I Got Crazy Jewish Momed

If you haven't heard of Crazy Jewish Mom, you need to do a Google search and enjoy.

(Go ahead, I'll let you find it before we continue...)

For those of you who don't want to Google, CJM is literally texts from a mom to her daughter. She wants her daughter to get married, and has become famous for her "no ring on the finger, you must not linger" mantra.

My mother, while not Jewish, sometimes tend to show some great concern on the fact that I'm not married, and really have no prospects. To be honest, I haven't been looking for prospects. Being a single mom with a career that requires working long hours, nights and weekends, doesn't lend itself for the opportunity to look for prospects.

Then I decided to buy a fruit I had never heard of at the Farmer's Market...

The culprit

I was at the Farmer's Market this morning, and this little beauty intrigued me. The woman selling them told me they tasted like pineapple, but she and her son weren't sure what to do with them. 

In the spirit of trying new things, I bought a bag of them. I came home and did some research into what it was (it's a ground cherry or a pineapple tomitillo depending on where you look). I then decided to make an apple and pineapple tomitillo pie. (Currently in the oven, full scoop on that to come!) 

This sweet woman told me her son didn't know if it would be worth it to bring any since they didn't really know what to do with them. I was sold. (Let's prove him wrong!) 

I was telling my mom this story, and the conversation went somewhat like this: 

Mom: How old was the son?

Me: Probably around my age.

Mom: Was he married?

Me: I don't know. I didn't feel it was appropriate to ask. 

Mom: Did you see a ring?

Me: No, but I also didn't look for one. 

Mom: Just think, if he's not married, the two of you could get together and that would be SUCH a cute story to tell people when they ask how y'all met. 

Me: ........

Let's hope when she comes with me to the Farmer's Market next week that she doesn't ask this poor guy about his personal life.  

What You Don't Say Can Hurt More Than What You Say

The hardest part about moving for me is church shopping.

Church shopping - attending multiple churches until you find the one that is right for you
(I may not have made up this phrase, but any time I use it, people seem surprised to hear me refer to it as such.)

Church shopping is difficult for me. What most people don't know about me, is that I have major church anxiety. Like, freak out in the parking lot if I get there too early and then run away, church anxiety. Many a panic attack has been had in church parking lots across this country by yours truly.

My anxiety doesn't stem from meeting new people, or large crowds, or most normal things that people associate with it. My anxiety comes from feeling like I don't belong. There are many times that I feel like a fraud when I step into a church.

Most of this is in my head, but some of it is from being told as such multiple times during my life. I know I'm far from perfect, but whenever I attend a new church, those confrontations replay in my mind like a bad dream I can't wake up from.

This morning, I attempted to go to a new church. I put on my motivational playlist. I prayed that I wouldn't freak out. I put one step in front of the other and did some major deep breathing and mantra spewing as I walked in the doors. Step 1 - Make it in the door - Accomplished.

As I sat down, I took it all in. This church is bigger than what I'm used to, but I still don't think it's going to be too bad. People come and sit near me, and I smile, but nobody seems to notice that I exist until they need to get by me. The service starts and I've successfully accomplished the second step of my church shopping experience - Don't Bolt Before the Service.

The service started and the people sitting by me ask if they can get out and move seats. This didn't happen once, but twice. Now I'm the only person on my row. I'm beginning to wonder if I smell. I know I put on deodorant this morning, and I'm dressed decent enough. (I think) This is when the doubts started to creep in.

Next up is the greet your neighbor portion of the service that always makes me nervous. While nobody else is on my row, the row in front of me is entirely full, and there are plenty of people across the aisle from me, so I'm sure someone will say hi.    *crickets*    Nobody tells me hi. In fact, nobody even acknowledges my presence. People talk around me to other people, but nobody actually speaks to me. I sit down halfway through because I feel myself about to break down in tears. The anxiety starts to hit hard, and I'm getting to a point where it's difficult to breathe.

I made myself stay through the song service, but spent the last part of that texting my best friend about how I didn't think I could sit through the rest of the service. Once I completed step three (Stay Through the Song Service), I bolted out the door before my tears could start. As soon as I stepped outside the building, I started crying.

It was the first time I've been a church that large, surrounded by people, and felt so alone. I would rather have relived the nightmares of being told I wasn't welcome than to sit there and have nobody  acknowledge me. I cried my way home, and ate my feelings in McDonalds french fries and cheesecake. (Then totally regretted it and went for a run.)

While I may not have heard a sermon from a preacher today, I feel I learned a very valuable lesson from a greater teacher. Sometimes what you don't say to people can hurt much more than what you do say. It's one thing to not speak to someone, but sometimes just a smile or a wave or a quick "hello" can go a long way to making someone feel welcome. Being the new kid is tough, so all of us who aren't the new kids in the situation need to step back and remember what it was like for us. It can never hurt us to be too nice to someone. You never know when that may be exactly what they need.

