How Topics wander

Now if you are one of the men that has married into the family you have probably noticed that my sisters and I are very good at starting on one subject- say cooking- and end up on something totally unrelated- buying shoes, or something of the sort.
Poor Will has had to try and put up with my leaps on many occasions and for the most part he deals with it well. I remember one day a while back we were driving somewhere and I had been quiet for a while (yes I know thats highly unusual for me) and I just turned to him and said  "you're 38 now" He got a weird look on his face and said "um ya... what made you think of that?" Now even at the best of times my thought processes are something like a ball of twine that a cat has been playing with for 20 minutes. Theres no logic or rhyme and reason behind the process... at least not to the male brain. To me it makes perfect sense to go from thinking about the long drive to the book I'm reading to thinking about food and I wonder if I have any of that at home, to thinking about Minions, and then trying to remember what number I put on his cake the previous year before happily exclaiming Yep, you're 38.

The reason this came to mind just now is because I was reading some comments on a blog I follow on occasion and over the course of around 30 comments (probably 10 different people talking back and forth) the conversation went from proper verbage for guns to making fun of anti gun nuts (I was rooting for those comments) to contemplating the value of a live t-rex versus a dead one, and if a t-rex eats kittens and then someone then eats the t-rex does that make it sorta like a turducken?  It could be called a trexten. There was also talk about taking over Detroit with the t-rex but it was decided that its arms were too small. (Surprisingly a few of the commentors were of the male variety but I think it was a woman who got started on the t-rex thing)
Anywho I was just enjoying the random leaps of the mind that seem to occur on a fairly regular basis.

And while I'm thinking about it,  here is a giraffe in a tree

Say hi to Casper everyone :)

Its the little things

It doesnt always take much to make me laugh. For instance.. today is Sunday meaning both Will and I have the day off. We had decided to go look at some places for rent and then head to Cabellas for some browsing and arrow and target buying. Will and I had different priorities as far as what to look for so we kept splitting off from each other. Will- apparently getting tired of not being able to find me decided it would be appropriate to pat his leg and say... here Shawna, come here, right here! So after done giving him the evil eye I decided he would get exactly what he asked for. I decided I would stick SO close that there was no way he couldnt find me. This resulted in me laughing so hard I couldnt breath and Will saying "Really? Really? Now stop that!" (We may have gotten a few funny looks from customers but oh well) Now if you arent familiar with Cabellas, they have very large indoor displays of animals with plaques that say what they are and sometimes where they are from. Well there was a Caribou but it had been knocked over. Now normally this isnt cause for any amusement but if you read the rest of the plaque it says... Ground Caribou. Naturally seeing the pun in this I cracked up, sadly no one else seemed to comprehend the complexities of the funny so I laughed alone. Finally on the way out of the store, Will was carrying my large targets and I was leading the way. Since he had been quite snarky I turned to him and said "This way to the car my good man, do be a dear and keep up" I even made sure to say thanks! Apparently thats not the thing to say either. I mean there is just no keeping this man happy, first he wanted me to stay close and then he complained when I did, and when I thank him for carrying my targets he gets all huffy.

Finally I made some banana bread after we got home. I called him up when it was done and he came upstairs, stole the slice I had just cut, proceded to slather it with butter, took a bite and turned around and said HEY, THIS IS THE HEEL. So being the kind caring girlfriend that I am, I proceded to guffaw, laugh, chortle and generally make fun of the bread thief. I dont think I've laughed this hard in a very long time.
It really is the little things that make days good :)

Life after Facebook

Well a couple of my sisters and I decided to bid adieu to the time hole that is facebook.
 I figured maybe I could attempt to keep up with my blog this time around... maybe. Last time I posted was Sept 11 of last year.

