WARNING: Rebecca D. shows flagrant disregard for the rules of punctuation... She uses ellipsis with wild abandon... Punctuation interventions have been done to no avail... If you are offended by such irreverence to the rules of grammar... The very glue that holds our society together... STOP READING NOW... Move on... There is a little button at the top that says "next blog"... You would be well advised to use it... You were warned...

A new look for Valentine's Day....

Sunday, January 31, 2010

To help you (and me) get in the spirit of this fun season I decided to spruce the place up a bit... 
What do you think?

Need more help? Me too...

How about we take a peek at some of the stuff others around the blog world are doing....





















Are you inspired yet?
I know I am...

Thanks for listening,

Bubbling up.... (part 1)

Saturday, January 30, 2010

I visited a blog yesterday that asked what our most memorable Valentine's Day was, and it jogged a memory from years and years ago...

Back when we were newlywed we were living in New Jersey with P's dad. We had wed the April before and by June KK was on the way (surprise!) so by February of the following year I was REALLY pregnant... (I was due in mid March)... Still I didn't want our first Valentine's Day to go without any romance, so when my mom invited us up to Maine we went, but instead of staying with them like we usually did I booked us a room... a hot tub suite to be exact....

Now, Maine in February isn't exactly romantic, but the room I booked overlooked the harbor, and had not only a huge hot tub in the bathroom, but a gas fireplace to snuggle up in front of... huge or not I wanted everything to be perfect. I snuck over to the motel with my mom upon arriving to "set up" while P hung out with my step-dad. I put out faux champagne (grape juice), glasses, lit candles, and ran a bath for us. After I called my dad to bring P, I poured an entire bottle of bubble bath into the tub and turned on the jets... (some of you are already groaning...)

I went out front to wait for P. He was pleasantly surprised... (and not just because we were not staying with his in-laws for the weekend...) until we got to the room. Upon opening the door we discovered the room was buried 3' deep in bubbles! He looked at me and said "Why did you do this?"... as if I had planned it... (I'm not sure in retrospect if I should have been insulted, I was to shocked to feel anything at the time...) I didn't know what to say... it was one of those rare speechless moments... Thankfully P went into action... he waded in to the tub and turned off the jets and drained the tub. There was a window over the tub that was pretty good size, and was overlooking the ally behind the motel. Being on the third floor P had an idea...he slid it open and popped out the screen. We both started pushing bubbles out the window. He grabbed the ice bucket and I grabbed the tray it was on and we went to work... (let's just picture that for a moment... P with a small pink plastic ice bucket and myself, 8 months pregnant, with a pink plastic tray... paints quite a picture...) After we got most the bubbles out the window we turned on the shower allowing the steam in the air to dissolve the rest of the bubbles... we then cranked the heat to dry out the room. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any damage so we sat on the bed and discussed what we would do once the room was fully restored.

About ten minutes later there was a knock at the door, it was the manager, he wanted to know if we'd had some trouble with the tub. I fessed up that I had put bubble bath in it and it caused a little mess, but that we had fixed everything.... That is when he asked us to follow him. With dread in our guts we followed him outside and around the motel... there, directly below our window was his pick-up truck about half buried in now frozen (February + Maine = COLD) bubbles.... Thankfully he burst out laughing! P offered to help clean it up and we ended up making a new friend. (We even dined with him and his sweet wife that night.)

And yes, I did say "Part 1"... I have another bubble story for another day...

Thanks for listening,

Five Favorites Friday...

Friday, January 29, 2010

Yes, I did change "Favorites Friday" to "Five Favorites Friday"... I work well when I have goals and limits. I initially thought I'd do "Fifteen Favorites Friday", but was afraid I might run out of favorite things around item eleven and that would just be false advertising.  For those of you who missed last Friday's post, these "favorites" are just things/places/ blogs I am in love with this week... most of them I will still be in love with next week and even next year but will try not to bore you too much by repeating too often...

Here goes...

