Fixed

I got my kitty "fixed" yesterday. I'm not sure why it's called that, it implies something is broken to begin with. She wasn't broken, just awkward when she was in heat since she's an indoor kitty. She started molesting shoes and the feet of any males who were over visiting us, so we decided getting her spayed would be a good idea. I had to wait an hour and a half at the animal shelter because it was a busy day, but worth it because it was only $55. Petsmart wanted me to pay something close to $200.

I went back later in the afternoon to get her, and as I was waiting for my turn to retrieve my pet, I read the paper they gave out on how to care for your pet after their surgery. Have you seen those collars they give you so the pet doesn't bite the incision? They basically look like a cone that starts at the collar and get bigger as it goes out over the pets face. We always jokingly referred to them as lamp shades when we were growing up, but I never knew what they were called. Well the paper kept referring to them as E-collars, which I didn't understand until further down the page it called them Elizabeth collars. A little light bulb went on in my head and I felt really clever upon figuring out that called them that after Queen Elizabeth who liked to rock a high popped (and crocheted/tatted/lace) collar.

As I was sitting there a family came in and the first thing the mother did was scream at her dirty child to get out of her way and go sit on a chair (classy). There weren't many seats so they sat themselves on either side of me and the woman overheard the vet assistant talking about the E-collar and she said (in a very hick accent) "Why'd they call em E-collars when they luk like cones t' me." I was about to share my new found knowledge with her (I'm nice like that) when she continued "An E-collar sounds like somethin on the inernet ta me." And I decided to just keep my mouth shut because in reality... I'm not even sure this woman would know who Queen Elizabeth was.

Reading

I finally started reading again. I read To Kill A Mockingbird. I know most people read it as a requirement in high school, but since I was homeschooled I missed that memo. It is one of the best books I have read in a very, very long time.

It's message is so simple and so pure. Atticus is the human being I hope to become someday. Someone who tried to see everyone from a different perspective. Who is always willing to step outside of what things look like, and see where people are really coming from. To see the beauty of others for what they really are. I finished the book in 2 days, and had an extremely difficult time at work concentrating on what I was supposed to be doing because my head was caught up in this story. Ridiculous I know but I'm like that when it comes to books. My mom used to have to physically shake my arm to get me to respond when I was younger, because I was so caught up in a book that I wouldn't hear what anyone was saying to me. I'm sure everyone thought I was destined to be a huge nerd ha ha.

I've always tried to see people from their own perspective. More so at other times. I guess for me this was just a gentle reminder that life isn't all about me and how I perceive it. That sometimes seeing things from other peoples perspectives can be heartbreaking, but at the same time completely rewarding. I don't want to become someone who is so narrow minded that they can only see things how they want to. I want to live, and experience life. I want to learn how to love the unlovable, and see the real hidden beauty in people.

Home Sweet Home

Sometimes I miss being back in Idaho where I grew up. There are a lot of great things to do outside like biking,hiking, boating, snowboarding, ect. I've missed the changing of the seasons (but not the incredibly crappy weather that accompanies it). But then I think about the things I do not miss, such as the incredibly crazy narrow minded people who are still stuck in that tiny town. Here are a couple beautiful examples provided by the local "Letters to the Editor" column.


Stolen cabbages? Do we really need to know about the theft of your produce? You make it sound like someone kidnapped a member of your family. There is also fresh cabbage available all year round at the grocery store...

Increasing town revew? And decreasing your popularity in a town where everyone knows everyone.Good choice.

Ridiculous

When I was working on Saturday, we got a call for a reservation at 10:45. We close at 11 so that is really pushing it. But they called ahead, made a reservation so at least we knew they were coming. Usually when people come in that late (30 minutes or less before we close) we tell them that they can only have cheese and chocolate fondue because a full meal usually takes 2 hours. The closing server who was going to serve the table asked if it was ok if we told the table this and our manager said no, that we need to treat the guest as company and be pleasant about whatever they ordered.

So the reservation showed up a little late, and by a little late I mean 11:01 and our manager sat them at a table. Since we're supposed to treat them like guests, I suggested to the waitress to treat them like guests who show up at her house right when she was about to go to bed (joke). I always try to see the other persons point of view so I thought maybe it was a really special occasion for these people and they wanted to celebrate. The woman had said on the phone that she didn't get off of work until 10:30 so they'd be over as soon as possible... but when the waitress asked if they were celebrating anything they responded with "Getting off work!" Are you serious?! You're going to make that waitress stay until 1:00 am because you couldn't pick a day you weren't working to get fondue? A woman with 2 kids who goes to nursing school AND works? People are ridiculous sometimes. Go to McDonalds.

Relief

The weather has FINALLY cooled down. I officially survived my first Phoenix summer. People warned me about it, unfortunately they warned me about the wrong thing. They warned me it was going to be hot (which it was, and I handled just fine), what they didn't want me about was the electric bills. I didn't not pass out from heat exhaustion once, but I did almost pass out when I saw the bill. It was TRIPLE what it normally was. Usually it's a little above $100. IT WAS $300!!!! That's almost 42 hours of my life that I have to work at Barnes & Noble for my really small amount of hourly pay. And $250 the months after that. Why didn't anyone tell me? I did manage to survive it though, and I'll be sure to save up for next year when it will again be ridiculously expensive to stay keep a house at 78 degrees.

It's also monsoon season which means crazy rains which also (thankfully) means cooler weather. It's been storming the past couple days and I'm loving it. Finally I get to bring out some cute boots and scarves and pretend like it's fall. I needed to go grocery shopping yesterday so I got out my umbrella and went to the grocery store, got quite a bit of food since we were almost out of everything, and drove back home. My covered parking is about 100 yrds away from my apartment so I had to carry the 6 bags/milk/10 pack of toilet paper back through the rain with my purse and holding the umbrella. Which I was doing quite successfully... until I got to the speed bump. They're painted this speed bump every few months since I've been here and consequently it's very slick. I've slipped on it several times before, in dry weather, so you'd think I would have avoided it. Wrong. I completely forgot, slipped and fell onto my knees in a puddle while rain was pouring down. And the icing on the cake here? A little boy and girl playing out in the rain stopped and giggled at my misfortune.

I look high, in one eye.

So I haven't been changing my contacts as regularly as I should, and with my new longer hours of work, it means I'm also wearing them quite a big more. My eyes decided to revolt and yesterday they were extremely dry and irritable. Since I refused to get glasses when I was younger, I don't have any, so I had to wear them for work (and driving if I don't want to hit any small children by accident). One eye accepted the contact and moved on with it's life, but the other decided to be a biznatch and turn all shades of red that no amount of saline could fix. So yesterday and today I've had one blazing red eye and one normal colored one. Which isn't too bad because then people know I'm not high, and I don't have pink eye. Just one abnormally red eye. And of course it's on days I have to work.

At the coffee show, we're supposed to ask people's names when we take their coffee order so we can call it out when we're finished making it. That way it seems more personal and maybe they'll think we're actually friends or something (at least that's how the corporate world thinks it is). My favorite customer's name was Yoshi, who is a very nice, tall Asian man who usually brings his young son in with him. I always want to squeal out "YYYYOSHI!" like they say it in the Mario games when his drink is ready... but I refrain. Well today after serving Yoshi, I asked a man for his name and it was Waldo. Awkward pause for one second while I debated how to respond to that name. I decided that a lot of people probably commented on it so I decided to not say anything about it. Although a minute later, I was extremely tempted to yell out "WHERE'S WALDO?" when his drink was ready... but again my better judgment got the better of me and I didn't.

Waitressing

I was waitressing a few nights ago. We have 9 tables that are our more private tables to sit at, in the Melting Pot, and these are the tables that have closeable curtains at the entrance. So basically no one can see into them. We always knock on the outside, before we open the curtains, because we've all heard the stories of servers who didn't, and opened the curtains to find an old woman under the table doing you know what, and similar stories like that. Use your imagination and I'm pretty sure it's been done.  Which is fine, just stop doing it when I show up. The section of tables I was serving a few nights ago was in the "curtains" as we call them. I've worked in them before and never really had any problems at all really. No awkward moments, nothing odd. Until a few nights ago.
One of the first couples I waited on was really nice. They introduced me to themselves by name and shook my hand, and basically treated me like a human being which is pretty nice when you're a waitress. We traded stories and were having a great time. Then the chocolate fondue came out and when I came back to check on how it was I knocked, but not loud enough because her neck was covered in chocolate and he was licking it off. I also walked in on them making out which honestly, I don't mind, it was just the first time I had done that  with any of the people I was waiting on.
So then I get the next group of people coming in. Again really nice and chatty, easy to please. There were 2 couples at this table so they entertained themselves which again, made my job a little easier. They were sitting at a booth with each couple on either side. So part way through their meal bring out salad's and as I'm setting them on the table the guys switch theirs. I thought they might have agreed to switch earlier and didn't really think anything of it until one of the guys asked for another drink. I asked if he wanted another Manhattan and he responded with no, that he was the one drinking beer. It was then that a little light bulb went on in my head (I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box sometimes, especially when I'm rushed or busy) and I realized that the husbands had switched spots at the table. They were wearing the same color shirts and looked sort of similar so that's why it took me a minute to figure out. And these guys had their hands on the new woman's thighs, just like they had with the woman they were sitting with before. These people were swingers!

