Ootd, hobby, and adult beverage.

First the Ootd:

Avenue Dress....that is it. Wore my ugly black sandals, and went out the door. I haven't posted an OOTD for awhile, because I still can't figure out where to take the pictures, and how to pose. I also should take at the beginning of the day when my makeup hadn't melted off, and my hair looks better. But....I have been wanting to do this since the beginning of my blog, and I determined to get better at it! Suggestions??? Please ignore, the pale face, and bizarre expressions in these pictures....

I bought a sewing machine for $25 bucks, my oldest and I are trying to acquaint ourselves with it, one little mistake at a time. Note to self....put the foot down before sewing otherwise it gets tangled in the bobbin. My goal is to make myself a skirt this fall, but I think sewing classes may be in order. Hannah is concentrating on making barbie clothes for her little sister, and pillows.

With the weather being so miserable here lately, sometimes the only cure is cold bear with bloody mary mix. So tasty.....just one a night though.....

Last picture, this is my hair now days. Longer, not as long as I would like, but I am doing well so far at not just whacking it off into another pixie cut. After I saw how my hair looked in the first pictures, I went and brushed it, and had my darling Jaded J, take a decent picture of it. What you can't tell is it is deep auburn with brighter red highlights. My natural hair color is really deep brown, but not quite black. Anyway...thought you guys might be interested in my progress.

How may I help you?

The do's and don'ts with phone reps.

I work as a phone service rep. And I DO like my job. There is never a dull moment in working on the phone, as each call is an adventure, and at least with my phone center job almost all calls are different. All of my previous jobs have been in retail, so I am conditioned in working with the public. And so because of my experience, I would like to offer some tips in dealing with a phone rep, especially if you have a problem.

1. Be courteous, and patient. I know this may seem almost redundant in asking, but it is number 1 for a reason. I can't help you, if you are yelling at me about something I have not been able to research, and don't have the background information about. Give me time, because the more you are willing to let me do my job the more I will be willing to find the solution you desire. If you keep yelling, I usually will try to get off the phone as quickly as possible, it brings me down, and I don't respond well to anger.
2. Don't make fun of my name. It is rude, plain and simple. I have had people ask me why my parents would name me that? I have had numerous people say "You're Georgia?, my name is Alabama!" And then laugh hysterically because they think it is the funniest thing in the whole world. I can't make fun of your name because I would get fired, but I also don't feel overly helpful when you start the conversation off like that.
3. PLEASE don't go the bathroom while we are talking. It is gross, and very apparent. No one would walk into a store and start asking a clerk a question and then proceed to pull down their pants and start to pee. I know the sound, hell everyone knows the sound...and it is 10 times worse with guys because it is very LOUD. So please wait to call, or wait until we're done talking.
4. If you are calling into a place you have worked before, don't name drop, and don't tell me 16 times that "it wasn't like that when I worked there". Policies change, times change, people quit and move on. I want to help you, but you threatening to tell the CEO that you don't like the new way of doing things is not going to help you, and besides I am not responsible for making the rules, but I do have to follow them. Similarly if we ask to verify you, it is not to annoy you, but to protect you. People complain about identity theft but don't like to take the 2 minutes to confirm themselves during a call.
5. If you have kids I know that sometimes they pick the most inopportune times to ask you questions, but please for the sake of my ears, don't start screaming at them. It hurts!
6. If you are calling me, try not to have three other conversations going at the same time, it is confusing, and makes the call last far longer than it needs to. Be in the moment fully.
7. Turn your TV down.
8. If you name has a common spelling, but you have a special way of saying don't get mad at me because I get it wrong. I am not trying to be rude, but there is no way for me to know that your name is pronounced a different way. Correct me, and move on.
9. Be reasonable in your expectations. Some things require additional research, and not everything can be resolved in one phone call. Let me help you.
10. I will end as I started be courteous and patient. All calls can start off on the right foot by following that one simple rule. I am more willing to work around you yelling at your kids and peeing in the toilet if you maintain your attitude in this way.

So there is a list of my do's and don'ts. I will say that I know it is frustrating to have a phone rep that is rude, and condescending and believe me I totally understand when that happens why people ask for a supervisor. I also know that some phone reps don't follow through with their promises, and I know that gives us a bad name. But I think it is key to remember that the person you are talking to (even if they are in a foreign call center) is a human, and that being abused by someone over the phone makes anyone feel down. So this is a great example of pay it forward, be nice to me, so I can make the call just as nice for the next person who calls in.

