Patricia & Tom Scott Interiors

This came to me from my CPA today and I felt it important enough to not speed read through as I do most email warnings.  I trust my CPA of more than 20 years  for warning about this one. Patricia Scott

New ‘IRS’ Phishing Scam: A Criminal Gang Is In Your Mailbox

By Jane Bryant Quinn | Oct 20, 2010 |

If an IRS warning suddenly pops up in your email, do not — repeat, not — click on the link. Trust me, the government isn’t reaching out to help you. You’re being phished, and not by a garden-variety spammer. You’re hearing from Avalanche, the largest and one of the most sophisticated criminal gangs on the Web.

I got a string of those “urgent” IRS messages this week, claiming that I’d made a paperwork mistake when I paid my tax. The headings read, “LAST NOTICE: We decline your Federal tax payment,” followed by an ID number. Or, “LAST NOTICE: The Identification Number used in the company identification field is not valid.”

The first message gave me pause. Who among us doesn’t hate to hear from the Internal Revenue Service? The email appeared to come from the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (ETFPS), which is the website you use when paying your income taxes online. I thought for a couple of seconds. Could I have made a tax mistake?

Then good sense took over. The IRS does not get in touch with taxpayers by email. It sends you one of those mean-looking envelopes with a lot of black type in the upper left-hand corner. I wriggled off the phish-hook and hit Delete.

To anyone caught by this scam, the news is bad. International e-crooks have stepped up their game, says Greg Aaron, director of domain security at Aflias, an internet infrastructure company. You’re at even greater risk than you thought.

A traditional phisher wants personal financial information. You might be told that a Federal Express package was misdirected or that there’s a question about your bank account. If you click, you’re sent to a second screen where you’re asked to “update” or “validate” your current data — your credit card number, Social Security number, or the number and password of your bank account. The second half of 2009 saw a record number of unique phishing attacks, reports Aaron, co-author of the Global Phishing Survey sponsored by the internet  industry’s Anti-Phishing Working Group. By now all but the most careless of consumers have caught on and refuse to play.     

Hence, the change in tactics. In place of traditional phishing, Avalanche and its copycats have seized on a dangerous piece of malware known as the Zeus banking Trojan. If you click on the link provided by the LAST NOTICE IRS email, you might be taken only to an innocuous information page. You’d read, delete, and move on to something else. During those few moments, however, the malware will zap itself into your machine.

You won’t even know that you’re harboring Zeus. But — like the Dementors in the Harry Potter stories — it’s sucking out your computer’s soul. It grabs the user names and passwords to the bank and mutual fund accounts that you manage online, and logs in to drain them dry. It sweeps up your address book, to spread itself to the computers of your contacts and friends. If you happen to be online with your bank when Zeus pops in, it will show you the real numbers while, in the background, it’s pulling money out.

If Zeus gets lucky, it finds computers with links to the accounts of small businesses, school districts, municipalities, colleges, or other institutions and drains them, too. Avalanche is also creating shortened links, to scam you through Twitter, too.

Zeus has been around for a while, Aaron says. The basic package — bought from criminal sites online — costs a few thousand dollars, plus extra for add-ons. What’s new is that Avalanche industrialized it, making it easy and fast to launch thousands of attacks, virtually all at once. The LAST NOTICE scam is the least of it.

The Anti-Phishing group has a single message for you. Don’t let your fingers fly over your email messages. Stop and think before you connect to any link. For example: Don’t open any business email that you’re not expecting. If you have a question, call or email the business yourself. Don’t call the number that the questionable email shows, it might misdirect you to the scammer’s line. If you email the business, check the address and type it into the URL line yourself, don’t copy-and-paste the address that the questionable notice shows.  

Zeus gets into Twitter, too — The group offers many more tips.

The client called for a color consultation initially, after a successful color selection she asked for window treatments for the  house. 

I had just come from the International  Window Coverings Expo in Atlanta, Ga and came up with some interesting treatments such as the Tableux faux iron screens in the clerestory windows which adds interest and covers up the unattractive vinyl white trim in the small windows.

