My Personal Boycott of Applebees

Crystyne and I are usually fans of Applebees, because it is easy to eat there and will usually do the half-price appetizers. Well we decided to go yesterday because we had a gift card to use. We went with Crystyne's brother Jared, his wife and two kids, because our boys were at a birthday party.

Well anyway on with the story. (For context 1/2 price appetizers is between 3-6pm)

We arrived at Applebees between 5:10 and 5:15, promptly told them we needed a table for 4 adults and three children, and they told us it would be a 10 or 15 minute wait. At 5:45 the hostess apologized to us and told us that the table they were going to sit us (the largest booth) in was still occupied and the people were finished eating and were just chatting. A few minutes later they sat us in a smaller booth. Now I need to point out here that there was not a long line waiting to be seated in the lobby, several people with smaller groups were seated before us.

So we sit down and order a quick appetizer to get us started. We ordered a new dish called potato twisters. As we were eating the twisters I noticed a chicken strip on the plate. I thought, hey this is weird, maybe this got on the plate by accident. I offered it to Ethan (our nephew) because he was hungry, but he declined, so I decided what the heck, don't pass up a free chicken strip and bit into it. Well it was still raw inside and I had to spit it back out. We politely asked our waitress the next time that we saw her about the raw piece of chicken in our appetizers. She chuckled nervously, slightly embarrassed and said that she will take it away.

So we order our meal (Our half-price appetizers) and wait (30-40 minutes for our food). In the mean time the waitress fills our nice ice cold water cups with luke-warm water, melting all our ice. By this time I think everyone is slightly irritated.

After eating our dinner (which was good), the waitress brings the checks. We notice that our meals were not half-price and we ask the waitress about it. She tells us we didn't order our meals before 6. We say yes this is true, but you made us sit in the lobby for 30-40 minutes, while others were seated ahead of us. She then tells us she will get her manager.

The manager comes (and I don't want to be mean) but he didn't have the best appearance (nasty teeth), he walks up with a pompous air about him (which I understand, I have been accused of that on occasion), but very rudely he says to us, "Folks our policy is that you have to order your meal before six, so I am going to do this but it will be the last time!" (He was acting like we do this all the time.) So Crystyne says, "But we had to wait in the lobby, we were here at 5:15, and there wasn't anyone in the lobby when we came in, AND the hostess came and apologized to us for our long wait". He decides its best to argue and says, "Well its Friday night and its a busy night.", I finally say "Fine", and we get our new receipt. We both paid for our meals with gift cards and I must point out that he did write off the small portion left over on Jared and Michelle's bill after the gift card, but it was too late to win me over.

I walked outside, before I got too mad and said something I would regret. You know how they say, it takes 20 positives to make up for 1 negative. I have looked past bad experiences in the past and turned the proverbial other cheek, because we liked the food. Well unfortunately Applebees will not have the opportunity to make those positive strides anymore, because I am going to boycott them.

Look Alike

Last weekend someone told Jeff that he looked like David Boreanaz:

And that I looked like Emily Deschanel:

Funny thing is, both are in the show "Bones", which neither Jeff or I had ever seen before, so I had no idea who they were talking about.

Then last night at school right before class began, Elder Thomas told me that I looked like Emily Deschanel. After our opening hymn and prayer, this is what happened:

Elder Thomas said, "Before we get into tonight's lessons, I want to talk about one thing. Can I have Crystyne stand up". I looked at him, sat there for a few seconds wondering if he meant the other Christina in our class, but I realized he was looking at me.

So I pointed to myself and with a questioning type look on my face said, "me?"

While laughing, Elder Thomas said, "yes".

I stood up, still not knowing why.

Elder Thomas proceeded to ask the class if they had ever watched "Bones". He told the class that he and his wife were watching "Bones" last week and his wife asked him he thought I looked like Emily. He said that that was just what he was thinking when she asked him. He wanted to know what everyone else thought. I didn't see if our how anyone responded. I was sitting in the front of the class and was too shocked and a bit embarrassed to turn around.

