Years ago, I started my wireless service with AT&T. At the time it was just me and I don’t think smart phones were really a big thing. Maybe they were but I just don’t remember. My bill wasn’t bad and I got a nice discount through my employer.
When my husband and I got engaged I added him to my cell phone plan. Still it was reasonable and again, I don’t think smartphones were that big at the time. I think I had a plan that had unlimited talk and 200 texts a month. That was just fine for the two of us.
After we got married we ended up adding my father-in-law to the plan. Then several years down the road my oldest son. Cell phones and plans changed and our wireless bill was crazy. Even with the 24% discount I was getting through my employer it was insane. We stayed with AT&T though because we’ve had our numbers for so long and figured that was as good as we were going to get given the nice discount through my employer.
Then AT&T started with sketchy sales tactics. “Oh you’re getting a new iPhone we have a promotion right now where you can get a new ipad for $1” I asked about the catch, of course we had to add another line for it. I did it but almost immediately regretted it but we were stuck with it then. After having it for a year and a half I did a live chat. I told them I wanted to remove the ipad from our plan because it never connected to service anyway and could only use it with wifi. I told them I only wanted to do it if there was not going to be a penalty. If there was then we’d just keep it on the plan until we had to. They said no problem, took it off our plan then charged us $60.
We had talked about switching over to Consumer Cellular for some time but still had payments left on our phones. The ipad incident made me want to be done with AT&T. A few coworkers had switched to Consumer Cellular and save a lot of money. Then my father -in-laws phone broke. All the new phones were expensive or required a 2 year contract. I got a call from a sales agent for AT&T trying to talk me into getting my father in law a new Samsung for only $1 and I could save money if I switched plans and there would be a two year contract. I thought, oh no it’s the pad incident all over again. I said no. My husband and I decided it was time to call Consumer Cellular.
The sales agent was so nice and helpful. Answered all the questions I had and then some. You guys, we are saving over $100/mo by switching over AND get WAYYY more data to use. We only had 4 GB of data to share between the 4 of us with AT&T. Of course that never worked out with my teenage son and me being a blogger and social media influencer. We now have 25GB of data with Consumer Cellular for less!! Even without my employer discount. We have the same coverage because they use AT&T and T-mobile cell towers, we got to keep our phones, and keep our numbers!If you want to check out Consumer Cellular to see if they can save you money on your wireless bill too check out Consumer Cellular’s website here.
The links in this post are my Consumer Cellular referral link. If you go through one of those you’ll also get a $10 credit on your first bill!
Many restaurants in my area are only offering drive-thru or take out service if they are able. Some restaurants just can’t offer that and had to close temporarily. One way to support your favorite restaurants at this time, help people not able to work their regular jobs, and get your food delivered right to you is with Door Dash.
You’d be surprised at what restaurants actually partner with Door Dash. In fact, one of our local mom & pop pizzerias just announced that they’ve partnered with Door Dash now so we can still get their food delivered!
Restaurants, especially small business/family owned, are struggling at this time. We’ve been trying to support these small businesses as much as possible.
Door Dash is offering $0 delivery fee on your first order right now:
So how does that help people that can’t work their normal jobs right now? Well, some are turning to doing things like driving for Door Dash to try to make some extra money. My brother drives for Door Dash in my area normally, just to try to make a little extra cash.
I’ll be honest I haven’t used Door Dash before but we’re planning to this weekend from one of our fave small business restaurants in our area, The Orchard. They have amazing wings. Can’t wait to get my hands on some of the creamy garlic wings.
What is your favorite local restaurant that you like to support?
This post does contain affiliate link. I will get a small commission on sales made through my links.
At a time when many people are temporarily out of work, more and more people seem to be searching for jobs. Jobs allowing people to work from home are very appealing.
