I feel better.

So... obviously yesterday was rough, and I just had to get some things off my chest. That's the stress of waiting tables for a living. A lot of people who eat out have no clue that servers make $2.13 an hour, and are completely oblivious to the fact that tips are our only real income.
Anyways, I had a yard sale today, and I reached my goal on money and got rid of a lot of stuff so I am feeling lots better. I can't enjoy this beautiful weather because Kaylee's allergies are SO bad so I'll stay inside and CLEAN!

Time to vent!

No links, no politics, no newsworthy-news. I'm just gonna complain. Since I've been working a lot more lately, it's hard not to have to let it go.
First of all, if you can't AFFORD to tip, go to McDonald's. Do not go somewhere that you will receive sit-down service in a quick and timely manner if you won't be able to tip your server 15-20%. No matter what you may think, pretty much everything that goes on during a meal, everything your server does and says is in anticipation of getting a good tip. If your server doesn't smile, refill, hustle and hurry, they're not that stressed for money. If your server always smiles, says 'yes, maam, no maam, thank you very much', refills before you ask, offers dessert, promptly brings you everything you need, etc, that means they do need the money, they do put all of their energy into giving good service, they do pride themselves on their work. When you get a server like that, 20% (or more) is completely appropriate. It says, "Hey, I noticed you did a good job, thanks for taking such good care of us!"
Today was a little slow, so when I saw 3 women and 10 girls come in, I didn't mind taking them in my section. Now, I AM NOT a racist person at all, but I am not the only person of the opinion that black women are not good tippers. I've even heard other black servers make that comment before. I do not want to stereotype, either, so when I saw this group, I said to myself, "I'm not going to judge them before I serve them, I'm sure they'll tip fine." Well, sadly, the stereotype was right. Not only that, but it's just a group thing, too. Any group more than 6 requires quite a bit more work than normal. I gave them outstanding service. I can say that for sure. They were my only table at the time, they did not need anything that I hadn't already gotten them. $75 worth of food netted me a whopping $5 tip. That's not even 10%!! Now, money is money, and right now we need it real bad at my house but more than that, for me, personally, I think I somehow take that as an insult to my service. Sometimes if I get a poor tip, I think, "what did I do wrong?" I consider my spiritual gift to be service. I consider myself to be a really good server. So I guess it kinda hurts sometimes when I think I did a really good job and then didn't get rewarded for it, you know?
Second of all, if you put a whole lot of effort into making excuses, that doesn't excuse you from tipping. If you're aware that you feel you should apologize for something, tip like it. Don't sit there and say, "I'm sorry I'm so needy, but can I have..... or I'm sorry we're coming in at 8:55.... or I'm sorry, I've changed my mind again..." if you notice you've sent me back and forth, and back and forth, pay me for it. I don't think that's too much to ask. (Of course I don't, I'm a server.) You may think, well, Shannon, that's your job. You're right, it is, but c'mon, you already know if you're gonna want Ranch with your fries, or extra crackers for your soup, tell me ahead of time so I can get it all at once.
I think it should be mandate law that everyone upon completion of HS or college should serve at least 1 year in a customer-service type job. People who have never waited on anyone else, whether in a restarant, mall store, gas station, or anywhere, do not have a full appreciation for those that wait on them.
Ok, I feel better.... I think I'm done for now.
Have a great weekend!

Sermon in the Shower

This morning, as I was getting myself ready for church, the "most fashionable Sunday of the year", I thought to myself in the shower...."What's it all about?" I found myself wishing I was getting ready to go to a singing, shouting, praising, dancing celebration. You could say my church is pretty reserved. But what a morning to sing, shout, praise and dance to the Lord! He is RISEN! He conquered the grave and sin and death. The tomb was empty! If that's not enough reason to get out of your seat and sing and shout and praise Him, then nothing is. It's so wonderful to know that God sees us through the eyes of Jesus. It all just makes me so eager for His return. Let's just be done with this life, this world, all the sin and troubles in it, and just spend all eternity in His presence, by His side, living and learning all there is to about this life and the next in perfect peace and harmony. But there is a point to this life. There is a reason we're all here. If we can just try our best (with His help, of course) to bring a few more people around us to the awesome saving power of Christ's love and what he did for us all as we celebrate this weekend, we'd be serving His purpose.
Whoever's reading out there, I love you, and I hope you are having a very blessed Easter.

WIPED OUT!

I feel utterly and completely wiped out! Mentally, physically, emotionally, almost spiritually. I'm just gonna lay it out on the line right now. I'm not turning my blog into "confessional", but there's just a lot goin on.
Yesterday I attended a funeral for a 2 month old baby boy. He died from SIDS last Thursday. His mom & 3 siblings go to my church. I hadn't met him yet cuz they hadn't been back since he's been born. He was wrapped up in a blanket, with a beanie, laid in a woven basket. He was so cute, just like his older sisters & brother. His name was Harrison Scott. What can you say to a greiving mother? I asked her if I could come visit her Thursday to pray with her. That's all I know how to do in a situation like this. I'm not a very good cook, and I'm not very eloquant with words, but I can pray. No parent should ever have to experience that. Thank God she does have a strong faith in the Father, because that's the only thing (I think) that's getting her through this tough time. I'm sitting here crying just thinking about it... a young, innocent life, with so much potential, so much hope... gone, so quickly. The only comfort is that we know he's in heaven, and as Robin, our Pastor said so kind and lovingly, we know he's resting in the loving arms of Jesus. I just can't stop thinking about it. I've certainly been holding, hugging, touching, and kissing my own kids more often.

