Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Preoccupation

I know I have taken a break from blogging lately. I'm not sure exactly why. I think possibly because I decided to take a Speech & English class this term, and with all the writing I have to do for these classes I just can't seem to get into writing on this blog. Plus I am back to work so that has me a bit preoccupied.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Kids!

I picked my children up today from their visit with their father. They were there for a week. As soon as I picked them up I took them out to eat for lunch. We went into the restaurant, which was a buffet. I figured I was safe with this, they could get whatever they wanted without an argument. We went up to the buffet and came back to the table with our food. My son Jason asked me if I wanted his fish. I said, "No," then he said, "I thought it was this really delicious looking piece of chicken, but it ended up being this really nasty piece of fish." I couldn't help but laugh. I remember a few years ago they called everything chicken. If I cooked roast, they would always ask if they could have some more chicken.

Then a few minutes ago my daughter wanted to get the remote control that belongs to the t.v. in the livingroom. She somehow managed to misplace hers for her bedroom. I asked her, "What, do you expect me to keep getting up to change the channel instead of you?" She just started laughing and said, "yes, you watch the same channel ALL DAY LONG, it just makes sense." Now I couldn't help but laugh, she had a point.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Quality service is hard to find, but it is out there!

I hate having my order messed up, but having the problem corrected in a professional manner just wins me over every time. I can forgive the biggest screw up as long as they know how to handle a customer complaint. Have you ever had something go wrong and you have approached a business with a complaint and the response was not what you expected? I have, and I am one that will certainly stop being a patron if I am treated poorly. I can be extremely stubborn. I will drive ten miles out of my way just to avoid giving them any more of my money.

First instance of great customer service today:

I ordered a pizza today from a local Jet's Pizzeria. I am alone this weekend and figured I would just munch on it so I wouldn't have to cook or go out. I picked up the pizza and drove home with it. I soon realized that the pizza was not completely cooked. Nothing like eating uncooked dough for a pizza. So I called them up and explained the situation to them. The girl was very pleasant and offered to give me another one if I returned the original one. Of course, I had absolutely no problem returning it. It wasn't like I was going to eat it. I explained to her that I had picked it up and that I did not have any intentions of leaving the house again today. I asked her if I could have it delivered, but explained that I did not expect to pay a delivery charge. She put me on hold for a minute, when she returned she agreed to not charge me delivery charges. She did explain that it would take approximately 1 1/2 hours to get the pizza, that was a bit long, but I really didn't mind. To me this is an example of good customer service. The girl on the phone was polite, met my needs, I was very happy. I can't always say this is the case, and let me tell you I can be a pain in the A** when things don't go my way. I always do give the business the opportunity to correct the mistake before I go crazy. There is a story somewhere on this blog, way back, that details another incident with a pizza parlor. Where the elderly woman (owner) actually told me to pick the unwanted items off. It is ten years latelr and I still can't believe she said that to me. Let's just say, I will never go back there EVER!!!

My next incident with great customer service today:

I went to my local video store. I have to write a contrast/comparison about the movies Wyatt Earp and Tombstone for my English class. The video store didn't care Wyatt Earp, but the did have Tombstone. I took it up to the clerk, and had a quick conversation with him about my situation. He took it upon himself to call another completely different store (outside of his chain) to check to see if they had the movie in. I know that referrals are common in business, but I think this was well beyond what he needed to do. Most employees that I come across would just say, "sorry we don't carry it." I just thought this was awesome, and they certainly have gained my loyalty.

Not much, but just my thoughts for the day.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

National Parent Involvement Day

Yesterday was national parent involvement day so I spent the day at my daughter's school. I went to her school rather than the boys' school because I have not had the opportunity to do anything during school hours with her since she has been in middle school. I went on a field trip with the boys and got to spend the day with the at school making Christmas decorations just before Christmas. So yesterday was her day. Pretty soon I will be back to work and will not have the opportunity to do anything like this with them.

First the parents met for coffee and donuts to discuss what we were about to do and to have our introduction to the principal. Then we were off to the classrooms.

There really are not a lot of parent's that are involved with their children and school. There were probably twelve of us for the entire middle school. Kind of sad, although I do understand that many parents have to work during the day, such as myself usually. Another thing though is that some students never even informed their parents of the event. My daughter did inform me though, she walked right into the house and asked me if I was going to be working that day. When I said no she said "good" and clue me in on what was planned. Although it really wasn't that eventful, I am still glad I went. It seemed as if I was the only parent there for seventh graders. Most of the parents where there for the sixth graders.

