December Cranky Pants

Still along with my idea of only complaining once a month.. here is Decembers rant...

I work at Target, I chose to work at Target during the busiest time of year.. mostly because Im crazy...

Those of you that are shoppers probably already know that there is an etiquitte that should be in place when you shop. Im bout to let out some ranting about those of you who are not aware of that etiquitte...

DONT PUT SOMETHING IN YOUR CART IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BUY IT!

I hate when people come to the line and spend 5 mintues deciding what in their basket the want to buy. Then they just throw all their crap into the candy and I HAVE TO PUT THAT AWAY!

KNOW HOW MUCH YOU'RE SPENDING!

I hate telling people their total and they make me go through every item they bought and tell them how much it was. When you're shopping usually you look at the prices before you get to the check out lane.. dont get mad at me when your total is too high, you did the shopping!

GET OFF YOUR PHONE!

Its not a pleasant job to listen to others conversations. It's rude to be on the phone and totally ignore the cashier. Sometimes we need to talk to you and I dont want to wait for a million years for you to pay me because youre not paying attention.

DONT GET IN LINE IF YOU'RE NOT READY TO CHECK OUT!

Especially during the holidays. If you put something on the belt, Im going to ring it up and put it in a bag. I hate when Im done checking you out and you have to leave and run to grab something else. Its rude to me and to the 4 people in line behind you. AND NO... you cannot stand there and wait for your friend to come back... get in line AFTER they are there.

DONT GO SHOPPING IF YOU HAVE NO MONEY!

People get mad at me when their card gets declined. That crap is between you and your bank. I dont know how much money you have and I am not inside the card machines brain. All I do is stand there and push the button. A lady came through my line with $900 worth of stuff. I rang it all up and bagged in, and then she found out that she had no money in the bank and just walked away from her two cart loads of stuff...

I WILL FIND HER AND SLASH HER TIRES!

BE RESPECTFUL!

I hate when people cut, or bump into people, or just leave their carts in the middle of the isle. There are no magic faries that are going to come clean up after you. If you are choosing to shop the week of Christmas, then you should expect it to be crazy and not complain when the lines are long and their are no parking spaces. Thats not my fault... so dont tell me about it

The cashiers job is not hard, but its exhausting. Be nice!

I HATE WORKING in retail... and gratefully this is my last week.

Mark my words, I will NEVER work in retail again!

I LOVE LISTS!

We're moving in just 2 weeks and I am in LIST MAKING MODE!

I love making lists, but more importantly I love CROSSING THINGS OFF MY LIST!

I hate the stressful list about things that I need to get done, so I decided to make an exciting list...

I lived in San Diego for 2 1/2 years before I got married and moved away to rainy old Washington State.

Every time I tell people that I moved FROM San Diego, they would say, "Oh I'm Sorry," or "Quite a change huh? Yah, I know... I LOVE SAN DIEGO and always hoped we'd end up back there.

So here are some things I am MOST looking forward to...

Things I LOVE MOST ABOUT SAN DIEGO!

#1 Obviously the BEACH!

Even during the winter, we love just walking down the beach...

 Just knowing its there anytime I want, shivers down my spine!

#2- Ikea! 

I LOVE that store, there isn't one in St. George, or anywhere close to.

You dont even realize how wonderful and cheap everything is until you dont have one.

#3- You already know... Jamba Juice

Beyond Obsessed with Jamba. Sometimes you just need one and San Diego has tons of prime locations for that deliciousness!

#4- AND MOST IMPORTANT- the SUNSHINE!

Everyone knows that I am a whitey white girl, but my skin is craving some sun!
Living in Washington made my complexion all gross and milky... living in St George fried my skin clean off at times... San Diego is the perfect mix of sunshine. It gets hot, but not hot enough to fry.. and the beach, oh the beach... give me some SUN!
(I know that it is rainy everywhere right now, so when I get to San Diego it wont be sunny, but at least there is something to look forward to in a month!)

Come visit me!

