Could there have been a different ending?

I was watching Sports Center this morning, and saw a segment on this story. I can't help but wonder how things would have turned out for these young children if there weren't guns in the home.

Just saying....

I'm such a copy cat! Meow!

Lisa just redid her blog template. She found her new template here Since there were some cool designs there (much better than the crappy one I had going) I decided to redo mine as well. And here it is! I'm super psyched. It's a happy design.

Can I get a do-over on that?

Upon further review, I am not a big fan of the Tuesday Night Book Club. I watched the second episode and realized I couldn't get over the whole scripted feeling of it. It's a little too obvious that there is a storyline written. Along with the crazy background music! Ahhhh! I'll probably still watch it just for the trainwreck aspect, but I rescind my recommendation of the show.

Thank you. That is all.

Oh Britney!

So Matt Lauer is interviewing Britney Spears tonight on Dateline NBC (I have it set to record on the DVR). I saw a clip of it this morning, though, on the Today show. What has happened to this girl? Doesn't she have a stylist? Doesn't she have a PR person? This interview is not going to help her cause and have the paparazzi stop hounding her. It just makes her look more pathetic.

Now I've never been a fan of Britney, and I certainly don't feel bad for celebrities that don't have much privacy. (Hey I'm a teacher and get paid NOTHING, but I knew that going into the business so I'm not going to whine about it.) But some part of me does feel sorry for the young girl that didn't have any guidance on making good and appropriate choices. She was encouraged to be a sex symbol and not show too much intelligence. And well, look at where it's gotten her. I mean my 20s were crazy enough, I can't imagine how she must feel. I'm sure she has no idea of who she really is. And what's even more scary is she is a mother and has another on the way. Don't get me even started on how unfair and ridiculous I think this is.

But anyway, I've decided since she obviously doesn't have a stylist or PR person, I am volunteering my services. I'm going to offer 10 suggestions that will help her immensely in the public eye as well as her own life.

1. Stop bringing Sean Preston out in public. If you want the paparazzi to stay away as well as keep your child safe, don't run around town carrying him in your arms. The paparazzi will eventually give up.
2. Stop chewing gum in public, especially during interviews. This is never attractive.
3. Stop it with the hair extensions, especially extra fried super blond ones. You were cute when your hair was short.
4. Get a manicure. Bitten fingernails with the small speck of worn nailpolish looks extra trashy.
5. Start wearing more natual makeup. Frosty eye shadow and lipstick is very 80s, and it's a decade we all regret.
6. After having a child and being pregnant AGAIN, it's time to start wearing longer skirts and pants. That means below the knees. You're not a teenager anymore, honey, you're a mom.
7. Along with the pants, you need to wear tops that cover those pregnant breasts. Bearing that much cleavage only makes you look fat. Granted you're pregnant, but that doesn't mean you have to look unattractive.
8. Stop making shows about your life. "Chaotic" was a mess and did nothing for your image. It only made you look more immature and dumb.
9. Always, and I mean ALWAYS, wear a bra. There is no exception. None. Yup even those "cute" tube tops (which you shouldn't be wearing anyway) need to have support. You're boobs are HUGE and there is no excuse for you not wear a bra. Welcome to your 20s, Britney. They only go down from here.
10. This one is probably obvious, but divorce Kevin Federline. You know you made a mistake, we know you made a mistake. You've only gone downhill since he's entered your life. We'll forgive you and probably respect you more if you make this decision.

No need to thank me, Britney. Just implement these pieces of advice and get on the road to a better life. Your children deserve it.

Hello! Guilty Pleasures!

Ok, so I'm really not addicted to the tv, but I decided to record "Tuesday Night Book Club" on ABC. And I just watched. Oh my God! This is gonna be one of those sinful guilty pleasures. It's Laguna Beach (which I hate) meets Desperate Housewives meets Sex in the City meets people in their 30s and not teenagers! Yippee skippee!

Someone please tell me you watched it too! And if not, well for God's sake watch it next Tuesday!

