Random Thoughts: November Edition

1. When I was a kid, I remember learning proper letter writing in school. I was taught when it was OK to have a more casual correspondence and when a more formal letter was required.
Now that email is part of our daily lives, do they teach proper email etiquette? Are future employers going to receive an email like this from their employee:

Yo,
so i was all lolz cuz i thought OMG i forgot the deadline! but DOOD...totes dun!
:D

I think the intricacies of forwarding and cc/bcc should be covered as well.

2. I saw some brand new (in the bag) halloween costumes at Goodwill today for 75% off. I wanted to grab all the cute baby ones - ladybug, bumblebee, football - but my 2.5 year old is no longer a baby. And she's a 4T. Maybe I can put the bumblebee one on her leg and dress her up as a beekeeper next year? Though a giant bee attacking the leg of a beekeeper might be more of a beekeeper FAIL.

It's a good thing Peanut tells me exactly what she wants to be for Halloween.

3. ShankRabbit brought up the baby topic last week. I think we're rounding the corner from "ohgawdnowaynobabiesanytimesoon!" to "well...it wouldn't hurt to revisit the topic...in 6 months..." It's all about progress, right?

4. My grandmother had a funny quirk. Whenever we'd sit down for a family meal, our forks would mysteriously disappear. Turns out she would grab the nearest fork to serve dishes, cut meat, etc. and not notice which one she grabbed. We'd all laugh when she'd say, "goodness, how did I get 3 forks?"

Why do I bring this up? Because I have developed a similar flatware-related quirk. I use so many knives during the day that I can easily use every single one we own in a day. Putting butter on toast, making sandwiches, cooking...by the time we sit down for dinner they are all gone.

I've secretly started using disposable plastic knives on occasion. Shh...don't tell ShankRabbit. He thinks I've gotten better with my knife usage.

5. I had a very introspective September/October. Mostly, I was thinking about family (probably a post for another day). Blah blah blah...I decided somewhere in there that we should host our own Thanksgiving.

...

Did you catch that? I am hosting one of my all-time favorite holidays. I will be cooking. For other people than the husband and the daughter.

If you've never cooked a full turkey before, do you make a practice one a couple weeks before or do you just hope for the best the day of Thanksgiving? I did find helpful tips from a couple of "never let me down" sources - Alton Brown and The Gluten-Free Girl.

6. I'm so happy November 2nd is over. I don't mind the political ads (yes, annoying...but whatever). You know what bothered me? The "AAAARGH! GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!"
"I VOTED AND THERE WAS NO ONE WAITING IN LINE! SO SAD!"
"IF YOU DON'T VOTE YOU'RE THE WORST PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE!"

Did I vote? Yes. But I didn't make a big deal out of it.

7. Medical update: still broken. The doctors have no idea what's wrong...still. I think I'm done trying to figure this out. I've been on a gluten-free diet since August and this seems to help with most of the problems I'm dealing with, but no concrete answers.

8. 2010 seemed to be the year of "frustration." Can 2011 be "contentment," "love," or even "unicorns?" Let's make it happen.

A rant. And a lesson about Laundromat etiquette.

Instead of trying to stretch a couple more days out of our dwindling clean clothes selection, I decided to do laundry today instead of Friday (my usual day of laundered fun).

This particular laundromat has several washers and dryers (single and multiple load capacity) and 4 tables for folding. 1 is at the back, 1 in the middle, and 2 right by each other in the front. All of the tables were being used except for the 2 in the front (right by where I was sitting).

My clothes had about 15 minutes left in the dryer when a couple of ladies walked in. Upon getting all of their clothes in the washer, they sat at a round table nearest the 2 empty folding tables and placed a purse on each of the folding tables. Considering there was absolutely nothing in front of them at the round table they were occupying, I could only assume they were "reserving" them for when they were ready to fold their clothes.

Say what?!

Hold on, these ladies want people to wait for a) another folding table to clear (by the looks of it, the other people were doing laundry for half the county) or b) wait until their clothes are washed and dryed?!

Oh, I don't think so!

Just ask my husband, when I'm on a mission to get something done there better not be a soul in my way.

