ProlificMom

There is a saying that in life you can count on two things:  Death and taxes.  Everything else?  Well, we can hope it is at least “as advertised”.

Little Ceasar's Pizza, Grand Prairie, Texas

Today I was driving home when I decided to pick up some pizza.  As I passed through an intersection, I saw a guy twirling a sign that said Pizza, Hot and Ready.  Sold!  I pulled in to Little Ceasar’s Pizza, excited at the thought of a quick pizza pickup.  They advertised a large pepperoni pizza, warm and ready to go for $5. Make it a meal for an additional $4.  What a great deal!  This was perfect.  No waiting and I could get home quick.

Little Caesars HOT-N-READY^® Pizza - What is HOT-N-READY^®? A large 14” pepperoni or just cheese pizza, hot out of the oven and ready when you are! No need to call ahead! No need to wait! No limit!

Unfortunately, this deal was not as advertised. I walked in and there was only one person already waiting off to the side.  So, I approached the counter looking forward to my quick purchase.  There were about four men in the back kitchen area and one young girl attending the  front counter.   As I approached the counter she walked away without acknowledging me.  I waited patiently but she didn’t return, and she still didn’t acknowledge me.  Finally, in passing, she mumbled under her breath that she would be with me in a minute.  So far I wasn’t impressed.  Another two minutes passed as she begrudgingly filled someone’s delivery order and told her co-worker that she just wanted to go home.  OK,  BUT WHAT ABOUT ME?  I was getting a little bit irritated about the lack of customer service I was getting, because  I just wanted to order my PIZZA and be gone.

Finally, four minutes into this non-starter she came to the counter and mumbled as she asked what I would like to order.  Still not impressed.  But I looked her in the eyes, gave her my friendly customer smile and told her I wanted the Hot and Ready meal deal.   She responded by telling me it would be FIVE to TEN MINUTES!  She offered no apology or explanation.  Someone forgot to tell her what ‘ready’ means.   Totally underwhelmed at this point, and having invested five minutes of my time, I was committed to see this thing through.  So, I smiled and said OK, I’ll wait.  She seemed a little bit annoyed – and it didn’t help when I smiled at her and said I guess its hot but not really ready.  She immediately walked away without any further acknowledgement.  Apparently, she had filled her obligation to me and that was  enough for her.

As I sat patiently in the waiting area, I could hear the guys in the back singing along with the radio.  They were having a great time and I actually enjoyed the serenade.  Then a gentleman who sounded like a manager asked Grumpy Girl if she was ok.  He was doing his best to encourage her. (Great leadership skills!)   I could hear everything but I couldn’t see from where I was sitting.  Another customer came in to pick up her order and was waiting at the  counter when grumpy girly finally called out “Hot and Ready Meal Deal”.  I quickly got up and went to my long anticipated, falsely advertised order.  She immediately, once again, walked away from me without a word.   I waited for about a minute as she walked around in the back, and finally I raised my hands in the air as if silently questioning what was going on.  The friendly Manager guy walked over to me and I told him I would like to pay for my meal.  He looked very puzzled and asked “HUH?”.   So, I looked him in the eye and explained that “she” placed my pizza on the counter and walked away, and I haven’t paid for it yet.   He still looked puzzled, so I waived my card in the air and said I would really like to pay for my order so I can go home now.   He apologized and took my card for payment.  I smiled, thanked him, and then said, “well, it is at least hot, that’s for sure.”  I was hoping that he would pick up on my disapointment at the false advertisement.

OK, maybe grumpy girl was having a bad day.  After all, we all have our bad days every now and then.  And, not everyone has a sunny public face all the time.  And maybe the pizza was not ready as advertized because there had been a lot of customers  picking up a quick meal before I arrived.  I kept trying to tell myself that this was probably not the way things always happen. (If you can’t tell, I’m an enabler.  Its one of my greatest faults.)

So, If you like a good deal on pizza, and you don’t mind a really bad customer service experience, Little Ceasar’s Pizza in Grand Prairie, Texas is the place for you.

