it's a rant.

There are some blogs I read for no real reason whatsoever. Dooce is one of those, but when I read her story today, I felt the need to rant.

What better place to rant than my own site!?!?

I have been astonished, repeatedly, by poor customer service everywhere. I worked in retail for many years, and still found the energy to smile when someone walked through the door. No really, it wasn't even that hard. You don't have to pester people with service, just look at them, smile, and say something to let them know you see them. There are several place in the area that I actively avoid because as soon as I walk through the door I am glared at. (For my part I try to practice good customer-service service, I smile, make eye contact, and thank them for everything. I don't talk on my cell phone in a small store, and I never use it at a register. When I get flustered at checkout, I make some joke about being all thumbs, and apologize.) There's a serviceable coffee place in Issaquah, for instance, and the girls at the register NEVER SMILE. (This might be a handicap that I am being extremely insensitive to.)

The result of this overwhelming grumpiness is that I am actually AMAZED when I get someone friendly. We fly Akaska Airlines for several reasons; one of them being that the flight attendants actually seem to enjoy their jobs. (I have good stories about a few other Airlines; like the time one of the attendants was seated facing us and spent the whole flight lecturing us on how hard they worked and how all the people on board were spoiled by cheap flights.... etc etc. It was not a pleasant flight as I tried my best not to argue or ask her to stop griping at me. I smiled instead... it hurt.) Ask Patrick how many times I've walked out of a store saying "Well, they were nice!" simply because they tried for a few seconds to be helpful.

Of course, all of this is the result of a loss of courtesy across the board. When Patrick was injured and on crutches (broken hip) we had the displeasure of taking public transportation a few times, including a shuttle from the DFW airport during which NOT ONE PERSON STOOD UP TO LET HIM SIT DOWN. Angry Alison emerged (as tends to happen when you have mistreated one of her people) and passive aggressively glared at the people sitting underneath the "These seats reserved for those with handicaps and the elderly." One rider (also standing) mentioned loudly that "SOMEONE SHOULD GET UP AND LET THAT YOUNG MAN SIT DOWN" and I replied "Thank you for noticing, obviously they do not care to." I may or may not have smacked a few of the sitters accidentally with my suitcase. (It wasn't my fault, I had to deal with them all, and help my husband balance.)

•••

On a brighter and somewhat related note, I'm ready to go full steam towards opening the (so, there.) shop space; which will feature amazing customer service because everyone deserves to be treated well. Inner Alison is super excited- Organized Alison is a little overwhelmed- and Positive-thinking Alison is telling you this as motivation to get it done.

Here're some pretty pictures. Thanks for hanging in!

of these doodles...

Oh MY GOODNESS!!!!

via - Doodlers Anonymous

I might also need these....

Some of you might know I'm a little nuts about Andrew Bird. A few months ago I watched his performance on ACL, and I'm dying to see him live now.

Patrick thinks I should get a couple of these custom speakers. What do you think?

I need this....

Isn't it amazing????~?~?

By Milk Design.

we had a crafty day (in the sense that we were cunning.)

I've been trying to pack in as many crafty get-togethers as I can into the end of the summer. We had an awesome paper making day a couple of weeks ago (that I forgot to photograph), and last weekend Rachel (of Camp Smartypants) and Kat came over for some more fun.

It's tricky for me to let go of my usual "plan everything to death" tendencies. Rachel and Kat can help with that. We got out a bunch of paper scraps- Rachel made some campfire notebooks, and I bound a few things I lovingly named "Uglybooks". (Handmade paper covers, buttons, and old forms and paper on the inside.)

That was nothing compared to the messy fun of tie-dyeing paper.

The paper dyeing was pretty simple, but only worked on tissue paper (none of the other paper we tried was absorbent enough.)

We used liquid watercolors and water in plastic containers for our dye. (Tried food coloring, but it wasn't as awesome.) We tried combinations of folding, and crumpling with rubber bands to hold it all together. My favorite was folding the tissue into one long strip, and then folding it into triangles. I dipped each corner into a different color and held it in while it absorbed the color.

Here's one Rachel did in Rachel colors.

If you are smart, you will wait for the paper to dry (overnight) before you attempt to unfold it. Otherwise it tears into really colorful fringe.

We were warned by professional-tie-dyer-Rachel that we may never have normal looking hands again.

We were then reassured by professional-child-educator-Kat that the watercolors were for kids, she had no permanently dyed children in her class. (Which is good, because we were a mess, and somehow all had blue marks on our right legs/feet.)

(P did not participate in the crafting; but he was very helpful, and didn't grimace at the mess.)

Here is a good example of why you should let the paper dry some. IT'S SO PRETTY but oh so ragged.

I think we had fun. I stole Rachel's idea and started pasting the pages into a journal. They are a beautiful reminder to not forget about color. I definitely plan to do this again- with more planning and patience this time...

Does anyone have any suggestions for an absorbent paper that might work for this?

it's another cat post.

Cooper's name at the shelter was "Goofy." We knew we wouldn't keep it (even though we kept Jovi's) because WHO WOULD NAME A CAT GOOFY? That's so mean.

Sometimes it's clear they had more wisdom than we gave them credit for.

It doesn't get much goofier than laying on your back in the sun, with your tongue hanging out.

Jovi brought her "Looking spooky for Halloween" act over to see what I was doing. Cooper punished her for her interest.

of resist dye

Just saw this wonderful project over at How About Orange.

I think I'm gonna need to get my hands on some of that Inkodye.