Soapbox #1

I have an assignment for all my 5 readers!

Next time you are at a store and the cashier asks to see your ID ... smile and say, "Thanks. I really appreciate that you ask." ... and show your ID.

I started responding this way after hearing a cashier get screamed at by the person in front of me when they asked to see ID. The customer was irrate, with a purple face, and blood vessels pulsing in rhythm under their skin.

It was pretty disgusting actually. The poor abused cashier tried not to crumple under the embarassment and in a small voice tried to explain the benefits of the store policy.

By thanking the cashier who asks to see your ID, you will hear back pretty much the same answer every time ... it will be a combination of one or more of the following:

• Wow. Most people yell at me when I ask.
• No one has ever thanked me before.
• I usually get into an argument with the customer over this, and I have to try to convince them that I'm asking for their own personal safety.
• People usually get mad, but if they knew how many stolen cards I alone have come across!

And they will smile, and tell you to have a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good day. And you can leave feeling that you've made a difference in someone's life ... or at least in their outlook on that day.

When you got it!

When you've got it ... you've got it!
Even if it's just confidence!



This license plate made me laugh.

Long time no blog

There are many things that have contributed to my lack of blogging in the last few weeks ... 19 days to be exact!

We've been to Rifle, CO to visit family.

I finished my Montgomery Clift biography and I've been planning my dad's 70th birthday party. There were Father's Day visits and a trip to the dentist (the kind with good news at the end! yeah!).

I've been breaking in my new camera, which means taking tons of nonsense pictures to figure out all the in's and out's.

I had another birthday; they are no longer fun. Thank goodness Weston and Lisa were sealed in the Provo Temple on my birthday, helping me to momentarily forget the onset of aging. (Yes, I meant to make it sound like a disease, because it is!)

We had fun friends in town, and we're getting ready for more company in a few weeks. We've done a lot of yard work, including building fences and cleaning out the pool.

We've suffered through the cold, and now we're suffering through the SUDDEN heat. Matt explains to me daily that there is no such thing as moderate climate changes when living in Utah. And he's not happy about it.

Those are the happenings in our neck of the woods! See, you haven't missed too much!