1. A Great Blog:  The Lumberjacks Wife.. This is a fabulously, funny blog, that makes me laugh out loud nearly daily. She shared this pregnancy story (click here)  that moved me to tears... laughter or sorrow... you'll have to read it to find out.
PS. She is not my favorite this week because of the kind shout out she gave me (click here), but it did help...

2. A Cool New Store: Down East Basics... I found this great shop online this week... Their prices are great, I even found this cute dress for KK for $7.00!!

3. A Kitchen Gadget: An Egg Timer... from Crate & Barrel... I don't know why, because I am a pretty decent cook, but perfect soft boiled eggs have always eluded me... no more. (Why would I want a soft boiled egg you ask? I grew up in New England... that is the only explanation I have, but I do love dipping toast triangles in a soft boiled egg in those really cute egg cups...)

4. A Giveaway: A whole TEN days of them that is.... Blooming on Bainbridge has a massive "Pink Party" going on and is giving away a lot of really cool stuff! Pop on over!

5. A CUTE Apron: The Hip Hostess has the cutest aprons... including this one I am loving! I also love this one... The prices are reasonable and they make me want to whip up a souffle' a la June Cleaver...

Now just a bit of housekeeping... new blog style.... I want to start by telling you guys I love your comments... I love the anticipation when I log on...do I or don't I have any... it is like Christmas every day... the problem is, I don't know how to best answer you... This format doesn't really have a "reply" option, so I've tried just adding a comment of my own that responds to your comments, but I am not even sure if you guys know this, ever see it, or even care.... I can email some of you, but some of you don't have your "google profiles" set up for this...and I haven't tried this because, quite frankly, I'm not sure you'd want me bothering you.... Some of you skip the comment section here and just email your thoughts directly to me...those I will always try to answer... The last option is for me to drop by your blog if you have one and leave a comment... this I always try to do... because I know how much it means to me...
So tell me... how do you want me to reply to your comments... a new comment forcing you to come back and look for it... an email.... do you even want me to.... I can just shut-up and let you have the last word...yes I can... maybe...

Thanks for listening...

My Girlies help out....

Thursday, January 28, 2010

This actually happened two weeks ago, but with that lost camera cord I had to wait to post it... this photo does speak a thousand words....

Jan. 13, 2010
We had a busy day yesterday, (you can read about it here ) and when I got home I was exhausted... I dropped on the sofa and sat.... P was home and expecting dinner... chicken fried rice to be exact. I also needed to bake muffins for a breakfast I was going to.... but moving was out of the question for at least an hour or ten...

KK & Al to the rescue... KK pops her head into the living room and asks if I want her to cook dinner... (the clouds part and I hear harp music...I love this girl, I tells ya!) I told her I'd come out and help, (fried rice is new to her) and she say..."no Mom, just rest, if I have any questions I'll ask." (she is such a joy...) At this point AL comes in and asked if there is anything she can do to help... P tells her he's been craving brownies, and I told her I needed to bake muffins for the morning. She asks, "can I bake the muffins Mom?" To which P said "and brownies..." She laughed an angels laugh and said.."no problem... do you want me to make coffee?" After we answered in affirmative, P and I proceeded to have a long conversation about what great kids we have... With dinner fixed, KK said, "Mom, just stay there, we can do an eat in front of the TV night." (We are trying to limit this to weekends... ) I am still dead tired so I ok this... and they proceed to serve us...Love them!
After dinner KK asks if I want her to bring me the laptop... "Sure" I tell her and from the comfort of the spot in which I dropped I catch up on my favorite blogs and write mine for the night, while watching some mindless TV.
Fast forward to midnight... everyone has retired for the night, and I decide to turn in... I walk into the kitchen to turn out the lights and head to bed and this is what greeted me:




I finally got to bed at 1:45...

They are so helpful...those girlies....

I don't want to sound ungrateful...but....

Thanks for listening

Panic ensues....


The news is calling for 6" of  snow here in North Central Tennessee Friday. Please refer to my last post about what happened when we got 1 1/2 inches a few weeks back... (Click Here to relive the horror...)

We got that 1 1/2 and they closed the schools for THREE DAYS!
 This is what that "snow storm" looked like...


How did we ever survive?

