew it would be a struggle again so I took something. The six hours of sleep was much nicer than the four or three I had gotten the rest of the week.

But of course, this fatigue hit me yesterday when I had big plans to take the afternoon off and do something fun. That something fun was getting lost in Kent County. I decided to stop at this neat stamping store in Chatham on my way up to London. They gave me directions to Future Shop and then to the highway. Stupid me, thinking if I just followed the county roads east, I would reconnect with the highway without having to go backwards. Yup, you guessed it. I ended up going north west and spent about an hour travelling in a big huge circle. No, I don't have a map or GPS and I'm wondering why...

I finally got here around 3:25. Too late to pick the girls up at school which they love but early enough to get them from the bus which I love. My sister and I had a nice evening together and today we're going to celebrate National Scrapbook Day at Michaels. Big fun. I had an excellent night of sleep last night for the first time in a week or so and I'm really looking forward to just enjoying my weekend and doing fun stuff. Glad that the mess is over but sure it will all start up again soon.

Maybe I should buy a map or something this weekend...

Down with Customs!

I ordered a package almost two weeks ago.

I placed my order, got the shipment tracking info and waited.

Instead of my package coming from the store I ordered it from right to my address here, right across the river from the U.S., it went to Quebec.

Yup, went to a big fat customs warehouse in Quebec. Not because the store did anything wrong. But because Canada Customs sucks.

From there, it had to spend several days in transit from their warehouse in Quebec to my house, right across the river from the U.S.

I wonder if anyone has this much trouble buying anything from Canada, GOVERNMENT!

Stupid customs. I'm getting a P.O. Box. It will solve many of my problems!

Semi-Productive

I went to my friend's baby shower yesterday. I'm so excited for her. She's my coworker and we've known each other for a little over two years and when you've been in the trenches like we have, you become "brothers" if you will. I'm kind of sad she'll be leaving us on mat leave, but again, so excited for her.

The shower meant lots of work. I made the cake and it was the second "special occasion" cake that I've made since I started taking these courses. It was pretty cool. She's not one of those fru fru baby people so I found this cute cake topper from Wilton that is a pregnant super hero. Totally her. So I made a two tier yellow and blue cake with pink stars. Turned out too cute. But these cakes man, they're so time consuming! I baked until about 9:30 on Thursday night and then put the whole thing together on Friday night.



I'm working on the idea for a cake my sister wants me to make for their friends new baby at the end of the month of May. I'm thinking another tiered cake with morning glories (which are too cool and that we learned how to make) and butterflies made out of sugar paste. We'll see how that whole idea pans out.

Today it's pull out the summer clothes, put away the winter clothes, vacuum a few carpets and finish off my last entry for the Luxe Design Team entry. I'm kind of scared about it. I really want to be on the design team but I know there are many more people who are much more creative than I am. Added to that, I'm struggling with a bit of "idea vs. execution" drama. I have this idea in my head but when I actually put it out there, it doesn't look quite as good as I thought it would. We'll see though. I may just be a little overly critical of myself.

Ace of Cake

One of my new year's resolutions was to learn something new. Well, that happens just about every day so we'll go with "take a class and learn something new" instead. So since tv was on hiatus and it was winter, I decided to take a photography course and also a cake decorating course. That one course led to the whole three course offerings at Michael's and now I'm done.

While I enjoyed each week of the course learning something different and cool, it was really tedious and I got sick of making cake or icing or both each weekend. One night of class turned into a whole weekend of work. Last weekend was spent pretty much at the kitchen table making roses out of gum paste. Big fun anyone will tell you--not!

So my final cake turned out really cool and now everyone wants me to make cakes for them. That is, everyone in my family. I'm not about to start doing this as a profession, I make enough money doing what I do at my day job. And really, I'm a little too high strung and anal to bake cakes every day. I'd get all freaked out that they were crooked or didn't taste right or had some other issue. Not to mention I'm one of those people that just gets frustrated and gives up.



