Silly Biscuit

Sean's friend Ethan came to play Saturday. That kid is the funniest little thing. He can't stand clothes and every time he comes over he gets naked and then Sean follows suit. It was cold outside. Really cold, like 20 degrees and the boys wanted to play outside. Alika went to great lengths to make sure they had heavy coats and were dressed appropriately.  I was sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper when my brother Art looks up and says "what the crap?" Ethan and Sean were standing on the deck trying to open the glass door and they were bare butt naked. They got the door open and said "we are cold, we need a blanket!" It was so darn funny. I bet they were cold. Alika went out in the yard and picked up clothes, pull ups, socks, shoes etc that had been strewn all around. I told the boys, (as I always do) that they have to at least put on a pull up or underwear which they did.

A little while later they accessorized with hats, guns and a holster. We only had one holster so Ethan had to stick his gun in his underwear. Ethan's mom Miranda gets so embarrassed and is always apologetic. Ethan is her oldest. I always laugh and tell her to quit worrying. If they are still running around naked as a teenagers then I will get upset.

Everyone knows our house is the "computer" house. We are big on computers. David and his friend Corbin downstairs in the game room. Not sure what they are doing but pretty sure it's not home work.

Sean learned to use a mouse and always wants to use my computer so Don decided it was time for him to have his own computer. We didn't want him somewhere we couldn't see what he was doing so we went to  Ikea and bought a little desk and Don set it up in a corner in our bedroom. Don hooked up my old lap top and now Sean thinks he is soooo big. He watches Caillou in English, Spanish, French and Russian. He can also play games on PBS and Sprout.

Random "what is wrong with this picture?" Hm, could it be the cat is on the table eating the lettuce.

Random thoughts from the week. Ryan called on Thursday and wanted to see Sean. He asked if I would meet him at his house. How is that "meeting?" I stressed until Sunday when he was supposed to call me but he never called. All that stess for nothing. I am supervising a visit with the girls and Jenny at 12:30 today.

Why so many cars?

When Sean goes potty in the toilet he gets a match box car. Obviously he's been doing good going in the potty. I once tried to scam him by re-gifting a car but he immediately called me on it! Now some of the cars are the same as ones he already has because I can't keep track, so when he gets a car that he thinks he already has he has to go through all his cars to find the match. Hence why we have them laid out by color. He has three of the same police car etc... It's totally OK for him to get a duplicate he just wants to make sure it's a duplicate and not mom trying to pull one over on him. That's a smart kid.

They've done everything right

Jenny called me today to tell me that she and Ryan "have done everything right" to get the girls back and the only thing standing between them and custody is what I say if I get subpoenaed. She was trying to convince me that the last time I saw her and Ryan in a car together was in October. Strange but according to my notes it was November 23. And I got phone calls from Jenny at Ryan's house on November 23 and 28th. So if they lose the girls it will not be for something they did but rather for something I say! Don't you just love that? Do they really believe their lies or do they just think they can make me feel sorry for them and I will lie on the stand for them. Either way if asked I will tell the truth and nothing but the truth so help me God! I however will not mention that I keep my notes in my blog because then they could subpoena my whole blog and there's a reason I have my blog posted private!

The never ending saga

I keep thinking things are coming to a close and the girls and Sean can be adopted and a chapter in their lives (and ours) put behind us. I just want to be able to raise Sean without the drama of his biological family in our lives.


Yesterday Jenny had a DCFS hearing. She called me in the morning and I told her I was not going to come because I didn’t want to be questioned. She said that her attorney told her that the DCFS report was all bad and that they were petitioning to stop reunification efforts. She said that everything Clarice said was a lie. I told her to call me later in the evening to let me know what happened. She said there will be another hearing in March and if DCFS doesn’t prove all their allegations they will immediately get the girls back. Needless to say when she got to court they picked up on her warrant and they hauled her off in handcuffs as soon as the hearing was over. I thought perhaps the fat lady was warming up and would soon start singing but alas, I was shocked this morning to discover she was already out of jail. How could that be?

She called me this morning and told me she was released last night by pre-trial. That made no sense to me because I don’t think pre-trial works that way. I’ve watched pre-trial at Jenny’s hearings. (I have learned SOOO MUCH about the court system and jail since I’ve met Jenny.) I asked her, “You didn’t have to post bail?” and she said “no.” I actually asked her twice. Both times she said no. I went to the Utah Court xchange and pulled up today’s update and low and behold $1000 non monetary surety bond was posted by Dewey’s Bails Bonds. Hmm, I think she fibbed to me. Shocking I know. This leaves the question of who bailed her out? I would be amazed if Ryan could come up with $1000 in a couple of hours. Is his car worth  $1000?  Did Jenny get her paycheck and Ryan came up with the rest? Who on earth does she know with anything worth $1000?

