I am mad...

I am mad. I am very mad at a family member. Same family member that almost had me kicked out of Rockefeller center two years ago after the Rockette's when she decided to get in my face when I called her out on something. I do not do this until I have really had it and I had really had it with her in NY. I thought about not posting this because of this person but only one person that reads my blog knows who she is in real life and I do not really care right now. It is my blog and I can write whatever I want.

This aunt of mine, well she is a doozy to deal with. She is the oldest child and is manipulative and needs to be in control and feel important. She has informed my grandparents, her parents ( my mom's parents too ) that she is the only one who can take her parents to the doctor. She is in control of them medically. She has also bought them through the years and they never stand up to her either. Well you see, both her and my mom have power of attorney, she is not in control. My mom has decided some battles are worth battling and some are not so she has stopped battling until today. You see last week while on vacation my aunt broke her arm and can not drive. My mom and my cousin both informed her that my mom could take my 91 and 95 year old grandparents to their doctor's appointments during this time. Oh no, she would have no part of this. She has convinced my granddad at 95 to come pick her up at home before going to appointments. Well, today she had an appointment within one hour of an appointment for them. She had her daughter take her to her appointment and informed my grandfather to come pick her up. She gave him some shoddy directions. I get a phone call at our business from a familiar number but I did not recognize the voice. To cut some details out,it is my grandparents cell number and I am informed from this lady that she is in a parking lot with my grandparents and they are confused and lost. See my aunt had them going to a place they had never been. I left work to go meet them so at this point I am furious. Furious because she is so selfish and controlling that she sent them to somewhere they did not know and put them in a vulnerable position. I get to where they are and tell my grandfather I am driving and he quickly got out despite being 95. He usually will say something to defend her. He knew I was mad, not at them , but at her and he had nothing to say.

I was told to go pick her up. I went to look for her and at age 36 with the directions she gave me, I could not find the place. I am just getting madder and madder. At this point, I called my mom and said a few words like.. "to h*&# with my aunt, I am taking them to their doctor's appointment and she can sit at the office until someone comes to get her. " ( Sorry guys, I only use profanity when I am mad and that word is actually in the Bible.) My mom is in another part of town and is the go-between because when I tried to call my aunt she did not answer her cell phone. I would love to have seen her face when she found out I was not coming to pick her up and I was taking them to the doctor , not her. When my mom informed her, you know what she said..."Well how am I going to get home?" No inquiries on how her parents are, only about her. I almost called her back to tell her butt to walk home but at this point my mind is on getting my grandmother to her appointment. Well we get there and I get her in the office and I am in the office with my grandmother and the doctor. She comes waltzing in, she had my cousin come and get her and take her to my grandmother's appointment. She walks in and I am the one talking to the doctor and she is not happy. Even after she arrives the doctor continues to talk to me and not her and I just sat and listened. I know it was killing her. I was actually blocked and could not leave. I saw my police officer cousin in the hallway beckoning me to come out. Number one, he was scared there was going to be an argument in the doctor's office and was trying to get me out before words were exchanged. You see his wife was in NY when the fallout happened at Rockefeller Center and she was scared. Number two, he was my ride back to my vehicle. My aunt looked at me and said, " Thank you sweetie, you are such a sweetheart." See ever since the Ny incident she has kissed my butt because she knows she pushed me too far that night. I have been cool to her ever since. I gave her my look that kills and answered her with this, " Fefe has to go to the bathroom." . You see I know when the proper time is and when it is not. This situation is far from over though. Far from over.

Do you know that the wrong person could have been in that parking lot and taken full advantage of my grandparents? There are some crazy people out here.

How can she be this selfish and controlling? Well I could write a month of blogs on that one.
My sister called me and was mad at me for not driving my grandparents home. She was afraid my aunt would be mad and yelling at them for getting lost. She probably would. I could not drive them and her back home because then I would be 35-40 minutes from my car with no way home. Wow, how did someone get mad at me for trying to find them and getting them to where they should be? How did I become the bad guy?

I had to borrow $5 from my cousin to get a late lunch because I flew out of work with nothing but my keys and license, nothing but $2 in my pocket. Did you know that $7 at Fazoli's will only buy you a double slice of pizza and a drink. I was starving and very thirsty and had to decide between food and drink. I finally saw pizza and a drink was $6.11. Did you know a double slice of pizza from Fazoli's is equal to one slice of pizza anywhere else? Did you know when I took it back to work, my mom was hungry too and ate part of it?


Did I also mention this was the last night of VBS at church and the AC would not cool the room below 81 all week?

