I finally got an apartmen. I can't wait to move in, yet I don't wish to move. Carrie and I have so much fun living together. It's sad. With her working and starting school, me working and getting ready to start school, we are never going to see each other. She's one of my favorite sisters. But, at least I have a home now. I have to share a room with my friend, but I will have a place to live. That's what is important.
I'm at Carrie's place right now. We are going to go play Disney Party on the game cube. I have to be up early in the morning. I really don't want to go to work tomorrow, but I must.
I am trying to figure out what is so cool about Facebook, but I still can't even figure out how to use it, or what the point of the site is. Sending little pictures of coffee and old 80s toys? Fasinating. Anyone have any thoughts on this odd popularity?
Good night.

Decisions

I have decided I am going to college. I have to move out today, stay with my sister Erin in her apartment for a few days. My friends and I are waiting to hear back from an apartment we are wanting to rent. I hope they let us know soon because I don't really want to hop around from Erin's home to my friend Sami's place, then to my dad's, and Carrie's. My three months are up, Carrie's husband is coming home from the road today, and his grandparents and two cousins are going to be here. Today is really going to be hectic.
This apartment we are looking into is a two bedroom, so me and my friend Christina are going to have to share a room, and Sarah gets the other room. I have not shared a room in years, so this is going to suck. But it is affordable. 200 dollars a month each. I can do that. But what I really want is a place all my own. I could afford four hundred on my own, the apartment next to Erin's that will soon be vacant, but it would be difficult. Plus, Christina and Sarah are counting on me, so I can do this for however long our lease is, but eventually I want my own place.
I am going to go to college. A woman from work just left Barnes and Noble to go on a six week dig in Mississippi. We talked occassionally about archeology. I have always been interested, but never as a serious choice for my career. Then she left for Mississippi, and I thought, that sounds like fun. I started reading as much as I could about history, archeology, paleontology. I bought several books, taped loads of programs on the history channel. I want to study as much as I can and see if I am still interested in a few weeks to actually go to school for it. I think I am.
Carrie is not going on the road anymore with Ray. She also needs to make more money. We are all struggling. The world is struggling. So she's home for good. Got a job at the BK down the street, starts classes in a few days. She's going to be a nurse. Her sister-in-law just graduated. She wants to work in a high security prison, or maybe go into criminal law. I'm not sure. But me and Carrie are getting very motivated. I'm very anxious to go back to school. I was in college for about a year, and now, three years later, I am ready to go back. Now that I am sure what I want to do.

