My Wal-Mart Experience

And it wasn't a good one either...Here is my verbage to the corporate customer service email I sent:
As a Christmas gift, I received a Tetra Whisper Aquarium Kit and was very excited. I went to Wal-Mart to purchase the other items needed for my aquarium...stones, food, foilage and even some fish. When I got home, I started putting it together and then noticed the filter suction cup was broken off. I needed to replace it right away because the fish were still in the bag. Now since I already started putting it together and the stones and water were already in the tank, I only brought with me the broken filter and I went to the store in Mays Landing. I retrieved a new aquarium kit and brought it to the customer service/return area. I nicely explained that all I wanted to do was exchange the bad filter for the new filter in the new box. The "representative" explained that I needed to bring the entire KIT back in order to replace it. I then asked to see the manager on duty and the assistant manager walked out and tried to explain the reason he could not do it. I asked that he take the new filter from the box and exchange it for the broken one...therefore damaging out that box. He told me I needed to go back home, empty out the aquarium and bring it back to him. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I was not happy and told him that is unacceptable. Myself being a Store Manager I would do everything I could to make the customer happy which he did not. I still do not understand his reasoning or logic. This is now an inconvienence for me...all I needed was a non-broken filter so my new fish could have a happy home. If I had brought back the kit from home and replaced it with a new one, it would be the exact same thing as replacing my broken filter but with less inconvienence. do you understand my point? So I went back into the store, bought a new one, brought it back to my car and replaced the new one with the broken filter, return back to the store and returned it. The exact same thing your assistant manager should have done in the first place without having me purchase it first. I walked away very upset from that AM. In the end, I got what I wanted and my fish have a clean home. I would rather travel to a different store than ever shop there again. thank you for listening and this story will be blogged...

The Return?

So i had to return a star tree topper I bought for my beautiful Christmas tree because it was too heavy. I find the receipt and bring it to the customer service area. "I would like to return this please" and hand her the receipt. She looked it over and said "you bought this at Wal-Mart?" I was thinking to myself...the receipt clearly has the Wal-Mart logo on top of the receipt but I said "yes". Now she is looking at me funny and doesn't know what to do...then we look at each other and it hits me...I'M IN K-MART!!! How embrassing. I said "Well I guess I'm in the wrong place then", then I grabbed the star and left, faster then I've ever moved before. LOL...good times

Mistletoe Love

Mistletoe has been the subject of many legends and traditions for hundreds of years. Ancient Druids considered mistletoe sacred because it grew without roots in the ground and assumed that is must have been planted by the gods. Mistletoe was thought to ban evil spirits and bring good luck and great blessings. When warriors met beneath mistletoe, they had to lay down their weapons and call a truce. From this, it became a sign of peace and good will. But why do we kiss people under the mistletoe?

"It all started with a goddess called Frigga. Her son, Balder, was shot with an arrow made of mistletoe. Frigga's friends succeeded in conjuring up powers to save the boy. Balder lived anew and Frigga ordered that the mistletoe should never again be used to harm. Instead, she made it a symbol of love by kissing anyone who passed under it."

Do you think this is the REAL story behind mistletoe or did I just make it up? Tell me what you think...

Wishing you and your families peace and love this Christmas Season and all year through!!!

Man on Bus

So I'm on my way back home from New York City, taking the Academy bus from Port Authority, when I look across from me and see this:

the man is reading the newspaper with a mask on...he didn't get on the bus that way but as soon as we took off the mask went on!!!

so now i'm laughing because I never saw this happen before and I can't ask the man if I can take his picture so I cleverly held my phone in a way so he didn't suspect and this is what I got on the first try.

The fun you can have with a camera phone and a blog site...

Please comment often and let me know if you laughed too!!!

The Ribbon Dance!!!

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Sue's Birthday Dinner

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUE!!!
First i have to tell you that the Birthday boy or girl usually picks the place where they want to celebrate their birthday. Until this time...

Well it all started when i was talking to Nicole. We wanted to go to a place that we don't usually go to. Nicole suggested Chilis. So we said
"Sue doesn't get to pick this year, we've decided for her...WE'RE GOING TO CHILIS?"
and she broke out in song so i could practice "the commercial" and here it is:



As always we had a blast and it's always a good time seeing my very good friends of 15+ years:

This last picture needs a caption:

"you know people stop me everywhere i go
and tell me how BEAUTIFUL my hair is"

This last video is the Chilis people doing their version of "happy birthday"

thanks to Nicole for telling our waitress---good job!!!



