Shoe Shopping

Shoe shopping is one of those things I dread. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a girl, I love shoes! I just don’t like it when I have to find a pair. Any other day of the week I can find 10 pairs I’d love to own but not when I’m actually looking.

Saturday, I spent 2+ hours searching for the perfect tennis shoe. (This was at least my 3rd search!) I assure you - it doesn’t exist. 20 pairs later, a splitting headache, and a tired husband, I decided that the pair I had bought at the first store was the best of all that I had tried.

You may wonder why we continued the search; basically, the cost. Have you looked at tennies lately? They are so expensive. It had been at least 2 years since I had bought a pair and it was painful to shell out the money for these.

I did some consumer research and asked several people what brand, type, etc. they like best. It helped some, but really, every foot is so different. The salesman in one store was just plain fed up with me. He kept offering (no forcing) a variety of shoes and every single pair I rejected. He finally walked away, shaking his head in disgust, I’m sure.

Hopefully, these will last another couple of years. I’m not interested in buying another pair any time soon!

Self-checkouts

Self-checkouts are a dream come true for me. Didn’t you always have that secret desire to be the clerk sliding the products across the scanner? The satisfying beep that follows is a beautiful sound.

Ever since I can remember, I have been enamored by a cashiers job. Perhaps they would laugh to read this. My sisters and I would play anything imaginable that included a check-out: grocery store, department store, library... We were always careful to make the appropriate sounds, stamp and slide the books, and of course, bag everything carefully to not crush anything.

I guess I’m living a clerk’s life vicariously by going through the self-check. I know people complain about the lack of personal touch and interaction but I don’t mind. I’d much rather have the joy of scanning my purchases and hearing that beep.

TP Returns

Some of you may remember a previous post regarding toilet paper. :) Today, I brought one of my patients back to my chair and quickly felt a sense of déjà vu. No, there was no toilet paper today just a lot of rapping and dancing when I wasn’t directly speaking to her.

I will call her the orange goddess. Girls, orange must be the new pink! She was decked out in this bright color. Her shirt was orange, orange stripe on her pants, orange tennis shoes, nail polish that was orange, her purse, and finally the doll that was hanging off her purse. Never have I seen so much orange. It was a bit frightening. Where do you even find orange nail polish? It should definitely be outlawed.

To top off this exciting, colorful afternoon, the dentist was doing an exam when her cell phone started to ring (the ring tone must have been set on high…it was very loud!). She proceeded to answer it very loudly. She sat up and had a non-emergency phone conversation at high decibels for at least 10 minutes…no exaggeration. The doctor just looked at her and then went on to another room. Finally, she hung up (only after I had the details of pictures, CVS, etc.). I suggested/requested that she turn off the phone so the exam could be completed. She refused and assured me her sister would not be calling right now!!!

Dog Training (or lack thereof)

Sometimes I think we’ll never successfully house train Pippi. She had another BIG accident tonight – except I don’t really think it was an accident. She knows she shouldn’t, and goes somewhere we are not to go. Funny – she never goes as much outside, at least not as much at once, like as she does inside. Okay, I’m sorry if that’s more than you wanted to know.

Speaking of well-trained dogs, this has to be toward the top. If I could train Pippi to jump rope with me like this, I wouldn’t care if she wasn’t house-trained!

Called to Drink More Deeply of His Sustaining Grace

     As those who attend our high school/college study know, I often start our discussion of John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life by asking everyone to share his or her favorite quotation(s) from the chapter for the week.  I’ve been reading chapter 9 the last couple days, and have been particularly impressed by the following lines (pp. 158, 178):

God does not call us to ease, but to faithful joy. . . . God seldom calls us to an easier life, but always calls us to know more of him and drink more deeply of his sustaining grace.

Short vs. Long Posts . . .

     I sometimes wonder to what extent the length of a blog entry dictates how much or how many people read it.  In other words, I wonder if, due to the nature of the forum, people are more inclined to read a short post than a long one. . . . Of course, I’m certain there are many other factors which have equal or greater bearing on reading all vs. part vs. none of a post – especially how well written it is and how related it is to topics with which one is familiar or finds of particular interest.

C__boys

     One of these days, Alaina is going to write about some memories of growing up and what she and her sisters used to play and imagine.  My brother Peter and I often pretended that we were cowboys herding cattle or Indians giving them a hard time.  We never dreamed of herding the kind of livestock depicted in the video clip below.  In fact, upon seeing this, my dad said that if this is the new cowboy, he might have to stop wearing his hat!  Watch, enjoy, and laugh; it’s absolutely hilarious!
     http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7635587316493151891

THE Purchase

It arrived…on Wednesday to be exact. HSN told us it would be here by the 20th, so we were pleasantly surprised to receive it on the 15th. I felt a little nervous to open the box…a bit unsure of this midnight, tv purchase. It seemed too good to be true and really, who can trust their late night instincts.

I muscled off the packing tape only to find tons of packing peanuts, a little dog’s dream come true. [Side Note: I think packing peanuts are one of the worst inventions, they make such a mess and stick to everything!] I scrambled around and tried to pick them up before Pippi came bounding up the stairs. I thought I succeeded only to have her come and find more.

The box was packed tight and it was difficult to remove the item we had ordered. I struggled, due to its size, but finally managed to pull it out. It was beautiful, soft, luxurious, and exactly what we wanted! I sighed a huge sigh of relief – no $100 non-refundable return! Yeah!

You may be wondering what it was…well, come to our house and see! :) JK, it is a gorgeous california king bedding set. That was our big HSN purchase. It is very nice!

Many of you had some wonderful ideas about what we ordered…I highly recommend you spend some time inventing these great products. We were especially impressed with the dogbot!

Here It Is...