I finally did it

The final straw in my struggle with the local grocery store came when some sacker guy walks up (I was unloading onto the conveyor) and starts grabbing things out of my cart. I said "I'll take care of it. Thanks." I was taking things out and still working when I said it. He stood there for a moment and I looked up (this all was like seconds, but felt much longer) to see him glaring at me with a completely dirty look. He was mad that I didn't let him unload my cart! So, I gave him a huge 'kill you with kindness' smile to dismiss him and he walked away. Jerk. So then, as usual, the checker is sailing my items through the scanner and the sacker is throwing things into bags and tossing bags into the cart as fast as she can while her conveyor is rolling and things are getting pinned against the end of the counter. The cake that I was purchasing (it was for Father's Day - so what if our father was out of town for father's day, we can still celebrate!) got so smashed that the lid popped off and was broken and would not go back on. I said to cancel the cake, but they were insistent on getting a new one. She couldn't take it off my receipt because the transaction was complete. I said, never mind, I'll take it to Customer Service and return it. The sacker insisted on taking it back for me, which I think was all a bit odd (I think they knew they would get in trouble). So I followed her over there to get it taken off my receipt. (Never got that Father's Day cake. It's probably better for all of us...).

So, I follow the cake over to customer service and when the CUSTOMER SERVICE girl decides to look up and acknowledge me, she gives me cash back for the cake. Then I asked her if she would page a manager for me.

When Larry got there, I laid it all out for him about how this is my favorite store. I hate the other neighborhood store; I said, "I really don't like [store] Larry. I don't want to have to shop there, but if this doesn't get any better, I'll have to." I said, (and I love dropping this!), " I spend a LOT of money here (I shocked him with the amount). I don't think that you can change an employees personality, but there are certain common courtesies that should be required. I'm not looking for a friend in the cashier, but I would expect them to acknowledge my existence when they are checking out my groceries..."

I went on and on about the smashed food, the bags thrown in the cart, the obsession about being fast with the checkout and scanning my shoppers card before they can scan any groceries. I said that the last straw was today when the guy literally got mad at me because I said I could unload my cart myself.

The sad part was how downcast Larry looked as I told him all this because it was the millionth time he had heard it all.

I'm a bitter old lady, so I'm going to say it: What is it with youth these days??? Is it texting and the Internet and video games that have made them so that they can not function in a world with real live human beings that they need to interact with? It's bad.

So, Larry profusely apologized and assured me that they were working on it. And thanked me for my loyalty and asked me to keep in touch to let him know if anything was improving and if there were any more problems, etc...

I was kind of hoping that for my trouble he would comp my $200 shopping cart, but no. Maybe next time....

I adore this girl

Sweet Maren turned 8 years old today. She is so excited to be baptized, and is counting down the days. We're excited too. This young lady is cream of the crop.

Happy Birthday beautiful Maren!

I love you, I love you, I love you forever.

Twilight Camp - Days Four and Five

Funny, now that it's over, I'm having trouble thinking back two days. I've slept since then...

Sadly, I do remember the nasty lady who brought her kid late, stopped by headquarters to find out where to find his group so she could check him in. I told her where they were, pointed out and said they were just beyond various points, etc. So, as I'm telling her this, she turns and walks away. Her back is to me and she's walking away while I'm trying to tell her which direction to head.

Sure enough, a while later she comes back huffing and puffing with a nice sheen of sweat on her face, and tells the other people standing around that I told her to go to the wrong place, that was a different group. I said; "You went to the playground I pointed to with the giant yellow tarp covering it?" She waived her hand as if to dismiss me and rolled her eyes as she turned back to whoever else she was talking to. Like I was some stinkin' minimum wage fast food employee!Then the other people directed her to the playground with the giant yellow tarp covering it.

It was all I could do to keep myself from jumping across the table and smacking her, or at the very least making some snide, sarcastic remark that I am so good at. I kept my mouth shut and thought: Lady, you paid $60.00 for a full week of camp. This is cheap. We are volunteers. Get a grip.

That was the only bad part. Other than I think we may have broken one of the rented Slush machines. It made matters worse when the owner was there looking at it and a group of 4-year-old's rushed to it and started manhandling it.

There was one other discipline problem that I had to deal with because the dang Camp Director wasn't around again. This poor kid burst into tears when I started talking to him. I actually felt sorry for him. He was in trouble for kneeing another den member in the groin. But dang it, it was because of a "friend love triangle". Poor kid. I talked to him for a bit, then had him promise me he could be good and obedient for 45 more minutes, then camp would be over for a whole year. He went back to his group and, low and behold, all that child psychology junk actually did the trick. The den leader said that the boy was the best he'd been all week. He even went back and apologized to the groin kid and the den leader for his behavior. Ta-da!

I really enjoy doing the admin part of it because, although it is months of work, many late nights, and dealing with some obnoxious parents, it gives me the opportunity to meet, and work with some really great people in the community that I probably wouldn't get the chance to otherwise. I also like the fact that I can roam around from time to time and visit the various sessions where each of my kids are so that I can see all of them doing their thing.

All in all, it was a huge success. The best, and oddly saddest, part of it all is that this is my last year. Logan will have moved on to Boy Scouts and be a Scout Camp next summer with Geoff and Eric. Christian will go in six years. So, I guess it's not my last year ever, I'm just going on hiatus. Now what am I going to do from March through June every year? Maybe Christian can get some curtains in his room that aren't pink with flowers on them...

Here's some pictures:

One day in Science session, they made rockets. Yesterday, a "licenced member of the local chapter of the Rocket Club" (who knew there was one!) came to help them launch their rockets. Here is Logan preparing for launch.

