Braving the Snow and the Crowds

So yesterday was Black Friday right?
Right.

Which means crowds and crazy.

But like...at work it wasn't that crazy crazy.
To the point where I was like "Oh yah, let me go check out some other places and see if they have any good sales after work."

Ha.
Ha.

Ah. My young naive self.
But like. Past years there hasn't been much of an issue going to check out sales elsewhere.

but this year?
This year it snowed.
Like blind you, tires sliding through the parking lot, snow snow. 

Which I would think that the snow would make the people stay away.

That wasn't the case at Best Buy.
The one store I ventured into to just...you know....see what sort of deals they had. 

The place was packed.

Like there was a long line halfway down the store that I'm sure would take like thirty minutes to an hour to get through packed as people rushed this way and that.

So like not only had I needed to navigate a snow covered and car filled parking lot.

But the amount of people in Best Buy compared to my store was....majorly different.

I dunno what sales they had going on that had people standing in long lines after lunch time.
But there they were.

*shakes head*

I ended up leaving the store without buying anything.
-Mostly because there was nothing I wanted.
But like idk if I would have stayed if I had to deal with that line.

Speaking of lines.
It took like 20 minutes to get out of that snow covered parking lot.
The cars were lined up, and the easy exits were packed with cars trying to navigate the snow and exit....

Yah.
Definitely felt like winter today. 
Thick.
Heavy.
Winter.

I took the back roads home because I figured a slower speed was much safer than trying to brave the freeway in such a storm.

Thankfully I made it home safely.

But yah.
Totally wasn't expecting the crazy to still be crazy at the other stores so late into the afternoon. 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Black Friday

Ah. Black Friday.

It's always amusing to see my coworkers freak out about this day. Especially in the mornings.
I mean we're all aware of the stories.
The mobs.
The trampling.
The fighting.

So it makes sense to be nervous. 

I definitely was nervous my first Black Friday. 
I remember boxing up a lot of animals that day.

But the years after that?
Haven't been exactly as crazy.

And what really factors into it is weather.
If the weather is good, we usually have more people waiting at the doors when we open up.
Bad/cold weather, we have less people.

So yah.
This year it was more my manager freaking out as they'd never had Black Friday in our store.

Which a 'busy' black friday opening is like....maybe 50 people?
and like most of them go to like the Cat Litter. 
And overall it's pretty nice and orderly.
No pushing.
No shoving.

But of course every year you have to deal with the customers who wanted to get that 'one' thing and we only had a limited quantity (or even just one) in stock...
*exhales*
I hate having products unavailable to customers. :( I wish we stocked up on like everything.
But like there's no way to predict what's popular. 
One year we sold guinea pigs like crazy. Other years we didn't sell one.
One year we sold fish tank after fish tank after fish tank...this year we sold like three? 
so yah.
It's hard to predict what will be popular.

But that first morning rush?
Not so crazy.
This year we had like six...maybe up to a dozen people in the store in the first ten or fifteen minutes. 

So not that crazy. 
It felt more like a busy Saturday than anything else. 

Though it did get busier the later in the day it grew.
Especially around lunchtime.

We even prepared by opening up Register 4 to be used.
And like we haven't used Register 4 in a year.

I had the most fun this year picking online orders.
Just grabbing the Ipad and seeing what online orders came in and going to grab it.
That was nice.
Not as stressful as dealing with customers themselves.

But overall.
It wasn't as crazy of a Black Friday in the store.
At least not in petcare.

So my manager had nothing to worry about. ^^;; 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Cooking Turkey

I was probably stressing more than I needed to be.

But at the same time.
I've never cooked a turkey before.

So I was rather worried that I would either end up burning the thing, or else it wouldn't be cooked and ready by the time dinner was ready to be served. And like...i like having things done on time. And I would have felt horrible if the turkey had been raw still. :S :S :S

Thankfully neither result happened. ^^;;

I mean....it wasn't a full turkey that I ended up cooking.
Just kinda like...half a breast of it? Idk. It was enough turkey to have both white and dark meat and to feed two people reasonably well. lol.

But yah.
It hadn't thawed as much as I'd expected it to thaw after I'd stuck it in the fridge....
Maybe I stuck it in the wrong drawer, or our fridge is just much colder than other people's fridges.

So that was worrying.
But thankfully the bit of turkey that I bought said that I would be able to cook it even if it was still frozen. 

