Fun posts coming....

Ok, so I feel like my last post was a little grumpy sounding...

(and R.J. said it was too...) so, I promise, more cheerful posts to come!

To start, I'm going to post about R.J. birthday party (yes, clear back in May...apparently bad work stories override major events around here....oops), our first anniversary trip, and our Park City trip that we are about to embark on tomorrow for a few days!

Among our packed list of things to do....Main Street, outlet mall (yay!), Cafe Sabor Park City, Olympic Park, Alpine Slide (where we'll race and I'll win!), and of course, lay out for hours at the pool with a good book, ipod, and of course a massive amount of diet coke, er, water....So...until then!

(Don't worry, we're hoping for a much less-snowy day on Main Street, oh, and no Christmas lights either! But ah, Park City is a beautiful place...no matter the season!)

Customer of the day....

Me: "Hi sir, what can I get for you to drink?"

Customer: "Hi! I'd like an iced tea, and I'm ready for that right now."

Me: "Great! I'll go grab that!"

But what I'm actually thinking: "Shoot, you ordered your drink from your server and expected me to really actually get it right now?! I was thinking I'd get it for you at the END of your meal instead....or maybe after I hang out for ten minutes first? Or maybe after you eat your complete meal? How about after you pay, then I'll just put it in a to-go cup and hand it to you on the way out the door?"

Seriously, when you order a drink as you sit down, isn't it pretty basic procedure that your server will assume you'd like that now and go get it? Hum....we do work for tips and all....

You know it's going to be a bad night at work when...

I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day at work on Saturday. R.J. said I should move to Australia....but I think I'll follow in Lindsey's footsteps instead and blog about it...so...

You know it's going to be a bad day at Cafe Sabor when....

-You start it off by checking the schedule three times in the previous week to see when you work

-Then you leave your phone in your husband's car Friday night (which you've never done before, it's always faithfully put on the nightstand, alarm set....)

-As you get ready for bed you start your work clothes in the washer to get all that dried guacamole and sour cream off...

-As you are brushing your teeth, the water in the whole house gets shut off somehow...

-So you stop the washer after it has already filled and leave the clothes to soak

-As you are getting in bed, you say, "Husband, I left my phone in your car. Do I need it for anything?" and he replies, "Nope, you don't work tomorrow so you don't need to set an alarm, and if there's any sort of an emergency I have my phone."

-So you blissfully sleep until 10ish the next day....

-Then you walk the dog....

-Then you make breakfast....

-Then 12:30 rolls around and you think, I should go get my phone....

-AND....you see you have 4 MISSED CALLS AND TEXTS from people at work because YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AT WORK 11:30ish.....

-So, you frantically call your very understanding and nice manager and say you'll hurry....

-Then you realize that since the water was turned off, your clothes are still soaking in a washer full of soapy water....

-So you run the entire cycle and dry them on hot for as long as you can spare....

-Then you RUN out the door in literally still dripping clothes and race to work.

-As you arrive, there are some Carne Azada Quesadillas to be ran to another table.

-You pick them up, reach over to grab another plate and....

-They fall. Just slide right off to the floor. -So, you frantically beg the cooks to make you a new one "muy rapido"...

-But instead they spot the curling iron burn on your neck and laugh hysterically thinking it's a love mark....

-So, you finally convince them to make the quesadillas, with (as the ticket says) no pico de gallo, no sour cream, no guac...

-but, you fail to see the giant, in caps, NO MUSHROOMS part....

-And you take it out to the table, who eats half of it....

-Then realizes there in mushrooms in it...

-And has to literally run out and home because the man needs his medication, he's deathly allergic to mushrooms....

-And his face is already puffing up and getting red, and he's acting strange...

-So you silently pray to not harm any more customers for the day and...

you chalk it up to one terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day....and look up housing in Australia....

An epiphany....

Wow. I've always been baffled by the way we (most of us) treat strangers better than our own families. Like at the store, most people are polite, say all the common courtesies-please, thank you, excuse me, have a good day, etc. Then, to our own families we'll yell, say hurtful things, not wish them a good day, not even say goodbye when they leave!

Just now, I was sitting outside on my porch reading when I heard yelling across the way (we live in a townhouse, so across the way is not like a street or anything). This family always has their windows open and is always yelling it seems, and yelling harsh words.

Within a minute, I heard these phrases come out of the mom's mouth..."Shut the f--- up! Do you understand how f-ing pissed off I am right now? This is not funny. Get away from me or I'll go ballistic on you. Get f-ing outside!" (except, yes, she actually said those abbreviated words). She was yelling this at her CHILDREN-who are like 5 and 3 ish I'd guess. I don't know, maybe I just adore kids, and would never dream of talking to my class or my children this way, even in the utmost of frustrating situations...but WOW. Like really, people talk to their kids this way and think it's OK?!?! And it's no surprise that the kids tell each other to shut up and such all the time. They even talk to their DOG this way!

Maybe it's just me...but I really hope that when I (and all of you that read this!) get THAT upset, I would just say, "I need you to walk away from me and go play right now!" or something to that effect, then go do something on my own to cool off. Honestly, wow.

And I thought it was interesting that like 2 seconds later, the mom, grandma and kids came outside, chatting and eating....it just struck me like, this anger was no rare event. Obviously everyone recovered quickly enough to move on, so the children and probably talked to that way quite often.

