Fun Friday!

Oops, I think that this meme forgot to mention "Watch Laverne & Shirley" on tv ...

What is a "Fetch"?

The very first time that I had ever heard of a "fetch" was quite a few years ago when I read it in a book written by a professional journalist named Patricia Kennealy who was a witch of Irish descent and also spoke ancient Gaelic. She mentioned it only briefly in one chapter of her book, but it caught my attention.

So what exactly is a "fetch"? A fetch, based in Irish folklore, is a supernatural double or an apparition of a living person. The sighting of a fetch is regarded as an omen, usually for impending death.

The fetch is described as an exact, spectral double of a living human, whose appearance is regarded as ominous. As such, it is similar to the Germanic doppelgänger and to some conceptions of the British wraith. My Wiccan High Priestess friend of many years, Lady Sabrina Rhiannon, described it as a type of metaphysical form of "projecting".

Now that being said, I have a true story to share with all of you. Several years ago, my husband was shoveling snow in our driveway and left the garage door open. I was working on a project in the living room and never left the couch. 

After my husband was finished shoveling the snow outside, he walked into the living room and asked me, "What were you doing in the garage?" I said, "I never went out into the garage. In fact, I never left the living room." Then he said, "Well, I saw someone and it looked like you!" He had a rather confused look on his face, as did I. 

I decided to share this little story with Lady Sabrina Rhiannon in order to get her thoughts on it. My husband is agnostic and does not believe in the spiritual or metaphysical realm which is why I thought it even more strange because he was so certain that he saw me that night and he would have never said anything if he had not been convinced it was me he saw. 

Lady Sabrina Rhiannon believes that what my husband actually saw was "ME" projecting and most likely not a "fetch" as that is usually associated with a type bad premonition. 

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(Patricia Kennealy: March 4, 1946 ~ July 21, 2021)

Wordless Wednesday

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And so it continues ...

On the morning of April 24th, I FINALLY received an email message back from Ms. Heide of BareNaturALL via ETSY conversation. The message was as follows:

"Dear Kimberly,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We are sorry to hear about the issue you experienced with your order and understand your frustration. However, we would like to clarify that we did offer a replacement for the item you purchased without any conditions attached.

As a seller, we take pride in providing excellent customer service and always strive to ensure our customers are satisfied with their purchases. We do not condone or tolerate any personal attacks or insults towards our staff, and we kindly ask that you refrain from using such language in the future.

We appreciate your business and hope to have the opportunity to serve you again in the future.

Sincerely,

Lili"

MY reply back:

"YES, there most certainly WAS a condition attached! That condition was that I make yet another purchase from you and only then would you send me a so-called "no additional cost to me" replacement!! So, that makes you a liar, Ms. Heide and that alone says a lot about your Company. That is not an attack, that is simply the truth. I WANT MY MONEY BACK! And I do not tolerate being exploited."

Today, I escalated this issue with Pay Pal. They sent an email message to the seller informing them that they have until May 5th to respond. I was not able to submit my saved email conversations with Lili Heide (the seller) because it took up too many characters in the explanation section, but I did submit the pic I had taken of the empty envelope along with her enclosed card I received and also sent to the seller that very same day. In addition, I submitted to Pay Pal the following statement:

"I have saved the email communications sent to me from Lili Heide of BareNaturALL on ETSY where time after time she

proceeds to inform me that she will "replace my mascara with no additional cost to me" on the condition that I agree to purchase something else from her ETSY site. She claims in her last email to me dated April 24th that she "did offer a replacement for the

item" I purchased "without any conditions attached." which as her previous emails clearly prove that is most certainly not true. I would be more than happy to submit them to you!"

Pay Pal also informed me that it can take up to 30 DAYS to make their decision which is ridiculous. I only pray that THEY do the right thing, but I have little optimism regarding it.

So this is what happened ...

On April 5th, I ordered an item from one of the sellers on ETSY, Lili Heide from her business located in Toronto, Canada called Bare Naturall. As stated in the email sent to ETSY from Pay Pal, I received an empty package containing only the sellers business card. I immediately contacted her and even sent her a picture of what I received in the mail. After several communications with her via emails, she refused to replace the item I had already bought and paid for claiming that the package must have been opened or damaged in the mail and proceeded to tell me that she would ONLY replace my merchandise IF I placed another order from her Etsy site! THIS is unacceptable! She literally stole my money and exploited the situation by refusing to replace the merchandise I bought from her! I want my money back and had to open a claim with Pay Pal who is awaiting the sellers' response. This woman is not only unethical, she is a crook!

I immediately contacted Pay Pal (whom I used to pay the seller) in order to open up a resolution claim to try and get my money back from this bogus, dishonest seller. They sent ETSY a message regarding this matter on April 13th and they are STILL awaiting Ms. Heide's response. If the matter can not be resolved then I have the option to escalate the claim - whatever that entails? I was told by Pay Pal that it would have to be escalated BEFORE May 3rd or else the claim will be closed and it can not be re-opened.

When you order something off of the ETSY site, they send you a message informing you that you can write a review after a certain time from the date the item was ordered. Since I ordered the item on two separate occasions, I was able to post my review TWICE.

