D.G. Kaye's Blog, page 127

Just Sayin’ – Part 2- Getting the Best Price in Department Stores

 

                                                                      Department Store Sales Tips

 

Welcome to Part 2 of my economical shopping tips. Today I’ll be talking about how I get the best deals when it comes to shopping in department stores.

 

How many times have you gone shopping for something in a department store randomly just to browse and maybe discover an item you wanted to buy, or purposely set out to purchase a particular item and perhaps that item wasn’t on sale? Did the fact that it may not have been on sale deter your from buying it? Or do you only wait for sales before you decide to buy? Well today I’m going to share a few smart shopping habits I’ve developed through the years to ensure I’m getting the best price for my purchases.

 

I’m not going to pretend that I’m the most frugal person on the planet, but when it comes to shopping for fashion and beauty items I don’t appreciate being a ripped off consumer when I purchase something only to find it’s on sale the following day or week. So I feel as though it’s my duty to keep on top of sales.

I do love to shop and keep on top of fashion trends and keep an eye on items that spark my fancy.  This may be just window shopping or checking things out online and it doesn’t mean every time I do so I’m buying, but I’m observing and making note of items I may like to purchase if they go on sale. And as it turns out, in most departments stores the likelihood of an item I have my eye on does eventually go on sale.

 

Department stores such as Macy’s and Lord and Taylor in the U.S. and here in Canada, our Hudson’s Bay (a.k.a. The Bay) use a rotating cycle  for their sales. These stores run what’s known as ‘The weekend sale” every weekend, and often other sales are run intermittently such as a flash sale (one day only), holiday sales, seasonal sales, where merchandise maybe be offered from 20 – 40% off for a time limit, as well as bonus sales for members who have and use their loyalty membership card for purchase.

It’s a huge marketing game, and if you keep track of these sales you’ll become more aware of how often the sale prices will rotate on particular items and brands weekly. For example, I love my Hudson’s Bay department store and buy most of my household small appliances, clothing and shoes from there. I have my favorite clothing and shoe brands and I often receive advance sale notice by email offering extra discounts for upcoming sales, or I’ll go to their website anywhere from Thursday night after midnight through Sunday to check out their weekend sale and have a look at the weekly flyer to check if there’s anything I’ve been eyeing that will be on sale.

Every week certain brand items will be on featured sale, offered at anywhere from 25 to 40% off regular price. If something I’ve been keeping an eye on happens to go on sale, I just might be inclined to order it at a tempting price. I’ve come to learn that each weekend sale, a group of clothing brands will be on sale and the following week another group will be on sale, and so on, learning that if an item I’ve been wanting isn’t on sale one week, it will more than likely go on sale the following week or perhaps the week after.

 

You may be thinking, what if you need that item today or for an upcoming occasion and you don’t want to take a chance that by the time it goes on sale they may be sold out of your size or perhaps completely out of stock. Here’s my advice: Buy it and keep your receipt.

I’ll admit that years ago I used to frown upon chronic ‘returners’ of merchandise until I realized how much money I could save becoming one of those people myself.

 

Did you know you can return merchandise without returning it to get a rebate? It's called price…
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Most stores have a deadline for returning merchandise and limits will vary by store. For the purposes of explaining how it works I’ll talk about The Bay here in Canada. The Bay offers a 30 day return policy for merchandise not purchased with a department store credit card and 90 days returns for those with the card. Of course there are time limit exceptions on bigger ticket item purchases such as furniture, appliances and jewelry where you may only have 2 weeks to a month for returns, but basically, this is a generous amount of time to be able to return items.

 

But why would I want to return an item? Here’s the deal – keep that receipt. All merchandise may be ‘price adjusted’ within 7 days of purchase. So let’s say I purchased something at full price (rare, but it happens) and the following weekend it becomes 30 or 40% off. You can count on me doing a price check on an item I recently bought and if it’s on sale the following week, I’ll be dashing to my nearest Bay with my receipt for a price adjustment, money credited back to my account if the item goes on sale within 7 days. I’m not really returning the item but I’ll need my receipt for proof of purchase to credit back the difference to my account. I can pretty much predict that the shirt or pants I purchased the week before not on sale then, will be on sale the following week, and if not, almost certain it will be the following week.

 

But what if that item I bought doesn’t go on sale until 2 or 3 weeks later? Let me preface by saying that I do have a knack for knowing what a popular item is and I’m a great predictor of knowing a certain item won’t be around for a long time. Those circumstances may give me reason to purchase at full price because if I wait for a sale they may be sold out. That said, I will purchase the item and not wear it, keeping the tags on awaiting to ‘return’ it. If I anticipate that item I’ve purchased will be on a sale within the next few weeks and the 7 day price adjustment period has passed, and it finally does go on sale, I return it. After the return transaction, I tell the clerk I’d now like to re-purchase that same item. It’s legal and once you’ve returned it for a refund, it automatically goes back on sale for whatever the sale price is that day. Someone’s going to buy it, so why not me rebuying at a better price? The money is better in my pocket right?

