KINDNESS

Last weekend, three perfect strangers showed kindness to me in very different ways but each of them had a lasting impact in my life and attitude. First, there was the cashier at Fazoli’s. I had a coupon for a free entrée that required a drink purchase. Not being a soda drinker, I asked for the small size. The cashier explained that if I ordered the large drink I could peel off a sticker and maybe get a prize. I declined so she then went to the back and brought back her purse and showed me the sticker she had peeled off and had won a free large size drink. And then she said “I want you to have it” I raised my eyebrows at such pleasant surprise. I was delighted she would be so kind. Suddenly, I found myself being more excited about the free drink than the free meal. Second, I was at temple square on Sunday and was told that I could not attend the church services at the Joseph Smith building because those were not for visitors and that I could attend services at a nearby chapel (a few blocks away). It had taken me about 20 minutes to park and now I had to leave the coveted spot to drive in pouring rain to another building. I ran to the car which was parked on the street with incoming traffic. I stood waiting for cars to go by so that I could run into the car. I was cold, wet and getting wetter by the second until a good man; a yellow taxi driver stopped all traffic to let me get into my car. I waived thanking him, he smiled and waved back. It took about 10 seconds for me to get into the car and I was so grateful for this man who was so kind as to stop. Third, I went into the grocery to buy four canisters of lemonade powder. I was in a bit of a hurry because my ever growing belly felt a little heavy and my back was really aching. I had parked a little far from the entrance of the store and when I tried to get into the car I realized I had left the keys at the cashier registry. Just the thought of having to go back into the store in pain and carrying the heavy bag of canisters, was enough to make me want to cry. As I turned around to head back to the store a young man (he had been in the same register as me) showed me my keys and asked me if they were mine. I was so happy he had come to find me so that I would not have to go back inside the store to get them. I thanked him profusely and as I drove home I tears rolled down my cheeks.
Neither the generous cashier, the courteous taxi driver, nor the man willing to go the extra mile had to do what they did but they each CHOSE to do what they did. I now know kindness is something we choose.

TIME OFF

Before having children, I was inspired by a talk given by Harold B. Lee in which he encouraged mothers to treat motherhood as a career. That concept sunk in deeply in my mind and heart. When I first shared that thought with Dave, he seemed to be amuzed, but fully agreed and pledged his support. He did not know what was coming his way!
Like most mothers but unlike any other career, I am on call 24/7; sick days don't seem to really apply no matter how sick I am; and holidays are a family event instead of a day off with the exception of Mother's day. I just love that day, Dave does everything and I just watch.
Since my motherhood career started (almost six years ago)I have done many of the same things I did with work such as being signed up for periodicals/magazines, training was very important to me before so as a mom I have enrolled in many classes on family and parenting topics and had a membership in a local moms organization which I have switched for three nationwide organizations that deal with motherhood and raising children but now my participation is mostly online. Networking is very important in the field I was in so I have kept that up with my once a month Moms Night Out. The previous company I worked for paid for our family gym membership so I am signed up at the gym right now.
I have heard that companies that give paid vacation to their employees have happier, more productive, more loyal workers. So as the Mother in Chief of the Christensen household I too need some vacation and this weekend has been it! I lucked out it was a three day weekend because that is what I am getting, three days of time off. For the past several years and about every six months (give or take a few weeks)I get a two or three day vacation from the very important work that it is to run the Christensen household and raise three, soon to be four, strippling warriors while keeping my parnership with Dave alive, well, happy and healthy.
So far my time off has been great. It has been packed with relaxation, entertainment, some genealogy research (didn't get much in results)shopping, some patriotic and spiritual inspiration, even a nap and tomorrow a full morning/afternoon of pampering and maybe the movies. I know that by the time I get back home I will be given a heroes welcome because I will have been missed greatly and all in my house will feel more appreciative and happy to have me around. I also know that I will feel completely recharged, replenished, happier, reenergized and ready to fully resume into my position of Mother in Chief.

