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Monday, September 26, 2011

Day 12: [15 Day Challenge]




Day 12: Bullet your whole day.

Ok, I was DRAGGIN BUTT this Sunday, so this should be silly list.

  • 3 am: Wake up with hacking cough.  Go get water.  Peek outside front window.  Stray cat sleeping on front bench.  How sweet.  Oops! I woke it up.  Tip Toe back to bed.  Don't wake Callen.
  • 6 am: Wake up with pounding headache and burning sensation in throat from Cajun Crawfish boil at the Schroeder's last night.  Go back to sleep.
  • 730(ish) am: Poke husband in side when Callen wakes up.  Stay in bed. Oh the horror from the headache. 
  • 8:30 am: Arise from morning slumber.  Stumble down hallway to.  The boys are the in the kitchen.  Ryan is making breakfast.  This is great.  Make a cup of coffee.  Oh, the sweet coffee.  
  • 8:45 am: Sit at the table.  Close eyes. Why are they talking so loud?  Dogs barking? Why do I have dogs? They are so LOUD!
  • 9:00 am:  Sit down to eat turkey sausage and eggs.  Take pain meds and happy pills.  Oh, I need the happy pills.  Give dogs heartworm pills hidden in turkey sausage.  Laugh (quietly) at Callen putting eggs in his hair.  
  • 10:15 am:  All three get ready for church.  This is Callen's first day in the nursery.  Make sure his outfit is cute.
  • 10:20 am: Brush and pin hair up so that it doesn't look like I was at a party last night.  Use fancy Benefit eye pencil thing to look awake.   Brush teeth. Sad. No more coffee.  I am too old for parties.  Why did I go again? Oh, Kyle's birthday. Man, we are old.
  • 10:23 am: Mad dash for church. Why are we always so late?  
  • 10:40 am:  Follow maze to underground where nursery is.  Sign paperwork.  Drop sad faced child off in his mobility appropriate room.
  • 10:49 am:  Follow maze back above ground to sanctuary.  Services start at 10:50.
  • 10:54 am:  Find a seat, during worship music.  SQUEEZE by.
  • 11:55 am: Take maze back to nursery.  Pick up happy child.  First day, CHECK.
  • 12:00 pm:  Hungry.  Tired.  Drive.  Home.  Fast.
  • 12:30 pm: Put pajamas back on.  Carve a spot on the sofa.  Wait, I was hungry.  Eehhh... I'm comfy.
  • 1:00 pm:  Eat celery and peanut butter.  Easy.  Back to sofa lounging.  My head hurts again.
  • 1:45 pm:  Callen is overdue for a nap.  Work this out.
  • 2:30 pm: Callen down for a nap.  I'm down for a nap. 
  • 5:30 pm:  Whoa, what day is it?  Stumble down hallway.  Am I still in Oz?
  • 5:45 pm:  Guess its time to make dinner.  Go to the kitchen.  Feed animals.  Get out fruits and such for Callen.  Put away clean dishes.  Put in dirty dishes.  Move laundry from washer to dryer.  Start washer for new load.  Start dinner.  Go get clothes for new load.  Start new load.  Finish up dinner.
  • 6:30 pm:  Eat dinner.  
  • 6:50 pm: Callen in swing outside.  Water lantana
  • 7:15 pm: Back on sofa.  That was a rough hour and a half. Callen play.
  • 7:30 pm: Crap.  I need to check the DVR queue for this week for conflicts.  My head hurts. I don't wanna.  
  • 8:00 pm:  Callen bathtime.  Thank goodness daddy can do it.  I'm still on the sofa.
  • 8:15 pm:  Sad I'm missing bathtime.  Get butt off sofa.
  • 8:30 pm:  Daddy in shower.  Mama and Callen watching TV having a bottle.
  • 9:00 pm: Callen in bed.  Pull out the Nook COLOR and read some of I Don't Know How She Does It.   I tell you how she does it... She doesn't go to a Windthorst Party and then expect to function the next day.... that's how. 
  • 10:00 pm:  Sleepy time.  I took a 3 hour nap today.  No sleepy time.
  • 12:00 am: Are you kidding me? Am I still awake? 
By the way, this is what my Lantana look like now!  I managed to keep them alive and they still bloomed through the WORST SUMMER EVER.  I am very proud of myself. 

I keep rotating it, but it keeps going back.. Just turn your head 90 degrees to the right.



Day 11: [15 Day Challenge]




Day 11: What if your favorite movie and why?

