Happy New Year

I had started to write a long dry paragraph reminiscing about the last 19 months but I deleted it after I started digging through boxes in my closet for a quilt to work on tonight at work. Something happened that pretty much sums up my life, not that I'm complaining because I am very happy but........

So here I am digging through boxes I have 3 friends that are pregnant 2 due in the next 6 weeks. I am almost finished with one I am hoping I can complete it tonight but I cant find it. Anyway as I am digging thru boxes I find my address book and several other Christmas items I was looking for earlier. I was not able to send out my Christmas cards this year because I couldn't find the damn thing and now low and behold one week after Christmas there it is.

This is a perfect example of my life, It seems like I am always a day late and a dollar short. I know that this is not always true but lately more often then not. I now have to make sure I put these newly found items in a Christmas box this year and not my quilting box, maybe my problem is I am totally unorganized. Naw!!!!!!!

New Years resolution: I will try real hard to procrastinate less, loose more weight and be nicer to my husband. (I have been a little cranky the last several days................)

Too all my family, I love you all and miss the ones that are not near. My hope for you all is happiness and good health for the upcoming year.

Seaworld Adventure and Steven Tyler

I took my girls, my niece, Savannah and a friend Kasha to Seaworld yesterday. We meet my friend Julie and her mother, Olivia at the park. The trip was original Julie's idea. It was going to be her Christmas present to them. It snowballed a little and we had a small caravan before it was all over. The weather was nice. It was cold in the morning and that night but warmed up nicely in the afternoon. I never broke a sweat the entire day.

We had a few glitches on this trip. My cell phone did not want to work. Julie kept calling me and leaving messages but my phone never rang. I would try to call her back but would get a continuous busy signal. We ended up resorting to text messaging. Thank Goodness that worked. I could get addicted to text messaging and that's all I'm going to say about that......

My children are addicted to roller coasters. I don't know where they get it from I only rode the Kraken twice. I was a little upset the first time I rode the Kraken. We were in line for the back row of seats on the ride. We the next car pulled up Erin starts pointing at a man already seated on the back row. She recognized him but did not know his name. I was already looking at him trying to figure out where I knew him from at first I was like Mick Jager? No! Steven Tyler Aerosmith!!!!!!! All four of us standing there looking but trying not to look. I was pissed at first I left my camera in my bag in the locker. Kasha offered me hers but after I thought about it I just did not have the heart to. The man was there with his children trying to act normal, besides by the time I got the camera on and focused he would have been gone. It was so cool........ Erin and Savannah were so excited. Beth was in line for the front seat and missed him. She was not happy.

We all had a good time even with all the crowds. We saw the Shamu Show, petted the Sting Rays, watched the Dolphins play, watched the Seal and Otter show, we experienced the Arctic Adventure, we watched the Penguins, Sharks, Polar Bear, Walrus, and Whale. The children rode the Kraken 4-5 times I lost count. They love that ride. It was the first thing they did that morning and the last thing they did that night.

We left around 8pm and ate a late dinner at Red Lobster. Everyone slept on the trip home. I wanted too but somebody had to drive. We were home by midnight.

Picture Trail

I added a new web site to Blog. I am in the process of saving my family photos to picture trail. It is a work in progress like so many other things I have going on.

Enjoy.

Blaine and his Cars

 
 

Children Playing Candyland

 
 


These are my children Warren, Erin and Beth playing Candyland at their Aunt Jennifer's apartment in Boca Raton. They tried to get Blaine to play but he was not interested.

The Day Before Christmas

Merry Christmas! I hope you and all yours will have a great holiday. I am not sending out Christmas cards this year as I have lost my address book and just dont have enought energy to look for it. (Or dig through boxes until I find it.) So here it is Merry Christmas HO! HO! Ho!

We are finally all wrapped and ready to go. I had to make one last trip to Walmart last night but I'm pretty sure I am done.

We are headed down to Boca Raton this morning to visit Jennifer and Blaine. This evening is ours and I plan on driving around with the girls and looking at Christmas lights. Tommorrow I am making a ham and I have invited my family over for lunch. Then for dinner as soon as Fred get's off of work We are going to the Pate's. We have a full schedule and I hope I have everyone covered. I will be calling my dad and brothers tommorrow. As I said before I did not send out cards so I have to make up for it.

We I have to finish and get ready to go. Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!

We are almost ready for Christmas.

We hung up white lights along the roof line and we have 2 small white deer and a small white Christmas tree out on the front yard. The tree is up with brand new ornaments. I had to throw away most of my ornaments last year because they were covered in mold. I let Erin pick out new ornaments this year. She selected the colors of gold and purple as her theme. I was a little apprehensive at first but once we had all the ornaments up it really came out quite lovely. We purchased a 7 foot blue spruce that was nice and straight and not too full. Most of the trees this year looked off, they were thin on top or patchy looking but then the lower branched would be long and too full. Fred set the tree up in the stand and brought in the house. The girls and I spent at least 30 minutes putting the lights on the tree only to have a short in one of the strands. No matter how many little lights I jiggled and replaced I could not find the short. We had to call Fred in to help. He found the short in no time and we went back to decorating. I made the girls do most of the work. I was very proud when they were done. It was very pretty. We went heavy on the gold with highlights of purple among white lights. I tried to find an angel to match but had no luck so we purchased a gold star. It needs a light but it will do for right now.

We had only one casualty. Erin took pulled out some of what is left of our old ornaments. One of them was an egg I made when I was 12 if not younger. My mother blew the yolks out of each egg and carefully cut oval shaped holes into each egg. Each egg was decorated with little Christmas scenes. We used glitter, ribbon, cotton and dried flowers. I have never seen anything like them since and have managed to keep them all these years. I had 6 at the last count. Cujo found the one Erin laid out and quickly made a mess on the floor. I have five left. Cujo is our 4 month old Rotty/Great Dane mix he also found old Christmas candy and chewed up a few pieces before I could throw it away. He also pulled up the tree skirt and ran off with it. We are going to have fun this year trying to keep Cujo out of the livingroom.

I forgot the most important thing. I picked up my Christmas present today. My husband purchased me a Konica Minolta Dimage 8 mp digital camera. Thank you Fred I love it.

My Laptop Died

This is how luck works in my house.

My husband went out on black Friday and scored himself the $378.00 Dell computer Walmart was selling. My son who is employed by Walmart gets a 10% discount and was given another 10% discount on any 1 item. My husband purchased to laptop for $321.00. Its a nice little system he is very happy - he better be it is his Christmas Present. I almost made him wrap it and put it under the tree for Christmas Day. I am now glad this was just a hollow threat.

I am now using his computer. The other night at work my computer started locking up and then blue screened on me. I immediately started backing up files. When I came home Fred did a diagnostic and concluded my hard drive was toast, on that same day my 1/2 gig of ram showed up. I did not think this was funny but my husband got a chuckle out of it. My new hard drive should be here soon. New hard drive, new ram and my new chill pad and I should be good for a couple of months.

I was really having a hard time with WOW and Ventrilo. My computer bogs down so bad it locks up and/or reboots. I have a notion that all the problems I have been having are all been related to the hard drive malfunction and I have spent all this money for no reason at all. I guess I should be happy that this is an easy fix but I just don't know how long I can go without my WOW.