My first class that I got to join her in was her science class. There was a substitute teacher in this room. I walked in right in the middle of a movie that they were watching about erosion. Actually what I saw of it seem to be a fun video, much more interesting than the ones I had to watch when I was in school. Then she spent the rest of the class working on an assignment taken from the movie and the chapter in their book. So I didn't get to really see any real teaching in that class. As a matter of fact the teacher barely said anything to them. I was only in that class for about thirty minutes.

Next we were off to a double band class. This was not their typical class. On this particular day they had someone visiting. I never did catch his name, but he was helping them to prepare for an event that is coming up. This band class was two hours long. They were up on the stage so I didn't really have any contact with them, but I did get to watch them play and get their instruction. Of course I don't know anything about music, so I couldn't really tell you how well they were doing.

After band class, we were off to lunch. What a mess, man those kids go crazy for food. My daughter got her food and was off to grab a spot at a table. I was left to fight my way around all of these kids. I thought about getting the pizza since that is a favorite among the children, but when I got a peek at it, I changed my mind and just stuck with the salad bar. A wise choice. When I walked out into the seating area, I could not find my daughter anywhere. She blended in with this sea of children. Eventually I caught a glimpse of her and sat down at the table with her. I was introduced to her friends, who all seemed very nice. After lunch I left and she continued on with her day.

Even though I didn't get to really see how they teach, I did get a glimpse into what her life is like every day at school. She's a good girl, and she makes me happy.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Just two things to say today

Just two things to say today:

*I truly believe that I am the only one in my household that knows how to change the toilet paper roll.

*I think I my English teacher loves chaos in the classroom. I like him, but he is starting to frustrate me.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Clean Sweep

Have you ever seen the show Clean Sweep on TLC? I have been watching quite a bit of it lately with all of my spare time I have now. This show has almost motivated me enough to tackle some of the junk that I have collected over the years. Did you catch that key word? almost. Yeah, almost but I'm not nearly there yet. Maybe if I watch a few more episodes this week I'll give it a Clean Sweep this weekend. YEAH RIGHT. I'll get back to you with this one.

Note: I accidently posted this to 365 Dreams instead of this blog. I was wondering why when I posted it there and viewed the blog I saw a city street. Of course maybe I could consider this post a dream, because it probably isn't a reality.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

My daughter thinks I am crazy

My daughter and I are sitting here in the livingroom. I am watching some commercials that just came on the television and my daughter is on the computer. Her back is actually facing the t.v. A commercial came on I can't remember exactly what it was about, just that whatever it was made me kind of cry. Yes I am extremely emotional. I can cry at a Hallmark commercials, although I do know that this was not one of those. Actually it isn't really a cry, but sort of a cry/laugh at the same time. I know it's weird. Anyways, I was a little delayed with my crying of sorts, so the next commercial came on when I started. My daughter heard me crying/laughing and turned around to look at the t.v.

"MOM, it's a Clorox commericial!"

I never did tell her that it wasn't because of the Clorox commercial. Oh well.

The events of my uneventful day

I know that is a contradiction, but it is what it is.

After the kids got off to school I decided to lie back down for a bit. My sleep was interrupted by the telephone ringing. It was my daughter on the phone asking me to bring her lunch that she had forgotten. I asked her what time she needed it by before hanging up the phone. Twelve o'clock, that gave me some time to get myself together before leaving.

I decided to surprise her, so instead of packing her a lunch I stopped at the Subway down the street and picked up her up a sub and some Sun Chips for lunch. She loves Subway sandwiches. I didn't get a chance to see her when I went to the school, but when she got home she told me that she was really surprised that she didn't expect it. Nothing big, but I know my kids enjoy those little things once in a while that make them feel special.

What special thing has someone done to you, that seemed so small but meant so much?

I once had a guy that drove almost 1 1/2 hours (one way) to bring me lunch at work. He drove all that way and only got to spend about twenty minutes with me. Along with my lunch he brought me some roses. This was a very sweet jesture. Things didn't work out with us, but what an impression he made that day.

