Enough about the comforter eBay scandal. Nooskers is tired of hearing about it, dangit.

Let’s talk about something that makes Nooskers happy. Like his mural! It’s 9/10 done. Jeremy is painting the babies and me inside the rocketship. The space guy (who is supposed to be Jeremy) is still getting some final touches. The planets will get some more craters and such. Now I can’t take credit for this because this is ALL Jeremy. I just did the funky alien and saucer and I was the “prep painter”. My Man is the awesomest, most creative, and sweet Daddy E-V-E-R.

Noah is one happy dude, let me tell ya.

You probably remember me telling you about the eBay comforter I bought in mid December from NameBrands4Home (aka- Name Brands for your Home)? Remember how I was getting ripped off and had to make a PayPal claim?

Well the case was closed because she made a partial payment! She claims she doesn’t have to make a full payment, only what DHL reimburses her when she files her insurance claim, all because I didn’t buy the shipping insurance. I didn’t buy the shipping insurance because I was purchasing through PayPal and thought PayPal had some kind of “buyer’s protection” “up to $1,000″ or some shit. But the fact of the matter is: I paid her $155 and she should either give me the money back in full of give the comforter. Period. She made the mistake of sending my comforter to another buyer in a completely different part of the US and not to my confirmed mailing address. Seems for this reason alone, nevermind integrity and honesty, she should freakin’ give me my money back! THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SHIPPING INSURANCE, this has to do with the incompetency of a business. The comforter would have made it here fine without shipping insurance if she would have mailed it to the correct location. Now I know people make mistakes, I’m the Queen of absentmindedness. But when you make a mistake at someone else’s expense, you should have the integrity not to RIP THEM OFF on top of it! Does no one give a fart about customer service anymore?

Long story short… The blanket was $120 and the shipping $35 for a total of $155. Guess how much she gave me back after this NIGHTMARE of an experience?

$112!!!

$112!!!

$112!!?

WTF?

I lost $43. I don’t even have enough to buy the comforter set from someone else now.

Yeah, I suppose not everyone has a bad experience, but mine was HORRIBLE. That 1 in 100 chance of getting ripped off happened to me, and it could happen to anyone else out there looking for a comforter set too. All I can say is that if you are looking for comforters, shop with one of the hundreds of other sellers on eBay that will give you a good deal AND have integrity and honesty as a bonus.

With that said, I am appealing the decision through PayPal. What’sherface wrote me an e-mail right before I made the PayPal dispute where she admitted to it being her mistake and promising that she would give a FULL REFUND. Seems my making a dispute changed her tune. Here’s the e-mail:

“Dear Stepherz,I have done everything in my power to fix this problem. I have spent several frustrating HOURS on the phone with DHL over the holidays. If you think something is “fishy”, then I will give you all the facts…the other set purchased was item number _______ on Dec. 16th. Yours, hers, and several others went out on the same day. I did not personally mix up the labels, they were done by an employee. The tracking number for your package (which ended up being wrong) was ________. The tracking number of the package that was holding your set was ________ and if you were to call DHL, they would tell you that on that number it is noted to redirect the package to your address. That is why I am able to file a loss claim because they delivered it to the first address when indeed it should have been sent to you. Now, what happened with the package is a mystery to me because the woman claims it was never delivered to her. DHL did go back and try to retrieve it…pick up confirmation (____)tracking number (________), but she says she does not have it. Your package is LOST which means I have to wait for a loss claim. You may still get it seeing as how no one knows where it is. You did not purchase insurance on the item, and if you read my auction, it states that I am not responsible for uninsured items. However, due to the fact that there was a mistake made possibly resulting in the loss, I am going to reimburse you the whole amount although I will only get $100 from the claim. I also paid for DHL to go attempt to pick up the package with knowledge that it probably wouldn’t be there. I had to pay DHL $10 for each day they attempted pick-up at your house (3 days) plus the additional shipping to get that other package to it’s owner. Does that sound like someone who doesn’t care? I apologize that a mistake was made, but I have done everything I can possibly do. This all should have been fairly simple, and would have been if DHL could follow directions.

