Love so sprang at her, she honestly thought no one had ever looked into it. Where was it in literature? Someone must have written something. She must not have recognized it. Time to read everything again.

Annie Dillard, "The Maytrees"

(ten points if you know the location where this was taken...)

the customer is always right on my last nerve.

Firstly: I do not mean to bite the hand that feeds me. I'm grateful to have a job at this particular moment in history.

But sometimes I wonder if my job is a secret reality tv show.

This is why: the distance between the quality of work we're expected to accomplish and the tools, directions, and information we're supplied with is laughably gaping. I'm probably the only one who notices when 'red currant' is spelled 'red current' on everything from jam to scented candles, but EVERYONE suffers when dutch ovens are featured on the front of the ad, we get sent FOUR OF THEM, and we run out by 2pm on Sunday.

This is where the reality tv challenges kick in: how many irrationally angry customers (who each will DIE WITHOUT A DUTCH OVEN) can you pacify before you lose your mind? Who will get that final phone call for Christmas ginger snaps on January 26 (ginger snaps that were gone by Dec. 18), or a martyr-of-frustration response when yes, it is December 12, and the Advent calendars are OUT. All your kids want is the chocolate anyway, which we have pleeeenty of. Who can tally the most "will you be getting any more?" questions regarding a weekend ad full of "Limited quantities, no rain checks" stuff?

No shift is safe; no day is clear, weekend or weekday. Every hour is a test of patience, humility, and just how flexible your sense of humor can be. I am of the opionion that every human being should, at some point in his or her life, work in retail and in the food service industry. You will never treat people the same way again.

And sorry, we are out of the free bags advertised three weeks ago. No, we do not have one hidden in The Back for you, just for you. I'm sorry you were out of town when the ad was in the paper, I really am. We just didn't get your memo in time to save you a two-dollar run-of-the-mill canvas bag that looks just like the other seven bags you have at home. Please stop crying- I already feel guilty enough.

lately

this mild winter (I know, the only place having a mild winter this year) has been good to Toby's paws and on our nonexistent vet bills.

we got to spend an all-too-short weekend in Fairplay with some marvelous people.

we played a lot of poker... and a lot of mafia.

some of us flew planes and crashed them.

some of us even went and got engaged!

this is my lovely sister-in-law and her fiance... at a murder mystery party. (why we like to play so many death-related games, I couldn't tell you.)

(he's wearing his "weekend breakdancing" clothes.)

and in order to fully participate in said murder mystery party, my husband's facial hair started out like this:



...and went to this:

...and the moustache didn't last longer than 24 hours. I wouldn't have it. He's now down to just the soul patch and some scruff.

and there you have it.

the last two weeks have called for a lot of picture-taking, for some reason... don't get used to it.

for the love of LOST

...if you've never seen it, and you try to jump in now, I don't blame you if you hate it. I would too. You simply have to watch it from episode 1, season 1. There is no other way. And for me, I love the back stories and I love growing attached to the characters and becoming invested in them as time goes on. The show has its lulls and pitfalls, but it always manages to rally and redeem itself shortly thereafter. I used to weep about every other episode, and I haven't done that in about a season and a half- but I'm holding out hope for the future. If I started watching the show today, I would be done after about 32 minutes. So, I identify with Evangeline Lilly so much in this clip! (just the first clip. don't watch the remaining 10 minutes. very un-funny.)

"maybe it is written, no?"

If you shell out the money to see a movie in the theater any time soon, please please please go see Slumdog Millionaire. I don't think watching it at home would do it justice- seeing (and hearing) it in the theater was so powerful. It's shocking and funny and beautiful- it will break your heart and lift it in the same moment- and the soundtrack is amazing. The young kids in the beginning of the movie are truly slum children from Mumbai. Some of the movie is in subtitles, but you won't even remember it. It cleaned up at the Golden Globes, it's nominated for 10 Oscars, and it deserves all the credit it can get.

The Curious Case of Forrest Gump

this is EXACTLY how I felt about the movie. sorry, I couldn't get it to embed properly.

did you really think you could just put it in a safe behind a painting, lock it up, and leave?

(The National)

So, as all of this talk of the economy tanking has been swirling around, I haven't felt too personally threatened. This is the simplicity of my position: we have no children (and therefore no college funds), no substantial investments or retirement savings, and we rent our home. Neither of our workplaces have needed bailing out by the government. Despite post-Christmas numbers in the retail world, my store was absolutely INSANE the two weeks before Christmas- if you had been standing there, you would have thought: what recession?

And then, two weeks ago, my husband was informed that his position was eliminated. It has nothing to do with his job performance and everything to do with the church's financial circumstances, and it was a long trail of toppled dominoes that ended in this result. One of the contributing factors was the fact that, six months ago, the church built and moved into a brand new (and much larger) building, the utilities of which have ended up gouging a little more than expected. This is partly because the group that intended to buy our old building could not come up with the funds, so the interest on the loans the church took out is a hefty percentage higher. The group that now rents our old building had several main donors back out, which prevented them from purchasing the building... and one of the most important of these was an individual based in the auto industry in Detroit.

I don't personally know anyone who has lost a job because Michigan's automakers are hurting; yet here we are. And I'm not terribly worried about us just yet. A while ago my uncle described his perspective this way: there's a snake in the road, and everyone has ground to a halt, because that's what you do. You take care and assess the situation until the snake goes on its way, or until you slowly back down. I know, I know, it is not that simple. I don't understand most of it, although This American Life had a few well-expressed episodes explaining how we got to this point. And my uncle made that observation months ago, before even more people were affected. But part of me holds out hope- a lot of people in this country have secure jobs and incomes, and may very well ride this out without much of a ripple.

My point merely is this: it's less than six degrees of separation between each of us and "the crisis". If all that means is that we cut back on credit cards and buy less stuff we don't need anyway, I think that's a positive thing.