Just a Tip

Chris Garza…Here I go again…some soap boxes are worth standing on…

I have to tell you what I saw yesterday and it went right along with you asking for another Ladd sister blog, so I dedicate this to all the hard workers out there asking for tips and POOR Chris Garza at Market Basket in 1998 who didn’t get one for carrying my groceries…AND CAN’T let it go

When I met Christopher he was a friend of my sisters in HS in Beaumont and I had just moved there from Maine.  My husband and I had just made an irrational hormonal (on my part) decision after having our first baby to leave every job security and come back to Texas to be close to family.  Chris was this great sacker at Market Basket where I carefully figured how much I could buy every week, as most stay at home moms do when they go to the grocery store.

On my way out, Chris offered to help me with my groceries and I offered to give him my opinion on tipping which has forever been embedded into our friendship.  There is a TIP expection that comes along with accepting help to your car for loading, but the store plainly says that these sweet young men do not accept them…BS.  So I just let him know that I appreciate help, but was not inclined to give him a tip.

Now, you should know, that I have a profound skill for voicing my opinion at the wrong time to the wrong people and this was obviously one of them…he has not forgotten his tipless help to the car and I have not forgotten the nickname he gave me when he told Kathy he met her sister at the store

I do not pride myself in the amount of apologies that I offer on a weekly basis sometimes, but only that I see that sometimes they are neccesary and do them…so again, Chris…I’m sorry…and again, not for NOT TIPPING YOU:) but for mentioning my opinion on it…NOT SMART>>>OK??

BUT>>>> I’m led to this from a little clear Dixie Cup on the counter yesterday marked clearly “TIPS”.  and it brings me to my favorite question in life….

REALLY??????????

I know you have all seen it and been there…You are paying a small fortune for a good cup of coffee and these adorable, helpful people are making that coffee for you for only 4 dollars.  So you stare at this TIP CUP and wonder…REALLY???

I get the Sonic “expectation”, and I totally get the waiting tables thing…when you bring me food…and you have helped feed my kids and serve and clean up dinner…by God, you are getting a TIP from me…but coffee or a diet coke? REALLY?

Brings me back to this…what did I pay for to begin with ?

Take this for a TIP…make a nice TIP JAR…not a ghetto dixie cup…

I do not put a TIP jar on my desk when I teach school…Firemen don’t leave a TIP jar at the scene of an accident…I do not have a TIP MAKE UP BAG at my skin care classes or parties for Mary Kay…and I have yet to see my hard working…ass busting father stick a TIP jar on his desk after working in the 100 degree heat welding or planning a scrapmetal purchase for anyone…

That’s my REALLY for the day…the next one will revolve around two things…

1. The flyer at that coffee shop offering to take care of my pets after the RAPTURE for a small deposit … (seriously)

or 2. The lady that came door to door selling something the other day and it was 103…tell me she doesn’t need to sell Mary Kay! GEEZ …

Have a good day and leave someone a tip…or save your tip and give it to someone who doesn’t EXPECT anything of you …like the people in the drivethru behind you at Mcdonalds…

This Day Last 2 Yrs Ago- BAD HAIR DAY

On Jan.23, 2007 while cooking dinner, my girls played with scissors.  I remember the day, the moment I walked in the room.  The gasp, the feeling of complete failure as a mother.  Loading them in the car to go get it “fixed” with Ms. Candy who thank goodness worked on it for a while and gave me moments out of the room.

We stopped at the firestation to see Daddy and the firemen…it was embarrassing, but I needed to see Daddy.  Someone had to hold me up for minute to finish off the evening.

PS…they never ate that dinner I was cooking.

Resolution Rush

You see, I’ve been saving my New Year Blog, just like I’ve been avoiding the gym, all for good reason…

Waiting for the resolution rush to die down …urban dictionary defines it well….

the rush of people who swarm the gym, and other excersise places, in the weeks after new years. usually subsides quickly

so, I’m off to a late start…my holidays last a little longer than others, but here I am, all excited about 2009, mostly become 2008 is over.  Another year of watching my kids get older and seeing where this life takes me

I am resolving to do a couple of things…crazy, mommy things, like keep my house in order…the chaos in my life around kids, family, finances, needs a quiet place.  I”m going to make my home a fun and relaxing place for my kids, my husband, and especially me. 

