Thursday, November 20, 2014

Takeaways

Hello, dear blog readers! While suffering from a case of night shift brain and writer's block, I thought I'd post some kid-isms. Lately The Boy has been very much interested in all things construction/destruction. Out have come the toy hammers and screwdrivers. This morning he kindly informed me that our framed vintage poster was not allowed to hang on the wall. I asked him why. "Mommy, there are unsafe pipes in the wall that could EXPLODE!" Remind me to have him do my home reno projects in about 20 years.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Shopping Carts and Road Rage

Hello, dear blog readers! Just when I thought I had writer's block for the night, I stumbled across a Facebook feed that made me smile. While I didn't read the article, the title caught my attention: does pushing a shopping cart through the store cause you to have "road rage?"

While I would very much like to smugly stick my nose in the air and proudly state, "No! That has NEVER been me!", the honest answer is that I've more or less given up shopping at certain shopping centers due to shopping cart frustration. Certain major chain stores that shall remain nameless tend to have people that congregate in multitudes, and here are two of the pet peeves that send me seeking more upscale or smaller venues for the following reasons. 1) People block the aisles with their carts. You politely stand there and wait for them to get over their 20 minutes of looking at two varieties of canned beans, or you politely say "excuse me" and have them look at you in annoyance without budging an inch. 2) You get aggressive shoppers who treat their carts worse than they treat their vehicles--after all, they don't own them, and they aren't likely to get sued over physical damage for running someone over in their haste. These folks have no regard for other people's ankles, fingers, or any other appendage as they bash their way through crowds.

People sometimes ask me why I don't want to shop at these major chain stores. I might save money, but I can tell you: I leave a grump, and I'm learning that shopping in local mom-and-pop venues if possible is far more likely to give me better product and keep my ankles intact. Anyone with me?

On that note, dear blog readers, time to make this week's grocery list! Happy Wednesday, dear blog readers!

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

I'm Baaaaaaack!

Hello, dear blog readers! With enough prodding from friends and family, I have decided to post again!

As a parenthetical thought, I just was reviewing the fact that there were several people that had "viewed" my blog. Unfortunately, when I clicked on some of the links of "followers," there were just links for adult stimulation websites. That's a little discouraging, but since actual people with faces that I love have asked me to resume, I'll ignore those "follower" links.

As for our "lemons," this is a review of the past year: 1) Multiple layoffs in Hubby's company. Fortunately he has managed to weather the storm, and is still gainfully employed. 2) Our first family vacation (not surrounding an interstate move): we weathered a hurrican, and poor Hubby was hospitalized twice followed by another ER visit when we weren't sure things were on the mend. 3) Still working every weekend on the night shift. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it turns me into rather a zombie blogger. Embracing the discouraging times: this has forced us to take a long hard look at our situation, and we've become hard-core on paying off all debts! Hubby's last student loan is paid off this week, and we only have my student loan left!

The problems (including pest extermination) of the apartment have been fixed.

The kids continue to grow like weeds. That is SUCH a cliche, but it's so true! I wonder sometimes where those inches come from when they don't appear to eat more than 3-5 bites at dinnertime.

So that's the reintroduction to our process for the last year! Happy Wednesday to you all, dear blog readers!