Kroger Baggers

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I dated a boy who I met through the checkout line at Kroger. Sometimes he was the checker. Sometimes he was the bagger. He had aspirations of graduating from Centre College and going to Med School.

Those days are long gone. I would not date a bagger from Kroger after my experience today.

Yes. It is July 4th and I'm sure these teenage boys have better things to do on a holiday than work, but that's life. They were really letting you know this by their attitudes and body language.

I'm one one these "weird" people who uses the blue reusable bags. A typical trip uses 10 bags. 3 of mine have gone AWOL, so I only had 7. Baggers must not be trained on how to pack these bags. I've heard that baggers aren't trained to pack ANY kind of bag. Here are some tips for packing the tote bags:

Lesson #1 - PLEASE, do not put all of the cans in the same blue bag. Those things hold A LOT. If it is all cans, I cannot lift it.

Lesson #2 - Learn what to put in the insulated bags. I try to group my cold stuff together, so this is easier to figure out. However, I've gotten some really stupid stuff placed in those things before.

Lesson #3 - The insultated bags have zippers on top for a reason. SO ZIP THEM!!!

Lesson #4 - If I'm using these bags then obviously (or maybe not so obvious) I am trying not to waste those plastic bags. So PLEASE do not put only one item in each plastic bag you have to use since I don't have space in my blue bags. Let's not be wasteful. One thing of syrup does not need its own bag. It can share with the fabric softener refill.

Lesson #5 - ONE PERSON CAN'T PUSH TWO CARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Gotta go eat my groceries now. More later.)

Time "alone" at Starbucks

The kids went to VBS this morning from 9:00 am - noon. I learned on Monday of the week, that, even with the best intentions, if I go home after dropping them off, I end up back in bed. :-( So I've been trying to do other things during my "alone" time. Today, I decided to go to Starbucks and read. I really don't like their coffee at all. :-P Nasty. But I got a small decaf and a cheese danish (yummy). I found a nice chair in the corner and settled in. I'm currently reading "The Memory Keepers Daughter." It is an excellent book! I hope to finish it today.

So there I am with my coffee, danish and book. One cannot help but people watch at times, though. Especially in this age of cell phones. There was one mom there with her 10 y/o (ish) daughter. The first I noticed them was when they were ordering or waiting and she was on the phone blabbing about what time she had to pick up her other kid from soccer and maybe this or that time would work best for this or that activity. And so on. If you've never noticed, people tend to talk louder when they are on their phones. Well, mom finishes up her conversation. The two get their coffee and sit at a table next to mine. Seems like it would be nice mother/daughter time now. Wrong. Mom ends up on the phone again. Not sure if she placed or received the call but that doesn't matter. She was on the phone again. Talking about having frappuccino parties and everyone bring their favorite bottle of flavor. Whatever. The daughter slumped down in her chair, obviously annoyed that her mom was using up all of this time together on the phone. :-( I felt sorry for the kid. I wanted to get up out of my chair and knock the phone out of the woman's hand!!!! When mom did hang up the phone, the little girl perked up quickly. They got up to leave at one point, then mom checked her watch and realized that there wasn't enough time between Starbucks and soccer to really do anything else, so lets just sit back down for a few more minutes. This woman needs someone to knock her upside the head! I guess it's not just her though. Later in the morning, there was a group of women who sat at a table farther away from me. Sounded like they were comparing schedules to see who was busiest.

Then there was the saleman. Oh my. He annoyed the crap out of me as soon as he sat down at a table very close to where I was. Of course, the first thing he did was get on the phone. This guy had a loud annoying voice anyway, then he got on the phone! Oh my. (Remember, I'm trying to read a book.) FINALLY, he got off the phone. *whew* The person who he was to meet arrived. They shook hands and got the informal sales pitch going. Thankfully, this salesman talks a bit more softly than when on the phone. The man who had joined him had a much more laid back tone about him. I was sort of glad he arrived to calm guy #1 down a bit...well...not really...maybe neutralize the table or something. Anyhow, Mr. Salesman starts going on and on about his product/service. Guy #2 listens and asks questions. The company involves computers. The second guy said that folks at his company can still get computers with XP. :-) Lucky. Anyhow, I didn't catch all of what they were discussing (I was reading). But I tell you this, I wouldn't buy anything from that guy. Nothing. I don't care how good of a product/service it may be...I'd get it elsewhere.
Another thing I noticed while I was there is that this place seems to have a lot of "regulars." It was my first time, but many of the customers seemed to have developed "relationships" with the folks behind the counter. It was comforting.