The previous fraud investigator has retired. I talked to someone today who said they couldn't go after Ryan criminally because he didn't sign any of the papers. He let Jenny do it all and then just bought beer and cigarettes with her ill begotten gains. They will go after him financially, well that's a big fat joke. I’ve talked to Clarice, the social worker about five times today. She is at the end of her patience. She keeps calling because she’s trying to arrange visitation. She said there will be a hearing in March and if DCFS doesn’t get the reunification efforts terminated then they will continue with visitation and reunification efforts. She also said I would be getting subpoenaed again.

As the ghetto world turns and churns so does my stomach!

Weekend fun

We went bowling Saturday. David declined joining in the fun, afraid he would fall and hurt his clavicle AGAIN. We all thought the odds of that happening were probable as opposed to possible. He fell again last week (this time down the stairs at home) and Don ended up taking him to the ER. He saw his ortho doctor on Friday who said he is healing despite his best efforts to resist! Sean had fun. His goal was to bowl with as many different color balls as possible.

AJ and Steph bowled. They didn't score very high but we all remember the time David scored a 5 and can feel good that they beat that score.

Sean got hold of the camera and this is what he saw.

He took a picture of all the pretty colored bowling balls.

And a picture of me.

Sunday we went to the pond only to find it closed. How do you close a pond? Do they put a tarp over it. In reality I believe a more appropriate sign would say "road to pond closed." We parked and walked to the pond and found that there were people fishing, hiking and walking dogs. The pond was covered in ice so I guess in a sense it was closed.

The ducks and geese refused to cross the ice so we had to hike across a stream to feed them. We found the goose that I called wildlife about. The fishing line is gone from his leg. He looks much happier.

Sean was intrigued with the frozen pond. It was a new concept for him, seeing his normal pond turned into an ice skating rink. We were able to skate (with our tennis shoes)  all the way across the pond.

AJ and Steph in the middle of the pond.

Sean reminded me how his ice skating teacher told him to move his feet. That kid has a good memory!

The road we hiked to get to the pond.

FINALLY

The Attorney Generals office has filed 2nd degree felony fraud charges against Jenny. There is a warrant for her arrest. Apparently she doesn't know it yet. I so hope this means the girls and Sean will be free of them! They haven't filed charges against Ryan so I'm not sure if he is going to get away with it or they are just waiting to file his. She has a court hearing with DCFS on Monday. Hopefully she gets arrested before or during that hearing! She won't get arrested before then because the probation office isn't open on Fridays in Utah.

Just in case you are wondering how Felonies are classified. Capitol and 1st are murder etc followed by 2nd.

2nd Degree Felony


•burglary

•sexual crimes

•enticement of a minor with intent to commit a 1st degree felony

•white collar crimes

•aggravated crimes

•robbery

•Utah Felony DUI

•theft

1 to 15 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000.00.

Of course she can and probably will try to plea it.

How to store an airplane in your garage

Don went back to Florida between Christmas and New Years and loaded his airplane in the back of a Ryder truck and drove it across the country. He made it home with swollen ankles and a sore tush! Being the analytical that he is he arranged for very creative storage in the garage. Now he has to finish the rest of his flight hours so he can feel confident to fly it by himself. Every time I open the garage and see that airplane I have to smile. Who on earth keeps an airplane in their garage? Oh wait, we do!

Girls update

I supervised a visit with the girls yesterday. They are doing great. They are happy in the new foster home and the foster mom said they do want to adopt the girls. Jenny moved into a new apartment. Paid for by the YWCA. She didn't have to do anything to get it, they just gave it to her. They have given her furniture, towels, sheets and blankets.  We went over there with the girls. It's a dumpy apartment in a dumpy neighborhood. She told me she'd lost her key and had to borrow one from the landlord. I said "you lost your key after four days." She has a dog in her apartment peeing everywhere. I asked if she was allowed to have a dog and she said she told the landlord and she had to come up with a $200 deposit. Of course she hasn't and never will, less than one week and she's already breaking the rules. She told me she's already been to Work Force Services and they are going to pay for the girls to be in daycare when she gets them back and the YWCA will give her money too. She'd been to the Salvation Army and the food bank for food. She makes me crazy. I am so worried that she is going to get those girls back and it makes me sick. Lynette the foster mom said she has nightmares that the girls go back, really bad things happen to them and then they come back to her. I told her really bad things had already happened.

Ryan is still living with his dad. What a moron, but that is actually good news. Jenny asked me to go to court with her on Monday and I told her no it gives me anxiety. She then left a message on my phone begging me to go to court so I could tell the judge how well she was doing. Are you kidding me? I haven't responded but am going to tell her that I won't go to court unless I am subpoenaed and she wouldn't want me to anyway because anything positive I said (and I don't know what I could even say) would be countered by the negative. If I get on the stand and her attorney ask me what she's doing right DCFS is going to ask me what she's doing wrong and it isn't going to be good. Honestly I just can't deal with the stress of court, it near about put be over the edge last time. I am so sick of Jenny and Ryan there are no words. The fraud guy from the state didn't respond to my email last week which makes me nervous that it has been dropped. How it can be I cannot understand.

