Saturday, November 22, 2008

This And That, And Some Other Stuff

Larry and David are off on a biking/camping trip with the Boy Scouts this weekend. I know there is nothing I would rather do than ride a bike all day in 35-degree weather and then sleep outside all night as the mercury drops into the low 20's. I'm glad that the Girl Scouts don't do things like that. We just sell cookies. That, I can handle.

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Do all bloggers entertain a secret fantasy of working in a bookstore? That's what it would seem like from my comments. I think we picture something somewhat genteel and scholarly about the job; but nowadays, I'm thinking, bookstore workers may just be corporate tools like everyone else. For example, there are quotas we need to meet in selling discount cards and magazine subscriptions (no cookie-selling, though). No one has told me what happens to an employee who doesn't meet those quotas - I'm assuming it's something awful, like having to read Thomas the Tank Engine books to the kiddies at story hour. Oh, the horror! The horror!

But, hey - at least I'd get paid. I do that at home for nothing. They pay me for cleaning the bathrooms, too. Imagine that!

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I've been knitting scarves and socks like a madwoman, with not much to show for it. And my friend has the nerve to be having a baby in December - doesn't she know I'm racing to finish the holiday gift knitting? Where am I supposed to find the time to make a Mason-Dixon baby kimono?

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I had to take Susie's bandage off to apply some antibiotic ointment. Seeing the stitches almost made me throw up. I thought they used thread, people! But she looks as though she's got the equivalent of pig bristles on her chin. What's up with that? The poor kid got a glimpse of it in the mirror tonight and started screaming. That's my girl!

I know - now you want a picture. I'll work on it. I promise it won't be as gross as Heather's gallstones.

21 comments:

  1. Chickie Girl got stitches this summer after falling out of a tree. Hubby almost passed out while I used the high-pitched-i'm-about-to-freak-out-over-here voice while stopping blood and getting Chickie Boy into the car. Hubby was useless. I actually didn't mind the cleaning of the stitches. We took a picture of Girl's head and she carried it around for a few days, looking at it and telling us how sad it made her that her head looked that way.

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  2. I was permanently scarred by my one year as "cookie mom". College is a BREEZE compared to cookie mom duty.

    So you won't be taking out the stitches yourself then? It's totally easy and not painful for them at all, you only need tiny scissors and good tweezers. I've saved myself hours and hours by taking the stitches out at home rather than at the doctor's office...

    Why are you turning green?

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  3. My idea of camping is staying at an in-law's house (most of them live in old decrepit mobile homes in SC). And no I do not dream of working at a bookstore. I have a similar job already, merchandising books and magazines for a publishing company. Do you people not realize the physical tasks involved? wait..nevermind, you don't.
    I've been knitting a neverending baby towel since June, and the friend's baby arrived in August. I should have crocheted it and would've been done in July.
    My clone broke her arm a couple years ago. We didn't want to scare her, so we told her she cracked the bone when we showed her the x-ray. She called the x-ray her "crack paper". Imagine my brain trying to understand a 3 year old's logic, and reconcile it with a societal perception. The boys have had several incidents requiring stitches. sure, fun, uh huh, yessireebob.

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  4. Yeah, that's funny about being paid to clean bathrooms. My kids clean bathrooms as part of their paid jobs too.....but they whine and complain about doing it at home. They don't like it when I point out that no pays me anything and I get stuck with the bathrooms most of the time. Whats up with that?

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  5. i can not finish even one scarf... i think i need knitting therapy. or no children.

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  6. I worked in bookstores for almost ten years, and much as I love books, it is work! Once a new employee quit at the end of his first day. Who knows what he thought it would be like, but it wasn't!

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  7. My biggest fear about working in a book store is that rather than engaging in stimulating conversations about Jane Austen with customers, I'd end up endlessly pointing people toward the latest Mitch Albom. I think I'd have to kill myself. Any Thomas the Train is preferable to Mitch Albom.