The courses are actually pretty cool if anyone wants to take them. I figured they were worth it for the $20 they cost. You do have to buy a crap load of supplies, but I didn't hear anyone complaining about my cakes. I loved that I now know how to actually ice a cake properly and I can also apply fondant to a cake. I was tempted to go to this big cake convention type thing in Vegas to learn even more neat tricks but I'm sick of cake. And I don't want to turn into a crazy person...well, more crazy than I am of course!

Final critique

I took a photography course at the college this term to sort of learn a few things. I had bought a nice fancy camera and while I know how to take photos normally, I wanted to be able to do all the new fangled cool stuff like lights and night shots and blurry action etc. I figured this would help me.

Now I'm the kind of person who is a total hands on learner. I can't have someone say to me "you need to set the camera to this and then do this this and this". I have to have them show me the photo and then tell me how to get it that way. As in, to get this shot like this, you have to set the shutter speed as slow as possible and then change the f/stop to something like "a".

Needless to say I spent the entire semester feeling like a total loser because I felt like I was lost the entire time. In the end, I know what I'm doing, have grasped the concepts and did a good job. I had been stressed about our final critique for weeks. I thought I wasn't doing things right, hadn't taken the right photos and was just going to fail the class (I'm an overachiever, did I mention that?) But it was all good. The teacher brought in her friend who shoots mostly digital to help with the critique. Not that I want to brag or anything, but I'm glad I took a different array of shots. Everyone else had either shots from the field trips they went on, flowers, or shots from the zoo. I tried to touch upon all aspects of the course. So here are my photos, what I was thinking, what was said etc.


This is actually a rose. I wanted to take a cool macro shot but didn't have a lens that could do it. The developer thought it was a flame on the screen and it took both my teacher and her assistant a double check and a close up view just to figure it out. She loved the veins in it, he loved the aspect of the shadow across it. I loved that they had to look twice to figure it out.


This one was fun. My coworker is engaged to a firefighter and I wanted a neat mirror shot. I figured they would have a convex mirror in the bay but they didn't. So we played with the mirror on the truck a bit. In the end, my teacher and her assistant couldn't figure it out. He thought it was a school bus and when I said it was a fire truck AND had a firefighter in it, they both had to stand there and study it a bit. Kind of like a "Where's Waldo" thing. Again, score Lesley!


This one I knew what I did wrong. And now that I know how to take sparkler photos, I'm actually kind of excited. It was all in the setting of the light etc.


I LOVE this shot. If it wasn't so cold, I would have stayed out there and taken more. But it was too cold and I didn't have a tripod so I just rested my camera on a hydro box on the corner. I would also go somewhere much darker (down by the river) and take a photo that way. Really cool technique and I'm so impressed I know how to do it. They both loved it.


This was the assistants favourite shot. He said it was great because it drew the viewer in, the rule of thirds was in it, and it was cut perfectly to include the crane and the hydro poles in the background etc. But the reason he loved it was because he said it was like a Flinstone's cartoon, the crane looked like it would drop the metal girder at any point on the heads of the people in the shot.


This was my teacher's favourite shot. I loved it as well. The angel looks so real. But the funniest part about this photo is the story behind it. I took my oldest neice out with me to take photos thinking she could be my "model" if I needed. I didn't realize she hadn't been to a graveyard before. This was at Mount Pleasant in London, a really old and historical graveyard with neat stuff. The questions she asked me were hilarious. Does Jesus have any relatives. Are they still alive. Do you have to be dead to have a headstone. How do they decide what box to put you in. Do they just put you in a box and then put you in the ground. Why do some people have big houses (mausoleum) for their bodies. There's more than one body in there. Are kids allowed in the cemetery. The questions went on and on. I've probably scarred her for life now.

All in all, I'm glad it's over. I had a fun time and I liked my classmates but it was really tedious going in every Thursday night for four hours. Added to that, the stress of the photo taking, it was not pleasant. I forgot how nerve wracking school can be. Tonight was my final cake class. That was a burn that I am glad is over. I'll post those photos another night.

Spring

I have a serious case of spring fever today. And I? Love it!

The sun was out at 7 when I unlocked the office door this morning, the sun shone all day today and now, at 7:10, it is still shining. Love it love it love it!