 For some reason when ever someone says "swingers" I always envision people square dancing. Not really sure why, but they should look into changing what they call them selves for sure. I'd never really met any (at least that I knew of). That lifestyle isn't really for me, but I'm not one to judge anyone. They were really nice to me too and in my little waitressing world, that's really all I care about ha ha.

Big Girl

I finally broke down a few days ago and bought my first big girl purse. And by big girl purse I mean something an adult would wear... not a little purple one you get with an Easter outfit. I have been purse-less almost my whole life, with the exception of a few traveling trips when one was needed. I think the reason I don't like purses is because whenever I was a little girl, and I'd get A LOT of money ($40) for my birthday, holiday, or saved up, I would go shopping and I would put the money in whatever little purse I had at the time. I was not used to carrying a purse and so inevitably I would set it down somewhere and forget it. And someone would come along after me, find it, and take it. That's right, people steal from a 7 year-old's Hello Kitty purse. We all know where you're going when you die, mhmm.

So after a couple years (have I mentioned I am a slow, stubborn learner?) of losing my money this way, I decided to forget having purses in my life and went without one ever since. I told my co-workers I hadn't had a purse since I was about 8 or 9. She thought I meant 8th or 9th grade and was horrified. And basically couldn't believe me when I said no, age 8-9. I've just never really felt the need for one. I've had a wallet at some point, but never for very long. I basically take my money, ID, and debit card and put them in my back right pocket and call it good. I had this philosophy that if something didn't fit in my pockets, then I didn't need it.  Cell phone goes in my front right pocket, or back left if I'm wearing work pants, and keys in the front left pocket.

But, I finally decided that it wasn't enough (thanks to a couple surprise monthly visits) and decided that maybe having something I could carry half of my bathroom around in would be a good idea. So I went to Target and found this.

My new purse! And it's spent the past week hanging on the back of my door knob ha ha. I think I'll kind of ease myself into a using purse slowly... use it for special occasions or date nights out... give it a little test run and see how it goes :)

Moving Up

So despite the weather forecast for the part weekend, it was freakin HOT outside. It was right around 112 all weekend so needless to say I did not get to start running. I did, however, go swimming a bit and started working on getting a tan. My sister came to visit me earlier this summer and laughed when she saw me saying "Ha ha, you live in Arizona and you're not even tan!" Yes, it's true. I also don't have heat stroke, which to me is better than not having a tan. And I can be tan in the winter when her butt is freezing in the negative degree weather.

I got promoted at the Melting Pot! I've only been there a couple months now, but management heard I was interested in being a supervisor, so they offered it to me, and I train all this weekend. Hopefully this leads to being considered as a manager in the future. I've worked in the food industry for about 8 years now and I'm finally getting my ass into gear about management. Sad, I know. I guess I always thought I'd be doing something else. But now that I know it's going to take awhile to get me through college... might as well work my way up and get good experience/pay along the way.

Training is going to be a bit rough. I have to close the restaurant friday, saturday, and sunday so I'll be working LATE. But it will be worth it. I'm considering quitting my other job at Barnes & Noble... unless I can talk them into letting me just work weekdays because it's just taking too much out of me on the weekends when the restaurant is super busy, and my man is off of work. I want to stay there though if I can because the girls there are good friends of mine. So I'll talk to the manager and see what we can work out.

I just need more time with the fiance honestly. He's doubled up on courses so he's always doing homework after work. Then my weekends are completely taken up with work, so something needs to be done. We had a huge fight this past weekend and it was partly due to stress on both of our sides, and just not getting much time together. So I'm feeling really great about this new step. Yes, I'll be working later some nights. But I'll be able to free up half of my weekends so it will be for the better.

Running

I am a running snob. There, I admitted it. Or at least that's what I'm going to call it instead of "I will make up almost any excuse to not run if there is one." I don't like treadmills, and I don't like running at tracks (both kind of make me feel like I'm not getting anywhere), and it's ALMOST cool enough so go running outside in the morning (basically below 100 degrees). And by morning I mean 9 am because I can't get up earlier than that to run. I used to try to get up earlier to go running in the morning... but when I'm laying in bed debating whether or not to go force my body to do what it really doesn't want to... or stay in the extremely comfortable bed and continue dreaming about kitties... dreaming about kitties always wins.

I also have this thing about not exercising when it's not fun. I used to run/walk up the canyon grade by my house in Idaho, but that's because it was with a group of girls and we'd gossip almost the whole time. I'll play volleyball, go swimming, whatever really as long as it's enjoyable. But try to get me into a gym if I'm by myself, and not in a yoga/pilates class, and it's probably not going to happen. Which makes it kind of hard to get any sympathy from my man because he's an amateur body builder and goes to the gym 5 days a week. Yah, no sympathy there.

So back to running. I can only really talk myself into it if it's perfect weather outside, which Phoenix has about 10 months out of the year, and it's not too early in the morning. Because then I love being outside and I actually enjoy it. And the back of my thighs will enjoy it too because the whole cottage cheese look just isn't doing it for me. The forecast for this weekend is below 100 degrees so wish me luck, I'm going to start running again. Hopefully.

Tipping your server.

Being a waitress I guess this topic was bound to come up at some point. I just hate being one of those negative servers who's always complaining about it. I'm a firm believer that if you don't dwell on the negative and talk about it excessively, it will effect you a lot less. But sometimes I just have to vent, ha ha.

I've been reading articles on the standards of tipping lately. Almost all of the articles were written be people who were never servers, which I found to be interesting. Including an article by this asshat, who admits to have never waited on tables, then tries to compare it to working at UPS. You don't like working with the public? Come try my job sometime, it will make you cry. Is it the hardest job in the world? Not by any means. Is it mentally, physically, and emotionally draining for money that's slightly better than minimum wage? Yes, it is.

I am a very attentive server. I really view people coming in as guests of mine, and I do my absolute best to make sure they never need anything, that their glasses are always full, and they are always satisfied with the food. I'm a people pleaser to the core, and I take it personal if people don't enjoy their meal. Which is what made my former job at Chili's so hard because a parent would have a hard day at home with their kids, wouldn't want to make dinner, drag their miserable butts in Chili's, and be as rude as possible to anyone they came into contact with because they had a bad day. Umm, I'm getting paid $3.35 an hour to be nice to you, and your $2 tip isn't really going to help that much. My dignity is worth more than that, and I won't be treated like a dog.

I'd hate it when I would be working at Chili's, have 6 tables seated in my section (instead of the standard 4 because we were short staffed), and have a mom who was glaring at me because her kids chocolate milks (which take awhile to make because they are handmade) were empty AGAIN because the little turds would slurp them down within 15 seconds of me putting them down. And after making them 5 times, I have more important things to attend to (like the OTHER 20 customers relying on me for service) than to make chocolate milks all day. I'm sorry.

I read that a lot of times, the service doesn't even reflect the amount people tip. They just always tip the same. I think this is true for maybe half of people. I had some people come in one night, keep me there an hour past when we closed to wait on them, raved to the manager how good all the food was and how great I was as a server, then left me a 10% tip. Which after I tip out 4% to the server assistant, meant I walked home with a 6% tip. Sad.

Another thing I read, that I thought was hilarious, was that if waitresses (women) put a smiley face on the check at the end, it increased their tip. But it waiters (men) put one on the check, it decreased the tip! I always thought the smiley faces were tacky ha ha.

The Melting Pot is really much better than Chili's though. The people coming in are much more pleasant, and in much better moods. I really do enjoy waiting on people and talking to them. I love meeting new people and talking about different things with them. And quite honestly, I would rather be treated nicely and tipped decently, then be treated badly and tipped  really well.

Difficult things

Things have been a little stressful lately. For one, my brother is having a hard time dealing with losing his fingers. Which I completely understand, it's a very difficult thing to deal with. I think he's hit a very low point though now, and when he talks to me about it I feel so helpless. He's my little brother that I would give anything for to protect and keep safe, and I can't really DO anything to help him. I can listen and offer advice, but in the end it is he who will have to decide how to deal with it. It's just so frustrating seeing him struggle with it. It's his birthday today and he's off to see his friends who were deployed with him. He hasn't seen them since the accident so I'm really praying that things go well, and none of them says anything stupid.

