It's been too long...

Nonnie's Visit (check out Mad's teeth in the middle pic :)

So, it's been a few days, okay a week, since my mom left and I'm finally getting around to blogging. We've had a lot going on around here this week and right now I'm taking a break from packing. Tomorrow, Gabe and I are on our way to Parsippany, New Jersey to go to one of his friends' weddings. I'm looking forward to it, but I mapquested it today and it's going to take us 4 hours and 20 minutes to get there!!!!!!!!! Not looking forward to so much driving and so many toll roads, but it should be a good time once we get there. Maddie will be staying with Sandy and Carlos for the day and night and then Gabe and I will be back to get her on Sunday. So, I'm packing for us and for her and doing laundry and ... a million other things. As you can see from the pic's above, my mom's visit was a lot of fun. Maddie sort of demands that you read to her all the time and so that's what Nonnie's are good for! Lot's of reading of "Good Dog, Carl" and "Go, Dog, Go!" Maddie's 2 particular favorites. Also, 2 weeks ago I started a class that I need to take to renew my teaching license. It's on Wednesday nights and this week's was a serious waste of time! It's easy though, so I really shouldn't complain. So, that's our news for the week. It's freezing here; which makes me want to stay in doors permanently, but that's not conducive to having a 15 month old (she likes to be on the go for at least part of the day). Hope you're all well.

Only 1 more day...

til my Mom is here to visit!! We are really excited to have a visitor. We had so many when Maddie was born and now it's been a long, dry spell without. So, we are ready to see Nonnie tomorrow. Today has been interesting. First, Maddie went to bed last night, only to wake at 8:15pm with her leg stuck in the crib slats :( Then, she didn't want to go back to bed and ended up staying up until 10:15pm or so. I thought maybe she'd sleep in today since she got to bed so late, but no luck. She was up and we played and I fought to keep her up so we could go to Gymboree. It went okay She was tired halfway through and couldn't stop telling me she wanted a bottle (which have disappeared suddenly to be replaced by sippy cups that we still call "bubba.") Anyways, she only felt like participating a little and when that was over we headed home. She fell asleep in the car and I put her up for her nap when we got home. About 20 minutes later, it started to snow! The weather man didn't even mention snow this morning on the news, but it was a welcome surprise. So pretty, large flakes, barely sticking to the ground. It snowed for about 1 hour and then stopped and now the sun is trying to come out. It's still very cold though. So, that's our life so far. More to come...

So far....

this week has been pretty busy. Let's see, on Monday we took a walk with Siobhan & Aibha to get smoothies and hang out. Later that afternoon, Maddie and I went to visit with our neighbor who has a 3 month old little boy. He was really cute and Maddie was only kind of interested in him. Then on Tuesday, Maddie, Aibha, Siobhan and I went to the National Zoo in DC. It was a beautiful day and with my fancy new camera, I was able to take some really cool pic's of the animals.(click on the collage to see pic's larger)

I was exhausted after that adventure! The next day, Wednesday, I was still tired and Gabe came home from a break from work and took Maddie on a nice nature walk around Huntley Meadows Natural Preserve. She had a blast and came home smelling like sunshine :) So, that leads us to today. This morning I had a man come to see about some water damage we've just started noticing-not good. He'll be back tomorrow to start to do some work on it :( Good, that he's doing work, but really bad if it's extensive damage, which = major money. We shall see. Then, it was off to the doctor for Maddie's 15 month appointment (Happy 15 month old Birthday today). She was terrified (as usual) but it was painless-no shots!!! Hallelujah. She weighs 19 lbs (still in the 10th percentile). She's a munchkin. So, now we're home. Planning to relax and run an errand or two. It's getting cold again and starting to feel like winter.

1/6/08

Tucker & Zora = true love

that tongue means she's thinking...

and concentrating on her next move!