Of course, there were moments during my time at Starbucks that I wasn't distracted. I can't believe that guy did that in that book! (Won't tell you though!) I kept and eye on the clock and when it was time to go get the kids, I packed up and left.
SO, I sat at Starbucks from 9:15 - 11:30 today. "Alone"

CATholics

*sigh* Cats. I'm starting to really hate cats. My sister will probably come after me for that, but I'm not referring to her "kids." I'm referring to the stupid cats who think that since they live here they have the right to pee wherever the heck they feel like it. I think I may have shared about Benny on one of my blogs a while back. Well...the problem was not unique to Benny. His half-sister had the same problem. Phoebe came to live with us for a "temporary stay." (I was against this "2 week visit" which has turned into many months!)
Well, she peed on EVERY BED upstairs! Once she peed on the couch, we banned her to Jill's room only. It was Jill's/Jill's mom's cat, so it was "only fair" for us to keep her around. Well, she kept up her bad habits even there. When the basement got a little water in it, we had to pull up Jill's carpet...which ended up stinking of cat pee.
OUT YOU GO! So, Phoebe, as Benny, got the "on the porch" treatment. Did her bad behavior stop there? Oh no. We had a green rug out there which ended up smelling terrible thanks to Phoebe. We had a car seat cover with that same terrible stench. Lovely.

Well, let's skip to yesterday. We got a "new" couch from a yard sale down the street. As we were switching out couches (replacing the old pink couch in the basement) - Bill discovers...you guessed it...cat pee. And on the nasty pink chair in the basement. Since there was only one cat left in the house, Miss Albee got the blame.

Since the other two bad cats had been banished to the porch, so went Miss Albee. Was she happy about this? Oh no. Not a bit. She whined and pawed at the back door for quite a while. She finally settled down for the night. Thankfully.
But then the sun came up. I think she woke with the sun and started wailing at us! As most of you know I DO NOT WAKE WITH THE SUN. This was very annoying. I went out on the porch, hoping to appease her with some "big kitty hugs." Didn't work.
I went back inside to the same pawing wailing reaction. She seemed to become interested with the birds out in the back, so I opened the door to the backyard and she went out. Now I could go back to bed in peace.

Once the kids got up, they went out on the porch looking for the cats, as usual. Phoebe was laying around as usual. (Don't get me started on more about that stupid cat). Miss Albee...not on the porch. I told the kids that she was outside outside. So they started looking around for her.
Miss Albee is a 'fraidy cat who wouldn't have gone far. She didn't. She was hiding under the neighbor's car. I think Benny hid under there once. She got to come home.

We are about done with these stupid cats. I would have thrown Phoebe out a long time ago if she were MY cat. She's really pushing her luck as it is.
Miss Albee...well...the other day she decided to hide in the return air duct cause she didn't want to go to the vet. She can be a very sweet cat. Not always the brightest bulb in the chandelier though.

FREE CATS!!!!!! Miss Albee is a very pretty black cat. She's about 4 years old, I think. Tends to be shy, but can be very sweet. Fixed and declawed.

Phoebe is a brat who likes to hang out with her neighborhood boyfriend, even if it means tearing up screen doors. Could be expecting? Too early to tell. At least she's not in heat! That was REALLY annoying.

We went to a "petting zoo" at the neighborhood Baptist church. A local pet store brought over some animals for the kids to pet. This event was to register for VBS. We met a very cute, sweet poodle/yorkie mix. He didn't come home with us, but he was a lot nicer to be around than those darn cats. They also had guinea pigs. We've got experience with those from 10 years ago. The bearded dragon was pretty cool.
But, at the moment, I'd say the best pets are DUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe we will have to pick up some new birds at the fair this year. We are getting better and better at the duck thing with each failed attempt.

