It's only friday!

It's only Friday and it feels like Saturday! haha LOVE it!

Chris and I didn't bbq last night so we're doing chilli dogs tonight. MMM mmmm....

Oh, and the house is STILL spotless! It did take an hour this morning to get it back that way....(BEATING) but it's better than the 5 hours it took before, so I think I might try the 1 hr on Saturday thing and see how we go.

In other news, I was attacked by my previous manager at Cole's and he's offered to find me a full time job. :) Nothing's set in stone, but they have a position opening up as an "orderer" (uh..easy. I did that every day at Target.) He doesn't know I'm leaving for 4 weeks in dec/jan, but that may not matter. Then again maybe it will, meh. The cool thing is that I'd go into work at 4am and be off before lunch. AWESOME!! This job would allow me the flexibility to be involved in all the programs I want to and STILL get paid. Chris is up at 4:30 every morning anyways, so we'll just have him up an hour earlier and go to bed and hour earlier. Hopefully. Anyways, like I said, nothing's set in stone and I don't have my heart set on it or anything because I feel really at-peace about the volunteering next year but this would be a great way to pay off debts and buy new chairs and sound system for the church and lease a car and all these THINGS that cost money whether we like it or not. Please pray for guidance for the manager to make the best decision for the store! I just think of how much the church could *really* use that money right now and how awesome it would be to just pour it into sprucing the place up and I can't help but get excited!
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Bad Trend of the Day: "Paper Bag" shorts
aka Diaper Shorts or worse-than-Walking-Shorts

This is yet another style that can only (kind of) be pulled of by a 5'10" size 2 woman. If this is not you, please refrain from going anywhere near them!!

I was personally offended when a fashion mag I purchased today suggested that women with curvy thighs wear these "shorts with volume" and included a picture of a plus size (almost identical to my figure) woman wearing Paper Bag shorts WITH FRONT PLEATS as if this was a good idea. HELLOOO!! If you have curvy thighs, STAY AWAY FROM SHORTS altogether, and opt for a-line skirts and dresses in the summer instead! DUH! ::sigh:: As if adding volume to an area of your body would make it look slimmer. They should fire their stylist.

Offendors:





If you wear Paper Bag shorts, don't take offense. Just please, don't ever wear them again.
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So...I looked ALL OVER for Grenadine, or cherry syrup, or cherry cordial, or cherry essence/extract or SOMETHING so we could make cherry coke....Nothing. Nowhere. Really?? Really. Apparantly Australia does not share America's affinity for cherry flavored things. Raspberry? Sure! Strawberry? Of course! Cherry is just a bit too hard to manage in Moranbah though...ahh well. I had a moment of hope when I saw a cafe here had Grenadine syrup on their counter...alas. At least I know I can order it.

This reminds me of a Facebook status I posted the other day about fountain drinks! So...

Culture Clash of the Day

I miss drink fountains. Quik Trip's (QT) drink fountains in particular!



For the Aussies (pronounced "ozzee" not "ossee" btw ;) ) a drink fountain bev. is called "post mix." I'm not unfamiliar with this term as that's what we called it when I worked in restaurants, but most people I know refer to them as "fountain drinks" and the machine you get it from as a "drink fountain."

In America:

Any time you order a soft drink at a restaurant, it will usually cost you about $2.50 and will be served as "post-mix" or from a "fountain" on ice. You have unlimited refills at no additional charge. This is the same whether you are in a full-service restaurant or a fast-food restaurant. All gas-stations (or servos for the Aussies) have drink fountains where you can buy a 32oz of soft drink for $1.50, less at some places. QT does a promotion in the summer where any 32oz beverage (including iced coffees, frappes, slushees, etc. ) are 60 cents. In the winter you can get all 32oz warm beverages for 60 cents. Most gas-stations charge about half price for refills.

In Australia:

What you see is what you get. Any time you order a soft drink at a restaurant you will usually be offered the choice between a can or a bottle and they will pour it over ice for you. I'm not sure of the avg. price but I know I've paid 2.50 for a can at a few different places. Some full-service places will bring the drink to you in a glass bottle (which holds about the same amount as a can but costs more.) If you want another drink, you pay full price and are bought another can or bottle. The only places I've been offered a fountain drink as the "norm" is American fast food places like McDonalds or Burger King. I'm not sure if refills are free though. Aussie fast food restaurants offer you a can with "small" value meals and a 16oz bottle with "regular" and a 20oz with "large" meals.



The aussies on Facebook argued that "you can't beat a coke from a glass bottle" and that's fair enough. But, I'd say you can't beat the value of a fountain drink with unlimited refills and it tastes pretty darn good too. Someone else said "why would you want more than one in one sitting? they're so unhealthy. water all the way!" (as if they're the picture of perfect health. HA!) and to that I say they're just trying to stir people up. In the same way you go to a bar and expect to be able to get ice cold beer on tap, I expect the same thing when it comes to soft drinks. Sure the beer tastes great from a bottle, but it's cheaper on tap and doesn't taste half bad to boot. ;) At the local pub, coke costs even MORE on tap than it does in a can. That's just re-damn-diculous. I don't care who you are. It costs them like 25 cents (or less) for as much post-mix as one drink uses and they want more than $2.50 for it (about 12oz) . ::barf::

QT Self-Serve Soft Drink and Slushee stations



QT Self-Serve Coffee, Frappe and Latte station:




What makes QT unique is that you can add flavored carbonated syrups to your soft-drinks or creamed syrups to your coffee for no additional charge, so you can have a cherry-vanilla coke or a white-chocolate-macadamia coffee for the same price as unflavored.

I'm not going to be able to replace alllll that lovin' for a single over-priced coke in a glass bottle. Sorry!



Anyways...I must admit it's been within the past 10-15 years or so that American places have started doing the free-refills all the time thing. (Which goes without saying that Australia will join in sometime in the NEXT 15-20 years because that's just the way things have been running) I can remember when a refill at McDonalds was 25 cents and Chilli's charged per-beverage. It just goes to show how smart those shops with free refills are with marketing. I might have ordered water before since it was free, but if I have unlimited refills on a coke I might as well order one of those and make it count. Or QT's Cheap Drink Summer is AWESOME marketing because, where I might have gone to Walmart to buy gas before, I'm DEF going to QT now to get a drink and one for a friend because that deal is just too good to pass up. Where I might have bought no drinks from them all summer otherwise....I'd go in 4 times a week during their drink sale. It's sneaky because you're not really saving any money at all that way......but it's tasty either way. ;)