A couple months ago we signed up for the Verizon Triple Freedom bundle and dropped Comcast cable because they went up to 104 dollars a month and the representative for Verizon made us a deal that was hard to resist it was suppose to be 115 plus tax for 6 months then go up to 125 plus tax then the 2nd year it would go up 20 dollars more for the remainder of our 2 year contract.

Well, our first bill turned into 177 and this one is 174, I thought it would somehow adjust to the right price that we were quoted when ordering, but it didn’t so I called to bitch. I was told that the prices must have been misquoted and it’s actually everything including taxes comes to 156 a month, okay so where does those other charges come from?

I was told to check the miscellaneous charges on page 4 so I did and was shocked to see that we were paying for an e-mail service and a voice mail service I didn’t even know we had through 2 3rd parties which I listed below. How in the world did that happen? I Googled and found a lot of complaints from other consumers about this type of thing. I had no clue this has been going on for a very long time.

I have seen charges from OAN Services, Inc. on our Verizon bills from the past, but never really checked because I thought it was something to do with long distance, Verizon taxes or whatever so there’s no telling what I may have been paying for in past years or to whom. I checked further and found the details on my bill and called the numbers provided to see exactly what we had been paying for and to cancel immediately.

OAN Services, Inc.:
Billing on behalf of Cass Financial Inc.
Cass Email Mnthly Fee 9.15

The Billing Resource: Services
Billing on behalf of Secure-A-Phone $8.73

I would advise people to check their phone bill for any 3rd party charges that may be fraudulently added. I would also advise you to call your phone company and have them place a block on 3rd party charges just so you want have it happen in the future. Many people are busy and just take for granted that the bill is correct and those miscellaneous charges have something to do with their provider.

Be very careful what you fill out online and giving your phone number because you can become a victim of a scammer very quickly and not even know it. At any rate both customer services quickly agreed to cancel those accounts and one company said they would issue a 16.46 refund and the other said they could only credit our account for Jan., Feb., and March so they get to keep 3 months of payments because we were too busy to actually check the bill.

I was told this would take 1 to 3 cycles to end so hopefully this whole mess will be cleared up sooner than later. We were advised to pay the full amount until it was to keep our account in good standing. Hopefully these crooks will return the money, but if not I guess I’ll be getting in touch with the FCC, FTC, my Congressman and the Attorney General and anyone else I can think of to stop this scam.

We’ve had Obie going on 3 months now and the only time he has barked (which sounds like a huge dog bark) is when he wants Sadie to chase him. I’ve never heard him growl until the other night, except when he sees his image or reflection in something.

Bill bought me a little book about Westies so I could understand the breed better. I have his little bed sitting beside my chair and he usually comes over and curls up in it. I decided I’d flip through the book so sat down and crossed my leg, which happened to be over his bed.

He came over to lay down and the next thing I hear is him growling and backing up so I figured he was growling at my leg hovering over his bed. I laid down the book and moved my leg and he came over and laid down. So I resumed my perusal of the book and kept my leg on the floor.

He jumped out of his bed and started growling again and backing away and I was totally bemused and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. I looked around to figure out the problem and decided he was just nuts so I picked up the book again and the growling got intense when he saw the book.

I turned it over and saw that face on the front and held it up and he backed away so fast that I cracked up when I realized he had been frightened of that picture. I had a blast for about 10 minutes teasing him with it before I decided to quieten down his nerves, yes I know I’m mean.

He now knows it’s not a real dog that is threatening him and I can now pick up the book and read without him going ballistic. This little guy is very entertaining.

I received Karen  Zemek’s book My Funny Dad, Harry in February, but have only just finished due to other things going on in my life. I simply didn’t have time to read it all in one or two settings. The book itself is a collection of Karen’s memories and things she wrote about in her journals of her life with her Dad, Harry and Mom, Lenore. I met Karen through the Internet and enjoy reading her blogs.

She writes about how her parents decided to foster and help 3 other children and some of their adventures while growing up. This book is a tribute to both her parents, but it’s mostly about Harry and his funny ways. She paints a picture of Harry that had me laughing at times and at other times I felt tears in my eyes when she talks about her Mother’s illness and death.

It’s a charming little book filled with antidotes of Harry’s kindness, generosity, love and creativity. Just from reading the book I can tell Karen was a good Daughter and was there for Harry when he needed anything even though he didn’t like asking for help and would often not take her advice when offered. There are many stories about Harry’s cats that had me laughing, but some were sad.

I’m sure when she wrote this book it must have been a healing process and I totally admire Karen’s determination in getting it published so she could share with the world what a truly ingenious, funny, and wonderful Father that she was blessed with. I enjoyed Karen’s book and all the stories she shared of Harry after Lenore passed away.

Some of her recollections of cleaning out Harry’s house after he passed away (even though I felt sad about poor Harry and what Karen was going through) made me laugh. All in all it was a nice book which showed good family values and some of the problems one faces when dealing with aging parents. I will agree with Karen, Harry was funny and by the way Karen I love the suspenders and Harry not caring what other people think.

I finally got around to baking something in the oven using my 9 inch Orgreenic ceramic pan just to make sure it was safe to use. No, I didn’t try the pineapple upside down cake as shown on TV, but I used one of those Jiffy cornbread mixes since I like yellow and all Bill uses is the white corn meal.

The results are below and even though the bottom was more crunchy than the top I like it that way. Jiffy is way to sweet for me so next time I’ll just get a bag of the self rising yellow. It was good anyhow with a little butter melted on, even Bill ate some, but said it tasted like cake. If the photos aren’t showing just click the link to see the picture.

I would certainly never bake anything in the oven using Teflon, but the Orgreenic ceramic did just fine. Bill doesn’t believe everything he sees on TV nor do I. He thought I might ruin the pan, but I was determined to at least try it in the oven. It didn’t stick like his cast iron sometimes does, no missing pieces.

I figured if it got ruined in the oven they could replace it since it’s supposed to be guaranteed for life and they say you can use it to bake with. Some things do stick regardless of what they say, but they are still easy to clean up. I keep trying to do an egg like they show on TV with no oil or butter, but it just doesn’t work for me.

I know many people are doing searches for reviews on the Orgreenic from people that actually bought it before investing that much money and I don’t blame them. Even though we still cook with oil and butter we use a lot less so it’s still healthier as far as I’m concerned.

I’ll keep updating on the Orgreenic periodically, I made spaghetti last week and the clean up was so easy, so far we are still happy with our purchase, but it’s still early yet. I read some reviews about the green pan and they weren’t good so I’ll see how the Orgreenic holds up after a 6 month use.