My friend Ginger

I have a friend named Ginger. We met eight years ago when I was interviewing for the women's services director position. It was a group interview and Ginger was in the group. How you can make a connection with someone in a group interview I do not know but Ginger and I did and have been close friends ever since. 

Part of the connection may be the warped sense of humor Ginger has. This is a woman who dressed up like a breast for Halloween. Kind of sick and wrong but very funny. (This poor baby is probably scarred for life and doesn't even know why!) Ginger does a lot of breast feeding education and she has a bit of an obsession with breast. During National breastfeeding month she makes breast cookies and cakes. I opened the door to my office one morning with a lady from corporate standing behind me only to find my wall plastered with xerox copies of breast. Ginger had gotten security (my nephew Peter) to open the door to my office over the weekend and Ginger got a couple of other nurses to drag the copy machine in my office, lay their naked chest on top of it and push the copy button. These were not even particularly young and perky breast but saggy middle aged ones. It would have been funny if corporate hadn't been on my heels. It was a little terrifying, I slammed the door and turned around saying I had forgotten something. The corporate lady didn't say anything! I think it was beyond her comprehension. That was only one of numerous jokes she played on me. I had to threaten Peter with his job if he opened my office for her again.

Ginger is an amazing person. She has seven kids and suffered from severe post partum depression. So severe that in reality it was probably post partum psychosis. It was so severe that she ended up in the state mental hospital and received electric shock therapy. She was able to get her life back together and is one of the leading resources in the state for post partum depression. She has presented lectures, run a support group and written on the subject. She has helped countless women.



 Ginger has been a bit of a miracle. She was diagnosed with stage three melanoma over ten years ago and has been in remission. During the summer she found some new tumors and has had two surgeries and been on some new experimental treatments. Ginger had a CT and PET scan last week but didn't get the results because she wanted to wait until after her daughters wedding on Saturday. Monday evening Ginger sent me a text saying that she had gotten the results and her melanoma was stage 4 and was all through her neck and in her mediastinum. When I called she was really hard to understand because she was crying and not making a lot of sense. In September I went to a doctors appointment with her and at that point asked her what she wanted my roll to be, the optimist, pessimist or realist and she said emphatically optimist! OK, that's what I will be.

I went over to her house after work and spent some time with her. She was making much more sense. She said she is going to start the IPI trial and asked her if I knew anything about it. I told her I did. It's really hard to be optimistic. That is the trial that Darci was on and it made her sick and didn't do anything to help her. Ginger has not asked how Darci is and I have not told her because I know she doesn't want to hear that she died and I don't want to tell her. I am really having a hard time feeling any optimism even though I'm being the optimistic friend. I told Ginger she is already an anomaly because she has been in remission for so long and therefore none of the statistics apply to her. Mean time she is feeling tightness in her throat and is short of breath. I really hate this disease, it is relentless.

I am not writing this as a eulogy but rather as a tribute to my friend who is once again fighting for her life.

Fun at last!

On our last day Sean felt well enough to leave the room for some fun. His first smile was for Mickey!

We met up with Woody. We rode the Woody round up ride twice with Catherine and her boys. Sean loved "It's a small world." David and Alika loved the house of terrors or something like that! The Finding Nemo, yellow submarine ride was cool too.

AJ and Steph met Woody too.

The only picture I have of the entire group. We really did spend time together it was just hard to get everyone together at the same time for a photo.

Three-D Woody round up game/ride. What Sean and I lacked in score we made up for in accuracy.

The stroller brigade.

Waiting for the Colors of Disney water show to begin.

Eating cotton candy!

That's a Disney Wrap. Sean and Tyson drinking apple juice on the plane.

What if?

What if you were stuck in a Disney Resort Hotel and they didn't have microwaves, ovens or coffee makers and you wanted to eat a hot pocket? First David called the front desk and asked if there was a microwave he could use. They said they had one but it was in a part of the hotel that was locked. Oh please, are you kidding me? The Disney Hotel doesn't have a usable microwave! 

This was really starting to annoy me. With the price of a Disney room you should at least be able to heat up a hot pocket. I got out the iron and the ironing board. David and Alika thought I was crazy but soon got into the fun. Yes, it worked! The best setting to cook a hot pocket as determined by Don is wool. You cook it on one side, flip it, cook it on the other, flip it until it stays hot. We left the heating sleeve underneath the hot pocket. I thought about calling the front desk and asking for a second iron so we could put the hot pocket between two irons, thus eliminating the need for flipping. If they asked why we needed a second iron I would tell them because you wouldn't give us a microwave.

