Tis the season...

Tis the season....

Im alive. Yep... Tissues and all. Ive pretty much beaten this cold this time. I bought something new to try and it seems to work really well. Cold-Eeze. There is one warning about this stuff though. You lose your sense of tasting anything normally for a while. They work though. You suck on them like a cough drop every couple of hours.

What I mean by losing your sense of taste is that after you have one, if you drink or eat anything, it will not taste what its supposed to taste like. I found this out the other day. I had one of them at work and then on the way home, I stopped at the local mini mart. I bought a Slim-Jim. When I took a bite, it was the most nastiest taste. I thought that maybe it was something wrong with the Slim-Jim so I had Cami taste it too and she thought it was as it should be. She finished it.

When we got home, I made dinner and the same thing happened. Fish and fries should not taste like that. It was so nasty that I couldnt eat it. But the thing is, the drop tastes really good. I think it leaves a coating on your tongue and throat. But another good thing was that I wasnt coughing or having something sticking to the back of my nose or in my lungs. I really was feeling great and was able to breathe. Oh and I could hear again too. Thats one of the worst things about having a cold. You feel like you are in a warehouse full of cobwebs.

Thanksgiving was pretty good. I ended up with two dinners. So yeah I stuffed myself silly and was in pain for a while. But it felt really good. Because of being so sick, I wasnt able to taste anything that well. Well maybe one thing. I think I felt it more than tasted it though. Cranberry sauce. I love the stuff. It was a cool experience this time though. I couldnt really taste it but for the feeling it left on my tongue. Hmmm....maybe I should try that with the cold-eeze.

I havent been into the holiday spirit that much. Usually I have the tree up and decorated on Black Friday. I honestly just havent been in the mood. Maybe its also because I have to remove the empty fish tank and Cami's massive doll house up to the attic so that I have room for the tree. Cami and I have all new ornaments this year. Most were purchased at the dollar store. Honestly, they are really pretty. Im once again going to do the tree in all silver and blue.

I decorate my tree in themes. Its the only thing that I put out at the holiday time. Maybe this year I will do some more stuff now that Cami is older and not at a risk to break things and get hurt. I have alot of Christmas stuff. I love this holiday the most. I think its because of the cold outside and the warmth inside and all the festive colors. I like visiting friends homes and they like coming to mine. Its that whole colorful festive feeling.

But I really need to get in the mood for it this year. Being sick and no snow is definately a damper. I have my holiday party for work coming up on the 7th and it will be at someones home this time. I think thats a better feeling than sitting in a restaurant or gathered in the school library. Its that warm home feeling. Im looking forward to it.

I think also that wa11z needs to get drunk with all of us here and we need to give him some paints or markers and a blank wall to play with. I swear that when Im able to buy my own home, he is getting a wall all to himself. I enjoy his work and I cant wait for more.

Cami has been doing absolutly awesome with the new medications. For the past month she has been herself again and Im thrilled. But she also sees the difference in herself. The past couple of days though havent been all that great. I think that the day time med needs a little adjustment. Shes a little frazzled on the edges again and not focusing as much. But this stuff is such a blessing. Her teacher even made the comment that he wants it in a liquid form and put in the drinking fountain.

I have an interesting weekend coming up. Sunday is the day that I get to bomb the house again. Spiders again. I was in the bathroom and they are coming out to peep again. I prefer not to shower with them. So that means that Mindy is off to the groomers and the cat gets to get all pissed off at me because she has to spend 3 hours in a carrier in my car with me.

Im cold. Its really cold outside and the clouds keep rolling in but nothing happens. I really think I need a little snow on the ground to get my spirits up for the holidays. I really want to get the tree up this weekend and next weekend I need to start shopping. Oh, and Cami went to see Santa twice already. The first time was the usual duck and chase sort of thing she does about being good and telling him that with a straight face. I cant do that though. He said she was a good girl and I made a face. She said... "Mooommm.... Dont tell him". The expression is priceless. The second time wasnt as drastic and she was upset that he didnt have any mints.

Achoo!!