Dad, Elisabeth and Jer walking down the aisle :)

Today is a special day. One year ago today, my sister Elisabeth married her husband Justin in San Francisco. It was such a beautiful wedding and so much fun to have it in San Francisco. Lot's of great memories and so surprised that a year has flown by that quickly. Maddie was only 3 months old at the wedding and could barely hold her own head up! Now she runs and says "no" all the time-big difference :) So, today should be a fun day here. I'm heading to church and then off to see a movie by myself. I'm going to see " Juno" because I've heard great things about it. I'll let you all know what I think. They have a matinee at 11:25am, so I'll head there straight from church and Gabe and the baby are going to spend quality time together :) They have big plans to go to the grocery store. The Redskins lost last night, which made Gabe sad, but I'm glad that's over. I just don't share the passion for football that he has. The only other news is that I've planned a trip back to California in March. Maddie and I will be going for 15 days :) and I'm really excited. Gabe will fly with us there and stay for that first weekend and then come back to go do a dog show for a week in North Carolina. Then, when we leave CA, my sister is flying with Maddie and I and spending a weekend with us. Can you tell I'm chicken to fly alone with her again after what happened last time? We figure that this flight can never be worse than what happened...right? I'll be spending my 30th birthday as well as Easter in CA, but that's okay because if I was here, I'd be spending here alone in my house because Gabe would be out of town. So, this way I can be with my fam. Should be fun. Just wanted to post a couple of pic's I've taken that last few days. Can you tell that our dogs are in love with eachother?

Happy New Year!

taking a walk (albeit a short one)

Washington Monument

Maddie (very bundled)

Well, it's here-2008. How crazy. Can't believe that this is the year that I'm turning 30!!! Very strange, but at the same time it seems appropriate. I mean, I'm a wife, mom, dog owner, home owner, car owner, etc. and that seems about right for a 30 year old :) So, our New Years Eve was very mellow. Maddie went to Sandy and Carlos' for a few hours while Gabe and I changed our plans and went to have awesome Thai food. We picked Maddie up at 8pm (she was still awake) and took her home, put her to bed and then got in bed to read/watch tv. Didn't make it to midnight-wasn't even trying-because that would just make for a really long, exhausted day the next morning. We spent yesterday hanging out and then I pretty much demanded we go take a walk by the river, where you can see the monuments in DC. Well, Gabe wasn't too interested because he said it was too cold, but I didn't believe him and pointed out that we can bundle up-we'll live. So, we did...and we only lasted about 15 minutes, tops :) I told Gabe he was right, it's way to cold to be out. We went and got sandwiches and then stopped at Dog School (it was closed) to feed the kitties and that was Maddie's highlight of her day!!! She is in love with those kittens. They are so sweet with her and she just chased them up and down the aisles of the store. It was sort of like watching every kids dream to be locked in a store when it's closed and you can do whatever you want; Maddie got to live that :) Today, life is back to normal with Gabe at work (early), and Maddie and I here hanging out. The forecast for today is only a high of 37 degrees so I think we'll be staying in. Our house get's cleaned today-and it really needs it. Especially since all the sicknesses. Looking forward to next week when Gymboree is back open-it's a nice place to go play when it's this cold. Happy New Year.

Early, Early Morning...

being silly with Daddy

rear view

being wild with Tuck (look at her little curls :)

Yes, it's true that I'm posting at 6:50am on a Sunday :( Gabe went to stock the store early and was trying to be sooooooooo quiet as he shut the front door; but immediately, she started crying to let me know that she's done with this sleeping thing. Oh, and by the way, it was only 5:45am at that point. So, we're up and Teletubbies are on and her snack is keeping her happy, and I can blog. Today should be cold and rainy here-we'll just stay in doors, thank you very much. Probably web-cam-it a few times with the fam :) But, Gabe, is heading to the Redskins game. He's very excited and I told him I'll even try to watch at least half of the game; that made him happy. The picture above is from last night. Maddie got a new pj outfit from Nonnie and Grand Jer and it's too cute. That's what the pic is. She was so funny last night because the feet of the pj's have little sticky treads on the bottom and when she walks on the hardwood, it sort of sticks and she just cannot figure it out. I told Gabe I need to video tape it because it would be fun to watch with her when she's older. Tomorrow night is New Year's Eve and then it sort of feels like life can get back to normal. Holidays really mess me up with days and time. I feel like everything's a blur and that I never know what day it is. You probably feel the same. So, that's all that's happening here currently. We're well and ready for the week.