What do you think? Do I look like Emily Deschanel? It is hard for me to see any resemblance. To me, I look like me, not Emily.

I guess Jeff and I are going to have to watch "Bones" now to see our look alikes.

Have you ever had someone tell you you look like a famous person? Who?

Sleep like a baby

Lately Shiloh has been turning herself completely around in her crib. A good amount of the time her head is buried under her blankets. On this particular day, when I put her down for her nap, her head was where her feet are. I had just gone in to check on her and this is what I found. I wonder when she moved herself around, I never heard her awake talking or sucking on her fingers... Then today around noon just after getting the boys their lunch, I came in the living room (singing really LOUD) to feed Shiloh and get her down for her nap and this is what I found. She looked so sweet.

The phrase "sleep like a baby" I think is referring to babies who have older siblings. They really do learn to sleep through everything. Shiloh is a great sleeper and she doesn't startle at loud noises.

Mason and Cooper were great sleepers too, but they didn't sleep though tons of noise like Shiloh.

Good Advice

I got this forwarded email this morning. I usually don't open them, let alone post them on my blog. For some reason I opened this one and thought it had some good advice.


ONE.... Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO.... Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE.... Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR.... When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.

FIVE.... When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye..

SIX.... Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN.... Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT.... Never laugh at any one's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE..... Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN.... In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

ELEVEN.... Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE.... Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN.... When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'

FOURTEEN.... Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN.... Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN.... When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

SEVENTEEN.... Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN.... Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN.... When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY.... Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice
TWENTY- ONE.... Spend some time alone.

Random

Mason used some of Shiloh's rings to handcuff her.

Then Mason and Cooper wanted to take a picture with me.
I LOVE these kids!

Easter

Saturday we went and had the kids picture taken with the Easter bunny.

As we were walking away, Cooper wanted to know who was in t he Easter bunny outfit. Jeff and I both tried to play it off like we didn't know what he meant. Then Mason said, "I know! Santa is in the suit helping the Easter bunny out!" Yup. What he said.

Easter Sunday

The kid's Ester Baskets

Since we have church at 9am, we had the Easter bunny, aka Grandma and Grandma Borders, come while were were gone to set out the baskets and hide the eggs. As you can see, they were pretty excited to see that the Easter bunny came.

The Easter bunny hid eggs inside and outside.

The boys and their loot.

Do you like how Mason posed for the picture? This is what he did for every picture during the hunt.

We didn't get a chance to color eggs before Easter, so we colored a few on Easter Sunday.

We had Easter dinner at our house and invited Jeff's parents over to eat with us.

Earth Day

Earth Day is a funny holiday to me. Don't get me wrong, I am not a planet hating, oil spilling, littering fool by any means. Why do we set aside one day a year to do something good for our planet? Shouldn't we be doing good things for our planet every day? Recycling? Not littering? Picking up garbage we find?

Anyhow, we did do something good for our planet, not because it was Earth Day, but because there were some good sales and we had to take advantage of that!

So thanks to Earth Day sales we got an Autumn Blaze Maple tree for our back yard. They are suppose to be fast growers, hopefully that is true, we could really use some shade in the summer time.

Here it is! The boys were so excited that they got to help plant it.

This is what the Autumn Blaze Maple will look like eventually.


Also, Lowes (where we got the Maple tree) was offering a free tree, so we got that one too. It is just a seedling, so we recycled the plastic container the Maple tree came in and put the seedling in it. See I do love our planet, I recycled the plastic container. The seedling is a European Larch and will spend the next year in the planter. Then we will have to figure out where we what it. It will most likely go in the back yard to give us even more shade.

Here it is in it seedling glory.And here is what the European Larch will look like all grown up.

Oh and we have an extra European Larch seedling if anyone wants it, just let me know and it's yours!

Hike

This afternoon we had a picnic and went on a hike at the Bowl and Pitcher. We were invited by Jared and Michelle. Thanks for inviting us guys, we had a great time!

Look at my cute family. I am so blessed!

For the hike Shiloh got to ride in her Moby Wrap with her daddy. We forgot a hat for her, so Cooper let her use his boonie hat. Wasn't that so nice of him? And doesn't she look so cute in it?

