Found Not Lost

This may sound weird when you’re single but when you have kids, especially young ones, bathrooms in public places take on added importance in your life. It becomes a deciding factor in where you go or how long you should stay. Call me neurotic, but when you have kids who immediately have to use the potty as soon as you get anywhere (sometimes before you even get there), it becomes very important that you have access to a clean restroom.

I’m glad my girls are older now and are more independent. I don’t have to worry as much about letting them go to the bathroom alone when we’re out and about but I’m afraid I’ve passed on my neuroses for bathrooms. They will not enter a public restrooms unless it’s clean. If it smells, they will rather hold ‘it’ than use the bathroom. You can forget it for some reason pest control has been overlooked because they will zoom out of anyplace so fast if they even see anything crawling. Actually, it doesn’t even have to be crawling. It can be dead in the corner and they will refuse to go in the room.

I’ve noticed an increase of Family Bathrooms in newer malls and public buildings and I am glad. These family rooms allow mom, dad and kids to use one large room together.

This alleviates mom from doing all the bathroom duties as it was in our case. Since we have daughters, it fell up to me to take them to the bathroom every time. I couldn’t have my husband take them to the men’s restroom after all. Can you just imagine little girls in the men’s bathroom? It’s not even funny. I’m always sympathetic when I see a lone dad urging his little girl into the ladies room by herself. It’s a helpless feeling when you can’t go in with your child. It’s not even a matter of safety, although that is certainly a big concern, depending on how tall they are, they can’t always reach the commode or the sink comfortably. Or they could be like my youngest daughter who used to be afraid of the noise the hand dryers make.

When you have to do diaper changes or just general kid mess clean up, family bathrooms are a godsend! They are usually equipped with a changing table and you just have more privacy to undress your child and get them cleaned up properly. Another neat feature of family bathrooms is the kid sized potty. This is great when you’re potty training because the kids can use the little potty just like when they’re at home and they don’t get traumatized about using the adult sized commode. My girls used to be scared the would fall in and I was always scared they would touch the sides or other parts they’re not supposed to have their little hands on.

I like family rooms and support all public places that have them. I wish they had more of them when my daughters were younger but I am glad they are now more widely available for families with young children.

You’ve probably read the story forwarded via email like I did. It’s a touching story titled The Cab Ride I’ll Never Forget which tells of a night when a cab driver picks up an elderly lady in the early hours of the morning from a quiet part of town. The lady requests a circuitous route through the city to get to her final destination. The cab driver informs her that there is a shorter route, thus saving her money and save him from automotive performance parts, probably. But she replies that she is on her way to hospice and wanted to see the town that she lived in for most of her life one last time. The taxi driver, upon hearing this, shut off the taxi’s meter and proceeded to drive the lady to the various landmarks from her life.

The story is beautifully written and has been forwarded I don’t know how many times but on most of them, the author was never credited. So I was glad to finally find out that Kent Nerburn is the author of this lovely story which is a part of his book, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace. He is an inspirational writer and I look forward to reading more of his writings.

Whew! It’s been a busy last couple of weeks at our house starting with The Clone’s birthday. She turned 11 and already showing maturity. Well, almost I was really waiting for her to say she wants to go to Build a Bear for her birthday treat, but guess where we went instead? We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory then for dessert, we went to Barnes & Noble for books. Well, we had cake waiting for us at home, so not cheesecake for us at the Cheesecake Factory that night.

I was really proud of her. She bought three books and she was a happy camper.

When we got home, we had a birthday cake waiting for her. They weren’t here when I made the filbert gateau so I decided to make that for her again. Of course they wanted the lights off when we lit the candles. But then they kept turning the lights on and off because they wanted to take multiple pictures of her blowing the candle, then of them all with the candles. I don’t what’s with kids and candles, but they do get along well together, especially at our house. LOL! It’s a good thing we don’t have any fancy lighting fixtures in the kitchen for them to mess with.

Trent at The Simple Dollar asked, Does one bad experience spoil the soup? He is referring to our adverse reaction to certain brands or establishments as a result of one unpleasant experience that we pretty much boycott the product altogether.

That reminded me of all the whining I’ve been doing lately about the inconvenience of traveling nowadays. I whined about the higher prices, the luggage, the extra fees, I whined about the delays. But you know what, I think most of us expect that now. We don’t really expect first class treatment in coach anymore. Actually, I think even first class travelers will agree that the overall service of commercial flights have been declining every year. Even with all the things I complained about, they weren’t enough to make me stop flying altogether. It’s just too much of a necessity. I will still be flying commercial planes. I can’t afford to fly any other way.

However, I can avoid certain airlines. DELTA specifically. I don’t have to fly with them, they don’t offer anything more than what I can get from other airlines anyway. I am not going to fly with them anymore not because of high prices, luggage fees or delays. I’m not flying with them anymore because of one bad experience with one bad employee at one remote airport counter. It’s probably an isolated event, and maybe, I’m being a bit unfair but an experience with them still left a bad taste in my mouth and I can’t, in good conscience, keep giving them what little money I have to spend.

Here’s why…
Read more…

My daughter started a volunteer job at our local library today. She will be working in the historical archives section, most likely photocopying and scanning materials for the digital archive. This is what she will be doing for most of the summer. She won’t be getting paid but she is excited because she knows she will be getting more out of this than a measly pay check.

Some benefits for having young people volunteering:

• They increase their knowledge and experience of real life and the world
• They get an opportunity to contribute to their community and become part of it
• They learn to be more independent
• They learn decision making skills
• They learn to care about someone else’s needs
• They learn compassion
• Their volunteer activities will make them a more rounded person
• It gives them a new perspective on life
• They learn to stand for something they believe in

The list can go on and on, but the bottom line is, they contribute to the greater whole and they are better for it.

You hear it all the time, the apathetic, “What can I do? I am only one person”. It’s a cop out, excuse me. I believe if someone really wants to do something significant in life, there is always a way to do it no matter how insurmountable it seems. I’m not being overly optimistic, all you have to do is look at the RD.com - Make Your Mark section of the Reader’s Digest website.

If you need inspiration, all you have to do is read about all the good things other people like you have accomplished. Everyone can make a mark, and ‘marks’ don’t have to be huge, they can be little spatters. When you look at the big picture, and see lots of little spatters you’ll soon realize that together they make one gigantic mark.

Need help getting started? Try participating in the weekly challenge instead of coming up with a project of your own. If you really want to do something and make a difference this is a good place to take that baby step.

I have been a long time subscriber of Reader’s Digest and I always find something inspiring in the magazine. If you aren’t familiar with RD, check out the Reader’s Digest Homepage and see the different sections that they cover. I’m sure you’ll find something that will interest you.