What I'm Reading

A couple days ago, my Kindle and I were digging around on Amazon trying to find something to read. I'd read Stephen King's newest book a few weeks ago and loved it, and so I wasn't exactly looking for a Pulitzer Prize novel or anything. Just something to pass the time. And something cheap.


Part of the problem with cheap on Amazon, though, is that a lot of it sucks. I mean really and truly awful fiction.

But I like to support independent artists, and this includes musicians and authors, so I still try.

I've been on a horror kick for a while and have read some pretty shitty horror books lately. Fun, but yeah, shitty. I love a good ghost story, though, and so when I saw Caraliza listed for sale and saw it was free, I said to myself, "Self, why not?" Do not let the cover of the book fool you. The cover makes it look like some kind of half horror/half shitty porn. It's not. It's so not.

From Amazon:

A seventy-five year old secret waits in a lovely old portrait studio, at the end of a street in New York City's Lower East Side. It is a secret, that drove to madness, a renowned photographer, 'Papa' Menashe Reisman, and left him to waste and die in his own studio, but haunted by every photograph he tries to take. When his great-grand daughter, Shelly, begs to have the old building, for a new renovation, she awakens more than any secret that Papa kept. She also awakens something darker, more evil, across the street, under the stoop, down a foul stair; where Caraliza was kept prisoner for two years; until the horrid events of that summer, in 1919.

I would like it stated for the record here and now that I LOVE this book. I am now 63% of the way through it and it is just beautiful. It is indeed a ghost story, but it's also a historical fiction story, and it's also a love story - but not one done in any kind of cheap, romance novel kind of way. The writing is just gorgeous and I'm losing myself in it, rereading paragraphs over and over just to feel them again. I feel like I must be going crazy.

Interesting Read: Eggplant Can Cure Skin Cancer?

Natural News is reporting that eggplant can cure skin cancer. Living in Florida and loving the beach as I do, I find this [i]very[/i] interesting!

From the Natural News article:

"Get a medium sized eggplant and grind it up. Put that into a glass jar and fill it up with the vinegar. Place the jar into the refrigerator. After around three days with the white vinegar, the liquid should turn to a brownish gold color. That indicates it's ready to use."

The article claims that you can use a cotton ball and just apply it directly to the cancer. An interesting read for sure, and yes, I will be digging deeper.

Read the full article here.

How Have You Handled Chargebacks?

I woke up to a chargeback in Paypal.

A chargeback is when a buyer claims that they did not authorize the charge. They report to their credit card company that someone else used their credit card to make a purchase and that they want the money back.

Now when a chargeback is filed against a seller using Paypal, Paypal places a hold on the money and a dispute is opened. As the seller, you have the option to respond to the dispute, and in responding, you have the option to provide tracking and delivery confirmation. I made sure I provided all the necessary information including the buyer's Etsy username, the transaction #, the date of purchase, the date of shipment, the date of delivery, and the delivery confirmation #.

My worry now is that Paypal won't back me up.
I know that in Item Not Received disputes, if you prove delivery, Paypal will back you up and find in your favor.
But I've never had a chargeback filed and so I've never won a chargeback. If any of you has been through one, would you let me know what I can expect?

An Unnecessary Trip to the ER?

Grr, I'm so annoyed.

Backstory:
My daughter was on spring break last week (she's 13). She came home on Friday complaining of a sore throat and a slight fever. She stayed home over the weekend, took some Motrin, and we planned to go to the walk-in clinic on Monday. I, having been a mother for 18 years now, assumed it was strep throat.

Now, keep in mind that we don't have medical insurance. There is a walk-in clinic not too far from us that is only $40 a visit. The doctor there is a good guy and doesn't take insurance at all. He is an older guy and super knowledgeable and friendly and he knows that most of patients are broke. So it's all good.

Except when it's not. I brought my daughter there on Monday. Her throat was very, very sore and her tonsils were swollen. (I had no idea that tonsils were lymph nodes, did you?) She said it hurt to talk. We didn't even get in to see the doctor on Monday. The receptionist sent us to the hospital, directly to the ER. She got an attitude with me and told me that the walk-in clinic was "the absolute wrong place" for my daughter because "Look at her, she can barely talk. She's having an allergic reaction to something".

How much is a trip to the ER? I have no idea yet but I'll let you know as soon as I get the bill. Ugh.

Oh, and did I tell you? It WAS strep, after all. So I have to pay for a freakin' ER visit just to get an antibiotics scrip.

Watch This Space for Coming Giveaways!

I will be bringing you at least 3 or 4 brand new giveaways in the next couple of weeks.

Something from my shop, of course-

but also some stuff from a couple friends of mine who make awesome shit!

So don't change the channel- they're coming soon!