The Spokane river from the "swinging bridge". The water was traveling really fast.

Looking at the river.

Awww

Two of my cute boys.


So I wanted to get a picture of Mason, Ethan, and Cooper with the river in the background. I asked them to all look at me and this is what Mason did:

So I asked them to all turn and face the water thinking Mason would stay facing the water and this is what he did:

Funny boy. He does what he wants, when he wants and doesn't let anyone tell him what to do.....just like his parents. Can you see the smerk on his face? Laughing about how funny he thinks he is.

Jared with Sienna and Jeff with Shiloh. Two handsome boys with two beautiful girls.

Science Fest 2011

Thursday night Mason's school had a science fest. The whole school has been learning about the human body this year. The Kindergartners learned about the 5 senses. Unfortunately I was not able to go, my first day of class for this semester was that night and I was the lead student for my Family Foundations class. Jeff took all three kids and my parents went with him to help out and support Mason.
First they had a spaghetti dinner, program, body walk, fitness fair, and microscope investigation.

Mason with the rest of the Kindergartners singing a song about their 5 senses.

First Class

Last night was the first class for my 2nd semester of school. Wednesday afternoon Elder Thomas called to see if I could be the lead student for my Family Foundations class. So basically I just had to be really familiar with the material we were covering this week and lead a discussion about the material. Really not a big deal, I would have liked to have had a little more time to prepare and gather my thoughts though. This week our topic was on divorce. Divorce is something that effects each of us in one way or another and has become way too common. Divorce is an ugly thing. In some cases it is the best thing for a person to do. Most of the time however, I feel people get divorced because it is "the easy way out". Most couples do not try to make their marriage work. They fall out of love and do not do all that they can to fall back in love. Often they have become too selfish and do not want to try.

For class we read two articles, one entitled "Divorce" by Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Appostles of our church; it was a talk he gave at General Conference. You can read his talk HERE. The other was an article in the Ensign (a magazine our church publishes) entitled "Falling out of love...and climbing back in". The author's name was withheld, but it is a great article, one I would suggest everyone reads. It was great! Even if your marriage is not "in trouble", it is good none the less and a great reminder of some things to avoid in your marriage. You can read the article HERE.

1st semester DONE!

I finished my 1st semester of school on April 9th. I got an A in both my Book of Mormon class and my Life Skills class! I was really happy to get an A in both classes. It just shows me that I can do more than I thought. Looking back I learned a lot of great things and I grew in some areas I didn't think I would grow in.

My 2nd semester started this last Tuesday. I am taking a Family Foundations class and a Basic Writing class.

The Family Foundation class covers The Family: The Proclamation to the World that our church's First Presidency (the Prophet/President of our church and his counselors) and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presented to our church as well as to the entire world back in 1995. If you would like to read the proclamation, I have linked it for you, just click HERE. I am really excited for this class! I know that the proclamation was and is an inspired document. I also know that as I study the proclamation in greater depth, I will be able to strengthen my relationship with Jeff, our kids, and my Father in Heaven.

I am really nervous for the Basic Writing class. I do not enjoy writing, especially when the topic I have to write on is chosen by a teacher or someone else. Then there is the issue of wondering if what I am writing about is what the teacher is wanting. When faced with this situation I have a hard time gathering my thoughts and I second guess myself and what I have written. I really wish Jeff could take this class for me as he loves to write. I know that if he did take this class for me I wouldn't improve my writing abilities, but it sure would be nice if he could.

Here's to a new semester and learning more!

Taxes

My rant for the day, comes from my drive to work this morning. While listening to the radio they were talking about a poll, that said a majority of Americans support a tax increase on people making over $250,000. I was more than a little disturbed by that. I love that we can can political discourse in this country but I want to say this about raising taxes on the so-called "wealthy." There is the great lie of socialism, "The wealthy need to pay their fair share." and "We can pay off the nations debt by taxing the rich."

Did you know that the top 5% of wage earners pay 50% of the federal income taxes and that nearly 40% of American pay no federal income taxes?