My Long Thanksgiving Weekend

I worked all weekend. Fun! Fun! Working on another shift just makes me really appreciate the people I work with. They are a really good bunch of human beings. We may bicker a little but we always remain friends. We even find time to hang out every once and a while. It’s hard when we are all working overtime. In fact we planned a little get together at Pier’s house Friday night but Fred made dinner and I had to work at 7am Saturday so Fred and I decided not to go. They told me tonight they all had a good time.

Back to the shift from hell…… I really can’t say that Saturday or Sunday were bad days. I answered phones and helped with breaks on Saturday. I work the PSL West channel on Sunday. No one fought or argued or bickered. Everyone basically got along well. It was the yelling and complaining about officers, calls and miscellaneous crap. Saturday the big deal was change. One of the girls did not get her change from lunch. There was no receipt so we all guesstimated. She was the last one to retrieve her change and there was none left. She called the restaurant and because she ordered her sandwich special (not a menu item). She had no clue what the price was of her sandwich and then she waited almost 5 hours to call no one had a clue how much she was charged. The manager finally worked it out but then there was the price of a dessert brownie she ordered. She was very upset with the price (apparently it had gone up since the last time she was there) and the fact she did not get the ice cream that goes with it. She basically ruded the guy out. Needless to say we wont be able to order there safely again for awhile.

Sunday was really nice. I worked the slowest radio in the center it was pleasant and I was able to finish a chapter for my book. As the day progressed the Fort Pierce dispatchers started getting loud and the complaining grew in intensity. At one point they were both having cows over an officer going off duty without responding to a call. There were some mitigating circumstances but she did notify the sergeant and because he did not act all bent out of shape the dispatchers had a bigger cow. I was very happy to go home after that display of professionalism. Now to be fair I have had my moments over the last few years. I have had hissy fits and temper tantrums on the air and I have made a complete fool of myself a time or two. However even I believe I would have handled the incident with a little more tact. The dispatcher made an assumption and that was her mistake besides if the sergeants don’t care why should I. I notified him it’s no longer my monkey.

I just have to say how thankful I am for having wonderful coworkers that make my job more pleasant.

Getting Ready for Turkey Day

I have been shopping all morning picking up last minute items for home and work. I have to work this year so we are all preparing a dish for dinner on our shift Thursday night. I am bringing a ham. For some reason no one wanted Turkey. I picked up a nice 8lb spiral cut from Sam’s and I was thinking about using a champagne glaze on it. MMMM I can’t wait.

Because I have to work Thursday we are planning on celebrating our Thanksgiving on Friday. I bought Fred a 20lb bird last week and he is going to brine it. He is making sour dough stuffing, green beans, sweet potato pie, and banana pudding. I think I will make some yams and either buy some corn on the cobb or make a large salad. We will be eating left overs for a month.

Shit! I forget to pick up a couple of bottles of wine and cider for the children……. I guess I need to run back the Publix after all. The stores are packed so I know I will enjoy another shopping trip. Sam’ was a night mare. I had to park in the back 40 and walk 2 miles to the store. (Well maybe not that far but it seemed like it!!!!) I purchased what I needed and bee lined for the check out which was thankfully not that long. Back home by one o’clock so I can clean my house then go to work. I get to work all week. Nothing like getting lots of overtime on a holiday check, it will basically pay for what little Christmas shopping I have left. My children mostly just want cash and to go shopping.

I have a supervisor’s workshop (Yuk) at 4pm and O.T. to work until 1am, Lucky Me.

I feel so stupid

I keep thinking that I am computer savy but it's times like this that make me humble. I now understand what Lxius was trying to get me to do. I have heard of a program called Ventrillo but it did not click until this morning. I was watching a clip on wimp.com this morning and it hit me. They just wanted me to download it and use it for communication purposes. My husband and son use it all the time when they game. I dont know why I did not think of it.

I apoligizes for being cranky it must be getting close to that time..............

WOW

I have been playing a lot of WOW lately. I made a character on a new realm and I have been working hard to level up. I have made it to level 16 in a short period of time. Not to shabby.

I made a female mage named Mystical. She is a pretty cool character especailly after playing my level 55 hunter on SkullCrusher for so long. The higher I level the more cool abilities I get to play with. However I need to vent a little tonight.

I am trying to join a guild. I thought it was pretty cool; Women of Warcraft. I thought it would be nice to play with other like minded women on my favorite on-line game (obsession!!!!)

It has all of a sudden become a real chore. I joined and was accepted last week through the web site. I have been a little busy this week and I did not get a chance to contact the officer so I could join on the actual game. Today I take a few minutes to join and I am turned down until I jump thru a few hoops. I am a little annoyed to be honest I still think it is a cool guild and I can understand a little security because of all the 12 year old assholes that can make the game tedious but come on. It’s just a game.

I usually don’t even join guilds. In fact the last time I joined one it became mine by default. I logged on one day and everyone was gone, Lucky me.

I am the goddess of Warning on Skullcrusher just me all by myself.

I sent my blog address to the guild to maybe show Lxius who I am and I am sorry if I offend by writing this entry on my blog but seriously why all the hassle? If you don’t like someone or they represent themselves as someone they are not boot there buts out. It that easy.

Well I feel a little better but not much I have to go to work now so that is depressing in its self. I could play all night if I could get away with it. Level 20 is just a couple hours away.

Life Back to Normal

It has been one week since my outpatient surgery and I think it is safe to say life is back to normal. At least I look more like myself I actually have color back in my skin. My tan actually came back. I went back to work Wednesday night, I was a little tired at first and amazed I made it to 0500 hrs with out nodding off. However by 0530 hrs, I could not keep my eyes open. Last night I did a little better I did not doze off until about 0600 hrs, I did this while trying to type up training DORs. I had several lines of ZZZZZZZ at on point but I somehow managed to get my work done and get out of the center and home in one piece. My bed time for the last week has been 10pm so it will take a few days to get back to my regular schedule.

I treated myself and had my hair cut and colored Wednesday. Lori our hairdresser cut over 5 inches off the back and gave me a nice dark brown color with red highlights. I don’t think I will ever color out of the box again. It is so perfect and all the gray is gone. I had just dyed it 5 weeks ago and my gray roots where all over the place. The dye I have been using had pretty much washed out, another reason for never doing it myself ever again. It took her 30 minutes with a hair cut and style (which I badly needed) and she was done. I sit with nasty dye in my hair 45 minutes and reek for 2 days and she’s done in 30 minutes. Yes I need to go ahead and call and make my appointment for next month and Hey! I might even schedule a pedicure. I have caught myself walking around barefooted a lot and you know what that does to you heels. Yucky! I really need to pamper myself more often.

The insurance company just called they are actually doing claims over the phone. The nice lady asked me a few questions as far as what kind of damage we have and asked me to get estimates for the roof, pool enclosure and rewallpapering/painting the Florida room fax them to her and they would issue us a check minus my 3300.00 deductible Ouch!......

That was way too easy….. Should I be scared????????

Friday is the big day

My doctor’s appointment was short and sweet. My RBC was 8.1 yesterday not good because I have been taking mega doses of Iron and it should be up not down. Dr LH had her nurse schedule my out patient surgery for Friday. She did not want to wait any longer seeing as how I am damn near close to a blood transfusion. She will probably have to give my a little blood before surgery at this rate. I feel like such a vampire.

