Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Note to self:

Although the appeal of "free hot drink days" for employees sounds wonderful, it is probably not a good idea to serve us all espresso's at the same time. Talk about caffeine rush.

It is very strange to be told NOT to dance to the hokey pokey during children's story hour due to workman comp rules.

Also, not a good idea to feed your kids ice cream in a bookstore. Just for future reference.

It's been a weird morning.

And it just kept getting stranger and stranger. I walked outside of the store for my lunch break and there was a FIRE. Real life FIRE. A 6-8 ft tall electrical box was flaming! I just stood there and gaped until I noticed the firemen. They too were just standing there gaping.

Apparently I looked like a safety hazard and they ushered me to my car. Don't worry about the rolling shelves of books right there though. No, those couldn't catch on fire at all!

I wonder why they were just watching it. Seems like an unorthadox practice for people whose job it is to put out a fire.

Then, I drove three blocks down (our apartment is about 6 blocks away from my work,) and I saw a SWAT team swarm a car! Police running, lights flashing, guns and vests out. Honest to goodness. And it was in the Whataburger parking lot!

What is going on with this town?

Monday, August 25, 2008

Four days and counting...

I have officially four days to ready my 450+ page book and then return it to work.


Did I tell you that I get to check books out. CHECK them out. Of a bookstore. And return them two weeks later. For FREE!


So whenever I am walking around and I go "Hey, that looks interesting," no need to invest 15 dollars in what could turn out to be a not so good book. No need to put your name on a waiting list at the library. Nope, I can just hand it to my supervisor and by the end of my shift it will be checked out and in my locker, ready to go. Amazing.


I'll try not to abuse the privilege.


Tomorrow, I have work all day long and then we are taking dinner over to a family from our Sunday School class who just had a little baby boy- Joseph. I am really excited to see and talk with them for a little bit.


I also tried to mimic Bakerella, for tomorrow night, but made a few tweaks on the product. I wish I had her photo set up, but these pictures will have to do. They are homemade peanut butter cookies dipped in white chocolate with Orange and Blue sprinkles. The cookies by themself are a little dry and bland but the chocolate makes things WAY better.


Isn't that how it always works?



Sunday, August 24, 2008

There and Back Again...

A Brittney's story.

Sorry it has been so long. Well, I am only partially sorry.

It has been so busy around here that even our sleep is suffering!

On Wednesday we left for Georgia to visit Ian's grandparents in northern Georgia. It was a very short drive from here and then we just spent time hanging out with them for a day and a half. We drove back on Friday in the middle of Fay, and came home to an apartment without power-but it returned shortly, just in time for me to start a mountain of laundry.

Saturday, my wonderful parents came for a visit. We spent the day driving around, showing them our new church, our work places, and such. Then, miracles of all miracles, my momma bought me a trash can! Now all of you who were worried can breathe easier. It was a big day because we hung our graduation diplomas!

Today was also a big day because Ian and I officially joined our new church and started teaching a sunday school class in the college department. For me, the next three days will be a whirlwind or work, which is good. Tomorrow, Ian starts his new regiment of class at 7:30 so I have a feeling he will be a little grumpy until he is used to the early rising.

Until there is a break in the schedule, I will probably only have short little updates telling you what I have been up to. Pictures will be uploaded later this week.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A first

Sweet heavenly nectar....

I got to read People magazine yesterday.
Ummm.
While I was at work.
But, still! It was so wonderful!

Also, a women asked to touch my hair.
Pretty weird.
Especially with having to lean way far over the counter so she could touch it.

Also.
She called it mermaid hair.
I'm not really sure how I feel about that.

Also.
My boss saw the whole thing.
He asked if I often get asked to touch my hair.

My response.
"Nope, that was a first."

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A Few Things I Have Learned Lately:

Sorry I have been gone so long. I spent my weekend in Ocala leading a bunch of 9th grade girls in a disciple now weekend. So here is a list of things I have learned over the last week or two:


Ninth Grade girls. They can really put down their junk food.


