Scenes From My Life

10:59 pm - My craft blog

Every now and then, I've made the occasional post referring to some craft item or other that I've made. I've decided that some folks might not be interested in reading those particular entries. I don't want to make yet another filter, so I've gone with the option of creating another LJ account. My current account will continue to function in the way that it has. My new account, servergirl2, will contain pictures of various cross-stitch, knitting, fleece blanket/pillow sets, and any other craft-related topic that strikes my fancy. Feel free to friend that account if you are interested in seeing what I've been up to and what I'm currently working on. As is everything, it is a work in progress and there's not a whole lot on there right now. However, I anticipate getting things up to speed over the coming week.

Current Mood: mellow

02:51 am - I'm Shocked! No, not really.

Who Should Paint You: M.C. Escher

Open and raw, you would let your true self show for your portrait. And even if your painting turned out a bit dark, it would be honest.

Current Mood: amused

12:38 pm - Duane's Meme

Entertainment Weekly has picked their list of The 25 Most Controversial Movies of All Time. Here's the list. Bold the ones that you've seen. If you want BONUS MEME POINTS, pick one of the ones you haven't seen, go put it on your Netflix queue right now and highlight that movie's name in italics.

25. Aladdin
24. Caligula
23. Kids
22. Do the Right thing
21. Bonnie and Clyde
20. Cannibal Holocaust
19. Basic Instinct
18. I Am Curious (Yellow)
17. Freaks
16. United 93
15. Triumph of the Will
14. The Warriors
13. The Da Vinci Code (I'd still ike to get out to see this one in the theater, as time permits)
12. The Deer Hunter
11. The Message
10. Baby Doll
9. Last Tango in Paris
8. Natural Born Killers (watched some of this, but not enough to take credit)
7. The Birth of a Nation
6. The Last Temptation of Christ
5. JFK
4. Deep Throat
3. Fahrenheit 9/11
2. A Clockwork Orange
1. The Passion of the Christ


No bonus points for me, Alex. I don't have a NetFlix account. Oh, wait, maybe I shouldn't admit that in public....

Current Mood: pensive

12:54 am - The Name Game

My Nine Names

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet and current street name)
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME (grandfather/grandmother on your mom's side, your favorite candy):
3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your middle name
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME ( favorite color, favorite animal)
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, hometown)
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name)
7. JEDI NAME (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards)
8. PORN STAR NAME (middle name, street you grew up on)
9. SUPERHERO NAME ("The", your favorite color, the automobile you drive/want):


Answers:
1. Holly Sullivan
2. Gladys Truffles
3. D-Mic
4. Green Peacock
5. Michelle Pennsauken
6. Bee-ell-Bea
7. Ellehcim Llexort
8. Michelle Garfield
9. The Green Jaguar

Current Mood: amused

03:02 pm - In case you wanted to know wherein my interests lie

( Inquiring minds want to know )

Current Mood: amused

08:35 am - Help control the robin population...

Tuesday was a fun-filled day of excitement. I packed-up The Girl and headed off to The Boy's school as a chaperon for the 3rd Grade Picnic. There were games, kids frolicking on the playground, good food, summer birthday celebrations, and a water balloon toss ending with the adults pegging the kids with the remaining water balloons. A good time was had by all.

Later that night, we decided to eat dinner outside. Well, all of us with exception of The Girl who had decided she didn't want dinner. The Husband had made the discovery that there seemed to be an inordinate amount of robins flying about. So, I remarked, "Well, I guess you never can have too many robins, now can you?" To which The Boy replied, "Um, yeah Mom, you can. It's called overpopulation."

Somebody remind me when he got so dang smart?

Current Mood: amused

12:38 pm - State Meme Results for The Kids

Places The Boy has been:



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.


Not bad for an 8 year old.


His sister, on the other hand, is not nearly as well-traveled:



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.


We'll have to work on that.

Current Mood: amused

01:27 pm - Kidsongs

As I'm sitting here typing and The Girl is playing with her Leap Pad, she starts to sing the songs she's memorized from it. Then, she breaks into her rendition of "The Alphabet Song":

*Tune of ABC's*
A,B,C,D,E,F,G,
H,I, DON'T YOU SING WITH ME?
Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y, and Z.
Now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me?

