And So Is The Season of Snow

I regret to inform you that I am blogging about snow. GRRRR! I HATE SNOW. However, on my way to Worland on Tuesday I encountered my first snow flake this year and within a half an hour, I could barely see the road. It is officially upon us and I am officially depressed about it. WHY DID I LEAVE YOU INDONESIA!?!?!?! Ok, not that bad :)

Spice and Pipes. WOW!

This week I was in Cheyenne this week and one of my coworkers drove me 3 blocks up the road into the local CENNEX to show me something. I was shocked to see what I saw.... There, sitting at the register, was a LOLLIPIPE. That's right ladies and gentleman: A real pipe made out of lollipop; making it legal to sell to kids. No need to be 18. And not only that, it works. It has a carb on the side of it, and actually has a hollow hole all the way up to the bowl. Below is a better picture. I picked the grape flavor but they come in all different flavors and colors. The white straw is to stick in the hole at the part you would suck out of. That way, when you're sharing your pipe with all your friends, no one gets the lollipipe sticky from their saliva. It also comes with a little bag to store your pipe in and a little box. Grand total for the pipe: $5.99. They sell them right next to the "spice". Spice is also legal for all ages and can be bought at any convenience store. Basically, it's synthetic THC (marajuana). It will get you high but hasn't been out long enough to do any studies on the harmful affect to the body. When I went to buy the lollipipe to show people, the lady asked if I wanted some spice to go with it. I couldn't believe it. She showed me the spice and one of the names is "Chronic" which is also a general name for good weed.

There was only one lollipipe left and she made sure to let me know that they would be getting more by halloween. This is what we're up against folks! I was so appauled and couldn't believe my eyes. You might be wondering why spice isn't illegal. Statuate states specific drugs that are illegal and spice, at this point, does not fit into any of those statuates. It is illegal in 11 states thus far though and hopefully will be illegal in your state soon. So, if you see a kid walking around with their lollipipe smoking spice, don't call the cops cause.... IT'S ALL LEGAL! Amazing what our world is coming to. Thanks mom and dad for never letting me "smoke" those fake cigerettes from when I was young. This is just another more provacative version of that and it disqusts me. However, I suppose you couldn't get high off of candy cigerettes but, although it took some years, those candy cigerettes probably laid a lot of the ground work and was the gateway for the wonderful lollipipe

Piercing The Ears

So, after all these years I finally got my earlobes pierced. When I was like 14 I got a piercing up high on my ear. That was the first piercing I ever got. Jared Sallee's mother posed as my mother at Sturgis Bike Ralley of all places for me to get that one done. And I do still wear an earring in it. The second piercing I ever got was with Alisha Domina downtown Newcastle. We got our flubber pierced. Ok, that sounds bad but it's the little cartilage part on the inner part of your ear by your cheek. The next piercing I got was another above my first piercing but it always hurt and closed up eventually and the last piercing I got was my nose. That was when I was like 19 and thought I was cool. But I took that out shortly after getting it done as well. However, lately, I have been wanting to wear cool dangling earrings but never got my lobes pierced so wasn't able to.


I once heard Oprah say on one of her shows that only like 4% of women die without their earlobes pierced. I wanted to be one of those 4% but then I thought to myself, "Who really cares if I'm part of a statistic that means absolutely nothing." So.... after all-day meetings in downtown Cheyenne, my fellow coworkers dragged me to the mall to get er' done! I wasn't worried about the pain at all, but was much more concerned as to whether the holes were going to be even. I made the lady stand there for like 15 minutes while me and my friends examined the little purple dots to see if they were lined up and after that time, I still think one is lower than the other. Oh well.... In 4 weeks I shall be able to wear some dangly earrings.

Pet Peeves At Their Best

Ok so I have this pet peeve and I've had it for a long time, but lately, with all the meetings I do and all the group discussions I'm in, it seems to be rearing its ugly head. I can't stand it when people ask questions at unrealistic and inappropriate times. For example.... If I'm in a training and the trainer says, "Yeah, we're gonna have to run a little late since we didn't get to everything I wanted to cover." I don't want to hear every one's personal dilemmas with that. Here's what normally happens: A trainer will announce that to the group of 30 or whatever and inevitably, there's that one person that raises their hand and wastes my time by asking, "Well, I was gonna go to lunch with a friend and I have to meet the plumber at 5. Can I go a little early anyways?" I DON"T WANT TO HEAR YOUR PERSONAL QUESTIONS!!!!! Wait until it's break time and ask the trainer then! I don't care that you have a plumber coming to your house and I"m sure none of the other 29 people in the room do either. Like, don't people think to themselves first if this is an appropriate time to ask specific questions that only relate to themselves? I guess not cause this happens all the time and I just want to scream, "ASK AT A BETTER TIME!"

