Apathy

I have been shaken out of my apathy. I'd like to think I'm a very caring person, but it's very rare that I'm completely moved to where the thought of not doing anything, is not an option.
My sister called me a few days ago. She is currently in Washington DC, staying with my brother as his NMA (non-medical assistant) as he goes through his surgeries and recoveries for his hand. They became friends with a man and his wife who are pretty affluent figures in New York, and see them every so often, usually with things related to the Wounded Warriors.
They came to visit Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital last week, and started telling them about a soldier in the hospital that they also visit. This soldier is a quad-amputee, meaning that he's lost parts of both his arms and both of his legs. When he got flown back from Afghanistan, his wife left him in the hospital. He has no family there to take care of him (like the NMA). The first 4 times they visited the soldier, he didn't remember them and they had to reintroduce themselves, until finally the husband intervened and told the staff that they needed to cut back on the pain meds. Usually you'll have a family member there to monitor how the drugs are affecting that person, but he didn't have anyone there.
This story has been weighing heavily on my heart for the past few days. Maybe because I've been there and I've seen what these men who have given everything for us, are actually going through. The anger, sadness, and sometimes even rage. I can't even begin to understand and know what they are going through. It's one thing to die in a war zone, and it's another heart breaking thing to lose parts of your body, and not have anyone to come back home to, to help you get through it.
I think that my sister will try to visit him before she comes back. My brother's recovery is going extremely well and he doesn't really need anyone to take care of him now.
If you have some time though, please thank a veteran for what they have given. Also, when I went to visit my brother the Wounded Warriors organization was absolutely fantastic in all the support they give to veterans and their families. Please help honor these fallen heroes and ensure that they know, they are not forgotten.

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.