My man has also been having a hard time with his PTSD.  He is one of the sweetest men I know, and I can't stand when he has a flashback or nightmare and see him struggling with that. It's not fair that he has it from being a police officer, and it's not fair that the men in the military get it. War and violence are such horrendous things and continue to rob the lives of those it touches, long after it is finished.

I'm just starting to feel a little drained. I'm a peacemaker, it's how I've always been. I always try to make people happy and I'll give up anything to see the ones I love content. I just need to realize that I can't control everything and not everyone can be happy all the time. Sometimes, doing my best just means being there for someone, even if I can't fix the problem.

The Year of the Phoenix

Labor day marks the man and I's 2 year anniversary, and my one year anniversary of moving to Phoenix. Time went quick, especially the last half of the year. We made it through a year of long distance dating (NEVER AGAIN), and then a year of going from long distance to living together. Which surprisingly went smoother than I thought it would. We had out typical up and downs and all that but we made it and we're happy so that's what counts.

We were talking about how it did go pretty smooth and we were both surprised, looking back. We've both been pretty flexible and are willing to look at each others points of views and that really helps a lot (unless we're in a good argument, then that all goes out the window until we cool down ha ha). We signed a 9 month lease for the apartment we're in, with the plan to save money so we can get into a house when it is up. We're also saving to put money down to reserve the reception venue we finally found for our wedding. It was so funny because I took him to see the place, I wasn't so sure about it but the pics looked fairly decent and the price was ridiculously cheap. So we get there and start looking around and it's prettier than the pictures, really elegant. So we sit down with the woman showing us around, and start talking about the price for the venue, catering, alcohol, decorations, flowers, ect. And each time she tells us the price my fiance kept saying "WOW, that's a really good price." (Not quite as adamant as the Staples commercial, thank god) Well yeah... you remember the TWO weeks I spent on the internet? It was making sure we found the best place ha ha. I think he's a little more impressed with my skills now.

So this is my first year here. I made it through the summer, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Although the backs of my thighs are turning to jello from not running so fall really can't get here fast enough. I got engaged to the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. I've made some unique friends that I really treasure. I can't wait to see what the next year brings :)

Why not to stalk your boyfriend

I was on my break today, reading the news from my phone, and this little gem of a story came up. I haven't had something this intriguing since I read about Steven Slater going crazy on the Jet Blue flight.

Basically, I guess this woman and her bf were having problems and she tried to break into his house with a shovel one night (the article doesn't say they were having problems but put two and two together), which didn't work. SO she comes back the next night and gets a ladder, climbs onto the roof, removes the chimney cap and sends herself down like Santa. Problem though... chimneys  aren't big enough for people to get through and she gets wedged in there so tight that she can't breath and asphyxiates. Before this all happens the bf leaves the house to avoid a "confrontation." If a woman tried to slide through my chimney to get at me, you bet I'd be running too. So THREE DAYS LATER, the housekeeper notices a "smell and liquid" coming from the fireplace and discovers the decomposing corpse of the woman wedged about 2 feet above the opening for the fireplace.

...

So, how do you even process that if you're the housekeeper? Maybe you think a dead bird or small animal fell down and died, then you look up and see... two human feet. That would have made me crap my pants. No joke.

Here is the really sad part to. It's not like the woman was some young passionate girl. No. She was a 49 year old doctor. How does something like this happen? As the guy in the breakroom said "When will people learn you can't slide down chimneys?" If you're going to go through all the trouble of breaking in, why not just break a window and get in? I couldn't stop reading the article because in a way it's kind of comical, but even more so it's extremely tragic.

Recommendations!

I LOVE reading other people's blogs. I'm not sure if it's my nosy side, but I love taking a peak into people's lives and see how they think and feel about things. I like being able to follow along in people's lives and see what happens next. That being said, I'd like to find more blogs to follow (this kind of made me sound like a creeper, but I swear I'm not), so I would like some recommendations from YOU!

If you have any blogs you follow and really like, please tell me about them so I can check them out :D

Salsa

The man and I had a disagreement (it wasn't a fight, we just both thought the other was an idiot ha ha) about salsa. We'd just finished watching a commercial about Tango dancing and I said:

Me: "Did you know salsa originated in Argentina?"

Man: "What? No it didn't. It's from Mexico"

Me: "Uhh no, I was in Argentina. They had signs and history about it everywhere."

Man: "Well they lied honey. That's the stupidest thing I ever heard"

Me: "I don't think a whole country would lie about it. It clearly said it everywhere."

Man: "Well it's not true, it's from Mexico."

10 minutes later of silence while watching tv, and thinking about how ignorant the other person was....

Me: "You are talking about Salsa dancing right?"

Man: "No. Is that what you were talking about? I was talking about the salsa dip..."

Dates

One of the things I really like about working at the Melting Pot, is that people are usually in there to celebrate something and that means they are in a great mood, which definitely makes my job more pleasant that way. Think about it, either I can wait on a table happily celebrating a birthday vs waiting on a table of 7 because mom was too tired/grumpy from the kids, being unruly all day, to make dinner. First scenario wins every time!

So this weekend one of the other servers was talking to me about his table. He said "I feel really bad for the woman at my table. She is supposed to be on a double date with another couple celebrating their anniversaries... but, her husband stood her up. And it's their 24th anniversary."

My jaw dropped. I understand having arguments in relationships, but standing your spouse up for your 24 anniversary?! In front of your friends too! Ohh man, I would be furious!

The server said that the woman's husband would now have to come pick her up, because she was too drunk to drive (which I would be too). He later told me that her husband did show up eventually, an hour and a half late... wearing his pajamas!!! I don't think I could sign the divorce papers fast enough...

Long Days

Meet Sammy. My kitten that's about a year old now. Last night, the BF left a screenless window open to let some of the cool air come into our second story apartment, and left the room (not thinking things through clearly). Sammy quickly found this window and, unbeknown to us decided to explore the 2" ledge outside of it. Meanwhile we are watching tv out in the living room and get a knock on our door. At 12:30 am, we thought this was pretty odd. We answered the door to 2 young teenage girls who said they were worried about out cat, who was dangling from out second story window meowing. I quickly rushed into the room and looked out the window. It's a picture window that slides open on both sides. So I tried calling her, and leaning out to get her. Sammy decided that the best thing for her to do, is to walk away from me and to climb up the screen on the other side. Which meant:
A. I couldn't reach her from inside.
B. We couldn't get the screen off the other side of the window to get her in, since she was now hanging from it for dear life.
C. She's a wimp, she wouldn't be able to hang on for long so my time was limited.

So I stood up on the window sill and slowly got myself through the window, carefully inched my way out onto the tiny ledge, eventually was spread eagle across the second story window (envisioning what it would be like to wear a full body cast after I fell to me doom) praying my feet and fingers didn't slip, and managed to grab the kitty and bring her into safety.

Has the little turd been grateful now that I saved her tiny life? NO! She's been doing all the things she knows she's not allowed to do today, attempting to climb our fake tree, walking on the counters, trying to knock my birthday roses off the counter, tearing up the carpet, and worst of all... RUNNING ACROSS THE WINDOWSILL MAKING ALL THE BLINDS HIT TOGETHER WHEN I'M SLEEPING. I am really fond of my sleep.

So thank you, you little asshole. You will be getting whats coming to you soon because you, young lady, are getting spayed next week!

Adoption

I was cleaning my section at the waitressing job I have, a few nights ago. It takes a little while to get everything wiped down on the tables and make sure it's clean a restocked. As I was wiping down the tables, a large group of people near my section were talking. A woman was talking about a couple she knew, who was adopting from oversea some where. A man at the table interrupted her and said "Why can't people adopt from the United States? Why do they always go out of the country when we have kids here that need homes?" And it made me really sad.

I do think American children need loving homes, just as much as any other child. The difference though, is that 17 million children die of starvation each year in Africa alone. That doesn't even touch a lot of the other children around the other world needing adoption. How many of the kids we can adopt here in the US, die from starvation? None of them. So if I had to pick, I would pick to save the life of a child that could potentially die from the conditions they live in. I don't think it was really fair for that man to feel the way he did.

I also think adoption is one of the best things you can do in this world, so whether someone adopts from America, or from anywhere else, I think they are doing an amazing and beautiful thing. They should never be criticized for their decision to do so.

Not again

I was working at the coffee shop a few days ago. A woman came up to order:

Woman: "I'd like a slice of cheesecake and a tall earl grey tea."

