Rudeness disguised as helpfullness

Now, I am NOT normally one to "borrow" a blog from someone, but BFF wrote this so well, I asked if I could just borrow it. I have changed certain identifying info in it, and BFF has asked to remain anonymous. But here is her blog from Friday...

Today (DD2) was running a slight fever but didn't seem to be really sick so we went ahead and went out and about. Well bad mommy award. While driving she got sick. We happened to be about 1/2 block from a Wal-mart. Right place right time. So we pulled in and took her inside to get some clean clothes, wipes and get cleaned up. While we were rapidly walking around the CHILDREN's area with her in the cart discussing getting a blanket for her car seat or getting a new car seat (we sorta want an extra car seat for DH's car anyway), this woman says "you do know she's thrown up?" To which I replied, "Yeah we are getting things to get her cleaned up and taken care of" The lady rather rudely says, "looks to me like you are just shopping" Now mind you this whole time I am checking on (DD2) and quietly talking to her and making sure she's ok. Some people just don't know when to mind their own business. Goodness. (DD2) ended up getting sick 2 more times today. yeah I think it's official she don't feel so hot.

BFF summed it up pretty well, this lady was RUDE. You know what as covered in puke as BFF's DD was, you would think it'd be pretty tough to miss. That and the fact that we were discussing the cost of a car seat because "her's is SO bad, can we really put her back in it, even with a blanket??" And "we need a cup for her so she can drink some ginger ale to settle her stomach." Not to mention, Puke SMELLS. And DD was COVERED in it, believe me, there was NO mistaking it. This woman made me seething mad. But I held my tongue and just finished my shopping.

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Dang I was lucky...

Okay, so a little off topic, well, maybe.

I've been reading CakeCentral.com forums the last few days. Just for fun. I am reading in the cake business section, and the prices people charge for cakes for their weddings. Now I KNEW I had received a very good deal on my cakes. A friend of my mom and myself did my cakes, and they were PERFECT. She is a professional and did my cakes either AT COST or just over. By at cost I do mean ingredients and an hourly cost for her time (after all, time is money). But she really made no profit off my cakes. She did it as a favor for me, she knew my budget was small. Honestly though, I never even priced anywhere else, because I was set from years before I ever got married that WHEN it happened I wanted HER to do my cakes!

I asked for something that I thought was SUPER impressive and HAD to be difficult to do, but she told me, and I know now from my research, is actually quite easy. I had a 4 separated cakes, plain with basket weave sides. No decoration other than that as my florist did arrangements for the cakes. I realize now, I was probably one of her favorite customers! LOL I asked for something SUPER EASY, buttercream frosting, no decorations... I knew I wanted at least one level to be chocolate cake with raspberry filling, and the smallest one to be lemon with raspberry. I don't remember the other 2, I didn't eat them! LOL I paid $250 for my entire set up. She did NOT charge for delivery 60 miles away, only because she was also a guest at the wedding.

Pearl, I doubt you are reading this, but in case you stumble on it. THANK YOU. I never realized what a cake really cost.

I also had the MOST awesome florist. He also didn't make a penny off me. While he wasn't a close friend per se, I knew him before I ever asked him to do my wedding. He also was a professional with a store front. When I first approached him it was for a 12 person wedding, including bride and groom. 6 weeks before the wedding it changed to a 150 person affair and I suddenly needed WAY more flowers. In the end, for all the boutonnieres, coursages, bouquets, throw bouquet, ceremony decorations, reception decorations, and cake decorations, I only paid $400. I had a combination of white roses and purple tulips. It was BEAUTIFUL.

I really appreciate these people helping to keep my costs down. I will have to pay it forward to someone else one day.

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What do you want to do with your life?

I was recently asked this question. It's a tough one in some ways.

I'm 31, divorced, single parent of 2 BEAUTIFUL little girls. I have an INCREDIBLE, wonderful support system now. I have good friends who truly only want the best for me.

I have an associates degree that was earned 11 years ago. I have not finished my Bachelor's degree, and I've come to the conclusion that I don't care if I do. If I finally find a field that it behooves to have the degree, then I'll find a way to finish it. Otherwise, I am not going to spend my time or money to get a piece of paper. It doesn't bother me that I don't have the degree, though it seems to bother a few people around me.

There's jobs I've previously done and enjoyed very much. I LOVED being an EMT. But I have reservations about going back into that field. Primarily because I have already burned out of it once. Also because I am not too certain that the work schedules would be very conducive to my children having their mother actually PRESENT in their lives. But if I do go back into that job, it's only a 1 semester training. If I choose later to continue on to paramedic it's another 1-2 years of schooling later.

I could try to go back to school for nursing. A career that is considered VERY "portable." Meaning it travels with you when you move. This is always a good thing. But, it's a minimum 2 years of training. And honestly, I'm not sure I want to be doing nursing.

I learned how to do IV's and blood draws in Army training, so I have considered being a Phlebotomist. Whether or not licensing is required varies from state to state. IF it is required, some schooling would be involved, probably no more than a single semester.

