Today’s question is:  Why would someone agree to attend their child’s field trip and then spend the whole time on their smart phone?

Background:  A couple of months ago I attended a 1 hour field trip with one of my children.  We went to this really cool place and got an inside view of something really cool.   Field trips can be so fun and informative.

Right after we arrived we were standing around this man who is telling us all about how the plant runs and he was showing us all sorts of things on his computer.  It was really interesting (I really loved it, can you tell?).

So…….

Out of the corner of my eye I see one of the moms frantically clicking away on her smart phone.  She isn’t paying attention to anything going on in the moment, only whatever she is doing on her phone.  Then I notice her child.  Her child saw her.  Her child watched her as she totally ignored all that was going on in the present and clicked away at that phone.  And it made me think “what is so important it can’t wait 1 hour?”  Why do people think what is happening somewhere else is more important that what is happening right in front of them?

For all of you out there that want to say, well maybe she works, here is what I have to say.  If she took the time off from work to attend this field trip she should be able to NOT work for the 1 measly hour it trip took.  It all comes down to a decision, she decided to attend the field trip, so she should have been there, more than just physically.

Today’s question is:  Why don’t manufacturers of household appliances stick by their products and admit mistakes?

Background:  After having a lemon of a dishwasher for 6 years I really have a low tolerance for appliances that aren’t built to last, which brings me to today’s story.

My cousin (husband’s side) bought a new GE Monogram Professional Range five years ago.  This is GE’s top of the line model and she spent a boat load of money purchasing it.  It developed a problem, it made a noise, it clicked, she finally called to have service come to fix a sparking burner.  A sparking burner, that, for the record, sparked a minute at a time, for hours on end.  Clearly some sort of defect.  So they came, they tried to fix and instead they broke the entire unit.  The whole thing.  The gas line, the burners, the oven, the half oven, all of it.  So they left her a message about it…..here it is verbatim from the GE customer service rep:

 ”We were actually rejected simply because – and this is the way my supervisor explained it to me – the tech did damage the appliance during the repair. But he would not have been able to repair the appliance at all without attempting what he did attempt. He also said that often happens when you are attempting that particular repair. Had we not attempted that repair, we would not have been able to fix the unit at all. It does happen when they do attempt the repair.”

What they are saying is that it is not their fault that the unit is broken, or it’s not their fault they broke it.  I guess they are saying, every time they try to fix this problem they break the whole thing and they are sick of replacing them so now they have decided it’s not their fault.  However, they are ever so happy to offer a discount on a new appliance.  They broke a 5 year old, defective, $8500 professional range and they say it’s not their fault, but they are happy to offer a discount for a new one?  They must be kidding.  Is this all we can expect out of our appliances these days?  If that is the case there is no point in spending more than the minimum.

How about integrity?  Does GE have any?  How could they go in to fix the unit, that was running perfectly fine except for the sparking burner, and come out breaking the whole unit and think offering a discount on a new (did I mention they cost about $8500?) one is in any way a good deal.  Who spends that much money and thinks they would be spending another cent on a range for at least 15-20 years?

I give my cousin credit, she is standing her ground and trying ever so hard to make GE see that they are the ones at fault here.  Let’s hope it works.  In the mean time, my cousin has resorted to using her GE Monogram professional range as a stand for her indoor grill.  She is currently requesting suggestions for Christmas dinner on the little grill, please leave one in the comments.

I simply don’t understand why companies do not stick by their products these days.  Shame on them.

Today’s question is: Why do people have mobile phone conversations while they are picking up their children from play dates?

Background:  The other day one of my children had a friend over to play.  It was getting late and the mom arrived to pick up her child.  I answered the door and she was talking to someone on her mobile phone.  Barely pausing her conversation she asked for her child.  I went to get her child and then she left.  It was as if she didn’t want the person on the phone to know she was doing something else.