 

Beware: If you’re a last minute shopper and buy that dress days before the event you want to wear it, if it doesn’t go on sale within 7 days to adjust your receipt and it does the following week after you’ve worn it – tags off – you’ll be out of luck for the return and re-buy.

 

Things to keep in mind:  If you plan ahead for occasions you know you’ll be needing a new blouse or outfit for eventually and purchase that item in well-planned time, this will give you time to let it stay unworn with tags still on and eligible for it to go on sale before the time comes you have to wear it. Remember, if you’re going to do a return, the tags must still be attached to the merchandise and not worn. This is why it pays to plan ahead and purchase ahead of time for upcoming events.

 

Recap:

 

If you can wait for an item to go on sale, do so.


If you can’t wait and purchase an item, make sure to check the following weekend sale to see if your purchased item is on sale to obtain a price adjustment.


If you buy something you love not on sale try not to wear the item for a week or two to see if it goes on sale so you can return and re-purchase.


For items you know you will be needing, such as a dress for a special occasion, buy it within the month in advance of the event even if it’s not on sale and most likely before the month passes it will go on sale where you can return and re-buy it.

 

Happy shopping!!

Sunday Book Review – 1984 by George Orwell

 

Today’s book review is on George Orwell’s 1984. 

As the political climate in government heats up in the U.S., many readers have been going back to this book and finding ‘similarities’ in what seems to be happening in the ‘new order’ of presidency. I read this decades ago but after re-reading, found it an unsettling read, yet couldn’t put the book down.

 

Get this Book on Amazon!

 

Blurb:

 

First published in 1949, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four has lost none of the impact with which it first hit readers. Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the police helicopters that hover and circle overhead, Winston and Julia begin to question the Party; they are drawn towards conspiracy. Yet Big Brother will not tolerate dissent – even in the mind. For those with original thoughts they invented Room 101. . .

 

My 5 Star Review

 

It has been a long, long time since I’d read this book in high school but felt compelled to read it again due to the many references to the book made because of the current change in US government. Many comparisons have been made to this book with the new world of ‘alternative facts’ and ‘authoritarian’ governments.

A worthy read and interesting, if not frightening food for thought, and although a well written book, I found the book quite disturbing.

Book Lovers Tag | Lemon Shark

 

Here’s a fun post, it’s a Book Lovers Tag challenge. I came across this fun tag over at Sarah Brentyn’s blog, Lemon Shark, where she invited anyone to join in. I thought it would be fun to do so and share my own reading habits here with all of you.

 

Do you have a specific place for reading?

I sure do. It’s in bed. I wish I had the leisurely time to kick back and read whenever I want but my days and nights are full so bedtime is my usual reading time. Depending on how long I can stay awake determines how long I get to read. But, with that said if I can steal other moments like waiting in a doctor’s office, subway rides or on vacation, I’ll take whatever opportunity I get to escape into a book.

 

Bookmarks or random pieces of paper?

That’s a funny question. I have an assortment of bookmarks. Do I use them? Not. I have a bad habit of folding pages where I left off. Old habits die hard.

 

Can you just stop anywhere or must it be at the end of a chapter?

Noooooo, I could never leave off mid page, mid paragraph, or mid sentence. Usually I will try my best to finish a chapter. At the very least, I will always finish a page before destroying corners and putting the book down.

 

Do you eat or drink while reading?

No, because I’m reading in bed and nothing potentially that could spill or leave crumbs in my bed is allowed in there. My rules. But if I’m on vacation, say reading at a pool or beach, I may have been known to have a pina colada by my side along with bottled water.

 

Music or TV while reading?

Neither. I absolutely can’t concentrate on what I’m reading, or writing for that matter.

 

One book at a time or several?

Absolutely several. I will always have from 2 to 4 books I’m reading for variety. I’ll usually have a nonfiction book on the go as well as a good fiction book or two and possibly a memoir. That way I pick up whichever one I’m in the mood for at reading time. Variety is the spice of my reading life.

 

Do you prefer to read at home or elsewhere?

I love reading in bed, but I love reading while on vacation more because I can read more during the day. I’ve also been known to read in the car on longer drives to somewhere when my husband is the driver. If I can steal an opportunity to read I will.

 

Read out loud or silently?

I definitely am a silent reader unless I come across a sentence that doesn’t make sense and I have to reread it , . . more than once. That’s when I’ll remark something like “What was that?”

 

Do you read ahead or skip pages?

No, I don’t read ahead but I sometimes go back to the blurb or back cover of a paperback in the midst of reading if the book is heating up and I can’t wait to find what happens. I like to see if I can pick out any clues from the blurb. I’ll admit that sometimes I skim over too much description.

