Starbucks Daily: The Nerve!!

I go to Starbucks every morning.  While I'm feeding my addiction I see a lot of different people doing questionable things.  I wonder if this happens everywhere people gather of if it's simply caffeine deprived people waiting to get their fix.  I've seen people cut in line at the drive thru - so rude.  I've seen women (sadly, it's always women) get to the order counter and then have to ask 50 questions while the line behind them is out the door.  Once I saw a man go through the drive through so they could fill his water bottle... with water.  The other day I ran into a woman who was talking to her pre-teenage boy and after every comment, hug and kiss she gave to him she looked around to try and make eye contact - with ANYONE.  That was uncomfortable.

 

Today I saw a fight.  Well, a confrontation.  I hate confrontations.  Even ones I'm not a part of.  While I didn't see the original act that started this altercation, it was pretty clear what happened. 

As I was waiting by the pick-up counter for my Venti, half-caf, non-fat, no whip, 2-pump Mocha, something caught my eye and I looked out the window.  There was a man standing with his car door open, wildly gesticulating to a man in an SUV backing out of the adjacent spot.  It would appear that the man in the SUV had done something wrong and the man frantically waving his arms and shouting was trying to get his attention.  Seriously, the man was either about to take flight or maybe he was just Italian.  Anyway, I thought that the SUV was just going to leave, but I suppose the man making a scene got his attention because he circled the parking lot and came back.  They had words and the SUV parked across the way, right next to my car.  Great.  I was going to have to walk by that Cluster.

It seems that the wronged man calmed down and that they were just going to exchange insurance information so maybe this was just a very animated morning.  I got my coffee and turned to leave, checking their progress and noticed that the man who had been making all that fuss was WRITING ON MY CAR!  SERIOUSLY???? 

What had happened is that the man saw a ding on his car door and assumed the man in the SUV did it.  He was so irate that he flagged the man down and demanded his insurance information which he copied onto some paper using MY car as his desk.   The SUV driver politely redirected the man OFF my car and onto his own with a wink to me.  I smiled at him and then asked God to give the man a medal!

The nerve of some people... 

Love Notes

This was an email exchange with my hubby today.  He's sooooo romantic :-)

Me:  I'm listening to Pandora - my 80's radio.  It's playing "I Want To Know What Love Is" by Foreigner.

Paul:  That was the go-to song on Miami Vice.  The snarky response is "come home and I'll show you what love is."  *wink wink*

Subtle honey... very subtle...

I'm SOMEBODY!

I had my first photoshoot with a professional photographer for pictures of ME... Just me.  No kids.  Ok, it was for the company website, but still.  I'm SOMEBODY!! :-)  Here is the finished product on the website of My Favorite Thing

 

Patra Philips

My favorite thing is... My very “favorite thing” aren’t things; they are my twin 2 year old boys. However, if I must pick something besides them, it would be coffee. Specifically, a Venti, half-caf, nonfat, no whip, 2 pump mocha from Starbucks. I get it every morning. I’m sleep deprived (twins remember?) and I need it. When the boys were babies I could never get them to nap except in the car, so I would drive around Dallas, hit the drive-thru at Starbucks and drink it while the boys, thankfully, napped. I’m pretty sure it saved my life. I know it saved my sanity!

Officially Old

In an effort to keep the kids from eating or drinking things that have been out for a while, or sticking something in their mouth they found that has probably been under the couch for a week, we've tried to teach them what "old" means.  "Baby don't drink that milk...  It's OLD!"  This has worked very well.  Too well.  In fact, they tell us something is "old" when they don't want it.  I had to post this email that Paul sent to me Thursday morning....  I don't want to forget it because it makes me laugh every time I read it!  It was also right after the first presidential debate, sooooo...

From Paul.  Thu 10/4/2012 8:52 AM

 

Sean cried when he couldn’t find his juice, it was at home, and I had the diaper bag in the car. When we got to school, I put juice in a bottle and gave it to him. He was okay at this point. Then Chris wanted juice. His orange juice was now officially old. So I poured it out and refilled it with juice and he was happy. They were fine walking into school and everyone was glad to see Sean again. Then I listened to the radio and turned it off on the way to work. Apparently Romney got elected last night….:o)

 

Vampire Sean and Zombie Christopher

In the spirit of Halloween, I thought I'd share some Halloween pictures I made from www.picmonkey.com of our family.

Vampire Sean. 

