4th of July

Our 4th started off with me getting out of bed at 6:00 A.M. to get things started for everyone else! I baked cupcakes and brownies for the neighborhood parade/gathering at 10:00 A.M. I baked the potatoes for the salad, put the ribs in the crockpot, did two loads of laundry, got a shower, ran to the grocery store for a couple more items to make dinner work, and then we all rode the golfcart to the parade. A lot of people in the neighborhood participated and several neighbors have golfcarts and everyone had them decorated. After the parade function, we loaded up the coolers and headed to the pool for the afternoon. We stayed until about 4:00 when I had to leave to finish up dinner. Friends from the neighborhood joined us and we had a great time. I cooked ribs, hamburgers, boudin, beans, bread and Brandy made potato salad that is so simple and soooo good. One bag of new potatoes (quartered and baked until fork tender), 1/2 pound of bacon (cooked and crumbled), green onions, two boiled eggs, and 1/2 to 1/3 cup of mayonaise. Very easy and very good. She got the recipe from a friend of hers. My husband will even eat this, and he doesn't eat potato salad. Tonight the grands are back after being with their dad for almost two weeks! I can't wait!!! Today feels like Monday, but I am so glad it isn't!

Some people....

I ran to Old Navy at lunch today to purchase my annual t-shirt for the neighborhood 4th of July parade, and I didn't get in and out as quickly as I anticipated. There were not a lot of people in there so I thought I would be done in about 10 minutes... until I got up to the register. There were two cashiers and I was 1 of 2 people waiting in line. One lady had selected a LOT of items off the clearance rack and she was having the cashier do a price check on each item before she approved the purchase. And she probably had 40 or 50 articles of clothing. That was beyond RIDICULOUS! Then the other lady had opted to fill out a credit card application to get an additional 10 percent off her purchase. She didn't have many items, but filling out the application was a slow process. The cashier was apparently inexperienced in filling out applications on the computer, and the customer was slow providing the necessary information to complete the application. After FIFTEEN MINUTES, he informed her the application was declined. She did not seem even remotely surprised by this, and wanted to know if she could still got the 10 percent discount. He told her the application had to be accepted before that could happen. She told him that is not what the sign said. She said it simply said to fill out the application and you would get the discount. REALLY???!!

Neighborhood Pool...

Since we moved into our house a couple of years ago, a new neighborhood pool has been built. It is probably the most beautiful neighborhood pool in our area. The bad thing about it is the number of people who completely ignore the pool rules. Such as no glass containers, no pets, no unsupervised children under 18, no smoking, and swim diapers are required, to name a few. All the rules are posted in an area visible to everyone. And, then there are other signs, strategically placed, telling parents and children to stay out of flower beds and off of the frog fountains, and signs advising that a certain area of the pool is designated for adults ONLY. No one under the age of 18 is allowed up there, and the signs make this clear. So far, every rule has been broken numerous times, and when people are told they are breaking the rules, they act like the rules do not apply to them. Guess what people??? They apply to everyone, and if you bring a guest to the pool, it is your job to make your guest aware of the pool rules, and make sure they obey them. No glass containers should be a no-brainer. Drinking out of glass containers while sitting at a pool puts everyone at risk if you drop the container. I was not even aware you could still buy glass baby bottles, but a couple gave their 2 year old a glass baby bottle at the pool, and he promptly walked into the water and threw it down in an area where the water is only a couple of inches deep, and it broke... into many pieces. I watched this happen. The same people also had a regular diaper on the child.. not a swim diaper. I have personally told numerous kids to get out of the adult area. It is actually a small shallow pool, on a deck above the big pool area, and we can sit chairs in the water, NO ONE UNDER 18 IS SUPPOSED TO BE UP THERE! But there are always parents who bring their kids to the pool, and completely ingore them, unless they are bleeding. I have no problem telling them in a nice way to leave the adult area, and I am okay with the glares I receive from parents when I do this. I don't allow my grandkids to play up there either, so there are no exceptions in my book. And, that is my rant for the day! Happy Thursday!