This reminds me of when The Boy was around 4 years old (though The Husband may feel free to correct me and say he might have been 5 at the time. Honestly, I forget). It was Christmas time and The Boy was upstairs while The Husband and I were downstairs in the office. The Boy is audibly singing "The 12 Days of Christmas" a capella. He was getting most of the higher numbers right, but what was most amusing was, while counting backwards, when he got to 5 and lower:

*bellows* FIVE GO-OLD RIIIIIIINGGGGGSSSSS!!!
Four Calming Birds
Three French Skins
Two Turtle Dust
AND A PARTRI-IDGE JINGLE BELL TREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Husband and I cracked-up in hysterics. The Boy had no idea what we were laughing about, which made it all the more funny.

To this day, every Christmas, we still remind him of that scene.

Current Mood: amused

12:42 pm - Apparently, I'm a Bottom-Feeder

Stolen from dagnabit:




create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.



I may have been to Missouri,as well, but the details are a little fuzzy. Erring on the side of caution, I left it off. I clearly need to visit more midwest and northwest states.

Current Mood: amused

08:31 am - Uniformity

After my lunch shift today, I have a meeting with the service manager, the current DC, and my co-DC (apparently Meg and I are already Co-DC's, we don't have to wait until August-ish for the title) to discuss the delegation of duties once we are finished with our summer training. The duties will shift to Meg and I having more responsibility during Mike's last month, so that we have a full month to work out the kinks before he goes back to part-time status.

While getting ready for work this morning, it dawned on me how badly I need new uniforms. My shirts have stains (that are mostly only visible to me), my socks have lost their elasticity, my pants probably pass more for dark charcoal gray than black these days, and my sneakers are pretty beat-up from miles of use. I'm pretty proud of the fact that I've survived almost a full year on the same three shirts/pants and pair of sneakers. However, every time I do the laundry, I make the casual observation that I could probably use a new shirt or pants. But then, I don't want to spend the money on these items until they are on sale and I haven't found them on sale anywhere recently. It's more of an imperative at this point, due to my leadership position within the restaurant and needing to "set the example" for others. In our last full Developers meeting, another Devo had brought up the issue that the dress code needs to be properly enforced and that it's not just regular servers who need to improve their manner of dress. I know he wasn't directing that toward me, because a) my clothes are still presentable and b) he told me it wasn't directed at me.

That said, I still feel the need to get some new garments to include: at least three long-sleeved white oxford shirts, three pairs of black dress pants (not jeans), several pairs of black socks, and a new pair of slip-resistant black sneakers. Now that I have the motivation, I only need to find the time, the money, and the sale. Though I guess if I can find the first two, I can justify not finding the third, if necessary.

Current Mood: happy

06:56 pm - Disclaimer

For those that may not visit my user info page, just an FYI that I have updated it to include the following paragraph:

"My posts are generally related to one of three topics: the restaurant, home life, and memes I find interesting. The memes, most of the home life, and some of the restaurant entries are public. Some home life and a larger number of the restaurant posts are friends-only. There may be times when the restaurant posts may offend delicate sensitivities, as I am either venting about an annoying situation (harsh language may become involved, though I am usually calmer when I get around to posting) or making an observance that will likely squick folks out. Even though I'm not in social work anymore, I still find the human psyche, and resulting actions, intriguing and submit my analyses to this forum. Hopefully this will not discourage readers from any future dining experiences. Conversely, if it helps you build a better relationship with your server, then my work here is done."

Not that most posts here shouldn't be taken with a grain of salt, just fair warning for those who may be put-off by future entries I write that may become more than some people want to know. At some point I'll consider filters, once I figure out how to set them up. Consider this a stop-gap measure.

Current Mood: happy

04:16 pm - Are you gonna write a post about me, mom?

