Wednesday, June 28, 2006
You've Got To Be Kidding Me
Im going to try really hard not to make this blog entry a rant about Catholism. Mostly out of respect for anyone who reads this that is Catholic. I find many things about that sect of Christianity absolutely ridiculous and even damaging to people's spiritual well-being. But, I will try not to go there....
Instead I will focus on this.
What I find most disturbing is not that he seems to blame everyone around him for his transgressions, including the parents of the individuals he molested and raped - but the fact the catholic church knew all about his crimes, and did nothing about it. No, wait...not only did NOTHING, but kept crucial information from authorities that enabled O'Grady to continue to abuse children for years. They schleped him around from parish to parish to cover up the allegations and all the while giving him new and unsuspecting victims to prey on. I can only hope that God has a special place for them also...maybe as victims of O'Grady himself someday in hell.
While I know O'Grady is the lowest of disgusting creations, I dont feel much different about the church officials that enabled him to continue his abuse than I would about a mother who turns her head to the abuse that a father or step-father inflicts on their children. To me, the individuals who could have stopped O'Grady, and didnt, are the same as the monsters who buy and sell children for prostitution or, at most flattering, the slimy pimp on the street corner. Vile.
Instead I will focus on this.
What I find most disturbing is not that he seems to blame everyone around him for his transgressions, including the parents of the individuals he molested and raped - but the fact the catholic church knew all about his crimes, and did nothing about it. No, wait...not only did NOTHING, but kept crucial information from authorities that enabled O'Grady to continue to abuse children for years. They schleped him around from parish to parish to cover up the allegations and all the while giving him new and unsuspecting victims to prey on. I can only hope that God has a special place for them also...maybe as victims of O'Grady himself someday in hell.
While I know O'Grady is the lowest of disgusting creations, I dont feel much different about the church officials that enabled him to continue his abuse than I would about a mother who turns her head to the abuse that a father or step-father inflicts on their children. To me, the individuals who could have stopped O'Grady, and didnt, are the same as the monsters who buy and sell children for prostitution or, at most flattering, the slimy pimp on the street corner. Vile.
Monday, June 26, 2006
hot Hot HOT!
Well summer has officially started for us here in Ghettosville. Living in Port Angeles is always a guessing game when it comes to the weather. Seasons tend to blend together and only one common denominator exists: rain. Therefore, its always a pleasant surprise when we get hot weather. The past two days its been between 85-90 degrees. Considering most people here wear shorts when it hits 60 degrees, this is major here in Ghettosville. When its 90 degrees here you will often see various stages of dress in the grocery store...shoes optional. Its like rain in LA.... people over-react. At Wal-mart Im sure there was a rampage in the fan/kiddie pool isle. Today is supposed to get the warmest of all...up to 92 in some places. Im expecting Troy to come home with stories of people arriving at the store in their under-things towing their kids in dirty bathing suits and no shoes.
Jubilee is really digging the warm weather. We've been playing in the sprinkler and pouring cups of water all over ourselves. She discovered that if you turn the little knob on the faucet, the sprinkler can go really big...or really little. This is especially funny if you can catch Papa or Meema in the water.
The warm weather is supposed to last all week with it being hot again next weekend...YAY - thats camping weekend! Hopefully I will have some good pictures from the trip to post for you all.
Jubilee is really digging the warm weather. We've been playing in the sprinkler and pouring cups of water all over ourselves. She discovered that if you turn the little knob on the faucet, the sprinkler can go really big...or really little. This is especially funny if you can catch Papa or Meema in the water.
The warm weather is supposed to last all week with it being hot again next weekend...YAY - thats camping weekend! Hopefully I will have some good pictures from the trip to post for you all.
Monday, June 19, 2006
My Pharmacy, My Icky Eye, and My I Miss Yous
Recently while camping with my parents, my mom made fun of my little pill-minder. If you dont know what one is, it looks like this. I got it because over the past year or so, the amount of medication I take regularly has gone from zero to ....lots.
