Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween

I was kid free on this Halloween night. I only have had one little group of Trick or Treaters all night. Catherine went out Trick Or Treating with her friends. Carolynn went with her friend to a church thing and maybe some Trick Or Treating. I think that the girls had a pretty good Halloween this year. Especially Catherine. Carolynn got grounded due to some test grade issues and, though she was invited to several, she did not get to go to any of her friends' parties. She was forced to stay home and clean. She did a good job. She did some studying and helped out at Catherine's party.

Catherine had a Halloween party last night. She didn't have a birthday party this year, so we agreed she could have a party for Halloween. She had 7 friends come. They wore costumes. They played some party games. They sang and danced. I hope they had a good time.

On Friday Catherine's school had a Halloween parade. There were some silly costumes. She said it was fun and they got to do some Halloween activities and get some candy and prizes.

It was quite the weekend.

And here is a video to prove it. Enjoy.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Goblins On Parade

Yesterday Catherine's school had their Halloween event. The kids paraded around showing off their fabulous costumes. Catherine is being a black cat this year. The girls both made their costumes this year. I don't know where Catherine found the stuff for hers.



This was my favorite one of the day. This boy is dressed like Thanksgiving dinner. I love it.

Friday, October 29, 2010

A Day In The Life

Indecent Proposal


I was handing out supplies. That was all I was doing. Toilet paper, soap, paper and envelopes, deodorant... you get the idea. I had given the inmates in that particular cell some stuff and all I did was ask if they wanted anything else.

Inmate: Yes, I want something else that you have.

Me: What?

Inmate: I need something for the swelling.

Me: What?

Inmate: I have a huge one and I need you to help me relieve the swelling.

Me: Was it really important for you to say that?

Inmate: Yes. You gave me this problem.

Me: Guess what? Now I am giving you an shot. Enjoy.

I walked a few cells down continuing my distribution of supplies. The inmate is banging on the door and yelling my name. Another officer went over to check. I walk closer to hear what he was saying.

Officer: What is the problem?

Inmate: Is she really going to write me up?

Officer: It's her choice.

Inmate: She can't do that. I was just kidding. Can't she take a joke?

Officer: You shouldn't joke about that.

Inmate: If she writes me up, it's going to be bad. I am going to throw things, hold traps, and more. Look me up, I got a life sentence. I am never getting out of here and I don't care.

Me: I don't either. I am going home in an hour. Good luck.

I did write the inmate up. I didn't hear anything about him making good on his threats. As a matter of fact, just two days later I escorted him to recreation and he acted like we had never met. I had no problems delivering his meals either.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Thursday Thirteen



Thirteen Yummy Candies


1. Snickers
2. Milky Way
3. Milk Duds
4. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
5. Skittles
6. Starburst
7. M & M's
8. Twix
9. Hershey's With Almonds
10. 3 Musketeers
11. Mars
12. Twizzler
13. Candy Corn

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Award Winning

Catherine entered some art in a contest for the Town Of Apple Valley to be part of their 2011 calendar. She won for the month of May. The calendars will be available at the Town of Apple Valley in mid-December. Tonight they had a special awards ceremony at the town chambers. She got to go in front of the town council, show her wining artwork, and have her picture taken with the mayor and the rest of the council.

Here she is presenting her artwork.



Here she is with the council.



Here she is showing off her winning artwork. The title of this painting is "Mr. Sparkle Cow".



Not only will her artwork be featured in the Town of Apple Valley calendar, she also won a backpack, a drawing pad and some markers.

(Also, just FYI... I have been sick for two days. I feel terrible. I thought it was a million degrees in the council chambers.)

Saturday, October 23, 2010

The Saga Of The Jeep Truck

Yep, it broke again. With a truck that old, I tend to expect it. Th fixes are never too expensive. Next year I am so buying David a real car. But for the next week, we are sharing. No problem.

I have been so tired lately. I think I need a vacation.

I have been reading the Twilight series. I am about a third of the way through the last book. I have no plans to ever see the movies. They looked so terrible that I didn't want to ruin the books. Not that the books are amazing quality. But it's interesting enough that I read most of them.

Catherine is having a Halloween party next weekend. She is very excited. I am sure I will take a million pictures.

Friday, October 22, 2010

A Day In The Life

Minty Fresh


Gum is definitely not allowed for inmates. It can be used to jam locks, ruin the floors, and other not-so-good stuff. So, when you suspect an inmate of having gum, you look for it.

I had noticed one inmate always seemed to be chewing gum. I saw her chewing at her job as well as walking on the compound. But of course, when I questioned her, there was nothing. Another officer had also seen her chewing while she worked. A counselor had noticed her chewing in the lunch line.

So we started to search. We searched her bunk area. We searched her work area. We searched her rec area. We searched all her stuff. Nothing.

Other inmates were getting nervous. Those who work in her area were afraid we would find something there and they might get blamed. Finally, one of her co-workers came to me privately. The co-worker was about to go home and didn't want any trouble. So she told me where I could find the gum.

The inmate's co-worker told me that this inmate was getting the gum during visiting. Specifically, her husband was bringing it in to her. So I came up with a plan. Since I was the visiting officer, I decided that on the next available visiting day, every inmate leaving visiting would get strip searched. (Usually, we are only required to do a small amount strip searched.)

Saturday came along. The husband of the gum chewer had arrived. He was a very nice man. He really seemed to love his wife, despite the fact that she was in prison. They were getting ready to celebrate their 42nd wedding anniversary. I couldn't imagine why they would risk their visiting privilege over gum. He came to see her every weekend.

As the day went on, inmates came in and went. And all who went were subjected to my search. No matter who went out, I got them. I assumed that by the third or fourth one who left, the other inmates had caught on to the searches.

