Reality It Must Be!

I dreaded going back to work today but it really wasn't that bad. I got lucky and an older gentleman with his family seemed  to really like me and left a 65% tip. "Welcome back!" I got off around 3:00 and didn't have to be back til 5:30 so I went home and jumped on Johnny boy. Obviously it rained here more than it did in Florida and my grass was ridiculously high. I cut my neighbor's first (since I had to borrow his gas can) and then cut mine. When I cut grass in a bathing suit top, daisy dukes and keep  the mower in fifth gear the whole time I don't sweat anymore than I do at work and it helped  enhance my tan!

I got through at 4:54. I sat out back with the pups under the patio umbrella to cool down and wiped what grass the dogs didn't lick off my legs with a towel and went inside to bathe off with a wet washcloth. Reapplied my melted makeup and deodorant and drove back to work with  the top down to blow the grass clippings out of my hair.

Heck, I only took three showers the whole week I was in Florida...unless you count swimming in  a chlorinated pool. (If you  do, I bathed twice every day)

I look at it this way...when I was kid I would take maybe two baths a week during the summer if I could get away with it  and only washed my hair once a week. We spent every day of the summer at  the public pool from ten in the morning til six at  night. My eyes would be as red as Cheech and Chong's from the chlorine but I felt clean every night!

 I took a long hot shower  this morning before going into work and besides it was 96 degrees in  the kitchen at work on OUR side of the line during lunch. Cutting grass was a definite "Cool Down."

Dinner was an easy shift too and I waited on another table that showed me some 45% love on their tab.

It's nice to be making money again. I already have Barb almost halfway paid back for the loan she floated me and still have money for groceries and even some to throw to the Verizon Giants.

The dogs have TOTALLY missed me. When Tim turned onto our street yesterday he said "Get  ready  to be attacked by  three dogs" and I was. The puppy was jumping around like he had lost his mind and the other two were almost just as happy to see me. I love dogs! They love so unconditionally and emphatically. They acted just as happy when I came in  the door from my lunch  shift today. "It's HER... It's HER again!"

Today at lunch I had one of the biggest chuckles I've had in a while. I was waiting on the sweetest elderly couple. He is a handsome Dapper Dan and she is still a beauty. They dress  to the nines and are so precious. They sat down at my table and I greeted them with "Well, if it isn't Barbie and Ken!"
The woman ordered Eggs Benedict and asked if she could order just one pancake? I told her she could order whatever she wanted. Then she acted all nervous and asked "What if I wanted a blueberry pancake?" I told her there would just be a small upcharge for the blueberries. She was thrilled. (Ole peeps are so easy  to make happy, that's one of the many reasons I love them. The other is that I will be one of them in just a few short years)

My coworker, Little Frenchy was standing next  to me at the computer when I was ringing in the order and had a brunch menu in her hand. I was trying to find out how much to charge for the blueberries and asked "Frenchy, what's the difference between regular pancakes and blueberry pancakes?"

She is the dearest sweetest woman I have ever met and hands down one of my favorite people.

She looked at me, and with great sincerity replied "Whens you order ze blueberry pancakes they  put ze blueberries insides of ze pancake."

That made me smile and I laughed about it for twenty minutes. She makes ME look like a fatty. She can't weigh 85 pounds soaking wet and is the hardest worker I have ever met and is loved by  all the servers.

Day one back to work wasn't so bad. I made some money at  lunch, came home and cut grass...went back to work and made some more money and had a few laughs. Life could be a heck of a lot worse!

Til next  time...COTTON

Kicking The Hornet's Nest

I know all too well about "Kicking the hornet's nest."  A few years back I was trying to cut back the Pampas grass that was over taking my front yard by the front door. I was hacking away with the hedge clippers when I hit a hornet's nest.  By the time I realized what had happened they were all over me. They were stuck in my hair stinging me like crazy and swarming all around my face and even in my eyes. I threw down the clippers and after trying to run from them found out they can fly a LOT faster than I can run. I ran in the front door of the house and flew (pun intended) up the stairs to my shower on the third floor of the house. I bet I washed thirty of them out of my hair and the pain was almost unbearable. They sting repeatedly unlike bees that sting once and die from their mistake.

I have never been allergic to stings but this attack put me to bed with a high fever and even gave me a serious case of the runs. I had to call out at work which I hadn't done since my father died.

 The next week I asked the manager where I worked (who did pressure washing, chimney cleaning and other odd jobs on the side) to come over and get rid of the Pampas grass for us. He came over with a five gallon can of gasoline and dumped the entire can over the bush. (I didn't say he was smart)

Zach was probably about 8 or 9 at the time and completely into fires. He was my little pyromaniac. His eyes lit up when he saw how much gas my manager used to douse the grass. As my manager lit a piece of paper to throw on the bush I grabbed Zach and pulled him back about ten feet as the Napalm bomb went off. It literally shook the ground and scared the poop out of me. The flames were over twenty feet high and my manager grinned and said "That ought just about do it."

After running for the garden hose and soaking the remains before my entire house caught on fire, I realized he was in fact right. We all stood looking at nothing but a black hole in my front yard but at  least the nest was gone, along with my manager's eyebrows.

I hadn't thought about the "Hornet's Nest" again until I started reading the third book in the "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" series. It's titled "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest."

I work for some pretty crazy folks. Don't get me wrong, I love them to death but they can flare up those temper's with little or no notice given the right ignition at the wrong time. Once their temper is flared you have to simply step back ten feet as I did with Zach  all those years ago and wait for the fire to burn out.

When the owner says something to his wife to tick her off I immediately say "Quit kicking the hornet's nest!"  When the son gets his Dad all fired up for no reason I repeat  the order. It's become a running joke with us all at work.

Yesterday I worked yet another double and was still trying to recover from the "Mother of a Day" I had on Sunday. I was working with another server and we had a big party together at lunch.  My crazy boss wasn't cooking but our even crazier Latino cook was. He is one of the best cooks we have but can also be the biggest pain in the butt  you could ever imagine.

Here's the thing you need to know about every cook in every restaurant. They are ALWAYS right and servers are always stupid.  Even when the cooks are wrong they are right. When the server is right and the cooks are wrong...it is still the server's fault.  That is just the way it is in the restaurant world!

My co worker simply asked a question of our Latino buddy. Granted he was busy, but instead of being nice about it he flew into an immediate tirade. I looked at my co worker and simply said "PLEASE don't kick the Piñata!"

Another cook  working on  the line who speaks about ten words a month (even though he is American) and seldom cracks a smile actually almost laughed.  I gave myself ten points for THAT score!

I am tired. I am tired of being tired but at least I can still laugh at work and make others laugh too.  It's crazy working in the restaurant world...guess that's why I landed here!

I have ONE more double shift tomorrow and then have Thursday all to myself and my boyfriend, Johnny Dear.

It's been a hard climb back but when you make the climb and can see the corner up ahead it makes it all worth while.

My restaurant is family to me...and I am the crazy relative they all want to deny being related to but love even if they won't admit it. One of the cooks was giving me grief the other night and I shot back "If I'm the worst one ya'll have working here, I'd say you're doing okay."

I have to get up tomorrow and take Massey to school then go in for two shows...one at 10:30 and another at 5:30.

All bills are ALMOST current and I even have a little slush fund of sixty bucks sitting in my bank account.

Took Zach to see his probation officer this morning and sat in the parking lot to wait on him. I told my boss when I got to work "If those people are the ones they let out I'd hate to see  the ones they left inside." At least Zach has made it to this point  and I am pretty confident that he will succeed from this point forward.

The last week was the hardest. I was working so much and having to leave hours before my shift to pick him up. One of the cooks at work (who I call Patrick)

offered to take Zach back to the Po key for me since he was closing the store too. I offered gas money and he refused but I forced some on him. He is politically as far to the right as I am to the left, which I suppose means we meet in the middle. He's a cook too which means he is always right..."Touche!"

His generosity and rides meant  that I got to sleep two hours earlier each night. He made my life MUCH easier and gave me two extra hours of looking at the back of my eye lids each morning. I've thought about what I can do to repay him. I gave him gas money but that seems lame. He likes Tatts so maybe I will offer to pay for part of a  a Glenn Beck tattoo on his butt.  In my opinion, that's where Glenn should be displayed.