Back to my day....(you know I can easily lose my train of thought)

I started dinner for the kids. I threw a whole chicken in the oven, with some potatoes, all that my nephew had to do was take it out, and add some vegetables. Of course with my kids that means green beans. They absolutely love green beans and can eat them probably seven days a week.

With that done I was off to school. I am usually the first person in the classroom. I am so good about being where I should be on time, actually I tend to be there early. This is one reason why I like to keep some reading material with me at all times, so that I can always have something to occupy my time.

Last night was my speech class. I'll talk about my fears of public speaking at a later time, but for now I'll share with you a discussion I had with two girls in my class. Actually they are a set of fraternal twins. We were broken up into groups of four to come up with a solution to a specific secenario that actually happened to another girl in our room. As we were just getting introduced to our groups and settling in one of the girls said, "Do you know who you look like?" So I responded with, "don't tell me Laura Ingalls."I hear this all the time, well at least I use to before I was a blonde. When I do bring it up though everyone always say, "OMG, you do look like her!" You can obviously see the age gap between me and these girls, because they had absolutely no idea who I was talking about. It ended up being that no they were not saying that I looked like Laura Ingalls, but instead some character out of a comic strip. Now I'm curious, because they could not remember what the character's name was, just that I looked like it. As a matter of fact, they insisted that it was a good thing, that I looked so much like it that it was as if the artist had created a character specifically for me. I always hated to be compared to Laura Ingalls, but I'm not sure that I like the idea of being compared to a cartoon character either. I'm not sure which one I like better.

Later.....

As I am heading home after class I realize that I have not had dinner, so I decided to stop at McDonalds and grab me something quick to eat. As I pulled up to the speaker I was informed that their computers were down for drive-thru and that I was welcome to come inside and order. NO THANK YOU. It was cold as heck last night, I was not about to take myself out of the car if I didn't have to. I pulled right out of the drive and into Taco Bell's parking lot. I order my food and as I was pulling up to the window I found myself doing another one of my bad habits. Calculating the change in my head before I get to the window. This is a habit I picked up while working at a fast food restaurant some years ago. When I use to work the drive-thru window I was obsessed with calculating the customers change in my head before entering it into the register. Obviously I am still obsessed.

After arriving home....

I jumped on the computer. Shortly after I realized that Blogger was down AGAIN. Geez, this thing seems to be down more than my satellite t.v. I don't know which one makes me crazier.

So off to bed I went. There are the events of my uneventful day.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Now this is a movie I would watch over and over

Speaking of Nicholas Cage movies, at the moment I am sitting here watching one of his movies that I have not seen in several years. City of Angels, what an awesome movie this is. This is one of his movies that I really did enjoy. Of course I am a woman and a sucker for love stories.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

I've been tagged again

Maria has tagged me again. This looks kind of fun, so I'll give it a try.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

1. Giving birth to my twins.

Wow, this is the only thing I can really remember about 10 years ago. I should have been journaling back then, if I had I would probably be able to answer this one right now.

5 snacks that you enjoy?

1. chocolate cake

2. cheesecake

3. cucumbers & ranch dip

4. cheese

5. nachos

5 bad habits?

1. hanging out on this computer

2. calling everyone "hey"

3. allowing junk to pile up on my desk

4. forgetting to charge my cell phone

5. throwing change in the bottom of my purse, when I know that I have a change purse for it.

5 songs that you know all the lyrics?

1. ZERO of them, I make up all the lyrics, I might know the chorus of some, but I can't think of any song that I know all the lyrics

5 things you would do if you were a millionaire?

1. buy a new house for me & my sister

2. quit my job and go to school full time and volunteer to help others

3. donate to others less fortunate

4. send my kids to any college that they choose

5. travel the world with my children

5 things you like doing?

1. blogging

2. scrapbooking

3. laughing with my kids

4. going to school

5. taking pictures

5 favorite toys?

1. computer

2. digital camera

3. I might have to come back to this one

5 things you would never wear, buy or get again?

