Goin' Swimmin' and Phoenix's health

So I'm getting ready to take the kids swimming and I called the pool to see how much it's going to cost me.  Now mind you, the kids are 2 and 10 months and then there's me.  The lady who answered the phone told me it was $7 a person.  I asked well what about kids, still $7.  I asked if there was an age minimum or anything and they said yes, if the children are less than 5 months old you don't have to pay.  So now, I'm stuck paying $21 to take my babies swimming.  How ridiculous!

I had to take my Phoenix to the vet again yesterday.  It turns out she does have mites (like I thought in the first place) it only takes 2 visits to discover this!  So now she has to take vitamin E for the rest of her life, this liquid stuff for like 3-6 months, an antibiotic for 14 days and a special shampoo to be washed with 3 times a week until the skin irritation goes away.  And apparently it's because she has a low immune system!  

An update...

Wow it's been so long since I have posted.  

Well we had a conference call today at work.  I have to tell you I am so excited.  I found out my store is in the top 10 in the nation in customer voice.  I cannot tell you how excited I am.  And my overall turnover is 12%...one of the lowest ever!  My variances is one of the best in the company...so many shout outs for my store and myself.  I cannot tell you how ecstatic I was.  And of course I had to brag to all of my store partners and tell them how wonderful we are.  Now if we get a 100% on our QASA audit...we can be the supremo Starbucks LOL

I am so sick and tired of being asked "So when are you closing?"  I could strangle the newspaper and the news station for reporting this.  So many people think it is next week.  Hello, don't you think we would have told you already?  Stop asking.  We promise we will let you know as soon as we know.  Now back off!

So a customer called corporate on me because I did not offer him an americano because the bold coffee was brewing.  This is our conversation.

-I want a bold coffee

-ok I just pressed brew so it has about 2 and a half minutes.  Do you have time to hang out with me or would you like the milder coffee?

-no

-ok so are you going to wait

-no

-ok do you want something else?

-a bold coffee

(now about 1 and half minutes has passed)

-well it still has about a minute

(now he is pissed!)

-I cannot believe I am coming to starbucks and I can't get a bold coffee.  And why didn't you offer me an americano?  Isn't that your policy I get an americano if I have to wait? 

-no its not but if you would like one I would be more than happy to get you one

-no just forget it

and he storms off.

Oh so funny LOL

Michael is on a fishing trip right now, so I am home alone with the babies for a few days.   It is going to be kinda nice not to have to deal with Michael's crabbiness.  I am excited to have this weekend off.  I haven't had a weekend off in I don't know how long.  And now that it's summer and season is over, we get to relax and clean and I get to take lots of time off!

So one of my shifts is uber mad at me.  I got a transferred shift from a store that is closing this coming weekend.  Now mind you, I have been running the store with myself and 2 shifts.  It's been hard and none of us can take time off. The one that is complaining actually did take 10 days off and it was a pain to find another shift to work her shifts.  Anyways, so I get this transfer to make our lives easier and I told her that her hours will probably decrease by 5-7 a week because of the new shift and I want to be fair and give them all the same hours.  She doesn't understand it.  She is very selfish if you ask me.  She is always wanting to leave early and get her shift covered.  So she always ends up about 9 hrs less a week anyway.  Oh well.  It's my store and I will do as I wish.

Orion is talking so much now it is unbelievable.  I can actually have a semi conversation with him.  It is so cute.  But he is repeating everything I say so I have to watch that.  Orion is also now in a high back booster seat.  Liana is now in a big girl car seat, no more infant carrier for her!  Liana is standing on her own.  No steps yet but she will just stand there for like 20 seconds without holding onto anything.  She is feeding herself now too and no more bottles either!  My they grow so fast.  It just breaks my heart.