We're alive!

Hello All,
Sorry it's taken so long, but we are finally on the mend and feeling more like ourselves. Maddie is DEFINITELY teething though, so we're still dealing with a cranky baby lots of the time. We've been laying low and getting rest and now we're better. Today is my Mom and Jer's wedding anniversary and it's also Gabe's Mom, Sandy's, birthday. So, lot's to celebrate today! This weekend doesn't really have any plans for Maddie and I, but Gabe is going to the Redskins game on Sunday. He's excited and then New Year's Eve we are going to this restaurant in DC that we went to a couple of years ago. It's sort of a piano bar/restaurant with great food. We made a reservation and we're excited because as you all know this holiday season has not gone according to plan! So, now we have something to look forward to. Yeah :)

Where to begin?....

Well, as our family knows, we have had the toughest 3 days of our lives. Let me start by saying that Gabe, Maddie and I are all home...in Virginia :( Not that we don't love our home, just that our plans have been drastically changed. Let's see, in the past 72 hours we have: watched Maddie projectile vomit on a plane from Baltimore to Oakland(Thursday)-but which stopped (thank God) in Kansas City, Missouri, been seen by the paramedics at said airport, checked into a Hilton to watch her, taken her to the emergency room at Saint Luke's hospital in Kansas City, rented a car, found out she had ear infections in both ears as well as a 100 degree fever, decided to drive home to Virginia, visited 2 different Walmart's to get baby stuff (antibiotics) for the long road trip, drove as long as we could on such little sleep, watched Maddie start throwing up again in the car, stopped for the night in Booneville, Missouri to stay at a Holiday Inn, where Maddie only slept for 6 hours, woke up and began driving to Virginia again, realized it was going to be such a LONG drive, called airline and booked tickets back to Baltimore that day (Friday) from Saint Louis, waited in that airport for over 2 hours for our flight, flew home (she slept; thank God), came to our house and tried to rest, woke up the next day (Saturday) and watched her all day until around 7pm when she started violently vomiting (very scary) at which point we called the pediatrician's after hours number, while waiting for them to call back (took forever) we decided to load Maddie in the car and take her to the hospital, she vomited again-major, so we called 911 and they sent an ambulance. I sat in the ambulance with her and Gabe followed in my car. We were taken to Alexandria Hospital (where she was born) and she was seen. It was determined after several hours, medicines, more throwing up, diarrhea, a failed attempt to catheter her to check her urine, that she may just have a bad tummy bug. We were sent home at around 10pm last night and we put her to bed. I went out to find a 24 hour pharmacy to get her medicine. The end to yet another very loooong day. Currently, she is sleeping and taking an anti nausea medicine that they give Chemo patients (safe for babies) and I am finally having a cup of coffee and trying to process all of this.
Let me say this; I never knew I had it in me to deal with so much. From being incredibly sad about not being with my family over Christmas, to letting people down that we planned on seeing, from watching Maddie be hunched over, so sick and looking at me for help and there's nothing I could do, to the total sleep deprivation I'm experiencing-I just didn't think I had this in me. People tell you that when you have kids and they get sick, you are able to deal with it because it's your instinct, and I've come to learn how true that is. I also couldn't stop thinking that if something was really terribly wrong with Maddie (more serious than a stomach bug), how would I even deal with that? It makes me really feel for people that have had sick babies and have had to watch them be poked and scared at hospitals. It's the most horrible thing to watch and hear-your baby crying for you to help them and you can't. So, here we are. In Virginia and if today goes well (no vomiting or visits to the ER) then I'm hoping to get in the Christmas spirit. Just not quite feeling that way right now. Thank you so much to Gabe, Mom, Jer, Dad, Claudia, Lizzy, Justin, Dan, Jen, for all of your advice, thoughts and prayers. You couldn't mean more to me.

