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Please let her subscription run out!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Saturday’s mail brought us another Saturday Evening Post magazine that I didn’t ask for. I’m glad it doesn’t come in my name because then I’d have to pay for it. No, it comes in my Mil’s name. No matter how many times we’ve sent cancellations in to them it still keep coming.
I E-mailed them again tonight and got a quick electronic response. I do wish the human element was as responsive.
What I sent…
Hi,
We’ve made many efforts to cancel my deceased mother-in-law’s subscription. We’ve been trying to cancel this subscription since her death on 3/7/11. Yet, here again yesterday another magazine showed up in our mailbox. Take note people…
***insert her name here***
IS DECEASED!!!!
Stop sending the magazine and the damned renewal notices!!!!!
She never lived at the above address. When she went into the nursing home, we had her mail switched to our address for our convenience–we didn’t have to drive to her house every day in addition to going to the nursing home.
Sincerely,
M.W. Hauser daughter-in-law and disgruntled writer who is not thrilled with your nonsense
What they sent:
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for contacting The Saturday Evening Post customer service team.
Your e-mail message has been assigned to one of our representatives who will address your inquiry/request and get back to you as soon as possible.
We appreciate your business.
Sincerely,
The Saturday Evening Post Customer Service
My reply:
Dear SEP Customer Service,
I’ve been on this merry-go-round before.
Sincerely,
MW Hauser, disgruntled daughter-in-law and writer who loves to blog about these situations…
Posted in My blog
Tags: Author, Bull Terriers, Caregiver, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Life, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer
When characters fight back
Posted by doggonedmysteries
She’s insisting she will not become romantically involved with her coworker. Every time I try to write a bit of a love scene, she stalks off and won’t talk to me.
The sexual tension is there and she refuses to play with it. I’ve tried bribery (If you play along I’ll write you a fabulous chase scene), coaxing (Oh, come on you know you like him), and threats (If you don’t let me write the scene I’ll wound or kill you in the next scene). No good. She won’t be moved.
I have a feeling she intends to hold herself aloof for her debut and then maybe she’ll loosen up in the second book.
At least she’s talking to me and that’s a start. My other characters have gone into hiding.
Posted in My books
Tags: Author, books, Craft of writing, Dead, Doggoned, Multiple Sclerosis, Mysteries, Mystery, Writer
When does the energy return?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I’m still waiting for my energy to come back. I get tired all the time while doing much less than I did six months ago. With amazing temperatures the last two days it really bothered me that I didn’t have all the energy I wanted to have.
People keep telling me that it will come back and I’ll feel normal again. However, after carrying in the groceries and large bag of dog food yesterday I truly wondered about it. Once I put the groceries away, I felt so exhausted that I asked The Curmudgeon if he minded if I ordered a pizza for dinner. I absolutely did not have any energy left to cook.
Before, I would’ve made a great dinner using ingredients I just bought. My ass was dragging for sure because all I wanted to do was take a nap. (I didn’t though.) It’s a little hard to do that when you have two bullies telling you it is dinner time! They aren’t subtle about it.
You all have a good one! I’m going to take it easy today…maybe.
Posted in Heart Attack
Tags: Author, Bones, Bull Terriers, Caregiver, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer
It wasn’t a low cholesterol dinner…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Every once in a while I do have to make The Curmudgeon something special for dinner. I knew I wasn’t going to have time to get fancy last night because I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon.
My solution at 4:30 in the morning, was to slice some onions, toss them in the crock pot, put the frozen chuck roast on top of them, season it and pour a bottle of Guinness Stout over all. I set the pot on low and went to bed.
Right before I left for my 2:00 appointment, I dumped some baby carrots in the pot. The roast smelled marvelous.
Arriving home a little before four, I checked the roast. The carrots were almost done–we’d eat at five.
A quarter to five, I made mashed potatoes, pulled out the carrots and roast, and made gravy. The Curmudgeon enjoyed his dinner. I did too because this sort of meal is becoming scarce in this house.
I’ll make up for it during the rest of the week.
Posted in Food
Tags: Author, Bones, Caregiver, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Food, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer
Letter to Me
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Dear Me,
Remember when you managed to write pages upon pages in your books every day? What happened? You really need to figure out the whats and whys, kick them in the ass, and get back to work. This is taking too long and it is too important to keep screwing up.
Sure, many things have happened this past year. In fact, for several years you’ve had a number of life changing events happen. Don’t take them for granted, use them.
Your Father, Mother, sisters and parents in law are gone, use all that sorrow, hurt, pain, and emotion in your writing. Stop bottling it all up inside and set it free in your writing.
Your Husband, Aunts, Cousins, and friends love you. Embrace that love and bring that joy back into your writing.
All my love,
Me
New alarm clock
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Gavin has either taken it upon himself to be my alarm clock, or he’s decided that he wants some private Mommy time. Lately, I’ve heard him wandering down the hallway and flopping down in front of my bedroom door a little before I would be getting up.
Yesterday, The Curmudgeon remembered how I’ve often asked him to not let me sleep too late, and he came to wake me. Gavin followed, squeezed in the door past his Daddy, and piled on the bed with me. He was ready to settle in for a good snuggle when Patty decided to join us.
The disgust on his face proved to me that he’d wanted me all to himself. He got up, left the bed, and went back downstairs. He was NOT happy. Poor Gavin.
