the snow finally got me .......... damn it!

in the past 6 yrs here in utah, i've managed to drive pretty well in the snow. my record is now broken, ugh! friday we got hit with a bad storm. it was pretty much whiteout conditions. my dept was allowed to leave early bcuz of the storm. i left work and was getting on the freeway. my car started to slide around a corner and i hit a cement edge. crap! it snapped off part of the rim and screwed up the alignment. luckily no one else was involved and the damage was not that bad. it certainly could have been a lot worse! but, damn it! i was doing so well! LOL

xmas is not nearly here.....xmas is not nearly here..... (click ruby slippered heels together 3x)

I'M NOT READY YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

the removal of talon

life isn’t fair. no, this is not news to me. i’ve been well aware of this for quite some time now. sometimes, though, life is just more unfair than it should be.

last night, my friend had to surrender her adopted 6-month old son, talon. a large group of family, friends, and neighbors gathered to support my friend and her family at this difficult time. originally, the family was told the baby would be taken at 6 pm. i arrived at their house at about 5:40 pm. around five minutes later, someone came outside and announced that the baby wouldn’t be taken until 7 pm and that everyone could go either come back closer to then or go inside the house. many wondered, including me, if the delay was a ploy to have fewer people at the house. i decided to stay and went inside to see my friend. she was standing inside the door with talon sleeping in her arms. i hugged her and couldn’t hold back my tears. i whispered how sorry i was, knowing that my words would do little to ease her suffering. i stayed in the house for a while, amazed at all the love and support inside and outside of the house. i really had no idea what to do and felt somewhat helpless, but i heard someone say that it was enough to just be there. two local news crews were there interviewing my friend and others in the house. a police car arrived at 7:15 pm with a car seat then left. the supporters outside, who were talking amongst each other, became quiet. after a while (not sure what time it was), more police cars arrived escorting another car. the people outside were asked to clear the walkways. the supporters began to sing a hymn. my friend and her family brought out talon, placed him in the car, said their final goodbyes, and watched as their son was taken away. i didn’t see anyone there that wasn’t emotional at this point.

my friend has been in a legal battle practically since birth to keep talon. the birth mother, an admitted heroin addict, chose my friend’s family as the adoptive parents. after giving birth and signing over talon, she changed her mind and wanted him back. the birth mother is part native american and got the tribe involved to help get the baby back. the day that talon turned 6 months old, my friend was told that they would have to surrender him to the tribe. both of the birth parents have been deemed unfit due to their drug use, however, so talon will be placed in foster care. this just doesn’t make sense to me! how is it right to take talon from a loving, stable home and place him in foster care just because he is part native american? he doesn’t even have enough blood to be considered for admittance into the tribe, and yet they have fought tooth and nail to make sure that my friend’s family can’t have him. it’s just so wrong! i had the wonderful opportunity to meet talon on friday. i was able to hold him and feed him. he was such a joy to be around. even when he was hungry and tired, he was always happy. the love in the house was so apparent from the moment you walked in, even with all that they’ve been through. so, for me, it is hard to grasp how the tribe can take him from that loving home and place him with strangers.

you can read talon’s adoption story by clicking here. you can also click on the links to see the news stories for ksl channel 5 and kutv channel 2.

step sister - a new definition

it's taken nearly 20 yrs, but i finally met my other step sister this past weekend. holy cow - has she redeemed my view of step sisters. i have 2 others that have in some ways been very much like drizella and anastasia. and certainly way more often than i would like. i really enjoyed meeting the other one, though. she is 10 yrs younger than me and has a 2 yr old little girl. it was such a pleasure to spend time with them. and her little girl was so cute! i definitely look forward to getting together with her again in the future.

as for the other 2 i have, let's just say that absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder. (insert evil laugh here - hahahahahaha!)

thankful that thanksgiving is over.....