Is this what happens when you start to get old? You start to organize your personal pharmacy? I used to never take pills....for anything. Now I have to have a pill organizer otherwise it takes me 15 minutes just to get all the childproof caps off and back on everytime I take meds. Hmm..Im making this sound like Im a pill popper who takes oodles of pills to function. ...no no. Just birth control and metformin (several times a day) for PCOS, something for anxiety, and then Prednisone for my icky eye. ....yes, I decided to take the Pred.
I did some more research on that, and the reason I decided to go ahead with it is I was only taking it for 3 weeks. Many of the complications that may come with taking Prednisone only happen when taking it long term. I can testify tho that it makes you SUPER hungry. Plus, when you eat, you never feel full. JUST what I need! UGH! On the positive side, my eye looks MUCH better. Im in the process of tapering back down off the Pred, so we'll see what my eye does when Im done with that. If the ickyness comes back, I have to go see a doctor who specializes in the orbit of the eye.
Because I hate ending any blog entry without talking about Miss Jubilation Lee, I will tell you about her latest phrase: I miss you. Being a mom of a two year old, I get frustrated..or tired, or want to pluck myself bald if I hear "MOMMYMOMMYMOMMY" one more time, (or all three). But let me tell you...all it takes is Jubilee looking at me with those big blue eyes and for her to say,, "Mommy??" "Yes Juju?" "....I miss you!" I love when she says it appropriately...like when she's been at Grandma's all day. But I also love it when she runs in from just the next room to say it too. Totally makes my day.
Is this what happens when you start to get old? You start to organize your personal pharmacy? I used to never take pills....for anything. Now I have to have a pill organizer otherwise it takes me 15 minutes just to get all the childproof caps off and back on everytime I take meds. Hmm..Im making this sound like Im a pill popper who takes oodles of pills to function. ...no no. Just birth control and metformin (several times a day) for PCOS, something for anxiety, and then Prednisone for my icky eye. ....yes, I decided to take the Pred.
I did some more research on that, and the reason I decided to go ahead with it is I was only taking it for 3 weeks. Many of the complications that may come with taking Prednisone only happen when taking it long term. I can testify tho that it makes you SUPER hungry. Plus, when you eat, you never feel full. JUST what I need! UGH! On the positive side, my eye looks MUCH better. Im in the process of tapering back down off the Pred, so we'll see what my eye does when Im done with that. If the ickyness comes back, I have to go see a doctor who specializes in the orbit of the eye.
Because I hate ending any blog entry without talking about Miss Jubilation Lee, I will tell you about her latest phrase: I miss you. Being a mom of a two year old, I get frustrated..or tired, or want to pluck myself bald if I hear "MOMMYMOMMYMOMMY" one more time, (or all three). But let me tell you...all it takes is Jubilee looking at me with those big blue eyes and for her to say,, "Mommy??" "Yes Juju?" "....I miss you!" I love when she says it appropriately...like when she's been at Grandma's all day. But I also love it when she runs in from just the next room to say it too. Totally makes my day.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
A Few Pictures of The Juju Bean
Sorry it took me so long to post these. Im a slacker! These were pictures Mom took....I still have a bunch on my camera that I cant seem to find at the moment.
Here is Juju sitting on the steps of Papa and Meema's trailer. As you can see we started the week with cute summer clothes. By the end she pretty much was running around in just a diaper. Between the swimming and the popsicles, she was going to run out of clothes!
Jubilee LOVED the water! She would wake up and her first words would be, "Swimmin'?!"
Here is Juju sitting on the steps of Papa and Meema's trailer. As you can see we started the week with cute summer clothes. By the end she pretty much was running around in just a diaper. Between the swimming and the popsicles, she was going to run out of clothes!
Jubilee LOVED the water! She would wake up and her first words would be, "Swimmin'?!"
She loved taking rides in the boat too..Papa even let her drive.
Swimmin' some more!
Saturday, June 10, 2006
And... We're Back!
After spending 6 very relaxing days camping and fishing in Eastern Washington, we are back at home and hitting the daily grind.
