Needing to rant =) October 4, 2010

First off let me just say that I LOVE working at Target…but there are some things that I do not love =( mainly the stuck-up, I’m better than you are because I don’t have to work for a living “guests” that shop at my store everyday! I am being serious when I say they shop everyday…there are women that I see 4 out of the 5 shifts that I work (that’s not including the other ones I miss because I was closing and they were in at 9am to shop). Just because you married in to money that does not give you the right to knock clothes off of the rack and then proceed to run it over with your shopping cart =) When out in public without your nanny please keep a close eye on your children…it is not the Target employees job to watch your children or your pocketbook for that matter (you would be surprised how many women leave their purse at the end of the aisle and then walk 50+ feet away from it – oh, if only I was a thief). We provide changing rooms for a reason – you bring in your children, torture them as you force them to try on numerous outfits and then go up to the registers to pay for said purchases…somehow the shopping experience has changed into buy a cartful of clothing that your children will intensely dislike and then return it all (just today – 10/4/10 I received 30 pairs of socks and underwear as returns).

How is it that people with no experience and schooling are able to get further up the corporate ladder than those of us working in the trenches for umpteen years? In the last 10-15 years of my work history I have been inundated with managers who know nothing of the retail/restaurant business and are 5 to 10 years younger than me. Most managers do not have a firm grasp on life in general let alone how to treat their employees. In order to get a 30 something year old to work for you, there should be many questions asked and respect paid to their tenure…then get around to asking/telling them what to do (just don’t address them like you would a kindergarten class). I can honestly say that working at “Banana Republic” does not prepare you for working at a large “box store” like Target (I have had 2 managers tell me that is their previous retail experience)! Children nowadays seem to need a trophy for everything and to be told they are doing well with every page they turn…how then will they survive when they get in to the “real world” and you go for a month at your college or job with nothing so much as a “thank you” or a “job well done”?

Last point of order: When did everyone get so hyper sensitive? I am tired of apologizing to everyone I know about the tone of my voice and the sureness with which I use it. I am a confident, well-spoken woman and I’m eternally sorry if that rubs you the wrong way. I know many people who change the tone of their voice depending on who they are talking to – this is ridiculous, it is not my fault that my voice is deeper than most, or squeakier than most, etc. this is how I was made…like it or not =)

Kure (pronounced like curry) Beach trip… June 26, 2010

Today is the first day of my beach vacation with Jason and his family…we finally left Charlotte well after noon. Stopped at McDonald’s for some lunch and then got some gas for the car around 2pm. We arrived at Kure (like the spice) Beach just before 5pm! I am amazed that we have internet access, so I will try to add to the post each day and then will post pictures later =) We went for a walk on the beach – Ana “fell” in (I think it may have been intentional), Connor got all itchy and the adults about lost our voices fussing at the kids to get out of the water. Rinsed off, checked out one of the outdoor pools and then jumped in the shower while Jan (Jason’s mom) runs to the grocery store…Jason is taking a nap (he got a headache on the drive down here)…I feel good and pretty relaxed so far =) Made dinner (pasta) and then Jason and I drove out to Food Lion to get a few more things (coffee filters, soap, cough syrup)! To bed before midnight…