yea! thanksgiving is really over. whew! that's not the normal response you might hear, but it is normal for me. lol i'm not a real fan of the holidays, so i'm usually counting the days until the new year just for them to be done and over. don't get me wrong, i'm not a "bah! humbug!" kind of gal regarding the holidays. i can't even explain why i feel this way in general. i seem to recall a lot of family holidays feeling forced rather than cheerful. that could have something to do with it. i can say that in the last decade, my annoyance with certain aspects of the holidays have not helped. for example, whose f'n brainstorm was it to start putting out xmas items in the stores before halloween? are ya kiddin' me? hum de dum, i'm looking for a costume for my child, but 1st let me stock up on xmas wrapping paper and lights for my house. lol and what's with one of the radio stations out here playing xmas music 24/7 from the day after halloween? gets so bad that by the time xmas does roll around, you might hear me scream at the 1st notes of a xmas song. there might be a reason that many people put a little kick in their egg nog. ;)

a little over the top? perhaps. lol but i don't think i'm completely alone in my thinking. i am thinking that xmas time would be a good time to go someplace warm & forget about all this. especially if it's a white xmas which would make me also be thankful for my 4-wheel drive. lol!

a job i actually like? is that even possible?

i'm 2 months into my new position as a payroll clerk and i really like it. the job is very much what i was told it would be - lots of excel work (pretty much 95%). i get to use my excel skills and have also been able to expand my skill set in a short time. it gets even better, b cuz i was made a permanent employee last month. woo hoo! i have benefits now. :)

the never-ending struggle with the child and the toothbrush

what exactly do i have to do to get my child to brush her flippin teeth right every time????? no matter what we say or do, it never seems to get through to her. i'm so tired of yelling at her and threatening her to get it done right the 1st time. if we're lucky, she will do it right for a little while, but then falls back into the same bad habit. i can just imagine if her teeth are a problem now, at age 9, that we're gonna have serious hygene issues with her once she hits puberty. ugh! now is one of the times when i ask, "and what exactly was the reason we decided to have children?"

twilight the movie

i went to see twilight last night with a friend as part of a pretty big group. the books are a big thing out here and so, of course, the movie was quite a big thing as well. it's not common to see police at movies out here, so when you do have it happen, you know it's a big deal. we got to the theater early, but since the movie was being shown on half the screens at a 20-plex (no joke), the line to get in wasn't too long. my friend saw the movie fri nite, but was reserving her opinion until she saw it again. she just wasn't sure what she thought of it yet. now, i promise there will be no spoilers here. :) i did enjoy the movie and that kind of surprised me. i was wary of seeing it after reading all four books. i was worried that i would feel similarly to how i felt after watching the later harry potter movies (they have now become very difficult to watch after reading the books). however, twilight was a really good movie. i felt that they stayed much more on track with the book than i expected. i really did like it and was glad i went. my friend said that she really liked it after seeing it the 2nd time. :) the soundtrack is really good too - i bought it today. i think it's safe to say that you will like the movie regardless of whether you have read the book or not. enjoy!

*update* whose freakin bright idea was this?

i'm talking about the scentsy warmer. nice idea...........in theory. however, the application of the device definitely needs some work. the warmer and plug are one piece, ideally to work in a small area without a lot of counter space (e.g. kitchen, bathroom, etc.). you can transport the unit from room to room when the wax is hard in the well. no problem there. the well is just big enough to hold one square of scentsy wax, which is perfect, IF the scent lasted forever! but, as expected, the scent eventually fades. now we have a problem. i've been using mine almost every day in my bathroom and so now the scent has pretty much faded and needs to changed. in order to change the wax, you have to melt it 1st. do ya see where i'm goin with this yet? once the wax has melted, you pour it back into the original container, let it harden again, and then either use it later (if it's still scented) or toss it. ok, so.............ladies...............how do we generally have to get a plug out of an outlet? ok, so my question is slightly sterotypical, but it's not supposed to be. we just generally change things out of our bathroom electrical outlets more often b cuz of the things we have to do to our hair and there NEVER seem to be enough empty plugs, right? anyway, so you have to wiggle this unit to get it out................with the melted wax still in the well. needless to say, the wax is freakin EVERYWHERE. on the mirror............on the counter................in the sink..................... brilliant, just bloody brilliant! (distant nightmares of the "livin la vida loca" music video came to mind.....) and of course, it cools/hardens quickly, so trying to get it off is going to be an absolute blast. so, while the concept is really cool, i might be looking for the next generation warmer to see if scentsy comes up with a slightly better design to get the wax out of the well, without getting it all over everywhere i don't want it to be.

**update** i should clarify that i'm referring to the new plug-in warmer. the regular warmer works just great! :)