For Christmas I got these two little aquatic frogs that live in this enclosed little ecosystem. There is a piece of live bamboo in there, the two frogs, and a tiny little snail that I guess cleans up after them. There is a tiny little hole at the top of it to drop these little frog food pellets into twice a week, so I guess it’s not a completely self sufficient ecosystem. The frogs names are Youki and Astarte but… I can’t tell them apart. I assume Astarte is the pretty one LoL

I’ve had the semi-enclose systems before with non-aquatic frogs but they never lasted very long. And those ecosystems always looked so plastic and small and sad. I felt bad for the frogs. The aquatic one just seems nicer. And hey, I’ve had them for half a year now and they’re still alive, that amazing for me

I have them sitting on my desk. I think the kids would prefer if they were in a more traffic heavy place, but I like to watch them when I’m working online and zoning out or drawing a blank. I’m considering getting another tank for the kids. I’ve had aquatic frogs before in a fish tank, but this enclosed system seems to be a lot easier to maintain. So… to conclude… two thumbs up for enclosed aquatic ecosystems!!

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Right now Target has a line called “Liberty of London” and it’s just a bunch of stuff made with these old vintage patterns. For my birthday I got a gift card to Target and outside of a couple of items I bough for the kids, I’ve bought myself several of these Liberty of London items.

I bought some rain boots (but thats another blog for another day) and an umbrella and a cute tank top. And then I ordered a robe and pair of pajamas online. I really liked them in the store but by the time I had the gift card they only had smalls and mediums left and alas… I am a large or x-large.

Well I had a package from Target in the mail last night and I ripped it open very excitedly. Unfortunately… it was only the robe. I guess the nightgown was on back order and it’ll ship some time the middle of next week. That was kinda sad

The good news is the robe is even nicer that I was expecting. Its a super thin gauzy fabric, it’ll be great for summer. And despite me being on the bigger side, it fits well and looks great. I really like it. I can’t wait for the other half of my order to arrive!

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Last week the kids had Monday off of school for Memorial Day. The museum in Oshkosh was also having a free day on Monday so I thought it might be something fun to do on their day off. It was pretty fun. It’s not a huge place but it did take us about 90 mins to get though it all, and that’s with Bradley pushing us along… mighta taken twice as long if it was just Alexa!

I’ve had a red paper lantern hanging in my office for years now. I called it my “Dyson Sphere”, because there was usually a little star ship hanging close to it “orbiting” around it. I had bought it at (I think) Target, and always kinda wished I had more, especially in this place I rent where almost all the rooms are lamp-lit (no built in lighting.)

On our way out of the museum the kids asked if we could stop in the gift shop, so we did. The had three very large hanging paper lanterns in there. The lady said that they had been used for one of the displays, and now they just wanted to get rid of them. They were $4 each, so I bought all three. I wasn’t able to find the lights for inside of them at Wal-Mart so I order some bulbs on cords online. I might have had better luck with a store like home depot but that would have required a lot more driving.

I now have one of the new paper lanterns hanging in my office and another in my room. The third one I haven’t found a place for yet. I’m thinking for that price, I don’t mind if I just have to store it until I move somewhere bigger. Anyway, I was pleased with my purchase. I didn’t *need* more paper lanterns exactly, but I’m always up for acquiring new cool stuff

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Ok I had these shoes several years ago that I really really really liked.  My mother has an entire closet with little wooden boxes in it dedicated to shoes because she has so many.  I’m not like that.  I tend to have one or two pairs I like that I just wear to death… and then a pile of ones I don’t like in the back of my closet never to be worn again!

Anyway, back to the story…  They were these really flat Chinese shoes, I don’t even remember where I had bought them.  They had a black velvet top and a mary jane style.  They were almost a glorified slipper.  They had a hard sole but they were very light and flimsy almost.

So I loved these shoes but eventually they started to fall apart, as shoes do when you wear the same pair all the time.  I had looked for awhile to replace them but never found anything like them.

Fast forward ahead a couple years to last week.  I found them in my closet and though “Damn, I want a pair like these again” and started searching the web!  Well… I found them  I now own not only a black velvet pair (like my original pair were) but a burgundy velvet pair and a black canvas pair.  I’ve never been so pleased about shoes in my life, I’m normally not a shoe person.

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Why not make my first post my tragic Paypal story.  Ok… a couple months ago I decided I was going to learn to speak Chinese (don’t ask) so I went on ebay and started looking for Rosetta Stone software.  I had heard good things, but it’s rather expensive so I thought maybe I could get it on ebay for a little less.

Finally I find one, its for levels 1, 2 and 3 for $150, which is a really good price.  So I bought it, and payed (via Paypal) right away.

The next morning I had an email waiting for me when I woke up.  Ebay had closed the auction because of the seller’s suspicious activities.  Unfortunately it was too late for me, cuz I had already paid.  When I logged into Paypal I saw that a dispute had already been opened.

A couple days later I get a CD in the mail.  Well, it *was* my software but it was a bootlegged copy of the software with instructions on the CD for how to crack it.  Not what I wanted.  So I reported to Paypal that an item did arrive, and that it was an illegal bootlegged copy.  In retrospect I should have just waited the 30 days an not mentioned that I ever received an item.  Oh well.

I was told I needed to spend my money to send the CD back to the seller if I wanted a refund.  I was given his address and a page to enter my tracking number once it had been sent.  Except he didn’t give a real address.  In fact the address had neither a city or a state, and an invalid zip code (which I discovered after a 30 mile trip to the UPS store.)

I explained to Paypal that I couldn’t send it back, because it wasn’t a real address.  They told me that I needed proof that I couldn’t send it back.  Huh?  After several emails I convinced them to actually LOOK at the address.

I was given another address.  I went to the USPS and shipped it off, it cost me about six bucks.  I came home to enter my tracking number, but I could no longer get to that screen.  I mailed three times before I was told I would need to fax in my tracking stub.

The fax number provided was an Australian number.  After talking to three different people and being on hold for some time, I finally got the US number.  I faxed it in, this cost another two bucks.

Three days later (it’s been almost 2 months since my original order at this point) I was told that the information I provided was insufficient to prove that the item had been returned.

My case was closed, and my $150 was gone.

Less than a week later the bootlegged CD package was returned to me, because the new address provided had also been a non-existent address.  Probably why they couldn’t confirm delivery.

You can imagine my opinion of ebay/Paypal’s “Buyer Protection Program.”

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