Sunday, June 27th, 2010: Woke up this morning to watch the sunrise – either we were too late or it was too cloudy to really see it good =( I still took a couple of pictures so you can see the sun reflecting off of the clouds. I went back to bed and Jason stayed up (doing what, I don’t know)…woke up around 9am and ate 2 of my apple fritters (yummy)! Next it was off to the Fort Fisher Aquarium – saw lots of neat aquatic exhibits – turtles, octopus, sharks, divers, lots of different types of fish, crabs and lobsters (took pictures of everything and everyone). As we were leaving I told Jason that since my camera battery was almost dead that we should take a picture of me (to prove I was there, and not just some random person taking photos)…So, I head over towards the entrance where there is this beautiful statuary of fish and it has a water feature too (looks like the fish are gliding above it) – we go to get Ana and Connor to get in the picture with me…and, as we say Ana’s name she throws up! Right there in front of the aquarium entrance, we have no napkins, kleenex, etc. So, we go running to the car to get her cleaned up and I took a self-portrait of myself in front of the car =) Not quite what I was looking for, but it will definitely be memorable none the less! Home to relax and have a little lunch – I took a nap (slight headache/tummy ache – nothing serious)…time to wake up, the kids want to go play on the beach (it’s 2pm)…off we go! Connor was jumping in the waves, Jason swallowed some ocean water and Ana dug a hole and then rolled down the sandy hillside (not a dune). Time to go inside (the weather looked foreboding) – Connor brought a cup of sand/shells back in the lining of his suit and Ana managed to bring a quarter cup back…after sweeping up the floors and cleaning up after the kids it was time for Jason to get a shower and a got a quick rinse (to get the sunscreen off)…I researched a few places to go grab dinner at and Jason and I decided to go to “Freddie’s Italian Restaurant” – Connor wasn’t hungry so he stayed with Gran (Jan, Jason’s mom) and we took Ana with us. Quoted around an hour wait time – okay…what else are you going to say? So, we went out to walk on the pier…Jason made it about 50 feet down the pier and then I took Ana the rest of the way (Jason waited for us back at the tackle shop) – Ana made it the whole way, to the end of pier (couldn’t believe it, she does not like heights). Back we went and then I got a few postcards at the tackle shop, we went and played Skeeball at the arcade (Ana had enough tickets from all of us to get a harmonica and a fan)…finally it was time for dinner! Ana had spaghetti (she loved it, but not the italian bread that it came with – she wanted bread sticks like you get from Olive Garden), Jason ordered the linguine alfredo, and I got the Peach/Pecan Pork chop (came with a side of spaghetti, which I did not eat) – it was soooooo good! Time for dessert – Ana’s came with a sundae (mint, cherry and chocolate ice cream all in the same dish with chocolate chunks, cherry bits, whipped cream and a cherry on top – I was so jealous I ordered a tiramisu (definitely good, and seriously homemade). Back to the house to bring Connor his chicken strips – Pressley (Jan’s husband) had arrived…kids off to bed and then Jason and I went for a short walk on the beach (very dark out there, and you could see a storm coming in off the ocean). Back home to write my journal and go to bed? Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the mug I bought from the gift shop got dropped (by me) and broke into a million little pieces before I even got it into the house?!?

Monday, June 28th, 2010: Woke up early this morning (huge coughing fit) – got up and went for a short walk (15 minutes) then inside to read my book (“The Mists of Avalon”). Got a few chapters in to it but too tired to keep my eyes open =) Woke later around 9am and grabbed an apple fritter for breakfast. Kids got up and ate and then we all got ready to go to the pool – everyone is wearing their swimsuit and covered with sunscreen, off we go to the pool! Pool is closed on Monday (I guess it’s to get shocked with chemicals) – so we went to the recreation center where there is an indoor pool, jacuzzi, workout area, etc. It is very muggy and hot in the area with the pool – everyone had to run through the showers before they could get in the pool (wash off the sunscreen) – kids had lots of fun trying out their flippers, goggles, and snorkel masks…I was ready to go after floating around a few minutes – I came to the beach on vacation to lay on the sand and get some sun (I’d rather be sweating outdoors than indoors)…so, after an hour at the indoor pool we left and went to the beach for about an hour – the wind was very stiff and it felt like being sandblasted…so, no laying out I built a sandcastle instead! Inside to rinse all the sane out of all the cracks and crevices of our suits/bodies =) Jason made the kids dinner (pizza) and then Jason and I went to “Jack Mackerel’s” for dinner – a little pricey but good seafood (my mini steak was very nice as well) – Jason had fried shrimp, oysters and scallops; I had a 4oz. filet and fried scallops – we both got a caesar salad as well. Jason ordered a mango lemonade (it had mango vodka in it, but tasted very lemonade like), and I had a Hawaiian Breeze (three different rhums in it with cranberry and pineapple juice), as we were eating our salads we saw Pressley, Jan, Connor and Ana walk by us (we were sitting on the patio)…found out that they were going to the arcade =) After dinner Jason and I went to the Tastee Freeze and got a vanilla milkshake (it was probably the best shake I have ever had) – plus the two guys working the store were a riot and enjoyable to hold a conversation with while waiting on your food. We came back to the house and watched TV for a bit, everyone else made it home less than an hour later – time for the kids to get to bed…adults followed them shortly afterwards =)

