OVERFLOW

i know what you were thinking.........i had a toilet problem, right?? wrong. no plumbing problems. actually, no problems at all...........just a head full of thoughts and stories, and no access to the internet. i thought i was going to overflow..............

first, let me tell you about something that happened several days ago. i was off work and had numerous errands to run. filling my car gas tank was one of my errands. i pulled into the shopping center parking lot, almost being smacked in the passenger side by a man in a truck who seemed quite impatient to get somewhere. i rounded the gas pumps to be aligned with the right side of the car to pump my gas. the same truck that had almost hit me pulled in front of me at the pump (i was almost up to the pump) and he pulled up to my front end, tapped my car and pushed me back just a little for him to access his gas tank. I WAS LIVID!! my first thought was to pull a "FRIED GREEN TOMATOES" maneuver. but i didn't want to damage my car. then i thought about getting out and walking right up to the man (who, by the way, was about 6'5" and 300 lbs.) and kick him in the shins while i pulled out the gas nozzle and sprayed gas all over his truck and him. but then all of a sudden, a calm came over me and i backed up, pulled around to the other side of the pay island, and right up to another pump that was actually closer to the island. i watched as the man pumped his gas and paid at the pump with a card and sped off. after i pumped my gas, i went to the pay island and asked the girl inside if she had seen what happened. she said she hadn't, but said i should have come and told her to call the police. i told her i had made a choice that i wasn't going to let that man steal my joy nor force me to lower myself to his level.

after paying i got into my car, thanked God for not letting the man hurt me or my car, and for not letting me do something stupid. then i asked God to please speak to the man's heart so that he would change and not do that to anyone else. it felt good.

on the days that i have worked, some of my customers have been mean and hateful, but most have been kind and wish me a good holiday season. then monday i answered the phone and a woman said "who is this?". i told her my name and she asked me how to spell it. then she started joking around and i thought i knew which of my customers it was, but was still wondering why she asked my name and how to spell it. about 10 minutes later she called back and said "this isn't the woman who called a little while ago and asked you how to spell your name, but would you tell me how to spell your name???". i had to laugh at her. i still wasn't sure what was going on.

about an hour later one of my customers tapped me on the shoulder and handed me an envelope. inside was a cute Christmas card with a funny note written in it, and a gift card for $25 from Cracker Barrel. she was the one who had called me twice, asking how to spell my name. she wanted to get it right on the card, lol. i was truly ecstatic over the card and the gift. she and my boss had had a big falling out awhile back due to some furniture i had sold her being sold to someone else by mistake. when she came to pick it up, it was gone. she cussed, fumed, fussed, and really lost it with my boss and a couple of CS workers. but she has never said a harsh word to me about anything. after handing me the card, she told me i was the only one there she liked, and she figured maybe my daughter and i could go out to eat. wasn't that sweet??

speaking of my daughter.........her birthday was dec. 1, but it was this past sunday before i was able to pin her down long enough to take her out to eat. she had the choice of anywhere but chose a mexican restaurant. it was good, but ooooh my tummy, lol. we had a good time together. i had found a beautiful sterling silver/cubic zirconia heart pendant at work and took it to the pawn shop to see if it was real. when i found it wasn't diamonds and white gold, and wasn't worth selling to get cash, i decided to add a sterling chain and give it to my daughter for Christmas. i bought a chain at my old craft store and added the hook and eye and wrapped the necklace. after my daughter and i ate lunch, we went back to her apartment and i gave her the gifts i had for her birthday and Christmas. i bought her 2 pillows she had picked out at the thrift store and they matched her sofa perfectly. i made her a couple of crocheted dish cloths and a stove mitt. then i gave her the necklace. she was wearing a cute little heart made with small diamonds that her ex-boyfriend had given her and she said she liked mine better, so took off the other one and put mine on. it was beautiful on her. she liked it alot. that made me happy, since little i have done in the past has made her happy.

my daughter broke up with her boyfriend of 3.5 years and started dating another guy. after 2 weeks she is already sick of the new guy. sigh..........i guess i will never see any grandkids, lol. but i am glad she is being picky. nothing worse than marrying then finding out he isn't the right one...........after all, i did that twice.

even though there are a lot of people who are bah humbugging this season, i had one customer that made my day. she came up with a few pennies for a customer ahead of her. i thought she was with the customer, but she was just being nice. then this one very annoying customer, who has lots of money but is always trying to make you come down on the prices of already cheap items, was complaining that she didn't have enough money to pay for a purchase of $2.12. the same lady came up with the money for her, and then the annoying woman said she didn't want to write a check for that little amount. so when the nice lady made her purchase, she didn't have any more cash on her and had to write a check for her own stuff. i discounted her total by $2.50, which is what she more or less gave to the other customers. she seemed shocked that her total was less than she thought. i told her jokingly to shut up and write her check, lol. she realized then what i had done and reached over the counter and hugged me and then kissed me on the cheek, then told me "God bless you, and merry Christmas". it made me smile.

ok, now to something that is rather, um, delicate. i am sure that lisa over at "life on a bison farm" will get it, as well as possum over at "possum's journal". when i visited my daughter on sunday, i was introduced to her newest family member, "spaz". he is a short haired rag doll kitten that she found in the parking lot at work. he is a tom cat and is apparently entering puberty. he isn't scheduled to be neutered until january. she already had 2 other cats, "peaches", who is a tuxedo cat, and is female and spayed, and about 4 years old and "wendell", a garfield cat, male, about 10 months old, neutered and very small boned. spaz has very very very large gonads and likes showing them to you........in your face showing them. he also has made wendell his "b*tch". my daughter tries to watch them when she is home, but worries when she isn't home. she can't seperate them in different rooms due to them crying and alerting the neighbors that there are cats in there (she isn't supposed to have a cat, lol). after january i am sure wendell will go back to breathing easier when around spaz.

i have been married twice before, but never to an abusive man. my heart goes out to women (and some men) who are abused by their spouses. but i guess since i never knew anyone who was in that type situation, it was never in the forefront of my mind. i read one of my regular journal reads tonight and the entry really touched me deeply. this woman has been through hell and back and still, some of her past haunts her from time to time. she has become one of my heroes. in case you don't already have her on YOUR list of must reads, here is her link: The Ghost of Christmas Past . it will be worth your time.

i don't know if my wifi connection will let me post this, so i better go and try. i have to work half a day tomorrow, and hope i still have my wifi connection when i get home. i have missed being here online.

just in case i don't get back online between now and Christmas, i want to wish everyone out there a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

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