Why Won't the Scammers aka "Credit Card Services" Stop Calling?

I know I shouldn't answer the phone when I see a telephone number that that starts with "000" I should ignore it. I don't even though it is probably "Credit Card Services". I want to tell them again not to call and document that they are in violation of the "do not call" registry. Tonight at about 5:15, I see the number (637) 000-2238 on my caller id. I answer it, listen to the recording press the button to speak with someone, tell them to stop calling, that I have reported them several times in the past week and will do it again tonight. I told them that they were scammers and identity thieves and to take my name off their list and stop calling. He said they were not any of the things I said they were and that he'd be calling AGAIN! I told him in bad, bad language (left over from my days as a sailor) what he could do with himself. I thought he'd hangup but he didn't and then I did. I have already filed my new complaint with the "do not call" registry. One of these days they will be caught.

Did a Small, Quick Project Today

Today as I was keeping an eye on the worker who was fixing my oven, I decided that I needed a small project to work on because my kitchen is very small and the afghan I'm working on is getting pretty big. I went into the yarn warehouse (aka craftroom/extra bedroom) and grabbed a couple crochet-type magazines and a small bag of yarn odds and ends. I found this cute pattern for baby booties and so that's what I made. This pattern was easy and worked up fast. OK, I know I used Christmas colors but maybe someone will have a Christmas baby this year. :) Sorry the picture isn't very good, the lighting inside and outside is bad today. Here's the pic:

Pattern source: Voelker, Estelle. "Winner's Circle: Easy Baby Booties." Crochet World, June 2010: 6-7.

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern 31 January 2011

Because I love to crochet, I often get teased about not having a crocheted toilet tissue cover. Well folks, that's somewhere on the list of to-do projects. I'll get to it one of these days.  Here's a sweet looking one with a flower on it. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for stopping in. Hugs to all...

Forgot My Oven is O.O.C.

I had taken a big turkey breast out of the freezer and defrosted it. I was looking forward to having a big meal tonight. I forgot my oven is out of commission until Monday when the repairman comes AGAIN, this time with the parts. So I had to use some good ol' Yankee ingenuity down here in Kentucky and figure out how I was going to fix it. So

I plopped it in the electric skillet...

to brown it. Then...

I put it in the crock pot with a little water and seasonings. I got a late start with it so we'll have it tomorrow with some stuffing, veggies and biscuits with honey butter. Yum!

So that's today's damage control. Hope y'all are having a nice weekend. Hugs...

Need to Finish a Few Projects...BUT Really Wanna Make This!

I have a deadline to meet with the afghan I'm currently crocheting. Last night I was dropping stitches left and right and had to do some frogging a few times--once I had to frog FIVE rows! Gee whiz, where was my concentration at? Anyway, I bought myself Twinkie Chan's Crochet Goodies for Fashion Foodies with a Christmas gift card. There is a very cute pattern in this book for a popcorn scarf. I really, really want to make it for my dil who works in a movie theater. I need to stay focused, I really need to stay focused and get a few other wips and ufos finished before starting a new project. Why do crochet designers make such cute, tempting patterns? ;)

See, it really is a cute scarf

This is the book it is from.

Two More Calls from the Scamming "Credit Card Services"

I made someone mad the other day. Credit Card Services has called TWICE today! I have filled out THREE reports, this week, with the Do Not Call registry on them because each time the call comes from a different telephone number. Here's my last entry on them. I also added the new telephone numbers they used (see comments). This time I called my telephone company too and info'd them that their phone security has been breeched--someone is STEALING phone numbers from them.

"Credit Card Services" = Identity Thieves

• Do NOT trust these people. 

• They are NOT a reputable company. 

• They are IDENTITY THIEVES.

Scammers Are Calling AGAIN! BEWARE of "Credit Card Services"

Some of you who have been reading my blog for a while may remember that I am having a war with a scamming company called Credit Card Services. They call you and promise to lower your credit card interest rates. OK, the first problem is, it is NEVER a good idea to give out credit card information over the phone unless you initiate the call to a business that you KNOW is reputable. The second problem is the number that shows up on the caller id LOOKS BOGUS-- (637) 000-2238. The 3rd problem is I have asked them many, many times to STOP CALLING ME, but they don't. For more information google their name or the telephone number I've given you and  see all the complaints about them. Once again, I registered a complaint with the Do Not Call folks. Today I told these idiots that they were predatory scammers and that I reported them before and was going to do it again. I told them that I was telling them AGAIN to take me off their call list. Their call came in shortly before 1 this afternoon and by 1, I was filling out the form to report them.

There is still plenty of time to crochet your fur-baby a bit of crocheted bling for Valentine Day. A pretty collar of hearts would look really pretty for your K-9 Valentine (oooh, that rhymed, I'm a poet). Have fun...

Note: This is Opi before he became a "chunky monkey." :)

Found an Interesting Butterfly Looming Blog...

Small Butterfly Loom

Have any of you seen the butterfly looms? I fell in love with the idea of making some beautiful afghans with them and when Annie's Attic had them on deep-discount several years ago I bought 3 or 4 different sizes. They're now sitting in my "yarn warehouse" gathering dust! After seeing this new-to-me blog, I will be dusting mine off and putting them to use after I finish up a few crochet wips! Check out the Butterfly Loom Blogspot and see some great projects and how-to videos.

Search Amazon.com for butterfly loom

Nellie is Kickin' Back with Dad...

