I WON'T BE SHOPPING HERE...

Did you know that Abercrombie and Fitch's largest woman's size is 10? Apparently their CEO, Mike Jeffries, doesn't want "fat chicks" wearing his clothes. He only wants the "in crowd" to be seen in them. In fact, he says, "We want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.” WOW!!! He will, however, sell XL and XXL sizes for men, but only to attract large, athletic types, not the fatties.

I have SO much to say on this topic, but I fear that I'd be at my computer all night, so I'm going to let Jeffries say it all himself. You MUST click on this link to be absolutely amazed: The 13 Most Ridiculous Things Mike Jeffries, CEO Of Abercrombie & Fitch, Has Said.

Have fun! Hope you are as outraged and amused and I was!

Karen

Monday Madness- A Month Already?

Hello there. May I introduce myself? My name is Melissa and my blog lives here. I know, it's a little dusty in here. That's what happens when one doesn't visit for a while. It's not that we've forgotten you, dear readers, it's just been such a busy season and some things got put on hold for a little bit. Yes, hardly earth shattering news in the light of today's bombing in Boston. (Who DOES that kind of thing anyway? I just can't wrap my mind around what they hope to accomplish. I mean, I know whomever did this is angry, but aren't we all? But I digress...)

So if you're new here, welcome to Macaroni and Chicken Fingers. Karen will be on vacation (Yes- that phrase enters her vocabulary MUCH more often than mine these days, but I'm not bitter. ;) ... away at her annual Sisters Trip somewhere in Mexico. So don't expect to see her here this week. But she does still exist. Truly. Hang around long enough and you'll get to meet our kids and sometimes The Hubs pops in. 

Today's madness? I spent an hour and a half in my car in traffic trying to get to my class on time in traffic and heavy rain. It never happened. And from the looks of what my students left for me in my mailbox? Half of them didn't make it through the traffic either. And of course those Monday meetings and book keeping and emails and such. 

But you know what? I'm gainfully employed doing something I love. I have healthy children and a loyal spouse who adores me. Looking at the news on Boston, I'm a pretty lucky girl. 

See you back here by Friday (maybe even Wednesday if Karen has not blogged ahead of time!). I'm sure I'll have something funny to tell you by then.

Yours, counting my lucky stars, 

Melissa

Monday Madness- Realationships

Realationships.

Yep. I know there's a typo in there. 

It's curious to me. I've always been a pretty good speller. I have a deep love for words and their meanings and and how they morph from the root to other words. I pride myself on spelling. 

What strikes me as odd is that I've repeated that typo at least three times in the last 48 hours. Is my subconscious trying to tell me something?  I mean, I KNOW  how to spell the word re-la-tion-ships. But when I noticed what I kept doing repeatedly, I paused. 

One thing I really love about Karen is if she is your friend, she is your real friend.  There's no covering things and you always know where you stand and you don't have to guess how she feels about something. She just tells you. Graciously. (Well, mostly graciously. Unless we are in The Pool of Truth. Then all bets are off.) But...What if all my re-lationships got real? What if they really were REAL-ationships? Then where would we be? What if we were friends with people, not for what they could do for us, not for company politics or ladder climbing or buddying up to me to sell me something, but friends because we were better people for having known each other? What if we had REALationships because we made each other think and just got along and knew how to laugh together? 

What if we just got REAL?

Yours, considering what makes a friendship a REALationship,

Melissa

Monday Madness-Because It's Monday

Do you have an idea how much I enjoyed Karen's last post? I'm finally getting some respect around here. ;) 

It IS hard to be a working woman with a husband and kids. In my case, I have two part time jobs which equal to more than one full time job. And I'm married. With two children. Sometimes I'm caught up on laundry. Most often I'm not. Grocery shopping kills me. To be perfectly honest, after a long day of working with people, the last thing I want is to go to the store and be around more people. Lately, I've found myself just wanting to come home (my sweet, sweet haven) and be in complete quiet. Well, with the occasional guilty pleasure of Real Housewives or Shahs of Sunset. Talk about perspective! I mean, seriously, have you ever watched them? Farthest thing from reality, ever. But I digress...

But Vanderpump Rules? Wow. Just, wow. The victimization and drama. And the way the others will chase after one particular person. What kind of power does one person have over the rest of the other people? How do people do that? 

Sometimes I wish I knew. But then again, I really don't. I'm just not built that way. And I'm okay with that. 

Yours, toddling off to bed now,

Melissa

HATS OFF TO WORKING MOMS!

I have a new job. It’s a wonderful job, and I love being back in sales (really, really love it!). But if I THOUGHT I had a problem with time management before I started working, now I KNOW I have a problem.

How do working moms do it? And I’m not even working full-time! Yet I feel like I’m failing miserably at juggling my work schedule and my family time and everything else I need to do. Oh, and forget about working out at the gym. I have NOT figured out how to fit that in yet. I mean, I barely have time to get my nails done. (C’mon, I HAVE priorities!!!)

So I’m working on this. I’ll figure it out eventually, I’m sure. And if not, I’ll end up either being the worst mom, the worst wife or the worst employee. But hopefully not all three!

So here’s to my renewed respect to Melissa and all the other working moms out there. I’d give you a high five, but my nails look awful!

Karen

Monday Madness- When did THIS Happen?

It's Monday. I'll be brief.

1.) He's turning 12 this week.
2.) She's turning 10 in 6 weeks.
3.) I can no longer rest my chin on top of his head without having to stretch my neck.
4.) Karen is moving to Florida. 
5.) Two of my musician friends, whom I love each so dearly, are moving on to different dreams within the next 5 months. 
6.)Yes, I'm a mess.

Lots of change going on all around me. Better get in there and enjoy every single minute while I can- even in the middle of the madness!

Yours, soaking up every minute of it,

Melissa

PS- Happy President's Day! If you have not seen the HBO mini-series John Adams with Paul Giamatti, you absolutely need to watch the entire thing. It will give you a much needed/deeper appreciation for what our founding fathers went through to set up this great nation. 

WE’RE MOVING TO FLORIDA!!!

Yep, it’s my hubby’s dream to live in Florida, so we’re gonna do it. Not for a while yet, but in the summer of 2014, we’re packing up and leaving St. Louis. It hasn’t been an easy decision for me. After all, I’ve lived in the Lou (as Melissa calls it) my entire life. Everything I know is here. But he’s been working on me for years now, chipping away at my resolve, until I finally cracked.

Then, last weekend, we went down there. By ourselves. No kids. And I might add here that even though the boys will be 12 in a few weeks, this is the very first time we’ve gone away together, without them, since they’ve been born. The Very. First. Time. Did we miss them. Um, no, not really! (Do I feel like a bad mom? Um, no, not really!)

But I digress. So we went down there, in the middle of winter, and people were ON THE BEACH!!! That pretty much made up my mind that living in Florida is a GOOD thing!

The first thing we did was look at the schools to try to figure out where to start looking at houses. We’re moving to the Tampa/Clearwater area, and I’m pretty sure we’ve narrowed it down to Palm Harbor. (Does anyone out there live in that area who can give me any insight? I’d appreciate it!) Then we looked at some homes just to get an idea. Hmmm, no basements. That’s going to be an adjustment.

But the homes were beautiful, the schools were huge and clean (even the lockers were outside, can you believe it!), the weather is amazing. What’s not to love about Florida?

Oh, I know. Melissa’s not there.

 

Karen