Pet Peeve: Bueno and Hot Sauce

There is a very good possibility that I might have blogged about this before, but I think it is worth repeating.

Every time I go through the Drive-Thru at Taco Bueno, they ask the question "Do you need hot sauce?" Every time, I answer "No thank you!". And every time, they put at least 2 or more packages of hot sauce in my bag!

If it were in packages like soy sauce or ketchup, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But Bueno basically scoops out hot sauce into a little plastic container with a lid on it. The lids are really easy to pop off and on more than one occasion have spilled before I got home. SO ANNOYING....especially when I said I didn't want it!

So tonight I went to Bueno. "Would you like hot sauce?" "No thank you" Sure enough, when I got to the window there were THREE hot sauce containers in my bag(for my one party burrito and tortilla soup). So when the guy handed me back my credit card, I handed him back his hot sauce and said "I'm sorry, I don't need this."

My question is this: Why does Bueno even ask me if I want hot sauce if they're just going to give it to me either way?

Donors Choose

A couple of years ago, I saw a commercial for a program called "Donors Choose." It is a website where teachers can post needs that the school system won't/can't provide for them and individual donors can fund them. It is really amazing how many things are needed for schools that teachers actually have to buy for themselves or just live without. You can search by school, region, subject, % of low income, etc. for projects that seem like something you want to fund. My first donation was to buy a classroom subscriptions to Weekly Reader and Time for Kids because Weekly Reader was always my favorite in Elementary School and it makes me sad that a lot of kids can't get it anymore. Since then I've kept going back.

As good as it feels to know that I've helped some students, the best part is the thank you package. Donors Choose sends a disposable camera with each project so the teacher can take pictures of the students using the items that you sent and they usually send thank-you letters from the kids as well. Every time I get a thank you package, it makes me so happy that I just want to go back and donate more! The kids are just so cute!

Here are some excerpts from letters I got today. Read them and then go to donorschoose.org and pick your own projects to fund! I love it because you know exactly where the money you donate is going and exactly what is being purchased. There really is very little waste in this program.

"Dear Donor, Thank you so much for donating books to our classroom. I can't believe your class used most of your money to get us thirty books! Getting us five books would be nice but to get us thirty books that's amazing!"

"Joey Pigza is funny. I think in the book Joey Pigza: Loses Control he can spend a little more time with his dad because his dad is wired. But he can't spend too much time with his dad or with his grandma either because his dad and his grandma smoke and smoking is bad for you. Also in the book Joey Pigze: Loses Control he shouldn't put Pablo (Joey's dog) in the glove compartment and do harmful stuff to him. Thank you again for the books."

"Well thanks for sending Tucker Joey Pigza books. Everyone loves Joey Pigza books. You should read some Joey Pigza books. This is very nice of to send us books. That's very nice. That's what you need to know. Thanks!"

Such cute kids! Well, I'm off to search through more projects to fund!

Things That Make Me Smile: Hot Tamales

This morning as I was driving to work, I looked in the rearview mirror and noticed I hadn't put on any mascara. So I stopped at Walgreens to buy some and right by the register, I saw it: a giant box of Hot Tamales!!

I love cinnamon flavored things so Hot Tamales have always been one of my favorite candies. Wade Weaver used to have a giant jar of them in his office at Altamesa and I would always go and grab a few before I did anything else at church. I haven't seen them in a while, so it definitely made me smile today. And the fact that I walked around sharing them with my coworkers near me made them smile too! What a great way to start a Friday. :)

Prayers

I'm sure by now, most of you have heard about the shootings at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. My college roommate, Lindsay (second one on the left in the picture from that post) is living there while her fiance, Ryan is in grad school at NIU. They are both okay, but very much shaken up. Ryan was proctoring an exam in the same lecture hall not too long before the shooting...had the shooter chosen a different time to come in, it could have been Ryan.

It is hard to explain what it feels like to have your entire world turned upside down and to all of a sudden feel completely unsafe in your own town. In September (on Maisy's 5th birthday actually) it will be 9 years since the shootings at Wedgwood Baptist Church where I lost a friend. It seems crazy that it has been that long. But 9 years later, I am still experiencing effects of that event. I've always loved finding new things in common with my best friends, but this was one that I was hoping to never have to share. Please pray for Lindsay, Ryan, and the entire NIU campus as they begin to deal with the aftermath of this terrible thing.

Thanks,
Emily

I have an accent?

Sorry for leaving the picture up of no-nose man all week! I've been extremely busy/sick.

I'm in Boston for a few days. It is FRIKKIN FREEZING here! Tonight there is supposed to be a snowstorm....glad I wasn't trying to fly out! But as always, Boston is great. Quick anecdote:

At the end of the workshop I am attending, we had a panel discussion. I was pretty chatty as always. At the end as we were all exchanging business cards, one of the panelists shook my hand and said "Love the accent!" Cracked me up....We were always giving my friend Bill a hard time for his Boston accent and now the tables have turned! I don't mind though. I've always wanted an accent. :)

For Jonathan

The slow-mo shot of Charlie swimming in the window from the Lost Season Premiere.










Edited to add pictures of the eye in the cabin window...definitely not Locke (he has blue eyes) and definitely Jacob (notice the lack of nose)