Crescent State Bank has a campaign running until June 13th, 2008 to support the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina. If you can help, please drop of any of the requested items at your local Crescent State Bank branch. See their web site for locations. Requested Items: Canned meals - stews, soups, tuna, ravioli, etc. Pop top cans a plus! Peanut butter Cereal Canned fruits & vegetables Rice Hygiene items - toothpaste, feminine products, shaving items, soap Infant products - diapers, wipes, formula, infant cereal (no loose glass or plastic jars of baby food as they have to be discarded due to health regulations) Paper products - toilet paper, paper towels Please make donations before June 13th For locations and contact information: www.crescentstatebank.com

I read an article that was quite useful about teaching kids how to wisely spend money.  It talked about them having lemonade stands, etc.  My kids and neighbor kids setup a lemonade stand about a month ago and it was the cutest thing.  They actually sold all their stock and they split up the money evenly between 7 of them at the end of the afternoon.  Here is a link to the article that I read - it's a slideshow and I thought interesting, although a lot of it common sense.

Inc.com 

 

I work with my sister, I play with my sister, I depend on my sister...

She watched my son, who is 6, while I was at the office this week.  My mom helped too (thanks mom too!).

But listen to this..  She delivered me cooked dinners upon picking up my son after a long day at work.  You might think - well that is just a nice thing.  But she is not like every sister... 

She also has a rare form of cancer which has no cure, called Multiple Myeloma. ( http://www.myelomablog.com/ ).  We started a non-profit company called Online Patient Empowerment Project, LLC 501(c)(3) to help others learn from others online, as she has learned herself.  It is another type of community which is built upon people sharing their health issues and concerns and triumphs with one another, in addition to providing free computers and equipment to those not as well off as others.  We also help people find online resources to bookmark, etc. 

 I just wanted to share some nice thoughts and hope we all can think of some ways to thank our family members who help us out.   Please remember that some things are replaceable, like cars and houses.  Our family is not.

 

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My hubby and I have noticed that in the past several months the sibling rivalry has increased 5 fold it seems.  My daughter who is 8, and son who is 6, have a love-hate relationship.  I have to say that they are also really starting to act disrespectful towards me and almost act like spoiled rotten kids. However, I don't feel that I do spoil them!  Did I act and behave this way?  How do we ever start to reverse a pattern we see coming at us at warp speed?  All these questions...

I can't keep them separated forever. I picked up one from camp today and the other from my sister's house, where they were while I worked until 5pm.  My son was an angel according to my sister, all day.  The minute the 2 of them met ways they started up right away.

 My daughter asked for a playdate at 5:30 pm, as I'm thinking 'OK what will I cook for dinner' and 'What things did I not get done at work that I need to stay up and do tonight', etc.  I'm also thinking 'what can we do together that won't cause a fight?'.  Games used to be great.  Board games after dinner - a nice family event.  Now it seems the loser cries and starts a fight.  Hmmmm... 

 I'll just finish this venting for now and move on to more positive things tomorrow :-)

 

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It's so hard to believe another year of Girl Scouts is ending.  We have our final meeting this coming week and say our good byes for the summer.  This year we worked a lot on camping.  They are 2nd grade girls and are getting used to being away from parents for the night or two.  It's a big stepping stone.  We learned how to make s'mores during a campout at a gracious parents' outing in tents in the yard.  It was so fun!  I've learned, turning 40 recently though, that my bones aren't meant to sleep on the dirt. However, I made it through fine!  Anyway, I hope my daughter never forgets these experiences.  I remember my mom being my scout leader and I still remember the joy.

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I bet I'm not the only one who usually expects the worst when it comes to customer service.  I used to have high expectations, but as I get closer to 40 (only 2 months away!) I start to realize I need to lower those so I'm not always upset.  I have two examples of customer service and yes, one of them has a happy ending!

During the busy shopping season, my husband and I rushed into one of the big stores to remain unanimous.  I have only step foot in there 2 times in the past year due to the fact I don't like to support China, but at this time I had no choice.  It was close to that big day of gifts and I had to work everyday.  Anyway, we rushed in before work one Friday morning, loaded the cart, and ran off to the register.  We ran to our car and unloaded, took it to the office and hid the *stuff*.  About a week after Christmas I reviewed my receipts.  I found we were charged for 2 items twice.  I took the receipt back into that un-named store and was told, "sorry".  That extra $50 that got charged to my card will not be refunded.  I was told "You should've called about a week ago so we could ask the cashier if she remembered your items".  Right!  If she did, then she wouldn't have scanned twice and overcharged 2 items!  I begged the manager for some help.  After being told I waited too long, I walked out, vowing to never go back.  I told the story to another mom I saw while walking out.  She told me my expectations are too high..

OK, here is the GOOD STORY!!  I had never bought a new oven before.  A week before Thanksgiving my old oven caught on fire while preheating to bake cookies!  I went to Kees Appliance in Aberdeen and they helped me decide a good pick for a replacement.  They made sure my oven was installed before Thanksgiving   During the install, something went awry and an indicator light went out.  No problem, they'd have a local repair company come and fix it.  It was either 3,4 or 5 visits from the repair place later, and now the back burner wasn't working.  I was left with the oven turned off and the breaker off.  Hmmm...  I had in-laws coming to visit from Florida that next day!

Kees Appliance ordered me a replacement oven and came and installed it within 4 days.  Vern was very polite when I wasn't at my best.  I appreciate their service and want to tell people... this is one huge reason to shop locally.  Whether it's ovens, clothing, food, Internet or other items, shop locally for the personal service.  Always remember too that it is real PEOPLE that are running businesses.  They are humans too.