Iowa Winter Essential: Rain Boots

Posted on January 20, 2010 by OuOu

I like to wear my sheepskin boots when the weather is dry in fall, winter and spring . When the weather is wet and filled with slushy snow, like today, forget about heels, sheepskin boots, or whatever…

“Mayday, mayday, we are going down, please send some help!”

Freezing rain

CAPTAIN SPERRY, where are you?

Ta.. ta... ta! Captain Sperry sweetheart comes to my rescue, keeping my feet dry

I heart my winter troop: Hunter, Sperry & Emu

Sperry Top-sider Pelican and Emu Welly Plain are furry inside, wool-lined that is. Sperry has more fitted footbeds. They provide me with equal comfort.

Emu has been working for me for two winters now and it still performs like a charm. These winter soldiers are my best hire. Pair them with skinny jeans or leggings, with Smartwool socks; they keep my feet feeling comfy and dry all day!

Hunter is my new hire that comes with a manly rubbery smell. Although I love its rugged look, I am waiting for the smell to subside (sorry, Hunter). It has the skinniest shaft of all three boots.

If you want a little comfort in Iowa winter, do invest in some good rain boots. They will keep you happy for many slushy wet winters to come.

Return and Forget – Oh No!

Posted on January 19, 2010 by OuOu

I shop a lot, online. Clothes, teas, shampoos, dinnerware, makeup, jewelry, shoes, books, electronics, luggage, handbags, furniture, and the list goes on.

After years of online shopping experience, I am pretty good at picking the items that would please me, at good value. However, once in a while, there are misses :ohgraycloud: . Thanks to the satisfaction guarantee offered at most shops, I always make an effort to return the items (mostly unused) that are unsatisfactory. There’s no point keeping things that I don’t like and will not use.

I never checked the status of the my returns though; simply return and forget. I always assume that I just need to mail the box and the merchants will take care of the rest. Not quite!

Although I hate to audit my credit card statements, I did it today just out of curiosity to see if the returns over the past few months have been processed.

To my surprise, two perfumes (bought in December and August) that I’ve returned to the same company were never refunded to my account. Another company charged me $9.95 for return postage even though I didn’t use their return shipping label. :ohscold:

OMG!!!!

I am pretty disorganized, but luckily I managed to dig out the order details and the return delivery confirmations (it’s good to keep these records!!) and emailed the info to the merchants (big pat on my back).

At the end, both merchants have agreed to refund my $ back.

Perfume 1 Refund: $46 (after minus a % of restocking fee)

Perfume 2 Refund: $41 (after minus a % of restocking fee)

Shipping Refund: $9.95

Grand total refund = $96.95

Hooray! I am $96.95 richer just for being a smarter consumer.

What if, just what if I didn’t audit my account?

IMPORTANT: I have to remember to check my statements two weeks from now to make sure the merchants do what they’ve promised me!!

Not all eCommerce systems are perfect and there are human errors. So, be aware and always check audit your credit card statements.

I feeeeeel SO smarrrrrt! Grrrrrr….! :kehappy:

Floating Sauna for the Sauna Tribe

Posted on January 15, 2010 by OuOu

If you’ve built a sauna in your backyard from scratch just so you can enjoy the sauna anytime you want, and the way you want it; chances are you’re a sauna diehard!

While such individuals may be common in Finland, I didn’t expect to find any in Iowa, well, maybe with the exception of a unique community – Fairfield. We have two great sauna lovers residing here who have hand-built their own private saunas in their backyards.

These sauna masters are: Bill (see Blissed Out on a Blizzard Night) and John.

They always send out sauna invitations graciously, religiously every week to their sauna tribe.

Sauna tribe weeds out the cry babies because they can’t take the heat.

@ John’s floating sauna retreat

May 12, 2008

A short walk to the sauna from John's house (January 11th, 2010)

When there's hot sauna, there's happy Bill

The pond that the sauna is sitting on is frozen. John made a hole in the ice for the polar bears.

From the sauna room to the ice hole next to the sauna (Max is going in...)

Okay... we haven't lost you yet

After the plunge ...

Dora's turn

Dora is a sauna regular

Me - taking a break from the sauna

Jasper: Can you throw me the frisbee?

Karan walking back to the house after the sauna.

Whenever possible, John would invite his sauna tribe to stay for some warm soup. Sometimes it turns out to be a feast if each sauna member contributes a dish.