Friendly Friday - Oh deer

When I am at the golf course, I usually don't take my phone out to check messages until after I am done.  But sometimes there are some interesting object around the course that you have not choice but to take a photo.  During our weekly golf around the 17th tee box, a very special deer was sitting in the shade very comfortable and relaxed.  That's when I decided to take my phone out and take a photo.  The subject or object was very cooperative and was not concerned about the closeness of humans.  I am talking about the deer around the course.  We see them a lot sometimes as many as 8 usually comprised of a couple of buck, mama deer and a few little ones.  I love the ones with the spots who are still learning how to jump.  They look so graceful and every playful.  Anyway, here's some photos to share.

One of my buddies tried to give her a pear to snack on.

Shortly after I took this one, a couple of big bucks was coming to check if everything was ok.

Oh these are the wild turkeys - are they trying to hide from the Canadian Thanksgiving.

 

Tricky Tuesday - Cucumber surpise

Who doesn't want a surprise.  I don't think I know anyone who don't like surprises.  Ooops

yes I do know.  My husband does not like surprises.  But actually I am not talking about that kind of surprise.  As you know summer is over and technically Fall has arrived.  The garden in our backyard is showing some of the signs.  Like the yellow squash plant leaves have been turning brown and the squash is not growing any bigger.  Most of the tomatoes have been harvested but I was surprise to see several cucumbers popping up.  At first I thought there were no other ones since we have harvested the last one.  So yesterday, I decided to go out and check out how the rest of the plants are doing.  Wait a minute, what are those green things, they look like cucumbers.  Yes and there were at least six more under their leaves.

Of course, I call Jeff and get all excited to see if he can find as many as what I have seen. You can do it also because I took some photos to share.

 

Sanitary Sunday - Completed and Delivered

After a couple of weeks of sewing a few hours a day, I finally completed more of those washable sanitary pads.  Today they are having an open house/fund raising event/awareness which unfortunately I cannot attend due to previous commitment. This time I have only completed a little over 40 pads because I ran out of fabrics and other supplies.  Since it was not just myself that is sewing pads, we were only required what we can complete.  Yesterday I met the wonderful lady from Cameroon.  She was truly appreciative of all the work we have done.  After our introduction, the coordinator approach me about another project which I am very interested in helping.  This time we will be making simple backpack and I can't wait to get my designs started.  She told me that there was no requirement for a specific fabric, etc.  Whatever we can contribute would be better than nothing which is what the have at the moment.  These are the photos of the pads as well as what I plan to start creating with regards to the backpack.  It is very rewarding to know that what I have created is helping the women from poorer country.

Extra inserts for the case below.

Something similar to this size and pattern.  I will be using some of my scrap fabrics.

Frustrating Friday - First it was UPS now FEDEX

And I thought they were the better shipping company, actually now I consider them the worst because they were secretive about the extra Clearance Service fees they charge on top of the shipping cost.  It was very stressful dealing with them because the 800 line will just keep passing you to different departments and not get anything resolved.  The local store where I went to ship three different packages (two for my daughter and one to my friend) did have additional charges as high as $35.00 and one is $6.17 which pays the Fedex Broker to do whatever he did.  After making several phone calls and going to the store, I decided to just complete the forms the I found online to dispute the charges due to their error.  On the commercial invoice I declared $25 and the employee changed it to $99 as they cover as much as that for insurance purposes.  What they don't realize is that now I have to pay the fees based on that total value of the package.  Here's the how they calculate the fees.

Duty Value Range	Fee Charged
$0-$20	$0
$20.01-$40	$7.00
$40.01-$60	$15.45
$60.01-$100.00	$19.30
$100.01-$150.00	$25.50

So here's how they calculate the $35.51 charge.  As you can see because Fedex declared $99

the fee is$25.50 then they added the Ontario PST which is $13.17 and additional service fee of $2.53  According to the Canada Customs website, there is no duty of personal gift that is less than $60 Canadian funds.  

My question is, how comes UPS does not charge all of the cost I mentioned above.  The good old Unites States Postal Service maybe a little higher cost of mailing to Canada but they do not have any hidden fees, broker fees and no stinking Ancialliary Service Fees.