 

Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?

Lol that is so funny. I am THE worst destroyer of a book’s beauty. I like to read a book holding it one hand which has me folding it practically in half – book abuse.

 

Do you write in your books?

I don’t write in fiction books but in nonfiction reference books I go to town with highlighting, penned notes in margins, and my favorite, using post-it-notes as markers for passages of relevance to me to be picked up easily.

 

I invite you all to join the Book Lovers Tag challenge and share your reading habits. Feel free to link back to this post so I can visit and share yours too.

 

Visit Sarah’s post > Source: Book Lovers Tag | Lemon Shark 

 

Just Sayin’ – Price Checking – Savvy Grocery Shopping Tips Part 1

 

Today’s episode of Just Sayin’ is one of a four part series on price checking before we buy. I’ll be sharing the various ways we can cut costs and get the best bang for our bucks. Today I’ll be discussing how to be more savvy about spending on groceries.

 

As everything seems to be getting more expensive  these days and often incomes aren’t inflating at the same lightning speed, particularly here in Toronto, Canada, I like to do my homework before making purchases. No matter if it’s groceries, clothing, services or what we need to maintain our websites, it’s a good idea to do our price checking before making a purchase.

In the next three parts I’ll be covering topics on price checking for purchasing website apps, rebates for past purchases in department stores and budget book promotion, but today I’ll start with grocery shopping.

With the escalation of food prices in the past few years, many items such as produce and meat have almost become luxury items. I’m not even going to pretend to figure out why Ontario grown produce often costs more than imports from the U.S. and Mexico, but I’ve learned to work around what often seems fluctuating prices similar to the stockmarket.

From one week to the next it’s not uncommon to see a head of cauliflour or a bunch of asparagus go from $2.99 to $6.99. And those are just a few items to mention. Certainly when the checkout bill is tallied, our grocery bills are exceedingly high and there are only two of us in this household. I shudder to think of the bills for those with children. No doubt these exorbitant prices often lead people to buying some unhealthier, cheaper alternatives. But as I am not a junk food junkie I made it my business to find some workarounds.

 

Here’s what I do to keep eating healthy while keeping costs down

 

First, it’s a good idea to shop for groceries where they offer a rewards program or a points card. I downloaded the app to my favorite supermarket and signed in with my  reward card number. Every week I’m sent specials of the week, bonus points I’ll receive for purchasing those items (items offered to me are based on my prior shopping expenditures.) These points add up quickly at each shopping venture after swiping my points card. There are rebate levels for accumulated points that I can cash in when I reach which takes money off my bill. This usually works out to anywhere from $20 to $40 every two weeks deducted off my purchase.


Prepare a shopping list before going so I can visually see what items I need on my list. I keep my eyes open for sale items, particularly on items I use regularly but may not need that particular day. If it’s a great deal, you bet I’m stocking up. For example, I may not need another brick of cheese that week but it’s vacuum packed and usually $8.00 and often goes on sale for $5.99, I’ll grab one. On the same note, toilet paper is an ongoing necessity for all of us and when it goes from $12.99 to $3.99  with a usual limit per customer, I buy the max.


Beef has definitely become a luxury item these past few years. Rarely a good steak for less than $15 can be found. Pot roast used to be a cheaper roast but has also become more expensive, albeit, not the same price as prime rib. It’s a great roast to put in the crockpot and slow cook Thankfully I’m not a big meat eater. But I do enjoy it once a week. So when I do purchase meat I look for sales on a particularly cut for that week or I buy meat which is discounted because it’s almost reached its expiry date. That’s not an issue because it’s going right in the deep freeze before it’s expired and there for me when I get a hankering. I’ve also noticed that since the price of meat has risen dramatically, I’m not alone in shopping alternatives and because many others are jumping over to more chicken and ‘the other white meat’ pork, as well as organ meats. And because of demand those prices have also risen significantly. I know not everyone is fond of liver or chicken livers but my hub and me are. Even they have doubled in price now but still considerably cheaper than meat.


Produce shopping has become a strategic operation for me when seeing the volatile pricing every week, so I created a workaround for that too. My blood pressure rises sometimes when I see some ridiculous prices of fruits and vegetables. It makes me wonder how much food goes to waste when consumers who are as budget conscious as I am also take a pass on the over-priced items. So drastic measures for leaner times is my policy. I don’t have to succumb to unhealthy eating with rising costs, I just had to become a little more creative about seeking out alternatives. Buy frozen. Frozen produce is the next best thing to fresh. You can steam, saute or roast them just as well as fresh. The winter is particularly expensive here for many fresh fruits and vegetables. I’ll buy what I need if reasonably priced and leave the rest for another day when the price drops. Often I’ll find while one fruit or vegetable is priced dearly another is fairly reasonable and I’ll substitute with the reasonable. These are good times to try out new things we may not normally eat and I can look up a new recipe to incorporate the vegetable in a meal or switch to a different fruit for a period of time.