1. Crest Citrus Breeze toothpaste

2. bikini

3. the movie "Lord of War"

4. training bras (well I hope I'll never have the need for these again)

5. Rootbeer

5 people I am tagging (yes again, the only people I blog with)

1. rgmb

2. zataod

3. BW

4. Donna




Disappointing trips to the video store

Does anyone have a video membership at Blockbuster Videos? I do, and I must say that I am very disappointed. Ever since they started that deal about no late fees I have stopped patronizing their stores. I find it extremely irritating to drive all the way to the video store with intentions of renting a good movie to enjoy over the weekend, only to find that all the new releases are completely sold out. They have fifty millions copies (okay maybe an exaggeration) of one movie, but when I show up the shelves are completely bare. It's like Old Mother Hubbard at the video store. In my opinion the guy that came up with this idea is an idiot. No late fees, WOW, that's a great idea now nobody has to return them. Since nobody returns them, nobody can rent them. Since nobody can rent them, they leave the store disappointed and never return. Don't get me wrong, I am not that easy to run off. They did not lose my business because of one incident, this happened over and over and over.....

So I did switch to another video store. Last night I went there with the kids to rent some videos for our viewing pleasure this weekend. I walked in and had a flashback of my experience at Blockbuster. Nearly all the new releases were gone, the only thing left on the shelves were the plastic holders for the displays (the jacket covers) and dust. Disappointed again. So I browse through the shelves anyways, just to make sure I didn't miss anything. I walked all the way through A-Z, then back again. There just happened to be about 25 copies of one movie, Lord of War, with Nicolas Cage. So I picked it up along with the other two older movies that the kids decided to get and proceeded to the checkout. I had not seen the previews for this movie, so I was hoping it would be good. I have seen some other Nicolas Cage movies and found them to be interesting so I thought what the heck why not?

Oh let me also mention how disappointed I was that the last time I had decided to have a video viewing weekend I returned them late. Of course I didn't know this when I dropped them off, I guess if I paid closer attention I would have known. So my three movies ended up costing me $29 total.

Finally we piled into the car and off we went. After getting home I let the kids watch their movie first, afterwards we put in my movie. In my opinion this movie sucked right from the beginning. I can't say that I gave it my total attention, I didn't even finish watching it. I just turned it off and went to bed. I guess I should have taken the hint. Walk into video and see all the movies gone except a shelf full of one certain movie, don't you think there is a reason nobody else picked it up? Duh.

So here I sit the next day thinking about how I wasted my $29, and sharing those thoughts with you. I can still say though that I would rather have movies available when I want them, than to get out of paying the late fees. I can only hold myself responsible for the late fees. If I returned them on time I would have movies when I want them and not have to pay.

Yes I expect video stores to be like the Burger King slogan "Your way, right away." I want it "My way, right away."

That's my name

Is it just me or am I the only person that answers every child that calls out "mom" while out in public?

Old time circle journals


While searching one of the links in a post from rgmb I ran across a little something that I found interesting.

In the scrapbooking world there has become an interest in creating decorative circle journals. While browsing rgmb's link I came across one on that site from the early 1900's that I found very interesting.

Look here and here for details.

I love the idea of someone finding my journals interesting a hundred years from now.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

You said WHAT????

Have your kids or their friends ever say something where you had absolutely no idea what it meant. Do you want to take figure out what these ebonics mean? I stumbled across an urban dictionary today. Trust me some of these can be distrubing to read, but hey if you want to understand what the kids are picking up from their friends, this is the place to go. Luckily my children still speak in English, there are just a few words that I have heard them say that had me lost. Although they have all been harmless so far.

I remember a few years ago there was a thing going around the schools where kids were wearing these thin plastic bracelets. Each different color represented a different sexual act that the child had supposedly performed. As I understand it, if a guy were to come up and break the bracelet off of her wrist then you had to perform that act with that guy (according to the color coding). A parent would probably not think much about their child wearing these bracelets if they did not know their hidden meaning.

Let me say that I better never catch my daughter wearing those bracelets.

Spirit of Detroit



One of the monuments that has its place in Downtown Detroit is the Spirit of Detroit. This statue is decorated with a jersey from our local teams whenever we are in the playoffs. He has worn jersies in honor of the Red Wings, Pistons and now the Superbowl.

This monument was dedicated in 1958 by the sculptor Marshall Fredricks. In one hand the statue holds a sphere which represents God, while in the other hand he holds a family group that represents all human relationships.

This is actually one of my favorite statues in downtown. It only seems fitting that he wears the jersey since he is THE SPIRIT OF DETROIT.

What is Phil thinking?

Punxsutawney Phil had his day today. He stuck his head out and saw his shadow. What does he know? He is only right like 28% of the time. I don't see 6 more weeks of winter ahead. I think someone needs to tell him to crawl back in and try again.