Mississippi Gulf Coast Wouldn’t Know Service if it Bit Them in the Face July 21, 2008

While our ice cream was vanilla and in a cake cone, this was its consistency.

We went to DQ for ice cream but it was Sunday and they were closed. No big deal; we just went down the road to Sonic. We ordered one hot fudge sundae and one child’s ice cream cone. We waited for over ten minutes. Finally, a young woman skated out to our car.

Israel said, “Hello.”

She didn’t answer.

“How ya doing today?”

No answer. I looked over and saw that the ice cream (which was an adult sized cone) was dripping onto the cone. She handed the sundae to Israel.

“Can we get a cup for the cone? It’s kind of melted,” Israel asked pleasantly as he handed the sundae to me. I set it in the cup holder.

Still silent, she took a napkin, and instead of wiping the cone off as I expected her to, she wrapped it half around the cone and half, I kid you not, around the ice cream. And hands it to Israel. In the two seconds it took for Israel to move the cone from the left side of the car to the right side, it had covered his hand in melted ice cream. He was still struggling to pay her so he handed the cone to me. I was going to attempt to clean it up a bit before handing it to my four year old daughter. It was literally running out faster than I could clean it up. Very, very frustrated, I put it out my open window with a sigh of irritation. I peeled the napkin off the ice cream. It was completely saturated. I made another sound of extreme frustration and Israel said, “Hand me the cone, Becky.” I handed it back to him and he took it and the sundae, stuck them back into the carrier our silent waitress was holding and said, “Here. Thank you for wasting everyone’s time.”

Still silent, our waitress turned around and mossied back to the restaurant. We backed up and drove away, hating Mississippi more in that moment than we had anytime previously. They couldn’t even get an ice cream cone right. We went to the grocery store, bought some ice cream and cones and had wonderful CHOCOLATE (which no one sells in a restaurant anymore) ice cream in waffle cones. It was great and the service was friendly and professional, even if the waitress did give Israel a peck on the cheek as she served him.

To the beach… May 14, 2008

We, Jael and I, are headed to the beach today with our Moms and Tots group. Should be fun. There’s a slight chance of rain but it’s looking pretty nice out. Jael’s still got a bit of a cough but it seems to be more from a tickle in her throat than chest congestion. Hopefully she’s feeling better by tomorrow. She’s a doctor’s appointment tomorrow afternoon for her “overseas screening” and I don’t know how that will work with her being a little under the weather. I guess we’ll see.

I’ll post some pictures from the beach when I get back…if I remember to take my camera.

Well, I remembered the camera but forgot to take any pictures but that’s not the only thing I forgot. I also forgot to put sunscreen on Jael or myself. She’s burned and so am I. I could care about my own sunburn, I do it all the time. I feel like an absolute heel about Jael’s sunburn. I’m struggling to not feel depressed about it. There is this internal dialog which is telling me over and over again that I am a crappy mom, far to irresponsible to be in charge of a human life. I look at the sharp contrast between her white swimsuit shaped skin and her sunburned skin and I just want to cry. I feel like total crap.

But, I recognize that beating myself up over it will not make it go away so I am trying to use this to help me remember to sunscreen up before we leave the house next time we go to the beach.

On a happier note, Jael had a great time at the beach. We walked to the waterfront in front of our apartment and then down the beach to the place we were meeting our friends. She played in the surf and the sand for about two and a half hours before we walked back. She laid down at 1:30, got up to pee at 2:30 and slept until after 5. YAY!!

Later.

The pictures you’ve all been waiting for… May 11, 2008

Before…

After…

Yup. I cut my hair. I donated about 11 inches to Locks of Love, “…a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.”

The remaining length, from three inches to five or six, was dropped on the floor to be swept away. I love the new cut. It’s so curly. I mean, I knew I had curly hair and I knew the weight of my hair kept the hair on top stretched straight. But I was still surprised. Israel asked, when he and Jael returned to pick me up, if I’d permed it or something. He just couldn’t believe how curly it all was.

So, there you go. No more super long hair for Becky…at least not for a couple of years. I have no current plans of growing it out though. I’m really enjoying not touching my comb (I’m just finger combing conditioner through it in the shower). I love the fun bounciness of it. It’s great. Oh, and it dries so much easier. My hair is no longer dragging in the bottom of the tub or across the floor when I’m bent over drying it.