Now with 6" in the forecast it is all anyone is talking about...

This is what I think 6" would look like....

Yep... we'll be stuck for days...

As someone who grew up in Maine and lived in Montana for almost 10 years,
I have a real hard time understanding this...

If you don't live here, you don't get it...
People are already panicking..
We have had people calling asking if plans for that day are cancelled...
Mind you not a flake as fallen yet,
and it has been my experience that the weather bluffs here, a lot...
I think it may be a bit premature to sting a rope up between the house and barn...

The nightly news is tracking the storm like we will be literally buried...
A man on the local news actually suggested tire chains!
Tire Chains??
We have NEVER even owned tire chains
My husband used to drive a mountain pass in Montana to work everyday... no chains.

If I live through this crisis of weather, you'll hear from me again..

Just call me "Amused in Tennessee"

Thanks for listening.

So far....

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

"Stumbled out of bed... stumbled to the kitchen... poured my self a cup of ambition...."
(Name that song)

No, I am not reminiscing 80's movie/songs... I wish I were cool like that... no, this is how I really started my day... and now I realize I am in over my head today and decided to take a minute to tell you, rather then keep working....(analyze that)

I have company coming for dinner tonight... I was very (legitimately) busy all day yesterday and the house is a wreck... Not a little messy, a wreck. In fact when I said the words "Wednesday would be great!" I knew the house would be a wreck, but I kinda thought... it will always be a wreck unless I have a deadline... Do you ever do that to yourself?

Good idea in theory, but now I am really in trouble....I over slept....the girlies are both needing my help with school... the dining room still has about 1/3 of the contents of our bedroom... the kitchen needs mopping..bad... the bathroom is a health hazard.... and, well... the list goes on and on... I am also supposed to meet a friend today, make a trip to storage, and shop for dinner.... Oh and did I tell you I just discovered that the vacuum cleaner died... yep DIED... traitor... we have two dogs, two cats and five people in this house... we can't have company and not vacuum... I don't have money to go buy one today... Do you think Dave Ramsey would call this an emergency?....That money is just sitting there.... Do you think P would... by the time he gets home from work it will be too late... Aghhhhhh....

Well, that's my day so far...

Update.... (added 4 hours later....)
Things are looking up....

I call the friend I was supposed to meet and explained I was in over my head and made plans for a later date. Next I marshaled the girlies told them today is for "home ec. credit" and handed out mops, brooms, and dusters and put there teenage butts to work....(I then ignored all grumbling... I've gotten good at that...)

Then I went all "recession era housewife" on that mutinous vacuum. I armed myself with a screwdriver and later a wire hanger. I took it apart and found the problem... I put that thing back together, said a quick prayer and turned it on.. nothing... I did it all over again, found a different problem, skinned my knuckles on sharp plastic parts... put it back together, prayed, and it works!! Better then ever if I do say so myself... and yes, I am glad I didn't go spend any money...

I just realized I have nothing for dessert, but other then that, things are going much smoother.....

Thanks for listening...

The Busy Minimalist....

I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but I don't know how else to put it...
 as we re-do our bedroom P and I are at odds once again as to how to decorate....

He kinda has a "If you are happy, I'll be happy" philosophy, but I want him to like his environment.

The thing is our tastes are completely divergent...

Here is what I like....

Pottery Barn

I know...I can hear you now...
no, I don't want separate beds...
it's an inspiration photo, not the exact room I want...
I really love that room though... that little red chest kills me it's so cute!

Here is more of what I like:

Pottery Barn


Real Simple


Garnet Hill


Real Simple



Pottery Barn

You get the idea...

Now here is what P likes...

Are you ready for it?

Well, here goes....


West Elm

See any difference?
 This room is in a catalog we got last week and he actually showed it to me and said...
"What about this room...minus all the clutter?"

I wish I was joking here guys... if he thinks this room is "cluttered"
I have been torturing him for 18+ years!
That room is so empty... it's never gonna happen...
It is kinda pretty in a "my night stand is the floor kinda way...."

Poor guy... I guess we'll go with the "If she's happy, I'm happy" thing...