We carry two kinds of cheesecake so I asked her: "Would you like the original or the white chocolate..."

Woman [Interrupting and rolling her eyes]: "I said a TALL earl grey tea"

Well no shit I heard that. I didn't ask about that, but thanks for treating me like I'm stupid and don't know how to do my job (which I've been doing for 2 years) because you were too lazy to actually look at the bakery case you were ordering from and don't know what I'm talking about.

Class A Creeper

The new job has been going really well. I love how much slower paced this restaurant is and how I have much more time to talk to tables because people always fascinate me. I also get along with most of the staff very well so things really have been going great.

The only problem? They have a really creepy cook. I know most restaurants have creepy cooks, trust me I've seen my share. But this one really takes the cake. He seemed pretty nice at first, slightly flirty but still respectful. I made it a very big point that I was engaged. Well things just started getting creepier and creepier. He asked when I was getting married and I said in about a year. His response was "So I have a year to change your mind?" Which almost made me throw up the oreo covered marshmallow I had just eaten (not nice because those are delicious!) because even if I wasn't single, this guy wouldn't have any chance with me. Not my type. There have been many other awkward comments/questions and he always pays special attention to me and it's really starting to make me uncomfortable.

I've only talked to him for the past week if it's something I need from the kitchen but I don't think he's getting the hint. I'm pretty non-confrontational, but I will have to say something sooner or later if things don't change. UGGGHHHHH creepy men.

Airports

I got to pick my brother up from the airport yesterday. He's on leave from the hospital for about a month so he came to visit me for a couple days for my bday. It's really good to see him. Last time I saw him right after his accident and it's crazy how much his hand has healed. He can grab things now with a good amount of strength, in fact the doctors can't believe how well it healed, they are amazed every time they check on him. His back is healing up from where they took the skin flap, and over all he looks really well and healthy again. It's so good to see family.

I'm really excited to start school again. I finally decided a few months ago to go for Occupational Therapy. Mainly because I got to see them work with my brother and it seems like a very creative and rewarding career. It will take a long time to get there, but I can't wait to get started. I really never want to stop learning, so going back to school is something I'm really looking forward to.

Wake up call

I have been kind of sick lately. Since I don't have to work until tonight, I just kind of lounged around in bed for awhile (all morning) and then reached for my phone and found this wonderful little gem of a story about a flight attendant going crazy and quitting.

It's worth reading and left me in bed laughing out loud. I don't think I've had one job where I haven't wanted to do the same to a customer. I had to stop waitressing at Chili's awhile ago because I knew I couldn't take anymore shit from people, and would snap if someone else treated me badly again. I don't know if it's American's specifically, but people seem to just have this feeling of entitlement that anyone in employment is below them and they are entitled to do whatever they want. And I realize people have bad days, especially traveling, but I would never treat people unless it was the way I would like to be treated. I would expect people to do that same but no, they don't.

I guess for me, the best part was that he used the same language the passenger did with him. Which honestly, if someone starts swearing at you and calling you names, I think you should be able to treat them exactly the same way.

Party

The bf and I went to his godfather's 50th birthday this past weekend, in California. Let me just say that Mexican's really know how to party ha ha. There was a bottle of tequila on every table and a trough of Corona's and Bud Lights. There was a huge buffet table of delicious bbq food and a band playing all night. I even got to go horseback riding, which I haven't done in YEARS and was so much fun. The downside to that is, of course, I can't walk like I normal person because the insides of my thighs got pulled. I never really realized why people always said cowboys were bowlegged (if you don't know what I'm talking about it's ok, I was raised in Idaho after all) and now I completely understand ha ha.

So we had to stop a couple times on the trip back (hello surprise monthly gift), and the bathrooms were HORRENDOUS!!! The first one was so disgusting I didn't even want to wash my hands because I just risked picking up more germs from the filthy sink. That's where hovering really comes in handy ;)

At the second stop I wasn't really sure I had to go to the bathroom, but I thought it would be good to stop just in case. As soon as I stood up I knew I had to go, and go NOW. So I ran to the bathroom... and there is a line of 5 women (GAHHHH). One of the stalls wasn't out of order and the other two were taken. The handicapped stall was taken by a mom and her 3 kids, who were all taking their sweet time and I know why because of the grunting coming from the stall (love kids). So I had to wait for the other 5 women to use the ONE stall while really trying not to poop my pants (it was close). I seriously considered going into the Men's bathroom but I toughed it out and made it. When I went to wash my hands the soap dispenser was broken off the wall, laying on the counter, and empty. As well as the paper towel dispenser. Thank you God for instant hand sanitizer!!!

But minus the bathrooms, the trip was fun. I feel like I'm getting to know his family a lot more, and all of them are so open and welcoming, which is a really good thing when you're marrying into a family that is so close!

Talking

So to give you some background on the story I'm about to tell... I have a manager at work and he's a pretty nice guy. He's pretty good to the employees so it's nice working for him. But he has this habit of treating people like they're stupid when they do something he considers... well stupid. I saw a woman come up to him one time and ask what our shaken ice tea was. He replied with "It's ice tea, that we shake" along with a semi disgusted expression on his face. Which is slightly funny, but it's also kind of cruel sometimes. So needless to say his customer service skills aren't amazing by any means.


Today I had a customer come up to me and order a smoothie. I rang her up and just as I was finishing she asked if I gave her the 10 cent discount for bringing her own cup in. I hadn't, so I called my manager up (since I can't do them myself) to give her the 10 cent refund. When he came up, he asked what I needed and I told him and he started laughing and saying "Oh damn, you ladies are ridiculous" and they started joking back and forth. The thing is, is that I know my manager doesn't joke about stuff like that really. He just insults people with a smile and they think he is kidding when he really is not. It's kind of amusing to a certain extent, as long as the other people don't catch on. Then it just becomes embarrassing, so I try to stay out of those situations.

So the ladies got their refund and went to sit down. I went to the back and started washing dishes and my manager came back and started talking about how it was so funny people never know he was joking and that he thought they were idiots, and he could tell them that and they thought he wasn't serious... and he was saying it so LOUD ha ha ha. I just kind of nodded and went on washing dishes and eventually he went back up front. He was quickly back though with a concerned look on his face asking "Do you think all the people out in the cafe heard me? I went out there and they all looked at my funny all at once."

I kind of mumbled an "I don't know..." and kept my head low trying not to laugh at the fact that he had been so blatantly caught. Just goes to show that you shouldn't be saying anything about someone, that you don't want them to hear.

Children

My fiance was saying how he would really liked to be married in a catholic church because that is the faith that he grew up in, which is completely fine with me even though I'm not a catholic. He was saying how we need to decide how many kids we want to have because we're going to have separate interviews with a priest. We need to have the same answer or he might not marry us. And I FREAKED out thinking about it because I'm just not ready to have kids yet.

Here is the thing. I like kids, I really do. But I think that they are a great responsibility that I refuse to take lightly. Growing up, I never was around babies a lot, or even small children (after I stopped being one ha ha). I wasn't huge into babysitting, and when I did it was always a bunch of kids that were really disrespectful. So I didn't really have a positive image of kids/babies growing up. That was until our new neighbors moved in with their 6 month old baby that I'll call John. John's dad worked and his mom went to school to be a nurse. While she was going to school, me or my sister would babysit John at his house in the mornings. He was great. A really happy baby, very easily entertained and very loving.

One of the funniest memories I have of him was when my family went over to their house one night for dinner. As soon as he saw us his little face lighted up and a huge smile took over his face... until he started crying, while still smiling ha ha. He was usually asleep when we got to their house in the morning to babysit, but when he was awake he would cry when his mommy left for school. So while he was happy to see us, he got sad because he thought his mom was leaving. It was kind of funny because he was crying and smiling at the same time.

A few months before he turned 3, he died in an accident, a few days before my birthday. It was really hard to deal with. I can't even imagine what his parents went through. The last memory I have was of him running down their drive way in the summer to come hug me. He had just learned to say my name, and he was giggling and saying my name as he ran towards me. After that I didn't really want to have anything to do with kids. Why even risk that kind of pain when something like that can happen?

My saving grace was a job I (somewhat reluctantly) took a couple years later, helping to homeschool 4 kids. Their ages ranged from 2-8, and while at first I didn't bond with the youngest boy, eventually I came to love all of them as if they were my own siblings. They were wonderful kids and really opened up my heart in the way only children can. I worked with them for 4 years, and towards the end I felt so blessed to be getting paid to do a "job" that felt like I was hanging out with family. I really owe a lot to that family for what they helped me through. And they showed me that large families aren't that bad (they had 8 kids total), and when they have an amazing mother like they did, that it actually worked really well.

