Noise & Other Distractions of Dining Out

There once was a time when you were seated in a well lit restaurant with soft backround music. You were able to make conversation with friends and family and speak with the server. The menus were easy to read, and not full of words that were in other languages the servers can not pronounce or describe in English.

Now....you can hear the loud music before entering a restaurant. The hostess shouts over the music asking how many in the party and leads you to a table near the bar area where numerous patrons are well into 'happy hour', yelling and using profanities while they watch sports on enormous wall mounted televisions blasting statistics along with the music. You request a different location, the hostess sneers, grabs up the utencil rolls and menus, and stomps back to the hostess podium to find another table or booth in the half filled restaurant.

HELLO No one can hear each other! Lower the volume please! Put a cone of silence over the bar area and material to absorb noise. It is ridiculous trying to have a conversation and enjoy a meal and have to shout and repeat repeat repeat.
At the end of a meal I need aspirin.

Dear restaurants Create a plan - evaluate the patrons - if there are small children-there will be spillage, jumping, screeching, and running (2 crayons only have a 5 minute time frame). Will an elderly couple be comfortable seated next to them?

How about patrons that get into a loud heated argument? I once had to duck several times as two women threw numerous plates and bowls. Did any employees call for the manager or police? No, they ignored the women as china smashed into the walls and floor sending shards everywhere. My party quickly left our table, went to the hostess podium and asked to pay our bill there instead of the 'mysterious extended disappearance 'of the bill and my credit card with the server that seems to be the usual practice in most restaurants.

The ordering of food>your entree comes with 2 sides picked from the nine sides that the server has rattled off from the other end of the table. "Will you please repeat the sides?" you ask as the server turns to the next person. What you request is often not what you receive.

Servers are seeking a decent tip at the end of the meal and have grumbled about the low amount of tips. Friends and family dine out expecting a nice atmosphere and the correct food they ordered. Servers have argued that what was delivered is what was ordered. Servers have also forgotten parts of the meal and will not remove the charges.
Watch your receipts - restaurants are automatically adding 15 to 20 % to the bill for service and also presenting a bill that indicates a place to add a tip
Check your credit card charges against your receipts

Meow

FYI I am an Ailurophile--no it's not bad.

It's just that I have always loved cats. I must be related to the Egyptians. There has always been at least one cat in the house from day one. Between my mother and I we have taken in at least 18 beautiful felines, all colors, all sizes over the years. While she was a one cat person(and he was enormous), I have had up to six at a time.

I have many neighbors that feed our strays, along with me, every day. As a thank you they often leave me a freshly killed rodent. I have not seen a live rodent for years.
Many years ago someone abandoned a large gray Hemingway cat. He was beautiful and gave me many kittens with multiple toes and claws over his lifetime.
I have had dogs, fish, and birds and they were ok.
But it's the purring that touched my heart. Cats Rule!

The Meaning of Home

I inherited my home from my parents.
While it was under construction nearly 50 years ago..we referred to it as 'the house'..but it became so much more
Over the years the colors inside and out changed, furniture was replaced..but it was home My father grew tons of strawberries in the backyard, built shelves and a work bench in the garage with a neighbor and worked with neighbors on other projects He let me mow the lawn and taught me to drive.....and told me I could do anything
Many people passed through our home over the years, some to visit, some stayed for a while....
my friends for sleep overs, spending many hours playing guitars and drums, and recording awful songs (...my father shut the porch doors ) grand parents and aunts and uncles, cousins, long time family friends from New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey were welcomed into our home

I did live away here and there..college dorms, shared apartments, mobile homes and even a house. But sooner or later I came home, here. My children have lived here for many of their young years, and my granddaughter visits often.

Neighbors never stopped at the property line when mowing their lawns......If it started raining neighbors would roll up your car windows, neighbors watched out for all the neighborhood children, collected mail and newspapers, watered plants, and watched over your home when on vacation

5 decades of home...friends, relatives, parents, grandparents, grandchildren and now a great grandchild > to my parents Celebrations of graduations, birthdays, weddings, and births throughout the years

In every year there are 525,600 minutes, use them wisely, time lost is never regained

Spring Cleaning

I am starting early..where did all this stuff come from? Are my genes set to shop?
Was I in a trance powered by the store's sixties music and the grinding of the one irritating wheel that refused to roll while strolling down aisles and tossing items in the cart.

I find the best way to clear out is to follow Clean Sweep - piles for Keep, Sell and Donate

Donate is the biggest pile....the local resale shop accepts items without comment

If I have eliminated so much stuff-how come what's left will not fit back in where everything was? I need to check on the laws of physics.

Once I tried on a dress that looked so ridiculous on me that I laughed so hard I cried and staggered laughing out of the dressing room, handed the dress to the attendant with a brief comment about it being too big.

My granddaughter stayed with me last weekend. I put on the Christmas Lights and we played with Play dough for 3 hours making people and shapes with all the colours. Time worth spent.

Art Linkletter was right-kids say the darndist things.

Relief

The presents are all unwrapped, the tree is packed away.
There is always a few forgotten decorations....but I don't mind..they keep the Christmas spirit going all year.

I leave lights up inside the house all year around. My granddaughter is fascinated with the multicoloured lights.
It took two trips to move all the presents she received to her house.

Next round of celebrations will be family and friends birthdays.

Have a safe New Year

Ready For Christmas

Today was my last shopping trip for Christmas. We were excused from work early....at 3:30..... the roads were already packed with vehicles speeding, tailgating and changing lanes to get ahead by one car or beating everyone to the red light. Many drivers ignored the red lights and sailed into intersections that were totally dead locked by vehicles caught in the light changes.
I was so happy to get in and out of the store quickly and took back roads home with only one vehicle trying to occupy the same space my vehicle was in. Apparently the driver knows nothing about physics.

All the gifts are wrapped. Cards in the mail. Somewhere I forgot something that I will discover at sometime next year. It never fails.

Peace & Love to All

Another Time

The list of Boomer's toys and activities-No Batteries-No Electricity needed

Slinky (made of real metal)
Jump rope (piece of old laundry clothes line)
Board games (manual exertion required)
Scooters(no motors!)
Bicycles with big fat tires (no gears)
Pick up Sticks
Mouse Trap
Card games
Red Rover
Swing sets/Tree swings/tire swings (built on site by family)
Barbie, GI Joe, and baby dolls
Hula Hoops
Roller Skates(metal) with keys to adjust to shoes
Doll houses/Play houses (built by parents or other family members)
Kick ball/dodge ball/catch
Tag
Hide and seek
Jacks
Four Square (chalk, a ball and a couple of bottle caps)
Hop Scotch
Reading(yes libraries did exist)
Lincoln Logs
Tinker Toys
Boxes..big and small Oh so many things could be created from a box with some scissors, crayons, tape, and some string
Steady Eddie
Tops
YoYos
Stick Horses
Horse shoes

Today

Almost everything needs batteries, electrical connections,

or chargers. I have a whole drawer full of every type of battery,

chargers, and cords to a plethora of items that require one of the above frequently in order to stay in touch, take photographs, play games, and find my way when I am lost.