Pretty close to the bulls-eye. Archery has been Logan's favorite for all four years at Cub Twilight Camp. He said he wants to come back next year just for the archery. I told him I'd rather just find somewhere I can pay for him to do archery.

Maren playing badminton (she's in the pink bandanna that they made)

Maren's group also did "Dr. Seuss Who-Hair" one day.

Samy coloring the world in her group. (Camp theme this year was Space -- totally rocked that we are in NASA land and the camp director works there!)

Twilight Camp - Days Two and Three

The great news is that it is running very smoothly and there are no terrible problems that have popped up.

There's been a couple scraped knees and nose bleeds. A few cases of heat exhaustion. But nothing big.

On Tuesday, a den leader brought a kid up to "headquarters" to see the Camp Director. He wasn't there. So, I guess being the camp registrar makes me, like, Speaker of the House, only not a complete low-life like Nancy. As I talked to the kid, there were basically two conversations going on. One was in my head telling him that he'd better shape up and just mind his manners and who does he think he is that he can just haul off and hit another kid..... The one coming out of my mouth , however, was much more politically correct and nice and just like a role play out of the Youth Protection Training class. It was so not like me. I guess the kid figured that his options were either to hang out with me, or be nice and go back with his group. He chose the latter. Good choice. The next day, however, he was back at "headquarters" with basically the same problem. Now he can't come back to camp unless a parent is with him and he has to switch groups. Oh, and his parents have to promise to remember to give him his medicine. I'll stop right there...

Did I mention that it is hot? I mean record breaking hot. Yeah, it is.

One week a year. One week a year. One week a year. Everyone together now: One week a year...

Twilight Camp - Day One

The first day of camp was a complete success! I drank four bottles of water, sweated like a man in a steam room, and only ate half of Samy's Lunchables Jr. Four people made comment that I had lost "a lot" of weight and look great, and one person who used to be in my ward said she didn't even recognize me because I had lost so much! Woo-hoo! That is a great day at camp. Oh, and the scouts had a good time too....

Actually, Samy is a camper like her mom. My motto is: Anything less than a three star hotel IS camping. So after four hours, she asked if I could call Geoff to pick her up because she was "hot and sticky". (That's my girl!) Then, Geoff told me later, that on the way home, she said that she was glad she was in Dad's stinky car because she was sweaty. (Totally my girl!!!)

Funny/sad story: This man and his son signed up last night (registration closed weeks ago), and we let them in. I reworked a couple dens to accommodate and re-printed a bunch of paper work for it. So then, I found out later today that the man never showed up today. So, I'm reporting this to the camp director and cursing the man's name a little bit, when the camp director says to me: "Um, I'm pretty sure that's the guy who called and said he couldn't make it because he got in an accident on the way to camp." Oops! Then I repented for being mean.

So, tomorrow is day two. It's hot. It's humid. It's buggy, and I'm sitting on a very uncomfortable park table/bench dripping sweat. But I enjoy it. And I really enjoy the fact that after this year, I will be done with Cub Scouts (hopefully) until Christian turns 8 in 2015. Yippeee!

Brilliance

Every few months or so, we need a new routine to shake things up and get people motivated and out of a rut. The beginning of summer is definitely one of those times. Last week, I instituted a new program. For certain tasks, when completed nicely, the children can earn a poker chip (no cash value :). During the hours of 12 - 2 pm, and 8 - 10 pm, these chips can be exchanged for electronics time. (One chip is equal to 30 minutes of electronic time). Jobs include the following: Vacuum (up or down stairs), sweep the kitchen floor, two math worksheets, wipe all door knobs with Clorox wipes (one of the best inventions in the world!), organize the playroom, dust upstairs or downstairs, etc. The list goes on and on. I can't take credit for the great idea. As with most great parenting ideas I get, it comes from Kelly. (Kelly rocks!)

So the best part of all is that the designated electronic times are during Christian's afternoon nap, and when he goes to bed. So, there are hours of the day when I am virtually child free! Yippee!

In the morning, they have their regular chores like making their bed and things like that, that they don't get a chip for, but have to do just because they are humans, and part of the family. But then when those are done, I've got people asking for jobs left and right, so that they can have chips to cash in later. It's awesome!

I know it's the first week of summer and there are over eleven more to go, and it will not be as exciting come August. But for now: I've got Eric asking for Algebra in June! Bwahhhaaahaaa! That is brilliant!!!

Following are pictures from end of school awards and Maren's piano and ballet recitals.

Logan raked in the awards and recognition. He deserved it. This year, he sucked it up and was stuck doing homework more than a few times when the other kids were having fun. He's a champ!

Logan and his best buddies. Because of the magnet program they are in; these guys have been together since first grade. Next year, fifth, will be their last before they all go to different Junior High Schools.

Maren got just about every award there was in second grade, including art contest awards (1st for Rodeo art, and 1st for Christmas Card art - she got that talent from the milk man...), and Second Grade Citizen of the Year!

After her fabulous piano recital performance!


Backstage at the Ballet recital. These girls were wonderful! I had to be the backstage mom, so I could only watch from the curtains, but it was really great!

We learned our first year in ballet that flowers must be given after any recital. They just must.

One other little ditty was added to the family on the first of June. After 10 years of (mostly) reliable service, the "Mini" was put to rest at the local Honda dealership (with the best deal and who didn't treat me like a stupid woman), and a new one was born. We're happily settling in for another great ten years...

I tried real hard to be cool and get into a Pilot or something like that, but the posse just doesn't fit in one. And, truth be told, those other cars just don't have the cargo room for all the groceries that need to be bought - constantly!