I think my epiphany was just that when you lose your anger and treat your family that way, they will never really recover. Her children will remember those harsh words, and harsh tone, and I think it takes a LOT of caring and kindness to overcome that kind of behavior. And, I bet the grandma talked to the mom that way (because she still does, again the yelling and the window open...), and obviously the mom talks to the kids that way, and I'm willing to bet, a lot, that the children will talk to THEIR children that way, because they already talk to each other that way. Whew. Worth it? I think not.

Don't get me wrong, I am NO parenting expert, I am not even a parent! BUT, I do have a sense of how frustrated we can ALL get sometimes at each other, at children, etc. My point is NO MATTER how frustrated you are, there are acceptable ways to deal with the anger and there unacceptable ways as well. Clearly, there are implications for both and the above is obviously, I think, a VERY unacceptable (if not illegal!) way of dealing with anger.

Ok, I'm sorry for my ranting and soapbox-ing! But, it just struck me as so shocking and sad that I had to tell someone, and R.J.'s not home, so...to the blog it went! I hope I haven't offended anyone!

Well....

I secretly like Dr. Laura!



Here's how it happened....
My mom LOVES her, like hangs on to her every word! In high school, I would come home to Dr. Laura blaring through the house as my mom did cleaning and such. And...SHE DROVE ME NUTS (Dr.Laura, not my mom!)!

One particular time she advised a mother of a 15 year old girl to cancel her sweet 16 birthday party because she had dyed her hair when her mother told her not to. I thought this was ridiculous-canceling a major milestone event because of blonde rather than natural brown hair?! It's not like the girl was doing drugs or something! Anyway, since then I just thought she was WAY too harsh and blunt.

BUT...a few months before I got married my mom gave me The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage. I only recently finally read it...AND LOVED IT! At first her male and female defined roles seem stereotypical and biased....but as I read on, I really understand what she says and why. I think she gives profound and wise advice that I've really tried to incorporate into my marriage. And now I am beginning to read The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands (borrowed from my mom, who had the book autographed like the true fan she is!). And I love it! Maybe it just took me getting older and into "real" life to respect her . Anyway, I highly recommend her books-even if you think you loathe her, just try it! BUT, for the record....I still disagree with her ruling on the 16 year old call, but...my mom says "you'll understand when you're a parent!"

And...sorry for uproar about the confession! :) No babies here for a while for those of you that were predicting that! haha...we're good with a kitty and puppy for now...oh, and my Dr. Laura books of course!

Um...

So...I have a confession....

My wish list...

I want this! That's all.

Help from all you domestic gals!

Hi all-

Now that we're married (and have been for a year almost!), I'm really trying to be domestic! A big feat, I know....anyway, I cook dinner on most nights. But...It's always kindof a, "what should I make...." question about an hour before dinner.

So, to remedy this situation, I'm trying to use this school-free summer schedule of mine to compile some easy, yummy recipies that I can reliably use!

So....I'm looking for feedback....how do you all organize your meal-planning and recipies? Do you plan a week ahead? Do you shop each week? We've fallen into the bad habit of buying ALL the ingredients for one meal, thus spending a lot of time AND money at the grocery story everyday! No bueno! SO....I'm thinking of making a binder of favorite recipies...or something. Ideas? Good recipies? Good websites! Good organization systems? Help for my domestic quest!

An epiphany....

Ok...so at work at Cafe Sabor on Saturday night, I was making a martini for a table. I was polishing the glass when suddenly blood was squirting and I was holding two pieces of glass! It had literally twisted right in half...and banged up my finger on its way! It really wasn't painful, but would not stop bleeding! Like non-stop! I grabbed a napkin and quickly soaked it. All is well now, but the point of this post is my little epiphany along the way...

How impressed I was by a sweet kid at my work.... He came around the corner and saw what happened, and immediately said, "Oh my gosh, are you ok?!" He literally put down what he was doing (and it was an extremely busy rush on a Saturday night) and walked me to the first aid kit. He cleaned it up and put a band-aid on. Then, when it bled through that one, he got me another one. OK, and he didn't just hand it to me, he sweetly put it on, asking if it hurt and being so cute!

As I was holding the blood-covered napkin and he was wrapping up my finger, another server walked by and said, "Hey, have you made that martini yet?" Right then, I just had this little epiphany....about how there are nice caring people in the world, and selfish people in the world too. It was so nice of this busser kid to realize that chips and salsa can wait while he does something nice and caring...then there's the guy who asked where his martini was! I wanted to say, "Sure, I'll get it right away....as long as you don't mind a pool of blood in it...or maybe you didn't notice the blood-soaked napkin in my hand...."

I don't know why this struck me so much, but I just thought of how easy it is in life to make every little thing a HUGE deal and lose sight of what really matters in life...being nice to others. I just hope that I can remember to be the type of person, wife, mother, daughter, teacher that will always drop what I'm doing to do what's important: be nice!

Who needs an alarm clock?!

Here's why summer is great...because it's 1 a.m. and we just went to McDonald's....mostly because we can. On every other Sunday night we were forced into "school night" early-to-bed mode....but tonight...it was late night, greasy fries for us! YAY for summer!