Life of the....

PARTY! That's Maddie. We just got home from the Dog School Christmas party and it was a really nice time. Maddie had a blast. She was visiting, carrying around large dog water bowls that were for sale, carrying various bags of dog treats, stopping to visit me for a snack, and then off again. Let's just say, she's not too shy :) It was fun to see everyone and the food that Gabe chose was awesome. Lot's of fun and now off to bed. More packing to do in the morning, and Gymboree too. Oh, and the treadmill was great! We'll see how sore I am in the morning :)

GameDay/Family Day

Hello All,
We are having a nice quiet Sunday at home together. We ran errands this morning (Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Safeway) for new sheets (to help with Gabe's sleeping prob.'s) and ingredients for my chili that is cooking in the crock pot as I blog. Yesterday, Gabe worked his booty off (biggest retail day of the year for Dog School) and Maddie and I hung out and watched the treadmill assembly guy put the new treadmill together. Yeah! Can't wait to use it tomorrow! So, it's chili and cornbread for dinner and then maybe watch a movie-well, I'll watch a movie and Gabe will be watching the Redskins. Oh, did I mention that this morning when we were out running errands, he dressed Maddie in her Redskins sweater/jacket and that he was in a matching shirt? Here's the picture just so you can see what I see :) We leave for CA in a few days and we're so excited. We've started doing the laundry and packing.

12-10-07 (Very loooooooooong post)

Maddie is 14 months old today :) We had a good weekend. On Friday night, Gabe's parents watched Maddie for us so that we could go out to dinner and to a movie. Dinner was fabulous. We didn't know where we were going to eat, but we found a really great restaurant and were pleasantly surprised at how much we liked it. Then, we went to see "Fred Claus." What a mistake! The movie itself was pretty funny; at least from what I saw. As we were entering the theater we noticed that the majority of patrons were teens, but not ones that drive. The ones that got dropped off by their mom's or older sisters and they're meeting up with boys that I'm sure their mother's don't know about. It was EYE OPENING! And not in a good way. We saw the worst display of manners in kids and it made me think. It made me wonder what happened to the world? When did teens (who definitely should know better) decide that being mindful of others around them doesn't matter? I know teens are selfish and immature (hey, I was one of them) but I don't remember being a total jerk in public. If you know me at all, I'm always concerned about the type of person Maddie will grow up to be. She's beautiful and I'm always thinking of how I will convey to her that how she looks on the outside needs to match her inside. At the forefront of my mind is the fact that it's my job to teach Maddie to think of others before herself, help when she can (even in the smallest way), and say "please and thank you." As I watched these teen girls wearing low cut shirts and very tight jeans, I thought how scary that age is for their mothers. How do mothers deal with this?!? I'm so very protective of Maddie and seeing these kids with so much freedom... Then, Gabe and I talked and we remembered being out at movies at that age and not acting that way. These kids were on cell phones during the movie, talking, running up and down the aisles, changing seats constantly; needless to say, it was incredibly distracting and Gabe and I finally decided to leave. We didn't ask for our money back-we were just ready to get home. On the walk to the car, Gabe said "That's why Maddie's going to private school." I know that wouldn't solve anything-but it was a funny thought. It made me really see how much things have changed since I was a young teen. Strange. Well, we hadn't been to a movie in probably 6 months and now we remember that 7:30pm movies on weekend nights are not worth it!
On Saturday, Maddie and I drove out to visit Alexa, Andy and Ella at their house. The girls played and had fun and then Maddie and I headed home. Gabe had to work. I'm sure you can imagine how busy he is with the Christmas season here. Sunday was pretty relaxed. Gabe went to open the store for a few hours, Maddie napped and I went to church. We had a great lunch together and later Maddie and I ran to Michael's for more art supplies. When there, we ran into a teacher I used to work with. She was always one of the ones I didn't really get along with. She's very gossipy and nosy. She also sort of turns every conversation into a negative and even though I only talked to her for 10 minutes, her negativity shined through. She made me uncomfortable when I worked with her, and she did it again last night. When we first ran into her, Maddie started crying her eyes out (which is very rare) but they say that children can sense if people are good or not, and I thought that was really telling. Plus, this woman asked me "So, what have you been up to?" And, I sort of looked at Maddie and said "She keeps me pretty busy." She looked back at us and said "What else have you been doing?" And, I felt dumbfounded. Like, what do you think? She has always sort of acted like a martyr for having a child and then choosing to work, but like many of us know in today's world-it's not a competition between working mom outside of the home, or working mom inside of the home. Either way, it's work. Some things never change, but I felt like it was God's way of reminding me why I don't miss working at that school. That's right, I still don't miss it!

