Completely Inspired...

As an assignment for a couple of classes in school, my little sister was assigned to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children in Coon Rapids. She got bonus points if she brought someone with her. She asked me and I gladly accepted. The organization is centered around sending meals of rice, soy beans, dehydrated carrots and potatoes and chicken seasoning (think ramen noodle seasoning) to poverty stricken countries throughout the world. We showed up on Tuesday night at 8pm (which was mighty late for a girl who works at 630am) and to our surprise there were 125 volunteers there. 125!! I was floored. They gave us an orientation which included a video and pictures of what they have done. There was a story of a little 8 year old boy name Omar who was 19 pounds....you could see his ribs, his face was sunken in and his arms looked like tiny sticks. His eyes were so hollow and sad. The next picture was of him just 2 weeks later after eating FMSC packets. He gained weight and lookd better...then the picture of after 6months and he had gained 30 lbs and he looked happy! It just broke my heart to see that. The whole process was divided into 5 jobs and it takes about an hour and a half. It's fast paced and there is alot of commotion. Lindsey and I were on the task of putting labels on the bags the food goes in. Christmas music was played and people were singing and laughing and working. Together. It was pretty frickn cool. I was so impressed with the work at this place. They must pack a ton of food and meals for children each day. We packed 21,600 meals...this will feed about 60 kids for 1 year! Unbelievable! I absolutely highly recommend this charity and volunteer  opportunity...it's pretty amazing.

10 things that annoy the piss out of me about Facebook

1. The Chronic Posters
        Okay, so I am happy you are alive. But the 10 posts each day mapping out how you cleaned the house, are watching tv, working out, etc...is unnecessary. Do you do anything without first announcing it?!

2. The "Woe is me" Posters
       These are the people who post things about how sucky their life is. Their posts usually contain "FML" (f*** my life) ALL the friggn time. This usually is a fish for some sort of compliment....i.e.

Sara Johnson says: "FML. Another guy breaks my heart. I will never get to get married. UGH"

Comments:

Betty Jo Baker: "Sara, OMG...you WILL find your person. You are smart beautiful and great, any guy would be lucky to have you"

Amanda Blow: "Keep your head up sweetie! You are so great! He's a loser!"

3. The "I am so awesome, me, me,me" Posters
      This is the person who constantly posts their blog and website and talks about how cool and creative they are.  This is not to be confused with those who do have blogs...good blogs, worthwhile blogs, or blogs that talk about issues or funny things. Not blogs that constantly talk about how great and creative they are. Self indulgent blogs. Borrring.

4. The Game Posters.
        This is the person who sends you 54,546 game requests. "Fertilze my farm" "buy my brownies" "feed my fish". Seriously?! If I haven't fed your fish, fertilized your farm or bought your dumb brownies, I am NOT interested. Stop sending me requests....

5. The Cryptic Posters
      These are the people who post cryptic messages meant for only one or two people to get. For example, "OMG....I can't believe he did that. You know who you are" or "You are an idiot". Seriously...we want to know what the F you are talking about.

6. The Drunken Posters.
      These are my favorites. These are the people who post while intoxicated. Not only do they most mostly mumbo jumbo with a bunch of exclamation points and misspelled workds but also post stupid drunken pictures of girls kissing girls or girls grabbing boobs. Pictures of them pretending to hump someone or taking shots and dancing on bars. a) real classy b) you're gross.

7. The "I will repost every single post that tells me to repost" Poster.
      Okay....I have a great dad, mom, sister, dog, husband, friend, cousin, aunt, uncle, brother, step dad, step mom, neice, nephews, etc...BUT I don't need to post every single post about it. If I don't post how my dad is my hero or my cat is amazing...it doesn't mean I don't think it.


8. The song Poster.
      This person could also be lumped into the Drunk Poster one. This is the person who posts 45 songs in a row. Each with "I love this song" or "this goes out to someone special, I'm pretty sure she knows who she is" or "My favorite song EVER" Most of the time they are songs that have been overplayed on the radio and/or songs I never want to hear ever again.

9. The Pessimistic Poster.
      This is the person who is like..."well....I had a job interview, but I probably won't get it anyways" "I had a date but he probably won't call" "I won the lottery but now I don't have anywhere to store all the stuff I buy" "I got a new car but now I have a friggn car payment I can't afford." Not saying that life is all sunshine and rainbows but honestly, a little positive thinking can go a long way.

10. Chronic "Liker"
        This person Likes every single little thing you post. Good or bad. How can you like that fact that my dog just died? Or like the fact that I just got a flat tire. REALLY?! You do know what "like" means right?!

Zero tolerance for A-holes...

In the last month I have hit my limit with people. People who are downright rude to me or others. I don't get them. I don't get what they get out of treating people like that. In the past, I have allowed myself to be the doormat for that kind of behavior. Inside, I was pissy about it but wouldn't say anything, mostly out of fear of how they would further react to my stepping up to them. I would always just accept it. I don't know what happened inside of me but a switch has been hit. It started two weeks ago, when a coworker was terrible to me AGAIN. He for some reason thinks it's appropriate to treat me like I am a naughty 7 year old child. Complete with condescending rhetorical questions. I am in a support type position so my job is to help people. He makes it impossible to do so. He will interrupt me rudely and not listen to my expertise on our programs. One time about 5 months back,  I was waiting for a meeting with a lead and she was in the next room with said employee. He said to her: "I am not intimidated by your tears. My daughter cries to get her way so I am immune" Mind you this man is 60+ years old and he was talking to HIS lead. Can you imagine saying to that to a person of authority?? That just gives you a run down of how this guy works. Let's go back to two weeks ago, he called and was outright, absolutely rude to me. I literally was filled to the brim with his behavior and finally lashed back. I answered in the exact same manner he used with me. He stuttered and got off the phone. He then emailed my manager about how badly he felt that he "accidentally ruffled my feathers" and also talked to the above lead about how "terrible he felt about it". To this day I have not received an apology. :) However, I feel empowered that I stood up to him. I am not asking him to change but he now knows that he can be an asshole, but he is going to get it back. I had a recent run in this weekend with someone I've known for over 10 years. I have sat back and seen this person lash out. This weekend, I had had enough and gave it RIGHT back to him.
My point is: where do these people get off treating people like they do? Is it because we sit back and allow it to happen? I truly think it is. We enable them to be inappropriate. I'm not saying I will not allow people to be angry or pissy. Everyone has their moments (me included!) and it's an emotion everyone has. However, when it becomes a personality trait, that is when I will have an issue. If you can make a conscious decision to be an asshole then you can expect to get it back. I've made a decision...you treat me or my family like crap, you aren't going to get niceness back. (this is outside of my support role in my job and our customers). I'm setting major boundaries. I am so DONE. The older I get the more I want to surround myself with those that make me happy. Those that are mature enough to interact positively. For the ones that aren't, it doesn't mean that I don't  love them or not like them...I just simply don't want them around me. I can love them from afar and wish the best for them but I choose NOT to have them in daily life. Case and point. The negativity can be suffocating and life is too short for that. As bitchy as that may seem, it's the truth. I don't have the tolerance to bear the assholes or the self serving of some any longer. Your world is what you make of it...by allowing people like that to continuously steal your time or energy, you are taking away from the people who want to be positive and happy and want the best for you. :)

 I am thankful my husband is NOT like the above people. He just gets to hear it all :)