I swear these ladies were out to annoy the holy jebus out of me. In addition to the purses, the one lady was standing in front of an open dryer waiting for the other to fill it with clothes. Normally, not a big deal...in this case, the open door just happened to be blocking access of the dryer my finished clothes were in AND their washer was not done...completely oblivious to my presence at the dryer. I didn't want to wait around, so I finally said "excuse me," pointed at my dryer, and moved their door just enough to get my clothes out.

Once all 3 loads of laundry completed their tumble in the dryer (pretty much done at the same time! hooray for laundromats!), I wheeled them over to one of the "reserved" folding tables, ignored the presence of the offending purse, and folded my laundry. These ladies were sitting a mere foot away from me. In my head, I dared them to say anything to me or each other about where I was folding.


Maybe it's PMS. Maybe I'm just easily aggitated when people aren't mindful of others around them. But c'mon...laundromats will forever and always be first come, first served*.

__________
* - the only exception to the rule are wheeling carts. If you're injured, pregnant, or otherwise physically limited, go ahead and lay claim to one of those bad boys.

Something has been bothering me

When I first created this blog, I made the decision to allow "anonymous" comments. My thinking was that anyone (in particular family and friends) could leave comments on my blog posts without having to create a Google account, if they didn't already have one. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. The couple of anonymous (which I shall keep in quotes because, really... you are never anonymous online) comments I have received were from people who felt it necessary to spew their ignorance on my site. So, even though ShankRabbit loves responding to these "anonymous" comments (and I loved reading it), I've decided to get rid of this option.

So, in a completely related tangent/rant, here I go...

If you are going to make a comment - whether online or in real life -

Own what you say

Plain and simple.

Some additional thoughts:

- I welcome other people's opinions. Many times I learn a great deal about the topic at hand through the other person's words...other times I discover more about my side of the argument. All I ask is for you to be educated about what you say - do your homework.

- I hate the phrase "no offense." Plain and simple: If you didn't mean it, you wouldn't have said it. And if you inadvertently offended someone with your words: a) apologize and b) choose your words better next time.

phew.

That feels better. Now, onward!

I just have to get this off my chest

If you are not in the mood for a ranty, crazy post...then you can skip this.

Rant in the first:

I was just about to read Peanut a book before nap time when my cell phone rings. Some Chicago number I didn't recognize popped up...so I decided to ignore it and continue on with the naptime routine. Just as I'm putting Peanut in her crib, my cell rings again. Same number. I run out of the bedroom to answer it.

It is a general rule in our family that if you call 2 or more times in a row, it's really important.

Caller: "Hi, this is Lola from [some weird company name having to do with products]. Is this Stitch?"
Me: "Um, no...you have the wrong number."
Caller: "Is this [recites phone number]."
Me: "Yes, but I'm not Stitch."
Caller: "OK then. Good bye."

After I hang up the phone, I notice I have a new voicemail. Lo and behold, Lola left a message...for Stitch.

So, not only did Lola not listen to the voicemail greeting (where I clearly state my name) but she proceeded to call right back to see if I would pick up.

Normally, not an issue...except when my child is about to go down from a nap and the sound of my cell phone makes her jump up (she thinks daddy is calling).

Rant in the second:

I could go on for pages about my beef with "stupid drivers." Be thankful that I am sparing you from this. I will only touch on what's bothering me right now -

1. If you are in the left lane of a multi-lane freeway and are not paying attention to where you need to exit...please don't cut off three (busy) lanes of traffic because you are friggin' idiots (yes, plural. More than one person decided to do this in front of me today). I have a child in the car and God help you if you hit me.

2. Solid white lines in a construction area mean STAY IN YOUR LANE, DUMB@SS!

[photo (minus text) courtesy of Washington State Dept. of Transportation]

Rant in the third:

If you, the cashier, are ringing up my items and I tell you that something you just scanned was incorrect according to the sale display...DO NOT show me the price tag and say, "but the price tag says $5." Yes, genius...I saw that. But the 10-foot ad above it said $3.50. To further solidify why you are employee of the month, you gave me one heck of a look and an audible sigh after asking "do you want me to have someone check that price for you?" and I said yes (let me add, the store was dead). You don't even have to move from your station. You flip a switch, someone comes over and checks on the item for you.
Really?
Save the 'tude for someone else.


((sigh))

Thank you for letting me get that out. I've been having a great day, but there are just some people...