Sadness, Scrapbooking and Gratitude

There has been a bit of drama on the Studio Calico website this week. Normally I try and stay out of these things but I haven't been able to do so on this occasion. It all started with an announcement that free shipping was no longer available and there would be new shipping charges.

I have to admit I was not surprised to see the end of free shipping. Shipping has gone up across the board and I understand that a company cannot absorb high shipping costs and stay in business. What has saddened me, in fact it has made my stomach ache, is the way the changes have been handled. The original email sent out to customers trying to sell the increase as a positive was pretty insensitive and certainly poorly worded. I could have lived with that. Companies get it wrong. The addition of a service fee for internationals only was a pretty telling sign of how much the company values our business but I might have got past that as well. What has shocked me is the way the company has censored the message boards to the point where almost all discussion relating to these issues has been locked or removed. Members (and long term ones at that) asking valid questions have been banned from the boards! Just hideous things and certainly not an exercise in customer service.

It breaks my heart to be honest. Discovering SC and starting to scrapbook saved my sanity as a SAHM in a foreign country with a husband who travels a lot. The boards were a wealth of information to someone starting out in the hobby and the people were so friendly and welcoming. I have made some real friends in my time there. I love the kits. I agree that they are getting lighter in product and that being up at midnight or one in the morning to get an add on when you have a young family and are often sole parenting makes life harder than it might be, but SC was my happy place. I feel like I am breaking up with someone... it is not how I wanted things to end.

I would love to hear of any other kit clubs people have enjoyed using. I have ordered Kelly Purkey's latest kit through Simon Says Stamp and am excited to receive that. I have been thinking about Gossamer Blue, Cocoa Daisy and Citrus Twist. There look to be some good kits coming out of Australia now too but mainly they are Aussie only. 

I want to keep things positive so am also going to list a few things I am grateful for this week as part of Listmania.

• I am so grateful for my little family of three. After some rough weeks with tantrums and drama Miss Three is returning to her sunshiney self and we are all so much happier. It is due, in no small part, to me making more of an effort to take her swimming during the week. It absolutely tires her out and we all get a good night's sleep
  
• Our pool. We live in a building with 54 apartments in total. Almost none of the residents use the pool. We were down there yesterday afternoon. It was stinking hot (36 degrees!) and we had the pool to ourselves. Miss Three is getting so good in the water. She was swimming under water and doing backstroke yesterday. We really appreciate having pool access.
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• Living in a tropical climate. Yes sometimes it rains a lot and we do get a lot of grey overcast days being so close to the equator but on a good day Singapore 's climate is magic. Yes even when the temperature recorded by the car is 41 degrees

  

  Watching the dragon boats (not the most flattering photo but...)

• Living in Singapore specifically is a wonderful thing. There are so many things to do and activities on. We wandered around the Marina Bay area on Saturday and watched dragon boat races, a sailing regatta was underway and an international six aside football competition was on at the Padang. People who find Singapore boring just aren't doing it right
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• Taking my Self Care Blueprint course has been a blessing in unexpected ways. I have struggled to keep up with things but I made a commitment to exercise for 15 minutes every day. This has led to me walking 22.5 kms over three days last week and swimming most days too. I feel so much better for it. It is quite hard work walking in this climate though. My 10k walk nearly killed me (see photo above) 
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  Chowing down on banana pancakes for breakfast. She followed it up with half her father's soup (yes for breakfast !)

• My final thing I am grateful for is a child who will eat almost anything. We eat out a lot and it is wonderful that there is always something on the menu that MT will eat. I have friends who are struggling with picky eaters and while MT may have other issues, food is not one of them. It makes this lazy chef's life much happier.

Check out Home Life Simplified  to add your gratitude list and see what the other contributors have to be grateful for today.