What Happens When You Try To Do The Right Thing

Last Friday, I went to a local grocery store to pick up candy that could be placed on the tables of our Fall Festival on Saturday. Yes, the hopes of adding sugar to bouncing children seemed like a good idea at the time (HA!) and it might add some dimension to the tables. It turns out the tables didn't need any artificial sweeteners to make them look lovely so I stashed my treasure only to return them to said local store on Monday afternoon.

Upon my arrival at the "Guest Services" desk I was greeted by a friendly young woman who began to work on my transaction. She was a little perplexed at my returning such a large amount of candy, what with Halloween a couple of days away (at the time), but she started scanning and typing away. She handed me my receipt and said that $15.66 had been credited back to my credit card. I thought that the number seemed high as I had gone in on Friday with a number that I did not want to exceed and I was pretty sure this exceeded that number. So, as I walked away I pulled my cart over (I had other grocery business to attend to as well) and looked at the papers the young lady had given me. Sure enough! On Friday, I purchased $11.56 worth of candy and now the store just gave me a $15.66 credit instead! I turned my cart around and stood back in line. The young lady was working with someone else and her manager (I think) then calls me over and asks how she could help me. I explain the situation, she gets a slightly annoyed look on her face, and then tells me not to worry about it! WHAT?!?! She then says she will tell the girl about it and for me not to worry. As I try to tell her that I can wait to have it fixed she still tells me not to worry about the problem and to basically have a nice day. Flabbergasted is one word to describe what I was feeling at that very moment.

Now I wonder if it will be adjusted back to the $11.56 (I hope so!) or if it will be a $4.00 bonus for us?

It seems like people are surprised when you try to do the right thing, especially when the error is in your favor. As a people of God we are called to a higher standard and that means honesty in dealings with family, friends, and businesses. It seems like some people are so used to being "ripped-off" these days that they would rather not take the few extra steps to right the wrong. What is this world coming to?

"Wow, that's a lot of gourds."

This is what I hear from some random guy to his girlfriend as I stand in line at Costco. The woman in front of me then asks, "What do you do with all of those?"

"Well, we are having a fall festival and I have a lot of tables to decorate."

"Then do you throw them away?"

"I guess. I think some of the families will take them to decorate until Thanksgiving."

"They won't last until next year?"

"I don't think so."

She looks at me with a perplexed facial contortion. That is when Leon, the friendly Costco Cashier, chimes in and says that his were stored in his garage for a year and they were just fine when he brought them out this year! I think my jaw dropped a smidge. Through the desert heat they survived. I am amazed. However, I know that if one of them gets a bit smashed little buggies will descend quite rapidly from no where... there was evidence of that at the display in the back of the store.

Needless to say, I hope that 11 (8 of which were purchased today) bags of shellacked gourds will do the trick to decorate the 40 or so tables for Fall Festival this weekend. I know that we have some whole fruit coming, like apples, and we will use that in decorating if need be in the main ramada. Should be fun.

Modern Homemaker

It's true. I am a homemaker and I love what I do. It was quite an adjustment from life as I formerly knew it but it has to be one of the best things that I have done thus far in my short, yet incredibly full, life. A friend told me, "You are not a 'housewife' because you are not married to your home. You are a maker of your home... you are a home maker." Her statement made me smile. Now I have heard the term "Domestic Engineer" - which I just find really funny. Did you know you can actually major in that? It's just a gussied up word for what many of us actually knew as "Home Economics" --and I would say that is still a better term for it. However, the last time I had anything that was remotely related to Home Economics was back in the 8th grade. Everything now is on the job training. I am thankful that there is grace in the learning curve. I am thankful for the opportunity to be a homemaker... it's not mindless, unproductive, lazy, or anything else that "society" tends to stereotype it with. Although, I will admit that I used to be one who would apply said stereotypes... little did I know then.

With all that to say, I found myself laughing the other day and pondering the women that went before me in this wonderful estate... Why, you ask? I will tell you!

My Papa did a great job raising me on his own. He did teach me a lot but I am sure that no parent can teach EVERYTHING -- especially a Father (who has very different roles in a household) to a daughter (who will eventually have very different roles in the household someday). In my frustration of trying to fold a fitted sheet and having my linen closet look a little frumpy, I thought to myself, "Surely there has to be a way to do this!" So, like any other normal red-blooded American I Googled (!) "how to fold a fitted sheet." Lo and behold, site after site came up on how to fold a fitted sheet! Eureka! I was pumped as there were videos and photos (as I am such a visual person) and now my linen closet looks much happier. And I am proud of myself for learning something new. That's when my laughter set in! Google! Of all things! How did women before Internet ever find things... that's the point... they are the ones that figured it out and passed it on. Thanks to them for their hard work and ingenuity and I am thankful that I was ordained to live now in the computer age. I will say, there is still plenty of room for ingenuity!

I laughed yesterday, too, as I was writing an e-mail to my fun friend in Albuquerque and told her what I was up to for the day. As I was typing out that I "need to go pick up some water" I snickered because even with all of our technology we still haul water at some level. Thankfully, I don't need to go down to the river with a bucket. Rather, I drive to Costco and get some bottles or I head over to the grocery store front and put my larger bottles in a machine that is plugged into some source and it fills my bottle. Then I put them in a cart that easily transports the eight-pounds-per-gallon to my car and I drive it home in a contraption that runs on gas and not on grass.

I find life highly entertaining.