...as Roseanne Rosannadana said, "It's always something..."
Well, things have been pretty busy around here. My catering partner Vicky and I prepared food and decorations for a young girl's bat mitzvah in mid-November...for about 125-150 people. It turned out very nice, and the little girl and her mom kept coming over and hugging us.
Then came Thanksgiving, and we had a houseful. I hardly had time to clear all of the Hawaiian theme decorations and stuff off the dining room table, which has become the staging site for all catering projects, before Monica and her new boyfriend arrived...followed the next morning by Meeghan and Mike (home from his 6-month-long cruise) and the grandchildren. We stayed busy all week, and the time rushed past. We had a great time with the Schmoopies, and even had a chance to take them ice skating (it was 60-some degrees out, but they managed to keep the ice solid and smooth).
After everyone left, it was time to get ready to fix decorations and cook food for a 50th wedding anniversary; we were expecting 125 guests, but over 200 showed up. The champagne fountain went on the blink...that was the only problem; we just used a ladle and nobody was the wiser. Thank goodness we always prepare way too much food.
I barely had time to put that stuff away, in fact half of the decorations are shoved under the table, and it was time to get ready for a 65th birthday party, which we did the night before last (December 14th). We live for the compliments we receive! We need to rethink our pricing, because our business has picked up lately, and that tells me our prices may be too low. I think people are out shopping around and discovered our "bargain basement" pricing.
Between catering jobs (another one coming up on January 11th), I've been working on homework, a classroom observation, several papers, and studying for my finals. Grades were posted today, and my hard work paid off. All "As"! My dad would have been so proud.
Well, you may (or may not) know that I have been wanting to adopt a Tibetan spaniel since Mama (our "Tibbie") died in 1980. We adopted Pokey, our Pekingese, in 1990 instead. Since Pokey died last year, I've been looking on line trying to find a Tibetan spaniel to adopt. Female, light colored, any age. I subscribe to a site called "puppyfind.com", and each day I get an e-mail from them with a short list of breeders who are advertising their Tibbie puppies for sale. I look at each and every one of them, but either the dogs are dark colored (a problem when trying to pick fleas off them all summer here in Virginia), or the breeders are on the other side of the country. So, you can imagine my excitement at finding a breeder (the first one in over 365 days of looking) located on the East coast! I contacted the breeder, and got a prompt response back from her. Although I was looking for a honey-colored one for the reason stated above, she said in her e-mail that she'd sold a puppy to a missionary who had to relocate to "West Africa," and that if I contacted him, he would probably be delighted to let us adopt his precious puppy. I did, and he appeared thrilled to find a home for his "baby" named Betty. The photo he sent was of an adorable, but sable-colored baby Tibbie. It didn't matter, I fell in love with her, and was ready to send the $300 he requested for shipping costs via Virgin Express Pet Delivery, or something like that...Virgin Express. I called Western Union to find out the nearest location, while my skeptical husband looked up Virgin Express on the Internet. We had concerns about quarantines, among a whole list of worries. He found Virgin Express on Google, and followed the link. It took him to an article in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper in Florida about puppy scams. We read each and every entry, and found out that our baby-to-be is non-existent and is only part of a huge, nationwide scam. All of the e-mails were nearly identical, or at the least, very similar. I wrote to the managing editor Ann Hellmuth and explained our situation to her. This morning I read her reply. She said this is so huge that she doesn't even know how to handle it, and that is likely a job for the FBI. I contacted one of our local television stations', "Channel 3 Taking Action" and forwarded all of my e-mail exchanges to them. At this holiday season, when people are looking for something very precious and special to give to someone they love, a puppy seems like a wonderful idea. Especially one who is in a state of limbo between a far-away continent and a warm and loving home. Please don't be taken in by a scam like this. Go and visit a breeder, or better yet, go to the nearest SPCA and give a home to another doggie in dire straits.
Then came Thanksgiving, and we had a houseful. I hardly had time to clear all of the Hawaiian theme decorations and stuff off the dining room table, which has become the staging site for all catering projects, before Monica and her new boyfriend arrived...followed the next morning by Meeghan and Mike (home from his 6-month-long cruise) and the grandchildren. We stayed busy all week, and the time rushed past. We had a great time with the Schmoopies, and even had a chance to take them ice skating (it was 60-some degrees out, but they managed to keep the ice solid and smooth).
