Random observations from my drive yesterday

I drove kids home yesterday for Spring Break (these would be Alcatraz students). I had to go to the southern part of my state. I can't believe what a difference it is in weather. It was so warm there and all their spring trees had started flowering. I don't just mean little buds and getting ready to bloom but in full bloom cycle. It time would've allowed I would've taken pictures. And let me tell you, it made me crave spring even more.

I was dropping off Princess on this run and she was a pistol. She could've starred in the movie Mean Girls. And she was in full tilt flirt mode because there were---- *gasp* boys on the bus! I was actually happy to get her off. I feel terrible about saying that but then I was relieved because I feel that way about Mac so I know I love them both.

I drove 700 miles yesterday.

Finally I want to admit I was a real idiot/ bitch last night. I was finally heading for home from my transport. I had about 2 hours to go so I stopped at a Starbucks. I ordered my favorite drink. Because I'm a gold club member I get a discount. Because I was driving for work, I had an "expense account" so I wasn't going to have to pay for the drink out of my own pocket. So, I had the guy at the counter still scan my card to get the discount but specifically said to not use the balance on my account. While he was doing this, I had been talking to another barista about my long day and what I had been doing and this guy was listening. He was new and he screwed up. He called a manager over to fix it but couldn't. He said he used the balance on my account and was sorry. I rolled my eyes at the guy and said, "Didn't I ask you to not do that?" And he said yeah and apologized. I said something like, "Well, that's par for the course of my day. My company won't reimburse that. Great. Thanks." I was.... snotty. As I get my drink and turn to leave the guy stops me and gives me a coupon for a free drink of my choice and says, "I"m sorry I used the 67 cents on your card. Here's a free drink for next time." Ummmmmmmm, 67 cents. 67 cents????? Oh shit, I was a bitch over 67 cents? I mumbled an apology and said thanks many times. I sat in the car and tried to figure the 67 cents when it dawned on me I used my card the day before when I was out with XRay Girl; I didn't have $5 on there at all. Ooops. I felt like an idiot.

Driving that long makes my right hip hurt.

Maggie

25. Buy a CD by an artist I've never heard before and listen to the entire thing

The Fame by Lady Gaga

To be honest, y' all probably think I'm crazy but I didn't really ever know who Lady Gaga was until Princess introduced us. I think I heard of her in passing but I didn't know anything about her, and I would've been guessing that she was a singer (I was thinking actress at first but I wasn't sure). Then one day, I was in the car with Princess for 6 hours and she brought this CD along. Then she fell asleep and I was afraid to turn it off, that the sudden silence would wake her and the other 4 girls who were all also asleep. Trust me, you take 5 teens girls on a six hour road trip and they fall asleep, you don't want to do ANYTHING to disrupt their sleep.

So, I let this just play over and over again. It played through about 3 times total, and I was pretty impressed and pleased with this CD.

It is sure something I would never have picked up myself but after listening to it, I did go buy a copy a few weeks later and it still held appeal for me, so much so that I downloaded a song called "Boys Boys Boys" as my default ringtone, for fun, because it's a zippy little tune!

This album is certainly a dance club mix. It's highly synthesized-pop and electric-pop, with songs that have quirky little chorus, that hook in the listener. It's similar to lots of club music that came out of the 80s and heavily influenced by glam-rock. The album was released in 2008 (I really can't believe I never have heard of her or any of this music until a few months ago!!) to popular, positive reviews and critical acclaim. There have been four songs of the 12 on the album that have released as singles here in the US, which reached Top Ten spots on Billboard: "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "Love Game" and "Paparazzi." The album itself reached the top 10 (topping out at #4) and hit the #1 spot for Dance/ Electronic albums. It's also the number 1 best selling digital album of all times, and its gone platinum four times. (Thank you Billboard for this info!)



The overall theme for all the songs is fame. Lady Gaga is a lover of attention and is certainly a fame seeker so all these songs focus on that as the theme.