Rango!

We took the grands to see Rango Saturday and I have to say, I was disappointed. I am not sure this movie was suitable for kids in their age group, 4 and 7. I think the story was ok, but there was some mild language which I didn't think was suitable for what was portrayed to be a "kid movie." There was also some violence, and while I have seen violence in other kid movies, this seemed a little more sinister in nature. I should have known something was up, when there seemed to be more adults WITHOUT KIDS at the movie, than adults WITH kids. We ended up staying for the entire movie since I had spent about $60.00 on four tickets and concessions, but I will do a little more research before attending any of the new movies coming out in the new few weeks/months.

"Rama Keen"

I picked up the grands from daycare Friday afternoon and immediately noticed Bailey was not happy about something. I asked her what was wrong and she indignantly replied that Miss Tiffany had called her a "Rama Keen!" I asked her why had she been called a "Rama Keen" and she said because some boy had thrown or kicked a ball which had hit her in the face, and caused her to cry. I asked her if it hurt, or just made her mad, and she was adamant there was pain involved. When Benton saw her, she puffed up again, and told him all about it as well. Lucky for us, he had seen the entire ordeal, and believed she had been hurt, and advised his sister to let the offending party, who kicked/threw the ball, know that her brother was going to be watching in the future to make sure he didn't hurt his sister again. Of course, Bailey was more offended at being called a "Rama Keen" than being hit by the ball, and asked Benton if he could tell Miss Tiffany not to call her that again. Benton advised Bailey to tell Miss Tiffany, in a nice way of course, that calling people names was just not nice. Since Bailey has the memory of an elephant regarding such things, I told them both that this was something their mama should handle and they agreed. A few minutes later Bailey asked me if she had school the next day and I told her the next day was Saturday, and there would be no school. She asked me if her mama could call Miss Tiffany on Saturday and tell her not to call her a "Rama Keen" again, and I told her her mama would handle that on Monday.

Shortly after she got up yesterday morning, she reminded her mama to talk to Miss Tiffany and tell her not to be calling her a "Rama Keen" anymore. Can't wait to see her this afternoon and find out if the "Rama Keen" message has been adequately delivered to suit Bailey's criteria. She might be a "Rama Keen," but she doesn't want it brought to anyone's attention. Wonder where she gets all the "Rama" from...

Venting....

I am a firm believer in having my ducks in a row... ALWAYS. Whenever I go to Walmart, Kroger, Target, Loft, or wherever, I put my stuff on the counter, get my debit card out, run it the through the machine, and once my stuff is in the bags, I have paid for my items and am ready to go. I am not still looking for my checkbook, debit card, asking questions about prices, etc.

So, today I run in Charming Charlies on my lunch hour.. If you are not familiar with this store, it is mostly an accessory store, i.e, jewelry, scarves, sunglasses, but it also has shoes and clothes. I make my selections and get in line. I am actually second in line, but I do see another customer standing to the left of the cash register, instead of to the right of the register, and I determine either she thinks getting in the proper lines does not apply to her, or she has never shopped there before. Turns out, she thinks lines don't apply to her AND she has NEVER shopped there before. This is the conversation between her and the cashier:

Customer: I need this gift wrapped.

Cashier: Sorry ma'am we don't gift wrap.

Customer: Really? But it is a birthday present. What am I supposed to do?

Cashier: I can put tissue paper in the nice bag we provide for purchases.

Customer: (LONG HESITATION) Well, that doesn't sound very presentable. Can you put a bow on the bag?

Cashier: We don't have bows. We don't gift wrap. (apparently customer is hard of hearing)..

Customer: Can you take the price tags off?

Cashier: I can mark through them. We need to leave tags on in case she needs to return the items for any reason.

Customer: (puts on her reading glasses and very intently watches him mark through prices on ALL FIVE ITEMS SHE WAS PURCHASING.)

Cashier: Your total is $$$$.

Customer: I need to pay $15.00 in cash and put the rest on my debit card. (at this point she hands him her debit card, when there is very obviously a machine she will have to master all by herself TO THE RIGHT OF THE REGISTER)...

