I Thought It Couldn't Get Any Better

This came in the mail today:


The accompanying drawing:

The Best Thing I've Ever Made

For my cousin Victoria's birthday I decided to do something different than just going to a toy store and picking up a bunch of Littlest Pet Shop sets and some other girly stuff. We did get two Littlest Pet Shop sets but to top it off I decided to use my creativity abilities.

My cousins (C & V) share a bunkbed and love to stuff blankets here and there and make a fort. So I decided that princesses need a proper bunked playhouse. I had seen this idea somewhere so I don't claim it as something I "invented". I had to drive a good 25 minutes to the nearest store that I knew sold fabric (Joann's) then I spent about 1 1/2 trying to find just the right colors and materials. I wanted so bad to have green polka dot grass and I found the exact fabric I had wanted! All the materials were just perfect down to the various colors of thread I picked out.

I started construction a week before V's birthday party and here are pictures of the progress. The picture below is the pink wall measured out but before I could put both sides together with batting I had to cut out the green polka dot grass and sew it on. I used a zig zag stitch (which my sewing machine seems to hate to do since it kept jamming on that setting).


This picture is of the wall with grass and now the doors and window shutters have been assembled and now being laid out to see how it all looks before I permanently put it all together.

I added a little personalization for each girl. On the inside I put two felt pockets under each window for the girls to put some toys in. An initial pocket and a heart pocket for each.
Voila! This is the finshed product from the outside of their apartment (it was upgraded from a being a fort).

Hablas Ingles?

I recently read this article about Wal-Mart going bi-lingual by opening stores that are Hispanic focused in key U.S. cities/markets. Staff will speak Spanish and signs will also be in Spanish. The two cities mentioned in the article are Phoenix and Houston. So basically in the next couple years you'll see the image I photoshopped just for this post.

In addition to Wal Mart with a Spanish focus you'll also see Sam's Club (a Wal Mart company) change too. They'll be called Más Club. A Más Club is opening in Houston TX this year.

To be very honest, I think this is a bunch of BS. We live in a country that has English as the primary language and this language is now taught all around the world as a secondary language to children as it is at least one, if not the main, language of business. So in a world power country we pander to a demographic that refuses to learn English by creating our marketing and signs and and now entire stores to them. I find that completely ridiculous and that these immigrants should learn English or leave.

I shouldn't have to learn Spanish to get around in the country of my birth where English has gotten me quite far in my life and now if I happen to go back to Houston or Phoenix I've got to dig up my high school Spanish lessons buried deep in my brain to buy something at a freakin' Wal Mart!

I am already livid at the fact that all my electronics come with two booklets for each language, there are two sets of paint samples at Home Depot with Spanish and English, packaging for simple things have both languages and even getting around Miami FL is impossible if you don't speak Spanish.

My Target is Better Than Yours

We got a brand spankin' new Target in Paramus at the newly renovated Bergen Town Center formerly known as the Bergen Mall. This Target looks massive and a new Target always is worth a visit. I headed in and the first thing I noticed were the space age shopping carts and hand baskets! I had to take a picture. The shopping cart looks either futuristic or something designed by Little Tykes.

The new mall is amazing. It not only has a brand new facade that is very well designed but even pretty. Then the shopping choices are just ridiculous. They've always had a Marshalls and an Off Fifth, they recently added a Century 21. Now they've added a Nike Outlet, the Target, Whole Foods and the best part... Nordstrom Rack!

I am not sure what this mall is going for but it seems to be a mix of outlet and regular stores. There's a Gap Outlet there but a regular Carter's that'll open up and NY & Company. Either way I will enjoy the heck of that mall and the what is has to offer as much as possible. If you can't find me I will probably be at Nordstrom Rack.

Going to Whole Foods is Not Green

Last weekend at Whole Foods we found a hummus I really liked, Heavenly Hummus. I like it because there isn't too much lemon and there's just enough garlic flavor so it's not so bland. I polished most of the container off within days and was craving it again so I headed out to get more. I stopped at Trader Joe's to make an exchange and then off to Whole Foods for a quick hummus stop.

It started with the line on River Road in Edgewater to just turn into the Whole Foods parking lot. Then a bunch of stupid stupid (the second stupid was for emphasis) drivers in expensive cars. Which begs the question, "Why can't people with expensive cars ever drive properly?" It makes no sense at all because they obviously are smart enough to get the money to afford these BMWs, Mercedes, Range Rovers, etc.

I digress. Me and several other cars circle the parking lot stalking people for a spot. I must have driven around for a good ten minutes before I got a parking spot. What is the point of Whole Foods being green if you destroy the environment further because their parking lot isn't big enough? They also ran out of the hummus so after all that I had to buy some other brand. I went with another brand but it's way too lemony but thank goodness for my favorite condiment, garlic salt. Added some of that magic stuff to a serving of hummus and voila, it's fixed!

Snail Mail is Making a Comeback!

This is the second time in the last few weeks that I have decided to stick it to someone because they are charging a credit card convenience fee. I stick it to them by sending payment back via snail mail.

The first was a couple weeks ago when I got a parking ticket for missing a meter ($28 mistake). The lovely town of Where-we-live wanted $1.00 and I figured it was cheaper to put a stamp on the envelope, write out the envelope and let them wait a couple of days to get their payment (I even mailed it from Manhattan).

Today I go to renew my car's registration and BAM there's a $2.00 convenience fee. I dig through the paper recycling bin in hopes that the yellow motor vehicle envelope is still there. It was and not only will I save the $2 convenience fee, but they can go pay someone $12.00 an hour to open my envelope, sort my check and someone else to deposit it.

I get that it's a recession but why do the consumers keep getting stuck with the final bill?

Bank of America Sucks Big Time

I worked for Bank of America for five years (4 years at predecessor banks) and was a loyal former employee - until now. For the most part I prefer to deal with technology when banking (ATMs, online banking, etc.) I do not need a person to do my banking. Today Bank of America is making me call someone.

B of A was offering a Transit Rebate program from November 2008 to the end of January 2009. I signed up and basically would get $40 back ($10 for every $100 spent). I read the program fine print and determined I had to put my monthly ferry charges on my debit card. No problem there. I buy my ferry tickets for February on January 30 and of course I have a problem. I don't use my debit card to purchase my ferry so B of A flagged it as suspicious. I had to call in and verify the charge. It then delayed its posting to Feb 2 which was out of the program end period. I haven't seen my $40 so I wrote them an email. But they can't handle my request by email and asked that I call.

So today I call. The picture above is of my work phone and the call timer is above 30 minutes. I call, speak to someone and explain my plight. As she's typing away I hear a click and the obligatory hold music/advertisements! WTF! At least I am not completely disconnected I just got kicked back into the queue. Another agent picks up, I go through the whole explanation again and BAM, back in the queue AGAIN! This is probably 10 minutes into the call. So I sit in the queue and give up when it hits 30 minutes. I did write B of A and email indicating I want my issue resolved via email and if they want to speak to me, they will call me.

Hopefully I get my stinkin' $40 otherwise I may have to reconsider moving my funds. I am sure Citibank could use my funds to help out a bit these days.

At Least It's Pretty To Look At

We got a decent amount of snow overnight and I spent a good half hour cleaning the Edge off to make it snowy-road-worthy.

It really isn't bad snow. I've seen and driven in far worse. So as I arrived in Weehawken I noticed how pretty the cliffs looked with a blanket of snow on it. It's pretty much the only thing that hasn't been salted then plowed every other minute.