What a day!

Just think, Saturday is a work day for me. No rest for the weary.

I was beat up today...

I really was beat up today but not by a customer... I know it will happen one day when I lose it on a crazy person and go ballistic.
I was beat up by objects and things. This morning I hit my hip on an opened drawer in the kitchen. It hurt too. I went into work and scratched my arm on a sharp edged box. Then just a few moments later someone had placed a plexiglass object under the counter but had the corner sticking out. You got it, I hit it. It caused a poke and a scratch on my leg. We had VBS at church and I was helping with the projector and somehow scratched my other arm and was bleeding but I was clueless until someone pointed it out. Oh it does not stop there. When I came home the cat was blocking the bathroom door and evidently he was in a mood too and decided to smack and bite the other leg because I moved my foot too close to him.
Is it bedtime yet because I really do not have many limbs left today that are willing to take a punch or puncture?

A thought and a rant...

Why do you keep eating fresh salsa from a mexican restaurant even though it is so hot your tongue is burning and you are crying?
Honestly, I kept digging in for more. I guess I was thinking that if I kept eating the heat would go away. I just don't know why I punish myself sometimes. Yes it is fresh and good but that zip is just too much but I keep on dipping. Oh my why !

And now for the rant....
Why would you come in my store and ask for my help for a bridal shower gift and then find something wrong with everything I show you? Honestly, I do not think you wanted my help. I showed her all sorts of things. Everything was too small, too big, too much, too cheap and on and on. Then she asked if I had a devotional the young lady could read. I go to that section and pull some great books. Then she responds, that she does not know her denomination so she does not want a devotional. I am frustrated at this point and politely tell her to look around and I am floating if she needs help. She looks in the book section and appears with one of the devotionals I showed her that she did not want. Can you guess what she said? She said, I found a book here I think she will like. Oh yeah she found the book that I had already suggested. ARRGH! Sometimes it takes all my might to keep my mouth shut. I did suggest she buy a gift card to someplace the bride is registered at , she informed me that when you buy a gift card then they know how much you spent so she was going to give her this book with a check in it. Ok, I know she does not know what you paid for the little book but she will know what you wrote the check for which is no different than a gift card. ARRGH!

Another one.
One lady came in today wanting me to tell her how to start a library . Honestly, I have no idea. I am a bookstore not a library. Go to a library and ask them how to start a library. Actually what she was hinting at is that she wanted to know who our book distributors were and where we get our books. Sorry but that is classified, I want to still be here next month. You can buy your books for your library from us, thank you. Bookstore business is tough. I had another lady come in and wanted all of our old catalogs so she could order some books from the companies. Come on people, we have not been in this business for 30 years to just give out all the information we have learned.
One man came in asking for a Bible stand, as I pulled out a catalog and turned to the page he kept asking me if he can order it direct, I told him no that I could drop ship it to his home. Come to find out he is a business and was trying to find out who my vendor was. I was distracted by another customer and he turned the book getting the information off the back of the catalog when I curtly removed the book from his hand and informed him that was my information and it would remain that way. You would never believe what we go through. Some may say we are not helpful, no we are not when you are trying to cut our throat. We already compete with the big chains, internet, the Wally Worlds , publishers selling direct and so much more. So no I am not going to tell you where I get my books from as a retailer.
WOW! Sorry I am done ranting now.

Those of you who know me in real life, know that I am not an aggressive person. I am pretty much laid back and go with the flow. When it comes to the business and fighting for every dime so I can be ensured a paycheck, you bet I become aggressive. I actually get so flabbergasted at how bold people are these days. Sometimes I really think that I am the abnormal one in society and all of these customers are normal. That is scary.... By the way, I think I need a vacation.

A Rant and a Rave...

Two part post... First the rant.

Why do people want to act like being adopted is bad or a joke?

Today I was behind some young adults on a train at Busch Gardens. They were joking on each other and their mommas. Two of them must have been siblings because at first he said that his momma was her momma and what not. She turned and laughed and said, my mom isn't really your momma because you are adopted. Oh my, something inside of me raged. I did not say anything but boy did I want to. The first thought was that I was so glad my nephew was not with me this time on the train. Then I wanted to cry.

