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A little about me....

Hi there! So nice of you to drop by. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name's Karen, I'm 45 years old, divorced for many, many years and have two "adult" sons. I'm 5'9" tall and my hair color changes frequently. I live in Hampton, VA with my 3 cats: Sammy, Chrissie and Smelly Cat. I work for the Army as an IT Specialist (programmer). I moved to VA in September 2004 to accept my current job. It's been a rollercoaster ride so far, but I'm glad I moved here.

August 21, 2007 - I need to write about my horrible experience with Reed's Jewelers at the Patrick Henry Mall, Newport News, VA. I brought my mother's wedding and engagement rings in for minor repair. The band was slightly bent. They convinced me that I needed new prongs as well. I said ok. After I got the ring back, I noticed one prong was badly misaligned. I brought it back. When I went to pick it up, the marquis-cut diamond was sitting at a 45 degree angle. The jeweler said that's how it looked like it went. HELLO? Who took it OFF to begin with? So I made him fix it. He made it 100 times WORSE. The diamond was straight up and down, but it was tilted to one side now. Also, the bands weren't flush, the ring wasn't shaped like a circle, and there was a horrible curve on only one side of the ring. (Thus, thinning out the gold.) I thought a kindergardener tried fixing my ring. The manager was at the store, and he convinced me that the jeweler in VA Beach was an "expert" and could fix my ring. I was called a week later and told my ring was ready. When I went to pick it up, I was told it wasn't up to standard, so they sent it back. I finally went to get it today, after they had it for more than a month! IT'S RUINED!! It's beyond fixable. The gold has been thinned out so bad, it's paper thin in some areas. The diamond is on straight, I'll give them that much, but the ring isn't even close to what it was when I brought it in. The only thing positive I can say, is that the manager never even tried to argue with me about getting all the money I had paid for the "repair" back. It's no longer the ring my mom wore for 30 years. I'm sick over this.

my pets....

Like I mentioned above, I have 3 cats. Sammy is a black, domestic short hair; Chrissie is a red tabby Maine Coone; and Smelly is a mostly white Japanese bobtail. To find out more about my little sweeties, click on the pets link on the menu bar.

my hobbies....

I LOVE playing my (French) horn. I refer to it as the "horn" because the French didn't invent it, my horn was not made in France, so why give them credit? (And I started calling it just the horn well before "Freedom Fries.") Take a look at my music page for some other stuff about the horn, and the groups I've played in. I also like to get craftsy sometimes. I've painted a lot of ceramics for Christmas, and now I'm getting started with scrapbooking. I really like doing web stuff and I've been known to do needlework, cake decorating, gardening, and sewing.

Send me some email!