Joan Romph's Blog

Chelsea Update – ART 5/18/10

Joan Romph — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:51:52 +0000

Had a meeting with a counselor at CMM this morning and was told that Chelsea passed her screening last week. She WILL be a part of the Talented Visual Arts program at CMM next year. I’m so excited about this. She’s always been great at drawing/sketching/illustrating, but has never had any formal classes/lessons. This may help take her to the “next level” with her artistic talents!

Update – 4/27/10

Joan Romph — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:23:45 +0000

Chels won a spot as CMM 7th Gr Student Council PARLIAMENTARIAN!!!!! Yay – so proud of her! This will mark her 2nd year in a row on Stud Council at CMM. This past year, she was one of the Sgt-at-Arms.

I hope she takes all that she learns as a stud council rep and applies it to being a great leader throughout her school years.

Really excited for her. Megan got a spot as Congressman, too (so they’ll get to do Stud Counc things togeth this year)!

Congratulations, Chels and Megan.

Romph Update – 4/26/10

Joan Romph — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:18:41 +0000

Chels & Meg went to Friday Night Fun at Acrosports. They love it.

Meg spent night – let ‘em sleep in on Sat.

When they got up, we went to see Stephen at hospital for 1st time. I think it was hard for the girls to see him so beat up, but, according to all friends and family, he looks 100% better than he did a week ago. Weather was beautiful and hospital let him spend some time outside, which was awesome.

Then we went to airport to pick up Jeffrey – finally home after 2 wks.

Then raced home to get girls ready to cantor at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church where they did the Sacrament of Confirmation today. Beautiful afternoon.

Then we went to Applebees for late lunch/dinner then girls babysat Miller. Busy day/night for them!

Jeffrey and I went to see THE DAN BAND at Horseshoe’s Last Saturday party – band was so funny. Had a good time.

Sunday was relaxing day – drove around in the convertible with JRR. Girls went on a 4-hr church field trip to Walter Jacobs park where they almost got lost on some nature trails (uh oh). Now Chels loves this park and wants me to take her every other week. Really?! Couldn’t commit to that, but she recently bought a few cactus plants and seeds and is growing her own flowers. Every day she’s moving the plant to give it light, then back to the shade, then watering it, etc. She was never hugely into being a plant/flower person until now, so I guess the nature trail thing just ties into her latest love of plants.

Went to our neighborhood crawfish boil – Lingay went too (glad) before she headed back to the hospital.

Overall, a nice weekend.

CMM student council elections are tomorrow (showing videotaped speeches) – pray Chels and Meg each win a spot!

Romph Update – 4/21/10

Joan Romph — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:09:48 +0000

Chels and I went for an hour-long walk yesterday and had a very good mother/daughter “talk.” If I didn’t know it before then, I know now she’s a very bright, mature, thoughtful 12-yr-old.

Hate that she’s growing up so fast – hate it. I treasure the moments where her “age” still jumps out and she’s still just a young kid.

She dressed like Buttercup today – she did the costume great. Megan’s Bubbles and Carson’s Blossom. I made each of them signs.

She also tapes her student council speech today!

Then after school they have their Sadies Dance – so cute.

JRR gone now for 9 days traveling for work – ugh. Will be back on Sat.! Scary thing is I’ve gotten used to him being gone.

Signing off…

Romph Update – 4/20/10

Joan Romph — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:21:05 +0000

I read how someone is using their blog as a diary of memories of their kids. I should’ve done this LONG ago for my Chelsea, but better late than never, right? I’ll try to put weekly notes in here for her to read when she gets older.

We continue to fight almost DAILY in the mornings over her straightening her hair OR wearing too much make-up. It gets so old, but she definitely does NOT listen and does her own thing. Gee, wonder where she gets it.

She is in 6th grade (1st year of middle school almost over) at Caddo Middle Magnet – still getting straight As. She’s in Student Council this year – Sgt at Arms. Currently campaigning to be 7th grade Parliamentarian. Her poster last year was just a CMM school spirit type poster. This year, it’s “New Moon” – very cool. She also recently tried out and made the 7th grade cheer squad (she’s currently a 6th grade cheerleader). She’s never had tumbling up until this year, but she’s loud and knows how to smile!

Megan’s brother Steven was in terrible car accident on Sat morning, so we didn’t go to Memphis to see mom. Instead, I felt compelled to keep the girls busy all day. IHOP then Boardwalk, saw “Clash of the Titans,” walked around, shopped all day, then they went to parade and dinner and ANOTHER movie with Kristie and Carson. Last night, took the girls to Holiday in Dixie – was chilly but EMPTY so they got to ride everything and never had to wait in line.

