FeeFiFoto Blog

Rules To Remember For Shopping Online

Still on vacation. This one came after the Christmas season, but it's relevant any time of year.

Ways to make online shopping less stressful

In case you've blocked it from your memory, we just emerged from a heavy shopping season (Christmas, remember?) and as a relatively new retailer I noticed patterns in some of the ways customers get themselves into trouble.  Here is a list of things to remember to make your online shopping experience more satisfying.

1.    Consider shipping parameters.  This is a big one, especially when you get close to your deadline.  If you absolutely positively must have it before Christmas, or Valentine's Day, or Mother's Day, or a birthday, don't put blind faith in any LMNOP shipper because even though they won't admit it, they're all at the mercy of weather, traffic and any number of other possible interferences.  If there's any question in your mind about whether your package will show up on time, opt for expedited shipping.

2.    Check rules for returns.  Internet shopping is incredibly convenient, but there's not always as much leeway as you might think.  If you're buying from a small seller or on eBay, chances are your ability to return your purchase will be limited.  If you're buying something pseudo-perishable like electronics or seasonal items, you may be subject to restocking fees or strict time limitations.  I bought my brother-in-law a camera from 42nd Street Photo, a huge company, and ended up unable to exchange it because their time limit had passed by the time I'd given it to him.

Thursday Thirteen: Surprises From Our Recent Trip

1.  The boys got along better than best friends for most of our trip.  They cooperated, split responsibilities, and took care of me and each other.  Neither threw the other from the train.

2.  Food in Flagstaff is expensive.  The city is quaint and unassuming, as are the restaurants, until it comes to the bill.

3.  You can play Monopoly in the car if you're very careful.

4.  Staying up late to visit an observatory after dark is so totally worth it when you can look through a hundred-year-old telescope and see Saturn and its rings.

5.  The Truman Library is worth the detour on the way to Kansas City.  After having seen the Truman and Lincoln libraries I'm beginning to consider making pilgrimages to all the other presidential libraries.

Thursday Thirteen: In Honor Of Friday The 13th

What are you afraid of?

1. Number 13- Triskadekaphobia. Wouldn't this be fear of Triscuits?
2. Asymmetrical things- Asymmetriphobia.
3. Puppets- Pupaphobia.  Sounds like fear of puppies.
4. Church- Ecclesiophobia.
5. Dining or dinner conversations- Deipnophobia.
6. Teenagers- Ephebiphobia.  I think I have this.
7. Color purple- Porphyrophobia.
8. Phobias- Phobophobia.  Duh.
9. Friday the 13th- Paraskavedekatriaphobia.
10. Tickled by feathers or feathers- Pteronophobia.
11. Infinity- Apeirophobia.
12. Long words- Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia or Sesquipedalophobia.  The fear that dare not speak its name.
13. Mother-in-law- Pentheraphobia.

Thursday Thirteen: Things I Got From My Grandmothers

• Darning egg.  Show a darning egg to almost anyone younger than 40 and not only will they be unable to identify it, but when you explain its use they won't believe you.

• Farberware soup pot.  I already had a few of these but this one is just the right size for making a lot of soup without having it turn into a vat; it's technically referred to as the "Not Vat" size.

• Washboard (but not washboard abs, sadly).  Honestly, I don't know what my grandmother was doing with a washboard because I thought those went out of use after the pioneer migration through the Oregon Trail, but Grandma did live through the Great Depression, so I guess she must not have had an electric washer.

Thursday Thirteen: Things I'd Rather Make From Scratch Than Buy

1. Soup -- chicken, beef barley, butternut squash, roasted turkey.
2. Pancakes.  Actually, I'd rather my mother make them, because hers are sooo good.
3. Waffles -- Okay, I use a mix, but it's whole wheat with only flour, corn meal and leavening.  I do the rest.
4. Popcorn for movies.
5. Corn bread.
6. Pizza.  Not that my kids will eat it; they want Domino's.
7. Chocolate pudding.  I don't actually do this, except for the chocolate meringue pie filling.
8. Bread crumbs.  I know I'm treading on thin ice here, nerdly-wise, but hear me out: once in a while I harvest the last bits of crackers, cereal and pretzels and throw them in the food processor with some spices.  It takes five minutes and uses up leftovers.
9. French toast, made with leftover challah.  Yum!
10. Hot chocolate.  My kids are really good at this; they add vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe a little mint.  I throw a dash of instant coffee in mine.
11. Cookies.  Okay, I'm making that one up.  I'd buy Oreos any day.
12. Valentines.
13. Pottery.

