Politics or Compassion....which is it?

I am a BIG lover of talk radio. I discovered it about 10 years ago and now I am addicted. And while I won't align myself with either the Democratic or Republican party, I am an American first.....and a registered Independent second.

I am very proud to be a Independent. I don't like the way the Republicans or the Demoncrats act and I think the two party system is a poor system and needs to be eliminated. Politics today are solely decided on the party system with no regard to what the true feelings of the American people are, and we really should have a STRONG third party to tip that scale.

But back to the original post. Some days the debate on these shows is really good......other days it's really "fluff stuff". Today's major topic is whether we should help Japan financially after their Earthquake, Tsunami, and now nuclear plant explosions.



I certainly don't ever want to turn this blog into a political arena, but what I've been hearing today certainly makes you stop and think. The big debate today is whether we should send American taxpayer dollars to help the people of Japan.

I cannot for one second imagine having to live through the devastation that these people have suffered through. It's like watching a movie and not realizing that real people are having to live through this. It's not fair that honest, hardworking people of any country would have to endure this traumatic event, but it has happened. So should we help financially or should we not?



Personally, we are tapped out. We are a small struggling small business who are constantly trying to meet the demands our own country places upon us. We are responsible for financially supporting our 30+ employees by growing our business and meeting payroll. It's hard, it's difficult, and it's stressful and everyday we are hit with risising gas prices, rising food prices, more taxes, or whatever and still have to manage to pay our bills, pay our employees and pay ourselves. But we also feel sorry for people that have been devastated.

Look around your own city, your own country -- you find people here too that need help. So should we be sending our dollars somewhere else?



My prayers go out to those who have lost family, lost everything they own, and lost their everyday normalcy. Many prayers that they can get their lives rebuilt as quickly as possible.

My random thoughts late at night

Some nights I have a real problem with sleeping.

I really think that I must be a descendent of vampires. I can stay up all night, but I get really sleepy during the day and can lay down at a moments notice and take a nap.

The internet has provided a wide array of fun ways to keep you up late at night.

One of the things I have found most interesting is reading other people's blogs.

I know it sounds weird, but I enjoy the glimpse into other people's lives, their vacations, their children and seeing what everyone else is doing.

I guess it's a way of measuring your own life to see if you are "normal". But then again what is normal?

So to all the bloggers all around the world (except for the ones who write yours in a foreign language I don't understand), I thank you for keeping me entertained on those nights that I can't sleep. I truly have read some blogs where the writing is creative, fun, and heartfelt. There's some really great "closet" writers out there in the world.

I can only hope that the people that read this blog feel the same and are as entertained.

Random thoughts of blogginess

Well I have a lot of little things today.

Nothing spectacular to feature in a whole blog, but just little things that I'll throw out there for you to nibble on.

Yesterday was spent cleaning the house (or part of of anyways). Today will spent in my office trying to get a jump start on the next week. Well not actually a jump start on next week......but a catch up of the past week.

1. So what will I be working on today?
* Trying to get all the paperwork from the week caught up. Darn....no matter how hard I try -- I'm always doing the whole week in one day.

* Got to do some marketing for the stores. Think I will send out free pizzas to new movers in the area so that they get addicted to our pizza and keep ordering

* Opening all the mail from the week. This is another task that I just can't keep up with. It's all stacked up on my desk ready to be sorted.

* Finishing up all the little tasks that are cluttering my desk. Things that take one minute to do, but just get stacked up. It sure will clean off a lot of junk in my work space.

2. Next tidbit......I need to learn how to cook for two. Last night I made goulash with some of the 10 lbs. of macaroni that Paul brought home leftover from Pizza Zone. Since last month's pizza was the Mac-N-Cheese, he had leftover macaroni. The plan was to make some goulash to handout to my needy children and today I'm going to make a BIG ole' bowl of Macaroni Salad (some of this will also probably go out to needy children)



What do you think......did I make enough?

3. My last tidbit for a day. What do you do when you're on vacation and you eat at a pizza shop that has all kinds of great ideas for you to "borrow" and you don't have a pen?



Well you use modern technology of course (my smart phone) and just take a picture of the menu! Of course, you also have to be discreet and not let them see you doing it! Can't wait to start sampling some of these pizzas and adding the Pizza Zone twist to them.

P.S. We at the Muffaletta pizza.......absolutely scrumptious!

Okay....enough for now. I'm sure we ALL have things that we need to be doing.

visual reminders

You know those things that when you look at them you are reminded of other things.

It can be a totally worthless object to someone else. But when you look at it, it conjures up the most fabulous memories.

I have lots of those in my house.

I'm one of those people that love to relive the most memorable parts of my life, the places I've seen, and the things I've done. That's what keeps me moving.....it's the excitement of the next adventure.

So now as I sit at my desk looking at all the paperwork that needs to be done, the house that needs to be cleaned, or the bills that need to be paid.....I look at these beads and am reminded of:



* The thrill and excitement of deciding to go to New Orleans and only have 4 days of the anticipation and planning to live through

* The fun driving to the airport knowing that you are about to go on four days of "vacation"!

* The awe of landing in a new airport where you've never been before and the fun navigating through "the system" to get your luggage, your car rental, and getting to your hotel.

* The unbelievable feeling of how long a day really is when you're in a new place doing new things. It feels like your normal 10 hours is multiplied by 3.

* The experience of trying new local restaurants and the cuisine that is a part of that city or area.

* Knowing that for 4 wonderful days I had the best time with my husband. We get to share things that I would have never had the opportunity to do on my own. It's fun to travel to new places with him because we can fill a day with the most mundane, exciting, educational, and wonderful memories!

Wow.....I've just talked myself into getting ready for my next "adventure"

I Literally stopped.....