Achoo

Ok so I have a cold again. Tis the season right? Some things just cant seem to be avoided. But I know I asked this queston in a previous blog. Where the hell does all this shit come from? I mean, the human sinus cavity is only just so big. But its draining like a faucet. So here I am drugged out of my mind on Tylenol cold medicine. Dont get me wrong. Its a great feeling of being totally numb from the eyebrows down.

But here I sit, quietly at my desk. Minding my own business. My ears are in a semi state of plugged. I can hear the hum of my computer. But there is another noise that creeps into my subconscious state of mind. Its a whistle. Yeah, seriously. A whistle. Im clicking all the buttons to see if its my computer. But ya know what? It suddenly hits me that its coming from my nose. Good gawd. Am I that wasted on cold meds?

I finished off a decent week though. Cami once again did an awesome job. Her teacher is pleasantly surprised at how well her medications are working. He made the comment of having a new student. It does make me feel better knowing that she can now concentrate on her work. Thursday we went to Michaels so that she could get a fuzzy poster to color. This is her reward for doing such a great job all week. I knew she had alot of homework to do though. But the odd part was that she did most of it in the car on the way there. Without the meds, this would not have happened. She would have fought it tooth and nail.

Saturday was a bit of a rough day for me. Three years ago, I lost my stepdad. He was a great guy to me and I really cant complain. He partially raised me to the person that I am today. Ok Ok. Stop saying that Im nuts. Im a little nuts, but thats who I am. If I wasnt like this, life would be really boring. So I am who I am. Tough tooties. But anywho, I went to the cemetery. I was a little miffed that there wasnt a headstone. Still. My stepbrother was supposed to put one on and yet again, he didnt. I dont want to call him because I really dont want anything to do with him. Its also not my responsibility to do this. He is the one that ran off with all the insurance money. He also got an extra $10K that really wasnt supposed to be his. But the agreement was that my mom paid for the funeral and he was to pay off the bills and put the headstone on. He didnt do either of them.

Also last year on the same day, I lost one of my dearest friends. I was going to make my way to visit her grave but I just couldnt bring myself to do it alone. I will have to call up a couple of my friends to do this with me.

On another note, my football picks suck. I mean really really suck badly. For the past couple of years, I have done really well and pulled in first place. But this year its just plain sucks. Im currently in last place. Even behind the one that cheats to the point of losing. Yeah that is possible. My moms boyfriend is whooping my ass though. Even though he is the one that calls me every week to put his picks in.

I have been working on getting the website up and running. My friend Ron has been doing the photo editing and also the setup for the site. Im a total moronic idiot when it comes to html codes. Hell, I cant even program the clock in my car to say the right time. But also I have been selling some items as well. This money will be going towards Christmas this year. Yeah its been getting pretty slim here. Im not going to get into any of this but those that know me personally, know whats going on. And its not my fault.

Also I have been making some new items. I need to get these photographed. I also need to get an international money order sent out to my dear friend Jim. He is the one that hooked me up with the light tent for all the photography work. This has been a dream to get that working right. Now the photos come out so perfectly. I do need a better camera and I have one set up in the works.

Tonight I went out with some friends from work. I really enjoyed myself for once. Its not often that I get to get out of the house. For those that are reading this, thank you for this. I needed it. And you know the reasons why. I hope that we can get another party because I know I should have gotten that one purse I was debating over and I can kick myself in the rear now for not getting it. Also I want the Baby Phat necklace too. ;o) Let me know when the next party is.

Geezes. There is that whistle again. I woke up this morning to the phone ringing. Ok Christy, so it wasnt exactly morning. But I was up earlier. Anyways, I could barely speak so Im not sure what she was thinking. I was all glogged up and my voice sounded like I ate sand. Goopy gooey sand. Yeah, it sounds gross. Nose gobblins running amuk. At least there wasnt any lung slugs.

A senseless killing....

This post is more of a rant than anything. But it needed to be done.

This is a post that I hoped to have never have had to write. But its something that has been on my mind for a year now. In a small town in Indiana, a 16 year old girl leaves the restaurant that she was working at. Her shift is over. She heads for home. A few minutes before she left, a coworker had done the same. She finds him on the side of the road working on his broken down vehicle and she stops to help him. Thats the last she was alive.