Snow

It's snowing in Virginia today! Love it. It's been snowing here since around 10am and it's still coming down. It's about 30 degrees outside, but that is nice because it feels like winter. Maddie is pretty enamored with the snow. She was laughing and pointing out the sliding glass door. She thought it was really funny when Tucker was out in the snow :) We went to her dr. for her 2nd dose of the flu shot. It went fine. She cried very little and then we went to the grocery store. On the way to the doctor, a car was next to us that had a very interesting license plate.
If you have trouble seeing it, it said "NOHNIE" which sounds a lot like Nonnie, which is what Maddie calls my mom! How funny is that? So, Maddie was very bundled in the car. And that looked like this:
Love you all.

Anatomy of a sneeze :)

ACHOO!!!!!!

Ticket

Hello All,
I got a ticket yesterday for the first time in a long time! So frustrating; especially when you have a baby and two dogs in the car! I got pulled over for "evading a traffic light" which in normal words means that I cut through an abandoned parking lot to avoid the light that takes 200 years to turn green. I want to add here that Gabe taught me this trick and had it not been for him, I'd never had tried to use the parking lot in the first place. He felt bad when I called to tell him. So, I got a $50 ticket. Bummer. Today Gabe is going to the Redskins game with our friend Zac. It's the first game since Sean Taylor got killed and Gabe keeps saying he feels like he's going to a funeral and not a football game. Afterwards, he's bringing Zac home where a bunch of us will be waiting to yell "Surprise!" It's his 30th birthday and his wife, Faith, has put this together. I'm bringing Maddie and hoping she'll be a good girl. It starts at 5, and Gabe and I figure we'll leave around 8pm and she can sleep in the car on the way home. So, that's our day today. Have a great Sunday!!!

We got our Christmas Tree tonight :)

Hello All,
We took it upon ourselves to go out and choose our Christmas tree tonight. We had fun. But, we're very tired, so we put the lights on it and the tree top and now we are relaxing. We'll do ornaments and string popcorn tomorrow. Maddie had a blast. She liked the lights on the tree. We had to corral the tree because she's VERY interested at this point. I'll have to teach her to try and leave it alone. Plus, Tucker has always enjoyed a bite of Christmas when he thinks no one is looking. So, to us, the Christmas season has begun and I'm liking it. We listened to Kenny and Dolly's Christmas the whole drive home :) Gabe said that if someone would have told him 3 years ago that he'd be driving home with a wife, baby, Christmas tree and listening to Dolly and Kenny's country Christmas album, he'd have said they were "bat shit crazy." I thought that was funny-sorry for the language...