While I have you here remember this photo from last week:


Ignore the cute holiday pillows...

What do you think about the duvet cover?
It has a 50's vintage feel...
I got it about 10 years ago from LL Bean.
 We haven't used it much since I bought it to "stage" a guest room for a house we were selling,
 and it was the wrong size for our bed at the time.
 We went down to a queen size when we moved here...
 and I rediscovered it in a box of linens.
 I really like it, but is it worth being a jumping off point for the room?
I think I could do a lot with it, but...
 well, I want to hear what you think...

Gotta go now...

Time to shine the sink.....
(don't ask...)





Rainy Days and Mondays....

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

always get me down...

I had one of those days... a bleak day... a bleak mood... it happens.

I did get a lot done, especially in the bedroom. I did three "Fly Lady" de-cluttering house wide passes. (More on the Fly Lady later in this post) If you don't know what that is... you walk through your home and throw away 27 items, then you walk through your home and find 27 things to donate. I did this three times, the 27 things to throw away are always so easy, we get so much paper and junk here, but 27 to give away were a little tricky at first until I spied my book cases. Us homeschoolers hoard so much stuff! There were books on there that I had taken to used book sales, they didn't sell and I just brought them home and put them back on there! It was surprising how easy it was to weed out 81 items from here. I now have a load in the back of my car ready to be dropped off at Goodwill tomorrow. I did feel good about that.

What I didn't feel good about is losing my temper with KK today. She is almost 18 and has taken to telling me what she will and won't do and when she will and won't do it. She also seems like she suddenly thinks she is the parent and is trying to boss me around. I am trying to find a balance with her. I know she isn't a child anymore, but she still needs to treat me with the respect I deserve as her mother. So, how do I teach her to respect me?? How else... by yelling at her. (I'm such a good mom...) She jumped squarely on my last nerve and I went all Mt. Vesuvius on her. I did apologise later when cooler heads prevailed, but I really hate it when this part of my personality pops up.

So, back to the Fly Lady, if you don't know who she is, click here.  (After you finish my post...of course!)

Let me start by saying I am not a Fly Lady acolyte... I do think she has some good ideas, but I don't believe in her one size fits all approach. It has been my observation most people who try to go "Fly Lady" fall into one of two categories... either they drink the kool-aid go all out, or years later are still working on "shining their sink" regularly. You see the first thing she wants you to do is really clean your kitchen sink and do it every night. Until you can commit to that you are not supposed to move one... hence the legion of self hating, part time, sink shiners out there... If you do move past there she has lots of ideas for routines to make your life and home run smoother.

Sounds great huh? Well I thought so, but she just doesn't allow for deviation and adjustments. One of her rules is to get dressed every morning... sounds simple on the surface, but some of us who stay at home know that we don't always do this. In fact, I have greeted my husband after a long day of work more times then I care to admit dressed in bleach stained, stretched out sweatpants and old holey comfy sweatshirts... sexy huh? I'm not proud to admit how many times someone has knocked at the front door and I do the sprint down the hall asking one of the girlies to see who it is. I agree with the Fly Lady that this is wrong, but what she expects is for me to be up, fully showered, dressed in "real" clothes (including "lace-up" shoes), make-up and hair done, before breakfast... everyday! Problem... one of the ways we save money is in my wardrobe... I have a limited number of "nice" clothes that I wear when I leave the house, you know, when the public will see me. Those of you who stay home know that being around the house is hard on your clothes. (I didn't get the bleach stains on the old sweats on purpose after all.)  I made the radical decision that there shoud be a
happy medium...I went out and got new, nicer looking sweat & yoga pants, I went through my "house shirts" and put the ones I'd be embarrassed to be seen in by anyone arriving at the door in the rag bin. I am not a shoe person, and would go barefoot if I could, but am trying to wear them more and at least keep them handy. I am up and showered before breakfast, but I am embarrassed to admit I rarely wear make-up even for church, although my friend Beth says the red on my cheeks from my mild rosacea gives me a healthy glow.. Anyhow, I was proud of myself for the advancements I'd made, I've got a good bedtime and morning routine going, and the de-cluttering is going really well... until someone from the "Fly Lady" site contacted me to "encourage" me.... I emailed her back with my progress... happy with how far I'd come...silly me. Her response? "I think you need to go back to shining your sink until you are willing to fully commit."  That was the whole message...