Oh, and I finally found a place on the Gulf Coast that has good excellent customer service. I couldn’t find anyone in the Biloxi/Gulfport area who advertised a “curly hair specialist” so I looked in Mobile and found Fairhope Massage and Skin Care. Their website was absolutely phenomenal, especially for down here. They completely lived up to my expectations. When I walked in and said I had an 11 o’clock appointment, the receptionist looked at her computer and said, “Oh, are you Becky?” And my stylist walked over and introduced herself. She talked with me for a while, to figure out what I wanted to do. She double checked that I really wanted her to cut off ten inches for Locks of Love and then she did. She was very professional. I didn’t have to hear about her sordid life. She answered questions when I asked and asked questions when appropriate. She didn’t seem uncomfortable with silence.

I also had some waxing done. Before my esthetician began. she offered me a glass of wine, “to take the edge off.” While I was busy, Israel and Jael returned from their park adventures and were waiting in the lobby. One of the other staff members suggested they try an ice cream store down the road. Israel had to confess that I’d not returned his debit card (not purposely) and he had no cash. She opened the cash register, handed him ten bucks and said, “We’ll just put it on your bill when you leave.” They also offer a free three week touch up for wax jobs. That way they can see what kind of a maintenance schedule you should be on and, in my case, it’s three weeks longer that my wax will last. That’s customer service. That’s how you keep customers coming back again and again.

Oh, and after my haircut (sorry this is all out of order), Mindy, my stylist, put a bit of makeup on me. Not so much as to make me feel weird, as I don’t normally wear any, but just enough to make me feel incredibly beautiful as I walked out the door with my new and very different hair.

Everyone was very knowledgeable and a couple of the staff members who had watched me come in with loooong hair, came by to compliment me on my new ‘do.’ I left feeling so incredibly wonderful.

Yesterday, when we got the mail, I had a postcard from Mindy in my mailbox. She just said Thank you for donating to Locks of Love and she was glad to get to help me get a hair cut I liked. The post card was a picture of her. Again, that’s good customer service. That is how you get return customers.

There you are. If you are in the area, go to Fairhope Massage and Skin Care. They are amazing. I don’t know if their prices are normal, high or low compared to other spas but I felt I got what I’d paid for. I highly recommend them.

Renn Fair May 8, 2008

Jael and I with our friend Ameris Grey* and her sister, Elsie*, went to a Renaissance Faire last Saturday. I wore a hodge-podge of borrowed items. The only thing that was mine was my headpiece, which I’d crafted out of some wire, some beads and a yard of leftover wedding dress material.

It rained…a lot. The fair was supposed to open at nine. It started pouring rain at about eight and they pushed back the opening time to ten. By ten it had quit raining but was still incredibly wet. We crossed the field and had sopping wet shoes within steps. From that point on, our feet were soaked and were not dry until we got home, took of our shoes and socks and let them air out for an hour.

Anyway, despite the rain, we had a good time. We petted goats, one of which glared fiercely at Ameris. Then there were three who were very good at putting there horns in the fence, out of the fence, in the fence, out of the fence. Jael got to pet a pony. Notice how she looks like she’s in the process of drying off? Well, she is.

We watched as the belly dancers performed. Jael then wanted her shirt tucked up so she could belly dance, too. They are a troupe from Mobile, which is too bad because I would really like to find a group here in this area but have not been having much luck. But they were very good. I thoroughly enjoyed them and danced along with them a bit. Elsie bought us all hip scarves so we were very jingly. But then a man, one of the musicians from the group that played earlier, came up and started asking me all sorts of questions and what not. Is this my first Renn Fair? You have a beautiful outfit. Do you belly dance? You don’t? Oh, you should. I think you’d be really good at it.

Eventually I was able to “see” to Jael and was able to relocate to a spot not near him. Then the queen and king asked for a private dance from the dancers.

They danced, again, beautifully. The girl in red was very thin, so thin in fact that it was almost grotesque while at the same time fascinating to watch the muscles of her torso move under her skin. The other girls were thicker, more in keeping with the belly dancer image. All were wonderful. And, oh so, jingly. Their drummer was pretty amazing as well.

The court was beautifully dressed, except for the queen. I’m not really sure what happened with that. The queen, from what I hear, is supposed to be the most ornately dressed woman at the fair. This queen was probably the most plainly dressed woman there. And one of the thinnest. Renaissance fairs seem to be for thick girls. Which is cool for me but an interesting observation none the less. There just weren’t that many skinny girls. There were a couple of thin or slender girls but very few “skinny” ones.