Which means it will probably snow this weekend.

But I will not think of snow, or darkness, or cold, like the kind that kept me awake last night and forced me to put on another blanket on the bed. Nope, I will think spring today. Happiness abounds!

Added to all this, I have finished choosing my photos for my final critique tomorrow night in class. SOO glad to have this class over. This critique has been hanging over my head for weeks!!! Then it's the last class for my Cake course at Michael's on Tuesday night and then I am done with school!

I'm also looking forward to this weekend. It's the first one in a long time with no company, no travel, no events, nothing to do but do some spring cleaning, some spring organizing, some spring crafting, some spring springing! Can't wait!

Go Figure

This week I reached a milestone. I finally paid off my student loan. It was also the last loan I had outstanding from my "twenties". Two student loans, a line of credit that turned into a consolidation loan and two credit cards.

Now, to be honest, I racked up so much debt because I spent two years unemployed and six years making less than twenty thousand dollars after taxes. When you factor in trying to pay rent and actually function, you end up with a lot of bills. At one point I pretty much had to live off my credit card. Suzy Orman would have a heart attack I'm sure.

So you can imagine how great it felt to finally pay off that last loan. It actually felt kind of weird seeing as I had been putting a large chunk of each paycheque into my savings account anticipating the pay off. I also waited on this last loan because here in Canada you can use the interest on your student loans on your taxes. And when it all came down to paying it--you have to call the bank to have them close out the account, it ended up taking longer than I expected and more phone calls than was really necessary.

In the end, I paid it all off, had a little hyperventilation moment and realized I was officially broke.

How did I celebrate you ask?

By paying for an oil change, a fuel system flush, new brake pads, a tire rotation and four brakes serviced. That was the moment was when I was officially broke. At least my credit card company will be happy.

The Morning After

I think, in my family at least, if a party is a night on the town, then the kitchen is the hangover the day after. No matter how hard you work before, during and after, the kitchen never looks quite clean enough the day after in the morning light.

After a weekend that saw six cake mixes made (one slab cake and a shaped cowboy cake for the 1st birthday party and one cake for Easter dessert and one cake for my class tomorrow night), one first birthday party, one easter dinner and the normal easter festivities with two kids, we are cleaning up and putting things away. If you're counting, I have broken one wine glass and two shot glasses this morning. Oh and cut my finger with a peeler while peeling potatoes yesterday.

It was fun though, nice to spend time with the family and to celebrate my cousin's first birthday. The funniest part of the party was when my 17 year old cousin took a bet to eat an anchovy and ended up regretting it once the thing was in his mouth. I'm glad it's all over though and that we're back to normal. While I didn't get to bed before 2 a.m. twice this weekend, my aunt didn't really get to bed at all on Saturday night. How she did that amazes me.

Friends

According to my Glamour mag and my O Magazine, it's friends month. As in, celebrate your friends month. I haven't made it through my Cosmo yet so I'm sure they will agree, at least, I hope they don't do the whole have great sex this month...with friends...because we all know what Cosmo is good for.

Anyways...I digress....it's celebrate friends month. And luckily for me, the girl who has trouble making new friends, I have some pretty kick ass friends.

But it was today's post by Jen that got me really thinking. I hate seeing any of my friends go through turmoil or trouble and from what someone else's friends felt/said about her, it made me start to think about all the wonderful things that make my friends such great friends.

I like how they always tell it like they see it, no holds barred, brutal truth. You can do that when you're a friend. I like how they support me, love me, respect me unconditionally. I like how they have such diverse and differing attitudes/opinions/perspectives. I like how I can call them up, email them, or just drop them a line to say "hey" and they know there's nothing behind it. I also like how when I haven't had time to do that, it's like we had just talked the day before. I like how they "get" me. As in, get my lame sense of humour or other ticks I have. Most of all though, I like that they're my friends, and not someone else's. (That sounds selfish, but I don't care).

So to all my wonderful friends, in case I don't say it enough, you're awesome and I love you! Thanks for being so great and for keeping me in your lives!