 The job was started in June and completed in August and looks spectacular.  I will load the final installation  of the living room when I get the photos downloaded.

http://issuu.com/mdjonline/docs/cl_may

I was called by Stacey Evans of the Marietta Daily Journal to give my expertise on current color trends for 2010. Page 28-29.  I am available for color consultations anytime you may need a lit bit of guidance selecting colors to enhance your existing  or new home, enjoy Patricia

I just finished a wonderful hour long ceu course on line with Benjamin Moore, my paint company of choice www.benjaminmoore.com, and am pleased to announce that the color forecasts are looking UP…yes, I said UP UP and away as in etheral, cloud and angelic colors coming that transcend our daily lives. I found it quite interesting, however, that this was not the only forecast, we are headed for a more grounded sense of community as well. Colors that are forecast sometimes can help to predict the economy and global sentiment. I always hope for a better world and since color is my life I choose to incorporate the forecasts of the color experts who watch and predict with a lot of anticipatipation and enthusiasm. The Benjamin Moore Company broke down the 2011 color forecasts into 4 themed groups:

FARM, ORDER, ESCAPE, TRIBE

• FARM - will bring us “back down to earth” with browns that reminds us of the rich soil of mother earth as well as natural greens and vibrant colors found in the natural colors of fruit and vegetables such as buttery whites, clay browns, and warm golden tones. The most important colors suggested were “Hay” and “Burlap” which will translate further into furnishings in the home with the use of woven textures.

This makes a lot of sense to me considering we are on the cusp of the “Green” movement here in the East. Tom and I have always been recyclers and when we go to our little beach house in North Carolina he spends his time on the beach picking up the trash left by the tourists. I am not a waster, I eat leftovers, recycle containers, and use as many sustainable items as I can. My friends laugh at me because I wil use a fast food cup until it falls apart.

• ORDER – This is the sense of structure and order we require in our lives. Less is More is the mantra here with the basics of black and white as the foundation, but not the stark cold white we have seen in the urban palette. The whites will be warmer, more creamy and delicate. The other color that is shown is red, red seems to run through the entire spectrum from warm to cool reds. Red and black will be a strong, orderly arrangement as well as blue which is clear and vibrant to enhance white/ black combinations. The shapes that coincide with the colors selections for this palette are quite interesting; we are going back to cubes, circles, and “stacking” as a design concept. This will be utililized in our smaller spaces that we will choose to live in. “Form follows function” with be the call of the day. It reminds me of the need we all have coming out of this economic chaos the past two years for a simpler, more orderly way of living. The colors shown to correspond with this theme where we will use the black and white will be accented with colors as in a Mondrian style painting. I don’t know how many remember Marimekko designshttp://www.marimekko.fi/ENG/interior/fabric/maijaisola/1950luku/grid_3.htm from the 70′s, but the designs will be popular again and be seen in fashion as well as furniture textiles, but this time, a little less stiff than before with more fluidity rather than rigidity. We will see structural designs with a bit more flow and a sense of whimsy. For you fashionista’s: One Note – shoes with decorative heels will be the rage! We will see these everywhere with colors and patterns to create important style to our stride.
• ESCAPE Here we are going to be seeing angelic and etheral concepts humanized with a “powdery” or luminescent finish. Chairs and sofas may look a bit “cloud” like in there shapes and the colors that we will see for 2011 will be dream like to achieve the balance and stucture we are requiring. We will see etheral finishes continue with pearlized paint and the ceiling will now really be considered the 5th wall http://www.benjaminmoore.com/bmpsweb/portals/bmps.portal?_nfpb=true&_windowLabel=sidebarportlet_1_16&sidebarportlet_1_16_actionOverride=%2Fbm%2Fcms%2FContentRenderer%2FselectSideBarArticle&sidebarportlet_1_16np=public_site%2Farticles%2Fget_inspired%2Fgi_forgotten_fifth_wall&sidebarportlet_1_16isNonSecure=true&_pageLabel=fh_ourblogsand be painted to create a sense of wonder. Gone are the citrus greens, we now see a warmer more welcoming softer glass green which then leads as well to into the colors of our former simpler times of the 1950′s , pinks, avocados, turquoise and orange but softer and mixed with a much more sophisticated flare. Armani and Dior have both shown lovely pinks with natural carbon, ombre and black and lavender as new color concepts. Pink will stay an important color through 2012.

