Just going to dinner

Yo Momma, G.G. and I went to dinner last night.  Fresh Choice was the choice.  :) 

When I sat down, I noticed a man sitting at a table with papers all around him.  It reminded me of someones office, which I found kind of strange at Fresh Choice on a Friday night.  I didn't ponder it much and went about enjoying my Fettuccine Chicken Noodle Soup...I love that soup!

Sometime later the man was joined by another man who was talking on his cellphone--which was on speakerphone.  His conversation started to get louder and louder with the person on the other end trying to remain calm.  There was a family with 2 kids at the table right next to this guy and yet still he was getting louder and louder until all of a sudden he says loud and clear "Well the s***heads down at the county office told me to file this piece of paper!!".

With that a gentleman at the table next to me was out of his chair and storming across the restaurant to the man on the phone.  I tried really hard not to stare as the gentleman looked at the guy on the phone and said "This is a restaurant, not your office.  Watch your language and keep it down.".

Guy on the phone was much quieter after that.  The family at the table next to them visibly relaxed and the gentleman came back to his table.  We made eye contact and I simply said, "Thank you" because he really did need to know that other people in the restaurant appreciated his actions.

The moral of the story...don't treat a restaurant like your business office...and don't mess with gentlemen who aren't afraid to confront rude behavior.

Just a quiet night at dinner with Yo Momma and G.G.  Chivalry isn't dead.

Stream of thoughts...

I need a job.  2nd interview went OK.  I wasn't enthused, it was easy to see.  While I could do the job, I wouldn't love it and that makes it a dilemma.  Not that one always has to love their job but...

Anyway,  I applied to two other places this week.  One is with a local school (which I would LOVE!!  Almost afraid to say how much I would LOVE to work for the local schools).  The other is at Costco.  Who knows.  At least applications are going in.  A job coming back to me would be lovely.

I'm painting a bedroom over at G.G's house.  It's slow going, but it will get done.

I realized today that I'm struggling with living at my parents house.  I LOVE them.  Really, really do.  They have been fantastic.  Yet looking at my space I realize that everything I own is either in a box in the garage or shoved into this room.  I want to organize and make things look good but there's no place to put anything and so it all just gets plunked down wherever there is room...which there isn't much of these days!  Things will work out, just needed to whine a little bit.

Had lunch with K and Adventure Boy today.  He was full of questions.  "What does 'vocational' mean?  Where is heaven?  What does 'whatever' mean?"  There was another word he asked about but I can't remember what it was at this moment.  He did say that he thinks heaven is a town...in Jesus' heart.  His brain is working on overload!

This morning I woke up to the news of the protesters/riot/college students at Penn State having their say.  I am gonna be 100% honest, I'm dismayed by the whole thing.  As one who did Safe Church/Safe Child training on preventing child abuse in churches, it completely amazes me that three men in positions of leadership seemingly did little to nothing to stop an abuser.  Especially if one of the men actually did walk in on an incident and turned around and walked away as has been reported.  The mama bear in me just can't fathom it.  I realize I'm getting everything through the media and there could be incorrect information but something tells me there is probably a lot more to the story.  This could get uglier.  One statement that caught me this morning, again, on the news, was from a reporter in the throng of the protesters saying "not all Penn State students are angry about the coach's firing, but the one's we talked to wouldn't on camera for fear of retaliation by other students."  What?  There's something majorly wrong here.

Okay, now that I'm all fired up, I'm gonna go eat dinner.  One GREAT thing about living at home...Yo Momma makes dinner.  :)

Oops!  I forgot one thing!  I'm usually a Star$ girl.  However, on the way home today Star$ was on the left hand side of the road and Peet's on the right.  I figured I could deal with Peet's today...just in a coffee mood.  I think I have a new favorite coffee.  Caramel Pecan Mocha.  Oo-de-lally!  That was goooooood.

Which reminds me...of one of my favorite Disney movies...I think it's a movie night.

Sounds

There are certain sounds that I love.  Here are just a few: 

The sound of voices raised in harmonious song with or without accompaniment.

The sound of uncontrollable belly laughter either from children or adults.

The sound of snow falling on the ground in the still of the night.

The sound of guitars melding together in song.  (These Cd's are my favorite's.)

The sound of God's voice...that one has many different tones and textures...if sound can have textures.

And tonight, I heard another sound that made my heart melt.

A little voice calling out "Brittany, where are you?"

Friday Five: Time with Friends Edition

Kathrynzj at RevGals says:  "I have been spending my week with one of my favorite people and it has been a joy. As you can tell by our shoes lined up in the picture from our first ever visit together we have slightly different hobbies - those that require cleats and those that require... lavender Crocs. Despite our differences we have found commonalities in conversation and coffee; life and faith. This week we were both working but were still able to find the time to hang out in a really cool bookstore and see the autumn scenery at a nearby state park.

