End-Of-Week Randomness

• Last weekend, I was out running errands and decided to take Wyatt to Chick-fil-a for lunch just to see what he thought of it.  Turns out, it was a mistake to give him chicken nuggets before he ate any fruit because he LOVED them!  (Much like his daddy, he is starting to show a preference for processed, junk food over fresh fruits and veggies ...)

• We had Mother's Day lunch at Fox Brothers BBQ after church on Sunday.  We remembered being there around this same time last year and had taken a picture in front of the restaurant -- it was actually the last picture of the 2 of us before Wyatt was born.  We thought it would be neat to re-do the picture so we can compare the two side-by side.  A year makes a huge difference, huh?

• Speaking of Mother's Day - this is a picture of what Ben and Wyatt gave me.  It is awesome!  This picture doesn't do it justice all that well, but he had a mosaic made of tons of pictures from right before Wyatt's birth up until Easter.  Isn't this fantastic?  

• Mom sent me this picture earlier this week of our hydrangea bushes up at the lake.  My absolute favorite flower in the world.  This picture makes me so happy!  

•  We've got a busy weekend prepping for an extremely busy next week/weekend!!!  Ben and I are both in a wedding AND we're nuts enough to have Wyatt's birthday party the Sunday after the wedding so it should really make for an interesting week!  Ha.

People are Crazy

I don't talk much about work on this little blog, because, well because I just don't. I have plenty of interesting stories that I could tell and Lord knows I'm living an episode of The Office every time I walk through the doors but I happen to like my job and the people I work with so I just try to refrain from writing about it/them.

In case you don't know, I work for a small family-owned business. We are a distributor for a major oil company and we distribute gasoline/fuel as well as oil to various businesses in the Atlanta area. A large portion of our customer base happens to be gas stations -- we don't own the stations but we do have supply contracts with them. Therefore, when a customer calls in to Major Oil Company to complain about an experience they had at one of the stations, those complaints get funneled down to the distributor level for response. One of my jobs happens to be responding to those complaints as they come in. Some complaints are valid, but most are not.

For instance, today I had the pleasure of responding to a complaint from a lady who had bought a pair of shoes from one of the stations we supply. I'm totally serious. This one was mild compared to some of the things that I see. I'm not sure who has the job at Major Oil Company of sifting through these complaints, but I can pretty much guarantee you that person spends much of their day in laughter!

As I said earlier, some people do have valid complaints and in those few cases I do my best to resolve the matter with the station in question. However, most of the time the general scenario is this: someone gets upset with the station attendant for something random, the attendant and the customer have words, the customer usually insults the attendant (and shockingly admits to it in their complaint) and then contacts Major Oil Company to say that the cashier didn't treat them right. I'm not even kidding -- one customer even admitted to telling an attendant to "go back to India" and then got upset that his response was "you go back to f**king India". This lady was upset that the cashier would "use the F word when speaking to a woman". How am I even supposed to respond to that?

I really just don't understand people sometimes. I think we all get upset by situations and voice our opinions/concerns to someone serving in a customer service capacity, that is totally normal. But what I don't understand is why people think that spewing insults is going to help them resolve their problem. I'll admit that I have customer service 'confrontations' quite often. (Not at gas stations necessarily ... but it usually is a retailer of some sort). The thing is, I usually win my battles with these people. I think that is for two reasons 1) I am reasonable with the person 2) I am never rude to them. Why is this such a hard concept for others to understand?

Thanks for reading my little rant. Shim and belly updates are forthcoming. Maybe even a sneak preview some of the nursery decor....

randomness is all you're going to get from me today

I think this post is going to be a whole lotta randomness today. Sorry guys.

1) I really try to avoid baking at home because I tend to eat the lion's share of any goodies that we have around the house, but I stumbled upon a Chocolate Peanut Butter cookie recipe yesterday and just couldn't resist going home to make them. I found the recipe over at Mrs. Southern Bride (I think she checks in here from time to time, so THANK YOU!) They were fairly easy to make and no strange ingredients -- you'll find everything right in your pantry. So try them out!

2) Is anyone else out there watching Giuliana & Bill? Ben absolutely thinks its the worst show on TV and I. LOVE. IT. The show eerily similar to Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica, which probably explains why I enjoy it so much. And the good news is that the show was picked up for a second season!

3) As I've mentioned before on this blog, my family spends A LOT of time up at the lake in summertime. Around our dock though, we seem to have a terrible time with bees and wasps. Other bugs too, but mainly those. Soooooo, mom showed up at the lake a few weeks ago with what I think is the ultimate redneck toy ....