Steven is still in serious condition, but he’s in the best place he can be. Surgery on Sun for left leg. Surgery this Thu for left arm. Put cast on right arm – broken. Ribs broken. Cheek fractured. Huge gashes in the head. Torn liver. BUT ALIVE – thank God. Prayers needed for him AND his family. We’ve tried to keep Megan distant from it – and preoccupied.

This is dress-up week at Caddo. Yesterday girls dressed as Tacky Dress Day – so cute.

Today was Twins Day.

Tomorrow is Super Hero day (Powerpuff Girls).

Thursday is Decades Day (’80s).

Friday is casual day.

Jeffrey was in Idaho last week – his monthly visit. This week he’s in Montreal. Gone for 2 weeks in a row. Miss him, but he’s so damn dedicated to G&P that I know he’s always going to do what he has to do for work. My last visual of him is us at L’auberge.

Went to Rooftop last week – but it wasn’t the same without him there.

Last couple days were unusually chilly, but today it’s sunny and I believe we’ll be back up into the ’70s and ’80s (with rain forecasted for the weekend of course).

Rocky still struggles with left eye issues and we’re finishing drops for ear infection (again). I need to take him tomorrow for vet to do re-check…UGH.

Signing off for now…

Video Chat

Joan Romph — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:52:12 +0000

Okay, I’m probably waaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind the times, but I did my first video chatting today. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve done the web conferences before, but never done a video chat one-on-one. We used gmail to do it, but now people are telling me to use SKYPE. Does it really matter? I don’t need anything fancy and I don’t want to have to pay for the service. Anyway, I posted about it on Facebook and got quite a few responses! Seems most people like SKYPE. Guess it’s yet another technology “thing” I’ll have to research!

Have a great day, everyone.

I love TweetDeck!

Joan Romph — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:55:27 +0000

A friend of mine told me about TweetDeck and I’ve been hooked ever since.

You can add it to your desktop and it’s basically a control panel/console for all your social media accounts – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.

You can see all these accounts, updates, etc on ONE screen. Toggle from one to the other. And send a message to/from any of these outlets via ONE screen.

It’s interesting that I never hear anyone talk about it because it’s a great, great tool!

Weekend Update

Joan Romph — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:03:58 +0000

The Centaur parade was awesome as always. Got out there at the crack of dawn. There were already tons of cars, trucks, campers, RVs out there, but we had a huge beautiful spot right by our portapotty that no one had taken! Went back out at 2pm where we stayed until 7:30pm. Parade was great. Tons of beads, food, drinks, friends – good times.

Then Sunday speaks for itself (WHO DAT). Awesome game. And God blessed the Saints, the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana with the biggest WIN ever! Super Bowl XLIV champions – geaux Saints!!!!!!

Fun weekend!

Joan Romph — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:29:18 +0000

I’m excited about this weekend.

Low-key Friday with friends and getting ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the annual Krewe of Centaur parade – we go at the crack of dawn to secure our spot. Then we return in the afternoon with food, blankets, drinks, etc. Usually lot of friends come and we all hang out all day. Great time. We may not be in New Orleans, but our think our Mardi Gras parades are good!

Then of course Sunday is SUPER BOWL and I can’t wait to see the Saints win. What an incredible journey they’ve had this season. I know they’re going to win. I know it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, too!

Customer service – dead and gone?

Joan Romph — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:42:54 +0000

My friends make fun of me b/c I’m the Queen of Complaint Letters. Whenever I experience anything negative from a service standpoint, they’ll say “uh oh, I smell a complaint letter!” Damn right. What happened to the days of treating your neighbor as you would yourself? Just being a little kind and courteous and respectful to the customer? Is that so hard? I guess it is.

The thing is my letters must be pretty damn effective b/c I almost ALWAYS get a response. Do I write these letters for the free meal vouchers? No. I write them so these companies can work on getting better.

How many times have YOU had a bad service experience but never told the company what happened?

This past week I spoke with the store manager for a Walmart near my house. He was responding to an email I had sent corporate (I also sent a letter to the CEO Mike Duke). He and I discussed in detail my issues with his store. He, in turn, gave me lots of “reasons” for the things I was frustrated with (shortage of cashiers during their busiest times, empty shelves – inventory issues, lack of friendliness of all cashiers).

Yesterday, I went to Chickfila. The one by my house has a drive-thru that usually moves pretty fast. I ordered a small chocolate shake, 3 cars in front of me, it took so long I turned my car engine off. Once I finally got up to the window, she gave me my shake, I placed it in my cupholder, paid her, left, went to pick up the shake, and the stupid bubble plastic cap wasn’t on right. Because the shake was liquidy – not thick, it went all over my pants, my hands, the cup, my seat. Wow. Really?! How pissed was I? Yes, I sent an email.

Don’t be shy, folks. It’s the ONLY way to help the places you buy from to get better – giving them honest feedback in a TIMELY fashion, right?