For today's Friday Five please tell us 5 things you like to do with friends. Are they local - do you hit a favorite coffee shop or nail salon? What about the friends who come in from out of town? Do you have a restaurant or museum you like to show off?  Thanks for playing!"

Time with friends is something that I have so enjoyed since being out of work!  I wonder some days how I had time to work.  :)  Here are my five things:

1.  Coffee, lunch or dinner.  Pick one, pick all.  I like 'em.  Depending on the friend we have many different places to hang out.  The young adult friends are loving to have birthday dinners at this place.  Usually the go to place, though is the Taqueria.  Many life conversations have happened at the Taqueria.  Sometimes lunch AND dinner in the same day!  Coffee with K is usually at Star$.  Coffee with LN can range from a lively discussion outside Peets or walking around the amusement park in #3...with behind the scenes tours 'cuz she works there!  It's just nice to hang out, laugh and talk.

2.  Game night with the Ladies.  Usually involves food.  Sometimes involves games...poker, Sequence, whatever we come up with.  Always involves lively conversation, laughter until someone cries (or pees a little but we don't care) and always involves some kind of margarita.

3.  Depending on the out of town friend, we could wind up at the beach, walking in the redwoods or at our local amusement park.  Right now we would probably be down at the beach trying to get a glimpse of the humpback whales that have been feeding along the coast.

4.  I loooooovvvvvveeee concerts.  My favorite moments this year have been at the two (yes 2), Amy Grant & Michael W. Smith Friend2Friend concerts that I got to attend with friends.  Aunt C used to be my favorite concert friend but she moved away.  Sigh.

5.  Long car rides or road trips have been some of my favorite moments with friends.  The goofier the better!  Yesterday was probably the perfect day.  A car ride with youth pastor friend T to meet Songfriend at a restaurant for lunch.  Nice!

Actually, anytime with hanging out with my friends is fantastic.  Just being known and loved by others is good!

Well...

Interview #2 is on Monday @ 1pm.  Trying really hard not to anticipate anything...but that's just not me.  This jeans and t-shirts kinda-girl doesn't have a lot of options for 2nd interview clothes.  Pants/skirts at least. So it works out nicely that I have a gift card to Macy's and am heading out of town tomorrow, driving past many malls along the way to my destination!  :)

Update: Moving on...

I have a job interview tomorrow (Wednesday) @ 2:30pm PST.

It's not ministry related.  It's not for the job that I really wanted but it's not a bad job.  I'm not going to elaborate.

It's my first job interview in 11 years.  I am nervous. 

That is all.

5pm Wednesday:
Interview Done.
Feeling okay about it.
Wish I was better at forming quick answers.  Thought of all the perfect answers on my way home.  Sigh.
Will either here "no thanks" or "come for a 2nd interview".
Thanks Ruby and Wendy (and others!) for praying!  Definitely felt calm.

Today and other things

This morning I got to be a "room aunt".  Not a "room mom".  It was easier to describe myself as a kind-of-aunt to Creative Guy to the mom's that asked "which one is your child?".  K had asked me to go in and help with the craft project this morning.  She is the "room mom" and was in charge of getting snacks to the class and coming up with one craft project.  They did spiders out of Styrofoam balls and pipe cleaners.  Totally awesome! (I forgot to take a picture but let me just say, for someone who says she isn't crafty, K was crafty...in a good way!)

Creative Guy (the blond boy), K, Rebecca and Grace

I happen to know Creative Guy's teacher.  I was a care provider at her son's daycare when he was Creative Guy's age...which was about 12 years ago.  Sigh.  Anyway, Creative Guy's teacher recruited me for the Bingo Table as opposed to helping with the spider craft (don't worry another Mom helped K).  It was fun to just hang out with them.  Creative Guy was excited that I was there too.  He looked at his friend Grace and said "Isn't it so exciting that Brittany is here?!".  Too cute.

In the afternoon I went to coffee with LN.  As we were talking something that has been kinda rolling around in my brain came to the surface.  While I'm waiting for a job to come along, I think I need to find a place to volunteer.  Helping in Creative Guy's classroom filled some time that I would have otherwise wasted away.  So as I look for a job, I'm going to look for a place to volunteer as well.

In other news, this coming weekend I am joining Miss P and family at Disney on Ice.  Which hopefully will NOT be my car sliding around on the black ice or snow that is promised to be on the pavement in the mountains this weekend but will actually be Lightening McQueen and Mickey Mouse gliding gracefully across an ice rink.  I'm looking forward to hanging out with Miss P and family!

In true aunt fashion, I can't resist sharing this picture of Miss P coloring her pumpkin.  She took this job seriously!