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 (last full day at the beach): Woke up late…got a late start as a result! Jason had been up for a while reading and got the kids breakfast – when I got up I decided to have two mini bagels and some coffee(which I had to make as I woke up soooo late all the coffee was gone already!). After that we decided to go to the outdoor pool – Jason went out to get something from the car and when he came back he informed us that all the chairs were taken and that the pool was packed to capacity…so, off to the beach! I laid out the entire time while the kids played in the waves: Connor was beating mother nature by jumping over the waves and mother nature must have decided to take it out on his sister Ana (she got dumped on her butt a few times and took a shell to her knee). Jason was the ever vigilant lifeguard not going in above his knees but keeping a close eye on both kids. About halfway through our time on the beach Jan (Jason’s mom) came down with her chair and some beverages for everyone =) I turned over at this point, Pressley showed up a little later and they then disappeared to go for a walk (found out later they walked to the pier and back – it’s 1.6 miles driving it on the road), I decided to head in as I wanted to get to a shower before the kids this one time and as I was putting my beach towel on the porch I see the kids and Jason heading towards the house! I quick jumped in the shower…next were both the kids – I again had to help Ana get all the soap and sand out of her hair (previous days I was in the shower with her in my swimsuit…today I was in dry clothing outside of the shower) – Connor did a good job scrubbing himself clean – however, Jason spent a good three minutes rinsing the beach out of Connor’s shorts =) Next Jason got a shower and then it was lunch time, the kids had Easy Mac with some Cool Ranch Doritos’ and Jason and I had ham sandwiches with chips as well…naptime for Jason and the kids watched some TV. I became bored and went and jumped on Jason and demanded to know what we were going to go do next! We all piled in the car and went to go mini golfing: I’m glad we didn’t keep score (Ana can’t count that high)…Connor managed to get 2 hole in 1, Jason got 1 and so did I! Ana’s best hole was in two shots =) We are pretty sure that if we had been keeping score that I would have won…next we went to “Palms” like a surf shop/gift shop (like Waves/Wings) – the kids each got a T-shirt and I bought a shirt as well (no writing on it or anything like that, but I will remember where I bought it)…stopped at McDonald’s for dinner – three chicken nugget kid’s meals and a quarter pounder for Jason (we ate small as we knew we were going to have dessert). Back in the car to get back to Kure Beach (putt-putt, McDonald’s, Palms, Food Lion are all in Carolina Beach)…parked on Avenue K (this is the road that dead ends in to Kure Beach Pier)no problem and crossed the street to get to the Tastee Freeze! Two girls were working there tonight (not the two funny guys from last night) and one of the girls was in training…took forever to get in our order – but once ordered got it pretty fast! The kids had never had a funnel cake which we though was ridiculous as they have both grown up in the south and are 9 and 7 years old…We ordered 2 vanilla milkshakes (for Jason and me), two bowls of hand-dipped ice cream for the kids (Ana got cookies and cream and Connor got cookie dough) and then to top it all off we got 2 funnel cakes (one for the kids and one for the adults)…Jason and I ate ours with only a little struggle – Ana decided she didn’t like the funnel cake, Connor liked it but had too much ice cream first so he was pretty full (Ana did eat all of her ice cream though). Back to the house where we left the kids with Jan and Pressly for a bit while we went for a walk on the beach (very windy but nice all the same)…time to play Farkle with the kids! Jason won by over 2,000 points and I came in dead last (more than 4,000 points behind him) – Connor placed second and Ana was a close third. Time for bed as I hope to make the most out of my last short day here at the beach… 