I never knew there were homemaker fascists... They remind me of the LeLeche moms who dropped my name from their mom's night out invite list when I weaned my daughter at nine months... but that is a story for another day...

I need to go shine my sink...

Why...

Monday, January 25, 2010


I just don't understand people sometimes...

Earlier today I got an email from a very sweet lady who just started reading my blog yesterday. She said she laughed a lot at my posts, shed a tear over my tribute to Joe and could really relate to my post about a bad day homeschooling. She said she stayed up way too late and read each of my posts... I love her already... anyhow she was pleasantly surprised when at church this morning she overheard a friend recalling one of my posts... she jumped in to laugh at it once again... then she shared a line from another post and her friend became confused...

It turns out they were not talking about the same blog.. only the stories were so suspiciously similar. She jotted down the name of the other blog and when she got home she looked it up... and after she came back here to verify my post's date, she emailed me to tell me that someone took my story!

Of course I immediately went to that blog and it was true! She didn't just use my idea, she must have copied and pasted it, the only noticeable difference was she changed the names... and no, at no point did she give me credit. She made it look like my experiences were hers! I was speechless....

She has over 1000 followers and lots of advertisers, what does she need with my post... did she just run out of ideas? I contacted her and although she didn't reply to my email, by the time I got home from church tonight the post had been removed.

I'm sorry, but this is definitely NOT OK with me! I will not name her blog because I know everyone makes bad choices from time to time, and I am giving her the benefit of the doubt that this was a one time incident. That being said, I may be a new blogger, but blogging for 17 days or 7 years... I don't care, I feel like something was stolen from me during those 16 hours that my post was on her site.... I'm sure she thought that I would never find out, but two blog followers in a small Texas town found her out... 

Some of you who read this have blogs and have been at this much longer then I have... Is this common? Does it happen all the time?

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery... what is plagiarism?

I should have known this was going to be a bad day.... it started rough...

I over-slept because my clock is still MIA in the room re-do and P "forgot" to wake me up at the planned time.

I came out and found KK and P watching the news and drinking coffee all casual. I stumble to the pot, and find it EMPTY... I stumble to the coffee canister, empty too. P calls out, "We used the last of the coffee, so what is in the pot is all that is left... "

"There is nothing in the pot"

(giggle)

I stumble to the living room and this is what I see:



Yes, folks that is KK drinking her SECOND cup of the morning in my special "Valentine's" mug!

I asked her to pass over the mug and nobody would get hurt... Her response?

"There's ice tea in the fridge.."

I grabbed my camera and took this really unflattering photo and threatened if she didn't hand it over it would end up on my blog for the whole world to see...

She called my bluff...

Oops.. almost forgot...

This weeks menu:

Monday: Chicken Cacciatore & yeast rolls

Tuesday: Beef Stew & yeast rolls

Wednesday: Chicken Tacos

Thursday: Spaghetti w/ meatballs & Texas toast

Friday: Hamburgers & Parmesan Roasted Potatoes

Saturday: Tortilla soup (or pizza... we'll see)

Sunday: Sweet and Sour Chicken* w/ Veg Fried Rice
(*in the interest of honesty, this is the recipe I usually use, but will probably just pick up a bag of pre-breaded frozen popcorn chicken on the way home from church to save time... I 'll do the rest the same way.)

Also, we will have company sometime this week and Monday's dinner is the most flexible portion wise, so when I figue out when they are comming I will mix the days up some....

What $13.50 will buy..

Sunday, January 24, 2010

A couple days ago (the now infamous McD day...) the girlies and I went to Goodwill.
I promised to share with you what I found....
I know, you thought I forgot...
I didn't...