Dating

It has been a long time since I have blogged. The internet wasn't working, but my neighbor came over and fixed it. Thank God. I really miss blogging. I should be going to sleep right now because I have to get up at six to go to work, but I couldn't wait until tomorrow to write something.
Things suck lately. I have just under three months to find another place to live. How I'm going to save money in that amount of time is beyond me. I haven't been able to save anything from my last three paychecks because of my car. Cost me a lot to get that damn thing to pass the Emissions test. Needed tires, wipers, brake light fixed, etc...Then had to pay a fee for being late for something or other, had to pay for Missouri plates...Like my job pays well enough for all of this. I just make coffee. It sucks that the cost of living is way more than a person makes. I love my job, I am not quitting. I'm not getting a second job if I can help it. I have already tried that, and that's when the depression started full-force. I might have to quit my job and move back to Arkansas if I can't find a place to live.
Well, now that I am sitting here, I have no clue what to write. Hmmm....I had a customer today who was something else. She asked about some caramel drink Starbucks makes, then said she meant Cinn. Dolce. Yes, we make that drink. She ordered a tall. I pulled the twelve ounce cup up onto the counter and she changed her mind.
"It's not much more for a grande is it? I would rather have a grande."
I told her ok, no problem. I start to head for the phone to call a manager over to change it, then decide whatever, a few more ounces of milk, a couple dimes, who cares. Besides, there were two guys behind her in line. So I made her a grande. I added the whip, grabbed a lid...
"Oh, I should have ordered decaf!" she exclaimed.
I smile. "I can make you a new one," I told her while inside I'm screaming, "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?!" She really had no clue what she wanted. So I ended up at the phone anyway, calling for back up. I didn't want to make the two other customers wait for me to make her a new drink because she couldn't possibly handle two little shots of caffine. Why bother buying an espresso drink if you want decaf? So dumb. That's why we call those the "Why bother," drinks, or--my favortie--"What's the point," drinks. Really!
So I made her her grande, three shots of cinn. dolce syrup, decafe latte. Then I hand it to her and she asked me, "Does this have caramel in it?"
Seriously? A very confused woman. I just smiled at her the whole time and prayed she would leave soon.
Oh, yeah. Here's a fun one. Guy walks up to the counter, buys a soda. I have trouble understanding him through his heavy accent. I have no clue where he is from, but a thick accent he did have. He talks, pays for his drink, then stands there talking some more. I'm wondering why he's still talking to me, I want to go open the Manga I was deeply into before he showed up.
"I'm Chris," he says. Yay, I understood what he said, but why is he telling me this?
"I'm Laura," I say, a bit confused. (By the way, my real name is Laura. I changed it to Charlie because I like Charlie better. You only live once.)
"I wanted to ask you out," he says.
My eyebrows disappear under my bangs, and my mouth drops open. "What?"
"I wanted to ask you out," he repeats.
"I don't date." My face had to have been showing all the shock I was feeling. Why was he asking me out? "Thanks though."
He left cafe pretty quickly after that. I'm twenty-three years old, and that is the first time anyone has ever asked me out. Well, except for my friend asking me to take him to junior prom because he was an idiot and dropped out of school. I was completely flabbergasted. Who does that? Stop in a cafe for a drink then ask the barista out? Really? I'm not going to say yes, I have no idea who he was. My sister told me that I wouldn't know who he is until I go out with him. That's not how it works with me. If I ever go on a date, I have to know the person a bit first. No random strangers who could be serial killers. Thanks, but no thanks.
A friend of mine, a regular at Barnes and Noble, went on a date recently. So we were talking about dating. I was trying to give him ideas about where he could take her next becuase he said he didn't know. My suggestions were: roller skating (a few friends and I were supposed to go, but didn't get around to it.) paint gun fights, zoo, shopping...a gave him a whole list. Maybe I'm weird, he thinks I am. I said I didn't like all that traditional dating crap. You know, candlelight, dinner, movies, blah blah blah, bore me to tears. I think it's more romantic to sky dive, or go sailing. Like the first kiss. Not on the doorstep of her place. Please, way too cliche for me. I think it's much better if it's spontaneous. You're out somewhere, maybe laughing over an ice cream cone as you're walking down the street at one of those street fair things. He looks over at you, and he can't help it. He grabs your face and kisses you. No questions, just go for it. Surprise! I just felt like it kinda think. Somehow, I don't know. It's just prettier that way.
Any way. Really time to get going. I have to shower, put my clothes in the dryer and get to bed. Tomorrow is going to suck. Crema. Inspection. Gross. Of course it's me working while this is happening. So that means lots of announcments, some sampling, and constant business. I can't sit there with the 11th Chibi Vampire or open a copy of Absolute Boyfriend. I have to stay busy, professional. ( A friend of mine got me hooked on Manga and Anime. I love the Japanese.)
Goodnight.

The Freedom of the Old

Suddenly a swarm of women with toddlers all under the age of two enter the cafe, very much resembling a stampede of animals. My eyes grew wide with shock and fear. Should I call for backup? A woman set a large plastic container on a table, and I see it's full of vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Great. A birthday party. In the cafe. In a bookstore...who does that? Someone who can't afford to rent the space at Chuckie Cheese? My mind was racing with thoughts of smeared chocolate and crumbs. I'll have a mess to clean up when they leave. It just seemed odd, rude, weird that they'd do this. Matt drops off a canister of cafe posters and whispers, "Are they allowed to bring food here?"
I whisper back, "I have no idea. People seem to do it all the time."
One of my regulars, an old lady with a bird's nest of hair and a cane was sitting with her usual warmed oatmeal raisin cookie and half a cup of decaf coffee. She comes up to drop off her plate. When she talks, it's a low mumble, I have trouble hearing, but what I catch is always funny. She speaks her mind. She was grumbling about this birthday party group.
"I know, I was shocked when they showed up. Who does that?"
She mumbles about them and says she has her cane to hit people with. I laugh and say I should get one.
"I should leave my cane with you in case you need it," she tells me.
I throw my head back and laugh. Sometimes I love old people.