My favorite movie is Pride and Prejudice.  Not the new one, the original A{and}E Classic.  Technically its a TV mini series, but I have it on DVD and I watch it in one sitting, so its a movie. 

via google!
I actually can't stand to see things more than once.  This is a movie that I have watched over and over.  This version fallows the book more closely than the 2005 version

Colin Firth with forever be Mr. Darcy in my mind.  In fact the role he played in the Bridget Jones Diary is slightly reminiscent of Mr. Darcy. 

Pride and Prejudice is my favorite book.  Jane Austen is my favorite character.  She was such a brilliant author, her characters so complicated yet simple at the same time.  

Love. Love. Love it.

I may watch it soon.

PS- Sorry I am 3 days behind on my 15 Day Challenge...

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Day 9: [15 Day Challenge]





Day 9: Describe someone who fascinates you. 

I don't quite know if I have an answer to this.  I could go all corny like and say my son or my husband, but I think that's expected and forced.  Not that I don't love them to pieces.

It would be less forced to say that some actor or actress fascinates me, but that seems kind of teenage/mid-twenty like... and well, I'm well on my way to being thirty...  so, I guess that isn't allowed. 

Although I will say that Patrick Jane from the Mentalist (played by Simon Baker) is quite fascinating.  He's multi-dimensional and I love his knack for understanding and manipulating the human psyche. 

See how contemplative he looks?
Who is Patrick Jane, and why did he ask you about Miles Thorsen? These are the sorts of questions that plague sufferers of OQD.
via google search
There are others.
People with great skills.
People with skills I want.
People who I can't stop thinking about.

Authors like Jane Austen.  Ryan Gosling, need I go into why?  My friend Brittani with her fantastic sense of humor.  My officemate Nick who can conjure up a song from long, long ago at a moments notice.  People from my past, who will remain nameless, whose intellectual conversations leave me thinking about those words for days.  Kellie, Callen's babysitter, who makes it through 5 days a week with 5 children under 5. 

Ok. So not very deep and meaningful, but there you have it.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Day 8: {15 day Challenge]







Day 8: What is one of your favorite television shows? Explain.

Well.... I would be lazy and direct you back in time a day or so.... to see the extensive list of shows that I cannot live without and the new shows I am about to embark on.
But... I won't just leave it at that, I'll talk some here as well.

Choosing a favorite TV show is like choosing a favorite color, It's damn near impossible and is entirely dependent upon my mood and season in life.

I guess I could look at which show has stuck with me through the years, never getting pushed aside for something new, never getting left to gather virtual dust on the DVR memory.  A show that I still have not deleted the series finale from said DVR, because then it would symbolize and end to specific time in my life. Oh, lets say 19-29... those are supposed to be the best years. right?

I waited anxiously for its arrival, in the first year I was in college.  I watched even more anxiously as the story line progressed to where I knew it had to go one day.  I watched the series finale with exhilaration, in the first year I was a mother.  When it was over I felt a small emptiness in my soul.

What would I do on Friday nights? Look at what had transpired over the years I have become and lived as an adult?  I was just forced, by the ending of a television series, to close a chapter in the book of my life.  Man, I hope they make a movie take off from right now at this moment in the story, with the CORRECT actor as superman.

Smallville. Yes, Smallville.

THIS.
Don't know where this came from.
NOT THIS.
Also, don't know where this came from.
Yes, Tom Welling as Superman. He should have been in the movie. Not the one who became the bad guy on Chuck, that's for dang sure. Although both quiet attractive, Tom's got my vote.

I have always been a sucker for comic book movies and shows.  I have always loved Superman shows.  Lois & Clark was definitely on my list of shows before this one.

I wonder what show will symbolize the beginning of this chapter of my life? Perhaps NCIS: Los Angeles, I did get inspired for my son's name {Cal-len, not Colin. Will he hate me for this when he's older? Or will he thank me for naming him after such a bad-arse dude?}

via
Maybe it will be one of the new shows I've picked up this fall?  it's conceivable that I won't even know until its over, if I am ever again forced to close a chapter by its ending...

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Day 7: [15 Day Challenge]





Day 7: Describe your relationship with your parents/siblings.

I have been kind of avoiding this one, not wanting to be a Debbie Downer {and if your name is Debbie I do not mean to say that you are a downer, that's just a phrase}.

I'll just give you the basics, both good and bad.

