Jobless Again

Last week I found out that Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, where I work is closing. They called us in, for a “mandatory” meeting to tell us. Here I was thinking the mandatory meeting had something to do with my comments I made in an employee opinion matters survey. I have a track record of sharing positives and things to work on in surveys. At the last place I worked I was called in to the owner’s office to talk about if I liked my job or not. Truth be told there’s just as many things to say positive, as there is to say what to work on with any person, place or thing. Sure one might say I’m critical, but I find it helpful. Anyhow the meeting up being nothing about that. My manager told me that he wanted us to say exactly what we thought. 

We as managers/supervisors were told first because we’re leaders. As it turns out I’m feeling more like a leader than ever before. I listened to the cashiers vent, handed out my business cards to have them use me as a reference, and made them cookies.

What really bothered me is the people that come into the store every week to shop. One older man looked lost and said, “I don’t know where to shop now.” I wanted to hug him! I’ve helped him countless times with the card reader. I think he finally has it down. Another guy comes in with his kids, and gets them one piece of candy from the bulk section each and every time. 

Here’s Their Website:

I don’t feel like they’re here when I need them most.

They decided to close all Nebraska stores because it’s too hard to get to us. We’re kind of in the middle of no where. Omaha’s a want to be big city. It had nothing to do with our stores performance. They left us all to find jobs in the middle of a pandemic. 

Here’s my question: Why build Fresh Thyme Farmers Market if it is hard to make deliveries to? 

I closed both nights, when the sales started. It was crazy busy! It took me two extra hours to close. 

Night one of closing I was supposed to close with a manager. Instead the manager dropped a shelf in the safe, rolls of coins went everywhere, she had a fight with her husband on the phone, and I closed myself. 

Night two of closing my last customer had a cart full of candy and baby food. I had to count everything. The register wigged out, and the whole order disappeared. I had to do it all again. All that candy I counted twice, they decided they didn’t want it. 

Today my manager never showed up, and my fellow supervisor wanted to go work in grocery, where he wasn’t needed. 

I have this horrible habit of wanting the best out of a given situation. I want to do good, have others be positive, and feel the love. Isn’t that what life should be about? 

Any Time to Say #thanks

Out of all the holidays, what’s your favorite one? I enjoy Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter all about the same. Of course things will be different with social distancing, and mask wearing. We don’t even know how these holidays will work. We’ve talked about my parents just visiting each family. 

Now that it’s cool outside I’m feeling like pumpkin pie, and all the foods that go along with Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two holidays that usually bring families together. How are you changing your plans, for the holidays with COVID here?

I got this cute Thanksgiving outfit, for my new niece to wear. She just came home from the hospital yesterday - finally. 

Sizes: 

The outfit only comes in two sizes 0-3 months and 3-6 months. Kind of small, but she was small to begin with. It will work well. 

I love that it’s a onesie instead of a t-shirt. Much more apt to stay tucked in!

Options:

There’s two designs. I happen to like this one because the triangles remind me of tepees. 

Message:

“Fresh Out of the Oven” is what it says. My niece isn’t super fresh out of the oven, but close enough. She just got home. Her brothers were all happy to hold her. Well except for Emerson, he looked annoyed with her. Lol!

Bow:

I think the bow is cute. It’s not gigantic, like some are. 

Where to Get it:

You can get this cute Thanksgiving outfit on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FC7D3JV, for $10.98 to $11.98. I kind of feel like there’s not enough difference to make the price change from one outfit to the next. 

What do you look forward to, as far as eating goes on Thanksgiving? 

Disclaimer: I got this product to review Free of cost in exchange, for my honest opinion. 

WW: Nature Walk {Linky}

 

Seeing areas like this reminds me of The Little House on the Prairie. 

Nebraska’s state flower - Goldenrod

Grover’s NEAR! And FAR!

Like all good things, our hike ended. Actually husband got us lost, so we walked and walked along a highway for a long time. Ha!

A Face Covering Review

Do you think masks and face coverings help fight the spread of covid? 

I think it helps. I have both asthma and allergies, and need my lungs to be as healthy as possible. 

Recently when I went to get my allergy shots, I asked my nurse if he knew anyone with this invisible beast of a virus. He told me his son’s best friend has it. He’s needing lung support, is near death, is young, and had no other health conditions.

I do have issues with breathing at times, so things tight against my face can be a problem. I do have some solutions:

• Coconut Oil with a Q-Tip in the Nose - ok via my ENT Doctor

• More Ginger Intake - Ginger Helps With Inflammation 

• Face Shields, for People that Can Breathe Well

• Face Coverings VS Only Masks

This face covering is more breathable, then most masks. There’s over 40 designs to choose from. I chose this thinking Mica would like it. He said he feels like he’s wearing a hijab. Had I known he didn’t like it, I may of picked a different design. 