I spent all day at the Outpatient Department at Lawnwood filling out paper work, giving blood, urine and getting a chest X-ray all prep for surgery. I am having what is called an Endometrial Ablation and a DNC instead of a hysterectomy. This should take care of the problem and if it works I will never have menorrhagia again ever ever!!!! If it doesn’t work I get to have a hysterectomy but I really don’t want to even think about that at this time. I have two friends at work that have had the procedure and are very happy with the results. I read the studies and there is only a 2% chance that the procedure won’t work. I have my fingers crossed. Friday 7:30 and I’m done.

Wish me luck!

It's raining

It has rained all day and we have a leak in our roof. It is in the Florida room and on the seam between the interior and exterior wall which means I don’t have to worry about drywall its all CBS. The wall paper is falling off but we had planned on removing that anyway. The ceiling however is already beginning to stain there is a small brown spot in the corner which will grow I’m sure into a large stain as it continues to rain.

My mother dropped off a tarp last week which is now a good thing since I will be needing it to cover my damaged roof. Thanks Mom. I guess the next thing we do is call a roofer and get an estimate and get it fixed before we have to start replacing the ceiling. So far no other leaks have been located knock on wood.

We still haven’t finished cleaning up the back yard FPUA did not show up so I still have a tree lying on our electric line in the back yard. My pool looks great Sean – pool guy came today and cleaned out all the leaves and set the creeper back up, except for a few stray leaves floating on top of the water the pool itself is clean and blue again. It just wont stop raining long enough to enjoy it. Fred's off tommorrow so I am sure he will be back there cleaning up what he can unless he is on the roof nailing down the tarp. We will see.

I get to see my Dr. in the morning. I called out sick my third day in a row. I think I have taken 5 sick days this year that is a record for me. I used up all my sick time 10 years ago with the birth of my youngest Erin. Since then I have accrued over 500 hours of sick time. I plan on using a few more hours until I have my surgery. I feel better this evening than I have in the last couple of days. I think I have less stress. I have resigned myself to the fact that I just need to stay home and take it easy. Work will get along without me just fine while I try to get better.

Erin was selected as a Lynx Leader for responsibility for her work as Captain of the Safety Patrol and Beth has to do the opening announcement for the Honor Roll ceremony at her school both events are tomorrow. I will go to Erin’s for as long as I can. Her program starts at 9:15 my Dr.’s appointment is at 9:45. Beth is on her own. She was so funny tonight she stayed up late because she had to wash clothes so she had something nice to wear in the morning. She went over her speech twice this afternoon to make sure she had it right. She is so nervous but she is really a fine speaker.

My children I love them to death I am so blessed to have had wonderful children. Don’t get me wrong they are not perfect my son skips classes. He sleeps through his alarm. He flunked his English class last semester and is fixing to flunk it again. My Beth is a hypochondriac and Erin is a cry baby but if that is all I ever have to put up with I will be ecstatic. None of them are straight A student’s but they hold there own. They do have morals and a great deal of common sense and sometimes that is more important than the highest IQ. Remember there is a fine line between genius and insanity. I know I live in St Lucie County and we have some of the smartest loonies around or is it we have the most. I dont remember.

Happy Halloween

The kids costumes are ready. Beth is Death and Erin is a Dead 50's Bopper with poodle skirt and glasses. I bought almost 40lbs of candy. We used to live two blocks over and we were hit pretty hard then I can imagine what it will be like this year. People keep calling 911 wanting to know if Halloween has been cancelled????? I don't get it how do you cancel Halloween? I have to work tonight so the girls are going to walk around the block but have to be home by 6:30 so I can leave. They get to hand out candy after I'm gone that's of course if I go to work.

I had to call out sick last night. Yeah!!!! I'm so tired of feeling tired and being anemic. I was just starting to feel better now the "pill" pills are I am taking are not working anymore. The mega dose of iron I'm on is not keeping up . My Doctor wants to schedule outpateint surgery but I could'nt get an appointment with her until Friday. I'm calling back this morning and will try to get an earlier appointment. I may have to have a transfussion if I have to wait until Friday. It seems like the more active I am the worse it is but I can't just sit around all day I have things to do. Like finish cleaning up my back yard.

We had 2 trees cut up yesterday they are coming back to grind down the stump of the large oak tree that used to dump a shit load of leaves into my pool. FPUA is suppose to be here today or tommorrow to cut down the grapefruit tree that is lying on my power lines. Most of the aluminum is picked up and semi neatly stacked in the back yard along with a ton of screening but it is looking better. Pool guy will be here tommorrow to vaccum out the pool. It is nice and blue but there are still leaves and dirt resting on the bottom. Fred and I both want a new pool enclosure but they are running upwards and over $20,000.00 . I may have to sell my kidneys if I want to be safe from the mosquitos this summer. We have no clue when the insurance company will get around to us.

In the mean time the weather is great. It is breezy and cool in the low 80's and high 70's. The kids play outside almost every afternoon with the neighbors grand children. They are happy and that is all that matters. School is back in session today and that means I have to go and drive little girls to school.

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!

Wilma was not a nice Hurricane

I am beginning to think we have bad luck. We bought our house because it survived 2 hurricanes last year with minimal damage. Wilma was bad. As we hit what we would normally refer to as the back side of the hurricane. The wind shifted slightly from the east to the north east and really started blowing. We lost electricity. Not too long after that we heard something hit the roof. Warren I went in the garage and went up into the attic to make sure the vent cap had not blown off. It was still there so I thought maybe it was just debris. Not too long after that Beth started calling me to the back of the house. She was in the cabana bathroom with the window open. Our pool patio had started to fall in. The SW corner looked like it just crumbled. The grapefruit tree was blown over along with another small tree. Within 15 minutes the entire patio was blown apart. It now sits mangled in my back yard. It was another hour before the wind started to die down and we were able to walk outside and try to get the generator going. Of course it did not work we had to wait for Fred to come home and say the magic words. It has worked fine ever since. We have T.V. but our satellite took a hit from the patio it just looks like it needs to be aligned. DSL did not work either. Fred tested the connection when he came home tonight and Bellsouth is down.

While we were in the back yard gingerly walking over twisted aluminum and screening I could see quite a few roof tiles on the ground. Erin must have picked up at least a dozen or more tiles. I went around to the front of the house and there is 2 to 3 tiles missing off the corner over the garage and a large area directly over the living room where there are not longer any tiles. We have no leaks, Thank God. So far everyone is okay. Fred should be able to have it repaired in no time.

Fred’s parents called, Mr. Pate lost another shed. Eleanor said there was stuff all over the yard. My mom called I guess she is ok. Beth talked to her and she was supposed to call back. I think she was just checking to make sure we are ok. I guess I really should not be so negative we are all healthy and happy and we still have our home even though it is a little battered. We have electricity and lights shine from our windows at night on a street that is pitch black.

It was pitch black I should say. The electricity just came back on. We were out for only 8 hours. Oh my Gosh that is a new record. I guess we are not so unlucky after all. I think I am going to go pop some popcorn now.

