Kane’s Favorite Things Week of 1/19/15

The next installment of Kane’s Favorite Things features a trip down memory lane, cops being funny and some pretty epic artwork.

And!! We’ve added a new category!

Music:
This week, I have a little game for you to play. It’s called YouTube-a-Thon, The 90s Edition. Go to YouTube.com and punch in the name of a favorite singer or band from the 90s. Watch the first video that comes up. Then click on a random video from the recommendations on the right side of the screen. Do this ten times and see where you end up. I started out with “Thank God I Found You” by 98 Degrees and ended up with “The Bad Touch” by Bloodhound Gang. Talk about a little trip down memory lane!

Movies:
Big Congratulations going out to Clint Eastwood! American Sniper set a January record with $90 million in ticket sales and landed 6 Oscar Nominations, including Best Film and Best Actor. If you haven’t been to see this movie yet, GO! Go now!!

Books:
Over the weekend, Mia Sheridan made a HUGE announcement on her Facebook page. Just in case you missed it, here it is:
Archer’s Voice has been optioned!!!!!!
In her Facebook announcement, Mia says, “I am THRILLED to announce that Lauren Levine, award winning producer of Bridge to Terabithia, has purchased the film rights to Archer’s Voice!”
Congratulations Mia!!!!! Can’t wait to see it come to life!!! If you haven’t read Archer’s Voice yet, here are the links:
Amazon   iTunes   Barnes & Noble   Kobo

Funny:
If you haven’t seen the Dover Police Dash Cam video of Officer Jeff Davis jamming out to Shake it Off, you’re about to. If you’ve already seen it, watch it again, because it’s hilarious!!

Over the weekend, Taylor Swift posted this on her Twitter in response to the video:

Watching that video reminded me of another video that made the rounds a while back. This one from two officers with the Rosenberg Police Department jamming out to Dark Horse.

Now, how cool would it be if the boys and girls in blue did All About That Bass???

Fashion:
This week is a new t-shirt brought to you by the one and only Neil deGrasse Tyson. This man is one of the greatest minds of our generation. His contributions to science and philosophy are without measure. If you haven’t had a chance to yet, I highly recommend you watch an episode of The Cosmos on National Geographic. It is one of our favorite shows.

Click on the picture to grab your t-shirt

Epic:
Did you catch that little switch there??
My friend Zack Kullis shared something on Facebook last week that was pretty epic. Well, you can usually count on anything Zack shares to be pretty epic, but this one definitely takes the cake. His post featured a pretty gnarly rendition of Scorpio and an article link- 12 Zodiac Signs Reborn As Terrifying Monsters By Damon Hellandbrand.

Just. WOW. This artist has the kind of talent that scares and inspires you at the same time.
Like Zack, I was never quite content with the traditional imagery used to represent my sign, so I couldn’t wait to see what this new one looked like. One word people, say it with me:

EPIC

She’s stunning! Beautiful in the most horrifying way. I love it so much, I’ve made it my profile picture on Facebook. Click on the article to see your David Hellandbrand zodiac sign, and click on the picture to check out some of the artist’s other works. If you like dark, edgier art, you are going to love this guy!
Oh, and one other thing Zack shared this week that was pretty epic- check out this killer volley! Talk about the edge of your seat!!

Honorable Mention:
Hostess released their limited edition Red Velvet Cupcakes this week, grabbed like five boxes….

SammyDress- SCAM! Don’t Waste Your Time or Money

You’ve found yourself parked on my little patch of digital land in the world wide web. I’m guessing one of two things happened. You’re either thinking about ordering something from SammyDress or you already have.

Thinking about it? Look at you! Researching the company and stuff….. You go girl! (or boy!) Me? I didn’t, which is why you’re here.

Did you actually order something? Here’s a chair. And grab that popcorn, Real Housewives of Atlanta is fixing start.

Seriously though, lets chat.

I bet you saw an ad on Facebook for the cutest little dress you’ve ever seen at a price that had you clicking the link faster than you could say “MINE”. Or maybe it was shoes? We love shoes. And handbags! Lord Jesus we can never have enough of those!! For me, it was a swimsuit. An adorable little one piece blue number, 50’s era, pin up inspired cuteness. But that’s not the one I settled on. Because once I clicked on their webpage, I was in swimsuit heaven!! I could have ordered a dozen suits and still found one more to “Add to Bag”.

(bet this is the one you saw on the add right?)