David gave his hot, hot pocket two thumbs up! Don then heated one up and ate it. David said he was going to write a google review of how well the iron worked to heat up hot pockets thus causing Alika to laugh so hard that iced tea came out of her nose.

Dinner at Goofey's kitchen

We met up with Catherine and her clan at Goofey's kitchen. I didn't get a picture of all of us together. The food was pretty good. Needless to say Sean didn't eat.

Sean was underwhelmed with the entire experience.

We just wanted to be able to prove to Sean that he did have dinner (or at least a nap) with the Disney characters. We went back to the room and put him to bed!

Hot, hot, hot

Sean tried to be good natured even though he was miserable! I thought he was getting better in Catalina but I was wrong. He was up with a fever the last night in Catalina. We took a boat to Long Beach and he coughed so much he threw up the first real food he had eaten. When we got to Disney Land we went out for a little bit and he did the Toy Story ride which he liked but I could tell he was miserable so we went back to the hotel. I gave him more Tylenol and Advil but was starting to get worried. Don came back because the sole fell off his shoe. I decided we better take Sean to the doctor so I went to the help desk and asked for a list of urgent care clinics. They offered to send a nurse to our room. I declined but took the list. We got a taxi and went to an urgent care clinic in Anaheim. Our insurance is actually BCBS of Anaheim. How convenient is that?
The MA at the clinic took one look at Sean's eyes and said "what happened?" I told her that wasn't what we were her for. The doctor was British and kept calling me "love." I didn't care because within 20 minutes we had been seen had a prescription filled at the clinic by the pharmacist for zithromax and were done. He said Sean's lungs were clear diagnosed him with bronchitis (as usual for Sean) and we were on our way. There was a shoe outlet in the same strip mall so Don got new shoes before Sean and I were even done.

Sean again had a tough night. In the morning I took his temperature and it was 104.6. I gave him Tylenol and Advil and took it again 20 minutes later because he felt even hotter. The temporal scanner said "hi." "Hi" what the crap does that mean. I put on my glasses took it again and it still said "hi." Reminded me of taking Laila's blood sugar and the glucometer reading "hi." It should just say "your kid is about to have a seizure." I guess that's too many letters. I read the booklet for the thermometer later and it said it reads "hi" when it's over 107. Can that be true? That scared me. I got in the bathtub with him and when I checked it an hour later it was down to 103.6. By afternoon he actually started to feel a little better. He still wasn't eating but was drinking again.

Catalina Island

We met up with family at the airport for a trip to the Long Beach California airport. We parted ways at the airport. We went to Catalina for two days and Catherine's family went to Disney Land. We are meeting up with them at Disney on Monday. The boys were all  very excited. Catherine didn't tell her kids they were going to Disney until they got to the airport.

Catalina is one of my favorite vacation spots. Myrtle Beach and Catalina are probably a tie. Something about the golf carts and the close proximity of Catalina just wins me over every time we go there.

Our first night at dinner. Don and Alika tried Oysters Rockefeller. Poor Sean came home from school sick on Friday, was sick Friday night and we left Saturday morning. Last night he was up coughing and had a high fever. He didn't eat all day. Fortunately I came armed with ibuprofen, Tylenol and his prescription cough syrup. We could have used the nebulizer though. He didn't eat at all today but today he's eaten a little and been in pretty good humor in between fevers. The walls in this 100 year old million dollar cottage we are staying in are paper thin. It cracks me up that these totally dumpy little cottages are close to a million dollars. Location, location, location.

Note Sean's black eye. He got it on school on Wednesday. He had a tough week. They didn't call me when he got the shiner but they called me on Friday when he had a fever which freaked me out. I was thinking it must be really bad because I thought they should have called me when he fell into the corner of a table.

AJ and Steph came on a separate flight but met up with us in Catalina about two hours after we got there.

I love the picture of Avalon in the background.

We took a yellow submarine ride where you could shoot torpedoes of fish food out and watch the fish swarm. They did all this silliness on a flat screen like we were really in a submarine. Sean thought it was so awesome. It was a fun thing to do.

I like this picture. Alika looks like she is photo shopped in but it's real.

Every time we go to Catalina we do a picture in front of this fountain. I am going to have to find them all and put them in a book together.

AJ and Steph, romance on the beach. They were off on their own and we found them. (We weren't even looking.) Just goes to show how small the island is.

Climbing on the rocks.

Alika ventured into some scary waters to get some Seaweed for Sean.

David and Alika ordering Mexican. David popped his clavicle again messing around. He rolled on the ground for a bit but quickly recovered.

This is the art work on the wall at the restaurant. Dang who painted the joker lips on that woman?

And a game of poker before we go to bed so we can get up early and catch the boat to the mainland and a van ride to Disney.