So I pulled it out of it's packaging.
Made sure to follow the instructions on it.

-Which why is there weird string wrapped around a turkey anyways? Is it to help it cook or what?? *shakes head* No idea.

But yah. I even did a bit of season salt on the turkey just to give it some flavor just cus....like I've never cooked a turkey before, but you season those things right? Right.

And once the oven was preheated, I made sure that there was some vegetable oil coating the thing -as per the directions said---

And stuck it in.

And proceeded to worry for like the next three hours that it wasn't cooking.

It was. 

But still. Like cooking at 325 degrees just doesn't seem warm enough to cook things?
And like it was three hours!
-I mean, since I have no idea what to look for in being able to tell if a turkey is cooking....it probably could have been done in two....

But like the max said three hours cook time on the packaging.

Which coincidedly matched up with the timing of Daddoo dropping by for dinner.

But yah, like....just looking into the oven every now and then I couldn't tell from the outside if the turkey was cooking or not.
Because the surface still had that near raw look to it.

But the oven was hot.
So that meant it had to be cooking right? 
Right.

*exhales*

It was a relief to have Daddoo show up and have him cut into the turkey and see nice fully cooked meat inside. 

Yay for not failing!! lol. 
^^;;

Plus I think I did pretty well overall getting everything ready.
Like Daddoo had the mashed potatoes.
But I was able to switch the oven to 375 and place some crescent rolls in.
Heat the gravy.
Pull out the salad.
Warm up the peas and corn in the microwave.

And by the time the rolls were ready have everything set up to eat. ^^;;

Yay for getting everything cooked! :D lol. And well...tasty and ready and yah.

Dinner turned out well.
And I'm so relieved that the turkey cooked and tasted good. 
*sigh of relief*
So relived.

Plus I feel rather proud of myself. ^^;;
Lol because I was able to also guess how many Cokes Daddoo would want to drink while he was visiting.

One before/during dinner.
A second after dinner.

And then a third for the road for when he headed back home. ^^;;

Hehe. Sooo proud of myself for guessing that right and having the cold cokes ready in the fridge for him. ^^;; Yay me. 

So yah.
My first attempt at providing Thanksgiving Dinner went really well!!
Much better than expected and I'm so happy about that. :D

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Readership

I know I have a bunch of people that read this blog.
Complete strangers.
People I'll likely never meet.
From all over the world.
Somehow have wandered around the internet, stumbled across my blog, and decided to visit it for a while. 

For which I'm totally grateful for by the way. ^^;; I love seeing all the places in the world that my blog posts have reached.

It's so cool! :D

Intimidating in a way, but cool. lol.

However...
Out of all you people who read my blog....

I do wonder just how many of you I actually know.

Like when I started this blog I'm pretty certain it was mostly family and friends that would be reading my posts.

Especially because I used to advertise my posts more in the family newsletter Mother Dearest would send out as well as mention it on facebook and the like.

But recently? Not so much.
I just kinda let the viewers stumble across my blog instead.

I mean if people ask I'll give them the links to this and other blogs I have.

But like...

I do wonder how many of my family and my friends read my posts now.
Years later.

Like how many stalwart people have been here since the very beginning?

Honestly.
It wouldn't surprise me if the answer is zero lol.

Blogging was a super popular thing among my extended family for a while.
But I feel like it died out among most of them five or six years ago....

But I figure that no family reads my blog posts because if I do meet up with extended family they usually comment on my facebook posts. 
They don't ever mention my blogs.

And with how little my siblings and Daddoo are online...I highly doubt they see what I write here. 

Honestly, I'm pretty sure it had been mostly just Mother Dearest who kept up on my blogposts because it let her check in on me and see how I was doing and such.

But it's been a year now. Over a year really... *exhales*

So yah.

In a way it's kinda freeing.
To realize that really I'm basically writing to complete strangers. 

So thanks everyone.
For sticking around. 
I really appreciate it. :D 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Give Back? Please?

It's one of those days where I feel like....I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel in being able to 'give' to others.

As like...that's how I show my love.
Giving things to people.
Whether it's my time and energy like when I dashed up North to help Kikay out on Sunday.
Or grabbing food for my roomies while I'm out getting fast food for myself.
Or you know just giving people random gifts because I saw something and thought of them....

It's something that I do.
Because I like seeing others be happy.

