doing my civil duty......

Three weeks later we were a hung jury.... did I mention I did jury duty? I always thought to myself if I ever was called for jury duty I wanted it to be something important, well be careful what you ask for! Lets just say I'm glad it's over and even though it was a learning experience I don't ever want to have to decide something that important again! We spent 3 days going over and over and over the evidence and still couldn't come to an agreement of innocence or guilt...... it was long it, was incredibly stressful, it was eye opening, I learned more about the way our justice system works than I wanted to and 12 people couldn't come to a decision. That was the hardest part of it all, we had to go in that courtroom and tell the Judge, Sorry, we couldn't agree. Of course afterwards we got the rest of the story......
It's been kinda rough around here since Christmas time.... did I mention 3 days before Christmas Rick got layed off of work? His (now former) boss has had it in for him for a year and a half...... and finally got Rick on the late policy, so there he was looking for a job again. Along with all the emotions and feelings and doubts and insecurities that go along with it...... it took 2 months but he got on at Queenstakes, it's a smaller mine but so far so good..... during that time I worked all I could and I think it's turned me into a workaholic! After jury duty I took FCCLA to Las Vegas for a week which was really nice, not only did I get to spend time with Margaret but it was a welcome break form the real world..... then I came hoe for 4 days and took Spring Creek softball & baseball to Needles, CA which is 90 miles south of Vegas. It's been a lot of long driving. We got back from Needles at 5:00 AM Sunday morning and I had the bright idea to stay up and go to church. Normally when I drive like that it takes me at least a few hours to wind down and relax so I thought why not do it at church? I did alright for awhile, then I started nodding off in Sunday school and then I nodded off during the rest hymn in sacrament meeting! I was ready to hit my pillow by time we got home...... WEW!

wow...

I keep avoiding putting up a post because I've gotten behind and then I feel like I need to catch up and then I avoid it since there's so much I could catch up on..... do you see the vicious circle? OK..... 2 weeks ago I got a jury notice and I dutifully showed up and said yes your Honor I can be fair and impartial and WAM! here I am doing jury duty.... so once it's all over I'll tell you all about it. Until then I'm going really nuts because I'm one of those who has to 'talk' stuff to death and I can't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am living up to the oath I took not to discuss the case w/ anyone and not form any decisions until all the evidence has been presented. nough said (for now). Rick started working at Queenstakes mine yesterday. His boss at Newmont finally got him laid off (3 days before Christmas) this guy had it in for Rick for a year and a half and finally got him on the late policy........ what a shame that Newmont doesn't care that this guy had treated Rick badly for all that time..... lied about grabbing hold of Rick one day and generally created a hostile work environment.............. it really messed up Rick's head for awhile but I'm hoping that being back to work will put that sparkle back in his eyes and the bounce in his walk again...... change is always hard but they keep saying it's a good thing.............. really?

Once again

It seems that I update my blog while sitting in a hotel room on trips but not at home where the action really is. So once again I'm in Reno, this time Spring Creek girls basketball has a tournament. It's been very cold in Spring Creek this week...... we've been building up to the cold for the last few weeks. Wed. morning it was -26 at 6 AM when I went to work and half of our busses gelled up (that's when the diesel is so cold it gels instead of being liquid) between all of the drivers we got everyone to school..... one of my elem. kids got on and asked me if his tongue was bleeding, I told him yes it was and he told me he had stuck it on a rock. I told him it was NOT a good idea! Silly boy! There were three kids who did that in the last week. So now I'm home, got back fairly early, I was home by 8:30 last night (sat the 12th) I started this & didn't get it finished before I left Reno. I got to dead-head home since all the girls parents had come to watch thier games. I made good time considering the weather. Rick and Zac had the tree all set up when I got home and we got most of the decorations put out. It is beginning to look like Christmas at our house. The tree smelt wonderful when I walked in the door. Later while Rick and I were laying in bed watching TV we heard this loud noise...... it was the sun cover on the front porch being crushed by the snow. We have about 18 in. total from the storms this week and this last one was very wet snow, it broke one of the poles. Rick did get it back up today (sunday) but we'll have to beware through the rest of the winter! It is so nice to be home........

$25 in the hole..........