And Once Again...

Nothing new to report. Sorry guys. My life has been consumed with work. But this weekend should be a good one.... Abby's birthday party. Stay tuned.

Attached are some favorite pictures of me in sheridan.

Todays Top News

I must admit... I have nothing new to report. Got back from Worland on Friday evening and the rents came on Saturday. Spent a bunch of money, got a new table, made my mom take me shopping, then off to work. I worked all Saturday morning and was in again this morning bright and early. I did force myself to stay home from work on Sunday though. Now that I'm salary, overtime doesn't have to be approved and the work's got to get done sometime. I don't like being behind on things. Especially paperwork. It will haunt me all weekend, so I'm sure I will spend time going on when I don't have to in order to get it done. My life is officially boring again and I'm slipping back into the 8-5 work. WHAT A DRAG!!!

However: I'd like to state, for the record, it's still far better than my situation in Indonesia was! And I'm really starting to love Sheridan

And the Thunder Rolls and the Lightening Strikes

Yesterday was a beautiful day and Cory and I took that opportunity to go into the Big Horn Mountains. It was great laying there while he fished and it was so nice and warm. Obviously the Big Horn Mountains don't feel like home yet but I wonder if they ever will. I am so partial to the Black Hills and this may wear off in time but I think part of why I loved them so much is because I view them as something like a fort in my backyard. They're small enough to drive through in just a couple short hours and I've been in almost every part of them over and over again. The Big Horns are just that... BIG. Not as big as the Rockies or anything but big enough to have passes that close in the winter and interchanging lanes. I don't think they'll ever feel like a big fort full of fun trails that all connect and merge in my mind. But, they offer much more than the hills such as snowmobiling like crazy, fishing of all kinds, backpacking in for days at a time, and awesome lodges all over. It was great getting out and spending some time in them. The last time I remember camping in them was when I was probably 12 years old with a friend's family. Loved them then and I'm sure I will begin to develop a relationship with them again :)

After returning home from the mountains, we raced to a local bar that would have the WYO game on television since I couldn't find it on my tv. We arrived a half hour late, but I immediately sat down and watched while Cory found all his Sheridan friends to hang with. The game's excitement didn't last long as we couldn't seem to close any plays and get the game done. We did show up though which is more than CU can say against CALI! Now that was just embarrassing... But, at the end of the game, an older gentleman approached Cory's friends and was talking about something. I wasn't sure what he was talking about but heard him make a remark while pointing in my direction and I immediately thought he was taking a cheap shot about my looks and some of my flaws. After asking others if he said what i thought he said, and being unclear on their responses, I became extremely defensive and started yelling at him asking if that's what it took for him to feel like a man and said other things that weren't so nice before Cory stepped in and told me that was enough and to chill out. I was so upset that I was actually shaking a little and totally unable to concentrate on the end of the game. After being given a while to calm down, Cory approached me and let me know that the guy may not have said what I thought he said and, in fact, he wasn't even referring to me at all. I felt really bad hearing that. Usually when I lash out, which is not often at all, it's very calculated and certainly I have been wronged in someway. Let me just say, I know that even if I have been wronged by someone, it DOES NOT give me the right to lash out at them in return. I know that. However, those that know me know that although I have a high strung personality, I don't get mad like this often. And if I do approach someone, it's usually thought out. Either way, I'm just saying that when I realized this may have been a complete misunderstanding, like a big girl, I put on my big girl pants and immediately found the man that I had yelled at and told him that if it was a misunderstanding and if he hadn't said what I thought he said, I was wrong and I apologized. He was very receptive and told me that he thought it was a misunderstanding on both of our parts and he even went on to tell me he thought we were going to be good friends. We actually ended up talking for quite a while. I am sure I will never see him again, but I was left questioning why I flew off the handle so quickly; and for the first time, was completely wrong in a situation like this making it even that much more wrong. I have no good answers,

but as I was driving to Worland today (I'll be here in a hotel room for 6 nights) I racked my brain trying to remember the last time I got that mad and finally remembered that it was in a very similar situation (this time me actually having the right info) in downtown Denver with, once again, another man. He had handed me an empty bottle being a jerk. I thought he had bought me a drink and was handing it to me but upon accepting it from him, I realized it was an empty bottle. He just walked by me, didn't say anything, but put out his bottle for me to grab. I thought he was being a gentleman and had bought me a drink; however, it was an empty bottle that I received and he just walked away thinking he could get away with it. I remember thinking, "You've messed with the wrong B**** buddy!" Instead of just setting it down and mumbling under my breath about how rude that was, I turned him around, spouted off a few things and went to hand him the bottle back. When he would not reach out to grab it and actually threw his hands back like, "I aint touching it", I promptly dropped it in front of him and it shattered all over the floor. When going outside to cool off, the man happened to be standing out there as well. I told him to keep his distance and security approached me asking if there was a problem. After talking to them, the man was not allowed to enter the facility again that night. But, that was the last time I can remember being that upset.

