I'm the princess

Okay, because Melissa did it, of course I had to, too.


You Are Ariel!

Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Hallmark Holidays

Call me a cynic, but I believe we should do away with all the Hallmark Holidays. You know, the ones invented merely to sell greeting cards. The ones that nobody really likes because everybody just ends up feeling bad at the end of the day.

Mother's Day is a prime example.

I really can't see that there there are more than a very small handful of people who actually enjoy this day!

First there are all the women out there who want desperately to be mothers but aren't by no choice of their own. Mother's Day is a horrible day for them.

Then there are those who have lost their mothers. I am thinking particularly today of my good friend Aubrey who died last fall. This is the first Mother's day for her husband and two small children without her. I imagine it has been a difficult day, as it is for all whose mother is now gone whether recently or long ago.

Then there are those of us who presumably fit the perfect mold. I am a wife and mother so I should have no reason to dislike the day, right? Wrong! Most of us who are mother's spend most of the day feeling like bad mothers. Especially if you are church going kind. Then you have to endure listening to others dribbling on and on from the pulpit about how perfect their mothers were and the longer you sit there the more you realize how imperfect a mother you are. We spend the whole day comparing ourselves to all the other mothers we know and finding that we come up short.

And the pressure is really on the husbands to make it a special day for us because if nobody makes a big deal about what a great mother we are then we REALLY start to assume we are terrible moms.

And society as a whole doesn't do anything to ease all this mother's day pressure and angst. In fact, they make it worse!!!

I was appalled last Monday to catch a segment on the Today show about a special that was going to air called the Search America's greatest mom.....or something lame like that. We mothers spend enough time comparing ourselves to others and feeling like we are lacking we do not need an awards show full of a bunch of perfect mom's to solidify in our minds our complete incompetence in motherhood!

I guess there were different categories of Mothers for the show and each day on the Today show they were going to show the nominees for a particular category and then the viewers were supposed to go vote on the best mom. Well the category on Monday was Military moms. There were two moms shown who are currently deployed and far away from their kids. The one will miss not only this Mother's Day, but next one too because she is not scheduled to come home until June 2009. The third mom had a son in the military who started sending him care packages and he would share with his fellow soldiers so then she started sending out packages to more and more solders until it has grown to this huge organization with volunteers all over the country sending out care packages daily. And my point is this....do we really have to pick which one of these moms is the best? Because I don't care who you are losing sucks! Especially when it's something as important as being a good mom. And don't give me that "it's an honor just to be nominated" crap! I think all three moms were amazing and I don't think it's right to pick one that is the best! Plus there are hundreds of other moms out there who are also in the military and away from their kids as well-where is their recognition? It just infuriates me. Mother's are hard enough on themselves as it is, they don't need the added stress of feeling not good enough to be nominated as America's Favorite mom. sigh.

So, to all you mothers out there (and I'm talking to myself here, too, because I'm super hard on myself!!!) You are better than you think you are. Seriously. Even if you fed your kids brownies of breakfast, or they stayed in the pajamas all day, or you forgot to brush the 2 year old's teeth before putting her to bed....you are still a good mom. Even if you lost your temper a time or two today, or let your kids watch too much tv.....you are still a good mom. Because you are doing the very best that you know how to do and motherhood is not a contest. We all have our own unique qualities and quirks that will (hopefully) be endearing to our children, someday.

And to all you who are not currently mothers-I cannot say anything that will take away the hurt of kids you want but have not yet been blessed with, or even worse, kids that you have lost....I can't even imagine your pain. But please know that you are still important and indispensable to somebody. (I dread the day that my sister gets married and has her own kids because I rely SO MUCH on Aunt Natalie!!!!)

It's not much, and I'll probably still hate Mother's Day next year, too. But for now, Happy Mother's day, from me to you.

politically incorrect, coming at ya!