So here goes... this is what $13.50 will buy:



Two Felt Pillows... $1.99 each
(Sophie...priceless)

I will pack these away for next Christmas...
Even though they are not exclusively Christmas, I didn't have as much luck at the post Christmas sales as I usually do, so it will be nice to "find" these in my Christmas bins next November.


FOUR washable dupioni silk 84" long curtain panels... $1.99 each!

I love this fabric and was thinking of taking these apart to make a new duvet cover...
They don't really work in this room as curtains, and it doesn't look like it in this photo,
but there really is a lot of fabric here.
What do you think?
(I seriously want to know... spill...)


Close-up of fabric...
Because I can.. I guess..
I wish you could touch this... it is really good quality.


Three "Buffalo China" dessert plates .49 each

I am a sucker for dishes, but these I have plans for...
I'm thinking of hanging them on the wall...
We have a little spot behind our door that always looks kinda empty,
and I think these would be fun there.
Plus I like things hung in threes...

Ready for a mid make-over sneak peek?
 (What am I talking about??? Click here...)

This is the plate next to the new paint...

It is a deeper color then it looks here, but you get the idea.

Yes,
I noticed every thing I got was red & white....
I wouldn't read too much into it...
Yes, red is my favorite color...
but this was just what I found that day.

Girlie finds:
AL: 2 ae blouses, a ralph lauren "red label" skirt & a black cotton blazer all for $6.79
KK: a gap black cable knit sweater (new with tags) $4.29

Overall a very successful trip...
if only lunch that day had gone so well....

Re-do Update:
Still no Headboard... 3 thrift stores, 2 indoor flea markets and 6 asthma attacks later
 I am starting to think about making my own...
but not yet...

Embarrassing story of the day:
(because you love them...)

I started a new Christmas scrapbooking project.
Let me explain... a couple years ago a snow globe broke in a bin of Christmas decor & ornaments, and it molded... big time! We lost a lot of memories all at once, so I decided to take a picture of all of our ornaments before I put them away this year. I have these cute 6"x6" holiday albums I bought last year just for this...(I know, you are blown away by how on top of things I am...) Anyhow, I sat down with my camera and started the slow process of photographing each ornament..

This was my first photo:

This is KK's "special" ornament from 2002
She was really into fairies and mushrooms that year...

I didn't like the glare and was having a hard time focusing,
so I moved the ornament...
and it smashed into about 20,000 pieces approx. 2 seconds later...

Yep...
When all was said and done and my
"Photo Shoot Path of Destruction"
was complete, we had lost EIGHT more "special" ornaments...

at least I have the photos....

I Must Have Blinked....

Saturday, January 23, 2010

When did this happen???

This is our youngest Girlie...our AL... yesterday... (well, almost)


(sorry about the picture quality...)



This is her today....



When did this happen????

Can I get a do over???

I miss the Barbies & Dress-Up Clothes....

I do miss that... but I love you... you are a great kid... you make me laugh everyday...

You are a gift from the Lord and a Joy....

That being said.... answer me one question....

What is the deal with the faces you teens make in all your
 "self-portrait" photos you take for your profiles?

You know... like this....

Exhibit A:


What's up with the lips???

The Sunglasses??

You don't know what I mean??

I see these all over facebook...

Need another example???


Exhibit B:


I guess you are still playing dress up after all....



Favorites Friday...

Friday, January 22, 2010

I decided to start a weekly blog I am calling "Favorites Friday"... I see things online all the time that I think would be fun to share, blogs, clothing, crafts, room decor, gift ideas, books, movies...you get the idea.  I wanted to share them with you.

So here goes.. these are my favorites right now:

1. Blog: Suburban Turmoil ...Lindsey lives in Nashville and makes me laugh a lot... I stalk her site and just know if we met she'd realize that I'm pathetic be my friend. If you do nothing else today, click here and read this post.

2. Quickie home improvement: Vinyl door numbers..... A giveaway is going on right now at Fingerprints on the Fridge and if you don't win, but love the look, you can buy one from a link over there or find a friend with a cricut and have them make you some....

3. Accessory: Pink Flower Scarflette ... this is a look I would really like to try. I really like this one too. Check out her ETSY site here.

