Christmas, Leaks and Lunch

Days #63-67:

Days #64 and 65 were spent without water. I noticed I'd have NEVER survived had I lived on the Prairie. We had a leak. Pops, Uncle Dennis and Aunt Brenda came up to fix it. After they left, it was still leaking. Turned into a huge deal and left us waterless. No toilet, no shower. I went to Wal Mart and bought 5 gallons of water and washed my hair in the sink. NOT my idea of fun. Day #66 was CHRISTMAS IN FEBRUARY.
Yeah, so we're a month behind. Whatever. It was fun. We had lunch this year instead of breakfast.

I noticed how awesomely considerate my Uncle Fuzzy is. He brought veggie burgers to the cookout so I'd have something to eat besides potato salad and baked beans. He's awesome.

Today, very much once again noticed that lunch with Chef is the BEST part about work for me. We had Umi. Vegetable Fried Rice = DELICIOUS. :0)

Ready for SPRING!

Day #62:

What did I notice today? It's good to have friends with connections. I was FREEZING today. I hate being cold. I had to run downstairs to housekeeping to talk to Vickie, the Director of Services, about ordering something. I told her we had subzero temperatures up top. She handed me a blanket out of the dryer. Ahhh.... warmth. It was a beautiful thing.

I also noticed that my Icelandic boss, master of the English language, CRACKS ME UP! Today he said proposterous. "He's like yeah, poposterous. I just said that. Big word." My reply? "How do you spell it?" He just laughed. "I have no idea. I don't even know if I said it right!" You had to be there to catch the funny. He's great. Definitely the best roommate in the hotel. :0)

3 Things...

Day #61:
Today I noticed 3 things.

First - Apparently there are a whole lot of "adults" in this world that their parents never told them "No". Case in point, if a rate is not available, IT IS NOT AVAILABLE. No matter how loud you scream, it won't be available. Also, I don't care if you sent me a donation request letter. Just because you WANT something, doesn't mean you'll get it. Sometimes the answer is no. Deal with it.
Second - Fake it until you make it is a true statement. Also, I'll probably never again believe somebody when I ask them what is good on the menu. Today, I got a call to go and explain the 360 menu to a couple of ladies at the front desk. I've never eaten a meal in 360. It's fine dining. Besides that, about 80% of the menu is meat. I'M VEGETARIAN. However, I told Chef to give me a few highlights and I went out and rattled off all the good stuff. It was hilarious. Scallops, Duck Breast, Cobia... and then came my FAVORITE question,
Lady: "So, which would you prefer, the Kobe Filet or the Kobeye Ribeye?
Me: "Definitely the filet. It really depends on the cut of meat you prefer, but I'd definitely go with the filet."
My thought, filet sounds like it wouldn't have bones. Ribeye sounded like it would have bones. Gnawing on a bone makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little. Bring it all around and that's why I picked the filet. Chef cracked up when I told him, and only replied, "You are SUCH a vegetarian." Best.Conversation.Ever.
Third - Little kid basketball is MUCH better than little kid baseball. AND if I ever do have kids, I promise to only and always be the parent in the stand that cheers no matter what the score and I will tell them they were AWESOME when the game is finished. Carson lights up when we go see him play because I always cheer loudest for him. I think it's a good thing. Kids should enjoy sports instead of feeling like the world will end tomorrow if they don't win a rec league ballgame.

That was my Tuesday. :0)

James Beard Cookoff!

Day #60:

Today we had some fun up in 360! Josh and the 360 crew have been invited to come cook in the JAmes Beard house. This is like going to the Oscars for Foodies. It's the big time. Chef, Josh and Kristy are going. They had to pick 2 more people to go with them, thus the cookoff. It was awesome. Such fun times. The guy painting the pork is Kyle. He's one of the winners. The other two are my guys, Josh and Chef, tallying up points. More to come on this later. :0)

True Church Conference

Days #57-59:

This time, I'm behind with good reason. I've been busy. This week we had our annual True Church Conference / Missions Conference. It was great. David Miller, Bruce Ware, Steve Lawson and Bro. Jeff preached. Here's a pic of our choir singing ithis morning. Awesome. I missed my kids, but we had a great service. :0)

Happy to the Birthday, Sister!!

Day #56

Happy Birthday to YOU, Happy Birthday to YOU, Happy Birthday to my Sister, Happy Birthday to Yoooooooouuuuuuu!!!!

