trouble makers butting their noses in....

The other afternoon, Margaret and I took a little trip over to the suburbs, and visited a big party supply store to buy napkins, pretty champagne glasses, you know, wedding stuff. Because the wedding is next week, and we don't want to be last minute or anything. Well, we were really hungry, both of us had only eaten breakfast...and there in the very plaza was a Chinese take-out place. We both acknowledged later that it always makes us feel awful to eat that food, but we were hungry, and it's so good!

As we waited to order our food, a woman stormed into the place and yelled at the cashier, "Don't yell at me on the phone, don't call me at work, blah blah blah..."...she smacked a container of food onto the counter, left it, and stomped out of the place. The cashier's face had turned beet red, she was so flustered, and barely managed to take our order.

So, as we ate, enjoying each other's company and talking about the wedding, a different customer approached the counter and complained about some cheesy won-ton thing her daughter had bitten into...said it was spoiled, wrong color, smelled bad, ect...she was not talking nicely, she wasn't exactly YELLING, but she was being obnoxious and rude, and was looking all around, trying to make eye contact with other patrons, as if we were going to gang up on the cashier with her. We just sat there eating, both thinking that surely this lady could be nicer about her disappointing food item. The cashier was stammering, trying to explain that they had switched brands of cheese, ect. The lady was not having it, just kept complaining.

So the restaurant manager cooked up some new food for the ladies, apologized profusely...and...no thankfulness at all from customers, just a, "Well, I hope we don't get sick..."

At that point, Margaret decided to call out to the manager, workers, cashier, who were at the counter, "The food is really good, we like it, good job!" I nodded my head, gave the thumbs-up.

Yeah, you know, counter-act the rudeness a little...she felt sorry for the cashier.

Her comment didn't go over so well with the disgruntled customers.

They sat there squawking about trouble makers butting their noses in, making it worse, ect. oops. Margaret, they better not come after us.

But anyway, it's good to be more self-aware, because there are certainly things that have to be set right in customer service, maybe we are overcharged or whatever, but being nice sure goes a long way.

Paul is well enough to be back to work, but he did lose over five pounds being sick. I told him that I found it.

Today the kids start in on their chocolate-a-day advent calendars, and we start counting the days until Christmas. Here's what I want for Christmas:

New iPods for all the teenagers...

New tires for both of our minivans.

The hot tub fixed.

Sunny to be totally housebroken. And less crazy.

My sister's cancer diagnosis to be a big mistake.

My far away sons to move back to New York.

Magically replenished paper towels, toilet paper, dog food, cat food, kitty litter, and laundry detergent. (for the kids, it's ALL magically replenished!)

Well that was interesting...as I just got a phone call from a cheery girl named Emily, who told me I qualify for an all inclusive cruise, for 75% off! I was mean, and let her list all the wonderful amenities before I told her I wasn't interested. How did she get my cell phone number, that's what I would like to know.

Anyway.

For Christmas...I want all my kids to be happy. Not the fulfill-their-lusts kind of happy, but the peaceful kind of happiness that comes with living before God.

I want my parents to come back to life, just for a few days...to sit and drink coffee with me, and catch up. I want to give my mom a big hug, and tell her that even though she's long gone from this earth, she is totally in my head. I AM HER. I tell my kids, "Pretty is as pretty does. Stand straight up tall and don't be ashamed of what God gave you," or her classic..."A liar is a thief and a thief is a liar, and I HATE LIARS." She used to call me, "Lady Jane". I don't know why, but I would give anything to have hear her chastise me and call me Lady Jane, one more time.

I would also like a nice vacation with Paul. Now I know what you're thinking, we have already had a few vacations, we don't need another one. But don't forget this: we are living in a house with nine of our kids...five of whom are TEENAGERS. GIRL TEENAGERS.

But enough of my wish list...here's a list of things we're thankful for...I like to start in on this out loud around the house randomly, the kids chime in, and it's good...good to be thankful.

Our new refrigerator...it's shiny and new, it gives ice and water from the door, it's still organized and clean, and best of all, it doesn't leak like our old one did, so no more daily changing the "refrigerator towel" we had to keep on the floor in front of it.

Our new microwave! It's not much different than the old one, but live without one of these for a few days and you'll see how essential they become.

That we painted the living room walls and ceiling.

The new fake fireplace. I LOVE it. I love it so much, I am afraid something is going to happen to it and we won't be able to replace it. It makes it warm and cozy in here, and it looks cute.

Our "new" minivan. It has over a hundred thousand miles on it now, but it's still sweet...push button doors and back hatch...and heated seats!

The dogs. I have a love/hate relationship with having dogs in the house. It's a full time job just to keep things clean, especially my floors! But they are sweet and I think it's good for the kids to have them.

Our yard. I love living out in the country.

I'm thankful for my computer...it's old, it's hard to charge, but it works, and when I open it up and it turns on, yay!

Friends, family...of course I'm thankful.

I really want to use each day in a good way...it feels like we're always preparing for something that's coming up, using days to get ready for things. So today will be a good day. Never mind that yes, I am planning to move all the furniture and deep clean the living room...ha. It will be a good day.