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 (last day at the beach): Woke up at 5am to have coffee and breakfast while we waited for the sunrise…lots of clouds again so we went inside (I was able to get a couple of decent shots though)…read some more of my book and got on FB =) Jason and I headed to the beach for a little more sun around 10:30 – partly cloudy with a nice wind made it possible to stay out alomst two hours no problem! Watched the high tide going out and the majesticness of the waves rolling in towards the shore for the last half hour or so…showered and finished packing, Jason showered and finished packing as well – got the kids their lunch and then we loaded up the car to head home to Charlotte =( All loaded up and away we went…I drove until we stopped in Whiteville, NC for lunch at Arby’s (also got gas for the car). Jason’s turn to drive and wouldn’t you know it started to rain on and off the next hour or so on the road! Popped in to a Burger King for a milkshake (drive thru), vanilla for Jason and strawberry for me – made it back to Jason’s house by 6pm and cleaned out the cats’ litter box (Jason did) and I pet the cat (Pumpkin)…went out later to Waffle House to catch up with our friends (nothing ever changes) – back to sleep until we go pick up Klink (the dog) tomorrow…

Schiele Museum… May 29, 2010

Today Marshall got up around 7am and ate breakfast – I got up at 8am and did the same =) Connor and Ana eventually ate breakfast as well. Ana wrote 25 times “I will always tell the truth” and then spent 10 minutes picking up little tiny pieces of paper she cut up during Gremlins 2 last night. We headed out towards the Schiele Museum and arrived just before 11am. Took two pics with the T-Rex and my camera died =( Off to the gift shop to by batteries…we went to the museum specifically because of the touring exhibit “Pirates”. The entire museum was very interesting and has been there for an extremely long time…it was renamed the Schiele Museum after a collection a nature valued over $100,000 was donated by Schiele in the ’60′s. Schiele was director of the Boy Scouts for a long time in two different states before he came to the Carolina’s…Schiele passed on in 1974 (the year I was born)! The museum plans to add on 5,000 square feet in the next year with 3,000 feet of that being classroom space devoted to learning about nature and science stuff. Pretty cool, they have lots of workshops and classes available – something for all the different age groups (similar to the programs at the Science Museum here in Charlotte, NC and the one in St.Paul, MN too). The “Pirates” exhibit was informative – lots of writing and plaques to read, but lots of things that were interactive for the kids as well – dress up area, half a mock ship to crawl around on, monkeys to stare at and fruit to touch, etc. Then we went through the rest of the museum “the permanent collection” mostly stuffed animals and mounted bugs - a few live fish and snakes here and there…When Marshall saw the exhibit with the stuffed elk he thought it was a moose and said, “That’s how big a moose is for real?” and I saw the moose in the next showcase and smiled while saying, “No…that’s a moose!” and pointed left of Marshall. Marshall couldn’t believe that a moose was that big and insisted on a picture in front of the showcase…he is staring timidly in wonder at the sheer magnitude of the size of it =) We wandered through the natural stone section – lots of crystals and gemstones were to be seen and I think our favorites of the rocks were the geodes (love those, especially since grandma Esther has some in her front rockbeds all these years). Then we were done – hit the gift shop at 12:38pm Marshall got a pirate skull bracelet and a mood necklace (it keeps telling him he’s in love) and I bought a sheet of tattoos =) Went for a walk on the nature trail and on the way back I quick grabbed all the kids – a copperhead (poisonous snake and common around here) about a foot long slithered across our path (and here we are with all the kids in some kind of flip-flops). Out to the car…it won’t turn over =( We called Mike who said he’s on his way (from Pineville to Gastonia) and I took the kids back inside for a snack (canned drinks for everyone and Jason’s kids had chips)…once snack was over we each got a penny pressed to show we had been there, Jason called and we were off to the parking lot – Marshall was in charge of the kids and Ana was in charge of my purse =) while standing in front of the entrance while I ran off to see what help the adults needed…steered the non-working car into a bigger space and then back to the museum with the kids while Mike and Jason went to Autozone. The kids were very well behaved the entire time and thankfully the guy at Autozone found Jason a “new, used battery” for only $34 as a new one would’ve been $140! We walked outside (to go through the nature trails again) and we were just in time for Jason’s call saying that the car was running and to hurry up…after making it through some short, but torrential downpours we went to a late lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s (I bought for everyone including Mike), we all had the salad bar except for Connor who had chicken strips. Time to go to Target for a frappuccino, band-aids for Marshall and paper for Jason’s printer. We finally made it home after 4:30pm…