I did have trouble with it being loose on my face. A few things to try with this: 

• Wash any mask or face covering. Many shrink slightly, making them fit better on skinny faces. 

• You can twist the ear piece. 

• Knot the ear loops.

Where to buy it:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088DQ6253

It’s $11.99 with a 10% click coupon + free shipping. 

Do you have a favorite mask, or face covering? Have you tried a face shield?

Fall Clothes for a Baby

I just got this cute baby girl outfit to review, for my niece Margaret. 

She has Trisomy 18 like her big brother Emerson does. She's still in the hospital. Only my mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law have been able able to see her. That's not counting the numerous doctors and nurses that have helped her. 

She's had a MRI, EEG, and a sleep study done. She's for the most part doing well. We've known that she needed jaw surgery, but after the sleep study that doctor wants to make that happen ASAP. Lots going on, for them. It's a good thing my parents are retired, and can help out.  

When I get the opportunity to review clothes for Margaret, I jump on it! They've only had boys this far, so why not get neutral or girl clothes? All baby clothes are so cute. 

Recently I got a fall outfit to review. You can get it here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08G134KKM, for $10.98-$11.98.

Colors:

• Mustard Yellow
• Pink
• White

I thought with fall, the mustard color would be great. Plus we've been having this discussion - do baby girls have to wear pink? Some family members say, "Yes", while other family members say that color has no gender. I don't think pink always needs to be on girls. I watched an old video once that said pink used to be a boy color, and blue was for girls. Before that all babies wore white gowns to make it easier to change diapers, and bleach out stains. What do you think? Is pink a girl color, and blue a boy color? 

It Has a Hat, or Hair Tie

That's yet another thing we disagree on. Travis thinks big bows, flowers, and ties on babies look so dumb. I don't mind them. I just can't tie them all pretty like.  

Sizes, for This Outfit:

• 0-3 Month
• 3-6 Month
• 6-12 Month
• 12-18 Month

I love that it doesn’t have built in feet. Often times babies have smaller or longer legs that just don’t fit right in them. I like the snaps, that make diaper changing easier. 

Are you ready for fall?

Disclaimer: I got this product, for a discounted price in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Random Tid Bits

1. I wasn’t ready, for the slap of cold. I guess I am thankful that we didn’t get hit with snow. Western Nebraska had snow. 
   
   
2. Mica is going to be in a club at school called STEM Advisory Board, which I guess is like Student Council. 
   
   
3. Travis said, “Hey Mica, since you’re in a smarty pants club at school, how about you open this dip the smart way. We all looked at him, and he was trying to stab the plastic film with a blunt carrot. The day and life with Mica. He said, “What?! I don’t want to use my finger. It will get messy.” Travis snapped, and told him to cut it.
   
   
4. The other night, my last customer was this old lady. I said to the manager that she may not of heard the closing announcement on the intercom. She took like 10 min. looking through flowers. The manager looked annoyed.
   
   When checking out she told me that she has an MRI happening soon. She said, "I think the doctors think I'm crazy in the head. I think I just have a lot going on. My brain just needs a cleaning. They can do that ya know. Just like they do with hearts." I wanted to take her home. She shouldn't of been out that late, by herself. I wish brains could be cleaned like hearts.
   
   Have you ever had anyone in your life loose it mentally?
   
   
5. Travis begged to go hiking on Labor Day. I really didn’t want to because my allergies and asthma have been so bad! I went anyhow. We got so twisted and turned around, that we had to walk for a long time on the highway to get back to our car. Travis has a habit of taking something quaint, and making it massive. < br />
   On his birthday he was going biking with friends. He was going to be back by lunch, but wasn’t back until dinner. He biked 23 miles.
   
   When we lived in Pine Lake, GA he wanted to take a “small walk” to Stone Mountain. It was midnight before we got back. 
   
   
   
   
   

#backtoschool With #ZOHAN

I've mentioned before that Isaak's oh so slow when it comes to doing homework. It's great that he can now listen to his teachers, with little to no distractions. They are still remote learning. He also gets involved in less drama. 

I don't know, maybe he does have some form of ADHD, but he's not the type of kid that's bouncing off the walls. I'd rather deal with his problems in other ways, then with medicine. He still gets distracted even with us. 

I'm pretty sure he gets this trait from me. I was/am a horrible test taker. That's part of why I don't want to go back to school to get my Education Certificate. I'm a mega hard worker though. I catch on to things quickly. Process things are easy, for me to understand. 