Totally kidding...to each his own. That's what makes America great.  Every person has a voice and a vote. If you choose not to vote your voice will not be heard.

Tim just informed me walking out the door to work that he ate my last frozen pizza.

Talking about kicking a Hornet's Nest!!  He better be glad I bought a new jar of crunchy Peanut Butter last night.

Waking up tomorrow (today) and doing it all again.

Stay tuned, I also owe my brother in law "Goober Pyle" and will pay him back tomorrow night with a blog.

 "JUDY JUDY JUDY!"  ( Goober's inpersonation of Cary Grant on the Andy Griffith Show)

Til next  time...COTTON

The Three Stooges...

I worked the day shift today with my buddies "Hoke" and "Panic." Hoke is always fun to work with...we pick on him relentlessly and he takes it so well that we do it constantly, non stop. He has been having heartburn problems... either because of us or because of the fact that he eats like a machine at work. I nicknamed him "TW" (Tape Worm.) One of the servers had a part of a sub sandwich left and asked him if he wanted it to which he obviously replied "Yes" so she left it on our little counter in the alley where we all grub down. She didn't tell him, but told me that she had taken all the meat out of the sub as a joke. When he left the kitchen I  put four Rolaids in his sandwich from the bottle he has been keeping at work to help with his most probably ulcer that is most probably caused by working with us tormenting him on a daily basis. He finally got around to taking a bite of his sub and pulled a Rolaids out of his mouth and said to the new girl "Who put a Rolaids in my sub?" to which  she replied "Who do you THINK?"

When a prank is pulled I am always the first suspect and most always guilty...it's part of my charm!

The other stooge I worked with today is "Panic." She is a doll and I love her to death. She is an actress and has been in many movies, small parts sometimes an extra but with the booming movie industry in Atlanta works several days a week on various shows and movies being filmed around the city. Barb makes her a nervous wreck and we all kid her about it. Sometimes we'll just say "Barb is looking for you" to see the look of sheer terror on her face. I had  regular at my table today who works for the local Chamber of Commerce and Panic was talking to her about her latest acting job. The woman asked her if she could cry on cue and I spoke up and said "She cries every time she works...she's cried twice since she clocked in." I love working with Panic and Hoke...they are both just "Good" people and tons of fun to be around.

Barb was on her perch at the bar going through tickets and invoices and had two new bottles of wine a distributor had brought her to sample. She poured the three stooges a taste and asked what we thought? She remarked that it was best to take a second sip and we all said "Of course!" After two samples of the first we all said we were ready to try the second! We were playing her and  she knew it but being the wine snob she is, gave us all a couple of snorts of the second bottle. She quickly cut us all off when none of us had read the literature she had left on the bar describing each wine and the region they were from..."BUSTED" but "BUZZED!"

When we like to REALLY get to Barb we call her "Babs." She absolutely detests the nickname (Which encourages us to use it as frequently as we can.)

I am totally bummed that Tim's promotion fell through but thrilled that I get to stay on a while longer with my Mama Lucia's family. We are a totally dysfunctional family of misfits but a family none the less. I have never loved a job more and had never had a job love me back so fiercely.

Panic and I had a party of seven women today celebrating a birthday. They came in early and decorated the table with Halloween treats and all showed up wearing witch hats, cat whiskers etc...

They were older women most in their sixties. One woman had a face that was flawless (and totally wrinkle free.) Panic commented "I wonder how much her husband paid for THAT face?" Granted it looked good but when she spoke it was like she was  a ventriloquist. Her lips didn't move much and it was hard to see if she was smiling or making a grimace. I told Panic we might have to shovel her lunch through that small slot she was trying to talk through. We had a good chuckle over THAT one and were immediately reprimanded by Babs.

Left work in time to pick up Massey from school and run a few errands before heading home for her to get ready for her first Chorus concert. They did an outstanding job and I took her out to eat pizza afterwards.

Headed back to work tomorrow for two shows...Lunch and Dinner. Tim may have been put on hold with his promotion but I get to hang around this crazy family at Mama's a bit longer and LOVE IT!

Til Next time..."Moe"

WHEW!

Had my day off from the world yesterday and came back strong today.

I didn't do squat yesterday til after six PM but then kicked into gear and scrubbed all three of my bathrooms. When I clean as of late, I just do the bare minimum. That means I clean  enough that I'm not totally grossed out when I take a shower and swipe at the mirrors with some Windex. A while back Tim cleaned the bathroom in our bedroom and said the least he could do is clean the bathroom once a week for me. I held him to his word and that word simply vanished after that first full cleaning.
I stood my ground and only half way cleaned when his cleaning ceased. Yesterday I could stand it no more.

Barb had given me a bottle of wine she considered too old to sell so I poured a glass and took it and Mr. Clean, Comet and Windex upstairs to the master bath  and closed the bathroom door. Between all the bleach  cleaners and wine I got a buzz AND got it DONE!  I cleaned the light bulbs above the sink and worked my way down to the floor. I scrubbed the shower stall until it looked better than when we moved in (and we bought the house brand new.) I cleaned the garden tub til it sparkled and cleaned both sides of the glass door leading to shower stall til it was a clear view. I cleaned all the drains and scrubbed the floor from the baseboards out to the center of the room. I scrubbed the counter top til there was nary a hair or speck of dust. I continued on to the kids bathroom and did the same. All toilets were clean enough to drink out of (at least the dogs thought so) and once I was done it was amazing how good it felt.

Tim works hard but has two days off a week and brings home the same paycheck. I work hard too but if I take two days off I make a LOT less. I only make money if I work and when I have a couple of bad shifts I have to pick up more to  make it all even out. Granted this is the profession I have chosen.

I've been working too much lately and Tim has taken the brunt of my working day after day after day. He is as laid back as I am frantic forward. He is man of few words and I am a woman who's words are way too many . The other morning  I left for work to do another double shift and he had the day off. I left through the kitchen door leading to the garage barking out orders "Feed the dogs take the trash out and for Pete's sake keep pushing the laundry through, I get sick of coming home and  clothes are still sitting wet in the dryer..."  He shut the kitchen door behind me as I got to the words "For Pete's sake..." and  I heard him calmly say to  our boxer, "That's the way you do it Ham... just shut the door and wait for her to drive away." I screamed out "I HEARD THAT!" but went ahead and just got in my car and drove away.

We are complete opposites but have the same goal... just strive to reach it differently. We've had some knocks but we've had a bunch of blessings. We were at the bottom and have battled back to the lower middle and are destined to be back on top.

I had a crappy first part of the week at work but came back strong tonight. I had a party of ten that requested me. A former co worker from the Western Sizzler I worked for had her birthday dinner with us at Mama Lucias. She doesn't work at the Sizzler anymore but knows my history with them. They left me an over fifty percent tip and I set a new record. Waited on three tables and walked with Franklin and quite a few of his buddies, making up for the crappy days and getting my bank account back in black.

I hate that Tim's promotion got put on hold. I didn't want to move but was looking forward to the pay raise. God has a plan for us and I guess I jumped ahead of his.

We'll be fine here for now.

I have a job that I hated leaving anyway and the busiest season of our year is starting. Maybe God wanted me to bank one more time with the peeps I have come to love tremendously and that for some unknown reason love me too.

I bet when I leave at night... after I walk out the back door, the cooks say  "That's the way you do it...just shut the door and wait for her to drive away."

Til next time...LIFE IS GOOD.

COTTON

When You Wake Up...It's a Good Day No Matter What Else Happens

I had to work a double shift today. Woke up at 6:30 and rolled back over, woke again at 8:30 and thought "Jeez I got another hour to sleep and turned back over again." I woke up at 10:05 and had to be at work by 10:30. Nothing gets the juices flowing like sheer panic. I walked in the door only three minutes late and didn't stop walking...

I thought it would be slow. Columbus Day is Monday and the school's are out Monday and Tuesday. Four day weekend and most people head out of town. I guess the people that love Italian food hung around. I had to be back on the floor at 3:00 so I scrambled out the door around 1:50 after calling Massey and telling her to throw the Corned Beef brisket in the crock pot and put it on high. I told Zach to peel some potatoes and he called me back saying "Green things are growing out of them and they're  gross."

