So Many Words, So Little Time

Hi everyone. I am gonna be all over the place with this post. I am angry and I am sad, but I'll get to that in a little while. Right now, I want to tell you what I done went and did last week.

Now, ya'll know that my husband is a truck driver. You may or may not have known that he was leasing his own truck. That can have an upside and a downside. Sometimes, the money was good, but most of the time, it sucked. In the end, we were about $5,000 in the hole with his company. And then, last Wednesday, after I read the pay statement saying he was again $741.67 in the red, I called him and said enough. I'd had enough of him being gone for 6 weeks at a time and still not making money. I'd rather be poor and together, than alone and poor anyway. So, I told him to come home.

So... He did. He made his way to Atlanta, where I had to go pick him up. Oh My God. It was crazy. An ice storm hit while we were en route. We left Henagar at 3:00 pm on Wednesday, and got home at 5:15 am on Thursday. Within 30 miles, there were 14 wrecks that the minion and I counted. Then, at around the 290 mile marker on I75 South, we came to a halt. It took us 45 minutes to crawl a whole 3 miles. The reason? A Fed Ex truck with 53 ft trailer, flipped and was hanging over a bridge. On I75 North, traffic was backed up for 5 hours, because 2 tanker trucks collided and Hazmat was called in to clear it before traffic could go through.

I myself, lost control and slid. I was extremely lucky and was able to change lanes, and slow down before getting hurt or hurting someone else. Below is a video of the I75 North traffic jam. No, I didn't take the video. Connie was in the passenger seat.

Alright, moving on. Do you remember this hot mess?  Ok, this is what I'm angry about. Chris and I had made our peace. He had apologized for what happened. We were fine. Well, apparently, a year or so ago, he made a pass at Tabby, the other night shift girl. When my boss found out about him kissing me, she had him banned from the store. Now, it seems they want to press charges against him. That is a big negative. I refuse to do so. Like I said, he and I got straight. I'm so dang angry. I see no point for him to be banned. I see no point in filing charges. I definitely don't see a point in his job being threatened. (We have customers that have charge accounts for fuel. His company fuels at our store.) Alright, there is the anger off my chest.

I end this post with sadness. My favorite customer died. I didn't know him long, but he made an impact on my life. Elder Edward Mines was a good man. He taught me that you can still be young, no matter the age of the body. He showed me that you can be nice even when in pain. He showed me that you can be a Christian without proselytizing. He often told me that I worked too hard and that I was only sweet when sleeping. I hope he finds the home that he believed in. I hope that his passing was easy and that he didn't suffer. Rest in peace, sir. I'll think of you often.

Love to All,
Allie



Blogs and Religion.

I read. Alot. Not just books. Magazines. Forums online. And blogs. Several blogs. At the moment, I'm following 5 blogs religiously.

One of my favorite blogs is by Ree Drummond. You may know her better as The Pioneer Woman. I don't know her, but I love her. She's fantastically funny, an amazing cook and as far as I can tell, she seems to be a wonderful person. She's one of the reasons I finally sucked it up and started my own blog. She owns who she is, what she's about, and her flaws.

Another is Our Best Bites. This site is ran by Sara and Kate. They have some seriously insane recipes there. It is a temptation that a fat girl like myself does not need. They are very down to earth and easy to relate to. Apparently, all bloggers are clumsy in the kitchen.

Then there is The Other Ryan. I learned about him through The Pioneer Woman. Dude has skills. I'm talking serious culinary skills. And some amazing tats and piercings. And he's hawt. Yeah, I know. That seems wrong on so many levels, calling a pastor hawt. Oh wait. I didn't tell you he's a pastor? Why yes. Yes he is. Amazing right? The only pastors/preachers I've had contact with were all very old. And strict. And not very accepting of individuality. (I know this is tripping my dad out right now. That his daughter follows a religious blog... well, religiously.)

That leads me to the topic of religion. Maybe it's because it is Sunday. Maybe because most of the bloggers I follow are religious in some way and they've posted something religious lately. Whatever it is, today I feel... spiritual. I have a hard time defining my religion. I was raised Southern Baptist. Mike was raised Catholic. (Insert funny priest/alter boy joke here.) I never really agreed with Southern Baptist. Or Christianity really. Or maybe it's the Bible.

I just find it hard to belive that God doesn't agree with things He created. There are so many things you can't do, according to the Bible.

A few I agree with. Some, not so much. Honor your mother and father? I get that. Mom had you. They both fed you, clothed you, and took care of you. (Hopefully, anyway. If your parents weren't Teh Awesome like mine, I'm sorry.) No stealing? I get that too. If you didn't earn it, don't touch it. No killing? Yup, I'm totally down with that one.