8pm Monday October 24, 2005

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We have lights phones and internet but Satellite is busted so no T.V. Children watch a lot of DVDs. Everyone is fine. Mom's garage door blew off but there are no leaks the city has done a wonderful job getting everything back to normal. Wal-Mart and Publix opened at 7am yesterday and we had trash service. I doesn’t get any better than this. As a Floridian I am proud of how quickly our local government, businesses and citizens responded to getting debris cleaned up and life back to as close to normal as possible.

We have had a lot of people driving up from Palm Beach and even further south to purchase supplies, water and gas. I think today some areas are starting to get electricity. I heard a report some gas stations and stores are starting to open in Palm Beach. When I went out this morning Wal-Mart was packed already and the gas lines were already forming so I don’t know how true that is. We have a distribution station literally x-street at Lawnwood stadium Mom sat in line for over an hour for a tarp 4 MRE's and ice. The line was not as long this morning as yesterday but it is still early.Here are some pics I downloaded this morning. I have not been out too much just to Publix and Wal-Mart. I went to the Pate's and Mom's yesterday to check on everyone because the phone lines were down but I left my camera at home. I did not see too much damage mostly a lot of tree damage. I have to give credit to the roofers, all the new roofs held up real nice.

Fred is on his 6th day of 12 1/2 hour shifts. He is starting to get tired and a little cranky. He is tired of dealing with stupid people and drunks. He is hoping for a day off on Saturday. He and Eric plan on getting into the back yard and cutting up the patio with a saws all and chopping up our downed trees.

The girls and I picked up all the debris in the front yard and Warren and Elizabeth cleaned out the pool. It looks a lot better and I can run the pump now so it doesn’t turn green. Our pool guy is going to come back next week and vacuum it out real good so we can get the crawler back in.

IRCC opened today Warren has to go back to class. He only has to make up 2 days. The girls will have to make up a week at least. Okay I’m done. I have chores to do that I am ignoring and I need to get at least some of it done before I go back to work tonight.

The next several pictures are views of what is left of my patio.

 

 

 

 

This small tree is the culprit that fell and buckled the nw post of my patio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My roof

 

 

 

 

 

Some McD's damage.

Wilma

We are on the northside of the storm and it is raging. Amazingly we still have electricity although it has flickered several times. My internet is still up well, on and off. We can safely go outside on the front porch it is sheltered from the worst of the wind. The rain has been blowing horizontal for over an hour now. We still have at least three more hours of this. There is debris all over the yard but I don't see any trees down yet. All I can really see is just north and west of us to the church. The wind is howling and I just turned off the AC. Its on the east side of the house and really taking a beating. I have water blowing in the garage door but it will dry up no problem and there is water coming through the vent in the garage. So far the water intrusion is all in the garage and I hope it stays that way.

The wind is wiping around the eaves of the house you can hear it slam up against the roof and it actually makes a light bumping noise is the best way I can describe it. I went outside to make sure nothing was loose and discovered it was just the wind. I've looked on the internet for wind speed so far no luck. Wunderground keeps saying 40 with 59 gust. NOT TRUE.

Okay the wind has turned a little and I cant get on the porch anymore. It is blowing more from the north now. Fred just called he is at the station, they are goofing off as usual. One of the officers went out side and literally was flying suspened from a no parking sign. What children won't do.

Kids are playing board games Warren even has one of his freinds over and invited more over later for D & D so I may have a house full before the night over. I just hope this thing passes quickly. It is really blowing hard against the house right now and the lights keep flickering.

Count down to Wilma

It has been a long weekend. In bed by 7:30am back up at 11:30am. I guess I was too wound up to sleep. Fred has been working 6am to 6pm since Friday until further notice. SLC EOC was activated today at noon. Bedrolls and overnight bags line the hallways and people are all over the place. Channel 12 has their satelite truck parked outside along with an RV. They were here yesterday camping out. The phones are not too bad. Most people are calling the information lines set up so we are not swamped with stupid calls. We did have a few this morning early but we refered them back to those info lines when they opened at 8:00am. My shift is happy we missed the bullet, we are out of here at 2:00am. Day shift next rotation drew the short stick and have to cover the storm. I will be asleep. Yeah for me.

At home, I spent all morning moving patio furniture and putting muy orchids in the shed. The tangerine tree is full of fruit this year I hope it survives the wind. My florida room is in shambles. If I could not put it in the shed it went in the florida room. The girls and I cleaned up the yard of most the big debris and closed up the shutters on the house. Then the girls bailed on me and went in the pool. It was a little hot today. Humidity a little high. I cleaned the kitchen and swept and mopped. Played a little WOW. Took a shower came to work.

Fred and I passed each other he came home and still had to get on the roof and cap the vents and put the battery in the generator and ground it. If he can get it running we will use extension cords to keep the freezer and refridgerator going and maybe a fan and the T.V. but thats only if we lose power. We may have a guy coming over tuesday to hook up the transfer box to the electric panel. He came over and took a look at the generator today and said he could hook us up no problem advised it would be a 4-5 hour job but it was no problem. I have my fingers crossed.

Fred just called generator runs great once he figured out how to turn the gas on. Yeah! Will post pics tommorrow afternoon.

Too Busy to Blog

I have been a little busy this week I work, I sleep, I clean and I play WOW. I have tried to write but I have been blocked. I have been trying to put a new spin on my story. I am trying to make it more of a murder mystery. I found my angle yesterday and I have been writing much of the day. I think it will turn out to be a better story. I also through a little hurricane action into it give a perspective of what law enforcement families have to do to prepare. I hope it works but we will see.

I should be doing laundry and preparing for Hurricane Wilma but her I sit typing. I did have to go pick up Beth from school and on the way back I picked up extra groceries from Publix. They still had plenty of ice but no water. Fred will pick up water tomorrow. We will wait until Saturday to close the house down. Fred is suppose to test the generator tomorrow. I still may not be hooked up to the house but I can plug in extension cords and run it that way if I have to. Fred has been activated on Saturday 6am - 6pm until further notice. I will probable go in early Sunday night and stay through out the night until Wilma has passed sometime Monday morning. Fred will be home with the kids this time. We are ready I think, both freezers are full I have plenty of can stuff. I bought fresh fruit and bread. We have a new generator new garage doors, and all new gas appliances. I can’t think of anything else.Wish us luck I'll update later. Maybe at work Sunday/Monday if the internet is still working.I have been a little busy this week I work, I sleep, I clean and I play WOW. I have tried to write but I have been blocked. I have been trying to put a new spin on my story. I am trying to make it more of a murder mystery. I found my angle yesterday yand I have been writing much of the day. I think it will turn out to be a better story. I also through a little hurricane action into it give a perspective of what law enforcement families have to do to prepare. I hope it works but we will see.I should be doing laundry and preparing for Hurricane Wilma but her I sit typing. I did have to go pick up Beth from school and on the way back I picked up extra groceries from Publix. They still had plenty of ice but no water. Fred will pick up water tommorrow. We will wait until Saturday to close the house down. Fred is suppose to test the generator tommorrow. I still may not be hooked up to the house but I can plug in extension cords and run it that way if I have to. Fred has been activated on Saturday 6am - 6pm until further notice. I will probable go in early Sunday night and stay through out the night until Wilma has passed sometime Monday morning. Fred will be home with the kids this time. We are ready I think, both freezers are full I have plenty of can stuff. I bought fresh fruit and bread. We have a new generator new garage doors, and all new gas appliances. I cant think of anything else.