This morning, The Boy informs me that his stomach feels weird. Fever? No. Visible rash? No. Could it be post-nasal drip and he'll feel better after he eats something? Possibly. So, I take the gamble and send him in to school. I get a phone call a little after 10:30 from his teacher telling me The Boy has an upset stomach and, after chatting with the teacher and The Boy on the phone, I decide to come pick him up from school. This task has a slightly higher degree of difficulty when combined with getting The Girl (and myself) ready to leave the house, over to the school, in to the office to pick-up The Boy, and distract The Girl from the playground. She was initially put-out that there would be no playground today; I'll try to make up for it on Thursday when we pick The Boy up after Book Club (he's reading Wishes, Kisses, and Pigs, for those who previously wanted to know).

We get home, he's still reasonably pathetic and holds-out a whole half-hour before asking to play his GameCube. There were cans of gingerale and a packet of saltines consumed, so now he feels better and would like me to get off the computer so he can play PokemonCrater with some of his school-friends on-line. Since he's finished all of his homework, with the exception of his 15-minutes of reading, I guess I'll acquiesce.

Current Mood: mellow

06:39 pm - Birthday celebration, part deux.

Dinner was not incredibly busy last night, so The Husband brought The Kids up to MG for a birthday dessert. They had cut to closers right before their arrival, but I only had two more tables after they showed-up, so it wasn't all that terrible. At first, The Girl made her requisite request for mac&cheese, but was eventually persuaded to have ice cream & cake.

There were a few other birthdays being celebrated, so I sang "Tante Augure" to each of the other tables. When it was time to bring out The Girl's cake, I put it in front of her and she says,"I blow out the candle?" I tell her, "Mommy's going to sing for you first, then you can blow out the candle." I start to sing the Italian version and she stops me after the first line, "No, Mommy, 'Happy Birthday to you!'" So I continue with the traditional Happy Birthday. After I finish, she turns to The Husband and says, "Now you sing, Daddy." Next, she wants The Boy to sing, but we convince her to blow-out the candle instead. She didn't have any of the cake, but was content to eat her ice cream and attempt to finish her brother's.

I tried not to feel too guilty about working on her birthday and am glad that I got to spend some portion of it with her. Ironically, the trainee that had been scheduled to follow me last night was celebrating his birthday, as well.

Current Mood: tired

12:41 am - So what if I'm a few hours early?

Happy 3rd Birthday to The Girl! It's amazing to look back a year ago when she was just turning 2 and see how much she has grown since then. It resonated with me more-so while at the Spring Instrumental Concert at The Boy's school. I was pregnant with The Girl during The Boy's kindergarten year and gave birth weeks before our first experience with the annual Strawberry Festival held at the school every June. Walking around the campus before the concert and during post-concert mingling in the refreshment area, I'd run into a school teacher or parent of a classmate who'd comment on how grown-up The Girl was or how they'd mistaken her for one of the students already attending the school. "It seems like she was born just yesterday!" "Is she 3 already?" "We can't wait to have her with us in the Fall." They've had a more sporadic interaction with her, as they may only see her a couple of times each school year.

I guess, because we live with her, we take for granted how she has grown and developed over the years. When we moved to this house, she was just perfecting her walking ability and getting a handle on the basics of the spoken word. Now she strolls comfortably about the house and yard as if she owns the place. She is able to carry on a basic conversation (real or pretend) and expresses genuine thoughts instead of purely mimicking our phrases back to us like she did a year ago. She's turning into her own little person, her personality is developing, her sense of humor is maturing. She's struggling with wanting to be independent, but still needing to be dependent on us in some areas. She's really not a toddler anymore.

Current Mood: contemplative

11:37 am - OMG! I married my teacher!

( These are not the Droids you're looking for )


For those who haven't figured it out, The Husband is Qui-Gon Jinn.

Current Mood: amused

01:07 am - Burning the candle at both ends

Yes, it's late and I should be doing something way more productive than posting an LJ entry. This week is going to be insanely busy, I can only hope to survive through Sunday. Here's what the week promises to look like:

Tuesday 5/16/06: Off from MG. Stay home with The Girl, do household chores, go to store to get small cake for tonite and order larger cake for the weekend, attend The Boy's instrumental concert in the evening, head back to house with various grandparents to celebrate The Girl's birthday a day early.