Stuck

Hello All,
Hope you had a wonderful weekend. We did. Just stayed around the house, ate leftovers and enjoyed the weather. Today we went to Gymboree and the teacher told me that Maddie will be ready to move up to the next class in January when she's 15 months; so a bit earlier than normal. It's a class that starts at 16 months usually, but she said that since Maddie crawled and walked early, she'd be ready for it. It's just more active of a class; which is hard to picture because the whole time we're there now Maddie's active :) So, the title of this post is "stuck" because I'm having a block as to how to make this card business work. I bought the camera and I've been messing around with it-really fun-and uploading my pic's to my computer and tweaking them there. But, the problem is getting it from looking awesome on my computer screen to printing it well. I have a nice, new printer that prints photo's really well, but printing a photograph onto a card material is difficult. The picture loses detail and comes out looking like a card made at home (which it is, but that's not the look I'm going for). Plus, producing cards (ink, paper, etc) can't cost more than I'll make on the cards themselves-otherwise it's a hobby and not a money earning business venture! Not sure what to do here. Dog School has a printer person who prints all of their business cards-Gabe says I need to talk to him. I'm stuck because if I upload my pic's to a website that will print them and then send them to me, they aren't going to print with my logo on the back-it will be the logo of the company that printed them-which I couldn't sell then...I'm stuck. Comment with any ideas and if you're confused, that makes 2 of us :)

Black Friday

Good Morning All,
Today is "Black Friday" because of all the sales at retail stores and I don't know if it's just me, but I'm not drawn to going shopping whatsoever. Are you? I don't even like going to the mall on the weekends because of the crowds! They always show all the people on the news going through huge bins of "stuff" like vultures and it makes you think: "Do they really need all of that?" Strange. Yesterday was a great Thanksgiving and I hope yours was too. Ours was very relaxed and the food turned out amazing-thanks to Gabe. He outdid himself. Our dogs had Thanksgiving dinner too! They make a dog food in the can called Thanksgiving dinner and they loved it; licked their bowls clean :) We were home at our house by 6:30pm and got to get in our pajamas and just relax. I missed being with my family, but that's the one thing about being here for Thanksgiving; no traveling. Today it's back to the grind; Gabe's going to work, our dog's are getting groomed, and Maddie and I are going to try to go to Gymboree. If you have the day off today-enjoy it and if not, then remember that tomorrow is Saturday :) Oh, and it's officially the start of the Christmas season which can mean only one thing-it's time to pop that Dolly and Kenny Christmas CD in the CD player!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Afternoon Adventure

Hello,
Well, Siobhan, Aibha, Maddie and I took a metro ride into DC this afternoon to watch Macy's unveil their Christmas windows and really kick off the holiday season. It was great. First, we thought we'd arrived late, only to find that the newspaper had been a half an hour early about the time-so we were right on time. We had a great view of a couple of windows, plus the man on stilts, the helpful elves that passed balloons out and the highschool dance team. Quickly, I need to say here, that while the dancers were trying very hard, they danced very sexy considering the environment and also their age. I was sort of thinking this and then I turned to Siobhan and she had the best way to sum it up. She said "It's like dirty dancing gone strange." And that's my favorite quote of the day. It was a very celebratory atmosphere. Santa stopped by to welcome us, a band played and the windows were exposed for all to see. They were beautiful and reminded me of Macy's Union Square windows last year when I saw them before Elisabeth's wedding. After the windows were shown, we went inside to have hot apple cider and cookies. The girl's seemed to really like it. It was entertaining and Siobhan and I both felt like we were being good mom's and taking them to create a memory-that we will probably only remember. The photo collage above tells the whole story. The last 4 pictures are of Maddie (but not from today) riding a train in the mall last week, her and Aibha shopping (which they seem to do a lot lately), Maddie hiding from me (can you find her? :) and Maddie with her warm, bunny hat. It was a great time and worth the effort! Now it's time for tea and bed.

Still here...

