View My Complete Profile

Someone explain the "view my complete profile" phenomenon. I've gotten in the habit of checking this little blogging statistic almost as often as I check my comments. I don't understand what all makes the profile views number increase. Obviously, when a new stalker checks out the blog, that would make the number go up. But it has to be more than that. Before today, I had been "stuck" at 1491 for days, maybe even weeks. I haven't noticed any new commenters on my blog, and I've only posted a couple of times in the last week or so. Last night, my profile number was still holding steady at 1491. Then BAM! today I check my profile views, and I'm up to 1510. I didn't even post last night. What would make my profile views jump 19 in less than 24 hours with no new post and no new commenters?

I used to think Blogger randomly increased people's profile view numbers so they would think people were still interested and new crowds were being attracted every day, but Jason's, I mean The Wuertley's, link on my blog as stayed steady for the past several weeks, and he has posted new stuff.

Then I thought maybe when I posted something new, that Blogger would automatically increase my number to make me think more people were reading, thus inspiring me to write more. But like I mentioned above, I haven't posted in a week and my number jumped today.

Maybe it has to do with how much I comment on other people's blogs. If I comment on Jane Doe's blog (which I don't comment on anyone's blog that isn't somehow linked in our mad blog circle) then Jane Doe's aunt may click on "Deb" to see who I am, thus boosting my number. But, I haven't commented on anyone's blog in quite a few days, either (I am still reading, though.)

It's very perplexing.

A few updates from the 20 minute blog - yes, I was at Wal-Mart on Saturday night at 10:30 buying a pair of black pants, no the sheets have not been changed, yes, I have shaved my legs, no the Holiday Turkey did not get decorated, yes yes to the Bible and prayer, no no no to the lazy susan and back refrigerator and scrapbook, yes yes yes to the Racko (Elizabeth is going down tonight - she's won 2 nights in a row our series to 500), the laundry, and the cleaning out of the car, no no no to Moonlight Sonata (anon, I'm going to start practicing up for your personal enjoyment) dance dance revolution, the thank you notes, and any of the organizing. It's not a bad start.

The Blame Game

A couple of weeks ago, I ran into Walgreens to buy a gallon of milk. As a side note, I used to think Walgreens was the place to go for overpriced personal hygiene items and greeting cards, but I was mistaken - it's unbelievable the items you can get there. Need a last minute birthday gift? Run to Walgreens and get a Red Lobster gift card. Need a Halloween costume for next year? You can probably find one 90% off this week at Walgreens. But back to the story.

When I went to the milk section, I noticed that the majority of the milk on the bottom shelf had expired the previous day. Immediately going into coupon shopper bargain mode, I briefly thought about taking a couple of gallons up to the cashier and seeing if they would give them to me. But I'm kind of funny about drinking milk past the expiration date. So I grabbed a gallon that was okay and headed to the front. As the cashier was ringing me up, I mentioned to her that several of the gallons of milk were past expiration date. Her first response was, "Well, I didn't work last night when those should have been pulled. We'll take them off the shelves." I found it interesting that she was so quick to point out that the milk oversight wasn't her fault. And I'm just a stranger - not a boss judging her cashier skills or a regular customer that specifically shops at this Walgreens for this particular cashier to check me out because she's so great. I don't really care why the milk is still there or whose responsibility it was to remove it, I was just passing on information. I find this part of human nature interesting - we want to make sure that everyone knows when it is not our fault when things go wrong. I'm not talking about shirking blame or responsibility when we really do fall short. I'm talking about that feeling of unjustness that wells up inside when others have misjudged us or the situation.

I find myself in situations like this often at work. Last week another school system called and needed some information on a former student. I looked in the student's file, and one of the forms that I needed to fax over was not adequately filled out - but it wasn't my fault, one of my co-workers had failed to get a needed signature. But if I faxed the form over like this, it was going to look like it was my oversight. But I couldn't exactly fax over an additional piece of paper explaining that the signature wasn't there because one of my co-workers forgot. But if I didn't, I looked like I didn't do my job well.

Then there's the social situations. How about the elevator situations when someone, um, "toots" as we say in our house (thanks Anon for giving us that word) the first thing you want to scream is "IT WASN'T ME." Or how about this one. You're in a public restroom, you enter the stall, realize the person before you did not clean up their mess, so you exit the stall to find another, but then a person waiting after you goes into the one you just left. It looks like you left the mess. You want to stop the stranger and make sure they know you weren't the one responsible.

I had this situation happen to me tonight, and ironically, it involved me going into the express lane with....................more than 10 items! I know, I know, but here's the story. I was in Lances, doing my weekly shopping, depressed because I only was going to use 2 coupons and spend a bundle. I had maybe 20-25 items in my cart, and Lances was very busy - with only 4 check out lanes open. I wasn't in a hurry - Jason was picking the girls up from gymnastics, so I staked out my lane and patiently waited. Then a cashier came up to our line and asked if anyone had 10 or less items for the express lane, and then she would check them out. Well, noone around did, so she looked at me and whispered, as if we were in cahoots with each other, "Come on, fast, and I'll check you out." I looked at her stunned. I pointed to myself. Me? You want me to come to the express lane with my 25 items? I was in an ethical and moral dilemna. But then I looked at the situation this way - she, being the cashier, was kind of like the "teacher" of the store, and me as the customer was the "student." So I needed to follow her directions. I rushed to the express lane and started throwing my items up on the belt, being dilligent to put all refrigerated stuff together and boxed stuff together for speedy bagging. Of course, halfway into our little escapade a lady (who I don't think has smiled in the last few years) came up behind me with 10 or less items in her cart. I was going double time now, and I wanted to turn and say, "She made me do it. I would have waited in the regular line." The cashier swiped the last of my items, but then ... she ditched me. She switched over duties with another cashier. I swiped my credit card, he pushed the button, and then the screen came up asking if "yes" I will accept the charge. But wait. I had forgotten to give him my 2 coupons that would save me a total of $4.00. What do I do? Thrifty won over chivalry, and I pushed "no" with authority. "Can you swipe my coupons?" I asked politely. How long can it take? Well, apparently if you push no, you won't accept the charges, the whole system freezes. Lady in waiting behind me was not happy. I started to panic. I could just pay by check, I said. Don't even swipe the coupons. If I had 2 twenties with me I would have thrown them at him and ran. But he had to unfreeze the computer. The manager came over, fixed it, and he started to scan my coupons. The first one beeped. Great, the cat food one. I was unsure of this purchase. The coupon says Meow Mix cat treats, but the product, which looked exactly like the product in the picture, says Meow Mix cat food. So I'm not a cat food pro, I don't know if cat food is the same as cat treats. I do know that the food was only 53 cents, and my coupon was for a dollar. I tell the cashier unconvincingly, "It was for the cat food, I mean treats, I got." He gave it to me, and doubled the dollar coupon. So I made 1.47 on the deal, now wasn't the time to be ethical - it's too late for that. So after about 7 minutes in the express lane, lady behind me wasn't happy, but I didn't stick around long enough to hear about it. And if you saw me in the express lane tonight with more than 10 items, IT WASN'T MY FAULT!

If I Had An Extra 20 Minutes

If I had an extra 20 minutes, I would...

change the sheets on our bed (I'm too embarrased to say how long it's been. It's probably a good thing that Anna has an occasional night time accident and Elizabeth gets bloody noses - this ensures an occasional change at least. In college, I once went the whole semester and then took them home at semester break. I know, disgusting.)

do a page in one of the girls's scrapbook. (I started the summer with such great intentions, only to contract a blogging disease that I can't seem to shake.)

take a bath and shave my legs (who has time in the mornings? Thank goodness it's getting to be colder weather. It was times like these during basketball season in college that I really hoped I didn't sprain my ankle and have to be examined by the male trainer.)

decorate, I mean help Anna decorate the Holiday Turkey cut out sent home from pre-school. (I tend to forget to turn these little family projects in. At least we sent her in her pajamas on the right pajama day. When Elizabeth was 3, we were a week early, so she had two pajama days.)

go get Elizabeth a new pair of black pants to wear to church Sunday for her sign language performance. (Or I could just borrow a pair if any of you blog stalkers have an extra size 8 laying around. I have a feeling I will wait until Saturday night at 10:00 before I make a Wal-Mart run.)

read the Bible.

pray.

clean out the back refrigerator that still has our leftover camping food (yes, our last camping trip was in September, and the fruit dip and fruit left over from that trip is still in the tupperware container. I'm scared to look.

organize the lazy susan. What really should you keep in a lazy susan that will stay organized? I have my storage containers in the bottom, and I can never find a container and lid to match. There is a hodge podge of things on top, including bottle nipples (yes, Anna has been off the bottle since she turned one, I just haven't cleaned everything out.)

play a game of Racko with Elizabeth. I got addicted to this game on fall break. We took it with us to Florida and played 36 games, she, Jason and I kept a running total, and I don't mean to brag, but after trailing through 32 games, I made an astonishing comeback.

sit down and play Moonlight Sonata on the piano. I don't play the piano well, but about 8 years ago, I practiced and practiced this song until I could play along with the cd. I'm so rusty on it now that it probably would take me 20 minutes to get through it. It's agony for all in the house to hear, but I don't care. I still like playing it.

play dance dance revolution. I love this game, and we were addicted when it first came out. It's one of those toys that we have forgotten about, but every time we get it out, we have a lot of fun - and it's a great workout, too.

clean out my car. My car is a dumping ground for...school papers, church papers, fast food leftovers, dumped snacks, McDonalds Happy Meal toys, silly putty that has melted into the back seat this summer, etc. Jason's car, however, is immaculate. Guess who transports the kids around?

do a load of laundry. I'm actually pretty much caught up, but if I would just throw in the day's towels (since we don't recycle,) I could be completely caught up. But no, I will wait until it's overflowing before I tackle it.

write about 3 thank you notes that I've meant to write over the last few months. I am so bad at this, and I hate that. I keep forgetting (or not making time) until finally I tell myself it's too late. When Jason and I were married, there were a handful of thank you's that I did not get out for a variety of reasons - didn't have the address, not sure who sent the gift - these sat out on my dresser, glaring at me for the next year. After a year, I finally told myself it just wasn't going to happen, so to stop feeling guilty, I threw them away.

comment on blogs. I've really gotten behind. To all of you reading who have a blog that I usually comment on, know that I have been faithfully reading, but I haven't been consistent in commenting. I think it's because of the same reason I don't blog every day now - I technically have the time, but not the mental energy to come up with something interesting to say. I guess I could just comment "nice blog" or " I agree," but that sounds lazy.

organize the game closet (no, wait, Jaena already did that for me - and I'm sure it took more than 20 minutes. Thanks again, cousin.)

organize the bathroom closet.

organize the closet with our bags/suitcases

organize the back porch closet that houses our seasonal decorations

organize my clothes closet.

I'm up to 7 hours now. Well, that's one work day for me. Maybe if I could choose one day when the kids do their normal school/child care routine, I could pretend I am going to work but instead stay home and get all of these things done. But then, let's be realistic. Would I really work on the above things? No, I would sleep a little later, blog a little more, and find a million other things to do instead of the above (like watch TLC.)

So I think tonight, after the kids are in bed and the day to day chores are complete, I will kick back, drink a cup of hot chocolate, watch a little Monday Night Football (or maybe a taped crime show) and leave the above list for another day (except for the Bible and prayer part of course :)