The living room is for family actitivies (except rock band because there is nothing calming about rock band), their bedrooms will be a haven for them to read, do homework, play with their friends and still find a place to put away their things ON THEIR OWN.  My bedroom will become a place for sleep and intimacy (sorry if that’s too much info).  No family pictures, no TV, no laptop work or phone.

OK…and all that will happen probably around the time I lose the weight that I keep meaning to lose every year hee hee…

but over the last two years, I have gradually taken a better shape and worked out more often in an effort to become healthier and more energetic for myself and fam…that will continue and hopefully sooner than later.  CHEERS to the 30 min. Curves workout.

I also have an odd resolution…I love getting real mail with my name on it and have decided to try to do that for others…

I get up early every morning and often think of the day or week before and how grateful I am to have such incredible friends and family and think of ways to thank them and then remember that we have a very low budget for buying things for everyone.

Sometimes, just putting it on paper is such powerful thing.

I got an email last week from a friend reminding me just who I am and what I do and it was powerful.

So reminders in writing seem like time well spent for me and others.

On another note, I would like to say that it’s my birthday tomorrow….35 years of Daina

I’m so excited. I love 30 something!!!  I’m enjoying the years of NOT being asked, “is this your first child?”, “have you ever cooked this before?”, “can I see some ID?” hee hee

On my birthday (now that I have kids), I want to thank my mom for all she did for me!!! The pain, the labor, the vomitting, the hormone adjustments, the nights up, the fevers, the school years, and good Lord Almighty, the teenage years!  Cheers to MOMS and especially mine who 35 years ago was about to adjust to have two children instead of just one 4 year old boy…and then later gave me my best, best friend in the world, my sister.  Thanks MOM and happy middle child birthday to YOU, Martha Lea!!!

So I will say, as the religious and MK sales force is oversaying, I will SHINE in 2009.  God hold my hand again through another year, guide me through a million more decisions.

Bless all the MOMs out there and all my friends and family!

I promise to keep smiling thru 2009 if nothing else…I can resolve to that…(I’ll call the dentist soon to ensure this …)

Here we gooooooooo……

REALLY part two

Trying to hold out hope!

A college in College Station, TX …can’t find enough players to put together a good football team..

REALLY?????

Good thing the academics still beat out the others ( not to mention the social stuff )

Short…no further words necessary …just sad for that huge place and ALL those fans out there.

OR, maybe we could just televise something around campus that us Aggies are doing better than football!!

REALLY???? part one

Ok, I’m trying to not use this blog to nag on my kids, but man…I need to type this out and take deep breaths. 

Last year, I learned to make this great homemade macaroni and cheese…even baked it in the oven with bread crumbs (ONCE).  That time, only the boys ate it. Girls didn’t like, but ate by force (which is still a success in my book).

So the next time, I just made with without the bread crumbs.  Everyone loved it!  It was a huge success.

I guess with the excitement, I made it too often and they got tired of it.  uggg.  Back to the drawing board.  Chef Mom subbed in some other carbs and potatoes and noodle dishes and suffered thru the dislikes and fits over new and “weird” looking food.  One kid would love it, one would cry, and other would eat it counting bites asking everytime if that was enough!!!

Recently, I made the homemade (awesome) mac-n-cheese cause it was stuff I had here and didn’t have to go to the store.  Most everyone was ok with having it around again, but my Littlest Angel has made it VERY clear that she would only like to eat the REAL macoroni and cheese.  At first we thought it was funny.  But now she has asked for the REAL mac n cheese almost everyday.

Littlest Angel (5 years old…child C) and I went to the grocery store this morning and she saw the Kraft mac n cheese and got so excited.  I told her she could have a box and low and behold, as soon as we got in the car, she asked for the REAL mac and cheese when we got home.

Now as the commercial says “I got the blues”.

REALLY???? the real stuff…no wonders mothers haul off and do crazy things, trying to be organic and healthy and their kids calling the blue boxes the “real” stuff.  So funny, but not.

