Ever feel like this?

Walking into work one recent day I noticed a bunch of party balloons caught in a tree. It was the perfect metaphor for how I felt that particular week. Filled with optimism and hope, but unable to escape the clutching grasp of some of life’s little annoyances. The balloons are still there, deflated and sad-looking, but I think I have, for the most part, gotten free, at least for now.

Chalk People

Well, I have to admit even I am surprised at just how quickly I abandoned Project 366. It lasted maybe 5 days, if you count how many days I took photos that I didn’t upload. No, I swear, I don’t have commitment issues. (Well, maybe I do, but not that kind.)  I found it to be too much of a hassle to take the picture, connect the camera to my computer, dump the photos, identify the ones for the project, upload them to the blog, etc. Maybe I’ll try again when I am more technologically advanced so that the process becomes simpler.

At any rate, I did take pictures of one of “life’s little moments” this weekend. I don’t know what’s up with the winter weather this year (in other words, the lack of it) but I am definitely not complaining! On Sunday afternoon we were blessed with some gorgeous sunny weather. The girls and I abandoned indoor pursuits to enjoy several hours in the yard.

For some reason, one of the things we did was hair styling. Right there in the front yard, they sat me down on the damp grass and started giving me new hairstyles. So then I had the bright idea of braiding their hair together. It was a riot when they tried to get up and walk around the yard (very carefully!!).

But the most fun we had, at least before their grandmother arrived to play with them, was making chalk people. We used sidewalk chalk to outline each other’s shadows on the driveway.

Then we “dressed” the chalk people.

It was good, simple fun.

Score One for Us People Dumb Enough to Answer Our Phones

Last Sunday I received a call from a company asking whether I was receiving the magazines I had ordered. As I told the several people who called over the previous 3-5 months, I told this woman that I haven’t ordered any magazines, and whatever list I was on, please remove my name from it and do not call me again (I am on the Do Not Call list, by the way). This time she said something that prompted me to ask her the details of my so-called magazine order. She said it included a number of magazines, which she named (including some that I would never order due to lack of interest). According to her records, I had subscribed to all these magazines for the next 5 years, to the tune of about $70 a month! Then I knew it was not a mistake but a scam.

I will spare you the details of the unpleasant conversations I had with her, her “supervisor,” and his “bookkeeper.” When I hung up the phone (actually, I hung up on the bookkeeper, who got nasty when I wouldn’t answer his question about my monthly income), I called the Customer Help number for the only credit card I use. Would you believe that they were charging my credit card as I was yelling at them? I had the account frozen and was told to call back to dispute the charge when it had had time to process.

Then I Googled the phone number and the name of the company used during the phone call. The phone number is one used by a variety of scammers. There are plenty of complaints on public message boards about the company. I don’t want to name either here, but if you Google “800 magazine scam”  or check places like Scambook, 1800notes, etc., you will find them easily. You”ll probably also find my complaints.

What to do, what to do? They’d threatened to send me to Collections if I didn’t pay for these magazines. Well, this is what I did.

• I filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission / Do Not Call.
• I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
• I also filed a complaint with the Attorney General for the state that the phone representative said she’d mail me the information from.
• Then I went onto as many message boards as I could find and posted a narrative about what had happened to me.

Two or three days later, my mobile phone rang at work. The caller ID said the call was from “249.” I didn’t answer it because I was in a meeting. The caller left a message that she was with the marketing group mentioned by the “bookkeeper;” their office had received a complaint and she wanted to speak with me to resolve it. The quality of the voicemail was fine, but when she recited her number, it went silent for the space of two digits. So I was unable to call her back.

My suspicious mind of course thinks that they left that message so that they could respond to the complaint “Tried to contact complainant, but received no response.” Then they could simply request that the complaint be closed with no black mark on their name. So what did I do then?

• I filed a follow-up to my complaint with the Federal Trade Commission / Do Not Call.
• I filed a follow-up to my complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
• I also filed a follow-up to my complaint with the Attorney General for the state that the phone representative said she’d mail me the information from.

In each, I described the phone message and the fact that I could not call her back because the phone number given was incomplete. I also posted updates to all the boards on which I’d posted my original complaint.

Then I called my credit card company. Guess what? The charge from 16 January had been deleted.

So, for those of you who happen to stumble across this post perhaps because you’ve Googled terms like “magazine scam unauthorized charge false order unethical sales practice jerkfaces who interrupt my dinner to accuse me of buying shit I didn’t buy”…

Make some noise. File some complaints. Make them specific. Follow up.

