Have you ever been somewhere and have nothing to do but to watch people? I have had the pleasure of doing this several times in the past week. One of the times I already wrote about, the Urgent Care, and now I am going to comment on some others.
One of these times was last week when I was waiting for my daugter-in-law out in her truck while she was getting her two oldest sons out of Bible school. One of the doors to the church was locked. One by one, people would go up to this door and try to open it. It was fun to watch them, especially when they would see someone else try the door but still have to go try to open it themselves. One lady was so determined to open it that she would pull hard on it, wait a second and pull again. Then she turned as if to leave and went back and pulled again. She tried to open that locked door six or seven times. And then as she was finally giving up, a man came, they had a discussion about the door, and then he tried to open it also.
And then on Monday, my husband and I had business to do in a local town. After we were finished, he had a meeting in the same town so I went to McDonalds to wait for him. I had an opportunity to watch many individuals come and go. Also I got to observe the workers. The people who worked at this particular McDonalds were younger workers. They were laughing and getting along with each other very well.
The people eating there were an odd lot. Most of them came in twos or threes. Not many of them talked to each other. But there was one group of four men, looked to be in their early twenties. They ordered their food, joking with each other and the girl behind the counter, and then proceeded to have the best time while they were eating. They laughed and carried on the whole time that they were in the resturant. It was fun to watch them and nice to hear them having such a great time.
I enjoy listening, watching, and talking to people. We do make up a great bunch, don't we?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Pre-recorded Messages
I am going to rant today on the pre-recorded messages that seem to take up the better part of my day anymore. I can't seem to be able to call anywhere anymore without having to push 1 for this or 2 for that. Some days I just want to start pushing buttons as soon as I hear the phone on the other end start to ring.
The other day I had to push 1 if I needed English. (Why don't they just assume that I need English and ask the other guys to push 1 if they need another language?)
I then had to push 1 if I was a customer and 2 if I wasn't. (I can't figure out why I would call if I wasn't a customer. Are there really people out there just calling these numbers for the heck of it?)
The next prompt wanted to know what I needed with this department. If I didn't say exactly something that they wanted to hear, the recording told me that they didn't understand what I was trying to say and maybe I meant something else which she proceeded to give me about six different options, which none applied to my problem. She even did a "hum" while trying to figure out what exactly that I wanted to do.
I started screaming into the phone and at the end of my tirade a very polite voice - still a recording said, "I'm sorry, I did not understand what you said."
This prompted me to start choking the phone and saying some words that were not the best ones in the world.
At this time, I started to just push the "0" button to try to get a live person on the other end of the phone. Everytime that I pushed this a recording would tell me that this was not a correct response. After about the sixth time of trying to get an operator on the phone, the sweet voice came on to tell me that I would have to try my call later and proceeded to disconnect.
Obviously I was not needing the service of this company after all. Who cares if I now have a curling iron caught in my hair or not? I will just put a bow on it and tell everyone that it is a new style.
The other day I had to push 1 if I needed English. (Why don't they just assume that I need English and ask the other guys to push 1 if they need another language?)
I then had to push 1 if I was a customer and 2 if I wasn't. (I can't figure out why I would call if I wasn't a customer. Are there really people out there just calling these numbers for the heck of it?)
The next prompt wanted to know what I needed with this department. If I didn't say exactly something that they wanted to hear, the recording told me that they didn't understand what I was trying to say and maybe I meant something else which she proceeded to give me about six different options, which none applied to my problem. She even did a "hum" while trying to figure out what exactly that I wanted to do.
I started screaming into the phone and at the end of my tirade a very polite voice - still a recording said, "I'm sorry, I did not understand what you said."
This prompted me to start choking the phone and saying some words that were not the best ones in the world.
At this time, I started to just push the "0" button to try to get a live person on the other end of the phone. Everytime that I pushed this a recording would tell me that this was not a correct response. After about the sixth time of trying to get an operator on the phone, the sweet voice came on to tell me that I would have to try my call later and proceeded to disconnect.
Obviously I was not needing the service of this company after all. Who cares if I now have a curling iron caught in my hair or not? I will just put a bow on it and tell everyone that it is a new style.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Alarm Clocks
How annoying are alarm clocks? They seem to pick the worst possible moment to go off! How many times have you been in the middle of a great dream and then the blasted alarm goes off and destroys all the evidence of the fantastic images that were just present in your brain?
Or how about those times when you have had the most restless night's sleep that you have had in ages? You finally slip into that blessed deep slumber that you so desperately need and in what seems like just a few moments later, there goes that radio again or worse yet you have it set for the non-stop, irritating buzzer.
Oh, you can hit the snooze button, one - two - three times and pretend that it helps, but in the end it just makes you start the day behind.
It makes one wonder how the pioneers did it? I suppose that they had the sun to wake them, or the cows that would have needed milking. But according to my children, it was probably the rooster, like the one down the road at the Amish barn. The annoying one that crows endlessly waking up everyone camping out in our back yard. I guess we should be happy that our alarms don't sound like a crazed rooster or a cow with a full udder.