Fun

That would be the interior of
Splash Universe Dundee, MI where we took the four girls for three days this week.

My nieces spent three days with me for their March Break and since my cousin's two girls were coming down to spend the week with their grandparents (my aunt and uncle) we decided to do something fun with the four of them. Hence the three days in a water park.

I took the whole week off this year not only to burn up some vacation I probably won't get a chance to use this year and also to just take a break and relax before what is going to be two to three months of craziness at work.

The hotel was alright. I was kind of disappointed in Holiday Inn and their "misrepresentation" of the prices. They advertised a $75 off on the suite and then when you went to book it by phone (the only way to get the deal) the price was $225. If you booked it online it was actually $199. Hardly a deal. We ended up staying in a regular room and the girls had a great time. The hotel had the indoor pool and then the waterpark attached to it and then an arcade that they spent a great deal of time in. I loved seeing them having so much fun. My youngest niece loved that she could have donuts for breakfast (complimentary breakfast that had unripened bananas as the only fruit...nice).

I'm sort of not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow but only because I don't want to get up early and have to spent the day trapped at a desk. I joined the fitness club of the new community centre they built in town so I'm going to go back to the gym as it were. I also start my last cake class this week and with easter on the weekend, it's two weeks of four days only. I guess I shouldn't really complain...

Recharging

Some days I can't tell if I'm coming or going. Which is why this week is a good week. It's March Break and I decided to take the week off. My cousins girls are here and we're going to this cool hotel with a water slide in it later this week. This is a really good week to just recharge.

We had not one but two snow storms last week. And if you think about it, it's actually three snow storms in one week since it snowed on Friday, then Monday night then again on Friday. Which is actually a lot of snow. Add all that to the other five snow storms this winter and you can colour us up here a little anxious to get winter over with.

I managed to get stuck in the driveway on Tuesday morning. Then stuck again at the end of the road. Then stuck again trying to exit the expressway. The crews had not cleared our parking lot at work so that was another adventure trying to get in. It also made me extremely unhappy with my little car. Once again. I also got stuck at a construction site on Thursday, which would have been disasterous since my car was parked right at the edge of a big hole. I finally got someone at GM who would listen to me about the car and they're helping me out with an incentive to go into another GM car. Something I want since I've been eyeing the VUE hybrid. Good for the environment and good for the Canadian winter!

Monday I went to my cake decorating class and had totally forgotten to pack the essentials--towel, wet cloths and wax paper. That was fun. Then Tuesday and Thursday I had appointments after work so you can imagine what that was like rushing from one place to the next. This weekend I baked my cake and made all the flowers I need to make (including 67 leaves with really thick icing) so my arms are a little sore.

I'm looking forward to some relaxing around the house, some sleeping in in the morning and some nice vegging out time this week. Because work is going to kill me the next two months. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I won't get sick.

Tagged

It's taken me a few days...but here I go:Jen tagged me and here are seven weird, wonderful and out of this world facts about me. Ok weird is true...don't know if wonderful and out of this world is true...

1. I love the smell of dirt and freshly cut grass which sounds kind of weird but it's true. There is nothing more wonderful to me than the smell of freshly cut grass or dirt in the spring. There's this wonderful mossy earthy smell in the spring when the snow melts and the flowers come up and I love it.

2. When I was a kid I didn't like ice cream which my siblings thought was odd but it's completely true. And while I still don't "like" ice cream, I will eat only two kinds...Laura Secord chocolate chip or Baskin Robbins gold medal ribbon. It's more a "prefer" thing. I would "prefer" something other than ice cream but I have been known to crave it every now and then. Again, has to be chocolate chip though. Or I'll eat the ice cream sandwiches or certain ice creams with cake.

3. I'm really anal about being "clean" meaning that I have to shower every day and wash my hands about a million times. I'm the kind of person that if I've been out in public and haven't had a chance to wash my hands, I feel like I have the equivalent of about an inch of mud on my hands. I can't do the whole "don't wash your hair for a few days" type of thing. I'm also that person who used their shirt sleeve or a paper towel to open the doors of public washrooms.