Wish us luck I'll update later. Maybe at work Sunday/Monday if the internet is still working.

Raging Hormones and 911

I can not work the 911 lines for too much longer. I worked all weekend. I am feeling better but I still get tired easily and my hormones are raging. I have spoken to more crazies this weekend than I care to. I swear it was a full moon or something. We had our regulars and some newbies. I talked to at least 2 drunk abused crying men. One drunk man just got married that day and his new wife beat him up after his x-wife called to ask him a question. Needless to say he went to jail. I think it was because the new wife looked more beat up than he did....... you will have to read the report for more information on that one.

We had fights and domestics and at one point I snickered out loud which is a big NO NO. The only problem with that is I wasn’t laughing at him, his situation was not humorous, it was his location that caused my mirth. It was more of an "Oh My God" not another call from this place. Live Oak Apartments in Fort Pierce, we were there all weekend. If it wasn't kids loitering in the parking lot they were fighting in the parking lot or inside the apartments. We had several domestics all alcohol related I am sure. Here it was Monday morning time to get up and get ready for work and we are getting another call for service from this place. I thought it was .......... funny??? I snickered and so I got yelled at. I deserved that one.

At the very end of a 36 hour weekend it is 6:45 I should have left already; I get a 911 call from an irrate inconsiderate stupid stupid female who calls me a racist bitch. She was yelling at me and lying to me about what was really going on and when I called her on her inconsistent story she ruded me out and hung up on me. Here is where the raging hormones come in. I left work in a very agitated state. Now people don’t think about this but I know where you live I have your phone number and I know your name. With this little bit of information I can get your DL and any vehicle information you have. I can get your SSN and get on the internet and for a small fee get whatever information I need to make your life even more miserable or worse. Thank God I am not that kind of person but at that moment I was seeing red and all I wanted to do was go to her address and rip her eyes out. It is not like I have never been exposed to angry people who abuse the 911 system and its employees but after 3 days and birth control pills I was at the end of my rope.

People just don’t get it, we are accused of being rude and inconsiderate but when you call because you neighbors dog is barking I don’t care but I will take your information and send someone out. Again I don’t care. I work all night and sleep during the day. I am tired I sleep, the dogs don’t bother me nor do the roofers or garbage trucks or the sirens. I don’t care that your neighbor has his work truck parked on the grass I don’t care it is not an emergency and you should not even be calling 911 but that is how it is set up. I am not customer service I do not have to be nice to you. I do however have to get your proper information as quickly as possible so that when the phone rings again and it is someone dying I can try and help them.

Thank you for letting me vent.

My husband is an intelligent man and saw my raging hormones coming a mile away. He let me vent when I finally made it home that morning. Then he told me he had already prepared the children for whatever kind of emotional psychotic outburst I may have at home. Everyone is behaving and I get lots of hugs and kisses. Even my son has stopped long enough to asked me how I am and tell me that he loves me. So far I have cried a little but other than that I seem to be okay and I no longer want to scratch out eye balls. My house is still a mess but I have plans to try and remedy that today. I have carpets in the washer and I made my bed. Time to stop for breakfast and add a blog entry. Next I will fill up the mop bucket and sweep. I plan to do this in sections. One room at a time with several breaks in between.

Wish me luck!

I hate being sick

I have been ill for over a month now. I hate being sick. I have had to call out sick from work twice and turn down several overtime spots. I work 12 hour shifts but have only been able to work 8 at the most this last week.

I am anemic. I have had the dreaded female problem since 9/2/2005 almost non stop. Yesterday I was finally able to get in to see my Doctor. This is after 2 visits to the Nurse Practitioner and an Ultra Sound. My RBC is 8.5 normal is 12 or higher, Dr. told me if I was 7 or lower I would have been a good candidate for a transfusion. Lucky me. I am now taking birth control pills and perscription Iron pills for the next three months. In January I have to have an out patient procedure, but only if my RBC is back to normal. I will not get into details on the procedure other than to say it will make life so much easier if it works. If it dosent work I may consider having a Hysterectomy. Fred has already voted no on that one, but we are still early in the game and up until now I have been fairly healthy.

Not much is going on right now I still have no energy. I don't go any where but to work or drop and pick up kids from school. The last time I went to the grocey store I thought I was going to pass out. I still have a hard time just walking from onside of my house to the other. Taking the dogs outside to pee sends me to bed for a 3 hour nap. I am hoping these new Iron pills do the trick. I am tired of feeling exhausted all the time and my house is a mess. I have not decided which is worse.

What can you do?

So much for Stupid Prank Phone Caller, He was not arressted but young mans parents were threatened with arrest. After several days of investigation turns out young man made over 200 calls to 911. He made them from his bedroom, his parents vehicle while parents where driving, and a church bus with other juveniles egged him on. Young man is unfortunatley mentally handicapped and can not legally be held responcible for his actions.

Mom and Dad did take his phone away from him for the time being.

I cant beleive the press hasnt gotten a hold of this story yet.

Personal note: I just rotated back to midnight shift and I am still sick.

Stupid Prank Phone Callers

I hate stupid people who think they can call 911 over and over again and think they can get away with it. For the last two days we had a young male calling into the center almost constantly. He called several times yesterday but today he really went to town. He started about 8:30 am and did not stop. He took a few breaks but mostly it went on all day. He called and told us he was making prank phone calls and he did not plan on stopping.

The prank caller kept dialing in on a cell phone that could only call 911. It was not registered to anyone so it could not be traced. We knew in what general area he was calling from using cell tower locations his cell phone hit every time he called. At one point we were pretty sure he was in an airplane because he went from Fort Pierce to Port St Lucie in a matter of minutes. Stranger things have happened so Karen our supervisor actually called the airport tower. They had no planes up in that area. We discussed the possibilities of UFO's and little green annoying men.

As far as technology goes, our 911 center is having problems with our mapping system we just purchased for the phase 2 wireless upgrade. When it works properly it will give us the location of a wireless phone within several hundred feet but currently it was not working at all. So all we could do was try to tolerate his calls. Anyway, we put up with this punk all day. Sometimes we talked to him trying to bait him, insulted his intelligence, hung up or just let that particular line ring unanswered. It was a long day.

Then Dave arrived!! He works part time and came in for several hours to cover a supervisor’s workshop that my supervisor and I had to attend. While we were absent from the center Dave befriended this young man managed to get his name and date of birth. Dave is a saint and a miracle worker. He was able to find this mans drivers license with his current address on it through DHSMV. By quitting time, police officers where on their way to this incredibly stupid mans house to arrest him. I am sorry I had to go home. I missed all the fun.

He will be the second person arrested in 2 weeks for violating Florida Statute against making harassing phone calls or making a false report to 911 in St Lucie County. This is becoming a large problem at our center. We get phone calls daily from kids playing on the phone and/or people just sitting on their cell phones. I can’t wait until our mapping program works properly. When all 911 centers are finally wireless phase two compliant, it will just be a matter of time before dispatchers all over the country will rise up and finally be able to put an end to the harassment we all receive on a daily basis from adults and children who have nothing better to do then tie up the lines of 911. December 31, 2005 is just around the corner and I can’t wait.