 

Thought

 

I can’t help but wonder if everyone would stop buying over-priced food if stores would get the hint with all the waste and consider lowering prices or if all the wastage would fall back on us consumers for the store’s losses causing more increases in pricing. Either way, it’s a lose-lose situation.

 

Cost Cutting Tips and Recap

 

Meat – Buy on sale, almost, expired, or cheaper cuts you can use in stew or crockpots. Flank steak marinated overnight then cut into cubes make for tender and delicious kabobs you can skewer adding cut up pieces of onions, peppers or whatever you like to add. This is a handy meal for company. Just put them on the BBQ and you have a low cost and tasty meat dish to serve guests. I mentioned a pot roast above in a crockpot. This is an easy meal where you can toss in some vegetables of choice then place your seasoned roast atop the vegetables, cover and slow cook for 6 -12 hours on hi or lo. This can be done in the morning before going on with your day and there will be a meal ready to eat for dinner. The beauty of a crockpot is it tenderizes while slow cooking, thus cheaper cuts of meat are perfect for cooking and coming out juicy and tender.


Chicken has also gone up in price along with everything else, but is still not as dear yet as beef. To cut costs on chicken you can buy it with skin on and bone in which is less labor intensive before packing so the savings are passed on to the consumer. There are also many recipes available online to cook chicken many ways, including again, in the crockpot.


Produce Shop alternative fruits and vegetables at reasonable or sale prices while the ones you prefer are at higher cost. Most vegetables can also be washed and cut up then put in the freezer to use for soups and stews. So if you find vegetables on sale but don’t think you can use them up before they wilt, consider freezing. Besides frozen vegetables, frozen fruits are a good alternative to maintain daily fruit intake. A great way to use them is to make a smoothie by adding fruit of choice, milk of choice and anything else you may like to add such as a protein powder to make it a complete meal replacement.

 

Weekly Sales and Rewards Cards

 

Keep check on flyers from your local grocers to learn about weekly deals. Make sure to get yourselves a rewards card for all the stores you frequent. You’d be surprised how much you can save through the year and the perks you can obtain as rewards for being a loyal customer. If you sign up for email alerts from your favorite stores you’ll get advanced warning of specials and deals.

 

Here are just a few more of my many loyalty cards I have and the benefits they offer:

 

Shoppers Drug Mart Pharmacy – Offers 10 – 20 times the point value of items purchased, sending out emails daily to download. Each level you reach gives free shopping valued at your points level. $30, $60, $85 and $170 of free goods spent if you let them accumulate to each level. Personally, I like to let them add up and once a year I’m able to purchase a free bottle of expensive perfume with my points.


Second Cup Coffee – Offers generous points for anything purchased from coffees to merchandise. This happens to be my favorite coffee house in Canada and every few lattes I get a free one. They also have half price days for members and holiday specials.


Sephora – Ok, I’ll admit I love my beauty products and with a Sephora rewards card depending on annual spend you work yourself up to different perk levels and earned points. Points allow you to purchase their special sample sized products with them – specials often change monthly. I like to save my points for when some of my favorite products become available in sample size, like face cream, and grab 4 or 5 of them to keep for travel. They also give members a free sample pack gift on your birthday. And twice a year they’ll run a 20% off promo for members and that’s when I usually go to shop and replenish my stock piles. They also run various promos throughout the year to earn extra bonus points.


The Bay and Macy’s Department stores – I wouldn’t be without those 2 department store cards. Both offer sales daily, weekly and seasonally. And often run extra sales for members offering an additional 20% off purchases.

 

I’ll be talking more about department store discounts next week so stay tuned!

 

Feel free to share some of your savvy shopping tips here in comments.

 

 

Author’s note – request: If anyone here is self hosted and having a problem since the last WP update regarding a pop up message about CSS content while editing a post, please let me know here if you’ve found a cure. Thanks.

Sunday Book Review – Fierce Attachments – Vivian Gornick

 

 

Today’s book review is about memoirist, Vivian Gornick’s book – Fierce Attachments.

Gornick’s story takes us back to her childhood in the Bronx, alternating with scenes into the present and past, sharing her life in moments with her strong-willed mother in what reads as her life long struggle to separate from her mother to gain her independence, yet can’t seem to abandon the thread that bonds.

 

 

Get this book on Amazon 

 

Blurb:

In this deeply etched and haunting memoir, Vivian Gornick tells the story of her lifelong battle with her mother for independence. There have been numerous books about mother and daughter, but none has dealt with this closest of filial relations as directly or as ruthlessly. Gornick’s groundbreaking book confronts what Edna O’Brien has called “the prinicpal crux of female despair”: the unacknowledged Oedipal nature of the mother-daughter bond.