Thankfully I got noise headphones to review. 

Zohan Has Four Different Designs to Choose From:

• Nebula
• Rap
• Unicorn
• Flamingos

I was between the Nebula and Rap designs. The others are more girly of prints. Isaak would have liked the Rap one, but I chose Nebula. Last year he picked out a shirt at Christmas that had that pattern. Why not stick with what I know he likes? I honestly wanted it to be a surprise for him. 

Cost: 

$14.99 for all of the different designs. You can get them on Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MT9JMWD. 

Size:

They are kid sizes. BUT Isaak and I have skinny heads. I often have to tie or loop my masks. These fit just fine. They even fit me. Of course they are adjustable too. 

Do They Work?

I put them on, and they do block out noises. Not totally. I can talk, and hear my own voice. It makes all sounds seem like I was underwater. 

What was your biggest struggle in school?

Disclaimer: I got this product for a discounted price, for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.

Random Tid Bits

1.  I had a phone interview yesterday. He said that he asked me to think about a funny vacation story in his email to me. I never saw that, looked back, and didn’t see it there at all. It’s ok...I have plenty of vacation stories.
   
   
2. At work we were told to make sure that all employees checking out, have red stickers on their items. That way no one thinks the items are stollen. I do just that. One employee doesn’t like waiting. Who enjoys waiting? He huffs under his breath. One day he was doing this huffing and puffing right in front of customers. I could have chosen to ignore him, but it was like listening to Mica, when he was 13 and 14 - juvenile! I looked at him and said, “ I’m sorry you dislike this policy. If you’d like to have it changed, I encourage you to go to management to discuss it. I was trained to do what I do. I’m just doing my job. Please don’t huff, puff, and blow the work place down.” Do you think I handled that correctly, or not? How would you have handled it?
   
   
   Big Bad Wolf Huff GIF from Bigbadwolf GIFs
   
   
3. A lady wanted to make a return, that was a Kroger product. I kindly told her that she didn’t buy the product from our store. She got mad, and told me it was all over in the back. She said it was awful, and sour tasting. It was buttermilk. 
   
   
4. A cashier was glancing at her phone between orders. I didn’t think too much of it. She was new, and it wasn’t a consistent problem. A person that works in the back came and told in a mean way that - my cashiers shouldn't be using their phones. - It kind of took me off guard. 1. I don't own the cashiers. 2. For all she knew this cashier already taked to me about let's say her Mom was in the hospital, and she was checking her phone. 3. I have enough bosses, and don’t need another. - I told the lady I’d talk with the cashier. She stood there eyeing me. This lady didn’t like that I didn’t drop everything to talk with her. She told not 1, but 3 managers about this small issue. 
   
   
5. I thought remote learning was the answer, for Isaak. Turns out I got a message on my phone saying he had some missing assignments in Math class. We had a talk about accountability. 

Protect Your Eyes When Going #backtoschool

Everything with remote learning is going fairly smoothly. I was expecting some major bumps. There was only a few slight issues.&n

The boy’s school district got new iPads, for all the students. The trouble was that they didn’t come in until after school started. That was in general a hiccup. Some in our area have had problems with internet connection, but not us. 

I do worry about the boys being on screens all day long. I know others have jobs, where they are on their computer all day. It is important to protect ones eyes. 

Thankfully a company sent me a pair of glasses, to block harmful screen light. You can get these glasses on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0834XLGJ9, for $15.99. They do go on sale a lot. 

Mica was happy to get them! Isaak’s regular glasses came with a feature to block harmful light, so he uses them, when he is on a screen. 

I remember my students wearing theirs. They always had really funky colored lenses. These aren’t that noticeable, unless they are sitting alone on a table. 

I typically think...call me “crazy”, that people turn on their smart thinking cap, when they put on glasses. The boys also have special spots, where they do their studies. 

Have you tried special glasses, when you’re on a screen a lot? If so did it seem to help? Have you gotten anything new, for back to school time? We haven’t gotten very much at all. 

Disclaimer: I got this product, for a discounted price. All opinions are my own. 

Living in Their Robes

 

I don’t know why I bothered to buy clothes this year. Both boys have mostly lived in their robes. It doesn’t matter if it’s 100 degrees outside; they’ll still be in their robes. Travis has to beg them to get dressed at times. 

Mica’s shorts are looking a bit too short, but they still fit around the waist. He’s so tall! Isaak’s going to be tall to!

I was shocked on the first day of school..,I was ready to spot the boys still in their robes. They got dressed + did their hair!

Do you even bother to get dressed in actual clothes, when you’re at home day in and day out?