Or how about those times when you have had the most restless night's sleep that you have had in ages? You finally slip into that blessed deep slumber that you so desperately need and in what seems like just a few moments later, there goes that radio again or worse yet you have it set for the non-stop, irritating buzzer.
Oh, you can hit the snooze button, one - two - three times and pretend that it helps, but in the end it just makes you start the day behind.
It makes one wonder how the pioneers did it? I suppose that they had the sun to wake them, or the cows that would have needed milking. But according to my children, it was probably the rooster, like the one down the road at the Amish barn. The annoying one that crows endlessly waking up everyone camping out in our back yard. I guess we should be happy that our alarms don't sound like a crazed rooster or a cow with a full udder.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Garage Sales
I went to the 127 garage sales with two of my sons today. My one son thinks this is a real holiday and the other one thought it was all junk. It is strange how one thing can take on two different meanings.
As far as the holiday goes, there were a lot of good bargains and we ended up with a few of them. My biggest bargain was a pair of Carhart coveralls for one of the grandchildren for a dollar. The best part of them is that there were no holes and all of the zippers work. You talk about b-a-r-g-a-i-n-s!
And then there was the junk. I agree with my son, there was too much of it. I sometimes wonder why people keep some of the stuff that they do and especially why they would put a price on it and set it out in public for others to see that you have kept this piece of crap. One place thought that they could hide the rust on a old wheelbarral with a thick coat of bright yellow paint. The rust under all that paint was bubbling up and making the whole thing look like it had a strange disease.
But the best part of the whole day was being able to spend time with my sons. I don't do this often enough. When we get together it is a whole big lot of us and that is great, but I do so love my one on one (or two) time together. Just out making memories on State Route 127.
As far as the holiday goes, there were a lot of good bargains and we ended up with a few of them. My biggest bargain was a pair of Carhart coveralls for one of the grandchildren for a dollar. The best part of them is that there were no holes and all of the zippers work. You talk about b-a-r-g-a-i-n-s!
And then there was the junk. I agree with my son, there was too much of it. I sometimes wonder why people keep some of the stuff that they do and especially why they would put a price on it and set it out in public for others to see that you have kept this piece of crap. One place thought that they could hide the rust on a old wheelbarral with a thick coat of bright yellow paint. The rust under all that paint was bubbling up and making the whole thing look like it had a strange disease.
But the best part of the whole day was being able to spend time with my sons. I don't do this often enough. When we get together it is a whole big lot of us and that is great, but I do so love my one on one (or two) time together. Just out making memories on State Route 127.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Urgent Care
Last night I ended up in Urgent Care with my daughter-in-law because one of my grandsons fell and put his tooth through his bottom lip. He had to get a stitch put in it. It took us over two hours to get in and out of this emergency situation.
The reason that I am writing about this today is not to complain about how long it took us to get service or the fact that the chairs are very uncomfortable and way too close together to entertain three little boys for two hours. No, the reason for this blog is that at 8:30 on a Tuesday night there were more people in that waiting room than there probably were at the movies. I came to find out that there were so many there the night before that they ended up calling an emergency room at a local hospital to come take some of the cases.
The other reason for this writing is the interesting people that you can meet in one of these situations. There were people there who did not feel well and were clearing having some very strong issues with keeping their supper in their stomachs. Some of them had broken bones and some needed stitches like my grandson. There were children waiting for help and elderly also. It was clear that ailments were not to particular this evening.
But the most interesting case was the lady who sat across from me. She was ahead of us to be waited on and so we had a while to enjoy some conversation with each other. She had picked up some poison ivy on her right arm and leg from her garden. Her arm was swollen and giving her a great deal of pain. She was a mother of eight and a grandmother of eighteen. She had been trying to take care of this on her own for a week and was not making much progress, in fact it was getting worse. The thing that was the most interesting about her was that she worked in a hospital and didn't think about going there for help anytime in those last seven days. She waited until that time of night to go to Urgent Care because she didn't think that she could stand it one more minute. People are unique!
The reason that I am writing about this today is not to complain about how long it took us to get service or the fact that the chairs are very uncomfortable and way too close together to entertain three little boys for two hours. No, the reason for this blog is that at 8:30 on a Tuesday night there were more people in that waiting room than there probably were at the movies. I came to find out that there were so many there the night before that they ended up calling an emergency room at a local hospital to come take some of the cases.
The other reason for this writing is the interesting people that you can meet in one of these situations. There were people there who did not feel well and were clearing having some very strong issues with keeping their supper in their stomachs. Some of them had broken bones and some needed stitches like my grandson. There were children waiting for help and elderly also. It was clear that ailments were not to particular this evening.