A large part of me leans toward the medical field. It's something I've done and enjoyed. And no matter HOW bad the economy is, this field WILL be there. But... I'm not sure I care to continue working in it. It is a rewarding thing to help people, but not everyone is nice to you. No, I'm not being "a big girl-butt" as a 6 year old recently called me. Some people are hostile toward medical professionals, some are just so unhappy that they make you miserable, the job isn't ALWAYS rewarding. It can be full of heartbreak too. SO... not sure it's where I want to be.

Other things I'm fairly good at (IMHO anyway)...

Shoot, I don't know anymore. But, I have been recently reminded of something I do enjoy. Cake decorating. I am an amateur at best. I've literally done two cakes before. No, 3 cakes. I've done my girls first birthday cake. It was by far the most elaborate. It was a beautiful crown cake fully covered in stars in the various colors. I did a baby shower cake for a friend, it had colored polka dots. And I did another cake for my girls 2nd birthday, also a polka dot cake.

I was watching BFF do a cake this weekend for our friend's twins party and was reminded how much I enjoy it. (and LOVE buttercream frosting!) She's taking all three of the Wilton Method classes. She's done some pretty impressive cakes. So I started picking her brain and doing some looking. I can take the classes through Micheal's craft store, the class tuition is about $45 per course (each course is 4 weeks long, 2 hour class per week). The required supply kit is $25-35 per course. Outside of that, there's other supplies that I will need, but BFF has MANY of the tips, etc that I'll need. As for food supplies, she says overall she doesn't believe she spent too much for her classes. SO... overall, it will not cost me too much to do. And it will give me skills that I can use anywhere, so it's portable.

I am hoping to sign up for the class for next month. The store wasn't originally scheduling course 1 for July, but they've had a great interest in it. So I will stop by tomorrow after work and probably be signing up for it. :) I'm excited!! :)

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My week...

Well, ex-DH arrived Thursday night to visit with Bug and Peanut for a while. I will leave it at that.

Sabbath day we went out to camp meeting for church, Chaplain Barry Black was the guest speaker. He is a retired Navy Admiral, and is the 62nd Chaplain of the US Senate. He was GREAT. VERY inspirational, charismatic, and fun. It was a great sermon about "Supersizing your Faith."

After church we came home, quickly changed clothes and left for a twin's birthday party. It was a BLAST, and everyone enjoyed it. There were 5 sets of 3 year old twins there! 9 girls, 1 boy.

Then we came back home, dropped of ex-DH and all four girls (he volunteered!) and the boys and remaining adults headed back to Camp Meeting to hear Chaplain Black speak again. This time the service was about "surviving the season of anxiety." Again, GREAT. I loved hearing him speak.

Sunday we stayed home and relaxed in the morning, then we headed out in the evening for the Steve Green concert at Camp Meeting. WOW, such a great vocalist, down to earth, beautiful. Such a great way to end a weekend of spiritual bliss!

Monday morning I had work, and we were hoping to head to Salem afterwards, but the weather was too bad to go. We wouldn't have been able to get out and DO anything. So we stayed home.

Yesterday I had a middle of the day work shift, so that just totally prevented doing anything.

Today, well, weather, AGAIN. You know, I live in Massachusetts. NOT SEATTLE (not that I have an issue with Seattle, but this weather is more like what SHOULD be happening there.)

*sigh* Hopefully, when BFF gets home she, I and her kids will leave and ex-DH can have some time alone with his DD's.

Nique

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delayed programming

Dear faithful readers... I have NOT forgotten about you, but things have been BUSY and I've had little to no time to blog lately. I WILL update you all soon

Nique

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Hand Baskets

Okay, I have discovered one of my newest pet peeves as a grocery store cashier. Hand Basket behavior.

Okay, you know those little hand baskets you can grab at the store entrance? I have a couple of peeves about them, more so the behavior our guests have with regard to them.

1. I really dislike when a guest puts a basket of groceries on my belt and DOES NOT EMPTY THE BASKET. The basket drop off is at the BEGINNING of the belt, not in my cashier box!! It bugs me when a person just plops their basket down, even worse when they get impatient with me for taking the time to empty the basket FIRST and I ask them to take the basket to the drop off. I do NOT have room for the basket in my box!!!! I'm not being mean, I just have no space!

2. I dislike the customers who have stuff falling out of their baskets and do NOT want us to get a carriage for them, until they try to pick up all the bags, THEN they ask for a carriage.

3. I dislike when customers do not put the handles in the position that allows the baskets to nest. It makes a mess out of the baskets. It's not really that hard.

Okay, so I had a LOT of basket issues today. LOL

Thanks for letting me vent!

And please help me meet my fundraising goal for the AIDS Walk Los Angeles 2009!!!

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AIDS Walk Los Angeles 2009

I am proud to announce that I will be participating in the AIDS Walk Los Angeles 2009!!