10 Followers

Thank you to those who follow my blog...I very lucky to have you involved.

Urban Decay......

"Condition where part of a city or town becomes old or dirty or ruined, because businesses and wealthy families have moved away from it."

Urban decay is fascinating to me. I regularly try to find websites the document the decay of buildings, or areas. The pictures are haunting, sometimes surreal. I am intrigued by how fast nature starts taking over an area, that we once claimed as our own. Also, by how fast things go to ruin once someone stops maintaining the building.

I am disturbed by the amount of things that are left in buildings once it has been abandoned. Such as wheelchairs, medical equipment, lawn chairs, golf carts, etc. I don't understand why these things are not given away, but allowed to rot. I assume that no one takes the time to find homes for these items because they just want to be done with the task of "closing" the building one last time. THIS REALLY BOTHERS ME. This is the reason for my post.

Look here for the lawn furniture, and kitchenware. I know this stuff was dated, but surely someone would have been able to use it?

Look here for medical equipment. I just can't believe that somewhere these items weren't needed?

There has been a slow awakening in me about the waste that I encounter on a regular basis by society. We dispose of the barely old to get "new", that will in turn be disposed of in short order. I am very guilty of this...I have 3 iPods at my house that are not used. I lusted after them, had to have them, and then promptly quit using them. I have gotten the latest and the greatest cell phone, to only use it for calling out, and an occasional text. I hate trying to use the web on a cell phone, screen is too small, cell phone can't handle the graphics, etc. So where I am going with all of this? I don't know.

I don't know the solution, and barely understand the question.

I just know that it bothers me. Everything being disposable. But, there are some things that are great (at least for me) because they are disposable. Like diapers...the poo factor never became easier even though it came from my own child. So I really can't imagine me doing loads of diapers and having to deal with the mess a second time. In writing this I see my own dichotomy, and so maybe I shouldn't criticize others who couldn't be troubled to find homes for unwanted items. But....really couldn't someone have used a wheelchair? A country that has an impoverished health care system? Or couldn't it have been used for parts?

I also wonder if someone just couldn't bear to part with it for free, and so rather than give it away, just let it rot?

I really try to be altruistic. I would rather give my things away to someone who could use them, than throw them in the trash. I am not good at garage sales for that very reason. I end up making next to no money because I just want the stuff gone, and almost feel guilty charging someone else to take my crap. Case in point, last weekend we did the great garage purge, and got rid of a ton of stuff. I put stuff by the curb, figuring that someone would stop and pick up the good stuff. This very nice lady came by and went through our entire pile, and repeatedly asked me if I wanted money for the items she was taking. She felt bad that we were just giving it to her, but in truth it was a win-win for both of us. I no longer had babies who could use a stroller, or car seat, she had a daughter that was pregnant and didn't have money to buy those items.

OK....enough rambling. Please take a moment to look at those site above. The pictures are just great, just from the artistic stand point alone.

Catharsis....kind of

Today I was reading Green Apples blog, and her newest post struck me. You can read it here.

So this is my response, or at least my gut reaction.

I was struck by someone who is so very thin ever having a worry about their weight. She is tall, and lithe, and clothes look fantastic one her. But her stories about growing up and the constant reminders that fat was just one bite away reminded me of my childhood. I instead of becoming obsessed about calories, went the other way and became cavalier about my eating habits.

I should preface the rest of this post with, I love my mother deeply. The rest of the post may make her seem insensitive, and at times mean. But no parent is perfect, and she was the better of my two parents, especially during an abusive upbringing with my dad.

One of my earliest memories with my mom, was her putting me on a diet at age 6 or 7. That time we ate tons and tons of pickles, because they were calorie free, or at least much better than potato chips. Today I like pickles, but, I would never eat one buy itself. This diet was followed by many more.

She would tell me:

"I was a butter ball. I didn't want to get fat because I would be made fun of, and not have friends. I didn't want to be know as the fat girl. I had a pretty face, but I needed to stay slim to have boys like me. "

I got the message that my self worth was dependent on my body type, and the only body type that mattered was a slim one. In the summer between my 8th and 9th grade years of school I finally lost my "baby fat", because I started walking everywhere, and biking everywhere,I just couldn't stand to be home. I got really skinny, like scary skinny. I remember thinking, my mom would let up on the weight thing, but instead it became not losing the weight, but not gaining it back. If I gained it back I was failure.