The coronavirus quarantine has brought “stay-at-home” orders to many states. I live in Pennsylvania. There is now stay-at-home orders for the entire state. I’m a healthcare worker at a local hospital and my husband is a corrections officer at a state prison. There is no stay at home for us but I feel for those that aren’t able to work right now. I’m somewhere between being grateful to still be working to being afraid to still be working if that makes sense.
If you are one that’s at home right now you may have been looking for possible jobs that allow you to work from home. Most school age children are home with homeschooling set up now which makes it even harder to leave for a job. But if you’ve done the searches, you know there are a lot of work from home scams out there.
Flexjobs is one sources for remote, work from home jobs. Check out their site here:
I was actually surprised how many jobs can suddenly be work from home when it seemed like it wasn’t possible before. Insurance agents, teachers, telemarketers, radio dj’s and more. Turn on the TV and you’ll see a lot of talk show hosts doing their shows from home. I’ve heard of people doing medical transcription from home. I honestly considered going into medical transcription for a short time.
Access to full service starts at $14.99/mo with a satisfaction guarantee.
I hope this site is helpful to you. I wish everyone good health and hope this is all over soon!
affiliate link: I will get a small commission from sales made through my links.
No Other Way Harry Hunter Mystery Series Book 3 by Willow Rose Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Shocking evidence hits close to home for Miami PD’s Detective Harry Hunter as Willow Rose’s bestselling series continues. Three women went on a road trip to Key West. Only two returned. When asked what happened, their stories don’t completely match. Who is telling the truth? What are they hiding? Detective Harry Hunter of the Miami PD is in church on a peaceful Sunday morning when a young teenager pulls out a gun and shoots his own father. Once the shock is gone, Harry starts to ask himself the question no one else seems to care about: What makes a young boy want to kill his own father? When more blood is shed, Harry suspects there’s a secret buried in this town that no one wants unearthed. What are the people around him not telling him? NO OTHER WAY is the third book in the bestselling Harry Hunter Mystery Series.Goodreads * AmazonSeries Trailer #1https://youtu.be/bqfECoJ4H5Y
Willow Rose’s beloved detective, Harry Hunter is back in this thrilling second installment of the bestselling series. When a mother and her child are pulled out of the harbor in their car, the case seems pretty straightforward for Miami PD and Detective Harry Hunter. Everything points to a murder-suicide. They were homeless, living in their car, and the mother decided to end it all for them both by driving into the water. But the case is not what it looks like, Detective Harry Hunter soon realizes. Harry’s daughter is carrying devastating knowledge about their deaths, and soon she becomes the killer’s next target. As Harry races to protect her, he is betrayed by someone he thought he knew, leaving him terrified of trusting anyone in a town filled with liars. RUN GIRL RUN is the second book in the Harry Hunter Mystery Series. Goodreads * Amazon
All the Good Girls Harry Hunter Mystery Series Book 1
This novel is the first book in Willow Rose’s electrifying new Harry Hunter series. Detective Harry Hunter of Miami PD’s homicide squad throws himself into a case no one asked him to solve. Four teenagers from one of Miami’s affluent neighborhoods are murdered on a boat. Another is found in a dumpster. All five of them go to the same school and are on a list of witnesses to another crime. Because he’s in bad standing with his boss, Harry is given the task of protecting a possible future victim, but Harry isn’t always known to follow his boss’s orders. Soon, he’ll risk everything while racing to stop a killer who has left everyone else in the homicide squad shaking in terror. ALL THE GOOD GIRLS is the first book in the Harry Hunter Mystery Series and can be read as a standalone.**Only 99 cents!** Goodreads * Amazon
The Queen of Scream aka Willow Rose is a #1 Amazon Best-selling Author and an Amazon ALL-star Author of more than 60 novels. She writes Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense, Horror, Supernatural thrillers, and Fantasy. Willow’s books are fast-paced, nail-biting pageturners with twists you won’t see coming. Several of her books have reached the Kindle top 10 of ALL books in the US, UK, and Canada. She has sold more than three million books. Willow lives on Florida’s Space Coast with her husband and two daughters. When she is not writing or reading, you will find her surfing and watch the dolphins play in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Website * Facebook * Twitter * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Abby Normal The Abby Normal Series Book 1 by Samuel Thomas Fraser Genre: Urban Fantasy, Horror