So I have this pesky little habit. I have this word that is part of my (nearly) daily vernacular that I find slips out at the most inopportune times. It is a word I use around my family all the time but find that when I use it in "mixed company" that I am actually embarrassed that I just said it. So, here it is....I use the word retarded. When I think something in stupid, lame, ridiculous, asinine, or otherwise without merit I often call it retarded. (I didn't even have to use a thesaurus to come up with all those synonyms, which leads to wonder why if I know so many words that retarded is always the one that springs to mind....) Now mind you, I am always talking about some THING when I use the word (like how retarded it is that I have to pay to park when I've already paid to eat and shop.....) and never about a person. But for some reason when I utter my politically incorrect adjective around the playgroup mommies an awkward hush falls over the room.

Now I was having this conversation with Ryan tonight about my bad little habit and he seems to think that the word stupid is actually more politically incorrect than retarded. I'm still leaning towards retarded being less socially acceptable in mixed company though. Maybe I'll just start saying that things are mentally challenged.

The Evil Empire

I quit shopping at Walmart quite some time ago for a bunch of reasons that I don't desire to go into at this time. The point is I literally had not been inside their doors for nearly 3 years. (okay, I guess that's a bit of an exaggeration since I shopped at the Walmart in Paige, AZ when we went to Lake Powell a few years ago because it is the only store in Paige.)

But Walmart is tricky. Because you can only stay away for so long until you are lured in again by "low prices" on something you just can't seem t0 live without.

For me it was this and this.

I always like to buy something new for the backyard each summer. Because I really like when the kids go outside and play so I want to keep the backyard fun and exciting. So I had been to Toys R us and shopped Toys R us online and there were other bounce houses and other playhouses but these ones seemed to be the best bang for my buck.


Well, of course neither item were carried in store at Toys R us, and shipping on big items like these is always a pretty penny.....so I resigned myself to either having to get them at Walmart or choose something different.

And much to my detriment I chose to get them at Walmart-and was reminded why I don't shop at Walmart.

First off, the Walmart website claims that both items are carried in store in limited locations. But OF COURSE you can't check inventory online. (and yes, there are actually stores that will tell you, right from the comfort of your own home, whether or not that product is in stock at a particular location. In fact, some super cool places you can buy the item online and then just go pick it up, for those of us that like the convenience of shopping online but the instant gratification of buying it at brick and mortar.)

If you have ever tried to call Walmart on the phone and get help you will know it is next to impossible. So I determined it would be easier just to go to the store and see if they carried the item at my location. That was my first mistake.

See, I printed off the items from the online site, highlighted the product code and everything, and then took a little trip down to the local Walmart. I take my pretty print outs straight to the Customer Service center thinking they will be able to tell me fairly quickly if they carry the items in the store. Because I am used to shopping at stores that have a localized, computerized, searchable inventory system. Say like, Famous Footwear. Have you ever been shopping at Famous Footwear and needed a particular shoe in a different size? They are sooooooo cool that they just come over with their little scanner/pda device and scan the barcode on the shoe box and viola! They can tell you right away if they have any in back or at what other store in the entire valley they do have that shoe in your size. And if it is in stock at another store they can call them right up for you, because the phone number is right there on their cool scanner, and have them hold it for you. All in about 45 seconds! OR, if by some strange twist of fate they don't have it at any of the stores but they do have it in the warehouse (whose inventory is ALSO on the cool scanner) they will ship it to you for free!!! Now that's how shopping should work!

Apparently Famous Footwear is about a million lightyears ahead of Walmart. Because you want to know the method used for telling if the product I wanted was in stock at Walmart? The customer service gal called somebody in working in the toy section and had them walk up and down the isles. No joke. I had the product name. I had the product number. But the way we could tell if it was in store was to have their high paid employee (okay, the not so high paid employee) walk up and down the isles for me. Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?

Well I obviously wasn't going to go to every Walmart in the valley looking, so I resigned myself to ordering online and forgoing the instant gratification of having it today!