I left work and flew into  Publix to pick up more taters. I got to the check out and a young girl who I haven't seen in over two years was bagging. She is "One of my next door husband's daughter's best friends" (sounds like a messed up "Baby Mama story")  and although we chat a lot on line via Face book I haven't seen her in quite a while. Actually the last time I saw her she was a kid. She is now a beautiful young woman and I didn't recognize her at first. DANG...is EVERYBODY gettin' old?

When the little hamster in my head started spinning on his wheel again I realized this young woman was the former kid I had known for quite a number of years and had blossomed into a grown woman.

She asked when Tim was leaving and said  "I am addicted to your blog." This young girl has been reading my blog and following my journey which I have willingly put out here for possibly millions to read. Her positive comments inspired me, pumped me up and urged me on.

I turned into my driveway on two wheels (felt like it) and started barking orders. I threw together the cornbread with sour cream and whole kernel corn and put it in the fridge. Chopped up some cabbage and flung it into a pot on the stove and turned it on low. The taters were boiling and the cabbage was cooking...time to go back to work!

I got Zach to take me back so he could go by Barnes and Noble to get Massey the novel she was writing a Junior paper about.

I got back to work and they were just as flustered as when I left. Business just didn't stop...peeps just kept on coming in. Another girl I work with is a few years younger than me but closer to my age than most of my co workers. She was lamenting that she looked in the mirror when she got up and was dismayed to see she had grown another chin seemingly overnight. In actuality "She's trippin" but I zoned in on the opp for a joke and said "It's been disgusting to look at." My other server friend who is WAY too much like me said "You're going to have to start wearing a scarf around your neck." I told her we could get her a "Dickie" to wear under her shirt. She asked  if I saw her double chin and I quickly said "You have more chins than a Chinese phone book."

The joke just grew and grew until we were all cracking up. I told her I had a new nickname for her "Dickie Two Chins."

I hated it when she left after her shift...less comedy material for me. We plundered on without her and I got my butt thoroughly beat. I called home a couple of times to make sure they hadn't burned the house down with me leaving them with four pots cooking on the stove.

Another one of my fave servers commented coming into the kitchen "The guy at my table smells like he didn't wipe his butt good or something." I told her "That's strange, his wife said he's the sh*t.!"

 I told her I knew him..."He's an okay guy,  I THINK his last name is Key but KNOW his first name's Duke."

We laughed about that for about twenty more minutes. We were both tired and   been there since 10:30 with me leaving for thirty minutes to "Feed the Hungry" aka my kids.

It was one of the longest shifts of my life. I expected it to be slow and when it wasn't I was caught off guard and thrown under the bus of life. We made it through...mostly by laughing and mainly through the immense camaraderie we have in our server staff.

When you work as much as I do... it makes it almost seem like a pleasure to go in day after day and see   smiling faces of  co workers , not only happy to see you but "Friends" that work together, get screwed on a shift together or have a great shift together...helping out another server  or another server helping  them out .

 I will miss my Mama Lucias' family. It has been the best restaurant I have ever been fortunate enough to work for and hands down the one I will miss the most.

Counting down the days...and trying to gain the courage to leave this wonderful place I landed...the place that helped save and rescue me.

What will "Dickie Two Chins" and "Janine" do without me?
 Bigger question....

What will "I" do without "Them?"

Til next time, getting nervous but still stoked about the future..."COTTON"

I Love My Life

I worked this morning lunch shift the dinner shift too. Lunch was easy , it was slow so I got off in plenty of time to get some things done (mainly FB and a sandwich.)

Went back to work dinner and for some bizarre reason it was pretty slow too. I waited on a couple going next door to a movie after dinner and a young family of four (split meals and kid fingers...only Dad ate right.)

I got seated a party of eight and was told I was cut. That means no more tables. I've been cut from the serving floor and won't be seated again.

No Mas ( at least that's what the dishwasher says when we walk in the kitchen with a huge stack of dirty dishes,)

They had appetizers and cocktails. They drank bottles of wine with dinner and stayed for dessert and coffee. I think the really old dude had a crush on me.

Came time for the bill. What to do? I could write a suggested gratuity of 18% on the check or take a gamble. I threw the dice...no added gratuity.

Some parties you KNOW you don't have to worry. Some you KNOW you have to Grat.

Personally I HATE to do that. I know if I went in a place, had great service and they wrote a "Suggested Gratuity" I would leave them JUST that. Had they not suggested what I should do with MY money I would have left them an even bigger tip.

"Come ON Snake Eyes!"

Bingo! DING DING DING DING DING..."Jack Pot"

I Hit! They left me ninety bucks. Waiting tables is a crap shoot, I have said it many times before.

 I waited on them hand and foot while entertaining them with my PHD in BS. When I  took the check there wasn't one dirty dish, fork , knife or napkin left  on the table. All their food to go was nicely tied up in boxes and bags and I gave the old dude one more wink.

Came home and picked up Massey and we headed to  Kroger. Like a good working Mom of two teens still at home I loaded up on Pizza Rolls, cereal, lunch meat and cheese, kool aid and yogurt. Threw in some bananas and Chex Mix and picked up a huge Corned Beef and some fresh cabbage with taters and field peas (they gotta eat healthy SOMETIME.)  Add the dog food and laundry detergent and the money was gone but my house was full of food.

I just LIKE having a job where I kinda almost sorta feel like I am in control most of the time about my own financial destiny.

Some nights I bomb...who doesn't? Some nights it's great some nights it's off the chain and sometimes you are the bug on the windshield.

If I hadn't hit big tonight we'd be EATING the bug on the windshield.
Going to cook me some Pizza Rolls before one of those always hungry teens wake up!

Til next time...Grubbin' COTTON

So We Loaded Up Our Truck and Moved to Charlotte NC...Hills That Is

Life is crazy right now...  in a great but bittersweet way. I am so beyond thrilled for my husband. I know it isn't easy being married to a maniac like me. Tim has gone totally gray in the past two years and I have aged him to the point of looking older than me even though he is two years younger.

He has hung in there,  let  me bitch when I needed to (and a lot of times when I didn't) and been the one to truly make it happen.

Massey is totally freaked...what junior girl in high school wouldn't be?  I told her we could stay here and continue to struggle or move and have the life we did three years ago immediately with the chance to have an even better one.

It's not like I am crazy about moving either...but I AM crazy about moving UP!

My bosses at work have been absolutely fantastic to me. Before this offer for Tim came through, I had decided this was the job for me. I get to work for people that are even crazier than I am and seem to be crazy (no pun intended) about me.

Barb was on a cruise when the deal went down. She got back from vacation and found out   #1 Tim got an offer   #2 He took it   # 3 I'll be gone. I waited until half the evening went by her first night back thinking she would mention it. She didn't so I finally said "Did Len tell you about Tim's job?"

She rolled her head slowly away from me with that "Barb- roll" of her eyes and looked in the other direction like she smelled a fart and said "Yes."

Knowing Barb for fifteen years... I took it as a compliment.

We didn't talk about it much after that and we still haven't.

I feel TERRIBLE about leaving Mama's. They took me in when I was at my total worst... Heck, even Len didn't yell at me for over a year. I screwed up at first and it took what seemed like forever for this old dog to learn new tricks but I did.

Then I hit my stride. I made new regulars and a few old ones from Western Sizzler found me too. Since I'm an avid blogger and FB addict, I helped them with their FB page and have probably had at least thirty blog readers come in to eat with me. While I did that they sometimes  helped me keep the utilities on and have helped me out too many times to count.

 Massey absolutely LOVES Len (she's never seen him blow his head gasket) and has even catered for us. She knows every one there and every one there knows her.

I was totally nervous for the entire first year I worked  for Ralph and Alice Cramden,  but now see so many similarities in our marriages....except that Tim and I turned into Ed Norton and Trixie on a skid of bad luck.

Barb and Len are living the American Dream. They own their own business. They are in charge. They have no one breathing down their necks except this horrific economy. In their favor, they sell a product that is so wonderful and so unique...it is inspired and always a true  culinary creation.

