BOOM! instant karma

There is not a whole lot more satisfying than seeing justice dealt.  I say justice because should be more appealing than revenge because justice is what someone deserves but revenge can be bitter and spiteful.  Karma is the universe's built in judge and jury.  When you do ill to someone else it has a way of coming back to you.  It may not even be in this lifetime (suspense is killer!) but it will come back to bite you in the butt.  Take the case of the 3 year old birthday dinner I just took my little princess on.  She love Applebee's. I don't know why, but she does.  She orders macaroni and cheese and even on the menu it states that it is the same exact Kraft macaroni and cheese I get at the store for $0.88 but they feel ok charging $4 for it.  Whatever, it's her birthday, get whatever you want kiddo!  Where I have the issue is the service we received.  Part of what is built into the price of the food is the atmosphere, cost of food, and wages of the staff.  So as a person who has been on both sides of the restaurant experience (server, cook, dishwasher, done it all) I understand how it works, so when Jimbob (name's changed to protect the accused) came up to our table and asked "What do you want?" I was tempted to say "a new waiter."  He didn't care or say anything when we said we were celebrating my daughter's 3rd birthday, didn't bring out a dessert, or even mark off anything on the check.  In short he didn't even acknowledge my child on her special dinner.  Turns out that being a server is one of those opportunities for karma to be applied instantly.  If you do awesome and make the customer feel good, tips are generally good.  If you suck at life and make people feel like they didn't have a good time, tips will go down the drain.  There are exceptions to the rule, but you get the general idea. 

I think you can guess how awesome our waiter did when he picked up the check  :)

Mindful schooling

Schooling and education should be synonyms right?  I always thought so but after having a child in the public school system I am beginning to wonder.  When I was growing up the kids that were home schooled in my area (I mean no offense if you were) were weird.  I think a big part of it was the socialization differences but they talked funny and dressed even weirder.  But before I go on exploring new interest in home schooling let me explain the events that lead me there.

So begins the journey towards the decision of whether to keep her in school and see if she "adjusts" to the new structure to bring her home and school her at home.

doppelgangers

I was watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother (a current favorite of mine) and they said something that really made me think and appreciate my life.  To give a little background they circle of friends are convinced that each of them have a doppelganger out there and they had found four of the five.  They spent a good part of the episode talking about doppelgangers and Ted said something to the effect that we are all our own doppelganger.  Would you recognized yourself from 5 years ago? 10 years?  To think how far I've come in just 6 short years amazes me sometimes.  Had a child (two with one more on the way) bought and sold a few cars, bought a house, bought my first thoroughbred dog only to find out she was crazy and destructive and had to be re-homed to a place with more space.  Seems amazing to me, and also my 10 year high school reunion was this past summer (couldn't attend) but I can't even imagine all the changes that have occured in that time span.  I think everyone wrote letters to future selves either in school or at one time or another about what we are doing or what we hope we are doing in some prescribed number of years.  I know I didn't see myself whre I am now back then, but I am glad I got here.

My wife is awesome for redoing my blog... I should buy her something pretty!

 

So much to learn

I love being able to spend time with my little ones while they are small and learning.  I was reminded today that we can learn from children too.  I took my youngest to the park to kill some time while mommy was at the doctor's for a Miss M. check up and it was great to have some one on one time with her.  The world must look so different when you are three feet tall, she notices so much more than I do.  I think a lot of that is also that she lives in the moment like I wish I could.  So often I get preoccupied about what's coming up.  "What's for dinner?  What do I need to get at the grocery today?  I must remember to do the cat litter and get the garbage out because tomorrow is garbage day.  What are you doing sweetie?"  She is crouched down looking at a pretty little purple (her favorite color) flower poking out of the sidewalk crack that I completly missed.  There is so much wonder and magic that happens every minute that we miss because we are looking forward with anticipation or anxiety or backward with regret or longing.  Live a little more like a 3 year old, remember what it is to dream with your eyes open and smile with your whole heart.

 

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift, that's why it's called the present"

Selfishness

So as some may know, wifey and I are expecting our 3rd child this winter and what comes before birth? Pregnancy!  This one seems to be a bit rougher on wifey than the last two, or it may be that she is watching kids and doesn't get much adult interaction (cause let's face it, I ain't much of an adult) on a daily basis, plus watching kids is hard work.  Anyone who says watching kids is either not a parent or on crack I'm pretty sure.  But it seems I may have been a bit selfish with my time recently.  Working third shift and trying to be involved in the family makes time management kinda difficult, let me lay out some examples for ya.  I work from 11pm to 8am (yes that's nine hours, can't give'em paid lunch!!) so on a 'normal' day i try to sleep from 2-10 and get my solid 8 hrs that way. BUT WAIT! what about when my oldest needs to get picked up from school at 3?!?!  well either I should stay up to monitor the kiddo's or go get her so lets say i sleep from 3:30 to 10, but here comes the monkey wrenches.  Wifey teaches dance (which I am SO happy she can do something that she loves and be in her career field) but they are usually in the evening so sometimes that means I sleep from 9-3 then a little bit from 6 or 7-10.  All this sleep juggling can make me a little cranky.  I know it's not fair to take it out on anyone, this is just part of being a dad/husband, but it can make my mood sour and unpleasant to be around.  So I try to look forward to things I REALLY enjoy and make little 'holidays' of them.  Like I enjoy video games so when I get to play them (especially on my nights off when my friends are playing and we can multiplayer) it's like a 'mini labor day' a little sunshine to make me smile.  But I've been focusing too much on them and not enough on the wifey and she has been feeling overloaded.  I've taken up doing cat litter (preggies can't do it, some kind of fetal risk called toxo-plasmosis) and laundry (she cant reach in the wash bin anymore...it's cute) on top of what I used to do but I should try to help out more.

So honey (as you are probably my only subscriber) here's my apology letter for the whole world to see, I'm sorry and I'll do more to help so your last trimester won't be such a burden and we can look forward to seeing Ms. M!