But the most interesting case was the lady who sat across from me. She was ahead of us to be waited on and so we had a while to enjoy some conversation with each other. She had picked up some poison ivy on her right arm and leg from her garden. Her arm was swollen and giving her a great deal of pain. She was a mother of eight and a grandmother of eighteen. She had been trying to take care of this on her own for a week and was not making much progress, in fact it was getting worse. The thing that was the most interesting about her was that she worked in a hospital and didn't think about going there for help anytime in those last seven days. She waited until that time of night to go to Urgent Care because she didn't think that she could stand it one more minute. People are unique!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Slogans
As I was power washing my walk-out last night; yes, I am still at this task, I realized that I was running out of things to power wash. I tried to think of ways that I could go around with a power washer and help people out with some of their chores. The only real thing that I could come up with was a slogan for this kind of service, "Have power washer, will travel!"
I have come up with other slogans through the years, especially when I am doing something that I am not too crazy about doing. Some of my better ones was when I was younger and we had to pull weeds, set runners, or hoe strawberries. Those slogans were, "Save a strawberry, pull a weed!" or "A runner set today, will increase your pay!" and the ever lovely, "Be sure to bend, better strawberries in the end!"
But I do have to say that some of my best slogans came about the year that my mom and I spent several weeks in a row attending different relative's funerals. For some reason that year about everyone we knew had someone close to them pass away. We were not surprised when someone would call and tell us that they had lost a loved one. As we were sitting in our 9th or 10th funeral home, we started to come up with different slogans. This was probably not a good thing to do at the time because it made us giggle and it really wasn't the right place to be silly. A couple of our best ones were, "We mourn with the best of them!" "If you don't have a friend, we'll be there at the end." and the one that we thought would make a great bumper sticker, "You die, we'll cry!" Kind of catchy don't you think?
I have come up with other slogans through the years, especially when I am doing something that I am not too crazy about doing. Some of my better ones was when I was younger and we had to pull weeds, set runners, or hoe strawberries. Those slogans were, "Save a strawberry, pull a weed!" or "A runner set today, will increase your pay!" and the ever lovely, "Be sure to bend, better strawberries in the end!"
But I do have to say that some of my best slogans came about the year that my mom and I spent several weeks in a row attending different relative's funerals. For some reason that year about everyone we knew had someone close to them pass away. We were not surprised when someone would call and tell us that they had lost a loved one. As we were sitting in our 9th or 10th funeral home, we started to come up with different slogans. This was probably not a good thing to do at the time because it made us giggle and it really wasn't the right place to be silly. A couple of our best ones were, "We mourn with the best of them!" "If you don't have a friend, we'll be there at the end." and the one that we thought would make a great bumper sticker, "You die, we'll cry!" Kind of catchy don't you think?
Monday, August 2, 2010
Reunions
What better time to catch up with family? This past weekend we had two reunions at our home. Having the party barn is the perfect place to have them.
We put the air conditioners in for more comfort for the oldest generation. We did have a very enjoyable evening on Saturday, my mother-in-law's family, and ended up sitting outside for the majority of the festivities. We also had a campfire and made a ton of Smores before everyone ended up leaving in the very late hours of the night.
Sunday, my father-in-law's family, was the day that we were extra glad for those air conditioners and fans. The pond was also used to its full potential.
It is nice to see my husband's family members and to catch up on all the happenings through out the past year. I am very sad that my husband's brother and sister couldn't attend. They missed out on a lot of fun.
But as for my family, you can't complain about half of my children and their children showing up to help and to enjoy. The others would have been there I am sure had they not been out of state. They all called to see how things turned out and I appreciate them remembering the family.
Some people look on reunions as a chore. I look on it as a time to make sure those family bonds are strong. We need family to keep us going. It doesn't have to just be your immediate family, those outer branches come in handy when you need to grab on to an extra hold or two. I thank all that attended these reunions this year, I thank my children for helping, and I hope that we have as good of a turnout next year. Keep in touch, family. We love you all!
We put the air conditioners in for more comfort for the oldest generation. We did have a very enjoyable evening on Saturday, my mother-in-law's family, and ended up sitting outside for the majority of the festivities. We also had a campfire and made a ton of Smores before everyone ended up leaving in the very late hours of the night.
Sunday, my father-in-law's family, was the day that we were extra glad for those air conditioners and fans. The pond was also used to its full potential.
It is nice to see my husband's family members and to catch up on all the happenings through out the past year. I am very sad that my husband's brother and sister couldn't attend. They missed out on a lot of fun.
But as for my family, you can't complain about half of my children and their children showing up to help and to enjoy. The others would have been there I am sure had they not been out of state. They all called to see how things turned out and I appreciate them remembering the family.
Some people look on reunions as a chore. I look on it as a time to make sure those family bonds are strong. We need family to keep us going. It doesn't have to just be your immediate family, those outer branches come in handy when you need to grab on to an extra hold or two. I thank all that attended these reunions this year, I thank my children for helping, and I hope that we have as good of a turnout next year. Keep in touch, family. We love you all!
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