I think this blog is going to turn into picks and pans.

FlyLady I need a replacement Rubba Sweeper!!

For example, I received a nice FlyLady Rubba Sweeper from a relative. I needed to put it together but it was simple as pie, until I came to the piece that did not have drilled holes where it was supposed to and now the sweeper is constantly falling apart. I'll see what FlyLady is willing to do for me, I hope I am sent a new one because the idea of the sweeper (made of rubber thus the name) is good, if it would stay in one piece that is.

LandsEnd, is this the end of our relationship?

Lands End...I've loved them, gotten angry with them, then loved them again.

Our love affair has been going on smoothly now for years except they have recently made me feel hesitant to buy from them again. Story is husband bought me a Lands End Pendleton Blanket for my birthday. With shipping this purchase hovered around $185. A day before I received the blanket in the mail, an email offer came in from Lands End that boasted 30 percent off selected items plus free shipping. I saved the email.

I let a day go by then checked to see if my new blanket was on sale --sure enough, the same blanket that husband had paid so much for was now much cheaper and no $11 shipping fee either (shipping price approx. but it was in double digits).

So I call Lands End and talk to Maria about a rebate -- she says fine of course I would not want to pay all that extra money for the blanket when an email promotion would yield the same product for about $63 less.

I'm told a refund will be issued to my Amex card...I wait and the next bill has no refund so I call again. This time I talk to Rachel who thinks I'm trying to scam her or is at least acting that way on the phone.

I explain the whole story but her response is not what I expect from Lands End. No "Sorry this refund wasn't honored as you were told, I'll take care of that right away." Instead she tells me I should have detailed my request in an email; that this time (big sigh) she would honor the refund but I should know that purchases must be done within 14 days of a promotion and that the promotion was only for certain items...and on she went...finger wagging.

I detest finger wagging.

I was 24 -48 hours from husband's purchase to email promotion. Before I called and talked to Maria I double checked to make sure the exact blanket was part of the promotional sale and it was.

Aha! I thought, I can prove to doubting, finger wagging Rachel I did nothing wrong, just trying to be a reasonable person and not throw $60 away because husband made a phone purchase rather than an email purchase.

Only thing is when I opened up the promotional email to see the list of items that were on sale in September...it opened up to current items on sale, which by the way still showed the Pendelton blanket! So you cannot go back and get the cached sale items so I can't prove to Rachel from my end that I deserved that rebate without rebuff, finger wagging, tongue clicking or tut-tutting.

Now I will buy from LLBean this Christmas as I'm afraid that LandsEnd isn't what it used to be.

And the best part is the blanket is really not worth all the time I've spent on the phone about it, thinking about how I was treated, or now writing about it... a lot of money for a scratchy feeling blanket that doesn't keep me as warm as I want to be, even now in the fall, so I have to use a down throw on top.

That's my grunts and gripes for now.