But after a while....it gets harder to want to do so.
When it isn't really reciprocated.
Because I don't often have things given to me by people. Like gift giving doesn't have to mean monetary things. You could see a pretty rock on the ground and give it to me and I would think it was so cool!! But everyone thinks it has to involve money....and basically everyone around me is worried about their funds. 

Soooo I'm feeling....that drag currently....

Where I want to show my love and give things....

But at the same time I'm reluctant to do so. Because I know I won't be getting a 'gift' back in return.

Which isn't good when I'm going to be making Thanksgiving Dinner this year for Daddoo and myself. 

I think....there might just be a bit of resentment there.

Especially when I called today to see what type of specific pie Daddoo liked -as Walmart sells mini one serving pies- and I know he likes pie even though I don't. 
And upon asking if there was anything else I should grab to ensure that we had everything needed for Thanksgiving.
He was like "you have any whipped cream?" 
You know...to put on the pie.
Which no I don't because I don't like pie or whipped cream.

But I went and grabbed some anyways for Daddoo so he could have some. 

Like he could have been like "Oh well I have some I can bring!" but when I was like "I don't know where to get that." (since I never buy it) he was like "Oh it's over in this section." instead. 

*exhales*

I suppose...I'm just viewing things in the negative right now.

And I'm sure that many many people feel this way after Thanksgiving where they spend hours slaving in the kitchen to make a meal....to get barely an recognition in return for their hard work. To have to clean up the kitchen by themselves after everyone else has left.

But it's just like a bitter feeling.

Knowing that I'm putting in so much effort, giving so much to try and make Thanksgiving Dinner easy for Daddoo as I know he doesn't want to have to cook as he's been reluctant to do so ever since Mother Dearest passed, and we could have gone the 'easy' route and gone out to eat or something.

-Which wouldn't surprise me if we end up doing that anyways because I've never cooked a turkey before and I can only imagine it going really really wrong. Soooo---

But like Thanksgiving is about having family time and being able to eat leftovers for days and days and days afterwards. 

You can't really do that if you go out to eat.
Especially if it's a place like Chuck-a-rama that costs like $20 per person for an all you can eat buffet...that won't let you take anything home...and like that's rather pricey for someone who rarely finishes one plate let alone multiple plates.

In any case.
I feel like I'm going to make all this effort.
Give all this time.
All this energy.
all this attention.

To show my Love to Daddoo and how much I care.

And I worry -i'm pretty certain- I won't....get the love reciprocated in return.

like. No worries, I know Daddoo loves me and such.
But he doesn't express that love in my love language. He doesn't reciprocate through gift giving. 

So I'm expecting us to meet together.
Eat dinner.
Maybe chat a bit.

But I'm probably going to be cleaning up the kitchen/meal afterwards by myself.
While he either hangs out, or heads back home to try and avoid being out in the snow that's supposed to be coming that day.

*exhales*

Still....
Despite knowing that this probably will drain my energy reserves.....
I hope that having dinner together makes him happy.

Guess we'll see. 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Delivered

It's the week of Thanksgiving. 
Which means in retail land.
That things are picking up in order to get ready for Black Friday. 

Part of that gearing up....is that all our animal shipments end up getting skewed a bit.

As the holidays affect which days they arrive.

Especially because my store is closed on Thanksgiving.
Which is a Thursday.

And this presents a bit of a problem when our small animals usually show up on that day.

But, I've been doing this rodeo for years now.
So I was well aware that we wouldn't be getting small animals in on that day since we weren't going to be there.
And our supplier is well aware of this too.

So they usually send the animals to us early.
Usually on Monday.

And last week, knowing that this week was Thanksgiving I double checked with the dude that delivers our animals.
And he confirmed that they would be coming in Monday morning to drop off their shipment.

Which meant that we needed to have the cages ready for that morning.

And to try and get ahead of schedule.
I tried to get our Sunday people to prep the cages beforehand.

I probably would have prepped them Saturday.
But our New Arrivals room where we keep all the animals that come in for observation...was still full. 
As our Thursday shipment of last week has the animals under observation for three days.
And since the room was full.
With animals that couldn't yet come out.
That meant we had to wait until they could come out to make room for the ones showing up today.

Which meant Sunday. 

Unsurprisingly though.

