Friday Funny- It's Gettin' Snarky 'Round Here!

Here at Macaroni and Chicken Fingers, we're feeling the need to laugh more than ever. Or maybe we just really like to laugh. Did you see Karen's last post? There are far too many of those with which I identify. (No. I'm not telling which ones. So don't ask.) I recently discovered this humorous rant. I thought it was BRILLIANT on the part of the company, Bodyform. Not that I want a company to get ugly with anyone, but I thought this response was one of the best comebacks I've seen when someone goes on a facebook rant about their product. 

Make SURE you watch to the end. Well worth the laughter! 

Click HERE to laugh!

Yours, thinking about the men whose illusions will be shattered, and helplessly laughing,

Melissa

WHY WE COMPLAIN

Listen in on any women’s luncheon, or read an assortment of mommy blogs, or eavesdrop on a couple of women at their kid’s sports events, and you’re likely to hear them complain about something. It could be their husbands (usually!), their kids, their neighbors, their kids’ school, their contractor, their dog, anything. It doesn’t matter. Face it, women like to complain!

So why do we do it? Well…it’s fun! I mean, really, who wants to sit around and talk about how wonderful life is all the time? Or more importantly, who wants to listen to that? Haven’t you ever read a post on Facebook like, “Happy Birthday to my husband, the most wonderful man ever, who never does anything wrong. I’m so blessed to have you in my life, I’d die without you, I’d be nothing without you. You are my sun, my moon, my world. I love you babycakes.” Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but you’ve all seen them. Don’t those posts just make you want to THROW UP??? YUCK!!!

We all want to know that someone else’s life sucks more than ours, right? That’s the bottom line.

But there’s a fine line. We don’t want to be around people who complain ALL THE TIME. That just gets old really fast. So you gotta strike a balance. Don’t be too happy but don’t be too miserable.  Don’t have the perfect life, the perfect husband, the perfect kids, etc. Yet don’t make everything out to be the worst disaster EVER. That’s just as annoying! Be just right for your friends and they’ll want to be around you more!

Time to get back to my no-so-perfect life. The kids have a half day today. Hmmm, is that good or not so good? You decide!

Karen 

IS CUSTOMER SERVICE DEAD?

On the off chance some of you haven’t seen my rantings on Facebook this week, let me fill you in on my experience that began Sunday evening. My AT&T U-verse went out. At halftime. During Super Bowl. With a small party going on at my house. During Super Bowl. There was no picture on my TV. During Super Bowl. (Did I mention it was during Super Bowl? Sorry.)

So we missed all of the halftime show (although I understand we didn’t miss much) and part of the 3rd quarter while we kept resetting our cable box. Then it worked, then it didn’t, then it did, and so on for the rest of the game.

But here’s where it gets worse: I call AT&T the next morning to set up a service call. When I finally get to a real live person, the first thing she does is repeat my phone number back to me and asks if that’s a good call back number in case we get disconnected. Yes, it is, I replied. She asks for an alternate number “just in case.” I give her my cell number and think how thorough she is. We talk, she agrees I need a service call, she puts me on hold to set it up, and I wait. And wait. And wait. All the while, listening to very loud music. When suddenly, the music stops, and there is silence.

Hmm, that can’t be good, I think to myself. Nope, next thing I hear is clicks, and I know it’s all over. So I hang up and wait for her to call me back. Because, you know, she has TWO phone numbers for me, right? So I wait. And wait. And wait. And guess what? NO PHONE CALL!!!

So I’m getting REALLY PISSED! I pick up the phone and call AT&T back. The little electronic man recognizes my phone number and says, “I see you have a service appointment today between 4 and 9.”

REALLY???

‘CUZ I DIDN’T KNOW THAT!!!

What am I missing here? What happened to good old fashioned customer service? If you’re going to ask me for my phone number, then USE IT! Otherwise, just tell me that if we get disconnected, too bad, I’ll need to call YOU back. Then I won’t expect anything from you. And hey, if you schedule an appointment for me, then TELL ME!