There will be a lot of shadow play in textiles and wallcoverings. Sheer fabrics that seem to billow in the wind will remain in drapery textiles as well as wallcoverings. Rice paper, see through type styling as well as tone on tone in varying shades of the same color will show up quite a bit and lighting will become extremely important in enhancing our lives within our the structure of furniture and textiles. Philips Electronics is even show lighting in fashion and anyone who has seen Michael Jackson’s “This is It” will see the latest technology that his young wardrobe designer, Zaldy used on his never to be worn Billy Jean outfit. The socks, up the pants to the world famous glove lit up with diod lighting to create a spectacle we have come to expect from our rock stars. I wonder if we will see this lighting concept soon in textiles and furniture. I bet we do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lxarTRjqH4

• TRIBE our last theme of 2011 will incorporate the elements of EARTH, WIND, and FIRE . RED ,RED, and more RED is the underlying main color suggested for 2011′s Tribe theme. The colors for this palette are inspired by the South American and North American indigendious peoples. Very bright, vibrant tribalcolors reminescient of the color wheel pure primary colors again foiled against black and white.

Also, the sense of living within a community will become more important and will be translated within the colors of our “social tribe”. We will see home as the central theme and entertain more within our own space and comfort. Natural finishes will remain important as we continue to see wood, stone, glass, as well as some new finishes from the animal kingdom such as TORTISE be featured. There is a sense of community in furniture design as well with large benches and and huge tables with the ever important chair featured as the figured head. Different home designs within the urban space will be seen, which are modular in concept and some of which have been inspired by the tee pee of our native brothers and sisters. In fashion we will see breast plates becoming a huge adornment along with “tea stained” fashions and textiles. This sense of community integrates back to the first theme of the Farm by seeing rooftop gardens and urban co-ops that share food, clothes, and furniture. We will all have a better sense of our environment and to not waste what we we have. For me, it will be a long time coming and I look forward to a grounded, more structured, kinder society in 2011.

Individually hand crafted porcelain flowers

It was so nice to see the Ronay guide’s editor  http://events2000.com/   include such nice reviews of the Christmas House in Mableton, Ga

http://georgiamade.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/mabletons-christmas-house-is-a-hit-with-buyers/

My clients may or may not know that for the past five (5) I have been the Display Chair and head of  the space planning, design and merchandising for the 10 day art show in Mableton, GA at the Mable House Arts Center.  I am a porcelain clay artist as well as interior designer and I participate also as a vendor selling my individually made, PF Flowers.   The  week before Thanksgiving until the third week of December I am busily implementing  my design to ensure increased sales of our very talented vendors.  All items are hand made and the unique quality of this show is that it is a “drop off” show.  The vendors do not man their booths as with most arts shows. This show is manned totally by the South Cobb Arts Alliance volunteers.  Every year that I have been involved the sales have increased and this past year was our most successful year ever, with almost $40,000 in sales and 62 vendors.  It was exhausting and exhilerating.  Plesase check out the photographs of the show taken by my good friend, Barbara Weibel  http://christmashousearts.shutterfly.com/

on the http://www.southcobbarts.org/newsletter/NovDec2009.pdf   SCAA website, they are wonderful.

Custom wood valance made by Tom Scott creates an individual look

This is a  wood valance created for a one of a kind look, without  being expensive. A plain 1 x12 was embellished with molding painted white to match the trim in the house and given a luxurious look with gold accent paint, painted on the wood accent trim.  Stationary, lined drapery panels were installed on regular shirring rods under the  wood valance to complete the window treatment in the master bedroom designed by Patricia Scott Interior Resources.

While the weather is cold outside, now is the time to go through the house and clear the clutter that has built up in your home.  An organized, less cluttered home is so much more enjoyable.  Organize closets, drawers, and cabinets.  Recycle, or give away items you no longer use.  You can even give items away to others who need it on a website called, Freecycle.com. Remember “one mans junk is another man’s treasure.”

To remove an old light bulb that has broken off in the socket simply turn off the power to the fixture or unplug the lamp. Take the new light bulb and screw it into the socket counterclockwise using firm but gentle pressure. The old bulb base will come right out of the socket. Remember it has broken glass around the edges so handle with care. Now install your new bulb.