Ah, ya sure 'bout that? ... (my review posted on ETSY):

"I liked the mascara; however the the seller's business ethics leave a lot to be desired. I ordered a second mascara and when it arrived the envelope was EMPTY containing only Lili's business card. I contacted her and even sent her pics of what I had received in the mail that very same day. She refused to send me a replacement for what I had already bought and paid for UNLESS I agreed to order something else from her. So now she has my money and I have nothing. Instead of keeping me as a return customer and showing good faith by replacing the product I had paid for, she chose to resort to exploitation. This is unacceptable! I had no choice but to open up a claim against her. She is nothing short of a crook! DO NOT trust her!"

You know, when I worked in an office, we were told that if you have one unhappy customer, that customer will tell at least 10 other people about their bad experience. 

Weekend Happenings

Happy Sunday all! It has been quite a hectic week for me. A baby shower for a co-worker, yet another doctor appointment to take my mom to, and a case filed against a bogus seller on Etsy (more on that at a later time).

I baked two boxes of cupcakes - one batch on Wednesday night after work and another batch on Thursday night ...

Confetti cakes (top) and Red Velvet with vanilla icing and pearl sprinkles (above).

On Thursday night, I picked my mom up after work and she stayed overnight at my house (as usual whenever she has a doctor appointment the next morning). She has a frozen wrist and very little movement in her arm on her right-hand side. This all began when she fell and shattered her right wrist a couple of years ago and has been an on-going nightmare ever since! At any rate this particular appointment was for her first round of Botox injections which involved five doses in several different areas of her arm. The idea is to relax her muscles in order to give her a bit more movement. No guarantees but it is the last hope she has at this point anymore. Fingers crossed that it works.

Yesterday, my sister Aurora Skye and I decided to have a girl's afternoon out together for lunch and a shopping excursion. I found an awesome book at Barnes & Noble. It is the perfect book for Astrology charts! I have an old edition but it only goes up to the year 1980. This book goes all the way up  to the year 2100! It is filled with extensive information regarding the zodiac signs, planets, moons, ascendants, etc. 

We love checking out all of the unique items sold at a place called, "Shady Maple" which is a huge smorgasbord restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We did not eat there, but their rather amazing gift shop downstairs is well worth checking out! I brought home some really cool jewelry ...

Another place we stopped at was "The Mint Leaf" where I purchased this pretty little top ...

And skirt ...

While we were out shopping, my husband was at "The Dollar Tree" and picked up a couple of new pot holders and mermaid decorations for me ....

Wishing everyone a good week!

Not for the faint of heart ...

My dad always used to tell us, "Growing old is not for the faint of heart." And as with most things that he would tell us, he was right. As we age it stands to reason that our health will decline - it is just a matter of what part our body and how much will we have to endure of our health issues. 

With me, it started a couple of years ago when I was diagnosed with arthritis throughout my entire body (something my dad suffered with until the day he died along with heart disease) and osteoporosis all over my body as well (something my mom also suffers from). 

This past Monday, I had an appointment with my PCP and she finally had to put me on blood pressure meds. My blood pressure was consistently high - between 160's and 180's. Since my doctor believes (as do I) that it is always better to try a natural solution first rather than throw prescription meds at her patients, we tried that route first, but it was not working well enough hence the meds. I am currently taking one 50mg tablet of Losartan Potassium a day. So far it has been working well. My blood pressure went from 160/100 the day of my appointment to 143/82 by Wednesday and today it is down to 136/70. I was told that this is a very non-aggressive drug so it will not damage my kidneys. 

My dad also used to say, "It is what it is." ...

This and That

Happy Monday all! As I mentioned in my previous post, my mom, my MIL, my husband and I had a nice holiday dinner at The Heidelberg Family Restaurant yesterday. This restaurant has been open for many years and is rather unique in our area. The ceiling has a running train and tracks ...

A snapshot of my mom and I ...

Our holiday flag ...

And a couple of pics of Chester who greeted us in front of our garage door after we returned home from dinner ...

On Saturday, I went to the grocery store to pick up some baking items for a surprise baby shower at work this coming Friday ...

Have a wonderful week, friends!

Weekend Happenings

 

Blessed Sunday and Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate this holiday! I, personally, do not celebrate Easter as I am Wiccan and prefer to celebrate Ostara/Spring Equinox instead. However, since it is a tradition with my both mine and my husband's family we will be having an early evening dinner at a local restaurant called "The Heidelberg". 

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Getting ready for Spring!

Yesterday, my sister Aurora Skye and I ventured out for a bit of Spring shopping. We went to our local Yankee Candle Store and I found three large jars, a new Luma Lid for them, and a Spring Bunny votive candle holder ...

Another place we stopped off at was Barnes & Noble Bookstore. We are always looking for what clearance books and such that they have on sale. I picked up this really GOOD Chinese Astrology book for only $5.00! 

I was born in the Year of the Dragon - specifically, I am a Wood Dragon. I found it QUITE interesting that a lot of the information regarding my sign aligned almost perfectly with my Western Astrology sign of Pisces!

I could not resist buying this adorable Game of Thrones bookmark!

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Another really cool book I bought was, "The Essential Dream Journal" ...

This journal has lots of pages filled with detailed questions and great ways to keep track of your dreams!

My left-over cheesesteak with Old Bay Chips and a pickle from our lunch at "Ganly's Pub" (today's lunch) ...

I still have to finish decorating my house with my Spring things, but for today, I am still working on my Spring cleaning. I finally bought a set of drawers at "Staples" to replace the three small ones I have been using for my office supplies.

Before ...

After ...

That will have to do for now. I will post more Spring pics after I have finished getting them down from the attic.

Have a good week everyone!