The trip started off with a 6 hour impromptu car ride a day early. Troy had a baseball tourny that got rained out so we decided to jump in the car and take off. I was a little concerned about the long car ride and Jubilee getting impatient. Turns out I didnt have to worry at all. She did great. In fact the last couple hours she just stared at the scenery impressed with the big mountains, "BIIIIG Mountains! Dont fall!!!" We didnt tell Mom and Dad we left early and just showed up on their door step at 9pm and said, "SURPRISE!" They were totally surprised even tho mom did call while we were in Tacoma and asked me to bring my big cooking pot. I had to lie and say, "okay!" After yelling, "Surprise!" Jubilee broke out in her rendition of Happy Birthday to You. It was quite cute!
We spent one night in Lake Chelan, (well, not IN the Lake...the Town), and after saying goodbyes to the extended family there, we left for Blue Lake. Blue Lake is just one of the tons of lakes in the surrounding area. They are all incredibly beautiful and serene. After arriving and stripping down to summer clothes, (it was in the mid-80s all week), we set up camp and had some hot dogs with Aunt Jan and Uncle Hugh who stopped to picnic with us on their way back to Spokane from Lake Chelan. Jubilee discovered the water shortly after that. She spent lots of time throughout the week wading into the lake, splashing in the water, filling and emptying her bucket and watering can, and throwing rocks into the water. She even got to go on some rides in Papa's boat and helped him drive it! She had a blast. Every morning we would wake up and practically the second thing she said was, "Swimmin'??". I loved seeing her experience something new. We have lots of water here in PA, but always too cold to play in it.
We did lots of fishing and Troy out-fished everyone. I think I convinced him its because he stinks like a fish and so they feel kindred. Troy also made another friend while we were there. As he was making his hourly trek to the bathroom, he came upon a turtle just hanging out in the grass. Troy brought him back to the campsite and set him by the water. For the rest of the week that turtle swam around right in front of our trailer and once in a while would pop his head up as if to wave to Troy fondly.
As relaxing and uneventful as this trip was, we did have some excitement. We were about to leave to get some dinner in nearby Electric City and to get a gander at the Grand Coulee Dam before noticing a lady approaching the van. She said a sailboater was overturned and didnt seem to be able to right himself. She handed us her binoculars and we looked out to see a poor guy hanging onto the side of his sailboat for dear life. The wind was blowing, but not too hard...besides, the wind should help him get back over. We recognized the man as our neighbor in the next campsite. Mom Botts walked over to tell his wife and ask if he would be ok. The wife started to panic and yelled, "he cant swim! he cant swim!" Sure enough, he was wearing no life jacket! So Dad jumped out of the van and into his boat. He zoomed out and rescued the sailboater who had way too much water in his boat to turn over. Dad Botts the Hero!
I'll have more trip details and pictures soon!
The trip started off with a 6 hour impromptu car ride a day early. Troy had a baseball tourny that got rained out so we decided to jump in the car and take off. I was a little concerned about the long car ride and Jubilee getting impatient. Turns out I didnt have to worry at all. She did great. In fact the last couple hours she just stared at the scenery impressed with the big mountains, "BIIIIG Mountains! Dont fall!!!" We didnt tell Mom and Dad we left early and just showed up on their door step at 9pm and said, "SURPRISE!" They were totally surprised even tho mom did call while we were in Tacoma and asked me to bring my big cooking pot. I had to lie and say, "okay!" After yelling, "Surprise!" Jubilee broke out in her rendition of Happy Birthday to You. It was quite cute!
We spent one night in Lake Chelan, (well, not IN the Lake...the Town), and after saying goodbyes to the extended family there, we left for Blue Lake. Blue Lake is just one of the tons of lakes in the surrounding area. They are all incredibly beautiful and serene. After arriving and stripping down to summer clothes, (it was in the mid-80s all week), we set up camp and had some hot dogs with Aunt Jan and Uncle Hugh who stopped to picnic with us on their way back to Spokane from Lake Chelan. Jubilee discovered the water shortly after that. She spent lots of time throughout the week wading into the lake, splashing in the water, filling and emptying her bucket and watering can, and throwing rocks into the water. She even got to go on some rides in Papa's boat and helped him drive it! She had a blast. Every morning we would wake up and practically the second thing she said was, "Swimmin'??". I loved seeing her experience something new. We have lots of water here in PA, but always too cold to play in it.
