Answer the Phone!

I have a new annoyance in my life... trying to schedule a hair appointment.

The salon my hair stylist moved to is relatively small and just getting up and running. The inside is modern and relaxing and it's a quiet salon with just a few stylist. It's an Aveda salon, so it's not cheap to get a cut and color. While I love that it's small, it has it's disadvantages - like the fact that they don't have a receptionist.

I've tried to call and schedule and appointment a number of times now, but I'm always taken to the voicemail system. I'm sorry, I'm suppose to leave you a message so that we can play phone tag to set up an appointment? Or so that you can call me back when it's convenient for you, which will inevitably be during nap time. I think if you wake up my napping child that should automatically provide me with a free hair cut.

Not only is it exceptionally annoying to not be able to schedule an appointment, but when I'm getting my hair cut and colored I don't care for my stylist to be running back and forth answering a ringing phone. I want all of her attention on my head so that I can get in and out as quickly as possible.

As I was grumbling to a friend about this, she mentioned that I can't forget the cost of a receptionist and pointed out that this would, without a doubt, increase the cost of my appointment. Fine. Add another 5 bucks on. If that means I can schedule an appointment and talk to a person when I have time, I'm OK with that.

So what do you think.. am I being unnecessarily grumpy (or snobby?), or should the salon have a receptionist?

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

I'm probably the meanest Mom of all time, but I'm not taking Brody trick or treating. The idea of hauling him in and out of a car so I can carry him up to a house, ring the doorbell, and yell "Trick or treat," seems miserable when he wont understand what the heck we are doing. We can save that for next year.

We did still have the opportunity to dress him up and attend a Halloween party at a friend's home this weekend. We don't socialize very often and this was a great opportunity for us to catch up with old friends. And when I say "we" got to catch up with old friends, I mean JR got to catch up. I chased a monkey around, and I had a good time doing it.

Groceries

I sent the husband to the grocery store with a list of items I needed.

Yes, I know, this is already sounding like a train wreck.

My list started off with just a few simple things that I needed in order to finish off my corn chowder. Red/yellow/orange bell peppers, milk, and green onions.

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it....

I need yeast so I can make a fresh batch of bread, we're out of chocolate chips, the eggs are low, I could use a bag of carrots, and some thyme.

And that was just my rough draft.

Yes, I had a rough draft of my grocery list. (Hi, I'm Josie. I'm addicted to writing beautiful lists.)

The final copy looked something like this....

2% milk
Eggs
colby jack cheese
pepperjack cheese

yeast (the red jar. Red Star - Active Dry Yeast)
chocolate chips

red/yellow peppers (3)
onions
green onions
carrots
thyme

Now note, these items have been grouped to the section of the store they belong too. I even included specific details about what kind of yeast I needed. The plan was fool proof!

Then the phone calls started coming in. The first three were no big deal. Then J.R. got to the produce section.

"They don't have green onions."

"Did you check by the carrots and celery? They're usually refrigerated."

"I'm looking at all the onions right now. There are red onions, yellow onions, white onions... no green ones. Aren't they called something else?"

"Yes, a scallion."

"If they're a scallion then why are you calling them green onions? Doesn't matter, they don't have them..."

"Right, but did you check the fridges?... and scallion-schmallion. It's a cultural preference to say green onion."

(I muttered something under my breath about high class snobs and their fancy words for green onions.. pretty sure J.R. missed that completely in his frantic search of the produce section)

"They don't have green onions!"

"Screw the green onions! Forget them!"

I'm going to the store tomorrow. I'm pretty sure they'll have green onions.

He made it back from the store and managed to get everything on my list - with the exception of my green onions, of course. He did well, and I'm grateful that he picked the items up for me. In addition to my needed items, he bought a huge bag of cheese curds and an additional block of smokey cheddar cheese. And instead of just purchasing one bag of chocolate chips, he purchased six.

Cookies, anyone?

Life Lessons

Today, J.R. was up and out the door before the sun even bothered to make an appearance. He was taking his portable Lucas Sawmill to Southern Minnesota to work on job. I tried to call him once at 8 am when Brody and I rolled out of bed, but my WiFi calling on my cell phone wasn't cooperating and a very impatient little boy was demanding breakfast.

After breakfast Brody and I spent the morning playing peek-a-boo and coloring. Well, I was coloring... Brody was eating the crayons and making horrible faces.

Life lesson #92: Crayons taste like shit.

After a number of Crayons had their tips bitten off I simply told Brody that "it's OK, some lessons take a little longer to learn than others," and with that the box of Crayons returned to the safety of the desk drawer.

Before long it was time for lunch. Lunch blended into nap time, nap time to snack time, snack time to dinner, and poof! The day was over.

I no more than got Brody all snuggled into bed when my cell phone rang.

"Hey hun, how was your day sawing?" I asked the hubs.

"Ugh, I'm so sorry. I was thirty miles from cell phone service and I just didn't have any signal all day...."

He was frantically spitting out an apology when I stopped him....

"ummm, I didn't call you all day. I was fine. Brody was fine. We never called you. It didn't matter that you were out of cell phone service."