But I told myself it would be okay. Because the one thing Walmart's website had going for it that Amazon or Toys R Us didn't was the "site to store" ship option. See, if you have the item shipped to the store shipping is free. And since shipping on these large items is nearly as much as the item itself of course I opted for this option. (is it too repetitive to say opted for this option? I kind of liked the ring of it. What do you think?)

I ordered them. And one week later one of my items had arrived. So off I trot to Walmart, again. You have to go to the back of the store and press a button to alert an employee that you are there to pick up your stuff. So, I walk to the back of the store (a chore in and of itself) and there is an employee standing there and our conversation goes something like this.

"Hi, I'm here to pick up something shipped site to store"

"Well, I can't help you because I'm on lunch so go ahead and push that button."

I push the button

"I would really like to help you. But I'm on lunch. But I'm bored so that's why I'm back here working anyway. But I can't scan your paper (my printout that tells the employee what I am there to pick up) unless I'm signed into the system and I can't sign in until I clock back in but I can't clock in for 15 more minutes. But I'm bored, so I'm here working."

I stand there for 3 minutes or so and she gives me her big schpeal again about why she can't help me, adding in that somebody should be there soon to help me.

3 more minutes of standing in akward silence and then she once again tells me all about how she's love to help me but just can't.

And still nobody else has shown up to help me either. So I wait, and wait, and wait.

15 minutes I wait. Well, okay it was only 13 minutes because somebody else showed up to help literally 2 minutes before this other gal could clock back in to help.

And so Walmart my question to you is this....are you really more worried about paying 5 minutes of overtime to somebody who only makes minimum wage anyway than you are about offering good customer service? Because believe me, I don't believe that standing around for 15 minutes waiting for service is good customer service.

Plus it leads me to believe that such incidents are going to, in the end, bring the Evil Empire crashing down to it's knees. You can only survive by being the cheapest for so long. At some point even the most non-discriminating customers start to be jaded by the continually abysmal service and sooner or later we'll all just stop coming back. Because yes Walmart, most sane rational people are, in fact, willing to pay 2 bucks more if they get outstanding customer service. (except my mom....did I say that?)

I don't know about you all but I'm going back to Target.

I am buying a parking garage!!!!

So does anybody else agree with me that paying to park is the most ridiculous thing in the world? Okay so I can see the theory behind it for really super overly crowded places, like booming metropolises or college campuses where there truly never is enough parking to go around. Because then the idea is to discourage any one person from hogging a valuable space all day when there is such a shortage of spaces. I get it.

But in downtown Salt Lake when I'm driving around the MASSIVE parking garage seeing literally hundreds of open parking spaces is it really necessary?

As a child I used to find going downtown so exiting. Now I just find it highly annoying. And they don't really have that much to offer that I can't find elsewhere. Do I really need to pay five bucks to park to shop at Old Navy when there is perfectly good Old Navy at Jordan Landing where parking is FREE?

And I'm getting more jaded about the topic the more time goes on. Let me share a few of my most recent experiences.

For my anniversary my husband took me to one of the nicer (i.e. more expensive) restaurants for dinner. We had a reservation so we didn't have to wait forever for a table. And eating was ALL we did was eat because I had to get back to the baby in time to nurse him. We dropped a bunch of dough on appetizers, specialty (non-alcholoic) drinks, dinner, and dessert. It was anniversary #5 so yea, we splurged. We got a validation on the way out. They still charged us to park. I say if you eat out your validation covers you the ENTIRE TIME you are eating, and not just for an hour.

For Adam's birthday we decided to take the kids to the The Discovery Gateway to the special Sesame Street exhibit. We opted for the annual pass (and then still had to pay 3 bucks extra a person to get into the Sesame Street exhibit....don't EVEN get me started on that!) so right away we had dropped 125 cool ones. (yes, you heard me right) So imagine how MORTIFIED I was when upon leaving we were told we could BUY a validation for a buck. BUY? You mean the $125 I spent on the way in didn't count? I still have to BUY a validation?

