I AM A DAD

Now Derek isn't actually the one blogging here, it's me. But I wanted to share some funny experiences I've had since Derek is now our "Stay at Home Dad".

Everyday I come home from work to a spotless house. One particular day I said, "Wow! The house is so clean. Thanks for cleaning!" And Derek replies, "Yeah. I'm going to stop cleaning it! Every time I clean it, it just gets dirty again!" (Hmm...somehow I can relate to this...)

One day while thanking him for doing the dishes, he says, "Ugh! That dishwasher! It's such a piece of junk. And you know...I'd rather just wash the dishes when it's 3/4 full because otherwise I just keep looking for a certain dish and it's dirty. No matter what I do, there are always dishes in the sink!" (Another story I somehow relate to...)

Yesterday I got home from doing my visiting teaching and he mentions he'd like to get out of the house. (Cabin fever?) Later I asked him if maybe it would help him to get out during the day. He says, "There's no where to go! And the only thing there is to do is shop!" (I guess this is why women are always coming home with a new pair of shoes!)

And here is the kicker. Derek hates cleaning. He likes to tidy up the house, but not the nitty gritty stuff like organizing or cleaning the toilets. I, however, love to clean! So it's a win-win for us. BUT, the other day, he comes into the kitchen and asks, "Is it okay if I spend some time just cleaning out my side of the closet and organizing stuff?" (???????? Really???????) This here is a true sign you have become

A STAY AT HOME DAD.

I sure do love this guy...he is my hero.

I AM A MOM.

I guess I have officially grown into my motherly body and mind. Today I began thinking about life and how one day we will live in a house and have more children and run them back and forth from soccer practice to church activities and back home. We will probably have a dog and hopefully a yard that our kids can run around in. They'll come home from school and plop their Dora the Explorer and Transformers backpacks in the entry way and have pieces of artwork from school pinned up on the fridge. I had this overwhelming feeling of sadness. (Not what you would expect!) I never realized until today, just how hard it will be when my kids grow up. One day they won't need me anymore...or so they'll think. : ) One day, they'll think I know nothing and they will push me away. They'll think I never knew what it was like to be their age and have their problems. But one day they'll marry and have their own kids and the circle of joy will continue all over again. So before I go on thinking that life with a baby can be tough, I'll remember how lucky I am to have a baby this age. Because I love it! And sometimes I wish I could freeze him in time and keep him 10 months forever.

Wal-Mart, anyone?

Don't you guys just LOVE Wal-Mart? Honestly! I can get all of my shopping done at one place. No need to run to Albertson's and get my groceries and then to Costco to grab some diapers. It's a one-stop-shop. I can even bring the competitor's ads to Wal-Mart and if the competitor's price beats theirs, I still get it at the competitor's price.

Now stop.

Picture YOUR Wal-Mart. I don't know about yours, but ours is FILTHY, full of people in a mad rush to get everything they need for what seems like the entire month! Their baskets are overflowing with items as if they had just loaded up at Sam's Club and ironically...they are in the 20 items or less line. I was told by a Wal-Mart worker herself that they aren't always allowed to turn them away just because they have over 20 items, so they were are- all in a humongous traffic jam.

I go to get Titan some baby food and I approach a shelf 5 feet by 3 feet wide that SHOULD be stocked with multiple flavors and brands, yet when I get there- it's so picked over that I'm left to choose from about 5 different foods and only about 2 of each kind. Amazing! It's so picked over that I'm not sure if they ever even stock the place! This is pretty much what the shelves at our Wally World look like:


A coworker of mine was a previous Wal-Mart associate. She said people would get to the check-out counter and realize their food stamps wouldn't cover everything or that they didn't have enough money to buy that milk, or that cheese or whatever it was. Either way, many times they were refrigerated items. The cashiers didn't have the time to re-stock it themselves due to the long lines, and Wal-Mart doesn't have enough people on shift at one time to be able to constantly do this job. Soooo, these refrigerated items sit out for hours at a time before they are RE-STOCKED. Not thrown away...RE-STOCKED. Yummm. Next time you have diarrhea, it was probably your Great Value brand Milk.