And good luck.

Updated to add a summary of resources:

For those of you asking “What To Do” about these calls and fraudulent charges or claims of orders you didn’t make -

File a complaint with the FTC and/or Do Not Call. Maybe you’ve done this before. Do it again.
http://www.ftc.gov
http://www.donotcall.gov

File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. It’s sometimes helpful if you know where they’re calling you from in this case. (As it turns out, my complaint with the BBB definitely provoked a response from the offending company. So if I ever have to do this again, I’ll start with the BBB.)
http://www.bbb.org

If you know which state they’re calling you from, file a complaint with that state’s Attorney General.
http://www.naag.org/current-attorneys-general.php

Also check out the FBI’s page on frauds and scams. File a complaint there, if appropriate.
http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud

Submitting complaints to all these places might take 30-60 minutes (total, not apiece). Some of the websites are easier to use than others.

Be sure to note your case number for each complaint so you can follow it up if you need to.

 

Next time they call, consider these tips (I know I will!):

• http://www.wikihow.com/Spot-the-Magazine-Subscription-Telemarketing-Scam
• http://www.cleveland.com/consumeraffairs/index.ssf/2009/09/_the_question_ive_received.html
• http://www.ehow.com/how_2316431_spot-magazine-subscription-telemarketing-scam.html
• http://www.ehow.com/how_8385779_stop-magazine-subscription-didnt-order.html

Project 366: 11 January 2012

There was quite a thick fog this morning. As I was driving east at about 7:40ish, the rising sun turned the fog the oddest shade of pinky-orangey-grey. Very pretty. 

Project 366: 12 January 2012

M’s friend who moved away last summer wrote about M in a school assignment. The assignment was about someone who is important to you. M’s friend wrote that M was her “best friend” and was “always there when I needed her.” It was very touching, and although appreciated, surprising since they haven’t spoken in months. Anyway, the friend’s mom had scanned and emailed me the assignment, which I showed to M.

M read it and had a funny smile on her face. I asked her how it made her feel. She said, “I didn’t know she cared that much about me.”

Why did that make me want to cry?

From another angle, it made me resolve that my friends and family should know how I feel about them. You know who you are. I love you guys and wouldn’t want to be on this earth without you.

Anyway, M immediately sat down and wrote her friend a letter. She made me promise not to read it before I mailed it today (needed to get the address from my work computer) but I did see the last line. “Remember I’ll always be your BFFL [best friend for life].”

Project 366: 07 January 2012

Today A’s Daisy troop had a Stranger Danger workshop at a local dojo. Older sisters who were also Girl Scouts got to participate, too. It was extremely well done and I was so glad both of my girls got to participate. Lots of emphasis on using distance and voice, which I think is more realistic for most 5-year-olds than thinking they could Chuck Norris their way out of trouble.

I was Snack Mom for this meeting and I was pleased that the only thing I actually had to do was slice the apples. M & A packed up the snack bags and handed them out after the workshop. I love it when they’re helpful. Girl Scouts – such a good influence.

Later in the day we took the Christmas Tree to Home Depot for the “Bring One for the Chipper!” tree recycling program. Afterward we used one of our coupons for Autobell (sold last year at school as a PTA fundraiser) to get the Mommyvan cleaned, inside and out. This is always a thrill.

Project 366: 06 January 2012

It’s Girl Scout Cookie time!!

We went up and down a few streets in our neighborhood tonight to ring doorbells and take cookie orders. The girls were very eager to pound the pavement, and it was only cool, not cold, so actually pleasant to be out.

 

Afterward A was pretty wiped out.

Extraordinary Equines

On the last afternoon of 2011, my parents and I took the girls to see Cavalia Odysseo in Atlanta.  Santa sprang for the Horse Lover level tickets, which included a visit to the stables after the show.  M and A are getting into the horse-crazy phase, and I anticipated this would be a special treat for celebrating New Year’s Eve.

The event was held in an enormous tent. I read in their program that Cavalia designed this tent so that the support structures did not have to be placed anywhere in the performance arena, nor in the audience. As a result there were no columns to obstruct choreography or view.  Our tickets had us on the third row, but it didn’t look like there were any bad seats in the stands; in fact, being higher up probably provided a completely different but equally wonderful perspective.

The show included different segments with horses, acrobats, aerialists, and musicians. All of the music was performed live so that the score could accommodate the equines’ pace. We could see the musicians in special raised rooms to either side of the arena.