4. Craft: Ruffly Felt Rosette Wreath... I was thinking about making one in red for Valentine's Day this weekend, but the white is really pretty too!

5. Shoes: Hedy Platforms from Anthropologie... I can't justify spending the money on these right now, and don't even know if my Birkinstock wearing feet would let me wear them... but they sure are pretty!

6. Giveaway: Bitty Blossom Necklace at The Vintage Pearl... The blog of om my new favorite Jewelry Shop that I have mentioned at least twice before... I am TOTALLY in love with this design and think it would be so cute with our girlies initials on it.

Well, that's it.. my favorites for right now...

PS. An Organic Lotion Shop that I LOVE and will do a whole post on soon, has offered to sponsor a giveaway  for me! Whooo hooo.... the catch is.. they said they'd do it when I hit 50 followers. I have 3... it might be awhile... If you read this little blog and even kinda sorta enjoy it, consider becoming a follower...I will make it so my followers will get two entrys each and the first 50 followers will get three! It only takes a second so... think about it, won't ya?

Everything is now blog material...

I love my blog... it is so fun writing these posts everyday. I look forward to writing my next post.. I now carry a little notebook with me so I can jot down ideas for posts as they pop into my head. I find myself telling stories in groups and thinking... I should have saved that one for my blog. I feel like someone flipped a switch on inside me when I started this a couple weeks ago. Like a new part of me woke up.  I am starting to discover a part of myself that I'd never met. I think it's a part of me that bubbles up from time to time when I scrapbook... I love making those memories tangible. I think blogging is like scrapbooking my thoughts. It feel tangible...

I don't mean to wax all philosophical on you... I guess it reflects my mood.

I went to a funeral today. My dad's best friend of 30+ years died this week. He was more then a friend of the family, he was family. When my dad died in 2000 having Joe felt like I still had part of him here. When my dad and I weren't seeing eye to eye when I was a teen I could always count on Joe to listen and usually set me straight. He was an amazing servant of the Lord... as was said over and over today, he was a good and faithful servant. When he gave his heart to the Lord, he gave it all. He was not only my dad's best friend, in the three years we have been down here he had become my husband's best friend too. My husband is hard to get to know, and slow to form relationships. A lot of people don't want to put in the time, but with Joe he had something different. A special bond. I loved Joe doubly for this. Joe was very healthy... then... he was very sick... cancer does that. The last time I visited Joe he was in a lot of pain, but all he wanted was to know that we were ok. I could only stay a few minutes and was getting ready to leave when he said... Becky, (He was one of the last allowed to call me that...).. He said... "Becky, you, your family... you've done a good job, I'm proud of you..... "
Thank you Lord for Joe, he will be missed.

Now since Joe loved to laugh and would be upset to see me at the keyboard weeping I will close with another of Rebecca's most embarrassing moments...

(Names have been changed to protect.. well everyone...)
A while ago P and I were helping our pastor and his family move... P was helping with some heavy lifting in the garage, and I went in to help Sandy pack inside. She was in the kitchen with several other women and since there was no room in there to help, she told me I could pack up their game & toy closet. (A very impressive collection...I must say) She pointed to the top shelf and told me those are the games they play when they have other adults over. Since there isn't a "game & toy closet" in the new house, just go ahead and label those "master bedroom" All the games and toys on the lower shelves should be labeled "play room." Also, if I need to fill in any spaces in the boxes, just fill in with the paperbacks on the shelf next to the closet. She handed me a sharpie, went back to the kitchen and I went right to work. I was done in record time and had packed it all per her instructions, just in time too..the men were starting to look for boxes to put on the truck. I loaded them on the dolly and wheeled them out to the garage where the men were all laughing and having a good time. P and I then needed to pick up the girlies so we left with promises to return soon. (The following was as recalled by Sandy...)  Good timing, since within minutes of our leaving a hush fell over the garage followed by laughter.... Sandy went out to investigate and found her husband, the pastor, holding a box I had packed and carefully labeled....you guessed it... "Adult Toys, Games & Books - for the Master Bedroom"  .... ?!?! Doesn't bring to mind "scatorgories" & "bible pictionary" huh??? To this day I am still trying to convince people it was unintentional... it was!