Big Hair Bands Destroyed the Ozone Layer

We sit here at work watching the news on T.V. and listening to a local Houston radio station on the internet keeping track of the damage that Rita has caused. We reminisce about Francis and Jeanne and the compare the similarities to Katrina and Rita. I mentioned the fact that the storms are possibly a natural phenomenon that occur every 35 to 40 or it could be the fact that we are losing our ozone layer and the earth is heating up. We could debate this all day.

Pier (the SO dispatcher) has come to the conclussion that 80's Hair Bands are at fault. We all used massive amounts of hair spray in the 80's and 90's. Rave 3 seems to be the hair spray of preference. All those cans of hairspray we used punched a hole in our ozone layer thus causing massive deadly hurricanes in the 2000s.

We went even further and went back 35 - 40 years to the Aqua Net revolution. There was an increase in hurricane activity in the mid sixties. Auquasol was invented in the mid 1950's.
Makes you want to go hmmmmmmmm.

We had a good laugh.... Gosh if it was only that simple...

President Beth of SOMS Student Council

I picked Beth up from the bus stop yesterday, she looked upset. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to put one over on me or if she was truly unhappy. I avoided "the" question and asked her how her day was, how much home work she had and if anything interesting happen today. She told me nothing on all counts. About halfway home she looks at me and starts laughing and tells me see can not hide it from me anymore. She won. Her class cheered when the results were read. I was so thrilled for her. Her father was wandering around in the front yard when we pulled into the driveway. He was so funny; he didn’t even let her get out of the car before he was interrogating her. He gave her a big hug. She is so happy.

Now for the hard part, today she was sent to the Deans office because there is a rumor going around school that Beth said tomorrow was a half day Friday and no one had to conform to the dress code. Poor Beth…… Not even President for a day and the rumors are already flying. Not to mention the fact that a boy approached her in the lunchroom and told her she better get the dress code dropped or else. She seems to be taking all this in stride not upset or concerned which is good. We told her she needs to sit down this weekend and outline all her ideas for the dress code and future dances. She needs to get these issues out of the way and worked out with Mrs C. before they get anymore out of hand. I hope its not already too late.

Anybody want to lay odds on how soon Fred will be back at the school defending his daughters honor?

Hurricane Rita : An Open Letter to the Houston Area

Rita, she's coming your way. My advice is leave if you can, Cat 4 or higher means evacuate.
Go to a safe place, don’t stay if you don’t have to and pack only those things you can not replace or will need while you are gone. Pictures, birth certificates, insurance forms, deeds, ect...............

You can not take pets to shelters. Crate them and leave. Don’t wait until the last minute to decide to leave. Leave now travel at night or very early in the morning. For some reason people wait until the last minute and then run, everyone taking the same roads out of town and trying to find hotel rooms. Go now stay with friends or relatives when it’s all over then go home. The same mess will be there regardless, the difference is you will still be safe and alive.

If you do decide to stay you will experience many hours of raw terror. I packed my travel trailer with pets and children and left for Francis. I stayed and was awed but Jeanne. I don’t remember being so scared or so memorized. I sat up with the children and listened to it rage all night. We spent several hours in the dark in the hallway listening for changes in the roar of the wind hoping I could tell if a tornado approached. Jeanne was only a Cat. 2, afterwards we surved the damage to our temperary home which thank God wasn’t much we ended up with a leak in the roof, the fence fell over again and a large tree limb fell on the travel trailer damaging it. Jeanne finished off many damaged homes that Francis had not completely destroyed, this included my own home.

NE side of Houston is probably safer than most of the city but why risk it. Even though you won’t get storm surge the flooding will be bad. The wind will take down your fence and most trees. Trees are a great buffer from the wind but I have seen so many fall onto houses. Tornadoes will spawn, roofs will come off and house will be totaled. Not pretty.

If you stay against my advice stock up. Fill your pantry with water and canned goods. Buy ice a lot of ice, batteries, portable radio and candles. Make sure you have a corded phone. Cordless phone will not work with out electricity but it is amazing how often phone lines will work when nothing else will. Walkie Talkies work well. Buy a generator now. Fill your gas tank and gas containers. Don’t forget to fill your bathtubs with water you will need it to flush if water service is turned off. Also be aware with flooding your sewer may back up and will make life very unpleasant and odorous. DO NOT CALL your Utilities or 911 if you are backed up then so is everybody else.

If you stay in your home seek shelter in an interior room like a large pantry, closet hallway or bathroom. Make sure you keep a flash light and a radio close to you. A mattress makes good cover if your roof decides to blow away and its also better than sleeping on the floor if your roof manages to stay attached to your home. Be prepared for the worse make sure you have a plan if you have to leave your shelter to seek a new one. Getting to know your neighbors is not a bad idea at this point. Give them a WT if they dont have one you can keep track of each other during the storm and help each other if you need to.

Be prepared, if Rita misses that’s OK you’re prepared for the next time or you will be very generous during can food drives. My kids loaded up the box at Thanksgiving.
Go to the FEMA site now and print anything you might need. Insurance will not cover everything but there are low interest loans that can be applied for. The Red Cross is very generous and will also help. If you have that paperwork now it will be easier later. Visit your Emergency Management web site they always have good information they will also have locations for shelter sites. Know which radio channels to listen to for information when cell phones and regular phones don’t work radio is the only way people know what is going on. People with phones will bombard 911 and Police lines with questions when they just need to listen to the radio.

If you absolutely can not leave and don’t feel safe at home, go to a shelter. If you are special needs call your Emergency Management Office Now! Do not wait until tomorrow it maybe to late. Texas has 2 maybe 3 days to move people before the storm strikes. It will take that long or longer to get these people moved into suitable shelters. Remember to bring food and water and refill your medication your Doctor will understand if you need an early refill. Let your family know where you are going. Emergency phone lines will be swamped by people looking for loved ones. Keep some cash with you. Some stores may reopen quickly but I can guarantee the banks wont.

St Lucie County had no casualties during our 2 storms. We had a few casualties afterwards; many falling from roofs or other clean up related injuries. Many older folks passed on from just the stress in general. We did have some minor looting including the incident in Port St Lucie when the Mayor ordered City workers to break into Publix for water and supplies. St Lucie Co itself had water, ice and MRE’s supplied to residents in days including the City of PSL. Ice was scarce those first 2 days but after that it was plentiful. My point is our community was prepared and even though there were a few issues they were solved as quickly as possible. We worked together as a community to overcome difficulty. Good communications between City, County, and State is a must, only then will it work between State and Federal.

I’m sure there is more I could pass on but these are just a few things I remember being so important at the time. I am praying for Galveston and Houston, praying the storm goes further south several hundred miles. Stay safe I will be watching the radar.

Kathy

My Girls

St Louis Casino Queen: Beth, V & Erin
I was playing with photo editor these are my
girls last year on vacation. The one in the
middle is my parttime daughter.

Children do have Civil Rights

The last three days have not been pleasant. I discovered the possiblity that my daughters 1st Amendment Rights were violated. Last night Fred and I searched the internet, studying case law involving children and their rights. Beth's civil rights were not only violated but trampled on.
We actually considered calling the ACLU. It was a brief thought but it was there. We decided that Fred would go to the school today and talk to the principal and see if we could work this out. Beth was refusing to do her speech over again and Mrs C would not leave her name on the ballet if she continued to refuse. We were at an impasse.

