That Person

I hate that person.

You know the one.... The one who inconveniences or annoys you, and those around you to the point where you are exchanging exacerbated looks with strangers. Perhaps that person is the one at the Secretary of State who waits until just after their number is called to realize it is in fact their turn. Or maybe the guy who talks really loudly during a movie. The guy at a restaurant who complains awkwardly and loudly about everything. The lady at the grocery store who pays her bill in change.

Everyone around them shares the same frustration, everyone wonders if the person even realizes their error.

Today I was that person.

How did I become that person?

It all started Super Bowl Sunday. The Colts lost, something I am still coming to grips with. I, luckily won that day. My numbers came up at the end of the fourth quarter in squares. My prize? Forty scratch off tickets. My luck was pretty good and I wound up winning $45. On many tickets.

I let them sit in my wallet for a while because I didn't feel like signing the back of all of them. Finally, I ran out of cash so I decided to sign them all and finally redeem them.

The gas station I chose was empty when I walked in. I decided to buy something to snack on because I felt awkward redeeming the tickets without purchasing anything from store.
Just as I settled on some Gardetto's a man walked in.

I headed to the check out and asked if I could redeem my scratch offs. I met no resistance from the employee, but could sense his annoyance as I handed him my thick pile of tickets. He then began to scratch them off tediously slow.

"I need the numbers on the bottom he said," as he continued to scratch, "I have to key them into the machine."

After he finished scratching off all of my tickets he walked over to the Lotto machine. Then, he had to feed each ticket through, type in the code, then wait for print out, then staple that print out to the ticket.

Before he had finished feeding one ticket through the store was packed. There was a mother and a crying child, a businessman clearly late for something, and two teenagers who looked like they were cutting class.

And they were all looking at me and they continued to stare at me for what seemed like hours.

I was that person and in that moment I hated myself.

However, I am $54.01 and a bag and Gardetto's richer than I was before I was that person.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The rest of the weekend will see me enjoying the Magic Ice Carving Festival in St. Joseph, and catching up with the husband of mine I haven't seen in two weeks... So I figured I'd make this post now.

A few weeks back I forced Hunter into a Valentine's photo shoot to get the perfect image for my Valentine's cards. The outtakes:




The perfect shot:


How cute is my puppy?

As for Jim.... He has been taken care of. The true way to his heart, as cliche as it sounds, is through his stomach. All Jim wanted for Valentine's Day is the same thing he has wanted the previous four years... sugar cookies. He won't appreciate all the pretty... just the homemade tastiness.



While I was washing my hands about to clean up the frosting Hunter decided to jump up on the counter... and stick his beard directly in the frosting. He had a hot pink beard. Oh how I wish I had a picture. Unfortunately, I sent him right outside so I could clean up and the food coloring came out in the snow!




I also decided to try my hand at making chocolate covered strawberries.... TOO EASY! Now that Jim knows I can make them I am pretty sure they'll become a staple of our household.



As for our actual Valentine's Day celebration, I have no clue. Jim has made plans for us and told me very little. I am excited.

Puppy Parenthood

Last week in preparation for the near three hour car trip to Northville I took Hunter to doggy day care for the day on Friday.

In past visits to doggy day care Hunter has had a great time, but, been a challenge for the staff. It seems his puppy enthusiasm and energy can exhaust every dog to the point where Hunter has to be put in the "quite room" for the last couple hours.

Still, it came as a small shock to me when the owner himself wanted to talk to me after Hunter's visit. He crouched down, holding Hunter between his legs.

"Mom," he said, "We had a little incident today."

Immediately I blamed Hunter, "Uh-oh did he get too crazy again today?" I asked.

"Well, it seems Hunter was a bit much for another dog today.... And we drew a little blood."

He then pulled back Hunter's ear to show me where a dog unimpressed with Hunter's puppy antics had bit all the way through Hunter's ear.

Poor Huntie.