My Mom.
She died on mother's day in 1991, when I was 9. She was 30.  Motorcycle accident. She and the group of them were not making smart choices.  My relationship with her now is with my memory and my trying to relate to being a mom myself.  I look a lot like her. I have her laugh. I wish I had her green eyes.

My Dad.
He died in June 2009, just barely after I got married. I thank God that he got to go to my wedding.  He had a thoracic aneurysm.  I was 27.  He was 68.  He worked his ass off til the day he died, literally.  It was Sunday and he was coming home from the store to work on a project.  I loved my father more than anyone else.  I don't know if I would have ever "fully relied" on my husband, as I should, if my father hadn't died when he did. He was the one person like me in all of the universe.  I hate that he will never get to meet my son while we are all on this earth.  I miss him everyday.

Without my daddy, in my opinion, the relationship with my sibling has fallen by the wayside.  I'm sure between them, there is a long lasting bond., but all came into the family in different generations and/or different extensions of my father.

I have a total of 9 brothers and sisters. I am the only child of my mother and father. I am the youngest child of my father's children. I am my mother's only biological child.  The disconnect I speak of exists between my father's children and I .  The only sibling I have ever shared a home with is the only one I have a connection and protection for.

Now, go read someone else's post and have some happy thoughts!  Thanks for stopping by. 


Monday, September 19, 2011

Finally! Fall TV is Here!

It feels like it has been the longest summer EVER!  I have just been chomping at the bit waiting for Fall TV to show back up. We have a pretty extensive TV schedule in the DeWitt Household.  Behold the Magic....


You will definitely have to click on it to see it larger.  This list is pretty comprehensive of my high school and college days.  It is always comprehensive of Ryan's shows as well, but I can't help it that his weird SyFy shows always get cancelled and don't get to stay on the list long.  I will never give up One Tree Hill.  It will probably even stay on the list, just lined through like Smallville.  I just can't bear to hit delete.

As you can see, my Mondays and Tuesdays are a bit tight.  I even have some overbooking {shown in red} that I am avoiding until it is abolutely necessary to make the choice. I probably will wait until Ryan is hollering from the living room, into the kitchen where I slap together some crap for dinner slave over the stove for gourmet meals, that the DVR is telling him that he must make a choice or nothing within that hour will record.  I feel like if I make a snap decision is it less painful than a long drawn out thought process over which to give up.  I have recently been considering streaming Netflix for some of these issues, but my budget is also as tight as my Monday/Tuesday nights, and furthermore it seems like the CEO of that company doesn't quite have it together these days, so I think I'll wait a while. 

You may also notice that my Saturdays are completely empty.  Is this a ploy by the production companies to make to go out and shop? Do chores? Well, whatever their problem, I just use it to catch up on all that is on the DVR, cause heaven knows I can't sit around and watch TV all night in the week!  

I am willing to take a few suggestions to help fill my Sunday and Friday timeslots.  I pay a lot for cable and I make it work overtime.  I don't get PAID overtime, myself, but I remember what it was like.  You have to work hard to get ahead.... but all it seems I will be doing it watching TV and perhaps blogging about it... huumm....  Anyhoo, suggestions welcome for any of my open timeslots.  Remember that I can record two things at once and watch another in the back room. Oh, and I don't have any premium channels. {No overtime pay, remember?} Plus, I watched Camelot and Game of Thrones this summer, while I had premiums free, and it seems like HBO thinks they are welcome to show me all the private parts they want, regardless of if it is pertinent to the storyline. I am not a shy person, but I was embarrassed to watch some of that with my husband.. and if you know me, you know that takes a lot of private parts and private expressions {if you know what I mean}. 

Also make note of missing information.  I don't have as much time on my hands as I used to... producing and rearing offspring has taken up much of my free time {whatever that means}.  SO.. if you have any of that information stored in your brain, do feel free to share...

Happy Television Watching!!  


Day 6: [15 Day Challenge]





Day 6: Any job in the entire world and why?



I have always been interested in the "parts to the whole." I started as a Genetics major - uh.. NO! Then moved on to Psychology - Statistics? uh, NO!  Then on to Art History - BO-RING!  

Interior Design for me is a big puzzle.  My dad was a residential contractor so I fell in love with old homes and the history they represent. I should have gone to work for him when I graduated {sniff.. sniff}.  I quickly realized that residential clients are... challenging.... so I went to work commercially {not designing commercials, design for non residential clients}. 