Abby Henderson has lived her whole life under a dark cloud. When she was born, a demon called the Deacon claimed her family as his property. When she turned 13, she was traumatized by an ominous psychic vision. When she turned 14, her dad had a psychotic breakdown and tried to kill her. She’s just turned 25, and now people are dying all around her. This is all according to the Deacon’s plan. He believes that Abby is the key to a ritual that will unleash an ancient evil on the world, and he will stop at nothing to make sure that ritual succeeds. Now, Abby is in the fight of her life against an enemy that defies all reason. Together with her pious girlfriend, her magic-slinging ex-teacher, and a hotheaded Amazon with a machete, Abby will have to use every trick in the book to outlast the Deacon. Because if she can’t, her next birthday is going to be Hell. Goodreads * Amazon
Samuel Thomas Fraser is a writer and actor from the rainy mountains of Vancouver, BC, Canada. A lover of medieval literature and truly weird fiction, Sam holds a BA in English and a Certificate in Creative Writing from Simon Fraser University. His short fiction and poetry has appeared in outlets including The Macabre Museum and Unleashed: Monsters Vs. Zombies Vol. 1. As a performer, he has inhabited such memorable stage roles as Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest and Charlie Cowell in The Music Man. Abby Normal is his first novel. Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Amazon * Goodreads
CHAPTER 1 RENDER UNTO CAESAR… Another match failed, and Don’s cigarette remained stubbornly unlit. He cursed, insinuating that the match had had improper carnal knowledge of a family member. He threw a hard look at the matchbook, trying to intimidate it into cooperating with him. He promised the matchbook that this really was his last cigarette, honestly, and wasn’t a man’s last cigarette more than enough reason to give him a light? And it was going to be his last one, too. For real this time. He had sworn to Karen he would quit when the baby arrived, and he’d already cut down to only two or three smokes a week. But. But, but, but. He had said “when the baby arrives” and not a split second before. And Karen had been in labour nearly eleven hours now. Jesus. Eleven hours in the worst storm to come up the coast of BC in 15 years. Don had heard of natural births before, but this was fucking ridiculous. They’d all told him it had to be this way, Karen included. Something about ley lines and chaotic energies and ancient traditions. Something about imbalance in the mystic equilibrium, which would alter the electric potential in the atmosphere and wreak havoc on the complex mechanical systems in a hospital. In Don’s opinion, the whole thing had a pretty pungent odour of bullshit. He finally got his cigarette lit and took a walk around the beach. The island was a half-mile of rock and trees, with one log cabin stuck in the middle of a clearing on the nearby hill. It was what Don’s father-in-law would have called ‘a real strip-of-piss’. As lightning struck the next island over, Don told himself there wasn’t anything to worry about. Really, there wasn’t. That 200 pounds of rugby muscle wasn’t just for looks: he knew how to handle himself in a fight. So did Karen, if it came to it. Not to mention the retinue of freaks, said a voice in his head. Then, Holy shit, there’s a Word of the Day for you. “Lovely night for it, eh?” Don turned and saw a man approaching him from the cabin. Enter Freak Number One, said the voice. The man shouted at Don over the howl of the wind, and his long Inverness coat billowed behind him. “I said, ‘lovely night for it, eh?’” Don didn’t answer as the man in the Inverness coat drew close to him. He was shorter than Don’s six-three, and much thinner, with goofy oversized ears and a square chin, but there was something about him—some presence in his bright green eyes—that was naturally, effortlessly commanding. One of the green eyes winked, and the man in the Inverness coat whispered, “Oh, to be in Canada now that autumn’s here.” He spoke with a soft English accent and a cheeky, joking note in his voice. Don wasn’t in much of a joking mood, and he looked straight past the Englishman to the log cabin. “How is everything in there? I mean… is she here yet?” The Englishman shook his head. “Not quite yet, but I’d say she’s very near, going by the state of things.” He glanced at the sky as he said this, as if the ‘things’ in question would suddenly blow down from one of the dark clouds above. Don turned back toward the water, and the Englishman closed his eyes like he was meditating. It was several minutes before the Englishman gripped Don’s shoulder and whispered, “She’s here.” As the wind died away, Don heard an infant crying in the distance. He threw his cigarette into the waves and charged toward the cabin, excited and terrified in equal measures. He could hear the calm, measured footsteps of the Englishman jogging after him. Inside the cabin, Karen Henderson was lying on a creaky twin bed in one corner, trying to soothe what looked like a very noisy pile of old dishrags. She was a small, round-faced woman, like a child’s doll come to life. Not at all, then, like the two women flanking the bed, who could both have passed for angry villagers in a Universal monster movie. The woman on the right was a tall, muscular Haitian with a lot of dark hair pulled back in a tight ponytail.