Oklahoma

So we have been in Oklahoma for like 5 days and it hasn't been that bad.  The town that M and M live in is like living in YV except they have a mall and Old Navy LOL.  And we can buy a very nice 3 bed house for $95,000.  Now the only problem would be is to find a j-o-b.  Not sure if I would really move here but it's nice to know I could afford to actually live some where rather than just skate by.  I wish that M and M lived near us.  I am so much like Mel and Mike is so much like his bro.  It would be so much fun.  We did get some snow here yesterday.  I was promised a blizzard of up to 14 inches of snow.  I got 2 and most of it was melting yesterday afternoon/evening.  

I got bit by the Twilight bug.  Now I really like the book but the movie SUCKED.  I wish they would go and remake the movie.  

Update...

So I finally got a video game of my own for michael's 360.  It assassins creed.  its kind of an old game but I love it.  I get to kill people...with a sword!  LOL  and I can climb buildings and push people around...and steal horses.  

Liana has learned to stand on her own.  That excites me so much.  My baby girl is growing so quickly.  She wants to scoot along the couch so badly.  Maybe she will begin to do that soon.  

Orion has started potty training.  Its going ok.  He knows to pee in the toilet but pooping...a whole different story.  He has gone in there a few times and just when I think he has the idea, he decides to go in his chonies.  Maybe soon he will get it.

I am going on a women's retreat this weekend.  I'm really excited.  And next week we are going vegas and then the week after we are headed to Oklahoma!  We are going to go see Mike's brother.  It should be fun to see them.  They are trying to get us to move out there but I am too much a California girl to live any where else.  Or can I?  I haven't exactly been any where else either.  We'll see!

New Orleans

So I watched this show yesterday on HBO about Hurricane Katrina and the effects it had on New Orleans.  Now, Starbucks had sent us to New Orleans for training and to help the city clean up and I just fell in love with the city and the lifestyle.  I wouldn't want to live there but the people were just amazing.  I really learned the meaning of Southern hospitality.  Anyways, on with the show I watched.  This was filmed about 9-12 months after the hurricane occurred.  I just found it amazing that the government would not help these people.  Mississippi received 30,000 FEMA trailers while New Orleans received 3,000.  And about 6 months after the fact.  They were trying to rebuild the levees, back to pre Katrina standards.  Well, we know that wasn't good enough so why not make it better then before.  Oil companies drill far enough off shore that Louisiana doesn't receive any money from them but the federal government does.  States such as Texas, New Mexico receive money from these oil companies to allow them to continue to ravage the land for oil.  The coastal waters of New Orleans has 20% of the US's oil supply and they receive NO money for the oil.  And while the oil companies are drilling, they are destroying New Orleans natural protective barrier against hurricanes, the wetlands.  And no one wants to give them money to help rebuild these wetlands either.  So New Orleans is left just as, if not more, vulnerable to hurricanes.  And what I find amazing, they are still dealing with this today, 3 and a half years later.  And they still have no money to help rebuild anything. I find it amazing that our government can pull money out of thin air for these bail out plans but we couldn't get any money to Louisiana for this natural disaster, not a man made one that Wall Street fat cats created.  

I also found it to be amazing how the insurance companies were able to not pay the owners of these homes that were destroyed.  How can they determine whether or not it was flood damage or wind damage caused by the hurricane and then because of the wind damage the house had water damage from the massive rains.  I don't think they can really determine that.  The insurance companies, of course, are only out for themselves and feel that the people of New Orleans and Louisiana are too dumb to fight back.  

On a lighter note, my son feels it is necessary to remove his diaper and run around naked.  I guess it is now time for potty training.  I am putting it off.  I know it is going to be a huge mess all of the time but it needs to be done.  

The kids have been sick for a few days and now I am getting it.  No fun!!  Mike and I were both off on Thursday with sick kids.  Wednesday night both kids continuously woke up.  After one woke up and went to sleep, the other would wake.  If I didn't get up, Mike would tell me to and that it was mean to let them cry cuz they were sick.  So I did get up.  Around 4, when I asked him to take care of it, then it was ok to let the kids cry.  I didn't need to run to them all of the time.  That's why they are crying.  Then he had the balls to stay in bed till 11 am and then come out and ask to me put the kids down for a nap so we can have sex.  LOL He must be crazy!  Needless to say, he didn't get any.

