"Thank you, Come Again"

 This will be short, but I had to get it out there as it is a tale of awesome customer service:

I had to call Apple today to upgrade my OSX. Basically, my OSX is so old that I can't get the newest version of iTunes and am having issues with upgrading Flash and can't upgrade my iPhone to the newest iOS until my OS on my computer is upgraded. Unfortunately, I discovered that I can't upgrade to the newest OSX without buying the step in between. This is arguably frustrating, but it makes sense. You don't go from training wheels to a 10 speed.

So I called Apple, got a Sales rep who was polite, answered my questions, confirmed everything that I thought and reassured me that installing new memory was not that hard. She even walked me through the steps that I'd need to take after. All in all, it was like $100 fix to get my computer up to the latest OSX and two additional GB of memory. Considering that I was contemplating a new computer, it's such a cost effective fix.

In a world where people get angry at large companies, like Apple, for constantly making new items and making old things obsolete, Apple goes a long way to providing good customer service and making upgrading your "old" technology much easier. As someone who used to provide phone customer service, I am always impressed by great customer service.

Can I Sue Pinterest for My Burns?

Being voluntarily unemployed for the moment has brought a lot of positive things in to my life: my stress level has plummeted, I have not had a headache in 2 weeks (they're usually pretty frequent), and I have had time to do things that I usually would not. Some of these are boring, doing laundry during the day being chief among that lot. But it has also allowed me to explore my passions: sewing and attempting to cook.

Sewing is something I love, it's my yoga, to relaxes me, centers me and makes me feel like a person. I love the sounds, the feel of fabric and the productivity associated with it. Mostly, I have made bags and wallets, but more recently I've decided to branch off into clothing. Here's a couple examples of things I've made:                                                                                              

Wallet Clutch:rolls up for easy stowing, pockets for cards, cell phone, elastic closure.

Suse Tote: Quilted Cotton Exterior with contrasting lining. 3 interior pockets, 1 exterior. Grosgrain ribbon trim and canvas webbing straps.

My Favorite Dress: Cotton tank with pleated tea length jersey skirt. So incredibly comfy, but still dressy, it really is my favorite dress.  

I plan on doing a lot more of all of those in the future. But more on that in another entry.


The biggest thing I have been taking the time to do is cooking, or rather attempting to cook. My mom will be the first to admit, she doesn't love to cook, but she adopts the "Go Big or Go Home" philosophy. She can make big holiday meals for 10 people like it was nothing and everything is amazing, but left to her own devices, now that we are all grown, she'd sooner make a waffle than cook something from scratch. Although my dad likes to cook and makes a decent meal, neither is extremely adventurous in the kitchen.

I made the decision to change that, I have been spending some of my time, planning, shopping for and cooking meals from scratch. Things that can be made simply:meatballs, macaroni and cheese and my favorite, buffalo chicken calzone.

My meatballs came out pretty good, but it was a hell of a lot of work. The true show was my macaroni on Saturday. I got the recipe from Pinterest, the source of all incredibly creative but overly difficult ideas. and tried to follow it to the letter. In addition to having not enough of any of the three cheeses that were required, apparently, the people at Pinterest think I have 9 hands and a helper monkey. Sadly, I have a not very helpful boxer mix who mainly just stood under me waiting for me to drop cheese. At the end of the day, it was amazing mac and cheese, but going forward, I am going to be a little less adventurous from now on in the kitchen. Mostly to avoid burning myself and running around my kitchen swearing for 45 minutes.

Sadly, the buffalo chicken calzone was decent, but nowhere near the quality I am used to. Someone please ask Pat's what the delivery charge would be to Maine. Extra Blue Cheese.