Sadness in my heart

Yesterday, the Hubs forwarded an email from his Mom to me.

What I read made my heart sink.

The Hubs has a cousin "RS" that I adore. RS was the first member of the Hubs family that I met. He made me feel comfortable right off the bat. And he's kind of like me. Accepting but cautious of new people. Loving. Private. RS is married and has two daughters. I adore his wife "DS" as well because she's just like RS. They moved to the South this summer because RS got a fabulous contract job.

It turns out that DS mother is sick and has been in the hospital for a few weeks now. Someone actually called DS and told her that her mom has an infection. And that DS should come to the hospital as soon as possible.

Reading this made me stop. It was such a feeling of deja vu. You see, the same thing happened seven years ago in my family. A few days after Christmas 2001, my Mom called me around 2am. My Grandma got sick after Thanksgiving. And she was getting even more sick. My folks had place my Grandma into a hospice facility about a week into her illness because she needed 24 hour care. When my Mom called she spoke in a whisper on the verge of tears.

Your Grandma is getting more sick. If you can come, I think that would be best.

That's all I needed to hear. I was up like shot. I was on the phone with Southwest and booked a flight 20 minutes after I finished speaking with my Mom. The Princess and I were scheduled for a mid-morning flight. It was a pretty booked flight so I could only get the Princess on as a lapchild. The Princess was 15 months old and she did not enjoy that flight. She cried as we went up into the air. I was like an empty shell. I didn't know what to think. It was all too overwhelming. All I could do was hold my girl close and rock her as I whispered "It's okay. It's okay." into her ear.

The Princess and I visited with my Grandma. I sat on a chair next to the bed while I held my Grandma's hand and spoke to her. The Princess sat on the edge of the bed and patted my Grandma's arm as I spoke. I talked about our life. How much my Grandma meant to me. How much I loved growing up with her in our house. That I learned to love people by watching her and my Mom. I let her know that I knew that she was in pain physically and that she could let go when she felt it was right. That we were here and that we'd help my Mom. It was hard to say but it was important to say. Sis#1, Rambo, and their girls made it in the late afternoon. They all sat and had their time speaking with my Grandma. We were all there in the late evening.

The next morning we were all driving into the hospice. LilSis drove the Princess and I in from my Mom's house. We were circling the hospice when we got a call. My Grandma had passed away. She finally let go as the sun was rising that morning. It was December 31.

I actually think that my Grandma waited until that morning to allow herself to go. I think she waited until we were all together. And she didn't want to spoil Sis#1 birthday, which was Dec 30. So she waited until that glorious morning to release her spirit.

And so....this situation with DS and RS reminds me of what I went through. And my heart breaks for them as they go through it. So if you have a loved one that you cherish? Please let them know how much they mean to you.

I am so in the mood...

No. Get your thoughts out of the gutter. I get enough of that.

I'm in the mood for some Chinese food. Not that mass produced food. The Hubs and kids enjoy the fast-food version that you can get at the mall's food court. [sigh]

I want some yummy fried rice. Pork lo mein. Kung pao chicken (spicy). And some Peking duck? OH! I'm hungry now.

What are you craving this Christmas season?

You know what I still find funny? That when we're at my ILs house and we order Chinese food? It's not the Chinese food I'd typically order. It's a place that touts itself to be high-end Chinese food. But it's definitely for lack of a better phrase -- Americanized. Anyway, when we order and eat with my ILs? They order their own individual entree. Seriously. They order their own meal and that's it. WTF? So the Hubs and I? We share.

I guess I'm used to eating Chinese food family-style. Aren't you? When I'm with my side of the family, we just count up how many people are going to be eating and we order a bunch of entrees. We order enough entrees so that everyone can get a good amount to eat. Typically, we'll get soup and get a bowl large enough where everyone can get at least one bowl. Then a pork and a chicken dish. If there are enough of us then we'll order a beef and a seafood dish. Then if that's not enough food then we'll get more food. Then we grab a spoonful of each entree. This way we get a taste of everything! YUMMY!

Technology is always changing

But why is it when technology changes that some of the "improved" items just suck the big one?

I mean seriously!

The testing teams that have to go through new software packages REALLY need to check things out. Those who perform beta roll-outs have to really think like a customer. People really need to perform capacity testing to ensure that the new software works at the same speed or a faster speed than the previous version.