Born and raised in the Bronx, the daughter of “urban peasants,” Gornick grows up in a household dominated by her intelligent but uneducated mother’s romantic depression over the early death of her husband. Next door lives Nettie, an attractive widow whose calculating sensuality appeals greatly to Vivian. These women with their opposing models of femininity continue, well into adulthood, to affect Gornick’s struggle to find herself in love and in work.

As Gornick walks with her aged mother through the streets of New York, arguing and remembering the past, each wins the reader’s admiration: the caustic and clear-thinking daughter, for her courage and tenacity in really talking to her mother about the most basic issues of their lives, and the still powerful and intuitively-wise old woman, who again and again proves herself her daughter’s mother.

Unsparing, deeply courageous, Fierce Attachments is one of the most remarkable documents of family feeling that has been written, a classic that helped start the memoir boom and remains one of the most moving examples of the genre.

 

My 5 Star Review

 

An emotional recanting with unrest looking into the family history, relationships, disappointments, struggles and triumphs between mother and daughter, Vivian Gornick, as she analyzes her life in vignettes in dialogue with her mother in present time, discussing stories and issues of the past, learning with sharing views on their live’s from different eras and circumstances in these richly woven stories.

The story takes us through depression time struggles, longing for self-satisfaction, unrequited love, compassion, anger, hurt, questioning fidelity, death, survival, and nonfulfillment as we learn about each of these strong-willed women’s characters.

In Gornick’s efforts to gain her independence from her mother, while learning to accept each other’s differences and ironic similarities, we find these two women coming back to one another full circle, such as life often happens.

 

Truth – Pearls Before Swine

 

I just wanted to share a beautiful post on truth I came across at the PBS Blog – Pearls Before Swine, by Yecheilyah Ysrayl ( I like to call her E.C.). In a world we seem to be living in it seems that many are sometimes lost in wondering what truth means anymore. E.C. has written this poem on truth.

 

TRUTH

 

Truth is not debatable

for integrity defends itself

it is not held captive to the dogma of religion

or held bondage within the framework of theology

it is not trapped inside the walls of College classrooms,

or oppressed by the lips of Baptist ministers,

It wears no stars of David

Sings no Islamic melodies

Truth is not religious

And yet is no atheist

Truth has always been

And always will be

It is neither canonized

nor done away with

not stolen away

or traded amidst the bowels of slave ships

truth is not lynched,

nor shackled against the cages of fear

Continue reading . . .

 

Source: Truth – Pearls Before Swine

Guest Author with a New Book – Jacqui Murray

 

Today’s guest is friend and author/blogger/editor/teacher, ‘word specialist’, and book reviewer. Jacqui Murray. Jacqui is also an adjunct professor who teaches graduate classes for teachers. She runs a blog called Ask A Tech Teacher, where she shares her technical tips for writers.

 

I’ve been following Jacqui’s other blog, Worddreams for a couple of years now, where she’s always sharing something interesting for writers from word meanings and uses, how to write characters effectively, how to write reviews, how to blog effectively, and so much more. Most recently Jacqui ran a great series on her A to Z challenge where she posted about writing in a different genre everyday. She went through the alphabet in genres, not leaving out a single letter – including Q and X. Who ever knew there were so many genres?

 

 

Author bio:

Jacqui Murray  is the author of the popular  Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, and the thrillers,  To Hunt a Sub   and   Twenty-four Days .  She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an  Amazon Vine Voice  book reviewer,  a columnist for  TeachHUB , monthly contributor to  Today’s Author  and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her books at her publisher’s website,  Structured L earning.

 

Jacqui’s newest book:

 

 

Short Synopsis of Twenty-four Days:

A former SEAL, a brilliant scientist, a love-besotted nerd, and a quirky AI have twenty-four days to stop a terrorist attack. The problems: They don’t know what it is, where it is, or who’s involved.

 

Long Synopsis of Twenty-four Days:

What sets this story apart from other thrillers is the edgy science used to build the drama, the creative thinking that unravels the deadly plot, and the sentient artificial intelligence who thinks he’s human:

An unlikely team is America’s only chance

World-renowned paleoanthropologist, Dr. Zeke Rowe is surprised when a friend from his SEAL past shows up in his Columbia lab and asks for help: Two submarines have been hijacked and Rowe might be the only man who can find them.

At first he refuses, fearing a return to his former life will end a sputtering romance with fellow scientist and love of his life, Kali Delamagente, but when one of his closest friends is killed by the hijackers, he changes his mind. He asks Delamagente for the use of her one-of-a-kind AI Otto who possesses the unique skill of being able to follow anything with a digital trail.

In a matter of hours, Otto finds one of the subs and it is neutralized.

But the second, Otto can’t locate.

