Even though you had to wait a day for the duty and then take care of your baby first at least your DH didn't insist on wrapping it and putting it under the tree for a couple of weeks. Hope you enjoy it. I can feel your face beaming now.

[quote=deema]I have never had a store add duty when I buy things from the US. I have found though that anything smaller than the medium flat rate box usually gets through without any charges. On larger boxes there is a $5 charge from the PO for customs and then 5% GST on the total price marked on the customs forms. On fabric I have never paid any duty charges. I only deal with places that will ship by USPS because UPS and Fedex charge outrageous amounts for brokerage fees. I do agree though that buying from the US and paying the shipping and customs fees and GST it is still much cheaper than buying here. I don't understand how I can buy a fabric and pay retail prices, have it shipped to me and pay any additional charges and still pay less than 1/3 of what a LQS is charging for the same fabric and they are able to buy at wholesale prices. Must be because they have theirs shipped by UPS! LOL Have fun when you finally get your new machine!

Your comment about your chasing your dog brought back memories of the Saint Bernard we used to have. She would run off and then wait for us to get close to her and she would run off again. She would play this game for a very long time. Finally, one day I remembered that we had left over popcorn from the night before and that it was one of her favorite treats. I sent one of our boys back to the house to get some and sure enough Moosie came running back for a treat when we called to her that we had some for her. Memories are wonderful. She was the best of all the dogs we had over the years.

So sorry to hear this. I am sending good thoughts your way & hope you get it soon.
:D :D :D :D

Oh, so sorry!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder or some such madness. hehehe

I am soooo sorry... Hope you can pick it up soon!

For Heaven's Sake, Deema---don't you have a book of blank checks in the house? There is no law that says checks have to be written in numerical order! Or doesn't you husband allow you to sign checks?

Well, no. I didn't have one in the house. For a couple of reasons. First is that it is so incredibly rare that I write a cheque...I think I've written one in the last 5 years or more. Second is that DH and I got married a year and a half ago, before then, we had separate chequing accounts. His was made joint when we married, mine stayed the same. We also moved a week after our wedding. Since doing those things, I hadn't changed the name or address on my personal cheque book so I couldn't use mine, and DH's (for our joint account) are in his car, just because that's where they got put when he picked them up and never took them out because we so rarely write cheques. It is almost unheard of to not be able to pay with cash or debit. I am perfectly able to sign cheques, and no, my husband doesn't prohibit it. I have full access to our finances. I don't have a credit card because I don't need one...usually. In an emergency, we have more in our savings than there is on the credit card, so that's a moot point. Our situation works for us, and this is the first time *ever* that I've not been able to pay for something because of this. I did grab the cheques out of his car when he came home from work, though. lol