Shopping and Unwanted Guests

Yesterday we all went shopping. My sisters, Carrie and Erin, Shane, Jessica and her sister Tessa, and their cousin whose name I never caught. I bought lots of earrings. I have a problem. Do I not have enough earrings all over my bathroom counter? But, apparently, that is far from being enough. So, I have more. I also got a very cute bag from Hot Topic, just the re-usable kind, black with a white skull on the front. I love it. I have been using it as a purse. Also got a new pair of sunglasses. Heart-shaped. Then we said goodbye to Jessica, her sister, her cousin, and Carrie, Erin, and I went to the church down the road to watch Fireproof. Awesome movie, everyone should see it, at least ten times. We rented it a few days ago, then saw it again last night. The acting sort of sucks, but the movie is wonderful. Kirk Cameron, from Left Behind, stars in it. He's a pretty good actor. The movie was funny, touching, and has a wonderful message. I tried finding it on DVD, but couldn't. Also, couldn't find Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister on DVD, either. What is that? I searched online, but it is nowhere. I really want to buy it. That is also a great movie.
Anyway, I woke up about eleven a.m. to discover Shane has two friends over. They are all playing the Wii in our living room. Carrie didn't get any warning, really. This is her house, and she wakes up and Shane tells her he has friends coming over with the Wii. She's like, Okay. Five minutes later they are here. Does Shane think this is his house? I have lived here for a year and a half about, and even I ask if Sami can come over. Shane sort of just took over the house. Hogs the TV, invites people over without asking first. Kind of annoying. Carrie wanted to go to work with me today since I only work four hours so she can sit and read, drink coffee, but Ray wouldn't like it if she left all these strange people in their hosue.
When it was just me and Carrie, it was peaceful. We aren't really people persons. We both would rather stay home all day by ourselves, watch a little tv, read. We don't like having guests over if we can avoid it. Also, when she wanted a cigarette, she'd smoke in her room because it really irritates my eyes, nose, and it stinks. She doesn't smoke much. But now, Shane and Erin smoke, their friends are smoking in the living room, my hair stinks from it, my eyes are burning, I can't breathe. I really want everyone gone. I am tired of smelling like smoke.
Anyway, yay, I get to go to work soon! Get out of this smokey, crowded house. It's awkward having strange people here when I get up first thing in the morning. Also, the house is a disaster, and the stupid girl who is with Shane's friend keeps wanting to call our kitten monkey. How dumb is that? Monkey? Her name is Victoria Secret, not monkey. I don't know why that bugs me so much, but it does. Also, she keeps calling Victoria an it. She's a living creature, she's a she, not an it, thank you very much.
Anyway, I have to go to work in about an hour, so I'm going to go complain with Carrie for a while, then read. Maybe Ray will talk with Shane and let him know this is unacceptable behavior. If not, I'm sure Erin will yell at him later.
We don't even like it when Ray's family show up unannounced. Which they do, more than they should. Maybe we're just really un-friendly people, but this is our home, we don't want people in it. It's just weird. Whatever.

Jensen Ackles

My favorite TV show- Supernatural. I am completely in love with Jensen Ackles, but who isn't? He's got those very kissable lips, the gorgeous eyes, and he looks great lip-syncing Eye of the Tiger. Jared is cute too, but he's not Jensen.

Confessions

I was ready to throw coffee urns at heads tonight. Wow, busy. On the PA system, they let the customers know we were closing in twenty minutes, then ten minutes, then, "It is now nine p.m. and the store is officially closed for the evening. We ask that you bring your final purchases to the front for checkout. Thank you for shopping with us, and have a nice night."
Ten minutes before we closed, I suddenly get a huge line of people, everyone wanting coffee, which, come on, I don't have coffee made. By this time, I usually have hot water in the urn to soak overnight, but I had to make a pot of coffee. And everyone wanted fappuccinnos. A lady asked, five minutes before we closed, if we had any smoothies.
"No." I told her. I was not about to say the Vivanno. Hell no! That thing takes ten minutes to make and is very messy and I still had another customer behind her to help. No way was I making this satanic drink.
Then, twenty minutes after we closed, I hear on the PA system, "Catherine, we're clear." Tim, our new manager said this. He was letting Catherine know we were clear of customers and the doors were locked.
"Thank God," she replied on the overhead. I laughed. How could I not? Do these people not pay any attention to the sign on the door that has the hours on it? Do they not care that we still have to stick around and clean everything after they leave and we're tired and ready to drop by this point? Do they not hear the three announcements we make to let them know, to give them advance warning?
I hate people.
Whenever me and my sisters are out shopping, we pay attention to store hours. If we forget what time a place closes, when we hear the announcement, we make a beeline for the register or the doors. We were closed and I saw people browsing the magazine like they had all day to read the latest gossip. Seriously? What part of "We are closed" don't you understand?
Grrrrr......(growling and shaking my head in frustration.)
Anyway, just a bad night. And I work again tomorrow at Noon. At least I am not opening or closing, my favorite shift. Show up, make drinks, go home. No stressing that everythings not going to be done for open. Not stressing about having everything done for close and ready for open. Just coffee making. Plus I work with Megan all morning, she's fun to work with, and Devin in the evening. I haven't seen Devin in a while. He only works a few nights a week, usually a saturday and I haven't been working saturdays lately. Which is fine, cause church is Saturday nights for me. Which means I'm missing it tomorrow, but I agreed to switch shifts with Sarah before I realized it. Oh, well.
Do I have a problem? Yesterday I bought two books. Blue is for Nightmares and White is for Magic. Tonight, I got a five dollar tip from Pat, so I think, Hey, I have enough for that other book I want...And since I was having a bad night, I bought it. Three books in two days. Do I have money for this? No, but that doesn't stop me. I bought Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. And I didn't just buy it, I started reading it. I'm never going to learn. Laugh out loud, add this to my list of books I am currantly reading. I'm never going to finish a complete book again, am I?
Did you know that Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a movie? Yeah, Stockard Channing, Matthew Goode (who is absolutely gorgeous and has a sexy accent) and a few others I know by face but not name. It's a really good movie, I watched the whole thing on youtube.com. Check it out.
Well, I'm off to clean off my bed since I threw clean laundry there this morning. Then, I'm reading. I should read Nanny Diaries since I'm really close to finishing it, but I have a feeling it's going to be Uglies or Blue is for Nightmares.

