Minimum wage went up to $7.25 this week. I have no problem with people making more money, but I do have a problem with people collecting a check for talking/texting on the cellphone. At the suggestion of another blogger I have tried the pina colada slushy (white coconut w/pineapple) at Sonic-Yummy! While traveling on Friday I went out of my way to get my new favorite drink. Since I was only ordering a drink I chose to go thru the drive-thru. Upon driving up I saw only one other customer in line. After the other customer placed her order I place my order and we waited, waited, waited(about 7-8 minutes). As I waited at the window I noticed an employee in the kitchen texting (he continued this as long as I waited). Then the lady in front of me received her order- a slushy. I continued to wait. Finally, an employee with a really disgusted look on her face delivers my .79 cent slushy. I asked her if I could speak to the manager. She went inside and out comes a guy looking as if he slept in his clothes. He approaches my car and I proceed to tell him I think 7-8 minutes is too long to wait for a .79 cent slushy. I also mentioned things might go a little faster if employees getting paid $7.25 an hour weren't standing around texting while customers wait. His only comment "did you get your slushy". Guess he isn't paying the bills. I responded, "Yes, but that isn't the point". In order to earn $7.25 an hour one would need to make a profit of .60 cent every five minutes to earn his/her pay. I've decided to not stand for poor customer service and contacted Sonic's corporate headquarters.
Other poor customer service recently- Macy's- nobody to assist when attempting to purchase clothing, but employee asked me to make a special call and comment on her excellent customer service skills when I purchased a $5.00 broach after helping myself- Do these people work on commission anymore.-Not going back to Macy's- Contacting them about their salespeople's tacky tactics to get good service rating.
Excellent customer service- Dillards- very nice lady assisted me as I tried on clothing, place items in a dressing room as I looked, assisted me as I tried on clothing and held items until I was ready to purchase. Will go back to Dillards.
I have fond memories of participating in church youth group during middle and high school. On many occassions I have reminisced about the gourmet suppers our mothers would prepare. Many youth groups feast on pizza, subs, burgers and chips, but our group was fed by the best group of moms. One of my favorite items was the BBQ'd Hotdogs prepared by Mrs. Becky.
Several years ago I stopped by to see Mrs. Becky. She was preparing for a visit to her son later that day and was preparing BBQ'd Hotdogs. Her son is a trained chef. This is truly one of those comfort foods for me as well as others.
A quick vocabulary lesson for those of you not from the south. In the south, BBQ is slow cooked pork. The gas or charcoal fueled cooking apparatus we use is referred to as a "grill". Any item referred to as BBQ'd has not necessarily been cooked on a grill, but instead has been coated in sweet, tangy BBQ sauce. This is the case with the following recipe.
Mrs. Becky's BBQ'd Hotdogs
package uncooked hotdogs
small onion sliced
1 TBSP butter
1/2 cup catsup
1/2 cup water
1 TBSP brown sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 TBSP worcestershire
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp hot sauce
Make diagonal slits across hot dogs. Saute onion in butter. Add onions to remaining ingredients and stir. Place hotdogs in a rectagular pyrex dish. Pour BBQ sauce mixture over hotdogs. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Place hotdogs in buns and spoon sauce over hotdogs.
I'm sure some will be startled by the title of this book, but you shouldn't be so quick to judge. Christie Mellor writes a very funny and practical guide to parenting. The "martini" references are very humorous, but meant to stress the importance of being a more relaxed parent even though the author provides a few drink recipes. We have allowed society to make parenting much more stressful than it should be. I must admit I have stressed myself out at times worrying about very insignficant details. Some of my favorite chapters from the book: the childproof house, children's birthday parties, self esteem and other overrated concepts, and your child's eighty hour work week. I have also purchased The Three-Martini Family Vacation (don't we all need a few) by Mellor. I'll be glad to loan out my copies, but the books can also be purchased on Amazon.
This is a very startling confession from an all-American mom: We don't own a Wii, nor do we plan on buying one anytime soon. I'm not anti-video games, but I do believe they are addictive. My son has a Playstation 2 (don't think they make them anymore). We purchase the games for it at GameStop and Play-n-trade because they are used and very cheap. He is only allowed to purchase sports games. The playstation is available on rainy days and sometimes on hot days for no more than 30 minutes. He also has a Nintendo DS for long trips, but usually forgets it. Recently, he has inquired about getting a Wii and I said no!
During the last year, I introduced my children to bowling. My grandparents always played church league. I have very found memories of youth group trips to the bowling alley (not politically correct these days- now it is called a center). On our recent summer vacation our family and another family competed in the first annual beach bowling tournament. They have really gotten interested in the sport.
Last night my son told me he could make a bowling game with plastic cups and a ball. This morning my two kids got out the plastic cups and started playing. They have played all day. The game is allowing them to play cooperatively, learn new vocabulary, and a little math without help from anyone.
Next time you think you have deprived your child because you didn't buy them the newest gadget- think again. My children have gotten a great deal of satisfaction from their homemade bowling game. A bored mind will become a creative mind if time is allowed.
