Laughing while driving, Customer Service and Birth Control

Laughing while driving, customer service and a great form of birth control, the week that is and was week 15 in the life and times of the Carr’s.

Driving
I love driving with the girls in the car. Aside from the fighting times, of which there are some, the girls play and laugh and talk in the most fun way. Today, I had to do some running around, so quite willingly turned it into a complete Carr family outing and somewhere on the 401, I almost drove into the wrong lane laughing at my daughter. Julia asks, out of the blue, “Mommy or Daddy, what is a Chelsus?” Nathalie and I look at each other, a little confused, and say, “Not sure Julia, say it again!” Julia, I can see in my mirror, is thinking: “What are they, new?” and proceeds to over enunciate, “Ch-elll-ssss-ussss”. Thinking it would be better to go a different direction, I ask, “Julia, use it in a sentence”, then she pauses and says, “Well, it is from a song we are doing in choir for Christmas and it goes, in a Chelsus day o. What is a Chelsus?” “You mean, In “Angels We Have Heard on High”, the line – In Excelsis Deo?” You are too cute Julia! BTW, it is Latin for, “God in the highest.”

Birth Control
When our kids were young, I would always offer them out as birth control to our young newly married friends. Of course, I was always joking because our kids have always been incredibly low maintenance and easy to handle in any situation. This is from the ones who have watched them, not from a too close to it, tad bit invested proud daddy, but nevertheless, a night with them would not likely cause you to second-guess having a child. The only reason I bring it up, is a bunch of weeks ago Nathalie mentioned to a school friend, who was having baby sitter issues, that we would be happy to watch her three girls, if she were ever stuck.

Well, this weekend our friend is going to enjoy a festive holiday party with her husband, and she will do so, knowing that her little angels are safe and sound for the night hanging out with the Carrs. Now, they are 6, 4 and 2 so not necessarily at the “large handful” age, and so far it is fun watching them all run around chasing shadows and making noises and playing so well with our girls. We are only an hour into it at this point, so I will let you know if the visit turns into birth control or not, and if I will be scheduling my snip-ship operation on Monday.

Customer Service
I have talked many times about our feelings on customer service and the simple steps you need to take when giving it. It comes down to giving the customer what they want yes, but it is a little bit more. It is doing so without attitude! This week we decided that on a non-cooking night, we wanted fish and chips and we are lucky to have a very yummy place close to us. Arrive delighted to find out that with every adult entrée, you get a kid’s fish and chips’ free. The one problem was that Julia only wanted soup and poutine, so when we ordered her the soup and fish, she was a little upset. Not a big fan of a pouting girls, I proceed to walk up our server, and asked her to make the fries on one kid meals a poutine. “Well I can’t do that, I don’t have a button for it, and have no way of punching it in” says our waitress, somewhat apologetic.

Because you don’t have a button is NOT the right answer, so I didn’t let it go. She suggested, she could upgrade the fries with my meal for $2 and I said great, BUT don’t give me those. Just throw the gravy and cheese curd on the kid meal fries, I will still pay the extra, but give me my fries plain and all will be good. A short time later, our meals arrive, and just like I feared, I get a lonely piece of fish, and Julia gets the biggest bowl of poutine I have ever seen, and when the lady brings the kids meal out on the next trip, she proceeds to dump the 10 french fries from that plate to a second one and presents it to me as if giving me a gift.

I am mad at this point. So I told her that I wanted a full order of fries for me, and that I only wanted the smallest of poutine for my daughter, then she turned and left in a huff and returned, with a bigger portion of fries for me, drenched in attitude, and just a little bit of indignance on the side. I did leave a tip, because that is just the kind of guy I am, but let me tell you I didn’t want to. The lesson in here for us all, is just because you don’t have a button that allows you to do something, find another button that is close enough and creatively modify and understand that in the end, if the customer ok with paying more for their a-la carte order, and leaves happy it is all good.

In closing
I love it when I sit down to write my blog, that I already have an idea or two to write about, and this week, when I opened the document containing my musings from the last couple of years, the first words I see are “Chuck you Farley”. You see, just as I was getting set to hit the big “submit” button on last week’s little ditty, I overheard a conversation going on between Nathalie and the girls in the living room. Now in retrospect, I should have written down more details other than just “Chuck You Farley”, so I could remember in what context the statement was being used, to whom it was being said and the all important who said it. Suffice to say, I do remember it was Jordyn that uttered the all-important question, “Who is Farley anyway?” Nathalie and I exchanged a glimpse, a smile then a laugh and both silently decided that we would leave it alone, and not teach the girls at this point in their lives, the art of changing first letters in words, to hide swear words. That would be just too mucking fuch for an 8 and 11 year old!

Thanks for reading and have a great and safe week.
Jim

Words That Count, Traffic and Happy, Happy, Happy

Words that count, traffic and happy, happy, happy, the week 14 recap of the week that went to the dogs, in the Carr house.

The little fur ball - Jersey!

Dogs
We have a great dog, all be it an old dog, but a great dog nonetheless and we certainly do love him. This weekend, we got a reminder of the young dog he once was in the form of an 8-month-old little ball of fur named Jersey. He belongs to my sister’s family and with them on the road for a couple of days, it is our turn to pay back some of the dog sitting credits me have amassed over the 14 years with Bentley and dog-sit their little mutt. It was fun to see them running around and Bentley even showed glimpses of his own adolescence by playing way more than he normally does. I am giving myself the award for line of the weekend, after shouting out for the 10th time, “Jersey, if you keep smelling his bum, he will get upset”. Now there is something you are not going to hear everyday!


Word Count
I love my blog. I love to go back in the archives and read bits and pieces of old posts, and each time I do, it takes me right back to where it was I was when writing it, and of course right back to the situation I was writing about in the post. I love that I have readers, but truth be told I do this for me mostly. I am very happy, that I can take a 1000 word snapshot into life and times of my family and sometimes pull it off with a laugh or two and am able to post it for the world to see, as if standing on top of a mountain and shouting, “Listen to me, and hear how great my family is!”

I love that some of the points are just silly observations, and some are about the family and some are about work, but somehow, seemingly with purpose, I can tie them all together. This week is my 79th entry and that brings my total written word count to an alarming, 77,244 or around 167 pages and the way I look at it, that is not too shabby, for a little less than two years of writing. So thanks for taking the time to read and please feel free to comment.

Traffic
I take the GO bus to work as often as I can. It is great, I always listen to music and do home work or write, or most likely get caught up in the world according to Facebook. I have to confess, I have a routine that includes checking a number of friends’ statuses and in doing so, I get a good picture of what is going on around my little world. I have made the joke before, that if I am in trouble I will likely find out about it first using some form of social media. Well, early this week. I laughed at the updates from Nathalie’s BFF, WW. It would seem that she had a very rough week due to an overwhelming amount of traffic, driving the same direction she was going at the very same time she was on trips to and from work, a couple of days in a row.

Now, I want to clarify, I was not laughing at WW in a mean way. You see I am sure she knows voodoo and could easily fashion a doll in my likeness, from stuff she has around her house (if she has not already done so), but I am simply bring up her dilemma because of my own commute on Friday. I wanted to just get there, and get home as fast as I could so I drove. After sitting in horrible traffic for more then 40 minutes, I thought about WW and her updates and me laughing at her from my comfortable seat on the bus and had to admit, that it was likely karma playing its cruel little game with me.

The one positive thing I was able to take from my car ride was the introduction to a song that I had never heard before. I saw these two girls in a minivan just going to town, with an air band performance from the anonymous safety of their own front seats. Until they finally came window to window with me, and I smiled and laughed at their performance, and then they buried their heads, laughing at themselves. They didn’t know what to do, when I rolled down my window to ask them what song had them dancing and singing so much? Turns out that it was Ricki Lee – Cant Touch It and I just have never heard it before. Wikipedia says it is from 2007, but most recently in the trailer for the movie, Sex In The City 2. I downloaded it when I got home, and in the end, I was able to pull somewhat of a smile from a lousy traffic situation.

Happy
I think I am at my happiest when we entertain guests at our home. Now there are lots of other times in my life I am happy, but this weekend I was reminded just how fun it is to have friends and family come to our house. It makes all the mad cleaning that we do, hours before hand all worth it. I love walking around the super clean house, topping up drinks and making sure that the people in our home are well fed, and lubricated (with drinks of course), while engaging them with interesting conversations and laughing. Lots of laughing!

Saturday night, while the kids where at a birthday sleep over, L & L came for dinner and drinks and we had a blast. If that wasn’t fun enough, we also have Nathalie’s parents, her sister and her family and Nathalie’s brother coming over tonight for dinner. This is just the kind of weekend we need every weekend.

In closing
Jordyn is one of the most sensitive and caring people I know and that she is only 11 makes me think that she is bound to become an even better person then she is all ready. This week, Nathalie and I had a bit of a disagreement about something, and when two passionate people such as us disagree, the conversation to solve the differences can be a little confusing. Nathalie wanted to clear her head, so she went to the store and when she left, Jordyn our little marriage counselor, who was supposed to be in bed, got to work on a three page, hand written letter, outlining her love for us and the reasons it is wrong to fight, and a simple solution for our differences. I will not scribe her entire letter here, but I loved this sentence the most, “Mom and Dad, Christmas is about giving and finding times to love and (not) times for hate. This time you are giving hate to each other by yelling.” I love you Jordyn and am so proud of you each day that you show us you care and love and are able to offer wisdom beyond your years.

Have a great and safe week, and thanks for reading!
Jim

Food, a Week to Remember and Mr. Sad Pants

Food, a week to remember and Mr. Sad Pants, reading the week 13 Carr family blog is the most fun you can have with your clothes on, guaranteed.
(Not an actual guarantee!)

HEY!
Mr. Sad Pants
I had no idea three years ago, when presented with a gift from Nathalie, that I would be as sad as I am today throwing it out. I have talked about the fact that I am so lucky to be married to the best shopper in the world, and one great part of this arrangement is that quite often I am the recipient of the stuff that she buys. Three years ago, we lived in our old rental house, and life with the Carr’s was very different. There was stress and tension and Nathalie and I were looking for ways to re-establish the bliss that we once shared, so we started to date again. That sounds odd for a couple that have been together for more then 16 years at that point, but the truth was we needed to remind ourselves all the things we loved about each other, and going out and having some adult fun was the key.

In the afternoon of one of our first date nights out way back then, Nathalie presented me with a pair of casual jeans as a gift. Not only did I love the way they fit and how they made my butt look, but also how I felt invincible when I put them on, almost from that first moment. Aside from the bad music at the dance club we went to, the jeans had a good first night out and subsequently set the bar at a positive level, for future outings. Over the years, they had been a part of many great dates and events and just about anytime I wanted to feel comfortable and good about myself, I would grab my go to jeans. Jump to this week, and their sad last day. I knew after putting them on this Thursday morning that it would be the last outing for my old friend, due to the sound they made when I bent down to straighten my sock. In a way, it was a sad last day, because Jeans this great deserve a much more exciting ending then just a regular workday. So I felt I owed it to the denim gods to pay tribute here in the blogosphere. In lieu of a memorial service, a shopping trip is planned this weekend, to find a replacement.


Worst day ever
This week I had to pause at the start of a class to send myself an email reminder about a story idea for my blog. It was based on a conversation with a student in my first semester class, after he reveled that the project due at that very moment was incomplete. “I am having the worst day in my life”, he said hesitantly and I said, “That’s going in my blog?” Not to devalue the student or what he is dealing with, but at 19 or 20 can you really have, “the worst day of your life?” Should you not hold out for a missed mortgage payment, or your first firing or even your first long time relationship break up, before throwing out the term “in my life?” Yes, you can make the argument that his life is, up until this point, and he could be having a bad day, but the, “the worst day of YOUR life”. Come on!

I understand that kids today, have way more responsibilities then we did when we were kids, but as a far as over selling or over emphasizing things, using words like these, I have to take a stand and say you don’t know bad yet, just wait for it!

This week
This is the week each year that I stop, pause and remember the great Tom Rivers, because it was 6 years ago this week that he lost his battle with Cancer. He was one of my radio heroes, and even taught for me at Seneca for a short time and as I noted in my last years tribute blog, he made an amazing impact on each of the students that where lucky enough to have him lead a class. Tom also taught me some things by being my friend, like to always give my all and to always be positive, no matter the situation and for that I am truly thankful.

Food for thought
One of the things we spend a lot of time talking about on our way home from work any given day is what it is we are going to have for dinner that night. Whether it is Nathalie and I over the phone, or the kids in the car, late afternoon is always planning the mealtime. This week I had to laugh at the conversation I had with Julia in the car about dinner. She was not feeling well Thursday afternoon, so I picked her up early from school and spent the rest of the day running around, with her tagging along. Around the dinner planning time, she asked me what we were going to have for dinner and I felt her willingness to discuss food, was certainly a good sign of her miraculous recovery, so I asked what she would like to have. “Catfish, shrimp or crab, I think. I feel like fish.” she replied. A good sign of recovery for sure, with that selection, so I asked her, “Why catfish?” And she said that she enjoyed it when we where on vacation in New Orleans, because, “it cut like budda’ ” Now you have to picture this in the voice that she used, with a southern drawl and heavy emphasis on the “da”. Where do they pick this stuff up? LOVE IT!

In closing
Over the last couple of weeks, Jordyn has been having some sleep issues and as such, has been dropping in on Nathalie and I in our room at night. Needless to say, getting up from a restful sleep, to comfort a child is one of those necessary parent things, but it sure has a way of affecting our moods and the lack of sleep will most certainly catch up with you. I am not complaining too loud, but it is important to understand where my head was this morning when I was giving Jordyn a very hard time about telling us last night that she had NO homework.

One of the things we have to work on with Jordyn, as per her teachers request, is her taking ownership of her own work at school, so our decision to let her sort out what it is that she does and does not have due any given day, is the first step. We sometimes check up on her, and this morning when I found the two pages of incompleted math homework in her agenda, I was a little upset. She stood there taking it all in, and when I paused to catch my breath, she smiled at me and said, “Well at least I didn’t come to your room last night Daddy!” The power of deflection mastered at age 11. Good for you Jordyn! You are off the hook for now.

Thanks for reading and have a great and safe week.
Jim