New Article On Fraud Released

I must say when my parents got called out of the blue and told they had won a lottery they had never even joined, I was glad my mother had the sense to say 'no thanks' in a sense. A lot of elderly people accept that they have won and think maybe they just forgot about it. With the advent of research online it is easier for confidence artists to know all about their mark(s). I have noticed, though, that one has to pay for the information; it is no longer free as it once was to get at least some information just by typing in a telephone number into the search engine (such as Google). I've tried it a few times when we got called by people leaving messages but did not tell us who they were. We also see ads in the paper with telephone numbers but no names or locations. At least it says where the number is from (city) if nothing else.

Where is this seemingly lost strand of information leading? One way con artists can find the city you are from is using a phone number if they get hold of discarded entry forms for drawings which often only require a name and phone number. Then all they have to do is type in the name and city and providing they have an account with an information company - BINGO! They have a whole lot of data you will wish they didn't have. They use this information to scare the elderly or uninformed into thinking they know where they are and can get to them at any time. My mother called law enforcement and filed a report and got information when the calls kept coming on how to stop them. That didn't stop her or my dad from being wary that they were being watched or followed. They knew not to fall for the scam, but they did not know that the people involved were not coming after them for turning them in. That's not to say they have no better sense than that. These people are very good at convincing other people they have won a contest and that they know where they are and can get to them at a moment's notice if need be to deliver the prize, so logically, they also can get to them in retaliation.

The reality is that they won't bother. Their telephones are not traceable, or burners (disposable), and the numbers can be set up to be call out only so that one couldn't call back if they wanted to - the call wouldn't go through. No one has seen them yet and therefore cannot identify them and so there is no reason to retaliate for anything. They will simply move on to the next person on their list.

Speaking of lists...Lists are sold all the time; it's a part of business. That's where all your junk mail from people with whom you have never done business get your name. These same lists are available to the scam artists. The people selling them don't ask their customers (in most cases) what they are going to do with the lists. States sell the names of driver's license recipients and they don't screen the customers who buy them. Most states do offer a opt out for those lists, so ask if one is available and opt out. The telephone con artists are not the only con artists buying those lists and it is possible to come up against an in-the-flesh con artist, a face-to-face meeting, and unless they are disguised, then you can identify them, although they rely on people being too embarrassed to report them and they are often correct in that assumption so they are at least 'safe' until they leave the area.

To read the article Don't Get Caught in a Con on Yahoo! Voices (formerly Associated Content) you can follow this link: http://voices.yahoo.com/dont-caught-con-10692677.html.

The article covers one type of con. There are numerous others out there, so be careful.

Make Your Own Gift Baskets

Have you ever thought you'd like to make your own gift basket? I have - several times, but baskets can be expensive in themselves so I usually end up not doing it. I have on occasion found other items, however, to use for the purpose of the basket. Recently I went to see what was available at the local charity resale shop and had a V8 moment. People actually donate popcorn tins for sale. Wow, why hadn't I thought of that before? I had a friend I wanted to give an out of the ordinary gift 'basket' to and I found a really nice large Christmas themed tin for a quarter! Now, that's not to say I intended to be cheap- that wasn't the goal at all; it just worked out that way. I originally thought I could find an actual basket, but nothing seemed to fit what I needed. My friend lost her home to a fire earlier this year and along with it she lost her cookbook collection. We share that particular interest. I found a really nice hard bound cookbook put out by the local historical society. What a find! Of course that went into the basket, along with some Christmas decorations - people donate really nice ones as they get new ones- I almost got some for myself. I filled the rest with homemade goodies from the kitchen and it weighed a ton when I got through with it. I just kept coming up with stuff I wanted to put in it. My husband had to remind me not to get carried away. Those tins really hold a lot.

Think outside the box when you want to make a gift basket. They aren't just for Christmas. Try a large mixing bowl filled with small kitchen gadgets and pot holder sets for a wedding shower gift. A pretty flower vase filled with assorted candies (the recipient's favorites) makes a nice birthday gift. Stretch your imagination and you'll come up with something unique that the recipient will remember for a long time.

Christmas is Coming (And Hanukkah and Kwanzaa)

Christmas is coming and I was reminded by someone of things I used to do and should do again for Christmas gifts. I used to bake sweet breads, make candy and various cooking mixes, carve scented soaps and sew various projects for people. I don't hear about that too often anymore.

There really are people who remember how to sew, and at least quilting and yarn crafts are still popular. If one starts early enough with a yarn project then they make good gifts. I used to make plastic canvas projects with yarn and plastic canvas, which is like Aida cloth for needle crafts only, obviously, out of plastic. I do cross stitch also and people really liked that.