4. I'm not an outdoors person making number one a strange thing but seriously...I don't like being outside. It's actually really strange because as a kid you couldn't get me out of the water and I got frostbite three times from being outside in the snow. I just don't like it. I don't like to be cold, I don't like wet snow, I don't like the heat and I definitely don't like sweating in the heat. Give me a nice temperature controlled area with a big window looking outside and I'm fine.

5. I believe in the adage do unto others firmly in fact its a mantra I try to live by. Which has gotten me into trouble more often than I would like. It also leads to being taken advantage of or walked all over. But still, it's a good mantra to live by so I'll let it be.

6. I am addicted to "noise". This one is a hard one to explain. I don't like silence. I feel uncomfortable during silent periods. I have to have some noise on in the background. Otherwise I am completely freaked out. Whether it's the sound of the television, the radio or my sound machine (white noise) at night, it's just something that I have to have.

7. I am inspired if I am in the shower, or in the car, or going to sleep or listening to music. If I have to write something or need to think of something creative, it always happens when I'm in my car or in the shower. At night, when I can't turn my brain off, I find myself thinking of stuff I want to write about or that makes me think of stories in my head. As a kid, I used to crawl to the night light in the hallway with my notebook and jot down poetry. Now I find I can solve just about any writers block by going for a drive.

So there you go. I don't know seven people with blogs so I can't tag them (well, ones that Jen doesn't know...) but that's me.

Out of sight

The last two weeks has been a bit of a blur. After that snow storm I made my venture over to the states. What should have taken me about two hours ended up taking me almost four. It took me two hours alone to cross the border! This is odd since I live about 25 minutes from I-75 with no line ups. Waiting on the bridge all that time was not fun. From there I went home and made my three batches of royal icing and one batch of colour flow icing for a class that ended up getting cancelled (fun) and then came this week.

This week I had to be in Toronto for three days which meant four days of travelling, three nights in two separate hotels and if you factor in two snow storms, a class I had to attend and a delayed train...it was not a fun week.

Although...it got me thinking...I was surrounded by some really annoying people. Several of them on the packed trains I had to endure...others just out and about. What made me wonder was...am I as annoying as they are? I haven't heard from a couple of my friends in the last few weeks...friends that I normally talk to regularly and suddenly I find, I haven't talked to them. Now really, I could just email them and say "hey what's up" but I'm all paranoid that maybe I've annoyed them. I'll continue to stew about this for a while.

The best part of my week though? The kids! I visited with my cousins yesterday and got to spend time with their little guy. He is hilarious. Funniest parts? How he growls back at you or when he climbed into and then out of a basket of toys (and got stuck in the process) in order to get a toy on the other side of the basket. Funny because he could have just crawled around the basket rather than go through it. And of course my youngest niece meeting me at the train station tonight and being so bored waiting there that she actually looked past me when I came up and hugged her. Oh, hi, I'm happy to see you....stranger!

Ugh

Ugh is the only word I can describe the weather as. This would be the third storm system this month to come rolling through the central Great Lakes region. The first two dumped a pile of snow (one dumping saw me driving up to London to see the family) and today's is a lovely icy rain dumping.

I had planned to trip on over to the Detroit area to hit Joanns and Michaels to pick up a few supplies for my cake class but will probably have to wait.

Lots of family here this weekend to remember my uncle's sister who passed away a few weeks ago. It was a bittersweet party last night out at her best friend's cottage as we all remembered, shared stories and enjoyed good food. It's been nice to spend time with my cousins and their families.

Probably going to spend my day crafting and working on a few projects. Tomorrow will be the day I go and get my supplies I need. Hopefully the roads will be cleared up by then.

Stolen from Mary

Not sure where this came from but hey, it's pretty fun!

1. If your doctor told you TODAY that you were pregnant, what would you say?
Say? Please call the pope, and get me some smelling salts.

