Four year old mentality

I heard Miranda giving the dogs a treat, and they obediently waited their turn. She was exiting the kitchen (where the treats are kept) and comes in to where I was scrapbooking, the dogs follow waiting for more.

Miranda: Look, they are learning.
Me: The dogs? What are they learning?
Miranda: That I am their leader.

LOL

Can you believe this?

I have to find a way to get a photo off of my phone and onto here....

So, Kaila wrecks the van. She is driving around the Alpine Loop, up where the road narrows. She had to scoot over to allow room for a passing truck and trailer, and went off the side of the road. The shoulder there is only 3 inches, and it catches your tire and pulls you off the road. I get this photo from one of her coworkers that I know. The van is hanging over a cliff with a huge, steep dropoff. The van is being held up by a small tree.

I am not happy that she wrecked the van, but it could have happened to any of us. I am just glad that the tree stopped it, or else everyone would be coming over for a funeral. It is so scary. I thank Heavenly Father for the tree....

Letter from an 8 year old...

I returned home from work late.. or I should say early because it was 4:30 in the morning. I foun the following note from my 7 year old on 3 sticky notes stuck together on my dresser. She said,

"Dear Mom, I got emberstx (embarassed) at school and I want to move. Or be home schooled. I wold like to be home schooled."

That is the cutest thing ever. Poor baby!! Apparently, she freaked out when she saw a bee at school so all of the kids made fun of her. I am going to go kick their little asses..... they hurt her feelings....

Never buy a timeshare.....

I guess I should not say never buy a timeshare, but NEVER buy one from Miner's Club!! They misrepresented it when we bought it originally, by telling us we could use one week a year, any time we wanted so long as there was a room available. You could reserve them up to 2 years in advance. If you could not use it, you could rent it out... they tell us.

So, we buy it thinking that we would use it. We have a HUGE book full of other resorts we can use. The year after we buy it, they change it and we can only use it during weeks 14-18 and 38-48. So, tell me... who wants to ski the last week of April through the first week of May. Or the end of October through the first week of December? NOBODY!!

If you try to use the resorts in the HUGE book, you spend nearly an hour on the phone getting transferred around, you pay $39 to use your points from last year, and if you are letting someone use it, another $49 for a guest fee. When you actually check in, you pay a $55 housekeeping fee... for them to clean when you leave... and if you want CLEAN TOWELS every day, a mere $14 a day will get you some. Be sure to wash all of your dishes before you leave, or you will be charged extra.

What is my $610 annual fee use for? It is supposed to be a maintenance fee... like maybe housekeeping? What a crock and a scam. We cannot afford to use it, nor can we rent it because the times are so stupid. I hate this place, they are crooks. Miner's Club is a scam!! This is one of the biggest regrets of my entire life. Oh, and I did some research and had a company recommended by several realtors to sell it for us. They charged $600 to sell it, and it is "guaranteed" to sell. ANOTHER SCAM. It is guaranteed to sell, but it make take 10 years to sell it. I want my money back from them, too!!! GRRRRRR!!!!!!

Oh my gosh!!

Teenagers are killing me!!

days off!!

Wow, I think I just set some type of record. Other than when I was on vacation that I had to use or I would lose it... I just had 3 days off in a row!! I haven't done that in a long time. :) I read 2 books, cleaned the carpets, conditioned the leather couches, cooked some stuff to put together quickly later, did some scrapbooking, made it to all 3 hours of church, and helped kids with homework. Wow, is that what being a real mom feels like?

Gotta love it

So, I saw my youngest outside riding her tricycle. She came back in and I told her, "I saw you riding your trike outside. You are getting very good at riding it." She looks as me and asks, "was I speeding?" LOL......

Happy Anniversary!!

Today is our 9 year anniversary!! I am grateful that my husband has been able to put up with me, my hectic work schedule, and my children for the past nine years!! He has certainly secured his place in heaven with his sacrifice!! We are officially poor... but I got him a CD and some chocolates, and he got me some shoes I wanted. We did lunch on Saturday at Red Robin. Better than nothing!! We might do something tonight. I do still have some free movie tickets!!

the dilemma....