Whew, okay, it’s time to let it go, Karen! The technician came, he fixed, he left. Hopefully my cable will work now. Next year, I’m going to Melissa’s house for Super Bowl!

Karen

Friday Funny... uhm, Def PG... or PG-13

I realize that I haven't been too funny lately. Sorry about that. I have to stick to my mantra: "If it's not fun, it doesn't get done!" Life's been a lot a lot a lot of work lately. I need to slip some more fun in there. Here's a few thing I've been giggling about this week, though:

1.) Okay, let me preface this with I absolutely KNOW it is COMPLETELY wrong to laugh about this.... but you have to admit, in the whole universal scheme of it all, it is pretty ironic.... But a few weeks ago, unfortunately, the owner of the Segway Company died. In a Segway accident. He drove the thing right off the cliff. Into a river. I'm not even kidding! I mean, you cannot make this stuff up. And you know what my thought was?

Hhmph. He's a shoe-in for The Darwin Awards this year!

2.) So it was early morning and the B family was all downstairs. I was in the kitchen with my Z1 (age 9) and Z2 (age 7). I ask them,"Where is your father?" to which they replied:

Z2: He's in the bathroom

and without missing a beat, Z1 adds:

Z1: Yeah, gettin' his load on.

BTW, Mom, what does "load" mean?

3.) And my favorite status update on fb this week, from an extremely talented musical student:

Nudist Cosmic Bowling- Balls everywhere!!! Bwahahahaha!!!

Yours, hoping you're still giggling,

Melissa

ARE THESE PEOPLE FOR REAL?

I love my children, really I do. But when I see people posting things on Facebook about how excited they are that it’s summer and they get to spend the next 3 months with their kids, I really have to wonder if I’m the worst mom in the world. Am I the only one who thinks summer break is WAY too long? A week, maybe two, would be great. But THREE MONTHS? With 2 nine year old BOYS? Who have to be MOVING AT ALL TIMES? I’m exhausted just thinking about it!

So do you think they really mean it? Maybe they have girls. Or maybe their kids are old enough that they don’t need constant supervision. (Not that I have to watch my boys at all times, but it’s not like I can go run errands and leave them at home by themselves obviously.) Personally, I think these moms just say these things on Facebook and to other moms to make themselves look better. Really, everybody has to feel SOME anxiety over having their schedules and lives uprooted for 3 months. It can’t be all wonderful. Can it? Maybe I’m missing something. Hmmmm.

Okay, I just looked downstairs. The housekeepers left only 15 minutes ago, and the house is already a wreck. Nope, I’m not missing anything!

Karen

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE

It occurred to me that I haven’t given you an update on my weight loss lately. I thought about this for 2 reasons. One is that I hit another major goal, but I’ll tell you about that in a minute. The other reason is that in my Weight Watchers meeting last week, the leader asked us about “going public” with our weight loss journeys. She was talking about whether we share with friends, etc, but here was me, chiming up saying “Oh yeah, I tweet and facebook about it. Heck, I even blog about my weight loss!” When everyone stared at me like I had grown horns, I explained that the more people who know, the more accountable I am to them, and the less likely I am to gain the weight back. I just don’t want to be embarrassed basically!

So here’s my latest weight loss update:

I’ve hit 40 pounds!!!

Just for fun, I thought I’d post all my different head shots that I’ve used over the past year or so for my profile pics. (I really show my weight loss in my face!) So here goes:

LOOK, I went from 3 chins to only 1!!!!

So that’s my self-pat-on-the-back for the day! Anyone else who needs a pat on the back, just post it here and you’ll get one from me!

Karen

WHY DID WE BUILD THIS BLOG AGAIN?

Every so often, I have to remind myself why Melissa and I started this blog. Oh yeah, it was to help us get the word out about our book! Well, obviously the blog has taken on a life of its own, and we don’t do a lot of book promoting here, but occasionally I need to get back to basics, so here I go!