It is a 10K walk through West Hollywood and other parts of Los Angeles. Walkers raise money to help support the AIDS Project Los Angeles.

I am part of the Skydivers and Friends Team. A dear friend from my college days invited me to join her in the walk, IF I were planning to be in California during the walk. Well, as many of you may know, California is a long way from my home in Massachusetts!! And I had no plans to go to California, period. But, BFF convinced me that it is for a good cause and I should go see my friends and family. So, that was decided! LOL

My fundraising goal is $500. The walk is October 18th. I would love any donations anyone can make. It is a great cause!! You can find donation information on my own Donation Page.

I am also participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Boston on October 4th. However, I have decided to concentrate my fundraising to the AIDS Walk. I will gladly accept donations for both though! I have not signed up yet for the Breast Cancer Walk, so I will be posting a link to that fundraising page later.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I will post more about it in the coming months! :)

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Nostalgia

Wow... I love most modern technologies, but really, some things are just SO classic... Drive in movie theater's! Last Saturday we set off for the drive in. All 10 us. We didn't tell the boys where we were going. Oh my, it was SO funny (and slightly annoying) listening to them ALL the way there. It only cost us TWENTY DOLLARS for all 10 of us. That works out to $1 per person per movie, it doesn't get much better than that. We had pre popped our own popcorn on the air popper at home, with some olive oil with roasted garlic, nutrtional yeast, and salt. YUM, and we'd made hot dogs in our rice cookers that we brought along. We had some sodas and water, lots of blankets, and our camping chairs. Everything we brought to eat was safe for BFF's DS with allergies.

The boys helped us get set up outside the van, and we put the girls into their strollers. While we were making the hot dogs for everyone the previews started. THIS is when the boys FINALLY figured out what was going on and got VERY excited.

The 2 movies we saw were UP, and Night at the Museum 2. Both great movies. The girls fell asleep during the first movie, no surprise there. It was just so nice, in the camp chairs, cuddled under a blanket, enjoying a good movie outdoors!! We started getting sprinkled on at the beginning of the 2nd movie, but fortunately it held out. We left the theater at about 1 am and got home around 2 am. I fell asleep on the drive home and was told it started really raining on the drive home.

The girls were good for us and slept in until around 9:30 am the next morning!! WOOHOO!!!

It was a great evening, and I'm really looking forward to doing it again soon!!!

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It's been a slow week...

Overall it really has been a slower week. However, I will be happy to vent to my bloggy friends about my work day yesterday.

I nicknamed it "Tell me how to do MY job day." Most of my customers seriously were telling me and my poor baggers how to do our jobs. I had one customer that insisted I void out all of what I HAD rang so that I could do it HER way. And then the multiple customers who were picking on my baggers, telling them HOW to bag. We ARE taught how to bag groceries!! *sigh* Seriously, it went on and on, most of my shift.

And then worse than pushy customers, Job A called today to tell me that there is a TRAINING at 5 am on Thursday. Now, I am scheduled for 6 am, so it's not as bad as you might think. But I work Job B until 10 pm Wednesday night. I'll have to be up at about 4 am to get to work by 5. *sigh* Oh well, at least they did say I can get off an hour earlier.

So that's about it for me this week. So far anyway. :)

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Sorry

I want to apologize to my bloggy friends. I have not had a lot of time or energy this week to blog. Not to mention, nothing witty or charming to say! LOL But I am still here, alive and well... I will try to put up a new blog tomorrow before work.

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Pictures from yesterday

Yesterday while I was at work, BFF and her DH had the girls outside playing. BFF took lots of pictures of it. Here are my sweet little girls helping their Uncle mow the grass and playing outside!

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Silly girls

Okay, quick musing on my silly girls.

All 4 girls are playing out back (fully fenced in). The screen door is closed. Well, there's a step down out back, so they can't really reach the handle to open the door back up from outside. The door swings OUT by the way.

So to try to get back in, they pushed one of our lawn chairs up against the door, now they can reach the handle, but of course with the chair against the door, they cannot open they door.

The looks of their faces, total confusion, it's priceless. It's a clear "why can't I open it??" ALL FOUR OF THEM tried to open it! I was laying here on the couch watching them and laughing. I know, bad mom.

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I have nothing witty to say today

Yup, just a boring ho hum day for me. I woke up, I drank coffee, had some granola in yogurt. Homemade granola is YUMMY, thanks BFF!

Got ready for work and away I went. Worked a 6 hour shift, it was steady busy, no real characters to report, and came home.

I got nauseous on the way home, for no apparent reason. I ate on my break, an egg, spinach, feta, mushroom in a shell thingy at Starbucks. So there was no real goo reason for being so nauseous. But I was. I got changed outta my work clothes, and flopped down on the couch practically in tears. BFF had her DH make me a sandwich so I wouldn't get sick. And it helped.

Now I'm smelling a delicious dinner cooking. So like I said, nothing interesting! LOL

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