Or not.

The inmate I suspected was ready to leave. I walked in behind her to the processing room. She assumed the regular position of a pat search. I said no, today was strip search. She freaked a little, said she had to go to the bathroom, and bolted out of the processing room and into the restroom.

There was a restroom area in the processing area.

But I waited. She was in there for a long time. She finally came out and went back into the processing area. She didn't see but, I locked the bathroom as soon as she came out.

I searched her. I found nothing. Surprise. She got dressed and exited.

I went back to the bathroom. I unlocked it and went in and tossed it. At the bottom of the trash can I found a little bag of gum and a little bag of Good & Plenty candies. In another trash can, under the bag, I found a Baby Ruth candy bar.

I called a lieutenant and I wrote the inmate an incident report. The lieutenant came over to get pictures of my finds and to serve the inmate with her incident report.

The inmate was not surprised she got caught. She confessed to the whole thing. She lost her visiting privilege for 6 months. She lost her job, and she lost her room. (She had a nice big corner window room with no roommate. She moved to a smaller, inner room with another inmate.)

I hope it was worth it.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Thursday Thirteen




13 Of Disney's Most Evil Villains

1. Maleficent – Sleeping Beauty


2. Captain Hook- Peter Pan


3. Cruella DeVille- 101 Dalmatians


4. Ursula- The Little Mermaid


5. Hades- Hercules


6. Jafar- Aladdin


7. Wicked Queen- Snow White


8. Evil Step Mother- Cinderella


9. Madame Medusa- The Rescuers


10. Queen Of Hearts- Alice In Wonderland


11. Shere Khan- The Jungle Book


12. Scar- The Lion King


13. Syndrome- The Incredibles

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Off On Sunday

I haven't had a weekend day off since March. Today was fabulous.

First, we went to get the tire fixed on my car. Yesterday, when I left work, I found a flat. Luckily a super co-worker of mine went and put on the spare. I made it home. First thing this morning, we were off to get it fixed. It wasn't fixable. So now I have two new tires and two old tires. I'll go and get two more new tires when I get paid again.

We bought lots of candy and prizes for the Halloween party Catherine is having. We went to the mall and got some lunch and looked around. We went to Party City for more Halloween stuff.

Then I took a nap. Yes I did. It was awesome.

For dinner I made chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles. It was so good.

I guess this new work schedule does have it's perks.

Friday, October 15, 2010

A Day In The Life

Breakfast... Most Important Meal Of The Day


In the Special Housing Unit, inmates are locked in for 23 hours a day. Therefore we have to deliver everything to them. One day, another officer and I are passing out breakfast. There is cereal, milk, bananas and scones. We push the cart down each section and give one breakfast to each inmate. We finish one section and move on to the next. We are moving along nicely.

We start down the next section. We just barely started when I run into a large problem. At about the second cell, I opened the little trap door to hand over the food and a very large arm comes out. The inmate is holding trap door and refusing to move. I asked him what his deal was. He claims he didn't get his medication and he won't move until he gets it. I know I had seen the guy handing out medication about an hour before. As it turned out, this particular inmate was asleep when the medication was being passed out. They tried to wake him, but he refused to get up. He wants what he wants when he wants it. That is not exactly how prison works, which is unfortunate for him.

Since he is refusing to move, we have no choice but to leave the area. It is for our own safety. That means no one else in that area is getting any breakfast just yet. Another officer tries to reason with him. No dice. We move on to the next area. After we finish there I walk back and ask him again to give it up. He said no. I tell him he is being selfish because he is preventing everyone else from getting to eat. He said he didn't care. "There is a time to be selfish", he says.

Whatever. Some people cannot be reasonable.

It's a while before a lieutenant comes down to speak with him. So long in fact, we have to put the milk away. The inmates in that section are getting mad. They are yelling and pounding. It is getting so loud. Even after the lieutenant goes to talk with him, he refuses to move. It gets louder and louder. Again the lieutenant talks to him.

I don't know what he said the second time, but this time, he let go. The door was closed. We could pass out the rest of the breakfast. Finally.

So we did. Then we turned right around and passed out lunch.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Hit And Run

Today started out rather unusual. I got up and went to work. I had to be there at 6:00 AM. Or so I thought.... I get there and find out I had been moved to 8:00 AM. Oh well, it happens. Luckily I live close enough, I just went home.

That wasn't the unusual part though.

As I was again returning to work I witnessed a very strange accident. A small gold Nissan pick-up truck pulled out onto the road I was traveling on. It didn't even stop at the stop sign. At the last second, the driver seemed to notice the very large silver Ford F-150 that was in front of me. The driver of the Nissan veered but he slid sideways into the Ford. Slam!

I stopped and pulled over to the side of the road. I was far enough back to be safe. That's when the Nissan just took off. It skidded out and practically flew off. I started to get out of the car to see if the people in the Ford were okay. That is when the Ford just took off after the Nissan.

Wow.

People are crazy.

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Bone Head

I have been so stressed lately. I had this issue with my job, and while it is all resolved now, it was really freaking me out.

To top off my stress, I have been having some severe allergy issues. Zyrtec works, but it keeps me from sleeping.

I have been a mess.

At the first of the month, I wrote a check for the rent, as I always do. Then I put it in my purse. Then I promptly forgot all about it. Until they brought David a notice.

I was so embarrassed. I have never been late with my rent. NEVER.

I am such a FAIL.

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Lost

Yep, so the computer has been broken. I got it back today. All my pictures are lost. I am pretty mad.

Needless to say, it will take me some time to get my computer back to the way I like it. Then I can get back to regaling you with stories of my fabulous job, pictures of my kids and pets, and other assorted nonsense that is in fact my life.