I think the four singles are awesome. They are sure great tunes to head bop and dance to. I can see why they are huge club songs. The content, along with fame, are also heavily focused on sex, drinking, and money (I'm not super thrilled about this since most of Gaga's fans are young girls!). "Love Game" is all about sex and money, and "Just Dance" is about being drunk at a party. "Poker Face" is all about sexual innuendo, and "Paparazzi" is about a stalker following her biggest fan.



Songs other than "the hits" that I really like are "Paper Gangsta", "Boys Boys Boys", and "Summerboy." These little ditties biggest appeal to me are the easy to sing along lyrics and the beat. Sometimes her lyrics are raging and powerful and other times they're drivel but overall, just about every song on this album is something to sing along to. That, my friends, is usually what is "make or break" about an album for me. The songs "Money Honey", "Beautiful Dirty Rich" and "Eh, Eh" are also good songs but not my favorites and I find myself passing through those when they pop up. "Boys Boys Boys" is my favorite song of all!



So like everyone else in the world, I've now heard of Lady Gaga and she's found a secure spot in my CD player rotation for awhile. I find I pop her on and dance around when no one is watching. I also can't wait until I can roll down the windows and crank up the radio and go so a summer drive, with lady Gaga blaring away! While the content may not be your cup of tea, she's addicting and her catchy riffs are worth listening to over and over again. Makes me wish I was young enough to go clubbing!

Maggie

This baby is 5 years old

This month I celebrated my fifth year as a blogger. Wow. Other than being a mom/sister/daughter, this is the longest relationship I've ever had. We don't need to comment how sad that is.

My blog is five years old this month.

I love blogging. In reality, I can honestly say it doesn't ever feel like a chore. I feel bad when I'm running behind and post late or don't have time to post, but it doesn't feel like something I have to do or that's tedious. I like blogging, which is probably why I've kept at it.

I have to say that I've wanted to write a book so this is a nice way to get "published" or to at least have an audience. Thank you readers for being my audience.

I realize that I might not always be that fun and interesting. Thank you readers for reading me even when I'm boring.

It's been an interesting evolution over the last five years. I feel that the last few years since I've moved back to Civilization I've been less interesting. Maybe I haven't been interesting ever, but as I examine myself, my life, and re-read some of my old posts, I feel like I was more interesting 'back in the day.' Thank you readers for continuing to read me even though I'm not as exciting as I used to be.

My writing style has evolved, too. Maybe maturing? I have no idea what causes a change in writing styles. I think I'm not always as funny as I used to be. But it could be a catch 22 situation. Maybe I'm not as funny because not as many funny things happen to me because my life isn't as exciting? Who knows? Maybe I'm a bit more private? Maybe I've lost my sense of humor? Thank you readers for indulging me in my less funny, moments and during my evolution in tone.

This has been not only a cathartic outlet for me, but a place to explore my own writing, my own thoughts, to try different stuff with words, to be silly, to be serious. Thank you readers for allowing me this opportunity to be self experimental.

Lastly, this is a fabulous way to meet some great people. I've met some of you in person, some I just email or talk to on the phone, some I read your blogs, and others I just enjoy getting to know you from your comments here. Thank you all for allowing me into your lives, for becoming blogger buddies, for becoming friends.

So, happy blog-iversary to me. But thanks to all of you for giving me these five years! Here's to many more! Cheers!

Pink lipsticky kisses to you all,
Maggie

Flies like a butterfly, stings like a bee...

As you have figured out by now, I work in a school part of a non-lock down, juvenile prison facility. We have a school and a residential living facility.

And about six weeks ago one of our teachers got punched in the face. She's a little bit of a thing and she was trying to break up a fight between two big guys and she got socked in the face. It was an accident and could've happened to anyone in that situation. She got hit hard enough to be taken to the ER and got stitches. No concussion, no need for facial reconstruction surgery, just a really good black eye and some stitches- 5 of them. She missed school for about 3 weeks.

