Hey-yo! I'm back and I have something I need to get off my chest.

This month is just whizzing on by.

Just in case you have been living under a rock, or you don't really "do" social media (which if you don't...its really annoying for your family and friends...however....I am slightly jealous..because I can't seem to quit). We are all suppose to be mad about the Starbucks red holiday cup. {insert eyeroll} Apparently it is not "Christian" enough. I don't see what any of their other holiday cups had to do with little baby Jesus in a manger, but that is neither here nor there. The solid red cup is, according to some, the sign of the debil and the heathen ways of this country.

I don't buy my coffee at Starbucks, except for a rare instance here and there. But I'm not really in the habit of buying my coffee anywhere other than at the grocery store to then prepare at home. For the record, I do not drink my homemade coffee in a holiday mug during the holiday season. I'm not sure what that says about me as a Christian.

There have been many, many funny meme's that have come out of this whole situation. And I have snorked out loud at a few.

But for the most part, I've sort of kept my opinion to myself over on the old book of faces. Mostly because, sharing something...for or against it, doesn't really DO anything. There is no action is telling other people on Facebook how ridiculous they are being while reminding them that there are much bigger problems in this world than a coffee cup.

I want to know what those people did, even in the tiniest way, to help fix those problems they keep reminding everyone else of. My view on my faith is that I cannot argue people into believing in my God. I cannot shame them...or belittle them...or guilt them. And I should not be trying to sway them by angry protest.

I can only try and love them.

Whoa! Hold on...I said the L word. I know that is really scary for some people. I don't really mean love them in the sense of trying to be overly kind to all those crazy people on Facebook. Some people are going to think and feel what they want.

What I mean is, instead of arguing back and forth about what the REAL meaning of Christmas is on Facebook, I'm trying to think of what ACTIONS I can take to SHOW what the real meaning of Christmas is.

And its all about the love and kindness and giving, people.

I am not trying to say I am the next Mother Teresa. I haven't taken any action to show what I feel the meaning of Christmas is...yet. But the thoughts are brewing in my mind as I type. So what I'd like to propose, although I'm sure tons of you will think this is way less fun than re-sharing something on Facebook, is that instead of posting to Facebook about the Great Red Cup Debate of 2016 (or any other seasonal debate that may come along...hello Target Ugly Sweater)...why don't you stop and think about something you can do for your community instead.

There are food banks near you that need food.

There are Toys for Tots that need toys.

There are Angel Tree recipients that need someone to be their angel this season.

There are homeless shelters, soup kitchens, church pantries, women's shelter, animal rescues..all right there in your community...that need your help.

So pick up a local newspaper or google your city...and find a way to SHOW people (that actually really need to see it) what the true meaning of Christmas is.

What might have been..

This might have been the outfit I wore for our family photos that were suppose to happen this weekend. Booking a photographer is a funny thing. Now-a-days there is a photographer blog/facebook page around every virtual corner. Word of mouth plays a big part in finding someone since there aren't exactly store fronts for customers to walk into and check the place out.

I booked a photographer based on photos taken for my cousins engagement. A pretty solid endorsement, right? Not that I actually talked to my cousin about the experience, but the pictures turned out great. So, I went ahead and sent a message on this persons photography website. They responded back that same day, which I love (be prompt with me and you'll have my heart forever). This was at the end of July and they didn't have a weekend open until November. Geez!! But busy was a good sign, RIGHT?! So, I booked the appointment for November.

I dropped off our non-refundable appointment fee {which my Mom paid for, by the way} at a local lawyers office, by slipping it in the mail slot. That might sound hinky, but I understand how it can be if this is a side business or start up business. But, I did want to make sure the envelope made it into the correct hands since I wasn't able to personally deliver it into the photographers hands. I sent a few emails and a facebook message over a span of a few days, with no response. It took quite a while for the photographer to get back to me just to let me know that they did in fact get the money. This was my first red flag.