The reason I bring this up?

I use Google Reader to read the latest posts on all my favorite blogs. Apparently, the reader went through an upgrade just this past week. Fine and dandy. Or so you'd think. Why is it that the darn reader is going through somersaults to try to open the page I need?

"Loading...."

"Loading..."

"Loading..."

I don't think it's supposed to load and give me a BLANK screen.

ARGH!!!!!!

I know it's not a system issue because every other site/server I use comes up lickity-split. Like normal. So it's definitely an issue with this particular product.

You folks over at Google? This certainly is a doozy. BAD move on moving to the "improved" reader program. Doesn't seem like y'all tested enough. Better to roll out a product late than to roll out a product that sucks.

And the holidays get going full steam

I'm tired. It's not even 7pm on Sunday and I'm T-I-R-E-D!

Saturday the Princess had her first real Girl Scout related event. The girls had their annual caroling program at a local retirement home. Our troop convened at the elementary school to coordinate girls and drivers around 9:30am. Eight girls showed up at the school and five parents (including myself) were there ready to drive. I realized standing there that since the Princess is new to the troop, she might have a better time without me. That she'd be able to be her giggly self when I wasn't around.

Me: Do you think it'll be okay if I bow out? I think I want the Princess to ride in a car with some of the other girls so she can get to know them better.
Leader: You know what? That's a good idea. She really is on the quiet side so this'll be a good time to be with just the girls.
Me: I know that she doesn't open up as much when she's with a new group if I'm there to fall back on.
Leader: She'll go in my car with my daughter. You know how chatty my daughter is!

So the Princess ended up having a BLAST! I actually picked her up at the mall where they went after the caroling to grab lunch. I spotted the group after I'd only walked a few feet through the food court doors. I actually stopped and watched as they were all giggling and talking around a couple tables. It was great to see the Princess fit into the group so nicely!

What's funny is that when I finally came over to the group and tapped on the Princess shoulder, I spotted one of her friends from school ordering lunch at one of the fast-food places. It was a gal who was one of her best friends last year. This year the two are friendly but not best friends. This girl's parents are currently going through a divorce and the girl switches between good and bad behavior.[sigh] Anyway, the girl was there with her brother (who is in the Bear's class) and her Dad. We stopped for a couple minutes to chat with them. They were grabbing some lunch and shopping for Christmas outfits -- they're visiting some family they haven't seen in a while next weekend.

After we got home, I went out and started decorating the front yard. Got our little lighted tree string out and pounded those into the ground. I then inspected our outside strings of lights to make sure they worked. THREE of my strings had a bunch of lightbulbs out, so those got set to the side. I was only able to decorate our one tree. Because of all the cuts I received last year, I made sure to put on gloves so I wouldn't get nicked by the nasty little thorns that are on some of the branches. Unfortunately, I didn't finish decorating because I didn't have enough time to troubleshoot the strings that had the lights out. We had a party to go to!

Our neighbor that's moving to Taiwan was having a gathering with all their friends. It was so sad to know that they'd be gone in a few weeks. But it was nice to know that they are going to keep their house. They were able to talk an uncle into moving into their house to take care of it. Didn't take much convincing since he'll be able to live there rent-free!

We ended up going out to Chili's for dinner. The kids and I were at the party until about 4:45pm and the Hubs hadn't started anything. So out to dinner we went. What was funny is that the Mom of the girl we saw at lunch was working. The Princess said hi to her and let her know that we'd seen her daughter at lunch at the Mall. Turns out the Mom had also visited the same mall around lunchtime. HA! What a coincidence!

Today I finished decorating outside. All I had to do up front is get lights strung on our 2nd tree. Then I finished up the backyard. The Hubs put up our blow-up penguin in the backyard yesterday. But I put up our twinkling icicle lights on the fence. What sucked was that it was cold -- like 58 degrees. And then it sprinkled a little bit while I was attaching the strings onto the fence. Oy! But the outside of our house is nicely festive. Yeah!

We decided to scale down the inside of the house a little bit. The Hubs didn't put any garland on our tree. We're not putting greenery and lights on our stairs and loft banister. Even so, the kids had a blast putting up the ornaments. We had them put up ALL the ornaments -- even the glass ones! Of course, we took a few minutes to reposition some of the ornaments to get coverage on the top of our tree. The kids were SO proud of themselves that they were able to decorate the tree pretty much on their own.