Don't forget to enter the Fame giveaway.  The winner gets fame and a $10 gift certificate.

Thursday Thirteen: Always

1.    I always bring popcorn and drinks when I take Robey and Cleo to the movies.  I carry it in a large black tote bag.  We've only been caught once, when an actual grownup was taking tickets.  He made us leave our stash in the car.

2.    I always remember the anniversary of Paul Revere's ride.

3.    I always used to go shopping on Black Friday, back when I had time, energy and ambition but not much sense.

4.    I always kiss my kids good night before I go to bed and tuck the blankets around them.  It's the perfect time to steal kisses without being yelled at.

5.    I always forget people's names.  I wish everyone had a Times Square-style zipper running across their forehead that would spell out : "Here's who I am and here's how you know me..."

Meme Update

The Misanthrope is first out of the gate with a modified response: 13 random facts, no nominations, and a bone fide first name: The.  Thanks, The.

Tired Mama is next with 10 random facts, including the fact that she doesn't often get to sleep until she wakes up on her own, which probably explains why she's tired.  Thanks Mama.

Lynn, who has a vivid Imagination, is third, claiming she attended boarding school in Texas, to which I respond: "Texas?  They have boarding schools in Texas?"  Thanks Lynn.

Next we hear from Hannah Fanna, aka Cleopatra-Queen-of-the-Nile, who claims to be the favorite grandchild in the family but I'm not taking sides.

Next out of the gate is Monica at The Peapod Squad, who claims she and her husband appear on numerous New York Philharmonic recordings, to which I say: "Wow!" as I wonder what she plays and hope hope HOPE the answer is cowbell.

Thursday Thirteen: Eight Things About Myself Plus Five

Lydia at On The Verge tagged me for a meme.  If you haven't been over to her blog go over and take a look at it.  The idea is to provide 8 random facts about yourself but since it's Thursday I'm throwing in a few extras to make it a Thursday Thirteen.

1. I am a semi professional potter:

but evidently my skills as a photographer are lacking.

2. I've never been at all interested in the Kennedys but I had a major crush on Princess Diana.  I bought and saved every book and magazine, memorized every dress and hat she ever wore.  I even dressed up as her once for a Halloween party, complete with a tiara and a replica of her engagement ring.

Thursday Thirteen: Things I Look Forward To Every Week, Month or Year

1. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.  The owners and handlers may be divas but the participants are so joyful, how could you not clear a space in your calendar for two nights every February and bask in their glow?
2. New Yorker Magazine.  I love a magazine that devotes pages to a description of how live lobsters are shipped through the UPS hub in Kentucky, while working in an explanation of the manufacturing and shipping of Louisville Slugger bats to professional baseball players.
3. Maureen Dowd.
4. Metropolitan Diary, because of stories like this one:
   

   "Dear Diary:

   Arriving at work in Midtown a few months ago just before 9 a.m., I glimpsed a man walking uptown on Fifth Avenue. He was neatly dressed in a business suit, walking briskly, carrying a large cup from Starbucks in his left hand. Nothing special about this.

   But under his right arm? A huge live, clucking rooster. No one gave him a second look. Only in New York. (Perhaps that was the breakfast special of the day?) Beth G. Kneller"

5. Going to sleep at night.
6. Bossy -- keeping it real.  Real silly. 
7. Posts by Daisy the Curly Cat, Cleopatra's (and my) faithful blog correspondent.
8. The beginning of vacation.
9. The beginning of school.
10. Massages.
11. Cranberries.  It's not that I'm that devoted to eating them; I just like what they represent.
12. Package deliveries, except for prescription renewals because zzzzzzzz.
13. The Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle, because it's the hardest.

Thursday Thirteen: Don't Do Any Of These Things

• Flush "flushable" wipes.  Yeah -- they say they are, but they're not, not really.  They don't decompose and they clog up the pipes and then the plumber has to come out and snake out the pipes and it's costly and ugly, and just don't.