Fred had to wait until this afternoon to speak to Mrs. C, she had a family emergency this morning. They were finally able to sit down and talk, and they were able to work out an agreement we all could live with. Mrs. C apoligized to Beth for interupting her speech and embarrassing her in front of the entire school. Mrs. C agreed to go in front of the school on Monday to explain what had happened and then allow all three canidates for President to reread their speeches. However she still insisted that Beth's opening sentence was inappropriate, we will let her have that one. Beth is not allowed to every say the word "sucks" on T.V. again. Both Beth and Fred were satisfied with the out come, disaster avoided, we can all breathe easy again.

Thought for the day. Why isnt "respeech" a word.

Finished Chapter 6 today at work, infact I am writing from work.... another 16 hour day.

The Near Riot

My daughter almost started a riot today at school. She is an 8th grade middle school student running for Student Council Class President and today she tried to make her speech. I wasn’t paying total attention to her as she worked on her speech but when she stood up and presented it to us last night I really didn’t hear anything that I thought was questionable in fact early in the evening as I listened to her practice I encouraged her to tone it down a bit she was a little to spirited and after all its just 8th grade. She started out with the dress code which if you are a 12-13 yoa it sucks. I can relate. She went on to discuss school dances and after school activities. I thought it was a good speech and thought nothing more of it.

When she came home this afternoon my first question was how did her speech go. She told me the principal rushed out of her office and did not let her finish her speech. Beth was very vague about their conversation other than Mrs. C offered to let her do her speech again tomorrow which Beth told her she didn’t want to she was upset. However on her way back to her class everyone congratulated her and told her she was the one they were going to vote for. She was happy about that but still puzzled by her principals reaction.

About 5pm, I received a call from the Mrs. C about Beth’s speech. She was upset and I can understand her side as and adult and a parent. Her main issue was Beth’s introduction apparently it went something like “THE SCHOOL DRESS CODE SUCKS!” and she went on to say that she was going to try to have dress down Fridays and half days. She was just starting into the part of her speech about school dances when they pulled the plug on her. She was on live circuit T.V. that was presented through out the entire school, so much for a 2 second delay.

Apparently it wasn’t just Mrs. C that was upset but several other teachers came to her later on and told her that Beth’s speech caused quite a disturbance in some of the classes, “near riot” were the words she described. Infact she thought twice about even calling me at all. Mrs.C likes Beth, she has nothing but praises for her. She knows she is very spirited and passionate. She is opinionated and has a bad habit of telling you exactly how she feels. (I don’t know where she gets that from!). I agreed and she knows we have raised her to be that way. But Mrs. C kept stressing how her speech was inappropriate and how important the dress code is for the safety of the school children. However I have seen the reports from the the SRO’s at that school and dress code is the least of their worries. She made the comment that she felt she may have to take her name off the ballot and I let her know if she did it would crush Beth. This was very important to her and she worked hard on her speech her posters and her ideas. I am hoping it will not come to that.

I spoke to Beth and she was upset that Mrs. C would even think of pulling her name, so I suggested she give the speech again but this time outlining all the other good ideas she had, but she dose not want to do it again. It was live T.V. and she was nervous and scared and just dose not want to go through that again. I then suggested she go to Mrs. C in the morning and apologize and assure Mrs C. she was just trying to be different. Beth agreed. It would be easier to apologize than have to get in front of live T.V. again. I hated having to ask her to do it but we are talking about a school system that encourages free thinking and free speech as long as it falls with in the proper educational guide lines.

I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow.

I work Too Much

It was a very long weekend. I thought it would never end. I worked 12 hour shifts Friday and Saturday and a 15- hour shift yesterday. Sunday was a long day but we all brought in food and ate lunch in. I cooked a ham and Starr brought baking potatoes and we had green bean casserole and Katherine made her pumpkin dessert. I love the people I work with they are great but I was really starting to hate people in general by 9pm last night. I was so thankful when my supervisor finally kicked me out around 9:30. I was home by 10 and in bed by 11 and I can’t believe that I am already up and moving around at 6 a m. Fred’s alarm should be going off soon but right now it is nice. The house is quiet, my daughter’s rats were running around their cage but even they have settled down. I haven’t seen the dogs yet they must be still a sleep in Erin’s room. They are usually standing by the back sliding door just a soon as they see me. This is nice.

Fred and our neighbor Eric were busy Saturday. They cut down 6 of the 8 citrus trees in the yard. Fred let my keep the tangerine and the old grape fruit. The only reason he kept the grapefruit is because it holds a 500lb stag horn on it and it also blocks the view of our neighbor’s back yard from our pool. I had another stag horn on one of the dead trees but they cut that tree down and ended up dragging the stag horn to the curb as garbage. I almost had a cow but I found it a new home with Karen. Her husband came and looked at it then showed up later that evening with a trailer. H e has an oak that is big enough to hold it. It made me feel much better knowing it has a good home. The back yard looks so bare.

All the trees Fred and Eric cut down were old, dieing and/or no longer producing fruit. We plan on replacing them this spring with an oak, tangelo, key lime, peach, apple and a magnolia. Magnolia in the front yard and oak to replace bottlebrush lost in last years hurricanes. We found a nursery in Georgia that sells an apple that grows in Florida so we decided to try. I also found blackberries, raspberries and blueberries that can tolerate the heat of south Florida. I can’t wait for spring next year.

I brought my laptop to work yesterday and I was able to work on Chapter 3. I am hoping to have it completed today. The girl’s cleaned up the house yesterday so there is not too much cleaning to do around the house. I will give them extra hugs this morning. I need to get in the garage it’s a mess. I need to finish painting Erin’s dresser. I need to paint the living room. I need to do so many things. We lost our home last year to Hurricane Francis. Basically we took the insurance money a bought an older home and literally gave the other one away. I love my new home it is much bigger and has a pool. I have a pool guy and a lawn guy but I really need a maid and a handyman.

Uhg……..so much to do so little time to play WOW.

Hurricane Ophelia

Hurricane Ophelia sits off our coast, I have been watching it all day. See I knew it would be a hurricane by this afternoon. Now we get to see which way it is going to go. It hasn’t rained much today but it is gloomy and drizzling a little. It just seems to be getting bigger and bigger. Fingers still crossed.

Today is my only day off this week. I went to a CJIS Region 4 meeting in Orlando yesterday and it was informative and I did learn a few things. Pete our IT guy was also there and we beat him up over our DAVID Certificates and how they are constantly erased from our computer terminals. The meeting was held at the Orange County Sheriff’s office. It is a huge building and security was tight but there were plenty of people to guide us through the building. Karen, Marie and I went in the County vehicle and we made Karen drive. Marie and I claimed she had the most seniority. We had a good time. We don’t get to talk that much at work on day shift it is just too hectic and the phones are always ringing or someone always needs something. We talked all the way there, during the meeting and all the way back. I was home by 4 pm but it pretty much ruined my chance of getting too much done at home. We decided it was pizza night. Yeah!!! I was in bed by 8:30 p.m. I was wiped out. Have I mentioned I work too much?