The stunts performed on horseback were impressive. You really got a sense for the horses’ speed being right next to the ring. The performers’ actions were quick and sure as they leapt onto and off of their horses, stood, posed or balanced atop their horses, or hung off in various positions. One man even crawled under his horse’s belly, hanging from the saddle underneath it as it galloped around the ring – that caused quite a few gasps from the stands.

The acrobats were incredible and actively engaged the audience. It was amazing to see what they had trained their bodies to do – including multiple no-hands backflips (there’s probably a technical term for that but I don’t know it!) in a row, side flips (not cartwheels), standing on their heads (no support from their hands), inverted pyramids, and all sorts of other things. One of them amazed us by doing a backflip but stopping himself three quarters of the way through it so that he was standing on his hands but his body was parallel to the floor (he was facing up to the roof of the tent). What control and strength!

The aerialists were amazing, suspending from hoops, scarves, and a carousel structure. Their bodies must be so incredibly strong. Their routines were daring and beautiful.

As for the horses – there was quite a lot of choreography with the performers on horseback. Many formations, synchronizations, and things that I’m sure don’t come naturally to horses. But my favorite parts were when the horses performed riderless, without being guided by reins, knees, etc. The relationship between these horses and their human co-performers seemed most evident in these segments, and it was beautiful.

According to the performer who spoke to us afterward, there are 71 horses on tour with them, and 65 were in the show. He was asked if they ever do the same show twice – he laughed and said, “Never.”  Working with so many horses, as I suppose with most animal performers, there is always something unexpected that happens. He spoke a lot about how the performers are chosen in large part for their love for horses, and the different personalities and moods that the horses have. We could tell that the horses are loved, respected, and cared for.

The visit to the stables was quite interesting. Some of the horses were standing with their backs to the stall doors and their faces out of our sight, which reminded me of how I feel  after a day at work… “I would like some time alone now, please.”  Others were resting, or eating, or just chilling out. All them were beautiful and of many various breeds. Two of our favorites were an American Paint named Tonnerre and an Appaloosa named Chocolat Chips. He was white with brown spots so we thought the name was perfect.

The girls napped on the way home so they could stay up ‘til midnight (M made it; A fell asleep at 11:45 and I could not wake her). But we have talked about it many times since and I feel that this will be a special memory for them, for me, and for my parents.

So, if Cavalia comes to your town, I definitely recommend going to see it. And take your kids.

Here are some photos from after the show. No flash photography was allowed; sorry I don’t have many better ones to share but I’m glad the horses weren’t subjected to that after working so hard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project 366: 05 January 2012

This was a rough day.

For me, it started with some drama at work and ended with some drama with some home repairs that were supposed to go smoothly but haven’t. For the kids, it was the first day back after the holiday break and they were wiped out. M was disheartened because she faces a whole month of school without her BFF while BFF’s family is visiting relatives abroad. Although A declared it the “best day ever” because she got to be a Teacher’s Helper (door-holder), the situation degraded rapidly. It seems that they can be absolutely “effervescent” and “a joy” at school and aftercare, but then as soon as I get them in the car their defenses go down and they let it all out. Does that happen to other kids/parents? To top it off, the dinner I cooked was actually pretty good but, since it wasn’t pizza or chicken fingers, was a disappointment to the younger crowd.

So there were quite a few tears, angry words, and general feelings of discouragement throughout dinner, packing snacks for tomorrow, and bedtime preparations. Then the girls asked me if I could give them braided hairstyles.  I said yes; I like to do this and besides head lice are running rampant through their school and if hair is pulled back and braided, the kids are less likely to get the little varmints. In the process of brushing and braiding, each of us seemed to be able to take it down a notch, relax, and talk a bit about the things troubling our minds and hearts. By the time they got in bed, we had two braided hairstyles and a much calmer Mommy-daughters trio.

It made me think about how the opportunities to talk are not always the ones you plan for or instigate… how sometimes it’s the simplest moments that mean the most… how satisfying it is to do something like this that is so easy but brings them so much pleasure…  and the hope that as they get older and want to cuddle with Mommy less, we can still connect through things like this.

These are not the best I’ve ever done, but I’m posting them for the reminder of what they did for us this night.

A wanted two side braids into a pony with a single skinny braid.

M wanted a side braid into a simple pony.

Project 366: 04 January 2012

Did you know you could buy a leather recliner at the grocery store? I didn’t.

Took this picture with my cellphone, to the apparent amusement of the guy shopping the frozen foods.