Cashier: That is fine. Please swipe your card.

Customer: (Proceeds to move her things to the RIGHT OF THE REGISTER where she needed to be to begin with, and FINALLY swipes her card.)

Cashier: Do you want your receipt in the bag?

Customer: Do I need a receipt?

Cashier: If the person needs to exchange the items, she will need the receipt.

Customer: Well, should I put it in the bag with the gift?

Cashier: If the person needs to exchange the items, she will need the receipt.

Customer: Well then, I guess I will put it in the bag. (At this point she FINALLY TAKES HER BAG AND STARTS WALKING TOWARD THE DOOR, AND I am about to give her a push to get her moving!!!! Not really, but I wanted too!!!)

I pay for my items in less than 1 minutes and head to the door. The greeter at the door tells the customer to have a good day. Customer proceeds to tell the greeter her bag does not look like a birthday present and apparently she will now have to go somewhere else to have the items wrapped. I walk past her and leave the store before I lose my cool and tell her a small child WILL NOT CARE IF HER GIFT IS WRAPPED!!! SHE ONLY CARES ABOUT THE CONTENTS OF THE BAG!!! GOOD GRIEF!!!! Trust me, I know this. I have a female child, and the way the package is wrapped HAS NEVER BEEN AN ISSUE!!! CONTENTS, CONTENTS, CONTENTS!!! That is what is important.

Can you imagine dealing with her on a daily basis???

Now, I feel much better!

Happy New Year... 13 days late...

Our New Year got off to a great start.. We had our first New Year's Eve party ever, in almost 27 years of marriage!!! And for the 3 people that read this and know my husband, that was a huge accomplishment! And, it was a total, complete HIT!!! I kept the food preparations low key. I did most of the work, with some help from Brandy on the day of the party. I asked a few people to bring an appetizer of some kind, and it was BYOB, so it was not expensive either. The menu consisted of BBQ meatballs, deer wraps, pigs in the blanket, tenderloin and various other finger foods. We ate well, drank well, and some of us played quarters, and some of us watched. That was a treat all by itself. My boss even got in on the action and thoroughly enjoyed himself. Not sure who had more fun, him or my daughter.

I don't think I mentioned the guest of honor at our party.. None other than our friend from Orange County. She came and stayed for a long weekend. She took us to dinner the night before the party at Mint, and on New Year's Day, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and watched State beat Michigan. And, just for the record, I am not a fan of either of these teams since I am an LSU fan, but I did pull for the SEC, which meant I was pulling for State. Sunday we watched some Saints football and then went out for pizza. Our friend left on Monday, and we are all looking forward to the next time we get to hang out, which will hopefully be when they air the season finale of HWOC...

Since the first of the year, I have been in the cleaning mode, almost every single day. I have reorganized cabinets, drawers, some closets (not mine), etc. I have cleaned doors inside and out, cleaned windows inside and out, and am anxious to get outside this weekend and remove the dead plants from all pots that sit on the porch and back deck area, all of which were killed by the FREEZING COLD WINDS, we have had in the past few days. We actually had some snow flurries this past Sunday, along with a good bit of sleet, and that was good enough for a snow day on Monday.. Schools were closed, and I decided I didn't want to drive on potentially icy roads, so I didn't work and the grands and I stayed home all day and had an absolutely wonderful day at G's house. Just the three of us.

I am just about ready for spring and am definitely ready for some crawfish. Places in these parts are already selling crawfish, but I am sure they are pretty small. I am thinking about buying some in the next day or so just so I can see how big they are.

I have a few projects on my agenda this weekend, which include painting at least one piece of furniture, and possibly two, if time allows. Since the Saints are out of Super Bowl contention, I should be able to get more done this weekend, than I usually do during football season. It is supposed to be warmer this weekend as well and I am definitely looking forward to that. I do love cold weather, especially since I have this "internal heater" thing going on, but I don't love cold weather like we have been having.

Happy New Year...