Did you know that even if we taxed everyone in the country at 100% of their wages, it still wouldn't be enough to pay off the national debt?

What really irks me is, since when did America seek to award mediocrity and punish success? How come you get punished for going to school, working hard and getting a good job by having to pay more taxes? And you have everything paid for you if you are a lazy schleb who bilks the state. (Don't get me wrong, there are many people who legitimately need help, and I have no problem with those people.)

I had a coworker tell me one time I deserved to pay more taxes because I make more than her and I went to school.

Riddle me this Batman. Who creates and maintains a majority of jobs in this country? Those making $40,000 a year or those making $250,000 a year? By taxing those who make over $250,000 a year you are killing job growth and potentially causing people to lose their jobs. It is just preposterous that people think the rich need to pay their "fair share". What is their fair share?

That is why I am becoming more of a proponent for a consumption tax. It is the only way to have a "fair tax". Everyone consumes and thus everyone pays (Not just the "rich"). Plus you could generate far more revenue if you get rid of the federal income tax and just have a flat 10-12% consumption tax.

I am just sayin'.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

Do you have that song in your head now? It snowed about 1/4 of an inch today. It stuck to the grass, but not the roads. When the snow was coming down, it reminded me of Christmas and my favorite thing to eat during the Christmas season: FUDGE. So I made some and thought I would share the recipe with you. It is one of Rachael Ray's recipes.

In a medium sauce pan combine:
2 cups of MILK chocolate chips
1 cup on butterscotch chips
1-14 0z can of sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

You can also add 1/4 cup of raisens and a handful of walnuts to the mix. I love it with those two extra items, but I have not put them in for awhile since Cooper can't have walnuts.

Heat on low heat until all chips are melted.

Pour in a buttered dish and put in fridge until hard. (A few hours)

Enjoy!

Bird nest

Tonight while Jeff was making dinner, Mason and Cooper went outside to play on their swing set. They were out there only a few minutes when Mason came back in and told Jeff that there was something white by the steering wheel. Jeff asked him if it was bird poop. Mason said no, that is was some kind of string. Jeff tried to tell Mason that it was okay and to just leave it. Mason would not accept that, so I went out to check out the "string". When I got out there, I was expecting to find a long piece of sting or something but this is what I found:

It was pretty cool! I knew it couldn't stay though, so I got a few pictures first before I made Jeff take it down. (I was too chicken)
The boys were outside playing on their swing set just a few days ago and the nest was not there. I guess birds are pretty quick nest builders.

5 Months!

Shiloh is 5 months old today! She is still such a happy, calm, and quiet baby. She still loves to suck on her first three fingers. They are in her mouth most of the day and night. Shiloh goes to bed around 7:30 at night (we are getting closer to that magical bed time of 6:30) and sleeps until usually 5 or 6am to eat, then goes back down for a few hours. She is still taking a short nap in the morning, a long afternoon nap, and an occasional late afternoon nap. She is still pretty chunky, but has gotten a little taller so her chunkiness has spread out a bit. I think I am going to have to put her in 12 month clothes soon because I can't get any pants past her thighs and button up shirts won't stay down.

She has mastered grabbing and holding onto things, including my hair.

Two peas in a pod

This is where you will find Mason and Cooper when they are watching TV.

They usually have a snack too. I think they think they can't watch TV without having a snack too.

And their feet are always on the TV stand.

Lunch with Dad

Today I surprised Mason and Cooper with a trip to Jeff's work (an hour away) to have lunch with him. Jeff knew we were going to come and had told Cheryl, the gal he shares an office with that we were going to come. She said she wanted to take us to lunch, which was really nice of her.

I have to tell you a story first before I tell you what happened when we got to Jeff's work.

A few weeks ago, Mason told Jeff that if donuts were healthy, he would eat them every day. Jeff said to Mason, "me too buddy, me too". Jeff told Cheryl about this conversation.