Sleep, is essential. Even when you are running on a million cups of coffee and an entire bag of starbursts.


Little girls DO steal, in case you didn't know, and I had to "catch one," stealing a pullout from a magazine.... A WebKinz poster. Poor kid. Fortunately it was her father who caught and reprimanded her, but she had to turn it in to me.


My husband likes to put red chili flakes on everything, and today, he put them in his vegetable soup. Weird.


The neighbors near us (above, below, or beside, I can't tell from where,) have an unhealthy obsession of Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On. That would explain why I keep having strange tragic boat dreams. I really wish they would stop.


It IS strange to meet the person who got the job you were interviewing for. I met her yesterday at work and found out she has been teaching for 20+ years, and the job at Norton was the ONLY interview she got. I'm screwed.


It's very possible that my two supervisors are having an... um... "fling," together. One of them will be on duty and the other will just show up, for the heck of it, then they will disappear into the office for a while. Also weird.


Just because a tropical storm is projected to come your way, doesn't mean it will. Think of it like a two year old boy. You never know what's going to happen.


People start to be very generous to you when they find out you're poor and broke. Eulie almost bought us a trashcan. But then he didn't. And now I am still without a trash can. But we are very close!


Quilts are interesting to make. Because. You see. The sewing isn't so bad, it's the figuring out what "quilting," actually means. I kind of forgot about that part.


And finally, it is very easy to get behind in things. Like blogging. Emailing. Phone calls. and book club reading. I'm working on it. Hopefully I will be all caught up soon.


Below are some of the pictures of my quilt making process, though I haven't taken any since I actually began sewing them all together, that's to come later.


Also, Ian and I leave to go see his grandfather and step grandmother (Pop and Sylvia,) tomorrow, in Helen, GA. We'll probably only be there for 2 days, and we'll definately be home by Friday night. Pictures and stories to come.





Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A little like Phoebe...

It has still been a whirlwind of the past couple of days, and I feel like I have so much to tell you and get you caught up on!

First of all, Ian got a job! What an answer to our prayers! He will be working as an assistant in an opticians office doing clerical work and some community outreach type of work. AND the hours are really flexible! The office is in this old OLD house (1899) in downtown Gainesville and I can not wait to take some pictures of it!

Second of all, my dearest friend, Courtney, Got Engaged! I received the phone call at 3:30 in the morning on Tuesday and was very disoriented, but joyful for her news, and called her back during the day to apologize for being out of it. Luckily, Courtney is wonderful and understood! As soon as she blogs the story, I will link it here. Until then, here is a preview...It involved a meteor shower and a glass slipper!!

As for me, I have kept pretty busy with work and errands around here. Ian and I both got our new licenses (why are DMV's always so sketchy?) and registered to vote here, and then went and set up our bank account...together! Finally we can have "all of our money," (please picture me rolling my eyes,) in one place!

Work has been intersting too. I have had some, um, diverse people come through my humble check out line.

First there was the guy with the ID:

Me: Okay, that will be 20.32 (he hands me a card, with no signature,)
And Can I see some ID please?
(This is the part where he puts down a Spongebob Square Pants sticker,)
Him: Can you see the resemblance?
Me: blank stare...open mouth....
Him: I have changed a little over the past 10 years I guess, beefed up a little wouldn't ya say?
Me: Um. Yeah. Can I see your real ID please?

Then there was the man child who came through my line to buy a CD that was "parental advisory," and since he looked like he was MAYBE 15, I asked to see his ID. How shocked was I when I found out he was born in 1983!!

Then, the monumental customer.... The first one to make me cry. It was first thing on Tuesday morning, I had opened the doors, rolled out the carts, turned on the registers, when the wicked witch of the west (or is it east? I can never remember,) came rolling through. She made her purchases with a sufficient amount of pleasantries then when I asked for her Rewards card, she didn't have it on her. No big deal. I could look her up in our system. I confirmed that it was her, and that was where the problem started..