Both situations including an older gentleman. If I saw a therapist, that might be something to examine... hmmm... Either way, I put my Cory in a very awkward situation and I think partly why I was so upset last night is because I thought this man had disrespected me in the presence of all his friends. And when I ended up being wrong, he was left standing there, in the middle of it. I mean, lets not kid anybody, I have a loud personality and can be quite a drama queen, but most things I do are pretty well thought out and scrutinized by myself before embarking upon. But situations like this surprise myself. Especially when I have taught anger management for years. I can't seem to identify my trigger, but I do see the pattern in my anger. Three situations I can in the last couple years. Two of which I have shared... the third, also involving a man. I don't know what to think about that but I think part of it is a product of my career path. I am called so many names on a daily basis and have to stand there shaking my head and saying "I'm sorry you feel that way." So when I think someone has disrespected me on my time, not at work, it's almost like a button is pushed saying, "you can actually lash out back!" But that doesn't make it okay either. The thunder rolled for a while last night and the lightening crashed, but I made amends and can only try to act on facts and not feelings next time around.

And oh... the Cowboys lost :( BUMMER!

Fun at Farmers Market

OOFTA! What a long day and I'm still awake. Had four meetings at work today and I think 5 yesterday. My planner is completely filled already and next month is stacking up as well. It's been busy and I haven't gotten the chance to blog as much as I've wanted, but am out doing things which is even better for me. After work today I called my cousin and she told me to come down to the farmers market where I was swiftly put to work selling corn, pies, homemade bread, etc. Stayed there until 7pm then they took me out to dinner. It was quite pleasant and we had a good time, but I'm glad to be home relaxing now. AND SO READY FOR THE WEEKEND!

And One last thing... (here's your shout out Cloyd) I'd like to say thank you to JC. Without you and your help I wouldn't be the person I am. You inspire me to be a better person! Ok, Ok... God bless and GOODNIGHT!

Finally Here, FInally Settled

Well, it's been quite a while since my last blog entry. THings have been CRAZY. My last day in D.C. I started to feel a little sick. Just a little scratchy throat. No biggy. Or I thought... I was down and out for three days. Literally couldn't get off the couch. And getting home from D.C. was no fun feat either. Got to the D.C. airport with plenty of time to spare. Things seemed to be going well and the flight was on time. We boarded and began to make our long taxi to the runway. Almost there, we all the sudden stop. And for five minutes we all sit there until the captin finally announces that there is a mechanical problem and we will have to taxi BACK to the gate and have mechanics come fix it. It will be at least a 20 minute delay. An hour and 20 minutes later, we finally left. Which made things difficult for me because by the time we arrived in the twin cities, my connecting flight into Rapid City had already taken off. So, I had to head to the rebooking desk and when I finally got rebooked.... I had an 8 hour layover. TO top it off, I kept getting sicker and sicker by the hour. When finally arriving in Rapid and getting to my vehicle, what do you know... the low tire indicator light pops on. I didn't even care and drove home regardless of whether I was ruining a tire or not. That was one long day.

I was pretty upset because I had so much to do before moving. I was unable to pack anything until the day we moved because I was so sick. In the midst of it, another indicator light kept coming on in my Kia, so my father graciously offered to take it to Rapid City for me to have it fixed and to have the tire fixed. Thanks dad! So, the next morning we packed everything up and as I'm walking out the door bawling, I get a text from Verizon telling me to contact them. I thought, "oh, I must be late on my payment and just need to call the payment center" So, I call the payment center literally on my way to my vehicle to leave, and get told I have a balance of $496! I thought, there must be some mistake. So I call as we're leaving Newcastle to talk to someone. I finally talk to an actual human being and am told that there is no mistake, that the charges are for texting. I thought I had an unlimited texting plan but apparently I don't and text 1,800 times last month with my limit being 500. Ouch!!! I was fuming the whole way to Sheridan about it, but resentfully paid the bill AND changed my plan to unlimited texting. Then... (yes it doesn't stop there) as we're leaving Gillette, I realize that something feels funny with my steering wheel. I look down and the people at Kia PUT THE THING ON CROOKID. I was so mad that now I was inconvenianced with that as well. So, I will have to go back to Rapid soon to get that pulled off and put back on CORRECTLY soon or it will drive me nuts!