:-) Oh well.

Seven Deadly Sins

We are studying the Seven Deadly Sins in the Kemp Class. Thought I'd share this little quiz with you! If you know me, you can probably guess which sin I "rank highest" on. Oh well. Share you answers if you wish...or not.
Consider this post as my confession for the day/week/month/year/life.
Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

Greed:	Very Low
Gluttony:	Low
Wrath:	Medium
Sloth:	Very High
Envy:	Low
Lust:	Very Low
Pride:	Medium

A follow up about cable

We still have cable TV at our house. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. For example, I got sucked into Discovery Channel the other night and learned a lot from Mythbusters and Man vs. Wild and the Alaska Experiment. Maybe I learned something. Maybe I didn't. But I sat there for a LONG time.
Those tricky short people in the house know which numbers are Nick, Disney and Cartoon Network. What kid growing up around here with cable doesn't know that Nick is channel 33. It was channel 33 when I was a kid with cable!!! Anyway, we also have a Wii. In theory, if you are playing the Wii, you are also getting "exercise" because you have to move around to get it to work, or whatever.** Well, the children asked me the other night if they could play Wii before bed. Well, I was on the computer (of course) and it wasn't quite time for bed yet, so I said yes. Time passes. I hear nothing from them. Naturally I am distracted from the clock thanks to this nice machine that sucks my time away. When I finally finish whatever useless stuff I was doing, I realize exactly HOW MUCH time had past! Oh my! It is certainly time for them to stop playing Wii and go to bed. Well...I go upstairs to see what game has kept them quiet for so long. DISNEY CHANNEL!!! SINCE WHEN DOES DISNEY CHANNEL COUNT AS PLAYING WII????????
I think they came up with some reason like, "We couldn't get the Wii to work..." Whatever. The other day, when I got a spare moment: I grabbed my remote and learned how to block channels! (***see my TV philosophy at the bottom of this post) Disney, Nick and Cartoon Network no longer show up as choices. Hee hee. The kids were a little puzzled the next time they did channel flipping. Hee hee. I also put on stronger parental control locks. Who wants their 5 y/o running across some of that stuff?
Anyway, KIDS - obey your parents or your channels may disappear as well...


**You have to be a little bit active when using the Wii until a good friend loans you Game Cube stuff and you just sit around for many hours playing Mario Party or Super Smash Brothers. ;-)


***Jennifer's philosophy on watching TV -- TV = time vacuum. Goodness knows how much time you can waste in front of that thing...of course...the computer (for me) is just as bad.
When I was a kid, we watched TV. I remember some shows that we watched...mostly I remember watching KET (PBS), Saturday morning cartoons, and some Friday night comedy stuff. When I was in 6th grade, my mom cut us off. We could only watch TV on the weekends: 5pm Friday - 5pm Sunday. School grades came up. Hmm...could there be a correlation between these two facts?? Anyway- you know how new parents often say they won't use the TV as a babysitter? Well, I said that too...at first. It is just WAY too convenient to plop your kid in front of PBS for a while. They are learning something, right?? Hmm....as they got older though, that had to come to an end. Although watching Jay-Jay the Jet Plane with Rebekah will be remembered always. :-) Now, in my household, we have the weekend rule. Lately, as I've been homeschooling, I've remembered that I learned a lot of simple things one needs to learn for school from PBS shows. So if my kids ask to watch "Between the Lions" or "CyberChase" this summer, I'll probably say "ok." PBS did not vanish from our TV.
For the record, the only show I watch on a regular basis is Survivor. (I'm a Sunday afternoon NFL junkie during football season).
If someone in my family feels the need to watch SpongeBob or something Disney...pop in a movie. At least then you don't have to watch those horrid commercials!!!! Commercials are one of the biggest problems with TV. Wonder why kids are greedy or have a poor self-image or have ADD/ADHD? Let's blame commercials. Maybe that's another reason we watch PBS.