I thought Barb was mad at me but tonight during the dinner rush she came into the kitchen as I was cracking a joke to another server and the server laughed and said "What are we going to do without you?' Barb with another almost unobservable shake of her head said quietly "It just won't be the same."

At that moment it hit me... I am leaving.

I'm not worried about Massey too much. She is a girl who has a heart as big as the Pacific and more solid gold than Fort Knox.

I'm worried about ME! I  work day after day after day after day and don't dread going in. I love it there, but I'm an old fart and have worked for a corporate place and know how much better this is.

I feel like I have done a pretty decent job and THEY have made me feel like one of the family...THEIR family, a great family to be a part of and a family I will miss.

Cleaning more dog slobber off the walls tomorrow morning and headed back for another double shift.

Til next time...A Getting Choked Up Cotton

Glad This Week is Over!!

What a week...the best part is that it is behind me now. When work is the sanest place in your life I don't know whether that is a good thing or a sad thing...We'll call it a "Good Thing."

The people I work with are a great group of people. Yeah, there are a couple of idiots but that just makes us semi idiots look even better!

We have hired a few new servers that have been a welcome addition to our already totally dysfunctional family.The server I used to call Professor has been replaced with his Clone. The server who left was named Mark, and I find myself constantly calling the new server "Mark."

In my defense Ive always confused "Mark" with "John." (not really)

We have my best friend "Hoke" who keeps me in stitches without even trying. Saturday night we were slam packed and running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

Ole Hoke decided to pitch in and fill up the ice bin at the soda tower. He grabbed the bucket and took it to the ice machine and shoveled it full of ice. Then picked it up and walked right past the soda tower where the ice goes and proceeded to walk out of the kitchen into the dining room even calling the courteous "Corner Out" so no one would run into him as he swung the bucket beside him and turned the corner into the dining room and disappeared.

I thought "Where is the heck is he going?" As the thought flashed through my mind, he came swinging the bucket back into the kitchen "Corner In!" He said "I don't WHERE I was going!"

I started laughing so hard I thought I was going to wet my pants...and being an almost fifty one year old woman, it doesn't take much. It was a crazy night and every one of us were out of our minds busy, but this one comedic moment made it all okay. Yes, it was busy...but a good laugh always helps and Hoke is quite "The Helper."

Then we have our new female server "Frenchy." If she turns sideways, she disappears. They say I am as thin as her...if this is true I am in dire need of a lard sandwich on heavily buttered Texas toast. When it rains, she could stand under a power line to stay dry. She is the hardest working woman I have ever met. She makes the Latinos at work look like Slackers!

She helps everyone and runs circles around us doing side work. Its nice to know ONE French person that seems to love us Americans!

She and I both worked double shifts today. She came in before I did, so she got off before I did. When she was checking out with Len (the owner) in the office to leave I remarked "Hey, Frenchy, can you clock back in? The dishwasher just ran some more silver through and it needs to be polished." She immediately replied "Oh, jess...I vil be glads to."

Len said to Frenchy, "Tell Kelly to kiss your as#."

I was totally kidding but she would have done it in a heart beat!

It's been a rough week here at the house. It's been a rough week at work. It's just good to still be able to laugh.

"If we couldn't laugh, we would ALL go insane." (Thanks Jimmy Buffet)

Sometimes it's hard to see the bright side of life ... sometimes it just means you aren't looking hard enough. I think I may need to have my eyes checked!

Til next time...Still hanging by a thread, but that's a LOT more than millions of people have to hang on to.

Still counting blessings...COTTON

If We Didn't Laugh We Would All Go Insane

Got home from work last night around 11Pm. Did laundry and blogged til almost 3AM. Got up this morning and went in at noon and got home a little after 10:30PM.

My job isn't always easy...but it is always easy to laugh at work and that makes it easier to do day after day. I was at my old job for over 13 years and found it easy to laugh for about the first 11 years. The last two years, not so much.

It's a bad sign when you cry more than you laugh ... that should have been my first warning. I should have jumped ship before they so coldheartedly pushed me overboard without a life jacket.

Lucky for me I am a strong swimmer. I did the "Dead Man's Float" for a while and then "Dog Paddled" over to my new restaurant. It took a while and after being thrown MANY life preserver's have begun to feel buoyant again.

The new place I work can be insane, but it is a comforting insane. We have a good time and are a pretty close knit family. Of course every family has a crazy Aunt Edna or a whacked out Uncle Earl but that's what makes a family unique and interesting.

Let me just say we have a VERY interesting family at work.

I work usually work nine or ten shifts a week. What makes it easier is that I laugh every chance I get and Earl and Edna give me plenty of material to work with. Sometimes Earl and Edna are fellow employees, sometimes they are the customers but when you work in a restaurant there is always plenty to laugh at.

Jimmy Buffet said it best "If we didn't laugh we would all go insane."

I swear I laughed so much today that I had actual tears in my eyes a couple of times. I worked the day shift with Hoke and that's always a hoot. We are a lot alike in the respect that "You gotta laugh...getting bent outta shape doesn't solve anything and usually works against you."

We have a really sweet new server that just started. She has gotten her butt handed to her several times when we were balls to the walls busy but she just keeps on chugging along. She has a heavy French accent and when she first started I called her "Pepe LePew" (I don't know many French names.) I didn't like that name because Pepe was a male so I tried to remember the name of the female cat Pepe chased, thinking she was a skunk.

Barb helped me out after shaking her head in disgust at me for calling the new girl "Pepe" and said "I believe it was Petunia."

See...I get everybody on board with me! I don't even have to ask, they just like being on "The Cotton Culinary Comedy Cruise" and I don't blame them...it's pretty stinkin' funny (no Pepe Le Pew pun intended...or maybe just a little bit.)

It's so nice to be in a place that I enjoy working and a place that seems to enjoy me working there.

I think I am a hard worker at least I try to be. Believe me, if I wasn't...they would have told me to shut up a LONG time ago.

The new guy (Uncle Earl) is hanging in there and beginning to see the big picture..."It ain't all about you...it's about the team, we all look good together or we all look bad together."

Bless his heart he's young and I can still remember being young like that, but our restaurant ain't no Olive Garden and it's a lot of work given the extensive menu and wine list we offer...but that's what puts us ahead of the game.

The dryer just beeped...signaling that my blogging time is over and my maid service has resumed.

Headed back Monday morning for another double shift (performance) and another two show performance on Tuesday. I am cramming in the shifts so I can be off for Massey's competition this upcoming weekend.

It feels so good to be laughing again.

"If we didn't laugh we would all go insane."

Til next time...COTTON

The Hardest Longest Funniest Satisfying Day

Gees Louise. I have had two days off since October 5th. I am off tomorrow and can't believe that I am still up at 11:53 PM. I usually don't go to bed until at least 2AM. I am a night creature by nature and by profession. I have been in the "waitressing" business since I left college (by their decision) at the age of 21.
I had to work a catering job for my restaurant at 6AM. I fell into bed at 2:30 to be awakened at 4:30 by the absurd beeping of my alarm clock. It is the most annoying and irritating "GET UP" beeping that has ever been programed into an alarm clock and that is why it works.

My car broke down on Monday when I got into the seat to crank it up with NO time to spare. It did NOTHING and luckily my husband was still awake having just arrived home from a 12 hour shift on the loading dock.

He wanted me to help him push it out of the garage and try to jump it off when I screamed at him "I gotta go NOW."

He took me to work (driving  slow as Aunt Bee with Barney as a co pilot) and I just felt like life had once again punched me in my small chest and shoved me down another path of ultimate despair. I worked a straight through double and bummed a ride home. Tuesday my brother in law took me to work and I worked another straight through double shift and bummed yet another ride home.

Wednesday I had to bum a ride at 5:30 in the morning from another server who was working the same catering job I was.He is a pretty new server (see previous Back Street Boy post.)

He was really nice and said he didn't mind picking me up at all. He said to dress warm because his driver side window wouldn't roll up. More good news for me!

Woke up at 4:30 to the sound of wind and rain...not a good sign. I had originally told him I would meet him at the end of our sub division by the MPH sign but after looking outside decided to call him and ask him to come into the subdivision and pick me up at my house.