After everyone left, it was time to get ready to fix decorations and cook food for a 50th wedding anniversary; we were expecting 125 guests, but over 200 showed up. The champagne fountain went on the blink...that was the only problem; we just used a ladle and nobody was the wiser. Thank goodness we always prepare way too much food.
I barely had time to put that stuff away, in fact half of the decorations are shoved under the table, and it was time to get ready for a 65th birthday party, which we did the night before last (December 14th). We live for the compliments we receive! We need to rethink our pricing, because our business has picked up lately, and that tells me our prices may be too low. I think people are out shopping around and discovered our "bargain basement" pricing.
Between catering jobs (another one coming up on January 11th), I've been working on homework, a classroom observation, several papers, and studying for my finals. Grades were posted today, and my hard work paid off. All "As"! My dad would have been so proud.
Well, you may (or may not) know that I have been wanting to adopt a Tibetan spaniel since Mama (our "Tibbie") died in 1980. We adopted Pokey, our Pekingese, in 1990 instead. Since Pokey died last year, I've been looking on line trying to find a Tibetan spaniel to adopt. Female, light colored, any age. I subscribe to a site called "puppyfind.com", and each day I get an e-mail from them with a short list of breeders who are advertising their Tibbie puppies for sale. I look at each and every one of them, but either the dogs are dark colored (a problem when trying to pick fleas off them all summer here in Virginia), or the breeders are on the other side of the country. So, you can imagine my excitement at finding a breeder (the first one in over 365 days of looking) located on the East coast! I contacted the breeder, and got a prompt response back from her. Although I was looking for a honey-colored one for the reason stated above, she said in her e-mail that she'd sold a puppy to a missionary who had to relocate to "West Africa," and that if I contacted him, he would probably be delighted to let us adopt his precious puppy. I did, and he appeared thrilled to find a home for his "baby" named Betty. The photo he sent was of an adorable, but sable-colored baby Tibbie. It didn't matter, I fell in love with her, and was ready to send the $300 he requested for shipping costs via Virgin Express Pet Delivery, or something like that...Virgin Express. I called Western Union to find out the nearest location, while my skeptical husband looked up Virgin Express on the Internet. We had concerns about quarantines, among a whole list of worries. He found Virgin Express on Google, and followed the link. It took him to an article in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper in Florida about puppy scams. We read each and every entry, and found out that our baby-to-be is non-existent and is only part of a huge, nationwide scam. All of the e-mails were nearly identical, or at the least, very similar. I wrote to the managing editor Ann Hellmuth and explained our situation to her. This morning I read her reply. She said this is so huge that she doesn't even know how to handle it, and that is likely a job for the FBI. I contacted one of our local television stations', "Channel 3 Taking Action" and forwarded all of my e-mail exchanges to them. At this holiday season, when people are looking for something very precious and special to give to someone they love, a puppy seems like a wonderful idea. Especially one who is in a state of limbo between a far-away continent and a warm and loving home. Please don't be taken in by a scam like this. Go and visit a breeder, or better yet, go to the nearest SPCA and give a home to another doggie in dire straits.
posted by Cinnabitch | 4:58 PM
3 Comments:
Wow! I'm sure sorry to read about your scam-puppy. But, I'm also glad to read that you didn't get taken! Man, there are assholes everywhere!
And you know, I contacted one of the local TV stations, thinking they'd do a piece on puppy scams. I called their "Three Taking Action" and sent them all of the e-mail correspondence, and the article from the Orlando paper. I haven't heard a thing, but they did do a piece on a little boy who cut his finger on an Elmo toy. Jeez Louise....
about the puppy, im so happy you wrote that because i am looking to adopt a puppy for my boyfriend and I found a guy and told me he would send it through Virgin Express pet delivery and i kept looking for it but i couldnt find it, so now that i read your story i know either to tell him to send it to me thorugh another company (because that one doesnt exist) or to tell me the truth that there is no puppy.... oh my gosh life..
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