Piece by piece, Rowe uncovers a bizarre nexus between Salah Al-Zahrawi–the world’s most dangerous terrorist and a man Rowe thought he had killed a year ago, a North Korean communications satellite America believes is a nuclear-tipped weapon, an ideologue that cares only about revenge, and the USS Bunker Hill (a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser) tasked with supervising the satellite launch.

And a deadline that expires in twenty-four days.

As America teeters on the brink of destruction, Zeke finally realizes that Al-Zahrawi’s goal isn’t nuclear war, but payback against the country that cost him so much.

 

Kirkus Review :

A blistering pace is set from the beginning: dates open each new chapter/section, generating a countdown that intensifies the title’s time limit. Murray skillfully bounces from scene to scene, handling numerous characters, from hijackers to MI6 special agent Haster. … A steady tempo and indelible menace form a stirring nautical tale

 

Quote from author:

What sets this series apart from other thrillers is the edgy science used to build the drama, the creative thinking that unravels the deadly plot, and the Naval battle that relies on not just fire power but problem solving to outwit the enemy.

 

Today we’re going to get to learn more about Jacqui and her latest book, Twenty-Four Days, which she recently launched.

 

You write nonfiction teaching books, so what inspired you to begin writing fiction?

 

I wrote the nonfiction technology-in-education books because there were so few materials out there for tech teachers. Once I completed them, I shared them and it grew from there. I started fiction because I had stories in my head that wouldn’t go away unless I wrote them down. So I did!

 

It’s no secret that you read so many books and share excellent reviews about them on your blog.  Please share with us how you manage to make time to read so many books while teaching, writing and everyday life?

 

I really don’t have a life outside of writing and teaching. I’m not complaining—those two keep me quite busy–but I don’t have hobbies or grandkids and my adult kids love across the country. If I didn’t have all my wonderful Indie authors to read, I would get darn bored!

 

Do you think that being a technical writing teacher makes the process of self- publishing easier for you?

 

I am into lists, which definitely comes from the tech side of my brain. That makes it easier!

 

What advice would you offer to new aspiring authors?

 

This is something I learned late in my writing career: Write yourself into a corner. Then, escape. There are different ways of saying that, but it’s always true. If your story is character-driven, the corner is mental, spiritual, emotional. If you like plot-driven stories, it’s action. Doesn’t matter—just do it!

 

What inspired you to write two books based on a submarine story?

 

Believe me, I never would have chosen that. I’ll blame it on my muse!

 

Last year you published Book 1 – To Hunt a Sub. Did you anticipate a sequel at the time or were you already preparing for this new book while preparing to publish Book 1?

 

I had an agent for Twenty-four Days , the sequel to To Hunt a Sub . I was always kind of sad that the sequel would come out first. I suppose it’s God’s will that the agent didn’t work out so I got to publish these two in order.

 

Please share an excerpt with us from your new book, Twenty-Four Days

 

Excerpt: From the first chapter

 

Monday, August 7th

HMNB Devonport England

Until last month, Eyad Obeid considered himself a devout Muslim. He prayed five times a day, proclaimed God’s glory in every conversation, and performed the required ablutions when confronted with uncleanliness. When his brother was executed by Israeli gunman five years ago, Obeid swore retribution. No nobler purpose could he imagine for his worthless life than dying for Allah.

But instead of a suicide vest and the promise of seventy-two virgins, the village imam enrolled him in college to learn nuclear physics, thermodynamics, chemistry, and math so complex its sole application was theoretical. Much to Obeid’s surprise, he thrived on the cerebral smorgasbord. In fact, with little effort, he attained all the skills required by the Imam.

By the time he earned his Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics, he had learned two lessons. First, he was much smarter than most people around him, and second, the western world was not what he had been told.

Now, just weeks after graduation, Eyad Obeid approached the dingy Devonport pub on the frigid southern shore of England and wondered how to explain to the man responsible for giving Eyad Obeid this amazing future that he would fulfill his obligation, but then, wanted out.

He squared his shoulders and entered the pub.

His stomach lurched. Rather than his mentor Salah Mahmud al-Zahrawi, he found the Kenyan and his three henchmen. He had first met these thugs in San Diego California where he learned to run a nuclear submarine under the friendly tutelage of British submariners. When Obeid finished his studies, the Kenyan slaughtered the Brits. No warning. No discussion, just slash, slice and everyone died.

As did Obeid’s belief in the purity of Allah.

The nuclear physicist jammed his hands into his pockets, hunched his shoulders, and approached the table. The Kenyan had never introduced himself and Eyad Obeid lacked the courage to ask.

“I was expecting Salah al-Zahrawi,” Obeid offered as he slipped into the booth.

The Kenyan stared past Obeid, eyes as desolate as the Iranian desert, thick sloping shoulders still, ebony skin glistening under the fluorescent lights. Danger radiated from him like the hum of a power plant. He had three new fight scars since their last encounter, like angry welts but otherwise, he looked rested, clearly losing no sleep over the slaughter of innocents.