Two dream jobs: 
{One} Super dream job. 
Design for Disney.  
I would design hotels and restaurants  AKA hospitality design.  I would design for the parks.  I would design the paper cups you get your Coke out of. 
Bottom line, I believe in what they are selling.  An experience.  A whole package design/life experience.  I follow along with their principle that the details make or break the design. 

{Two} Realistic dream job. 
Design residential house plans for a builder.  I feel most comfortable with this job.  I can get lost in making the floor plan work.  In this instance, I would not be tortured by a residential client, so long as I had the Builder as a buffer to explain that design time cost money and crazy designs are expensive to build.

Oh yeah and an event planner would really fun too! Kind of a mix between the previous two, but much more risk financially.

Decisions Decisions... 

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Day 5: [15 Day Challenge]





Day 5: Favorite Websites

{1} Google .. I mean, come on, it has the answers to the universe.
{2} Amazon.com... I can GET anything in the universe.
{3} Joy's Hope... She's the first blog I ever read, I still read her daily. 
{4} Organize.com...  Helps keep me motivated and inspired.
{5} My Google Reader Homepage.  Nuf said.

What are your favorites?

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Day 4: [15 Day Challenge]





Day 4: Put your iPod on shuffle and list the first 10 songs. How do they describe you.

Well,  you are either Apple or you are not. I am not. I don't have an iPod. Oh Shut up...
I will however, turn on my Windows Media Player and shuffle it... 

{1} Breaking Benjamin, Give Me A Sign
{2} Micheal Buble, Lost.
{4} Tracy Boham, Brain Crack.
{5} Billy Currington, Lucille.
{6} Lady Antebellum, One Day You Will.
{7} Dixie Chicks, Cowboy Take me Away
{8} Switchfoot, Meant to Live
{9} Chevelle, Forfeit
{10} Three Days Grace, Over and Over

This list of songs says the following about me:
I don't buy music often.
I need to work on the shuffle, because it not shuffling very well.
I like a variety of music.
I've been listening to Pandora more lately, not my harddrive music so much. 





Friday, September 16, 2011

Day 3: [15 Day Challenge]





Day 3: Discuss how you hope your future will be like.

Whoa. Deep stuff.

I hope that my future is drama free. I want to have figured out this being married and parenting thing so that life can be peachy again.

I see all three of us traveling and seeing new things.  I want to explore more of Texas and the other states.  I want to take Callen to all of the fun places I didn't get to go to when I was little.

I hope that one day I will get my head back together and be a higher functioning person at work again.  I want to be in the business of being awesome.

In my future we are a happy party of three {party of 9 really when you count the furry ones}.  I see us free from credit card debit {we were great on this until I went on maternity leave.}  For one in my existence, I see a simple future. Being happy with the life we have.



Thursday, September 15, 2011

Day 2: [15 Day Challenge]








Day 2: 30 interesting facts about yourself.

O.M.Gosh. Really? I don't think I'm that interesting.

{1}I was president of the Math Honor Society in High School, but I barely passed Pre-Calculus and Calculus because it's just not my forte.

{2} I still sleep with my "woobie."  The quilt my mother made for me while she was pregs.

{3} My sons middle name is Jax. Because I wanted it to be Jaxon. By I have a dog named Jaxon.

{3} I really wanted my sons middle name to be Rankin, my mom's maiden name, but meanie Ryan nixed that.

{4} I have a weakness for nacho cheese Doritos dipped in FritoLay bean dip.

{5}I love shoes but most days I take them off as soon as I get to work. And walk around barefoot all day.

{6} I can make a meal from anything - anything - in my pantry.

{7} I have a very hard time throwing away pens that still have ink in them.  It's kinda about 'completing a task."

{8}I have a Harry Potter poster hanging at my desk. Right next to my State of Texas, Board of Architectural Examiners Interior Design Registration Certificate... cause im cool like that.

{9} I always wanted to be as gracious and as kind and as beautiful as my friend Courtney, from college.

{10} I don't like vanilla scented candles. My dad said that my mom was addicted to them when she was pregnant. I think they are gross.

{11} I have a tattoo of a star on my big toe. My mom had one too, but not on her toe.

{12} I still remember many of the words to many of the New Kids on the Block songs.

{13} I can't do the "MC Hammer" anymore. Somehow I forgot....

{14} I get excited by color coded spreadsheets. It makes me warm inside. I am the original Excel-A-Master.

{15} I love, love, love avocado.

{16}Open toilet lids feels like an open zipper to me.  Almost like you are showing your private parts.

{17} It drives me batty when closet doors are left open, especially at night. see #18.

{18} I am afraid of the dark.