We did lots of fishing and Troy out-fished everyone. I think I convinced him its because he stinks like a fish and so they feel kindred. Troy also made another friend while we were there. As he was making his hourly trek to the bathroom, he came upon a turtle just hanging out in the grass. Troy brought him back to the campsite and set him by the water. For the rest of the week that turtle swam around right in front of our trailer and once in a while would pop his head up as if to wave to Troy fondly.
As relaxing and uneventful as this trip was, we did have some excitement. We were about to leave to get some dinner in nearby Electric City and to get a gander at the Grand Coulee Dam before noticing a lady approaching the van. She said a sailboater was overturned and didnt seem to be able to right himself. She handed us her binoculars and we looked out to see a poor guy hanging onto the side of his sailboat for dear life. The wind was blowing, but not too hard...besides, the wind should help him get back over. We recognized the man as our neighbor in the next campsite. Mom Botts walked over to tell his wife and ask if he would be ok. The wife started to panic and yelled, "he cant swim! he cant swim!" Sure enough, he was wearing no life jacket! So Dad jumped out of the van and into his boat. He zoomed out and rescued the sailboater who had way too much water in his boat to turn over. Dad Botts the Hero!
I'll have more trip details and pictures soon!
Thursday, June 01, 2006
The Gauntlet of Spiders
Ok, I know Ive blogged about this before, but I cannot stress enough of how I HATE HATE HATE spiders. My husband knows this and uses any chance he gets to torture me about it. If I scream, "SPIDERRRRRR!" from anywhere in the house, he knows his instant and mandatory duty is to jump up and kill it for me. We've been married for 10 years - its always been this way - it will never change. Yet every time before he dutifully makes his way to the spider in question, he asks, "How big is it??" As if knowing this bit of information makes a difference in his job. It doesnt matter! Its a spider! THEY ARE ALL BIG!
Im driving home tonight and I notice a ugly blonde spider crawling on my dash board and I know then I have a choice. Troy is not with me and I doubt as much as I beg her to, Jubilee is not going to get out of her carseat and kill a spider for me while I keep my eyes on the road. So I can either ignore it and let the spider go on its happy way while I drive safely down the road, OR... I can whimper and try to squirm away from the spider who is inching closer and closer to me. Guess which one I chose? Thats right, I squealed like a little girl stuck in a room full of...well, spiders. I dont know how, but I didnt run off the road or hit any pedestrians. I dont even remember looking at the road. All I know is there was a spider and he was getting closer to me. I wanted to pull off the road, jump out and flag down the nearest car for someone to save me and my little girl who was still stuck in the van with the huge venomous spider who Im sure was planning my demise. But, I didnt want to over-react.
By this time I suppose I was whimpering and whining so much that Jubilee was asking, "Mommy? ...doing?" I said, "Theres a spiderrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!" "A spiiider???" She asks this question not as I would have. As if by spider I meant horrible meat eating beast about to attack my brain thru my eyeballs.... No, she asks in a sweet little voice, "Spiiider?? I want see!" *blinks* There is no way I am going to pull over and show my daughter this spider for a cute little life lesson about bugs.
I start to brainstorm...ok..what can I do... Soon that spider is going to touch me. I take the extra hair scrunchee I have around my gear shift, (like every smart girl has), and with every brave fiber in my being that I could muster up...I threw the scrunchee at the spider. Ok, Ok, I know a scrunchee is not known for its mortal wounding capabilities, but MAYBE, just maybe I could push it away from me a little. And it worked! He fell to the floor.....still not dead - damn scrunchee - but hes farther away from me. Im not far from home at this point and think I can make it home while I keep one eye on the road and one eye on the spider. Then I notice some movement on the windshield. I look close and there it is.... A SECOND SPIDER!
At this point Im telling myself to breathe. There is two! This could only mean there is a conspiracy against me. They have a team! They have a nest! OMG, they have a PLAN!