Wednesday 5/17/06: Wish The Girl a real Happy 3rd Birthday. Head in to MG at 10:45am to Saluta for the lunch shift, work as Server for dinner shift and stay to close the restaurant. If lucky, head home in between shifts to get household chores done. While at the restaurant, attempt to not guilt myself for not being home for The Girl's birthday.

Thursday 5/18/06: Off from MG. Stay home with The Girl, do household chores, pick-up The Boy from Book Club after school, take The Kids to the playground (weather-permitting), head home to prep dinner and await The Husband's return from working the 10-6 shift. Consider "Popcorn & Movie Night" if we don't need to run out to the store to grab last-minute food items for Sunday. Attempt more general tidying once The Kids are in bed.

Friday 5/19/06 & Saturday 5/20/06: The schedule isn't posted at work yet, but I presume to be working a double both of these days and closing dinner on Saturday night. This leaves The Husband with the dual responsibility of child-wrangling (though, The Boy is scheduled to have a play-date on Saturday) and prepping the house for Sunday visitors.

Sunday 5/21/06: Wake earlier than humanly necessary to prep food, ready the house, wrangle children, and celebrate The Girl's birthday with our dear friends and family members who are able to attend.

I don't have to be in the restaurant until 5:30pm on Monday, so I might get a chance to recover during the day. That is, if The Girl lets me.

Current Mood: overwhelmed

01:03 pm - $121.00

Is what it costs to make 10 batches of dirt cake. On sale, the ingredients came to about $10.00/batch for a total of $100.00. Then, throw in the cost for 10 buckets to put them in at $1.99/bucket + tax for about $21.00. Grand total: $121.00. Of course, I have the receipts to submit for reimbursement. And, I am getting reimbursed for this. I'd love to say that I have $121.00 that I don't need to spend on anything else and can consider a voluntary contribution to the cause. But, let's be honest; I don't. My immediate manager assures me I'll see the money. She just doesn't want to show Micheal (the GM) the receipts until after he's eaten his fair share of the cake.

That said, in the past two days, I have eight batches of cake prepped and delivered to the restaurant. I have two more batches to make and take in with me today. The Boy and The Husband have been instrumental in the "crushing of the oreos." My job is to mix the remaining ingredients and layer into the buckets with the crushed oreos. I have a bag of gummy worms set aside to add on top to all the buckets once I get to the restaurant. I just hope that I'll actually want to eat any of it after spending so much time making all of it.

Current Mood: pleased

01:38 pm - As it should be...

You Were Actually Born Under:

You are totally loyal, faithful, and honest. However, you don't trust others to be as ethical as you are! Straight forward and direct, you really aren't one for small talk. You are a great listener - and an agreeable companion when you're in a good mood! You are most compatible with a Tiger or Horse.

You Should Have Been Born Under:

You are totally loyal, faithful, and honest. However, you don't trust others to be as ethical as you are! Straight forward and direct, you really aren't one for small talk. You are a great listener - and an agreeable companion when you're in a good mood! You are most compatible with a Tiger or Horse.

Current Mood: amused

06:29 pm - Let them eat dirt (cake)!

A few weeks ago, the managers were having a meeting at one of the booths. One of the things they were discussing was the aforementioned entry regarding the May 1st protest. The other issue of importance was Mother's Day. It's apparently their 3rd most popular/busy day right behind Valentine's Day and New Years' Eve. As such, I am scheduled to work that day. I don't go in until 3:00 instead of my usual 4:00 Sunday dinner, so that allows me time to hang out with the family doing whatever it is we end up doing.

Back to the meeting. They called various developers (staff trainers) over to discuss what their assigned "devo projects" were. One of my co-workers comes over to me and lets me know that the managers want to see me at their booth. I proceed over to find them very solemn. This is the exchange we had:

Manager #1: "So, you've been a Devo for a couple of weeks now."
Me: *nods in agreement*
Manager #2: "Things going pretty well?"
Me: "I'd say, so far, yes."
Manager #3: "Well, we were just discussing Devo Projects and it's time to give you yours."
Me: "Bring it on."
Manager #1: "We need 10 buckets of dirt (cake) for Mother's Day."
Me: "Okay."
Manager #2: "No, really, we're serious."
Me: "I'm sure you are. So am I."
Manager #1: "We'll reimburse you for the cost"
Me: "For the ingredients and the buckets?" *looks pointedly at General Manager*
Manager #3: "For the ingredients and the buckets. Just bring us in the receipts."