Lady: My name is spelled wrong. Please fix it.
Me: Well, I have no access to those files, but I can give you a form showing you how to change it.
Lady: I don't understand why I have to spend MY time fixing YOUR mistake.
Me: I'm sorry. Would you like the form though?
Lady: NO! I don't have time to fix it. You made the mistake. You should fix it!
Me: (highly annoyed at this lady's ignorance,) ACTUALLY. We never enter your name. When we register your card, we register it by email or phone number. No name. For it to have your name in the system means you went in and entered it yourself.

BAM. I am so good. Take that lady.

Lady: (sputtering,) Fine. Here is my credit card.
Me: (I check the back of her card, and it is signed, which means I do NOT ask for ID. I run the card, and since the purchase was less than 25, there is no receipt to sign. I put the receipt in the bag along with her purchases and say,) Have a nice day!
Lady: You didn't check my ID
Me: No...
Lady: HOW DID YOU KNOW THIS WAS ME? (actually yelling at this point,)
Me: You signed your card, which, company policy says I do not check your ID, (also, I am thinking, you made a big fuss over your name spelling and the *correct* spelling was on the front of your card! but, resigned to make the customer right, I do not rant.)
Lady: You didn't ask me to sign a receipt!
Me: Yes ma'am, your purchase was less than 25 which means there is no receipt to sign.

Okay, well this goes on for quite awhile, until this old granny of a lady comes up behind and says

Granny: Lady! What's your problem? If you have something to say,talk to a supervisor. Otherwise move on!

Lady still wants me to give her ANY type of paper to sign so she can prove it is, indeed, her. But she walks on, and I duck behind the counter and wipe away the few tears that have sprung up. Luckily Granny waits on me.

The End.

Also. Our alarm keeps beeping. Kind of like it does in the FRIENDS episode where Phoebe hears a noise and it is her fire alarm, so she takes it apart but it keeps beeping. Yeah. That's me. Every 30 seconds the alarm "chirps" because of some malfunction, and I followed the manual correctly but it keeps "chirping." That's just a fancy word by the alarm company to say "loud annoying squawking that wakes you up in the middle of the night."

As Phoebe would say "Hey Mickey you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, Hey Mickey! Hey Mickey!"

Monday, August 11, 2008

ALSO

The book club has begun!

Please post your questions under "comments," on our website Bound to Books, so that discussion can begin. We can't discuss without your questions!

Also. No coping out *cough Mrs. Angela cough*

If you would like to join in, grab a copy of Persuasions and catch up!

Rush Rush Rush

I'm kind of in a hurry to get out of the house and to work, but I just wanted to recap my "Oh so busy," weekend.

Friday night was girls night at my church. And it was a "bring whatever craft you are working on," kind of night. So, I had fully planned on bringing my quilt and getting some pointers on how to do it.

One small problem. I realized, like 30 minutes before I was supposed to be there, that a loud sewing machine would probably not be inducive of chit chat and such.

Darn it.

What was I going to do? Sure I KNEW how to do a variety of crafts, but I certainly do not have any of the supplies here with me. And I couldn't go empty handed. That would just be too weird.

So. I brought my quilt strips with me anyways. And an iron.

And I just MADE myself look busy for 2.5 hours. trimming away the edges and intermittenly going up and ironing them. But, really, it was a good night. I got to talk with 2 of the ladies from my Sunday School class, and got to meet a couple more ladies from the church.

Saturday morning we had to get up very very early, as we left for Orlando by 7:30. We had a funeral in Oviedo at 10, lunch with Courtney and Sean afterwards, over to see Ian's puppies at his house and his brother, Andrew, then on to see the Alderman's and the Vargas'. THEN on to see my parents and the Blankenships, though I didn't get to see Baby Jack because they were running late. Hung out there for a little, changed out of the funeral clothes and into the wedding clothes, (because that could be really weird, walking around in black mourning clothes at a wedding,) then on to my childhood friend's wedding, Ben Hogue.