In 2010, we are totally rebranding our book. This is a HUGE job. We are redoing our website (and eventually this blog also), renaming our book, redesigning our cover, and generally redefining who Karmel Publishing is and what our mission is.

No small job, right? Right! But necessary. And believe it or not, fun!

So far, we have renamed our book and redesigned our cover, and I wanted to share it with you, our faithful blog readers!

So, what do you think? Pretty awesome, right?

Also, I’ve set up a Fan Page on Facebook and would love it if you’d join. You can get there at http://www.facebook.com/thecaregiverorganizer, or by simply clicking on the badge to the right. (I’m getting pretty tech-savvy, aren’t I?) This fan page will keep you updated on how our progress is going with our rebranding effort, and will let you know when we have sales, etc. It’s still a work in progress, so let me know if you have any suggestions!

Oh, and be on the lookout for new books to be rolled out soon, too!

Karen

MY GOOF IS YOUR GAIN!!!

Last week I told you about a 50% off sale we are having on our book, By The Book: How To Take Care of MY Kids, and I was very specific in saying that it was a ONE WEEK ONLY promotion, right? And I really meant it! But then I asked my AWESOME Facebook business associates to help me spread the word about it (I love social media!), and when I told them the end date, I told them it was December 20th, instead of December 13th. (I swear I was looking right at the calendar when I typed this. I guess I didn’t know what day it was or something!)

So, I certainly can’t go back and tell all those people, and everyone they told, that I goofed and the promotion ended already (obviously!), so… drum roll, please…

BY THE BOOK IS 50% OFF FOR ONE MORE WEEK!!!

USE COUPON CODE BTBKHOLIDAY AT WWW.BYTHEBOOKKIDS.COM!!!

TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS!!!

Okay, now just so you don’t think I’m going all salesy on you, I have a cute story, sent in by my sister, Margee about her daughter, Emma. (Well, “sent in” might be an over-statement. Actually, she emailed it to me and I am taking the liberty of repeating it to all of you. Is that wrong?)

This morning while Emma was in the pantry looking for a snack to pack, she asked me what ‘virgin’ means. I was a little surprised, but proceeded to tell her the most common meaning of the word. She looked thoughtful, re-entered the pantry, and asked, “Then what is extra virgin olive oil?”

Next time I’ll ask her to use the word in a sentence first.

Karen

SO WHAT ARE YOU REALLY THANKFUL FOR?

I know this time of year we’re supposed to reflect upon all the things that we are thankful for, like our health, our families, etc, etc, etc. Not that I’m not thankful for these things, but I want to dig a little deeper and confess what I’m REALLY thankful for.

Here goes:

1. Saturday Morning Cartoons. I know, you’re thinking that those have been around forever. Well, not in my world, they haven’t. We weren’t allowed to watch cartoons in the mornings like everybody else in the world. Really! So to me, snuggling with my kids in bed on a Saturday morning, watching cartoons, is a real treat!
   
2. On-Line Banking. I admit it – I’m REALLY bad at paying bills. So the fact that I can wait until the very last minute and send it off via the internet and know that it will get there on time is a HUGE relief!
   
3. Drive Thru Pharmacies. I’ll admit this one, too – I’m really lazy! If I can accomplish an errand without actually leaving my car, I’m all for it.
   
4. Social Media. WOW, what a great place to meet new friends, find old friends, and market my book. I am amazed at how many really good friends I have on sites like Twitter whom I have never met, and probably never will, but we’d probably do almost anything for each other. And I’m thrilled at finding some friends from years and years ago on Facebook. They were never forgotten, but I certainly never thought they’d be in my life again. So, so glad they are (you know who you are, especially my Central School buds!).
   
5. Washable Markers and Paints. Need I say more?
   
6. Roomba (Robotic Vacuum). I HATE to vacuum, but now I can do it every day without lifting a finger. How awesome is that? DH programmed it, and it runs every morning at 9:00 am. Every so often it escapes where it’s supposed to be and picks up something it shouldn’t, but to occasionally look for it under a couch is a small price to pay!
   