{19} I won't stick my hand into the garbage disposal to retrieve important items. It will stay in there until Ryan gets it out.

~I had to take a break here and then ask Ryan for some help~

{20}I wish I could live at DisneyWorld. In an apartment above the shops on Main Street, USA at the Magic Kingdom.

{21} I loathe crumbs in the butter or the peanut butter.

{22} I loathe drippy sticky stuff on the syrup, ketchup, jelly... Why?!

{23} I loathe when you tear the protective cover off of the peanut butter or baby formula, you can't get the last bit off the ring.

{24} I can get sunburned within 20 minutes of being outside without protection.

{25} It took me 10 minutes to give birth to my son. Then I asked "Can I eat breakfast now?"

{26}I have 45 shows scheduled on my DVR.  I watch them all.

{27} My favorite book is Pride and Prejudice.  I am going to read Sense and Sensibility next.

{28} My office mate, Nick, thinks it is interesting that I burp out loud.

{29}I laugh hysterically when people pass gas. Weird. I know.

{30} I close my eyes and put my fingers in my ears and sing "la la la la la" until someone changes the channel when the SPCA commercials come on. Otherwise I would cry, the ugly face cry.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Day 1: [life of love]'s 15 Day Challenge




Ooo Ooo I wanna play! That's what my inner voice said when I read this. Here's the scoop on ths link up. No extra time involved, just a little 'getting to know you.'

Day1: Discuss your current relationship status.

I am married. That's my relationship status.  Ryan and I been together 5 yrs 7 mths and married almost 3 yrs.  With no break ups. That's a record for us both. {Is that weird to say when you are headed into your thirties?)

He's the sweetest and most genuine man that has ever been in my life.  He came along just when I needed him. I always say that he dials me back a few notches.  I too, and pretty high strung, and prone to panic attacks.  I can say that I havn't had a single panic attack in 5 years.  We laugh all the time.  He's the best and hugs and kisses.  He's also a big old geek. Like World of War of Warcraft, SyFy, and Wheel of Time....  yea. i. know.

With that I should also say that my NEW relationship status is Mama.  Callen is 9mths old and is a silly goober.  I'm learning how to do this, day by day.  Ryan is the bestest daddy that I could ever have asked for Callen.

Overall, I think I'm doing good.

Wild, Wacky, WHAT?! Wednesday

You like that?  I just made it up.  I decided on Wednesday, I'm going to post a picture or story of something that I found just wild, wacky or outrageous.  If I can stay on top of it, I hope for this every week.

Join in. It will be fantastic.

Here's today's wild and wacky.
This is my fabulous android photography. I should have an award, I know.
I see this car EVERY DAY at lunch time.  See that license plate? It says "MUHAHA."  Yea it does.  At first glance you might think this is some rich punk kid or a smokin' hot older guy in his "crisis."  Nope it's a grandma.
Yea. It. Is.

Mimi.. Do you need one of these?

Friday, September 9, 2011

Friday Fill-In's

I prepared a Fill-In-the Blank from Lauren last week, and I still couldn't get the white highlight on the text to go away, then things started getting really wonky with text overlapping images... I got REALLY pissed and just deleted it.  SO.. here I go again.

Let's have some Friday Fill-In's already!
Thanks Lauren!

1. Somewhere someone is picking their nose.


2. Experience is/are my muse.


3. If would suck if post-its were/was no more because, I would never remember anything.


4. Getting off work at noon is/are my favorite thing about today.


5. Life is kind of like a magic carpet ride. a box of chocolates. a three ring circus.

6. If I could have anything I wanted I would want to have more time and money to travel.


7. A funny things happened the other day...  One of my coworkers was looking through pictures of a building we visited and asked if we were there when I was pregnant.  NO! It was THIS WEEK!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Unckie Nickie's Pick of the Day

Unckie Nickie is Callen's not so uncle.  We share a "workspace," as it is not quite a cubicle as it is more a space where they shoved two desks.

He sends out these ridiculously cute pictures ever now and again.  I thought I'd start sharing.

I do not know where this image came from. I do not claim to own it.
If it is yours and you want it back, don't make a fuss,
just let me know and I'll remove it. Thank you. 

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Wee Bit Wednesday


linky, linky!


{one} what's your guilty pleasure tv show?
One Tree Hill. 

{two} ear piercings on men: yes or no?
No way. 

{three} do you have dish or comcast?
Dish. DirectTv.

{four} what's your favorite current fashion trend?
Feathers and flowers on hair clips. 

{five} if you could learn to do anything, money not being an issue, what would it be?
Organization, Creative, & Design Coach.

{six} red or white wine?
Both. I would never discriminate

{seven} what type of food is your favorite
(ex. italian, mexican, etc.)
Italian. 

{eight} hp or mac?
Hp

{nine} what color is your bedroom?
Behr Agave

{ten} what's your favorite form of exercise?
Swimming.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

If You Thought Wal-Mart Was Annoying....

Let me point out that I do not think Wal-Mart is annoying.  I love going to Wal-Mart. I may be the last person in the world who does, but none the less I do not hate it.

This month a new store opened in Wichita Falls, promising low, low prices.  Sounds good to me! This is not a store I have ever seen, so I'm excited to see what they offer.

The Dudes and I went last weekend to check this place out.  It isn't the size of a Supercenter, not eve the size of a large grocery store.  The parking lot has been full since it opened, as is for any new place that opens here, for the first few months.

I have outlined our experience below.

{1}
Parking spot right up front. SCORE!
All of the shopping baskets are neatly stacked next to the front door, and there stands what seems to be a cute greater located next to them. How nice. Right? NOT!
She's guarding the carts, explaining to all of us that you must insert a quarter into the mechanism to release the cart for your use.
via
Upon further googling, I discover this store seems to be the only one who uses this method, as a way of "Shopping Smarter" and saving money on not having to hire someone to round up these carts daily.  Huh?  Aren't they paying someone to stand there and tell me to put a quarter in the slot?  My husband steals,  scavenges borrows all change of the silver variety from my purse for energy drink purchases, so I did not have a quarter.  So they are also not saving money by having to hand out quarters to unsuspecting shoppers.
I am both intrigued by a new gadget and the idea of tidiness and irritated at not being trusted and having to leave a deposit for my cart.

{2}
As we stroll on in, I notice that the cart has room for two children to sit upfront.  While I only have one offspring, I think this is a thoughtful gesture.
I noticed quickly a wide aisle of brands I do not recognize stacked high in piles - kinda like the checkout line at Garden Ridge Pottery {perhaps a Texas only chain?}.  Interesting. But hey, I see veggie chips. SCORE!

More walking, more brands I don't recognize.  I hear there are lots of these stores up north, maybe they are brands from "up there."  I feel a little like I am in Oz...
via
Not this one..
More like Return to Oz when Dorothy doesn't recognize anything, but she still goes forward.

{3}
Good news. I find decent Havarti cheese and freshly grated Parmesan for a great price. Not much else that I would need or want.  Let me be clear, that I AM NOT a brand snob.  I buy tons of WalMart and Target brand items.  Some things, yes, I like name brand, but I am always willing to try.  All of this stuff seemed like it could have been at the Dollar Store.  No biggie, just not for me.

{4}
Here's where it gets worse.  Even more so for Ryan.
We get to the checkout.  We have to buy our own bags.  Ok.  $.06 for paper, $.10 for heavy duty plastic.  A warning that we needed to bring out reusable shopping bags would have been nice.  I'm the only dork at WalMart with a cart full of groceries in blue and black reusable bags.  I do not mind bringing my own bags, I just don't like not having a choice.  I'll be damned if those bags I had to buy get tossed out when I get home. They. Will. Be. Used. For. Something.
Ryan is livid. "This is stupid."  I instruct him to step aside and not embarrass me.
We must also bag our own groceries. There is also a handy counter across from all the registers for you to do this. Ok, ok. No biggie. We just have some produce and some cheese.  Ryan is livid.  "Really, really?!" Again, I instruct him to just step aside and bag the groceries.

{5}
I step forward to pay.  They do not take credit.  What the HELL!!  Now I am livid.  Again, a warning would have been nice. Choices people! I like to have choices! I do not like to be forced into something I wasn't planning on. 
Then I notice that all of the cashiers are sitting on chairs. Huh? I do not understand. Ryan is just beside himself, muttering under his breathe how this stupid store promotes laziness in their employees and we will not be shopping here ever again.

Let's recap.
I must provide a quarter for a "cart deposit," all in an effort not to pay someone minimum wage to corral the carts. {I think asking someone to multitask and get off their chair might solve that problem...}

I have to bring my own bags. I have to bag my own groceries. I can only pay with cash or debit.  And the cashier cannot be bothered to get out of a chair to lift a finger. 

All of this for items that I would not buy.

Not. My. Cup. O. Tea.