time flies ~ a lot of little things

It's been awhile since I've posted. Nothing is wrong; just things in life that are taking up a lot of my time lately, where it's hard to find time to sit down and write a blog post. Then I was having phone and computer problems. Long story short, I use OneDrive for my photos and my photos from my phone weren't syncing to my laptop. I obviously need my photos for a blog post. I spent many hours Googling the problem and trying to fix it. Which I think I finally did late last night. However, when I went into my photos in OneDrive today, I found that I couldn't edit them. But all the photos also went into Dropbox and I could edit them there. Sometimes technology can drive one nuts!

Here in the US, last weekend was Labor Day weekend, which signifies the end of summer - though technically, we still have two-and-a-half more weeks to go. I went to a friend's BBQ on Saturday, though we were all crammed into her small house because of the rain. And on Sunday, I went to another friend's house and we were only able to sit outside for a little while (though it was so hot and humid, we were drenched in sweat) until more rain came. Monday, of course - more rain. In fact, the storms were so severe here that we had a tornado warning. I didn't even know there was a warning - I never heard the sirens go off, nor did the weather alert alarm go off on my phone. It wasn't until my mother called me and asked if I was in the basement, that I found out about the warning! It was a short-lived tornado warning this time - the storm passed us quickly with no damage. Driving past houses and cornfields this week, there's standing water all over the place. The Canada geese are having a ball, splashing around in the "ponds" in some of the now-empty cornfields. We only had a couple of light sprinkles today and it looks like dry weather is finally in the forecast for the next week, though much cooler. Fall is on its way, though I'm still in summer mode.

I had a very unpleasant experience with TJ Maxx yesterday....I will start out by saying that I normally like shopping there because of their decent prices and the ability to find women's clothes that aren't the cookie cutter ones from department stores. Last week, I had picked up a few tops and a lightweight zip-up cardigan. I don't try clothes on in the store, so I brought the clothing home, tried them on, and found the cardigan and one top fit. The other two tops needed to go back. I washed the cardigan and the top that fit on the gentle cycle and in cold water. Then I hung both to dry instead of putting them in the dryer so that they wouldn't shrink. I noticed after the top dried, it looked smaller. So I tried it on again, and sure enough, it was very tight. I was angry and disappointed, as I followed the label instructions for washing and drying. Of course, I didn't have the store tags anymore, since I thought I was keeping this shirt. 

I returned to the same TJ Maxx store to return the tops that didn't fit, plus the one that shrunk. I explained to the clerk what happened to the shrunk shirt and why I wanted my money back. She automatically said that because I washed it, I wasn't allowed to return it - period. That the store return policy was even posted on the front door. I could feel myself getting angry, but I remained calm and firmly stated again that I didn't even wear this shirt. That it was not my fault that the shirt shrunk when I followed the exact washing and drying instructions that were on the care label. And this was not a cheap shirt: it was a Michael Kors. At this point a store manager walked over and reiterated what the clerk had said, but that she'd "make an exception this one time." I said to the manager, "I'll even take a store credit instead of you crediting this back to my debit card." While this store manager was talking to me, she never made eye contact with me and the expression on her face was one of annoyance. I was polite enough to thank her. The clerk then said, "I guess it's your lucky day." I bit my tongue but I wanted to say, "Excuse me? Your store is selling defective merchandise; you don't want to accommodate a customer; and you're saying it's my lucky day because a manger 'made an exception' to your awful store rules?!" 

I have returned clothes to Kohls and Burlington where I found problems with them after they were washed and tagless with no problems at either store. No fuss, no hassle. Instead, an apology and my money back. Guess who has lost a clothing customer?!

On to more positive things...

I won a giveaway from Linda at Itsy Bits and Pieces! 

I love this huge ball of blue and white vintage twine...I think it'd look great under a cloche. And then Linda also included a bag full of all kinds of vintage ephemera...game pieces, bottle caps, Bingo cards, children's flash cards, a hankie with the original Woolworth's tag still on it, a spool of thread, etc. If you're not familiar with Linda's blog, head over and take a look. Her decorating is beautiful; she does some really creative projects and makeovers; and she always comes up with amazing thrift shop finds.

Hope you all have a great weekend!