Valentine's Day came and went and I didn't get anything.  So that's Christmas and now Valentine's Day without any gifts from my husband.  I guess I am meaning less and less to him.  He said that he would make me dinner, but I had to go to the store after I got off work and pick out what I wanted for dinner and prepare it to be cooked and then he cooked it.  Happy f***ing Valentine's Day to me.  I wonder if my birthday will be any different next month...

I have so much to do today and I am not doing it.  I did get the living room and some laundry done and my flowers planted but thats it.  I still have to clean the kitchen and the bathroom.  ah oh well i doubt i'll finish it.

I got my hair cut last night.  I got it kinda short again and michael doesn't like it.  he always hates it when I cut my hair short.  Oh well.  I like it short.  Liana is crawling all over the place.  She always has a smile for everyone she sees.  She is by far the cutest little baby girl ever.  Orion is still all over the place and is learning new things.  I love his phonics.  chicken is now "gicken"  flower is fwower.  its great to watch them grow.  

i like seeing that Obama has put a salary cap on people in banks who are receiving bail out money.  These people should not be making millions of dollars when their business is failing!  thank you Obama.  I hope you continue to move us in the right direction.

Starbucks

Starbucks is a different place now than it was say 4 years ago.  We have had to change so many things to brace and protect ourselves during this ever slumping economy.  People are saving and not buying coffee right now which I totally understand. But now I am just afraid for my job.  I know my store won't close but if the whole company goes...

We have had to change so many of our policies.  A lot of it is for our hourly partners and our field leadership.  Our hourly partners can no longer supplement their hours worked with their vacation hours and they have to give 30 days notice in order to use them.  They don't get personal days either.  They are also finally letting us be "at will employers"  Cali has always been an at will employment state but Starbucks is so fearful of lawsuits that we were never able to comply with it but now we can.  That makes me happy.  I think it's funny that everything any of us lowly store partners have ever said about the new initiatives the higher ups have come up with has come true and they are now doing what we have all said all along.  (like don't build stores across the street from each other).  Too bad we don't know what we are talking about and they supposedly know better than us.  I guess that's why they make the big bucks and I make nothing.  Don't get me wrong, I love starbucks and coffee but some of these decisions, if they would only consult us every once in a while...

And one more thing, who do these fat cat wall street guys think they are.  Taking bail out money and then getting huge bonuses??  they need to be held accountable and be forced to pay back the money to us tax payers who are trying to help them.  They need to be prosecuted for stealing...which is what I think they did.  

work

Seriously, my employees know that I have been sick the past 3 days and finally have a day off and need to take this day to be sick and try to get over it.  I get a phone call that one of my shift supervisors that work for me "suddenly came down with the flu or something.  She has been at work for 4 hrs now.  She wanted me to come in and finish her shift when she couldn't help me out on monday.  I told her to make some phone calls.  I am sick too and she had 10 days off the past 2 weeks because she had bronchitis.  I took care of everything and none of them were willing to help me!  I am so bitter.  Sorry darling you need to work.  I am sick today.

Potty Training

who would have thought potty training would be so difficult.  He knows when he poops and pees, he knows what the toilet is for, he likes to flush it, yet, he is so dead against actually going to the restroom on the toilet.  I am sick of changing 2 babies.   he's 2 now so it's time to use the toilet.  Back in the day, kids were potty trained by 18 months and it seems that in today's standard 3 is ok to be potty trained.  I don't think so!!!!  I believe today is the time he wears his big boy pants and uses the toilet.  