Once I carved scented and colored soaps into small roses for jars and baskets. Decorative soaps are not generally used as soap, but for decorations, so using inexpensive soaps as I used to be able to get in bags of six for a dollar, won't hurt a thing. I placed them in interesting jars I had either bought with other products I had used or found really cheap at a yard sale. Now of course one can find those pretty jars at a discount store and depending on the recipient someone may appreciate it.

In later years as people got more materialistic homemade gifts were less appreciated until I started making stuffed animals for the children. They love stuffed animals. With today's economy however, people are getting back into the homemade gift. It is no longer practical even though television would like everyone to think there is money flowing freely to spend hundreds of dollars on every gift. It makes my hackles rise to see the advertisers tell us we have plenty of money when people are living on unemployment, if they even have that, so buy, buy, buy. Why make your gifts?

If one has access to the internet, they can find practically unlimited resources for homemade gifts. Sites such as ehow.com, Marthastewartliving.com, and Budget101.com can be great for helping you get ideas and tell you how to make the projects. There are many more just for the exploration, so look, and you don't have to go broke to do these projects; you just have to spend some time thinking about what someone would like and make it.

Not talented in those areas? Try a church bizarre, a craft show, or even a flea market (sometimes crafters sell there). Thrift stores often have inexpensive handmade items also and the products are made here in the USA!

If you can operate a computer and have a printer, you can print simple or fancy decorated gift certificates for services you provide, such as babysitting, yard service at a future date, dog walking, etc. Be creative. (This one is good for other events also, such as anniversaries, birthdays, and St. Valentine's Day.)

Good luck and remember the reason for the season (these ideas also work for gifts of the other holidays celebrated during this season of giving - Hanukkah and Kwanzaa using traditional gifts of course respective to those holidays.) 

New Short Stories Published

I write on occasion for Associated Content which is part of the Yahoo! Contributor's Network. They have 'calls for content' and since I have written fiction for them before, they usually have a 'call' for a few short stories. One was for a holiday story and another was for a story based on an image - any image as long as I had permission to use it.

The first one is called Christmas Surprise. Six-year-old Carrie is getting a surprise for Christmas. At 651 words, it won't take long to read, but just a warning to you softies out there, keep a tissue handy. It can be found at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9185813/christmas_surprise.html.

The other one is based on a beautiful picture I found at FreeDigitalPhotos.net of a winter sunset. Usually I hate snow and wintertime but this was a beautiful photograph, something akin to what I have seen around here on the few times I forgot how bad I hate the cold and wintertime. The photograph is included with the story. Barbara has a choice to make and she often talked through her important choices with her late husband by taking a walk and talking it out. The story is called Difficult Decisions (500 words) and can be found at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9186771/difficult_decisions.html. 


I find these types of assignments to be fun and challenging. Sometimes I get to write in my normal genre, but it never hurts to stretch one's literary muscles and work in different areas. I still like to do articles, but fiction is where the fun is. I hope you enjoy these two stories.

Hunting Season in Wisconsin

It's hunting season in Wisconsin - do you know where your loved ones are? They're in the woods looking for deer. I have a healthy respect for guns because I know the damage they can do. I took the Hunter Safety Class with my youngest son many years ago and proceeded to go hunting for the first time where I actually carried a gun, rather than being a bored observer. It really is boring if you are not the one shooting. It was a comedy of errors - not safety issues mind you, just user error.

I tried to hit a deer that was out in our hay field. I was very careful where I shot because my eldest son was at the end of the field in a stand so I wouldn't shoot in that direction at all. I tried to load the shell into the bolt-action rifle and of course couldn't figure out why they kept ejecting instead. Apparently I had too much of an angle on it and they just fell out. My youngest son, who was my hunting buddy just snickered. I finally got off a few shots and realized I can't hold the gun steady to save my life. I literally shot all around the stupid deer, within inches of his feet, and never hit him. As we were just behind the barn I could go back to the house for more shells and that darn deer laid down and waited. He wasn't worried in the least. I came back using some colorful language at the audacity of the critter and tried again. It just laid there looking around, laughing at me - it had to be laughing at me. My son was certainly laughing. My eldest son, who usually hits what he aims at, came down from his stand and about half-way up the field yelled wanting to know what was going on. The deer apparently had heard of his hunting prowess because it jumped up and started to run. The kid didn't stand a chance. By the time he saw it and got into position that deer was gone. He came the rest of the way up, perplexed, and asked his brother what went on. I just went back to the house and until this year, hadn't hunted since. Oh yes, I get teased regularly about it. It wasn't funny then, but of course looking back, it really was.

