My Blog

And the World Spins Madly On

2012-01-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

My new home, as of February 11:

Best Christmas Ever

2011-12-26T10:17:00.000-08:00

The one good thing about being away from ones family is the reunion when all come back together again. This Christmas every one of my siblings was in the house, plus two spouses, and one unborn baby boy. It was such a euphoric experience looking around the dining room table and seeing how our family is growing in such a natural, beautiful way.

A Rough Cartoon of My Life

2011-12-15T20:55:00.001-08:00

As part of my job I fold shirts. A lot.

Rambling

2011-12-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

I didn't really have any stories from Black Friday. I now firmly believe that the chaos of Black Friday is an urban legend.

I'm pretty sure that my life is going to change dramastically (to borrow a friend's word) next year and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Definitely excited, definitely terrified. My packing list is getting a little long and my bank account is shrinking a little too quickly. I think once I buy my plane ticket it will feel more real. I need to buy a Dutch/English dictionary!

Adventures in Retail: the Calm Before the Storm

2011-11-24T12:23:00.000-08:00

People keep asking me if I'm ready for Black Friday. No, I'm not. I've never left the house on Black Friday shopping, much less been a part of the craziness. Stay posted for Black Friday Adventures.

Adventures in Retail: The Ghost in the Dressing Room

2011-09-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when it's slow in the store and I go in to check the fitting rooms I hear this... noise. Like a "Pfshth" noise. Nobody's in the dressing room, nobody's even in my department. My first thought was "A ghost!" Scary... buy maybe not. Maybe a friend to keep me company when I'm bored out of my mind and trying not to watch the clock. How pleasant that would be!

Then I discovered it was an automatic air freshener spritzing the upper half of the room with a pleasant scent. I guess that's nice too.

The Rain, Rain, Rain Came Down, Down, Down

2011-09-24T07:22:00.000-07:00

The nicest thing about the rain is that it always stops.
Eventually.
- Eeyore

My "rain barrels" tell me it has rained more than six inches in the past week. I'm afraid my garden is going to drown.

Character Sketches

2011-09-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

• Customers can be either the sweetest people in the world or the most cranky. One woman came in yesterday to exchange an item. I messed up her return and though I kept saying, “Let me fix this, I’m fixing it right now,” the verbal abuse poured out of her mouth until she got her item and started to walk away. “Always you mess up my returns, you young people, you get on the phone and you mess up my return and cost me money.”

• Then there are the sweet ones. A woman today told me that I was incredibly helpful and that my boss should double my paycheck. :-)

• A sweet, lovely German woman works at the jewelry counter right next to my department. I think the rudeness of customers is particularly grating on her.

• A woman from Bosnia works in one of the other women’s departments. She is a firecracker! She doesn’t take anything from anyone. She’s a little scary, but so kind, and so good at her job!

• And then there are the two women who work in my department. I think both of them would stay at work all day if the managers would let them, one to work all day and one to talk all day. One of them will clock out, then come back and talk for fifteen more minutes. She takes care of her dad who has Alzheimer’s and her auntie (pronounce onty) who is over ninety-five, and she is great with all of the old people who come in to the store.

• The second woman I work with is the hardest worker in the store. She always knows exactly what’s going on and what needs to go where. I can always tell if she worked the night before because the place is spotless.

Tomorrow:

2011-09-19T20:05:00.001-07:00

Character sketches from work.

Love and Loss

2011-09-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

One of my lovely garlics has died. Though six remain there is a conspicuous gap in the middle of my row. RIP.

Other things begin to sprout, however! My spinach is popping up, as well as a few tomato sprouts.

Spinach:

Thoughts on Working Retail

2011-09-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

• I would like to write a novel on register tape.

• For the employee suggestion box:
o Periodic Z-Rack races
o Store-wide dance party—80’s themed, of course.

• My attitude toward straightening the fitting rooms changes depending on whether the store is busy or not.
o On slow days: “Someone left a shirt in the fitting room, yay!! I’m going to hang it up and put it away as slowly as possible.”
o On busy days: “I just put this @#&% dress away! Geez, can’t anyone put the clothes back on the hangers??”

• This job is feeding my OCD tendencies. On slow days I find myself straightening the racks over and over again, making sure all the hangers are evenly spaced. I have to shop myself from doing it when I walk through other departments or when I’m off the clock so it doesn’t become and uncontrollable habit.

• I think a lot of people go shopping because they don’t have to be nice to the salespeople but the salespeople have to be nice to them.