Heidi's First tooth cleaning

Last week, Heidi went to the dentist for the first time. She was overjoyed and excited. I could not believe how happy she was to go. She did have a hard time biting on the film for the x-rays even though they were using the smallest size on her. She still did great! She was very cooperative and happy to be there. Her temperament did come out as the dental hygienist tried to explain each step of the cleaning process. When she was told they were going to put a mirror inside, Heidi said: Why would you do that for? When she was told they were going to polish her teeth, she looked at her and shrugged her shoulders as if saying, whatever! When they applied the fluoride with the paintbrush, she said, this is weird! I had a good laugh. She got a cute zip vinyl bag filled with goodies and a toy. She loved her trip to the dentist. I was happy that she had no cavities and had a good experience.

 
 

Toothfairy

Last week I had to run some errands in the evening. Dave stayed with the kids, I can’t remember what I did but by the time I got home, it was very late (around 10 pm) so I of course expected the kids to be in bed. As I walk up the stairs in the dark I could hear Ethan’s voice and Dave a little startled to see me. This is the dialogue we had:
“Why is Ethan awake? Its sooooo late!!!
Dave quickly and loudly said “Ethan lost a tooth!!!”
Whaaaaat? I was totally unprepared for something like this. After all, it had only been six months ago that I asked the dentist when to expect some teeth falling out and he clearly said between 7 and 8 years old. Dave, then proceeded to tell me how during the dental flossing routine he noticed Ethan already had two front lower teeth out and behind the two baby teeth which were already loose. They were hurting Ethan a little bit. So Dave decided it was time to pull at least one of them out. Ethan was nervous and told him he would prefer to be taken to the dentist to get the tooth out. “Nonsense!” Said Dave, “I will pull it out!” So after some tugging the tooth came out, Ethan cried a little and Heidi cried a lot. Why did Heidi cry a lot? Because she was not the one the tooth fairy would leave any money to! Needless to say, Dave was waaaay too excited about this entire tooth episode. Then the debate started as to how much money to leave, should we leave a note, a treat, etc… but then came the cultural clash. There is no tooth fairy in Peru, there is a tooth mouse and his name is Miguel. But Dave had already talked about some tooth fairy name Glenda, grrrrrr!
Ethan got $2 in quarters along with a nice note from the tooth fairy and some travel size toothpaste, mouthwash and dental floss. He was very happy and Heidi was very sad.

 

Shopping Bags and night mare cashiers

I have some of those reusable bags you take grocery shopping and keep them in the car so that I remember to bring them inside the store. I usually have my three kids with me when I do anything, including grocery shopping; it gets a little crazy when we get out of the car so about half of the time I forget to bring my bags with me into the store. Many stores give you credit (anywhere between 5 to 10 cents per bag you bring). Since it takes me some brain energy to actually remember to bring my bags into the store I fully expect to get my credit, mostly a matter of principle not the money. However, I have found out that most cashiers forget to give you the credit. If you want the credit, you need to ask for it. I am usually trying to keep my kids inside the cart or away from the goodies at the checkout stand so I usually don’t get the chance to ask for the credit. I just sign the receipt and leave as fast as I can and notice once inside the care, that I did not get credit for 5 or 6 or whatever amount of bags I brought in with me.
Last night I went to Albertson’s to take advantage of a double the value of your coupon promotion. You could only use three at a time and I had six of the papers for the promotion. I asked the cashier if she could do two separate transactions but she told me I had to leave the store and walk right back in because it was 3 per shopping trip. Whatever! I thought it was ridiculous. I bought three items using the sale price and doubling coupons which save me $9 and I only paid $1.09. On my way out of the store I noticed she did not give me credit for my bag. So when I went inside to use my other three double coupons, I noticed at the time of paying that one got lost, then she would not double the other one because it was over a dollar and then the last one I had she said she would not double because the product would not only be free, if she gave me credit for the bag, she would then have to pay me money back so she would not do it. After some discussion she ended up doing the double on the one item that I paid 3 cents for, I did not get credit for the bag and when I got to the car I still had a double coupon so I went back inside a third time, got a box of cereal and decided to check myself out on those machines. What do you know? Machines do not give credit for bags either, I cannot complain about the price of the cereal (0.38 cents) but I was sure irritated at the cashier that made me waste so much time and my 15 cents I did not get credit for. At least I bought 5 items for $1.50. So from now one, I will just use my reusable bags without much expectation of getting any credit for them just the satisfaction of knowing I am not adding to landfills with bags that take hundreds of years to decompose.