It was a great night and i look forward to spending time with you again!!!

Happy Birthday Miss Q

Love ya

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CECILE...

September 11th, 2008...Cecile's Birthday!!!

She decided, at the last minute, to have a dinner to celebrate her birthday and I was so happy to attend. Cecile invited us to Ginza, a japanese hibachi grill where they prepare the food right in front of you and do a little show. It's so much fun.

sorry i video taped it the wrong way again and I don't know how to fix that...lol
This chef was kind of boring...after the onion volcano went off he puts it out and smoke is supposed to come out of the top and he does this cho cho noise like a train and moves the onion but he didn't do that. He was also supposed to make a fried rice heart but he didn't do that either so here is a picture from the last time:

Oh and guess what? I tried sushi for the first time too. I guess i had a notion of only raw fish but I didn't have that. I tried chicken tempura...and it was actually pretty good

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CECILE...thanks for a great time

My Day with Gladys 08.24.08

Oh how i missed you Gladys, you have this amazing soul and i remember an instant connection with you the first day we met when we worked together at the Borgata.


She has this knack of making me feel so good about myself and no one encourages me more to better myself than she does. So i was so happy when she called. We made immediate plans to get together. Gladys and her precious son, David, came over to my place and we went to the pool...

My Back Flip Video:

We started getting hungry, so we went back to my place and changed and walked over to the Shoppes at Historic Smithville. Gladys went picture happy...

Then after all that...of course we had to go back to my place and play Wii...Gladys never played it before so it was fun...

Here's a video:

Wii Night...08.07.08

So my friends and I decided to have a Wii Party at my house to celebrate the Olympics. A pre Olympics the night before the opening ceremonies (08.08.08)

It was Sue, Gina Marie, Nicole and her two boys Anthony and Andrew. Everyone brought something to eat and then we got into our competition. First we played bowling (I'm now at pro level after this night) and then we played Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. This game sure gives you a work out with arms flaying all over. Here are some examples:

Sorry about the last video, I took it from my camera phone the wrong way so it's sideways and I don't know how to fix that. Anyway, it was a great night and it's always great to spend time with such close friends. I've known these girls for 15 to 20 years now so it's nice to spend time together when we can.

LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!!

The Roosters

I have moved to a new town. The town of Historic Smithville. There are shops across the street, ducks, geese, chickens and roosters that walk all around town. Sometimes the geese families cross the street and stop traffic but that's all part of the charm in this town.

I thought, how nice; good times.


My first night was of course, a little scary, being alone for the first time in a strange place and having moved all day I was really tired. I didn't have to work the next day so I was able to sleep in, or so I thought. One of the roosters decided to welcome me to the neighborhood by cackling at 7:10 am in the morning right outside my window. He knew what he was doing. The next morning again at 7:10 am he did the same thing. Two mornings in a row the damn rooster woke me up. So I thought, I'm going to get him, since I have to get up early anyway for work, I'll set my alarm for 6:30 am and get up BEFORE he starts his morning ritual. Well to my surprise he started his thing at 6:25 am. DAMN ROOSTER got me again. The day after I didn't have to get up early (being in retail does that to you) so I didn't have to set my alarm and once again that rooster did his thing, this time at around 8:30 am. He obviously doesn't know how to tell time being so sporadic. The fifth morning he let me sleep in and went to the other part of the community and did his cock-a-doodling somewhere else. After a while it doesn't bother me as much as it did when I first arrived here. Maybe I'm getting used to it, maybe he wakes me up and I could fall right back to sleep or maybe my initiation into the neighborhood is finally over and he will do the same thing to the next new resident of this town.


Everyone is so friendly here and I'm glad to be a part of this community.

The Colour of My Love

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite songs in the entire world. It is written by David Foster and sung by Celine Dion. It is called The Colour of My Love from the album of the same name. It's what I want for my love to be one day!
Here is a link to a video of the song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUgDBjBxflw&feature=related

and here are the beautiful lyrics and my favorite part of the song is the last paragraph...
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!!