“You have one more job before you are released.” In a quiet, toneless voice, the man without a soul explained the new plan, finishing with, “If you fail, you die.”

 

Thank you for being with us here today Jacqui. I’m sure that many new readers will be following your blog(s) after this post now that they have gotten to know a bit about you and your writing and teaching tips. And I’m sure they will love your books equally.

 

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You can visit all of Jacqui’s other published works HERE 

Just Sayin’ – I’m Every Size – What size are you?

 

 

How many women are confused about what size we actually are when trying to buy clothes? I know I sure am.

 

If I go back in decades to the years when I worked in the fashion and clothing industry, I can remember when clothing was made mostly of natural fabrics as well as some in polyester. Spandex was mostly reserved for articles such as leotards and dancewear. Regular sizing began at size 2 (although often not an option) and size 0 was unheard of. Seriously, what is size 0? It denotes to me a non-existent body. If someone is a size zero wouldn’t that make them invisible?

 

Back in the day, sizing was pretty much universal and if the pants didn’t fit, we went up a size until that zipper zipped or that button fastened. And with the nowadays addition of spandex and it’s relatives, elastin, lycra et al, sizing has become more geared toward an individual brand as opposed to universally across the board. Sizing has also become more generous in cut compared to past decades and due to the often added spandex, there seems to be a somewhat psychological tactic used to make women feel better about themselves.

 

The size 6-8 I wear nowadays would certainly never have zipped up around my ample hips back in the days of the 80s. I wore a consistent size 8 in those days and I weighed 125 pounds! Fast forwarding to the added 10 pounds that found me through the decades, I have to wonder how I am wearing size 6-8, my same size  and sometimes smaller than I wore decades ago?

 

Okay, thank you to the garment industry for trying to make me feel as though I’m still sporting my same girlish figure from days of old, but the mirror doesn’t lie. And along side with these now Spandex added materials to put our esteems and waistlines at ease, there is still sizing at the other side of the spectrum too. Many brands that size their clothing as small, medium large, etc., I find that I sometimes will find an XL small! If I currently wear a size 6-8 and XL is tight, what are all those gals wearing size 10 and bigger supposed to think?

 

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m grateful that Spandex is now a major ingredient in many garments, especially comforting after suffering through the the dredges of menopause, comforting to know I can indulge once in awhile and my pants will allow me breathing room, but a size small still shouldn’t be able to stretch to an XL and an XL should still be able to fit a curvier girl of size 16 which is often not the case.

 

Online Shopping Woes

 

If you’re anything like me, ordering clothes online can be daunting. Eventually when I become familiar with a brand I can gauge what size I’ll need to order. But heaven help me if I dare to venture into trying a new brand and after paying shipping charges to receive my purchase and discovering the item doesn’t fit thus having to return it, paying shipping again can become quite costly.

 

I’m often asked by people who know me, how I can buy clothing online with the wide variance in sizing differences. How do I know what size I am? This indicates to me that there must be many of us in the same camp. How many women worldwide are intimidated to order clothing online fearing the size charts if applicable aren’t accurate, thus causing returns and eating shipping charges both ways.

 

Occasionally I will come across a garment I may be interested in purchasing which may be a brand I’m not familiar with. If I love it enough I may take a chance on ordering it, in hopes that it will actually fit me when I receive it. Here are a few things I look for before hitting that ‘buy’ button:

 

Reviews – I always look at reviews to see what other buyers have to say about the product, particularly the ones who share their size and height and reveal their actual size and share how the size they ordered fit them.
Reading the description of the item I’m contemplating buying is important. Pay attention to the material content, the length of a pant, the rise in a pant to find if that pant won’t sit too high up on your waist or too low on the hips.
Look for keywords like: Low rise, mid rise, high rise and ‘rise’ which is a good clue as to where those pants will sit. If you have acquired muffin-top over the years like me, I like a pant that has at least a 9 inch rise.
If I don’t find enough info in the garment description to make me feel confident in the purchase I visit some other retailer’s sites selling the same garment to see if I can garner more info and/or more reviews.
If I still can’t seem to get enough information to make me feel confident about my purchase and the site offers a fair return policy, I’ll sometimes order 2 of the item each in a different size so I can see which will fit me better then send one back.

 

With that said:

 

Here’s a thought for clothing manufacturers, and particularly retailers: if you want to cash in on the amount of women who are hesitant to buy online, the women who don’t have the time or desire to physically come into your stores, perhaps you might consider making accurate size charts to display beside a product.  Just showing sizes available doesn’t give us enough information and your ‘generic’ size charts are not helpful. It would be more helpful if the garment being advertised had specific measurements listed with the photo, ie: garment measures: bust , waist, hips, as opposed to a generic size chart showing measurements of sizes the garment will fit. This would enable us to better gauge how the item will fit us according to our own measurements.