Zombie Christopher

 

 

I was recently asked by a "ghoul" friend,

 

"Which side of the family do they get the cuteness from? Which side do they get the taste buds for eating brains?" 

 

I replied that they got their cuteness from me, of course, and they get their brains from Paul, to which he replied

 

"Ah… Patra’s the picky eater. Paul likes meat." 

 

This couldn't be more true.  I don't even like garlic. :-)

proud parents

 

The Fair!

My new company, idGROUP, gives its employees a paid half-day off and free 20oz sodas to take for discounted tickets for Opening Day.  This year Paul and I decided to take the boys.  I have to say they behaved very well with one exception. 

 

While looking for the petting zoo we mistakenly wandered into the "farm" area where you tackle an obstacle course in Farming.  You start out by putting on an apron and getting a basket.  Then you get to sit on a small, metal toy tractor. 

 

Next you snake through the "farm" while collecting plastic eggs, fruits and vegetables, feed plastic chickens, and milk plastic cows.  At the end, you have to give back your plastic goodies and return the baskets.  Chris did not like that.  It was HIS.  He howled like a banshee.  They must have had this problem before because the last area you walk through is the store where they give you a free snack.  Chris and Sean both picked Cheetos and were instantly mollified.

It was HUMID which also made it hot.  The boys poor cheeks (especially Chris's) were bright red 30 minutes into the Fair.  I stopped to buy some water and the boys got to watch a live band play GEE-tars.

We found the petting zoo and that was lots of fun.  There were sheep, goats, pigs, a Yak, a giraffe, and lots of other furry things I don't have names for.  OH and ostriches.  We stayed there a while.  Chris and Sean took off in separate directions so Paul and I separated to chase after them.

 

We then went to the Dog Show.  It was ok.  Paul remembers when there were border collies herding ducks (or was it chickens?) one year.  This year, the Harley Couple had Dobermans.  The beautiful dogs ran around in circles and jumped over stuff.  The Harley Couple both wore tight leather, had bleached blond hair  and both showed  a lot of skin, so perhaps the show was all about them?

We walked around a little bit more and decided to introduce the boys to Fletcher's Hot Dogs.  They just wanted to eat the catsup. 

We ended the day with some ice cream.  We found a nice soft green patch of Astroturf and sat down.  The boys suffered the ice cream to get to the cookie (ice cream cone).  Chris would really rather just eat the cookie.

 

It was a very nice day!

A Time of Change

I haven't updated this in a while.  Several things have been going on that I haven't much felt like talking about.  Some things have changed for the better.  Other changes I haven't decided about yet.

The biggest change came with a new job!  I am now a Project Manager for idGROUP in Dallas - www.idgroupdallas.com.  I won't go into detail how I got the job (boring stuff about interviews and portfolios) but I will say it was happenstance.  I had been considering a change but I wasn't sure what form of change I wanted.

After the boys were born I took a year off work and, when I was ready to go back, my previous employers greeted me with open arms.  I did not leave because I was unhappy with my work.  I was, however, feeling like I was missing something.  Money was tight and my post-recession pay-reduction was still in effect.  But so was everyone's, right?  Then why wasn't my heart into it? 

Not long after I went back to work I found out I was pregnant again.  This makes the second time since the twins were born.  My last one ended in a missed miscarriage.  Sadly, this one did too.  I became despondent.  Was I truly wanting another baby?  Paul and I sat down and had a business-like discussion about the pros and cons of having another baby and we decided that it would be financially irresponsible.  Not to mention having another child would really stress us out and the boys need SO much of our time and attention that it just wouldn't be fair to bring another child into our world right now.  The RIGHT NOW is the problem.  If we were younger, we could wait.  But we're not.  It's RIGHT NOW or NEVER.  And I'm broken-hearted about it.  So, I needed something.  A change.  But what?  I'm not very good at praying but I prayed over this.  The opportunity with idGROUP came at this time and I felt like this was my answer.  While I didn't have a peace about not having another baby, I did find peace over changing jobs.

So far the new job has been great.  The commute is longer and the work is not as exciting, but it's a different culture which is just what I needed.  Working for an interior's firm is different, to say the least.  At first I'd thought I'd made a horrible mistake, but now I think it was the exact right thing to do.  I had been with my previous employer for nearly 7 years and leaving that was hard.  Leaving people I trusted and respected was hard.  But the change was good.  Change can be good. 

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite quotes about change ~

Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine. ~Robert C. Gallagher

If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry it'll change. ~John A. Simone, Sr.

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies. ~Author Unknown