He pulled into my driveway and I told him not to be offended but I really didn't want to ride shot gun. I opted to sit in back on the driver's side for a little more warmth. He told me there was a blanket there but I said I would be fine wrapped up in my trench coat with a wool lining that my brother gave me for Christmas a few years back. We were ten minutes from my house when I asked him where that blanket was. The rain and wind was freezing me but I was just grateful to have a ride so I buried my hands and feet in the blanket and counted my blessings.

We had to go to Carrollton about 40 minutes from Newnan and missed our turn off on the by pass. He said "I think we went too far" and I agreed. I told him to turn around and he turned down the next street.
He passed the first driveway without turning around in it and then the next. He kept driving slowly in the rain and fog down an isolated street I have never been on and as he rounded the third winding curve I began to think to myself "How well do I really know this guy?' As I started imagining all kind of scenarios (none of them good) I said "You know my kids had a chip implanted in my neck last year for tracking purposes."

He laughed and said he thought the street was a horse shoe and would dump us back out on the by pass. Thank goodness it did and I started to relax in my frozen state. He was right and we continued on our way.

It was pitch black dark and once we hit the Carrollton city limits we got lost again. He pulled into a gas station to ask a man pumping gas into his truck for directions. The man gave the most confusing long winded and unhelpful directions I have ever heard. After about three minutes of his rambling, my co worker said to him "I'm not going to be able to remember any of that." I told my co worker just to ask where I-20 was and the ole geezer said pointing up the road "Right up ere."

So we drove right up "ere" and there it was!

When we finally found the place and pulled in (wind and rain still blowing in my face) we parked. I told Billy (my co worker) "Be sure to lock the doors when we get out." He gave me a look like "Har dee har har" but at least we had made our destination.

It was conference for a large corporation..260 people. We quickly changed into our catering shirts and with my feet still numb from the ride began the breakfast shift. We had biscuits with ham and biscuits with chicken, fresh pineapple, blueberries, cantaloupe and honey dew melon. There were croissants, orange juice, cranberry juice and coffee.

After breakfast they began their conference in the ball room and we all broke down the breakfast, cleaned up and prepared for lunch. In the main lobby we had a snack table set up for their breaks...power bars, fresh fruit, water bottles and sodas. The woman organizing the entire affair wanted someone at all times at the snack table. This conference was held on a college campus and she didn't want students strolling though the lobby thinking all this was laid out for them. I went to guard the snacks and my ride to the event (who said he felt like he had been  Hoke driving Miss Daisy) kept me company. The college we were at took full advantage of having 260 people at their school and set up a table right next to our "Snack stand." They had phamplets about their school and little give a way goodies on the table (which they left un occupied.) My  buddy and I picked up one of the chap sticks they had, hand sanitizers and ink pens to keep. My buddy showed me a great notepad he had gotten and I was dismayed that I had missed that give a way. He said they had a box of them under the table so I told "Hoke" to go get me one. Of course he got me one and we enjoyed our stint of shooing away college students and having a little time to just relax after our adventurous trip to the campus.

About twenty minutes later another co worker showed up to relieve us of our duty. We showed him our goodies and my buddy said "Don't you want one of these neat notebooks?' They were the perfect size for an order pad that we could use at the restaurant. Our co worker is one of the nicest most sincere people you could ever meet. He was a little apprehensive about the notebook but my buddy said "No...they are right here under this table...TAKE one." As my buddy handed him one, he looked around to make sure no one was looking and tucked it away under OUR table.

When my buddy and I resumed our watch at the "Snack table" we dug out the notebook we had forced on our friend and opened it to the first page and wrote "This notebook was stolen by Leonard **********." I bet we laughed for fifteen minutes over THAT one!

It was a hard job and  lots of work to do but I haven't laughed that much in a while. From wondering if my co worker was driving me down a road to meet Jeffery Dalhmer's cousin to meeting the guy at the gas station who told us every relative he knew who lived in the path of his directions to ratting out our friend who we had FORCED to take the note pad.

Luckily we all got to eat left over food and I am here to tell you it was the best eating I have had in a while.
I had to be back at the restaurant for a 4:30 shift and ole HOKE drove me back.  Once at the store I was thirty minutes early for my shift and crashed on a booth in the back of the store for a quick nap.

Got me a new order pad...got me some chap stick. Also took home TONS of left over food from the catering. The above pic is of all the food in my refrigerator that my family has been living off of for the past two days.

I am broke..WE are broke, but somehow we make it through. Somehow I always find something to laugh at and some way to make life laughable if nothing else.

I told my buddy as he dumped me back at work for my third double in a row "Hoke, you're my BEST friend."

At Least It Was Entertaining...

Worked Brunch today and had a good shift. We have an awesome brunch...Frittatas and Omelets, Eggs Benedict ,  French Toast and fresh Blueberry Pancakes to name a few .
I had a thirty minute break and came back on for the dinner shift.

Unfortunately it was really slow but that's just the way it is as a server. Some shifts are Phat and some shifts are Flat, you just hope that it all averages out to your benefit at the end of the week.

Everyone that worked Brunch was a double except "Olive Oyl" so it was the same team all day and night. I worked with Thelma, Pink Panther, Dr. Evil, Quick Draw and Baba Booey, Andy Capp and a couple of team members that I haven't named yet. Tonight I added one more to the list...we christened the "new guy."

He looks like one of the Back Street Boys...after googling them I discovered it was Kevin Richardson (see above photo.) He is a really nice guy, very laid back, making him the perfect target in my"sarcastic sight."

It's really hard when you start at our restaurant. The menu is huge and varied and the wine list goes on for days. Learning a new computer system is never easy and finding out how to modify and send items correctly to the kitchen is a daily process of trial and error.

I came out of the kitchen tonight and our new guy was standing at the computer screen staring intently and talking quietly to it. I asked him who he was talking to and he chuckled softly. I said " What are you doing, trying to Skype?" We had a good laugh (it's best to just laugh when you are trapped in my "sight.") When we walked back into the kitchen I picked up a pepper mill and held it briefly to my ear before handing it to him and saying "It's for you." I told him his new nickname could be 'Skype.'

Then not ten minutes later he asked me who had table 306?  We don't even HAVE a table 306...so I quipped "I'm not sure who's table that is but table one o twelve is mine." (we don't have a one o twelve either) The bartender (Thelma) told him to go get a bucket from the back and sit down and take a break .

Thelma and I don't let up when we get on a roll. It was slow and we needed some entertainment and ole "Skype" fit the bill perfectly.

We also had a new young hostess working. She is a senior in high school and is a tiny little slip of a thing...she makes ME look overweight. When the phone rings at the hostess stand it makes her jump...she seems to be a little skittish over answering the phone. I was up front tonight talking with her and the owner (Dr. Evil.) She said she couldn't wait to try some of the food on our menu. I told her she should order some food . She said she didn't have any money so I  said "Len (the owner) will buy you some food...try the Lamb." Our New Zealand Rack of Lamb is $36.99.

Len told me to shut up and go away.

So I really didn't make any money but I laughed all night....that's a good shift if you ask me!

We are conflicted on the new guy's nickname but I think "Skype" might stick. I'll have to hand it to him, he takes it all in stride and laughs along with us.

 We are a dysfunctional but loving bunch. When it's  busy as a beehive we all work together and help each other out. When it's slow we laugh together. It is wonderful place I have landed...it's not only a job but a family and they have welcomed me as one of the team and I couldn't have found a better team to be a part of.

Tomorrow starts another week and it's nice to not dread going into work. School is out on Monday and Tuesday so my kids get a break and hopefully it will bring out the "Eaters."
Til next time...COTTON the Entertainer

Cartoon Net "Work" Part Too !

No one at work seemed upset with my last post about the cartoon net"work" I work in so I'll charge ahead with some I left out the first go 'round. To the left is my friend the dishwasher. She helps out also with the food prep and has a voice that reminds me so much of Charo that I expect her to say "coochie coochie" at any given time. Not to mention she always has plenty of make up and lip stick on and platinum blond hair.