So for my REALLY??? segment (yes from Sat. Night Live) and my favorite response to life in general, I want to talk to kiddos.

The “real” food in the blue box…REALLY????

News flash, little Gall’s…hardly ever is the REAL thing in the BOX.

AND to top this off, thru this last few years of trying to teach a family to eat healthy together, my family has all lost more weight than I have …REALLY????

It’s because they refuse to eat vegetables without counting the bites before they can be excused, and the “chicken” which we call EVERY meat to get them to eat, isn’t shaped like a McDonald’s nugget.

My concern for anyone who has read this stupid RANT this far, will children actually starve themselves instead of giving in to not eating out of boxes????

This is sewious…as the little wonder pets proclaim…”we have to help them”

Not to mention their sweet mommies blood pressure is steady rising with every meal I trash.

PS… Some of these issues apply to most treasured child (darling husband).   REALLY?????

HELP!!!

Bucket List Check Off

Really hard video to watch…Ron tried to video Elizabeth and I doing the skyfly jump coaster…

Very scary…but fun Her husband gave that as a gift for her bday, but then put me on it instead of himself hmmmm….

Ferris Wheel Wonders

So great to watch amazement on the face of young children, esp. your own, esp when it cost so much

Hope this video works…

A day in the life of a fireman’s wife

Sometimes people ask me what it’s like to be a firefighter’s wife and I talk about the schedule and the hours and the pay (or lack of) and the extra jobs necessary to survive, but I have a story this week that I needed to tell about the passion behind my man.

Ron and I have some pretty set habits after 14 years of marriage.  He works 24 hours at the station and 48 hours off.  On his days off, he has worked several different part time jobs over the years, so for the most part, he works on his days off.  He has always worked hard so that I could be home (most of these years) with my kids.  Even the years that I worked, he helped by not working on his days off to help with the kids.  Through these years, his favorite job has always been the most dangerous and my least favorite for him to leave for.

He leaves before we are up in the morning, so it feels like we don’t see him since the night before.  Plus, the insurance company, assure me that it’s a dangerous job, while my husband and his captain assure me that they are very “safe” at work   Hollywood and the general movie, cable, and TV industry don’t assure me at all of any part of his job.

Regardless, I have learned to not waste too much energy or time worrying.  I have given his life and career over to God for protection and blessing.  Plus, there is no need to have my children “learn” to worry about their daddy. 

I change the channel when fires on TV, and avoid discussing 911 excessively.  The movie, Ladder 49…only saw it once in the theatre…will NEVER see again.  That scence when the red fire admin car pulls up at the house (which is bad news if your fireman is not home and one of those pulls up), pushed me over the edge.  That movie hit the never watch again list.

Back on track, the usual 24 hour shift starts with them cooking breakfast, going grocery shopping for lunch and dinner and breakfast for the next shift.  Sometimes they have training and then back for lunch and playing games to make losers do dishes.  Oh yes, a few calls in between.   Car accidents, drunk people, medical calls, alarm investigations, some public eduation things and OH, the occasional FIRE!!!

Our firefighter marriage communication schedule consist of a morning, afternoon, and a couple of evening chats.  (THREE CHEERS to ATT for mobile to mobile minutes on our cell phones! HIP HIP HOORAY)  We dated years ago, long distance from Maine to Texas and somtimes I think we communicate better on the phone than in person Anyway, at the end of his shift, I “ring” him when I get the kids up for school like a “GOOD MORNING, honey!” call.  Sweet, right?  He rushes home in time to tell them Good Morning and BYE (for school).

I promise I’m going somewhere with this…

On Monday, it happened like it rarely does, but makes time pass SO SLOWLY.  He didn’t call all evening.  I started to call him about 9:30 thinking maybe they are watching a movie, right?  Again, no answer.  10pm, no answer.  11pm, no answer.  I left a message to call when they got back (assuming on a call).  When there are so many hours without an answer, this dw, (darling wife), knows there was most likely a fire.  It changes my focus of the evening.  I always continue what I’m doing, but it’s like when you are reading a book and realize you read like three pages and don’t remember what you just read.  Sometimes I turn on the TV to catch the news, but most of the time, I don’t.  I’m not even sure of my reasoning for that.  My kids say things to me and I can’t focus on what they are asking, or people will call me and I seem dazed or confused.  Just a really odd feeling. 