I am off today so that means laundry must be done because we all know that the husband won't do it especially since he's off for 3 days.  I've always hated having chores and now that I am older it still hasn't changed.  I wish I could hire a cleaning lady.  That would be nice.  Well, that's all for now.

birthday party, etc

So yesterday we celebrated Orion's 2nd birthday yesterday.  He was so excited to see everyone.  We put him down for his nap and then set up for the party and everyone showed up.  By the time he woke up everyone was here and the house transformed into the Backyardigans showcase.  The look on his face was priceless.  We were going to have the party at the park, but when we walked over there some stupid old mexican lady had all of the tables blocked off and yelled at us for looking at the tables.  But that's ok, Orion still had a blast.  He loved opening all of the gifts too and got so excited with every gift.  He specially loved the Elmo restraunt that my parents bought him. He's been playing with it non stop.  I woke up this morning listening to him play with it.  Oh the small joys in life.  I love waking up in the mornings and hearing my children play or talk to themselves.  It fills my heart with so much love sometimes I think it is going to burst.  My mom came and surprisingly she was pleasant.  She was trying to rush things because she didn't want to stay so she wanted me to do have Orion open gifts right away.  Too bad things don't revolve around her.  My dad is in San Francisco for work for 2 months so he didn't get to come to his party.  

Liana started crawling yesterday.  It was only like 2 steps but it's still crawling.  She is so different from Orion.  She is so calm and can just chill.  She likes to sit on my lap for hours just chewing on a rattle or pulling on my nose.  

Since Michael stopped hanging out with his brother and his brother's ex boyfriend, he has been so much nicer and helpful around the house.  He was becoming unbearable for awhile I thought I was going to have to kick him out.  I pointed this out to him and he said that it was just coincidence that he's being nicer.  That I was just imagining it or something.  But I know they were the bad influence.  He was going over there like every day after work and since he stopped things have gotten so much better.  He is the old loving Michael that he was before.  I'm still afraid to show him this blog.  I think he will make fun of me.  He probably would say something to tease me but not mean it to be cruel.  I like having some where to share my thoughts without having to be judged.  

Time does fly

So growing up I never quite understood why my parents were sad about me growing up.  I mean, wasn't it nice that I could feed myself,dress myself, use the toilet, get myself to where ever I wanted to go, do my homework on my own, etc.  But now, today, my baby boy is 2 years old and I am SAD.  I can't believe that he is already 2.  Time does fly by.

I am watching Tabathas Salon Take Over on Bravo.  I love this show.  Some of the stylists are retarded and I am not even sure who allowed them to pass cosmetology school.  And the owners, most of them are clueless on how to cut hair and even how to properly run a business.  I swear, if I walked into one of these salons I would just walk out.  

I've taken the next 4 days off of work.  Sometimes I just need to get away from the stress of running a business and dealing with all the crap that corporate and middle management throw at us.  I just wish these people would look at things from the store's perspective rather than how they "think" things should be ran.  These people get paid so much money and have never actually ran a store, but because they have great ideas on increasing the top line sales, they get paid lots of money and know more than I do who has been running this place for 5 years.  Agh I need a knew job.  I can't wait until Michael finishes school so I can go back to school and move on.

I've been with Michael for 5 years now.  I never understood how someone can sleep with the same person, but now I can't imagine being with anyone else.  I would be extremely uncomfortable being naked in front of anyone other than Michael.  

I don't even know why I started one of these.  My life is so boring.  It's just kids and husband.  I need to do something for myself.  Find something that I'm good at that I can identify with.  I need to be more than just a mom and a wife and then at work I am someone's boss.  Sometimes I wish I could just go back and be 16 again...

So I just got off work and decided to come home before I went to pick up the kids.  This is the only quiet time I get.  Orion is turning 2 tomorrow and I cannot begin to say how sad I am feeling.  My little boy is getting so big.  He is no longer my baby.  He is saying words and phrases and is able to point to all of his body parts.  He loves to play basketball and play catch.  He loves to play with his baby sister.  Liana loves to laugh at him and she constantly smiles when he is around.  I love seeing their bond.    She is working on 3 top teeth to go with the 2 bottom ones she already has.  She is getting up on her knees and rocking so she may be crawling here pretty soon.  It makes me so sad and happy at the same time to see my kids grow so much.  They are constantly changing.