Politeness

Ok – I’m starting this blog post with this statement. This is not about anyone specific right now, or about anyone I know. Just general statements of my life recently.

I really wish it were “in” to be polite. I am really getting sick of being cut off as I drive. I’m really sick of customer service representatives who roll their eyes. I’m really sick of impolite people in general.

On Columbus Day, the kids had school off. I decided to do some shopping. Yep, I knew it was going to be crowded. The shopping experience wasn’t all that bad. However, my dining experience at Panda Express in Orland Park was an exhibit of the most appalling manners I have witnessed in a *LONG* time. I have two children with me. #1 – they ran out of trays. So, I carried three plates of food and three drinks to our table. But the thing that got me the most was #2 – it was a FULL HOUSE. No vacant tables but one. As I’m trying to coral my two kids and find the one table that is empty, I passed FIVE tables where there was one or two people sitting at a four-top. The ONLY table left was a two-top. A tall two-top. So, I had to stand while eating while I let my children eat sitting down. I was rather furious. I even looked each of these table occupants in the eye. Their eye to my very *evil* eye! No one budged. No one offered their table. The nerve!!! And one table occupant was a police officer!!!! WTF!!! Hmmm – nice community service, officer.

So that was my one experience the past week. But there have been so many others like it that I’m not being quiet anymore. Be polite people!!! Smile. Say Thank You. Say Please! Drive legally and safely! Stop texting while driving. Look people in the eyes when you speak to them. (and no, my boobs are not where my eyes are!) Keep in mind that opinions are opinions. Some things are personal. Keep them that way. Give a compliment. Give to your favorite charity. Help a family out. Help a child out. Recycle. Flush. Wash your hands. Say “excuse me” every once in a while. Be truthful, but not so truthful that you are mean. And if you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all. Discipline your kids. Praise your kids.  Hug a friend.

I think that’s about all I want to say.  Just remember – this is not jab to anyone specific and if anyone reading this blogs  this is a poke to them – it’s not.

 

McCafe

How many times can one make coffee incorrectly? Perhaps, the easier question to answer, on my end, is how many times can they prepare CORRECTLY. I have had the proper coffee ONCE out of about twenty chances I have given McDonald’s. I *always* ask for Iced Mocha, no whipped cream. With one exception, I *always* got whipped cream.

I also have given them many opportunites to tget the Iced coffee correct. I like the medium regular coffee. Not carmel, not vanilla. Just regular. And I like it prepared the way it is supposed to be prepared – not with extra syrup or not with tons of ice. I also would appreciate the proper size when ordered. At times I get a large cup, and at times, a smaller cup.

I always thought McDonald’s was a pretty consistant company. But their coffee sure isn’t. I’ve gone to 4 different McDonald’s, thinking that maybe it was the location. But nope – it’s gotta be the lack of training. The lack of quality control.

They’ve lost my coffee business. I’m preparing my own coffee, my way. Gee – sorta sounds like Burger King, doesn’t it? LOL

 

Life Lesson

Ok, so we tried this waterpark thing. We thought that with my son being almost 5, he would enjoy it more. Did we learn any lessons from going to Key Lime Cove in February? Apparently NOT. LOL  This time we tried a waterpark in Iowa.  The name escapes me now.

When going to a waterpark with an almost 5 year old and a 2 year old, you have to expect that not many slides will be ridden. However, when your 5-year-old asks you if he can go and makes your butt climb all the freaking stairs only to chicken out at the top – well, lesson learned.

So, we go on the lazy river. May I say – not at all lazy, by the way! There are waterfalls to dump about 50 gallons a second on your head if you don’t miss them. A 5-year-old who can’t touch the ground to control where he goes was very disturbed when he got STUCK under the waterfall. There were lots of tears shed dripping off his face along with the other 100 gallons of water from the waterfall. OMG!!!

Then there were the multiple trips to the bathroom. And of course, eating. And then the darn people who designed the sidewalks there. Who the flip puts dark pavement all around where people need to walk barefoot. I think I burned the bottom of my feet. And back to the 5-year-old – he cried and complained, so then you have to carry him all over the place.

So, we left the place earlier than planned. We were tired of dealing with a whiny, bratty, over-tired 5 year old and a cold 2-year-old.