Instantly memories flood my brain of when I was a small child. Going to Lake Sutherland happy and excited to go swimming...heading to the dock in my cute little rainbow bikini. Running to the diving board and jumping into the water from as high as I could get and splashing into the cool water. It felt so good and it was so fun... I had to get back on that diving board so I swam as fast as I could to the ladder up to the dock. I surfaced up on the platform and felt funny...itchy...tingly.... I look down and my body is COVERED in baby spiders!!! All strewn together with web and not falling off me no matter how hard I shook my body... Finally I flung myself back into the water to get them off, but it was too late. I had already been scarred for life.
So there I am in my van facing two of the spiders whom I am positive are decendents of the ones I obviously failed drowning so long ago and I cant hold it together any more. I cant pull over because Im sure if I jump out they will jump on me and wont be able to get away quick enough. And we were for sure not near any body of water I could jump into. So I did what any Mom would do faced with the imminent danger of herself and her baby. I grabbed Jubilee's Dora the Explorer umbrella and I beat those two spiders repeatedly until I saw guts and knew they were dead. I was so proud of myself and I dont even care what I looked like flailing a Dora umbrella around while driving.
You would think this unfortunate event was enough spider interaction for one day. Oh no...not for me. I get home and get Jubilee out of the van, and she is still talking about the gore. "Ewwwwwwww! smooooshed spider!" We make our way to the enclosed sidewalk in front of our house and I look up.... What do I see, but TWO icky spiders nests. There were open and baby spiders were all slithering over eacher in two separate patches right above where we had to walk to get into the front door. No way. Im not doing it again. I cant just ignore them. I cant muster up enough in me to kill them and there is NO way I am walking under them just to have them fall on me, crawl in my ears and lay more eggs. NO WAY. I scoop Jubilee up and go around to the back where we can safely enter the house. Thank god that path is clear..otherwise we'd still be out there waiting for Troy to get home. And as soon as he does, he's going on spider duty.
Im driving home tonight and I notice a ugly blonde spider crawling on my dash board and I know then I have a choice. Troy is not with me and I doubt as much as I beg her to, Jubilee is not going to get out of her carseat and kill a spider for me while I keep my eyes on the road. So I can either ignore it and let the spider go on its happy way while I drive safely down the road, OR... I can whimper and try to squirm away from the spider who is inching closer and closer to me. Guess which one I chose? Thats right, I squealed like a little girl stuck in a room full of...well, spiders. I dont know how, but I didnt run off the road or hit any pedestrians. I dont even remember looking at the road. All I know is there was a spider and he was getting closer to me. I wanted to pull off the road, jump out and flag down the nearest car for someone to save me and my little girl who was still stuck in the van with the huge venomous spider who Im sure was planning my demise. But, I didnt want to over-react.
By this time I suppose I was whimpering and whining so much that Jubilee was asking, "Mommy? ...doing?" I said, "Theres a spiderrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!" "A spiiider???" She asks this question not as I would have. As if by spider I meant horrible meat eating beast about to attack my brain thru my eyeballs.... No, she asks in a sweet little voice, "Spiiider?? I want see!" *blinks* There is no way I am going to pull over and show my daughter this spider for a cute little life lesson about bugs.
I start to brainstorm...ok..what can I do... Soon that spider is going to touch me. I take the extra hair scrunchee I have around my gear shift, (like every smart girl has), and with every brave fiber in my being that I could muster up...I threw the scrunchee at the spider. Ok, Ok, I know a scrunchee is not known for its mortal wounding capabilities, but MAYBE, just maybe I could push it away from me a little. And it worked! He fell to the floor.....still not dead - damn scrunchee - but hes farther away from me. Im not far from home at this point and think I can make it home while I keep one eye on the road and one eye on the spider. Then I notice some movement on the windshield. I look close and there it is.... A SECOND SPIDER!
At this point Im telling myself to breathe. There is two! This could only mean there is a conspiracy against me. They have a team! They have a nest! OMG, they have a PLAN!