Lets see what has happened lately that is note worthy. I got promoted to Customer Service Manager at Hobb Lobby a couple months ago. Its actually been a lot of fun and surprisingly less stressful than being a cashier. At first I wondered if that ment I wasnt doing it right but have come to the conclusion that only dealing with the few large problems each day rather than 50 petty issues is much easier to deal with. That combined with the fact that I know have the authority to fix those problems make my days enjoyable.
We have been very much short handed the last month or so, we had a total of 10 people quit or transfer to another store and only 3 new people hired. This means that everyone is doing 2 or 3 jobs to pick up the slack. I am trying to get into a full time position however that means I would be in a department rather than being a CSM all the time. I think it would be a fun change but mainly I'm interested in the jump in hours (and pay )

Our dog Nikki is doin great, she is gonna be 2 years old next week. My friends laugh at me but we do dog playdates with one of her friends who is a lab/rot/pit mix about 1.5 years old or so.

This is usually how they end up after a day of playing. (Nikki is the black one, Shasta is the brown)

 They both know each others names and Shasta will say Yes! if you ask if she wants to see Nikki. 

Nikki just runs in circles prefering the more silent and dignifed approch to excitement. 

I decided to pick up a new hobby. Ive been lookin into it for about 8 months now but finally got the beginnings of what I need. 

It is pretty much the awesomest thing ever! Oddly enough I am right handed when it comes to archery. I guess it has to do with eye dominance or something. Im not a horrible shot but I havent gotten to do much shooting yet since fall has come and since its Washington that means rain. We are gonna clear out a space in the garage so i can shoot from inside out into a target in the driveway. Im super excited about it. 

Religion/Health

    I have been thinking the last bit after talking to some people- at the dog park that I frequent- that some people LOVE health. They view healthy diet/exercise as the axis around which all things should turn. It seems like I almost offend them by not being the 6 days a week at the gym, counting calorie type of person. My diet (or lack thereof in their opinion) has become the topic of conversation the last week or so and I find that I strongly resent it. Today at the park, one of my friends actually brought me a protein shake because she doesnt like that I dont usually eat breakfast. She tried to force me to drink it even though I told her no flat out. Thats going too far.. waay to far.
     I assume that most the people that read my blog know that I dont go to any church or meeting of any kind right now. I grew up going to meeting and I dont really have anything bad to say about it, its just not for me. That being said, I have no problem with accepting other people and their chosen religions and the practices that go along with it. For the most part people extend the same courtesy to me with my lack of such.
   When it comes to food/health/nutrition/exercise people are a lot more willing to share their opinion whether its asked for or not (usually not). Im sure Mom has gotten her share of this in her cancer fight. What I am coming to realize is that in some ways, the health becomes a religion. It is very consuming and the need to convert people to your way of thinking is very strong. I realize that being healthy is well good and beneficial to your health (as the name implies) but everyone should be allowed the choice of how they choose to go about being healthy. People believe very strongly that the way they are choosing to do health is the ONLY proper and right way to go about it. Over the last few years I have heard a lot of different views, from dad, sisters, mom, cousins, friends, etc. And it seems like they all work to varying degrees. What some people dont seem to realize is that what works great for one person might not be so good for another.

   Some of the views I have heard are as follows-

• Butter/fat is good for you depending on what it is eaten with because the proteins/sugars change as they react to the other foods. 
• Conversly- butter is the devil, you should never eat butter because no one needs to eat saturated fats, there is no good that can come from it. If you need to grease a pan, use PAM
• Fruit- most people seem to agree that fruit is good for you.. in moderation due to all the natural sugars
• Vegetables- Are good for you, some better than others but mostly good. There are some exceptions such as corn since thats mostly starch
• Potatoes- Some say they are good for you, they can provde nutrients you need and when accompanied with butter are pretty good.
• Conversly- Potatoes are full of starch and carbs and nothing good comes from them, they should be eaten only rarely and then with no butter
• Soda/Sugar- now this is one that everyone agrees on- including myself even though I still drink soda and probably eat more sugar than I should- soda is horrible for you, it can cause heart burn, upset stomach, bladder problems, not to mention gaining weight if you arent really active. 
• Pasta- pretty much considered a not good food due to the carbs and the fact that we tend to eat bread with it thus compounding the problem
• Side note- some people believe that pasta is better than spuds because you can do different things with it- add protein and etc
• Bread- Bread is kind of useless carbs, much like pasta. You dont get much benefit from the normal store bought bread. Some types- like the stuff dad makes- are probably much better although I have never tested that (I take his word for it :)) 
• Meals- The argument is that there is no way to lose weight unless you eat a large protein filled breakfast. This goes with the "you will feel better if you eat breakfast"
• Conversly- I feel sick when I eat a large breakfast -or even a small one- and I have never lost weight from eating food in the morning. And yes I did give it a solid try.