To make things worse, when I got home, we discovered that the sauce for the bread sticks had not been heated.  I had to heat it myself.  I’m thinking that Little Ceasar’s Pizza has seen the last of my money.  I will not be back any time soon. (Dear Little Ceasars:  Your pizza is pretty good but your customer service needs a lot of help.  I’m not asking for a refund, but I was wondering if I could get my time back?)

The good news:  I didn’t have to cook dinner.

So I have been busy lately – very busy.  I went back to work.  Then I started gaining weight. More on that another day.  Then I decided to lose the weight.  The plan – I did it before so I know I can do it again – eat better (low carbs – that means no more candy, cake or ice-cream -  and more protein) and EXERCISE.  I’m not a fan of just exercise.  For me the activity has to produce something you can see, so I’m doing yard work – for now weeding and mowing.

Today I’m mowing the back yard.  Half way through the job I notice that my thumbs are stinging – blistered with peeling skin.   Am I turning into a dainty little pansy in my older age?  Not that my age is anywhere near old. But I have to say that NEVER BEFORE have I EVER gotten blisters from just holding onto the lawn mower.  What’s up with that?  Is my aging skin not tough enough to take it?  Am I going to have to slow down and give up physical hard labor just to protect my suddenly delicate hands?

Next year I will be 40 but part of me still feels like I’m 15 and invincible, capable of doing anything.  This is good and bad…good because I’m not afraid to do physically hard labor, but sometimes very bad when I over exert myself to the point of near self-crippling mutilation.  Sometimes I just don’t realize my limitations until WAY AFTER the damage is done.  This I blame on the sweetest, toughest, most inspiring woman I ever knew – My Grandma Huff.  Sorry mom, you’re still a very close first runner up.  So, I had to stop in the middle of mowing to bandage my owwies, document the moment, and write this story before I cripple myself for the rest of the day.

About my Grandma -This spritely, slightly hunchbacked woman was a machine when it came to hard work.  She shared stories of her childhood picking cotton every day in the Texas summer heat.  As an adult she got out of bed before the sun almost every day of the 22 years that I had the privilege of sharing this earth with her and worked outdoors long into the heat of the day.  She was like an army of one in my eyes.  She worked the earth with her hands and never complained about scrapes, cuts, bruises or being tired.  I once caught her pouring LEADED GASOLINE on a bleeding, cut thumb and she didn’t even flinch at the pain.  Then she bound it with a rubber band until I thought her thumb was going to turn black.  No booboo strips or anti-bacterial ointment for her.  At that point I was old enough to stop her – so I took her inside and dressed her wound with ointment and a band-aid.  She told me that was how it  was done in the old days.  I would never have survived that because I’m a total coward when it comes to pain.

Its a wonder she survived her childhood to live well into her 80s, but Grandma was tough, resilient, hilariously funny, loved to pull pranks, and could guilt anyone into doing whatever she wanted.  She drank at least one full pot (sometimes more) of fully caffeinated coffee every day – even in the summer. Every year she decorated her house inside and out for Christmas, grew about two acres of garden and worked most of it herself from beginning to end.  Her house was immaculately clean.  She never owned a microwave or dishwasher, cooked almost everything from scratch using lard as one of the ingredients, and every  year she told us this would be the last time she would every be able to do any of it because she probably wouldn’t be with us next year.  I grew up just knowing she was going to die at any moment and we would never see her again, so when I was eight I decided that if and and when she died I would be buried with her because I couldn’t imagine living without her.  This went on for about twenty years that I can remember.  I don’t know how many years she said that before I heard it the first time.  I was blessed to know her and to learn everything that I could about the importance of hard, unglamorous dirty work.

And now back to me.  My thumbs are bandaged and I finished mowing the back  yard – not yet crippled, but I’m sure I’ll be feeling (regretting) this in the morning.  I’m also inspired to aim for my goal (the weight loss) and I’m not going to let something like the Texas summer heat, blistered thumbs and a few sore muscles (from head to toe) stop me.   I will lose this weight and my yard will look better as a result.

I haven’t felt like blogging very much lately.  Recently, I went back to work temping for a company that provides mental health consultants to a large national client.  I have to say that its good to be back in the workforce again, interacting with adult humans who are calm, reasonable and rational at all times, but boy am I tired.  I do miss the naps and reading magazines in the middle of the day. 