Adoption is awesome. God placed the child in that home as a blessing. I thought about approaching them in kindness and saying that adoption is nothing to tease about, really it is great. Love is not based on birth or blood. I love my nephew so much and it does not cross my mind 99% of the time that he is adopted. He looks like us and acts like us. ( Except the kid loves to be outdoors all day, biological father was a construction worker) When does it cross my mind, well when we are out in a big place like Busch and wonder if his biological parents are around. It took me a long time to call them his biological parents because they really are not his parents, my sister and her husband are his parents. But then I think they did love him enough to know they could not care for him and provide him a good life that they placed him where another set of parents could. I am thankful for this everyday.

People, being adopted is not shameful and it is not to be joked about. Your parents are who raise you and love you regardless of bloodline.

We are told a lot that my nephew was blessed to have us and I correct them and tell them that no we are blessed to have him. He is such a delight in our life.

Now on to my rave... You may just need a staycation.

Today our plans were messed up because my brother-in-law ended up being off and we would not have munchkin. He had asked us if we wanted to go to Busch Gardens and we told him to call us when he decided to go. Well he went and did not call. Sometimes he is inconsiderate. We eventually called him and met them at Busch for about an hour. Well after that we decided to enjoy lunch at one of the restaurants that we want to go to because every time we go we are always having to please munchkin or my dad. Well we went to the Smokehouse for some ribs, good chicken and brisket. We took our time eating and my mom even had dessert. From there we headed to the Caribou Pottery where we used to paint ceramics. My mom finished a piece she was working on and I sat , read and conversated. It was a great afternoon. I called it our mini staycation. We did not really go anywhere but we were away from all the stress of work and family. As much as I love going to Busch with munchkin , it was refreshing to be there with no obligations.

If you need to get away, you don't always have to go away. Just find a local park or coffee spot and leave the stress at home or work for a few hours. It really is refreshing.

Happenings...

WARNING ANY MEN MAY WANT TO STOP HERE...

TODAY IS A WOMANS POST

Today I was blessed. I went in for my yearly checkup from my surgery in 07. I was prepared to pay for the visit even though I was broke. I had borrowed money to cover the visit. The receptionist said, put your money up you have a $154 credit. I was flabbergasted because I have no medical insurance now and knew that I would be getting a bill from my previous visit between my copay and the uninsured amount. I did give praise the to the Lord for that and continued to do so throughout the day. I still tried to figure out the credit but can not figure out where it came from. Oh well, I guess it is not meant for me to figure out. Praise the Lord!

Now for you women that procrastinate your well-woman check-ups. JUST GO! I learned in 07 that if you procrastinate it only makes things worse. Then you may end up in the hospital where all the doctors want to look at your HOOHA. Go yearly and it is just you the doctor and the nurse. Well that is unless you are me and then it is your doctor, his resident, the nurse and guess what, she was training a nurse too. So four people were in there for my much hated appointment. Talk about uncomfortable. It was still less in that room than in my surgery room in 07 and I am sure less than the number in the delivery room too. My point is just go and have it done, get it over with. The worry is worse than the few minutes of embarrassment.

On to other things. I think I am going to hire my nephew to work with us at our christian bookstore. Since he is 6 , he has the ability to say things and get away with it. Today a lady came in and asked if we carried film for a camera. I told her no and he responded too. He said, " Film for a camera, Golly, we are a Christian Bookstore, we don't have film." He had me rolling. If I had said that, I would have been rude. A six year old says it and it is cute, go figure.

Oh well, off to rest, I was up at 5:30 AM because I was afraid I would out sleep the alarm at 6:30 AM for my doctors appointment. I don't do mornings very well.

Pondering Thoughts 2

1- We were Blessed yesterday. My mom picks one weekday to go and spend the day with my grandparents. She goes to stay a few hours but because of their needs she ends there all day doing various things. (Side note: She also goes up one day on the weekend if they do not go to church.) Well because of this and my work schedule, no dinner was fixed. I received a phone call from a dear friend that lives two houses down who had just buried her grandmother the day before. Their family had been given so much food from their church that they were wondering if they could send us a tray full of spaghetti. We were delighted. They were able to bless us with things that people had made to bless them during their grievance. They are only a family of four and they had enough food for 30. She was also able to bless another neighbor too. Thank you , Lord.

2- I have no tolerance for 8-12 year old girls. I can not go into detail because I always worry someone will read it and know who I am referring to. I have not figured out if I really do not like this age girls or if the three girls I have encountered in three different places are not the normal girl in that age group. One whines constantly and nothing is ever fair, one mooches and is manipulative, oh I could tell you some stories on her that would make your head spin, she has everyone snowed but me and my mom then the last one just rewords or asks questions that I already answered. For instance, we discussed flip-flops. I told her I don't care for flip flops. She asked why. I explained that I do not like the feeling of things between my toes. Her response, why don't you like things between your toes. I wanted to scream because God made me this way. We then continued onto other questions in which she would ask a question based on what I had just answered. She was the 12 year old too. I felt like my nephew was back in the "WHY? Three year old stage". I had to deal with this girl for hours. If you have a girl in this age group , maybe I need to come hang out with you to see if these girls I am dealing with are abnormal. I really hope these three are abnormal because I really do love kids .