It apparently 'got busy' for a Sunday (which is always weird) 
And so when I came in this morning, the preparations for the animals coming in in a couple of hours....were only half completed.
Which meant that I had to quickly finish setting up the various cages so that when our delivery guy came by he would have somewhere to put the animals.

Thankfully I got it done on time and the animals went into the cages without issue.

But afterwards it was kinda funny because the manager was like "How did you know the animals would be coming in today? We couldn't find it stated anywhere." 

And the answer?
Was because I asked the dude when he came by last week when he'd be coming by this week because it's not my first rodeo working the week of thanksgiving lol. 

And I knew the delivery guys would know when they were working because I'm sure they're looking forward to having time off too.
Therefore. I was thinking ahead. ^^;; 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Of Ta Clean

I made an unplanned trip up North today.

As I ended up calling my sister earlier to, you know, check in, and see how things were going with her.

And it turned out that she was feeling rather stressed. Overwhelmed really. 

In that there were like a hundred tasks that needed to be done.

And she didn't have the time, energy, or resources to do them.

I had originally been planning to...well....just hang out at home after church. Relax. Maybe write a bit.

But upon hearing the stress in Kikay's voice.

I volunteered to come up for a few hours to help her out.

You know. Tackle the mountain and make the tasks seem less momentous.

Mostly it was just with cleaning tasks.

As she's been so busy with things....that things at home ended up piling up.

Plus, it's hard to clean when the vacuum is broken. >_> 

So! I brought up the one from my house, along with some cleaning supplies.

And helped get the house all pretty and clean. ^^;; lol.

It only took a couple of hours really.

Vacuuming, cleaning up the kitchen, cleaning the bathroom, organizing the monster of a fridge.

 

It was fun family bonding time really.

Kikay and I were able to talk and vent and confide in a way that we haven't been able to in a while since she moved out.

And in the end we both ended up feeling a lot better.

So I'm grateful I was able to come up to help her out.

As I could see the tension and stress leaving her as we accomplished each task.

I think she's a bit more relaxed now that the house is much cleaner and she has one less thing to worry about.

I definitely know I feel better when a mess that's been bugging me finally gets cleaned.

So methinks Kikay was much happier to have a clean home. ^^;;

I'm glad I was able to help out. :D

Until you next see these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Stop Stressing

It was one of those...idk...hard days at work?

Where just the little things...made things hard.

Emotionally really.

Not really physically. 

It's just like a blow......

When time after time after time....

I'm unable to help customers or have things go well. 

*exhales* 

It's hard.

To fail.

And it happened time and time and time again this morning.

Not good for preventing a headache.

I didn't succeed.

I got a headache.

Just stress, stress, and more stress. 

*exhales*

It didn't help that I felt like I was running all over.

Trying to help my coworkers as well.

And probably not taking time to breathe or drink enough water or you know...keep my muscles relaxed. 

Gah.

Dear self.

Don't stress.

Headaches aren't worth it for such small things. 

Until you next read these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Meal Prep

Thanksgiving is going to be different this year. 

Which, I probably had similar thoughts this time last year as well.

Of course last year was....dark. 

Like it's hard to feel grateful when you're dealing with the loss of your Mom.

But this year....

Is going to be different in that it's the first year where my siblings aren't going to be joining us for dinner.

As they're going to be spending the holiday with their S.O.'s families instead.

Which leaves means....

That really it's just Daddoo and I who will be together.

And since Mother Dearest's passing...Daddoo hasn't really been in the mood to cook.

So he's been pushing to just go out and eat for Thanksgiving.

Which is nice and less work and all....

But it doesn't have that Thanksgiving feel to it.

Namely in that we wouldn't have leftovers and it just feels like...not a celebration at all. 

*exhales*

But due to my work schedule being as it is....I only have Thanksgiving off.

So we can't really go and visit family or anything like that. 

Soooooo.

I've decided on something crazy.

And we'll see if Daddoo will go along with it -which since he barely has to cook anything, he probably will- when he gets back from his extended vaca.

But I've decided to make Thanksgiving Dinner.

Leaving Daddoo to make the mashed potatoes as his are the best. 

In any case.

I went shopping today for all the things.

Better to do so sooner rather than later because who knows how crazy the stores are going to be next Wednesday.

But I managed to find a little turkey, that should be enough food to feed the two of us and not have like a month's worth of leftovers.

-Have I ever cooked a turkey before?

Nope.