Stand-off at the McD Corral....

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Actually it was the drive-thru but it had the feel of the old west... (cue music...)

Let me set the scene... The girlies and I had finished some school work and I suggested we take a break at lunch and go see if they had any new headboards at the Goodwill. (Alas... no head board, but lots of fun finds...I'll post about these later.) Being 1:30 when we left there the girlies wanted to hit the McD drive-thru for snack wraps. I told them we had leftover soup at home... to make a long story short one of the girlies had read my "Not Me Monday" and knew I had been to McD without them. I didn't have much of a leg to stand on, so I agreed to one snack wrap for each of them and a soda to split. They agreed to my terms and across the parking lot we headed.

You know the scene...

we wait our turn...

pull up to the speaker...

"two mc mac wraps, no pickles and a dollar orange crush please"....

"$4.39 pull around to the first window"...

we pull around...

 pay...

 pull forward...

(and this is where the trouble begins.... )

some pimple faced young thing thrusts the soda (no straw) at me and tells me to pull forward they will bring my food out...

"what?"...

"Mam, just park up there, we'll find you when your food is done"... (very sarcastically with eye roll!)

It is at this moment I notice the three spaces reserved for this particular form of fast food purgatory are filled by two poorly parked cars, and I glance to the right and see not one, not two, but FOUR cars idling!

Now, I know we all have to do the "pull forward" from time to time, but I think we all agree this should be reserved for large orders... not two snack wraps!

So I calmly look at "pimple faced, eye roller" and say "No thank you"...

"excuse me?"

"I'm sorry, but I said, no thank you, there appear to be six cars up there waiting for their food, and I only ordered two snack wraps, so no thank you, I'll wait here. Can I have a straw please?"

"Mam, you have to pull up so I can get the people behind you their food."

(Let me let you in on a little secret... she really picked the wrong day of my month to force this issue....)

So I answer her... "Miss, it appears to me that you are not getting anybody their food you are just asking us ALL to wait up there. And if I had the kind of time to sit around and wait I would have come inside, but here I am at the window so no thank you, I will not be pulling forward, now please go check on my snack wraps."

Window closes... pimple face scurries off... (girlies are ducking down low in their seats...)

Mc Manager opens the window... "Mam, is there a problem?"

"Nope, just waiting for my food."

"Could you pull forward please?"

"With all due respect, could you just get my order please?"

"Mam, we need to serve those in line behind you. (now mind you only one car has left fast food purgatory in all this time...)

"Sir, you don't seam to understand how the whole line thing works... you serve the ones at the front and then they move on so you can serve those behind them."  (one more car squeals out of purgatory...)

"Mam...I really need you to pull forward, you see we have to "clear" orders out of the computer in a timely fashion..."

(Ah haaa! the truth comes out... this about their timing!) "Sir, I don't think I could be any more clear...I ordered two snack wraps... I will wait here for them... I have no intention of pulling forward so please stop asking, and I still need a straw"...

AL "mom...please, just pull forward....

(One more car leaves)

Window slams open... bag FLYS out and lands in KK's lap (on passenger side)...  Window slams shut...

I knock on window...

"WHAT NOW?  YOU HAVE YOUR G*D D*MN FOOD!!!"

"Straw please..." (one flies out)

I drive off...

KK: "Was that really worth it?"

I smile...

To tell the truth, I'm not sure if it was worth it or not... I do hate bad customer service, but I also really dislike bad behaving customers... was I one? I don't know, but it did feel like a little victory at the time... It really felt good to not just blindly obey and pull forward... to wait ten minutes for two snack wraps...to take a little stand...

PS... girlies would not eat snack wraps as we were all sure they were spit in... had to go to wendy's for jr. bacon cheeseburgers... still a victory...

UPDATE: I have received several comments, emails and even facebook comments on this post. I just wanted to let you know I did file a complaint. I have not heard back, but that fact that I posted this on here and all of you are as outraged as I was... it think I get the last laugh...