• Throw chunks of meat down the garbage disposal.  Remember not throwing in celery because the strings will tangle the disposer?  Meat works the same way, and this type of clog always seems to happen at 10:30 pm when you're just about ready to go to bed but you decide to finish up the last of those dishes so you can wake up in the morning to a tidy kitchen so you throw the last questionable leftover food down the sink and run the disposer and then spend the next two hours cranking that little unclogging thing under the machine and sticking your hand down the sink hoping the disposal doesn't spontaneously turn itself on and induct you into the "Sound of One Hand Clapping Society", and then bailing out as much water as you can get and squishing it into a bucket and finally going to bed and lying awake for another hour seething with the frustration of having tried something you knew had no possibility of turning out well, so just don't.

Thursday Thirteen: Thirteen Things I Like (In Theory) About The Holiday Season

• On Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, you can imagine that the few people on the road are on their way to spend the day with someone they love, even though some are running to 7-11, while others are spending half the holiday with this side of the family and the other half with that side, because both sides hate each other.

• Remembering when we used to spend Christmas out of town and, even though we're Jewish, my mother would make sure each of us had a small gift to open.  We'd go to brunch in the morning and spend the rest of the day snacking, reading, playing board games and sniffling at holiday movies.

• Finding perfect gifts, a task I take very seriously.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas.  It's A Wonderful Life.  Miracle On 34th Street.

Thursday Thirteen: Things That Are Hard

1. It's hard to hit a moving target (dirty, fleeing dog) with unstable ammunition (bucket of water) while you are insufficiently armed (not wearing glasses) in a hostile environment (shower).
2. It's hard to get out of bed in the morning when it's still dark outside.
3. It's hard to figure out why my Technorati rating has plummeted lately.  Somebody, please link to me!  Darn Technorati.
4. It's hard to throw away photographs, even of people you don't remember any more.
5. It's hard to believe Christmas is only a month away.
6. It's hard to force myself to eat chocolate.  No it's not.
7. Diamonds are hard.
8. It's hard to choose my favorite give a darn about remember which Jonas Brother is which.
9. It's hard to watch your kids struggle with social politics.
10. It's hard to get all those seeds out of a pomegranate, but so worth it.
11. It's hard to load the dishwasher with a dog standing on the open door.
12. It's hard to hear people singing "Happy Birthday" out of tune and not run screaming from the room.
13. It's hard to resist a kid who sends you the following text message: "Xoxoxoxoxoxo".

Thursday Thirteen: Thirteen Things I Thought I'd Never Do

• I thought I'd never allow any child of mine to wander the house dressed only in a diaper but Robey's chubby legs were so darn cute I wanted to gobble him up all the time.

• I thought I'd never spend so much time in the car but, I swear, the moment Robey gets his driver's license, mine is going in the shredder.

• I thought I'd never weigh more than 100 pounds but I do now.  My kids owe me a tummy tuck.

• I thought I'd never understand HTML but I still don't.

Thursday Thirteen: Thirteen Harmless (I Hope) Quirks

• When I unload the dishwasher I like to leave all the drawers and cabinet doors open once I've put something in them.  When I've finished putting away all the dishes I like to work my way around the kitchen, slamming doors and drawers.

• I let the garbage disposal fill up until the sink won't drain any more; then I run the disposer and watch the water bubble up from the sink.

• I always start brushing my lower left molars first.  This started when I was a kid and the dentist warned me I was working on a cavity there.  I eventually got the cavity but I still start my brushing there anyway.  If I start anywhere else I lose track of where I've been.

Thursday Thirteen: Am I The Only One?