*I am not trying to offend anyone with this post, I am not talking about anyone in particular. Somethings just brought it to a head today and I needed to vent. I know people disapprove of my diet but ultimately its my business and my decision what and how I eat*

Long Delay

Well its been 5 months since the last post. In that 5 months quite a lot has happened. It just hasnt occured to me to blog any of it. Maybe I should make a quick link to my own blog so I actually see it more.
So we left off with me giving my notice at Safeway. Well... that 2 weeks turned into 2 months. It all began when I went to turn in my notice. They were apparently all taken quite by surprise like they had no idea there were any problems. I talked to them in depth about my concerns and problems and they asked if I would be willing to stay and give them a chance to take care of the problems. I thought that sounded fair so I said ok. The conditions of my staying on were- 1. D would get talked to about her treatment of me, 2. I would be getting $1.50 raise effective immediately.

  Well D got talked to... 3 different times and things got worse rather than better which had been my fear all along. My raise was supposed to have been put through the day I agreed to stay.. that didnt happen. I talked to the store manager about it and he said oh its going its going, it just takes a couple weeks to get processed. 7 weeks later he let slip that he "forgot" to send in the raise and it still hadnt been sent in. I said ok Im done and left 2 weeks later. I spent the next 2.5 months kinda just relaxing and enjoying an extended vacation.

In April- the week after I quit- I got myself a dog. Her name is Nikki, our best guess is that she's a black lab/border collie mix with possibly a little bit of german shephard. She was 7 months old when I got her and pretty neglected/abused/ and sick. Now, 3 months later, she has put on weight, gotten all healthy, fixed, all shots and is really enjoying her life. She gets spoiled pretty rotten I must say. We got in the habit of going to the dog park every day for a couple hours while I wasnt working so she gets to play with all sorts of dogs every day. Her best friend is a Yellow Lab named Bama (short for Alabama) He is 3 months older than Nikki but they have the same energy and temperment. Bama has taken Nikki under his wing and whenever she gets unsure or scared she runs over to him and he pushes the other dogs away until shes comfortable again. Its pretty awesome to watch.

This is Nikki running around at the park, she gets SOOOOOO excited when I say the word "Go" or "Park" I think if she knew how she would be doing back flips along with the circles she spins.

The next picture, we were at Bama's house because I was dog sitting Bama, they sat on top of each other for a good long while just havin fun chewing on each others faces :) They usually end up so tired that they lay facing each other and half heartedly put out a paw now and then. 

Lets see, what else happened in 5 months...
 I went to Montana in June and got to watch my Grandpa graduate High School. He asked me if it was weird seeing him graduate but I said " are you kidding? I dont know anyone else that can say they went to their grandpa's graduation" (other than my cousins)

Not to mention the fact- My youngest sister can tell people that she and Grandpa graduated the same year. It was awesome being able to see so much of the family that came up for the graduation and the ones that live in Shelby anyways.  I stayed in MT for a week I think it was and got to see pretty much everyone I was hoping to. 

Back in WA, I flatter myself to say that my presence was sorely missed by a couple individuals. Nikki I know for sure and Im just going to assume the same for Will ;) if only because it ment I was taking care of Nikki's messes again. 