Natalie Arnaud wore a bulky, dirty trench coat over an equally dirty tank top, khaki pants, and heavy steel- toed boots. The whole ensemble suggested that she’d been working nights in either a munitions factory or a
slaughterhouse. The woman on the left looked like an older version of Karen. Stout of frame and straight of back, ‘Grandma’ Meg McAllister had a glass of single malt scotch in her hand. It was not her first one of the night.
Don stood with his back to the door for a moment, staring at the squirming, noisy bundle in Karen’s hands, until the Englishman gave him a nudge. “I think some introductions are in order, Donald.” Karen looked up and nodded, beckoning Don over to her. As he approached the bed, she glanced at the Englishman and said, “You too, Simon.” The two men huddled around the bedside as Karen gave the child a gentle pat on the back and said, “Don… say hi to your daughter.” Grandma Meg put down her Scotch and gently placed the child in Don’s arms. His whole body froze as the baby’s weight settled against him, and he imagined that the slightest tremor would offend her. Only his mouth moved as he whispered, “She’s gorgeous…” This was, of course, a clever lie. She was a newborn baby, and all newborn babies look like flesh-shaped balloons filled with prune juice and raspberry jam, but as far as Don was willing to admit, the child was perfect. “So, what do we call her?” Simon asked. “Only I feel like ‘Small Human-in-Progress’ is a tad wordy.” Karen smiled and shook her head. “We call her ‘Abigail’.” Grandma Meg nodded and took a sip of her scotch. “Aye,” she said, in a broad Yorkshire accent, “Abigail Margaret ‘enderson.” Then she smirked and added, “My suggestion, of course.” Don nodded and rocked the child in his arms. “Abigail. Abby, for short.” He leaned in close to his daughter and whispered, “Do you like that? Do you like ‘Abby’?” Abby made a gurgling noise of assent and reached for Don’s nose with a fat, sausagey arm. As her eyes opened and she took a first look at the room around her, the party went quiet and just watched her, forgetting that there was a world beyond their log cabin. So it came as a huge shock when somebody knocked on the door. Knock-knock-knock. For a second, nobody moved. Then Natalie pushed aside her trench coat, letting her hand rest over the hilt of the long machete she had strapped to her leg. Knock-knock-knock. Grandma Meg reached for the Webley revolver she’d holstered at her hip and thumbed the hammer nervously. Knock-knock-knock. Simon closed his eyes and nodded once. “It’s him.” The door crashed against the wall as a rush of freezing wind howled through the cabin. Don held Abby close to his chest and turned his back to the chill, while Natalie and Grandma Meg trained their weapons on the figure in the doorway. The newcomer was not quite a man, nor was it quite a monster. It was human in shape, but it was cloaked in a set of white floor-length robes, with gold at the sleeves and collar, and a purple hood that hid its eyes. The thing in the robes glided into the cabin, hands folded in front of it, heedless of the venomous looks it received. Behind it, the door slammed shut and locked itself. The thing whispered, “The weather is… pleasant, is it not?” Its voice was like the crunch of dead leaves underfoot, and the way the corners of its mouth twitched upward suggested that it was attempting irony. Natalie stepped forward and touched the point of her blade to the creature’s throat. “What the hell do you want, you son of a bitch?” The robed figure raised its hands submissively. “Such language,” it wheezed, “and in the presence of a child…” Natalie leaned in and pressed the blade harder. The robed figure winced as the tip of the blade bit into its neck, and a thin track of blood