So, we have a 4 month old that dies from being shaken, thrown, and punched by the father. It is lying there on life support to preserve the organs while we make a decision. There is a baby lying right next to it that needs a heart to live, and the babys are a match. If we take the heart from the shaken baby, it messes up our case against the father due to the fact that we cannot perform a complete autopsy on the baby. If we don't give the other baby this heart, it will die.

Seemed like a no-brainer to me... but we had to argue about it all morning yesterday. The "give the baby the heart it needs and we will do what we can to prosecute the father" club finally won out. I think that there is enough physical evidence without a complete autopsy to put this guy away for a long time. But, this is a very lenient county so who knows....

media makes me mad

So, I arrested a guy on Friday. The media sees his booking sheet and the charges. This was a delayed rape case. They assume it just happened and it is all over the news with inaccurate facts reported in conjunction with it. That is so annoying. And, I requested he have a high bail as he is faces the same charges and worse in 2 other jurisdictions, and his bail is only $10,000. He can get $1,000 and get out. That is not high!! Work can be so frustrating.

maybe things are looking up?

So, the guy came to cut a carpet sample so they could replace it with the original carpeting. They cut a one foot square out of the room next to Chase's room. :) Soooo, they are now replacing the carpet in the hallway and that weird I-have-no-idea-what-kind-of-room-this-is room next to his for free!! That is where the damage was from the last flood and I was just going to have them replace the padding and clean the carpet. Sweet.

Also, the Yardley's received a fresh bout of beef from their family and didn't have enough room in their freezer for it all. We were the lucky recipients of a lot of beef!! (I had looked into buying half of one to save money, but it was nearly $700 for half!!!) So, maybe things are looking up.

Lastly.... and this kinda irritates me... we have these incentive programs at work for our health insurance. It requires that we do quarterly activities. If you participate in the competition ones... which are more work than the seminars, then you get put in a drawing at the end. I always sign up hubby and do all of his tracking for him so I get the bonus in my check. (They give us $20 for employees and $10 for spouses to participate as a way of reimbursement for the ultra-high deductible we have every year.) Anyway, there is always a drawing for prizes at the end of the competitions for various prizes ranging from water bottles to VISA giftcards. Well, hubby won a $100 gift card in May, and he won another one this time!! He graciously told me I could have it to buy myself an anniversary gift. :)

Fall is in the air....

The crispness in the morning is now evident. Though apple crisp is a good reason to love fall... since it signifies the end of summer... I hate it. I am not ready for summer to be over. I feel like I didn't get to enjoy it very much. :( And I am most certainly not ready for snow.

Enough is enough

So, since July 3 I have had 3 house floods. (A kitchen sink pipe broke and molded out Chase's room, an irrigation pipe burst, and hot water heater flooded right outside of Chase's room.) Of course, the first flood reported to my home insurance has a $1000 deductible.. and they threw away a lot of Chase's things... including his mattresses... then told me my insurance will not cover contents for mold. On top of that was the repair bill also not covered by insurance. The second was only the cost of the repair and no damage occurred except that it happened on the first day of my 2 1/2 week vacation.

Also on that first day, my cell phone broke. It would make no audible noises so I could not hear the guy calling to tell me that it had broken and was filling up the window wells. We got that taken care of. The lawnmower broke. We even tried to borrow one to mow yard, but neighbors were using theirs. Ryan's starter went out on his car. Then the hot water heater busted. I sucked up over 7 buckets of water and tried to dry it out with fans. I am not sure if what I did was sufficient, but I am trying to not have another claim. I will have to pay for the padding to be replaced myself.

I also painted Chase's room myself. They did not bother to tell me that I had to order new carpet for his room. So, we still have not put his room back together. Some of his room contents got wet during the other flood. It is annoying. Then, K*** took the van offroad where I told her to NEVER take the van.... and she put a 4 inch gash in one of the tires. First she could not find the spare, then found it but it was flat, so hubby had to go get the tire, take it down and replace it, and return up there. That little stunt will cause me 2 tires and an alignment. What else? I cannot handle any more. Hence, I worked alcohol shifts all weekend long to try to pay for the "misfortunes." UGH!!!!