Lessons learned:
1. wear watershoes when at an outdoor waterpark.
2. bring snacks.
3. make sure they are rested and not over-tired from missing two days worth of naps.
4. Only go when and if your children don’t mind splashing and will put their face under water.
5. Only go when the air temp has been about 75 for the past week. (Forgot to mention that water was frigid!)
6. Lower expectations if all of the above are not true. And don’t be disappointed when you spent $67 to get in and you hardly used the facilities.

 

Geez – you’d figure a “plug n play” printer would really be plug and play…

I am having the most difficult time installing an HP 309a Photosmart printer. It states that it’s so easy to use. #1 – I don’t use Vista. Never trusted it from the beginning, so I have never even tried it. #2 I don’t have IE8 on my machine either. #3 I’m pretty much a techie geek and can figures most things out.

The WHY the F&^* isn’t this stupid software working. Sure, I can get the damn printer on the network. But for heavens sake, part of the reason I bought the damn thing was to print on CDs. (Plus I needed a new fax machine). I can’t even get the stupid software to start. It says it’s loaded. No errors in the event viewer. No errors in any logs anywhere. No viruses. No spyware. WTF????!!!!

I am about to go insane. And of course, why did I have to do this on Memorial Day weekend?? This sucks. I had confidence that HP would know what it’s doing. But I have confidence no more. I should’ve stuck with Canon.

GAH!!!!!!!!!!

 

Oops. No posts in February…

Well, I was busy and February came and went. It’s a short month anyway. LOL

So, an opportunity has dropped into my lap. The owner of the company I work for is going to be retiring and has asked a co-worker and I if we would want to run the business. There is a lawsuit attached to the current business that is hopefully being wrapped up today and we will know if this is really going to happen.

In the meantime, George and I have been preparing. Filing for a business name, we will be opening up a bank account and renting space. I’m working on the IT part – getting the computers to work and editing the forms for our use.

It’s quite an undertaking. And I got a bomb dropped on me that he wants to hand it over April 1!! That’s too soon. I’m hoping his attorney will tell him that’s too soon.

So, watch out. I’m going to be a business owner. It’s scary to think I will be liable for my own livlihood. I’m ready and I think we will do really well. But it’s still scary.

 

I learned a lot from staying a night in a hotel with two boys…

And by boys, I mean 2 and 4 years old. LOL Get your mind out of the gutter!

Ok, so I decided to take a road trip with my boys to Ohio to see some friends. Meeting them was great. But the whole trip was one huge lesson after another.

First – bring snacks and drinks with you in a cooler. Amongst these snacks should be plain old milk. Did you know that they now make vanilla-flavored milk???? Yeah, they do. Found out that mistake when my 2-year-old wanted his bottle and apparently, I bought POISON. LOL Thought it was milk. It was sugar milk.

Second – if you are not going to stay with family or friends, bring TOYS. Otherwise anything in the hotel room becomes a toy. very frustrating to hang up the telephone about 500 times in less than 24 hours.

Third – If your children are curious, they will not go to sleep unless the lights are off and there are no distractions. So, mommy can not read a book, watch tv, watch podcasts on my touch, or crochet. No, I had to lie in bed awake in the dark. I was so completely bored.

Fourth – Make sure to check the diaper on the 2-year-old at every stop. Especially when the stops are 20-30 miles (minutes) in between. Zach had wet pants. I hadn’t checked and screamed for 25 minutes until I could stop again. Granted this was the same time as the vanilla flavored milk incident.

Fifth – It’s best to keep adult to child ratio to one on one. LOL

Overall, it was a good trip. Not restful at all. Not very relaxing for me. But I got to meet my friends and enjoy some good beer and food. That’s good enough for me

 

New Years’ Resolutions…

So, part of my New Years’ Resolution is to lose weight. I’m working on it. I need to work out. I’m not opposed to the working out. It’s getting the kids dropped off to the Kids’ Zone. They don’t like it there and cry when I drop them off. Makes me feel like shit. I’ve tried different times of the day. Soon, I’m just going to try going when Dan gets home so that the kids don’t go to the room. It’s annoying. Or I’m just going to tell them to suck it up. I mean, how bad can it be to have a whole room full of toys!!!!????

The other part of the resolution is to work on the house. That mostly includes organization. And most of that work falls on my husband. He’s building built-ins, bookshelves, and other handy work to make the cabinets. Then the organization is up to me.