My husband has (technically) been unemployed since August. We were alright until Christmas, then our tax return bailed us out, and now, we're in the red, rackin' up debt, getting further and further behind. It is so frustrating to see him suffer from depression for 3 months, and then come out of it, and be doing ok, but not go back to work. Excuses, distractions, fear, more excuses, on and on. I've offered to find a full-time job and let him stay home and run the house, but that's no good.

Do you know how fast 3 kids can make a mess? I set out with a specific mission of cleaning up my house really well, I guess a "spring-cleaning" mission, and no matter how hard I try, I just can't win.

So, I'm having a hard time, feeling very frustrated, low, tired, worn out, unappreciated, like I'm just floating along, trying to make it through the end of the day, just so I can go to bed. Bedtime is the highlight of my day. That's pitiful.

Then I think about a gift I've been given. A gift that I first openly recieved one night in October, 1998. No matter how bad I think things are, for me, or the people around me, Jesus had it much, much worse. and he knew how bad it was gonna be, before he did it, but he did it anyway because he had a purpose. He loves me, and he loves you, and he loves Wilma & Harrison & Tony, and he was beaten and bruised and hung on a cross and died for me and you because he loves us all that much. He did it for us because he wants to be with us for all of eternity. This life is so quick, so minor, so insignificant in so many ways, but the gift of life with Jesus is eternal. That's all that matters.

So, chin up, keep on goin, it'll get better. Love your loved ones (and even the unlovely ones) and don't ever be scared to tell someone that God is getting me through this day.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading.

It's SCARY!

To think of what things will be like IF Obama gets elected. To cut to the chase, let me send you to Stephanie's blog (see sidebar) please read "Take the time to read". She has all the important links to have a better background on the subject. She's a good researcher. My thing is that BO was interviewed by Hannity & Colmes on FNC, and his only (quite pitiful) defense was that "he never heard sermons like that on any of the Sundays he was there." Well, gee, Barack, you must not have very good attendance over the past 20 years! I'm sorry, but someone who preaches that much hate is not filled with the Holy Spirit that I know. The highlights I've been seeing on the news are probably just the tip of an iceberg of lots more things that are highly disagreeable to the average American, no matter what color you are. A good friend of mine asked me just the other day what I thought of him, and we were definetely on the same page of fear and disgust in our feelings towards him. Today the news has been reporting that this will all blow over because "Reverend Wright" is retired and no longer on BO's campaign committee, but here's my big problem with that: at another point in the H&C interview, Barack said that he's known RW for so long, and is so close to him, that he thinks of him more like an Uncle than a counselor. Um, isn't that worse news?

On a side note, I guess I got down on blogging because my site meter has been reporting that NO ONE visits. But when someone told me in person about something they read on my blog, that was very encouraging! So when I read Steph's page, instead of leaving a comment on her blog, and sort of leaving it there, I wanted to continue the train of thought on my blog.
So who's out there, who's reading, and what do YOU think?!

Mom...

Here's a question posed by my 7yo that made me laugh.
"Mom?" "Yeah?" "When I get married, if my wife dies, can I get another one?"

I had to contain my laughter before I told him I guess it would be ok.

The other day he told me he wanted to trade Kaylee for Emily. (A girl in his 1st grade class.) Then he said, "wait, no, cuz then I can't marry her."
He cracks me up!

Good Grief!

It's been a while. I can't believe Kanye was my last post. We've been passing around the flu, then thinking we were over it, but not really, etc.
The Oscars was nice, I'm glad the writer's strike is over, looking forward to new episodes of 30 Rock. Last weeks SNL was pretty good. I liked the spoof of Rock of Love 2. I can't believe that is a real (actual) show. CRAZY! On American Idol, I'm lovin the David's; David Archuleta, David Cook & David Hernandez. For the girls, Syesha, Asia'h (what's up with that spelling?) and Carly. I don't think Asia'h did so great this past week with "All by myself", but she's good. I would have much rather seen Amanda Overmeyer go home instead of Alexandrea, but oh well. I don't like Danny, I think he's this years Sanjaya.
We just started indoor soccer season, so we're running around a lot with the boys on 2 different teams, different practice times, different game times, back & forth to AUM, it sucks, but they like it.
Our puppy's still cool, except for when he decides to BOLT out the door when we're trying to go somewhere, and takes off down the street. Lastnight, he came across the room in half a second when I opened the door to go get something out of the car, took off, me & Ant had to chase him down, and he literally ran circles around us in the neighbors front yard til I decided I was tired of chasing him, and I wanted to go home. Me & Ant headed for the house and Buddy came right up behind us and went straight in. (That never worked the other 4 times he ran out.)
Enjoying the warmer temperatures, looking forward to spring!
That's an update on us, in case anybody out there is reading besides Stephanie.
My site meter is not working, because according to that, no one has ever visited my site, and obviously that's not right because I've had comments since then.
Have a good week!