A little piece of home

This is a photo I took with my phone over the summer. My dad was outside trimming the flowers in front of our house and instead of helping him I picked up some of the trimmings and made this simple arrangement for my mom’s desk. I took this picture because I love the colors of the little flowers and the darkness of the leaves and that it’s sitting in my favorite spot of my house. My house isn’t parallel to our street like most houses are. If you’re standing in the road facing my house, it’s vertical and parallel to my driveway. The part of the house that is closest to the street is our living room. This is the only room of our original house that we kept when we rebuilt it 10 years ago. The living room has a big, almost floor to ceiling window and two thinner ones on either side of it. It lets a lot of light into the room and we put our Christmas tree here for everyone driving by to see. This picture means a lot to me because it reminds me of home. It fits well with our house because we live in a very small, close-knit town and the mason jar adds to the country theme and the flowers are very simple but pretty. I like photography, flowers, and designing things so I enjoyed making this even though it didn’t take a lot of time.

I Survived My First Day

Yesterday was my first day at my first real job. I’ve been babysitting since I was 13 and work on my family’s’ blueberry farm during the summer but I’ve never had a real serious job. I have been hired to work nights and weekends at the Granville Country Store in Granville, MA. It is about a 30 second drive from my house and I’ve gone there frequently since I could walk. When my dad was around my age, he also worked at the store. It was his job to deliver the store’s cellar aged cheese to places all over Massachusetts.

I arrived for 4:00 p.m. and met my new boss, Tracy, the owner of the store. She gave me a quick tour and tought me how to sign in. Then I met Jess, one of the girls who works up front, while Tracy works in the kitchen. Jess taught me just about everything I need to know in the 4 hours I trained with her. I learned how to run the cash register, sell and count lottery tickets, slice deli meat, set the gas pump, weight and package the cheese that the store is known for, answer the phone and take orders, restock the shelves, and coolers, and when to clean up so I can get out right at 8 p.m. when the store closes. Because Jess showed me how to do everything the first time and let me do them the rest of the night, I was feeling pretty confident by the end of our shift.

The most difficult thing was running the cash register. I’ve never used one before and the one the store has seems more complicated than most. There are special buttons to push for certain items. For example, when a customer buys a soda, you enter the price of the soda, hit the soda button, then enter 5 cents, followed by the deposit button. For pizza, and grinder orders, or other food purchased that was made at the store you hit the food button which automatically adds tax. Only the prepared food gets taxed. The store’s cheese even has its own button. Everything else gets punched in with the grocery button. All the cigarettes cost the same and you don’t even have to type in the price, just hit the cigarette labeled button. The button I forgot to press most often was the charge button. This button is used to put a receipt in the register from a purchase where the customer uses a credit or debit card. Some items in the store, especially the candy, does not have a price tag on it. I made a mental note to write myself a list of these items to keep with me by the register to make checking someone out much faster.

The biggest help of all was Jess’s cleaning list. Even though the store closes at 8 p.m., she advised me to start cleaning up at 5:30 p.m. between customers, to get out right at 8. This is the list:

5:30 start sweeping and mopping the front

6:45 take apart and clean the slicer

7:05 empty crock pots and start soaking them, empty the coffee pots, grind more coffee for the morning, empty and rinse the milk and cream, and refill the sugar

7:30 finish dishes, mop the back and balance the cash register and lottery drawers

The most important things I was told to remember was to be extra, extra careful when using and cleaning the slicer. The owner mentioned that 2 employees so far have cut themselves on the very sharp blade. I was also warned not to mix the milk with different dates! If customers see newer milk with a longer expiration date, they’ll buy that instead and the old milk will not be sold and go to waste. Lastly, to make sure I make change precisely and I don’t mix the lottery money with the regular cash register money. If your numbers don’t add up when you’re counting the tickets at the end of the night, you’ve got a problem!

Yesterday was a very busy day full of leaning. I go back Saturday to do it all over again with Jess to make sure I’ll be able to do it on my own. Hopefully I’ll get my schedule that day too and can get back to having a steady income for my online shopping addiction, Christmas presents, and gas money.

R.I.P. Ozzie

I live in Granville, MA and have lived there my whole life. It is a 10 minute drive from my house to Stanley Park. I’ve been to the park more times than I can remember. I attended a wedding at the park, had my senior pictures done in the flower gardens, I enjoy going to the 4th of July fireworks with my friends and brought the kids I babysit to the playground many times this summer.

Last Friday night, around 5 p.m., one of Stanley Park’s ducks was found dead. A witness reported that they saw a group of 3 teenage boys beating and stomping the duck in the covered bridge by the duck pond. The witness chased the kids away but by the time security arrived, they were gone. ‘Ozzie’ landed in Westfield 2 years ago and never left. He was a favorite among the kids and recognized for his unusual red beak and head. Westfield police are seeking tips to find the people who committed this brutal attack and they will be charged with animal cruelty.

This kind of behavior is heartless and unbelievable! Stanley park is the most beautiful and well kept park I’ve ever been to. The maintenance workers do an outstanding job of keeping the park clean and safe and a place Westfield is really proud of. I can’t believe it when I hear of people causing damage and above all killing the harmless animals. I hope the culprits are caught and have harsh consequences for their actions.

Brown Bag Bingo

On Friday, October 28th, I attended CAB’s Brown Bag Bingo in the Ely Campus Center at 11:00 p.m. I arrived right at 11 and when I opened the door I was shocked at what I saw. There wer people everywhere! All the tables were full, some people were sharing seats and others were sitting on the floor. Fortunately for me, my friends had gotten there a half hour early and had saved me a seat.