According to her story at the time, it was an accident. The boys in the fight said it was as did ALL of the students in that classroom.

But it's turned into a bog damn, drama.

If I was in the situation and was stupid enough to step between to big teens boys who were set to pound each other, then I would understand it was an accident and be back at school in a day or two.

I would not show weakness and miss three weeks.

These boys did not go after her with the intent to hurt her. Actually, when questioned later the boys didn't even know she was hurt.

The boys are expelled from our school. They are now doing on line learning. One kid was sent to boys' prison school. The other one is still at our facility awaiting a decision from his county.

We are all trained to handle these situations. But every single person in the trainings are told if we- the staff- know we can't stop the fight, are out numbered or if the kids are bigger, then wait for help. It doesn't matter if you are male or female, those are the rules of thumb. She weighs in at about 90 pounds and there were two of them and one of her. She just got caught in the middle of the foray.

I feel like this was made into a HUGE ordeal. It could happen to any teacher at any school in the world. Kids fight. Adults who try and break it up can get hurt. It is what it is. It doesn't make it worse because it was at our facility.

I hate the drama created by this.

I've taught in three "regular" public schools and I feel safer at Alcatraz than I did at any of the others. We have two "emergency response teams" if we have a problem. One can be there in less than 30 seconds. No public high school I know has this. I remember when I was at a middle school last year and a kid was screaming and swearing in the hallway and all the teachers locked doors and called administration for help, it was about 5 minutes because our principal was in the high school NEXT DOOR at a meeting.

More than likely our kids won't come to school armed unlike regular high schools where kids can carry in a fire arm in a back pack. Columbine mean anything to anyone?

We are trained through a nationally recognized program which trains people to handle crisis in a therapy setting. Not only are we trained with this 5 days program, we are kept updated on this training 3-4 times a year. Any other public high school teachers get this?

Sometimes I think adults can't see the forest for the trees.

Maggie

#7- Cooking something I never made before

One of my 40 things to do before I turn 40 is expand my cooking horizons. I said I wanted to cook something exotic or something I've never fixed before. I have no idea what I meant when I wrote exotic. Did that mean some weird ingredient or what? Nothing I fixed was exotic. I wasn't sure what I was thinking and other than being expensive or strange, I couldn't think of exotic food. I went with stuff I knew everyone would probably like with ingredients I could afford, a twist on normal foods, I guess!

Also, I thought, once I got on a roll, I'd do more than one dish. So here are my efforts and the recipes! Enjoy!

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Ever since my mom died, my family and I have been trying to re-create some of her dishes, often to no avail. I don't think I'll ever get her potato soup right. Ever. However, I've never, in my life made chili, so I think I was channeling my mom, because I nailed her soup. Daddy-O and I brainstormed about what was in it and we got the ingredients. We had no idea of how much of anything so it was a guess, and a good one at that. And for the first time making chili, I was pretty happy- it was a nice memory, a good taste, and a warm yummy dish for a cold, winter day! So, here's the recipe for my mom's chili. (I also want to say, I don't really like chili very much, but this really appeals to me!!!)

With the chili we had crackers, cheese and corn bread muffins, from scratch!

Mom's Chili:
1 large can of tomato soup
1 can of dark kidney beans with the juice
1 can of light kidney beans drained
24 ounces of tomato juice
1 can of black beans, drained
1 pound of hamburger, browned and drained. I cooked a small very well diced onion with the hamburger.
2 teaspoons of mild chili pepper
2 tablespoons of salt
3 dashes of pepper

Put everything into a stock pot and cook on very low heat, covered, for 60 minutes. Cook another 2 hours uncovered, stirring occasionally.
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Fried Green Beans
2 cans of cut green beans, drained
milk
Italian Bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese
olive oil

Heat olive oil in pan until hot. Combine bread crumbs and cheese together in a shallow pan. Dip green beans in milk. Roll beans in bread crumb/ cheese mixture. Brush off excess. Put in hot oil for 4 minutes. Scoop out of pan with slotted spoon and lay on paper towel. Salt while still hot. Serve while very warm.