 

Merely stating small = 4-6, medium = 8-10, large = 12-14 when in fact that ‘large’ may barely fit that size small woman, doesn’t cut it. So hey manufacturers of womens garments, why not get your measuring act together and make your sizing accurate. And hey retailers, how about giving us more product detailed information? Maybe more women would venture into the online shopping market if they had more confidence to purchase. And while you’re at it manufacturers, how about going back to the days of universal sizing?

Just sayin’.

SPOTLIGHT: D. G. Kaye ~ Live. Laugh. Love. And Don’t Forget to Breathe. | The Writer Next Door

 

Thank you Vashti, for featuring me on your beautiful blog, The Writer Next Door.

 

It’s always a great honor for me when I’m invited to guest appear on someone’s blog. And sometimes I am pleasantly surprised to be featured on a blog when I hadn’t even been contacted by the blogger and they chose to feature me on their own accord and I happily come across the post while visiting some of my favorite blogs.

This was the case with this post by Vashti. She posted by taking my book and bio information off my media page and added her own spin to it by turning my words into her own. Brilliantly done Vashti, and thank you so much for choosing to feature me on your blog.

 

“Friends are like bras: close to your heart and there for support.”

~Donna Roberts

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♥

It is my pleasure to introduce today a woman who I greatly admire for her strength, positive attitude, and writing talent: Debby Gies (D. G. Kaye). She is also a very supportive friend. An author of nonfiction memoir she writes about life, matters of the heart and women’s issues. Debby inspires others by sharing stories about events she has encountered and lessons that come along with them.

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Growing up as an emotionally neglected child, she struggled, tormented with guilt, with whether or not she should remain obligated to being a faithful daughter, feeling in debt to her narcissistic mother for giving birth to her. Her first book, Conflicted Hearts is a memoir, written about her journey to seek solace from living with guilt.

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Please Continue Reading

 

 

 

Source: SPOTLIGHT: D. G. Kaye ~ Live. Laugh. Love. And Don’t Forget to Breathe. | The Writer Next Door

Sunday Book Review – Wishful Drinking – Carrie Fisher

It was disheartening to learn that Carrie Fisher had passed and the very next day her dearly loved mom, Debbie Reynolds died after her. No doubt after watching a heartfelt special on TV, a docudrama, ‘Bright Lights’ featuring Carrie and Debbie, and their wonderful mother/daughter relationship that Debbie’s heart could never mend after the loss of her daughter.

 

I watched that documentary a week after the two passed away and then I felt compelled to read one of Carrie’s memoirs she had written 8 years before she died, Wishful Drinking. Below you will find my review:

 

Get This Book on Amazon!

 

Blurb:

 

Finally, after four hit novels, Carrie Fisher comes clean (well, sort of ) with the crazy truth that is her life in her first-ever memoir.

In Wishful Drinking, adapted from her one-woman stage show, Fisher reveals what it was really like to grow up a product of “Hollywood in-breeding,” come of age on the set of a little movie called Star Wars, and become a cultural icon and bestselling action figure at the age of nineteen.

Intimate, hilarious, and sobering, Wishful Drinking is Fisher, looking at her life as she best remembers it (what do you expect after electroshock therapy?). It’s an incredible tale: the child of Hollywood royalty — Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher — homewrecked by Elizabeth Taylor, marrying (then divorcing, then dating) Paul Simon, having her likeness merchandized on everything from Princess Leia shampoo to PEZ dispensers, learning the father of her daughter forgot to tell her he was gay, and ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed.

Wishful Drinking, the show, has been a runaway success. Entertainment Weekly declared it “drolly hysterical” and the Los Angeles Times called it a “Beverly Hills yard sale of juicy anecdotes.” This is Carrie Fisher at her best — revealing her worst. She tells her true and outrageous story of her bizarre reality with her inimitable wit, unabashed self-deprecation, and buoyant, infectious humor.

 

My 5 Star Review

 

This isn’t your average book of fairytales about a child growing up in Hollywood fame. In an era where Fisher’s parents were both becoming legends of their times, Fisher begins with stories, which let us peek into windows of her life as she bares her raw self through adulthood. She takes us into her life with her stories about her dysfunctional childhood and despite the dysfunction shares her treasured memories growing up with a mother she adored, some of the glamor, but mostly how having a stage mother left her wanting more time with her mother, and the fallout from some of the wrong choices her mother made with her choice in relationships.

 

Fisher unabashedly takes us through her own rise to fame, later diagnosed with mental illness, what broke her, what healed her, and through it all she wears her smile of courage through her humor which no doubt became her shield helping her get through some of her weakest moments.

 

I laughed at some of her quirky analogies and appreciated the candor. If you enjoy stories of becoming and overcoming and are compassionate, you’ll love this book.