Will it fail?

Hopefully not. 

We'll see.

But yah.

I got most of the fixins for dinner.

Salad, Rolls, Veggies, Turkey....dessert.

I mean there's no stuffing or the like.

But hey it will feel a bit more like Thanksgiving methinks.

Hopefully.

*exhales*

idk.

I just...didn't want to go out to eat you know?

So this is going to be an interesting adventure to embark on....

We'll see how well I do.

Until you next see these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Small Break

One thing I love about my job, is how understanding the managers are. 

Which, I think really, it's because I have a great track record of being a hard and diligent worker.
And I'm also known for coming to work despite not feeling well and working through it.

But there are days where I just have to take a breather.

Today was one of those days. 

Like usual, the problem starts with a Migraine.

Which had kept me from sleeping well last night.
And had me practically at zombie mode today.

It was bad.

I did not feel well. 
To the point that I had to keep sitting down because I was shaky enough and my stomach unsettled enough that I just needed to sit down.
Plus my eyes were so tired. I just wanted to close them and zonk out for a half hour or so.

So that's what I went to my manager about.

Since I was working a longer shift, I would be able to have two fifteens and a lunch break.

Since I almost never get my second fifteen.

I went to my manager half an hour after I arrived.
And asked if I could take my two fifteens together and go lay down because I wasn't feeling well due to the migraine.

My manager said that would be fine.

So I grabbed my heat pack that I leave in my locker at work, warmed it up, grabbed a dog bed from off the rack, and placed it in a corner in the break room.
I turned out the lights, laid on the dogbed and just crashed for half an hour with the heatpack pressed against the area of my head that was aching.

And it worked.

A half hour of rest and I was practically good as new.
Not totally a hundred percent. 

But the worst of the headache had passed due to that nap.

For which I'm grateful.

Yay for managers who are willing to help me out and let me take a breather when I need it. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Dark Welcome

It's always an adventure coming back to work after being gone on vacation.

Because there's always something that's gone wrong while I've been gone. 

This time around....

It seems to have been the weekend of death.

As when I did our weekly animal count today...we had a dozen animals missing from our inventory. 

Now the animals could be missing from the inventory for a variety of reasons. 

The main one being that they ended up dying.

But other reasons could be that a) the animals weren't received in properly b) they weren't sold properly or c) they escaped.

In any case.
Compared to like the last...well forever.

This was a hard hitting week for us in all areas.
Rodents, Birds, and Reptiles.

It's weird.
To have so many animals 'missing' 

But that's not all. 

I came in this morning.
To discover that in our feeder goldfish tanks.
The our small goldfish....

Were all dead.

Or dying.

And we've had die offs before.
But this was like a thousand.

A literal
Thousand Goldfish.
Died overnight.

As I checked with my coworkers and they said the goldfish were fine yesterday.

A couple texts to my manager.

Revealed that they treated the fish system last night.
-Which I had wondered because there were bubbles on top of the water that usually form when some sort of treatment is added to it.
However, they had used 'less' than the usual amount that we usually use to treat the fish.

Which shouldn't have caused an issue....

But I also noticed that the locklines to the goldfish were clogged.
So barely if any water was flowing into the tank.

So I'm halfway wondering if my manager treated the system.
But the locklines clogged up after so fresh water couldn't flow into the tank.
And maybe those particular ones had a heavier dose than compared to the others.....

*exhales*

It's hard to know.
I did what I could to try and fix the problem.

But yah.
A thousand goldfish. 
Dead.

What a welcome back. *shakes head*

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Through the Air

There are times I like flying.
I enjoy soaring above the clouds.
See the world from waaaay up high.
Admire the clouds from the same level.

But I've always disliked landing after taking off. 

Just the descent and the potential bumpy landing?
Yah.
Not a fan.

And the past couple of times I've landed....
I've hated the feeling of the plane 'putting on the breaks' as we descend.
As it feels like we're going to fall out of the sky.

But overall I've been okay.

The flight today was probably one of the smoother flights I've been on.

Good take off.
Hardly any turbulence.
And the descent and landing was pretty smooth. 

But my paranoia was super high today.
Like through the roof. 

Every little bump.
Every slight ascent or descent.
Every turn of the plane.

Had feeling like we were about to crash.

It was the furthest thing from the truth.

But I was tense.
So tense.
Couldn't focus on anything.
Could feel my heart pounding.
And it was hard to breath.