Instantly memories flood my brain of when I was a small child. Going to Lake Sutherland happy and excited to go swimming...heading to the dock in my cute little rainbow bikini. Running to the diving board and jumping into the water from as high as I could get and splashing into the cool water. It felt so good and it was so fun... I had to get back on that diving board so I swam as fast as I could to the ladder up to the dock. I surfaced up on the platform and felt funny...itchy...tingly.... I look down and my body is COVERED in baby spiders!!! All strewn together with web and not falling off me no matter how hard I shook my body... Finally I flung myself back into the water to get them off, but it was too late. I had already been scarred for life.
So there I am in my van facing two of the spiders whom I am positive are decendents of the ones I obviously failed drowning so long ago and I cant hold it together any more. I cant pull over because Im sure if I jump out they will jump on me and wont be able to get away quick enough. And we were for sure not near any body of water I could jump into. So I did what any Mom would do faced with the imminent danger of herself and her baby. I grabbed Jubilee's Dora the Explorer umbrella and I beat those two spiders repeatedly until I saw guts and knew they were dead. I was so proud of myself and I dont even care what I looked like flailing a Dora umbrella around while driving.
You would think this unfortunate event was enough spider interaction for one day. Oh no...not for me. I get home and get Jubilee out of the van, and she is still talking about the gore. "Ewwwwwwww! smooooshed spider!" We make our way to the enclosed sidewalk in front of our house and I look up.... What do I see, but TWO icky spiders nests. There were open and baby spiders were all slithering over eacher in two separate patches right above where we had to walk to get into the front door. No way. Im not doing it again. I cant just ignore them. I cant muster up enough in me to kill them and there is NO way I am walking under them just to have them fall on me, crawl in my ears and lay more eggs. NO WAY. I scoop Jubilee up and go around to the back where we can safely enter the house. Thank god that path is clear..otherwise we'd still be out there waiting for Troy to get home. And as soon as he does, he's going on spider duty.
Odds and Ends
Im going to give you guys just some odds and ends of whats been going on, whats been going on my head, (that section with be SHORT!), and whats coming up!
Diversified Resource Center
DRC is where I used to work before choosing to be a stay-at-home mommy. Before I left there, things were changing big time. We had just gotten a new Executive Director and he was making some waves in the water of the community. DRC was, at the time, the largest and longest-standing provider of services to people with disabilities on the Olympic Peninsula. Its something the staff, board, and parents of our customers had invested much pride. Right before I left, the Exec was making some changes and trying to explain to the staff what they were. Most of us came away from long pointless meetings wondering what the heck we were supposed to understand. It was confusing and muddled. When asked if he could clarify, the explanation only got worse.
A few days ago there was an article in the paper all about the NEW Diversified Resource Center. There is not one department within DRC now that serves people with disabilities directly. Programs and contracts that were painstakingly researched and babied thru to perfection were no longer. They are now strangely close to being a economic development council. There is nothing recognizable about the former DRC besides the name and the 401 (c) 3 status. They are even located in a different county. Even the staff is different. From what I understand, he chased off all the former staff and hired his friends. Sad really...Makes me wonder what happened to all of our clients and their jobs.
Upcoming Camping Trip
We are leaving in a few days to spend some quiet time in Eastern Washington camping and fishing. I am looking forward to fishing with my Dad. I love hanging out with Dad.....especially when I can out-fish him. Im also looking forward to Jubilee riding in the boat. She is really into boats and airplanes right now. If anything resembling either is remotely in her sight, we hear, "AIRRRRRPLANE! AIRRRRRRPLANE!" or "BOOOAT! BIIIIIIIIIIIIG BOAT!"
The lake we camp on is located in a huge canyon. Every year the air force does some sort of drill thru it. Huge planes come right into the canyon and look like they are going to land right on top of your campsite. Jubilee is going to FREAK! She will LOVE it! Cant wait to see her face!
I am not, however, looking forward to a 5 or 6, (or more), hour car ride with a two year old. Jubilee is always really good in the car. But when you live in Ghettosville, everything is 10 minutes away. On the few occasions we've taken her to Seattle, most of the trip is during her nap time so it was a bit easier as she slept. I have a list a mile long of the things Im taking to keep her occupied... we'll see how it goes!
Happy Birthday Miss M!