So then we go over to the food court and eat lunch, because traveling in the car with starving kids is no fun.

Then we hop on over to Famous Footwear's BOGO sale to get Mike some tennis shoes and we spend another nice wad there. (at least there they gave us a validation at no extra charge.)

So now we've spent close to $200 and upon leaving the parking garage are still told that we owe money for parking. How much do I have to spend to get free parking??????

At this point you would think I would learn my lesson. But no. Since I bought the annual pass we have to use it to get our money's worth, right? So I wake up this morning feeling like I want to get out of the house. (because if I stay home I see all the things I should be cleaning and I just really didn't want to clean today.) So my first attempt at something fun failed miserably. So I thought we'd just run over to the Gateway for a few hours.

We play for a little while and I begrudgingly buy my $1 validation. And when I hand over my ticket and validation to the parking attendant she tells me I still owe 2 bucks! I'm furious at this point and know that anything that comes out of my mouth I'm just going to regret later so I fork it over and drive off. But the further I drive the madder I become. I was told that my "validation" covered me for 3 hours. I pulled into the parking garage at 11:35 and handed my ticket to the parking attendant at 2:52. 3 hours and 17 minutes. Are you seriously telling me that it costs 2 bucks to park for 17 minutes???? (since my validation was supposed to cover the first 3 hours) So either the parking attendant was a real winner and doesn't know how to do her job and way over charged me or the Gateway has REALLY crappy parking rates. Either way I'm pissed about it and now wish I would've said all those things I was thinking earlier today.

I mean isn't charging to park counter productive? Isn't the point of a shopping mall to get people to stay, linger, shop, impulse buy. If we are all watching to clock to get out of the parking garage by a certain magical time before we get charged aren't we WAY less likely to drop loads of money shopping? I mean really.

I'm committed to the annual pass now for 11 more months, but I seriously doubt I will ever get one again. They lost my business over a lousy 3 bucks. How pathetic is that?

You know when you are a blogaholic when....

Blogging is a relatively new hobby (er, addiction) of mine. I thought I had my hobby (er, addiction) under control until a few incidents occurred this weekend making it very clear that I truly have a problem. So, Hi, My name is Nicole and I'm a blogaholic.

Friday morning I had taken the kids to the Murray library to story time. There were several thing that happened that morning that I thought would make great blog posts so I was storing them away in the back of my mind to write about later.

Later that day I was with Mike in the car driving somewhere and I thought about telling him all about the incidents at story time at the library, but then I thought that if I told him it would spoil it for him when he read about it in my blog later. Yes, that was really my train of thought. As if my blog is akin to a good movie or something....

"Hey, have you read Nicole's blog today?"
"Not yet, don't tell me what happened!"

Apparently blogging has taken the place of having real, one on one relationships and conversations.

Saturday Mike was hanging our new dining chandelier, a job that should've taken less than an hour but because the builder who built our home cut corners like crazy it turned into a multi-hour job. Somewhere about 3 hours into it I said to him, "well, look on the bright side. Now you'll have something to blog about."

clean and clear

My face was feeling a bit extra oily today and so I decided to use some of my facial astringent. You know the stuff, you dump it on a cotton ball and rub it all over your face to leave it feeling "tingly" and clean. So I rummage for a cotton ball and pull my bottle out of the medicine cabinet. As I opened the bottle something in the back of my mind registered that something was not quite right, like it smelled a little off....but I kept moving forward, because as a mother of 3 small ones I only get very short snipits of time to myself and if I didn't hurry little hands would soon be pounding at the bathroom door. So onto the cotton ball and onto my face the product goes.....and then when the "tingle" turned into a BURN I realized what was wrong. I never realized it before but the finger nail polish remove is the same color as my clean and clear.

Memo to self, buy the blue colored facial cleaner next time.