D-n-D (first night) April 23, 2010

Tonight we gathered at Tim, Mike and Dan’s house…we brought nuggets and they ordered pizza! We were supposed to start game at 8pm, but we were late and didn’t get there until right at 9pm. Blake was still making his character (he did not come prepared)…we finally got to it around 10pm. We first started by introducing ourselves to each other (in character): Blake is a Genasi (race) swordmage (class) with a “firesoul” his name is YURI; Mike is an Eladrin (race) avenger (class) with retribution (as a build path) and his name is IBN (eeben); Dan is a Half-Orc (race) barbarian (class) with a rageblood (build path) and his name is DRUUK (druck); Tim is playing a Kalashtar - a ghostlike being that inhabits another (race) battlemind - psychic (class) and his name is LAZERUS; I am playing a Genasi (race) warlord (class) with a “firesoul” and she is named MOIRA. Jason is playing as our DM (dungeon master) and overall story – teller =)

We started in an army base where we told that we had been selected to be part of an elite group to go to the Orc camp and kill the head shaman. We were to be teleported by our wizard near the shaman’s tent but something went wrong (of course) and we were left suspended in the air for a few seconds (much to the surprise of the Orc’s). Once we landed we started kicking butt (there were 6 Orc’s and the head shaman) – Mike took out 3 of the Orc’s (2 with his ongoing fire damage), I killed one Orc as well. Yuri (Blake) on his first attack roll scored a natural 20 (this means he scored a critical hit) and he hit for 52 points of damage (each character has a certain amount of damage they can take) – he eventually killed the Orc. Once Tim finally made it inside the shaman’s tent he hit with a 20 (not a natural 20) for 15 damage (and seriously upset the Orc)…he eventually killed the Orc as well. Dan had been whacking at anything that would stand still, but hadn’t had any success in killing anything until he hit the shaman (which Mike and I had softened up for him) – Dan killed the shaman and it was all over. Time to go home and get some sleep =)

Food I’m enjoying right now: April 22, 2010

Fage Yogurt (I use it in my smoothies); Mott’s No Sugar Added applesauce (instead of oil); Quaker Rice Cakes (lightly salted); Red Mill Flax Seed (added into smoothies, and anything cake like); Horizon Organic 2% milk (no hormones, no antibiotics); regular Half & Half (has less ingredients than fat-free and not many more calories); Daisy sour cream (only one ingredient); Smart Chicken (no hormones, no antibiotics, organic fed); Nature’s Pride bread (I’m currently eating the oatmeal kind); Smucker’s Natural peanut butter (yeah, you have to stir it a little and it stays in the refrigerator – but it tastes great); Market Pantry whole fruit (this is a Target brand, and the raspberries, blueberries and strawberries are just that – nothing else added); and unsalted butter (I like it better than the salted kind, in and on everything)! Obviously, I am not a nutrition expert – this is just what I am eating at the moment =) I am working on changing over the rest of my foods to healthier ones as well and will post those options at a later date…

Stupid guest: April 20, 2010

Monday, April 19th: Today as I was putting up some of the last price change labels in the “A” (health and beauty) run I had a guest come up to me and say, “Can you help me?” My response of course was, “Sure!” This particular guest was female, younger than myself, probably a size 6 and a brunette, she continued with, “I need help finding a biodegradable soap, shampoo, and conditioner” It took all I had to not roll my eyes at her, and think – what article did this woman just read? Instead I asked, “What for?” Long story short she is going on a boat and they require them to have biodegradable soaps, etc. So, I traipse over to the foo-foo beauty aisle with her and start reading the backs of packages…I found her “Kiss My Face” shampoo and conditioner, both tout being biodegradable! In the process of finding her this product, we found “vegan” soap (the guest couldn’t understand why anyone would need vegan soap!) and we found many products that were “cruelty free/not tested on animals” (again the guest spouted off about how products she uses should definitely be tested before she uses them). I’m sure I rolled my eyes at this as I was thinking, “yeah, we all need to make sure our shampoo is squirted into the eyes of fluffy bunnies everywhere” – she thanked me for my assistance and left me to stew in my juices! 