WE'RE MOVING BACK TO SD!

Well, to be honest this last month has been a DOOZY!

 Richard and I both got laid off within 2 weeks of each other. (yes that is the 2nd time for me this year... I'm looking into getting a refund for my college degree)

 Luckily I was also working at Target so we had something to keep our heads above water. 

Unfortunately, Saint George doesn't have a very friendly job market. It would be nice if at least one of us were working full time... alas, there were other plans for us. 

So, I emailed my former boss from San Diego to ask her if she knew of anything. 

Perfect timing, she was looking for someone to run a new program there at the middle school I worked at before. Bad news: she needs someone to start the beginning of January!

YES THAT IS 3 WEEKS AWAY!!!

Never mind that Richard's brother is coming this week, and Christmas is next week, and I'm working 40 hours a week at Target, and we have a lease on our apartment that we will have to sell... oh and we have no money to move (that crap is expensive!)

So, I told Heavenly Father that if this is the right thing for us then just let everything fall into place.

Here we are, December 15th and...

WE'RE GOING BACK TO SAN DIEGO!!

I'm super excited... we LOVED living there and are grateful that we will be able to go back.

We will miss our family in Utah but are happy for another adventure.

My mom and her husband were able to get us a room for 2 weeks while we search for a place to live and a job for Richard. So all you San Diegans- if you know of anything please let us know!

P.S. I am super excited to decorate a new place... I get the urge about once a year and luckily we have moved about that often the last 4 years!

Music of my Heart

What's your favorite holiday music?

I'm pretty picky when it comes to Christmas music... it can't be TOO cheesy or jingly...

I hate when the songs you don't like end up in your head ALL day long!

We got some Christmas music channels on our TV and I decided that all HOLIDAY MUSIC is not created equal... and I'm pretty sure that I heard Hark the Herald Angels sing in a techno mix- NOT OK!

Here are some of my favorites... and by favorite I mean- I will put these on replay and play them

 NON STOP ALL YEAR LONG!

What are your favorites?

"da yittle"

(just to clarify... I stole that word from Melissa)

I feel like a parent.

I just realized how big my yittle yoy (little boy in a baby voice) has gotten!

From this 4 lbs:

To this 8 lbs.:

Double in size in just 3 short months... they grow up so fast... tear!

PS... how HUGE of a difference is my cell phone camera pic from Melissa's prof camera?

Oh the Love!

As you probably recall... I decided that I want to be a CUPCAKE master!

I was SUPER excited to have an event to make cupcakes for so I can start practicing my new skills, my Dad and Lisa asked me to make some for their reception.

I searched high and low for amazing recipes and ideas preparing for Thanksgiving weekend events...

Alas, by the time the weekend rolled around, I was TOO busy, stressed, and tired to try to make some cupcakes and frosting from scratch... so, I revered to the old stand by... boxed mixes.

Regardless, the cupcakes tasted wonderful and got RAVE reviews!

First and Foremost... the Turtle cupcake aka HEAVEN!

I got a box mix of German chocolate cake mix...

 make sure you get the one with pudding in the mix cause it tastes better!

 Then I got a bottle of caramel ice cream topping

 (if you have time you can buy caramels and melt them yourself.)

Follow the instructions on the box to make the batter, make sure you grease your muffin cups.

Pour your batter into the muffin cups, then squeeze some caramel into the middle of each one.

Bake according to the box (mine were 20 minutes)

Drizzle more caramel over the cupcakes AS SOON AS you take them out of the oven. 

Let them cool for about an hour, then frost and decorate as you like.

I paired mine with butter cream icing and it was delish!

And then we have the RED VELVET morsels!

I got the Betty Crocker red velvet cake mix, then topped it with cream cheese icing. 

I searched everywhere to figure out what to put on top, and I think they turned out nice with a Whopper... plus it tasted great with the icing and cake!

I'm just hoping that Christmas isn't as busy so that I will have time to try out my recipes from scratch... 

stay tuned!