Okay, so we get to Jeff's work and of course are introduced to everyone. And as you can probably guess, every girl there oohed and awed over Shiloh. And why wouldn't they? She is so dang cute and chubby. Everyone thought Mason and Cooper were cute too, but there is nothing like a baby, right? Oh and they all thought Mason and Cooper look just like Jeff, which they do, we get comments like that all the time, every where we go.

After we met everyone, which really didn't take long as it's a small 25 bed hospital so there are not THAT many staff, we made it to Jeff's office where Cheryl was. After the introduction, she asked Mason and Cooper to come over closer to her desk. Cheryl asked Mason if he remembered telling his Dad that he wished he could eat donuts everyday. Mason said he did. Then Cheryl pulled out a 6 pack of chocolate donuts for Mason and tells him that he can share them with his Dad, but that he doesn't have to if he doesn't want to. With that she pulled out another 6 pack of chocolate donuts for Cooper. THEN she pulled out a chocolate Easter bunny and Easter eggs filled with play-doh for each of the boys.

Now that's one way to win over two boys. Wouldn't you say?

We went to lunch at Subway with Cheryl. The boys loved being with her. Mason and Cooper now have a Grandma at Jeff's work. Cheryl needs a few grandchildren. Her children do not have any children, yet. If you couldn't figure it out on your own, Cheryl really wants some Grandchildren NOW!

When we got in the car to leave, Mason said that Cheryl is the nicest person at the hospital.

I guess we all know how we can become the nicest person in Mason's eyes.

Here they are with their treats. They both ate some of their bunny on the way home and Mason ate 1 of his donuts.

Don't take it personal

So even though I have not personally received any flack for my last post, there have been some comments made on facebook that make me think some were offended. Maybe they were not, I certainly hope not, that was not my intention. All I have to say is don't take my comments personal, I did not write what I wrote to make anyone think I don't like their choice in having animals. I know that because I am not a lover of animals, I am in the minority.

I am not a lover of any animals. I could probably make a list of reasons why I don't like all animals. Fish, rabbits, snakes, rats, cows, pigs, horses, you name it, I most likely don't like them. Although I did ride horse last summer for the first time and did enjoy it, but you'll never find me living on a farm raising or breeding horses. The first thing I wanted to do when I got off was wash my hands REALLY well and change my clothes.

I know animals were placed on this earth for a purpose. For some as a companion, for others to assist with their medical problems, for the police force to find drugs, people, bombs, etc. So yes animals have a purpose, they just don't fill any purpose for me.

You can love your animals, but please don't choose your animals over your actual children like my biological mother did. True story. I don't know if I know all of the details to the story as I was only 5 or 6 when it happened. But basically, when my parents divorced they had a custody battle over all 6 children. The judge would not split up the children. My sister was/is very allergic to animals. My bio-mom had a couple of cats. The judge told her that if she wanted custody of her children that she would have to get rid of her cats for my sisters health. She told the judge that she couldn't because the cats were also her kids. Long story short, she chose her cats over her own children and she never did get custody of any of us.

I can remember several times after coming home after a weekend at my bio-moms house and my sister would have to go to the ER because she couldn't breath. She would have to have breathing treatments for days. Day and night. It always seemed that just as she was able to breath well, it was time to go for our every-other weekend visit again.

I just don't understand how someone can chose to keep an animal when the health of their child/children will be compromised.

This issue hits really close to home for Jeff and me. Jeff, Mason, and Cooper are all allergic to animals. They don't just get the watery eyes and stuffy nose symptoms. Their lungs start to close up too. Most everyone we know, family and friends, have animals. It is hard for us to be able to visit any home with animals for any length of time. The whole time we are visiting, Jeff and I are on edge wondering if we have stayed too long, if we will be giving nebulizer treatments to the boys for the next several days. Now I know how my parents must have felt every other weekend my sister had to visit our bio-mom.

PLEASE don't miss-read this. I am not saying that you should get rid of your animals just for my children's sake. I would never ask anyone to do that. You have every right to have animals. That is the beauty of the country we live in. We can all choose to live our lives in the way we want and we can have differing opinions too. It just really hard for us to visit homes with animals. We have accepted that because the health of our boys is more important.

