Living on the Edge

I'm Sorry You Feel That Way

Those words are what I have heard more times than I care to count from the lips of my daughter's principal.  They are dismissive.  They are trite.  They do not solve problems.  They are simply said to make you think that they are acknowledging what you are saying.

I think administrators are taught this phrase in school.  They can't be a principal until they have it down pat as a response.  This is what it means:  We are not going to change what we do, because we've done it that way forever and we don't plan to change just because you are unhappy.

It's like that little stain on the shirt commercial.  The stain is saying "I'm sorry you feel that way" while the principal is saying "we don't care what you think, you're just a parent and your ideas are meaningless to this school because we know better!"

OK, I've vented for now.  Also vented on the phone with the principal.  I let him know exactly what I thought of his trite words and what they really mean.  Also let him know that I was frustrated with the disconnect between the school and the parents and the fact that it didn't matter what I said, but I knew my words were falling on deaf ears because I was merely a parent. 

And to think I was just trying to find out when my daughter's class would be eating lunch at Riverfront Park.  After 4 phone calls to the school, I finally tracked my daughter down (with her cell phone) on the bus and had her ask the teacher directly. Now the office couldn't have called and asked the teacher while they were at school?  Why did the office not know?  puuu--lease! 

I'm not naming the school publicly, but I will be more than happy to fill you in if you wish to email me!

Puxsatawney Phil is NOT My Friend!

I don't usually put much weight on a rodent forecasting weather, but he's historically more reliable than the weather people we have locally!  In case you haven't already heard, the rotund rodent Phil says we are going to have 6 more weeks of winter.  If that means 6 more weeks of snow...I'm going to have awesome arms by summer with all the shoveling!  And I will probably lose the battle of "no honey, we don't have enough snow here to warrant purchasing a snowblower."

I wonder what Phil knows about Global Warming?  Do you think Phil was one of the many sources that Al Gore ignored when he came up with his prophesy of global warming.  Phil just obviously doesn't own a copy of Al's book, An Inconvenient Truth.  And although he appears to have a pretty posh spread that he lives in, I'm sure he doesn't have a tv to watch the Gore Documentary either.

Here is Phil's official website:  www.groundhog.org

Cheaters stink!

This is a warning and a bit of a rant.  There are mean people out there who think nothing of taking things that belong to others!

We have many grocery chains that we can choose to shop at within easy driving distance from our house.  Because of the price of gas, and the fact that Costco is all the way in town, we choose to shop at Safeway.  I'm not a die-hard Safeway fan, but it's cheaper than Albertsons. Though the cost of it being cheaper is the fact that you can barely get a cart down the narrow aisles!  But we earn powerpump credits for filling our tanks at their gas stations, which makes it close to the price at Costco.  And at $3.25 a gallon that adds up!

On Tuesday, before Thanksgiving, my mom and I did the last of our Thanksgiving shopping.  My receipt showed that I had earned a third credit!  Woohoo!  30 cents off a gallon would be a lovely change!

So on Saturday, we went to fill up the car....I put my Safeway card in and it showed that I only got 3, that's THREE--not THIRTY, cents off!  I went into the station and they said that I didn't have any earned to use.  That I must have used them.  Wow, all that cooking on Thursday and I must have cooked my brain---that triptophan really affects the grey matter!  I slept through driving the 12 miles to the gas station and filled up my car--and it was still on a quarter tank, so I must have done about 250 miles of driving in my sleep too!

The next day I found my receipt at home.  Yup, there was a credit for 3 powerpumps!  So I called Safeway's customer service.  I got a very nice, unaccented customer service rep with a sense of humor!  I explained the situation to her and asked when they were used.  Apparently, someone filled up once on Friday and then twice more on Saturday!  Someone used my phone number THREE times!  That's a little unnerving when you consider our number is unlisted!  I was also pleasantly surprised that she offered to change my number as well as to return the 3 powerpumps on my card!

Other than someone knows our phone number and is using it, the other thing that bothers me is that they didn't just use it once, they found two more cars and did it twice more!

So beware with your Safeway card.  If someone does that to you...call and complain.  I suggested that they require a pin number at the gas station.  Maybe if more people complain it will happen.

 

Walmart is Like Crack

I stuck this in the whining category, but I think it's more of a rant...