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  8. A bookstore job sounds like a slice of heaven to me. I would probably spend my whole paycheck on books though, so that would be bad. Having put stitches into very delicate and personal places, a chin is nothing in my book. (retired midwife)But still, I have a really hard time looking at my kids injuries. JJ last year laid open his arm in a horrible way, and it so grossed me out to see the rows and rows of stitches. Gore of my offspring is regugnant.

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  9. Im sad to hear yet another adult comment that all girl scouts do is sell cookies. No wonder the organization has such a hard time reaching the girls and neighborhoods that need it.

    Girl scouting is about leadership, confidence, friendship, and yes, the outdoors. I've been a leader for more than 10 years, and was a scout for 10 years previous. I was a camp counselor. I was an advisor for girls earning their gold and silver awards. I am a consultant to troops looking for ideas. I am a VOLUNTEER.

    We had the biking, hiking and camping in crazy weather weekends. We did the climbing, the white water rafting, the fishing, boating, the outdoor survival, the self defense, the traveling. We did sell the cookies, but we were self sufficient. The funds from those sales provided us with more opportunities to expand.

    We learned organization and how to make decisions. We learned how to speak up and out, not just to friends, and family, but to approach business and political leaders, and to ourselves. We learned new skills, new hobbies, new games. We learned what we did, and did not, enjoy. We discovered a sense of community, and how to give back to the communities that supported us.

    We had fun.

    I'm glad that my leaders saw the potential in us.

    I hope with all my heart that your daughter's leaders are helping their troop and parents get more out of scouting than 'just selling cookies'.

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  10. I just realized that my last comment was anonymous, and that was not intended. That girl scout rant was totally me.

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  11. Hubby decided to sign our 8 yr old up for Bear cub scouts, he does all the work. I am responsible for girl scouts. My cadette I drive to meeting and pick her up, unless hubby volunteers for it...

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  12. Hey, Abby, what I wrote was meant to reflect more on my unwillingness to participate in said outdoor activities than on their availability to Girl Scouts. In other words, I'm hiding behind the cookie sales to avoid the more strenuous stuff.

    And my daughter is only a Daisy so far. Though I must say that the Girl Scouts (older) that were friends of my daughter didn't seem to do much aside from the week of Girl Scout camp in the summer. And the cookies. They all dropped out by age 12. So maybe we don't have the most active troops here?

    I'm not disagreeing with you on the friendship point, however. That's the main reason my daughter is in Girl Scouts - for the opportunity to socialize and do fun things. Including selling cookies...

    By the way, I would have answered you directly; but you haven't enabled public access to your e-mail on your Blogger profile page. And your blog isn't public. So, I hope you see this!

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  13. YIKES, I have some catch up reading to do. Glad to know you didn't loose all those cookies you sell!
    I am NOT into camping, and yet still was blesses with 3 boys. Let us hope at least 1 of them enjoy shopping...

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  14. I'd rather have bristles than staples. I resolutely tried not to look at my incision. My boys, on the other hand, were begging to look at it and couldn't understand why I wouldn't let them come watch when the staples were removed.

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  15. I bet it looks like the hairs growing out of my chin.

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  16. blurgh - not good on gore!

    But on the bookstore - yes, yes - it would be Mr B's...but I would never take home any money...just books!

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  17. Bathrooms? Oh my.
    Yes, those Boy Scouts love their camping. Mr. T is a HUGE fan of the Scouting experience so far and I'd rather sleep in a tent than sell cookies so I guess we're well-matched.

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  18. Stitches? Pig bristle?
    I don't want to work in a bookstore. I like books and all, but why would you want to work in a bookstore?
    Do you work at a bookstore?
    I want to work in an ice cream shop :D.

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  19. Most of the kids at my bookstore have scary piercings and chastise me when they realize I don't have a discount card (that costs $25!). No thanks.

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  20. You know that cute little bookstore in the movie, You've Got Mail? That's the kind of bookstore I'd like to own.

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  21. I can't quite imagine what pig bristles look like and I have seen many a pig up close and personal inside and out. My parents were born and raised on farms.

    KEEP BELIEVING

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