Is that not awesome? Its basically like a mini-tennis racket for zapping bugs. It actually works pretty well -- its a wide enough area so that you don't even have to have very good aim to zap the little pests! Of course after mom got it out of the package and put batteries in it, I decided I wanted to zap myself so that I'd know what it felt like. It HURT. LIKE. HELL. I knew it would, but its basically one of those "don't touch this plate, its hot" situations so I just had to see for myself.

4) This weather is on my nerves. I absolutely love the muggy, hot, end of summer weather that we typically have here in GA in late August/early September but not this year apparently. It just makes me sad. I want summer back!

That's all I've got today folks. And to be honest, I probably won't have much inspiration tomorrow so I'll be back with a weekend recap on Monday!

Big Red

I should preface this story by saying that I have a tendency to do certain things or to buy certain things purely for blog material. This story is one of those cases, and I have no problem in admitting that to you.

Ben and I bought a new car for me to drive last year so we decided to sell the car he was driving and I gave him the car that I had been driving since college. It was a good car and my dad always made sure it was serviced properly and well taken care of so when it was giving Ben trouble on his way to work yesterday, he called me at work to figure out where dad always took it for repairs and service. I called the mechanic and Ben met me there with the 4Runner and we left it there. Because it was close to my office, Ben drove me back and then took my car back to work with him.

This story is getting long, and really it isn't that interesting so let me just skip to the point. Ben's car wasn't ready in time which left me car-less at work. Soooo ... what other option did I have than to take the work truck home with me?


This bad boy is a 1989 Chevy Cheyenne! Purdy sweet!


Let me tell you, I got straight up LAUGHED at by some guys in traffic. Seriously! Also, I realized that you really do get discriminated against when you're driving a piece of junk. People wouldn't let me in and just were generally not courteous to me and Big Red. Oh well. Whatevs.

The truck really isn't as bad as it looks -- I mean it has power steering, brakes, AM/FM radio, air conditioning (as long as the windows are down), and one speaker!

The Prom Pose

Ben and I have this serious problem when we take pictures together. I love having pictures to document everything we do and to help us remember but it seems like we know no other pose besides this one.

Wouldn't everyone agree that this is the typical prom pose? We complain about it each time we take a picture, but neither of us are really sure what would be a better pose. We don't exactly want to become Heidi and Spencer with a bunch of stupid, cheesy, staged-but-supposed-to-look-natural photos like this one below:

So do you see my quandary? Or am I completely off-base here? Is this not something that many people struggle with? Maybe its just me, I don't know but something's gotta give here.

Ramblings

• I am so darn happy that today is Friday!
• It makes me laugh when I talk to some of our customers on the telephone and they have American music blaring. (Most of our customers are Indians)
• I think that an ideal first date would not take place at a chain restaurant. This is something that has been heavily debated this week amongst some of my friends.
  
• I am angry with the Braves for letting Smoltz go over a few million dollars. But the more I read arguments for the Braves, I can understand their rationale.
  
• I have this calendar in my office that makes me angry every time I look at it.
• I think I'll take it down and put my new one up.
• If you are actually reading this post, you must think I'm pretty lame.
• I have not worked out since before Christmas and doubt I'll start next week.
• Ben finally shaved off his beard today! Yaay!
• I love the shoes that I'm wearing today but I'm afraid they're going to cause a broken ankle.
• I did not watch the National Championship game last night but did thoroughly enjoy watching Grey's Anatomy!
• I'm bored with this so I know you have to be. Thanks for sticking with me.
  

What are your random thoughts today? I know I'm not the only weirdo who has them.

Dancin' Shoes

Are these boots not fabulous? I just love them! I don't think this picture quite does them justice, but they really are a good purchase. Not that I can take credit for finding them, because I saw Carrie wearing a pair and HAD to have them. I sent her back to the store where she bought them to find a pair for me. And not that I'm counting, but that is the second time this year I have copied a pair of shoes she was wearing.

What do you think I paid for those boots? I'll give you a hint and say that they were on major sale.

I show you the shoes, so that I can tell you about the inspiration they gave me when I was driving home from work yesterday. I normally talk to my mom or sister while I'm driving, but since
has arrived, neither of them are very available to me anymore. (No offense to sweet Ellie, of course. I have already asked my parents to temporarily adopt a sister for me while Kimmie is busy).

But I digress. Back to the point. Since I couldn't find anyone who was willing to talk to me on the phone, I had to resort to listening to music and thinking. This is a dangerous combination. One of my current favorite songs is "Forever" by Chris Brown (I think). When that came on, I immediately started dancing. And then it hit me ... I'm going to make up a dance routine to this song.