seeped into the collar of its robes. “I’m warning you, Deacon,” she hissed. The Deacon flicked one of his raised hands and the machete sank to the floor like a lead weight, taking Natalie with it. He moved his hand again, and the weapon leaped out of Natalie’s grip and flew toward Grandma Meg. The Deacon made a fist and the machete screeched to a halt, its tip inches from Grandma Meg’s heart. “Do not test me, woman,” the Deacon hissed at Natalie. “I do not come here to quarrel with any of you. But, if I am met in the spirit of war, I will take steps to… defend myself!” He opened his fist, and the machete jumped forward another inch. Grandma Meg retreated back against the wall. Simon raised his hands. “All right! Everyone just take a deep breath. This is not a fight we wish to have.” Then, pointedly, to Natalie, “Any of us.” With a curt nod to Simon, Natalie backed away from the Deacon and raised her hands. Behind her, Grandma Meg dropped the Webley and kicked it across the floor. The Deacon flicked his hand again, and the machete veered right, sinking into the far wall. “Cooler heads prevail…” the Deacon whispered, glancing at Simon. “And the wisdom of the ages shines bright.” He turned and glided toward Don, extending a hand. Abby whined and kicked as the Deacon’s slender fingers brushed against her swaddling clothes. “Please. I wish to consider my… investment.” Don shook his head. He didn’t realize it, but every muscle in his body was vibrating with fear and fury. “She’s a baby…” he whispered. “She’s just a baby…”
The Deacon’s thin lips stretched into a grin. His teeth were like piano keys: shining white and perfectly straight. “Soon,” he vowed, “she will be much, MUCH more.” Before Don could respond, the Deacon tore Abby from her father’s arms and rearranged her swaddling clothes, smiling the whole time. Don looked back at Karen, who was struggling to rise from the bed. But the labour had left her exhausted, and she sank back into the pillows. The Deacon bowed his head over Abby and opened his mouth. Don and Karen both gagged as the Deacon pressed his tongue to Abby’s pink flesh, right over her heart, then tracked it up her chest, her throat, all the way to the top of her head. Abby began to sob and Don’s hand curled into a tight fist. But he dared not move. Not against the being that had saved his life. When the Deacon was finished, he licked his lips and hissed, “I can taste it on her already. I can feel the energy crackling and burning within her. She will have great power before long…” The Deacon passed Abby back to her father, and he tried to calm her down. “You see? I have no ill intentions toward you, Hendersons.” He bowed low in an exaggerated gesture of mock-respect. “I will, of course, honour our arrangement, so long as you do me the same courtesy.” He straightened up again and pointed a thin, bony finger toward the wall behind Karen. “Use your time wisely, for it is short.” Scritch-scratch-scritch. Wood chips sprinkled onto the bedspread as an invisible knife carved a number into the wall, right above Karen’s head. “Render unto Caesar,” the Deacon rasped, “that which is Caesar’s… and render unto God…” He pointed at Abby and loosed a short, devious laugh. “The things that are… God’s…” Nobody heard him. They were too fixated on the number above Karen’s head, which glowed bright red like a
fireplace ember. In the howling storm outside, a bolt of lightning struck the shore opposite the tiny strip-of- piss island.
The following thunderclap made Abby cry again and snapped everyone back to reality. Don looked back and saw the Deacon had vanished. The door of the cabin was still locked tight, and the only sign that he had ever been there was the mark carved into the wall.
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