WV times

So, I am here in WV for my 20 year class reunion. There isn't much to do here, except for visit relatives. :) I am OK with that, but the kids have been bored and I hear about it often. I have learned that:

1. M** and Ab*** do NOT like the bugs at the playground.
2. However, M** and Ab** DO LOVE the fireflys. ( I call them lightning bugs. :) They like to catch and release them.
3. When in humid climates, it feels like you have to breath through peanut butter.
4. Time has NOT been good to all of us. There are people I used to hang out with that I did not even recognize. Some did not change at all!! (Skinny bitches!!)
5. It is nice to see what people have been doing, what they turned out like, and such. But, with a class of almost 600 people, there are a lot that I don't even know. The big dinner is tonight, in about an hour... so I had better get dressed.

We are leaving tomorrow afternoon for Charleston, SC, and after a few days we are off to Florida.

retarded....

So, I have tried to add links to various other person's blogs that I like to look at, because it is hard to have to keep typing in their entire addresses. I added them to the template on dashboard, and they are not showing up. I thought that I might have had a typo, so I copied and pasted, then just changed the name part... it is STILL not working. So, to those of you whose links do not show up.... that is why I haven't looked that much at your blogs.... and SORRY!! I am still working on it,.... but it is rather frustrating....

News....

To update the previous post, I learned that the Mexican consulate buried her children for free. No wonder she had PLENTY of money left over..... Makes me even more angry....

I was out patrolling Utah Lake on wave runners. I had returned to our boat of back-up persons (the State Parks guys) and was waiting for my sgt and other coworker to return. Well, here comes my sgt. He didn't realize how fast he was going and before I knew it, his wave runner was on top of my, I was jolted off of mine and landed with my back against the State Parks boat. I had to go to the ER and get a cat scan (guess what? I DO have a brain in there.) I am bruised up, and cannot sleep well. I also can hardly put pants on. Might look funny when I am in court tomorrow, so I will suffer through it. I prefer to not get a lewdness charge. :)

And, lastly, I am moving to a detectives position in the Sex Crimes unit, effective Saturday the 26th. This will be a very challenging, yet rewarding, position for me. And, there goes my overtime, so finances will be worse off.... so the kids had better start learning to do without. Luckily, I have been acquiring suits from thrift stores, so I have a few to get started with. I will now wear suits to work, and will switch to an unmarked vehicle. Kinda excited to not have to wear a vest to work, everyday!!

Disgraceful....

There was recently an accident in a local canyon that was one of the worst I have seen. Two children were ejected from the vehicle and killed. Their mother was the at-fault driver, and had pulled out in front of another vehicle. The mother had no driver's license, no insurance on her vehicle, and is in our country illegally. She drove a beat up 4 door sedan. During the accident, the officers endured a constant slew of foul language and insults from her while they struggled to attend, medically, to her injured children and her nephew that was later transported by life flight. The poor man she pulled out in front of was due more sympathy. He felt so wretched, even though it wasn't his fault, because he had just hit a car. (I also should mention, the kids were ejected from the car because she neglected to have them in seat belts, let alone the one required a car seat, and there wasn't one.)

Last night, the mother was driving down the road.... again with no license and no insurance. She had 4 warrants for her arrest, all for driving with no license and no insurance. This time, she was driving a Lincoln Escalade with souped up rims, leather interior, and the works. How did she afford this $80,000 vehicle? With the fund set up by the public for her at the bank, so she could bury her children. I guess there was some left over..... I just wanted to make the gullible public aware..... it makes me angry. There are others who try to help themselves that deserve this more than this lady.... Oh, and she had just left the jail where she had bailed her sister's husband out of jail. I am sure she had enough to post bail for herself.... so don't worry.

Why me?

I had resolved to do better at posting stuff, and then.....

Our air conditioner broke and make the floor in front of the heater SOAKING wet. I did what I could, but the padding under the carpet had to removed and carpet is STILL wet.....

To make it worse, I went downstairs to retrieve some Fourth of July decorations. I noticed a weird smell, and determined Chase's bedroom as the cause. I told him to deep clean it. He comes upstairs with some blankets, soaking wet and full of mold. He tells me that his wall is bubbled, black, and molded.... as is the carpet under his bed.

HELLLLOOOO? Do you not know when there is a TON of mold in your room? His clothes that were on the floor are ruined, as are the matresses in his room. I had a hard time finding someone that would insure our house, due to the pool. I am sure that it will be gone after this one. The plumber (who I called first) said he could not open the wall as all of the mold spores would dissipate all over the house.

