What a day!

We had to cancel a field trip because we did not have enough drivers. I did have enough, but things happen and they cancelled out for one reason or another. Girl Scouts are flexible right? We put up a tent instead of going to a garden nursery.

We taught 11 1st through 3rd grade Brownies how to put up that tent. You really ought to try doing that sometime. They did excellent. The tent got pitched by those young ladies, and we adults only touched it about half a dozen times! It is a HUGE tent too! Pardon me if I sound proud, yet frazzled, but it was fun and rewarding.

So I was really beat - came home to put on the tv, but I had forgotten our A/C coils had froze again, so Steve had worked all afternoon cleaning them. He had the mess to clean up, and I really wanted to watch tv... Finally I get to crash in front of it. Guess what? Our TIVO was broke. We were real lucky I let the TV live to see tomorrow. I just wanted to watch TV... that is all - and it is rarely I ever take time to watch tv.

Steve installs the back satelitte reciever and I finally have tv... Steve and Jeff are playing poker online and yelling back and forth at each other - one is in the back room and the other in the dining room - while I try to listen to the show. However, I catch enough of it to be really interested in what is happening - who needs the details, right? Then the phone rings the last 10 minutes of my show and I answer it. When I get back the news is on - and now I don't know the ending of the show :-( Why was she receiving the messages from the woman of the 50's? Did they find her daughter?? I may never know.

That my dear, is why I love TIVO...

MAN, what a day!

I am beat. I will go to bed now, but tomorrow I will wake up on the right side of the bed. Sweet dreams.

Painting the walls and...

I am the worlds worst painter.

I am bound and determined I am going to get this house in shape. Our lives and lack of upkeep has made the house really needing a good make-over.

I found yellow paint. Why go buy any? I found this that I had purchased in 1991 for something or other and so I go into a room and prep it, tape it and finally today we (Steph and I) paint kilz. That is some nasty stuff. We painted the walls, the trim, the floor and last but not least, me.

I hate painting! But the good thing is, it sure adds a splash of color to my garden... yellow! Tomorrow I see the 'sun' in the room. It will be my scraproom, so I plan to make it fun. Off to look for fun - yellow! I just don't get it... why would I go yellow?

Hurting People Hurt

"Hurting People Hurt." I read this quote on Two Peas - this quote is mighty powerful isn't it?

Years ago I had a customer come in and she was very angry - nothing I did was right and she was being belligerant the entire transaction. A salesman came over because he could hear her from the other end of the store and started a conversation asking how her hubby was. He had cancer. Her children? Her son had been killed in a wreck and the other one was still in a wheelchair. After a bit of talking with her, it was obvious what the real problems were - and they were not me.

Later I thanked the salesman for coming over and rescuing me. Kenneth (the salesman) said something that has stuck with me every since that moment: "Listen to what they are NOT saying - they need you." That single statement has changed the way I deal with people, and it is a miracle how they react to politeness and concern - it is like you douse the fire with kindness and they just open up.

Thanks Kenneth and Two Peas for the reminder :-)