3-I really need a pedicure... Anyone have $25 I can borrow?

4-Please uplift my friend Angela and her family in prayer. Less than a month ago they had to put their dear 6 year old dog to sleep then last Sunday her grandmother died. I know you cant put a pet's life on the same level as a human life but that is a lot of heartbreak for one family in one month. Please also uplift another friend of mine, B, she is going through a lot with medical issues with her mom and husband right now.

5- For those of you that read my blog will be happy to know that I threw away a pair of shoes, it is a start. GO ME!

6- Why do people feel the need to talk and smack their lips when their mouths are full of food? We offer free cheap cookies at work and customers pick one up and continue to chomp, munch, grunt and smack their food while they are asking me a question. I really hate that and have considered doing away with the cookies for that purpose.

7- Why do customers feel that I am not worthy of their attention while they are on their cell phones while I wait on them? So many times I have almost said, when you are done on the phone I will wait on you until then I am not. People this is so rude. The cashier or salesperson is worthy of your attention too. Do you think they really want to know about your brother's woman or what Sister Carol is going to make for Wednesday night supper? Oh and don't get peeved if someone hears your conversation and says something about what they heard, you are the one broadcasting it to everyone. You want it to be private, have the conversation in your car or at home. It is not eaves-dropping if you are talking loudly in a public place. What would life be without a cell phone? Peaceful, maybe.

8- For tourists and a lot of locals that frequent tunnels around here... Why do you put your brake on as you enter the tunnels around here? Honestly, I want to get in and get out, not stop and look around. Just keep going. Your one brake light causes at least a mile of more brake lights. Besides, if there is a leak , do you want to be in there, oh no, I want to be in and out fast. JUST GO!

9- I finally figured out how to start a new paragraph when blogger is giving you an attitude. I remembered my old HTML code ,,,, you have to use the less than sign then letters br and then the greater than sign. I cant show you because then it would just start a new paragraph when I posted this.
Well that is it for now folks. This is just a glimpse of part of my week and my crazy thoughts.

Pondering Thoughts...

1- When I was a kid , did my parents have to worry about what movies I was watching? My nephew stayed the night last night and he found his Scooby-Doo DVD that I thought I had thrown away about five times. Well it keeps reappearing. What do I have against Scooby-Do0? Well until this DVD nothing. I watched it when I was a kid, I did not care for it but stations were limited and at 6PM, it was the only thing on besides the news. This DVD talks about witches. Ok, I don't believe in sheltering our kids from make-believe. I do believe in imagination and they should know the difference in real and make believe and he does. But this DVD not only has witches but it talks about and mentions WICCA. Now you are hitting reality. He did ask me why he can not watch this and in the past I just said... "Because I said so." Well last night I decided to tell him in a 6 year old way without mentioning WICCA or witches as to why I do not like that DVD. I told him that it mentions things that go against what we learn at church( at home too). That DVD mentions things that go against Jesus and God and we believe in Jesus and God not other things. You know what he said... OK and we took it out. I personally believe witches are make believe but WICCA is another story, they take it to another crazy level.
I dont remember my parents having to be so cautious back then. Although, I do remember watching Dirty Dancing at my best friend's house and thought my momma would kill me. She now watches it with me.

2-I got on the scale today and am only 7 pounds from what my lowest weight was last year. Most people would be discouraged but I was encouraged. I had gained 15 but have slowly lost the 8, so I was happy.

3-How come movie theater food is so expensive? We took advantage of the free family movies at Regal today. We saw Madagascar 2. The movie was free but the snacks were $12.50 for a large popcorn and soda. WOW! I could have had a steak. Granted you get free refills and believe me I got a refill before I left even if I fed the birds with it. That was $12.50. Oh and don't think about sneaking snacks in, they do a bag check when you enter. They wanted me to throw away my bottled water that I always have in my purse and I refused.