Just thought I'd share this cute picture of Nellie Belle. This is the position you'll see her in most nights as she cuddles in the recliner by her "daddy" and gets her belly tickled... :)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Search Amazon.com for chihuahua calendar 2011 (several versions/prices are available)

The Granddaughter of My Heart Models New Winter Set

This young lady became my great-granddaughter when my son married her nana. She was 4 then and now she's a special young lady of 12! When she came over today, I took the opportunity to snap a photo of her wearing the hat and scarf I made her for Christmas. I know you've seen a picture of it before but this time someone is wearing it! Here she is....

Oh, and when she comes to see grandma, we sometimes work on her blog. 

Nellie Braved the Cold to Greet Her Daddy

I couldn't resist sharing this photo of Nellie Belle and Ray with you. There are a couple more pictures of the chi kids, ready to greet Ray after work, on their blog.

Look--Ray brought in the mail too--An Annie's Attic Catalog!

Search Amazon.com for annies attic mysteries

Opened Another Blog

I decided to keep this blog as my family/crochet blog. I opened a new blog to have a place for topics of history, current events and that sort of thing. It is called Little Looks at History. I'm not going to move things from here to there so it's pretty empty right now but I hope you'll stop in every now and then for a visit.

Hobby Lobby 40% Off Coupon.

40% Off Coupon--Good through January 22nd.
Hobby Lobby's ad, good through January 22nd.

What's Going on in My Crochet World?

I'm working on a granny ripple afghan. My other projects have been put on hold because there is a time limit on this one--I plan to give it to a dear aunt and uncle. They don't know about it so shhh if you know them. ; ) I'm enjoying the use of neutral colors. I never thought I'd say that! I had gotten so used to white walls when we moved around in the military that I have gone crazy with color when we finally settled in our own home. My big mistake was when I picked a color for our bedroom that I thought resembled terracotta but it ended up looking like we were living inside a CARROT! That lasted a few years and I now have a soft-blue colored bedroom that is perfect. Anyway, I'm jabbering on here about carrots and colors and what I really wanted to do is show you how far I've gotten on this project. Sometimes I take part in the WIP Wednesday over at Every Day Crochet but I don't think she's doing it this week. Oh, and finally, here's the picture:

Affordable Health Care Act

Is anyone interested in the almost 1000 page Affordable Health Care Act? It's rather lengthy and full of political double talk but it is available for you to read and lookup answers to your questions. I would really appreciate knowing what it entails but I just don't have the wherewithal to read the entire thing! Anyway, I thought it was important to know where it is.

Japanese Companies and the U.S.: A Shared Dark History

Picture from here

This post is about something that has caused me a large loss of confidence in our country's protection and appreciation of our veterans. When I was in college, I wrote my senior thesis on some of the POWs , formerly of the heavy cruiser Houston, held by Japan. I learned that many of the POWs had not only been used as slave labor to build the bridge on River Kwai, but also used as slave labor in many industries that are well known today. The businesses were never penalized for their treatment of our men. If you follow this link you can see a short video about this (embedding for this video is not allow; that's why you need to follow link). I read of this in my research in a book by Linda Goetz Holmes titled Unjust Enrichment: How Japan's Companies Built Postwar Fortunes Using American POWs. The U.S. government has consistently forbidden former POWs from suing these Japanese companies. What can we do to put a hurting on them? We can stop buying any products made from these companies and to be sure that they're not making money off of Americans just stop buying ANYTHING made in Japan. It is shameful that our own country won't force Japan to pay reparations to our heroes when we paid reparations to the Japanese Americans who were were sent to relocation camps. Is a military person any less deserving than a civilian? I don't think so. Perhaps our country should pay the survivors instead of Japan. Unfortunately, there are few survivors left so we better get a move on before they're all gone.


More articles on this topic:

• How the Japanese Used American POWs as Slave Labor
• POW Forced Labor Lawsuits Against Japanese Companies
• Mitsubishi WWII Slave Labor
• Survivors of Japan's WWII Death Camps
• WWII forced labor issue dogs Aso, Japanese firms
• POW compensation bill: Significance for Japan
• Allied POWs Under Japan

Search Amazon.com for Unjust Enrichment: How Japan's Companies Built Postwar Fortunes Using American POWs

Yesterday Ray and I Celebrated Our Anniversary

24 years ago yesterday, Ray and I were married. We didn't have a big to-do, we were both in the navy. I was stationed on a ship, the USS Ajax, and Ray's ship, the USS New Orleans, was temporarily in the yards in San Francisco. He flew to San Diego for the weekend, we got married and he went back to Frisco the next day. The following weekend he came back to San Diego and we rented an apartment and set up housekeeping although in the beginning neither of us spent much time at home. It was nice to have a home to go to away from our ships when we were able to get there. Here's a picture of us on our wedding day (couldn't find the original only this one I played around with). See, I told you it wasn't a big to-do. :)

Tonight Ray came home with these beautiful roses--

Next year we'll have our silver anniversary. Where has the time gone?

Quick Note

FYI I have a new page listed in my blog's header. It is a page of links to free patterns for dog sweaters/coats. If you notice that a link is broken, please let me know and I'll investigate. Enjoy...

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern 17 January 2010

Step aside Cake Boss because today's free pattern link is for a non-caloric, high fiber cake that will last practically forever! OK, enough chattering, here's the pattern. Enjoy!