Let's fast forward to the end of October. I haven't heard anything from the photographer since July. The appointment is in two weeks. I didn't know where we would be meeting or when or if we were clear on what we wanted to do, so I sent another email to her. Four days later, I still had not heard anything back. The longer it went with no reply the angrier I got. I don't ask for much, as a customer, but I AM still a customer and I expect a bare minimum of customer service. Leaving a customer hanging for days and days just isn't acceptable in my mind..call me old fashioned or high maintenance or whatever you want. So I sent a facebook message and told them that since I was having such a hard time getting any response from them I didn't feel comfortable moving forward with our appointment and wanted to cancel.

They got back with me that same day, imagine that. So the only time I could get them to answer me back in a timely manner was when I booked the appointment and when I cancelled the appointment. Any questions in between were put on the back burner. Basically they gave me a bunch of excuses, told me that they normally email the client a week before the appointment (which I would have loved to know...but was never told that) and my email two weeks before the appointment threw them off. HHmmm..yes, I can see how a simple 'Hey, our appointment is coming up soon. Do you need any more info from me?' email might totally throw someone off their game. And then they tell me that although they think cancelling the appointment is dramatic they would respect my wishes.

Isn't that so nice of them?

I was floored. Because, as a customer, I had never been made to feel so unimportant. This person was aware that they did not reply back to me in a timely manner and didn't really care and still made a point to try and undermine how I was feeling as a customer...which was ignored...by implying that I was overreacting.

I've just never had anything like that happen to me before. And it's made me a little gun shy about attempting to seek out and/or book another photographer.

So..for all you photographer like people out there..I know your schedules can get super busy and booked. But, let this be a lesson about how important it can be to communicate with people. Your clients are important (and so is word of mouth business), don't leave them hanging. Even if they are annoying...even if they over-email you (which I don't think I was doing, by any stretch of the imagination)...even if you have to answer the same question a million times...even if you have to stay up until 1:00AM answering your emails. It's a vital part of your business and should never be ignored.

Grocery Store Ranting

Jeremy and I do our grocery shopping together. We have it down to a pretty good system. Menu, list, coupons. If we had the store to ourselves it would probably only take us 30 minutes to do all of our shopping.

The problem is that we do NOT have the entire store to ourselves. We have to share it with other people...most of them who don't seem to be aware that THEY don't have the store to themselves.

Pet Peeve #1: People who come shopping with their entire family in tow. I'm not talking about the husband and wife who have the cute little baby in the front seat of the cart. I'm talking about the woman who brings all four of her kids..and is there with her sister who brought all three of her kids. That's two adults, at least, and seven kids...at least. Since the kids out man the adults, they are running up and down the aisle..or maybe even the NEXT aisle..while the adults either ignore them completely or screech at them from the aisle over.

Pet Peeve #2: Teenagers shopping by themselves. *sigh* Not that I have a lot of room to talk..I use to BE one of those teenagers {I wanna' chester cheeta bag...er, ehem..that's another story for another..well, actually I can't remember the whole story so y'all will just have to wonder what the sam hell I'm talking about}. Most of the time they are there will no clear purpose..and thus, just get in my way.

Pet Peeve #3: Driving a grocery cart is just like driving a car. There is a flow in the aisles..one direction, each way. At the end of aisles you should mentally be throwing on a blinker and WAIT for a chance to merge into on-coming traffic. If you are stuck behind a stalled cart and there isn't a break in traffic coming the other direction you don't get to just wheel around Miss Slow Poke and get in everyone elses way..you have to WAIT YOUR TURN. And you can't be driving your cart in the middle of the 'road', or leave it there to take a closer look at something. That would be like you jumping out of your car to peek into a shop window. It's just not done. One of these days, I'm going to drive my cart the proper way and just let people run into me when they make an illegal turn into my 'lane'. When they give me an ugly look I'm just going to tell them that I really had the right of way.

Love Thy Neighbor

Lord, help me!

I know you are suppose to love your neighbor, but I don't think I ever heard that you have to LIKE your neighbor. Living between two rental homes has been challenging over the several years we have owned our home.

On one side we have a rotating door of college students, i.e late night parties, trashed out yards, multiple vehicles, trees spray painted with fraternity logos, and cute little puppies that they grow tired of taking care of that end up bored out of their minds in the backyard. Recently, we had a couple move in...not college students..with young kids. I got excited thinking finally..FINALLY..we might have some nice, normal, quiet neighbors. And they are nice. But...they have two dogs...that stay in the backyard a lot of the time. And they stick their trash bags right outside the back door (instead of walking it to the alley). What do y'all think that means?