We later find out that this is a man that was released from a Kansas prison where he was serving a life term for a previous murder and an attempted murder. Who the hell in their right mind would let this man free? This has pissed me off for over a year now. This once beautiful and bright girl would still be alive if it wasnt for some jackass in Kansas.

There are tons of articles and blogs all over the internet about this case. But what started it all was a phone call late one night. My mom called to ask me to look up an Amber Alert on her. I saw it and paniced. I posted it all over every site I could think of. I checked on it a couple of hours later and found that the alert was canceled. When that happens, it means they have found the person. In this case, it wasnt a happy ending. She was found strangled and stabbed to death in a corn field a short distance away from where they found her car.

The man in question was arrested and charged with the murder. He is the one that led them to her body. He admitted to the deed but yet he pleaded not guilty. Can you imagine that? Not guilty? What the hell kind of thinking is that? The girl's family has been struck with countless tragedities. Why did this have to happen? Once again. Because someone was completely off their rocker. In my opinion, this person should share a cell with this man for the rest of their lives. But you know that wont happen. Which to me is complete bullshit.

So now we come to a year later and I just found out that this man has finally pleaded guilty for his crime and he will be sentenced in December. Whoopee doo. Will this be something where he will be sentenced to death? I would hope so. Last I knew, Indiana was a Death Penalty state. But more than likely, he will be labeled as insane. Does this make it right? Hell no. What he did was unspeakable.

Somewhere on the net, I saw where someone posted about a time line. From the time he committed his first crimes back in the 70s til now. I cant find the site though. If anyone does come across it, please link me to it. There is a father out there grieving and a mother out there with horrible scars, both physical and mental. I cry for both of these people. I cry for Stepanies family as well. Her father should not have had to go through this horror. Her mother should not have to live without her child. Her grandparents should not have to live through another death in the family. Her aunts, uncles and cousins should not have to suffer losing her. I say this because I know this pain first hand. Her father is my cousin. So this makes her my cousin also.

But also because of her death, Indiana has done some parole research to revise how they handle such cases. It will stop a furture sensless crime. But it didnt stop hers. People out there need to wake the hell up. These criminals need to stay behind bars. There is no such thing and rehabilitating a killer. There is no such thing as rehabilitating any serious criminal. Why cant anyone understand this?

There is a man that lives near me. He committed the same crime three times and served three times. Yet he is out there to do this crime again. He is listed as a registered level three. This is a high risk level. This means that he has the potential to do this again. Yet he is placed in a position where he has access to potential victims within his own household and neighborhood. Why does this happen? Because prisons are too crowded? We need to go back to the old days and execute those that are a 'known' criminal and that they have actually committed the crimes. Yes there will be alot of paperwork and crap to prove that they are indeed the ones that did it. But once that process is complete, they need to be done away with. I dont care if this person has a family. I would do it to my family had they taken someones life intentionally. Note that I did say intentionally.

Where do these people get rights from? They stole the rights from someone else when they took their lives or their innocence away from them. These assholes lost their own rights at that moment. Staphanie lost her right to live. Why should Danny have any rights at all? I say that he needs to be executed the same way he killed her. Only this time, he needs to look at his crimes when they do it to him. And it needs to be done slowly and painfully. Not with a shock or an injection. He needs to feel pain. The pain she felt and the pain her family and friends still feel and will feel for the rest of their lives.

These are some of the links to the story and blogs on the web. If you find more, please feel free to link them for me.

http://www.merrimusings.mu.nu/index.php/archive/danny-r-rouse-paroled-murder-redux/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0701260176jan26,0,5079701,full.story

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061103/News01/611030362

http://www.in.gov/S18/4-29-07.htm

http://www.fox28.com/News/index.php?ID=7445

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/02/ap/national/mainD8L527V00.shtml

http://www.curevents.com/vb/showthread.php?t=62066

http://www.myspace.com/stephie2269

And CNN did a segment of Nancy Grace about this case. I wish they would do an updated one.