In which Starzl comes through my line and everything rocks

So, work has been . . . interesting. Yay . . . I keep getting crabby abusive moms coming through my line and it's not sweet. Makes me wonder why I never had anything like that happen when I worked at Wal-Mart. For example, I had a mom and her two kids on Saturday and the boy wanted something and the mom got mad at him and he got mad back at her and she screamed at him and then he kicked her and she said, "When we leave I'm going to spank you. You don't kick me like that!" I thought to myself, "If you don't want him to kick you then you shouldn't beat him up every time you don't like something he does . . . " Physical violence breeds physical violence. I was thinking about it today and I think the whole "rod" thing in Proverbs is probably something that Satan is using. Not only does it destroy kids, but non-chirstians see Christian parents treating their kids like that and and they're like, "Why would anyone believe in a God who tells them to treat their kids so brutally?" That thought just occurred to me today and I was like, "Dude, I'm brilliant!" Or not -- but it does kinda make sense. I also had a mom and dad and their kid yesterday and the kid asked for candy and the mom flipped out and yelled at him and the kid started to cry and then she pinched him until he screamed and then he ran away in terror. She was paying with a check and I thought to myself, "Lady, it's not that smart to pay with a check. I could SO turn you in if I wanted to . . . " I should have. You don't treat your kid like that -- EVER. Today there was a mom and dad and their boy and girl and the mom told the kids that they could have a pop to share and they were picking one and they accidentally dropped it and the top came off and it spilled and the mom flipped out and started to swear at them and told them that they had to drink it, even if they didn't like it. What a mean mom . . . I should have told her about a bogus "rule" that we supposedly have about not selling open products and told her that she had to let them get a different one. I was thinking about this whole mean mom thing this morning and trying to figure out why I never saw it going on at Wal-Mart. I think it's because I was too close to that sort of thing myself and I was desensitized. My attitude was "Suck it up kids -- that's the way life is." But now, I haven't been around stuff like that and my heart is so burdened for those poor babies who didn't ask to be their mom's kids and don't do anything to deserve it. I hate mean moms . . . Then again, maybe I'm having so many mean moms come through my line so that God can show me how I've changed.

I moved out of my lovely apartment. It was so sad . . . I could have cried. I almost did -- I love Shannon and Lindsay so much. Shannon's mom came to help us clean and that was cool. I left my phone number for her in case she needed to get ahold of me while I was moving the rest of my stuff over to Kelly's. I talked to her a lot over the course of the evening and she said that she'd keep in touch with me, even though Shannon isn't going to be going here anymore. (*Sniff*) Lol -- I went over to Kelly's and we chit-chatted until 3:00 in the morning and then we went to bed and at 9:45 the next morning, 5 minutes before my alarm was going to go off, Shannon's mom called me. It was SO great! Yay!

So, I've been working a ton lately. I got off work last night at about 5:00 and when I got home, Kelly was trying to talk Matt into not going to the Hiawatha pageant in Pipestone because she had too much to do. When she got off the phone, she told me about it and I said, "Well, is there something I could do to help?" I ended up vacuuming the church. That was awesome. I love being at church, even when no one is around. It's almost like God's Presence is stronger there than anywhere . . . I sang the whole time I was vacuuming and then I took a nap and then we were off to Pipestone. It was totally fun. Lol -- we were extras in the pageant and it was totally cool! Matt wore pajama-like clothes and Kelly and I wore nightgown-like dresses. They were awesome. Matt's dad was a chief. It totally rocked my socks off. It was SO fun. We just went out and listened to Hiawatha whenever he had a monologue and that was our part -- except for at the end, we had to wave as Hiawatha left. It was great! Matt's dad is getting tickets for all of us to watch it next Friday. It's gonna be GREAT. I HOPE I can get someone to switch shifts with me so I can go . . . Anyway, today I worked from 10:45 to 7:45 and I'm completely exhausted. The only day I have off this week is tomorrow, but I told Kelly that I'd help her at her cleaning job. I'll be working from about 9:00 to 5:00. I'm also planning on working there any time I can until the job is done (it could take a good 6 months), and that will rock as far as my bank accounts are concerned. Yay!

Today rocked. I was helping this lady in my line and it took a while and the next person was totally hot and I was like, "Who is he???" He bought a CD that has adult content and I would have asked for his birthdate, but he looked obviously over 18, so I didn't. I just put in 7/31/1987 and went on. I found out when I took his check that it was Elijah Starzl, last year's star basketball player. Yay! I asked him for his phone number -- he gave it to me. Part of it had to do with the fact that if he didn't, I couldn't take his check and therefore, he couldn't have his merchandize. But yeah -- now I can say that I asked a "famous" person for his phone number -- and he gave it to me. I even got to see his mug shot on his driver's license. It was so cool! And then I found $5. (I had to throw that one in there for my favorite basketball player . . . )

Eeek! My brother and sister-in-law are having a gala event in celebration of their marriage and their new house. It's going to be on September 17, nearly a year after the wedding (2 weeks shy) and almost 5 months after they moved into their house. I'm so excited! I'm going to help Stacy make some curtains for their new house. Yay!! Andy and Becky just closed on their new house this week and they're busy with painting and carpeting and they just found out that they have to completely re-do the sheetrocking in the bathroom because it was moldy. Gross. But they're happy and excited.

I was doing so good with the whole Athletic Math Boy thing. Yesterday I was thinking about it and I realized that I hadn't thought about him in like a whole day and I was like, "Is that a good thing? Or am I just being a woman again?" (Not knowing what I want and changing my mind forty times a day . . . ) Then, today, everything that happened made me think of him. Like, almost every shoe purchase today reminded me of him because we sell the brand he likes. And then Starzl in my line. Dude . . . I'm obsessed.

I keep comparing my Shopko experience and my Wal-Mart experience and seeing how I'm different now than I was back then. Wow. Now I see how expensive just every day stuff is and how very expensive it is just to live. And I'm like, "How do people do it?" The bathroom tissue and shampoo, clothes, food, shoes, purses . . . And then add kids -- diapers at $12 or more a package, formula at $12-18 a can. How do you make that much money??? And then the naughty kids whose mothers scream at them and treat them very brutally and swear at them. School shopping. I had a mom with her daughters come through and she had given them money for their school supplies and they had to pay for their own stuff. When the money was gone, it was gone. These kids were like 8 and 10. I thought that was an AWESOME idea because they learn the value of money and how to use it wisely. Definitely a plan I'd follow if I had a kid. Which, I'm beginning to think I don't even want any. You have your diapers and perscriptions and doctors and cold medicine and teeth falling out and vaccinations and school and friends and then they learn to drive and want boy or girlfrinds and then college and you have to worry about who they're sleeping with -- and hoping and praying that you taught them well enough to NOT sleep with people, and worry about if they're smoking or drinking or doing drugs and grades and . . . who in their right mind would CHOOSE to to have a kid???
~MK