A New Washing Machine

My old washer, a Kenmore, lasted a long time. My husband had it before we got married and it has taken a lot of abuse. It was a regular top loader machine. I have wanted a front loader machine ever since LG came out with the steam washer about 4 years ago. I have not been able to purchase one as I could not justify paying lots of money for something that was working fine. Well, no longer! My machine broke and luckily we anticipated it and had already bought this machine and ordered it for delivery. So, the old machine stopped pumping out water (yep, that means I got to empty it by hand!) on Friday and this arrived on Saturday.
I love this machine. It uses like, no water, and you can sanitize stuff without using hot water. It gets the clothes really dry when it spins them out, and our dryer is on it's last legs so I guess this will make it last longer, as I will no longer have to dry things twice. Where we live, we use a septic system, so the less water we use, the better for our system. So, I hope the water bill goes down and so does the electric bill. That will be really nice. So, it's a Samsung and there are service people locally, so we should be in good shape. Thanks for taking your time to read about my stuff.

Reply from Best Buy

So, 5 days after I sent in a message and then resent a message that I had not received a reply I got this:

Hello Mathea,

I am Brian with Best Buy Customer Care. At Best Buy, we understand the importance of good service, as well as how frustrating poor service can be. I apologize that your experience with our phone agent has been unpleasant. I will pass your comments on. To demonstrate that we do value your business and loyalty as a customer, I have asked that a digital coupon be sent to you, good on your next online purchase.
Again, I am sorry for the trouble you've had, and thank you for your patience as the coupon comes to you. Thank you for sharing your comments with Best Buy.

Sincerely,
Brian
Best Buy Customer Care Team

What can I say? That is the lamest message I have ever gotten from anyone except American Airlines who is well known for their sucky customer service. So, I already bought another MP3 player from NewEgg.com, and once I finally get the package from Best Buy, I will promptly return it!

Soap, Soap, Soap and more Soap

Well, today I spent a long time on the phone, but it appears to be worth it as we can refinance our home loan and save about $520 a month in payments. That's great, especially with the economy slowing down. Keith works for commission and that certainly varies depending on the national economy. Me, I am taking a few vacation days and making stuff for the shops and craft fairs.

So, today, after I got the phone hung up, I started making soap. It's so addictive, I have to say. I have dreams about what I am going to make! So, today I made more of my wildly popular Honey, Oatmeal and Buttermilk soap, made some Sage, Citrus and Lavender soap, and made some layered soap with cocoa butter and chunks and chocolate cream pie fragrance. I will show you later this week in pictures... right now the soap is gelling. Oh, and next week I have my first appointment with someone in a shop to see if they will buy my soap. It's next Friday, so be thinking of me and I will let you know what happens.

Handmadeology Blog Challenge

Handmadeology.com
Wow! Timothy Adams is creating a new standard for folks who want to sell online for handmade goods. First, he has been posting for a long time about how to increase your google page ranking, how to get better search engine hits, where to place ads for a cost effective campaign, and once google analytics hit Etsy and Artfire, he posted video about how to understand what you were getting. Because, believe me, it's not elementary info - it's a treasure trove of valueable data but if you don't know what to do with it you are wasting time.
So, I am writing a post about his newest venture to help out those of us who are really trying to make online selling a workable option. I watched the video a few weeks back, and all I can say is, watch out. He is a self taught metal artist who makes a living selling online. He is also dedicated to helping others achieve their goal of successfully selling their handmade goods online. Classes start Jan 26, 2009. I can't wait to see what he has to say about key words, ads, using social networking sites, and any other stuff that is relevant and he will say it in a way that I understand! WHOOHOO! Visit the site soon.

BAD SERVICE from BEST BUY

I sent an email to the random customer service inbox for Best Buy today and stated this:
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VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE! I AM NEVER GOING TO BUY FROM BEST BUY AGAIN!

I called 888-bestbuy because my MP3 player was sent to the wrong address. I changed my delivery address prior to the order, but for some reason (mistakes happen), it shipped to an old address. I have not lived there for almost 2 years and the package shipped USPS so I call to see if the staff could assist me.
First person I spoke with told me it was my fault, nothing they could do, I would just have to suffer (paraphrasing a little). So I asked to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor, who stated his name was JP, got on the phone and cussed me out and said I was completely at fault, why did I not do it right the first time, (yelling the entire time) and when I asked him to stop arguing and yelling at me he said he wasn't, said I would have to go get it out of the mailbox from the other house, and then asked if there was anything else he could do, I said I wanted to speak to his superior and he said "No, you are not going to speak to anyone else, I know the policies and you are not going to get any more time from us" and hung up the phone on me.
It took me a while to calm down and call back. I asked Katrina to let me speak with a supervisor, she asked what the problem was, I explained and she stated she would put in a trouble ticket with the delivery folks and try to get it fixed. If I don't get it by Jan 24, she said I could call back and they would do a lost delivery for it.
It's a $60 MP3 player. I do appreciate the young lady who I spoke with the 2nd time, but I believe whoever I spoke with the 1st time should be fired without question.

I am sure I will get no response.

Soap that is pending...

I have been making a lot of soap recently and next week I hope to make some more. Been working on getting it right! In the picture above, you can see the new peony/clay soap I made last week and the Just Plain Soap that has no fragrance or color - great for use on kids! I cut the peony with my new crinkle cutter, and the bars are more consistent. I am getting really excited about next week, and I am going to make about 6 more batches so that I am ready for the shows I have planned for March and April. I bought some new fragrances and other items that I have shipping this week from Majestic Mountain Sage and Wholesale Fragrances. I'm making a face bar that is supposed to help with breakouts. I am also going to do a funky chocolate and cocoa butter swirl bar. And I am going to try to do a shaving soap. Let's see, I think that will keep me busy, besides needing to do some sewing for the artfire shop and visiting a shop to see if they will stock the soap. Coming soon - Coconut Lime Verbena and Lavender Fields soap - ready in about 2 weeks.

Beanie Hat in Pink Camouflage!

Here is my new favorite thing! My head to use for a model so that I don't have to convince my little sister to pose! Yeah! And, I must admit, the foam head is a lot easier to work with, doesn't complain about makeup or take smoke breaks. So, don't you love it. Look for new pictures of my beanie caps on my artfire site, I just created a bunch of new ones as well as I am going to update the current pictures.

This beanie cap is going to Lisa, a person I work with. In early December I promised her I would make her one that looked like mine, only in pink camouflage. What a deal! I love the way that this beanie hat is so cute! Lisa's going to love it when she gets it later this week. Yeah!