It was a really strange time for me. Ben, Katie, Jason, and I, used to be inseparable. And then there was that year or two when I really would have said Ben was my "best friend," so it was so strange going to his wedding. Here are some pictures from our adventures together!


Here we are, in London, making our classic strange faces. Apparently the bread was really tough and our "lemonade," tasted like Airborne. Weird Brits.




This is myself, Ben, Katie R, and Jessica in a club in London for dinner. This was on a trip where we didn't get fed all to well, so we were pretty ravenous.




This is Ben and I, lost in the Louvre, in Paris, France. Apparently I don't like his sense of direction. Also. I was not too please with the tiny size of the Mona Lisa. Could have added to my displeasure.


And THIS is the picture that I kept Deja Vu-ing at his wedding. This is Ben, myself, Katie R, and Jason in the National Press club in Washington DC. We were really excited about our fancy dinner and having fancy glasses. Ben's reception reminded me of this moment. And we four were all there!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Great Scot!

I have an ironing board!

I am very very ecstatic. I can forever retire my "towel on the dryer," or my better yet "towel on the counter," technique that I have all but perfected over the last month.

Oh. By the way. Men's dress shirts are a pain to iron. I love how they look, just hate the work they take to prepare. Maybe a dry cleaner in the future? Who knows. For now I will just have to work on my mad skills.

Oh. Right. The ironing board. So Rebecca Smith came over today for a little bit. She was in town interviewing for a job at The Loft and for The Limited ( I KNOW I would have a spending problem if I worked there!) She dropped by to drop off our wedding present (a painted canvas with a picture of Ian and I,) and a "just because I feel bad for you" present, (the ironing board!)

So, Thanks, Rebecca!

Ian had two interviews this week, and one for sure on Monday. Please be in prayer that something will come through for him

As for me, I have the lucky privilege of meeting ALOT of people from schools and the district office when I am working at "the bookstore." They come through and pull out their teacher discount card, and I make sure to strike up a conversation with them about where they work and how I am looking to get started in Alachua County teaching. Please pray that over the next two weeks we will hear something back.

Tomorrow is a Ladies night, at our church, and I am really excited to get to go. I will be bringing my quilt that I have been working on.

Did I not tell you that I am working on a quilt? Huh. Well I am. Without any help or pictures or experience. I bet you can hardly wait to hear about how those "head conversations," went done.

I will try to post pictures and the story of the quilt, on Saturday.

Keep updating people, so I know what is going on your lives! I miss you all!

Oh. and.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. EMILY
I hope you had a wonderfully amazing day!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Before the Rooster Crows

You know what I miss? I miss reading People magazine. I didn't realize it, but I had gotten into the habit of reading Mrs. Emily's People, everytime I babysat at night, after the kids were asleep. I would look for something half interesting to watch on tv, locate the magazine (which was usually under a stack of cool catalogues and other magazines on the counter,) and read.



Now, I went to go by one of those things at the store, and it was 4.95 people! That is almost five dollars! That is like taking one whole hour of my work day and throwing it away!



So, for now, goodbye to you, People magazine. Perhaps I will ask for a subscription at Christmas time.



Adieu.



I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning. Seriously. It was like 5 o clock. Fully awake, not in the least bit tired.



So weird.



So, I dozed in and out for another hour and dreamt of when one day Ian becomes President of the United States. What a great dream. Me and my ten children in the white house. lol. and my husband running the nation.



We'll see. I don't think "Graduate of Liberty University," will quite win over the American people. We'll have to build his background a little bit first.



I also don't think "worker in the middle east," will have them swooning either.



Hmmm.



We'll see.