I'm sure some think I am cold hearted about animals. That's not it at all. I just don't enjoy animals that's all. I don't care if someone else loves animals and chooses to have several.

Animals

I know that I will probably get some flack from you animal lovers out there but oh well.

I just saw some newborn photos, of well, a newborn. In one of the pictures with the said newborn, the family dog was in the picture.

It makes me laugh every time I see family portraits with the family pet.

I don't get people who love their animals so much that they think of their animal as their child. Reallly? You didn't give birth to it. You can't claim it on your yearly income tax return. You can't have a meaningful conversation with it.

Another thing I don't get is when people say, "well I gotta get home to take care of the cat". No you don't. The cat can survive for a week by its self when you are on vacation. And now the cat can't survive without you for a few hours? What? Is it just your excuse to leave? If it is come up with a new one. That one is lame.

In my not-so-humble opinion the worst animals are dogs and cats. They are so gross! Here is a short list of the gross-ness of dogs and cats.

-They shed all over the place and no matter how clean you try to keep your house it-never-ever-ever is animal hair free.

-They (dogs) drool and the drool gets all over you.

-They most likely have little nasty bugs all over their fur.

-Those said nasty bugs get all over your furniture where you sit.

-Same nasty bugs get all over your BED where you SLEEP.

-Their hair gets everywhere. Have you ever been drinking something and look in your cup to find a nasty animal hair in your cup? Yeah, I have. Makes me wanna puke every time. It is so nasty. I can't bring myself to drink out of the cup again, even if it has been rinsed out. Ever been eating something and find animal hair in your food? I haven't....at least not to my knowledge...that too is really nasty. I can't even bring myself to think about that one too much. Talk about gag reflex.

-I hate. hate. hate. it when dogs bark for no reason. Those little yappy dogs are the worst. They bark as soon as you put them outside, even if there is no one outside to hear them. OH but TRUST me little dog who lives next door, I hear you at all hours of the day and night. Yes, I hear you at 3am when I am trying to sleep. I hear you at 6am when I am still trying to sleep. I hear you at 11pm when I am trying to go to sleep. (No this isn't the case tonight, it still bugs me though.)

-The thing I don't like more than dogs who bark for no reason, is the owners who let them bark for no reason. If you really don't what the darn dog, give it to someone who does. Preferably not my other next door neighbor.

-And the number 1 reason I don't like dogs and cats...they poop, they lick their bum, they lick your face, they rub their bum on your couch and on your BED. Would you ever put up with that kind of behavior out of one of your REAL children? Enough said.

What happened to common sense?

I really didn't know much about these light bulbs before watching this. Now I am going to pick one up the next time I am at the store and read the instructions on the box to see if what he is saying is really on the box.

Insurance Man

Last week we had someone come over to give us a quote on auto, home, and life insurance to see if we could be paying less than what we already do on all these. Mason is always interested in what people do for their jobs. Usually after observing some one doing their job, he wants to be what they are.
While the insurance agent was at our house, Mason made a "house insurance papers folder". Then he bugged me for a day or two to make him some "house insurance papers" just like he had. And according to Mason, the papers had to have a box in the top right corner for a picture of our house to go and a bunch of lines and boxes to write on and put checks in, just like he had. So I made this up real quick for him.

Once he had his paperwork, I had to sit at the table, in the same spot I sat while the insurance agent was here, and Mason asked me a lot of the same questions the agent asked. Mason then wrote down my answers.

The agent is coming over tomorrow and I am sure Mason will be right next to him with his paperwork writing down the things we talk about.

Laughter

This little girl is such a stink! She has one of the best laughs I have heard. She is very ticklish, especially on her naked little self. But every time I try to get her laugh on camera, she stops laughing. 'this is the best that I've been able to get.

The other day Jeff was telling Mason that his pajamas were too short for him not. Cooper then said, "All Mason's jammers are funky"

Yesterday while watching conference the Tabernacle Choir was singing. Mason said to Jeff, "Dad all the faces are white and there is one brown one".

They definitely keep us laughing!