It is SOOOOO nice to not have to go to Ruby Tuesday today. I've been updating my etsy shops and my website and my blog. I've been promoting my shops like crazy.

Then, I turned on some Beatles and am in a sudden GREAT mood. Nothing like The Beatles to get you up and moving and bopping around the house. Now I feel like cleaning and creating! YAY!

Check out all of my sites. You may wanna bookmark my blog spot blog if you like reading my blogs because I definitely post there more often.

http://armorgan.blogspot.com
http://angelalaladesigns.com
http://iloveetsy.com
http://armorgan.etsy.com

I have a crazy deal on earrings in my Angelalala shop right now. Tell me you found them on myspace and I'll ship them for free! (make sure you wait for an invoice before you pay)

Love ya!
Ang

ladybugsltd.etsy.com

I submitted this to the Farmville Herald:

As the mother of three small children I was outraged this Halloween to see so many large SUVs and mini-vans crowding our neighborhood streets. I understand that children from the surrounding areas flock to our Farmville neighborhoods for trick or treating, and I understand why. What I don't understand is the laziness of these children's parents. When I was young enough to trick or treat my siblings and I always walked door to door, with at least one of our parents close behind us. My parents did not put us into the vehicle and drive from house to house. They actually got out and walked with us. We walked! Imagine that.

While I am always concerned with my children's safety, I found myself unable to even enjoy the festivities of Halloween because I was so worried about my kids getting run over by some large Escalade that is so tall the driver couldn't possibly see my three year old Dora the Explorer. The driver of which was probably not paying much attention to anything else but their own ghoul or goblin running up to a door to receive a free piece of candy. SUVs and mini vans lined the streets bumper to bumper, all with parking lights or brake lights aglow. I held my kids' hands as we walked between these vehicles who paused only long enough for their children to jump out before pulling off to the next house, only feet away. I watched the same patrol car circle the neighborhood several times. I thought maybe the officer inside would do something about all of the children I saw that were not properly restrained in these vehicles. I even saw a truck with three very young kids sitting on the open tailgate as mom drove along searching for the next house with the porch light on, the patrol car passed this truck at the same time I did. One bump and those kids would have been bounced onto the street. We have child restraint laws for a reason. Tell me, what was the reason for the patrol car patrolling? The officer did nothing.

My point is this, park your vehicle - anywhere, just park it, get out, and then walk with your children. Show some respect for the safety of our children, some concern. Show some respect for our neighborhoods and the families who live in them. I wonder what kind of message your children are receiving: "Let's be lazy, sit, and ride to collect free sugary treats!" Obesity is a problem in this country you know. Two hours of walking never killed anyone. As for next year, we just might stay home.

Angela Morgan
Farmville

All too often we tend to miss the little things. Those little things that someone does for us that mean so much. After two failed marriages I finally did realize that. Now, that does not mean that noticing the little things will do wonders for your relationship, and I have no regrets from the failures mentioned above. But last night, Russell put crackers in my soup...

It was soccer practice night which usually means everyone is in a hurry. Dinner is usually very quick, baths are not as thorough as they maybe should be and homework keeps everyone up later than bedtime. After we got all of this done Russell fixed himself and me a bowl of soup. I was sitting on the couch when he brought it to me. In my bowl of soup he had positioned 4 crackers at the positions of 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, and 9 o'clock. I smiled and didn't say a word, I don't even like crackers in my soup, but I ate them anyway.

Later in the evening he made some comment about knowing what was going on in my mind and heart at all times. I said "yeah right" and laughed at him. I told him that my thoughts and feelings were so complex that I don't even understand them most of the time. He argued a bit and then I asked him to tell me what the significance of crackers in my soup meant to me. He hit the nail on the head.