So while someday I do want children, I want to take my time getting there. I want to make sure I've lived and have no regrets. I want to make sure that I will be able to do everything I can, to be the best parent I can. And I'm just not at that point yet.

I told my fiance a few days after he mentioned it, that I'd been feeling really pressured to come up with an answer, and that we should just both agree on a random number for the interview, and we could decide later what we really wanted. Which he said he had said the first time, just that I didn't understand it ha ha. Ahhh the joys of miscommunication when you're in a relationship. He didn't mean to put pressure on me, just that we needed to agree on a number for now, but really we'll decide later when we're ready to have kids. Maybe we'll have 1 and decide that's it, or maybe we'll like the first one so much we'll have 5. We both know we would like to have kids someday, just not right now.

Threading

I've always had problems with plucking my eye brows, which isn't a good thing because I have eye brows that would make Chewbacca proud. The first couple times I plucked, my eye brows bled. Probably because I was inexperienced and didn't pluck fast enough, but that's because it HURT like hell every hair I did. I tried using a warm compress before hand, I tried icing them afterward, nothing really helped. I kind of learned to deal with it, and the pain slightly lessened over time. Needless to say I only pluck from time to time (or pretty much never) ha ha.

Recently in malls, I've been noticing stands that offer eyebrow threading. Which I was extremely intrigued by, mainly because it looked like it didn't really hurt. Just soft little strings, nothing like the cold surgical steel of tweezers (ok I'm slightly dramatic). So when I was out shopping with my sister when she was visiting me, we saw a salon that offered it. I mentioned that I thought it was an intriguing idea and my sister said she always wanted to see someone get it done. Since I was the one with ragingly out of control eyebrows obvious candidate and she offered to pay for it (for my sake of course), we went into the salon.

It was only $10 to get the eyebrows done so I agreed to it, and next thing I know I'm pretty much laying down in a salon chair awkwardly pulling the skin around my eyes taut. So my initial conception that this wouldn't hurt... WAS COMPLETELY WRONG. I cried the first brow she did. Sure I can blame it on my eye watering from the stinging, but the hell with being tough, it hurt like a bitch! Fortunately it only lasted about 60 seconds then she went onto the other eye, which to be fair wasn't as bad now that I was prepared for it. That eye didn't "water."

She finishes and I sit up and look in the mirror... and I have perfect eyebrows staring back it me. I didn't think my eyebrows were capable of looking that good. And it only took about 2 minutes. So yes, despite the pain, I will be going back because 2 minutes beats the 10-20 I normally have to take plucking so might was well get it all over with at once. And it lasts 6 weeks!!! I'm thinking about getting my upper lip done next time but I'm not sure if I can handle it...

And if you think I am exaggerating about my eyebrows, I have had several people I work with randomly tell me I look really good and ask if I've changed my makeup/hair. I then inform them that no, I have not, but I did get the caterpillars that used to be on my face taken off, and replaced with the perfect movie star brows that now adorn my face.

Lucky

I'm pretty lucky in the fact that I really like my future in law family, especially my future mother in law. She's a really sweet caring person and I'm fortunate to have her in my life.

She likes to forward me random emails that she gets the the most recent was this gem. A realistic American barbie:

Finally. A roll model that we can realistically try to emulate ;)

Cheap

So I was going to talk about what I cheap ass I am when it comes to clothes (I have never spent more than $30 on pants, must less a shirt) BUT... I heard about Rifftrax from a girl from work. Needless to say I pretty much consider her my new bff because of this treasure she shared with me. This basically sums up my feelings for the Twilight movies:



Don't get me wrong, I like the story. It's kind of unique and cute, but the movies slaughtered it. And the more I think about Edward, the creepier he gets. So enjoy. And if you liked it be sure to check out some of their other stuff one youtube, like the Star Wars ones!

Engaged!

So the bf finally proposed last weekend. He had a bunch of family in town and we were all going to watch a baseball game. I was pretty sure he was going to propose that day, at the game because he had said things like "I asked how much it would be to put something on the jumbotron" and then didn't give an explanation why, so being extremely intelligent and intuitive... I figured that was going to be the way he asked me.

We went over to his parents house for lunch and to hang out with the family before the game. We ended up watching an Animal Planet show about ranchers. It was umm, authentic ha ha. It was taking place during the spring so cows were giving birth left and right. Coming from the dairy capitol of the world in Idaho, I've seen my fair share, so thankfully I was used to it. I was somehow so caught up in the show (how can you look away from blood, guts, and birthing material? *barf*) that I didn't notice people were holding video camera's until the bf turned to me and started saying how much he loved me and pulled out a box (!) and asked if I would marry him. To which of course I said yes (would I really be posting this if I didn't?).

So he put the ring on my finger and I got hugged by everyone in the family, then they pulled out a cake that said "Congratulations" on it and we ate it. They joked about how they had a cake that said "Sorry" in the refrigerator in case I said no ha ha.

This is a picture of it. It's a little fancier than I wanted, but it's very unique and beautiful, and he did pick it out all by himself so I love it. There is another band that goes over the top for the wedding ceremony.

After that we went to the baseball game. He told me he was going to propose at the game, but the guy who was supposed to rent the time space for him to do it, dropped the ball and it didn't end up happening. Which was FINE with me because I'm not really great on camera, especially when 45,000 people are watching me. I tend to turn red, stammer, and would probably end up drooling or spitting because I'm prone to do embarrassing things when being watched closely.

As we were waiting for the game to start, the bf's (ahem I mean fiance's) 2 year old nephew got hit on the head with a water bottle. We were on the bottom tier of the stadium, right under the second tier, and the bottle fell from the second tier and hit him. I think it just grazed his head and startled him but he was pretty upset. Some guy looked over the rail and started laughing. Laughing! Which was extremely stupid because next thing you know, all 6 men from the family are running up the steps to get him. Have I mentioned my bf is an amateur body builder and he's one of the smaller men in his family? So we were basically ready to see this guys body flying over the side next, but fortunately for the laugher, security got involved first and kicked him out of the game. The nephew was all right once he calmed down and got some cotton candy, which would make anyone feel better right? ;)

After that we watched the fireworks the stadium put on since it was the 3rd of July. And (side rant)... the only fireworks we could find were snap pops. SNAP POPS. Needless to say we'll be spending any future 4th of July's in Idaho where they let you light off real fireworks.

Sisters

Having the sister here is GREAT. Although sadly the bf is starting to feel a little neglected so we'll have to have some date time soon.

We were talking a couple days ago about how differently our parents treated us (oldest and youngest child). While we are only 3 years a part, it's crazy how differently they treated us. My sister went to a baseball game with my dad a few weeks ago and he bought her a beer (she's 20). When I turned 21 and my mom begged me not to go out and get a drink. Right.

My favorite one though was when I picked my sister up early from prom awhile ago. We were talking to my mom the next morning and she asked what time sister got home, and I told her 11.
Mom: "Wow, that's the earliest any of you have gotten home from prom."
Me: "Umm actually, you made me come home at 10 when I went."
Mom: "That's not true." (typical mom response when ever I enlighten her as to how I was treated)
Me: "It's completely true. And you had a neighbor couple chaperon us the whole time."
Mom: "Oh. Yah, that's right ha ha ha. You don't hate me for that right?"

Love you lots, like vodka shots and tater tots.

My sister is coming to visit tomorrow for 10 days! Super excited because she's my best friend. She's pretty weird like me too so it's going to be fun. True story about the sis, she was on a date with a guy to a nice steak house and all she ordered was tater tots and cheese cake. And yes, he did ask her out again ha ha. I'm going to do back to ID with her for a friend's wedding reception when she's done (driving through Nevada GAG).

We're going to see a Diamonbacks vs. Dodgers baseball game this weekend, maybe float down the river (yes, Phoenix has 1 river). There is also a wine tasting night in the plans. I'm really trying to increase my wine knowledge so I thought this would help me towards my goal of becoming a wine snob. I'm currently a beer snob but nobody really cares about that as much as wine.

I'm kind of depressed about this upcoming 4th of July. Normally in Idaho we'd visit an Indian reservation and get "real" fireworks. aka mortars, large, rockets, roman candles, ect. But Phoenix doesn't look so kindly on fireworks so I'm going to have to content myself with sparklers. This is pretty stupid because, yes, Phoenix is hot, but it's the desert... there isn't really anything to catch fire to. At least not like the hay fields or rampant weeds we had all over Idaho. It makes the pyro inside of me cry.