Derek and I watched a documentary about Wal-Mart just the other day. It's called "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price". I strongly recommend it! Here's what the cover looks like:

In this documentary, TONS of previous Wal-Mart workers came forward about how they were treated. One African-American man was called a "nigger" by his manager. He reported the manager...and nothing ever came of it. One African-American woman was told that there is no place for "people like her" in management. She asked, "People like me? Because I'm a woman or because I'm BLACK?" Her manager replied, "Well, two out of two ain't bad!"



Wal-Mart cost us tax-payers 1.5 billion dollars a year to put their employees on government assistance. WOW! When people would get hired at Wal-Mart, their managers often refer them to the Medicaid offices so that they can apply- because everyone knows that no one can afford the insurance there, and that it sucks anyways! How pathetic! A kajillion dollar company can't afford to treat its employees right or even help them with their health benefits? Hmmm...

Wal-Mart does SO MUCH damage to small towns, it's amazing! They put all the surrounding businesses out of business! These people have put sweat, blood, money and a whole lot of hard work into building their companies, only to have a Wal-Mart come in to town twenty years later and completely shut them down. Wal-Mart is a giant that should be considered a monopoly. Although Target is the most comparable company, it's not the same.

You may think that these complaints come from a couple of disgruntled workers, but let me tell you. 31 of the 50 states are suing Wal-Mart for multiple cases all across the country.

Have you noticed that Wal-Mart has some 30 registers in their stores and yet only 8 or 9 are even open? One manager stated that they keep 6 inch STACKS of applications in the back, yet Wally World is too CHEAP to hire more employees. Speaking of being too cheap, employees are NEVER allowed to work overtime...no matter what. By the way- Wal-Mart considers full-time to be 28 hours a week. One employee spoke out and told us that managers would approach them while they were trying to ring up a long line of customers. They would say that there are some 48 carts full of take-back (or re-stock) items that needed to be taken care of by the end of the night, whether your shift be over in 30 minutes or an hour. So basically, that meant that you worked off the clock or be fired. And since no one was allowed overtime, and that meant NO ONE, managers were taught to go in the back entrance and change their employees time clocks to be within the full time range of hours.




So next time you shop at wonderful Wal-Mart, where you can get everything you need at one low price, remember this!

The Office Part 2

I'm minding my own business, eating my S'mores Pop Tart (healthy, I know)-

Old Mexican Lady: Senorita...que estas comiendo? (What are you eating?)

Me: Uh...a Pop Tart? S'mores?

Old Mexican Lady: Que? (What?)

Me: Pop? Tart? (I was unsure of how to explain this in Spanish)

Old Mexican Lady: Como un pastry?

Me: Si, mas o menos (Yeah, more or less)

Old Mexican Lady: Oh. (And there she remained. Ogling over my breakfast like a sad & hungry puppy.)

So I give her a piece.

She examines it, making sure to flip it over and check it well before finally saying, "Gracias!" and took off.

It was super funny.




Again, minding my own business filling up a cup of water before eating lunch.

Cesar: Comes up to me and puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes it.

Me: What's up Cesar?

Cesar: Oof. You're so skinny. You don't look good.

Me: Thanks, Cesar. But my grandpa is 6'7" and super lanky. It just runs in my blood line. Plus, I'm nursing. It's not my fault.

Cesar: You need to eat!

Me: I do eat!

Cesar: Stanna, do you see how skinny she is? She doesn't look good.



I walk to the back to go to the bathroom...

Sonya: Hey! We were just talking about you and your crazy memory!

Lauren: I know. I have my VIN number memorized.

Sonya: Yeah! Remember when that one patient came in and you told her you memorized her social?

Lauren: I never did that. Maybe I told YOU I remembered her social, but I'd never tell a patient. That is psychotic.

Sonya: Yes, you did!



Patient on phone to Ida with strong Indian accent: Yes Ma'am, I need a study done STAT or I'll be going to the hospital

Ida: Excuse me? What study do you need done? Sir?

Patient: I really need this study done there or I'll have to go to the hospital

Ida: Sir! I cannot understand you!

Click. Ida hangs up phone.


Oh, the joy of punching out at the end of the day must be a better feeling for some than others. Ha.