Life Gets In The Way

Knowing I had two nights of babysitting duty ahead (Tuesday and Wednesday) I decided to spend the bulk of my Monday evening doing course work (since class has now officially started) and getting a jump ahead on next week's readings.

So, I listened to and jotted down notes to two lectures, both about 13 minutes in length.  I took a bit of a break and played a couple rounds of a game on my iPad.  Then checked my assignment book to verify I was prepared to start reading the correct chapters for next week.  I started next week's reading...and my phone rang.

Sometimes life just gets in the way.

It was my mom asking if I would go to where she and my dad were...because my dad had fallen.  Thinking my dad fell on ice, I started to work on getting my Yaktrax on my shoes and finding a pair for him to put on his shoes and a minute later my mom calls again.

She asked me to call an ambulance because my dad was bleeding from his head.

Long story short.

By the time I get to where my dad and mom are, the ambulance has arrived and he is being prepped for transport to the hospital.

Sometimes life gets in the way.

Though I only got done with about half of what I wanted to accomplish last night, I am still very, very thankful.

See the thing is, my dad fell down 5 stairs backwards and bumped his head.  His cat scan was negative.  He had no brain bleeds.  No cracked skull.  No broken neck, back, or any other bones.  He has a concussion and a laceration on his head.  That's it.  He was dizzy and nauseous when my mom and I left him last night/early this morning just after 1am.  But that's typical for a concussion.  This morning he was able to eat breakfast and was much less dizzy.

Sometimes life gets in the way.  And it was done to remind me just how blessed I am to not only have such a great relationship with both my parents but that when something happens to them, it can be a lot worse.

So what I didn't get my reading done when I wanted?  My dad's alive and okay.  Life gets in the way to keep us in check.  Not that I think life needs to make people fall down steps to remind us of things.  But it reminded me not to forget how important my family is.  Not everyone is as blessed as I am to have the family relationship that I do.  And last night just reminded me how fortunate I am to have my family and the guardian angels that protect us daily.

It did or it didn't? @Starbucks @StarbucksStore

Just as a note - I put the Twitter handles for both Starbucks and the Starbucks online store in the title because I also have a link to this blog posted on Twitter.  The feed I use also starts to post part of the title, so I'm hoping the handles show up.

So a few weeks ago I received an email from Starbucks indicating there was a sale on holiday stuff...gift packages, mugs, and even coffees.  I checked out the sale...and I could, indeed get 50% off VIA packs of Peppermint Mocha (my favorite handcrafted drink) and K-cups of either the traditional Holiday Blend or the Blonde roast version of their Holiday Blend.  I purchased 2 boxes of the Peppermint Mocha VIAs and 2 K-Cup boxes of the Blonde Roast Holiday Blend.  (I've become slightly obsessed with our Keurig machine at work.  Plus I like to share the coffee I like, so if I can get a good deal on something like Starbucks I will take it!)  Anyway, my order gets placed.  My card gets charged.  And eventually I get an email letting me know my Peppermint Mocha is on the way.

Maybe a week or so later I get another email saying that my cancelled order of the K-Cups was processed and I would have the money "spent" returned to my card.

What?

I hadn't cancelled any orders.  And every time I checked on the status of the 2 boxes of K-Cups I was told it was being processed.  So I was confused.  Did I cancel the order and not know it?  Did they run out of the product and they actually cancelled the order for me?  Or was it someone spoofing the Starbucks online store to get my information?  I decided to wait it out and see what came with my order of Peppermint Mocha and go from there.

My Peppermint Mocha order arrives, and guess what was also in the box...if you said "the K-cups" or something along those lines, you'd be right.  I've been checking my bank account and I haven't been reimbursed for my purchase of undelivered K-cups (if I was, I'd definitely do something about it!) so as far as I was concerned it was either a spoofing email or they got confused.

Then I get an email asking me to review my purchase.  I haven't tried the K-cups yet, so I wrote a review on the Peppermint Mocha VIA packets.  A very positive review mind you.  I'm told, after submitting the review, that if it fits the guidelines it will be published.  That's fine.  If it gets published, fine.  If not, that's fine with me too.

Today I get an email.  Actually, I get two emails from the Starbucks store.  At the same exact time.  One says my review has been published.  The other says my review can not be published.

Huh???

So did it or didn't it get published?

Turns out it was published.  But how confusing is that?  Getting 2 emails at the same time stating a review had both been and not been published.

The Starbucks Store can do what they want with reviews.  They can publish or not.  It's completely up to them.  I just wish they wouldn't be so confusing by emailing people telling them an order has been cancelled, even though it hasn't...or their review wasn't published when it was.

The Benefits and Drawbacks of a Nap

So this past Saturday I wanted, more than anything, to sleep in a bit since I would be up early on Sunday (had to be at a church 30 minutes away by 8:30am), and this coming weekend I had an early meeting in an location I've never been to before on Saturday plus I have to be at the 30-minutes away church at 8:30am on  Sunday.  To add to the mix, I woke up around 5am with a splitting headache so sleeping in would have definitely done some good for the headache.  But there was no sleeping in for me.

I was in desperate need for a nap after watching my 2 1/2 year old niece from around 8am until 3:45pm, when my father took over child-watching duties and my mom said "Go lay down!"  I slept for 1 1/2 hours.  My head still hurt, but not like it had before.  And I did feel refreshed.


I am a huge proponent of naps.  As a regular migraine sufferer, naps are extremely beneficial for me.  There are times my head hurts so much my body doesn't want me to do anything else but sleep.  And these naps, be it 20 minutes or an hour, usually do great good for my head.  I never wake up completely free of the headache, but the pain has dulled down to a point where I can basically forget about them.

I also find naps helpful when I am making the transition to covering 3rd shift hours at work.  Typically I stay up as late as I can before a 3rd shift night, that way I'll sleep 8-9 hours straight during the day and have no problem with covering an off-hours shift.  But I've found that it is harder and harder for me to stay up as late as I can to prepare for 3rd shift without taking a short nap first.  The nap usually occurs between 11pm-1am and then I'm good to stay up until 5am.  I go to sleep and I'll sleep until 1-2pm.

Yes, naps definitely have their benefits.

But, there is a drawback to naps for me sometimes.

Like my 1 1/2 hour nap Saturday.  I took it in the late afternoon to early evening.  And when I woke up, I was refreshed.  But when I went to bed so I could sleep before having to get up early to preach a sermon I found I had a problem.

I.
Could.
Not.
Sleep.

Nope.  Not at all.  It was around 2am when I finally fell asleep and woke up 4 1/2 hours later.  Surprisingly I made it through the day without feeling tired or even without coffee!  But I was seriously stressed that the fatigue would get the best of me.

Obviously I am not saying I will never nap again.  But maybe next time I need to plan my nap better.