Social Media Time Out

Many people use social media as a break from reality. We come online and look at other people's lives through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, Tumblr, etc. However, we often spend more time on these sites than we realize. (My dad is a Facebook addict, but don't tell him that. He's a little touchy about it.)

During our move, I took some time to transition off of social media. I deleted the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram aps from my phone. I limited the amount of time that I was in front of the computer during non-work hours. And I realized just how addicted I had become to social media.

"Mommy, put your phone down and play with me."

That's all it took to make me realize that I needed a change. I ripped the internet voyeur bandaid off, and I haven't regretted it.

My productivity in all aspects of my life has increased since I've given myself a time out. I've been extremely productive at work. Kiddo and I have spent more quality time together. (I've learned so many Wiggles dance moves, that I feel I could be a fill-in if needed!) I've spent more time reading my Bible. (I've spent more time reading in general.) I've even gotten back to a regular exercise routine.

For a brief moment, I lost sight of what was really important. My life isn't measured by the amount of times I post to this blog, the amount of tweets I send out into the universe, or the amount of pictures I take to make everyone think our lives here are perfect. The person the internet perceives me to be doesn't matter. What matters is the person that my daughter perceives me to be.

My new job will have me travelling a good bit, and it's more responsibility, so my time away from her will be greater. I don't want her to remember me as the mom who was always on her phone when we were together. Sure, I can still be the mean mom who won't let her watch Dorothy the Dinosaur on repeat ALL DAY. But I want her to remember me as the mom who was with her (REALLY with her) during the brief time we get to spend together.

I'll be back to play more than I was this past month, internet friends. But I'll be spending a little more time paying attention to The Wiggles. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go sing one more song before bedtime.

Some Big News

Some of you may have noticed that I've been MIA for pretty much the entire month of March. I haven't purposely been neglecting this blog, or the steps I've taken on this year of self-improvement. Things have been on hold because ...

WE'RE MOVING! 

I heard about a job opening at the end of February, and on a whim submitted a resume. I interviewed on March 5th, was offered and accepted the position on March 6th. These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of looking for a place to live (fingers crossed we hear something soon), trying to get things in line to arrange for our stuff to be moved, and beginning the process of cleaning out the stuff that we don't need to take with us. (LOTS of Keep/Donate/Trash piles are going on around the apartment right now.) 

I promise to do a quick update of things at the end of the month, and hopefully will be able to start blogging on a more regular basis again in April once we get settled in to our new routine. 

Valentine's Day

Did y'all have a great Valentine's Day? I sure did! It was a busy day, and even though I had to work, it was still one of the best days with kiddo that I've had so far.

Before I left for work, I made sure to give kiddo her Valentine's gift, a Sofia the First dress and matching necklace.

After some playtime with Sofia, I had to go to work. But can you really call it work when this is your view? 

After I got home, kiddo and I went to Cane's for lunch with Momma B. We all came back to my place and had some fun watching The Wiggles and Sofia, painting our hands, and just chilling outside. 

They drained the pool, and kiddo was upset about not being able to go swimming because "the warmer temperatures are here, Mommy."

In case y'all were wondering what kiddo got me for Valentine's Day, she got me something that she knew I would love. 

A homemade card and One Direction office supplies. 

My Valentine's Date With Myself

Every year, I usually treat myself to a Valentine's date night. Some years I go out with friends, last year with a significant other, but even when I do that, I always reserve a night for a date with myself.

Just me.

And my date of choice, a heart shaped pizza.

I'm a sucker for the heart shaped pizza! 

This year, since I have work and kiddo with me for Valentine's Day, I did my me-date last night. My parents had to go back to Louisiana unexpectedly, and kiddo went with them. Since I didn't know what to do with myself, I went online and ordered my Valentine's pizza. This year, it also came with brownies.

Worth the splurge

My friends always ask me what I do on this me-date. I usually set some tunes up to listen to you while I eat. I enjoy my dinner with no distractions. This year was no different, except I worked out after dinner. (That's usually a no-no on a me-date night!)

I like to try and do at least one me-date, perhaps two a month if I can. It's nice to be able to have some time to myself where I don't have to focus my attention on anything except relaxing and enjoying the quiet. 

Am I the only person that takes myself on me-dates, or as some me-date nights at home?

Be sure to check back Monday for my me-date playlist! :) 

Behind the Locked Door, Part 2

Each month I'm going to try to give you a couple of glimpses into the life of a Ticket Chick. Now, depending on where the Ticket Peeps in your life work, things could be totally different. It's not a normal job that can be easily defined. To try and answer the "But what do you actually do besides just sell tickets?" I've taken to this mini-series that will span the course of the year for you.

Things Were Uncomfortable, Until They Weren't

This past Sunday, I sat through one of the most difficult Sunday School lessons of my adult life. Our class is going through the seven deadly sins, or as our teacher likes to call them, the seven daily sins. (He has a point.)

It wasn't the lesson so much that was difficult, but the lesson topic coupled with the fact that I'm in a Sunday School class with my parents.

Can you guess the topic yet?

LUST.

I won't lie, I kept hoping this lesson would get pushed back until baseball season so I could use work as an excuse to not sit through this one.

God has a sense of humor.

We went through all the standard messages: lust isn't specific to sex (it's not), how the world views sex v the church views sex, how the church doesn't really like to talk about sex, how your parents don't really like to talk about sex, where we all learned about sex as kids (I'm the baby in the class, so I'm the only person who's answer was the internet). It wasn't bad.

Until one of our class members spoke up and said that he feels all of us in the room have conquered the "big sins" and it's more the little sins that we have to deal with.

I sat there thinking, if lust is one of your "big sins", then speak for yourself! This is one that I struggle with, a lot.

Then I began to think about how none of us in that room, or in the entire church for that matter, really have it all together. Sure, some people may only be dealing with the "little sins", but we don't really know that, do we? Just because someone attends church regularly, is active in multiple ministries, has a solid career and loving family, doesn't mean that they don't struggle with some of the things that we as Christians like to define as "big sins".

That's why we should never judge our Christian walk against what we perceive to be the Christian walk of others. I'm a perfect example that sometimes the people who look like they have it all together, are the ones who struggle the most not to come apart at the seams.

What Do You Do?

"I get that you're a Ticket Chick, but what do you DO? You just sell tickets, right?"

This is a question that I, and others who work in ticketing, get asks often. It's definitely a profession that until you've lived it, it's difficult to understand. Even when you are currently living it, it's a little difficult to describe. If I handled sales, people could understand it. But what exactly does "ticket operations" mean?

Every Ticket Chick and Ticket Dude has different responsibilities, but almost all of us will tell you that no two days are the same. I think that's what makes it difficult to explain to people what we actually do all 9 hours that we are in the office.

Let me take you behind the locked doors and bullet proof glass, to give you a glimpse into a day today.

The morning HAS to start off with my coffee. Our office opens at 8am, and while I will help any customers who come in person at that time, I do not answer phone calls until 9am. My boss laughs at me when I tell him that it's just better for all involved if I have that extra hour to drink my coffee, catch up on emails, and organize my to-do list for the day.

After my coffee, I did one of the more essential, yet seemingly boring parts of my job, I updated the office whiteboard calendar with all of the events for this semester. Now, some people may not need to see their life in massive sections of time, but in ticket operations, it's handy to be able to glance and see your semester in one look. All games, special events, deadlines, days we're taking off, etc. are placed on the white board. It's the brain of the office for days when we can't remember our own names!

Next, I set up templates with all of the games for our monthly worker schedules. One of my duties is staffing for each game. We have some amazing people who work for us on game nights, and our jobs are so much easier because of them! Many of them have been with our office for years and can handle minor problems without us intervening, so it lets us sit back and take an extra breath on game nights. After  tackling the templates for our February, March, April/May schedules, I printed out the February template. Since next week is slammed for us event wise, I want to try and get a solid base of this taken care of this afternoon. Usually, I draft a couple of worker schedules before I get to one that I feel comfortable with. I need this schedule to go out after MLK Day, so it's time to start thinking about it.

Before stopping for a lunch break, I jotted down a tentative to-do list for next week that only involved our special events. We have 4 events next week, so I jotted down generally what needed to be done for each event. I went a head and made up my bank sheets for those events (bank sheets are what let my sellers know how much money they have in their starting bank, and then they fill out their sales on the sheet at the end of the night.) We have a game on Saturday, so I also went ahead and filled out my bank sheets and created my banks for Saturday night. In our line of work, anything that can be done in advance gets done in advance so you don't have to stress it on game night!

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LUNCH BREAK

Ate, finished a book, snuck in a quick workout, started drafting this blog post

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I started after lunch reviewing the emails I forced myself not to review while I was technically at lunch. When your box office doesn't close for lunch, sometimes it means you're eating while answering phones, or being available to answer phones or help any customers that may show up over lunch. This makes it difficult not to just take care of small projects during lunch, but I try hard to give myself the hour of NOT having to do anything that isn't necessary right then.

I reviewed the email containing all of the particulars for our basketball games this month, and took care of anything that needed to be taken care of on our end. I made notes of things that were noteworthy on the calendars to serve as reminders.

The afternoon seems to be when people come in to ask questions, so some of my well intentioned plans for the afternoon have been tabled until tomorrow. Sometimes the chats are about work, sometimes they're just to catch up. I think it's important to have the relationship with your coworkers where they feel they can come to you about anything. Everyone knows when it's time to get stuff done, so if people see you're busy, they usually don't stick around long. However, I had a few visits today that were partial work discussions, partial life discussions, and partial brainstorming sessions. I love when all three can be combined into one!

I printed our player pass list tickets for Saturday's game while one of my coworkers was chatting with me. (Two birds, one stone...and anything that can be done before game day is always helpful to get done before game day!)

I spent the bulk of my afternoon reviewing my plans and ideas to bring forward regarding group ticket pricing and group experience packages and then drafting a document to present to my boss. I also continued to do some research on something new that we plan to try next year. I spent some time jotting down notes and brainstorming our plan of action for this initiative and basically trying to think of all of the questions my boss would ask, so we can have answers going into the discussions.

Toss in some phone calls and assisting customers at the window, and you basically have my day today in a nutshell! I like the lazy days that let me catch up on paperwork and all the stuff that tends to get overlooked when I'm in game mode. Ask me this question tomorrow, and the answer will be totally different! Ask me next week when we have games galore and it won't look anything like this. That's what I love about my job. It's structured enough to keep me sane, but not so structured enough to keep me interested. Tune in for more looks behind the locked door later!

Meet the Bs

I haven't really mentioned much about the B family on the blog, but since some of you are hanging out and reading about the cast of characters that live here, I figured you would probably want a little more info on us.

STARRING: 

B 

I grew up in SW Louisiana, but am currently stuck in SE Texas. (So close, yet so far!) I'm a single mom to a 3 year old (kiddo), who lives part time with her parents (Daddy B and Momma B) due to my work schedule.

 I'm a 30-something who always gets asked when I'm graduating, what my major is, and what my plans are for graduation. I still get invited to frat parties, but once they realize that my bedtime is 10pm, those will stop. Some people say that I'm an 80 year old trapped in a 30ish year old body.

I work in tickets for a college athletic department and love every minute of it. I had a 9-5 that paid me very well, but I wasn't happy, so I gave it up to work in sports. I make half of the money that I made, and work more hours than I used to, but I'm happier than I've ever been about going to work in the mornings. My only regret are the student loans that I have to pay off now for that master's degree! 

I love pizza, reality tv, and have an unhealthy (as some people would describe it) obsession with mascots. My sports teams of choice are the LSU Tigers, New Orleans Saints, Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators, Boston Red Sox, and Houston Astros. Add to the list the team that pays my bills (which you'll probably figure out from some pictures )

Oh yea, I'm the baby in my family. 

ALSO STARRING: 

Kiddo 

Kiddo just turned 3 in September, and is probably the smartest person I know. She's a bundle of energy who won't stay still for any period of time. She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to ask for it. She has an active imagination, and commonly refers to herself and those around her as characters from her shows and books. Kiddo is also trying to avoid being potty trained and plans to go straight into Depends from Pull-ups.

Kiddo's favorite thing is music. She loves music, and sometimes it's the only thing that will calm her down when she's upset. She loves to sing and dance, Her current favorite cd is the Veggie Tales Christmas cd.

Kiddo is a fan of Frosty, and doesn't understand why our neighbors will be putting their snowman family up soon. She also loves the Veggie Tales, Thomas the Tank Engine, Sheriff Callie, and watching Switchmas on Netflix.

The biggest love of Kiddo's life is the mascot at the college I work at, Big Red. Her room is basically nothing but pictures of the two of them at various sporting events, and she tends to have a hard time accepting that Big Red has to see ALL of his friends at ballgames, and occasionally has to leave her to go visit them.

She is also a MASTER at taking pictures and has the art of the selfie down. 

SUPPORTING CAST;

Daddy B - Best grandpa in the world (aside from mine). Vietnam Vet. Retired high school English/History teacher, and former guidance counselor. (Don't say "ain't" around this man!) Ordained Baptist deacon.

He spends more time on Facebook than anyone else in the family, but don't think he'll ever admit to it.

Loves the Chicago Bears, Chicago White Sox, and his alma mater the Ragin' Cajuns. He is also a huge reader and is never seen without a book.


Momma B - Best grammy in the world (aside from mine, of course.) Retired kindergarten teacher. Amazing baker.

Her favorite thing in the world is spending time with kiddo, and she tends to claim her as her own. (I don't mind.)

Momma B hates sports, but puts up with them for Daddy B and me. She is the person to talk to about the best concession stand food. She has attended the Kentucky Derby, the Breeder's Cup, and MLB Opening Day with me.

Momma B is an avid fan of Amish romance novels, the Pioneer Woman, anything chocolate, and shopping (even if its just window shopping).


Welcome to our life! Enjoy poking around here, and we'll see you again soon!