Oh and by the way, I have a book club, (well had a book club since it's been defunct for about a year) and when I first started watching this show I was thinking "Our book club is NOTHING like this!". Then the more I thought about it, we probably would spend about a half hour talking about the book and then the rest talking about our lives and such. I don't know if we're quite as scandalous as these ladies, but we do share a lot (Hello Laura!)

Windfall

Yea, I know I haven't posted in a while. Sometimes I'm just not inspired to, you know?

Anyway, anyone catch the new series on NBC last night called "Windfall". I tivo'd it and watched it this morning. It's about this group of people who won the lottery and how it affected their lives. It's totally 90210 (Hello! It even has Luke Perry in it!), but with a money aspect to it.

I actually really enjoyed it. I'm super psyched another show like this has turned up. So cheesy yet so good!

Pursteria!

I've been busy knittin' me up some cabled purses. The first one ended up being kinda small so I ended up having to change the purse handles I bought. I still like it though and I enjoy the surprise fabric I used to line it. Unfortunately this was my first foray into hand sewing and it isn't the neatest, but it works.


The second purse I tried to make bigger and I enjoy the handles I used. It's definitely one I'll be able to hold more than just my cell phone.

Easter Thoughts

Happy Easter everyone! Although I enjoy Christmas time a lot , Easter is a celebration that brings new beginnings and great hope. I always enjoyed Holy Week in college because of the great rebirth the Church goes through.

But this morning I was also thinking about how Mary must have felt during this time. How hard it must have been to lose her child and even worse to see him die in such a horrific way. Throughout the Bible she showed such incredible strength and this was someone who was so young.

This leads to me to what I have been pondering a lot this week: Strength. I often recalled the saying "God doesn't give us more than we can handle". I always thought this was true and often turn to it when I think my life is getting a little rough. This week, though, I couldn't quite understand why God thought I would be strong enough to go through everything I've been going through the last three weeks. (I can't believe it's only three weeks, it feels so much longer than that.)

And by the way, in no way am I comparing myself to Mary or her hardships. I realize there are so many others out there that have it so much worse than I do, which is a reason why I'm able to remain so positive.

But nonetheless, it hurts and I feel sad sometimes. I often find myself asking why? Why would God want me to handle this? Why did He think I could?

Then this answer came to me: maybe I couldn't handle what would happen if things didn't turn out this way. What if things went to term only to find out something was terribly wrong or I'd be forced to make decisions I am incapable of doing? This seemed like a revelation to me. Although this event has hurt me and made me sad, it IS something I can handle. And possibly something much more difficult was avoided because of it.

It doesn't make this any less difficult to deal with, and I'm not sure it's the correct answer, but it does help me find peace with it.

I Heart Memes

I found these memes (what does that word mean by the way? I'm an idiot) about books and music. Enjoy.

Directions:
Bold the books you've read.
Underline the books you have sitting on your shelf.
Italicize the books you're planning to read.
Strike through the books you have no desire to read.
(Put parentheses around the books you have never heard of.)


The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
(His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
(One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
(The Secret History - Donna Tartt)
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
(Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
(Atonement - Ian McEwan)
(The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
(The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood)
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert

No idea where the list of books came from, but I'm glad I've read at least half of them.

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Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song titles that come up to answer each question. NO CHEATING.