The actual move itself went just fine. Had me moved in and I pretty much had everything put away by the end of that day. Thank God I was feeling better. So, I had a few days to relax before I headed to my first day of work. Once everyone left me in SHeridan, I found myself standing there not knowing what to do or remembering what it was like to have my own things, alone time, and my own bed. However, I couldn't think of anything to do so was glad when one of my good friends popped by for a quick visit on her way through. I was really excited to actually get cabel and internet cause I had NOTHING to do, so finally the cabel guy arrives at the beginning of the week and when he goes to hook up my internet, everything seemed just fine and it showed full internet connection, but my computer wouldn't access a web page. YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! That guy spent two hours at my house trying to figure out what the problem was until telling me I would have to take it to the computer store. SO I wisked it down there real quick hoping there was some simple solution but was sorely dissappointed when I was told that they would have to keep it for 3 days and I would have to pay near 200 bucks to fix it. After such a steep phone bill as well, I was not excited for this inconveniance either. NOt excited at all. But, I need me some facebook and blogging so I left it and got it back just a couple days ago.

Oh yeah, I also locked myself out of my new garage in the last week and I locked myself in it as well. That's a whole other story though.

Work has gone great. Very different being in a managment position and staff coming to me for the final decision, the kids looking to me as the leader, and having the authority to be that leader. It's a lot of responsibility though and I find myself sad when I'm handing all my fun activities to the line staff and seeing how excited the youth are to do such a fun activity and know I don't get to teach it. Now, I go to my office and have other responsibilities while the direct care staff teach my fun activities. It's like I have passed the torch. I have so much to learn but am excited for the challenge.

Sorry I have no pictures up for this one. How BORING! BUt, I've been so busy and really haven't had time. Now that I have a computer back and some time on my hands, you will be hearing from me more on this thing. Unfortanately, I will not be able to share all my fun stories from work and I"m sure you can imagine they can be pretty colorful working in a place like I do, but because of strong confidentiality policies, just can't share anything. Hopefully my personal life remains exciting. I am going to start reffing volleyball within the next couple weeks. I"m sure I'll do something horribly wrong and have a great story to share about how a parent started screaming at me etc, etc, etc.

So Much Smithsonian

Today we went to finally the famous Smithsonian museums. It was a must being in D.C. I first went to the American History Museum. It was really interesting and I think my favorite part was seeing the First Ladies dresses they wore on the day their husbands became presidents. Michelle Obama's was there already and it was interesting to see how fashion has shifted throughout the ages. I also really liked seeing the American flag that was used during the Revolutionary War and how it inspired our Star Spangle Banner. I went as soon as it opened so there wouldn't be so many people. I got to wonder at my own pace and browse where I wanted. Then I went to the Natural History Museum. This is the one with the huge dinosaur bones. It was so super packed! I couldn't barely see anything. I first saw the jelly fish display. It has been my favorite animal since I lived in Coos Bay. I used to walk the beaches there and see these little clear looking objects that resembled a clear rock from a fish tank all over the sand. I found out that they were washed up jelly fish. I was so fascinated and since then have really thought they were cool. So, it was the first to catch my eye. I actually bought a jellyfish preserved in glass like a paper weight that glows in the dark from the museum. Only of the very few souvenirs I have bought.



After, I walked down to meet my friend by the river where there was a fish market. It was definitely an authentic fish market. Full of guys throwing fish back and forth and selling live crabs by the dozen. We ate (of course I didn't eat there since I hate seafood) but then we came back up to the museums. I decided to hit up the American Indian museum since I have a passion for the Natives. I watched an amazing film in a circular theater, with the whole ceiling showing the movie and four screens in front of me and screens on the floor. The first thing talked about in the film was the Indians in the Black Hills. I was proud to know that I have grown up there and have worked with the Lakota people for a while. I really enjoyed that. I also found the Lakota exhibit and enjoyed reading about them. However, this place doesn't hold a candle (as far as authentic artifacts) like Crazy Horse does. But, they had info on ALL tribes.



I really liked working with the Lakotas but am excited to begin working with the Arapahoes shortly. They are so different in values, demeanor, and attitudes. It will be interesting to see the difference first hand.

The picture below is of a sign that I saw on a huge display at the Natural History museum. I read it and had to keep rereading it. It seems like just as much of a fairy tale to me as the story of creation. However, there are no displays at the museum to support this theory. But, everywhere I turned there were signs supporting evolution. This one struck me as I can't see how this is any more factual then the story of creation. Really? Am I supposed to be convinced?