Let's move on the man that started this all for me. He looks so much like John Belushi when he starred in Animal House that it isn't even remotely funny. His disposition is the same...his demeanor is the same and the first time I asked him for a side of potatoes I thought he would deliver them to me the same way John Belushi did in Animal House. I thought he would pound both of his cheeks with his fists and spew them at me like "Here's your taters biotch."

Let's move on to another server that I love to death but who will most certainly want to kill me when I assign her likeness to Olive Oyl. She is tall, definitely slim and has jet black hair. Hey!! At least she works in an Italian restaurant...hence "Olive Oyl" can translate easily into the scheme of things.

Next up are the two cute female bartenders that are best friends and women that are truly and justly feared by their husbands (Smart men.) They make Thelma and Louise look like "Betty and Wilma" with a "Lucy and Ethel" twist.

We have a new cook. I have never seen him with his cap off, it is always the same cap and seems to be stitched onto his head. He is quiet and very efficient and a great addition to our team. I have seen him twice outside of work and he STILL had that very same cap on.

Back to our fearless leader. I had to admit to my good friend who is the owner's son that he was pretty dead on with the Mr. Magoo for his dad so I thought I would give the boss man another shout out here.

Thank the Lord he is like my husband and doesn't read my blog...but like I say "If the cartoon fits..."

I absolutely love my new job and the cartoon characters I work with. Come in to eat with me and see how many people you can match with their cartoon counter parts...AND have a great meal while you are there!

Til next time"Tooned In" COTTON

A Good LONG Day

This top picture is of Danielle and her wonderful Aunt Amy at the party today for Danielle finishing therapy at the Sheperd Center. We had a nice turnout, about twenty people came and there were another twenty people that were already there working. We had tons of good food and friends that all had one common interest..."Supporting Danielle." These are some random shots...the first one is Danielle with her FABULOUS Aunt Amy. The second is of Larry...one of her BFF's and Morgan a fellow hostess.

The third is one of us all cramming down the food and just socializing.

The next is me and Jen "D" a fellow server who transferred from a Florida sister restaurant after a hurricane and has slipped right into our little niche perfectly.

The pics aren't too good, my son Zach made them and I told him after viewing them he was fired...but you get the gist. It was a good turn out of good friends of Danielle. This girl has come from a near death experience and made it back in a miraculous manner. "She is WOMAN hear her ROAR."

Getting to know and love this young girl has been an amazing journey for me and one that I am grateful I joined.

She has had a tremendous support team and her Aunt wins the Gold Medal in my book. An incredible woman that has been Dani's surrogate mom ...my sister would do the same for my kids (God bless sisters.)

It was a good day...and I needed one.

Day fifteen of working and six more to go. Giving Danielle something to smile about will make those upcoming days seem easier...think about what SHE has been through.

I added a small video (I found out how to upload again, Amy) and it is just a glimpse of the people that have supported, visited and loved Danielle along her journey back to us and back to herself.

WELCOME BACK GIRL, WE MISSED YOU !!!

Update on Dani

I thought I would give you an update on my co worker who was in a devastating car accident. She has battled back like the warrior she has thoroughly proved herself to be.

Ya know, when I first started writing about her "co worker" seemed the appropriate term. As I have gotten to know her better and gotten to know her wonderful family and support system... "friend" seems much more appropriate and accurate.

She came into the restaurant to see me just the other day and brought her mom with her who is visiting from Michigan. It was the first time I had met her mother and they looked like sisters standing there. Dani brought me a sweet card to thank me for visiting her in the hospital...TOTALLY unnecessary but thoughtful just like the young girl who handed it to me.

She is almost through with her out patient therapy and has made BEYOND amazing progress.

Getting to know this young girl , her friends and family has been a really touching and eye opening experience. You know the saying..."Only by the grace of God..."

You never know what the next minute in life may bring or if you are even going to have that next minute.

This girl knows that now...this girl LIVES that now.

As you can see if you click on the photo of the vehicle she was sitting in the passenger seat of when the wreck happened, it is a miracle she survived at all.

But survive she did... and thrive she will. Her personality is slowly returning to the young girl I remember before the wreck and the glow in her face has returned as well.

In her delirious state early on in the Sheperd Center...she talked on and on and on about the "Sham Wow." Don't ask me why, I guess infomercials work really well when you are in traction, casts, body braces and awake all night with only a TV for company.

Anyway, Massey and I bought her one and took it to her in the hospital. You would have thought I took her a pair of diamond earrings! I have posted a pic of me and her with the coveted "Sham Wow" as well.

The last picture is where the first of this story began. In a hospital bed clinging to life.

Obviously my girl is a "CLINGER."

She hung on, she maintained and made the best of her daily changing prognosis and outlook...sometimes it was bleak...sometimes it was dim...but she gave it her all and God has rewarded her with a miracle in my book.

It has been a true blessing for me, getting to know her AND her courage... and for her to consider this ole broad a friend (I hope people don't think I'm her Grandma) although I would be pleased as pop to have a grand daughter as great as her one day (WAY on down the road.)

She has had a couple of minor set backs and has some problems with having been intubated for such a long period of time...but mark my words (not really my words BUT Danielle is WAY too young to remember this show) it just seems so fitting...

"WHO CAN TURN THE WORLD ON WITH HER SMILE

WHO CAN TAKE A NOTHING DAY AND SUDDENLY MAKE IT ALL SEEM OKAY

WELL IT'S YOU GIRL AND YOU SHOULD KNOW IT

WITH EACH GLANCE AND EVERY LITTLE MOMENT YOU SHOW IT

LOVE IS ALL AROUND , NO NEED TO WASTE IT

YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL, WHY DON'T YOU TAKE IT

YOU'RE GONNA MAKE IT AFTER ALL

YOU'RE GONNA MAKE IT AFTER ALL."

Til Next time...COTTON

Raindrops on Roses and Big Fat Wide Faces

These are a few of my favorite things.

The top picture is of course my daughter (with the big fat wide face.) The next picture is one of my dearest friends in the world, the girl on the right (with the big fat wide face.)

They both know they have big fat wide faces...it is both of their best features. I say this with all the love in my heart and soul. These are two of my most prized and dearest friends; My daughter and (let's call her "Terri" for this post.) I met Massey 14 years ago when she came into this world over two months early and almost killed me with an emergency C section and I met 'Terri' twelve years ago when I started at my restaurant. They both have incredibly curly hair, wide honest shining faces (well Terri's usually shines from hot flashes, but it still shines.)
They both have a heart as wide as their face and a soul that has unending depth.

I kid them both relentlessly because they look like twins separated by 36 years...dang that was a LONG labor!

They both wear those cute glasses shaped exactly the same way, they both give and give and you never see either of them in a bad mood... except for Massey when I harp on her cleaning her room and Terri when her meds aren't working :)

When Massey was younger and I would bring her to the restaurant, many people would ask Terri if she was her daughter.

Terri WOULD step in as Massey's mother in a heartbeat if she had to, or if anything ever happened to me and I know this for a fact. She would do anything for me or my girl.

I torment Terri at work on a daily basis and I truly don't know who enjoys it more, me or her?!

She is an awesome person...one I have been lucky enough to come to know and love and one that Massey ADORES.

They both have a mass of thick curly, unruly hair that neither of them know what to do with, they both have a golden heart... and they both love each other and both love me. How lucky can I be?

When I work the day shift with her, she will always let me stay late and let herself be cut from the floor just so I can make extra money. She will take my bank deposit for me on her way home and has even offered to put more money than I give her in my account (she knows how I bank.)

The last time I asked her to make a deposit, she hadn't been in a while and I didn't have any deposit slips so I wrote my account # down for her and asked her to just fill out a deposit slip when she got there. No problem! She didn't mind at all. She said she was going to her mom's house and was there a branch in downtown Newnan? I told her yes, right on the town square.

She called me later after I got home and was cooking dinner. She told me that she made my deposit for me..after going to the wrong bank first and filling out a slip with my account # on it and them telling her I didn't have an account with them. She asked them to check again and they did. They asked if maybe it was a business account and she said "maybe."

She finally asked ..."This IS Bank of ------" isn't it?" They replied "No , this is Bank of America."
She was across the street from my bank...but HEY, she was within walking distance and that's pretty close!