I was up early this morning and I started playing WOW. I played until 6:45 a.m., got the girls up, I got dressed and took them to school. I played a little more until Fred got up. Fred is my husband of 15 years lucky guy. We watched a little T.V. together and talked. No kids around yeah!!!! When my son Warren came home from his morning class, he and his father took off for Vero to shop. Fred finally conned me into letting him buy a new monitor, a 19 inch flat panel that he has been drooling over for a while. He is so spoiled. Anyway they left so I played WOW until I died then swept the floor and started laundry. Then I played WOW until I died then I cleaned my room and bathroom. Then I played WOW until I died then I cleaned the Kitchen. This was basically my day until Fred and Warren came home. I think I have had my fill of WOW today but I am still doing laundry and now the kids are bothering me about what’s for dinner.

This is a typical day off for me and I wonder why I never get anything done then just basic house work. I have Microsoft Word up and running and my manuscript is there but I just have not felt like writing today maybe this evening after dinner.

Oh Shit! I forget to clean off the back patio. I let the dogs out there this afternoon and they left presents for me. And I have to get my daughter Beth to make Brownies for work tomorrow. She is selling baked goods to help pay for her band trip next year and the girls want brownies again. Maybe I won’t get any writing done tonight after all.

TS Ophelia

Now Ophelia sits off our Coastline, it will be a hurricane by tonight. It hasn't decide which direction it wants to go and that scares me. It has rained for the last 2 days and we have had some minor road flooding and lots of standing water. I just love mosquitos. Hopefully Ophelia will head out to sea with Nate and Maria. I have my fingers crossed.

Hurricane Katrina

Katrina.

What can I say, she was the mother of all storms. She missed Fort Pierce, thank God, but we felt the feeder bands days after. What a monster. I have been watching T.V. almost non stop and I cry a lot. At work I have to turn off the T.V. because I find myself becoming angry listening to the pathetic people who call 911 over the most trivial annoyances. We survived 2 hurricanes last year. Francis and Jeanne made a mess and we are still repairing and rebuilding, but neither can hold a candle to Katrina. We suffered no casualties. The deaths from this storm will be counted in the thousands. Just in Gulfport alone the count is unbelievable.

We have a radio team that left last Wednesday and arrived Friday morning. They were lucky they made it, there was no gas to be found anywhere west of Pensacola. They will be there for a week setting up the portable radio trailer and trying to get radio communications back up. We sent 3 men up there and they are miserable. When we do hear from them they describe total destruction and they told us there are still many dead that are trapped in the rubble of there homes, there ran out of body bags days ago and had to request more. There are refrigerator trailers set up to receive the dead. I can’t bear to repeat how many are already full.

My husband volunteered to go but they have decided to send officers that are single and have no children. I am relieved in a way. I do not know what kind of man would return to me after witnessing so much destruction. I pray every day for the people who are still suffering. I can not imagine the horror they have been through. Fort Pierce had a small taste of what mother nature can bring to mankind and I pray that hurricane season passes quickly this year. I hold my breathe and wait.

All About Me

I enjoy coming home in the evenings after a long day of stress. My pool calls to me invitingly but I resisted today and as soon as I had changed into a tank and shorts I rushed to my computer and pulled up my blog site. I am having a terrible time getting my profile to save. Maybe later I’ll read the directions.

I did go back and pull up my story and counted how many chapters I have completed. So far I have 14 and I managed to get in 2 paragraphs on Chapter 15. Tonight I am hoping to complete it. My husband is working late tonight and the only distractions I have are my girls. One wants homework help and the other wants me to taste her cooking, which turned out quite well. Dinner was very good. I keep getting the urge to log into WOW but so far I am winning the battle. My character is going into work and I have to describe a confrontation with another employee and I am having a hard time with it. Not so much the confrontation itself but working up to the moment of impact. I love it when a scene finally works itself out and I find that I can’t type near as fast as I thought I could.

Well since I can’t get my profile to load I’ll give a brief synopsis of my life up till now. I was born and raised in the South Eastern USA living most of that time in Florida. I love the ocean and can not imaging living any where else. I moved around a lot as a child but finally settled in my home town when I was 16 and I have made a good life for myself. I met and married a wonderful man. We are currently raising our 3 wonderful children. He is in law enforcement. I went to college for my nursing degree only to flunk out. I always thought I would do well in a position where I could help people so when I flunked out of college I ended up at our local 911 Center and have worked there for 13 years. I have helped quite a few people but mostly I have listened to a lot of bull shit.

Right now “burn out” would be the word used to describe my attitude towards work. The title to my blog is actually a good description of what I do now. I had an elderly lady call several days ago crying hysterically because her water heater broke. She describe her plight to me in between sobs. I in my infinite wisdom told the woman “Ma’m It’s just water”. I had the raise my voice because she was hard of hearing so everyone in the center heard me and now my fellow employees rag on me every chance they get. It’s just water has become another one of a short collection witty come backs. Several months ago it was “step away from the cousin”. I tell that story another day. Or my favorite and most often mimicked “Listen to me!” I don’t know why I didn’t get reprimanded for that one.

Long story short I had to send out a police officer to calm her down. She was 80 years old and I did not want her to fall out (pass out, have heart attack, ect.) on my shift. Needless to say the officer responded and told her to call a plumber which is what I told her to do. Tax payer’s money in action, this is just typical of what my job has become and I wonder why I loath people sometimes. Well enough for tonight I really need to work on my story.

My First Blog Entry

I have avoided this all day. I don’t know why but I have. I have cleaned the house, the patio, and started the laundry. Beth is cooking so I don’t have that excuse. I started to play WOW (my current online game addiction) but I closed it down and finally resigned myself to the fact that I need to get this going.

I have always considered myself a decent author however I have yet to finish anything I have started unless it involved getting a good grade. School was a long time ago and even though I keep telling myself I am going to finish my degree I always seem to find something else to do. Work or cleaning the house or just needing extra sleep is just a few of the barriers that always seem to get in my way. However last night after working 6 hours of over time at a job that no longer makes me happy I have decided to sit down and finish one of my stories "Typical Florida Sunshine". It is a romance story in a nut shell. It’s about divorce, misunderstanding and then forgiveness. It’s not the greatest idea I have ever had or the best story I've ever written but I need to finish it.

I have set up my desk. I unfolded my old antique table and set it up in my empty living room. (I still can’t afford new furniture and I am taking donations) I put it in front of the window and I have a great view of the neighborhood. I moved my laptop to its new location from its previous spot on the kitchen counter. I am now away from the children and the T.V. but close enough to hear what is going on. I placed the beautiful roses my husband bought me Friday after another crisis my extended family seems to create. This one involved our travel trailer. Anyway, I have my root beer and my fan a comfortable chair and no reason not to write.

I decided on starting a blog to chronicle my journey from 911 operator to Author. I use to keep a journal when I was young and I never had any problems with anyone reading it so I thought a blog is away to start that tradition again. Besides, I like my sister-in-laws blog site and she is making new friends from all over and I hope to not only make a few new friends who may be making the same journey but also get some support. I should just join procrastinators anonymous but gas is just too expensive to leave home for anything other than work or food. (Good one!)

I am going to reread my story after I check my first blog entry for mistakes and add a few more paragraphs maybe even a chapter to my story. Wish me luck.