There is also some serious shopping involved. I know where all of the malls and some cute shops are... I just never want to go shopping by myself. I don't *need* a second opinion, but I definitely like to dress uniquely and sometimes that, is a good thing and sometimes I just need someone to tell me "That looks like your half tellatubby and half space invader. Take it off now." I really value honesty when it comes to clothing.

Homeschooled

Every time I mention to someone that I was homeschooled, I get the same reaction.

A. "Really? I would have never known..." uhh thank you? Ha ha I'll take that as a compliment.
B. "Do you think you missed out on anything?" Well judging by your previous statement, I assume you think I'm socially competent and don't snort at jokes and accidentally drool on myself (which happens occasionally, but I hide it well).

And the answer to that is no, I don't think I missed out on anything. I know high school (in particular) is supposed to be this great place where you make great memories and BFF's (until you go to college and grow up and see that hardly anything lasts forever), but it rarely is. Public school's really aren't that great.

One thing that I am really thankful for, about being homeschooled, is that I learned to get along with some very strange/nerdy people. The 'socially awkward' that people tend to push away from, are actually some of the most incredible people I've ever met. It really taught me to find the unique things in a person, and really value them for that. We can be teased and put down because of our differences, but once we learn to embrace and accept them, we really begin to see things from a new perspective and continue to grow and evolve as a person. I have learned so much about compassion and forgiveness (among other things) from people that many others wouldn't look twice at.

It also really taught me that to be myself, and to be different than others, is really okay. I think we all have to learn it at some point (although some people can be in denial of it their whole life ha ha), but it was a lot easier for me to do that in an environment that loved and supported me.

I've always thought about it I had children, whether I would homeschool them or not. When I was younger I always said I wouldn't because I did feel like I missed out on a lot. But the older I get and the more I see of the world, I see how absolutely blessed I was to have that opportunity. Not to mention having my mom give up so much to do it for us (YIKES). Sending us to school could have been her free time to do what she wanted, but she gave it up to ensure we had a good education.

I do think being homeschooled can make some people very socially awkward, but I wonder if it is better for them to be that way and be comfortable with it, than be in a environment where they feel pressured to conform to someone they are not.

Weekends

Weekends at work have been kicking my butt lately. I usually work a 12 hour day between the two jobs and my feet have the blisters to prove it. I don't mind it because I'm finally making some good money, but when I get tired I tend to slur and stumble over my words. The most memorable incident was when I was (trying) to tell my table about how the fondue forks would get hot it left in the pot. I tried to say "That will be the hot part" but as I was saying it I was thinking about fondue forks in my head and took the "f" from it and said "That will be the hot fart." I promptly turned extremely red and said "I meant hot part" and tried to laugh it off. Umm awkward? Yes, yes definitely.

I just realized how quickly this month is coming to an end. The year is almost half over! My sister is coming to visit on Friday, and we're going to a baseball game on Saturday where I think... my boyfriend is going to propose :-D Very exciting!

Greece

I talked about wanting to take my future honeymoon somewhere in Europe a few days ago, and Amie suggested Santorini in Greece. Uhh best idea ever. I promptly spent the next 4 hours (obsessive much?) looking at pictures are researching different travel packages, which as she said, were pretty affordable.

This is Fira, the most populous city on the island. Look at how beautiful it is! It looks like the city Lena, from the Sisterhood of the dropping Traveling Pants, visited.

I can't even imagine how great that would be to go there. I'd have to fly from Athens to get there so I'd probably plan a couple days for us in Athens. Mainly because I LOVE world history (don't judge me, I was homeschooled) and would get to drool over things like the Acropolis.

Here is the dilemma though. While going there is definitely much more affordable than other places in Europe, it still it pretty expensive. And while browsing the hundreds of sites researching it, I came to find out it is a hot spot for weddings (no kidding right?). Would that be really selfish to get married there? My family wouldn't be able to afford to go... and would I even want to get married without them being present? Probably not. But we are going to be paying for our own wedding... so if we combined the expense of a wedding into a destination like that it would be so much cheaper. Why are weddings so ridiculously expensive anyways? A small wedding is starting to look more, and more attractive.

On another note I'm still watching Dollhouse where ever I can find it on the internet. Have you ever tried to watching an entire series online from one source? It's impossible! It's ridiculous and I feel like a crack addict searching all these websites trying to get my next fix/episode. Anyways that's what I'm off to trying to do now... wish me luck?

Banks

I've never really liked banks. Maybe it's due to the fact that I rarely have a lot of money ha ha. They've always just made me feel uncomfortable and I used to hate them as a teenager because any time I went over on my account they would rape me with a $35 fee, repeatedly.

But today, I decided to open a savings account. It was spur the moment, sort of an impulse buy for savings (like how I just spent $30 at the dollar store, how does that happen?) but better because I get to keep the money. It's the adult thing to do right? So my teller introduces me to a short man named Mario who apparently is a banker and going to solve all of my saving (not plumbing) needs.  Now if I'd really thought this through, I probably wouldn't have picked today because I haven't showered for awhile, and I was just planning on running quick errands where no one would have time to see much of me. So I'm sitting in his office thinking about my decision and remembering another reason why I don't like banks... it takes FOREVER to do anything.

I also realize that this morning, when it was hot, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to wear shorts, without really thinking about the last time I shaved my legs (6 DAYS AGO). So I'm staring at my amazingly hairy calves thinking about how it will be ok, because he is on the other side of the desk. Then another teller walks in and is standing next to me talking to him, while I'm awkwardly trying to get as much of my lower leg under his desk so the teller won't see them, and silently pray that they won't notice my greasy roots. She leaves after awhile but keeps coming back which keeps me repeating the trying to shove my legs under the desk. Fortunately she didn't notice anything, as least I don't think she did because I didn't see any disgusted looks on her face when she looked at me which is always a good thing. One of these days I'll have everything together and look good all the time... hopefully.

So now I am the owner of a savings account, which I haven't had since I was 12. I'm hoping to start saving for a honeymoon! I really want to go somewhere along the Mediterranean and it is EXPENSIVE, so the earlier I start the better right?

The post where I become extremely nerdy

At work a few nights ago, a coworker and I were talking about video games. And yes, I am a video game nerd. I understand not everyone likes them, but I drool over trailers of upcoming games. I tend to drool a lot though on accident, which I blame on having previously having braces because I never drooled before (awkward). I blame my dad for the love of video games. We used to all go down to the basement when I was a kid and stand around watching each other play Microsoft dos games on the computer. Our favorite was Billy the Kid where you were the famed wild west bandit and had to make your way through the maze of the game. Later we moved onto better pc games, then nintendo and sega. In fact, I was going to originally move to Phoenix to be a video game designer. I found a school I was really considering that was affordable, and seemed really nice. Then I read a line about h

ow the closest thing they have to intramural sports... are LAN parties. LAN parties are where you hook up a bunch of consoles and have 16 player games. That was a bit too nerdy for me. I like video games, but I also like volleyball and boxing, and many other things that involve getting off of my ass. So I decided not to go.

Anyways, long tangent over. We were talking about Assassin's Creed and he was telling me about a show he had seen that was really similar to it called Dollhouse (at least similar in the way they manipulate your mind) and recommended it. I was skeptical at first but decided to check it out. So I start running it and it says "Created by: Joss Whedon" and I almost die from excitement. Joss Whedon? The creator of Firefly and Serenity? One of the most amazing shows I have ever seen. That Joss Whedon?

(My favorite show)

Yes, yes it was. So long story short I really enjoy the show and recommend it. It's not Firefly, but then again nothing is. If you haven't seen Firefly definitely give that a shot first because it is AMAZING!

After that I decided to look up Joss Whedon to see what else I was missing out on. Turns out he first started out working as a screen writer for Rosanne (very weird) and he is a 3rd generation screen writer. His dad was the screen writer for Golden Girls.

So genius must run in the family because I LOVE this show too. I know it's a weird combo to like but I just do. I really appreciate sarcasm and that comes out in the both of these shows.

So I will probably be watching Dollhouse for the rest of today ha ha. And maybe cleaning because my sister is coming in 2 weeks!

Old

I can not wait to be old. I think a lot of people dread it, but hopefully after 60-70 years on this earth I'll be ready for it.

First of all you can do almost anything you want in public and get away with it because people will excuse it due to your old age. Your pants can fall down, you can swear for no reason at strangers, you can sing little songs to yourself all the time, and no one really expects you to be completely sane anymore. As my grandma likes to say "You can fart and no one cares!" I'm not excited about that part of it especially, but obviously she it. My aunt was telling me how one day, her and my grandma went to Office Max to get some office supplies. They asked a sales associate to help them find something they needed. He took them to the spot where it was and it was on the bottom shelf. When my grandma bent over to get it she uhh.... let one rip. My aunt said she ran away one way down the aisle, and the associate ran the other.