This year my husband asked what I had against hunting. Nothing, I can't hold the gun still so why waste the bullets? He nodded. "You need a prop." We got a three-leg prop and a ground blind - I don't like heights and I'm a bit of a klutz, so no tree stand for me. I stayed out several hours opening morning before the call of nature took over and I had to go home and then went back out in the afternoon. Finally, I saw two deer walk right by my blind! That was too close and I knew they'd hear me get the gun set up on the prop so I waited until they were a little ways out and then - blam. One shot, I dropped the doe in her tracks. I have been watching hunting shows and knew where the kill zone was. Of course after I got it sighted in I squeezed the trigger and closed my eyes. I didn't see it fall, but saw the other one run into the woods. I traced their path through the snow and finally saw her, down and dead. I did a silent victory dance - "Yes!!!" I didn't want to scare the rest of them of it there were any out there in the woods.

I went back the next day to try to fill my buck tag. I did see one, but discovered I can't hit a moving target. That's okay. I have enough with what my husband shot that we won't run out of venison for a while. I also learned something very important - union suits (one piece long underwear) are not female friendly! I think I'll get a two piece set next year.

Microsoft Grammer and Spell Check

Okay, I can't be the only one who gets extremely frustrated with the grammer and spell check function from Microsoft. Everyday I am typing away and it underlines sentences in the notes I am typing. I right click and it says it is a sentence fragment and that I need to reword it, only of course since I am typing other peoples dictation I can't do that. However, I diagram the sentences and they actually are not fragments for the most part. Counselors and doctors do tend to dictate in fragments and strug together prepositional phrases, but it decides just about every sentence is a fragment, even if it isn't. It does that with my manuscripts at home too, and I can change those, but they, ninety-nine percent of time, are not fragments. (I just diagrammed the last sentence to double check, by the way.)

I have to wonder where these programmers went to school to learn language arts. I think they went where I did for the first couple years of my education - Tallahassee. They had workbooks with clear plastic overlays where we circled the answers. When we moved in the middle of my third grade year I was surprised that the small town had actual text books for elementary school students and we had to write down sentences and fill in the blanks with the correct answers. In later sections we were diagramming sentences. We didn't do that in Tallahassee. I have relatives who have gone to school there (and other large city schools)  and they can't put a sentence together to save their lives either. We diagrammed ad nauseum until I got out of high school. I asked a niece if she had ever done that and she had no clue what I was talking about. Spelling was the same way. We had to learn to spell words, not shortened versions of the words, and we knew how to use a dictionary. I find myself constantly adding words to the computer dictionary and while I do understand that they can't possibly put every word in the dictionary, there are basic everyday words that should be in there as a matter of course and aren't.

The so-called experts doing the programming on these grammer and spell check programs need a refresher course in how to judge a sentence. It often gives the most rediculous explanations as to why it thinks a sentence is incorrect that have absolutely nothing to do with the actual sentence. I check just for kicks once in a while for the explanation and then the only kick I get is one I give myself for having clicked the exlanation box in the first place.

Tupperware

Few things last in life, especially made of plastic. I have some Tupperware that I have had for years. We have a set of lidded bowls- kind of squarish round, if you can picture that- that the lids have started cracking when I try to 'burp' the bowl. Two of them have the cracks now and I kept using them as long as what went in them wasn't something that would smell up the refrigerator. Finally the medium bowl burp its last burp. It cracked all the way to the center and then the center fell out. Shoot! It was the one I used the most. I had to send it to the recycle bin. My husband says it's a shame because they are only a couple years old and I had to remind him that my mother gave them to us for Christmas when we still lived in Florida in either 1983 or 1984. The cake plate,  which holds a three layer cake, is still in great shape. "Well," he says smiling, "Next time tell her to get something that will last a while." I had to laugh. "Okay, I'll let her know."

As I said, few things last - but my Tupperware brand containers seem to be doing just that. I have canisters that are even older, they were his before we got married in 1981 and they still work like new. I guess we've gotten our money's worth.

Veteran's Day

I want to say a huge thank you to our veterans who have served, and are serving, our country so honorably. In years past our military was by draft and you served with great distinction and honor, regardless of what job you were assigned, because everything was important - it needed to be done. Now, we are an all volunteer military and you are serving of your own free wills and for that I, and many others, thank you. For those who made the ultimate sacrifice, I weep for your loss and your families' loss and thank your families profusely for your service. Our future is said to be in the hands of the next generation, but their security is in the hands of our military.

Thank a veteran today.

Sincerely, Eliza Lynn Taylor

Andy Rooney

Alas, only one month after his final segment of A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes, Andy Rooney has died at the age of 92.  I remember watching 60 Minutes just for those segments. He gave us writers the idea that maybe we could write about whatever seemed important to us. What an icon. Even though they announced that he would be doing an occasional guest segment of his commentaries, I knew it would never be the same. Good bye Mr. Rooney. We'll miss you. Keep them in stitches on the other side!