Namebrands4Home” (aka– Name Brands for Home)

It’s disappointing because I expect that everyone is “of their word”. If you can’t trust what a person says, what can you trust about them? Especially when their actions contradict what they say. She seemed like a nice person until I started getting antsy and expressed my discontent. But wasn’t my discontent justified when I spent $150 on an item and still hadn’t received it weeks later? I mean, I’m not a rich woman and this was a real treat for me. Mothers don’t get to buy themselves nice things when there are school supplies, diapers, food, and clothes for children to buy. It’s disappointing because I expect that everyone is “of their word”. If you can’t trust what a person says, what can you trust about them? Especially when their actions contradict what they say. She seemed like a nice person until I started getting antsy and expressed my discontent. But wasn’t my discontent justified when I spent $150 on an item and still hadn’t received it weeks later? I mean, I’m not a rich woman and this was a real treat for me. Mothers don’t get to buy themselves nice things when there are school supplies, diapers, food, and clothes for children to buy.

I’ll let you know what comes of this…

I miss my family. Actually I think it not only makes me a teensy bit sad that I can’t be near them and want to be, but also that they don’t know me now. And I don’t know them really. Don’t we change so much in 12+ years? I know I have. I’ve grown in depth, heart, and soul. I’m sure that they too have changed and grown. I think it’s unfortunate that we don’t know eachother a bit better.

I reckon I wish that my dad knew my children. I wish they could draw him pictures and write “To Grandpa” on it. I think sometimes that nothing would make me happier than for my kids to know where I came from. To know the people I loved for a lifetime. And to grow up in the same area and around the same people that put such a lasting ingredient in the recipe that made me me.

I can tell them how wonderful honeysuckle smells and how fun it is to suck the nectar out like a butterfly. I can try to paint a picture for them that will allow them to know the magic of lightning bugs, weeping willows, and hot March afternoons. Or how wonderful keylime pie is. Or how much fun it is to pick your own pecans and put them into some delicious goppy snacky food. I will try to explain how amazing Fall leaves look there. How the trees looks like they are on fire with red, yellow and orange all at the same time.

I can tell them how Meme used to take me to feed the ducks. She always had Booberry cereal in her cubbards (ohhh, I loved that!). She had her freezer full of pudding pops and after she’d give us one, we’d sneak back in and eat 5 or 6 more. Her pekingese scared me– maybe it was the snarling teeth or the constant attempt to hump my leg. Maybe I’ll leave off the leg humping part when I tell them stories…

I loved my Grandaddy somethin’ fierce. He gave me my first job when I was 14 in his plumbing shop. I earned $3 an hour pretty much doing nothing. I would walk by his office over and over hoping he’d notice me and invite me in to talk with him for a spell. I saved my money that summer to buy a cockatiel, a cage, and colorful sparkling pretties to hang in it.

They came to all of my pageants in high school and cheered me on. And then I was chasing boys and driving my sports car and I pretty much kept driving for years and years. I wasn’t running from my family, but I wasn’t running to them either. Then life slowed down and I found myself 10+ years older and 2000 miles away from all of those people/places/memories. I live a beautiful, blessed life. But I often wish it weren’t too far away. If I could jump in my car and visit with Meme, Grandaddy, Dad, Nana, Candace, Chanda, the honeysuckle, the magnolia trees, lightning bugs, hot March afternoons…

To help me along with the homesickness and that yucky feeling I sometimes get where I feel like I’m missing out on something back there (and I AM), I decided to use quilting for therapy. I’m going to make a few quilts for people I love back home so that I feel a part of that again. “Wrap ‘em in love” sounds corny. But I’m a corny kind of gal. So there.

This one is going to be for my MeMe. It’s been a real stinker, so I hope she knows I love her. I have the sores on my fingers to show for it! Those rotary cutters, hot irons, and sewing needles are dangerous! And I almost decided to just hang myself with the 200 feet of binding because ugghh…. I. Hate. Binding.

Isn’t it purty? You better say yes–Don’t make me poke you with a sewing needle.

Here’s the latest picture of Noah’s mural. We still have quite a bit to do. Jeremy is going to paint the kids in the window of the rocketship, we have some planets and moons to hang, and some craters to paint on the big planet. It looks so good so far I thought I’d show how it’s coming together.

Right corner:

Left corner:

I picked these syrofoam thingies from WalMart. They are used for flower arangements I think. We burned and poked holes in them to make them cratery (a new word).

The pink planet is going to have syrofoam rings around it when all is said.

This whole project cost us about $75 in materials and will take us about 7 days (just working for a few hours at night). Isn’t that awesome! We’re WAYYYY cooler and more creative than Martha Stewart.