I did, however, get a ton done already. I read the news, and put more wedding pictures up on facebook, and took a shower, and made my husband breakfast, and cleaned the kitchen and our room, and sorted the laundry.



And now I am off to work. Hopefully, I will be as productive there as I have been here.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Play nice now...

As the sun sets on another summer day, I flop into bed at an unusually early time. Again. It's only 8 but I am in bed, ready to sleep, but deciding to keep myself up another two to three hours so that I will sleep soundly. I guess I can take the time to catch up on what has been going around here.

We ended last week with work and that was about it. On Friday night, I got to work the book release party, for Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn. Now, this isn't really a grown up person book, though some are beginning to read the series, so please imagine the crowd I was working with. About 100 14-17 year old girls, many dressed up in "goth," clothing to commemorate the vampire/werewolf characters in the book. I am sure you can imagine the conversations that followed.

Me- hi, did you find everything all right?
teeny bopper in a sports bra- Mmmmm Ji ave a lahooon?
Me- Um.. What?
Teeny Bopper in a sports bra- Ji ave a lahooon?
Me- Um. Can you please take out your fangs and try again?
(Turns out she wanted to know where the bathroom was)

Then there was that strange older man who came in with his Yarmulke (yes, that's how you spell Jewish hat,) and a fist full of cherries. He also had another fist full of cherry pits that he was spitting into.

Please imagine my horror!

And I had to mask it. Sheesh. I am quite the face maker and I love to make scenario appropriate faces.

Also. Ian's a sheet stealer.

Now I know this has nothing to do with the bookstore, but I am kind of done with that topic and I think this is the next most important thing on my mind.

He tells me just to punch him in the kidneys when he steals them, but....I am not totally convinced that would do anything but injure my own hand.

Also. I don't know how to punch.

I should take lessons or something.

Saturday was fun. Ian, Sam, and I headed out REALLY early to go tubing down the Itchetucknee River. It was very gloomy out (which is kind of the status quo with Gainesville in general, but I'll save that whining for another day.) But we ended up having a great time anyways.

Sunday we started going to a new Sunday School class. Our old class was too large for the room, so they started a new one at 8:15. We decided to attend it because we wanted a super small group for discussion, and so we could possibly teach a college or high school class at the 11 o clock hour.

After church, we had our friends Sam, James, Ben, and Amanda, over for a big Sunday lunch. Turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, and gravy were on the menu, and, we ate it, of course, on the floor.

And Amanda loved my trash can, AKA, the publix bag under our sink. Sigh, maybe next pay check.

I closed last night and opened all day today. Which was actually alot of fun, because I got to take part in this AMAZING opportunity. I am not sure if they are doing it at "the bookstore," where you live, but in Gainesville, we picked a charity, called Peaceful Paths, which is a shelter for abused women and shelter, and are taking donations of new books for the shelter. So we have stacks of cheap childrens books by the register, and brochures for what the shelter does. It amazes me how generous people are here. I sold over 45 book today alone!

It also makes think about how so often, when I go past charities, I think, "there is no way I can give 3 dollars up," but today I thought about how much joy that three dollars that is going to bring a child, and how I would probably just spend it on cookie dough anyways.

Also, if you are ever asked to give to charities, please don't make disgusted faces. It's not very nice. Nor is it nice to explain in detail why you don't want to give. Just say, "no thanks, but thank you f0r offering."

Also. Don't lie and say "maybe next time."

It's just not nice.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Just a few lines...

I can barely keep my eyes open as I lie in bed with my laptop. But when I saw that I hadn't updated since Wednesday I was appalled! I am so tuckered out it amazes me. I'm a college student after all! I should be able to stay up past 10:30 without feeling like I woke up at 5 in the morning. Well, maybe I am NOT a college student anymore, but really, whose counting?

Anyways, the real update will come tomorrow morning. Please pardon the tardiness, but I think my post can be much more entertaining when I have a sense of humor and can make sense!

Sweet dreams to all!