While growing in the deep south, I have eaten my fair share of grits. Many restaurants serve overcooked, sticky grits without a lot of taste. Most don't even serve HOT GRITS.
For years my Daddy woke up early every Thursday morning to cook breakfast for the men at our local church. He perfected all of his breakfast dishes, but my favorite is still his grits. My sister and I always look forward to a breakfast cooked by our Daddy. He is always assigned "grits duty" for Christmas Brunch at my house.
He has really perfected his grits recipe and I just wanted to share it on this blog. Daddy has never measured anything, but I have practiced enough to make good estimates.
Recipe for 4 servings
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup grits
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup milk (makes grits very creamy)
Optional: pepper to taste
Bring chicken broth and water to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in the grits, salt and garlic powder. Cover and simmer over low heat for 5 to 6 minutes, continue to stir. Add cheese, stir. Just before serving stir in milk. SERVE HOT! Garnishing options- crumbled bacon or shredded cheese.
While eating breakfast and reading the newspaper, I came across an article about the new words we will find in the dictionary as of this year. I will attempt to use and define a few as I post today.
My staycation (vacation at home) began with stripping three beds and washing the sheets along with three other loads of laundry. I also made 3lbs of pimento cheese for a friend's beach trip.
Life in a small southern town is always fun as well as unusual. My daughter and I went to the WIC office to buy fresh produce. I'm sure my frenemies (friends that are really your enemies-thank Paris, Heidi and Spencer for this one) will love this little detail. I normally buy fresh produce at our downtown farmers' market open on Saturday. The only problem is you have to camp out to get the good stuff. Fresh tomatoes are as hot as Hannah Montana tickets. Well, I have discovered the best kept secret in town- cash customers can shop at the WIC office the day before the farmers' market. We left with a bag of cucumbers and peaches. Got my tomatoes from a friend for making pimento cheese for her trip.
Upon returning home I continued my laundry. I could create lots of green collar (helping the environment- I'm sure Al Gore came up w/this one) jobs if I could come up with a way to turn dryer lint into fuel. I also made a peach pound cake (recipe follows) with my peaches. Staycations are beneficial, but not nearly as good as a vacation. Maybe a fruity drink w/umbrella would have made it even better. Look foward to farmer's market tomorrow- squash. My friend Amber at The Dowdy's Doings is going to post a great squash casserole recipe.
1 cup butter- softened
6 eggs
3 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups peeled, chopped fresh peachs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan and set aside. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition. Combine flour, soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Mix together sour cream and peaches. Add dry ingredients to sugar/butter/egg mixture and mix. Add vanilla and almond. Fold in peach mixture. Pour into pan and bake for 75-80 minutes. (Secret---I cut up peaches ahead and soaked in 1/4 cup peach schnapps and 1/8 cup sugar)---As my friend, Amber says, "so good you wanna hurt somebody".
Can't wait until Saturday. The family is headed to the city for a day of shopping. At the top of my list is a new sewing machine and fabric (so domestic). Old machine blew up because I sewed on it so much. My friend at The Dowdy's Doings has been canning and pickling while joking about becoming a Mennonite. I guess I'm going to pick up where she left off with sewing projects. I've got just a few weeks to make window treatments and a few back to school dresses for my daughter. In April we began renovations on our master bath. Our carpenter was hospitalized and we had to put the project on hold for a few weeks. Weeks became a month and a half and I was about to lose it. My hubby enlisted the help of a friend to help complete the project. They worked on weekends. The project was almost finished when we discovered the toilet had a crack in the tank. Another trip to the city to buy a new one. My sweet, dear hubby bought the wrong color and installed it before I could return home. I was in tears. I have strongly suggested it be replaced w/one of the appropriate color or he can make a bed in the tub. We have painted the bathroom and now waiting on the rollers for the shower doors (were not included in package) and two pieces of trim. We also painted the master bedroom and furniture. At this point my children absolutely HATE Lowes. I can't say I blame them. We live in a very small town and have very little access to materials to complete such a project. Every trip to the city to buy supplies puts us behind just a little more. Hopefully my dear husband will finish this up in the next few weeks. I will be hiring carpenters from this day forward. Seriously, couples need counseling when working on home improvement projects. I should have learned my lesson with wallpaper removal and hanging a few years ago. I swear if my husband could do all projects with a leaf blower, we would be in business. What is it about men and leaf blowers. Love you Honey!!!!
I would love to call a utility company and speak to an American. Recently our internet connection was down. After calling our provider three times I finally got to speak to an American named "July". July was no southern girl like myself, but I was able to understand her and she comprehended my problem. I'm one for less government, but with all of the laws our new administration is introducing why not introduce a law that all utility companies in the USA should have customer service centers within the continental USA w/English speaking representatives. A friend finally suggested I call and request an American. If all else fails threaten to cancel the account unless you speak to an American. It worked- I got July. Proud to be "Born in the USA"
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