You can see here how everyone is very richly dressed. Even Ameris has over dressed the queen and she’s not even an official part of the fair. Heck, I was dressed over the queen. The queen, by the way, is the woman in the court picture in the black dress with gold edging. She’s the thin blond in the middle.

So that was a little odd. That and she kept slipping out of character. I saw her boot a guy in the backside in a very unregal manner. Like I said, I’m not Renn Fair expert but it seemed odd even to me.

Jael got some fairy wings, though I’m sure if she wouldn’t have preferred a sword and a big horse.

There was a troop of dancers. They dressed like fairies…well, the girls did. The boys just wore regular clothes. Not really sure what was up with that. Maybe it was a last minute thing for the guys. But anyway, they did like Riverdance type dance. Lots of jumping foot work. It looked very cool. Unfortunately, it didn’t capture well on camera or video. But here’s a still nonetheless.

Oh, and we cannot forget the sword fighting. It was SCA again and was pretty good. What surprised me, and it shouldn’t have, was how quickly the battles were over. If you were hit in the legs, you dropped to your knees and fought from the knees. If you were hit in the arm, you dropped whatever weapon or shield was in that arm. If you were hit in the head, you were dead. I don’t think any match lasted longer than sixty seconds. And from what I’ve heard, a real fight doesn’t last much longer than that. Either someone’s going to win or they aren’t. There isn’t a whole lot of time spent dickering around about it.

Oh, and then the jousting. That was cool. Not as cool as I’d hoped but cool anyway. The “knights” threw spears into hay bales, snared rings with spears, and sliced through cabbages with swords. And then, finally, they charged at each other and attempted to skewer each other with lances. They actually broke some lances on each other but no one was unhorsed. My only real disappointment with the jousting was one of the horses. The black horse galloped. The gray cantered. There was such a difference in power that it felt like the knight on the gray wasn’t even trying. The black was fearsome and awesome. The gray, somewhat too pastoral. But it was neat anyway and I’m glad I got to see it.

Here’s a picture of someone that Ameris took. I’ve no idea who they are but their costumes are awesome so I’m including them.

And then here is a picture of Ameris and I. I am in the red and she in the blue. We are wearing the hip scarves Elcie bought. Ameris’s pouch, barely visable on her right hip…I made that the night before the fair. Good old leather coat I bought from the Goodwill ten years ago is still serving me well.

And finally, a picture of me in full Renn-ware.

We had an absolute riot and I’m very glad we went, even though my feet were so very wrinkly when I finally got my boots off. I’ve never seen feet so wrinkly. They were so water logged that the wrinkles hurt. YIKES!!

So, see you later.

Oh, and tomorrow or the next day, I’ve exciting pictures to show…and no, I’m not pregnant. But exciting none the less…at least to me.

*names have been changed since I’ve not asked for permission to throw their names around online.

Crawfish Festival Pictures April 27, 2008

Here are the promised picture from our evening at the Crawfish Festival 2008. Here is Jael on Israel’s shoulders…twice

We walked around for a bit before heading to the Ferris Wheel.

We took some pictures from the top of the Ferris wheel.

If you look carefully, you can see Alex. She is standing above on the right of the gray platform. She is wearing a black shirt and is looking up at us.

We went on the Tilt-A-Whirl next. Alex took this picture which shows Jael’s concerned face. Jael didn’t exactly enjoy that ride.

After that, we wanted Jael to have some fun so to the carousel we went.

Then to the cars and motorcycles.

This was an attraction we didn’t go into. It was a ride. I think it was supposed to be kind of a scare house. An Indiana Jones likeness was on the other side.

Then Israel, Alex, and Jael left me to go on all the crazy rides. Here’s a picture of the Fireball, which doesn’t really do it justice.

But you can imagine that big arm swinging like a pendulum, while the hand like portion on the bottom spins around and around. What a rush!!

And here’s a picture of the fair as the lights came on.

All in all, we had a great time. I’m glad we went and if we were here next year, we’d probably go again.

Upcoming: Renn Fair in Ocean Springs and Becky in a corset. Fun fun.