April 16th – 18th (weekend with Marshall)… April 19, 2010

Friday, April 16th Marshall arrived at my apartment just after 3:30pm and we immediately started looking in the pantry to see what we would need to pick up from the store to make dinner. It’s 4pm and time to go get Jason from work – Marshall spent his birthday $ from grandpa Steve and bought a mandoline slicer, and a video game for the Wii! Jason brought us as far as the shopping center near my apartment (we decided to order pizza, so we didn’t need groceries, we needed drinks) – and then we walked home =) We ordered Papa John’s for dinner as I had a coupon for a free side item when you order a large pizza…later we walked back over to Trader Joe’s to get some ice cream and yogurt so we could try out my new smoothie blender (I have had the blender almost three years, and never used it until today – thanks JT). Once we got home we played some Wii Sports Resort and had our smoothies – orange juice with strawberries (Marshall had ice cream and I had yogurt in mine). To bed by 11pm.

Saturday, April 17th: our morning started early with the alarm going off at 6:30am (yes, it was intentional)…we made waffles again this morning – I overflowed the waffle maker this time though =) Spent the morning just lounging around, waiting on Jason to arrive and take us to Connor’s baseball game at noon (he arrived at 11am). We arrived at Jason’s house and had a few minutes for the kids to play on he Xbox 360 then it was off to the baseball game. The game started off kind of slow but got better towards the end, we lost by 2 runs (if they had payed attention for one defensive inning we would have won by 4)…as it was the big offender was a little girl throwing dirt in to the air! She blanketed Jason and myself and her mom made her apologize! Got out of the game and we stopped at Subway for lunch – yummy…back to the house. Kids played in the yard (so did the adults), throwing around the football, riding scooters, etc. We made dinner – nothing exciting, nuggets and tater tots. Ana and Connor got picked up at 9:30pm to go see “How to train your dragon” with their mom – Marshall, Jason and I went to see a few friends at Waffle House! We made it home before the kids and got the beds situated…Marshall and Connor on Jason’s bed with their sleeping bags – the kids got home and we got them all in bed. Ana passed out immediately and the boys were out in a few minutes (of course, Marshall fell out of bed within 5 minutes as the sleeping bag is so slippery).

Sunday, April 18th came very early! Marshall was rolling around on the bonus room floor and I asked, “What time is it?” Now, what the answer was is not important – just know that it was very early…by 7:30am I could hear Marshall and Connor up and piddling around in the kitchen. I figured this was a sign that I should get up (just maybe). Marshall had made himself eggs (in the microwave), Connor got a bowl of Lucky Charms and I started cleaning the kitchen from last night! Coffee brewing – go check the fridge for what I want for breakfast…there is nothing to eat and OMG we are almost of milk and even lower on creamer. So, I looked at the boys and said I was going out for dairy products and in search of food…I found Breugger’s bagels on the way to the grocery store where I purchased some milk and creamer. Back to the house with my one-eyed vision self to enjoy a cinnamon sugar bagel and an everything bagel – mmmmm! Marshall had half an everything bagel and once Ana woke up (at 10am) she had a cinnamon sugar bagel as well as some strawberries. The kids ran around and terrorized each other all morning until Connor went to a friend’s birthday party at 1pm…we went out too – took Ana and Marshall out of the house and slowly started meandering our way towards Marshall’s house. First stop was my apartment to get my watch, then headed towards the mall (picked up Mike W. on the way), quick stop at Visionworks to pick up my contact lenses and then time to find some lunch. We had lunch at the mall – the kids and I had McDonald’s and the adult males ate Sbarro’s…Marshall and I finished our lunch first so we went to Barnes and Nobles to get the sequel to “Enders’ Game” by Orson Scott Card (don’t remember the name of the new book). We got done in there and headed outside with the rest of our group to get in the car. Next stop, Play’n'Trade to pick up Jason’s hard drive for the Xbox360 and then finally on to Sports Connection – everyone had a good time, Marshall spent his “tickets” on a bunch of stuff and he spent some on a ring for Ana (he lost her other one from the last time we were there). Dropped Marshall off just after 5pm. Took Mike home with us and the boys played video games while I cleaned the kitchen for the second time today – fed the kids and got Ana in the shower. Went to Waffle House for less than two hours and then home to my bed!

