Rants of the Month

Okay, two things have been bothering me lately.

First- "pleaded" is NOT A WORD. I hear it constantly (I watch a lot of true crime tv) and even saw it in the local paper this week. I was so crabby I had to throw the paper down and quit reading it.

"How did you plead?" "Oh, I pled innocent of course."

That is the word. Stop saying freaking "pleaded".

It pry is in the dictionary by now, so many people use it, but it is not proper American. Next thing you know we will be saying "Oh, I runned five miles yesterday."

To the crime reporters: Learn to speak properly. You sound like a two year old.

*****

Second- You may have seen the tv commercial about a certain credit card that has "the best" fraud protection. It runs about every twelve seconds. Well, I have that card. And I recently learned about that fraud protection.

Last Sunday I got a call at about 9am from a puter claiming to be my credit card company. They said I had a fraud alert. Since I hate computer calls, and didn't really know it was them calling, I hung up and went down to my own computer and tried to login to my account. It came up as a blank page. I tried again. Blank. Slightly freaked that someone "runned" (ha!) my card up to the limit, I trudged back up to my room, grabbed my money recording book, and called the number on the back of my credit card. The computer voice said my account was blocked because of suspected fraud. I had to enter the number. I had to enter my social. The puter voice was very serious. It said it was going to list the transactions since my last bill (Luckily only a week before or so.) and I had to listen very closely and make sure I recognized them. I sat with my pencil ready, holding my breath.

First- an online charge the day before. Yep, ordered oils from camden gray.
Second- a sewing store a few days previous. Yep, went to Joann's.
Third, fourth and fifth- walmart, all on the same day last week. (Remember my script woes? I had to charge twice at the pharmacy and then the regular checkout.)

Press one, "yes they are all my charges."
Then the puter said I must listen again to the list and make sure they are my charges. We go thru the list again.
Yes, they are mine.

Okay, the alert is lifted. Have a great day.

Huh? What triggered the alert? Walmart? That was over a week previous. Camden Gray? I have purchased from them several times before.

What if the original computer call had been ignored- as about five a day seem to be at my house. Then my card would have been declined when I went to use it. I would have been pissed, to say the least.

They could at least tell you what triggered the alert, so you can watch for it. Now I am completely paranoid that I will be at Wal with a cart full of yarn and be declined. I don't have any other general credit cards and rarely have cash. What then?

Yeah, the best fraud protection just ADDED to my worries.

Have a great day,
Anne

pendants part two

Well, they never called but I took a chance and went to pick up the pendants yesterday. They were done! (Not too sure if I am impressed with the glue they use for the bails, so if they fall off, try something else.)

Here they are:

Anne's

Amy's

Elizabeth's

Jodi's

Hope you like them!

Anne

tassels and another bag

I have had beaded tassels on the fan pulls in my bedroom for several years. The constant tugging has loosened many of the fringes, and they are looking pretty sad.

I decided to try crochet tassels instead. These are much.... fluffier. :) I am going to see how much of the yarn starts to pull out from the tugging. We shall see.....

I also finished another purse. This one uses brass bangles as the handles. You can carry it or hang it off your wrist. (It is actually royal purple. Don't know why my camera does some colors poorly.)

Have a great day,

Anne

socks and random bag

It was Tessa's socks the somehow made me take up crochet. I tried again last week, and the diagonal lace I tried made the sock WAY too stretchy and too large. Hailey tried it on and claimed to like it tho, so I made the second sock and handed them over to her.
(Note to any sock knitters- do not use this pattern!)

I will try yet again with a different lace pattern for T.

I also finished this crocheted purse yesterday. I started with a pattern from a book, but the single crochet was too slow and drove me crazy. I started doing a holey double crochet (adapted from the scarves.) and then when I decided it was big enough I added extra stitches between the double crochets so it ruffled out. I did NOT crochet the drawstring tho- I did a knit i-cord for that. I think it came out very cute, for a little girl, my target recipient.

This view is looking inside- with Hailey's socks inside. :)

Hope you have a great week,

Anne

Senja's gifts and the skating extravaganza

Since Senja finally agreed to come into the world, I can show her gifts. (She also got the headband, tho I did crochet two flowers for it also. I forgot to take a picture of those.)

She is so large, the pink socks might not fit for too long. The green/blue ones are bigger.

The blanket is actually a really soft yellow. It looks more greenish in the picture, but isn't that way in real life.

Loy's favorite gift was the gift card for Connie's to get her hair dyed tho. :)

Since I was asked, here are a few pics of the skating extravaganza. My camera doesn't do so well in low light, sorry.

Have a great day!

Anne

WalMart Pharm sucks, continued

For those who have short memories, or who haven't read all my posts, last month I went back to the Walmart Pharmacy THREE times trying to get one of my meds. First time they said they were waiting on the doctor, the second time they said it was the insurance, and the third time they said it was never actually called in. So, I had the doctor call it in AGAIN.
****
Now, the reason this script is so important is because it is for Imodium/Loperamide. I take this up to 8 times a day to stop diarrhea, and is the only reason I can leave my house. The doctor had called in a new script for the wrong amount in February, and I didn't notice for a few months cuz I had a bit of a surplus. The problem now was with the script for the right amount- that I have gotten that way, in that amount (except for a few months recently) for SIX years at this same pharmacy.
****
When I called in my refills yesterday, I specifically asked about the loperamide with the correct amount. The man, Bob, told me it was filled and waiting for me. (spoiler alert! he lied!) I asked him to be sure it was not pulled before I came in today.

Today I went to Maila's skating extravaganza, then to Wal for my meds. The lady checked me out, finding 8 total, but they were in 3 bags so it took a few minutes. I paid and started to leave, but had a feeling I better check, so I ripped all the bags open and looked at my meds. Sure enough, no loperamide. So I went down to the "consultation" window and asked the manager Keith why it wasn't in the bag. (I did mention I came 3 times last month trying to get it.)

He looked me up, hemmed and hawed for a few minutes, finally told me the insurance wouldn't cover that many and it cost sixty dollars. I asked "well, how many will they pay for?" He looked around for a while and said, no, it was the doctor's fault, he put "Imodium" and they don't carry the brand name, and I would have to get Loperamide. I said I have been taking that specifically for twenty odd years. He spent maybe five minutes doing something, then said there were actually TWO scripts for it (surprise! Thought the first one didn't exist, hey?) and he could fill one, but he didn't know if they had enough. I mentioned that I had been getting that amount monthly for six years, he said, yes, but you recently cut down. (the script for the wrong amount, remember?) I sighed, he checked, said, oh we have enough. I cheer. I say should I come back in 30 minutes? He said no, I printed the labels. Slapped them on the bottle and told me to go to the register.

I walked away slightly confused yet happy and went to look at yarn. :)


Strange how it took the manager to find the scripts?

For future reference... ask for Keith!

Happy weekend,
Anne

PS- oh, the skating thing was fun but long. Lots of skating and Maila for only a few minutes. She has really improved since last year tho!

New Crochet

I finished Maila's scarf. I actually crocheted it to about the proper length, then had her try it on. She wanted it SEVENTEEN inches longer. Something about going down to her knees. :)
The ribbon yarn I had didn't match, so when I went doctor's we stopped at Crafts. No ribbon yarn!! I had to buy actual ribbon, which I don't recommend, cuz it is spensive. I had to buy two spools, and it barely was enough. Tarja helped me pick the colors.

This is my first granny square. I am thinking of making a granny square poncho for Loy's babe, if she is ever born.... :)

Have a great day,

Anne