This seriously makes me scratch my head.  If the mobile conversation was so important why not just finish it before walking to the door?  It is as bad as answering the phone while you are dining with friends, and talking on your mobile while you are checking out in the grocery store (or anywhere).  Give it a break already.

I wonder, does she consider what she is teaching her child?

Today’s question is:  Why do people think it is ok to make a right hand turn from the left lane?

Background:  I almost got run over today, guess how?  Yep, you guessed it, the car, ever so slightly ahead of me, but in the lane left of me made a right hand turn, right in front of me.

Why do people do this?

Are people so incredibly impatient or entitled that they feel the need to go where ever they need to go regardless of those around them?

So you miss your turn?  It’s really not all that hard to turn around and retrace your steps.

Some days I really wonder about people, and I thank my lucky stars I manage to stay one step out of their way.

The world just might be a happier place if people just thought of others from time to time.

Today’s question is:  Is it possible that a global group of people, many of whom have never met, can help someone through the hardest time in her life, by sharing the same pie?

Background: Monday morning I opened my twitter account to find some startling and profoundly sad news.  A fellow twitter pal and blogger, Jennifer Perillo, had lost her husband the night before due to a sudden heart attack.  My heart ached for her. I hardly know Jennifer, I follow her on twitter, I know she has young girls, I know she has many of the same views on cooking and eating as I do. I know she is amazing in the kitchen and a real inspiration to me.

This is the story of Jennifer, Mikey and his favorite pie.  When Mikey passed the other day Jennie said, “For those asking what they can do to help my healing process, make a peanut butter pie this Friday and share it with someone you love. Then hug them like there’s no tomorrow because today is the only guarantee we can count on”.  Wise words.

I made the pie today for my family and we talked about Jennie, Mikey and their girls.  We sent love and prayers.  We weren’t alone, many, many others did the same with their loved ones.  My hope is Jennie and the girls could feel the love.  Visit Jennie’s site and make the pie (it’s easily adapted to gluten free) for your family, hug them and remember that “today is the only day we can count on”.

a pie for Mikey

I have benefited from the love that comes from friends on the internet in my own hardships.  I know the undeniable power that is present here.  Interestingly enough, just this morning I stumbled on some inspirational words I wrote down well over a year ago and haven’t seen since.  I think they were meant for Jennie…..

Death leaves a heartache no one on Earth can heal, Love leaves a memory that no one can steal!

I believe, the love of pie coupled with the love of Mikey and the love that Jennie has around her and beyond, makes all the difference in the world.

Today’s question is:  What is the point of a belt?

Background:  A couple of months ago I was at my daughters basketball game, this question came to mind when I saw this dude sitting in front of me:

why am I wearing the belt?

Maybe it’s just me, but I kinda thought belts were used so your pants would stay up and this “undies hanging out for the world to see” type of thing doesn’t happen.  Of course with the new trend where young boys wear their belted pants below their butts I guess the whole belt use thing could be disputed. However, I highly doubt this dude was a kid hoping to be a trend setter, notice the whitey tighties (kind of hard not to huh?).

I guess I just don’t understand modern day clothes.  But I do know the point of a belt, it’s to keep your pants up.

Today’s question is:  Who lets their dogs eat at the table in a restaurant?

Background:  While lunching with some friends in Rancho Santa Fe, California the other day an older couple arrived with their two dogs.  With amazement we watched as the dogs hopped onto the chairs and began eating or drinking something out of a bowl on the table.

I don’t work for the health department, nor do I have a background in health practices but something about this picture tells me it just might not go over so well with the local health authorities.

Luckily,  with my friends stealth camera skills, I’ve scored (thanks Bob!) these photos:

Dogs eating at table

Dogs like people in restaurant

Doesn’t it look the like dogs are having a conversation in that first photo? Almost like real people huh?

I don’t know about you but, really?  I mean really?  I think this couple just may have gone over the top with this lunch date.

Who does this?

Today’s question is:  Why do people park between the lines?