Beaches March 31, 2008

The beaches here are so much cleaner than last year. They’ve worked really hard and I appreciate it. Now, I am not saying that our beaches are nice but with what nature has given them, I think they’ve improved the beaches a lot since last year. Because of the islands off the coast, we don’t get real waves here and so the beaches don’t get cleaned naturally. When it rains, the whole sandbar which is Biloxi, drains into the Gulf, which is about two feet deep the first 1/2 mile or so out. So the beaches have a lot going against them.

Where as last year, the sand was filled with debris, supposedly from Katrina, this year, the sands are fairly free from crap. The water line is still yucky but like I said, I think that’s due to the storm run off as much as anything else.

So anyway, Jael and I went to the beach yesterday. It was a lot of fun. She played in the surf and sand while I laid out in my new swimsuit.

My new swimsuit. The first time I’ve ever spent real money on a swimsuit. I think I spent $28 on a suit in highschool. Since then I’ve probably spent about that much on the last two suits I’ve bought, both from Wal-Mart. This year, I decided I didn’t want to feel nasty in my suit. We have a pool and are a 1/4 mile from the beach. I figure I’m going to be spending a lot more time in my swim suit than I have since we lived at Knightsbridge. So I spent $60 on a two piece tank suit. You know that kind, it covers everything that a one piece covers but it’s in two pieces. I really like it. Because it’s not snug against my belly, it smooths the appearance there. It also has a skirted bottom, which, because it’s not connected to the top, hangs better and freer than others I’ve tried. It was totally worth it. I actually felt attractive in my swimsuit. I don’t know that that’s ever happened to me before. It was very exciting.

But…I got a little burned again. If I make it through life and never get skin cancer or have a skin cancer scare, it will be a miracle and of no credit to me. To be fair, I don’t think I could have gotten sun screen on my back in the places I burned so I don’t think I’m completely to blame. Of course I could have worn a t-shirt but what’s the fun in that?

Creepy old men March 17, 2008

I’m not sure what bothered me more…the lameness of the parade or the creepiness of the grown men begging for crap.

We went to a Saint Patrick’s Day Parade yesterday. We’d not taken our daughter to a parade and thought she might enjoy it. She did so our mission was accomplished it but it was still odd.

The parade itself was, well, different from any other parade my husband and I had ever been to. The parades we’ve gone to before included: marching bands from local high schools, decorative floats from extracurricular clubs, floats from various business and clubs from the city, antique cars, the shriners, clowns, etc. This parade had large trucks, semi tractors and tow trucks, pulling trailers which had been painted marginally in St. Patrick’s Day colors but bore a uncanny resemblance to what I would assume Mardi Gras parade trailers looked like. Green, yellow (or gold), purple. Cheap beads. Beer. Load music.

We had fun but would not probably go again. The music was WAY too loud. It hurt my ears. The crowd is standing not five feet from the “floats” and yet the music is blaring loud enough to hurt the ears of someone twenty feet back. (My hubby stayed back in the shade.) We stood next to two men. Both were older and very…well, they were really fat. Both had that look. I saw it often when working at the Pierce Street Fareway and often when working at OU (which I had a nightmare about last night, oddly enough.). It’s a look of voluntary mental retardation.

There are those who are born with a small cup. There are those born with average cups and those born with large cups. The size of your cup is predetermined. You can’t change the size of your cup. What you can choose is how full your cup is. A mentally retarded person who has a smile on their face and has worked to better themselves in every way they can, has a full cup. They have my respect. An average Joe or even a genius who, through laziness of the mind and body, has a small swish in the bottom of his cup and nothing else, has nothing from me but disgust.

These men were in the latter category. They were fat not from the love of food but the hatred of doing. They stood there begging for a handout because they’d given up self respect and dignity long ago. They gathered their useless baubles and cheap cups, baseball caps, plastic footballs, toy pipes, and the like with a greedy urgency. They lugged their tote bag of “treasures” away with them as though they’d actually received something of value.

Sorry to have ranted on two strangers. My daughter lugged her crap home with the same emotion. She feels she got real treasure and to a four year old, a couple of pounds of shiny Mardi Gras beads are treasure. I simply hope that by the time she’s an adult, she has more permanent treasures to seek.

Oh, and I got sunburned. Jael is fine. Israel is fine. I toasted. Which I do every summer when I pull out the tank tops. You’d think I’d learn. I guess my cup’s not overflowing yet, is it?