He said by putting the crackers in my soup it showed that he thought about me, and cared enough to give them to me and to make my bowl of soup pretty. He gave me everything he thought I would need for my meal and that showed he cared. I started bawling! Something so stupid meant so much to me, and the fact that he KNEW that it meant that much to me absolutely amazed me. I laughed about how stupid it was to laugh and cry over "pretty crackers" and he just said "see, I told ya"

I love him so much. I just wanted to share my silly little story and to remind everyone to notice the "pretty crackers"

Ang

Thanks to Cathy for making me think to do this. Turn your speakers on....

It looks like I am going to be able to get both boys in soccer this year. I am so excited about it! I haven't even told them yet though. Bradley played two seasons for Portsmouth when we lived there and he loved it, this will be the first time for Jarod.

Since we've moved to Farmville we have always either missed registration, not known about registration or didn't have the money for it. Not this time! My babies are gonna be able to play ball! YAY!

Ang

I have been extremely unhappy at work lately - actually for quite a while now. But, I'm stuck. I applied for and got a position that I had to turn down because of the hours required to work - which really sucked because it was truly a way out of the restaurant business and would have been a steady source of income. I have my BBP business but despite my efforts no one is booking parties. Everyone is interested but I just can't seem to hook that fish!

Of every other employee working at my RT I have been there the longest. (aside from one cook and the managers) I'm talking servers/bartenders. I have my gig down - no question. My pay (tips) shows it, my customers show it, my numbers show it. Unfortunately the responsibilities placed upon me also show it. I am ineligible for a pay raise per corporate policy, because I work for tips and my pay is up to my performance, i.e. what people decide to leave on their table based on their service.

This leads me to think of the saying "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" every single day. For $2.13/hour at any time during a shift I can be found doing atleast 3 if not all of the following things AT ONE TIME: serving, bar tending, hosting, answering the phone, taking "To Go" orders, running food, packaging food, shift leading (basically a manager who is "busy" will hand me their card - which is required for about everything, and their keys and tell me to take care of things such as swiping for voids, running server reports, clocking people in, printing checks, counting down money drawers, making change for other servers). ALL AT ONCE. $2.13 an hour. Now obviously, the only two of those that provide me with additional pay in the form of tips is bar tending and serving. If I am running a food order out to someone's car and cashing that person out, who is it that is assuring my tables are taken care of? Oh! No one!

So, yesterday I get lectured by my GM. Love him. Promise. But I really wanna put him in his place sometimes. Problem there is I get emotional and cry when I'm angry enough to lay into him and he takes that as a sign of weakness or that my feelings are hurt. WRONG! That means I'm just that pissed off that I could rip you a new one and not think twice about it. His issue was my attitude. Okay. I admit it. I have a MAJOR attitude problem, in fact, I can be a total bitch. Never to a table though, never to a guest, never in front of a guest. Perhaps it has something to do with ALL of the responsibility I have and how it does affect how much money I make because all of the extra crap I do takes my attention away from my source of income! Maybe if they would lay off of me and let me do MY job instead of the job of six other people I wouldn't be so damned stressed out. And per corporate rules or policies or whatever I'm not even supposed to be permitted to do half the stuff they have me doing on a daily basis. I don't want to be your role model, I don't want to have to be nice to you, I don't want to tell you thirteen times a day that a loaded baked potato comes with a rack of ribs. I am not at my place of work to make friends with co-workers, I am there to make money to support my THREE children. But after all, I am the "momma of this restaurant" - yeah - my ass, take that shit and shove it buddy - pay me accordingly and then I may be able to afford to BUY your CRAP.

I give great service. I go above and beyond to make sure that every single person I wait on is happy. I get no complaints, I have no recooks, I bust my butt making sure that table has what they need/want. Actually, there have been letters and emails that specifically name me as a great service provider. People have taken time out of their lives to actually write the corporate office to say something GOOD. Imagine that. What do I get for it? A label and lecture. YAY.