Fast forward to today. I've just converted the recipe for the equivalent of 10 batches of dirt cake, for which I will need:

15 packages of oreos, 10 packages of cream cheese, 5 sticks of butter, 20 boxes of vanilla pudding, 2 gallons of milk, 15 containers of Cool Whip(tm), and a metric ton of gummi worms. Not to mention the actual buckets to put it all in.

I'm now sitting here wondering how I'm going to pull this all off. My main plan of attack involves shopping tomorrow morning for ingredients and buckets, then have The Boy assist me in crushing all the oreos (the prospect of which excites him very much). I don't have the fridge space to store 10 buckets of dirt cake, so I don't know where I'll keep it if I make all of it at once. I could make 5 batches and take in with me to my dinner shift tomorrow night, but then that leaves 5 more batches to make before Sunday. I work a double on Saturday and I'm not necessarily sure I want to spend the morning portion of my Mother's Day making 5 more batches of dirt cake. I could make 10 batches to take in tomorrow night, but I fear they won't make it until Sunday due to the rabid beasts my co-workers sniffing them out and consuming them. I will likely call the restaurant to solicit suggestions from management, maybe they'll consider giving me off lunch on Saturday to finish the remaining batches I don't make on Friday. At any rate, this should be interesting.

Current Mood: determined

12:48 pm - Yard Sale Results

So Saturday came and went, with relative success, I might add. After getting home from the restaurant at some late hour Friday night, The Husband and I stayed up until 2am Saturday morning with general tidying and pre-sale organizing. I had also been informed on my on-the-way-home phone call that, not only were my parents coming up to visit for the yard sale, but now it was possible that The Husband's parents were also contemplating a visit, as well. If I hadn't already been planning on cleaning for one set of parents, two sets made it an imperative. However my M-I-L's philosphy is: "If you want to see me, come on over. If you want to see my house, give me two weeks." I can see it's merits. That said:

6am Saturday morning came earlier than either of us wanted it to. The Husband mainly focused on setting-up for the yard sale, while I focused on the home interior. By the time my parents arrived at 8:30, the main floor of the house was respectable (kitchen, living room, dining room) and the bedrooms were in decent enough condition that the doors didn't need to be closed to keep out wandering eyes. At that point, I went outside to help with the selling of all our unwanted worldly possessions. My father was instrumental in ensuring that we got the best prices possible for our stuff. We also had the pleasure of spritelyone gracing us with her presence (not to mention relieving us of a large number of Batman-related comics).

The Kids awoke around 9:00, whether or not they wanted to, due to some assistance from my mother. Dad went out to get some much-needed bagels and coffee from the local Dunkin' Donuts. The Kids hung-out outside at the sale, played in the backyard, and went in the house when it got too hot outside. My parents had to leave around 12:30 for my dad to go into the office for a few hours. Not to worry, though, The Husband's parents arrived shortly after and we had burgers for lunch thanks to mom manning the grill. We started wrapping things up between 2 & 3, the second set of 'rents departed, and I had to get ready for my dinner shift at the restaurant.

The Boy had his own wares for sale and received all the profits from the sales thereof. Minus his purchase of a $5 rock tumbler kit from the neighbors across the street hosting their own yard sale, he made a grand total of $80. He decided to put half in the bank and use the other half to purchase whatever he wants (within reason). We made out pretty decently for it being our first yard sale on our own, around $200 give or take.

We're (okay, I'm) planning on doing at least two more this year, possibly in July/August and Oct/Nov. The main thing I think we need to work on is either setting an actual price and tagging the item as such from the outset or, at the very least, know ahead of time how much we want to get for an item. We winged it well-enough, but might have fared better if we didn't have to think on our feet as much. It was exhausting, but worth it in the end.

Current Mood: tired