Today, my sister turned 28. We started out with breakfast and my idea of decorating. Calls from the Tittles. Then work. Then our favorite Mexican dish. Then church. Then a visit with the Grandparents and the famous Rice Krispies. (Let's stop here and say that it is HILARIOUS that yet another little kid has kicked me out of playing Wii with them. Rylee was bored with me when I was so bad at bowling. However, Sister got a spare straight off so she took my spot.) Then we came home, had a slice of pizza are now relaxing and watching Family Ties. It was a good day indeed. :0)

Let the Festivities Begin...

Day #55:

MY sister turns the big 28 tomorrow... what's that mean? LET THE FESTIVITIES BEGIN!!! I got the bright idea to cook dinner. Chef and I went over this COUNTLESS times. Seriously. He drew it out. We practiced with office supplies. We had a lot invested in this evening. I made chicken, stuffed with pepper jack cheese and wrapped in bacon. For side dishes, we had asparagus, broccoli (because I knew Pops wouldn't eat asparagus), mac and cheese with bread crumbs on top, mashed potatoes and rolls. I think the dinner turned out somewhat good. Gran seemed to like it and Cynthia loved it. Gran was the big surprise. We had no idea she was coming. What a nice surprise. She ended up leaving with my Pilgrim People that I'd bought on clearance at Hobby Lobby last year. She LOVED them, so I told her I had no need for them and she could put them on either side of her fireplace and they'd look pretty. She was pumped. She also took home my Hershey's kisses with almonds. She LOVED them just as well. All in all, it was a good night! :0)

The Kids and The Girls...

Day #52 and #54:

As I said last night, the kids were in rare form Sunday. Here are pics of my little angels. We were studying Zaccheus. The conversation went something like this.

Me: Zaccheus was a wee little man. You know what that means?

Maggie: He was like, a munchkin?

Me: YEah. Pretty much. Anyway, he was so short that he couldn't see over the crowd. You know, like when you are sitting in church and somebody tall sits in front of you and you can't see Bro. Jeff or Bro. Tom.

Mallie: Miss Kim, that's why we have BIG SCREENS.

Ever tried to convince a 7 yr old that there weren't big screens back in the day? You won't win. So we continued.

Me: How cool is it that out of all those people that were there, Jesus went home with Zaccheus? I mean, I bet the Mayor was there and some doctors and the Sheriff...

Aubrey: Miss Kim, do you REALLY think there was a Sheriff back then? Come on..

Me: Well, yeah... I guess...

Sunday I once again noticed that those kids are the BEST part of my week.

Today (Day #54) I noticed that it is awesome beyond awesome to talk to my best old pals. I got to chat with both Mal and Jenn tonight. It was great. They always crack me up. I had to tell Jenn that I'd heard a Spice Girls song and I thought of her. We won a dance off at one of her famous slumber parties dancing to that song. Good memories. :0)

Stupid Cupid

Day #53:

I'm skipping Day #52 until I find my camera so I can post a pic of the kids and tell you the story of them and Zaccheus yesterday. It was hysterical. Today, was the third year in a row my Valentine's date has been the 360 Grille. 1 word: Exhausted. 14 hours of work and all I ate was Cornflakes and some bar mix?! Yep... I need food and a bed. That's about it.

Today I noticed that Halloween isn't the Devil's holiday. Valentine's Day is. :0)

V-Day...

Days #50 & 51:

I'm getting too old for this, peeps. Work that is. I'm ready to retire. My back and legs are SCREAMING. We were SO incredibly busy tonight. Tis Valentine's Weekend and the restaurants were packed!! I was upstairs with my pals, Chef, Kristy, and Josh tonight. We did 148 covers. That is the most we have ever done up there. $10,000 in revenue just tonight. Swampers did 120ish covers and $5,000 worth of revenue. Holy cow. I'm tired. And guess what? We get to do it all over again on Monday. Bed Now? Absolutely. :0)

Grandma, Pappy, and Grandma Tidwell

Days #47-49:

Today I noticed I am very behind in blogging. :0) I also noticed that no matter how crazy, weird, dramatic, insane, etc. etc. my family is, I love them. Pappy died this morning... Pappy being my cousins' great-grandfather. Pappy was awesome. I only ever knew him as a dear, sweet old man. Apparently back in the day, he was a bit of a rounder ~ as evident by the time he got arrested (at 80-s0mething years old) for getting in a fight in his front yard. How funny is that?! He just celebrated his 96th birthday, but he has finally gone home to be with Grandma Tidwell who died maybe a year ago? I don't have any pics of them, but they were a sweet, sweet couple. I did, however, find this pic and it made me think. Up until just recently my cousin Brian has had 3 grandparents, and 3 great-grandparents. For most of my life I've only ever had.... Grandma. But Grandma is enough for me. She is all I've needed. The absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt best grandmother in the world. This is us, sitting on her front porch one day, talking about the other crazy members of the family I'm sure. Gotta love her! :0)

My Day with Josh Quick!