Gah.

Not my favorite flight.

I was definitely glad to be back on the ground. 
Safe and sound.

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Heading Back

One of the harder things about going on Vacation...

Is coming back from one.

I knew from the beginning, that my trip out to see my Godparents wasn't going to be a long one.

As I was basically scraping the barrel when it came to having vacation time to take off to go see them.

And really four days is a nice long weekend.

But being here.
And realizing that tomorrow I need to fly home.
*exhales*

I don't want it to end.

There's amazing sunsets.
Cute kitties to play with.
And of course my awesome Godparents who've been showering me with love and attention the entire time.

It's just...hard to leave that, you know?

This has been just the getaway I needed.

Especially as we go into the holiday season.

It's just...great.
Great to be able to getaway for a bit.

I can only hope that I can come back out here sooner rather than later.
Because, despite the mountains being rather tiny on the horizon.
I do love being out here.

And I'm going to miss it as soon as I step into the airport tomorrow.

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Sand or Gravel

Work ended up contacting me out of the blue today.

Which while isn't unexpected was still kinda surprising considering I'm on vacation today.

It's how I felt on Thursday as well, when I was driving up North.

Because as I was driving, one of my Manager's suddenly called me.

And I was like O_o why are you calling me? You know I'm on vacation. 

This manager was calling me....because he was driving in the car right in front of me lol.

Crazy that we ended up both heading the same direction about the same time.

But yah. He was like "Hey! I tried getting your attention but you wouldn't look at me! So I called you."

*shakes head*
It gave me a smile for sure lol. XD 

It was just....so random.

Today's text was also random.

It was a different manager.

Asking if it would be okay to switch out the sand in our snail tank for gravel because we apparently had a worm infestation in the tank and they wanted to get rid of it.

Honestly I don't see why they didn't just replace the old sand with new sand.

But I reassured the manager that it would be okay to switch it out for gravel.

The main reason we'd gone with sand in the first place is that the snails have an easier time moving through the sand....and our little horned nerite snails that are there are so tiny they can get lost in the rocks.

As to the worms....honestly they probably could have treated the tank. 
But if that manager wants to put in rocks. They can totally do that.
We've done rocks before. 

I am confused why the manager came to me to ask if it was okay that they made this change to try and get the tank back under control. *shakes head*

I'm guessing it's because I know the most in the department and was the one to put the snails in sand, so they probably wanted to check in and make sure it would be okay to put gravel in instead without it being wrong. 

Ah well.
Hopefully work survives a couple more days without needing to contact me again until I get back. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Spoiling Others

As I said in yesterday's post.
I like to give gifts about as much as I like to receive them.

And part of my purpose for coming out to visit my Godparents.
Is because my Godmother's birthday is this month.
And while it's not during the weekend I'm here.
We agreed that while I was here we would celebrate her birthday.

Which of course means presents.

And with how much she loves to spoil me.
I was going to do my best to spoil her in return.

She didn't make it easy though, when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday.
As her quick answer was "You!" 

Lol and while I was already coming,
I wanted to be able to give more gifts than myself to her while I was here. 

So for the past month or so.
I've been scouring Amazon,
searching for ideas.

Basically taking little snippets of conversation that we'd had and finding bits of info contained within it that would lead me to searching for gifts off of that to give to her.

The other slight problem.
Is that I would be flying to see her.
Which would mean that anything I wanted to get her,
Would either need to be shipped to her place directly.
Or taken by me on the plane.

The larger gifts that I found, and the ones that I knew I couldn't take on the plane on a carryon...I ended up shipping directly to her.

But the rest of the gifts.
I ended up bringing with me.

Honestly, I'm surprised with the variety of gifts that I brought in on my carry on...
That I wasn't stopped by the TSA and had my bagged checked.
Because I was totally expecting to have my bag checked. 

Still it was a relief I didn't have to go through the process of repacking my stuff.

As it was quite the tetris feat to get everything I wanted to pack into my bag lol. 

It was worth it though.

Watching her open all her gifts tonight.

Was such a wonderful feeling.
She loved every single one of them.
And spent like a good five minutes admiring each gift before moving onto the next one.

And that was a relief really to know that she likes them all and that I did good. 
^^;;

So relieved. 

I'm glad I was able to spoil her today. 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Love

It hadn't been my intention to fly out of the state on Mother Dearest's Angelversary.