Everyone really liked these and requested I make them again. They were pretty good. So good they were gone before I got a picture! (tonight I also made lemon pepper cod and salmon, and roasted new red garlic potatoes to go with the beans!)
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Oven Ranch Chicken

It's really saying something about how much I love this recipe because it's a school cafeteria recipe. Yes, you read this right: this chicken is SCHOOL FOOD!!!! I asked the woman in the cafeteria and she shared. I gave it a whirl at home and while mine was good, I think the school's is better. I think this is so because I used dark and white meat chicken, with bone in. At school, they always make it with boneless, skinless chicken breasts on 'Wellness Wednesdays'. I think that had something to do with making it crispier. Not the wellness part but being white meat and boneless part.

Again, this was a popular dish and everyone voted I fix it again! (We had Julianne cheese potatoes and mixed veggies with the chicken.)

Oven Ranch Chicken

6-8 chicken breasts (though I made it with bone in chicken, it is best with boneless!)

16 oz sour cream

1 pkg dry ranch dressing ( mix with crumbs)

cracker crumbs or Italian bread crumbs (which ever you prefer)

butter

Take thawed chicken and rub/coat with sour cream and then dip them into the cracker mix. Drizzle melted butter over the top and bake covered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done. Bake uncovered the last 10-15 minutes to crisp up the chicken.

Happy cooking!

Maggie

I'm at a loss & I'm so angry I don't have words

Okay.......... some of you know this story and others don't. For the "dos" sorry for the repeat. For the "don'ts" well... here.

A few months ago I decided I wanted to be licensed to be a foster parent so when Princess was released in May she could be sent to live with me. I knew there were about 3494570431 things that could go wrong and stop the process but since it was a long shot it was worth taking.

I talked it over with her case -manager, who thought it was a good idea.

I talked it over with ITSam. He and I have talked about getting married so this was something that would certainly affect him as well. He was all for the idea.

I talked it over with Mac who was all for the idea as well.

I talked it over with Daddy-O who thought I was crazy and as long I wasn't going to foster her here at his house he was supportive.

Though all involved decided it would be a good idea to not tell Princess, she figured it out. She was VERY in favor of this idea.

I did some research online and talked to tons of foster parents and decided this is something I wanted to do.

I met with the people in the foster division of Alcatraz. I wanted to ask some basic questions. That meeting was extremely positive and I was given the huge green light with this idea. I got a stack of paperwork and signed up for classes. I was told that since we needed to meet a deadline of may 26, I could take classes as they were offered through them and then to get what else I needed Alcatraz would do individual one-on-one training to finish it up. COOL!

That took care of the issue of timing.

ITSam has to be licensed as well so he signed up too.

To be licensed together we had to be married by the time we got her. Okay, we decided that wouldn't be a problem and sort of loosely planned a small wedding that would take place at the end of April. Okay- check.

We knew we would need at least a 3 bedroom house or apartment. A guy at work said he had 4 bedroom house he would let us rent with a huge discount because we were going to be foster parents and he thought that was admirable. It was in the school district we wanted and we could move in mid- April. AND the guy who makes sure houses are foster care approved had been there said it was and doing the home study would be fine. Check!

Everything was falling into place until a few weeks ago when Princess's case manager call me to her office. She dropped the bomb that probation department in Princess's home county (her PO there) wants her in a placement in her own county so though they won't be reunified as a family, they can still have twice weekly meetings. Her PO wants her in an independent living situation or foster care there.

Well damn.

Yes, she should continue to foster a positive relationship with her mother and sisters. Yes, she should stay connected to her family. It sucks for me, for us, for Princess who so wanted to be with me.

Okay so she and I put on happy faces and think positive thoughts and focus on the good stuff about being there.