Day #46:

I've got one of the coolest friends in town. Josh Quick, 4-Diamond Chef de Cuisine of 360 Grille, is one cool cat. I declared that I would never again cook honey sesame tofu ever. You are all aware of that. However, Josh, wasn't buying it. He's so sweet like that. Very calmly, he said he would teach me. Really... after 2 tries, I'm confident that was a lost cause. However, Josh was on a mission. So today, he brought in the tofu, called me up and we had some fun in 360. I told him to pretend he was Rachel Ray for the camera. He was going step-by-step-by-step while I wrote down every direction. And my dear friends, if you can't tell from the beautiful pic, it was DELICIOUS. That's why he's a 4-Diamond Chef. :0)

Gran and the Chippendales

Day #45:

I'm not sure I can fully relate to you how awesome Saturday was. I made it to Grandma's around 9ish-10ish. I was supposed to be back at Dad's around 11am to help Cynthia's daughter Mary move. However, that didn't excatly work out. Grandma and I had a show to watch. We watched the "Making of the Chippendales Calendar Shoot". Holy cow. It was hilarious. Grandma was kicked back at first and then when a cute guy would come on, she'd lean up on the edge of her seat. It was great. She'd say, "He's as necked as a picked bird" and "It wouldn't do for the preacher to show up". So funny. We had a blast. I told her I needed to go, but she thought we needed to eat. Who was I to argue? She made the famous vegetarian meal of BAked Beans, Scrambled Eggs, Biscuits, and Peaches. After that, she told me stories of the olden days. All I can say is I'm no where near as tough as my Grandma. She also had a fire. I love her house. She stokes that fire and it's 90 degrees. Perfect place for me. After Grandma's (yes, I missed every bit of the moving) I went home and found my cat. She's precious and will be 19 on July 4th. Best friend I ever had. THEN, I came back to Muscle Shoals just in time for Chloe's dance recital. This is when I realized that it will be okay with me if my kids never want to dance. I'm good with that. :0)

Parties and Fries

Days #43 and #44:

Playing catch-up again... but all for the good reason of I'VE BEEN BUSY! We'll start with Day #43, Thursday. The pic of Chef and the guys go with Thursday. We had our quarterly food and beverage meeting where ALL of food and beverage gets together. This is always the Party of Parties at the hotel and all other departments are totally jealous. We have food, prizes, music and a whole lot of fun. This year we played Minute-To-Win-It. We also had another of Chef's famous powerpoints. We thoroughly enjoy "Facebook Stalking" associates and taking their pics and posts and putting them up on the big screen. We've noticed it's AMAZING what people will allow themselves to show the world. I love the pic of the guys. These are the other head foodies in the hotel.
We have (left to right) Sledge, Jim Bob, Josh Quick and Ryan. Sledge is Supervisor of Swampers, Jim is Manager. I have affectionately nicknamed him JimBob and it has stuck. Josh Quick is Chef de Cuisine of 360 Grille and Ryan is Chef of the Conference Center.

Day #44 was fun as well. The sad pic of Audra (Assistant Controller) is extremely funny because we ended up with that after our resident artist, Mr. Bohannon left the hotel. He's a whole story for another day, but Katie Boggus will appreciate the fact that he called recently, is still alive, and wanted his brother to come collect his artwork. So the scary pic of Crystal Gale that has been hanging in accounting for 3 years is FINALLY going to leave the building. The cheese fries were my lunch. Jonathan Allman was in the house and when he's in the kitchen I get the greatest most wonderful cheese fries in the WORLD! 9 bazillion fat grams? Yes. Worth every pound? Absolutely! :0)

Mr. Matthew Cale Tittle turns 5!!

Days #41 & 42:

Holy cow. Today I noticed that exactly 5 years ago (at 12:15am yesterday morning) I was sitting up, in my bed, anxiously awaiting a phonecall from Grandmother to tell me that this handsome little fella had been born. He's the first Groundhog's Day baby in the Tittle fam. Matthew Cale Tittle is my cousin Todd's son. Cute as a button. Has a little sister that is beyond beautiful. Those kids put Brad and Angelina's kids to shame. And now he's 5. It's true... when you get old, time FLIES! :0)

Dill Pickle Chips!

Day #40:

Today I noticed that I haven't eaten Dill Pickle Chips in a LONG time. I used to have Dill Pickle Chips and Oreoes before every basketball game... don't think I've had them since. Quite a combo I know. But it's good stuff. Today, this was lunch. Sure do miss those basketball games. Brought back good memories though. :0)