I’m also going to get more scrapbooking done. I’m as far behind as ever and I need to get going. I got more scrapbooking done last year than the year before. And getting the cricut from my husband will make it easier to scrap at home without the need to buy titles and die-cuts at the store. I should be able to create almost any page I want now. LOL We’ll see.

So, we’ll see how those go. The third is to try to conceive our third child. And we really hope for a girl. I know you’re only supposed to hope for healthy, but I really want to be a mommy to a girl.

 

New Years’ Resolutions…

So, part of my New Years’ Resolution is to lose weight. I’m working on it. I need to work out. I’m not opposed to the working out. It’s getting the kids dropped off to the Kids’ Zone. They don’t like it there and cry when I drop them off. Makes me feel like shit. I’ve tried different times of the day. Soon, I’m just going to try going when Dan gets home so that the kids don’t go to the room. It’s annoying. Or I’m just going to tell them to suck it up. I mean, how bad can it be to have a whole room full of toys!!!!????

The other part of the resolution is to work on the house. That mostly includes organization. And most of that work falls on my husband. He’s building built-ins, bookshelves, and other handy work to make the cabinets. Then the organization is up to me.

I’m also going to get more scrapbooking done. I’m as far behind as ever and I need to get going. I got more scrapbooking done last year than the year before. And getting the cricut from my husband will make it easier to scrap at home without the need to buy titles and die-cuts at the store. I should be able to create almost any page I want now. LOL We’ll see.

So, we’ll see how those go. The third is to try to conceive our third child. And we really hope for a girl. I know you’re only supposed to hope for healthy, but I really want to be a mommy to a girl.

 

Mother Nature is cruel…

LOL I’ve just been thinking that it is a rather stupid idea to have a baby, who can not speak to go through teething. My 22-month old child (yes, he really doesn’t speak much) is breaking in his two-year molars and he is just miserable. He can’t tell me why he won’t nap. He can’t tell me why he’s waking at 7:30am crying. All he knows is that his mouth hurts, but he’s not telling me.

AND – how weird is it that in “Chicago” it was 60 degrees yesterday and this morning it is 24!!!! We enjoyed some nice warm weather, although rainy. We actually went outside and tried out the new helmet and horn Santa left AJ. He loved them.

That’s it. Short one today.

 

I am feeling very un-Christmas-y…

I really don’t know what the problem is. However, I have a few “reasons” why I feel this way.

First, we switch years for visiting for Christmas. One year, we go to my family for Christmas and then New Year’s at the in-laws. The next year, it’s the opposite. This year was supposed to be Christmas at the in-laws. But it has officially been cancelled because of Mother Nature. She is a cruel beast that is getting in between a peaceful, relaxing Christmas get-away and my family. It sucks. I was really looking forward to it.

Secondly, I’m now not looking forward to going to celebrate Christmas where we are now (thanks to the cancellation above). I am a little tired of a certain person who will be there and don’t really feeling like putting on my “happy face”. But I love Christmas and I will go celebrate. I know my mom loves it, too. She will spoil my kids rotten and we will have tons to bring home.

Thirdly, I have just been worn down. Three weeks of preparation to put into Christmas. It’s a lot of work. I’m exhausted.

Fourthly, my husband blurted out my Christmas gift. I am excited to find out what it is. It’s the Cricut. For scrapbooking. Secretly, I’ve been wanting one since they came out. They came out with a more portable, affordable die-cut machine named Slice. I talked myself into wanting that one instead. But I really do want the Cricut. LOL But I love surprises. I love Christmas gifts. I love to see what other people would like to get me. While I do spit out a list every year, I secretly hope that someone will buy off the list. Buy something that they think I would like. And hopefully, I would.

Fifthly, (is that a word??) I just sort of glanced over a lot of Christmas traditions this year. I didn’t make cookies. I’m not really listening to a lot of Christmas music. Plus I had a lot of added “chores”. AJ has pre-school and he had a party the parents had to plan and attend. I wanted to get family pictures done for the Christmas card and that didn’t happen.

So, I just needed to write that down. I’m hoping that by purging all these negative thoughts, postive ones can flow in and help get me through these next couple days with the holiday spirit I so overwhelmingly desire.