Not What It Should Be

2011-09-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

I know I still haven't done the promised post on Thoughts on Working in Retail, but I planted the rest of my garden yesterday! I planted tomatoes, spinach, bell peppers, and green onions. As advised by Laura Ingalls I put four (ish) seeds in each little hole, watered them, and am waiting expectantly for the little sprouts to pop up out of the dirt.

I was thinking about Remembering today, mostly because of the date and what happened ten years ago, but also because my pastor started a sermon series on Exodus today. It's amazing to think that the Israelites had completely forgotten God. Nowhere in the first two chapters does it say anything about them praying to God. Moses' mother entrusted him to the Egyptian god of the river when she placed him in the basket, and Moses married a girl whose father was a priest of a desert god in Midian. But still God remembered His people and the promises He had made to their ancestors. Though they did not know God and did not remember His promises, He remembered. Let's not ever forget what God has done for us.

Garlic

2011-09-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here is my lovely garlic garden:

To Come:

2011-09-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

Various thoughts on working retail.

Also, I've transplanted my garlic from pots into the ground. They seem very happy. Picture to follow later.

Garden Update

2011-08-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

My Garlic has begun to sprout!

Summer Accomplished List

2011-08-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

o Moved
o Got rid of three boxes of stuff
o Finished three books
o Joined a community group at church
o Blogged 9 days this summer
o Started a garden
o Got a job!

Gardening

2011-08-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start a garden. I have no idea how it will turn out or even if I will ever get seeds in the ground before "winter," but I'm going to give it a shot.

Things I hope to grow:
• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Peppers
• Potatoes
• Spinach
• Onions
• Chives
• Mint
• Basil
• Rosemary
• Squash
• Strawberries

My future Garden:

Cooking With What You Have

2011-08-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

Today I tried an experiment with Flatbread and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. I Googled "yeast free flatbread recipe" and found a very basic recipe online that only required flour, salt, warm water, and oil, did a little math, and cooked up an easy peasy flatbread.

I put tomato, spinach, and feta cheese on one, wrapped it up, and voila, lunch!

Changes

2011-08-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

• Sister getting married
• New apartment
• New roommates
• (hopefully soon) New Job

A Thought

2011-07-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Mottos are better in Latin. For example:
o Semper Fidelis ("Always Faithful," U.S. Marines)
o Regnum Defende ("Defend the Realm," British Security Services)
o Dominus Illuminatio Mea "(The Lord is my light," Oxford University)
o E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one"; Great Seal of the United States)
o Carpe Diem ("Seize the day")
o Dum spiro spero ("While I breathe, I hope")
o Sic semper tyrannis ("Thus always to tyrants")

Eucharisteo (Giving Thanks)

2011-06-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

o For baby boys being born almost exactly when their mothers predicted, two weeks early
o For Cammie’s toe-prints on my windshield
o For work
o For food in my fridge
o For gas in my car
o For full bottles of shampoo
o For books that make you recognize how good God is

Observations

2011-06-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Genesis 19:15-22, “As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.’ But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.”

Look how good God is to Lot. Though Lot knows perfectly well how wicked the town is in which he lives, still he stays, and would have been destroyed if he hadn’t been forcibly removed. This is how God saves us. He seizes us in the midst of our insane, ridiculous stubbornness (it’s so obvious Lot should leave!) and takes us out of our sin, which would ultimately destroy us. This isn’t about Lot being a better person than his neighbors. He’s not. It’s about God’s undeserved mercy.

Summer Book List

2011-06-09T07:56:00.001-07:00

o One Thousand Gifts – Ann Voskamp
o Gilead – Marilynne Robinson
o Shakespeare: the Complete Works – William Shakespeare
o Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild – Mary A Kassian
o Till We Have Faces – C.S. Lewis
o The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
o Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
o Through the Looking-Glass – Lewis Carroll
o Flannery O’Connor: The Complete Stories – Flannery O’Connor
o Bonhoeffer: Pastor Martyr, Prophet, Spy – Eric Metaxas
o Martin Luther: A Life – Martin Marty
o How Should We Then Life – Francis Schaeffer
o The Four Loves – C.S. Lewis
o Every P.G. Wodehouse book in the Jax library system (if I have time)

Job Ideas So Far

2011-06-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

o Starbucks Barista
o Office Secretary
o Dog Walker
o Barnes and Noble
o Bank Teller
o Nanny
o Flight attendant
o Cruise Ship employee
o Book Editor
o Au pair
o Fabulously Wealthy Person’s Personal Assistant/Secretary
o Dragon Slayer’s Assistant

Summer To Do List

2011-06-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

o Find a job
o Read through the Bible in 90 days
o Read
o Write
o Stay tan
o Paint my desk
o Learn to take good pictures with my crappy camera