Thought I'd let you know how Friday went for Rick & Zac. Rick tells me he's $25 in the hole as he had to buy Zac a new game and I was the one who made the promise to Zac but do you think he'd wait till I got home? Of course not and quite frankly Rick says it was more than that after a trip to the grocery store where Zac talked him into choc milk and a lunchable and crushable yogurt..... the container crushes so you don't have to use a spoon, neat marketing technic huh?Oh yea and $20 to the babysitter, so Rick figures HE'S out about $70 bucks, talk about inflation! A couple of weeks ago Zac's best friend Kaylee got a diary from her school book order and ever sine then Zac has asked for one for him too so when we were at Walmart Rick & I found him a really nice 400 page journal and Zac had a good time writing his first story tonight and then making Rick and I rating it between 1-100, of course we both gave him 100 and he told us if he added it together he'd get 200........ hmmmmm I think that has something to do with school grades? You think? Yes definitely!

No babysitter friday

Most Fridays Rick doesn't work & Zac gets to come home from school instead of going to the babysitters. Lately Rick has been able to pick up overtime on Fridays which is very helpful to us in the budget department right now. Last night my work called and asked if I could do a last minute overnight trip....... Spring Creek girls soccer to Fallon for regional tournament. Of course I said yes after calling Shari our babysitter since her husband doesn't normally work Fridays either so she isn't available then but Brooks (her husband) is/was working also (am I rambling?) OK so after all that rambling I'm in Fallon with soccer, Rick is working and Zac unhappily is at the babysitter. Oh he'll be fine and he has a new book he's been reading non-stop for 2 days and he can play with Drew, Shari's son and I even tried to bribe him with a new game if he'd have a good attitude about it all. We'll see what the results are when I talk to Rick later.

Halloween & the rest................

Last week was crazy at work...... lots of driving, lots of miles and I missed Halloween, which I didn't mind too much as it's not my favorite holiday but Zac gets so excited. I have a rule about Halloween costumes, I never buy (or make) one till the last minute because invariably Zac changes his mind at the last minute and true to form he did. He had talked about a number of different costumes and even wanted to split his face so he could be 2. So Thurs he decided to be the grim reaper and wanted Rick to run right down to Walmart and buy the scythe that goes with the costume. Rick talked him out of it and sat. morning the made one. It turned out really, really good. Rick did a great job with Zac's makeup, when he sent me a text sat. afternoon I couldn't tell if it was a mask or makeup. So off they went first hitting the trunk or treat at the church then on to the convention center where local merchants had set up and last but not least trick or treat alley (as we call it) Zac decided to change the time honored phrase from trick or treat to trick or die in keeping with his costume. One goody giver told him it should be treat or die but Zac was steadfast in his change. They left me voice mails detailing their excursions with Zac adding sound affects for background ambiance! At the convention center Zac tapped his scythe on the wooden floor with each step and when they got to the last 'booth' the lady told Zac she had been waiting for his arrival. So another Halloween successfully put behind us!

Hmmmmm............

I'm really tired today. Took Elko High School Soccer to Reno yesterday. While we didn't leave too early I got up at 3:30 AM to spend some time with Rick & not have to hurry to get ready for work. I got Zac off to school and headed to work. Did I mention we had our first winter storm yesterday also? I didn't think it was that much of a storm but it made a lot of people uncomfortable about traveling. My theory is you have to respect the weather be it snow sleet or hale or heat of summer, not be afraid of it.................
anyhow we made good time & the roads weren't really that bad. But the Lady you was driving the relief car to pick me up later was not comfortable driving in the bad weather and she ended up dropping the relief driver & heading back to Elko instead of waiting for me which meant I had to ride the bus home which really, really sucked. I got home around 3 AM which also meant I'd been up for almost 24 hours with only a couple short cat-naps. I almost didn't get Zac off to school this morning but his friend Kaylee called to give him a ride to the bus stop and he had just enough time to get dressed & have breakfast & go. Then I had a safety meeting in town so I brushed my teeth & hair and went. Does all this tell you I'm really, really tired? No I haven't had a nap yet but I can more or less sleep in tomorrow or go back to bed after getting Zac off to school cause I don't have to work till tomorrow night when I will be the relief driver for Spring Creek cross country.