Marilyn Monroe would have been 80 years old today. I have a fascination with Marilyn and have since I was old enough to know she existed. Ive seen all her movies - even the one she was unable to finish due to her death. Over the years I have collected and gotten rid of different Marilyn paraphernalia. I even had a copy of her autopsy report. To me Marilyn was the original. No one, like Madonna, Anna Nicole, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani would be, (or look like), who they are today without Marilyn paving that road. The original blonde bombshell! Plus she did it with much more class than the rest did.
BTW, she didnt commit suicide - she was murdered.... but I wont go further to spare you my rant.
Speaking of Anna Nicole Smith
Holy monkey...someone let this girl BREED?! WTH!?!?!?
And I leave you with....
A Jubilee quote... As she observed a line of school buses driving down the road, "Dee's (Dylan's) bus! *another one passes and she points...* "Juju's Bus!!" *another one passes and she points excitedly*, "Mommy's bus!" * a short school bus with darkened windows passes...* "Daddy's bus!"
She is so smart!
Diversified Resource Center
DRC is where I used to work before choosing to be a stay-at-home mommy. Before I left there, things were changing big time. We had just gotten a new Executive Director and he was making some waves in the water of the community. DRC was, at the time, the largest and longest-standing provider of services to people with disabilities on the Olympic Peninsula. Its something the staff, board, and parents of our customers had invested much pride. Right before I left, the Exec was making some changes and trying to explain to the staff what they were. Most of us came away from long pointless meetings wondering what the heck we were supposed to understand. It was confusing and muddled. When asked if he could clarify, the explanation only got worse.
A few days ago there was an article in the paper all about the NEW Diversified Resource Center. There is not one department within DRC now that serves people with disabilities directly. Programs and contracts that were painstakingly researched and babied thru to perfection were no longer. They are now strangely close to being a economic development council. There is nothing recognizable about the former DRC besides the name and the 401 (c) 3 status. They are even located in a different county. Even the staff is different. From what I understand, he chased off all the former staff and hired his friends. Sad really...Makes me wonder what happened to all of our clients and their jobs.
Upcoming Camping Trip
We are leaving in a few days to spend some quiet time in Eastern Washington camping and fishing. I am looking forward to fishing with my Dad. I love hanging out with Dad.....especially when I can out-fish him. Im also looking forward to Jubilee riding in the boat. She is really into boats and airplanes right now. If anything resembling either is remotely in her sight, we hear, "AIRRRRRPLANE! AIRRRRRRPLANE!" or "BOOOAT! BIIIIIIIIIIIIG BOAT!"
The lake we camp on is located in a huge canyon. Every year the air force does some sort of drill thru it. Huge planes come right into the canyon and look like they are going to land right on top of your campsite. Jubilee is going to FREAK! She will LOVE it! Cant wait to see her face!
I am not, however, looking forward to a 5 or 6, (or more), hour car ride with a two year old. Jubilee is always really good in the car. But when you live in Ghettosville, everything is 10 minutes away. On the few occasions we've taken her to Seattle, most of the trip is during her nap time so it was a bit easier as she slept. I have a list a mile long of the things Im taking to keep her occupied... we'll see how it goes!
Happy Birthday Miss M!
Marilyn Monroe would have been 80 years old today. I have a fascination with Marilyn and have since I was old enough to know she existed. Ive seen all her movies - even the one she was unable to finish due to her death. Over the years I have collected and gotten rid of different Marilyn paraphernalia. I even had a copy of her autopsy report. To me Marilyn was the original. No one, like Madonna, Anna Nicole, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani would be, (or look like), who they are today without Marilyn paving that road. The original blonde bombshell! Plus she did it with much more class than the rest did.
BTW, she didnt commit suicide - she was murdered.... but I wont go further to spare you my rant.
Speaking of Anna Nicole Smith
Holy monkey...someone let this girl BREED?! WTH!?!?!?
And I leave you with....
A Jubilee quote... As she observed a line of school buses driving down the road, "Dee's (Dylan's) bus! *another one passes and she points...* "Juju's Bus!!" *another one passes and she points excitedly*, "Mommy's bus!" * a short school bus with darkened windows passes...* "Daddy's bus!"
She is so smart!
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