Patty, on the other hand, was happy. She got to bounce on the bed, make him leave, and then chase him downstairs.
I think that when I hear him flop down outside my door tomorrow and let loose with his usual sigh, I’ll let him in and close the door so Patty can’t ruin his cuddle. Sometimes he just needs some alone time with me.
Posted in Dog related
Tags: Author, Bones, Bull Terriers, Caregiver, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Dogs, Multiple Sclerosis
Just another day in in Paradise.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I was happy as a pig in a mud puddle when I got up yesterday and heard that The Curmudgeon had gone to the drug store to get the dogs’ allergy medications.
I was almost ecstatic to find out he’d also gone to the computer shop and picked up my desk top. Almost, because I had a question about my lap top that I’d planned to ask my computer Guru. Now I’d have to make a trip over there another day since he’d have to see the computer to answer the question.
The Guru had loaded the desk top into The Curmudgeon’s truck and it was my job to get it out, bring it in, and hook it up. The Curmudgeon can’t haul heavy stuff, he has no idea how to hook up a computer, and it was getting close to his nap time.
To my surprise he’d bought a wireless mouse–um, didn’t I just order one the other day? Well, it hadn’t arrived yet. Okay, two computers & two wireless mice, that works, no complaints from me. By that time my grin had grown.
He tells me he’s going up for a nap. Oh, joy! I can work on my computer in peace. Working away getting things set up the way I wanted them when I heard The Curmudgeon coming down the stairs and cussing on his way down. This didn’t bode well.
He’d broken his new glasses and practically dragged me out the door to run to the shop so they could fix them. Even though the sign on the front of the shop said ‘open’ the posted hours for the day said ‘closed’ and so did the locked door.
Arriving back at the house, we found all the other things we’d ordered last week, crammed between the doors, except for the carrying case for the lap top…. Monday is looking good for that.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bull Terriers, Caregiver, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Life, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer
On the road back to writing well
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I can pick up my desk top computer today. Yay! I hope he has good news to tell me about my data. I am glad we purchased the lap top even though it will take a little while to pay off that once clear charge. It did come in handy for the time it took to fix my old faithful desk top.
I will set the desk top up on my desk in the living room and take my lap top up to my bedroom. I’ll have a place I can escape to where I can write in peace once again. The antique desk from the MIL’s house is in the bedroom which will make it a decent writer’s retreat.
It will be nice to have the lap top to take with me when I find a new I-need-to-get-out-of-the-house place to write this summer. I used to go to our local Borders but now that is closed and I really do need to find a new place. The B&Ns here have tiny cafes and they aren’t very friendly to anyone who wants to sit there for more than a few minutes.
I am scoping out a small coffee shop that might allow long-term seating with coffee purchases. It isn’t far from the house and their coffee is wonderful.
Tags: Author, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer, Writing
Yippee! New faucet!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Old chrome faucet, leaky and full of hard water stains.
Lasted about 15 years.
Took longer to remove this than to put in the new one below.
New faucet, stainless steel and no leaks!
Maybe this one will last 20 years?
Thanks to Barry for removing the old one and installing this in an hour.
The Curmudgeon says that he knows it would’ve taken him two days.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bull Terriers, Caregiver, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Home, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer
Passwords, a touch of insanity
Posted by doggonedmysteries
How many passwords do you have? I’ve changed all of mine. If a psychiatrist ever saw my new ones, I’d be residing in the nut hut. I don’t have passwords by the ‘dozens’ but I do have several. Most places today require a minimum of 8 characters and at least one should be a number.
Creating passwords is interesting. Passwords are also a bit telling. Many people use the names of their pets–not a good idea folks. You need to find cleverer things than that. Don’t use your birthdays, anniversaries, or the grandkids names either.
How creative can you get? As creative as you want so long as you can remember them. I have had to change passwords a few times because I forgot what one I used for the account.
Some of mine can tell you exactly where my head was at the time of creation. No, I’m not spilling the beans. I don’t want to change them all again.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, Bull Terriers, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer
Back it up…I should tattoo that on my hands.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
So I’m sort of getting used to the new lap top. I do love the wireless feature. Being able to take the computer to my bedroom, my chair, or even the kitchen has its perks.
I do hope my computer gets fixed sometime this week. I also hope that I didn’t lose the couple batches of pictures and some writing I’d done and hadn’t gotten around to backing up. Nasty little F*tards who send out viruses and make us average people suffer are worthless pieces of crap. Normally, I made regular back ups, but since the heart attack, I’ve neglected several things and that was one of them.
Oh well, you live and learn–sometimes. You think I would’ve learned since my hard drive crashed a couple of years ago, but NOOOOOO, I forgot for a few months. Yes, Dave I lost a lot of the book if my computer guru doesn’t recover everything.
You all have a good one and don’t forget to BACK IT UP!
Tags: Author, Bones, Bull Terriers, Caregiver, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Multiple Sclerosis
Six month check up
Posted by doggonedmysteries
My cardiologist is pleased. He took me off of one medication today. The nasty one that was making me cough so much. However, he did raise the dosage on another. The one for my cholesterol.
Now if I can only take off the weight that I put on over the last few months. Comes with the smoking cessation the doctor said. He’s not worried about it but I am!!
I hope you all have a good one! I know I will now that the cough inducing med is off my list.
Posted in Heart Attack
Tags: Author, Bones, Bull Terriers, Caregiver, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer
Doggonedmysteries 