Ill paint my mood in shades of blue
Paint my soul to be with you
Ill sketch your lips in shaded tones
Draw your mouth to my own

Ill draw your arms around my waist
Then all doubt I shall erase
Ill paint the rain that softly lands on your wind-blown hair

Ill trace a hand to wipe out your tears
A look to calm your fears
A silhouette of dark and light
While we hold each other oh so tight

Ill paint a sun to warm your heart
Swearing that well never part
Thats the colour of my love

Ill paint the truth
Show how I feel
Try to make you completely real

Ill use a brush so light and fine
To draw you close and make you mine

Ill paint a sun to warm your heart
Swearing that well never part
Thats the colour of my love

Ill draw the years all passing by
So much to learn so much to try

And with this ring our lives will start
Swearing that well never part
I offer what you cannot buy
Devoted love until we die

Bronx Zoo

On Thursday April 17, 2008 my friend Amira and myself went to New York to visit the Bronx Zoo. I woke up around 4:15 a.m. to get ready. Amira picked me up at 5ish and drove to the Hilton Casino to catch the 6:10 bus. We then had to stop at Caesars Casino to pick up other passengers and at 6:30 we were on our way. We talked for a little bit but soon drifted off to sleep as we were so tired. We arrived at Port Authority around 9. We then walked a couple of blocks to the subway and traveled to the zoo. We got there right around opening at 10. We got to see all kinds of animals. Giraffes, Lions, monkeys, flamingos, camels and even turtles. But I was most excited to see the zebra.

It wasn't all good, the only animal Amira wanted to see was the penguins. We thought we were missing them until we asked and the zoo was cleaning their area and they were out of sight until later in the day but we were all finished with everything at that time, so here is Amira's sad pic...

it was still early in the day and the day was beautiful so Amira came up with three alternatives: Cooney Island, The Brooklyn Bridge or Central Park. We decided on Central Park because it was so nice out. So on the subway Amira was looking at the map and saw the Statue of Liberty. We both wanted to do that so we did. We took the ferry ride over and the ride was great. Even got a little sun color on my face.

So then we headed back and appartently had the wrong schedule and missed our bus. Now the buses head to different casinos at different times. We needed to head back to the Hilton Casino. We even missed the second bus. We took the third bus which dropped us off at the Taj Mahal and Claridge Casinos because we didn't want to wait two hours for the next bus to the Hilton. Well if you know Atlantic City the walk was kind of far from the Claridge to the Hilton especially having walked ALL day.

I could go on and on about our day, like when my digital camera broke and we had to buy one of those disposal cameras (You should have seen me in the store trying to figure out what I needed to do to develope them). Or when I wanted cheese on my hot dog and the lady wouldn't even offer it as a side (thanks Amira) but the BEST part of the day is when we got home and Amira dropped me off in front of my home and handed me a gift...it was a little stuffed animal of a Zebra because she said I was so excited to see one she wanted me to have a special gift to remind me of the special day we shared. I wondered why she didn't buy a penguin but never put it together, now I know. I'm so lucky. Love you Amira!

Here is a poem that I wrote two days ago. Hope you enjoy it!

Clouds in the ocean

Waves in the sky

What makes us different

Is what makes us genuine

A broken leaf reaching,

Reaching for the warmth above

To the light

A reflection in the water

Shows us who we really are

Innocent

Beautiful

Loved

I took this picture of clouds many years ago so I thought I'd share it with my poem.

ChapStick

I'm sure you've all heard that yawning is contagious; if you watch somebody yawn then you will yawn too.

I saw on the news that people can be "addicted" to using ChapStick, Blistex, Carmex, etc.

Well I have noticed that if you use ChapStick if front of someone who uses it, then unconsciously they have to put some on their lips just like watching someone who yawns and then you yawn too. Assignment: if you know someone who uses such lip treatment, put your favorite on and watch them do the same within minutes, I'm telling you it's contagious. TRY IT!!!

My favorite happens to be the ChapStick Medicated Lip Balm. It tingles and I know it's working! I made this little ChapStick "ad" myself; that's me with the Ben Franklin Bridge connecting Philadelphia and New Jersey behind me.

HEY!!! this would make a great commercial with a great ad so if someone from ChapStick reads this please contact me, I'd love to see my idea "in lights".



Please tell me if you tried this experiment for yourself; if it worked, if it didn't work and also what you think of my "ad".

Looking forward to hearing from you ALL...

Smile and laugh today!!!