The Sewing Mom

We started our weekend by getting up at an early 5:45, loading up the van and heading off to a college showcase tournament. The good news? It was a local tournament so we didn’t have to get up until 5:45!

My daughter was able to play in the 1st two scheduled games yesterday and played very well. Offensively she had 4 at bats, a walk, a single, a double and a line out to short. Defensively she played 3 different positions, center, left and 2nd base. Not much activity in the outfield, but at 2nd she had several assists a put out at 2nd and several more at 1st. Excellent day! She even received a wonderful compliment for her batting skills by the coach from Hillsboro College.

She had to miss the 3rd game yesterday in order to get back home, cleaned up and ready to head to Cowboy Stadium with the marching band. The football team is in the playoffs and the first round game was last night at 8 (it actually kicked off at 9:15). My husband & I opted to stay home for this one and we listened to the broadcast on the internet. The game ended at midnight and then my husband left at 1:30am to go pick her up from school when they got back from the game.

Today we thankfully get a much later start, 2 softball games this afternoon and we don’t have to be at the fields until 12:30. I’m attempting to get some laundry done and did some minimal cleaning in the kitchen.

Amazingly, it’s supposed to be 81 degrees today, no need for coats at the ball fields!

This post brought to you by Schar. All opinions are 100% mine.

According to Wikipedia, gluten “is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grain species, including barley and rye. It gives elasticity to dough, helping it to rise and to keep its shape, and often giving the final product a chewy texture.”  Unfortunately, many people are allergic to gluten and must try to maintain a gluten free diet.  I can only imagine how difficult that would be.  Think about it, how many foods do you eat every single day contain flour?  Everything from toast at breakfast, to chips at lunch and even pasta at dinner.

Schar has recently re-release their gluten-free heat & serve items, including sub-sandwich rolls, ciabatta rolls and baguettes.  The great thing about Schar, a leader in gluten-free foods, is that they have created the  Schar Club, a free club that provides everything from gluten-free recipes to the latest in gluten-free news. Joining the club also gives members access to giveaways and special member only promotions.  In fact, for a limited time,  members can get a Schar free sample by being one of the first 2,000 to request one.

After joining the Schar Club, on the left hand side you will see a column titled “toolbox” under that column, you will find the word “Giveaways”, click that and then you will be taken to the page to order your free Ciabatta sample!

I’m not required to eat gluten-free products, but I think these breads and rolls sound delicious and can’t wait to give the sub rolls a try.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Our work hours were recently reduced, so my paychecks have been smaller. This is definitely not the time of year for a smaller paycheck! So, I’ve been picking up hours in the afternoons from other employees just to make up the difference. Unfortunately, the afternoons is when I am used to getting things done around the house. So, now not only am I making less money, but my house looks like crap, my blogging is way behind and I still haven’t sewn a stitch in months! This is pathetic!

Calgon take me away!

Today, work was a little more interesting than normal. This morning the customer service phones were pretty slow so we were told to sign off the phones and complete our annual security training. I know, I know, this doesn’t sound too exciting, but it gave me 45 minutes of paid time without having to answer the phone! That’s a good time!

My job description covers everything from making hotel reservations to dealing with member loyalty accounts. Every time I speak with a customer, they are providing me with some type of information whether it’s just their name, or something more confidential like the credit card they are using for the reservation. Today’s security review was really about using common sense when it comes to handling customer data and keeping their data secure. This is so super important when ever we deal with credit cards and I have to hope that other companies are as vigilant about keeping this information secure. I know that sometimes customers will get annoyed with me because they give me their credit card information, I complete one reservation, they then want to make another reservation and I have to ask for the same information again. The reason is that we’re not allowed to write any of those numbers down and once we type it into the computer, it becomes encoded. So, for the safety of our member’s credit cards, it’s the company’s way of keeping their data secure.

If you ever provide a credit card number over the phone, you should hear keys typing so you know the number is being entered into the computer, not being written down! If you’re ever in doubt, ask! And don’t forget you can always be proactive and get a free credit score that will show you if there been any issues with any of your credit cards. Of course, hopefully your credit card company would have contacted you with any suspicious activity, but I feel like we can’t be too careful when it comes to our financial data and personal security.

Obviously fraudulent activity isn’t the only thing that can affect your credit score but, as a customer service agent, I for one am determined to keep our customer data secure, just like I expect other companies to do for me.

Getting ready to head out to the big game. That’s right, tonight is the final regular season high school football game. The season has passed so quickly, hard to believe.

Our high school team is currently undefeated with a 9-0 record and a win tonight would give them a perfect season, how sweet that would be! Next Saturday they will play in the first round of playoff games in Texas and that will be done at Cowboy Stadium in Dallas.

Don’t even get me started on “Jerry World”, aka Cowboy Stadium. It’s beautiful, but the traffic and parking are an absolute nightmare. I’m even debating if my husband and I will bother going. We love watching the boys play and my daughter is in the marching band which will be performing, but the thought of all that traffic makes me cringe. Last year it took us almost 2 full hours to go about 3 city blocks in front of the stadium to get to the parking lot. Trust me when I tell you, it’s a chaotic mess.

But, back to tonight, the weather is beautiful and we’re ready for some football, GO EAGLES!