How about lecturing those dumb twits that can't get the menu down. The ones that obviously can't hear and translate an order. The ones that cost the company hundreds of dollars on a shift because they don't ring in those orders. How about the ones that smell offensively? How about the "bed head" girls who shed their locks onto plates because their hygiene skills are kaput? Oh, how about the girl with the mismatched face and neck? Or the ones who take the uniform policy lightly, but oh boy let Angela come into work with white socks on where no one can see them, oh Holy Canoli not white socks!!! How about the chicks that drop bottles of liquor onto the floors - regularly? Liquor = $$

No, let's lecture Angela. Let's warn her that she'll be written up. Please. I've not been written up in two years of service do you REALLY think the higher ups will give a shit that the only complaint you have on me is that I bitch about things once I leave the dining room. Okie dokie. Go for it. Cause I got dirt. Oh yes. Plenty of it.

I'll have a vent about tippers and manager opinions on that soon. How would you like to go to work one day, do you job, and then find out you aren't getting paid today? You wouldn't like that very much would you? Well, it happens to me every day.

Look for it....

Ang

So... we fish at Briery Creek quite often. We took the kids out there Thursday afternoon, then the two of us went Friday, and then again on Saturday afternoon. All three times we saw this kitten - maybe four months old. This kitty was so starved, for food and attention. We tried to bring it home Friday night but it jumped out of the car and hauled ass into the woods. Oh well right? We tried. We left the only thing we had to eat, which was some Cheerios near the woods for the cat. Then Saturday when we saw him again he folllowed us everywhere and wouldnt leave us alone, almost like he had regretted not coming with us the night before. So, we added Briery to our family last night. Not getting along too well with Lady and Bug right now, but they arent fighting just alot of hissing. Actually he is so affectionate its kind of annoying. He looks like he was a littermate with our other kitties and is maybe a month older.

We're such suckers....

What happened in July?

A lot.

At the beginning of the month I took my first step to becoming even more financially independent and to being able to quit my job at Ruby Tuesday, even though I do love it sometimes. With Brown Bag Party I will be able to spend more time with the kids and around the home like I need to be doing - eventually. Until then it will give me the opportunity to get caught up on all of my financial responsibilities.

Towards the middle of the month my dear friends and co-worker, Marsha Mosely, was in a terrible car accident that claimed her life. She was an incredible person. A single mom that worked two jobs and never complained about a thing. She is already missed by all that knew her. I found out yesterday that Ruby Tuesday's disaster relief fund will be paying for her funeral in full.

Then I got older. (shhh, we don't wanna talk about that!) Though Russell was a complete sweetheart surprising me with cupcakes, a ladybug balloon and a huge lady bug stuffed toy. Go Russell!

After my birthday we took an exhausting but very nice trip to visit my parents and Russell's parents. This was the first time we actually had time to spend with anyone. It was also the first time my kids got to meet Russell's mom and stepdad. They absolutely ADORE Gram Terry and Grand Daddy. It was a big weekend for the kids. When we left there we went to my mom and stepdad's house. We all had a GREAT time and somehow managed to get my mom drunk! Now THAT was fun. I was even more happy that my sister and nephew also came to stay the night while we were there. I think everyone hit it off with Russell really well and I'm so glad.

A week after that I got to do something we all thought would never happen. I met Miss Maizie Dey Chapman. I have to admit that little girl took a piece of my heart back with her to Charlotte, and I hope she knows it. She has been a part of my life and the kids' lives since we've known Russell and we had always been very anxious to meet her. Everyone that knows Russell's ex swore it would never happen, but it did! And so far we haven't gotten a nasty phone call from her about it. Maybe she is accepting it. Maybe not. I definitely don't want any drama,

Maizie seemed very accepting of me and the kids. In fact she was calling the boys her stepbrothers and told us she always wanted a little sister when she was playing with Zoe. I teared up when we left. I hope I can spend more time with her in the future.

At the end of the month I had my debut brown bag party. We had an absolute blast and I did very well for three hours of work. I am looking forward to booking more parties and working towards my goal. Russell is being extremely supportive and I really need that from him. So again, Go Russell! I love him so much!

Well, that's it I guess.

Ang