1. Am I the only one who finds closeup photos of food kind of disgusting?
2. Am I the only one who wonders why it's necessary to use politically correct language when referring to "disabled" cars?
3. Am I the only on who didn't like "E.T."?
4. Am I the only one who thinks that when the temperature falls below 45, teenagers should stop wearing shorts and flip flops?
5. Am I the only one who thinks Madonna's overrated?
6. Am I the only one who thinks it makes a lot more sense to take your kids to the mall, buy them lunch and a box of Legos, and let them run around the indoor playground for an hour, than to spend $45 a person for admission to Legoland?
7. Am I the only one who wonders why women's dresses and gowns never seem to have sleeves any more?
8. Am I the only one who thinks cilantro should be outlawed?
9. Am I the only one who didn't care for The Kite Runner?
10. Am I the only one who's never seen one episode of American Idol, Project Runway, Survivor or Big Brother?
11. Am I the only one who isn't bothered by bagpipe music?
12. Am I the only one who doesn't understand the point to mountain climbing?
13. Am I the only one who wonders why the characters in the Harry Potter books, most of whom can produce powerful magic, still use fire for cooking and lighting?

Thursday Thirteen: Ways To Show Your Kids You Love Them

1. Don't allow them to be rude or inconsiderate. 
2. Don't put their beds against cold exterior walls.
3. Don't allow them to get away with breaking rules.
   
4. Don't cut off their hair in the middle of the night, no matter how shaggy it's become.
5. Don't carry a coffee mug decorated with a photo of that first diaper change.
6. Don't move while they're away at camp and leave no forwarding address.
7. Don't squawk if they want to eat pizza or vegetable soup for breakfast.
8. Don't let them get away with dishonesty.
9. Don't make them take accordion lessons.  Ukulele might be okay.
10. Don't let them wear black socks with white sneakers.
11. Don't let them get out of the car until it's stopped moving.
12. Don't let them eat all that Halloween candy at once; how else will you be able to go through it after they're asleep?
13. Don't be stingy with hugs and kisses.

Thursday Thirteen: Oh, The Places You'll Study!

Scroll down for 13 quotes from the second book in my giveaway trio, How To Get A's In College.

Remember Artypants, my college freshniece?  She's getting moving to New York at the end of the summer to attend the Pratt Art Institute in Brooklyn (school motto: "If You Squint You Might Think It's New York").  Well, this book she doesn't need, since she's brilliant and has study habits way superior to anything I ever had.  I didn't develop any kind of study habits until I went to law school and that was only because I was scared into hoping that if I continually forcefed the information my brain would eventually become the law student version of pate de fois gras.  Did it work?  Meh.

Thursday Thirteen: Oh, The Places You'll Do Laundry!

Scroll down to find rules on my latest giveaway.  Remember, to enter this contest you must leave me a comment with your best piece of advice for a college freshman.

Remember Artypants, my favorite soon-to-be-college-freshman niece?  She's preparing to attend the Pratt Art Institute in Brooklyn (school motto: "Isn't It Enough That We're In New York STATE?") and she will definitely need a copy of the book I recently received from the wonderful people at Hundreds of Heads publishing: How To Survive Your Freshman Year, By Hundreds Of College Students Who Did.  It's packed with advice from students across the educational and socioeconomic spectrum: kids attending all sorts of colleges and universities, male and female students from a variety of nationalities and lifestyles.  I'll buy Artypants a copy because I'm giving away mine to one of my readers.

Thursday Thirteen: Thirteen Years Worth Of Varmint Visitors

In the thirteen years we've owned our house I've kept a running list of the many critters that have come to visit, gnaw on the the siding, dig under the foundation and sometimes scare the living daylights out of me.

When I bought a house surrounded by trees I guess I expected the occasional visitor from nature, but the extensiveness and variety of the list has left me scratching my head.  We've seen squirrels (for two years we had an albino), mice, moles, voles, rabbits, chipmunks, opossums, woodpeckers, hawks, coyotes (please help yourselves to some of the squirrels, guys) and crows.

An owl perches on the eaves occasionally and gazes at us sleepily. The first time we saw him he waited solemnly while the kids and I scrambled for some nature books in an attempt to identify him (a barn owl, we think).

Thursday Thirteen Plus One Of Those Memes

Lisa, at New York Chica, has tagged me for a meme I did a few weeks ago, but considering that I'm fairly new at the meming game I think I can come up with a few more facts that won't put my readers to sleep or or cause them to run screaming from the room.

In fact, since it's Thirteen Thursday, I'm going to try to come up with thirteen things about myself.  Wow!  Can you hardly stand it?

• I was born on November 1, so even though I'm Jewish I know all about All Saints Day.