Black Friday

Intrepid souls all over north America, and perhaps elsewhere too, are whipping out their credit cards and heading to the stores for Black Friday bargains.

Others, who prefer to do their shopping online, fire up their computers and prepare for a day of Internet surfing, looking for deals.

I won’t be doing either.

It started out so innocently. I had noticed a red swelling on my leg (where the leg meets the tummy) on Monday. I assumed it was some sort of an insect bite and that it would go away in due time.

This was not the case. If anything the swelling got bigger and became rather painful. So painful in fact that I had to cut my underwear as the elasticized material was too tight around the leg where the swelling was.

Yesterday, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer. Not only had the swelling grown from the size of a blueberry to a cherry, I couldn’t keep cutting my underwear.

The doctor diagnosed the red swelling as a boil, a giant boil. He suggested antibiotics or opening the boil to drain the blood and pus. He was going to give the affected area a local anesthetic, but he said and I quote “I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, it’s gonna hurt.”

He was right. When the needle entered the skin it was just a tiny pinprick, but as soon as he started injecting the freezing liquid it felt like the boil caught fire.

The surgery itself was painless, although more complicated than the doctor had anticipated. He had to cut three times. Eventually, he had to give up because he said he couldn’t cut any deeper because he might hit an artery. 

He said that by Sunday the boil should be better, if not I will have to take antibiotics (which I rather not). He advised me to apply warm compresses every two to three hours and stay off my feet.

“So no Black Friday shopping,” I asked him.

“Better not,” he said, “put up your feet and rest.”

This ruined my plans for early Christmas shopping. I was gonna go to the mall, and even though dealing with a crowd of shoppers would be hell, I was prepared to put up with it for the sake of finding some bargains.

If I couldn’t walk the stores, I figured I might as well join the Internet shoppers and go online. Not that that worked out well. Not only did I get for all selected items the message “May arrive after Christmas”, the shipping and handling charges were outrages.

I was about to give up when I found an email in my inbox that a particular website offered 75% off on over 10,000 items. I clicked to check it out, only to be disappointed again. 

Items that were $120 were now $115, items that $45 were now $43, items that were $14 were now $12. Where was the 75% off?

So I gave up and my Christmas shopping will have to wait until December. With any luck, the stores in the mall will have Christmas specials. And yes, dragging my purchases home won’t be easy, but it will be cheaper than the shipping charges.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Meet Kiki

Kiki

Easter has come and gone and with it a lot of bunnies are looking for a home.

It’s quite common for children to fall in love with these soft, adorable creatures and to beg their parents “Please can I have a bunny?”  When a couple of more ‘pleases’ follow the question, parents tend to give in, either to silence their child or because they fancy the pet too.

After a few days it’s a different story.  Providing food and water for bunny might be considered fun, but cleaning its cage is anything but.  Unlike cats and dogs, bunnies make a mess and to prevent the situation from getting out of hand, bunny’s living conditions need a lot of attention.

The result … kids are no longer interested in their cute pet and the parents get sick and tired of cleaning up after it.  Before long the parents decide that the bunny has to go. 

Where ones pet stores were crowded with bunnies, now animal shelters get flooded with them.

Fortunately, there are people who are willing to open up their heart and their home to these rejects.  Most of them have considered such adoption for some time, have researched a bunny’s requirements and know about the work involved.  When they feel they’re ready, they adopt from a shelter rather than buying at a pet store.

Kiki is one such a rejected bunny.  Wanted with Easter, no longer wanted a few days later.  Fortunately, we were at the right place at the right time and were able to rescue one little bunny from a life in a shelter or worse.

As Kiki grows up, I’ll keep you updated with stories and pictures.

 

  

The good, the bad and the OMG

In the world of literature, there are famous authors, published writers, self-published works and people who have completed a manuscript or want to write a story, but are too afraid to publish.

It’s hardly surprising.  Writers who tried to publish their work tell horror stories of contacting literary agent after literary agent, only to receive a polite letter of rejection.  One writers admitted that he received so many rejections, that he wallpapered his office with them.

Being an avid reader and book buyer, I have a favorite set of authors.  Whenever I go to the book store, I scan the shelves for their names first, looking if they’ve come out with something new.  I just know if I buy from them I’m guaranteed a good story.

For the longest time I believed this to be true, but now I’m not so sure anymore.

The latest novel of one of my favorite authors was a total let down.  The first chapter dragged on, I thought the story would improve but it didn’t, if anything it got worse.  The story was uninteresting, the characters unsympathetic and the setting as dull as dishwater.  I gave up at page 106.

How was it possible that this writer, whose previous book was an absolute masterpiece of imagination could produce something so bad?  

When I needed something else to read, and couldn’t find anything of my favorites, I took a chance on the debut novel of a new author.  Part of me was interested in the story (having read the synopsis) and another part wanted to find out what it was that had captured a literary agent’s attention to take a chance on the writer.  What made the story unique?