That's right. That is the lovely sight that greats me every time I step out my back door. And its been that way for at least a week.

And then on the other side of us is a newly rented house. You see, the guy who owns the house use to live there with his wife. Then they moved Granny in, and well..Granny and the wife did NOT get a long. So the guy and his wife moved out, leaving Granny there by herself. The problem with this is Granny doesn't need to be living by herself. According to the guy, who came over to give us his cell number (just in case), Granny does stuff like turn the stove on and then forgets about it. GGGrrreeeaaattt! And Granny is an animal collector, specifically cats. But I guess that's what happens when you dump cat food out on your front lawn. Every cat in the neighbor hood is going to start hanging around. And don't even get me started on the two hound dogs that are caged in the back yard. I guess they have plenty of room back there, but very little human interaction. I'm not sure why they even keep those dogs. ANYWAY, they moved Granny out months and months ago..but still the dogs remained. The cats, getting hip to the fact that there would be no more kitty buffets in the front yard, slinked off to greener pastures. The house was empty and quiet, besides the two baying hound dogs in the back yard until....WHAM! Suddenly there are two limos parked up in front of that house. Y'all have to understand, our street is just not that wide and our houses are just not that big. Two limos takes up a whole lot of space. Turns out they are the new renters, running their limo business from their new homes. GGGrrreeaaatt! And the dogs? Still in the backyard..weird.

I was JUST started to get over the limo thing when someone knocked on our door last night. It was the lady from the limo house next door. And this was her story. They didn't pay their electric bill, so the power was turned off. She went to pay the bill, but in the meantime her stupid husband went and tampered with the meter box to turn the power back on. When the electric company went out to turn the power back on they found the tapering and turned the power BACK off and put a lock on the box. And no one would be back out to 'straighten it out' until Monday. So....since that mean ol' electric company screwed THEM over could they possibly 'borrow' some of our electricity and use one of our outside plugs. My husband, the saint, told them yes. He was a little mad at himself afterwards because..really..who asks their neighbors for electricity? It's just not normal neighborly behavior. She kept telling him just to let her know when we got our electric bill and they would give us some money. We might be nice, but we aren't stupid. This evening we will be unplugging their cord and letting them know that this will not be happening in the future...ever.

Lord, please...send me some nice normal neighbors who only want to borrow sugar and actually care about their pets and their yards.

Meltdown - feeling bad for feeling bad

This week has not been going well for me. I'm pretty sure I need a do over. I have left work frustrated nearly every day this week. And the crazy thing is that nothing too unfortunate has happened. It's just the same old crap. But after 11 years, it's wearing on me.

I am torn.

My job pays me very well for the small town I live in. I have decent health insurance that I don't have to pay for (yet). I have several weeks of paid vacation each year. Sounds fairly ideal, yes? Yes. And I try, very hard..every day, to keep these things in mind.

But something is missing, something else. And maybe I'm just naive to want this missing thing because this is the only place I have worked my entire adult life. Maybe this missing thing doesn't really exist. I believe it is heart. It is soul. It is compassion and caring. It is accountability and creativity. It is desire and drive. It is teamwork. It is respect.

I am a drone. A well paid drone. I work in a cubicle farm. I am a number, a seniority date, a percentage, a unit of headcount.

I am tired. I am unsatisfied. I am frustrated. I am unhappy.

Am I crazy for wanting something more? Ungrateful?

The Biggest Loser...

..of his moral compass.

I usually don't blog about the shows I'm watching. I'm not as witty as some of the other bloggers out there that do weekly run-downs of recent shows. But, I have been watching the Biggest Loser this season. This is actually the first season I've watched from the very beginning, so I'm pretty invested.

Anyway, it's getting close to the end *tear* and there is a lot of scheming going on. I don't guess I have any problem with general strategies. I mean it IS a game. But, when people right out LIE. I hate that. Ha ha..I guess it could have been creatively edited to look like he lied. Who knows. But, I still hate the sneakiness of it. So, this is what I think of Mr. Ron Liarpants: