Music: 3 Songs On Replay

Do you ever find yourself listening to the same songs? On repeat? For days? Or maybe a couple of weeks?  Well, I definitely do! It happens so frequently that I'm starting to sing at work, and I'm not a singing-in-public type of person. In fact I'm more of a sing-in-the-shower and sing-in-the-car type of person.

Here are the three songs I just can't enough of the last couple of weeks.

Day Drinking by Little Big Town - I first heard this on the CMT awards when they performed in all white and HAD PAINT SPLATTER EVERYWHERE AT THE END, it was super neat.  I have to admit, I just really love the whistling and the drumming parts.  It's so easy to get that tune stuck in my head!


This is How We Roll Remix by Florida Georgia Line, Jason Derulo, Luke Bryan - So, yeah this one is also from the CMT awards.  The version on spotify (the official version, I think) is different from the actual CMT performance version where they mixed This Is How We Roll and Talk Dirty together.  Both versions have been stuck in my head and are super fun to dance around to while getting dressed for work.



Surfboard by Cody Simpson - Originally I didn't like this song when it was performed the first time on the last season of Dancing with the Stars.  I guess by the second time it was performed, in it's entirety this time, I started to like it.  So of course I took to spotify and guess what...it's stuck in my head.

What about you? What songs have you found yourself humming or singing when there's no music playing?

Of Mulberry Trees and Water

One thing that I've found myself missing about from my childhood has been the long summer weekends camping.  It used to be the norm for my Ma to take off on a Friday and we'd load up the truck and camper on Thursday when she got off work and set off on the road.  Most times we didn't even have a specific location in mind!

I've fished, camped and swam in more lakes than the average Joe in Kansas.  I guess in some ways we just lake hopped most summers, which was fun because we got find the best camping spots and the best fishing spots!

These weekends, and in one summer we spent maybe eight days home just long enough to do a bit of laundry and pay bills, have a special place in my heart that bring some memories back when I hear certain town names.

A favorite story I like to tell is about the time we camped at Wellington City Lake.  We had found a lovely sunny spot on top of a little hill.  We could see the entire lake and there wasn't many people around.  There was lots of room for our dog, Dusty, to roam around.  During our set up of camp our camper became unbalanced after we unhitched it from the truck and it started to roll down the hill....towards the lake. I was about eight and on crutches and I remember yelling for my parents when it started to roll.  My Ma was the one who stopped it from rolling into the lake.  Ever since we've yet to camp on a hill again.

Another story that I just love to remind my Ma of is the year we hitched up our camper and traveled to Fritch, Texas for our family reunion that June.  We stopped somewhere in Oklahoma on a Thursday night at a KOA.  It was late and since we don't normally do the KAO thing because they're usually packed during the summer and it's just not something that our family likes, we didn't have much choice of camp spots.  So we ended up under a mulberry tree.  My Ma was so mad because there was no way around tracking in mulberries.  We spent the better part of that evening cleaning up the floors in our camper to make sure there weren't any mulberry stains because my Ma was not having any of that.  The next morning we loaded up in the truck and headed south again for Fritch.  When we set up camp in Fritch we were happy to have made it to our destination.  Camper is unhitched, legs are pulled down, slide out has been cranked out, water, sewer and electricity hooked up and everything is level.  We open the door to do our clean-everything-and-put-things-back-where-they-belong routine and the look on my Ma's face was priceless.  She forgot to turn the kitchen sink off completely and had flooded the main part of our camper.  Not only did we spend a lot of time cleaning mulberries from our camper floor that weekend we also spent a lot of time and paper towels drying out our camper.

As you can guess, these are just a couple of many stories we have.  What is your favorite thing from your childhood during the summer?

Seven Things that Guests Do That Annoy Me

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people who automatically hates their guests.  I'm far from that.  In fact, I love my guests no matter what.  That's right, even when their little gremlin decides to smear their ice cream cone down the wall of the booth in the corner that is such a pain to clean.  Even when a guest gets irrational upset over forgetting their extra dipping sauce.  I love them all, no matter their hot and flustered moments.  Because really, I get them too.

I do however get annoyed some weeks when it seems like all guests are missing a point or two.  Thus, my list of things that guests do that annoy me.

• Not looking me in the eyes when ordering.  I can't tell if you're actually ordering or if you're just talking about maybe trying the grilled chicken salad.  If you make eye contact with me, even just at the beginning of your order I know you're ready to roll and I'll do my best to catch everything you say the first time.  If you talk to the floor, well, we're going to be for a while.
• Getting annoyed when I have to ask extra questions to clarify the order.  If it's during lunch time, which it probably is and you're talking soft or rushing words I can't hear you well.  There's a line of people at each register, employees talking and making noise in the grill and talking to guests in the drive thru window plus if I'm wearing a headset, I have one ear that I can't hear out of because it's getting drive thru orders.  Do you want your burger to have mayo on it or would you like to pick off the tomato because you couldn't stand to answer my question.
• Mistaking me for a guy.  This doesn't happen often, but it annoys the crap out of me.  My hair is pulled back in a bun with a cap on.  I'm not a skinny woman, I have curves and muscle.  But apparently a feminine name "Jessica" and fancy wide rimmed glasses with jewels on the side scream out "I'm a man".
• Standing at the counter waiting for food when they've just ordered.  Your burger isn't ready yet. Your chicken is still in the fryer.  We're waiting on fresh fries to be salted.  Oh, and you had three medium milkshakes made with the hardest flavor of ice cream we have? Yeah, it's going to take a couple minutes, we don't magically have it all ready.  Go, get your drink, pick out your booth and get all the napkins and ketchup you want.  We'll call your number. You won't go hungry. And no,  I can not give you your shake right now because then someone else will try to make it again. Leave it alone, please.
• Asking for lids on a single dip of ice cream in a cup.  Are you serious?  By the time you get home it's gonna be melted.  I don't understand, but here's your lid regardless.
• Ordering diet cherry limeade.  What?  Okay, I get the soda water instead of the simple syrup carbonation mixture, it's not as sweet which I totes understand.  But you do realize that the cherry syrup we put in means syrup right?  Don't complain that it's too sweet, you wanted a cherry limeade, diet.
• Giving me the stink eye when I have to tell you pull your vehicle up to the door at the end of the drive thru lane because we're waiting on fresh fries/chicken and we already have the next vehicle's order completely finished.  Like seriously? Are you in such a hurry that you're not going to appreciate that we're not giving you the old sitting-here-for-at-least-thirty-minutes-and-not-really-that-hot fries? How about fresh crispy chicken strips?  Just pull up to the door, please.

Well, that all came out a bit like I was ranting, but that still doesn't mean that I'm not at least a little bit annoyed when these things happen...at least five times every shift I work (excluding the one about guests mistaking me for a man).

What's your number one pet peeve as a guest in fast food restaurants?  I think mine has to be when I'm not greeted.  I like to see a smiling face ready to help me order.  It makes me want to go back; there have been times when I've revisited a fast food restaurant I might have had troubles with the food before just because I had a good customer service experience with a member of the crew.

Tuesday of Thanks

Note from Jess: This was originally written Tuesday around mid day but it never got posted because of an internet outage from a large weather system moving into the area.  Think of this as the fairies that kidnapped this post deciding that they weren't bad fairies and have decided to deliver it.  Better late than never, eh?  Keep an eye for those fairies if you're in Kansas.  They like to come out when it's about to rain.

It's Tuesday, and I'm thankful.  That pretty much explains this post.

• It's Tuesday and not Monday.  For some reason, yesterday was just a big case of Monday times five and I'm thankful that we're done that for a few more days.
• I'm thankful for the blown out tire on my dad's truck that is allowing us to spend time together to fix it.  It's hot outside and we're not happy about how difficult the process of fixing the tire is but it's been a great bonding moment for my dad and I.
• I'm thankful that in a week we're going to be on the road to Wyoming to see my brother.  I've been waiting for months now to get on the road!
• I'm super thankful for great managers who look out for me.  Yesterday I was getting dizzy and the stubborn me decided I could fight through it.  Eventually they ganged up on me and talked some sense into me. I ended up sitting down for ten to fifteen minutes to get over the dizziness.  Of course, they made sure I hydrated too.
• I'm thankful for our veterans and all that they've done for our country including lending a helping hand wherever they can now that they're out of the service.

What are you thankful for this Tuesday?