Podcasts

I have to interrupt today's program for a special announcement... It's a girl!!!  We are so excited to welcome new member to our family... Preggie Chick is no longer Preggie... she is the proud Mum of a lovely new daughter!  We are super excited to be three times an Aunt and Uncle now and can't wait to meet the new addition to the family!

So... lately I have had a bit of quiet time on my hands at work with things to do with my hands that don't require my full attention mentally, so I have found myself listening to podcasts.  I am a newbie in the podcast world, having never heard of them until recently, but I am loving listening to other people talk!  The podcast I listen to most is from Brye Lynn of Sew Stitch Create, and I really love her voice and the fact that she shares a bit about her life as well as sharing her research into interesting topics in the sewing world.  I keep meaning to download iTunes so I can download a few podcasts in advance to that I don't have to rely on the internet working for me to listen (as it so often doesn't work when I am at work). 

I am definitely keen to find some more podcasts to listen to and I can see they would be great to listen to while I am doing my day job... mindless cooking and cleaning at the moment... so if you know of any good ones... let me know... I am interested in pretty much anything creative.

There is another one that I listen to that I listen to for content only as she has a really irritating voice... if my husband hears her, he gets instantly cranky... she is that annoying, but I do like her content, so I try to get past the voice thing...

And now for a bit of a gripe on an unrelated topic... 

Since we are working overseas, I do most of  my gift shopping online and I have just done some very late Christmas shopping for our UK relatives (since they have been on holiday and have just gotten home).   Everything I ordered for them from Amazon went fine (thanks very  much to Stacy from StacySews for guidance in selecting a good 'turn-to' sewing book for my sister in law) but, the one thing I ordered from the US using Shopatron has been a nightmare!!!!  I ordered my 3 year old niece a Kimochis plush toy..., but because my billling address is in NZ, and my credit card is international and I wanted to have the order shipped to the UK, I set off all kinds of red flags...  They wanted me to send in proof of billing address and ID, but I don't have proof of billing address since I don't live in NZ at the moment, so I sent them a copy of my credit card instead (at the suggestion of the customer service rep I spoke to)....  The person who received it didn't want to accept it and actually called my sister in law in the UK and decided that she should pay for the gift instead as it was easier that way, and I emailed back and said "No, it's a gift, why should she pay for it etc..."  Anyway, 6 days later with lots of emails and phone calls and assurances that they are only trying to protect me...  they have finally accepted that I am who I say I am and have accepted my credit card.  I am NEVER going to use Shopatron again.

Have you had a similar experience?  Did it drive you crazy?  I mean, there's security and then there's security, right?!

Arabella Chickie in Palma de Mallorca