Miscommunications Suck

In my very large family miscommunications happen often. This last one is my last. I am standing up for myself and my children and stopping the hurt. We will not have anything more to do with my extended family. I am tired of being judged for working out of the home, having my kids in public school, not having a perfectly clean house, letting my kids stay home by themselves, etc.

There is no communication. No opportunity to say what you feel without everyone being brought in and things getting blown out of proportion.

It hurts that what could be isn't. There could be large family gatherings, cousins having sleepovers, exchanging emails and phone calls. There could be fun, collaboration of ideas, sharing of talents. Instead it is each family out for themselves.

So now I will join the ranks of others and leave my family of birth and create a family of choice. A good friend told me the best families are the ones who choose to be together.

Coupon Codes

I can't believe that I just made this discovery. I order things online frequently. Between my schedule, gas prices and hauling kids to the store I have found it easiest to order birthday and Christmas presents along with books online.

I was placing an order yesterday and saw that there was a place to put in a coupon code. I notice those at most online sites and feel quite sad that I am rarely ever able to put anything in that box. It is as if someone is waving a coupon or sale in my face while telling me I can't partake in it. So I decided to try something. I put the websites name (can't say what it is because it was for a Christmas present!) then the words coupon code. Wham!!! Up came several websites listing online coupon codes.

The particular site I was using let me put in more than one! I was able to get FREE shipping plus $10 off my purchase. I also got 25% off everything after the first regular priced item. I saved over $40! I was way excited.

So today I had to order a new glass top to our range. The other cracked due to a child's accident and our home warranty wouldn't cover it. The repair man told me it would cost $275 for the part and $80-100 for labor. OUCH! So I decided to look up the part on Sears. I could get the part there for $212 so I put in my cart and on my check out what do I see? A box saying enter coupon code here. So off I google. I found a code that got me 10% off. Yeah! I saved over $20. I am so excited. Sears only let me put in 1 code, but that is OK.

I promptly forbid Aaron to ever to order anything online without googling coupon codes first. :)

Sweet Sisters and chicken bones

Sarah's baby sisters flew in this weekend to support her and our store in this economic time. Tammy came from Idaho and brought her vinyl cutter. Mandy came from Colorado to help. These girls worked so hard. I don't think they got more than 4 hours of sleep on any night.

This display only shows a small portion of the fabulous home decor items we made. We painted boards, decopauged picture frames and sanded till we were covered in saw dust! I love the frames, canvas, tiles, plates, signs and even ornaments. While we were working several regular customers had custom orders. It was neat to see what they came up with.

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After 2 long days of hard work the sisters and I went out to dinner at Chevy's on the river. This is Sarah's favorite restaurant and we know why!

We walked in wearing our grungies from painting and were greating by a very happy manager. Jeff was great. He got us in the mood for a fun relaxing evening. We ordered our food and ate too many yummy chips and salsa. Once our food was delivered we chowed down. I had a delicious chicken summer salad. After eating about a third I took a bite only to find a 2" chicken bone in my mouth. We informed the waitress just so they could be aware. She told the manager and he came down to talk to us.

The first thing he said was "Do you know where chicken comes from? It was alive once and it had bones." He was sassy! I was not looking for anything but he comped my meal anyway. We got to talking and he ended up sitting with us at our booth for about 15 minutes! It was great.

We will definately be back to Chevy's and we will bring friends!!!