So, I thought that they (the restoration company my insurance made me call) had already called the "mold specialist"who is required by law to take mold samples and make a plan to remove it...due to the fact that it is over 10 square feet. I thought that they had already cut the wall away, as there is a big sign stating you could not enter Chase's room. Well, it is still there.

The plumber cut a small hole, initially, and told me that he thought that it was the kitchen sink that was leaking, and to not use it for a while. So, we have been without a kitchen sink since Thursday. It is starting to get old. There are 8 people that eat here!! The mold guy came today, and it will take 2-3 days for him to finish the assessment and write the removal plan. It will be another 2-5 days actually getting it taken out.

They said they had not called the mold guy prior to today because they weren't sure if my insurance would cover it, or not. Well, DUH!! Even if they don't cover it, it has to be removed. I can't just lock up my basement and never go down there again. I am irritated, can you tell? The best news? My house insurance deductible is $1,000, the AC repair was almost $700, and he has to return next week to fix the AC because my duct work is too small, causing it to freeze up because the blower is working harder than it has to!! $$$$$ Grrrr, I cannot ever seem to have smooth sailing....

Gotta love summer!!!

So, I love summer, but I don't necessarily like it in my uniform. That vest gets HOT!! I had to work at UVUtopia the other night, and they had these country singers there. YUCK!! So, I have no idea who they are, but it was Josh Gracon, Collin Raye, and Joe Nichols. Josh and Joe were easy on the eyes, Joe was tall, Josh was buff.... so I am backstage with them, helping someone who turned out to be Collin Raye's manager.

Josh Gracon started talking to me, and the girls at the perimeter were freaking out. Two girls were just standing there, and I asked him if he cold go over and take a photo with them since they were not being obnoxious. He told me to bring them back, if I wanted to. I went and got them, and took them backstage. He put his arms around them and I took pictures. They went back out. They were so grateful, it was my good deed for the day.

Afterwards, I got an invitation to his hotel room. I informed him that I was old and married. He tells me, "well, it's my drummer's room. He's older than me and I thought that you might want to come and hang out." I was a little offended, but then he explained that they all hang out in his room because it is a larger room. I know I am OLD, but geesh....... He also explained that they are all married, but people always come and hang out in their rooms.

He said they like to learn about the area, and was asking me questions about a recent fatal accident in Provo Canyon involving a female, BYU athelete. He told me he had researched the area a little, and always does before going to a new area. He was very nice, and went over and talked to a lot of the fans. Too bad it was country music. :)

run in with Ventura police.....

So, while in Santa Barbara, I could not resist going to the thrift stores in Ventura while the kids were at the beach on a COLD day. I dropped them off and headed over. I had to park my vehicle next to a local park because I drove around a while and all the spaces were full by the thrift stores. When I was returning with my treasures, this homeless guy tells me that I owe him $10.

He tells me it is because someone was going to urinate on my door handle, and he stopped him. Apparently, he charges a $10 fee for protecting my vehicle. I didn't have it, so I told him too bad but I didn't have $10. He then pulled out his THING and started peeing on my vehicle, getting closer and closer to my door handle.

He was getting close to it, so I had to do SOMETHING. I thought I would rather have pee on my foot than my hand when I had to get in the Xterra, so I kicked him in the groin from in front. (kicking him from under would have landed pee in my face.) He hit the ground, and I ran to the park bathroom and washed my foot and found an empty cup that I filled with water and rinsed off my Xterra.

The man was still in a fetal position when I rinsed off the vehicle and slowly backed out to avoid hitting him. I was pulled over by Ventura police:

Police: Ma'am, did you just kick a guy in the groin?
Me: Sure did.
Police: Would you like to explain yourself?

So I told him what happened. He laughed, and asked me to fill out a statement so he could take the guy to where they drop off the mentally ill. I had to tell him I was an officer because he asked to see my ID and I had a gun with me, in my purse. That was at the end of the conversation. He decided he didn't want to see it, and said he had an urge to call my boss and tell him I was a hard ass, but he said he was sure he already knew that. I am NOT a hard ass, I just will not allow someone to do those things to me, or anyone else for that matter, if I can help it. I kinda felt bad, the guy was homeless and obviously was mentally challenged. But I HATE germs, and I DON'T do bodily fluids!!