The good thing about being in the workplace again is that I’m to regaining my confidence that I am not at all bad at what I do.  I do have a valid contribution to make.  In fact, I am not afraid to say that I am good at what I do and people like me.  I think my time of convalescing is over.  No more hiding under the covers.  I am ready to face the world again.  I’m ready to dig out the big girl boots and wear them in my very own big girl parade. 

Enough said.

Its Easter Morning. 

  Last night I had insomnia and didn’t sleep all night.  After realizing that I wasn’t going to sleep I spent most of the night with Della cruising the information highway, reading news and other inspiring blogs. Then I watched  Huckabee, CSI NY and Madagascar (My kids call it “mad at a gas car”.)  let the cat in and out, did a load of laundry, made breakfast for the Mister, loaded the dishwasher and baked cinnamon rolls for the kids to eat for breakfast.  I feel like that old Army commercial where they say “We do more before 8:00am than most people do all day.”  Only, I don’t think it counts unless you actually go to bed and then get up to do all of those things.  Finally, around 6:15 my batteries were running low and I climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep listening to the soothing sounds of the thunderstorm in the distance.   As the night turned into day I settled in to a deep sleep.    It was cool outside so my bedroom window was open.  This morning’s alarm clock was the sound of church bells ringing behind my house.   They don’t normally ring the bell on Sundays but today is Easter – the most sacred of days for Christians around the world.  It was a welcomed sound of joy and I could hear the words ringing in my heart

He’s alive!  He’s Alive! He’s Alive!

For Christians this is our declaration of independence, our very own special 4th of July.  Jesus sacrificed his life for us.  He took our place, our punishment for our sins, so we could be re-united with God who created us.  No longer separated from Him.  Set free and forgiven from any sin, no matter how great.  They beat him beyond recognition, crucified him by nailing him to a cross and then mocked him while they waited for him to die.  BUT THEN…on the third day…THIS DAY that we celebrate HE AROSE FROM THE GRAVE.   He said He would and He did.  Neither Buddha nor Mohamed can offer this.  And because of this -  WE ARE FORGIVEN FROM EVERY SIN – AS IF THEY NEVER HAPPENED, and all we have to do is ask.  Its FREE for all who ask.  This is our day of rejoicing, OUR DAY OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Another song comes to mind: Free at Last!  Free at Last!  Thank God Almighty! We are free at last!

Enjoy your Easter celebrations but remember what it is really all about.  Jesus is alive and he lives in my heart today.

For more information about forgiveness and why you need Jesus.  Or, if you need answers to life’s tough questions:

http://www.iamsecond.com/

http://www.needhim.org

http://nothingstoohardforgod.org/

I love the internet!

To whoever created the internet – I THANK YOU.  Its a most helpful tool when trying prove that you are  (I am) not an idiot. 

For instance, when the Misters insists there is another Baldwin brother named Adam. I can sit on the couch next to him, swiftly type ask.com, and voilla! prove that I do actually know what I’m talking about. 

Adam Baldwin is an actor currently appearing in Chuck on the peacock channel and he is in no way related to the famous Baldwin Brothers.  

Then, there is his assertion that it NEVER rains in LA. 

According to Ask Weather they receive 11.3 inches (as apposed to 33.9 inches in Dallas) of precipitation (rain/snow) per year.   While they only get 1/3 of the precip, its still more than NEVER.  And finally IMDB to the rescue – Scott Bacula or Richard Dean Anderson is MacGyver?      For the big ‘I told you so’ finish:

By the Way the above screen captures were created by Della with her snazzy  “snipping tool” as I created this  posting using Windows Live Writer.  I love this new computer and I love the internet!

Victory is mine! I yelled as I opened the door to greet the FedEx man on Thursday.  My brand new ruby red Dell Inspiron laptop had finally arrived.  She is so pretty I’m going to name her Della.  I’m sure we’ll spend many countless days and nights together cruising the information super-highway as well as many well spent hours blogging.  She has all of the bells and whistles – fully equipped with the latest business software from Microsoft, Windows Vista (which isn’t bad at all – Yeah! Vista) and a built in video camera  which I just used to take this photo.  Great camera but the model needs a little bit of work.

Oh, happy day!  And if my children even think about touching it…..