Walmart is like that elusive drug dealer on the street corner.  They are always there ready to fill your need and your craving, to get you hooked with a desire to return again and again, and then to dump you like a bad tomato, leaving you craving what you can't have.

                                                   

That's right, they suck you in with those low prices. Guilt has to be swallowed as you walk through those doors. Guilt for knowing that when you shop there, you undercut the profit for those hardworking local businesses.  But for those of us that are surviving on one income households--whether by choice or not--every penny is precious.

                                                   

It’s hard to resist the opportunity to pay $1.62 for a bottle of shampoo that other stores may charge you over $3.00.  That’s how they get you hooked…after that, one of two things will happen. 

1) You go there, looking for one thing and you end up with it, plus the 34 other things that fit in your cart one after the other, as you traveled up and down the aisles.  You just can’t resist their ‘every day low prices’ on everything. It's so easy and seems like such a great deal at the time. But by the time you have emptied your cart at the register, it’s become the $100 dollar store! (and you thought that was just Costco!)

                                                   

2) You go in looking for one or two items (I don’t take a cart anymore—to avoid scenario one) You can’t find the first item on the list, which you have looked in all the logical places of course, including the place you saw it the last time you were in the store.  So you go grab items 2 and 3 on your mental list.  By that time you finally find an employee that will look you in the eye when you try to flag them down---most of them have mastered the 'Scurry, hide and look busy technique'---You have one cornered and you ask where the canning jars are.  They say “they’re by the coffee makers, head straight down that isle and on your right”  As you look in the direction they pointed you toward, they disappear, because as you turn back to tell them you were just in that aisle, they're GONE! Evaporated! Teleported! Or became chameleons and blended in with the the wall of vacuum cleaners!   I think that's the more advanced class--the 'answer customer, then scurry, hide and look busy technique'

                                                         

So I'm in the middle of scenario two tonight.  Trying to find canning jars while my daughter's at soccer practice.  The Walmart employee has teleported to whereever they go and I'm wandering around for another 5 minutes clutching the two items that were easy to find in comparison to finding canning jars.  Luck!  I find the canning section tucked between the Tupperware and the lunch boxes…But alas there are no jars!  Hmph! (that's a sound of frustration)   I keep looking at the shelves thinking that they have to be there, they just have to be.  Finally, I look up, and on the topmost shelf, there are the jars!  "Cool!" I’ve found them, problem solved.  Well not quite!

                                                             

You see, I’m vertically challenged.  My very own parents and sister had lots of fun names for my lack of height as I was growing up.  It’s not fair being the oldest kid and being the shortest in the whole family.  It would have been nice if I’d have been blessed with enough height to at least pass my mom up, or at least enough height to reach the darn canning jars on the way back of a top shelf at Walmart.

Is there an employee to be found?  No!  Is there a customer nearby that’s tall enough and will look me in the eye long enough to give me a hand?  No! (there must be an evening scurry, hide and look busy class for customers too!  Wonder if they give college credit?)  I briefly considered climbing the shelves--I do have Aflac accident insurance after all.

                                                           

But at this point I have only 4 minutes to get back over to the soccer field so my daughter doesn’t think I’ve forgotten her and moved to Alaska.  Have you ever seen how there are items left on the wrong shelves in a store?  All of a sudden I realized why this happens!  It’s because of vertically challenged soccer moms that are fed up with trying to find things and the lack of customer service in Walmart!

Where did my desk go?

I'm pretty organized...I work hard at it.  It's not like it just happens.  And it's not as though it's easy to stay that way when you have as many projects going as I seem to all the time. 

So why can't I keep my desk clean!?  It completely drives me nuts!!

And it wouldn't be so bad, but it oozes over onto the scrapbook side as well.  So now, every time I want to do a project, I have to clean up the desk first!  Then I don't even have the energy or the time to do a card or a page!!  Arrgh!

So if nobody hears from me this morning...you'll know I'm lost in the pile of stuff on my desk!!

whaa, whaa, whaa!

I'm not going to whine and complain....though it was one of those days. 

Do you ever have one of those days? The crazy mixed up kind? 

I really don't want to go into detail.  Lets just say, I think I need to make cookies soon and post the recipe!

While you wait to find a yummy recipe to show up, here is something cheery to start your day:

My sunflowers appear to be on growth hormones, or Barry Bond's leftover steroids!  They are about 12 feet tall and the bloom is about 16 inches wide!

Well lets all hope we have a wonderful day!