Just about a month ago I started working at Hobby Lobby. The best way to describe it to those who havent heard of them before (I never had until one came to Federal Way) think Pottery Barn crossed with Joanns. You could think Tuesday Morning instead of Pottery barn but a customer informed me that that was doing Hobby Lobby an injustice because TM has a lot of shoddy products. Whatever way makes more sense for you-- go with it, I dont mind at all.. really.

Um, I think thats all the news for now. Not much writing to sum it all up but there it is. 

New Beginning... again

Calvin and Hobbes tells us to "Go do something you hate, being miserable builds character" (said by Calvin while mocking his dad) However, after deep consideration I decided that I have more than enough character and there is no need to be miserable at a job any longer. I have spent enough time at jobs I dont like or hated and heck, I can make minimum wage anywhere and be happier. So tomorrow I am giving my 2 weeks notice, and going back to the temp agency that I worked at about a year ago. I went and talked to them yesterday and they were happy that I was thinkin about coming back to them and they were pretty sure I could get at least as many hours as I am now and probably more come spring when companies start wanting long term help- 2 or 3 months at a time. I am going to try to get my butt in gear and start applying at small bakeries where I can do what I want to do. Decorate cakes. I am going to take a caligraphy class and some flower making classes at Michaels while I am doing other stuff. Im a tad nervous about having to talk to my bakery manager but I kinda have my fingers crossed that she will be sick again tomorrow and I can talk to one of the store managers who is more easy going. Wish me luck :)

To be determined

As I was thinking about writing another blog post, it occured to me that since getting this job with Safeway all the posts that come to mind- with exception of the football one- seem to revolve around work. And more often than not- its the stupidity of the person I work closely with. Well today is no exception to the rule. I thought of the perfect quote to go at the beginning of this post while I was at work today but as soon as I got on the computer out the window my brain went. (yes it took the quote with it) I have a couple more cake pictures to put up today as well as a story to go with them.
Ninja Lego cake anyone?

 And his loyal minions of course

So the story behind this cake. A lady called asking if we had any ninja lego cakes. I said well I dont believe I have heard of them so I would say no we dont. She asked if she could bring in a pic and see if it was something we could do. I said sure why not and she came in a few hours later to talk to me. Now if coworker D had been on the phone or talking to the customer she would have told them flat out no it wouldnt be possible. Now it is my opinion that if the customer wants something that isnt super difficult to make then we should go ahead and make it. The customer will think its the best thing ever and will tell her friends how wonderful we are and we will get more business because of an extra 10 mintues of work.
I got to work at 9am yesterday and started working on this cake that was due at 11. D had been there since 6 but the customer specifically asked if I could make it for her (go me :)) I got going on the cake and cupcakes and got everything done. As I was putting it in the fridge, D came over and said well it looks nice but thats why we cant do special orders that arent in the book. I had a rather perplexed look on my face since D has a rather annoying habit of speaking in the middle of the conversations she is holding in her head that I am not privy to. She went on to explain that it had taken me 2 hours to do this special cake that wasnt in the book. Well I stopped and looked at her and said "D, How is it possible that it took me 2 hours to make this when I wasnt even out of BED 2 hours ago?" This conversation took place at 10am- if you will recall I started work at 9am She stopped talking to me for a while which was rather nice for a change. Sadly all good things must come to an end and she talked my ears off today.

I was working on some cake orders today and I couldnt figure out where all of my icing tips were. We should have a full drawer of them all sorted out but at least 4 of the spots were totally empty. After D left I started going through our tranist where we store icing bags and stuff in and guess what I found. Yep 33 icing tips, 12 couplers and 19 coupler ends. Dont ask me how so many got in there but it may have something to do with the 3 bags of purple, 3 bags of green, 2 bags of blue, 2 bags of orange and 2 bags of pink icing.
Really, why would someone feel this need to make a new bag of icing every single time they need a color. D's theory is that "oh I want to use FRESH" Even if I tell her I just barely made it she will make more. Honestly I think she does it because she has some control issues. Oh well, to each their own?