Then Friday night Princess drops the bomb. She was shell-shocked herself. he stupid case-manager casually mentioned that recently the PO sent an email that said after consideration maybe Princess should remain in this county so she could graduate from Alcatraz since she's academically successful and she could be placed in a foster home here.

Of course the witch of a case-manager said nothing to me about this and won't give Princess any other information.

I just can't believe this............. And I can't manage to write more here without coming unglued. I can't even talk about it without having a fit. I'm so mad, angry, furious, hurt, shattered, frustrated, ugh!!!!!!!!!!

Maggie

Sunday Stealing meme

Evil Pixie is doing a meme called "5000 Questions"; I have no intention of answering all 5000 questions but here's some of them. Since I have dry rot brain I'm cheating with a meme. Maybe something here will stimulate the writing portion of my head and I can come up with some posts...

Who has done something today to show they care about you?
No one because I haven't been awake long enough to interact with another human

Do you have a lot to learn?
Yes. I believe everyone has a lot to learn.

If you could learn how to do three things just by wishing and not by working what would they be?
Pick stocks to make piles of glorious money, fix computers, and learn a foreign language

Which do you remember the longest: what other people say, what other people do or how other people make you feel?
I think what people say and how it made me feel.

What are the key ingredients to having a good relationship?
Communication, the ability to laugh, and trust

What 3 things do you want to do before you die?
Travel the world

What three things would you want to die to avoid doing?
Other than be tortured I can't think of anything I would want to die before I had to do it. I had a root canal and lived so that takes care of one thing. maybe go to prison? Die before I did that?

Is there a cause you believe in more than any other cause?
I'm not sure of funding libraries and arts is a cause but if it is, that's the one for me

What does each decade make you think of:
Depending how far back you want me to go... 20s- gangsters and cute flapper dresses, 40s- Billie Holiday and WWII; 50s= The Leave it to Beaver Life style; 60s= hippies; 70s= my yellow bike with the black banana seat and ugly clothes; 80s= Back to the Future, my teens years and way too much blue eye shadow which was not totally narley dude; 90s- college and becoming a mom...

Which decade do you feel the most special connection to and why?
The 80s since I was a teenager then...

What is your favorite oldie/classic rock song?
There are too many to list.

What country do you live in and who is the leader of that country?
I live in the U.S.A. and Obama is the leader.

If you could say any sentence to the current leader of your country what would it be?
You gave people hope. Now do your damn job and to hell with pleasing Republicans.

What's your favorite TV channel to watch in the middle of the night?
It used to be any channel with reruns of CSI or Without a Trace

What Disney villain are you the most like and why?
Not sure which one I'm most like but I do like Cruella de Ville

Have you ever been a girl scout/boy scout?
I was a brownie once

If you were traveling to another continent would you rather fly or take a boat?
I'd want to take a boat just once so I could say I did and then fly the rest of the time.

Why is the sky blue during the day and black at night?
It is blue during the day because we directed toward the sun.; black at night because we're facing away from the sun.

What does your name mean?
Flowering tree

Would you rather explore the deeps of the ocean or outer space?
Depths of the ocean

Word association... What is the first word that comes to mind when you see the word:

• Air: breathe
• Meat: steak
  
• Different: unusual
  
• Pink: me
  
• Deserve: a break
  
• White: black
• Elvis: dead
  
• Magic: Harry Potter
  
• Heart: break
  
• Clash: Titans
• Pulp: fiction

If you could meet any person in the world who is dead who would you want it to be?
Hmmm.... so many to pick from. Famous people would be either Elvis or Marilyn Monroe. family would be Daddy-O's dad. Grandpa F

What if you could meet anyone who is alive?
Johnny Depp

Is there a movie that you love so much you could watch it everyday?
No.

You are going to be stuck alone in an elevator for a week. What do you bring to do?
My laptop, food and drink, a pile of books, my quilting supplies, a cell phone, my ipod, a pillow, and a toilet (plus toilet paper).

Have you ever saved someone's life or had your life saved?
no