It Must Be Wednesday

I can always tell when it's getting near the end of the day. I am thinking about what I need to do at work to get ready to go home. Can I type another note? Is there actually time to get it done? Do I pull files now, or wait five minutes? No, pull the files because it's Wednesday and more times than not someone is going to call for an appointment and it will take a long time because they probably won't have their insurance information on hand or their work schedule or something. I got the call from an employee assistance program (EAP) for an employee who needed to see a counselor. They need called back so they know when the appointment is set up and it needs done as soon as possible. I called the client and made the appointment. Okay. Then I called the EAP company at their 800 number and that's when the giggles set in.  This is how it went at about ten to five.

I hear the tell tale theme music and then the message "Welcome to AT&T's 1-800 calling network." Already I'm suspicious that I may have mis-dialed the number.  "Please speak or enter your access code now." Okay, I don't even have time to do either before it repeats the message and it sounds a little hostile. Hmmm. So I speak the three digit extension number the EAP rep had given me. "Please speak or enter your access code now!" Definitely aggravated. So, I punch in the code thinking with my accent maybe it didn't understand what I said. (I have a somewhat of a southern drawl). "That is not the access code. Speak or enter your access code now!" No 'please' this time, and it sounded a little mad. At this point it's getting funny because this is an automated message. What's going one here anyway? I enter the number once again. I am not kidding when I say the pitch and timber of the automated voice changed. It got louder and it spoke with inflection on certain words. "That is NOT the access code! SPEAK or ENTER your access code NOW!!" By this point I was certain I had dialed the number incorrectly but I was laughing and I almost didn't hang up. This thing was pissed. I didn't know an automated system could do that. I wondered if it would shout "YOU ARE A MORON! Enter the RIGHT DAMN CODE - NOW!!"

I did hang up and dialed again. Yeah, I got the actual company this time and almost couldn't leave the message about the appointment information.

 Has anything like that ever happened to you?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween. I saw so many cute costumes on my way home, it almost made me wistful to live in town where I could actually get kids asking for candy shouting "Tick or treat!" Mine used to do that, and growing up in the small town in Florida we did too. My older brother used to dress up as Dracula with a big dark cape our mother made for him and his face done in white with red in all the right places and his hair slicked back with God knows what. He liked to ride around on his ten-speed and occasionally climb up on the car hood of some poor, unsuspecting mom who was watching her kids at the door of a house and not through her windshield. I heard one scream all the way down the block. I looked for her husband to take revenge on my brother for pulling that, but he never did. We knew everybody so he knew who he could scare like that. I was the Hunch Back one year - shredded pant legs and an oversized shirt with a pillow belted into the back. I had black eyeliner streaked on my arms and legs and face and my hair done up crazy. I don't think I scared anyone, but I had a lot of fun. A shame I had to grow up and out of that.

Still, as much as I miss the ghosts and goblins of Halloween that we very seldom get (three or four in thirteen years) I guess I'll stick with living out in the sticks in the peace and quiet. Everyone goes to town to trick-or-treat.

Welcome to My First Blog

This is my first blog and boy am I ever nervous! Welcome just the same. I am Eliza Lynn Taylor and I am a freelance writer, among other things. Visit my About Me page for more information please.

What you can expect from You Never Know...
Well, it is called You Never Know. Why? I am eclectic is the simplest answer. While I have a website with lots of information (http://www.elizalynntaylor.com) which has more information on me and my writing, including a subscription button to a newsletter I put out every month called Livin' in the Sticks where I write to a subscribers only e-mail list with either a full short story or a section of a serialized short story, I also want to get the word out to a broader audience that I am first and foremost professionally a writer. I may have an outside job, but my heart is in writing. I also have a farm and I may include stories (or rants) about farming on occasion.If you've ever been kicked by a cow, you'll know what I mean. I get on a roll once in a while about something in the news, for instance, and I will definitely tell you about it here. This is new to me and as I said, I am eclectic, so you never know what I'm likely to write about. I might include a short story once in a while and I will precede the story with a warning if it's not for children. I don't use strong profanity, but writers must break their own personal codes of language sometimes during literary pursuits. I promise not to use certain words though here that are, or should be, considered extremely offensive - no dropping of alphabet artillery here.

So, wish me luck with this new endeavor and if you don't mind, wish me luck, because writers work very hard at their craft, and pour their heart and soul into it, with selling my work as well.

I have work (articles and fiction) on Associated Content.com as well as posts of Gather.com, so you see, I have been busy!  

Sincerely,
Eliza Lynn Taylor