Now how about you? Have you got everything decorated the way you want it?

And for your viewing pleasure here are the kidlings with the UTC Santa over Thanksgiving weekend.

Frolicking and looking

Guess what I'm about to do?

Go out. And shop. By myself. HA!

I'm going to a nearby mall to check things out while the kidlings are at school. Y'all know that I DETEST shopping at the mall. But I am going to try my best to maneuver through it with the least amount of confusion. I have "somewhat" of a plan. One book store. One toy store. There are more than 20 shops in between the two places I plan on hitting, so I have no idea what I'll end up buying.

Now that we have our WEEEEeeeee safely tucked on the top shelf in our closet, the Hubs and I have kind of lost some motivation. But I must venture forth and get things from Santa for the kids. They've both been terrific this year and they deserve some nice treats. The Hubs says I spoil the kids. But what's a Mom to do?

We'll be putting up all our decorations this weekend. I'll be outside tackling our backyard fence -- stringing up the lights -- and hammering in our blowup penguin in the yard. I'll be trying to keep my fingers safe from thorns as I string lights up in our two trees in the front yard. It's going to be fun. But work nonetheless. At least it'll be a beautiful weekend to be outside though. The low 70's are expected Saturday and Sunday.

Now have you tackled most of your Christmas decorations? All your shopping? What do you plan on doing this weekend/

On a musical note

Have you seen this video? It's a pretty good mix that was made in 1998 and is suddenly a HIT. The local radio station had an interview with a couple of the guys from the group on the video this morning and I was just able to watch the song.

One of the guys put this particular song on YouTube so that his buddies could watch them. And guess what? In January 2008, they got a call from a label. The guys have gotten back together. TEN YEARS LATER! Because of a YouTube video!

Straight No Chaser now has a Christmas album out. So go check them out. These are just regular guys who didn't think anything of it when they were in college. They all went on into the real world and now? They're drawn back into music.

AMAZING!

We got it! We got it!

I picked up that darn Wii yesterday before I got the kids from school.

They have NO IDEA that Santa will be leaving a Wii under the Christmas tree this year.

They are going to be SO surprised!

Of course, the Hubs is happy that we were able to get one. I mean, he looked at Best B** and didn't find anything. At Best B** he spoke with an employee who worked in the section and he said that he didn't know when a shipment would be coming in. And when the Hubs asked if they had a waitlist, the employee said they didn't do that. No customer service at all. Go figure.

Luckily I hooked us up with a great place -- my local Blockbuster! They have an AWESOME team working there. All the employees smile and look at you when they're chatting with you. Really GOOD people. And that's why I continue to regularly get things from this location.

Now you see the difference between the two stores? One has great customer service. The other place has horrible service. So the place that has positive employees and a good atmosphere receives more business from me. The other place will no longer be visited. Seriously. That's the way it is.

In this kind of economical climate, businesses need to distinguish themselves from other places. And here locally? If you have good customer service that will totally separate you from all the regular places. Around here, it seems that people don't have pride in their work. Everything is done slowly. Everything is done poorly. Drives me crazy! C-R-A-Z-Y!!!

During our drive home on Sunday we stopped by a fast-food place. I noted that there were a few dirty tables and the one trash can was filled to the brim. While we ate at one of the clean tables, one of the employees went around the eating area. This person wiped down two tables and then went back behind the counter. One of the tables that was wiped? Wasn't wiped down very well. It still had shmutz on it. How do I know? Because I was in the very next table. This person didn't do anything about the full trash can. AND there were about 3 other dirty tables that weren't attended to. WTF? If you're going to go out into the lobby, then CLEAN it. I know what I'm talking about. I worked at Mickey D's for a year. And I did the lobby a LOT. It doesn't take much skill to go through the lobby in a circular manner and wipe down tables. Then take out the trash. It's SIMPLE! Argh!

Now do YOU go out of your way to visit stores/restaurants that give you great customer service?

Practically in my hot little hands

I got some fabulous news this afternoon.

What you ask?

I got a call from someone who told me that the kids BIG Christmas gift is coming on a truck tomorrow!

[happily dancing]

I am SO excited. Even the Hubs is ecstatic that the kids will get this gift.

Now we'll have something active to do when we're stuck inside during the summer months - when it's 110 outside!

Now have you made a big dent in your holiday gift list?