"Oh.................. you didn't?"

"Nope. Not once."

Life Lesson #121: It's always good to make your spouse feel important and loved.

And with that I reminded myself, "it's OK, some lessons take a little longer to learn than others."

Take My Survey!

I'm working on a research project for my Structure of English course at the UW-Stout.

I would really appreciate your participation in my project. Help me out, take my survey.

It will take you less than 4 minutes.

I will love you forever.

Take my survey!

All Caught Up

I am sitting in the library for the first time this semester. It seems in the hustle and bustle of my life, I have forgotten just how satisfying time in the library can be.

I always sit on the 5th floor. At UW-Stout, the 5th floor is the quiet floor.

Ahhhh, quiet. Enjoy it with me for just a moment.

I like to sit in the same desk next to the windows where the sun shines in. I sit here not just because I love sunshine, but because I'm fairly confident if I don't absorb the heat from the sun I will turn into a human Popsicle and die in the library.

I don't want to be a Popsicle.

Today I noticed they have placed a plant up here for us quiet lovers to enjoy. I believe they did this not for our well being or to clean the air, but just to prove that it's not really THAT cold up here. It's probably some plant that is hardy to zone arctic. Sneaky bastards.

Now the fifth floor is not a very popular floor. There are always a few stragglers up here that are frantically cramming through assignments. It would be interesting to take a pole of the GPA that the students on the fifth floor have. I'd like to think that all the really smart, hardworking students hang out up here, like some type of club.

Then I realize that the people in the corner are making out. I'm going to tell myself that they are doing research on PDA and how people react to it and just sink a little lower in my desk.

So while I sit in the library, soaking up the sun and the quiet, I realized for the first time in the entire semester, I'm ahead on all of my projects. Thank you, daycare While I'm finally able to slow down and not frantically cram through assignments, Brody is one building over having a blast with a bunch of other one year olds. On Monday he painted a pumpkin! The best part was how proud he was when I came home, picked up the pumpkin, and told him it was beautiful. I'm pretty sure he is the next Picasso, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

Daycare!

When did daycare get to be such a hostile topic to discuss?!

There are a number of groups people fit into with their daycare view. First, we have the "Daycare is the only way your child will learn anything" group. This group believes that stay at home mom's are completely incapable of educating their children and preparing them for the world. Children that stay at home will be damaged forever because they wont know how to socialize with other kids. They are never going to be exposed to germs so someday, when they're in the "real world," they're going to contract a cold and die.

Then you have the "daycare is the devil - kids belong at home with their parents" group. This group believes that sending your children to daycare is equivalent to saying that you don't love them. This only teaches children that parents aren't important and family bonding will never happen.

The third, and final, group "daycare is so expensive and I can't believe anyone would pay someone else to raise their child." The members of this group are mostly single and child free. They make me laugh.

My response? I'm a college student pulling a 3.9 cumulative GPA after five years of college. If that doesn't qualify me to teach my child the itsy bitsy spider and how to wash his hands, the world is surely in trouble. Brody has been home, with just me and no other children, for 15 months. He shares toys well, doesn't hit, doesn't bite, and is generally a fun child to spend time with. He loves other people and willingly goes to anyone - something I'm not sure is so fantastic. I believe a slight hesitance to go to other people is OK for a child.

I have loved having Brody home with me. I've been very lucky that I have had him with me for 15 months. I was there for the first time he rolled over, first time he crawled, first steps, first words, and every other first. I've had oodles of time to play with him and I always make sure to get a fair share of hugs and kisses in everyday. I know my son loves me from the huge grin he has every time I walk in the door from work. That grin is priceless.

I also know that I cannot continue functioning at the pace I have been going forever. Brody is a boy on the move and he takes a lot of energy to keep up with. I've been feeling very guilty the last few weeks as I've plopped him down on the couch and turned the TV to Nick Jr, begging for just twenty more minutes of quiet time so I can frantically scratch one more assignment off the never ending homework list.

So today, Brody started his new routine of going to daycare every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Yes, it's expensive. Even the student rate at $66 for three full days makes me question if this is the right decision. Surely, I could suck it up and keep him home and get everything done and save my family a lot of money, but the cost of my health and sanity are equally important.

I dropped Brody off at 7:30 this morning. The minute we walked in the door he ran over to give the fish tank a kiss. He then started playing with all of the toys. He wouldn't even sit still so I could take his jacket off. We snapped a picture before I left for the day. He didn't even realize, or care, that I was leaving. He just wanted to play with the big yellow truck.

I know a number of friends have been making bets as to whether or not there would be tears from me on the first day of daycare. I can honestly say there have no been tears. There was a feeling of relief when I came home and had a quiet house. I don't have to worry about trying to multitask my way through all of my obligations and can feel satisfied that Brody is getting the attention he needs and wont be spending a day enchanted by cartoons.

So while everyone is busy giving me their opinions about how I'm scarring my child for life, I'm busy making the best decisions I can for my life and family. In the end, my family's happiness is the only thing that matters.