Easter weekend… April 4, 2010

Picked up Marshall at 3pm on Friday (4-2-2010), home to pack for the weekend and then to Target to pick up Jason from work. Drove to Matthews, NC (Jason’s house) and got ready to go see a movie. Connor had a friend, Zack, over and they played until nearly 6pm when we ate dinner – nuggets, plain spaghetti (cheddar or parmesan cheese) and a roll. Zack’s mom came to pick him up and then we were off to AMC 22 theaters to go watch “Clash of the Titans”…it was an awesome movie, small rewrite in the plot line but the movie overall was the same! Then it was time to get some ice cream from Baskin-Robbins =) Jason bought the movie, so I bought the ice cream. The boys slept downstairs in the den Friday night.

Saturday, April 3, 2010: The kids woke up early and were trying to not wake us (they failed – up by 9am). Grabbed a light breakfast and then it was off to Target to buy a tent for Connor’s camping trip next weekend. Went to lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s and got the salad bar for Ana and the adults – Marshall had the “chop steak” with mashed potatoes and Connor got butter noodles (all the kids ate “wierd” things off the salad bar – spinach, garbanzo beans, edamme, etc.)  Threw around the Nerf football for a bit, the kids starting riding their bikes and scooters (I was upset as I didn’t have a scooter), off to Target to by me a scooter. Jason ran in to pick a scooter up for me (it’s pink). We went to the park and rode our scooters/bikes around – one of the ladies at the park told me I was brave for riding my scooter (I’ve never rode one before). I did alright for my first time out – didn’t hurt myself (did try to face plant when I hit a stick with my front wheel). We had picked up a lawn game called frisbee golf – it was way cute with a mini goal and six mini 3 inch frisbees for us to throw at the goal. First game Jason and I tied, then Marshall, then Connor, and Ana brought up the rear – second game I won, Jason and Connor tied for second, then Marshall, and Ana once again brought up the rear – third and final game was won by Jason, with Connor and I in a tie for second, Marshall in next and Ana still last. I will say that we were all very consistent with our frisbee throwing. It got too dark to throw so we went inside for dinner – diced chicken breast (Marshall cut it up), with tater tots and corn on the cob. The kids and Jason had a Nerf gun war after dinner – I got a quick nap (allergies suck)!! Then the kids layed down with their sleeping bags to watch “Terminator Salvation” while Jason and I ran at to Target and Harris Teeter for the last errand of the day (10pm)…needed hangers, bacon and a t-shirt for me for Easter. To the grocery store for a cake for our friend’s birthday (Mike W.) which we will celebrate on Sunday…home just in time as the movie ended, kids to sleep quickly while Jason and I stayed up for a bit on FB harvesting our crops, etc. =)

Sunday, April 4, 2010: up early with Marshall made bacon in the oven to go with the french toast sticks/mini pancakes. Tasty!  Marshall got his Easter basket from the Easter bunny – it was all in a wok, and had lots of cooking stuff in it (Marshall loves to cook when he is at my house). Ana got her basket with a doll and Connor with Halo legos too. Played outside with the basketball and then watched “Night at the Smithsonian”. Kids stuffed the Easter eggs with candy. Took Marshall home by 2pm and then high-tailed it back to Jason’s for my meal (ham, rolls, macaroni and cheese, lima beans, corn, yellow cake with fudge frosting)…the ex-in-laws offered to feed me and everything =) very sweet, but I just couldn’t stay – had to get back and all! Connor, Ana and Matthew searched the yard for Easter eggs – it took over 10 minutes to stuff them, 5 minutes to hide them and they found them all in less than 2 minutes! Crazy! Of course the adults walked around and pointed out all the eggs, never seen that anywhere but here…Matthew went home and we finally got to relax. Talked to my mom for a bit today on the phone too =) Will be heading back to my house soon as Jason is in early both Monday and Tuesday and the kids are going to GA with Gran (Jan) for the rest of the week…