7. Digital Cameras. Kids (and husbands) can take as many pictures as they want!
   
8. Mindless Books. When I read, I don’t want to learn anything. I just want to be taken away into a mystery or a steamy romance or a comedy. (Yes, I’m a book slut!) The most I want to think about is Whodunit or Whosgonnadoit? And there are PLENTY of books that fit the bill on this one!
   
9. Craig’s List. As long as you can avoid the scammers, it’s a great place to buy and sell. Especially those non-returnable impulse buys!
   
10. But, of course, all kidding aside, I’m thankful for my awesome family (yes, that includes my sisters and my girlfriends who are like sisters to me!), our good fortune and our good health. I never, ever lose sight of how truly lucky we are.
    

Karen

HACK, HACK, HACK…OY!

What in the heck is this world coming to? With every new product or service, come new criminals. And they are SMART! I’m on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, not to mention Ebay, Paypal and a few others. So far, my accounts on Facebook and Twitter have been hacked into, as well as my husband’s Ebay accounts. And not only do we have to deal with the actual hacking, but then we have to encounter CUSTOMER SERVICE (play Jaws theme music here).

So I’ll tell you a bit about the scams. On Twitter, it wasn’t so bad. Well, except for the personal violation of it all. But all the hacker did was pretend to be me and advertise some stupid “Get More Followers” system. Whatever. I deleted the tweets and changed my password.

But Facebook was WAY more personal. The hacker, posing as me, went online, found a friend who was also online and started IM-ing him. He tried to convince my friend that I was stranded in London and needed him to wire me $900 immediately. Luckily, my friend isn’t a total idiot, and called me first. But apparently this scam is so popular, Facebook has it’s own name for it – The 419 Scam. Here’s an article from MSNBC’s website on it. It also goes into how difficult it is to talk to Facebook’s Customer Service. Woops, did I say TALK? Forgive me for that blunder. Facebook has NO telephone support, only email support.

Okay, the business side of me says, “Well, it IS a free service after all.” But the personal side of me wants to know why, when they even have special names for scams, do they not have telephone support at least for these?

So let’s move on to Ebay. This has happened to my husband TWICE in a month. Somebody hacks into his account, sells a bunch of stuff under his user name, collects the money and never sends any product. So my DH gets bad feedback (and if you know anything about Ebay, you know that feedback is UBER important) and the threat of Ebay shutting down his account. BUT AT LEAST THEY HAVE TELEPHONE SUPPORT! (Okay, it’s in another country, but that’s a whole other blog post.)

Okay, I’ve ranted and raved enough about this. Thanks for indulging me. I do have a point to this though, and here it is:

To Hackers: You are so smart. Why not use your intelligence for good? You could be so successful in this technical world. I bet any of these sites would LOVE to hire you to protect themselves against people like you. I’m just saying…

Karen

Mission Accomplished

Well, I did it! I am now on Facebook, making my goal complete. Of course, I still need to figure out what I'm doing on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, but at least I'm there! Actually, I've "met" a bunch of people on Twitter already. It's amazing how total strangers, who have absolutely NO IDEA who you are, will start "following" you. If you think about it, that's a lot of pressure. These folks must think that I'll have something wise to say, something to help them on their journeys, or even something witty. So I get stressed out every time I "tweet." If I just want to say that I'm working on my blog... well, that's kind-of boring. How can I spice it up in 140 characters or less? What if my followers STOP following me? What if I'm not popular? OMG, IT'S HIGH SCHOOL ALL OVER AGAIN!!!

(Deep breaths, deep breaths.)

Okay, I'm fine now.

Okay, so now that I'm "connected" at all these sites, now I have to manage my time and make sure I don't spend too much time Tweeting or posting or whatever it's called. Believe it or not, that's hard to do. It's very addicting! And fun!

Karen