She is also pretty OCD (I wish Massey had THAT in common with her) she keeps all of her things at work in perfect order and EVERYTHING has to be in it's proper place. She keeps her little "Massey" glasses by the service bar so that she can read tickets when she has to.

One day, I went to the hostess stand and got the grease pencil that they use to mark tables on the floor plan and blacked out both lenses of her specks while she wasn't looking. Then I got some check from a table and asked her if she could read the numbers off to me.

She trotted over to her "Shelf of personal items" and retrieved her specks and put them on.

I think she initially thought she was having a stroke. Both lenses were blacked out and I think she thought her time had come. She moved her head back and forward with no improvement in her vision and finally took the glasses off to see if the room was still there, even if it was fuzzy it would be an improvement.

We all laughed so hard...she laughed even harder. She still brings that up from time to time.

I love both these girls...my Massey for the obvious and my Terri for loving me even though I am rotten.

Good friends make all the difference in a day and all the difference in your life. Thank the Lord I have such good ones.

Til next time...Rotten Cotton

Day Four...Two More To Go

Just got off the phone with Massey. The weather finally broke and they got to have their bon fire. It has rained on them the past two days and several of the scheduled activities have had to be rescheduled . The food still sucks she tells me...the turkey tetrazini for lunch looked like dog barf (bless her pea picking heart).

Tonight was the night for the senior pranks and she is washing the ice cream toppings and whip cream out of her hair as I type this post. With her massive thick curly hair...it is no easy feat. She acts like she is complaining but I know she is loving every minute of it.

The band program at her school is huge. They have a tractor trailer painted in the school colors with the Indian mascot painted down the side. They took it with them to camp, along with the three golf carts and ATV that they use while there. They have posted over 600 pictures on the band web site since they have been there and it is fun to look at all the pictures. I wish I could have afforded to take off a week from work and go as a chaperone. Maybe next year.

Instead I stayed at home to work. My luck ran out on my clever banking skills, and now I am in the hole. Obviously the treasurer for the band stayed home because they shoved my check for her dues right on through my account. Now I have paid her next payment of $220.00 for her dues plus a $36.00 check charge. It's my own fault though...now you know why my husband won't bank with me. My husband would croak if he knew or read my blog. "What happens in my account Stays in my my account" is my motto.

I will be caught up again in a couple of shifts at work and no one in my house will be the wiser.

In situations like this I have the opportunity to go into work with the mind set that I will MAKE every customer love me and their meal and almost mentally will them to leave me a fat tip.

It pretty much worked tonight. I did well and it was a slow night.

When I first go in, I am the only server on the floor for the first 30 to 45 minutes. I try to make that count in my favor.

Today a new hire was doing his manager spiel. When the new hires get through training they have to wait on the manager as if they were an actual customer and get critiqued by the manager and another key employee.

The guy (who I had not trained) came up to me and said he needed a table visit. That is when something goes wrong at a table and you get a manager to go try to diffuse the problem. He said I was the closest thing to a manager he could find and would I mind going to the table. I asked what the problem was and he said he hadn't put the proper brown sugar coating on the rum spiced ribs and that they didn't have enough BBQ sauce. The managers sometimes just tend to push the limits to see how a new server reacts to problems at a table and how well they try to make a good recovery.

I hadn't even realized the server was doing his food review with management because I was busy waiting on my own six or seven tables and was training a new guy to boot.

I told him I would be glad to go by, and approached the table. I told the manager ( who was posing as a guest) that I was truly sorry he didn't have everything served or presented properly and that after correcting the problem, we would send the cook back to Mexico and fire the new guy.

Luckily the manager was in a good mood and laughed at my feeble joke. All that really matters is that the new hire knew when something goes wrong at a table, get a manager involved immediately before things escalate to a point where we can't make a good recovery and keep the guest happy.

It isn't easy being a good server. Being a server is easy enough, but to be a good server takes a lot of patience and a lot of psychology and knowledge of the product you are pushing.

I remember eating at a new restaurant once... when I ordered the house salad with the house dressing, it was delightfully delicious. I asked my VERY young server what was in the house dressing and he replied "Ya know, they are just CRAZY back there when they are mixin' all that stuff up."

What in the heck kind of answer is that? He would have been better off winging it with his own made up version of a recipe than to tell me they were just CRAZY back in that kitchen while they were mixin' stuff.

It made me think maybe they had a meth lab back there as well.

All in all a good day. Massey is still having fun at camp, she comes home day after tomorrow, I am now $120.00 closer to being back in the black and luckily when I walk out of work tomorrow night, I will walk out with another paycheck. "CHA CHING!!"

A Good Day

Just got home from the Sheperd Center, visiting a friend.

She was much better today and has obviously developed a talent for cursing! I made this comment to her...number one because I have never heard her curse and number two because I felt she NEEDED to curse.

She feels lost in a jumble of feelings... memories and pain.

I harassed two other servers into going to the hospital as well and we all sat around and laughed and talked. Many times my friend lapsed into repetitiveness and mentioned the same thing over and over, but we all acted like it was the first time we had heard it and even knew the ending to the story she was telling and had time to find a new and different response.

What is important here is that we are helping fill in the gaps she seems to be having. She is aware that she has a brain injury...I told her that the fact that she KNOWS she has a brain injury is a good sign. If it was That severe she wouldn't even know it.

It will be a long road to recovery. It may be that she makes a full one...that is what we are praying for.

It may be that she comes back a little different. We will have our friend back, but it may be a new friend that we all have to get to know again.

She sometimes gets agitated and begins to feel anger (who wouldn't) but then a minute later is the old demure friend that is just happy we are there.

What is important ...in my opinion (not exactly professional) is that we support this girl, go see this girl...and pray for this girl.

I was working at lunch today when I waited on a table ... a young woman with a two year old in a high chair. She told me she was my friend's aunt...the woman my friend was living with when she had her accident. It felt so good to hug her neck.

I expected her to be a dowdy mole faced "AUNTIE" . I guess that's what happens when you are almost fifty and hear someone say they are living with their aunt.

Not the case here....a beautiful young woman with a little boy so full of life it seemed he wanted to jump out of his highchair and begin to rule the world at that exact minute. (Good luck when he is seventeen...read previous posts).

Her gratitude amazed me. "Ole Auntie" Thank you very much.

It has been an experience. I had never been to the Sheperd Center before this accident. When I went the first day I was guided to the "GYM" aka the dining hall. It almost broke my heart. There were people there that I knew without any training...were at their peak.

They are in wheelchairs, they are paralyzed...they are just existing.

My friend has an outlook that I feel good about. She may not be the same ole friend...but she will be mobile, she will walk out of this center a person that can cope.

I find myself ready to stay friends with the people that are left at the Sheperd Center. It has touched me the way that nurses recognize me from bringing them chili dogs from the Varsity. The way the security guy remembers me bringing him fried pies, the way that they treat their patients. They genuinely care about our loved ones and give them the great respect that they deserve.

I have my weekend all mapped out. A trip to Crawford Long to visit my distant cousin and a visit back to my young friend...she is starting to be a hoot as she recovers her capacities.

She is getting downright "Ballsy".

That is what I like to see. To lay down and give up is an awful thing...to protest... want to move on and advance is a sign of improvement in my mind.

I have GOT to get my friend a "SHAM WOW". She talked about it for thirty minutes today. I guess she wants to give the entire unit at Sheperd a thorough cleaning or that is the last thing that has stuck in her head. Either way my fourteen year old daughter told me that our next door neighbor has bought one and they are pretty amazing. If all it takes is a Sham wow and a hot dog from the Varsity to make her happy...in the words of Emerill...BAM!!

I think we just kicked it up a notch.

Just Do It

Went to work today and everyone wanted to know about our co worker who is in the Sheperd Center.

If you want to know...she is not in Florida anymore. She is forty minutes away from you in downtown Atlanta, sitting in a wheelchair waiting for a familiar face to walk in.

My father's cousin (in her seventies) who I went to see yesterday as well in a neighboring hospital...is more in control of her faculties than our 21 year old co worker.

Had this have happened to any other employee...she would be the first person to walk in the hospital room with a bunch of balloons and a smile on her face.