Edible food-like substances… April 1, 2010

Tuesday, March 30 I ventured into the edible foodlike section of my Target for lunch. I bought a “lunchable” that touted on the box – ham, real Kraft cheese, Ritz crackers – sounds good, right? So, 340 calories, 19 g. fat, 9 g. saturated fat, 46% of my daily sodium, and 6g. of sugar later I was left feeling disappointed and still slightly hungry! My ham had water, salt, cornstarch, many derivatives of sodium, smoke flavoring, natural and artificial flavors (how do you artificially flavor ham, or why would you want to?). My cheese touted as real Kraft cheese on the front of the box said, “prepared cheese product” on the ingredient list: milk, 3 milk by products, salt, 2 coloring agents, and salt (what the heck is a prepared cheese product? Why can’t we just get real cheese?). Even my crackers didn’t taste like real Ritz crackers – don’t have regular Ritz to compare the ingredients unfortunately…

Wednesday, March 31 I didn’t bring my lunch to work and unfortunately was forced to forage for “food” in the aisles at Target again…this time I went frozen and found and bought a “Smart Ones” turkey with mashed potatoes. It was okay and at least looked and tasted more like “real food” than my “lunchable” from yesterday – at least until I looked at the contents. 200 calories, 7 g. fat, 2 g. saturated fat, 30% of my daily sodium, 1 g. of sugar (much better than the “lunchable”) – just the main ingredients alone number 25, the total # of ingredients included in the main ingredients as over 76 (most have some type of sodium, flavoring, coloring).

The reason I am writing about this is because I am trying to eat better and healthier: using Michael Pollan’s book – “Food Rules” to help me figure it all out! There are 64 “rules”, 3 sections (what should I eat? What kind of food should I eat? and How should I eat?), with 3 simple answers (Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much) – here are some of the “rules” that I really like:

1). Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. 2). Avoid foods with sugar in top 3 ingredients. 3). Avoid foods with ingredients a 3rd grader couldn’t pronounce. 4). Sweeten and salt food for yourself. 5). Don’t eat cereal that will change the color of the milk. 6). Eat all the junk food you want (as long as you make it yourself). 7). Pay more, eat less: “it is better to pay the grocer than the doctor” 8). Stop eating before you are full: ask yourself not, “Am I full?” but, “Is my hunger gone?” 9). Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it. 10). Use smaller plates/glasses: the switch from 12″ to 10″ plates reduces consumption by 22%. 11). Treat treats as treats – follow the “S” policy: “no snacks, no sweets, no seconds except on days that start with ’s'”. 12). Cook (people who cook for themselves tend to eat healthier). 13). Break the rules once in a while: all things in moderation, even moderation =)  

 

My first working weekend (in years)… March 28, 2010

Saturday, March 27th: I arrived at work at 8am and soon after we opened walked the store with our STL and talked about all the things that needed to be fixed today in all areas of the store. My list was pretty long (didn’t get it all done) – fix this endcap, consolidate this, shoot labels for that, etc. I went in to the fixture room around 10am and was greeted by an enormous flat of Snuggle fabric softener…it arrived from the DC (distribution center) already clearance, but I still needed to put tickets on each box! Over 100 boxes and in each box was 6 boxes of Snuggle – “sparkling blue” snuggle to be specific! I left work around 4:30pm and went home…Jason and I played with our new Wii game (Wii Sports Resort) for a bit and then it was off to Borders’ to use their internet and then to Applebees’ for dinner! Home and asleep by midnight.

Sunday, March 28th: Arrived at Target at 5am! Walked the ad (checking to make sure last weeks ad was taken down and that this weeks ad was put up correctly) – not too bad overall. Considering it was my first ad walk in forever I did it really fast and accurately…walked the store with the STL (again) and once again the list was pretty long. I got it all done, but one thing (which technically wasn’t on my list) and finished marking all the snuggle in the back room. Zoned all the clearance endcaps in the area as well =) Can definitely tell that someone from pricing spent time on those puppies…home to crash. Took nap on couch while Jason played Wii Sports Resort – grabbed a shower and then we were off to Jason’s house =) Now we are off to Waffle House for some needed “adult time”