I'll let yall know how it turns out. Maybe if it is any good I'll even post it on the blog. But don't count on that happening because I'm the world's worst dancer.

I'm thinking that
a) it was a terrible idea
b) i probably shouldn't post this because now you all know what a dork I am

Wii Bowling

Ben got a Wii for his birthday in July and I have pretty much taken it over as if it were mine. One of my favorite Wii games is bowling. I. AM. AWESOME! Really, I totally kick ass at fake bowling. Not so much at real bowling though, I am terrible at that.

The first night that Ben had the Wii, he and my brother-in-law (is that hyphenated? i never know for sure) and I played. I beat them both with ease. Since then Ben and I have played a few times and I always win. He'll probably chime in here and say that he lets me win but that is a lie. Since I'm so good and all, Josh challenged me to a fake bowling tournament at Jocks and Jills. I'm going tonight and I intend to win. Even if I don't win the whole thing, I will definitely beat Josh. Don't yall think?


Disclaimer: I have been working really hard this week on my Wii Fit. I've done so many lunges and toe raises, etc that I can barely walk. If for some reason I don't do well, that is obviously the reason.

Stay tuned for results tomorrow!

Updates

This past weekend was a busy one for the Longmire household. I know this is a little late for an update, but since you are all dying to know what has been going on with us I'll share!!

Thursday night we went to the Miami game. It was a little too cold for the whiteout, but we made our best effort. Normally I struggle to actually watch the football games even though I go to all of them, but I actually watched some of this one! It made Ben so proud, let me tell ya. Anyway, it was a good game and a big win for the jackets. Next up: Georgia. Be sure to check out Ben's blog entry this week about Hate Week.

I really like this picture!! Next time you are at my house, you will probably see it framed somewhere.

We celebrated birthday #2 on Friday which started out with dinner at La Paz (Yummy!) and ended up at Vintage Tavern. In my group of friends, birthdays have always been a big deal! In college each birthday was a huge production and typically lasted about a week. We aren't quite as dramatic these days about bdays but there is usually some type of get-together. (These days we look for any excuse to get together though) Anyway, fun was had by all that night and here are a few pictures to prove it!

Thanks, Carrie for sending the pictures from your camera! Mine did not turn out very good.

Since Carrie and Susan stayed at our house on Friday night, that meant that we just HAD to go to OK Cafe for lunch the next day. Carrie and I both love to eat, so when she is around you can always count on the fact that you'll eat good! Saturday afternoon was spent laying around. Not really sure what I did other than hook up my new Wii Fit. That night we had an engagement party to attend but I was a slacker and didn't take a single picture.

Sunday was more of the same. We literally did nothing all day. Except eat pizza, watch football, and go grocery shopping.

Then on Monday, we went to see MADONNA at Phillips arena! It was incredible. Ben can probably give you a better analysis of the concert than I can, but I'll take a stab at it. Madge opened up to some of her new stuff that I didn't really know. This didn't matter too much because I was just enamored with the dancing/costumes/show. She did a really great job at sprinkling in her older stuff including Vogue, Into the Groove, Borderline, You Must Love Me, and Like a Prayer. She even did an audience version of Express Yourself. I wasn't that impressed with that portion -- I guess she wanted involvement from the audience but I would have preferred to just hear her sing it herself. She is an amazing dancer and incredibly in shape. All in all it was a great concert. We were exhausted from it on Tuesday but it was well worth it! Here are a few pictures.

Random Topics

I'm having a little bit of writer's block tonight, so I'm just going to post a few random thoughts that I'm having at the moment!

Bienvenido a Miami
We spent the weekend with Ben's family in Miami. It was so nice to get down there and visit with family, eat too much food, and drink too much wine (and port, and limoncello, etc etc etc).
We actually stayed in Coral Gables and man that place is awesome! The people watching is just so amazing -- I think I could sit for several hours and just watch/laugh at some of the people down there.

Lipstick Jungle
News is that, the show has been sundropped. Sad. I really did love that show. Even Ben got into it! He used to act like he wasn't into the show, but yet he would watch it with me and ask questions about what was going on. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find another show to love in its place.

Cake Snob
It is official. I am now a cake snob. If it doesn't come from a gourmet bakery, I'm not going to like it. I hope that doesn't offend any of you if I've been to a shower or party you have hosted lately. I'm sure the cake you served was great, I'm just spoiled from eating the gourmet stuff.

Writer's Block
I am suffering from a serious case of writer's block. However, I hate it when my favorite bloggers don't update regularly (you know who you are) so I'm throwing together some random thoughts for you guys in an effort not to piss yall off!

I'll be back later this week.