“Why on earth are you ordering a swimsuit on the internet” you ask. Let me tell you. Like most women, swimsuit shopping is a traumatizing experience for me. I’ve had babies. I have tiger stripes. I’m proud of my tiger stripes. I’ve earned every single one of them, but that doesn’t mean I want YOU to see them. And like every other Momma on the planet, I’ve struggled with my weight. So when I walk into a department store and see all these adorable little bikinis, I start panicking. I really WANT those cute little boy shorts, but my butt says “bitch you cray cray.” And that v-neck top? Aint holdin’ nothin’ in let me tell ya. I have to go all the way to the back of the store, behind rows and rows of tauntingly skimpy little suits, to that one rack (usually reserved for the elderly) to find something that offers a bit more coverage. After that harrowing experience, I usually find myself at LongHorn packing away one of those 11oz Renegades with a baked potato covered in bacon. And I STILL don’t have a swimsuit.

So when that cute little bowed number popped up on my computer screen, I squealed a little bit. I LOVE the 50s! It was a great era for clothes all the way around. You got the coverage you needed, and STILL looked sexy. After about two hours of browsing (comfortably in yoga pants and my big chair I might add), I narrowed my choices down to two. The Man took my measurements, I got some outside opinions and BOOM! I hit “Add To Bag” on THE perfect suit. You know what that feels like? Its amazing! Like finding the lost Rembrandt at a garage sale.

 (cute as hell isn’t it?!?!?)

That was back in May. I was given the option to pay an additional charge to speed up the shipping, but I wasn’t in too big a hurry so I figured nah…. I can wait the 8-15 days SammyDress says it will take to ship.

Flash forward 10 days. No sign of the suit, no biggie though right? Still have five more days. But I decide to log in and see where it is anyways. And right there, in bright red letters- “Processing”. I hate that word. If you’re reading this because you’ve ordered something from SammyDress.com, you hate that word too.

So, I give it a few more days and log in again. Still “Processing”. At this point, I’m ready to hit the pool. My kids are ready to hit the pool. They’ve asked me everyday for the last week if my bathing suit was here. My irritation starts to mount and I do what I should have done BEFORE I ordered the damn suit. That’s right, I said it. “Damn suit.” Because now- I’m pissed.

I punch in the same words you probably did- “SammyDress Scam” and what do I find? Page after page of reviews on good ole SammyDress.com that all complain about the same damn things. “Ordered two months ago, still not here.” “Tried to call, phone number doesn’t work.” “Contacted customer support, they tell me the item is no longer available.” “Item showed up three months later and its cheap material, poorly made,” or “not what I ordered.” 

I submit a request form and it sits there, “Processing” for two days. So I decide to leave a review on one of those sites. Less than 24 hours later, a representative from SammyDress.com responded to my review. My request form on their site? Still “Processing.” Here is a link to my review and BrandsDragon’s reply. While you’re over there, check out all the other reviews. Another day goes by before I get a non-scripted, poorly written reply from anyone.

So sorry for the inconvenience caused to you and keeping you
waiting for so long.
As for your order, please kindly note that the item
Sweetheart Neckline Padded Striped One-Piece Swimwear For Women YZ0248901
is now not available.
So we are here to ask for your idea do you still need us to ship it out
for you?
Again please accept our sincere apology for causing you so much trouble.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Best regards
Kaitlyn

Ok, now I’m confused. If the item is “now not available” exactly how do you plan to ship it out for me? I ask for clarification.

Thank you for your reply and sorry I did not make my words clear.
Since the item is not available now,
so we are here to ask do you still need the order or do you
need to change other items? 
It would be very appreciated if you could tell us your idea. 
Again please accept our sincere apology for causing you so much trouble. 
Thank you for your patience and understanding. 
Best regards 
Kaitlyn

So, long story short- I fell into the “no longer available category.” I guess that’s something right? I’ve requested a complete refund, and of course that request is still “Processing”. I’m not holding my breath either. I will probably end up disputing the charge with my credit card company.

My conclusion- SammyDress is a Scam. Don’t waste your time or money. As for me? I’m going to cue up the Katy Perry music, march my pleasantly rounded rump into Kohls and buy—–a wrap!

This is their Facebook page. Read some of the comments on their posts. They don’t have a problem responding to negative reviews/comments, but they can’t seem to deliver the product they’ve marketed and sold. If you’re so inclined, scroll up to the little dot dot dot on the top of their page and click “Report”.