Background:  I was parking my car in a parallel parking spot a month or so ago and I came across this car that was parked between two parking spots.  How do I know there were two spots?  It was a lined section of parallel parking in the village just North of mine.  All the spots in town are marked.  So parking behind this guy was not a possibility, let me show you why…..

See that “T” well either the front bumper of the car should be to the right of it or the back bumper of the car should be to the left of it.  The car should definitely not be parked in the middle.  What I wonder is, did this guy (gal) have no idea what the lines were for?  Did he/she not care?  Did he/she intentionally do it so no one would hit, or bump his/her precious car?  Or did the lines go totally unnoticed?  It’s impossible to tell, really, but it sure makes me wonder.

People never cease to cause me to scratch my head.

Today’s question is:  What’s up with the intensity of the storms lately?

Background: In the past 4 years it seems the storms in the area I live have raised in intensity.  I blogged about the horrible storm that rolled in one afternoon 4 years ago.  We have had a number of vicious storms since but on Monday morning one hit particularly hard.

At 7:30am when I walked the dog it was gorgeous out.  You would never have known such a dozy was on the way.  But 30 minutes later, what a storm, it was green and blowing hard.  The next couple of hours were dark and gloomy so we watched a movie and relaxed at home.  Then I ventured out and saw the destruction I was a little shocked.

Here are some examples of poor trees that went down in the storm. This first one was ripped right out at the base…

 The next one just kind of split in half….

 This was a bunch of tree branches that were blocking our sidewalk…..

 This one bent in half at the base, amazing……

 This entire tree uprooted, but missed the house right next door, thankfully….

 This tree did not miss the house, it took the left corner off.  As you can see the tree used to be attached to that 7 foot high stump in the front of the picture slightly to the right…..

 Oddly, this small tree just tipped over at the base, so strange….

 The next two pictures are of the same tree.  This first one is of the edge of the ground sticking straight up in the air, you can see the annuals planted and neatly still in their rows.  The next picture is of the backside, the ripped out roots and the partially wrecked driveway.  That root stood at least a foot taller than I (5’3″)…….

 Check out this enormous tree, luckily the house had minimal damage….

Yesterday my local paper posted a link to a story on Twitter  about one of our villages oldest trees. You can read it here, it’s sad to have lost a tree that was 265 years old and so enormous (pictures on site).

Lastly, the other casualties of the storm lie in power outages.  As of this morning I still had several friends without any power.  If you drive through the town you can see many extension cords running across the streets as neighbors help neighbors keep their sanity and food supplies.  However what I didn’t expect was one of the local grocers to be without power.  As I walked through the doors the place was mostly dark and the produce, meat, freezer and dairy sections were cleaned out.  It has been more than two days since they had power.  I managed to get a few things, namely cash at the cash machine and as I walked out I saw several of the employees out front doing this……

It is so sad to see that food just getting dumped but with no end to the power outage in site, I guess it’s the only thing they can do.

So I wonder if this is part of what we should now expect as far as storms go in the midwest, strong and fierce, scary and destructive?

Today’s question is:  Why do some people feel the need to control everything?

Background:  My man and I are headed out onto a yacht on lake michigan tonight for a few drinks with some of his clients.  One of his co-workers will be with us as well.  This co-worker planned the whole event, every detail, even down to what my man and I should wear.

Yep, that’s right she told us what to wear.  Now, I am a grown woman, one that has never had a hard time picking out an outfit for a client engagement.  I have good taste and have some very lovely outfits.  I hardly need some woman at my husband’s work dictating what I should wear to any engagement.  Nor do I welcome such advice.

As a result, Paul will not be wearing the linen shorts she suggested, because 1. he doesn’t have any and 2. I wouldn’t let him wear them if he did, too wrinkly.  I will be wearing a dress, which is what I was instructed to wear,  but for goodness sakes, it’s what I would have worn without direction.

So the question remains, why do some people feel the need to control everything? Even to the extent of dictating the clothing choices of his/her colleagues?