Why I LOVE Publix

I love shopping at Publix. I like that my Publix is always clean, always has stocked shelves and that someone always asks me if I found everything I need. I love that if I'm not happy, they'll fix it. I love that they always offer to take my bags, even if I don't let them. I like it that around holidays, I can buy bags of food for hungry people. I love BOGO's – the buy one-get one free specials that they have every week. I love that by using this website: www.Publix.com/bogo I can find this week's BOGO specials. But today I had an experience that makes me love my Publix even more.

This morning I had to stop at Publix because I was stupid. We got to wear jeans today for a canned food drive, if we brought two cans. Well, I had my cans on the table in the kitchen, walked right out of the house, and forgot them. So halfway to school, I remembered. Publix was closer, my devotion this morning was about being generous, AND my friend Mrs. Turner, who is in charge of the food drive, told me yesterday that Catholic Charities, who gets the food, really needs peanut butter. So instead of going back home to get my two cans of soup, I just whipped into Publix to get some peanut butter. While I was in Publix, I noticed that Froot Loops were buy one, get one free. We give Froot Loops to the babies in the nursery, and I've recently had quite the craving for Froot Loops, so I grabbed two boxes, one for the nursery and one for me. One box was 3.99 so I was getting two boxes for 3.99, which is like two bucks apiece. I get to the checkout counter and one of my two favorite ladies was checking people out. There are two ladies at my Publix, both African-American ladies, who should train people in how to do their job. I always go to their lines, even if I only have 10 items and they are not working the express lane. They are friendly and personable, but still manage to be quick and nice. . . It's amazing.

She sees my boxes of Froot Loops and says "OOOH Honey, get the ones with the coupons!" I look and some of the boxes have a coupon on the front for $1.00 off. I said "But they are buy one, get one free!" She says, "That doesn't matter. A dollar off is a dollar off." So it comes out like this – I got two boxes of Froot Loops, which should be $3.99, EACH for $1.99. I paid a dollar a box! Can you believe it? She didn't have to tell me about the coupons, it doesn't matter to her if I use the coupon or not! Actually, using the coupon made another step for her in ringing me up, but she did it anyway. That's why I LOVE Publix.

Mean people

I was pondering a blog entry on "Things that Stink" and I opened up the floor for suggestions. Wow! Some were hysterically funny - Thanks Laura! Some were kind of sad. One that struck me in particular was my friend Melody's suggestion "Mean People." I've often been called "mean" by students so I started to think about the word "mean." According to dictionary.com (and in the context to which I'm referring) the word is defined as "offensive, selfish, or unaccommodating; nasty; malicious." It also includes "small-minded" or "troublesome or vicious; bad-tempered." The synonyms are "contemptible and despicable." Not exactly a character reference is it? I started thinking about myself in those terms – I don't think I'm mean. I am occasionally petty and stubborn, but mean? I don't think so. I think doing something deliberately to hurt other people – now that's mean. I don't EVER wake up in the morning excited because I can ruin someone's day. I never lay awake at night, thinking of ways to make someone else miserable. But, apparently, some people do. I saw a shirt or bumper sticker once that said "Mean people suck." While I hate that term, I think I agree with the sentiment. Stay tuned for the next installment of "Things that really stink!"

______ Reasons why I am ready for Winter to be OVER!!!!

Yes, I left it blank on purpose, because I haven't yet decided how many reasons there are going to be. Here is it (I know you've all been waiting with bated breath) my list of reasons why I am NOT enjoying the winter of 2010.

 

1. I hate the cold. I enjoy "COOL" but do NOT enjoy "COLD." Last summer I was in North Carolina with my friend Laquita and it was cool. On July 3^rd, it was 50 something degrees on the mountain. Somehow, knowing it was 90 at home made the 50 something not so bad. I cannot remember a winter that has had so many cold days ever in my life.

2. I don't have the right clothes for this much cold weather. I have about three or four sweater and three or four sweatshirts – and that's it. I have also been scrounging for long pants that aren't jeans. We're not always allowed to wear jeans to school and I don't have many long pants. I have a LOT of Capri pants, but can't wear them. Capri pants and socks, it's not a good fashion statement when you have legs as short as mine. There's another reason, but you'll get it in number 5.

3. Due to number 2, I have to wear layers of clothes. Those of you who know me know that the words "slim" or "svelte" would NEVER be applied to me. Add layers of clothes to that fact and you get. . . the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man. That's what I feel like. Oh wait, that's every other day. The opposite days, I'm channeling the Michelin Man.

4. Cold weather does nasty stuff to my skin. The skin on my arms and legs tends to be dry anyway, but with this weather, it's easy to mistake my skin for some sort of scaly reptile. I have tried many kinds of lotion – and still, I almost crackle when I move.

5. Shaving, dry skin. . . Enough said.

6. The Winter Olympics. I have always been influenced by what I'm seeing or watching. I've read books in June, and sat shivering, because the people in the book were freezing. When I went to see the movie "Titanic", I wore a sweatshirt, because I knew there was somebody was going to be in that freezing water and I knew I would be cold. (The A/C was broken in the theater; I nearly passed out because I was so hot!) Because I know myself, and I love to watch the Olympics, I always get cold, watching people in the snow and ice! That's cold stuff. Usually, it's warm enough that the cold that I imagine for myself is a nice break. When it really is cold and then I watch the cold, it's almost too much to bear.

7. I live in Florida for a reason. Sunday night when I was getting ready for church, the temperatures in Vancouver and in Tampa were the same! Florida is NOT supposed to be the same temperature as the place where they Winter Olympics are going on! That's just wrong on so many levels.

 

So, there they are! As my children say, I'm "hatin'" on winter! I admit, when it was 90 degrees in December I whined and complained – and I still think 86 degrees at 8:30 in December is wrong! But so is all this cold! You know what else is wrong? Having to wear every sweater and sweatshirt, I own more times this winter than all the winters I've owned them.

Whale or Mermaid

Oh my blog, how I've missed you! I think this is the best way to jump back into my blogging!

I got this in an email from my friend Loraine, and I think it's great. So my biggest apologies to whoever or whomever wrote it first, I have no idea where it came from but here it is. . .

 

Recently, in a large city in Australia , a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym.

It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

 

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

 

To Whom It May Concern,

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.)

They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales.

They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp.

They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia ..

Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs.

They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans.

They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

 

Mermaids don't exist.

If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human?

They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them .... where is IT? Therefore, they don't have kids either.

Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

 

The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale.

 

P..S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends.

With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads
that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.

So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.

Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ¨Good grief, look how smart I am!¨

My Friend, Flicka, I mean KENNEY!!! (Or My AWANA leaders are the BEST!)

Okay, let me tell you a story. I work in AWANA at my church. AWANA is a children's program. I am the director of TNT, which is the 3^rd through 5^th grade kids. We have a commander, which is the person in charge and we have leaders. Apparently, that's the chain of command – Pastor, Commander, Director, Leaders. . .I'm a horrible director, but they tolerate me. We have a new commander this year who is working REALLY hard. His name is Kenney. All of my leaders are FABULOUS but my ladies go way "above and beyond." We are having an afternoon tea for our girls this weekend and you wouldn't believe all the stuff my ladies are doing. I guess I've known Kenney for years, I remember when he and Holly got married and when their girls were born, but I have never worked with Kenney much until two years ago when I left the teens to come work in AWANA. Kenney was one of my leaders but he's moved up now and I've gotta say, he's impressing me. He is working really hard to be a great commander and he's doing a great job. I know he's a great dad and I don't know any dad except maybe my own, who is so crazy about his girls. Sounds like a great guy, right?? Now, I need to explain something. Kenney is one of the rabid Gator fans. He gives me all sorts of grief about being a 'Nole and that's just one of those things we have to agree to disagree on! But other than that, he's a pretty good guy.

    So last night, my ladies gave Kenney and I both a present. They were the same size and shape so we opened them together. I heard one them say, "I hope I didn't put the wrong name on the wrong package" but I didn't think much about it. We opened our packages to find . . . a blue Gator apron for Kenney and a beautiful, fabulous, garnet Seminole apron for me! We were both so impressed and I was touched. (I think Kenney was too, but it's easier for me to show it.) Of course, we had to take pictures. . . What incredible thoughtful gifts! I'm truly blessed to work with such great people!

I miss our babies

Today was our church Fall Festival. We have a lovely couple at our church who own a 2,000-acre ranch in Polk City, and for the last several years, they open up their home and ranch to our entire church family, as well as all our friends for a fantastic Fall Festival. Don and Tammy (the ranch owners) know everybody in the world, and they have all kinds of fun stuff for people to do. They have those big round hay bales that kids get to play on and hide in, they have hay rides and swamp buggy rides, skeet shooting, horse riding, greased poles to climb and other things. Last year we had chicken and greased pig chasing. It is just loads to fun. Today we had beautiful weather and it was just a great day.

I had a meeting to go to this morning, and didn't get there until right at 3:00 this afternoon. I was scheduled to be the adult in charge of the inflatables – a bounce house and one that was all sorts of games. When I got there, I was walking around and I looked over and Trevor, one of my nursery little ones was running right towards me, with his arms held up. He crashed into me, I picked him up, and he wrapped those little arms around my neck and just hugged me. It was so sweet. He said 'Hi Ms Sandi." It was precious! Now, you need to understand, in the nursery, he's somewhat ambivalent towards me . . . We play together, and we read books together, but he's never greeted me like that in the nursery. It literally warmed my heart. As I was leaving the ranch, I thought about that sweet little boy hug some more and I realized something. I miss my nephews and niece being little! My nephews are 24 and 18 and my niece just turned 11. I was a little sad on her birthday when I realized she had outgrown the toy section for birthday presents. I had a rather depressing birthday two days after hers, so I was somewhat overwhelmed anyway, but it hit me again today. I miss being able to buy them cute little presents. Now, they are too big for cute little stuff. They like different things. I miss getting hugs from little ones. . . My niece does still run up and expect me to pick her up and hug her, but she's HEAVY!     I can only hold her for a few seconds. The nephews outgrew me holding them a LONG time ago. I miss that sweet smell of freshly bathed little ones. I know things never stay the same, but it still makes me sad. I want my babies back!

Get a degree, find a man, etc, etc, etc. . .

Have you ever noticed the facebook ads that pop up on the side of your page? I started paying attention to them just lately for the first time. I'm not talking about the friend suggestions or the things that my friends are fans of, I mean the sponsored ads. Today, my three ads are:

Increase your salary by working on a graduate degree

It's time to try eHarmony

He's single. Are you?

 

When I clicked for new ones, I got these three:

Too many friends? Try match.com

Become a fan of Explorica.

Go back to school with Argosy University.

 

These disturb me for several reasons. I've got no problem with facebook making some money – none at all. What kind of creeps me out why they think I'm interested in some of these things.

My profile said I was a grad student at FSU for 2 ½ years – why do they think I want to do that anymore???

I guess because my profile says I'm single, they think I am just desperately waiting for someone to come along and rescue me from the pit of despair that is my life.

And why on EARTH would I want to explore the world with students?? Especially 6^th graders – not in this lifetime. . .

P.S. When I spell checked this before sending it to my blog; my spell check knows how eHarmony is supposed to be spelled. How creepy is that???

PS X 2: I also hate that it asks you why you don't want that ad any more. Here are the possible reasons:

    Misleading

    Offensive

    Uninteresting

    Irrelevant

    Repetitive

    Other

They really want you to tell them why you don't like that ad, so they can give you one that is better suited to you.