One thing that would be hard though, would be much slower you get .Awhile ago when I was a waitress in Idaho, a really small town was having their 40th class reunion at our restaurant and I was serving their table. There were probably 8 or 9 older couples there. That day the fans in the kitchen went out, so eventually the smoke from the grill set the fire alarms off. Everyone bolted out of the restaurant except for my table of quite elderly people. They moved so slow that by the time we got it figured out and had the alarm turned off, they were only halfway to the door ha ha.

But overall, I think it's going to be a great age and I plan to enjoy it to the fullest.

Jinxed

Last night I was walking out to a table and in the hallway, a busser tried to avoid me (unsuccessfully of course of this story wouldn't be interesting) while carrying a large tray full of dirty dishes. He ended up knocking the tray against the wall, and the whole thing fell to the ground. I felt responsible because he was trying to avoid me (which made me feel like a huge fatass because he couldn't get around me) so I helped him clean up by sweeping up the glass. 10 minutes later, I hear another crash and go back to the same spot where a server has fallen carrying a tray of dessert. The reason he fell was because of the puddle left from the glasses of the last tray, that wouldn't have spilled if I hadn't been in the way. Oops!

So I was feeling pretty jinxed this morning at work to say the least and I was telling my coworker about the incidents from the night before. After awhile he went to get some water and, as he was pouring, the entire lid came out of the pitcher, as well as the contents of the full water pitcher, and spread all over the condiment counter and floor. He simply turns to me and says "You just refilled the water didn't you? And you didn't put the lid on tight enough..."

I'm pretty sure I should just be sent home early tonight because I've managed to cause a series of extreme messes, and all without directly doing them myself!

Not again

Know what is driving me nuts? Is when girls/women who weigh considerably less than me, complain about being fat. If they're fat, then I must be obese (and I'm not). It especially bugs me when they complain about their butt or thighs, that probably easily fit into a size 3 jean. I was nicknamed "thunder thighs" for a reason, muscle builds easily and quickly for me in the area and I'm pretty sure I've got twice as much as they do. And, they probably all shop in the petite section because they are tiny. GAH!

I've also decided that public restrooms are one of the most social awkward places to be in. You basically have to sit down and do your business 2 feet away someone, with a small piece of metal partition to separate you. And you always have to do it as quietly as possible, and you have to hurry because you're afraid someone might judge you if you're in there for awhile. It's just extremely awkward. Now I know why a lot of women I know don't use public restrooms.

There was a woman in the stall next to me the other day talking on her cell phone. How rude is that? What if someone in there had really bad gas? How would you explain that over the phone? "Oh sorry about that, the woman next to me is taking a gigantic dump, excuse the noise it should be over soon." Ridiculous.

Training

I finished training over the weekend. It was pretty interesting to say the least. One server got overwhelmed when he got 2 tables at one time and FREAKED out, punching the walk-in refrigerator (and denting it considerably), breaking a couple of bottles of wine in the process.

We were given 3 shifts where we were supposed to follow a server to learn how to do everything, before we served tables solo. One server that I trained with had to do a 4th follow because he wasn't ready to start serving. His training server said he was just really slow and didn't seem to be picking things up (which was probably due to the two 32 oz. beers he had two hours before his shift).

On another note, my kitten is driving me nuts! She's very defiant with me, it's actually kind of comical. She's not that way with the bf, if she's scratching something and he tells her to stop, she does. If I do, she throws a fit and runs around furiously. She's a little suck up with him too ha ha. In the morning, if I get up first to go to work, she gets under the covers then pokes her head out where I was laying and looks like she's trying to be a human and sleeps next to him. It's really cute. Except that when he gets up first she doesn't keep sleeping. Oh no. She goes under the bed and starts ripping at the mattress with her claws. This has been happening consistently over the past couple months so that by the time he leaves the moment I hear her claws start ripping I'm ready with a glass of water. She still does it though. I think she's trying to usurp me as the woman of the house ha ha.

I like...

It when people in SUVs or trucks go over speed bumps slower than the extremely old person in front of them did. As if their suspension on their 4 wheel drive vehicles can't take the bump.

Bing

I really like the new search engine by Microsoft bing.com. It seems like the links are more relevant and quite a few less of them that don't relate to my search at all.

I was on their website a few days ago and was typing in "How to make bbq chicken in the oven" and when I got to How to make... the most searched option right underneath it was "How to make your man feel like a man." Ha ha ha why would you search for that? Which of course then got me really curious and I ended up following some of the links. Funny stuff.

I tried to find it again but I guess it changes all the time based on the most popular searches. Here is what I got this time:

I'm not sure what a diaper cake is... and I don't think I want to.

New job!

I have orientation today at my new job at the Melting Pot! I'm really excited. I've always LOVED starting new jobs, I think new things in general make me happy, which is really weird because I'm a very long term employee. Or maybe that's the reason why, because I wait forever until I can't stand a job another second, then I work at if for a few months then get a new one. Maybe.

So I'll obviously be writing about my waitressing experiences quite a bit more. I'm hoping the majority of the redneck stuff I was subjected to in Idaho is now behind me... but irregardless of the class of people, they are always some crazies to bring a spot of sunshine to my life. My sister had a great conversation with a woman at one of her tables awhile ago.

We'll call my sister Toodles because that's my nickname for her. Her other childhood nickname was Pooter (or Poot n' Tooter if you want the full version, don't ask me why) and she'd probably murder me in my sleep if I used that.

So Toodles asked the people at her table if they wanted desert and the woman sitting there said:

Woman "Tell me about the red velvet cake."
Toodles "It's a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting."
W "Oh, so what's the red velvet cake like?"
T "It's red, and it's a cake. Red velvet cake."
W "Ohhh, so it's like chocolate cake?"
T "No, it's like red velvet cake. It's red, and it's cake."
W "Yes, but what is it like?"
T "Like cake, that's red."

I guess the woman, who was in her mid-forties, had never had red velvet cake. Which brings up the good question of how do you even describe it? It has a very unique taste.

So, I'm going to a birthday party tonight for a girl from work. It's nice actually having people invite us out ha ha. At least my friends anyways. I'm really starting to feel like this is home now.

Potty Talk

The bf and I have been trying to eat healthier. And by that I mean we eat lots of fruits and veggies, ate sushi 4 times last week, had hotdogs for midnight snacks, a dinner of only wings, cheesecake, and beer, and pretty much ate everything in site over the weekend. Ahem. So we agreed last weekend was our last "binge" weekend because he wants to get back into body building. So lean meats, veggie, and fruits from here on out. Which I'm down for because I'd prefer not to have my love handles hang over the side of my bikini. One thing about Phoenix, with the weather so nice, you ALWAYS have to be swimsuit ready. Sucks.

So I made him a good breakfast this morning, and a healthy lunch and I get this text later.

I just pooped a horse :( 

Umm sorry? Ha ha. I'll try to feed you non healthy foods from here on out.

Speaking of potty humour, I always have the weirdest things happen to me in public restrooms. First of all they're extremely awkward because where else are there bathrooms with gigantic slits of the walls missing? No where. And little kids are crazy, like the one that pulled herself into my stall for a little chat.

Another time my sister and I were sitting at our favorite cafe, using the wifi to feed our facebook addiction. There was a couch facing the back of the cafe and we were sitting on it, facing the restrooms. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a guy walking towards the men's restroom. He opens the door, looks in then promptly shuts it and runs out of the cafe. Weird right?

So maybe a minute later another guy walks up, opens the bathroom door, says "OH SHIT" and runs away again. So by now I'm a little curious, and I watch the 3rd guy walk up another minute later. Same reaction. Opens the door, looks in, runs away. So I'm really starting to wonder whats going on and by now my sister has noticed too. So we wait for whoever/whatever is in there to come out. The door opens and....
a little girl walks out ha ha. She is mad as a hornet too, little arms are rigid as she stomps over to her mother (my sister and I couldn't stop laughing because this poor little girl was so enraged at being walked in on 3 times while using the restroom). Her mom is behind us and we hear her saying "Why didn't you use the women's bathroom?" and "Well why didn't you lock the door sweetie?"

I realize it wasn't that funny to the little girl but the best part of it was the reactions from the guys. They must have felt like total perverts and consequently just ran away instead of having to face this little girl when she was done.

America

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about Americans and the generation I'm growing up in. The more I look into it the more I feel like everyone is really messed up. 

I hear so much everyday (possibly because I'm into health and trying to eat right) about how fat American's are and how bad all the fast food diet is. 300,000 people die from obesity related causes every year. That means that 300,000 ate themselves to death, in a year.

