It's the Little Things

My kids know that mom not only has been there to help with some large issues but she pays attention to the little things.  When I went to visit my son and DIL for a few days, once, I took a box of paper  goods and cleaning supplies.  I know when money is tight, the first thing you do is pay the bills then buy food.  Cleaning supplies and paper goods make it to the end of the list.  I brought paper towels, tissues, napkins, toilet tissue, and lysol products.  My DIL looked confused and I asked her, "are you running low on this stuff...or just out of it?"  "well...yes."  "AND it costs money...it adds up.  Wouldn't you rather use that money to buy food?"  This look of understanding came over her face and she laughed and said, "yeah!  I get it."

When my daughter passed her Pharmacy Tech licensing exams, I know she had been working hard to help her boyfriend make ends meet and had scrimped on the things she loved.  I sent her a Sephora gift card.  She was thrilled because she had not been able to afford to replenish her foundation.  She was all about the makeup at that time.  Of course since, she has adopted a more light dab of face powder.  Her emphasis is on her eyes and eye brows.  But at the time, the idea that I thought of her WANTS in that way made an impact.

I remembered that stuff this morning because I realized I have learned that from my mother.  I miscalculated and have run out of tissues.  (note to self: while the smaller, cube-like boxes of tissues may fit better on table and stands, they run out a lot quicker)  I have sinus and allergy issues so I go through a lot of tissues. This morning, I knew I was in trouble. And while I am the only one in the house and I COULD walk around with a roll of toilet tissue, it did not appeal to me.  One of the presents my mother gave all of us girls was this red woven and metal sleigh.  She filled it with things like pocket pack tissues, sample sized lotions, purse size hand sanitizer, small packs of breath mints and candies.  So, those pocket pack tissues are coming in handy this morning until I get dressed and meander on down the road to  the Family Dollar store.  It's the little things.

Just like working on math with my students.  I have worked, not only on math, but note taking skills.  I also have worked with them doing a lot of repetition and chunking things into smaller pieces.  It is what they need.  I connect what they were being taught in September to what they are doing now.  The math teacher seems to be skipping right over those steps.  WHY?  I interrupted her on Thursday to do a quick 'share' where I showed the students how the vocabulary and concepts were something they needed to accomplish/understand the geometry and equations they were doing now.  WHY is she not doing that?  She gets so frustrated with them yet she is not helping.

Also, another 'little' thing...the neighbor's truck.  He has a big, loud, diesel truck that he starts every morning.  He used to start it and let it sit idling in his drive for half an hour every morning.  He started it between 6:30  and 7 a.m. every morning.  During the week it is not that big of a deal because I am up already.  But on Saturday and Sunday I TRY to sleep in.   That is an irritation.  I want to shoot it.  Lately, he has been starting it and it doesn't idle any longer than 10 minutes before it goes off loudly down the road.  My brother's truck has that loud exhaust system on it too.  I'll bet his neighbors love him just as much.  I am not understanding the purpose of the loud exhaust system.  I used to own a little 2 seater sports car with a dual exhaust that made it sound like a box full of angry bees.  I had it taken off and replaced with a nice, quiet single pipe.  My dad laughed at me and told me I ruined the car. I told him that now I could hear my radio without deafening myself. 

It's the little things.

My son's interview went really well yesterday.  They told him they feel he will be a good fit for their day shift data entry position.  They sent him more forms to fill out.  Let's pray it is not a little thing that keeps him from getting the job.

And my almost-son-in-law had texted me that my daughter was going to call me about their plans this weekend.  I asked him when she was going to call me.  He said probably Saturday.  I asked him what they were doing this weekend, as I was not sure why I needed to know anything about their weekend plans.  He said, "I don't know....maybe do some reading."  I thought about this and the fact that he had earlier asked me about realtors in my area.  Then I dawned on me.  I replied, "So you meant she is going to call me this weekend to tell me about your plans...not that she is going to call me to tell me about your plans this weekend."  He did not reply.  It's the little things.