Trash and Books

This song is the one stuck in my head lately. It's amazing.

I recently found my Fashion Bug credit card, so I bought a new outfit for work. Really needed new work clothes. Nice black pants, kind of dressy shirt with large black buttons and a sort of pocket in front. Very chic. A little see through, so I wore a red tank top under it. But the red tank showed above the neckline of the shirt a bit. Just great. But then I looked in the mirror and decided the hint of red above all the black looked nice. I pulled half my hair back into a clip, keeping it parted on the right like it usually is, and I put on my large red earrings. I have to admit, it looked all looked pretty good. I hardly ever wear make-up, and when I do it's only some mascara and lip gloss. So I put some on.
I was sitting there yesterday at the morning meeting feeling kind of awkward. The sleeves of the new shirt are shorter than I feel comfortable wearing. I am going to fix that, though. Get some material from a fabric store and add longer sleeves. I love altering clothes. Anyway, at the meeting I felt everyone kept staring. After the meeting, a couple emplyees came up for their usual morning scones and drinks.
"What are you all dolled up for?" Knez asked me.
"You look really nice," Matt told me.
"I like your earrings," said Christina.
Wow, I didn't want all this attention, I'm just tired of wearing plain t'shirts and polos. . .
And, by now, I should expect things like this, but nobody has been putting trash liners in the large bins at work. At the bottom of the bins was about two inches of soupy gunk. Gross, smelly, awful. I scrubbed them out one at a time. Christina, bless her heart, ran cafe so I could scrub them in the kitchen. A few blogs ago I posted a picture of the kitchen at work, and there is a gray trash can in it. I scrubbed two of those. In my new outfit. Two bins more than half my height. They were heavy. I couldn't reach the bottom without sticking half my body in them. So, to save my new shirt, I put on my hoodie and wore a trash bag over it. Christina helped me. I cut a hole for my head, too big. I put it on, she cut out arm holes and used a Horton Hears A Who button to pin it behind my neck cause it was too big. I put my hood on to protect my hair, and scrubbed. It was not fun. Half my body in a smelly trash bin, it was hot, awkward, and I wanted to vomit from the stench. I left a note for all to see:

Attention All:

I just cleaned the gray trash bins as best as I could.

Please don't forget to put trash liners in them!

I think the next person to forget should scrub them

with toothbrushes. Lol. Thanks!

Hopefully they all read it!

When Kori got there at four, she wasn't feeling well. She called around, trying to find someone who could come in to cover her shift, but couldn't get anyone to. Though I was more than ready to go home and put on pajamas, I told her if she couldn't find anyone to cover I could come back in after I run home and eat some dinner. When I open cafe, I usually don't eat much. I'm not a morning person, so I'm never hungry for breakfast. By time my shift is over, I'm hungry. She said she'd let me know, and I head home. Fifteen minutes into my drive she texts me and asks if I can come back. I told her I would be there soon as I could. I grabbed a sandwich and went right back to work. I opened and closed. I was very tired.

But it was worth it. Randy, the store manager, came over and gave me a ten dollar gift card. A customer bought a book with an amazing cover that caught my eye, and she said it was a great series. The book was ten dollars, and I decided I would read some of it and buy it if it was good. With my employee discount it was only $7.49. I like the book so much, I also bought the second in the series. Blue is for Nightmares and White is for Magic by Laurie Faria Stolarz. I'm really looking forward to reading them. Along with the zillion other books I am in the process of reading.

Books I'm Currantly Reading:

Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz

A Hopeless Romantic by Harriet Evans

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Nanny Diaries by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin

Eldest by Christopher Paolini

The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

Living Dead In Dallas by Charlaine Harris

Bag of Bones by Stephan King

The Count Of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas

The Shack by William P. Young

The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox

Stephen King: On Writing by (Duh) Stephan King

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

And I am more than certain I left something out. Maybe I should be reading instead of blogging. I need to finish at least two books before I pick up another one. It's sick how much I love to read.