How does the world see me? "Where Do I Begin" Chemical Brothers (I think that pretty much says it all)
Will I have a happy life? "Cherish" Madonna (I guess if I cherish what's around me, I will?)
What do people really think of me? "Batucada" Towa Tei (Uhhh, yeah I don't know what that means, maybe people don't understand me? Hahaha)
Do people secretly lust after me? "Reminiscing" Little River Band (Is that a yes?)
How can I make myself happy? "Roll Out" Ludacris (I won't even post the lyrics to this song, but it's my biznaaaaaaaaaaassssss)
Will I ever have children? "Underground" Ben Folds (Uhhhhh.....)
What is some good advice for me? "Candy" Mandy Moore (I guess I need to eat more candy)
What do I think my current theme song is? "You've Made Me So Very Happy" Blood, Sweat, and Tears (I like it!)
What song will play at my funeral? "Afterglow" Vanessa Carlton (Sounds good to me)
What type of men/women do you like? "Good Bad Right Wrong" Kaiser Chiefs (Yea I like to change it up a bit. Keep me guessing)
Why am I here? "It's Coming Down" Cake (See just like I can't figure out this answer, I can't figure out why I'm here)
What will people remember me for? "Caoineadh Cu Chulainn (Lament)" Riverdance Soundtrack (Anyone know Gaelic?)
What song will I get stuck in my head tomorrow? "Son of a Preacher Man" Dusty Springfield (Alrighty then.)
Are there people outside waiting to take me away? "Neon" John Mayer (She buzzes just like neon, neon.)
What will this year be all about? "When We Dance" Sting (Neat.)

Say no to crack, kids.

Because apparently that was what I was smoking when I thought working at a grocery store would be all right in an effort to earn extra money. As some of you know I've been working there since the end of February. Well I quit today.

Here are some of the observations of the work environment I was subject to in the last month and a half.

• A woman with a PhD in science was working there and felt she was above everyone else even though she applied for the job and did the same things as us
• Same woman went out to gather carriages on two separate occasions and was shat on by the seagulls, consequently causing her to say she would never do it again without protective gear
• Same woman walked out on the job when asked to get carriages again saying she didn't have to do this, she had a PhD! (hello, you're working at a grocery store!)
• All customer service people are supposed to share the duties of getting the carriages from the parking lots. 4 of the people I work with brought in doctor's notes saying they had various conditions that didn't allow them to do this work. These same people all go out to their cars and smoke two cigarettes during their break.
  
• A mentally challenged guy was hired to work weekdays and help out with carriages. The customer service manager ended up scheduling him only on weekends, when there are a thousand high school students working.
• The same manager (she's 25 and has always worked at this grocery store since high school. I don't believe she has a college degree.) only promotes and hires kids under 25. The most recent promotion was of a 22 year old guy who consistently showed up 90 minutes late to work. In the afternoons, a 17 year old high school student is managing all of the employees bagging and cashiering. And he got this job because he's cute.
• We are supposed to suggest the "extreme value" to all of the customers otherwise they receive the item free. The person who sells the most is given a whopping $5 gift card. The same customer service manager took away this reward because she felt some people were making up their totals. When asked how she could tell this, she said she couldn't, she just felt some people were.
• In order to receive sale prices in the store, all customers have to have a store "rewards" card. They do not have to pay anything for this, just fill out a form. In my job, though, I had to sign a sheet saying I would not make up a card number or use someone else's card if a customer forgot theirs, otherwise I would be fired. Therefore, I had to have customers yell at me and say they would never come back all because of a piece of plastic they didn't pay for. (Mind you in my training, the biggest message we got was "the customer always comes first".)
  
• The manager of the entire store always says with a big smile"Hi Heidi" whenever he sees me, as if he knows who I am really well. Well, he does this every time except when I have my jacket on and it's covering up my name tag.
• In all of my training I was taught by using passive aggressive techniques. All in an effort to make sure I knew I wasn't in a power position.
• The customer service manager gave me a ten page review that my trainer was to fill out to make sure I understood all the skills of the cashier/bagger job. When I asked, what I was supposed to do with it, she said "Just check all the areas that you're suppose to know (something the trainer was to do) and hand it back in to me." Very effective.
• Someone today walked out on the job after two years because she wasn't put on a cashier before someone else.
• I had to watch a stupid video during orientation all about team work. There was even a ten minute segment with a song about this. After a month and a half, I feel like I have just left high school all over again.

So anyway, I'm out. I'm not sure this really conveys exactly the experience I had there, but I suggest to anyone considering working at a grocery store to find another option. Even if it's panhandling.