I then spent my teenage years attracting boys, being flirtatious, being whatever I thought they wanted me to be, to show my mom that someone did like me. I also treated those boys like crap, because once I got them, I didn't want them, and I used them to boost my ego. I had one boy in particular that stayed around, and we eventually got married. I didn't love him, I just wanted out of my house for good.

I wanted to be excited about my wedding, because at that point I was still fooling myself into thinking that this was the man I was going to be with the rest of my life. I let my mom plan most of it, but the one thing I was interested in and was excited about was my dress. I didn't have ideas of what I wanted, but I knew I would find the perfect dress, and that did make me excited. I found the perfect dress. I loved it, and couldn't wait to wear it. But my mother turned that dress into something to hold over me. By the time I got married, I hated the dress, and I just didn't care about the wedding at all. I had the dress a full year before I wore it. My mom told me that if I didn't keep my weight off and in fact lose some more that I would have to pay for the dress. Every dinner was torture, I was forced to go on walks with my mom every night. That dress became my nemesis. I was so young and naive, I thought my mom could make me pay for the dress. Not only did we have a strange relationship about my weight, but also about money. It seems my life revolved around the two, and were often intertwined. My feelings on my wedding day were ambivalence. Getting married was the lesser of two evils, and at least in the new scenario I was going to be in control

After the marriage, I started to think on my own for the first time. Before that my life had been survival mode, stay under my dad's radar, don't upset my mom, and try to find peace in my own way. I won't say I bloomed, because that would make it sound like it was an easy wonderful thing. I would almost say that the process was of me struggling up through the soil to find some light. I got really dirty, and it was painful, and hard, and tiring. I started to gain weight at that time, and haven't really stopped since. I was bullied in my old home, my weight was made fun of, and when I was finally on my own, I could thumb my nose at it. I didn't have to explain to anyone why Ben and Jerry were my best friends, and why I had a third helping. I was free of the constant criticism. My first marriage didn't make it 2 years, and I feel bad that I married him, but we both didn't know better.

I am still trying to reconcile being healthy and the old feeling of not being good enough if I wasn't skinny. I struggle, with wanting to show my mom that I am just as lovable at 200 lbs as I am at 115. That my weight doesn't change my core being.

Obviously that post hit something visceral in me, and I need to let go of some of the weight that has been on my shoulders about this subject. Thank you for reading it......

While I was away......

My Oldest turned 14, isn't she beautiful?

We got a new table and chairs! Table $50.00 from antique store. Chairs $1.00 a piece from Garage Sale, need to be recovered, but what a great deal! Look at the base of the table, how ATOMIC age can you get???? It totally matches our ceiling fan! YEAH!

Spring Has Sprung......My Lillies first blooms!Flower boxes planted and painted!

My Makeup Table before: Chaos & UGLY!

My Makeup Table After: Organized and Lovely


Tablecloth is an old Laura Ashley Sheet. Lamp from Goodwill that my Jaded J fixed. Soup Tureen ,Old Platter, Cream Pitcher, antiques given to me by my mom, so I finally found a use for them. Fruit Crate from awhile ago that I used a book shelf before, and now it stores my nail polish and extras. The make up mirror, another garage sale find. It sells for $110.00 at Bed Bath & Beyond, I got it for $5.00!!!!!!!!

Joan update.....She gets to go HOME early next week! Can you believe it? She is walking (still with a walker). She can go up the stairs, and has learned to get back into a car. She promised me that she would do NOTHING for the rest of summer but rest and be a lady of leisure.

Life is pretty damn good....!

Stripe Fascination Conundrum

I have been fascinated by striped tights for quite awhile now. I don't know how this all started, or why. I have run the idea by my soon to be 14 year old, she squealed with disgust at the thought of me wearing them. I have never mentioned them to Jaded J, but I am sure some witch inference would spit from his salty tongue.

Yet, with all of the objection....I still want them.

Today, I was looking through my blogs I follow and there was Lilli from Frocks & Frou Frou wearing the cutest outfit with striped tights. Here is the link. It made me want them all the more, because I have that basic outfit, except the tights. Of course Lilli is young and is way more than hip than me, so she can pull it off. But....I can't help but think that I would be darn cute in them too.

So what are your thoughts?

And one more blogger who pulled them off with panache, here.