Heat is On

My stomach is doing major flip-flops already! I finally called the hospital yesterday and left a message requesting a meeting with Administration.They called me back today and confirmed a meeting for next week with the CEO. Yikes.

She Turns on a Dime

What an ugly scene it has been once again with her screaming and yelling and the foul language - horrible names that she calls me with not a hint of regret. And it happens so quickly. Things may seem to be going along so well and with no warning whatsoever she turns. She becomes enraged, hate-filled, and extremely aggressive. Vile words spew from her without hesitation...and always at the top of her lungs.

Mike and I were getting ready to go to Show Low, just for a bit of quiet time, time alone together. From downstairs she called her dad on the phone and asked him to pick up a phone card for her. He sent one of the girls down to get the money she had for the card. She sent the money up to him. Over the next few minutes while we readied to go and were instructing the girls to go downstairs where their mom could watch them, we could hear her screaming into the phone at David. We told them they still needed to go downstairs because we were leaving.

Within moments of leaving the house, had just turned the corner from our street, the phone rang. Jodie was calling and wanting the name and number of someone she could get to watch the kids because she had to go to probation and a class. I asked her why she couldn't have just asked us to watch the girls. You would have thought I'd dropped a bomb on her. She began screaming like a mad-woman...the words totally indescernable as she screamed into the phone. I told her I couldn't understand anything she was saying and hung up the phone. She called Mike's phone. He too told her he couldn't understand her screaming and hung up the phone. She sent me a text message...

??? What on earth? What had I twisted by asking her why she couldn't just ask us to keep the girls? Once again, there was little hope of carrying on a conversation with her. Mike and I returned to the house. The total time lapse from the time we left to the time we returned was maybe five to six minutes. We had driven to the Dollar Store parking lot and turned to return to the house. When we came in, the screaming and name-calling was in full force. She called me everything she could come up with...her parting shot being on our front porch screaming that I was a f---ing c----.

Apparently she has taken the girls up to ride horses with a friend, neighbor and returned to the house because I heard the door downstairs.Why she thinks any of her behavior is acceptable, I don't know but I am certainly tired of being a doormat for her.

UPDATE: Then she walks into the house within the hour, goes into the bathroom and comes out and sits on the couch...as if nothing at all has happened. Once again, she's turned on a dime.
7/24/12

Foodie? Guess Not

I like nice restaurants, I enjoy good food. I am a fiend for beef and will usually choose beef over any other food, unless at a seafood, or Chinese, or Mexican food restaurant. Although beef may still be part of my meal at any of those restaurants it isn't usually a primary part of my meal. I've been somewhat spoiled having been in the Valley so long. There are some nice restaurants, even nice chain restaurants in the metro area.

I like consistency in restaurants, too. Somehow it was refreshing to visit a Subway sandwich shop in Sydney, Australia and feel familiar with their menu and options even though there actually were several differences. I love having a Subway in SJ now! Wow, that is nice and again, the menu and options are familiar...consistent from location to location with "fresh" being a key component of their marketing. I probably wouldn't want to know whether or not things actually are fresh, I believe they're fresh because they look fresh.

On a recent visit to the Valley, I stopped for breakfast at the new Denny's in San Tan Valley before heading back to SJ. While the menu and options were familiar, the service was not. The wheat toast orded with my breakfast did not arrive for a full 30 minutes after my food had been set on the table. Seriously! Okay, yes, I waited around to find out how long it would actually take. When the waitress set the toast on the table, I let her know the wait was no acceptable. I also let the manager know how long it had taken to get my full order.

Maybe it is age. I am far less willing to just walk away without saying anything. I am far less willing to "tip" poor service, regardless of responsibility (cook, waitress, etc.). I mean, unless they are evacuating the place due to a kitchen fire, there really aren't many excuses for poor service or poor quality.

Today, I am perplexed. What to do, what to do? Of course, no one reads my blog 'cept me and maybe two others, so oftentimes it is odd things like this that make it to my blog. Yesterday, I skipped lunch in anticipation of dinner. I had texted Mike early in the morning and let him know a local restaurant would be serving prime rib for dinner. Please can we go?  Of course he said yes. He's sweet like that.

We went to the restaurant and ordered dinner. Prime rib for me, carne asada burro for him. What? No baked potato with the prime rib? Okay, let's see...mashed potatoes or fries. Hmmm. It'll be mashed please. No cheese on my salad. Thank you!

Imagine my surprise!

Yep, that is what they served me! SOUPY potatoes, with cheese, and a crispened sliver of prime rib on a grease streaked plate! Oh my heck!

And if you doubt how thin this meat was, take a look at it with the knife for comparison. This was supposed to be "medium", a bit of pink...do you see any hint of pink on that meat? There was a bit of grease on the plate but not a hint of meat juices, this meat was so dry it was unreal.

I was ticked.

I said something to the server. He told me he had challenged the cook over it too and didn't want to bring it out. Well, that did me a lot of good!

Now, mulling it over. Do I print this out and hand it to the owner next time I see him? Hmmm. Okay, I like the guy and his family. That's evident in the fact I didn't put this on Facebook, too. What to do, what to do?

Oh, and the Foodie aspect...guess I'm not afterall. I have no shame apparently.It was beef, I ate it.