2. When was the last time you flew in a plane? January 2 from Dallas/Fort Worth to Detroit

3. What did the last text message you sent say? Sent you a job

4. What features do you find most attractive in the opposite sex? Nice teeth, good laugh, great personality.

5. What is a goal you would like to accomplish in the near future? Pay off my last student loan.

6. Shoe size? 7 1/2

7. Been to Mexico? No

8. When is the last time you had a massage? Yesterday

9. What was the last TV show you watched? Good Morning America

10. What are your plans for the weekend? Just got back from 27 Dresses, sleeping in, playing with my craft crap and sleeping in.

11. If your significant other asked you to marry them TODAY what would you say? I'd say, nice to meet you significant other, you want to WHAT?

12. What is in the back seat of your car right now? A bag full of stuff I really should bring in.

13. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Starting my car so it could warm up and melt the three inches of snow off of it.

14. If you could marry any celebrity today who would it be? Dude, Gerard Butler, all the way.

15. Have you ever been to a strip club? Yes

16. What is the best ice cream flavor? Laura Secord Chocolate Chip or Baskin Robbins Gold Medal Ribbon

17. What is the last sporting event you watched? The Super Bowl

18. Ever go camping? Unfortunately

19. Last phone call? To GM Customer Service where they told me that they would not explore lease termination options right now because my car had been fixed even though it wasn't under warranty.

20. Are you allergic to anything? Yes, lots of stuff.

21. What is one thing you have learned about life recently? That sometimes good things DO happen to good people.

22. What do you do at work? Write "propdaganda" and design the odd logo.

23. What is your mom's name? Linda or Marg, depending on if you're the principal or a friend.

24. Ever cried for no reason? This isn't normal?

25. Can you do the Crank Dat dance? Not very well.

26. What is your favorite color to wear? Red

27. What is the longest plane ride you have ever been on? DFW to Detroit August 2006, oh wait, you meant figuratively....Amsterdam to Washington Dulles

28. What is the longest road trip you have ever taken? NYC to London, January 2004, don't ask.

29. What are your turn-offs? People who drive Hummers. In the city. Very slowly.

30. What was your last alcoholic beverage? Champagne, new year's eve.

31. What are you craving right now? Nothing, I just had a low fat sub and some light jello pudding with fat free cool whip.

Whoa

My favourite time of the year...sneak peek time...so far I have only seen a few things...of course the new Luxe stuff and the Maya Road stuff...but for sure, the one thing that caught my eye yesterday....from Fontwerks:


Counting down the days to the releases at next week's CHA...

Cheering up....a bit

This might make me feel better. A little.

Sigh...I still remember the days of buying Teen Beat and watching Much Music to see the boys from Beantown...

Stupid fine print

I'm kind of ticked today and it may make me think twice about shopping at Kohl's again. Back in November, during their big "After Thanksgiving Day" sale, I purchased a Kitchenaid mixer. Well, actually, I purchased two of them (well, actually, someone else actually got them for me, I just gave them the money)...but anyways...if you bought one, at $159.99 you received a rebate for $30. Or rather, the advertisement was $129.99 after $30 mail in rebate. No mention in the ad about one per household, one per customer, one per anyone. Not like I went in there and bought 50 of them...I just bought two.

So when you purchased said mixer, you received a rebate slip and on that slip it said "one per household". Which is ridiculous. Because what if I wanted one and I bought one as a gift? Why shouldn't I get a rebate? Why should it be limited to the number of people at one address? What if you had three bakers who lived in the same house and wanted to claim it? You bought the item, shouldn't you get the rebate?

To make a long story short, they denied my rebate. So I'm out $30. And now I'm just waiting on my aunt's rebates because she bought the digital picture frames that were on for $10 off by mail in rebate. She bought three or four of them as gifts. Which again, is legitimate, so why shouldn't she be able to do that?

My argument is this...if you want us to shop in your store, and you're going to advertise a price to get us to shop in your store, then you should honour that rebate, not put conditions on it as here. It's ridiculous. Otherwise I'm just going to go to another store and buy it there.

I'm still waiting on the response to my strongly worded email to them regarding this. I'm sure it's going to be one of those "rules are rules" kind of emails but it felt a little better to send it. I'm still pretty ticked.