Somethings I don't agree with. You shall have no other gods before me. Hmmm. I'm not so cool with this one actually. My personal opinion is that everyone has the right to choose the right religion for themselves.

Or what about this one? "Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day." How do we pick which day is holy? How do we know it should be Sunday? And what is up with the slave thing? Weren't all people created equal in the eyes of God? Why didn't he say way back then - "Hey! Knock that off! You don't own that person."? We wouldn't have half the drama we do today about slavery.

And this is one that really throws me. "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." Why? God created homosexuals. According to the Bible, God created everything. So why did he create it, if He didn't want it?

I know that several people will tell me, don't question God. Well too bad. I question Him because of the flawed world He created. Kids that die young? Cancer? Pedophiles? Bigots? Why create these things? They aren't necessary. These evil things are not from Satan. God created them. He also created Satan. Again, if He didn't want these things in this world, why create them?

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is in the Bible. Why does God not hold himself accountable to this as well?

I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but, this is what's on my mind. All I ask for is respect. These are my beliefs. I'm not saying there is a God, or there is not a God. I won't know that until I'm dead or Jesus really does come back.

Please. Whatever your belief is, be tolerant and respectful of others beliefs.

Love to all
Allie

Work = Blog.

I'm so tired. Isn't that sad? I went in at 11:30 this morning then closed up at 9:30 tonight. In between being slammed and cleaning up, I decided I needed to blog about work. After all, it is part of my life. This post is going to be a bit random. Back and forth but hey, that's me.

Let me start out by saying this... I love my job. Really, I do. I meet new people every day and have several customers that are my favorites. Yes, I admit it. I have favorites.

 Ryan, of course. There is an older gentleman, he reminds me of my Papa Bill. All he wants is a Copenhagen snuff. And then he tells me I'm only sweet when I'm asleep. There's a guy Mom & I both know. We refer to him as Hot Guy. He's entirely too good looking, very sweet, and smells incredibly yummy. There's the lesbian. She flirts shamelessly, even though she knows I am married. Then my junkie. He calls me his dealer. He comes in daily, I believe, to buy at least 1 of the 32 oz. Rockstar energy drinks. (Yuck. For the record, I've not met an energy drink I like.) He's pretty funny. He came in today and told me he was working his way through my blog. He says it's funny. I've heard that a time or two, but I still don't believe it.

Kids. I have a love/hate relationship with them. Most of the time, kids are sweet, cute, and funny. When do I not like them? When their parents aren't making them behaving. Or when they go in the bathroom alone. That scares me. No, I don't want them to make a mess, but I also don't want them to accidentally lock themselves in. Also, when parents send their small children in to pay for gas, I worry because people speed through the parking lot.

Teenagers. Again with the love/hate thing. Sometimes they are funny. Sometimes they are rude. And sometimes they are sweet. I saw a couple standing on the sidewalk sneaking kisses. I'm not sure why they were sneaking kisses, but it was so sweet.

Teenagers lead me to underage tobacco buyers. I don't know how many times I've actually had them show me their id's and knowingly be underage. They kill me. Thinking that a sure smile and confident attitude will get what they want.

And that brings us to... alcohol. How many times have I heard, "No beer? What the?!" Yes, I know, hard to believe, but it's the truth. I hear it like this too. "No  cerveza? Por que?" And yeah, it may be mean, but I just stare blankly at them. (Again, yes, it is mean, but I think if you live here, you should speak the language. That's my opinion.)

Men. Generally speaking, most of them are pretty cool. There are some weird ones. Some rude ones. And some extremely perverted ones. Another of my opinions? Man hands should be rough and calloused. Not all soft and manicured. My favorite guys, (other than the ones listed above, I mean.) are the police officers.

Police officers are so much fun to mess around with. I was on the phone with Mike one day and Patrolman Wigley came in. I said, "Honey, I've gotta go. They're here to arrest me." Mike is all spazzing out and I hang up on him. The officer is shaking with laughter, and Mike calls back. I give Wigley the phone and he answers. "Hello? No, sorry. She's in handcuffs right now." I'm not sure exactly how he pulled that off, because he was trying the entire time not to bust out laughing. Ah, I love to prank my husband. I'm always thinking of something to pull over on him.

I think I'm the equivialent of a bartender. You know how everyone tells their bartender their troubles? I hear everything. Health problems. Their take on religion and politics, which I don't discuss at work. Does anyone out their like Baja Blast Mountain Dew? Supposedly if you mix regular Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist, that's what you get. Someone let me know.

Anyway, I'm bout to pass out. Really quick though, M got his orange belt! Way to go Monkeybutt!

I think he has Auntie A's problem with blinking at the most inoppurtune times.

Love to all,
Allie