Excedrin

A man came into my line at Reams the other day with one item:
               a bottle of Excedrin.

Not unusual, happens all the time.

First thought: "Migraine. Ouch."

Second thought: "What to say...."---As always I try to strike up a bit of conversation. It serves two purposes, [1] leaves the customer feeling happy and [2] keeps me from going crazy. Take it from me, starting small talk 600 times a day is tiring. Actual conversation is golden.

So, in a situation such as this I usually say something along the lines of, "I hope this isn't for you", or "someone isn't happy at your house!" If they are the sick individual I offer my condolences for their ailment. [This is an easy conversation starter, most of the time it's more difficult.]

This time I said, "So is this for you or going home to someone else?"

To this he answered, "I hope it's not for me, otherwise something would be seriously wrong!" Accompanied by a half smile/half "what-are-you-thinking" look.

I looked at the bottle more closely.

Tip for next time: Read the package.

Summer Shoes

Through a random internet surfing I discovered [this blog post.] Too fun! So I made a few myself. I was in need of some summer shoes anyway...

Helpful Hints

--That really cute pair she found at Walmart doesn't exist. I looked everywhere. BUT they do have the Target brand for $9, and those are my favorite [plus, the elastic is already inside, so you don't need to sew it!]. I got some from Kmart too, but they really look like old lady shoes.

--Cute colors are quite hard to find. Walmart, Kmart, and even Reams have the very basic colors: Black, Navy, Dark Green, Royal Blue, Wine, Scarlet, Purple, Yellow. But JoAnn's [the superstore] has tons more to choose from. Aqua, Light Green, Fuchsia, etc. So you can try Walmart first and then if you aren't satisfied go to a craft store.

--Don't buy Kelly Green. It's a hoax! It turned out BLUE. Explain that one to me.

--Plastic gloves really aren't necessary, but they sure are fun! We went through 5 pair each for the first batch of dye, and then for the 6th batch [yep, I'm pro now] we didn't even touch them. So really, your choice.

--Mix everything together thoroughly. Purple seemed to have the hardest time mixing. It would leave dark spots and would never dissolve completely. You might want to just use half a package, especially with purple.

--Just follow the back of the package and have a fun time! Also, it's more fun when you have good friends to share it with, namely, my mom and little sis. :)

Canada Day!

I love Canada.

Here is my reasoning:
--Tyson 

--The Olympics

--Hockey 

--Northern Lights
--Michael Buble

--Tyson

--eh?

--"oot and aboot" 

--Cool last names

--Eskimos

--Did I say Tyson?

Anyway, I found out that July 1st is Canada Day, a.k.a. Canadian Independence Day and so a celebration was in order! I searched online for traditions pertaining to the day, but alas, parades and fireworks were the only things I uncovered. Lacking both I searched for something else to commemorate this great day.

So, I took my little sister shopping and we found "Canadian" things at the grocery store.

Pretty Canadian huh? I've been selling Canada Dry all week and have been ACHING to make it say "Canada Day". 

My dad's mission companion was Canadian and my dad once asked him, "What do Canadians call Canadian bacon?" He answered, "Uh,... ham?" Clearly Americans just like fancy names.

The maple leaf cookies were an added touch because we needed something else to add to the feast [of ham and ginger ale...]. They aren't exactly in the typical maple leaf shape, but it's close enough, eh? Pretty much I just started walking down the cookie aisle of Walmart to find something Canadian and stumbled across maple cookies. It's a win [and they were yuuuuuh-mmy!].

Because I had to work that night we celebrated Canada Day for lunch. The festivities began with a rousing chorus of "O, Canada" sung by my brother's iPod. We were feeling very patriotic by that point. Luckily the youtube version had the words so we could sing along.

Then we delved into great Canadian artists. The playlist went as follows:
Celine Dion--"My Heart Will Go On"
Bryan Adams--"Heaven"
Michael Buble--"Lost"
We also listened to Justin Beiber--"One Time" for a whole 2 minutes, but that was long enough. He is the one awful thing that came out of Canada.

We consumed our ham and cookies [yum?] and toasted Canada with our ginger ale.

A toast! To Bryan Adams, Michael Buble, and Celine Dion! [For reals.]

Kam asked me how to spell "Canada". So I told him.

Let it be known that my little bro and sis are awesome, because they put up with my Canadian obsession. Thanks for celebrating Canada day with me guys!

And to everyone else, I hope you had a Happy Canada Day!