Instead she is forty minutes away from almost 100 people that work with her...and hundreds and hundreds of miles away from her home in Michigan.

I know that several co workers are planning to go see her...but "DO IT NOW."

At the most it will take two hours out of your day.

She needs to have recent friends and co workers jog her memory. It took me about fifteen minutes to get through to her...but I DID.

I have a son two years older than her and he is a nightmare to us sometimes with his stories, reasons and explanations...but he can run a mile in no time, can swim like a fish and seems like he could be a Rhodes Scholar (not happening, but he COULD).

This 21 year old girl is sitting waiting for another therapy session. She is battling to make herself whole again...and people can't even be bothered to drive into the city to see her.

I think my guilt is working at work!

I hope it does. With an outpouring of familiar faces and conversations that can maybe help her remember some of the recent past, she may be helped . If she isn't...YOU will be.

DO THE RIGHT THING .

I hope with my ranting that my co workers will go see this young girl who was ready to take the world by the tail three weeks ago... I found her yesterday sitting in a wheelchair waiting on one of US to come by.

Massey and the "BUBBLE" of Life

When I got off from my lunch shift I went home and picked up Massey and we headed into downtown Atlanta.

My father's cousin, Frances had a triple bypass and two other operations within the past week. She looks GREAT! Still as sharp as ever and in great spirits. Her niece (I believe) was there with her and was a pleasure to finally meet. She acted as if she had known us all of her life and made us feel right at home. The hospital seems to be giving Frances excellent care and I was amazed at how good she looked and seemed to feel. Not one complaint came out of her mouth the entire visit. I think a good mind set is some of the greatest medicine there is, therefore Frances is well on the road to a full recovery. Massey and I both promised to come see her when she is moved to a rehabilitation home here on the south side and told her to let us know anytime she needed anything.

After that we drove on up Peachtree to the Sheperd Center. A young girl who works with me was in a car wreck driving to Tampa to visit friends. She was temporarily paralyzed on the left side of her body. The wreck was over three weeks ago and she has just been moved to the Sheperd Center. She was in the recreation room when we got there. She was sitting by herself at a table in her wheelchair, waiting for her dinner.

When you walk into a recreation room at the Sheperd Center, you immediately realize how very lucky you are. It is at BEST heart breaking. Young kids, teenagers and adults all facing tremendous challenges and obstacles. The staff is incredible and I know that she is in the right place, it just breaks my heart that she has to be there at all. Security is really tight, you have to sign in with security before even going up to the floors. I know that it is a great facility and she is in excellent and caring hands.

She seemed not to really recognize me at first...so I jokingly said "Hey, It's me... KELLY from work!" She weakly said "hey." When I quickly recovered from the shock of seeing such a spirited and vivacious 21 year old sitting in a wheelchair, I plowed right on talking (because that's what I do) and she seemed to come around. It just takes a few seconds for her to absorb and process information and I really do talk too fast. I told her all the work gossip and caught her up on things. She started to perk up and I could see the old her coming out. They placed her dinner in front of her and we watched her pick at her macaroni and cheese and totally avoid the lame piece of broiled fish. I told her Massey and I were going to the Varsity to eat, and we could bring her back something.

Massey and I were even MORE shocked to hear that this poor girl had never eaten at the Varsity!! It is almost criminal to live in Atlanta and NOT eat at the Varsity. I told her what all they had and she said she liked hot dogs. I told her about their great onion rings and famous "PC" (plain chocolate) ....the best chocolate milk I have ever had. She seemed up for it so I headed back to the nurse's station to see if it would be okay to bring her back some food. The nurse said she had her feeding tube out now and was on a regular diet. I told her I was going to the Varsity...I wouldn't call it's food a regular diet, but the nurse said it would be okay. Another nurse perked up and said how she loved their hot dogs. Another asked if they still had F.O.s (frosted orange) I told her they did and we would bring them chili dogs and an F.O as well.

We headed back down to security , asking the guard if we had to sign out if we were just going to get a patient some food. He said we did and I told him we were just going back down Peachtree St. to the Varsity. He said he liked naked dogs. That is the terminology used at the Varsity for a plain hot dog. I told him we were getting the nurses some and we would get him one too (they are only $1.84). In 'Varsity speak' I said "One naked dog walking." At the Varsity that means one plain hot dog to go. He said quickly, "You know, don't even bother to sign out, just go on and go...and don't you DARE get me a peach pie." The Varsity is famous for their fried pies as well.

Massey and I scooted back down Peachtree St. to the Varsity and ate in the car..."The World's Largest Drive In" (another fun fact about the Varsity.)

We had the NICEST car hop . A friendly smiling guy that just catered to us like we were sitting at a table for two in The Four Seasons. After he took our order, Massey said "He is my favorite here...we should always ask for him."

When he came back with our huge to go bag for the Sheperd Center, I paid and gave him an $8.00 tip.

You would have thought I had just handed this man a hundred dollar bill. I mean with me and Massey eating and food for the patient, the nurses and the security guard (don't you know we bought him that peach pie) the tab was around $37.00. I had bought my son and husband a couple of dogs and onion rings as well to take home. Dang though, I fed eight or nine people for $37.00. Not bad, and it made me feel good. I always tip at least 20%...it is in my blood, especially when they make an effort to be nice. The crappy servers even get 15% from me...just to make them think "Hey, how much would she have left me if I had really tried?"

So we trudged back up Peachtree again with our Meals on Wheels.

The security guard had a replacement. He said the other had just stepped away for a minute, so I left his naked dog and peach pie with his partner.

The nurses couldn't believe it when we walked in with their chili dogs and F.O.

One of the nurses said we were her new best friends. I don't know if you have ever heard of the Sheperd Spinal Center in Atlanta, but it is a highly respected facility. Christopher Reeve went there after his accident. These doctors, nurses and therapists do some amazing things for their patients. If a hot dog from the Varsity makes them smile, I say my buying them a chili dog is tiny compared to what they do for these patients every day .

Finally we came back to my friend's room.

My friend liked the hot dog...scarfed it down in a New York minute, I held her chocolate milk to her lips with a straw and could see how good it tasted to her. We fed her onion rings and fries and gave her a napkin to wipe off her Varsity lip gloss. (Everything is greasy at the Varsity...in a good way if you ask me)

People have done so much for me over the past few months that it made me feel good to do something for someone else for a change.

Massey made the comment when we were first driving to Atlanta early this afternoon...she had a theory that her best friend's cousin proposed while in Myrtle Beach .

God and love are like a bubble. Some people have the bubble so tight around their body that you don't even notice it is there. Some people have a big enough bubble that you can actually see it. Some people's bubble is so huge that it covers them and everyone around.

On the way home in a beautiful twilight driving through downtown Atlanta (a really fabulous city) my daughter remarked that she felt like our bubble was pretty big right now. She said we visited Frances, met her niece and hopefully made them feel better, went to see my friend and made her feel better, met the nicest car hop (in her words "He was AMAZING") made his day giving him a well deserved great tip...made the security guard happy (when we left the Sheperd Center, we bumped into him coming around a corner with the hot dog stuffed in his mouth, carrying his peach pie on a plate) we made the nurses almost giddy...they were also cramming food in their mouths at the nurses station when we left and all smiled and thanked us.

Massey and I are going back to visit both our friends later this week. This time all the grease will go to Crawford Long Hospital for Frances' relatives who are staying with her. Sorry Frances, but after a triple bypass...I don't think the Varsity would help you ...it would probably give you those three extra years of age I gave you in a past blog and possibly a clog. Maybe I will bring you an "F.O" how bad can a frozen orange drink be, even from the Varsity?

My bubble does seem to feel bigger and feels easier to breathe in.

My daughter can really know how to make me look at the big picture and see the beauty.

PAY IT FORWARD...a motto to live by.

Frances is doing amazingly well, despite being in her sixties (you're welcome Frances) on the road to a full recovery I am sure and has a great support group of family and friends. "A tough ole bird" as we say in the south...no dissing intended...in the south that is a true compliment to a strong willed... minded... and independent woman.

My co worker is in one of the greatest facilities in the nation and I happen to be lucky enough to live outside of that city and can go see her often.

All in all...a good day for me and one that made me realize once again how truly lucky I really am .