Truthfully told, when I picked the dates of my little vacation.

The fact that it was Mother Dearest's angelversary that I would be leaving on.

Hadn't hit.

Until after I bought the plane ticket.

But honestly....

I'm kinda glad to fly away for a long weekend.

To end the Angelversary on a figurative high note. 

With me soaring away from it all.

And headed out into the Plains to spend time with my Godparents.

And it's just been...a relief really.

To escape out of the state.

Away from the energy and the people and the work.

And just be here.

In the middle of nowhere with them.

It's been so wonderful.

Relaxing.

Just being around my Godparents who are just so full of love and support and are just doing their best to make sure that I'm feeling loved and happy and spoiled.

It's wonderful.

It's something I've been...missing really. 

To have someone near me who well...speaks my love language.

As I show my love by giving gifts.

I enjoy giving things to people and seeing their reactions.

But....

My siblings and Daddoo communicate through different love languages.

Mother Dearest was the best at giving gifts.

And I loved it whenever she would go on trips and come back.

Because I knew she'd be bringing back a small souvenir to give to her kids.  

Sometimes it would be just a small trinket. 

Othertimes she'd give us like a dozen gifts.

But it was great.

Because I knew that she thought of us. That she wanted to make us happy. 

Since her passing....

The gift giving has...well decreased.

My roomies and I are doing okay with gift giving.

Mostly it's just us grabbing food for each other.

But they often try to bring back souvenir's from their trips and I do the same. 

In anycase.

My godparents are rather great at speaking my love language.

They make sure I have all my favorite snacks and drinks.

They give me little gifts.

It's just...wonderful.

Today they spoiled me rotten.

Taking me to a rock shop.

And just letting me pick out whatever rocks I wanted. 

And telling me to not worry about the price.

That it was okay.

Which when Daddoo has constantly been like "I'll bring you back something if you pay me back for it." and has constantly been worrying about money.

-All my family has been worried about money recently.

It's just...a tension release.

To not have to worry about the price. 

To allow myself to be 'spoiled.' 

They got me a new ring that fits my finger.

They got me a new necklace that just makes me so happy to be wearing. 

And then there were a handful of stones that they let me pick out because I liked them.

And it's just...

It's been a while since I've felt this relaxed.

Comfortable.

Loved. 

Honestly. 

Just being around so much acceptance and people who care for me.

I don't really want to leave.

And to put the cherry on top.

My godparents gave me a key to their house.

So that if I ever felt the need to get away from it all.

If I needed to escape to an oasis. 

I could come to them.

Whether or not they were home.

And have access to the house.

And that just...means the world to me.

To have a stable foundation that I know I can return to regardless of anything.

It's everything. 

Until you next read these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Angelversary

With all the stress I've been feeling for the day itself.
The worries.
Concerns.
And just various emotions.

Mother Dearest's Angelversary came.
And overall.
It was okay.

We had our moments, my siblings and I of getting emotional.
But it was good.

Good to gather with my siblings and spend a few hours together. 
We had lunch.
We watched Love it or List it.

We had our moments of quiet.
Our moments of laughter. 

And it was just like...a peaceful evening. 
We all kinda just had this feeling of....it's going to be okay.

It's okay. 

So while we're still going to have our moments of sadness. 
And things won't always be easy. 

But we made it through this first year together.

We can continue on together. 

So yah.
I'm glad that I was able to spend the day with my siblings.
It was what I needed I think.

To be together with family. 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Day Before

It's interesting how similar events can take place on the same day year after year after year without purposely doing it.

Like a while back I went through my journals and compared what was happening that day each year that I'd kept track of the journal.

And it was surprising the amount of times me getting sick would fall on the same weekend.
Or I would go see a movie. 

Like vacations slightly make more sense of them happening around the same time.

But other random events like those stated above were far more interesting.

Today was one of those correlating days.

In the fact that I met up with two of my friends today.

And those two friends?
I'd met up with them a year ago, on this same day.

Back then we were meeting up to go see the new Fantastic Beasts movie. The second one. 

This time around we just met up to go to dinner.

So we met up. But did a different thing.

Which is probably good.

Because...honestly I don't know if I could have handled seeing a movie with those two friends today.

Why?

Because last year, on this day....this was the final evening that my Mother Dearest spent on Earth.