...doing what I was doing to write this post.



I was cleaning up the kitchen before the husband got home. Before he left for work he commented that he had emptied the dishwasher before he left. That was nice of him.

He also commented that he didn't reload it because he knew I wouldn't like the way he re-loaded it.

You know....he's right.

I know ya'll are really identifying with this.....but no matter how much I try not to "care" about how he re-loaded the dishwasher..... I really do.

Yes, I'm glad he takes the time to do it. But, no I don't like where he put the pots, and he put all the glasses in the wrong places, and some of the silverware is upside down.

So now I am out there in the kitchen loading the dishwasher.

But I'm really happy because when I open it tomorrow.....it's going to be full of nice clean dishes in an order that are exactly perfect!

What would you say?

Part of being in business is dealing with customers who are "less than satisifed" with your food or your service.

Last night apparently someone was very unhappy with our service. While his complaint might be justified, he method of delivering it and the words that he used somewhat diminish his complaint.

Here's what he said:

"How can someone forget Marinara Sauce on the meatball and on the sandwich of the month?
Sorry to rant but given the description and the obvious (who likes dry sandwiches?) but I must ask how you qualify someone to do a job as simple as this?
OMG!!
You are the best in pizza and such hands down!! But as late as it is on a Thursday (and they did offer to make a replacement/refund) I honestly don't have time at 9:45 give or take at night for either.
Let me know if you need crayons for your job applications..."

How do you respond to a comment like this? I politely wrote back and said that we were embarrassed and sorry that something like this could happen and that it isn't possible for us to be there to make sure that every order was prepared correctly. And we apologized again. Last night apparently he did go back up to the store and they refunded his money. Today in a private e-mail to him I also offered a discount on his next order along with my apology.

But the more we look at this complaint, the more we see it differently. As much as we'd like to be perfect all the time, we are not. Mistakes happen and unfortunately we hate that this has to happen -- but it does. We can only apologize for the mistake, make good on the mistake, and try and take care of the customer.

But when you insult the way we hire our employees or insult the intelligence of our employees......I think that you have taken this to a whole new level.

What do you think?

Ever been to a food show?

Sometimes owning a restaurant has its perks.

One of them is we get invited to Food Shows. Food Shows are fun, but you have to go to them when you're hungry! Food shows are where food vendors (Kraft, Hormel, pizza product companies) line up their food row after row and you get to walk up and down the aisles sampling their food. There is pizza bag companies, oven companies, utensil companies, pepperoni companies, sauce companies, postcard printing companies.....you name it-they are there. You always come home with a full stomach and a bag full of freebies!

We are just now signing up with a new food vendor who has an annual Food Show in Toledo, Ohio..........I know "Holy Toledo!". They want us to attend it at the end of September (hope that they pay our way).

We've attended local food shows where they give away prizes, have pizza making contests, and there is always lots of yummy food to sample.

We just got invited to another one of our food vendors food shows that they hold in San Antonio. We did go to this one a couple of years ago and really liked it. First of all, they put us up in a nice hotel on the Riverwalk. The night before the food show they have a big fancy gala. Lots of food, live music, and a beautiful location right on the Riverwalk.



Now I have a very funny story about the last time we attended this Food Show that my husband never wanted me to tell. But for the sake of making this story interesting.....I think it's time to tell.

When we had left Houston I told him that I needed to buy a pair of panty hose for that night's gala. I was wearing my elegant black dress and didn't have the black stockings that I needed to go with it. "No problem" my husband said -- we'll get it on the way. Well needless to say we didn't stop on the way and when we got to the hotel we decided to go out and take a walk on the Riverwalk. If you've never been to the San Antonio Riverwalk.....it truly is a beautiful place.



Okay....back to the story. Well it got time to go to the gala and I needed those stockings to make my outfit complete. So we hopped in the car looking for someplace that I could run in and buy the stockings. Now the gala we were going to was only about a 1/2 block from the hotel and the hotel was in downtown San Antonio. The plan was to go get the stockings real quick and then go back to the hotel, park the car, and walk over to the gala.

What happened was a different story.

We were driving around downtown San Antonio and we spotted a Dillards. Okay perfect....they sell stockings. Well not so perfect.....there was no parking out in front of the store. Okay no big deal - Paul just gives me the money for the stockings and I'm going to run in and get them and he's going to circle the block and come pick me up.

I run in the store, buy my stockings and come out and wait for Paul. Five minutes later......no Paul. Okay.....this is a problem. You know how downtowns are - most consist of one-way streets and blocks that really don't go around. Well that's what we had here. And silly me didn't have my cell phone or ANYTHING with me because I was just going to run in and buy the stockings.

So I began my search to try and locate someone who would loan me a cell phone. I can't believe how many people I asked if they would loan me their phone. I told them that I knew my husband was lost trying to find the store again because 30 minutes had passed and he still hadn't come back to that Dillards. I even asked a cop -- who wouldn't let me use her cell phone.

So here I am all dressed up out on the streets of downtown San Antonio in a nice black dress with my ugly white legs trying to borrow a cell phone. FINALLY, after 35-40 minutes of trying to get someone to loan me one -- I found a kind soul. I immediately called my husband who was frantically going up and down and all around trying to find the Dillards.

Well I finally was able to direct him to where I was and he came and picked me up. We hurried back to the hotel and I put on those "sacred" black stockings.......only to have them get a GIANT run in them just as we were walking into the event. By the end of the evening those stupid stockings that we had worked so hard to get had at least 6 runs in them......so much for trying to look fancy for the big event.

Well we are once again invited to attend this food show on May 10-11 and they are once again offering to put us up in the hotel. But I think if we go this time.......I will be better prepared and have my stockings already purchased!