As Subway and Jazzman’s were closing down, things in the campus center were heating up. The room was buzzing with loud music, excited chatter, and laughing. Since it was the weekend of Halloween, some of the WSU students were dressed in their costumes. CAB’s members had already passed out the small, square bingo cards before I got there. To save money, the cards had a half cut in each number box so if that number was called all you have to do is fold back the tab. This made them reusable for multiple games and easy clean up.

Bingo started right at 11 with a regular game (5 numbers vertical, horizontal or diagonal, including the free space). As the numbers were being called you could feel the tension rising in the room as people started getting closer to a bingo. That game produced two people with bingos who had a dance off competition to decide the winner. The dancer who received more applause and noise from the audience got the prize.

The next game was like a reverse bingo and required everyone to stand up to begin. As the numbers were called, if it was on your card you had to sit down and the last person standing won. Instead of hoping for your number to be called, you didn’t want them to be. I didn’t last more than 3 numbers for these rounds.

The night continued on with lots of excitement and alternating rounds of regular bingo games and standing bingo games and ended with a cover-all game. The prizes weren’t actually in brown bags but recyclable grocery bags. Winners got anything from an assortment of candy, to a DVD and popcorn, or a complete laundry kit (dryer sheets, tide-to-go, detergent). Even though my friends and I didn’t win, we all had an exciting night. I recommend attending brown bag bingo if you haven’t already. I’m sure my friends and I will be there again. It’s quite an experience.

How To Wrap A Gift

Learning how to wrap a gift is easy and doesn’t take a lot of time. Gift wrapping is a valuable skill to know because we give presents for Christmas, birthdays, weddings and other occasions.

Materials you will need:

• present
• scissors
• tape
• wrapping paper – appropriate for the occasion
• tissue paper
• ribbon for a bow (optional)

Make sure you have a flat surface and enough space to spread out the wrapping paper.  Don’t forget to cross out or remove the price on the tag!

Set the bottom of the box vertically in front of you, put the tissue paper in with some hanging off each edge and set the present inside. Fold the extra tissue paper over the present and put the top on.

Spread out the wrapping paper and put the box on it top down. Pull the end of the wrapping paper over the box to the left edge.

Next, pull the rolled side of the wrapping paper to the middle of the box and cut. Turn the box horizontal and tape the bottom layer of the paper to the bottom of the box.

With the top layer, fold about 1/2 inch down to create a straight edge. Pull it tight against the box and tape on top of the bottom layer of paper.

Remember to keep the box upside-down so the seam stays on the bottom. Turn the box vertically. Pull the two sides of the paper in towards the middle and fold along the edges. Fold the top flap down and smooth along the edges.

Next fold the bottom flap in about an inch to create another straight line. Pull all of it up along the side of the box and tape.

Spin the box around and repeat on the other side. After you’ve finished that, flip it over and you’re done!

Add a bow or ribbons for extra decoration. Don’t forget a card or name tag to easily tell who’s present is who’s.

Best Years of Your Life

They say college is the best years of your life. You hear all kinds of stories about partying, having fun and meeting people you’ll be friends with for the rest of your life. Rarely will they tell you about staying up all night to study, getting tired of eating the dining commons food everyday and especially their move-in day experience.

After working so hard in high school, doing community service and filling out endless amounts of papers for scholarship and college applications it all paid off in the end. I chose Westfield State University because I grew up in a small town and liked the size of Westfield State’s campus. The buildings were clean and fairly new as well. The University offers all the sports I enjoy and both of the majors I’m considering. It’s also convenient being 10 minutes from home that my parents can bring me what I need and pick me up to relax at home on the weekends.

Move-in days are often chaotic but exciting. For the average 18-year-old, first-year student it’s their first taste of independence and living on their own. I had been enjoying my summer very much and in my opinion September 4th came way too soon. Most of my packing was done the night before and the morning of move-in day because of procrastination and not wanting to go. My move-in experience was chaotic but not exciting. My move-in day was filled with tears, anger and disappointment. My move-in day was not what I expected, it was much worse.

My first concern was having to live with two strangers in a room only meant for two people. It didn’t make me feel any better that they already knew each other and I was starting out as the third wheel. Being the closest to the college I was also the last to arrive. By the time my mom and I reached the dorm we had climbed four flights of stairs, were sweaty and very disappointed. I was left with a table top desk, a whole closet, the top bunk, no floor storage or way to even get to my bed. I unpacked my stuff as quickly as I could then had my first breakfast in the dining commons with my parents. My mom and dad discussed all the possibilities while I ate silently. They wondered if we could get our money back and have me commute instead. We explained my situation to the President of the college and asked if there was another room I could have. I found out that a lot of the upper-classmen were in my shoes on their move-in day and there really wasn’t anything I could do about it.

It seemed to only make sence to my parents and I that since we were paying the same amount of money for the room that I should be getting 1/3 of the room and at least be able to feel comfortable in it. I understand that the University wants to have as many people on campus but to over-book 600 people in forced triples and quads, is not always going to work out. It was very hard to watch my parents leave that day. Since then not much has gotten better. My RD had me fill out a room change request form and now I have to wait. Unless people in my building decide to live at home instead or fail out, I have to wait until at least next semester when some seniors graduate early and people get moved around.

Even though I have a very frustrating dorm situation, I’m still trying to make the best of my first year in college. Instead of studying in my noisy room I go to the library. Instead of having people over, I go to their room. I hang out with many of the people I met at orientation and am planning to join some clubs and intramurals.

Its funny what you find out after you get to college and the stories you were never told before you moved in. I was surprised at how many people had rough times living at college their first year as well. But they all say the same thing; it will get better and you’ll live through it. I’m trying not to let this ruin my first year of independence and I’m very excited for what the rest of this year and the following 3 years have to offer.