Last year on this day...my family and I had come back to my parent's place after spending the weekend up the canyon on top of the mountain in a condo.

We'd gone up there for a 'last hurrah' for the year.
A mellow family vacation up in a ski resort area. 
There was snow up there.
The sunsets were beautiful there. 

But this day, a year ago, marked the end of that vacation.
We came home and ended up spending a couple of hours at my parent's home.
Watching Love it or List it on the TV there in my parent's bedroom on the bed. 
As they'd been having a marathon and a new episode was due to come up and we wanted to see it.

It was just... a nice mellow evening really.
I was on my laptop doing things.
While the rest of the family was also on the bed (Daddoo, Mother Dearest, Kikay and I -as Meralto and his wife had just come up for a day to the condo and were already back in their own homes.) doing our own thing. 

We probably would have stayed far later Kikay and I.
Honestly, Kikay had considered just staying the night to help Mother Dearest Out.
Because she'd been struggling with being able to breathe for most of the trip.
Getting winded after climbing a simple set of stairs.

And at that point in time, Kikay was working from home, so she could stay at my parents and help mother dearest out around the house.

Yet, we both ended up deciding to head home.
And Kikay would return in the morning.

In any case.

We left Mother Dearest there in the bedroom.
A Hug goodbye. A simple "Love you." 

And we were off.
Heading back to Happy Valley.

Racing back really, so that I could get home to drop off Kikay and then head out to go see the movie with my two friends. 

And I had fun with my friends.
It was a good night, though the movie wasn't my favorite. 

It's crazy really....

To think how much life would change in a few hours.
How on the morrow (the 14th) Mother Dearest would unexpectedly pass away.

How she would be fine one moment....
And gone the next.

So yah....

It's crazy that the same two friends decided to meet up today, a year later.
When Mother Dearest's Angelversary is looming ever closer over my head.

It's been a struggle.
I've been struggling with this year mark since October Hit.

I don't want it to come.
I don't want it to be a year already without her.

A year without being able to physically speak to her, call her, hug her, talk to her. 

*exhales*

It's hard.
So hard.

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Visited and Training

It was a stressful day for my managers.
Because we had the regional manager coming into the store.

Honestly, I could sense the stress and worry building as my head manager kept updating us every two minutes on where the Regional Manager was in their journey to get to our store. 

As before that we were cleaning and facing and organizing and doing all the things to try and make the store look it's best possible. 

And in these sorts of scenarios, I usually end up with a headache of some sort.
Because I just...take in other people's stress and get stressed because they're stressed.

But this time around I was actually doing pretty good despite the lack of proper sleep from staying up too late by accident last night. 

After all.
I know all too well by now that the managers usually are stressed over nothing and our visits go pretty well.
I also know that my department doesn't get looked at quite as closely as other areas of the store.
So I wasn't as stressed despite my managers being stressed.

It also helped that I actually had help with opening this morning so I wasn't trying to desperately get the entire department open by myself.

Nope had help for that.

And our visit went really well. 

Especially in my department.

The only real critique that I was told we had....
Was the fact that we were constantly running out of Ghost Shrimp.

Which is not something exactly I can control. But one of the higher ups has told us that we can special order in ghost shrimp because they don't want us to have to turn customers away because we ran out. 
So that's going to be interesting.

Mostly because I didn't think we could special order anything anymore.
We would just get sent replenishment as needed. 

But yah. We're going to be ordering more ghost shrimp in to make sure we don't run out. 
So woot.

In any case.
The visit overall went really well! 
Yay!

I figured it would.
We've been doing pretty good in all the previous visits from higher ups this year.
So I wasn't worried about this time going well too.

However.
What did throw me off today.

Was that when I got back from lunch.
It was to discover that one of our cashiers...is now going to be trained in my department.

Mostly I think it was a spur of the moment thing as one of our new petcare people called out....again and we needed someone to help cover the gap.

And this cashier is quite the go getter.
So the managers were like "Here! Train them!" 

*exhales*

I don't mind training.
But at the same time, it takes a lot of energy to train.
And because I had no idea I would be training a new person today....
I didn't have the energy set aside to do the training.

I mean, I trained them.
But it drained me to the point of getting a headache.

Because I don't like unexpected stress.
Not at all. 

Thankfully....things went well.
I can only hope that the cashier did okay in the department after I left them.

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi