Emotional Casualties at Work

So I had a couple of very sticky complaints today. I used my arbitration skills to the best of my ability and ended up with some very unhappy customers.

One particular customer I had to inforce the rules, she was an extremely unreasonable woman and was doing very bad business. when we hung-up she didn't actually hang-up and I could hear her talking to the other people in the room...

"That was that stupid 15 year-old over at central, they should just fire her and put everyone out of their misery, next time this happens Im going to do everything I can to screw everyone over"

HA!!! I wasn't offended at all. I thought it was sooooo funny! When people are extremely unreasonable it makes me laugh. I hung-up immediately so she didnt catch me.
Ruby and I worked 12pm-5pm today, it was a short day but for some reason it seemed soooooo long but at least it is FRIDAY!

We are going to BBQ and play catch tonight...tomorrow probably relax but Sunday........DISNEYLAND!!

Fabulous!

Plane tickets to LA

$232

Sarah Jessica Parker Gladiators

$110

Carrie Bradshaw Inspired Outfits from H&M and American Apparel

$98

New York Steak and a Cosmopolitan
$26

Movie Tickets

$22

Watching the 12am Sex and the City Premier in LA with your bestfriend..... Priceless!

Lewis the Homemaker

5/29/08
Dear Lewis,

Your nice! Thank you for making Ruby and I the greatest 1pm cocktail hour! You're homemade guacamole was sooooooo delicious and the freshly shaken Cosmos were so refreshing by the pool.



5/30/08
Dear Lewis,

Thank you yet again for being the best host! It was so pleasant to come home at 3am and find that you had already made my bed on the couch, it was even more pleasant to wake up at 11am to the sound of you making us breakfast which you then served by the pool! Sorry I encouraged Ruby to spend all your money last night. Love you!


Yesterday after work Ruby and I spent 4 hours shopping the Colorado Blvd for our perfect Carrie Bradshaw outfits... oops, I spent all the money!

I Made It

Im here! Im very excited to be with my friends.


This is a picture of Portland , Or. It was dark gray and rainy the 2.25hrs it took me to get to PDX, but I seem to have forgotten that on the other side of the clouds there is beautiful blue sky and bright sun.... I think there must be an analogy there or something....
Once apon a time for Fiona's birthday 2 years ago Ruby made the yummiest homemade, organic chocolate raspberry cake and I have been craving it ever since... well she surprised me with a "welcome home" cake! ganache frosting and fresh raspberry filling mmmmm. On top was a fresh sugarless whipped cream to balance out the richness.

My breakfast:
Ruby and Lewis are spoiling me! here you will see fresh squeezed orange juice, jalepeno bread from the farmers market, turkey sausage with thyme veggie eggs, topped with fresh basil from Ruby's garden... so good!
We have our own Central Dispatch office. Time to start work and pretend we aren't in our pajama's.
I brought Ruby a halfBirthday present (she is 23.5), the new soundtrack for Sex and the City, we'll be listening to it all day.

Im Gonna Miss My Guy!

Wow! Im going to be away from David for 18days!
Im sad because I'll miss him and worried because...


Im pretty sure he is going to eat cheese for every meal, get video game eye, not take showers, spend all our money on golf, start talking to Chica like she's a human because he is bored... wait... I already do that?!

Memorial Day Weekend with the Asian side

So, Im tired and I don't feel like trying to make my blog clever... Im just gonna shoot straight with ya:

We spent our weekend with my side of the family: there were 11 of us crammed into one cabin that slept 10 , the cabin was smaller than we had expected but we made it work and we made it fun! I didn't take a lot of pictures... here are some from day 2.
The first day we were greeted by mother nature with thunder & lightning, hail and lots of rain.
We stayed inside, ate a lot and played poker... I didnt play, instead I organized my little brothers money and put out his bets for him. Im pretty sure that is what helped Kenny win.
My beautiful grandma came on the trip... she brought the yummiest home-made sweets! We had a ton of food left over, we were all full on her treats.


Day 2 the sun came out so Phil and I rented a boat to do some exploring on the lake. My dad and Grandpa were out all day on their boat and brought in a ton of delicious trout that of course my dad cooked up gourmet style.


This is me breaking the law, I didn't have a license but I knew I wouldn't catch anything... I trolled a bit but didn't catch a thing!

Phil thought it would be fun to try to paddle up-stream... this is as far as he got.

We found a little hole to get out and explore...

Then we made a snow cave!


Ok not really, but Collin spent most of the trip outside just digging... it was pretty funny!





All in all we had a fun time with my fam! It was great to get away and spend some time together... oh yeah, and Phil got a $242 speeding ticket!

The Small

I had the privilege of watching The Bem on Sunday while Jenn volunteered at work. We had a GREAT time...


It was warm outside and Jenn had packed 1 swim diaper so I bought Emma 2 pools, yeah 2, she needed both and an armful of toys...

So Bem Bem liked playing in her empty pool...
And she liked sitting next to it...
But she DID NOT like swimming in her pool! poor Small.

But then she was happy again sitting next to it... just like a true girl lounging by the pool...
Except big girls don't eat their pools
We gave up on the swimming and started playing with my camera($60 Walmart-special)


This is the concentration face. Emma was extremely facinated with the very small fibers on her towel. I can definitely tell we are related in this picture... can you see the strong resemblance? I think Bemma had a great day with Auntie Noodle, Im pretty sure she was trying to tell me she wants to come over at least once a week!

The End.

Hey! Do you guys know my friend Leuuuus?!

"Sure!"

"Pretty Good!"

So of course Im excited to see boo in one week but.... Lewis isn't that bad either!

Once Apon A Time...

I used to be a dancer, it was my life for 4-plus years, I went to college to dance... wonder what happened??

So last week Jessica asked me to come help judge Lebanon's try-outs for next years team. All these funny old feelings came back! I remember being so nervous, trying my hardest to impress the judges we would spend hours getting ready in our all-black attire, pin our #'s on our shirts and practice the routine over and over.. It was so weird being on the other side of the table! Those girls were so young, wow I was sooo young!

Junior Year, all the juniors. (Our state theme was Bob Fosse... this is why Im not allowed to watch Chicago ever again, I didnt stop dancing and singing for daaaaays after)

Senior Year, Senior Captains (I had smaller legs... I want those back!)
Senior Year, our theme was "See The Light" or something, can't fully remember but it was such an appropriate theme considering the summer before I had accepted the Lord.. we danced to a compilation of songs that my coach didnt care were Christian songs, "This Little Light of Mine", "Keep on Shining", by Natalie Grant, "Coming out of the Dark", by Gloria Estefan, our choreographer even prayed with us. So sad they probably would get in trouble for that today...

SO, IN THE CENTER you'll notice Shannon from "Making the Band" and Danity Kane, yep she was a our choreographer! So basically you can say I know P. Diddy!
Check her out! She is the first blonde that sings and the BEST Dancer: click here

The Evolution of Nicknames

I don't call very many people by their full first names... here are some of my favorites:

Ruby is Boo: Ruby-Rueben- Rueben Carter-Carter-Rubes-Boobs-Boo

Tiffany is currenty Ticky: Tiffany-Tiffy-Tiff-Tuff-Stuff-Steff-Stephany-Tickany-Ticky

Michaela is Quail-Face: Michaela, Michael-A, Mac, Macquaila, Quail, Quail-Face

Angie is Pants: Angie, Ang, Anch, Anchie Pants, Pants

Phil is David: Phil, Will, Bill, Mr. Guy, Mr. Bubble, Bubby, Babe, Dave, David

Emma is Small: Emma, Bemma, The Bem, The Small, Small

Jessica is Ka-Ka: Jessica, Jessie, Jess, Jessi-Ka-Ka, Ka-Ka

Brandon is Uncle Randy: Brandon, Bwandon, Brandal, Randal, Randy, Uncle Randy (when Jericho was born)


My current names:

From Ruby and Lewis: Jenna, Jenny, JJ, J-Hole, Jenny Bootsraps, Bootsraps

From Phil: Jenna, Jaimie, Damien(most current)


The Most Creative Nickname giver goes to Barb Trask:

Ruby: Dolly
Walker: Walkie
Graham: Grahambo
Steve: Wally

The Most Unfortunate Nicknames go to Adam and Vara:
A-Hole and V-Hole... (I think it might have been Ruby's fault because she calls me J-Hole)

Any time Phil and I discuss future names of our offspring I find myself thinking it is more important the name can make a good nick-name then the actual meaning or sentimental value of the name, funny!

10 Days!

Ok... so I know I've used this pic about 3 times but guess what.. SHE MOVED TO LA! So until I get new pictures I will continue to use my favorite one when blogging about Ruby.

ANYWAY, Im leaving for LA in 10 days and will be there for 18!! Im super excited I miss my friend and I looove the big city. We'll be all over the place, we're planning on spending a weekend in San Diego, see family, old friends and I want to go to the zoo... I know Im like 5yrs old or something. So what!

Time To Grow Up

So.... I'm tired of listening to my husband have "grown-up" conversations about politics, business, the economy, ect. I do care about what goes on in our country but I have a "Gone With The Wind" visual in my mind where women are upstairs changing out of there elaborate dresses for nap time and the men are in the study smoking cigars, drinking whiskey and discussing the war. Times haven't changed that much: Phil is in the hottub, smoking cloves and drinking scotch, Im cozy in my PJ's watching America's Next Top Model....
This morning as I was eating my mislabeled grapefruit, "California RED Grapefruit" (it wasn't actually the red variety but the normal kind, I was very disappointed) I reflected on Beka's recent post... "Americans need to care about what is going on in the rest of the world"

"Time-Out!" I don't even know what is going on in our country and that made me feel really irresponsible.
Im a stay-at-home wife, I should have plenty of time to educate myself on "grown-up" topics. Im not making any promises, I might get bored, but Im going start listening to NPR at work.........(after I check Nordstrom's and E! Online)

www.npr.org/

Ruby Told Me I Have To...

So I have been tagged... here are my exciting answers:

Four jobs I've had:
1) Hip Hop Teacher
2) Nanny
3) 4 years of coffee: Nordstrom's, Brooks and Terry's, Coffee Culture
4) Central Dispatch, Arbitrator

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1) Dirty Dancing
2) Forest Gump
3) Aladdin
4) What About Bob

Four places I've lived:
1) Lebanon, OR
2) Fort Collins, CO (does 10wks constitute living?)
3) Independence, OR
4) Corvallis, OR

Four TV shows I watch:
1) Sex & The City (always and forever)
2) Desperate Housewives
3) The Office
4) The Alaska Experiment

Four places I've been:
1) Alaska
2) Hawaii
3) Cabo, Mexico
4) New York City

Four people who email me regularly (doesn’t include blogging comments):
1) Denny every Monday
2) Vinni, Mollie, Noel (Work)
3) Rubes
4) Beka lately??

Four of my favorite foods:
1) Filipino Food yum yum
2) melted cheese
3) Top-Ramen (no joke)
4) Thai food

Four places I would like to visit:
1) Philippines
2) France
3) Israel
4) Australia

Four things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1) Sex & The City Movie
2) Kelley Family Vacation at Lake Tapps
3) Mexico (hopefully) with the Trasks
4) Vegas

Four friends I'm tagging:(Sorry but I have to I guess)
1) Jess
2) Bre
3) Carolynn
4) Sarah in the City