So at 11:40 ish, my phone rang! Yea, it was me (well, that’s what comes up on the caller ID).  It was dh, darling husband.  In my relieved voice, I answered, “hey…did you guys have a long call?”

WHAT DID I HEAR ON THE OTHER END???

An excited grown man that sounded like a passionette little boy playing with friends at a slumber party!  He told me all about “the FIRE”.  A REAL one.  A GOOD one.  He ran into a burning building with his friends.  He crawled  around on the floor with a huge hose and couldn’t see a thing!  The fire was already blowing out the roof and windows…AWESOME (not my words, his).  The smoke was almost all the way down to the floor.  They had to crawl so low, the water they sprayed was falling down and filling their pant legs up and almost burning their legs. (just another injury I had not thought of until now, THANKS ALOT) , AND the best part, they stopped it.  The story went on for a while and I realized that my worry was while my husband was having some good ‘ol guy time.  They were even excited because they were all together.  It’s rare that they get such a “GREAT” fire when all the normal people are together, no one out sick, none out on vacation.  My man was a having a great time in an air mask and turn out gear.  I’m telling you Darling Husband was PUMPED UP!!!  Why would I worry?????

I know someone has to be glad about running into those fires, but I don’t know if I have to be as excited as he is about the fires.  I just smile and nod and tell him I love him, in case there is a “GREAT” fire next shift.  Here is hoping he has such a happy stop and ending to all the great fires! 

Cheers to our firemen and women, and my sincere apologies to these poor people who lost their home and had to watch these men party over it!

Mean Mean People

This is my blog about a mean man in my neighborhood. 

I live across the street from a Driving School (remaining nameless to protect the innocent).  We often sit on the front porch and watch these new drivers make their minutes of practice add up with their instuctors in their cute cars (which by the way, when did the driver’s ed cars get so cute??)  We see them often as we run errands and such.  It’s precious.

So, tonight, I pull out to turn onto the main street.  On a side street is a sweet two door (nice) Honda from the driving school with a blinker going waiting for me to pass.  Behind the “Learner Girl” is a big abnoxious TX truck and he’s HONKING at her because she missed the opportunity to pull out.

REALLY, big truck dude??? REALLY? Do we want to freak our “learner girl” in our neighborhood?  And seriously, do you think you are helping with her education?

So, when “Big Truck Dude” finally got to where he was turning out behind me…I was a little busy and forgot to pay attention to the traffic.  But once he honked, oops…I payed better attention and waved a big smile and thank you!

SO, my we wonder why we can’t send our kids out to play in our neighborhoods any more?  Big Truck Dude got on my nerves tonight.  Settle down big truck dude.  We will all get there.  It will be fine!

Cheers to where ever BIG Truck Dude had to go tonight…and happy test taking to “Learner Girl.”

Again…I’m trying this

why would you use strike through? Just wondering?

So, I’m trying to blog again, I’m being random in case no one cares or it doesn’t even post right.

So I sell make up.  Have done it for years.  I keep seeing this commercial for the Revlon custom color foundation when you just dial in your color at the top…REALLY? So let’s google that and price it.  Be right back.  LONG PAUSE (but not for you because you are reading)….

Ok, sweet friends.  This is sold in drug stores and retails for 13.99. REALLY? and if you are a lighter or darker shade it will only use up THAT side of the bottle and oops it won’t need to blend the other side, so you need to buy another one sooner?  It’s just usually true that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is?

So if you try out some Mary Kay foundations, with ANY MK lady, you can RETURN the ones that don’t match or you don’t like and try another one.  How fabulous is that?

Alright…the commercial ended like 5 minutes ago.  Therefore, I digress.

Hey…did you know how much it cost to “fix” a kitten? ALOT.

And if you have two…double ALOT.

And if you have kids…you can’t leave the cats at the vet instead of paying…heehee.

It’s almost fair time.  Here comes BIG TEX

One more thing…for the random, untitled blog…

I wish my sister would call me.