The story was unique alright, unique in crappiness.  With that book I only made it to page 27, before I tossed it aside thinking “How could this have found a publisher?”  Was this what agents were looking for?  Stories so over the top in their ridiculousness that they became laughable?

I wonder how many other people got fooled and bought the book?  I wonder how many will do the same as me and return the book to the store?

I really think there are a lot of self-published authors out there who deserve the attention of the respected publishing houses and I also think that a lot of mainstream authors need to rethink what they’re writing.

It’s not because they’re published by Orion that they’re good; it’s not because someone is self-published that they’re work is inferior.

If it sounds like a lawyer and acts like a lawyer ...

Parents often complain that their children watch too much TV.  They think this is a waste of time.  I beg to differ.  After learning of my experience of last Wednesday, parents might urge their kids to watch more TV.

I recently walked past a store displaying their spring collection.  I saw turquoise and a salmon colored tops on the mannequin and it was love at first sight.  They looked so fresh and cheerful.

I went inside, found my size and paid. 

A smart person would have tried the tops on, but there was no time for that.  My bowling league started in less than ten minutes and I didn’t have a minute to lose.

Back home I noticed that I should have tried the tops on.  Even though they fitted perfectly, they were so see through I couldn’t possibly wear them in public.  I had no option but to take them back.

When I tried to return the tops, I was in for a surprise … the store didn’t believe in giving me my money back, I could only get store credit.

I didn’t believe in store credit, I wanted to money back and I was going to get it if I had to move heaven and earth.

I asked to speak to the manager, who was just as uncooperative as the sales girl.

“Ma’am, it says so right here on the receipt,” the manager said.  “We do not accept returns.”

Of course, I hadn’t seen that.  I need glasses to see anything that’s printed and I didn’t have my glasses with me at the time.

I was not going to be defeated though.  Time to pull out the big guns.  Years of watching legal shows on TV had thought me that if one speaks with conviction, one is taken seriously.  So I gave it my best shot.

I reminded the store manager that the sales clerk had failed to draw my attention to the fact that items were non-refundable, only exchangeable.

“But it’s printed on the receipt,” the sales manager reminded me.

“But I’m half blind,” I said.  “I can’t see without my glasses.  I can see far, but nothing up close.  As such, this specification should have been verbally communicated to me.”

I went on rattling off a few paragraphs and sections of the law book.  You know … paragraph 28 section 21 states that in the event …” etc etc. 

I sounded like a lawyer, I acted like a lawyer and I did so with aplomb.

Whether the store manager saw my point or he wanted me to shut up I’ll never know, but I walked out of that store with a full refund. 

Who said TV isn’t educational?

$2,000 faucets

It started so innocently.  My son saw beautiful faucets in Home Depot that were on special … $59 down from $99.  Unable to resist a bargain he bought them and brought them home.  Little did he know those faucets were about to cost us close to $2,000.

The first problem arose when the new faucets didn’t fit the current vanity table in the bathroom.  Oh well, the table was old and in need of replacing, so why not go for a new cabinet?

Off we went to Canadian Tire to have a look around.  We saw reasonably priced vanity tables, complete with a sink, but … they were rather small and I didn’t particularly like the design.  

So, we went for a separate vanity table.

Of course, now that we had a new table, we really should go for a sink as well, so … off we went to look at sinks.

It didn’t stop with the sink of course, we also bought new lighting and a new mirror.

When the vanity table and the sink got installed in the bathroom yesterday, we hit a snag … the piping didn’t fit.  Since neither of us are qualified plumbers we had to rely on a professional.  $210 later, the pipes were connected.

Everything look great.  The new vanity table, the sink, the lights, the mirror … except, now that everything looked new and improved we really should finish the job and go for a new floor.

Off we went again to Canadian Tire to look at floors.  I liked simple, square white tiles, but could have those.  According to the sales person they were not suitable for a bathroom, because their shiny finish would make them slippery when wet.  To cut a long story short, we found a nice tile that wouldn't have us slipping and sliding all over the place.

Of course, now that we had chosen a floor tile, we needed cement and grout, a bucket to mix the cement in and tools to spread the cement, a tile cutter, spacers and a sponge.

Were we done?  Yes, we had everything.

At the checkout point something caught my eye … a washing machine.  It looked so cute and was so reasonably priced.  We needed it, it was a nice deal, so … what the heck, why not?

So, all in all … if Dieter hadn’t gone for the faucets, we wouldn’t have needed the new vanity table and sink.  If we hadn’t gone for the new table and sink, we wouldn’t have gone for lighting and a mirror.  Neither would we have needed a new floor.  If I hadn’t seen the floor, I wouldn’t have seen the washing machine.

$59 faucets that turned into $2,000 faucets … oh well, the bathroom needed renovating anyway.