4-Why are people at the Y so inconsiderate of others? I chose to workout during my nephews Karate camp at the Y. I was getting on a machine that had been empty for a few minutes and this woman came up and said, " I am not done with that machine." Well excuse me for assuming because it had been empty for a few minutes that it was not in use. Previously she had been sitting there talking and not working out. Well I gave her one of ugly looks along with the man beside her that knows me and was with her. He knew I was mad. I walked away. Yes, I had some things to say but I chose to walk away. Some people are just so rude.

5-Anybody have any extra money they want to share? I have three medical appointments this month and no medical insurance. Oh did I also mention working in my family's small business that I am also behind in my paychecks because money has been tight. Please pray that the options I have thought about and am pursuing will work out.

6- Has to do with #5, I finally updated my resume to pursue new options. I have been doing this for weeks, if not months. I get on the computer with the intentions of doing my resume and then I wander online to facebook, blogger, QVC, Eharmony, you name it, it has distracted me. I think I have adult ADD or maybe it is just plain PROCRASTINATION.

7-Is it fair to punish your child from playing with your neighbor's child because your child did something wrong today? My nephew is an only child and looks forward to the kids coming home all day. Well the neighbor's kid was bad and was being punished. He can still play outside with his siblings but not with my nephew whom he loves to play with. This neighbor has a pool and my nephew is always welcome in it with them but not today because of their kid getting in trouble. So who is really being punished, my nephew who did nothing wrong. Seems to me that the neighbor's child should not be able to play at all rather than not play with my nephew. Sometimes life is not fair. Wouldn't it be more effective for the other child to be inside watching his siblings have a blast with my nephew and he can't because he got in trouble? Confusing to me. ( The kid was in trouble for having a paint fight at preschool camp for those of you who may think he may have done something he learned from my nephew, nopers.)

Down by the Riverside....

An awesome thing happened tonight during our annual 4th of July picnic. It was a first time for our church despite our location.... We had a baptism .... Down by the riverside and ummm our church is called Riverside Baptist too.

My brother, who is a Deacon was doing the baptizing because my Pastor has medical issues. So this was an extra special baptism. Oh yeah, the man being baptized. I won't say he was saved because of our store but he had a spiritual moment at work after running from God for years. He talked to someone at work and they told him about our store as a place to find a Bible. He came in and happened to catch my mom on a day she was on the sales floor and they talked for long time. She invited him to church and he has been coming ever since. He has joined the men's class and is a professed, baptized Christian now. Praise the Lord.

Now let me tell you in these pictures my brother is scared to death. This was not a beach baptism, it was literally a river baptism. They had to climb down rocks to get there and there was a bad current.

Ohh and he will be baptizing again tomorrow but he is glad this one will be in the baptistry. Praise the Lord for all these souls won to Christ.

P. S.... one of these days I will learn to edit pictures around my posts.

Happy Fourth of July

OK, this post is in the opposite order of what I want it to be, but deal with it. It will make sense after you read the whole post.


This picture is of the helicopter on our church property. You can not see it but on the left hand side of the copter is the man who hangs on and attaches the wires back to the utility pole you see behind the copter in the water. The James River Bridge is in the background too.

This is a picture of them transporting a ladder to the poles. It was so interesting to watch all this today.

I wanted to post about something patriotic today but my mind froze on what to say. Well I have a lot to say but putting it into a sensible post was not happening. Then I went out to my church to decorate the landfill for our church picnic tonight and there it was a tribute to the guys at the power company.

I arrived to a helicopter in the middle of our landfill and about ten power trucks. First off let me tell you the landfill is beach that was filled in on our property years and years ago to give us a place to have church socials. It overlooks the James River and the James River Bridge. It is beautiful. It was filled in with debris from a local community that was torn down. Thus the word landfill. We allow certain helicopters to land on our property when they are doing important stuff like transporting the head honcho at the local yard or fixing power lines that connect us to the other side of the bridge. That is what was taking place today. We had a powerful storm come through Wednesday night that knocked lines down from the big power poles in the water. These lines landed on the James River Bridge and shut it down along with the local beach, pier and boat dock. This storm also knocked over our heavy , heavy swing in which 3 guys had to push it back up. Lightening struck a house three blocks over and started a fire. Another house three blocks down from that one caught on fire because of an unattended candle when they lost power. There were uprooted trees in streets, yards and houses. It really was like a hurricane and a tornado together.

Well off to my tribute. Thank you to the power guys for working on the 4th to restore normal life to some people around here. In the pictures of the helicopter you can not see but there is a guy on the platform outside the helicopter that has to attach the wires to the poles while hanging on the side of that copter. Talk about scary. What a job.

I also want to thank all of our ancestors and military for giving us the freedom in the best country of all, The United States of America.