Then on the other side of the spectrum there are TONS of people with eating disorders trying to make themselves skinnier. They also are destroying their bodies, but in a method that involves more control. Over 11 million Americans are diagnosed with having an eating disorder.

• 27% of girls 12-18 have significant symptoms
  
• 31% of female college students
  
• 46% of 10 year old girls are dieting, have a fear of “fatness” or are binge eating
  
• Doctors are seeing a growing group of women in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s with eating disorders
  
• Although less common, boys and men can also have eating disorders, especially self-induced vomiting and inappropriate laxative use 

(http://www.eatingdisorderfoundation.org/EDFFAQ.htm)
 
 10 year old girls! You know where they are getting this from right? Their moms. I used to have a friend, and her mom had recently lost a lot of (unhealthy) weight. The problem was is that it started focusing my friend on her body and her weight. The girl was taller than me and thin as a rail, and yet all she could talk about were her diets and how fat she was. She was sitting next to me one day and commented on how fat her thighs were, so since we were sitting next to each other I told her to compare our legs. Mine were quite a bit bigger and I said that if her thighs were fat then I was an elephant.

It used to drive me up a wall when I was working in a restaurant and some little 6 year old girl would come in  to eat with her mom and order diet coke. I wanted to slap her mom because:
A. Diet coke has aspartame, which is linked to head tumors.
B. If your going to diet, don't teach your kid that coke, which destroys the lining of you stomach and intestines, is ok because it says "Diet"
C. Why the hell is a 6 year old kid worried about her weight? That's morbidly disturbing and her parents are robbing her of her childhood.


I know you can argue that maybe she "likes" the taste of diet coke, but she wouldn't like it if it wasn't in her house in the first place, courtesy of her parents. Try getting her to "like" some juice or something that will actually give her body what it needs to function. Let her decide to destroy her body when she's older and smart enough to know the difference.


It would always kill me to, on the other hand, when an extremely fat little kid would come in, and their parents would let them order off the adult menu. Really? There that big and you think you should feed them an 1800 calorie Country Fried Steak, with 300 calories of extra gravy, and take the corn on the cob off for more mashed potatoes and gravy (500 more calories), start off with a 1800 calorie wing appetizer, and end with a 1200 calorie dessert. Wow, model parents right there. If you love your children you should take the time to ensure they are healthy and eat right. Not indulge them in whatever they want because kids are too young to decide what's best for them.

Roommates

Awhile ago the bf and I had some relationship problems so I decided to move out until we got engaged... except it backfired because while I am technically moved out, I'm at his place 80% of the time ha ha. Mainly because it still feels like home... and that's where all the free food is!

But I did move in with some girls from work, which is going really well. Probably because none of us are home enough to annoy the crap out of each other, but I'm glad that our friendship is staying intact so far. Most roommate situations don't go that well, as I'm sure you know.

My first roommate was when I was 20 and couldn't take staying in my parents house any longer. I tried to because they wanted me to stay while I was going to college, since I had to pay for my classes. But when you're sister who is 3 years younger had a later curfew... it's time to leave.

So I moved in with a girl from work. The whole time I was there, I felt like I was in her house, not ours. I'd get a text message asking if I'd left a dvd on the coffee table, or my hair spray out on the bathroom counter. So I had to make sure I always left things how she wanted. One day I had some cereal so I text her to see if I could use some of her milk. No response so I assumed she wouldn't mind sharing, because I'd always told her to help herself to anything of mine. I got a text later telling me that I couldn't because it was her boyfriends. Too late. Got another text that night, asking me if I'd used the milk anyways. I explained what happened and offered to buy another gallon of milk for him to make up for it, and she made me do it! A whole gallon because I used some to put in my cereal bowl. Hmmm.

I know her boyfriend and he wouldn't have cared but she was really weird about the smallest things. It got to the point that I was spending much more time at my parents than the apt so I could avoid doing anything to piss her off. So after her boyfriend pretty much started living with us (and there was no door between our rooms) I decided to move out. She seemed genuinely hurt that I was leaving but I couldn't bring myself to tell her why. I'm super non-confrontational, especially back then.

Next roommate I wasn't too sure about at first, but then ended up being my best friend. We were both really sharing and social people. We weren't super clean people, but we picked up after ourselves, put the trash out when it was full, vacuumed every week or so, but weren't anal about having everything in it's place. So later on when one of her friends was having a hard time financially, she decided to let her move into her room with her. BIG mistake.

The girl would complain that she couldn't find a good job, but then would play Nintendo for 8 hours a day. I know because I'd start it up at the end of the day and it would say how long the play time had been. Then she started leaving stuff everywhere... candy wrappers, bowls half full of speghetti, smelly used socks, peanut m&m's on the couch. The worst thing though, was when my friend opened the microwave... and there was half of a raw chicken in a bowl sitting in there. We told her about it and she said she'd put it in there a few days ago and forgot about it. WTF?! The best part is that she said she'd clean it up, and... ONE WEEK LATER we threw it out ourselves because it was smelling up the apartment.

It pretty much went down hill from there.

So I'm pretty glad my new roommates are really relaxed about stuff and when we are together we get along well. They are some of my few friends that I've made here and I like hanging out with them. I've come to realize that there is some roommate etiquette when you live with other people.
1. Clean up after yourself.
2. Pay your bills and rent on time (in other words be responsible)
3. Don't expect people to share with you, if you don't share with them.
4. Be respectful of others. It's always better to ask if they mind if you do something, than assume they won't and have them hate you for it.

You'd think this would be common sense but I guess for some people it isn't.

Anyone else have any roommate horror stories? :)

Boxing

One thing I've been really missing lately is boxing. I used to be involved with it a lot, and I fought as an amateur a few times. The weird thing about it, is that I am not a very aggressive person. Outside of sparring, it takes a lot for me to get to the point where I'd ever want to hit someone, so far in fact that I never have ha ha.

(I wish this was me but sadly I'm not an shape like they are)

I've only been part of a fight once (here comes one of my great Idaho redneck stories), and I couldn't bring myself to hit the girl because she was too drunk. We were at a party at a friends house, my little sister and I, and her best friend. The BF I guess hung out with a guy awhile back (girls hold onto grudges like fat kids to cake) and his new girl at the time got extremely mad about it and decided she wanted to fight the BF while she was completely drunk. We were all stone cold sober at this point and this girl kept pursuing the BF all over the place, trying to get in her face and make her hit her. The BF, who normally is confrontational, kept backing off because this girl was ridiculously drunk.

So eventually punches started to be thrown by the girl, who probably never threw a punch in her life based on the way she was trying to hit the BF, and we just stood back and let out friend handle it. Well all the girls bitch friends started punching the BF in the back of the head so my little sister flew to her friends defense. Literally. She hurled herself around the BF and with one punch, sent the girl to the ground, where I held her down in a choke hold just until she calmed down then we let her back up. But even then when the girl was hitting the BF who I consider to be a little sister, I couldn't bring myself to really hurt her, just restrain her.

Which brings me to another point. If girls started doing boxing or martial arts more, there would be a lot less bitches in the world. I'm serious. If we could take out our anger and jealousies, whatever, on a punching bag instead of each other, life would be so much better. Which is why I really loved it. I would go to practice a couple times a week, and at the end of it I'd be so exhausted I couldn't help but like everybody. Being mad takes too much energy :)

Light at the end of the tunnel

I got a job at the Melting Pot! It's a high end fondue restaurant...

(How could you say no to this? Especially filled with chocolate!)

So I'm very excited because I'll actually start making a livable income now ha ha. And hopefully I can go back to DC to visit my brother. He is progressing REALLY well! He's gotten a lot of the mobility back in his 2 fingers and thumb, the swelling is going down, and he should be out of the hospital finally after a few days, once he gets a skin graph. 

I'm also hoping to go to Idaho for a friends wedding reception. He's one of those friends that was a good friend to me and my brother and sister (we're all 3 years apart so we had a lot of mutual friends). Even after he moved to go to college we stayed good friends. I think the best friends are the ones that realize that when you move away, it's ok that we don't talk a lot and you don't have to work to keep the friendship. We'll just hang up when we're back in the same place and pick up where we left off. He was one of those people, and I'm so excited he's getting married!

I have the next few days off so I'm hoping to get some swimming or hiking in maybe. The weather has been really nice, under 90 degrees which everyone here says isn't normal, it's usually above 100. I'm scared of the summer! Ha ha. I lived in a desert before, but not here where it easily gets to 115 degrees for the entire summer. I'm hoping my blood has thinned out since I've been here for 9 months now, but I doubt it has fully. AHHH I'm going to die!