The trick that I got suck into is that I had to opened a Fedex Account and provide my credit card in order to use the Fedex ground services.  Now they are just having a hey day charging my card with all of these fees that I get after my package has been delivered.  I was not advise about this prior to me using their services other wise I would have not done all the above and just continued using USPS or even UPS even after I trash them when they lost one of my package.  

I HATE FEDEX  and to all my readers and followers, before you use their services, please make sure you have asked all the questions and keep all your receipts and any other documents just in case they send you all sorts of invoice after the fact. I HATE FEDEX.

Oh I almost forgot, when Jeff was expecting a package that was being sent by FedEx, according to their tracking system, it showed that an attempt to deliver the package on a special date and time was unsuccessful.  Jeff was working home all day and can see from the window if there was someone coming to the door.  Then when Jeff called them, they lied about it also.  Since they don't deliver on weekends, Jeff had to wait for a few more days. Apparently, Jeff never liked FedEx either, but since he has no choice when he is ordering items on line, some companies use Fedex and each time they are involve something goes wrong.  I HATE FEDEX.

Threading Thursday - The lost art of hand embroidery

Do you have anything at home, in your kitchen or bathroom or bedroom that has some type of hand embroidery?  Do you know how to do this lost art?  Do you know someone that still does this type of stitching?  Today, I would like to feature my MIL who has been doing this art of many many years.  In fact she still has embroidery threads that were passed on to her by her mother.  These threads are made from France and I am not sure if you can still buy them here in the USA.  You might find this a bit odd, but Jeff at the age of 10 was helping his mom to do some sort of embroidery.  Lately I have been asking my MIL to help out with some of my kitchen towel projects that I am using as gifts to friends.  She has done some embroidery on pillow case, handkerchief but lately more on kitchen towels.  I usually do the design, drawing it on the fabric using black pen but sometimes my MIL uses the iron-on type.

The towel is made of 100% cotton and the size is great for the kitchen.

These are just some samples of her threads but she a cabinet with many colors.

My MIL uses special needles, hoops and very sharp scissors.

 

This is the latest towel that she has finished.

 

Last step is to pick a fabric that goes as the border for the bottom of the towel.

 

Maybe Monday - Golf Fix Lesson

Do you remember the expression "you can't teach old dogs new tricks"?  Well, I guess in golf you can.  After three years of my last golf lesson, I decided to take another one just to see if something can be tweaked to improve my game just a tad.  It took a bit of contemplating on whether to take in the golf course where we play or find some other instructor at another site.  Since we have been playing our weekly golf at the one close by my house, I decided to inquire.  Finally a couple of weeks ago, I met with Kevin.  Just in case you are wondering how I picked him as the instructor.  Remember my favorite minion, his name is Kevin.  My hairstylist is named Kevin.  So why not pick one with the same name.  OK maybe some people would pick according to their experience, etc.  I did my research and with some recommendations, Kevin was the man.  We have met twice and the result is amazing.  I know I need to practice what he has done not only on the course but on the range.  What was great about Kevin is that he did not give me TMI.  He also did not change a lot of my habits, etc.  What he did was to keep it simple and only a few things to remember.  His technique of teaching was very easy to understand.  At times he would compare some process to my baking. Very interesting but I get it.  Now all I have to do is practice what I have learned.  So maybe you can still teach old dogs (me) a few tricks.  Hopefully someday I'll get to do this.

 

Sumptous Saturday - Treats for a friend

About a month ago I started teaching my new friend Pam to shoot pool.  Can you believe that I am showing her how to be better at pool/billards.  So far we have met for about an hour, once a week and I know that she is getting better with some of the shots.  Last week she mentioned she was having a party for her son and his girlfriend.  It was going to be a proposal party.  She would have some of the food catered as she does not have time to prepare.  I had offered her that I will make her some treats for this very romantic party for her son.  She requested a couple of items that she has tasted before when I brought her small pieces of the treats I make.  Of course I took photos so I can share them with you.  I know they are all yummy because Jeff is my tester for anything sweet.  Hey, wait a minute, this could be Jeff's job when he retires - DT - dessert tester.  He loves sweets and now I can understand why he is such a sweet guy.  When he helps with my baking, I made sure he gets to try the end pieces or the imperfect ones. Hopefully Pam will have enough for her 40 guests.

Six Layer Bar

Mini pecan pie

Mini Apple crumble walnut pie

Coconut macaroons