Sorry that it seems like I haven't been as on top of my blogging lately as I used to be. There's a lot going on around here. Maddie is super busy and doesn't really appreciate when I'm online and not paying attention to her. So, I usually have to blog once she's down for a nap and lately during those naps, I've felt selfish with my "me time." As a stay-at-home-mom, the "me time" thing is so coveted; you tend to day dream about it during your child's awake hours :) It's necessary for the sanity factor and often I want to read, take a long shower, make tea and something to eat-and just be unplugged. In order to be unplugged and really enjoy my time, it has put the blogging on the back burner. But, I'm still here. And, as most of you know, I still have plenty to say. I will post newer pic's of Maddie soon, but I'm in the market for a new camera (a high-tech, fancy one) for a new venture I'm pursuing. Only a handful of people know what I mean, but I'm still working on it and then I'll post about it. I know, the suspense is killing you. Let's just say it has to do with photo's and dogs (shocker). Leave it at that.
So, Thanksgiving is upon us and it really is a time to reflect on all that you're thankful for. To be honest, I really try to remember often all that I'm thankful for and not just leave it for one turkey-stuffing-cranberry day a year. This year I'm thankful for:

• the church I've found (very comfortable fit for me)
  
• family (all types-not just the ones related by blood)
• patience (I've used up more this year than I even thought I had)
• books (a private other world that you can get to through quiet)
• cinnamon sugar cookies and tea (the BEST afternoon and evening treat)

There's so much more, but this is what I felt like sharing now. It's a funny thing with blogging; when you're sitting here typing these words, you feel like you can be as open as you want, but if you let your mind really think about it, you become more restrained in what you say. Strange. Hey, if you read this and you're going to comment-tell us a few things you're thankful for.

I normally wouldn't complain, but...

I did. I meant to blog about this yesterday, but time got away from me. Plus, Gabe came home early and I didn't want to waste that time blogging. So, yesterday, Maddie and I stopped at the grocery store, Giant, in Hayfield on our way home from Gymboree. It's on the way home and I normally don't like Giant (the one near our house is pretty ghetto), but this one is actually nice and Gabe and I have been there several times before. The checkers are usually really nice and helpful and the store is clean and well stocked. Well, yesterday was a different story. Maddie and I had finished our shopping and picked lane 5 to pay for our groceries. We were 2nd in line and I kept reminding myself that I want to ask for paper bags (I have to remind myself to ask for this, as well as if I have any coupons because often I get caught up with the baby, or finding my wallet, and I forget). So, it was my turn, and the woman was ringing me up (strange saying) and halfway through, I realized I forgot to say "paper please." I want to note here that there used to be a time when you, as the customer, were asked "paper or plastic?" Remember that? Now, it's just assumed that you want plastic, even though the facts are that it takes about 500 years for that bag to disintegrate at a landfill. Don't get me wrong. I, too, have plenty of plastic bags-they are very useful for poopy diapers :) Anyways, I tell the woman "Oh, I'm sorry . I meant to ask for paper bags. You don't have to re-bag the items already in plastic, but could you please bag the rest in paper bags?" If looks could kill. This woman was sooooooooooooooooooooo put out by the fact that I dare ask for paper bags! This really pissed me off because isn't my choice? She acted like I had totally put her out and she continued to not only ignore me when I thanked her, but she bagged my groceries the way Maddie would do it; not in any sort of order and without thought to how heavy they were. She basically threw my groceries into the bags (including dropping my apples). It left me with a TERRIBLE taste in my mouth and as I drove home I debated calling the manager of the store. I thought to myself, "she's just having a bad day." But then I decided, "that's not my problem." So, when we got home and I put Maddie down for her nap, I called the manager. He was pleasant and listened to what I said. He said he'd take care of it and I did feel better. Whether he talks to her or not-I did feel better because the level of service in many industries is terrible and I think I'm sort of done dealing with that. Especially in the name of the environment. It got me thinking that there should really be a way for grocery stores and stores like Target, to promote paper bags instead. I know many are thinking that this takes trees, but if you reuse or recycle the paper bags then it's a win-win situation. I encourage you all to ask for paper from now on. At some stores it's a little less convenient because they don't have the paper bags with handles-but it's worth it. Or, better yet, bring your own reusable bags. They sell them at almost all stores for like $.99. That's my rant/opinion for the day. Discuss amongst yourselves...